They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and kill you: you will be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Then shall many be offended, and betray one another, and hate one another. Many false prophets shall rise and deceive many. Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold. But he that endures unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24:9-13
Check this picture out:
Your eyes are not deceiving you. This upside-down Christmas tree (Sorry, didn't mean to use the 'C' word) is apparently being offered at Lowe's Hardware stores. Actually, Lowe's sells only 'Family Trees' and all references to Christmas (save two instances) in their catalogue have been removed. As Warner Todd Huston points out:
Christmas is still under attack if not by direct, anti-Christian design, then by the cultural neglect born of the legal department by many of our corporations. The fact that they are merely doing it for their own protection does not make it any less an erosion of our culture and traditions.
We should see this kind of attacks against Christmas traditions for what they are: Malicious and frivilous. What will be required to resist this cultural jihad? Leaders in the corporate world that have courage, fortitude, and a backbone for one. Judges who are more interested in upholding the law than 'judicial activism'. Finally, politicians (gulp!) who will fight for our Christian heritage. Participation in the Christmas season is optional and is left up to the individual. This is as it should be in a free and open society. But do not trample my right to participate in the holiday season because of your intolerance.
Do check out Faith Girl's latest post. I posted the same day so many of you might have missed it. See? Even the most devout amongst us get sidetracked by all the hustle and bustle. Sometimes it takes a child to remind us of God's great gift to humanity. You can also view my Christmas rant here.
I hope you enjoyed my endorsement of Mike Huckabee and his call for a 'Fair Tax'. I highly recommend Ian's comment that he left behind on my post. Thank you sir for your insight. Here's an update (pdf format only) answering some of the questions that've been raised.
God's warning to us still rings true today. From the GFA, a story about anti-Christian extremists attacking two GFA missionaries in Haryana, India. I'm deeply moved by the fact that all this suffering that these missionairies endure is counted as 'privilege'.
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Not gonna happen. No way. I shudder at the thought of either Rudy or Hillary taking the helm of the world's most powerful country. Huckabee on the other hand is Chuck Norris approved. You got a problem with that?
Found this gem of an article at political mavens. You can view the original Fair Tax proposal in text form or in pdf format. Or be lazy and read the thumbnail sketch pasted below. It's so bloody simple it might actually work. This I do know: 'The Powers That Be' are terrified of this. That must be a good thing. Go get 'em Mike!
Johnny Cash
A comprehensive plan to replace income and payroll taxes
The FairTax proposal is a comprehensive plan to replace federal income and payroll taxes, including personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security/Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes. The FairTax proposal integrates such features as a progressive national retail sales tax, dollar-for-dollar revenue replacement, and a rebate to ensure that no American pays such federal taxes up to the poverty level. Included in the FairTax Plan is the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. The FairTax allows Americans to keep 100 percent of their paychecks (minus any state income taxes), ends corporate taxes and compliance costs hidden in the retail cost of goods and services, and fully funds the federal government while fulfilling the promise of Social Security and Medicare.
Americans take home their whole paychecks.
Not only do more Americans have jobs, but they also take home 100 percent of their paychecks (except where state income taxes apply). No federal income taxes or payroll taxes are withheld from paychecks, pensions, or Social Security checks.
The prebate makes the FairTax progressive.
To ensure no American pays tax on necessities, the FairTax Plan provides a prepaid, monthly rebate (prebate) for every registered household to cover the consumption tax spent on necessities up to the federal poverty level. This, along with several other features, is how the FairTax completely untaxes the poor, lowers the tax burden on most, while making the overall rate progressive. However, the FairTax is progressive based on lifestyle/spending choices, rather than simply punishing those taxpayers who are successful. Do you see how much freer life is with the FairTax instead of the income tax?
No tax on used goods. The amount you pay to fund the government is totally visible.
With the FairTax you are only taxed once on any good or service. If you choose to buy used goods − used car, used home, used appliances − you do not pay the FairTax. If, as a business owner or farmer, you buy something for strictly business purposes (not for personal consumption), you pay no consumption tax. The FairTax is charged just as state sales taxes are today. When you decide what to buy and how much to spend, you see exactly how much you are contributing to the government with each purchase.
Retail prices no longer hide corporate taxes or their compliance costs, which drive up costs for those who can least afford to pay.
