Free Advice and Opinions

All religious organizations that accept 501-c-3 tax exempt status agree not to use the pulpit to propound political points of view, although only some are held to this standard by the Media and, more notably, by the IRS. That is, they sell their prerogative to speak for “501-c-30 pieces of silver”.
What preacher is haughty enough to assert that his calling is of more value to humanity than other avocations? Today in America, just about all of them are: their religious businesses are immune from taxes because, it is presumed, they do good for society, but is that not also true of truck drivers? Educators? Artists, athletes? Physicians? Lawyers, despite the bad name earned by some of them for all of them?
Priests, Rabbis, Imams, all who preside over religions that have the “blessing” of the IRS will ignore this, some may have the temerity to dispute it. Not one will relinquish tax-exempt status, nor will most parishioners query them on this subject. Never mind that the First Amendment prohibits the federal government’s favoring any religion or religions over others.
The God I worship is beyond our comprehension. We exist only through God’s Grace, and it should be our endeavor to do only those things that are pleasing in His Sight, and we should be grateful. Call that simplistic, or simply simple, that is my religion.
My religion, of course, is not recognized by the IRS. Is yours? If so, does that bolster your faith, or undermine it?

Abramoff, Cunningham, Rottencrookski, FBI’s recent “Tennessee Waltz” sting, the list is sickeningly long.
Why do we not hear more about any of them? Only one reason seems plausible, the same reason that Gingrich didn’t have anything to say about Clinton’s cigar embarrassments, even when those embarrassments extended to accusations of perjury and subornation of perjury. Gingrich has since married his reason, I’m told.
It gets worse: look at Joe Wilson, look at Robert Novak’s recent article about J. Edgar Hoover, and behold the reason I am ambivalent about which is more terrifying, having or not having FBI/CIA. I don’t doubt that there are some good-hearted agents in both the Bureau and the Agency, but both groups, taken as whole units, are two-tera-bit political whores, flat ‘n forked before the quarter hits the floor.

“Holiday Trees”
Christians in the United States have lately been at pains to express their outrage at the apparent aversion of many other US Citizens to use words such as “Christmas”, but few have taken time to ponder why, so, ever at your service, I will examine this question, with your kind indulgence.

Please consider the notorious phrase “Separation of Church and State”. While many note, and others fail to note, that it is absent from the Constitution, thinkers are wise to reflect on just what Jefferson meant, to wit that the federal government should not be used to force the chosen religion of a numerical majority onto others who subscribe to a different belief. I submit that Jefferson may have meant well, but in fact today Christianity, or more accurately a theocratic perversion of Christianity known as “conservativism”, politically dominates our country, and its only significant rival is communism, which goes by the more politically palatable name “liberalism”. Only political expediency prevents them from accurately, honestly naming their political machines, “conservative theocrats” and “liberal communists” respectively.

With good reason, “liberals” fear that “conservatives” will continue their attempts to exert control over their fellow citizens through government force; in a word, they fear theocracy. With equally good reason, “conservatives” fear that if the “liberals” return to political prominence, they will consolidate and extend that power through vote-buying wealth redistribution programs; in a word, they fear communism.

For purely economic reasons, most media “spin” what they call news, either right or left. The Senatus Populae-que Americanae, we, don’t wish to be seen as the cause of social malaise, and only a paucity among us dare ask ourselves critically if, and if so how and to what degree, we are indeed to blame. We sleep so much better when we unequivocally blame social malaise on the other side. Knowing this, the media know that their -literally- precious Arbitron ratings, “sweeps week” ratings, and other measurements of audience size and demographic, depend on entertaining us and reaffirming our beliefs. It is for precisely this reason that “liberal” media outlets eschew such terms as Christmas, while “conservative” ones never miss one chance to say “Merry Christmas”.

It is my painful duty to accuse both Liberals and Conservatives of ignoring the Constitution, which was intended to constrain the federal government in order that it could in fact be “of, by, and for” all of us. The only way I see to redress this is for all of us to expect much less of the federal government, and to demand that it do only those things allowed by the Constitution.