Hokum???????

[The picture is huge so the hologram can be seen]

The other day I found a Power Balance bracelet with a torn band. It got me thinking because these things are supposed to enhance sports performance, improve balance, flexibility, and so on.

The bracelet is rubber with two hologram discs embedded. How can this possibly do anyone any good at all? Curious as to how these bracelets work, I took it home and did some research. I went to the web site and found no information as to how they affect the body. Wanting answers I e-mailed Power Balance.

“Nice web page but it does not describe HOW the holograms affect performance or if it is even clinically PROVEN.”

“The web page says “The mission of Power Balance has always been to develop and deliver quality products that enhance people’s lives,” said Kato.”Our products are based on the idea of optimizing the body’s natural energy flow, similar to concepts behind many holistic and Eastern philosophies.”

“Great. HOW does a hologram optimize the body’s natural energy flow? If it is based on technology and not hokum, then there should be an explanation on your web page as to how the product works.”
Geoff Kuhn

…..My reply from the company was this:

Hello Geoff,
Each person’s reaction to Power Balance is unique. Please check out the demonstrations on www.powerbalance.com to see how you can test Power Balance for yourself.

If you do not notice a difference, we offer a 30 day unconditional money back guarantee, less shipping and handling fees.

In addition, a preliminary study, conducted by an independent third-party, was recently commissioned. We are analyzing the results.

If you have any other questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you for your support in Power Balance!

People, does this make any sense? I asked what makes their product work. I asked HOW a hologram can affect the human body. I get a no answer answer and am told that if I have any other questions I shouldn’t hesitate to ask. They did not answer the first question, they avoided it.

I went to the Power Balance WordPress blog and posted this:

I have noticed that there is not an explanation on the P.B. website, or here, or on the P.B. Facebook page as to HOW a hologram will make one a better athlete. Placebo affect by superstitious morons?

To date: 1-31-11 I have received no reply.

Now, my intent was not to be sarcastic but I get mental red flags when a company makes claims of almost instantaneous and “miraculous” health benefits from a product, but there is no explanation as to how. I am a curious fella and I want to know if my money is being spent on junk or a beneficial product.

So, I continued to search a bit and I went to YouTube and found a video about the Power Balance bracelet. Apparently, the holograms each have a charge of 7.83 Hz imbedded into them and that is supposed to react to the bodies own electrical field and produce the aforementioned health benefits.

Of course there are supporters of the product such as sports stars, and then there are the debunkers who say the products effectiveness is all in the mind, basically a placebo. The equivalent of the old west “snake oil” cure all.

With the price of a Power Balance bracelet set at 60 dollars I do not care either way. If I wanted to try a holistic cure for better health, Wal-mart has magnetic bracelets that supposedly do the same thing for ten dollars.

Fast Food

I am tired of hearing our government and “experts” complain about the child obesity problem. It is not the governments business to try fix the health of the private sector.

And if parents want to keep their kids healthy, then shut off the TV and the game boys, and the game cubes, and the iPods, and the cell phones, and the laptops, and the Wii’s, and the x-boxes, and boot the kids out into the fresh air and sunshine and have them exercise more than just their digitus primus.

Parents also need to set the example and get their lazy tuchas’ off the couch, or get away from their computers and gaming systems, and get outside with their kids and set an example.

Parents used to go outside with their kids and play ball or Frisbee, or golf, or shoot baskets, or go swimming, or bike riding and disc golfing. Now parents just send their kids out to do those things. That negligent behavior causes other problems, but that is a different article for another time.

Parents also need to stop taking their kids out to eat late at night. I work at a fast food restaurant and I see teams come in late, and I mean around 9:30 or later and load up on greasy, starchy, fatty, and sugary foods before going home. How can the body burn off 1200 calories when sleeping?

I work with individuals younger then myself and I know from them that going home at ten or eleven does not mean going to bed. Some kids stay up late to do homework and pound down some energy drinks or snack to get energy to do the homework. Not a good routine to get into.

Parents need to parent and set rules and guide lines for their kids’ nutrition, exercise, and rest. All of this is critical to good health, not only for the child, but for the parent as well.

I am not by far an expert on nutrition, but common sense dictates that if the body does not burn the food ingested, it stores it. If a squirrel stores nuts for the winter, but does not eat them all then there will be excess. Is it really more complicated than that?

I heard someone say once that food is fuel, and the body is the engine that is powered by the fuel. The engine only works as well as the fuel that goes into it.

And blaming the fast food industry or junk food is just wrong. Using them as a scapegoat when you have the right to not go there is just silly.

Back when I was about 20, I was working at a Wendy’s and we had the SuperBar back then. I remember watching a lady come in who was obviously very obese and she ordered the all you can eat SuperBar and a large diet drink. But she made three “tray-is-so-loaded-down-that-it-bowed” trips to the salad bar. Bet that did a lot of good. But she had the diet drink.

The fast food industry is taking in so many customers that your friend and mine, the government, is going to intrude and start to regulate the amount and type of ingredients used to force a healthy diet on those who will not take responsibility for what willingly gets crammed down their throats.

People eat the stuff to the tune of millions and millions of dollars annually, but the fast food industry is the culprit? Stop cramming greasy, salty, fatty foods down your throat, get a moderate amount of exercise and see what happens.

What it all boils down to is choice, you choose to eat healthy and exercise and have your kids do the same, or not. But if you chose to not keep in shape, don’t blame the restaurant for the 1200 calorie heart bomb that you willingly paid for.

I won’t mention the name of the place I work for, but I can tell you that there is nothing healthy on the menu. People think of lettuce and tomato as healthy. But lettuce and tomato on a greasy single, double, or triple cheese burger and an order of fries with a soda is a nutritional joke.

However, like all things, if a fast food meal is consumed on occasion and in moderation and not as a dietary staple then hey, enjoy it once in a while. The choice is yours.

Seriously????

The other night I could not sleep, which is customary for the hours I work, and as I was flipping through the channels, I saw a commercial for Ashley Madison.com and was disgusted.

