Wednesday, May 27, 2009

It Must Stop

If you are a christian (and I am) then certain things are extremely clear. For instance, sex outside of marriage is wrong. If all who call themselves christians kept within the paramters of this one law then a great deal of suffering would be avoided.

God's intention for christians is unity and our guide the Bible is pretty straightforward on the important matters. This is why I am angry at certain groups calling themselves christians who continue to sin by careful design. Once you have made the decision to accept Jesus as your lord and saviour then certain behaviour change needs to take place. How can it be then that so many leaders in the Roman Catholic church knew about the sexual abuse of kids in Ireland (and other instances across the world) and facilitated it by not reporting the perpetrators?

This is unspeakable, sinful and a terrible witness. At no point at all did the suffering of these children ever seem to concern these people in authority.

This is most certailny not what God wants of us at all - this is sin and God cannot look upon sin in any way. When will so many Roman Catholics who seem to put their denomination and all the 'add on rules' they have come up with before Christ, repent? And when will the abuse of children by men who call themselves men of God cease?

It is a multi faceted problem but a major part has to be down to one of those 'add on' rules the RCs like to make up - that of celibacy. God does not call on people to be celibate for life. There is a healthy place for sexual relations - within marriage and people are more than capable of ministering to other Christians if they have a family. Imposing celibacy is obviously useless - many of these men are finding a terrible outlet for their urges. As Paul said, better to marry than burn so why on earth do they not marry?

Because it isn't that simple is it? These priests are slipping sexually but they could just as easily slip by having affiars with women. The fact that they are choosing to molest children is a sign of a deeply embedded sin. We must be careful not to pervert ourselves and our natures in the name of God. The RC church needs to realise they are God's church and get down to Christian basics - including hauling any child molester in front of the police as soon as they are found out! They must stop facilitating sin - there is no excuse for it.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Scapegoating

So they have got rid of the speaker.

Yes, he should have gone but my feeling is that MPs bayed for his blood as a diversionary tactic. I believe they think that by piling the blame on the Speaker, it will be diverted from them. But the fact is that anyone who defrauded the taxpayer of money needs to be dealt with within the parameters of the law. It remains to be seen if this will happen.

Watched ‘Dispatches’ on channel four last night. It was on British bankers. It seems that in spite of the crash, they are still earning unbelievable salaries, bonuses and pensions in spite of there being no wealth created from which these salaries etc. can come from.

That my friend, is the crux of the matter.

A person should be able to earn, yes earn their living and if able, to earn a pretty hefty one. If wealth was created by these banks, then the bankers, along with the employees of those banks, and shareholders, should benefit. What seemed to have happened and amazingly seems to still be happening, is that bankers are not earning anything – they are just taking large sums regardless of the performance of their banks, in many cases while they have been responsible for the dismal performance of their banks. Some of the figures quoted on ‘Dispatches’ last night were astronomical sums being paid to replacement bankers of banks now controlled by the taxpayers i.e. people who were put in place after the robber barons were booted out by the government!

Non-executive members of the banks who were supposed to be the internal watchdogs, and the official watchdogs didn’t do anything. The government didn’t – it has now been revealed that they were basically doing the same thing but with tax payers money.

It is a colossal mess and a disgrace.

One of the men on last night’s programme used to work at one of the banks that the governments now control. His pension after 30 years amounts to £14 per week. That former CEO’s pension (which he can get from age 51) amounts to £5,800 per week according to the programme. If this is true this is heartbreakingly wrong.

I believe that you must be rewarded in proportion to your contribution but are you convinced that the CEO’s contribution was that much more valuable than the middle manager? Especially when the bank went pretty much bust?

There is a serious class problem in the UK and it is not the one the working class are always on about. It is one in which a certain echelon of society, in their heart of heart believes that people like them deserve to be given vast sums of money for doing precious little and for contributing precious little in the way of ideas and innovation while those that do the work and add the value should be satisfied with nothing. It has little to do with the background you were born into. I know people with that attitude who were born into working class backgrounds. Additionally this greedy class believes that those who are educated and use that education and have morals and are willing to work hard, owe it to them to give their services for very very little and dare you not ask to be remunerated in keeping with your obvious contribution – it makes them apoplectic and it makes you mysteriously redundant.

