Abandoment Issued

Recently, I purchased a Brad Pogatetz photograph.  Brad, a local artist, presented his work in a local art fair.  I was nonplussed by the volume and the character of his work.  Brad’s photography reverently records the haunted dilapidation enshrined in the abandonment of man’s creations. (OK, I wrote this after two beers and a shot of 100 Anos tequila.)

In any case, I am impressed. 

http://bradpogatetz.com/

http://www.lakevieweastfestivalofthearts.com/

I Ain’t Missing You

One Debt to Rule Them All

The Hopey-Changey Barack-O-Meter hit a new low this past week.

American credit has been downgraded by Standard & Poors. This happened because of the economic and social policies of Barack Hussein Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats forced a debt ceiling deal that was nowhere near good enough to prevent the downgrade. It was the *Tea Party members of Congress who demanded substantial cuts to make our country fiscally sound. Instead, our time was ‘murdered’ by the Mad Hatter and his tea party.

But that’s not all….

There are over fourteen million people out of work. The effective unemployment rate is 20% of the population – one in five Americans. Many people have given up looking for work. BO, community-organizer-in-chief, continues to offer absolutely nothing of substance to turn the economy around. He proffers class warfare – the African dictator way of handling things. His version of social justice is to ransack the rich and feed his political coffers (while lavishing himself with many golf outings and a birthday week  bash– very African dictator like.)

BO continues to push for more government regulation and this only tightens the noose around small businesses. They die off every day.

Obamacare is a plague on our nation. Many corporations will drop their health care coverage. Many large companies have opted out. Many doctors will leave the practice. The passed-on cost of this health care ‘reform’ will shut the doors of many of the nation’s small businesses, the very life-blood of our economy. The voodoo social and economic policies of BO have brought a pox on all of us.

2012: There will be people who will continue to vote for the downgrade of the US – people who read Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, who follow MoveOn.org, Jim Wallis and other progressive panaceans.  There are people who only listen to Hollywood movie stars lecturing the public about social policies, ‘lobal’ warming and revised US history. These people will vote with their left hand because they don’t want to know what the right hand is doing.

“Barack Obama’s political genius is his ability to say things that will sound good to people who have not followed the issues in any detail — regardless of how obviously fraudulent what he says may be to those who have. Shameless effrontery can be a huge political asset, especially if uninformed voters outnumber those who are informed.” Thomas Sowell, economist

In stead of Hope and Change, BO’s 2012 campaign slogan should be, Be in Hock with Barack!

*In an amazing bout of stupidity and rancor this past week VP Joe Biden called Tea Party members “Terrorists”.  Joe must have felt threatened.  The only way a Tea Party member could even be considered a terrorist is when they threaten the status quo of politicians like Joe Biden.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/08/sp-drops-u-s-credit-rating-to-aa/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZUzuYoCkYAY

Where Have All the Bookstores Gone…?

With the closing of the Borders book stores I am fearful that others will follow. I need my tactile book-in-hand fix.  Amazon doesn’t do it for me and neither do the one-dimensional Nooks or E-books. I need the book cover to flirt with me, the inside jacket to draw me in and the inky scent of words to intoxicate me. I always give a book a once-over during the courting process.

For many years now I have regularly shopped for books at my local Barnes & Noble. When I enter the store at 9:00 am every Saturday morning I love to see all the books before me waiting like a massive orchestra for its conductor. I greet each section and then the libretto starts.

On these days you would find me browsing, investigating, brooding and dilly-dallying to my heart’s content. I like the fact that there is nothing ‘E’ about my visit. It is up front and personal.  Mano y mano. I need to wrestle with the pages.

 My Barnes & Noble store stocks DVDs and Music CDs as well as a large assortment of books to choose from. If they shut this store I may need to go on life support due to a binding withdrawal.

http://www.wttw.com/chicagotonight/video/TVss9Rp4wAN0Gy7wtrOnEmDmT4JKKusY/

Lamaze Breathing, Funny House Fugitves & Flabby Muscles

“O” brother, show me the jobs!: Our Growth Rate at 50 (percent of normal)


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BTW: Wall Street celebrated “‘O’s” birthday with a 512 point drop on Aug. 4th, 2011 and on Aug. 5th S & P downgraded US credit to AA+, the first downgrade in US history – more of Obama’s kind of hope and change! Get out your wallets!
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1092887891001/obamas-re-election-challenges-vulnerabilities/

Reckless Cartoon by Rick Mckee

The Paranormal in Me is Light

You may have watched shows on cable TV depicting paranormal activity. Hauntings, ghost sightings, etc. are documented via video and audio recorders and with transducers designed to pick up temperature change, Emf and so on.  The ghost hunters go to ‘known’ haunts like abandoned state prisons and mental institutions, grave yards and homes with weird happenings. It’s all put out there for the thrill seeking viewer.  Be careful, though.  You should be curious about spiritual things but there will be a price to pay for becoming involved in the dark side.

 Since early childhood I have been aware of the spiritual world.  I am sensitive to spiritual energy and often sense when there are spiritual things going on around me.  This was true when as a child I visited an abandoned German orphanage in a suburban Chicago village.  I understood that there were children everywhere as I walked through the empty dilapidated rooms.

