NO, I did not file a lawsuit prior prior to or subsequent of legislation requiring auto liability insurance.
But Health Insurance and Personal Liability Insurance are two different animals, although I doubt you get that. One protects others from your negligence. That's mandatory. You must be responsible for the injury you cause others.
The other is insuring against the cost of medical treatment. How the fuck do you compare the two? If I punch you in the junk, I have to pay for your medical treatment. Is that what you want to insure? Or, if I need an antibiotic to fight off a illness, do I need INSURANCE for that? And, you of small government, you're going to stand for a new law REQUIRING that I insure against a cough or cold? Fuck you.
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For years, the Bush administration has faced charges that it bent the truth or flat-out misled the public about Iraq's alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of the country. Now, a study by two nonprofit journalism organizations claims that President Bush and top officials in his administration issued nearly 1,000 false statements about the security threat posed by Iraq in the wake of 9/11.
The results of the study were posted Tuesday on the Web site for the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, which worked on the project with the Fund for Independence in Journalism. "On at least 532 separate occasions (in speeches, briefings, interviews, testimony and the like), Bush and these three key officials [Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld], along with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and former White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, stated unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (or was trying to produce or obtain them), links to al Qaeda or both. This concerted effort was the underpinning of the Bush administration's case for war," reads the report.
Entitled "False Pretenses," the report claims that the statements were "part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses." According to The Associated Press, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said he could not comment on the study because he had not seen it.
Of the 935 false statements made by the administration, according to the study, Bush was reported to have led all White House officials with 259 false statements, which included 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al Qaeda. Second on the list was Powell with 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaeda.
"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al Qaeda," wrote authors Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."
Relying on what it described as a "massive database" of information that fed the results of the project, the authors said their research was based on juxtaposing what President Bush and the top officials in his administration said in public against what was known, "or should have been known, on a day-to-day basis." The searchable database includes public statements drawn from both primary sources like official transcripts and secondary sources like the reporting of major news organizations over the two years beginning on September 11, 2001. It also used information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.
An example given in the report is a portion of an address given at the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars on August 26, 2002, during which Cheney said, "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us." According to the report, former CIA Director George Tenet later said Cheney's assertions went well beyond his agency's assessments at the time, and another CIA official, referring to the speech, told a prominent journalist, "Our reaction was, 'Where is he getting this stuff from?' "
"What we've included here is all factual information that we were able to quantify and put into a form that people can search using a database," said Carpinelli,
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the Iraq war continues with no clear end in sight, the cost to taxpayers may balloon to $2.7 trillion by the time the conflict comes to an end,
In a hearing held by the Joint Economic Committee
At the beginning of the conflict in 2003, the Bush administration gave Congress a cost estimate of $60 billion to $100 billion for the entirety of the war. But the battle has been dragging on much longer than most in the government expected, and costs have ballooned to nearly ten times the original estimate.
William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis, told members of Congress that the Iraq war has already cost taxpayers $646 billion. That's only accounting for five years, and, with the conflict expected to drag on for another five years, the figure is expected to more than quadruple. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told members of Congress that the war costs taxpayers about $430 million per day, and called out the Bush Administration.
"It is long past time for the administration to come clean and account for the real costs of the war in Iraq," said Schumer. "If they want to disagree with our estimates or with other experts ... fine - they should come and explain why."
The Bush Administration, which was invited to give testimony, declined to participate.
The Pentagon has previously said that the war costs approximately $9.5 billion a month, but some economists say the figure is closer to $25 billion a month when interest is factored in.
Increasingly, this proclivity on the part of President Bush to avoid the normal duty of a commander-in-chief to honor dead soldiers is causing rising irritation among some veterans and their families who have noticed what appears to be a historically anomalous slight.
"This country has a lot of history where commanders visit wounded soldiers and commanders talked to families of deceased soldiers and commanders attend funerals. It's just one of these understood traditions," says Seth Pollack, an 8-year veteran who served in the First Armored Division in both the first Gulf War and the Bosnia operation. "At the company level, the division level ... the general tradition is to honor the soldier, and the way you honor these soldiers is to have high-ranking officials attend the funeral. For the President not to have attended any is simply disrespectful."
