Better ONE man should die....

  In the gospel of John (John 11:50) the high priest says of Jesus,

"You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."

   It is nothing new for people to think that a little evil can make the world a better place to live.  Back during the cold-war many liberals felt we could make a deal with Russia and accept their form of government as being just as legitimate as ours.  They called their policy "accommodation" and it sacrificed the rights and freedoms of those behind the iron curtain for our own peace and prosperity.  Reagan said of this in 1964,

"We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skins, we're willing to make a deal with your slave masters."   

    Today, some feel that their peace and prosperity is threatened by those in the Middle East.   Arabs in those countries tell us to not stand with Israel and to leave their side.   They say to the world "Let Israel die and we will go away and leave everyone in peace".   Sadly, many have believed their message of "Peace thru Annihilation" and want the US to look the other way for in their view:

"Better for one COUNTRY to be annihilated than for the whole WORLD to go into chaos and war."

Let me leave you with the time honored words of Alexander Hamilton,

"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one."

I see a pattern emerging

   Pattern matching is an important ability in engineering (or really any job for that matter).  The ability to spot patterns of behavior can help in debugging a problem in the lab for example.  Sometimes you are looking at a pattern of memory that has been written in correctly and you need to use that information to deduce where the data or address is getting messed up.  Or another area is if the problem only occurs on a certain machine or network but no where else.  Doctors use pattern matching as well to deduce what causes things like allergic reactions or outbreaks of flu or other diseases.  Bank auditors use pattern matching to see illegal activity that occurs in their systems.

    Patterns are common place.  Even in human behavior.  Because we often are in a hurry we do things the same way without even knowing it.  We drive the same route to work.   We shop at the same stores.  We get gas from the same stations.   It simplifies our life and we don't have to think as much.   Patterns for the most part are helpful and save time and energy.

   But some patterns can be destructive.  You may think I am going to discuss patterns like addictions to porn, drugs , alcohol, work etc..  but I am not (although it would make for a good blog later).  Instead the patterns I want to discuss primarily concern the behaviors of our DOJ Attorney General Eric Holder.  It seems to me that when things get tough on the White House, out comes Eric Holder to "re-ignite the race discussion".   This causes the media to take their focus off of what is currently under discussion (border issues, VA scandal, etc).   I say this because it happens too often and without provocation.   Take for example the most recent occurrence in which Holder is being interviewed on ABC News.   With all that is going on in the border and terrorism threats to our country, Eric Holder decides that a discussion on race is more applicable at this time and especially in regards to those who oppose him and President Obama.  He claims to be able to look into the hearts of these opponents and extract the real reason for their dislike of the presidents policies... racism.  Oh he says its very "subtle" and "hidden" from view but its there.   It may not be as obvious as the Clippers owner Donald Sterling... but its there ... and he knows it.  

    Those who have fought in war know the use of creating a  distraction when you are under fire.  The enemy is attacking a friend who is pinned down and often the best way to get them out is to launch some grenades in another location to cause the enemy to change their position and their attention to another area so your guy can get out.

   This is the tactic Eric Holder is using and the media is only more than glad to help him use it.  No one ever calls him on it either in the media.  Why didn't ABC in their interview stop Eric Holder and say "That's interesting.. but what about what is happening on the border?  Why aren't we stopping this influx of Central Americans from coming in?"     Instead they take the bait and change the discussion just as Eric Holder wanted them to.

   Eric Holder doesn't really care about racism.  He only wants change the conversation to something else.... ANYTHING else.

    

We need a refugee camp

    Many of us have probably experienced a family or friend that was in need of a place to stay for a while until things got better or they could find a job.  A few years ago a friend of mine was in dire straights (he suffered a mental breakdown).   I wanted to help him (and did visit him to see what I could do), but at the same time I had my own issues to deal with at home that needed my attention as well.   It was a tough time and difficult to say I could not help.   But that is often the case for many people.  We all have limited resources, limited amounts of time and energy.   We wish we could do more but we simply can't without hurting our own families in the process.
  
    People fleeing war torn areas is really nothing new.  All around the world we have seen people walking hundreds and even thousands of miles to get away from violence inflicted upon them by other countries or even factions within their country.   For example, in the past couple of years a civil war in Syria has caused millions to flee to their neighboring country Turkey and the people of Turkey and the UN have stepped up to help these people.  Hopefully the civil war in their country will end (and hopefully Assad is outed as president) and a better country emerges for these refugees to return back to.

   We in the US are now experiencing a very similar influx of people fleeing their countries.  These countries of Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua however are not war torn regions or countries experiencing genocide.  Instead these countries are experiencing the effects of decades of experimentation with Communism and Socialism.  These experiments have brought nothing but economic destruction and hardship on these people and those in power are unlikely to give it up.   The people of these countries are  willing to walk (and drive) hundreds and thousands of miles to find a better place to live.   Our president sent out the invite a few years ago by telling the world that we were not going to enforce the immigration laws on women and children who come here.   They heard it loud and clear and decided to take the risk of coming here.  

