ThruFire

Burning off the dross

November 10, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on The last best hope?

The last best hope?

Peter Hitchen’s posted a most interesting comment:

The night we waved goodbye to America… our last best hope on Earth
09 November 2008 1:32 AM

(excerpt)

As I walked, I crossed another of Washington’s secret frontiers. There had been a few white people blowing car horns and shouting, as the result became clear. But among the Mexicans, Salvadorans and the other Third World nationalities, there was something like ecstasy.

They grasped the real significance of this moment. They knew it meant that America had finally switched sides in a global cultural war. Forget the Cold War, or even the Iraq War. The United States, having for the most part a deeply conservative people, had until now just about stood out against many of the mistakes which have ruined so much of the rest of the world.

Suspicious of welfare addiction, feeble justice and high taxes, totally committed to preserving its own national sovereignty, unabashedly Christian in a world part secular and part Muslim, suspicious of the Great Global Warming panic, it was unique.

These strengths had been fading for some time, mainly due to poorly controlled mass immigration and to the march of political correctness. They had also been weakened by the failure of America’s conservative party – the Republicans – to fight on the cultural and moral fronts.

They preferred to posture on the world stage. Scared of confronting Left-wing teachers and sexual revolutionaries at home, they could order soldiers to be brave on their behalf in far-off deserts. And now the US, like Britain before it, has begun the long slow descent into the Third World. How sad. Where now is our last best hope on Earth? (CA- my emphasis)

Our last best hope is not a country, but a person.
He’s here – you just can’t see him if you don’t open your eyes and your heart.

He is Y’shua – haMashiach : Jesus Christ.

[HT Athos]

November 9, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on A Righteous Refining Fire

A Righteous Refining Fire

“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,”says the LORD Almighty.

[NIV: Malachi 3:1-5]

November 5, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on “Utter failure of government to protect it’s citizens” – Irony

“Utter failure of government to protect it’s citizens” – Irony

From the front page blurb for a NYTimes editorial:

The Next President

Barack Obama won the election because he saw what is wrong with this country: the utter failure of government to protect its citizens.

Given his votes on Illinois BAIPA, this is utter irony, don’t ya think?

Leave it to the New York Times to miss it completely.

So what happens when you put iron thrufire?

November 4, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on Powerful delusions? – Yep, that describes it.

Powerful delusions? – Yep, that describes it.

Is Obama the Anti-Christ?
All Saint’s Day Newsletter.
by Michael O’Brien

I’ll save the suspense – he doesn’t believe he is, but he does draw some startling observations – one which can be found in another fascinating article on NRO, (not a group that’s given to over-the-top material), that describes a work of fiction from 1907 in England, that’s uncannily accurate regarding this current election:

The One We Were Waiting For
By Rev. George W. Rutler

With a quick google search I found the book is in the public domain.

If you want you can read the book he describes in it’s entirety:

Lord of the World
– by Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson

I can’t imagine someone who may be called upon to be the President of the World, not devolving into a egotistical megamaniac, and sees himself as ‘god’.

Very plausible, but scary considering that when campaigning in Berlin, Germany (gee – that was the home of another mega-maniac) Obama was called the future President of the World by the narrator, right after his speech!

November 4, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on Election Reform #3:Passport-style based Voter Registration

Election Reform #3:Passport-style based Voter Registration

3 Reasons

1. Voter registration is out of control.
ACORN anyone? Here’s an alternative:

Voter registration using a state-based photo-id passport-style registered document with an embossed seal for each election.

Once registered with a verified residence as a citizen in any state, registration may only be transfer to another state, with no new registrations allowed, only transfers. Re-registering in any state, while registered in another is against federal law. Moving interstate requires you turn in your prior ID to your origin state prior to obtaining a new ID in your new state.

All votes must be traced to an election official who is liable for the validity of the vote.

When a vote is to be cast, each ballot is embossed sealed, as well as the voter’s ID document for the citizen who has voted. The district clerk will initial inside the seals, tying the ballot and the voter to the district official.

Fraudulent votes found in a district invalidates that entire district for the next election.

Absentee ballots require 2 seals – a designated remote official’s seal, ie military payroll officers etc. and a receipt seal from the election office who embosses the seal on the ballot and then initials at the designated place.
The remote official is to use their seal on the voter’s ID document.