For those who don’t know, Ashley Madison.com is a site that condones infidelity. As a matter of fact there is a guarantee on the website as the picture above shows, guaranteeing that those who join the site WILL have a discreet affair.

Now, this is where the article gets a lot more disturbing to me. When I got online and clicked on the Ashley Madison link for info to put in this article, I was directed to a site called Lonely Cheating Wives.com and they state on their site that they are the number one WIFE DATING site.

This is sick. When a man and woman get married, they are pledging to each other, at the very least, to love and honor each other and stay true to each other through life’s problems and rewards. These sites show that when problems occur in the marriage, just go have an affair.

Just turn on the web cam when he or she is not home and show the world the body that only your spouse is supposed to see since you are married.Go ahead and break his or her trust in your word and just go bed someone else since you are having problems. What the hell is wrong with people?

This post is not going to be one of my fire and brimstone messages, everyone knows that adultery and covetousness are wrong. Everyone knows that lust is wrong. Heck, anyone who has read my stuff knows that I agree with the Biblical stance on homosexuality and lesbianism, it is wrong.

This is just written and posted out of disgust for the adulterer’s and adulteresses who care more about getting their physical satisfaction then keeping their word to their spouse.

I do not care if the couples involved are having intimacy problems, money issues, trouble at work, mid-life crisis setting in, weight gain, or all of it at once. You are supposed to stay together, work together, lean on each other, and honor the commitment made at the altar, or in front of the judge, or at the casino in Vegas. Once a couple state’s their love and desire to be together, than show that in a ceremony, it is supposed to mean something.

When my first wife had an affair, we separated. We had kids and I wanted the family together for their sake so I did what I could to forgive and make things work again. We tried counseling but in the end SHE decided to call it quits despite the efforts I had made. Okay, it is over and done, but my point is that my commitment to her in front of God meant something to me even if it meant nothing to her, and I at least fought to save the marriage.

In my opinion, people who join these sites and want to hook up with an individual who is not their sworn partner is no better than a dog in heat. By itself, random sex with multiple partners is bad enough. But to advertise that you are married and looking to cheat is just wrong.

Let’s put aside the abortions, and unwanted children being born, and the diseases floating around. Physical intimacy is supposed to be for the husband and wife, period. But mankind has perverted the act of procreation so badly that marital infidelity is hardly considered wrong these days.

I man I know once told me that he was considering having a “non-emotional” relationship with a women he met. How can that be? Lust is an emotion. Desire is an emotion. There is no such thing as relationship, even just a physical one, that does not mean something to either of the people involved. Even simply reflection on how good or bad the experience was is emotional.

But it struck me as odd that the parties involved wanted to just have at it and walk away. When people want to just perform the reproductive act and damn the consequences, they are showing that they have no respect for their partner, and they certainly have no respect for God who granted us such a beautiful emotion as love. That feeling, love, has been perverted to the point that people do not know what love is anymore.

It is truly sad and disgusting that relationships are thought of as disposable these days. Don’t like your husband or wife, just have an affair or get a divorce and start looking for a new piece of fluff for your entertainment.

And to me, it is no different than a pack of dogs sniffing each other’s asses, getting to it, then moving on. But humans are given a sense of right and wrong to guide their decisions. Animals do not have that so they act out of instinct, what is man’s excuse? So the humans who bounce from partner to partner are worse than dogs in heat.

Not only is it disgusting, but very wrong.

Christmas, A Pagan Holiday???????

Christmas, a time of love, joy, cheer, and the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ that cold night so long ago. A day when we rejoice and are thankful for that babe in the manger, right, wrong.

This time of year was special to me as a child because of the gifts. After all, what kid does not go to bed every night in December thinking of Santa and his bag of goodies, or coal, depending on what kind of kid you were?

This time of year also was a special time for me because of the thought of Jesus and his birth, the mother, Mary, the proud father Joseph and all the wise men gathering around the manger of the babe born to redeem a sinful world.

The traditions associated with this event are many and have degenerated from a simple, humble birth to a multi-million dollar yearly event that no longer involves the Lord Jesus in many homes.

Christmas is a very misleading time because anyone who has done any research at all knows that the Bible never mentions When Christ was born. And as a matter of fact the wise men were not even present when Christ was born according to Matthew 2:11 “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.”

Notice that the verse above mentions the wise men finding Jesus as a “young child” not a baby. Notice also that the wise men did not meet Jesus in a stable and he was not lying in the manger. They met Jesus in a house.

The wise men did not report back to Herod and Herod slew all the children in the land and to the coasts. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under… Matthew 2:16

Herod did not know the babe’s age but knew from the wise men that they had been searching for a while. The point to all this is that the only people at Christ’s side that night were his parents, a choir of angels and shepherds. There was no earthly royalty, just praise and humility.

The traditions associated with Christmas actually go back farther then the birth of Christ. It has it’s origins rooted deeply in paganism.

Now, before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I am not saying that the birth of Christ has anything to do with paganism, I am simply saying that the tradition behind this holiday has origins rooted in paganism. I also want to mention Colossians 2:8 which states “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Almost every aspect of Christmas, as we celebrate it, has strong ties to paganism and is not the proper way to honor The Birth Of A Savior.

As a child I loved this holiday. I loved the lights, the colors, the aspect of getting gifts, time off from school was always a bonus, spending time with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and just the festiveness of the holiday season itself. All that changed when I was saved and started to notice a few things.

Although there is an intriguing duality about the holiday there is too much tradition that clouds peoples minds and as such, the facts concerning the holiday are lost and people seem far to complacent with the tradition to question it.