Did you know that income taxes and the cost of complying with them currently make up 20 percent or more of all retail prices? It’s true. According to Dr. Dale Jorgenson of Harvard University, hidden income taxes are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices for everything you buy. If competition does not allow prices to rise, corporations lower labor costs, again hurting those who can least afford to lose their jobs. Finally, if prices are as high as competition allows and labor costs are as low as practical, profits/dividends to shareholders are driven down, thereby hurting retirement savings for moms-and-pops and pension funds invested in Corporate America. With the FairTax, the sham of corporate taxation ends, competition drives prices down, more people in America have jobs, and retirement/pension funds see improved performance.
The income tax exports our jobs, rather than our products. The FairTax brings jobs home.
Most importantly, the FairTax does not burden U.S. exports the way the current income tax system does. The FairTax removes the cost of corporate taxes and compliance costs from the cost of U.S. exports, putting U.S. exports on a level playing field with foreign competitors. Lower prices sharply increase demand for U.S. exports, thereby increasing job creation in U.S. manufacturing sectors. At home, imports are subject to the same FairTax rate as domestically produced goods. Not only does the FairTax put U.S. products sold here on the same tax footing as foreign imports, but the dramatic lowering of compliance costs in comparison to other countries’ value-added taxes also gives U.S. products a definitive pricing advantage which foreign tax systems cannot match.
The FairTax strategy is revenue neutrality: Neither raise nor lower taxes so consumer costs remain stable.
The FairTax pays for all current government operations, including Social Security and Medicare. Government revenues are more stable and predictable than with the federal income tax because consumption is a more constant revenue base than is income.
If you were in a 23-percent income tax bracket, the federal government would take $23 out of your paycheck for every $100 you made. With the FairTax, if the federal government gets $23 out of every $100 spent in America, the same total revenue is delivered to the federal government. This is revenue neutrality. So, instead of paycheck-earning Americans paying 7.65 percent of their paychecks in Social Security/Medicare payroll taxes, plus an average of 18 percent of their paychecks in federal income tax, for a total of about 25.65 percent, consumers in America pay only $23 out of every $100. Or about 30 percent at the cash register when they elect to spend on new goods or services for their own personal consumption. And this tax is collected only on spending above the federal poverty level, providing important progressivity.
Tax criminals – don’t make criminals out of honest taxpayers.
Today, the IRS will admit to 16 percent noncompliance with the code. FairTax.org will be generous and simply take the position that this is likely a conservative estimate of the underground economy. However, this does not take into account the criminal/drug/porn economy, which equally conservative estimates put at one trillion dollars of untaxed activity. The FairTax does tax this – criminals love to flash that cash at retail – while continuing to provide the federal penalties so effective in bringing such miscreants to justice. The substantial decrease in points of compliance – from every wage earner, investor, and retiree, down to only retailers – also allows enforcement to concentrate on following the money to criminal activity, rather than making potential criminals out of every taxpayer struggling to decipher the current code.
What is the FairTax Plan?
The FairTax Plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue replacement, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment. This nonpartisan legislation (HR 25/S 1025) abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax – administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities. The IRS is disbanded and defunded. The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.
What is Americans For Fair Taxation (FairTax.org)?
FairTax.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots organization solely dedicated to replacing the current tax system. The organization has hundreds of thousands of members and volunteers nationwide. Its plan supports sound economic research, education of citizens and community leaders, and grassroots mobilization efforts. For more information visit the Web page: FairTax.org or call 1-800-FAIRTAX.
It was Monday morning, the kids were in school and I was on a mission. I was hunting for a coveted Nintendo Wii system. It was at the top of all three of my children's wish lists... and as I was about to find out, it was apparently at the top of many other people's wish lists too.
I sat at my desk at 9:30 in my PJs (the joys of a stay-at -home mom) with my second cup of coffee and pulled out the good old fashioned phone book. My attack plan was to look up all the numbers of stores that may sell the system.
By 9:45 I had about 20 different numbers. I made the first call, "Yes, good morning. I'm calling to see if you have any Nintendo Wiis in stock." The kid on the other end of the line informed me that they'd received a shipment on Saturday but were sold out in a couple of hours. They didn't know when the next shipment was coming in. They couldn't hold any. They couldn't put me on a call or waiting list. During the next 15 minutes I ran through all my numbers with the same results. The best advice they could give me: Call every day and be prepared to jump in the car and get down to the store before they sold out.
I hung up the phone with one number left to try. To be honest, I really expected the same response from the last place, but I dialed anyways. "Good morning, I was wondering if there was even a remote possibility that you might have a Nintendo Wii in stock." A lady with a wonderful southern accent answered, "As a matter of fact we just got a shipment of 12." I nearly fell off my chair. "Can you hold one for me?" I asked. "No, I'm sorry we can't do that." She replied. "I can give you my VISA number." I offered. "I'm sorry ma'am. It's strictly first come first served." She replied.