A single optical paper ballot style is required nationwide.

2. Campaign finance is a nightmare.

Requires a financial participation of constituencies, and stop fraudulent financing.

Only registered voters may donate to valid campaigns and all funds are identified with the voter ID.
There is a donation limit on each voter registration ID.
When an ID limit is reached no more funds will be accepted.
That total is to be divided only among campaigns at any level.
City, state and national parties are treated as single generic campaigns for each party.

Your total electoral contributions may only be divided among those various campaigns, and the national campaign contribution portions cannot exceed more than 25% of the dedicated state portions.

3. Money = power & influence, and negates the idea of equality at the polls, because it weights the influence to ‘purchase’ more votes.

National official campaigns (President & VP) must reflect the state’s interest in the campaign, similar to the electoral count.
Individuals donate through state parties for national official campaigns.

National official campaign spending in any one state cannot exceed the amount of money donated from that state, and dedicated towards that purpose.

November 4, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on Election Reform #2: No campaigning while in office, except for re-election

Election Reform #2: No campaigning while in office, except for re-election

2 reasons:

1. It deprives constituents of fully devoted representation
When officials take an oath of office, they are bound to fulfill that oath and dedicate their attention and activities on behalf of their constituency. By campaigning for any office other than for re-election, a politician’s time is spent away from and focused on something other than their present duties. It’s political adultery. If employers do not allow vital employees to work within the same field for another employer, because of inherent conflicts of interest, then why should politicians be exempt from this moral principle of responsibility?

2. It stops political springboarding
Given #1, constituencies may be seen as merely springboard positions to leverage into higher aspirations. For instance, it’s difficult to take Senator Barack Obama seriously as a fully dedicated Senator for the people of Illinois within his district with only 143 working days in office, and with many absent votes.

Legally, there is the question of fulfilling a fiduciary duty, when a politician wanders off to campaign for another office. However, if the office being campaigned for is reelection, then obviously, time spent exploring and discussing the relevant issues is in-line with the duties and responsibilities of the office, because the campaign process both informs the electorate and provides a means for feedback regarding their own concerns.

November 4, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on What’s being decided in the 2008 election?

What’s being decided in the 2008 election?

I saw this comparison on a blog, but at this point I can’t remember where (I’ve poured over so many lately). This election is about two dichotomous views:

Man is evil and free markets are good.
vs
Man is good and free markets are evil.

On the morality of man: the Holy Bible unequivocally declares man is evil.
On the second issue of prosperity: God commands us to be fruitful and multiply, and to invest in the kingdom of God.

In case it hasn’t been apparent – the Cold War is being voted on here:

American Dream vs National Socialism.

If you’ve been raised in America, and you can’t explain why the American Dream deserves your vote, then obviously you don’t know the Holy Bible or Jesus Christ.

November 4, 2008
by Chris Arsenault
Comments Off on Election Reform #1: Outlaw Exit Polls

Election Reform #1: Outlaw Exit Polls

Three reasons:

1. Exit polling is intimidating.
Anonymous voting frees you to vote your conscience. No one would like a gang outside a polling station ready to find out how you anonymously voted. What’s the point of anonymous voting if anyone is asking you how you voted, immediately after you did?

2. Exit polling is inaccurate.
Those declining to answer an exit poll cannot be shown to be more in favor of one candidate or the other. Yet exit polls must accurately reflect how all voted. Because of reason #1, it’s likely a percentage of exit poll results will be not be true. So it can potentially introduce a falsehood into the results. Results must be both logically and mathematically valid. Here’s an example – suppose you’re trying to solve an equation: x = 2+2. Suppose the first 2 is not really a “2” but “1”. Do you think the result “x=4” is going to be accurate?

3. Exit polling skews decisions.
Publishing exit polling results encourages a mob mentality – go along to get along. It encourages both intimidation and inaccuracies, making it possible to sway some portion of the electorate to vote based on immediate self-preservation reasons. Given the possibility it may skew the decision, it creates a feedback loop. Anyone who’s ever heard the high-pitched squeal when a live microphone comes near an amplified speaker that’s playing that input understands how a feedback loop is problematic.

At it’s least intrusive, exit polling is misleading, at it’s worst, it’s a potentially distorting device that should be eliminated.