Fact: the bible does not mention when Jesus was born.
Fact: the wise men were not on hand when Jesus was born.
Fact: The wise men found Jesus as a young child not a baby.
Fact: no gifts were presented to Jesus on the night He was born.
Fact: when the wise men found Jesus, He was in a house, not a manger.
Fact: only the wise men presented Jesus with gifts when they found Him, and there is no scriptural evidence in the least to indicate that they arrived on His birthday with the gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The wise men knew that they were honoring a King, that is the reason for the gifts, not a birthday present.
Fact: there is no mention at all in the bible of any birthday celebration for Christ, ever.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Jesus Christ is not praise worthy, he is far more praise worthy then every Christian since time began past, present, or future can offer simultaneously. In fact my concern is that people are following a ritual that goes back to a time when there was no Christmas. In fact our modern Christmas evolved from pagan customs and rituals, and that is not how you honor a King.

I have a book called Keeping Christ In Christmas and I am going to use some of the material from the book to prove my point.

First off though I want to mention one of the foundations for my distaste for this holiday. Colossians 2: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

In A.D. 350, Pope Julius 1 declared December 25th the official date of Christ’s birth, and in 529 Emperor Justinian declared Christmas a public holiday. There was no bible teaching to base their decision on, in fact as I will show, it was based purely on paganism.

“The December date for Christmas was not arbitrary but was a calculated decision that reflected the importance of winter solstice festivals for the non-Christian cultures in Europe and Asia. To abolish these festivals in favor of only Christian forms of celebration would have been political suicide so it became clear to church leaders early on that rather than trying to beat the non-Christians, it would be wiser to join them. Thus the church incorporated deep-rooted pagan traditions into Christmas worship and celebration.”

There are a few things I would like to point out about the paragraph above. One is the fact that the modern Christmas celebration was conceived by the Catholic church, more for political reasons then anything else. Second, if you noticed, the paragraph above mentions the non-Christian cultures . Catholicism is in itself a non-Christian culture. How can a non-Christian culture set up a religion for another non-Christian culture? How do deep rooted pagan traditions ( some of which are still with us) honor the birth of Christ?

The picture I added at the top of this post kinda makes me mad because the picture shows Santa, who has nothing to do with actual Christianity, kneeling at the feet of the Christ child, and the baby himself reaching up with outstretched arms and a smile on it’s face as if to embrace Santa, disgusting. The pic makes it look as though the kind, wizened old man is being accepted by the new born Christ child. Christ, and his teachings, Christianity, do not accept pagan teachings. Santa, not Jesus represents Christmas to kids around the world. Christianity and paganism can not be merged.

December 21 winter solstice featured ceremonies to pacify the sun and convince it to return. After the solstice, the shortest day of the year, the days got longer again and magnificent celebrations were held in honor of the sun’ s return.

Saturnalia was observed December 17th-24th and was a combined celebration of different events, among them Saturn’s triumph over Jupiter. candles were used to scare away the darkness and celebrate the sun and light. There were giving of gifts, done in honor of the goddess of vegetation, Strenia.

The use of December 25th was a remnant of the Mithraic religion. Mithra, the god of light and wisdom, was said to have been born from a rock. On December 25th In the 3rd Century, before Constantine became Emperor, Emperor Aurelian declared December 25th the day of the invincible sun.

For many people, incorporating Mithraic rites into the celebration of Christmas was easy to justify. Jesus represents hope and light. So rather then celebrating the sun, people would be celebrating the SON of God in other words the birth of Christ replaced the birth of the sun as cause for celebration.

This is the birth of the holiday known as Christmas. Over the years it has under gone transformations to make it more acceptable, but it is a holiday that is founded in paganism and had nothing to do with Christ at all. How does a tree celebrate the birth of Christ? How is mistletoe a part of Christ’s birth? What does Santa Claus have to do with the Christ child? How can Christians over look the origin of this holiday with all the paganism that is symbolic in most aspects of this holiday?

We as Christians do not need all the holiday trappings associated with this holiday to worship our Savior Jesus Christ. In fact we are to Rejoice evermore. “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 So by this, Christians are to be continually in prayer and that would also mean giving thanks for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We don’t, or shouldn’t t need one day out of the year, with pagan origins, to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we should be doing it all year long in our hearts, prayers, and family bible studies.

Christians should want to do away with the paganism of this holiday. 2 Corinthians 7:1 states Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

A person can change his clothes and look respectable, but it is what is on the inside that determines if a man is respectable or not. It reminds me of the verse used in Matthew 23:27 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mans bones, and of all uncleanness.” To me, The celebration we go through every year is a whited sepulcher and the history behind it is the dead men’s bones and uncleanness. Christmas outwardly seems fine and happy and good, but it’s history is not.

Christ’s life from birth, to death, to resurrection, and everything in between, should be celebrated in our everyday lives, continually, joyfully, and faithfully. Why let tradition determine when and why we celebrate our faith?

I do not recall Jesus following tradition. As a matter of fact didn’t Jesus preach against the following of tradition in Matthew 15:3, and Mark 7:9,13?

Jeremiah 10:2-4: “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”

According to the LORD in the verse above, Christians are not to learn the way of the heathen, their customs are vain.

C.H. Spurgeon, in the Treasury of David, on Psalm 81:4, wrote, “When it can be proved that the observance of Christmas, Whitsuntide, and other Popish festivals was ever instituted by a divine statute, we also will attend to them, but not till then. It is as much our duty to reject the traditions of men, as to observe the ordinances of the Lord. We ask concerning every rite and rubric, ‘Is this a law of the God of Jacob?’”

Jesus taught us to follow the laws of God. We are taught to pray continually, we as Christians are told “in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:6. Jesus was not consulted when this holiday came about. It was a conglomeration of pagan traditions merged into one seemingly respectable holiday that would be universally accepted. To me, it is reminiscent of the ecumenical movement that most Christians are opposed to.

To reiterate, I am a Christian. I am born again and I have acknowledged the miracles of Christ and have even brought a few people to be saved by Christ. I know that without salvation, there is no getting to Heaven and I acknowledge Jesus as my Personal Lord and Savior.

I stated that because it is not so easy to write all this. Christmas is a major, and very established tradition in my family and it plays a big role in most peoples families because it has been around for so long. But I honestly believe that the traditions are more important then the faith to most people.