Repeated questions on the matter posed to the White House earned only a series of "We'll call you back" and "Let me get back to you on that" comments from press officer Jimmy Orr.
Soldiers in the field, say veterans who have been there, have a lot more on their mind than whether or not the President has been photographed with a flag-draped coffin. But for those vets' rights activists who have not only noticed but begun to demand answers from the Bush Administration, the President lost the benefit of their doubt by his actions. "I was really shocked that the president wouldn't attend a funeral for a soldier he sent to die," said Pollack, who is board president of Veterans for Common Sense. "But at the same time I'm not surprised in the least. This Administration has consistently shown a great deal of hypocrisy between their talk about supporting the troops and what they've actually done," he added.
"From the cuts in the VA budget, reductions in various pays for soldiers deployed . . . to the most recent things like those we've seen at Fort Stewart, where soldiers who are wounded are not being treated well, the Administration has shown a blatant disregard for the needs of the soldiers." Pollack was referring to 600 wounded, ill and injured soldiers at a base in Georgia who were reported to be suffering from terrible living conditions, poor medical treatment and bureaucratic indifference. During a stop at Fort Stewart, President Bush visited returning soldiers but bypassed the wounded next door.
"Bush's inaction is a national disgrace," said one Gulf War I vet, speaking off the record. "I'm distressed at the lack of coverage – amounting to government censorship – of the funerals of returning U.S. service members.
"Bush loves to go to military bases near fundraisers," he continued. "The taxpayers pay for his trip, then he rakes in the cash. Soldiers are ordered to behave and be quiet at Bush events. What a way to get a friendly crowd! The bottom line is that if Bush attended a funeral now, it would highlight a few things: 1) There's a war going on, stupid; 2) There are bodies flying home in coffins censored by the Pentagon; and 3) Bush is insensitive to families and veterans."
Even as a propaganda strategy hatched by a PR flak, Bush's absence at funerals or memorial services – or even being photographed greeting the wounded – is starting to look less savvy. Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy wrote of one D.C. family's outrage that the President had not only been unable to attend the funeral of Spec. Darryl T. Dent, 21, killed in Iraq while serving in the District of Colombia's National Guard, but hadn't sent his condolences either.
"We haven't heard from him or the White House, not a word," Marion Bruce, Dent's aunt and family spokeswoman, told Milloy. "I don't want to speak for the whole family, but I am not pleased." A month later, after it was revealed by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post that the Pentagon was for the first time enforcing a ban on all media photographs of coffins and body bags leaving the war zone or arriving in America, more critics came to believe in their heart what their guts had been telling them for some time: that the White House was doggedly intent on not associating the President with slain American troops, lest it harm the already tarnished image of the Iraq occupation as a nearly bloodless "cakewalk" for the United States. (One official told Milbank that only individual graveside services, open to cameras at the discretion of relatives, give "the full context" of a soldier's sacrifice: "To do it at several stops along the way doesn't tell the full story and isn't representative.")
"I'm appalled," said Gulf War I vet Charles Sheehan-Miles, when asked about the lack of attention paid the dead and wounded. "The impact of the president not talking about [casualties] is huge – it goes back to the whole question of morale of the troops back in Iraq; they're fighting a war that the president says is not a war anymore but still is ... they haven't restored democracy, nor did they find any weapons – and they are being shot at every day."
"It goes back to the reasons behind this war in the first place," continued Sheehan-Miles, executive director of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute. "We've got this constant rhetoric that supporting the troops is the equivalent of supporting the President's policies. If you're against the war then you're not for the troops. And this is one of the key things that show the lie of that. The President, the Pentagon and, to a lesser extent, the Congress has shown that they don't have any regard for the people who are fighting the war on their behalf."
Sheehan-Miles noted that the Bush Administration has in recent months sought, and in many cases received, major cuts or elimination of funding set aside for school districts that host military bases (since the troops are exempt from paying the taxes to support these schools), combat pay, Veterans Administration per capita expenditures, life insurance benefits and base housing modernization, all the while dramatically lengthening deployment periods. Soldiers are so badly paid their incomes are usually too low to receive Bush's ballyhooed per-child tax credit, Sheehan-Miles adds; while living conditions in Iraq are considered grim even for a war zone.
