The Ethics of Big Business

I have a friend who attended a recent auto union gathering.  The members were assembled to vote on a new agreement with General Motors (actually Big Government Motors).  There were concessions they would have to make if they were going to keep their jobs.  I understand voting to lose benefits for yourself.  Jobs are scarce and everyone has to make adjustments.  What I don't understand or agree with is Joe Union Worker voting to eliminate the benefits of workers who have retired.  Retired workers were promised certain benefits.  Now they no longer exist.  I guess union workers really don't care about former union people.  The attitude seems to be "kick 'em to the curb."

What I am really miffed about is healthy workers eliminating court ordered payments from GM to workers who were injured on the job.  Because of the lackadaisical attitude of management and a failure to follow safety procedures my friend was hit by a forktruck.  GM was declared to be at fault by a judge and ordered to pay $$$$ every month to this injured worker.  The responsibility of GM to continue to pay workers injured on their watch has been overturned by a union vote.  My anger is boiling because at the urging of union leadership fellow union members have voted to override a judgement in a court of law.  How can this be legal?  In fact, how can this be moral or ethical?  When will we begin to look at things from the other person's point of view as well as our own BEFORE we make a final decision?  One day those who made this awful decision will likely be "kicked to the curb" by others.  After all some principles never die.  Among those is this one "we reap what we sow."

Unite - Are You Kidding?

This is not original with me.  I received it in an e-mail.  The author is not identified.  I share the ideas presented here and wanted to share it with you.

I have noted that many elected officials, both Democrats and  Republicans, called upon America to unite behind Obama.  Well, I want to  make it clear to all who will listen that I AM NOT uniting behind Obama! 

I will always respect the Office which he holds, and I will acknowledge his developing abilities as an orator and wordsmith, But that is it. 

I have begun today to see what I can do to make sure that he is a one-term President! 

Why am I doing this? 

It is because I do not share Obama's vision for America;

I do not share his Abortion beliefs;

I do not  share his radical Marxist's concept of re-distributing wealth;

I do not  share his stated views on raising taxes on those who make $150,000+ (the  ceiling has been changed three times since August...I think it started at $250,000); 

I do not share his view that the military should be reduced by 25%; 

I do not share his views on homosexuality and his definition of marriage;

I do not share his spiritual beliefs (at least the ones he has made public);

I do not share his beliefs on how to re-work the healthcare system in America;

I do not share his Strategic views of the Middle East, and certainly do not share his plan to sit down with terrorist regimes such as Iran. 

Bottom line, my America is vastly different from Obama's, and I have a higher obligation to my Country and my God to do what is Right! 

For eight (8) years, the Liberals in our Society, led by numerous entertainers who would have no platform and no real credibility but for their celebrity status, have attacked President Bush, his family, and his spiritual beliefs! 

They have not moved toward the center in their beliefs or their philosophies, and they never came together nor compromised their personal beliefs for the betterment of our Country! 

They have portrayed my America as a land where everything is tolerated except being intolerant! 

They have been a vocal and irreverent minority for years; they have mocked and attacked the very core values so important to the founding and growth of our Country! 

They have made every effort to remove the name of God or Jesus Christ from our Society! 

 They have challenged capital punishment, the right to bear firearms, and the most basic principles of our criminal code; they have attacked one of the most fundamental of all Freedoms, the right of  free speech! 

Unite behind Obama? 

Not today. 

I am sure many of you who read this think that I am going overboard, but I refuse to retreat one more inch in favor of those whom I believe are sheep being led to slaughter, or at least to the kool-aid fountain!   

PRESIDENT BUSH made many mistakes during his Presidency and I am not sure how history will judge him. 

However, I believe that he weighed his decisions in light of the long established Judeo-Christian principles of our Founding Fathers!!! 

Majority rules in America , and I will honor the concept; however, I will fight to be a voice in opposition to Obama and "his goals for America ." 

I am going to be a thorn in the side of those  who, if left unchecked, will destroy our Country!!  Any more compromise is  more defeat! 

I pray that the results of this election will wake up many who have sat on the sidelines and allowed the Socialist-Marxist, anti-God crowd to slowly change so much of what has been good in America ! 

"Error of Opinion may be tolerated where Reason is left free 
to combat it."  (Thomas Jefferson) 

God bless you and God bless our Country!!! 

