ONE - TWO - THREE

Let's summarize the points that Randi Rhodes has been making about this investment trust co. bail out bill. First of all not at stake are the fates of Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. These have already been bailed out. Furthermore, Bear Sterns and A I G have already been bailed out. Goldman Sachs is reorganizing to become a bank so that they qualify for FDIC insurance. So just what is the 750 Billion for? Presumably it's to just throw around to whomever Hank Poulson thinks is deserving of the money. So it looks like there are three provisions that should be in any deal or else it's a no-go. The first is that C E O's should be fired without a "golden parachute" and the ones that remain in control should undergo a drastic cut in salary. The second provision is that people who actually took out the Mortgages should be allowed to re-negotiate their loans so that the lending institutions can re-coup their money. And the third is that they should only get 150 Billion or one fifth of what is proposed. That way a president Obama will have control over the rest of the money and force these lending institutions to be on their best behavior. Even doing all of this the deal is still very generous. But what I don't understand is why Mc Cain and Obama are so quick to jump into the swim of things. Both would be better served by trying to pin the whole thing on President Bush as we said inour last posting.

THE FACE OF JUSTICE

Let's return to our virtues. Of course the image of justice is that she is blindfolded and that things are weighed impartially in the ballance. Impartially, like fairness, are words we don't hear often enough. There is a scripture that goes "God is not a respecter of persons". I wish people would contemplate what this means. Of course implicit in justice is honisty. People should go to get a fair and equitable deal. Some say that to be fair is to be obsessive. Show me how being unfair is better. Another comcept I'd like to discuss is ballance. Things are weighed in the ballance and so both sides must be made equal. Implicit in this is keeping emotions in ballance. I'm sure cops have to face this every day of their lives. There is no room for undue anger of "Huberous", which is kind of a wrathful pride. There are other emotions such as delusions of grandure that Christians also suffer from when they are psychically out of ballance. Certain principles we would call of supreme value, which means that there is no value higher. Do you believe that we are all children of God and that he made us and that human life is precious and sacrosanct? If so and you're Abraham you wouldn't sacrifice your son to gain the favor of some God who, according to the movie, he didn't even know the name of. In this case the issue of justice and the right to life supersedes gaining favor with some God. Some may say "Well, to meet out justice might involve some divine wrathfulness & we must prevent this at all cost". It's the words "at all cost" that are the sticking point here. The book of Revelations talks about divine wrath as a means of establishing justice, and who am I to second guess the revelation of God. In this case establishing justice is of greater supreme value than God keeping his cool. Furthermore one must not misuse the term "ballance". Certain scriptures are meant as absolutes and not to be "ballanced off" by another scripture. Hence I don't have that much respect for a certain Calvary pastor who is always doing "ballancing acts" with scripture he comes accross, or Jesus on KFI who say that promices of God have to be "ballanced" with pragmatism. If God says something it's either true or it's not. And if it's not than God is a liar and it's best to find that out now. Likewise if President Bush says something it's either the truth or a lie, and we should acertain to find out which quickly. One will note I did not include grace as a virtue. Follow my logic. People who say they are for grace will also tell that it's free. And if it's free than it has no market value. Grace can be likened to the jewelry that Liberace wears while playing the piano. It has nothing to do with the quality of his piano playing. Grace, as we have stated before, can easily be used as a lever to manipulate people. Hence grace is A-moral. It all depends on how it is used how moral it is. Not all lies are "malum en se" as Gordon Liddy might say. Lies are evil if they distort a "whitness" to some event where you are sworn to tell the truth. Lying to a friend how much you paid for your Mercedes doesn't fall into the category. On election day I do believe a politican's honisty should be heavily weighed. Any congressman this year is leaving themselves extremely vulnerable in taking such a giant bail-out step this close to standing for re-election.