"I correspond with people in the military," says Sheehan-Miles. "One of my friends was in a combat battalion who just came back; they were basically just hunkered down there trying to stay alive. He's not going to talk about it though; he's a 20-year vet with a career on the line."
Add to all this the fact that the rate of U.S. military casualties is rising rather than falling, and it becomes understandable why some veterans' advocates are so frustrated with the president's lack of attention to decorum. And for some military families, anger at the war in general is driving otherwise private people to go public with their concerns.
"With any military family, most of them feel very isolated and afraid to speak out," Paul Vogel, whose son Aaron is posted in Iraq, told the Barrington (IL.) Courier-Review. "It's a very frustrating thing for a military family to realize they're paying the price for a war that, at least for military families, is really hard to get all patriotic about. It seems to be unwinnable and unending, and those are the worst words anyone in a military family could hear.
"Our feeling is Bush needs to be as noble and as contrite as he can be to say, 'Hey, we made a mistake, and we need help.'"
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS THAT HAS INFECTED OUR MILITARY WE HAD TO LET A DIRTY NIGHT SHIRT WEARIN MUSLIM PIECE OF SHIT BECOME A MAJOR???? WHAT IN THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??
THAT THEY WOULD LET A DIRTY MOTHERFUCKER NAMED ALLAH AKBAR BECOME A MAJOR IN THE FUCKING ARMY AND GO ON RANTS ABOUT FOREIGN POLICY. I SAY CUT HIS FUCKIN PECKER OFF AND DIP HIS ASS
IN PIG SHIT AND STICK A PIG'S DICK UP HIS ASS N SHOOT HIM WITH A BULLET DIPPED IN PIG INNARDS AND THROW HIS ASS IN A VAT FULL OF RENDERED PIG FAT. ALREADY THOSE DAMN MUSLIM THINK THAT THEY
ARE GETTING 72 VIRGINS, WHEN IT'S 72 GRAPES. GO LOOK IT UP. IT'S TIME TO SCARE THE FUCKIN SHIT OUT OF THESE PEOPLE AND TURN MECCA INTO A GLASS PARKING LOT IF THEY FUCK WITH US ANY MORE.
ALL THEM MUSLIMS HAVE BEEN DOIN IS GOING AROUND STARTING SHIT FOR 1400 YEARS AND CUTTING THE THROATS OF PEOPLE. THE TOWN OF FEZ IS NAMED AFTER MUSLIM INVADERS CAME IN AND CUT THE
THROATS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND DIPPED THEIR SHRINER HATS IN THE BLOOD OF THEIR VICTIMS. I'M SICK OF THESE CORNED BEEF, YAMAKA AND DIRTY NIGHTSHIRT PIECES OF SHIT. YOU VOTE FOR A
DEMOCRAT AND YOU'RE CRAZY BECAUSE ALL THEY WANT TO DO IS EMPTY OUT THE REST OF THE WORLD AND PUT ALL OF THESE PIECES OF SHIT ON THE PUBLIC DOLE OR GIVE THEM H1N1 VISAS TO WHERE THEY
COME OVER HERE TO AMERICA AND TAKE JOBS OF PROGRAMMERS AND ENGINEERS FOR HALF THE PAY. JUST LIKE THAT LABOR DAY PARTY IN MERRY OLDE ENGLAND THEY OPENED THE FLOODGATES AND LET
MILLIONS OF THEM DIRTY NIGHT SHIRT WEARIN HAJIS IN THERE WHO ARE THREAT TO THEIR WAY OF LIFE INTO THEIR COUNTRY. I GOT A 50 CAL SEMI AUTO MATIC FOR ONE OF YOUR ASSES IF YOU EVER WANT
The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake.
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and staff they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surly goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Read this 5 times a day for 7 days
Read this first time when you wake up, after breakfast, after lunch, after dinner and before you go to bed.
Do not do a hurry quick reading but take each phrase, giving your mind time to soak up as much of the meaning as possible. Read it carefully, meditatively, and prayerfully. At the end of just one week, you will see a difference in your life.
The 23rd Psalm is one of the most powerful pieces of writing in existence, and it can do marvelous things for any person.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ’A man is what he thinks about all day long.’