And It Came To Pass

And it came to pass on a delightfully bright and sunny spring day President Obama decided to get into the auto making business.  I am so glad this happened after he appeared on Jay Leno - at least that helped prepare us for the hilarity of his comedic role as the leader of the ever weakening country he has been chosen to lead.

Does he really think he has the answers for fiscal responsibility in the private sector of business when he can't keep his own political house in order?  I have never seen the government get involved in anything and improve it.  Once the government's hands are pulling the reins ruin and disaster soon follow.  

I am most agitated about the fact that ordinary citizens have no recourse.  We are supposed to smile and take it on the chin (or worse).  GM and Chrysler have both taken billions of our taxpayer dollars.  Their appetite for this money is insatiable.  But FORD hasn't taken a dime.  How is it possible one of the big three is remaining solvent while the other two are bankrupt?  

I have devised my own strategy for dealing with this problem.  If enough Americans would do this I believe it would make a difference.  I have decided not to do business with any corporation which has taken bail out money.  I will bank at a localized bank not a international one.  I will buy my next vehicle from Ford.  I will do everything I can to make sure I am supporting United States businesses.  Go ahead and scream about protectionism.  I don't really care.  There comes a time when we need to get our own house in order.  We don't need to spread our wealth to other parts of the world when our own citizens are begging for jobs.  Its time to stand up and support our own.  Its also time to send a clear message to the professional politicians that we will no longer put up with their double speak, lies and dishonesty.  Its make or break time for the United States.  I choose to put my energy toward the make side of the ledger.  I hope you will too.  

United States Depends on...

Talk Radio reports "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held a photo opportunity today with Congressman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee and Dan Mote, President of Maryland University.

Speaker Pelosi said that funding from the recovery package to assist science and innovation was “already making a difference.” She said, “It’s a recognition that our country depends on education, on science and technology, and our recovery package reflects that.”

Congressman Gordon said, “There approximately six and half billion people in the world and of those who are working about half of those make less than $2 a day.” He hoped that money invested into science and research would ensure that future generations have a better standard of living."

This is precisely what is wrong with the current leanings of the leadership in the United States. Speaker Pelosi's insistence "that our country depends on education, on siciene nad technology..." is true but is also dangerous.  I have a penny in my hand.  It may be worth more melted down than it is as currency right now.  The overarching message on the penny is not about science or education or technology.  It isn't about the greatness of Abrahm Lincoln whose likeness graces the front of this coin.  The overarching message at the top of the coin is "In God We Trust."  While Speaker Pelosi rattles the empty cans of trust and dependence on education and science she is blatantly silent about "Trust In God."  

I am not saying or even implying education, science and technology are not important - they are. But overemphasizing their importance and ignoring the motto of the country is, in my mind, very close to treason.  Of course I have been known to overstate the obvious.  Let me make a stab at understating it.  Speaker Pelosi is leading by example.  The question is where is she taking us.  If the destination is a return to the original ideas which led us down the road to becoming the greatest nation in the world I will willingly and gladly follow.  But if the path leads closer to socialism or communism; if the road leads into the wilderness of servitude and want I will continue to write and live in opposition.

By the way Congressman Gordan, deporting our manufacturing jobs to third world countries has made us poorer and other nations richer.  If this hasn't helped stem the tide of poverty in some areas of the world why did we adopt the plan?  Other nations will not be helped by spreading the wealth.  Our financial base is like water in a glass.  Spill the water on the counter and it loses its depth.  Socialism has already proven non-effective.  Why are you pointing us in the direction of failure?

Socialist Leanings Continue

President Obama recently appointed the Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, as the Director of Health and Human Services.  Kathleen is a woman whose leanings toward Socialism are as blatant as those of the President.  She attempted to force legislation which would have created mandatory public funded health care in Kansas.  Fortunately the State Legislature was a little more sensible. So, instead of diversity in the President's cabinet we are getting more of the same. And it bothers me.  It bothers me because the guidebook of my life, the Bible, advises care in the selection of friends and counselors.  All of us tend to become like those with whom we associate. In my opinion the United States has been placed on a slippery slope sliding toward disaster.  The United States, instead of being a power to be reckoned with, is becoming a power to be ignored.  Like a school bully we can threaten a severe beating based on past victories but we really don't have the power (or is it "the will") to follow through.  We are no longer a leader we have become a follower - a follower of failed Soviet bloc and European attempts to govern with mandatory sharing of reduced resources.  

