Political Interview With Substance

Q: It was mentioned you were in favor of getting rid of the Department of Education. Is this true, and if so, how do you feel this would benefit the country?

A: I do believe in eliminating the Department of Education...Too see the rest of Dr. Paul's response and the rest of his interview click here.

A great-uncle! (for the third time)

I hesitated putting this post on for fear of people not reading the previous post. I was hoping to leave the previous post at the top for a few days, but this is big news.

My niece Kristin Wyss had her third baby girl this morning. Anna Ruth. 7lbs 1oz. Healthy.
I don't have any pictures yet, sorry.

*edit: She's 7lbs 4oz and 20". Here are a couple pictures.



And if you haven't read the previous post yet, please do so. :-)

Peace and Love.

Guest Post: A Picture of God

A friend of mine recently asked me if he could use my blog to post a paper he had written called "A Picture of God". I have hopes that this paper, long though it is, will be a good discussion starter. I will caution you, however, against assuming that I agree with all the thoughts expressed in the following article. I may, or may not.

Also, I want to stress how important I think it is for us, as Christians, to have an accurate and Biblical picture of who God is. It is supremely foundational to how we relate to our maker, and how we relate to others. Please take time to read this paper slowly and contemplatively.

I look forward to hearing my readers' thoughts on "A Picture of God". I hope you all feel welcome to comment freely with any criticism whether positive or negative.

A Picture of God

Be forewarned this won’t be short, not too long, but it won’t make sense without reading it all; every verse. So if you don’t have time just wait till you do. Skimming will not really give any benefit at all. But don’t let that warning make you think I’m guaranteeing you any benefit from this either. Nevertheless, my experience tells me the bible verses themselves will profit you, the Word of God always does.

Step 1, read every one of these verses…

Is man basically good or basically evil?

• Ecclesiastes 7:29 - "Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices."
• Romans 5:7-8 - For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
• Romans 5:12,19 - through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned... through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners
• Job 15:14-16 - "What is man, that he should be pure, or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in His sight; how much less one who is detestable and corrupt, man, who drinks iniquity like water!"
• Ecclesiastes 9:3 – “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.”

All men? Are there any exceptions?

• Psalm 143:2 - And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is righteous.
• Galatians 3:22 - the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin
• Romans 11:32 - For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.
• Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
• 2 Chronicles 6:36 - there is no man who does not sin
• Isaiah 53:6 - All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
• Micah 7:2-4 - The godly person has perished from the land, and there is no upright person among men. All of them lie in wait for bloodshed; each of them hunts the other with a net. Concerning evil, both hands do it well. The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe, and a great man speaks the desire of his soul; so they weave it together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright like a thorn hedge.
• Romans 3:9-12 - What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. (c.f. Psalm 14:1-3, 53:1-3)
• 1 John 1:8,10 - If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar and His word is not in us.
• Mark 10:18/Luke 18:19 - And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone."
• 1 Kings 8:46 - "When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them…
• Proverbs 20:9 - Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin"?
• Ecclesiastes 7:20 - Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
• Jeremiah 2:29 - "Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me," declares the LORD.
• Luke 18:19 - And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
• Romans 5:12-14 - Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Are people good deep down?

• Mark 7:21-23 - "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." (c.f. Matthew 15:19)
• Psalm 5:9 - There is nothing reliable in what they say; their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

Are men totally depraved? Is every faculty of the person corrupted?

Heart/Thoughts (Deceitful)

• Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?"
• Ecclesiastes 9:3 - the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.
• Matthew 15:19 - "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders." (c.f. Mark 7:21-23)
• Genesis 6:5 & 8:21 - Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually... from youth.
• Psalm 36:1-2 - Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For it flatters him in his own eyes concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.
• Proverbs 28:26 - He who trusts in his own heart is a fool
• Ecclesiastes 8:11 - Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.
• Ezekiel 36:26 - Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Mind/Understanding (Depraved)