Marcus Aurelius said, ‘ A mans life is what his thoughts make it.’
Norman Vincent Peale says, ‘ Change your thoughts and you change your world.’
The Bible says, ‘For as he thinks in his heart, so is he’ (Proverbs 23:7)
The 23rd Psalm is a pattern of thinking and when a mind becomes saturated with it, a new way of thinking and a new life is the result. It contains only 118 words. One could memorize it in a short time. Its power is not in memorizing the words, but rather in thinking the thoughts.
The power of this Psalm lies in the fact that it represents a positive, hopeful, faith approach to life. It is written by David, the same David who had a black pass of sin and failure in his life. But he spends no time in useless regret and morbid looking back. David possesses the same spirit that Paul expresses; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark (Philippians 3:13) or the spirit of our Lord when He said neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.
(John 8:11)
The Lord is my Shepherd
David points out in the 23 Psalm; Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. Instinctively, the sheep knows the shepherd has made plans for its grazing tomorrow. He knows the shepherd made ample provision for it today, so will he tomorrow, so the sheep lies down in its fold with, figuratively speaking, the piece of bread in its hand.
This Psalm does not begin with a petition asking God for something, rather it is a calm statement of the fact--the Lord is my Shepherd.’ we do not have to beg God for things.
God made provision for our needs long before we even had a need. Before we ever felt cold. God began storing up oil, coal, and gas to keep us warm. He knows we would be hungry, so even before He put man on the earth, God put fertility into the soil and life into the seeds. ’ your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him. Jesus said this in Matthew 6:8
In Psalm 37:25 David said I have been young and now old: yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Jesus asked us to think if God will do so much for a simple bird or a wild flower, how much more will He do for us Matthew 6:25,34. My God shall supply all your needs Philippians 4:19 again David said the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. With that kind of faith we can work today without worrying for tomorrow.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures
Shepherd starts the sheep grazing about 4 o’clock in the morning. The sheep walk steadily as they graze; they are never still. By 10 o’clock, the sun is beaming down and the sheep are hot, tired, and thirsty. The wise shepherd knows that the sheep must not drink when it is hot, neither when its stomach is filled with undigested grass. So the shepherd makes the sheep lie down in green pastures, in a cool, soft spot. The sheep will not eat lying down, so he chews his cud, which is natures way of digestion.
Study the lives of great people, and you will find every one of them drew apart from the hurry of life for rest and reflection.
Great poems are not written on crowed streets
Lovely songs are not written in the midst of clamoring multitudes
Our visions of God come when we stop.
The Psalmist said be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10
Elijah found God, not in the earthquake or the fire, but in a still small voice.
Moses saw the burning bush as he was out on the hillside.
Saul of Tarsus was on the lonely, quiet road to Damascus when he saw the heavenly vision.
Jesus took time to be alone and to pray. We sometime forget that before Jesus sent out His disciples to conquer the world, He told them to tarry for prayer and the power of God.
Sometimes God puts us on our backs in order to give us a chance to look up. He makes me to lay down. Sometimes we are forced, not by God, but by circumstances of one sort or another to lie down. That can always be a blessed experience. Even the bed of an invalid may be a blessing if he or she takes advantage of it!
He leads me to beside still waters
The sheep is a very timid creature. It is very afraid of fast moving water because it cannot swim very good. Because of the heavy coat of wool the water soaks into the sheep’s wool and pulls it down. Instinctively, the sheep knows it cannot swim in swift current. The sheep will not drink from a moving stream, it will only drink from still waters. The shepherd does not laugh at the sheep’s fears. He does not try to force the sheep. Instead, as he leads his sheep across the mountains and valleys, he is constantly on the watch for still waters, where the thirst of the sheep may be quenched. If there is no water available while the sheep are resting, the shepherd will gather up stones to fashion a dam across a small stream to form a pool from which even the tiniest lamb may drink without fear.
23rd Psalm has wonderful meaning for us.
God knows our limitations and he does not condemn us because we have weaknesses.
God does not force us where we cannot safely and happily go.
God never demands of us work which is beyond our strength and abilities.
God is constantly ministering to our needs.
God knows the loads upon our shoulders.
God knows where the places of nourishment and refreshment are located.