I have also wondered if some churches are kind of backed into a corner as far as Christmas goes. If a visitor went to a Christmas service in my church and my Pastor was giving a sermon similar to what I am writing and there were no traditional trappings such as a tree, the lights, angels, nativity scene and etc I believe it would affect the attendance of the church because people do follow this ritual every year. I think even some of the church regulars might be offended because it would not be a traditional church service.

I do know for sure though that Jesus never did what was fashionable and he never catered to what people wanted to hear. He rebuked many people and set a lot of things straight. We need to follow the same example and be honest about our traditions and I think we all need to examine what holiday celebrations we follow and why.

Since my salvation I have been bothered by the Christmas season because shortly after my salvation I did some research into the holiday and was abhorred by my findings.

I have also had many reservations about some Christian churches like who put up traditional Christmas decorations. Since my initial research, I know the symbolism of the decorations on the trees as well as the symbolism of the tree itself. TO ME it never seemed right to preach the birth of Christ, and the miracles associated with it, while a tree sits in the background and the day is being celebrated on a traditional pagan holiday.

This is a problem I wrestle with yearly and it does not help that my wife and kids want the tree, the lights, the ornaments and some of the traditional trappings of the holiday.

Most Christians that I know do not let their kids celebrate a traditional Halloween with the demon masks and vampires, witches and such because it is a very pagan holiday. Halloween itself is not honoring to Christ, it’s origins involved human sacrifice. And yet even some Christians in one form or another capitulate and let their kids celebrate Halloween in some form, why?

It makes no sense to me to celebrate Christmas when the traditional celebration itself is of pagan origins. The exact date of Christ’s birth was excluded from Biblical history for a reason. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 We know Christ was born, and we know why Christ was born. When He was born he followed His Fathers will in all things. That is what matters.

I firmly believe that the Catholic Church is the Great Whore mentioned in Revelations 17 and the Catholics are responsible for the melding of the pagan rituals to give us our modern holiday. I refuse to see how this all works together for good to them that love God.

If true Christians, followed the bible and simply put aside all the pagan traditions and nonsense and simply praised Christ in their daily lives, then Wal-Mart would be in a pretty sad state in December. As it is now it is shiny beads and shallow flattery for the most part, at least in my opinion.

Why is it that you only hear about miracles on this time of year? Does God only perform miracles during the Christmas season?

Christmas is also about guilt. Kids are expecting presents, toys, bikes, dolls, and etc and the parents are expected to deliver, and if they can not fulfill their child’s expectations of “Santa” visiting, then they tend to feel guilty for being a bad parent. Christ wants that?

What about those TV. specials about the sunken eyed mother crying because she lost her job and can not provide for her family? Toward the end of the movie all her friends and maybe a church member, has instigated some act to make things all better. Does this kind of thing only happen at Christmas? Can mankind be counted on to be at it s best only on the Christmas season ? If the mother was struggling all year long, where were her friends then? Why didn’t they help the rest of the year? Why do those movies showcase a women, or family at the end of their rope AT CHRISTMAS? To try to showcase God’s good will, or man’s sterling humanity? So again, God and good natured people only help out during the Christmas Season?

People commit suicide daily, but it is a fact that the suicide rate jumps drastically around the holiday, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some people do not have much to be thankful for, and for others the pressure of Christmas is simply overwhelming. This is not how God meant for us to celebrate the birth of His Son.

Psalm 23 describes how God intended for things to be for us. Now look at how things really are. God does not let us down, we let Him down. I can’t believe that this traditional Christmas is how we are to worship the birth of the planets Savior.

Now, 2nd Corinthians 6:14-18 says “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness. 15. And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ? 16. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I shall be their God, and they shall be my people. 17. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 18.And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

The verses above are very specific, as are the other verses I used from the bible to support my position. Why would the Lord use such specific wording if he thought it was okay for us to decide on our own, the spiritual path we think we should take? We have specific instructions from the Lord, people just choose to do what they think is best and incorporate the bible when it suites them.

Last question: If Christmas is just for fun, or if Christmas does not mean now what it did in times past, at least concerning the paganism, then when and how did all these pagan rituals, which comprise Christmas, become acceptable to God, thus becoming okay for us in the modern times to practice?

The reason for the cartoon is to show that even if Christmas was a true Christian holiday, society is slowly pushing Christ out of our everyday lives and thus it is the Christians who suffer this form of persecution.

If all those parents who are giving gifts would actually teach their kids that Praising God is more important then Barbie and Robo-Sapien, then maybe this world would be a much better place to live.

I know that some of my article is repetitious, and I will work on cleaning it up as I can but. I just want to make one thing perfectly clear. There is no reason that this nation, who claims Christianity, should celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ only one day a year and in a manner consistent with pagan beliefs, and in the manner of men.

If you want to celebrate the Birth of Christ, bow your head and offer Him a sincere prayer for all he has done, and is currently doing for those who believe on His name. This can be done any time and any where.

Children should be learning to give the gift of thanks and praise daily, not just giving God a quick nod on this token holiday.

Blowing Off Some Steam.

Blowing Off Some Steam.

I work at a “gourmet fast food” place. The job is not bad but some of the politics in the store really blow.

For instance, today we had an employee meeting and we basically heard about the mistakes the employees are making. We went over our basic policy such as parking, meals, break times and etc.

We were told that we are talking too much and not working enough, even though there are some of us who can do both simultaneously.

However, when it came time to end the meeting, we were asked if any of the employees had and comments or questions. Yeah, right.

First of all, we were at the tail end of the meeting and the people opening needed to get to it soon.

Second, I know for a fact that some of the employees have problems concerning management, but the management control the hours, so no one is going to get in front of the entire staff and bitch at management and expect their hours to remain as they are.

Third, when griping to management about employees who do as little as possible, it is inappropriate to do it in front of everyone for several reasons.