• Romans 1:28-31 - And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being... without understanding
• Titus 1:15-16 - to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled
• Ephesians 4:17-18 - So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
• Jeremiah 10:7-8,14 - For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You. But they are altogether stupid and foolish. Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge

Will/Choosing (Enslaved)

• John 8:34 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."
• 2 Peter 2:19 - by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
• Titus 3:3 - For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
• Galatians 4:8-9 - However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?
• Romans 6:6,16,17,19,20 - our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin... Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey...? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart... For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
• Romans 7:14 - For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
• Romans 6:20 - For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
• 2 Timothy 2:25-26 - if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Affections/Desires (Perverted)

• Romans 1:24-27 - Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
• 2 Timothy 3:2-4 - For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
• Proverbs 21:10 - The soul of the wicked desires evil
• Isaiah 32:6 - For a fool speaks nonsense, and his heart inclines toward wickedness
• John 3:19 - "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil."
• John 8:44 - "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father."

et al (Utter Ruin)

• Titus 1:15-16 - to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled
• Romans 7:18 - I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh
• Isaiah 1:5-6 - The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil.

Can men change themselves or still do good when they want to?

• Jeremiah 13:23 - Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
• Job 11:12 - An idiot will become intelligent when the foal of a wild donkey is born a man.
• 1 Samuel 24:13 - "As the proverb of the ancients says, 'Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness'"
• Matthew 7:18 - "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." (c.f. Luke 6:43)
• Matthew 12:34 - "how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil."
• Romans 8:7 - the mind set on the flesh... does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so
• Genesis 6:5 & 8:21 - Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually... from youth.
• Titus 1:15-16 - to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Are men at least born pure?

• Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
• Psalm 58:3 - The wicked are estranged from the womb; those who speak lies go astray from birth.
• Genesis 8:21 - the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth

What is the natural disposition of man toward God?

• John 3:20 - "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."
• Romans 8:7-8 - the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
• Colossians 1:21 - you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds
• James 4:4 - You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

What is man's relationship to God?

• Psalm 58:3 - The wicked are estranged from the womb; those who speak lies go astray from birth.
• Ephesians 2:12-13 - remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
• Ephesians 2:3 - Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Can man then do anything to please God?

• Proverbs 15:9 - The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord
• Proverbs 15:8/21:27 - The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord
• Proverbs 28:9 - He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
• Isaiah 64:6 - For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
• Romans 8:7-8 - the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
• Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please [God]

Are men at least seeking God?

• John 3:20 - "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."
• Isaiah 65:1 - "I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me."
• Isaiah 64:7 - There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.
• Romans 3:10-12 - "there is none who seeks for God"

Can the natural man comprehend the gospel or come to saving knowledge of God on his own?

• 1 Corinthians 2:14 - But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 - our gospel is veiled... to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
• 1 Corinthians 1:18,21-24 - For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Crist crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness
• Matthew 11:27 - "no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.'

Can men of themselves accept God's gift of salvation? Do men choose God or come to Him on their own?

• John 3:27 - John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven."
• John 14:16 - "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him
• John 1:12-13 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
• John 6:44 & 64 - "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;" And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."
• Romans 9:16 - So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
• Romans 11:35-36 - Or who has first given to [the Lord] that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
• 1 Corinthians 1:30 - But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus
• Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Who supplies faith/belief/repentance?

• Romans 12:3 - God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
• 2 Peter 1:1 - Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours
• 1 Corinthians 3:6 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
• Acts 5:31 - "He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
• Acts 11:18 - When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."
• Philippians 1:29 - For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake... to believe in Him
• Acts 18:27 - And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace
• Acts 3:16 - "And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all."
• Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
• 2 Timothy 2:25 - The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, [etc.]... if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth
• 1 Corinthians 12:3 - no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit
• 2 Peter 1:3 - His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence
• Romans 11:36 - For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
• 1 Corinthians 4:7 - For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
• John 3:6 & 6:63 - "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit... It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing;"

Can men do anything to help themselves?

• Romans 5:6 - For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
• Colossians 2:13 - When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions
• Ephesians 2:1-2 & 4-5 - And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked... But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Who then can be saved?!