It gives one confidence to know that even while he is sleeping, the shepherd is working to prepare for his needs tomorrow.
Psalms 121: 3,4 He will not suffer your foot to be moved. He that keeps you
will not stumble. He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber or sleep.
Such an experience produces a marvelous surrender and trust enables one to face the heart of the day confidently, knowing there is refreshing and relaxed power awaiting under the leadership of one wiser than we.
That is the feeling that David had when he wrote the 23rd Psalm. As this Psalm saturates your mind it gives you that same assurance too.
He restores my soul
David remembered that as the sheep starts out in the morning to graze, each takes a definite place in line and holds that same position all during the day.
However, some time during the day each sheep leaves its place in line and trots over to the shepherd. The shepherd gently rubs the noses and ears and lightly scratches the ears, and whispers in an ear of the sheep to reassured and encourage, the sheep and then the sheep takes its place in line again.
David remembered how close he once was to God, how God protected him as he went out to meet the giant goliath, how God guided him along the way to success.
Then David got busy. He was able to look after himself. He felt no need of God. David lost his nearness to God. He did wrong. He became unhappy. His burden of guilt became too heavy to bear. Then he repented. God heard, forgave, and restore. He became a new man.
The human mind is like the human body. It can be wounded. Sorrow is a wound. It cuts deeply, but sorrow is a clean wound, and will heal unless something gets into the wound, such as bitterness, self-pity, or resentment. Wrong is also a wound. When I violate my standards I wound my mind, and it is an unclean wound. Time will not heal that wound. Gradually, a sense of guilt can destroy a life and make it only a shell. There is only one physician who can heal.
The 51st Psalm is the prayer David prayed. He restores my soul. This can have another meaning. Moffat reads. He revives life in me. God made the first man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
God has the power and the willingness to breath a new breath of life into
One Who is lost.
One Who is lonely and confuse
One Who has lost a mate
One Who lost everything because of a crisis such as fire, thief, flood, and storms in general. Only God has the power to change things!
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake
The psychiatrist’s couch cannot take the place of the church in solving the problems of a frustrated society.
He restores my soul.
He revives life in me.
Doubtless David remembers his own experience as a shepherd. He knew that the sheep has no sense of direction. The sheep has very poor eyesight. It cannot see ten or fifteen yards ahead.
Palestinian fields were covered with narrow paths over which the shepherds led their sheep to pastured. Some of these paths led to a precipice over which the stupid sheep might fall to its death.
Other paths lead up a blind alley. But some paths lead to green pastures and still waters. The sheep followed the shepherd, knowing it was walking in the right places, but the paths he followed always ended up somewhere to the shepherds judgment.
He does not promise us an easy, effortless life. He does promise us strength and he does promise to go with us. As we take life one step at a time, we can walk with him the right paths.
Proverbs 3:6 reads in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. This is true. The person who sincerely seeks to do Gods will, whatever His will may be, will know the leadership of eternal wisdom. He will lead you to your promise land.
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me
The valley of the shadow of death refers to more than the actual experiences of physical death. It has been translated the glen of gloom. It might refer to every hard and terrifying experience of life. The Basque Sheepherder describes an actual valley of the Shadow of Death in Palestine. It leads from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea and is a very narrow and dangerous pathway through the mountain range. The path is rough and there is danger that a sheep may fall at any moment to its death.
It is a forbidding journey that one dreads to take. But the sheep is not afraid. Why? Because the shepherd is with it. And so comes those dark places in life through which we are compelled to pass.
Death is one
Disappointment is another
Loneliness is another and there are many more.
Stop, become still and quite, and in the midst of your glen of gloom you will feel a strange and marvelous presence more powerfully than you have ever felt it before.
Wherever my pathway leads, I will not be afraid, said David, and countless multitudes also have rid themselves of fear. Why? For you are with me. There is power in his presence.
The rod and your staff they comfort me
The sheep is a helpless animal. It has no weapon with which to fight. It is easy to prey to any wild beast of the field. It is afraid.