One, if one employee bitches about another, the employee being complained about is likely to get defensive since there are other people around the whole issue can turn into a gripe fest.

And two, if the entire staff is privy to it, then blame will circulate and friends will defend friends and next thing you know it could just be a major bitch fest about who is doing what and then the people you were griping at, and their friends, are the people you have to work with in a few hours.

Also, some managers are rude and arrogant. They tell the employees to say please and thank you, but will walk off mid-sentence when you are trying to talk to them. It happened to me just the other day.

Management wants respect because they feel they have earned it. In my opinion, they have earned the POSITION they occupy, the respect has to be earned from the employee. And that goes both ways.

When I was hired, I was given a position, it is up to me to earn the right to keep it, and it is up to me to earn my co-workers respect. That should be the standard no matter the job or the position. I have worked with many managers who only respect certain people, and that causes problems with the rest of the employees.

Fourth, management does not want to hear the employee’s opinions. Last night for instance, I was told that there would be two people to close the back of the restaurant. We complain about that because it takes too long. Management says since we have adjusted our store hours and close an hour early it will save money.

But, sometimes we get a late night rush and get busier than anticipated and have more of a mess to clean.
Or we get slower than anticipated, management sends the non-closers home, then we get hit later than anticipated, store gets trashed, no floors done, no trash taken out, no positions stocked, two closers in back to do it all.

Sometimes, like last night, we had an employee who told me that he WAS NOT going to stock and clean the position he was on because he was not a closer and because he was not assigned to that position. People like that should not work around me.

As a matter of fact, a previous manager fired this kid for his attitude and for not working. So the manager who fired him for being lazy was canned and this kid was gone for a few months but now he is back, and doing the same crap that got him fired in the first place. We don’t need that, it slows us down.

We do not need attitude and laziness from other employees. We need team work even if the employee hates his job. He is there; he asked for the work, he needs to get to it.

Doesn’t it make sense that the more people closing the faster things go and the faster we are done? With one extra person, we could have been done in 45 minutes or earlier. It took us 90 minutes and that was with help from an employee who had clocked out but stuck around to give a friend a ride.

A 90 minute close time gets us in trouble. We miss things because we have to hurry, then the closers get in trouble for not being fast enough and for not being efficient.

If two closers is the new standard, then management needs to be patient, give us the time we need to adapt, to get faster, to build routines, then make sure some of the closing duties are done before the non-closers leave.

Also, I think it is bad policy for a manager to tell the closing employees that they need to decide for themselves what position they want to close. NO ONE wants to do dishes, hence it would be easier for all concern for the management to manage the crew and simply assign the closers a position. When one closer finishes his position he can help the others or leave to save on labor depending on circumstances.

I am not, by far, the best employee at my job, but I always do my best and try to make a difference. I gripe at times and have my bad days at times. But despite my errors as an employee, I get really teed off when I have a full grill, a week second grill person, a full screen of orders, my manager yelling for food and the two trainers doing the same thing on the same order.

No matter what job I have had, I have always felt that yes, managers are there to manage and take care of things. But, management is always the minority at a work place and cannot make a place of business run without the staff. So, if it is a symbiotic relationship of sorts, then why won’t the management listen to and work with the people they need to do the work to keep the business running? Because they can fire and replace us?

I know that managers are trained. They go to classes and are instructed on the mechanics of how the business should be run. That includes the financial aspect, and food management, being cost effective, hiring staff, cleanliness, and etc. Okay, I get it, but are the employee’s supposed to be treated like disposable objects because we have no “rank”?

At my job, the management is pretty damn quick to complain about drive times, cleanliness, labor costs, and etc. But we rarely hear a “thank you” or a “good job” when we meet expectations. Maybe the employee’s would react better and work more efficiently if we knew we were appreciated. Or maybe the management should just show the same courtesy to all the hard working employees that they expect us to show them.

Stallone: Hypocrite?????????????

Stallone: Hypocrite?

In my article Keep and Bear Arms, I mentioned this quote made by Sylvester Stallone;

[Talking about the proliferation of guns in the U.S., following the murder of Phil Hartman in 1998, who was shot to death by his wife] “Until America, door to door, takes every handgun, this is what you’re gonna have. It’s pathetic. It really is pathetic. It’s sad. We’re living in the Dark Ages over there. (He was living in England when he made this statement) It has to be stopped, and someone really has to go on the line, a certain dauntless political figure, and say, “It’s ending, it’s over, all bets are off.” It’s not 200 years ago, we don’t need this anymore, and the rest of the world doesn’t have it. Why should we?”

Well, since he is coming out with another shoot em’ up of a movie, I thought it would be fair to note that seemingly MOST of his movies involve him using guns. I have listed twenty one such examples below. The list is not in any particular order, just what I could remember or find on various other sites.

1.Nighthawks
2.First Blood
3.Rambo First Blood Part II
4.Rambo 3
5.John Rambo
6.Assassins
7.Copland
8.Cobra
9.Paradise Alley
10.Tango & Cash
11.Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot
12.Judge Dredd
13.The Specialist
14.Demolition Man
15.Get Carter
16.Shade
17.D-Tox
18.Avenging Angelo
19.Capone (have not seen it but based on the description of the movie I am guessing his role is a violent one possibly involving guns.)
20.In 1975 Stallone was in a movie called Death Race 2000 and his characters name is Joe “Machine Gun” Viterbo. So I am going to guess his role incorporates weaponry.
21.And his latest movie, The Expendables.

So this man makes millions of dollars in his movies blowing people away, but believes in gun control? This is a movie still with Stallone and his customized Kimber 1911, It does not look like the gun will be put to any kind of humanitarian use.

Recently, he was asked about the violence in his movies, and he justified it by saying this;

“I believe that the violence is justifiable. The one thing you can see in my films is that I kill people who need to be killed. Take a look at my movies and you’ll see killers killing killers.”