Well, in a panic I dressed, skipped the teeth brushing and the hair brushing and the make-up and tore off in the car. I was a half hour drive from the store... I made it in fifteen minutes. The whole time I was driving I had this vision of me running into the store just as the last Wii was being packaged for someone who was two minutes ahead of me. I swung into a parking spot and ran full tilt into the store - I nearly bowled a sales associate over in my haste- ran up to the lady at the counter and panted, "I called. Do you still have any left?" They had eight left. She kindly agreed to put one aside for me (I wasn't allowed to put it into my cart until I payed for it) while I picked up extra nun chucks and Wiimotes so all three kids could play. Ten minutes later - with the crazy panic madman glint starting to leave my eye - I was being checked out. There was one Wii left. The man behind me asked for it, but he needed a nun chuck and the shelves were empty. "I'll just run upstairs and get you one." the sales girl said and ran off.
As I was paying for mine, a second man came in and asked for a Wii. The lady behind the counter took the last one out of the box and began to ring it through just as the sales girl came back with the nun chuck. "Excuse me." the first man said to the second one, rather aggressively, "But that Wii is mine, I was just waiting for a nun chuck." The lady behind the counter jumped in, "I'm sorry sir, but we can't hold Wiis." Then the sales girl tried to explain that he was just waiting for her to come back before he paid for it.
Well, I paid for my Wii and left as the argument got worse. I walked away from a couple of grown men who looked ready step over their own mother to get their hands on a gaming system. As I stepped out into the fresh air I had a paranoid moment where I pictured someone tackling me from behind and running off with my Wii.
I smiled to myself as I settled into the car as I thought about how crazy people can get during the holiday season. The smile didn't last as I drove home and my thoughts changed. How sad that we are willing to go so crazy for material things. I was suddenly embarrassed by my desperation. I preach to my children, "Christmas isn't about what you get under the tree. Jesus was the best gift of all." But I had to admit, that Monday morning, the only thing on my mind was getting a hold of a Wii. At that moment, a Wii seemed like the most important thing on Christmas morning. I felt like without it, Christmas would have been a disappointment.
That afternoon when my kids got off the bus, they saw the list I'd left on my desk with the list of stores and a note next to each saying 'Wii sold out' . My youngest came up to me and slipped her little hand in mine. She looked up at me with her big brown eyes full of love and she smiled. "Don't worry Mommy. I saw your note and I know you tried your best." She assured me. My eyes filled with tears as I swept her up into a big bear hug. I laughed to myself as I realized I had put more importance on the Wii than they had. I came first in their hearts. People before things. "Besides, the best gift ever was from God. He gave us Jesus." She finished. The wisdom of a child.
Alaska, a sensitive area to our north, is warming up at a rate five times faster than the rest of the world. This has proven to be a boon to ecotourism as park personnel have to be retrained to answer visitor's questions. Glaciers are indeed melting and signs of warming appear everywhere. This old earth has gone through many cycles of warming and cooling. The fact that we are indeed going through one of these warming cycles is no reason for hysteria.
Did you know that Yellowstone Park is one of the most active geothermal places in the world? The entire place is a huge ancient supervolcano. Here are some interesting facts about this unique place:
2) The magma pushing up on the caldera is likely about 38 miles long and 13 miles wide, approximately the size of Los Angeles.
Here's an interesting Bible passage from Revelation 6:12-14
I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Does this not sound like a massive eruption is taking place? 'The heaven departing as a scroll' sounds very much a major explosion is taking place. An argument could be made that it could be a nuclear blast but from this description volcanic activity cannot be ruled out. The sun becoming black as a sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood would frighten anyone. The amount of detritus in the atmosphere would block out the sunlight and discolor the sight of the moon. The 'stars of heaven falling to the earth' and being 'shaken of a mighty wind' sounds like pyroclastic flow. As well, earthquakes (and lightning) often accompany eruptions. Mountains and islands would be moved out of their places if the earthquake was large enough (though the actual displacement measured wouldn't have to be that large to fulfill this prophecy). Consider the Boxing Day tsunami of '04. A 9.0 earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean literally rang the earth like a bell for days afterward. And this wasn't even the largest earthquake ever recorded! A 9.5 was recorded at Chile on May 22, 1960.
So am I off track here? Only time will tell. If there is one point I'd like to make is this: The Bible is an unfailing prophetic lens through which we can see the future. It is both literal and trustworthy. Until this comes to pass, we'll have to wait and see. Mind you, I have no intention of actually being here when it happens. Hope that's true for you too.