The shepherd carries a rod, which is a heavy hard club two to three feet long. Also the shepherd carried a staff, which was about eight feet long. The end of the staff turned into a crook. Many paths in Palestine were along the steep sides of mountains. The sheep would lose its footing and slip down, hanging helplessly on some ledge below. With is staff the shepherd could reach down, place the crook over the small chest of the sheep and lift it back onto the pathway. The sheep’s instinctively is comforted by the shepherds rod and staff. It is a comfort of knowing that the shepherd will be able to meet an emergency.
There is needs of my life that I cannot meet, and like Paul it comforts me to say now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. [Ephesians 3:20]. We are scared people. Many times we feel helpless; then we find comfort in realizing the power of God. The rod and the staff---takes a lot of the dread and fear of the future out of my heart.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
In the pastures of the Holy Land grew poisons plants which were fatal to the sheep if eaten. Also, there were plants whose sharp thorns would penetrate the soft noses of the sheep and cause ugly sores. Each spring the shepherd would take his mattock and dig out these enemies of the sheep, pile them up and burn them. Then the pastures were safe for the sheep to graze. The pastures became, as it were, a table prepared. The present enemies were destroyed.
It is not enough for the farmer to plant his seed. He must go through his crop again and again to destroy the weeds. So must the Spirit of God in man militantly crusade. It is not enough just to preach the gospel. We must destroy the enemies. It is not enough just piously to sit around being good. There are times the Son of God goes forth to war. One other thought-Jesus expresses the petition of David when he prays lead us not into temptation. As we move along through life, we know there will be enemies seeking to destroy. Many worry because of a fear they will not be able to hold out-the fear of failure and of failing. But the shepherd of men is out ahead, and we can be assured of the protection of his strength. There is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. 1st John 5:4
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over
If you expect to live life, you must also expect some bruises and hurt. That is just the way it is. David, thinking this fact, said in the 23 Third Psalm. You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Sometimes as the sheep grazed, its head would be cut by the sharp edge of a stone buried in the grass. There were briars to scratch and thorns to stick .
Then some days the sheep had to walk steep paths under a hot, merciless sun. at the end of the day it would be tired. So the shepherd would stand at the door of the fold and examine each sheep as it came in. if there were hurt places the shepherd would apply soothing and healing oil. Instead of becoming infected the hurt would soon heal. Also the shepherd had a large earthen jug of water, the kind of a jar which kept the water refreshingly cool through evaporation. As the sheep came in, the shepherd would dip down into the water with his big cup and bring it up brimful. The tired sheep drank deeply of the life-quickening draught.
There is a tender shepherd who understands the hurt of his children and is ever ready and able to minister to that hurt.
David said, you anoint my head with oil, my cup……he did not say, our heads. It is the singular, personal pronoun. All day long the shepherd has been concerned with the flock. But as they go into the fold he takes them one by one. Jesus said, he calls his own sheep by name. [ John 10:3]
The Psalmist said He heals the broken in heart…He tells the number of the stars. [Psalms 147:3,4] The power of the universe is power at my disposal.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
David was an old man when he written Psalms 23. He had seen tragedies and disappointments, but he also had come to know God--a God who knows the needs of his children and who abundantly provided for those needs, a God who can restore life and take away fear. In spite of dark clouds on the horizon, with a God like Him whom David knew, David was sure the sun would shine tomorrow. This is the day which the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it [Psalms 118:23]. Begin the morning with hope. Plant this firmly in your mind, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me and they will.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever
David closes the 23rd Psalm with a mighty crescendo of faith when he declares, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
David did not have the insights that we have. He never heard the words I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
John 11:25,26
Just knowing intimately a God like he describes in the 23rd Psalm gave David assurance that at the close of life’s day he would go home.
He knows the Shepherd
I know the Psalms but he knows the Shepherd. Perhaps the figure of the Shepherd and the flock may mean little to the modern city dweller. Yet if ever a people of this earth resembled a flock of frightened sheep it is now.
Governments are afraid of each other.
People are afraid of their governments.
People afraid of other people and afraid of themselves.
This Psalms of David has sung its way across the barriers of time, race, and language. For twenty-five centuries it has been treasured in the hearts of people. Today it is more beloved than ever before.
The reasons it lives? Not just because it is great literature. Because it tells that above all the strife and fears, the hungers and weaknesses of making, there is a shepherd.
