I was wondering why the Bush administration pushed through a tax cut in such hard economic times and ever increasing budget deficits. I don’t remember anybody complaining too much about taxes. I don’t understand much about finances, but it seems to go against common sense to reduce your income when your outflow has stayed the same or has increased. (And don’t we have to pay for George’s little war?) I had heard some say that a tax cut was needed to help stimulate the economy; but, after reading an article by Paul Krugman, I fear next year—an election year!
Basically the idea is that the Bush administration wants to cut back on social programs Americans are use to, like Medicare and Social Security. They know that they cannot come out in front and purpose budget cuts in those areas, so they are going to create a back door—reduce tax revenues and force a possible budget crisis. Then they can reduce or eliminate the funding for such social programs.
But the people now running America aren’t conservatives: they’re radicals who want to do away with the social and economic system we have, and the fiscal crisis they are concocting may give them the excuse they need. The Financial Times, it seems, now understands what’s going on, but when will the public wake up?
(I am also worried about all the recent talk about Iran harboring terrorists now and suggestions of an another invasion. Is Bush going to hopscotch his way around the world, invading countries he does not trust?)
America needs someone to speak up from the left to balance out all of the actions from the right. In the current weak economy, anyone wanting to run against Bush next year only has to ask the voting public one question from an earlier presidential election, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
Fifty years ago today, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
The Mars Global Surveyor took this picture of Earth (image on left) from the orbit of Mars on May 8, 2003 at 8:00 am CDT. (The image on the right has a map superimposed on the left image to indicate the early morning sun over North and South America.) “This is the first image of Earth ever taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk.”
“The bright area at the top of the image of Earth is cloud cover over central and eastern North America. Below that, a darker area includes Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. The bright feature near the center-right of the crescent Earth consists of clouds over northern South America.”
I have been fortunate to witness two events in the last week that touched my heart in a new and profound way. In both events, I felt God’s presence. During both events, a duality came about where part of me participated in the events, and another part of me stepped out of myself and witnessed the unfolding of the events. And in that part of my conscience that witnessed the events, I felt God among the people and in myself. I reveled in it.
The first event was last Friday at a high school graduation. I felt His love when I was among the students before the ceremony, sitting with the teachers during, and with their families afterward. It was a celebration of the many for the many.
The second event was last night’s ordination of a priest. What an awesome celebration! Again, it was a ceremony full of friends, family, and faithful. And again, I felt His love. It was a celebration of the many for the one.
Both events were a celebration of Him in us.
At Heathrow Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a compass, a protractor, and a graphing calculator. Authorities believe he is a member of the notorious Al’Gebra movement. He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction.