Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

      It seems that predicting the future is a thriving industry. Forecasters of doomsdays, fiscal cliffs, etc. as well as numerous seers who can predict one's love life, financial success, you name it, are a dime a dozen. I wish I had the ability to write one's horoscope; my financial future would be assured. Oh wait, that requires the gift of BS - not ESP.      But I digress. The industry goes back thousands of years; the magi who sought the Christ child were astrologers. (Traditionally there were three of them, but the Bible doesn't mention the actual number.) And that was the start of the segment of “prophets” that I am getting very tired of hearing from: those who predict the complete disintegration of society because we have “kicked God out of our schools.”      Face it, folks, we did not kick God out of our schools . As I understand it, God is everywhere that we are. According to Psalm 139, “. . . if I descend into hel...

     When I read in yesterday's newspaper that the Rapture was coming on May 21st at 6 pm, I thought about calling my attorney to make sure that my estate, such as it is, would go to persons among the chosen few. Then I realized that I had no way of telling who would be chosen and who would not.      Further reflection convinced me that it doesn't matter – those chosen would not need what little pittance I had planned for them, while those remaining behind would be too busy suffering the events of the Tribulation.      Perhaps a little digression would be good at this point. According to Wikipedia, the Rapture is a reference to 1st Thessalonians 4:15-17, in which Paul cites "the word of the Lord" about the return of Jesus to gather his saints. ...and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be raptured (or "caught up") together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.  ...

      When Bill Clinton was running for the presidency against George H. W. Bush, the catch phrase for his campaign was “It’s the economy, stupid.” Just as James Carville hung a sign containing that slogan in Clinton’s campaign headquarters, so should Barack Obama have the same reminder on banners all over the White House.       Obama’s campaign promised change and hope, but change has gotten out of control, and hope seems to be retreating into the hills. Every poll indicates that healthcare is way down on the list of voters’ concerns. Now the primary focus is on jobs, jobs, jobs.       Presently there is a bill in the Senate which would grant an exemption to an employer for each new hire during 2010. In addition, if the employee stays on the job for 52 weeks, the employer will get a $1,000 business tax credit in 2011.       I have a bit of trouble understanding how this will do much t...

As I have written previously (see 8/30/09), on many mornings I partially wake up and allow “seeds” of ideas to “germinate” in my head. But it doesn’t work that way every morning. Today, for example, I was busily dreaming right through the time when I usually start to get into that “half awake, half asleep” state that I think of as my period of communication with my Muse. (The Greeks had a really odd and poetic way of putting things). Anyway, it was one of those complicated dreams that is chock full of things that are contrary to common sense. In this dream I finally did as I have done before: even though I was deep in dreamland I realized that, “This is a dream. I must wake up.” But it didn’t work. Barbara was in the dream, and I finally told her (in the dream, of course) that I was dreaming, and asked her to poke me so that I would wake up. Which she did, but it didn’t help. Finally I began to awaken, but in this in-between state, I thought that I was only dreaming that I was wa...