    There is are  some distinct differences between what is happening in Turkey and what is happening here.   The biggest difference is that in Turkey the Turkish people are not being asked to assimilate these refugees into their own countries.  They are not being asked to give up their jobs, their homes, their schools and their medical care.  The refugees are held in a single place where they are fed, clothed and taken care of but they are not allowed to venture out into Turkey and take jobs, vote, gain government assistance or lay down roots.  

    Also, we here in the US are not in a good position right now to help these people.  Our president has ratcheted up the national debt to almost 18 Trillion dollars, our economy remains very weak and our unemployment is stagnated.   In the past we might have welcomed these refugees but right now we just cannot do it.   

    I believe the right thing to do is set up a refugee camp in Texas.  There we can help these children (hopefully reunite them with their parents) and eventually send them back to their countries.  We also need to call in the Texas National Guard to secure the border and prevent further lawlessness from occurring on our borders for we simply cannot harbor all of these countries people without collapsing our own.   

   Is America closed?   Maybe for short while until we can get our own legs under us again and revitalize our economy so we can be in a better position in the future to help those whose countries have failed them.

Equality: What does it mean?

   Raised as a Lutheran I was brought up learning Luther's Small Catechism in which a common question is raised: 

"What does this mean?" 

   Every 13 year-old boy or girl is expected to memorize large parts of the catechism and recite it word for word in a ceremony called the "examination night".  Doing so insures that future generations of Lutherans are well versed in what they believe and not be taken in my false doctrine.
 
   Maybe as Americans we need to take a page from the Lutherans and put together an American "catechism" in which our children will learn the REAL meaning of freedom, liberty, and justice. We can teach them for example what phases like "All men are created equal" really means.

   For many people our minds conger up visions of black, white, hispanic, asian people standing shoulder to shoulder and arm in arm.   We view it though a racial lens and not through a political lens thinking it only applies to ______-Americans.   Instead our founders were referring to its relationship to a KING and NOBILITY and not in regard to each other racially.   Thomas Paine penned one of the most important books up his time called: Common Sense (from where I get the title of my blog).  In this small book, Paine systematically destroys the idea of the need for a king.   He shows that both religiously and non-religiously why having a king is illogical and the idea of "royal blood lines" is utter nonsense.  His book becomes the spark behind the phrase "All men are created equal" that now emblazons our Declaration of Independence.

    Our country showed the world that people can rule themselves without the need for authoritarian ruler to dictate their lives and other countries soon followed suite.  We were established on this very principle that the same laws apply to all people ( something that was not done under British rule which allowed for the nobility to live under different rules than the commoners).   This is the EQUALITY they were speaking of when they wrote those words.  

    But many today have erased their original meaning and are trying to replace it with a more communistic for in which all people must have all things equal at all times.    We see a ruling class at work in Washington that arrogantly flaunts itself as if the rules that apply to you and me don't apply to them.   Take for example the IRS.  We are ordered to keep all of our records for 7 years (maybe even longer) to the point we almost become "hoarders" for if we don't we may face extreme penalties and even prison time.   But if the IRS loses its emails and destroys information against laws forbidding such actions, well... that's okay.   Are all men still created "equal" or are some people a little more equal than others?


















   

  

Sometimes you have to let death come

   My father was a wonderful man.  The son of a Lutheran pastor he grew up during the depression in a small town in Illinois.  He entered the Air Force  in order to attain a college education.  He taught himself how to play the organ and became a elementary Lutheran school teacher.  He taught everything from single grades to one-room school houses.  In 1989 my mom passed away and shortly afterward, my father retired from teaching after 32 years he fulfilled a life-long passion of becoming a Lutheran pastor and preached for 8 years. 

    Then he developed Alzheimer's and slowly over a few short years he became a shadow of his former self.   Our family tried everything they could to get him care at home but it was too much and we put him in a care home that specialized in Alzheimer's patients.   They worked with him as much as they could but still the disease progressed.  Eventually he forgot how to even swallow and it was this problem that was what took his life.   He was eating some jello and it went down the wrong way.  The nurse sent for help but it took longer than expected to help him and he passed away.

     The United States is like my father riddled with Alzheimer's in that it is a shadow of its former self.   America has forgotten who they are and what they stood for in the 19th and 20th century.   The parasites have embedded themselves deep in its flesh convinced that what they are doing will create a better more "equatable" country and they will not let go until the host is dead.

    Death may be the only answer left.  Maybe our problems as a nation will not end until the radicals have their way and our country lives out their warped fantasy of a Socialist America.  Maybe after a 100 years the people will rise up again and learn that liberty does not come without bloodshed.  Maybe our children and grandchildren will need to suffer under the oppression of Socialism/Communism for them to be re-animated and America to come back to life.