• Matthew 19:26 - Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

So, you may be asking yourself – what does any of this have to do with a “picture of God?” Let me try to explain. Have you tried to take a picture of a large group of people and you had to keep asking them to squeeze in as you scoot back farther and farther to fit them all in the camera frame? Well, getting a picture or view of God is must the same, except you can’t squeeze God smaller. You can’t ask Him to shed some of Him unimaginable holiness and power to fit into you camera frame. It’s more like trying to take a picture of a mountain range. We as humans had a tendency to sit at the base of the mountain and try to take a picture. But you are going to have to back up pretty far to fit an entire mountain range in your camera. Don’t just step back, just turn around and run. Get in a car and just drive for miles before you even turn around to look.

For us as humans to get a picture of God we need to first get an idea of who we are as mankind. Maybe these verses just made you feel terrible. You can see the sin in your heart that no one knows about and you are simply ashamed. Once you see who we are, you may start to see how far we are from God. That immeasurable distance, the immense chasm, between us and Him is what Jesus had to bridge to justify us in His eyes. And its size is directly proportional to what our own gratitude and awe and worship should be in return. If we had any grasp of the holiness Jesus removed to take on our sin we would be continually speechless. Imagine the nicest clothes you’ve ever worn, maybe the tux from your wedding day, and then walking in a slum and find a drunk in an alley covered in sewer water and his own vomit. Then imagine switching outfits with him as he struggled and fought against you the whole time like an unruly baby getting his messy diaper changed. And when it’s all finished you stand him up in front of mirror and only then can he see what you’ve done for him. That’s what Jesus did for believers. His putting on of our sin had to be the must disgusting vile action He could possibly perform. And He did it out of love for us. It’s a love so great and glorious that we can never comprehend it. We create mere metaphors like the ones above to try and explain that is so amazing that He did that for us while we were yet sinners. So before you try to get a picture of God, get your perspective right and back way WAY up.

And there it is…the pure and simple gospel. If I die, read this at my funeral. Not only so the unbelievers there can hear the gospel message, but so you can quit mourning because I’m a Christian and I just got to go home to my Lord and my God; exactly where I want to be. And left behind with my dead useless body is also my camera- that weak sin crippled mind I had while on earth. I don’t need it anymore. I get a new one that can learn about God and be filled with knowledge of Him for all eternity. Because my God is enormously holy and righteous that no other amount of time would even allow you to scratch the surface of His being.

Insulated

Big thanks to my wonderful parents!

Last night my mom & dad came over and we worked on insulating my basement.

My mom cut and stuffed fiberglass insulation all the way around our rim joist (bless her heart!) while dad & I sealed up our basement windows with rigid insulation and expanding foam.

It was appalling how much cold air was leaking into our basement from around our basement window frames. The wind was blowing last night, so you could put your hand up to the window frame and feel the wind just coming right through.

The biggest side benefit to sealing up our basement is keeping bugs out. We had more than our fair share of spiders, crickets, and ladybugs invade the warmth of our basement. I know my wife will greatly appreciate a big downturn in the critter count.

The next step in sealing up our house is to caulk the inside of our storm windows. Sometimes, when the wind is blowing, you can see the cobwebs blowing in the space between the storm window and the regular window. That's not a good sign.

We're so easy to fool

Urgent prayer request!

I just received a call from Mark Herrmann about an urgent prayer request. An employee of his was just electrocuted this morning while working on a job around 11am. He was digging a post hole and hit an electrical line. He's currently on his way to OSF and they're doing CPR and trying to recessitate him. Please lift him up to our Father God!

Our Awe-inspiring Universe!

As a side-note: I recently purchased Louie Giglio's sermon "Indescribable". This article has me even more excited to watch it!

Unknown "Structures" Tugging at Universe, Study Says
John Roach
for National Geographic News
November 5, 2008

Something may be out there. Way out there.

On the outskirts of creation, [*note from Luke: I find it interesting that the author uses the term "creation" here.] unknown, unseen "structures" are tugging on our universe like cosmic magnets, a controversial new study says.

