Fiscal Follies-Brother Can You Spare a Billion

I am going to state what seems obvious to me though very few people are talking about it mainly because it is probably politically incorrect.

The mortgage crisis came about because loans were given to minority groups which had no chance of ever being able to pay back the loans.

Why were these loans given out in the first place?

I am against the Wall Street Bail Out and only wish John McCain had voted against it. Sure something had to be done but not this COP OUT which has been given to the greedy CEO's of various banks and finance companies. I believe it was Paulson hysteria that led to much of the rail roading going on in pushing forward this fool hardy scheme where it seems the innocent TAX payer has to bail out the Rich underworked and overpaid CEO's.

It's YOUR money but it is their Crime!

The people who took out these loans when they must have known they could not afford it also need to bear the responsibility of their foolish actions. Why should responsible working Americans have to PAY for the wishful thinking, 'finger crossing' families who behaved irresponsibly.

I wouldn't have the audacity to go to the American people and say 'hey I took out this mortgage when I knew I couldn't pay but now I expect YOU to bail me out, because I deserve it.'

We live in a society that wont wait. A few decades ago only retiree's owned their own homes while newly married couples saved to put large deposits down on their houses. You did not actually OWN your home till you retired.

Now young newly weds want to OWN their own homes with NO deposit in what is once again a 'cross your fingers' let's hope it works out type of family budget which is NO budget at all.

Banks need to be banks and not open handed lollie shops! Banks should never lend money to people who are high risk and who they know cannot afford to pay their mortgage.

At times a little bit of finger pointing is a good thing. This crisis began with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which then had a domino affect on other financial institutes. And blame goes across the table from Carter to Clinton from Bush to the Democrats(Franks-Dodd etc).

Will this Bail Out change the way American's run their banking system, will it fix what is obviously broken? Or is it instead 'putting a finger in a leaky boat in the hope you don't sink?' Will the CEO's need another 4 day junkett if they get 'stressed' again? Heaven forbid that these irresponsbile financial institutes be held accountable for their lousy judgements while they lined their own pockets!

As the world heads towards a recession I have to ask...

What happened to personal responsiblity & accountability?

Written by Marie

Two Wolves-Dealing with Adversity

On Paula's insightful blog, Receiving Light she has brought forth quite a few topics on our sensibilities and how we can and should view adversity. Her pieces reminded me of an old Cherokee saying.

An elder cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."

The children thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old cherokee simply replied,"The one you feed."

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How we deal with adverse comments, gossip or actions done against us will define what 'wolf' we are feeding.

At times it is very easy to confuse sensitive with over-senstive, whats the difference? A sensitive person is aware of another's feeling, they speak with honesty and compassion towards all, they in essence put another persons feelings above their own. An over-sensitive person on the other hand will become defensive and take everything as a slight towards themselves, they essentially place themselves over and above everyone else.

We can also look towards one of our greatest Saint to understand the difference between a sensitive soul and an over-sensitive one. To borrow a quote, from that great Mystic St. Teresa of Avila.

"They are too attached to their honor. . . .These souls, for themost part, grieve over anything said against them. They donot embrace the cross but drag it along, and so it hurts andwearies them and breaks them to pieces. However, if thecross is loved, it is easy to bear, this is certain."

This state of over-sensitivity is a form of pride, though those who habour these feelings may think themselves quite humble, they are instead the opposite.

In the end we must ask ourselves, what wolf are you feeding?

Women of Grace and Courage-Josephine Butler

In the times we live in we often find it difficult to believe that nearly two hundred years ago women had no power, no rights and no security. And this situation was seen as right and proper by most in society.

Josephine Butlers crusade for women's rights began with a tragedy, when her beloved daugher Eva fell to her death in front of her horrified eyes. Eva was only 6 years old and as to be expected Josephine and her husband George would never recover from this tragedy.

Rather than take the role of morbid grief, which was the norm in Victorian times, Josephine instead looked outside of her grief and reached out to those in most need. She didnt have to look far, to see the misery of lives blunted by despair. Rather than take the usual 'do gooder' role, Josephine stepped away from convention and opened her own home to these poor, destitute and often dying women.

Coming from a political family Josephine did more than simply help these desperate women she also changed the law when the law was in total contradiction of her Christian principles. Even though the Victorians were known for their sexual repression Josephine was not so hypocritical to allow the blame of sexual folly to fall solely on the woman. So when the 'Contagious Diseases Act' was put into practice this aroused Josephine's fine sense of justice and she became one of only a few women to speak honestly and openly about the biggest taboo subject....sex!

The law was so unfair that any man anywhere could accuse a woman of immoral behaviour and the accused woman, no matter if she were innocent would then have to undergo a 'virginity test' with the outcome that the woman's reputation was ruined. Josephine travelled all over England to speak out against this injustice with the outcome that this particular law was repealed in 1886.

Josephine Butler with the full support of her husband went on to challenge the growing white slave trade as well as continuing to train women who had once been prostitutes so that they too could contribute to society in a postive way.

Josephine Butler did more than just wring her hands at life's injustices, she was the voice of the shamed...and at times she was their only voice.