And the 64-year-old actor revealed that he saved the most gruesome deaths for men who beat up women.
He explained: “Those who deserve to get it get it good and those who go after women really get it. I’m not going to have a wife-beater just shot with a bullet: it’s too civilised. He’s gonna feel real pain. I don’t feel guilty about it at all.”

So guns are bad because they kill people, like his friend Phil Hartman, so he uses guns in his movies to only kill deserving bad guys? Isn’t that still killing? And isn’t what he is doing contradictory to what he is saying?

You don’t see the members of PETA doing commercials for mink coats, right?

What about Stallone’s body guards? If he hates guns so much and wants them ALL removed, then what do his bodyguards carry, Nerf bats, stun guns, and brass knuckles?

Stallone is just in voicing his opinion in his distaste for pistols or firearms in general. But he glorifies their use in the movies he makes.

Now, I know a movie is not reality. As a matter of fact I love Stallone’s movies. He can gripe about guns all he wants, but some of his biggest hits involve him using the weapons he claims to want to abolish. He uses them to make money, and the people he hires use them for security to keep his droopy lip safe. So let him bitch, it is doing no good.

As a matter of fact, recently “The United States Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees a fundamental, individual right to own a firearm.”

I can’t wait to see the Expendables.

Politics

You know, it’s kind of funny, but I have never been interested in politics until a few years ago. I had never written to a congressman or a state representative until I realized I had something to lose by their lack of representation, or by the average citizen’s lack of responsibility in not defending certain rights.

As a young man, I had no real concern with how my government was being run. I was young, unconcerned, and far too busy fooling around to care or pay attention.

As I got older and married, and had children, I started to pay attention a bit more but not a whole lot.

It was after I joined a church in 91, and started to pray for this nation and its leaders, that I started to take stock of this nation and how things were being handled, and even then I was hesitant to voice an opinion to any of my government officials. I watched but stayed quiet and kept my opinions to myself.

Well those days are long gone and I have written many letters and e-mails to congress, my state representatives, and to the offices of various presidents.

Since the Clinton administration I have been opposed to state sponsored health care, abortion, gun control, government spying, being politically correct, line item veto, revoking of certain elements of the freedom of religion, and more.

Lately, I am seriously opposed to how money is being doled out to Haiti and now financial aid is being offered to Chili.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that those who can help should, but this nation is in debt to the tune of over 12 trillion dollars and we are fighting a war on two separate fronts, I do not honestly believe that Obama should be offering financial aid to other nations when we have so many unsolved financial problems over here.

We also have people starving to death on our streets. We have abused children; we have rampant alcoholism, and drug abuse. We have most states against the death penalty so we have to feed and clothe prisoners and waste money building new prisons to house them while the government is actively working to revoke our right to defend ourselves.

Maybe I am missing something here but tell me how much sense it makes for the government to try to revoke a person’s right to defend their family from an armed robber and yet if the robber kills everyone in the house, there is no death penalty if caught. If guns are going to be taken away from the average citizen, then at least reinstate the death penalty and make some kind of effort to punish those killers.

And the ACLU has fought for the rights of teens to have sex at the age of sixteen, so now we have a population explosion. We also have pregnant teens who have exercised their sexual rights and are now exercising their right to abort the life of their unwanted child. People balk at using the term murder when referring to an abortion, but what else is it?

Does it make sense to anyone at all that a baby in the womb can be killed at will, but a man who walks into a bank or quick shop and shoots people during a robbery will not be put to death by the same state that approves abortion?

And all this is going on while our government approves funds so NASA can look for life on other planets and waste billions of dollars.

Several years I fired off an email to the head of NASA and asked why they are wasting billions upon billions of dollars sending remote control rovers to Mars. I asked why we are wasting money looking for rogue asteroids when we could not stop one if we had to. I asked what the “practical” use of a space station is other than watching to see how plants or algae grow in zero gravity. I of course, received no response.

If people want to look skyward to solutions for our problems, then they better have a Bible in their hands and humility in their hearts because proposed space travel and multi-million dollar remote control rovers are not going to benefit us in the slightest.

I am also morally and biblically opposed to homosexuality and lesbianism. And yet our government tells us that any salacious remarks made openly towards these same sex couples will not be tolerated. It is considered a hate crime.

My children’s right to have a Bible in school has been deemed as unconstitutional by congress because it might offend. This same Bible states that same sex relationships are wrong according to Romans 1:26-32.
When people vote God out of schools and public buildings such as county offices and courthouses then that should be a sign that God and his word is not wanted. That will bring judgment. When a single person has no God to guide them and provide a moral compass, of course things are going to go wrong. But it is far worse for a nation of people who have decided to quietly acquiesce and relinquish their right of worship and free speech.

40 years ago there was no swearing on television. Now God’s name is being used offensively on normal channels and it is claimed that the television station can put that there because of freedom of speech rights. Last I knew, there was freedom of speech 40 years ago, but such a thing was not tolerated then, why is it now?

If freedom of speech allows God’s name to be taken in vain on television, then why is that same freedom hampered when it comes to quoting scripture in school? What happened to prayer in the locker room before the big game? Some schools, albeit very few these days, still continue that tradition even if it is for the sake of tradition. Others have bowed down and let the government tell them it is unconstitutional to pray before the game and have stopped doing so.

My point to all this is: when we as a nation let our government tell us what they are planning to do and it is against what we are petitioning for, then we need to fight and make our voices known. If not, than we are relinquishing our rights. If we do not stand firm to our spiritual and moral beliefs, they will slowly be replaced by law.

DRINKING: THE STUPIDITY OF IT.

This is an article I wrote a few years ago after I read the article mentioned below. So the facts may be a bit outdated but I am sure that the numbers have done nothing but grown from then to now.

I read that a young man by the name of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr. accidentally drank himself to death while initiating to get into a frat house at the University of Colorado. It was his freshman year and his whole life was right in front of him.

According to the article, the members of the frat hazed him with an initiation rite that required him to drink gallons of wine and liquor. He died the next morning of alcohol poisoning. The level of alcohol in his system was more than three times the legal limit for driving in most states.