Everything in the known universe is said to be racing toward the massive clumps of matter at more than 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) an hour—a movement the researchers have dubbed dark flow.

The presence of the extra-universal matter suggests that our universe is part of something bigger—a multiverse—and that whatever is out there is very different from the universe we know, according to study leader Alexander Kashlinsky, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The theory could rewrite the laws of physics. Current models say the known, or visible, universe—which extends as far as light could have traveled since the big bang—is essentially the same as the rest of space-time (the three dimensions of space plus time).

Picturing Dark Flow

Dark flow was named in a nod to dark energy and dark matter—two other unexplained astrophysical phenomena.

The newfound flow cannot be explained by, and is not directly related to, the expansion of the universe, though the researchers believe the two types of movement are happening at the same time.

In an attempt to simplify the mind-bending concept, Kashlinsky says to picture yourself floating in the middle of a vast ocean. As far as the eye can see, the ocean is smooth and the same in every direction, just as most astronomers believe the universe is. You would think that beyond the horizon, therefore, nothing is different.

"But then you discover a faint but coherent flow in your ocean," Kashlinsky said. "You would deduce that the entire cosmos is not exactly like what you can see within your own horizon."

There must be an out-of-sight mountain river or ravine pushing or pulling the water. Or in the cosmological case, Kashlinsky speculates that "this motion is caused by structures well beyond the current cosmological horizon, which is more than 14 billion light-years away."

"We Found a Great Surprise"

The study team didn't set out to explode physics as we know it.

They simply wanted to confirm the longstanding notion that the farther away galaxies are, the slower their motion should appear.

That movement is detectable in data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which NASA says "reveals conditions as they existed in the early universe by measuring the properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation over the full sky"—radiation thought to have been released about 380,000 years after the birth of the universe.

Hot gas in galaxy clusters warms the microwave background radiation, and "a very tiny component of this temperature fluctuation also contains in itself information about cluster velocity," Kashlinsky said.

If a cluster were moving faster or slower than the universe's background radiation, you'd expect to see the background heated slightly in that region of the universe—the result of a sort of electron-scattering "friction" between the cluster's hot gas and particles in the background radiation.

Because these fluctuations are so faint, the team studied more than 700 galaxy clusters.

The researchers had expected to find that, the farther away clusters are, the slower they appear to be moving.

Instead, Kashlinsky said, "We found a great surprise."

The clusters were all moving at the same speed—nearly 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) an hour —and in a single direction.

Though this dark flow was detected only in galaxy clusters, it should apply to every structure in the known universe, Kashlinsky said.

Explaining the Unexplainable

To explain the unexplainable flow, the team turned to the longstanding theory that rapid inflation just after the big bang had pushed chunks of matter beyond the known universe.

The extra-universal matter's extreme mass means it "could still pull—tug on—the matter in our universe, causing this flow of galaxies across our observable horizon," said Kashlinsky, whose team's study appeared in the October 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"Strong Doubts"

Not everyone is ready to rewrite physics just yet.

Astrophysicist Hume Feldman of the University of Kansas has detected a similar, but weaker, flow.

He said the Kashlinsky team's study is "very interesting, very intriguing, [but] a lot more work needs to be done.

"It's suggestive that something's going on, but what exactly is going on? It basically tells us to investigate," he said.

David Spergel, an astrophysicist at Princeton University, echoed the sentiment.

"Until these results are reanalyzed by another group, I have strong doubts about the validity of the conclusions of this paper," he wrote in an email.

He added that, if the result does hold up, "it would have an important implication for our understanding of cosmology."

Study leader Kashlinsky agrees many questions remain unanswered. For starters: What exactly are these things that are apparently tugging our universe?

"They could be anything. As bizarre as you could imagine—some warped space-time," Kashlinsky said.

"Or maybe something dull."