 Driving across southern Wyoming and then into Medicine Bow National Forest I became keenly aware of immense spiritual energy.  I told the driver to stop the car.  I got out of the car and stood by the side of the road.  There was a strong spiritual presence on that hill.

 I became aware of an evil presence in a quaint 100 year-old home that I had purchased with my spouse many years ago. After living in the house for a year I knew why the previous couple had wanted to sell. In my spirit I understood that there was unsettled darkness in the place.  The home had strong negative spiritual energy. I believe this negativity affected the seller’s marriage. I was to learn a few years later that the neighbors had seen strange things going on in the upstairs bedroom.

  I finally asked an Anglican Priest and some friends to come over and to cleanse the house of demonic activity. The demonic force was incredibly strong.  The priest poured holy water onto the threshold of every room.  We prayed with our friends as he did this. 

 It was at that time that I had the sense that an Indian graveyard was on our plot of land. I had no historical basis for knowing this but I did sense that something had been disturbed.  The old house was a chicken farm some eighty years before and now something else had come to roost, apparently. I do believe that because we were Christians the demonic force was not free to harm us or to scare us.  We had put up crosses everywhere in our house.

 After living in the house for twelve years and spending most of the time wanting to leave the house I finally was free of its darkness. I sold the house for a loss – after receiving divorce papers. I was very anxious to get out of the place and be somewhere safe.  The constant negative energy wore me down.  I had become depressed to the point of wanting out all together.  Moving out of that house made a huge difference in my life for the better.

 To this day I sense spiritual energy.  In my mind’s eye I will see the Holy Spirit at work:  I will see a whirlwind or a tornado in my imagination.  I can sense when there is spiritual activity around me.  This activity is sometimes good and sometimes bad.  Usually, I sense a spiritual battle taking place between angels the forces of God and demons the forces of Satan.

 The reason I warn you about the becoming involved with spiritual forces is that these forces will most often be dark and deceptive forces.  In fact, you will know when a dark force is present unless you have given yourself completely over to evil.  You should also know that when a person you see on TV is sensing or speaking to someone from the ‘past’ they are intercepting a demonic presence.

 It is my opinion that those who have died and did not desire to believe in God and His Son Jesus Christ do walk the in a kind of purgatory (perhaps a parallel universe) where they are able to see life going on around them but they have no means of communicating with those who are alive. It is actually the demons who communicate.  They have the same information the ghost hunters do. You should not communicate with them, ever.

 The people on these thrill shows are bringing darkness upon themselves.  They will be affected by what they are doing and it will not be good.  They will become confused, self-hurting and deeply depressed. Stay away from these things. Don’t invite darkness in to your home by watching these things.

 The allure of Satan is that a person can supposedly have unlimited power if you submit to Him. Instead, you can become oppressed and then demon possessed if you continue to yield your will to Satan.  You gain nothing and Satan gains all of you. Stay away from witchcraft, spells, wiccan religion, demonology, séances and the worship of the gaia or the earth. Stay away from pagan religions. Stay away. You have everything to lose.

 If you want to understand something of the character and the effects of evil then read M. Scott Peck M.D.’s book People of the Lie:  The Hope for Healing Human Evil, copyright 1983.  Also, reference Walter Martin’s extensive research book The Kingdom of The Occult, copyright 2008.

 Because we are spiritual beings we are easily susceptible to spiritual darkness.  The darkness often appears with a little light to intrigue us.  In other words, lies have some truth in them to make you curious about them.  Stay away from the darkness and walk in the light of Christ.

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Get This Monkey off Our Backs – Just Say No to Debt

 

Heaven’s Home

At 3:38 am this morning I awoke melancholy from a very sad dream. Without giving you the details, the dream replayed my grief and loss from a divorce, especially the fact that my children and my family are no longer with me everyday. As I write this I am still reeling from the effect of this dream.

The end of this dream is mystifying, as dreams tend to be. I saw myself enter a business meeting with a woman friend of mine. We both sat down at a conference table across from our clients. I whispered to my friend that I wanted to borrow her engagement ring for the meeting. She handed me her diamond under the table and I put it on my ring finger. Then I awoke almost crying.

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If you have ever seen Terrence Malik’s movie Days Of Heaven and the scene of the singular house on the hill then you may have some idea of what I am about to describe.

Since childhood, my recurrent dream of heaven is a specific image: I see a small one room cottage sitting on the crest of a rolling hill. It is almost midday. Effusive 11:00 o’clock sunshine gilds the opulent scene. The light infuses everything including me. I am of it.

The cottage stands alone, nested in a bright sea of yellow flowers. I see the flowers move in waves as cool breezes wash my face with the freshest of air. The sun warms my cheeks. I face home. I know that this is my forever home. “Delight” is the only earthly word I can affix to my emotions.

The dream always has me looking at the cottage from a short distance. I have never been inside but I always sense that I will love living there. And though I am alone in the dream I do not feel alone. Rather, I know that Jesus comes to my home. My family comes and my parents come and those who have died come to this place. They are all bathed in the same golden light in this never-ending day.

There are imaginings of sumptuous feasts, of raucous laughter, of child’s play and of a complete collapse into the arms of the One Who’s hands are forever scarred.

What has been lost has now been regained seven-fold. Heaven.