What on earth would make a young man want to do this? I never went to college so I don’t know the significance of joining a fraternity but it can’t be worth the price Lynn paid to try to join.

There are many aspects of the article I found disturbing, like why was there any alcohol on campus at all? Why would the frat boys require Lynn to drink that much liquor in order for him to join? What is the point of joining the frat house in the first place? Does it make you more of a man? Does it help with grades? Does a fraternity make you a “big man on campus“? Is it a “my dad belonged to this fraternity so I need to also” kind of thing? Does it increase the chances with the ladies? Or is it mainly for prestige?

By the way, one of the definitions of prestige is “conjurors trick, illusion” and the word in the dictionary is sandwiched between prestidigitation and presto which fits in with the definition. Prestige is an illusion.

Prestige is about having a certain reputation, but a reputation can be like an illusion depending on the person in question. People need to just be themselves insisted of trying to be what they think others want them to be.

A survey in the paper stated that 8 out of 10 college students drink. And at the University of Colorado, about 30 students per year are expelled due to alcohol violations. However, only 30 colleges nationwide ban liquor in frat houses. That is staggering to me. There should be no alcohol at all on any campus in the Continental United States. And the laws concerning binge drinking on campus need to be stricter and enforced.

Statistically, the amount of binge drinking is rising, why? Do people feel that getting wasted is cool? Is passing out and waking up in your own vomit the best thing to spend time and money on? Do college students need alcohol to cope or is it a “my buddy drinks, so I will also” mentality, like lemmings off a cliff? If these people are smart enough to get into college then why are they not smart enough to know that alcohol can kill you?

The article also mentions “fraternity house residents are twice as likely as other students to indulge in binge drinking, according to the Harvard School of Public Health’s 2001 College Alcohol Study.”

And the close proximity of bars to campuses is no accident. Here in town, there are several drinking establishments just blocks off campus. This is by design, business owners know that the students need to “blow off steam” so they set up shop as close as they can and wait for the students, and their cash to start rolling in.

Students need to realize that alcohol may make them feel better temporarily, but it can ultimately ruin their lives in any number of ways. If they are so stressed out that they feel the need to get wasted to feel better, they need to talk to someone. If they are just looking to relax, there are other options available that can cost less and not get you into trouble with the law.

The students need to always remember that someone out there loves them and wants them safe and healthy, alcohol does just the opposite. It can jeopardize not only your life but other people’s lives as well.

How many people like to imbibe in their favorite intoxicating liquor? Way too many. Here are a few facts I came up with:

*More than 100,000 U.S. deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption each year. Direct and indirect causes of death include drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, falls, cancer, and stroke.

*Youth who drink alcohol are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than those who never drink alcohol.

*Traffic crashes are the greatest single cause of death for persons aged 6–33. About 45% of these fatalities are in alcohol-related crashes.

*Underage drinking costs the United States more than $58 billion every year — enough to buy every public school student a state-of-the-art computer.

*Alcohol kills 6½ times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined.

*50% of high school seniors report drinking, with 32% report being drunk at least once.

What does Scripture say about the drinking problem?

Proverbs 23:31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. {This means that a person is not even supposed to look upon the wine in the cup, be not enticed by the color}

It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Romans 14:21 {this simply states that it is good to not drink wine}

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. {simply put, don’t get drunk. And you can’t get drunk if you don’t drink}

Unfortunately, more people like the liquid “spirits” over the presence of the Holy Spirit. But God’s Holy Spirit will not kill you. The Spirit of God will cause no physical, mental, or emotional damage. God’s Spirit will not be responsible for a car crash that kills everyone in the vehicle. And the Holy Spirit will never be responsible for a DUI.

Frozen Future?????

One caveat concerning this article: I wrote this to debate cryogenic freezing and futuristic resurrection. This is not to be compared to CPR which has been known to save people minutes after the patient has stopped breathing. This article pertains to people who have been declared dead, vitrified, and then cryogenically frozen.

When I was a kid, I had a book called Strange Stories Amazing Facts. It was one of those books that had hundreds of weird, strange, natural, and bizarre stories. Some stories were true, some were myths, and some were based on science, others were based on the natural world and etc. I loved that book and read it until the cover literally fell off.

One of the strangest, albeit fascinating stories, was written about cryogenic suspension. This is the preservation of your body after death. Basically, you pay to have your body frozen and preserved until doctors can find a cure for the ailment. Once a cure is found you would be thawed like a turkey, cured of your illness, than brought back to life.

In a nutshell, you contact a company to discuss options. You can be fully frozen or just your head. Once the options are decided upon, you sign a contract to have your body picked up as soon as possible after your demise.

I thought it was fascinating because a person’s blood has to be drained and a type of “anti-freeze” is injected to keep the tissue from being basically freezer burned in temperatures that are around -124 Celsius to prevent tissue decay.

The aforementioned process of bloodletting is called vitrification and the company states that “Vitrification is an ice-free process in which more than 60% of the water inside cells is replaced with protective chemicals. This completely prevents freezing during deep cooling”.

Now this is the most important part of this article, once the individual is proclaimed dead, as in no heart or brain activity then the preservation begins. As stated the blood is drained, the process of vitrification is performed to prepare the body. Then the body is actually hooked up to a life support system to facilitate blood flow, which keeps the fluid circulating. And then you are frozen like a human ice cream treat.

The company that I have been reading about claims that they have perfected the vitrification process, and have saved organs for transplants with no cellular damage. But an organ does not house the human soul. And this is where the purpose for my article kicks in.

When a person is dead, and there are no heart or brain functions, the human soul and spirit exit the corpse. You can preserve the body in perfect condition for a thousand years, but what is to make the soul and spirit re-enter the vessel at the time of re-animation? Humans are not androids like Lt. Commander Data on Star Trek. We have no off and on switch.

