Did Chik fil a crumble to money?

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2014/03/did_chick-fil-a_ceo_dan_cathy.html.

     Here is a link to a story related to the heading above I think Mr Cathy has sacrificed his Christian beliefs for the expansion of his chain. I admired his first stance and standing for what God says is wrong in His word,  it is not Mr Kathy's views but God's laws . We need a good strong Christian men and women to take a strong stand against the immorality of today's society.

     We need more a Christian business men and women to make a stand like he did formerly, and not Christians who are in  business!

The Death of the Tea Party

It has been my observation that when things political or social get out of balance, people will almost always over correct. Such is the case with the Tea Party. It got it's start because we as a country have drifted away from the principles and ideas our Founding  Forefathers laid out for us in the Constitution.

Now to be fair, do we need to get back to Patriots ideas that they laid out?

Yes I believe we do. But let us keep in mind as to what great lengths the Founders went to to make sure there would always be a balnce of power. After living under a monarchy/theocracy they knew all to well what happens when a person, group or political faction gets too much power.

So with that in mind they set up a form of government with 3 branches. The Legislative, Judicial and Executive. Like a 3 legged stool, if one leg is missing, it won't work. These 3 branches are designed to balance out one another and to provide a healthy amount of suspicion of one toward the others.

The Tea Party tried to get us back to this point and failed. Why? Because they adopted from the start a no comprimise policy when lobbying Congress.

Anyone who has followed politics or served on any kind of board or commitee can tell you that will not work ever.

I went to the first Tea Party rally they had in Tulsa. It was at Veterans park, and they were promoting ideals I closely identify with. While I was there I signed up for some follow up e-mail updates to see what the group had planned.

It didn't take long to figure out this was a right wing extremist group.

If there was one underlying principle the Founders wanted in their new form of goverment it was moderation! They went to geat lengths, as mentiond above, to try to keep things politically centred. In other words in exact opposite of what the Tea Party ideals are.

How can a group that tries to so closely identify with the Founders, yet at the same time be for a point of view politically opposite the Founders?

With such contradictions as this as their platform, the only thing surprising about this group is how long they have lasted!

Apathy in America

Just read this on Chuck Coulson's website Viewpoint and thought I would pass it along really makes you wonder about the future of America when we do not take more of a part in the political process. We stand the chance of losing our liberties if we don't exercise them. We like to complain, but are we willing to do anything about it? Apathy in America

A State Financial Tornado

As if the national financial crisis wasn't enough the state is woefully underfunded in the seven state workers retirement funds, i.e. teachers, highway patrol, highway dept., ect. Economist Arnold King called it " A Bernie Madoff". Right now we are at a 60.7% funding level, in other words we have only 60% of the funds necessary to fund the pensions we have promised these workers. I heard a story on NPR this last week addressing this problem, they started by comparing Nebraska and Kansas. Two states who are geographically close, but light years apart when it comes to funding their teacher retirement funds. Nebraska uses a 401K plan where the monies are invested and have a chance to grow much faster that the rate of inflation (the only way to save enough money to retire on in my opinion) Kansas on the other hand uses the old style pension fund which basically your employer sets aside a set amount based on your wages and draws a small amount of interest. These worked back in the day before inflation overtook them, but no more. It is comparable to a company trying to do business like it did 40 years ago and trying to compete in today's market. It simply is not going to happen. If Oklahoma does not adapt a different way to handle it's retiree's funding we will simply be putting off a debt that will sooner or later have to be paid. It seems to me that the Baby Boomer generation has no problem with pushing debt upon the following generations just as long as they don't have to deal with it ( see earlier post "Financial ticking time bomb"). The Boomers have always been known as the Me Generation or for being very selfish. This follows the pattern set for the last 40 years ever since they entered this society as adults. Nobody likes taxes, but something is going to have to be done (read tax increase) because our state legislature keeps increasing benefits in the form of retirement increases with no visible funding. Our state workers deserve better than this Oklahoma and we can do better. It may take electing the right people, but that is what elections are for.