“To the angel of the Church in Laodicea, write this: ‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this: “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot.
I wish you were either cold or hot...
Acts, Chapter 24, Verse 24-26
24 Several days later Felix came with his
wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He had Paul summoned and listened to him speak
about faith in Christ Jesus. 25 But as he
spoke about righteousness and self-restraint and the coming judgment, Felix
became frightened and said, “You may
go for now; when I find an opportunity I shall summon you again.” 26 At the same
time he hoped that a bribe would be
offered him by Paul, and so he sent for him very often and conversed with him.
As you can see play for
pay has been around for a very long time. Are we living in Rome again? When
will we start going to the FEMA camps or some modern form of the coliseum one may wonder?
Is the US is the Most Corrupt Country in the World[1] #Corruption
While it is true that you don’t typically have to bribe your postman to deliver the mail in the US, in many key ways America’s political and financial practices make it in absolute terms far more corrupt than the usual global South suspects. After all, the US economy is worth over $16 trillion a year, so in our corruption a lot more money changes hands.
1. Instead of having short, publicly-funded political campaigns with limited and/or free advertising (as a number of Western European countries do), the US has long political campaigns in which candidates are dunned big bucks for advertising. American politicians don’t represent “the people.” With a few honorable exceptions, they represent the the 1%. American democracy is being corrupted out of existence.
2. That politicians can be bribed to reduce regulation of industries like banking (what is called “regulatory capture”) means that they will be so bribed.
3. That the chief villains of the 2008 meltdown (from which 90% of Americans have not recovered) have not been prosecuted is itself a form of corruption.
This month, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Justice
Department decided not to charge Angelo Mozilo, the former CEO of the former
company known as Countrywide Financial Corp., someone long thought of as a
prime potential target Should Americans be outraged that the meltdown moguls
aren't headed for the slammer, as director Charles Ferguson suggested Sunday
night when his documentary, Inside Job, won an Academy Award? Perhaps.
But, nearly three years after the financial crisis hit, a better way to look at
the lack of high-level indictments is as an indictment of the entire financial
system — a system that was rife with avarice, ignorance and double-dealing.[2]
4. The US military budget is bloated and enormous,
bigger than the military budgets of the next twelve major states. What isn’t
usually realized is that perhaps half of it is spent on outsourced services,
not on the military. It is corporate welfare on a cosmic scale.
5. The US has a vast gulag of 2.2 million prisoners in
jail and penitentiary. There is an increasing tendency for prisons to be
privatized, and this tendency is corrupting the system.
6. The rich are well placed to bribe our
politicians to reduce taxes on the rich.
7. The National Security
Agency’s domestic spying is a form of
corruption in itself, and lends itself to corruption. With some 4 million
government employees and private contractors engaged in this surveillance, it
is highly unlikely that various forms of insider trading and other corrupt
practices are not being committed.
8. As for insider trading, it turns out Congress
undid much of the law it hastily passed forbidding members, rather belatedly,
to engage in insider trading (buying and selling stock based on their
privileged knowledge of future government policy). That this practice only
became an issue recently is another sign of how corrupt the system is.
9. Asset forfeiture in the ‘drug war’ is corrupting police departments
and the judiciary.
10. Money and corruption
have seeped so far into our media system
that people can with a straight face assert that scientists aren’t sure human
carbon emissions are causing global warming.
Today think about righteousness and self-restraint and the coming
judgment or has Elvis left the Building? #Elvis
COURAGE FOR THE MODERN WORLD 2017
Authored by Mr. Richard H. Havermale Jr.This book is the continuation of my first book based on more than 365 references in the Bible to fear, dread, and that in fact our God encourages us to "BE NOT AFRAID". To do this we must be in the presence of our Lord and talk to Him. I recommend you develop the habit of spending 10-15 minutes a day with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel or if that is not available some other quiet place where you can be in the presence of our Lord. Read the daily entry and reflect on it asking our Lord and His mother to talk to your heart and reveal to you the will of the Father and then Do it. The layout of this book is to list and reflect on the books of the bible Sirach through Revelations. In the early part of September my search of the verses dealing with fear and being afraid was completed; so I asked the Lord what do I, do now. After some reflection I realize that the fruit of fear in the Lord is the Theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love which ultimately results in Peace of the Lord. As a consequence the month of September will deal with Peace, October with Love and the month of November will be reflections on Faith and Hope. After Thanksgiving for the season of Advent and Christmas this work uses a multitude of references that reflect the Christmas season. There are many theologians who state that the eighth deadly sin is fear itself. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. Saint John Paul II in his writings and talks also tells us to BE NOT AFRAID. In fear or anger we walk away from God. Our Lord, Jesus Christ taught us how to walk back toward God in His sermon on the mount through the Beatitudes. Each of the beatitudes is the antidote for the opposite deadly sins.
[1]http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/corrupt-country-world.html
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