I was curious about how the company would answer my question so I sent them an e-mail: Hello, I am very curious about your procedure and I only have a couple areas that I am kind of fuzzy on.

Once a person is dead, and the “anti-freeze” replaces the blood, and the body is frozen, what brings the spirit/soul back from its final resting place 25 years in the future when a cure is found?

Besides, once a person’s brain has flat lined that means there are no higher brain functions. And preserving a brain and making it function again are two different things.

I am not trying to be sarcastic, I am just curious as to how this question will be answered. I am a Christian and would love to know why a fellow Christian who died in 2006 (hypothetically) would want to leave his final resting place in Heaven to return to Earth and a trouble filled life and die again somewhere down the road? Or what keeps the soul/spirit in the body for 25 years after the brain is dead and the blood is drained and replaced?

And my response was: “Death” is a legal definition. Before CPR it was thought that when the heart stopped it could not be re-started. The changing definition is the same in this case. Cryopreserved embryos are not considered “dead” by the Catholic Church. Cryopreservation would be much like sleeping”.

The respondent is comparing CPR and sudden death techniques to freezing people for years? Sure, back in the day CPR was advanced but that was WAY back in the day.

In August 1767 a few wealthy and civic-minded citizens in Amsterdam gathered to form the Society for Recovery of Drowned Persons. This society was the first organized effort to respond to sudden death.

Within 4 years of its founding, the society in Amsterdam claimed that 150 persons were saved by their recommendations. Their techniques involved a range of methods to stimulate the body. The members of the society recommended:

1.Warming the victim
2.Removing swallowed or aspirated water by positioning the victim’s head lower than feet
3.Applying manual pressure to the abdomen
4.Respirations in to the victim’s mouth, either using a bellows or with a mouth-to-mouth method (mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-nostril respiration is described including the advice that “a cloth or handkerchief may be used to render the operation less indelicate”
5.Tickling the victim’s throat
6.Stimulating’ the victim by such means as rectal and oral fumigation with tobacco smoke. This may seem very unusual in modern times, however it may have been that the nicotine was enough of a stimulant to engender a response in the “almost” dead
7.Bloodletting

The first four of these techniques (or variations of them) are still in use today, whereas the last three are now out of line with modern medical thinking. —–Wikipedia—

I don’t see how tickling a drowned person’s throat helps, but based on number 6, I now know where the expression “blowing smoke up my ass” comes from.

And the exact definition of death, according to Webster’s New Dictionary of the English Language is: 1. the end of life. 2. The cause of loss of life. 3. The state of being dead. It may be used as a legal definition but certain criteria have to be present to be dead.

However, the company claims that “Death is a neurological process that begins after the heart stops. A stopped heart only causes death if nothing is done when the heart stops. Cryonics proposes to do something. In the words of a mainstream critical care expert writing for the American College of Surgeons, “In this era of critical care, death is more a process than an event…. A prognosis of death…cannot serve as a diagnosis.”

Now, in my opinion, all they are really accomplishing is the preservation of the flesh and organs, they are preserving our meat. Also, NO cryogenics company has ever resurrected a “suspended” client.

And the company I contacted did not really answer my question. Any people in this world who have faith in God know that after death your soul does some traveling, and the destination is dependent upon spiritual beliefs.

Man’s vain attempt to cheat the reaper will never come to fruition. We were born to live, and we were born to someday die, man will never prolong the life that God gave us. And it is just wrong and a bit creepy that people keep trying.

Sure, cells can be preserved. Sure, muscle and tendon and nerve bundles can be preserved indefinitely. Mummies from Egypt have been found so well preserved that they look fresh after being dead for thousands of years. But preserving is the extent of it. There will be no scientific resurrection for the DEAD in 25, 50, or 100 years from now.

A person can look at this article in several ways, but the point I am trying to make is that a human is more than flesh and bone. There is a soul in us that is an integral part of us being alive. The human soul departs when we die and there is no returning it to the previous owner once the person has died. We only get one shot at this life and there is no cheating God.

Trijicon Sight Scriptures

This is nuts, people are all up in arms over scripture on a gun sight because the scripture could “embolden enemies who believe the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are latter day crusades.”

This is absolutely 100% grade A poo. When I read this my B.S. meter hit tilt.

The people in Afghanistan and Iraq need no reason to be emboldened. That part of the world has been fighting since before there was a Trijicon sight.

A terrorist fighting or killing for his beliefs is already “emboldened”. Maybe if the soldiers would stop bitching that God is represented on a piece of hardware, and let the scripture embolden them, then things would quiet down.

Not only is the freedom of speech being questioned, but so is religious expression. It is okay to put “Made in USA” on a product but not scripture reflecting the personal belief of the manufacturers?

There are many companies across the USA that put scripture on their products. And they do it to reflect their belief and faith in God.

Now, of course the military is up in arms and trying to break relations with a company who has been putting scripture on their products for over thirty years.

What it boils down to is the military, and the government does not want any kind of Christian influence involved in a war. God forbid that a soldier starts thinking about God and that conflicts with shooting a “suspected” terrorist in the head.

But instead of simply saying that, now there are people screaming about the Constitution and rights. And apparently a private company putting scripture on their products is unconstitutional? The B.S. meter just bottomed out again.

Why is it that the newspapers ONLY printed the negative comments? How many soldiers actually like having a scriptural reference on their gun sight? How do we know that the soldiers actually doing the right thing are not “emboldened” to do so BECAUSE of the scripture?

What this boil down to, at least in my opinion, is this: the government touts this war as one of freedom, but the people who are fighting for the freedom, and those who supply the weapons to ensure freedom, have theirs restricted.

The Constitution guarantees us the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. However when it comes to Scripture, the government has its own interpretation since America is supposed to be accountable to it instead of God.

I applaud Trijicon for its longevity in giving thanks, and honoring God. Some may say it is odd to put scripture on a gun sight, well I don’t, if the tool is being used to ensure our freedom and guarantee our rights, then one of those rights is freedom of religion, so there should not be a problem with any of this.