Bar Stool Economics

I don't know who this was actually written by since it seems a lot of internet stuff gets attributed to the wrong people, but the explanation is definitely worth thinking about.This really explains our current tax system. It was written by a PhD, Professor of Economics, Univ of Georgia.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer, and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33 But if they subtracted that from every-body's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,' declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, 'But he got $10!'

'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!'

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax deduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible

Do we really understand?

"Don't kill me, don't kill me," she said, according to the man who wanted to remain anonymous. A few minutes later, more than 50 men threw stones...

Read the article here .

President Barack Obama

Ladies & Gentlemen,

I present to you the next President of the United States of America. May his policies that parallel the Word of God succeed beyond our wildest dreams, and may his policies that oppose the Word fail beyond our wildest dreams.



I thought this was an appropriate editorial from the Vancouver Times.

First he raised expectations, now President Obama must lower them

Harvey Enchin
Vancouver Sun columnist

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama inspired Americans with a promise of change that will improve their lives. He has raised their expectations. His first priority on taking office will be to lower them.

Since campaigning began in earnest nearly two years ago, the economy has gone from boom to bust. Obama will have to tell his constituents that the United States is broke and cannot afford to finance his grand plans for universal health care, rebates for moderate income families, jobs, jobs, jobs, and increases in government funding for everything from education, to infrastructure to alternative energy.

He will have to level with them and honestly explain the economic facts of life. One of those facts is that the U.S. government has to borrow to service its debt. In the real world, this state of affairs is called insolvency.

The U.S. deficit for 2008 is $455 billion US, while total debt topped $10 trillion this year, representing 72.5 per cent of gross domestic product, up from 65.5 per cent in 2007. Annual interest payments to holders of the national debt exceed $400 billion, making debt service the largest single line item in the federal budget.

The debt figures do not include unfunded obligations, such as medicare and social security, which raise the amount of government indebtedness to nearly $60 trillion. These mandatory expenditures are expected to exceed tax revenues before 2040, unless extensive reforms are introduced. Several government agencies, including the U.S. Treasury Department, have said the current fiscal path is unsustainable.

The U.S. Congress is supposed to keep a lid on debt and, in fact, allows borrowing to fund government activities only up to a specific debt ceiling. But that level is routinely raised every year. In order to finance The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the debt ceiling has been increased this year to $11.3 trillion.

Obama will have to admit to Americans that some of his anti-business rhetoric was pure fiction. For instance, he will have to abandon the notion of a windfall profit tax because there is no such thing as a windfall profit. There is profit for companies that are in the right place at the right time with the right products, and losses for those that aren't. Over the next year or two, there will be less of the former and more of the latter.

He will have to concede that the United States can't create wealth by increasing taxes on the wealthy and expropriating more of the gains investors earn from their investments. His plan to raise capital gains taxes, the first such tax increase since 1986, is a non-starter. Similarly, he will have to moderate his proposed tax increase for households with incomes above $200,000.

Former president Bill Clinton also vowed an assault on the rich, but instead ended up devoting his energies to reducing the deficit and negotiating a free-trade agreement.

Obama will have to stop scapegoating Wall Street and tell Main Street the plain truth that home ownership is not a right or entitlement, it is a privilege - a reward for hard work, saving, and prudent financial management. Misguided government policies encouraged people to assume debt they couldn't possibly repay, and pressured lenders to relax their eligibility criteria. The financiers of Wall St. were brought in to spread the elevated risk, but their structured investments collapsed along with the real estate market. There's blame all around.

Fortunately, the new president, blessed with a silver tongue, is a master in the art of persuasion. He will need these gifts to lead Americans through a difficult period of austerity while giving them hope that the United States will emerge stronger, richer and better than before.

henchin@vancouversun.com
© Vancouver Sun 2008

I voted...

And now my stomach's kind of going around in circles.

My heart just aches for this country. The potential we have is so great. Our resources are such a force for whatever we choose to use them for. And today we select our leader.

Remember, as we discuss this election, the God calls us to pray for our leaders regardless of our views. God is the ultimate sovereign, and He is still seated on His throne. May our speech and our attitudes bring glory to God.