TV-Children Friendly? Or Monster In The Home

Over at Dymphna's Well, the topic is the Media and its affect on children within the home. I am glad to see someone tackling this problem as many parents do not realise that the TV has now become a monster in the home.

The main thing that concerns me is by allowing children to watch violent or promiscious TV programs we are desensitizing them and numbing them to accept violence and graphic sex scenes as 'normal'.

I know that many parents allow their children to watch MTV a disgraceful channel full of foul language and lewd behaviour. And even 'nice' programs such as The Simpsons needs a re-think, mainly because the only 'Christian' in the TV show is portrayed as a well meaning idiot, while the parents are simply idiotic and stupid. Only smart mouth Bart is smart.

I commend 4HisChurch in bringing up this important issue and hope that many will visit her blog and join in on the commentary both here and at Dymphnas Well.

Yours in Christ,

Marie

ANZAC PRAYER

God of love and liberty, we bring our thanks this day for the peace and security we enjoy, which was won for us through the courage and devotion of those who gave their lives in time of war. We pray that their labour and sacrifice may not be in vain, but that their spirit may live on in us and in generations to come. That the liberty, truth and justice which they sought to preserve may be seen and known in all the nations upon earth. This we pray in the name of the one who gave his life for the sake of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

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The Ode

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

The Ultimate Motherly Act

This makes chilling reading when a journalist Ms Moran attempts to 'reason' that having an abortion is nothing more than getting rid of a problem. Her irrational attempts to suggest that in order to have a better society it would be best to murder the most vulnerable should leave everyone shuddering at her mind set.

Here is just an except from the site 'Catholic Culture'.

"Journalist Miranda Sawyer had made a television documentary in which she recounted her own personal journey from viewing a fetus "just as a group of cells" to understanding what it really is. "When you’ve experienced…pregnancy and birth, and the fantastic beauty of the resulting child," said Sawyer, "it’s hard not to question what a termination does, or is." In contrast, Moran claims that her own experience, after having two children, was just the opposite: she became less conflicted about abortion, and gladly chose to terminate her next pregnancy."

Read further on this most important issue which tears at the heart of our society by clicking here.

Yours in Christ,

Marie

Feed the Hungry at No Cost

On a more positive note. Paula who runs her two blogs, 'More Light' and 'Receiving Light' has placed a post that deals with poverty and families that are going hungry. All one has to do is to click the links displayed on her blogs to help feed the hungry....So now helping the hungry is now only a click away.

Please visit her blogs and help in this worthy cause. Thankyou.

Peace to all

Marie

The Reality of Evil

Less than seventy-two hours have passed since the shootings that killed thirty-two innocent people and injured another thirty at Virginia Tech. Americans can relate to what Virginia Tech President William Steger said immediately after the killings: "I'm really at a loss for words to explain or to understand the carnage that has visited our campus . . . "

This is especially true as a frightening picture of the killer emerges: a young man, by all accounts a loner, who, according to the Washington Post, wrote poetry about death and "expletive-filled rants against the rich and privileged." Clearly, on the dark side.

As we seek to understand what happened and why he did this, it is vital that we not exclude an important part of the equation: evil.

Faced with this kind of horror, we automatically assume that we are dealing with a madman—a word the media has already used to describe the killer. That's because we can't imagine ourselves or anyone we know doing anything remotely like this. Therefore, we conclude that something must have been "wrong" with the perpetrator.

And, since our culture is defined by what sociologist Philip Rieff called the "therapeutic ethos," the "something" that's "wrong" must be a psychological defect. Mental illness, not human evil, is our preferred explanation for what happened in places like Blacksburg or Columbine.

I witnessed an extreme example of this therapeutic thinking during a visit to a Norwegian prison years ago. Throughout the tour, officials bragged about employing the most humane and progressive treatment methods anywhere in the world. I met several doctors in white coats.

That prompted me to ask how many of the inmates, who were all there for serious crimes, were mentally ill. The warden replied, "Oh, all of them." I must have looked surprised, because she said, "Well, of course, anyone who commits a crime this serious is obviously mentally unbalanced."

Stated differently, there is no such thing as sin and evil, and the only reason why people might commit serious crimes is that they are mentally ill. Thus, the best—and perhaps, only—response to crime is behavior modification and all of those other up-to-date psychological techniques.

While the Norwegian approach would strike most Americans as very naïve, the difference between them and us is one of degree not kind. We also blame crime on external factors, like mental illness, culture, dysfunctional childhood, and the like.

We are uncomfortable attributing events like this to human evil, much less to a kind of evil that seeks to undo God's creation—what Christians call the demonic.

Yet without this idea, events like this massacre can never be understood. We might learn that the killer was "mentally unbalanced" or on anti-depressants. But, absent evidence that he was clinically delusional, this knowledge will not explain why he walked onto a college campus, locked people in a lecture hall, and killed them.

Events like this not only horrify us—they unsettle us. We think of sin and the demonic as not-so-quaint relics from a superstitious age. And even more destructive, random events like this remind us how little we know about ourselves and what we are capable of, as well. But failing to call evil evil misleads us about the world we live in and our need for God's grace, the only real answer and hope for any of us.

Inspirational Thought

This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love."

~Peace Pilgrim.