Peace

We are promised peace by The Saviour, and admonished not to worry.

In the best of times it isn't easy.

This is not the best of times in many ways.

Our culture has slipped into an accepted state of depravity in my life time.
What was once intolerable in society is now not only accepted, in many cases it is applauded.
It seems most Americans care more about so called stars and noteworthies than they do morality and ethics.
How much of the news is taken up with their shameless exploits?
Put a clock to it sometimes. You will be appalled.

Abortion, greed, millions of women forced to raise their children without help from the fathers,
and the unstoppable trend towards total dependency on our government is cause for great grief and concern.

Instead of fixing our local schools, we bus children past a school in their own neighborhood to one miles away. They spend time sitting on a bus that could be spent at home.
Long days are the norm for most of our public school young ones.
Our local school guru's recently told concerned parents who were protesting reassignment,
and I paraphrase "Go jump in the Lake!"

A dedicated parent has only two other options, home school or private school at great expense.
We are still financially recoverning from taking the private school route for 12 years with our own son.
And I paid and I am still paying school property taxes.

The danger of depending on our government, no matter who is in charge was illustrated again this week.

President Obama was elected at least in part by his pledge to "clean up" our government, and demand ethics.
Two of his appointments had to withdraw yesterday because they failed to pay income tax.
Several others should have, but defiantly refused to and were confirmed anyway.
Including the man who will lead the Treasury Department.
That's right, the one which includes the I.R.S.
Try not paying your taxes and then offer a lame excuse when caught. Good luck with that!

When details of the so called Stimulous Bill started leaking, public approval started dropping.
335 Million for STD prevention (translated: condoms) that Speaker Pelosi placed in the bill.
4 Billion dollars for A.C.O.R.N., a political action group that solely supports the party in power.

Some financial experts estimate that only 12% of the 900 Billion dollar bill actually has the potential to create real jobs and stimulate the economy.
The rest is Pork and political payback.

And every penny of it is our money.
Your tax dollars and mine.

It doesn't really seem to matter who sits behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
It's still business as usual for the pigs at the public trough in Congress.

My own job is nowhere near secure.
The corporation overall is well behind plan already this year.
Everywhere my travels take me people are worried about their ability to take care of their families.
No one wants a government hand-out, we just want to work.

And it is just the tip of the iceburg I fear.
Things will get much worse before they get better, and it will last far longer than we have been told by the media and the government.

I've been there before, but this time it looks far worse than ever before in my lifetime.
It's a scary world out there in our economy.

Just now The President gave a brief talk announcing measures to limit executive compensation.
I can't muster up any sympathy for corporate honchos, especially those that took big salaries and bonuses while their companies nose dived, and good working rank and file employees lost their jobs.

But how will that create jobs and stimulate the economy?
Will it halt inflation, restore faith in the financial system and grow the stock market?
I think not.

It is mere window dressing to play upon the public's anger towards a very small sement of the economy.

I feel a bit sorry for President Obama.
He wanted the job, and now he knows why past Presidents seem to age far beyond the years they spent in office.

It's not an easy chair to sit in, especially given the usual crew of greedy stooges in Congress he is forced to work with.

Peace? It can only come from the I Am.

Try to take a mini-sabbatical from the news.
Take a walk instead, don't pick up a paper or read any news on the Net.
See a funny movie (maybe the Pink Panther II, it looks hysterical!)
Do something silly with your kids, or if you are ancient as I am, my lovely wife.

We plan on doing that this weekend.

"My peace I give to you."
I am claiming that promise, and will do my part to actually accept it day to day.