Such thoughts were whirring through my mind today when I began reading the Bible.  I have been wondering if there is any answer.  I asked at one point in my musings "is God delivering us into captivity or is Satan destroying us?"  If I could make a choice between the two I would choose the first.  However, when I began reading today I read something which gave me hope and I just had to share it.

"Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.  I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.'" And God said to me, "focus on who I am."  It is easy for me to forget the greatness and almighty, everlasting power of God when I see the direction we are being forced to take because of the decisions of politicians who have little love for this country.  "Focus on who God is."  When I do focus on Him the enormity of the problems desolve.  

"Surely I have a delightful inheritance."  Focus on a future the present cannot destroy.  Do what you can to right the wrongs and direct others to the right path - but remember you have to leave this place to reach the next.  So don't lose sleep over unrighteous people who make unrighteous decisions which lead people down an unrighteous road.  You should expect nothing else from them.  "Surely I have a delightful inheritance."

"I will praise the Lord who counsels me..."  I don't take my orders from politicians.  They may succeed in pushing the country in the wrong direction but they will not push me in that direction as long as I allow the Lord to counsel me.  Focus on the directions of the Lord.  "I have set the Lord always before me.  Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure..."  Wow!  Thank you Father! Just what I need when I need it - that's what He continues to supply.  Live what you know is right.  Depend on the direction the Lord provides.  Trust in the care of the Father.  Now ask yourself - what do I have to fear?  

There's A Storm Coming

One of the first things I do in the morning after getting out of bed is look outside.  It's a habit I developed years ago.  It has stayed with me throughout my life.  It isn't very profitable I guess. I just want to see what its like outside. When I leave the safety of my house I want to know what to expect.

 Today the sky is heavily overcast.  The sun is hidden somewhere behind the thick layer of clouds. They aren't the menacing kind of clouds I sometimes see in the spring and summer. They are just overcast clouds and nothing to worry about – just like many of the days I have seen before.  The birds are still flying, dogs are still barking and all-in-all its just a normal winter day.

There are those people, known as weather prognosticators, more commonly known as weather forecasters, who are sounding an alarm.  They are saying a winter storm is coming.  It may dump seven or more inches of snow.  At times they predict the snow will be falling at a rate of two inches per hour.  That’s a lot of snow.

 But, you know what?  I’ve heard this all before.  Weather forecasters and even a government agency have made fearful predictions before.  Most of the time they don’t come true.  It has gotten to the point where I take everything they have to say with a grain of salt.  A shrug of the shoulders and an “oh, right…” trailing off my tongue and I continue on my way.

 Dire predictions are being heard today.  Predictions of things getting much worse before they get better; of house values continuing to fall; of joblessness continuing to rise and of rebellion and discord in our country are being stated publicly.  And, like my response to a winter storm warning, many people hear the predictions and dismiss them as the ravings of right wing lunatics or fear mongering newscasters.  

 Through the years I have learned even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.  The fact of faulty predictions does not nullify the accuracy of truthful ones.  The danger in easily dismissing a warning is this - one warning may be right.  If we refuse to heed words of warning and the storm hits we are at best foolish and at worst doomed to experience all the violence the storm produces.

 Most of us choose to ignore the warning or worse than that to shut the forecaster’s mouth.  We figure if no one says it, it won’t happen.  The authorities tried to do this in the Bible, you know.  The rationale was if we deal with the troublesome talker the problem is solved.  “When the priest Passhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate…” (Jeremiah 20:1-2a)  Deal with the man doing the warning.  Beat him.  Put him in jail.  Let him rot.  Skewed thinking, don’t you think?  We may be “more civilized” (whatever that means) in our treatment of voices of warning today – but we accomplish the same thing.  Shut them up, they are scaring the people.  Perhaps people need to become scared.  Perhaps we need to be shaken out of  the doldrums and given a good dose of reality.

 I heard a government official make this comment – “the government will have to take over the banks for a time until they can be stabilized.”  The truth is our government always begins with “for a time” but it never ends that way.  Once the government gets its hooks of regulation into any private enterprise “for a time” has vanished.  Government control never leaves.  There never has been and never will be anything free from the government.  Bailouts come tied with the governmental rope of regulation.  And in the government’s hands ropes are used for strangling.  Oh, by the way, I thought you'd like to know, it’s beginning to snow!

 

The Answer

I am doing a lot of thinking about the state of the United States.  I have a son-in-law who was spared being laid off a couple of weeks ago.  He knew something was afoot in the company he worked for.  The rumor was 30% of the global workforce would be terminated.  He didn't know if he was to be one of those or not.  He was fortunate.