A shepherd who knows his sheep one by one, who is abundantly able to provide, who guides and protects and at the close of the day opens the door to the sheepfold--the house not made with hands.
This recession was brought on by a bloated housing market that was being financed by banks that knew that the market grossly over appraised and many borrowers should not qualify. The magnitude of the bad assets the banks had was no surprise. It did not happen over night. A big culprit was that community reinvestment act, which the Democrats attached to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Both parties voted for it overwhelmingly. President Clinton had to sign in because it was veto proof. In the years to follow neither party did anything about it even though it was common knowledge a crash had to come sometime.
The Democrats were in control 2006-2008 did they produce any bill that kept us from recession. NO. Were Freddie and Fanny major players in the failing market? Yes. Were Freddie and Fanny also major contributors to the Democratic Party. Big time.
Is the Republican Party equally to blame. Hell yes.
We have a political system of checks and balances. Everyone failed.
"problems with bailouts"...... How did President Obama vote on the bailout when he was a Senator? How many more bailouts have there been under his Presidency?
"The deficit".... President Obama has quadrupled the deficit. My grand children will have to pay for people who bought a foreign automobile before they were born.
Too bad you don't. That's pretty obvious.
--Wow, brilliant remark, go ahead and pat yourself on the back for that one, watch out for that dome of yours.
So, it's about Obama, right? OK. Let's just forget about Bush.
Unless we have to deal with a recession. An illegal war. The lies and the problems with bailouts. The deficit. All of the problems this President inherited.
--A recession. You think Obama is the first president to deal with a recession? Perhaps he shouldn’t have run if he was so worried about the economy he was inheriting.
--Illegal war...wow, still bringing that far left liberal crap in here.
--Bailouts? Bailouts supported by, hmmm…Obama, Democrats, and Republicans.
--The deficit? You’re kidding right?
So, you'd like to forget Bush was ever there. Me too! We agree on that.
So, you don't like what President Obama is doing to clean up the messes left by the guy we're trying to forget. Sorry. But we have to do something.
--Oh so you want to talk about the Dem's strong support for Freddie & Fannie the last 8 years? So spending less that a third of stimulus package is working than I see? It is more complex than it is just Bush’s fault…that is clearly where you display your ignorance and partisan stupidity. You know what, go with it though, it works for you. Ignorance is bliss.
What do you suggest? Any ideas?
--Instead of passing an emergency stimulus package, oh I forgot, it doesn’t take in effect to next year, good thing it was rushed through. You give the money to the American people and local business, not your political and union buddies, whose shocked? I’m glad Obama is holding onto the remaining funds until next year, just in time for the congressional elections. Wow, he can’t be that deceptive can he?
Lowering taxes doesn't work. Isolationism doesn't work. Doing nothing doesn't work.
--Lowering taxes does work. Show me where government spending has gotten an economy out of recession? FDR, Nixon, Carter…they all tried. Hell, even the Republicans used Obama’s own stimulus model and it would of created more jobs and half the price. Oh but wait, we’ve blown by Obama’s 8% unemployment rate statement, crap.
What else?
If all people on the right want to do is blame everything on Obama, that's silly, and not productive
--Turn around is fair play, sucks doesn’t it?
So, it's about Obama, right? OK. Let's just forget about Bush.
Unless we have to deal with a recession. An illegal war. The lies and the problems with bailouts. The deficit. All of the problems this President inherited.
So, you'd like to forget Bush was ever there. Me too! We agree on that.
So, you don't like what President Obama is doing to clean up the messes left by the guy we're trying to forget. Sorry. But we have to do something.
"A package that seeks to propel a sluggish economic recovery." Can someone remind me what the first $787 billion was going to do. Or maybe, what was the cash for clinkers?
What was it Albert Einstein called it when you keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome?
There are less than 150 million Americans who pay federal tax each year. The bailouts at this point has cost over $5400.00 per tax payer.
Then we're pleasured to read some prose by a moron who believes the Republicans haven't put forth any positive, meaningful legislation in the last 50 years. I don't even know how to start with that one, but suffice it to say that the Mid Nineties come to mind. However, I like to think if our legislators whether liberal or conservative, aren't doing anything at all, we're all much better off.
Lastly we've got a guy who apparently is just now drawing the parrallel between the Conservatives and the Republicans. Here's a guy who's been keeping up!
So for all of you libs who are taken to believing the conservative movement is dead, I'd like to point to Republicans winning 2 of 3 high profile races on Tuesday. Two of the 3 were stumped heavily by the President, and they still lost big time. And remember, Hoffman was hardly a candidate until the last 30 days, and only lost by 8%. And even that was after the Republican Candidate endorsed the Democrat Candidate who won. So, If I were you libs I wouldn't stop running those prayer beads through my hands too soon,; things are not nearly as rosey as you're making it out to be.
Here's an interesting read: and some important and verifiable information :
About 6 months ago, the writer was watching a news program on oil and one of the Forbes brothers was the guest. The host said to Forbes, "I am going to ask you a direct question and I would like a direct answer; how much oil does the U.S. have in the ground?" Forbes did not miss a beat, he said, "More than all the Middle East put together."
Please read below:
The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big! It was a revised report (which had not been updated since 1995) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota , western South Dakota , and extreme eastern Montana .....
Check THIS out:
The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's Prudhoe Bay , and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable. At $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.
"When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea." says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.
"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a formation known as the Williston Basin , but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' It stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada . For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves. We now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!
That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years straight. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because the information is from 2006!
U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World
Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006
Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this 'mother lode' of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?
They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:
- 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
- 18-times as much oil as Iraq
- 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
- 22-times as much oil as Iran
- 500-times as much oil as Yemen
- and it's all right here in the Western United States .
HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy.
WHY?
James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reportsThe Denver Post.
Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think again! It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to.
Do ya' think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?
Got your attention yet? Now, while you're thinking about it, do this:
Pass this along. If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you complain about gas prices -
By doing NOTHING, you forfeit your right to complain.
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Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of you sent this to every one in your address book.
By the way...this is all true. Check it out at the link below!!!
GOOGLE it, or follow this link. It will blow your mind.
Tell me how the economy was fucked when he got it. It only took 6 years to manifest in a fucked economy.
Tell me how the world hated us BEFORE he attacked Iraq, knowing full well the terrorists were in Pakistan.
Tell me how the Republican Party was in shambles during the 2000 election.
Tell me how fucking bad BUSH2 was that he got an alien, not US citizen, MUSLIM, terrorist, false Birth Certificate Socialist out to destroy America man elected President.
Not a single solution, just more of the same hatred, bigotry and name calling. You've taken the blame game to new levels.
--The Republicans offered a Stimulus bill, they even used Obama’s model. Guess what they rejected it. The Republicans offered 9000 amendments to the current Health Care reform bill, guess what, they rejected it.
--Not my president, you remember that right? A film depicting his death, can you imagine the outrage if they did that right now?
Under Bush2, we all had reasons to worry, and to be upset.
--Perhaps you did.
Under Obama, idiots blame him for a murderous spree in Killeen, Tx. And qualify the stupid statement with "You blamed BUSH, so WE'LL blame Obama for this". Fucking BRILLIANT!!!!
--I see, and Bush being blamed for 9/11 is what? Go defend those people that are still beating the drum today. BRILLIANT!
How one party attracted so many idiots is beyond me. Usually the idiots are pretty evenly spread out among parties. How the Republican'ts got so many is a testament to their party leadership. You guys sure got a lock on the FOX NEWS crowd. Good job. You have a base. The idiots. Nice.
--And you have your left wing base of Al Sharpton, Bill Maur, George Soros, etc.
"this middle eastern people are animals..." I assume by Middle Eastern people you are referring to those of the Islamic faith? Just for clarification, there are 1.66 billion Muslims and needless to say they do not all live in the Mid-East.
I am always amazed at people such as yourself who attempt to use falsified information to further their hate filled, narrow minded agendas, this is only one of the reasons you fail and will always fail in your feeble attempts to create hatred towards others of different faiths, races, ethnicities. Persons like yourself should be pitied!
Under Bush2, we all had reasons to worry, and to be upset.
Under Obama, idiots blame him for a murderous spree in Killeen, Tx. And qualify the stupid statement with "You blamed BUSH, so WE'LL blame Obama for this". Fucking BRILLIANT!!!!