It would be easy to think the worst is passed.  That's not so.  He has been told the company is bringing people to the States for training.  In fact, what is happening is the remaining stateside workers are expected to train the foreigners.  They will train them so the foreigners can take away their jobs.  

I am concerned for my children.  What does the future hold for them?  There is no way to tell.  I am not worried for myself.  I have been receiving Social Security for a year and my wife is now receiving it too.  We are set.  Our future is as firm as the government.  Wait a minute.  Now that I write that I'm not sure I like the sound of it.  I guess I have something to worry about too.

What about the politicians?  How secure are they?  They act as if nothing can hurt them.  Their future is as secure as the United States government.  Do they really understand this?  I have some questions for those who are elected to serve us.  Is your future really as secure as you pretend it to be?  Why didn't we hear anything about our senators and representatives losing thousands of dollars in the stock market?  Do they have investments there?  Why weren't they affected by the dramatic drop?  Did they receive information from inside sources?  Did they have information which protected them from significant loss?  Why aren't they nervous?  Aren't their jobs at risk?  Why don't they take cuts in pay and perks?  Is there something in the stimulus package which is a personal stimulus for them?  Out of the billions of dollars they want to give away are they giving some to themselves?  Their future is only as bright as the future of our country and right now the future is in doubt and the present is quite shaky.  

Then in answer to my questions and confusing ramblings I read this:

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  There is a river who streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.   God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts.  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.  Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations He has brought on the earth.  He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, He burns the shields with fire.  Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.  (Psalm 46 NIV)

The Fool

It occurred to me this morning, as I continued to grapple with the decline of prosperity and values in the United States, our country is being run by fools.  I use the  word fool not in the sense of the absence of any sign of intelligence but in the sense of any sign of good sense and/or judgement. Our beloved country is being subverted from within.  The very people we have elected to serve us have become drunk with the power of leadership.  As the old saying goes, if power corrupts then absolute power corrupts absolutely.  

I know you may take exception to what I am writing and that's okay.  One thing we still have, although I don't know for how long, is freedom to express our agreement or disagreement with others - commonly called freedom of speech.  Although this seems to be in jeopardy too.  

Only a fool would give billions of dollars away with no strings attached.  Who would have thought the men and women who are supposed to be serving us would give away our money with no rules of oversight to businesses which have proven themselves to be fiscally irresponsible.  The very businesses which would turn themselves down for a loan if they applied to their own bank are welcomed by politicians with arms full of free money.  I don't know what you call that but I call it foolish.

What is foolish for individuals is foolish for groups as well.  Do they think the wisdom of the Bible doesn't apply to them?  Are the laws of wise conduct suspended for politicians?  "A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor." (Proverbs 17:18)  The borrower is always servant to the lender.

Socialism Has Arrived

A pre-election interview in October of 2008 with now Vice-President Biden really had me steamed. In case you missed the interview I'll give the short version. WFTV's Barbara West was conducting the interview with Biden when she wondered out loud about a comment then Senator Obama had made to Joe the Plumber about spreading the wealth of the United States. She quoted Karl Marx and then asked Biden what the difference was between the philosophy of Karl Marx and that of Senator Obama.

You would have thought the sky had fallen on Senator Biden. He was flustered and refused (not failed) to answer the question. Was he not prepared for this kind of question? Or was he making an attempt to hide the well kept secret agenda of the far left politicians? With a chuckle designed to remove the embarrassment Biden asked "Are you kidding?" Ms. West answered "No." Senator Biden refused to answer the question. 

Later in the interview she wondered about Biden's comments that Obama could be tested early in his presidency. When she asked if this meant the United States was becoming weaker Biden shot back an angry stare and admitted he didn't know who was writing her questions. Which, of course, brought us no closer to the truth.

A report later stated the Obama people had decided to cut this station out of the loop of access to press releases. Was it Biden who stated, "this television news program has to be taught a lesson. If you ask the wrong questions you get cut off." Isn't this press manipulaton? Is the press being held captive by a political machine which is afraid to allow the general population of America to know the truth? What has happened to freedom of the press? Today "freedom of the press" means freedom to tell the American people what the elite think they need to hear. Are we really at a point in American life where we need someone else to make the hard decisions for us? If our politicians can hold the press hostage, if they will tell us only what they want us to hear and if our wealth, past and present, continues to be freely exported how far are we from living the definition of socialism?