There is going to be trouble because lessons have not been learned.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Going After Your Dreams

This has been on my mind lately. And I now realise something. If there’s something you want to do – you need to start putting in the work NOW and not later. And it doesn’t matter how old you are. There’s still time – until you’re dead.

The road many of us travel – go to school get a decent degree, get an office job and for many of us – ‘then stagnate until you die’ is not helpful to put it mildly.

I never really put much thought into what I really wanted to do and I am paying for it now.

If I had thought about it or had been encouraged by teachers and parents to do something specific then I would have had a lot longer to work on it. Now, at 37 for many areas, the ideal time frame has gone – not to say you can’t blaze trails, but it is more difficult to become say a world renowned pop singer when you are pushing 40.


So, if there’s something you want to do, research it, work at it and get on with it. And if you have kids, see what their inclinations are and guide them into areas that can develop them – they will thank you for it.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

It's Something . . .

So, the tories are going to give some of the money back or be expelled. A good move. Let's see what happens next . . .

Monday, May 11, 2009

They Just Don’t Get it.

We’ve heard them all doing the rounds these last few days and what horrifies me is that MPs don’t get that they have done something wrong.

They keep saying that what they did was within the rules. So what? If I run a company and I institute a rule that says you can buy anything you want, claim for it and not show any receipts and take the money from people who are not fully benefiting from their contribution does that make it right?

Any way you look at this, the situation and behaviour is a disgrace. I am thoroughly disgusted. We need to show them how we feel at the polls. People, we must come out in our millions next elections and vote – and not for the BNP either. The next election will require serious work for us all.

We need to scrutinise the information that has come out – and if they put out the rest, we need to scrutinise it. We need to take note of which MPs have not been making merry with our money and vote for them. We also need to look at independent candidates because we really need to send a message. Look into your independents and if they are worthy, give them your vote. Ultimately, if there aren’t any viable candidates, perhaps we need to start running ourselves.

We can’t let this state of affairs continue.

People – your vote counts – turn off the telly for a couple of hours and get plugged in so you can make an intelligent decision. Our kids deserve much better.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Why can’t they use their salaries?

A simple question really. If you or I want to subscribe to Sky TV, or buy some furniture, or some food, or feminine hygiene products – we go to the relevant shop, take money from our bank accounts in the guise of a debit card, credit card, or cash from our purse or wallet and buy these items. Where doe this money come from? In all cases but the credit card, our salaries, wages or earnings from running our businesses.

I don’t know about you, but when I go to the supermarket, I don’t fill my trolley, get to the checkout and then demand that someone else cough up. If I did I’d quickly be dealt with.

Why then, do some MPs feel that their everyday items must be paid for by other people? They get paid to do their job, they know what the pay is like before they go for the job and so once they have it they should be satisfied and use their salary to live.

By all means, if their constituency office is too far from Westminster to be able to get home, then they should be given someplace near work to stay – but that sure as hell shouldn’t mean they can stay in a £200 a night hotel. Far from Westminster while waiting for one London residence to be sold and another to be bought.

This is obscene. It’s bad enough that people are suffering while this goes on but to focus on that would be to miss the point. What some of these MPS are doing (and yes, I know it is only some, doesn’t make it any better though) is stealing taxpayers’ money. Just because what they have been doing is within ‘the rules’ as some of them keep shamefully bleating on about – doesn’t mean it’s right. Anyone can see that defence is disgraceful – who the hell made these rules? The same people who are using them to their great advantage.

In any other job, this type of behaviour would be unspeakable and the perpetrators would be fired and probably prosecuted for theft or misuse of funds or something of that ilk. Well like it or not, MPs are doing a job and they are accountable to us the electorate who put them there. We really need to demand much better – all of us, not just that brave lady who took the government to task through the Freedom of Information act to get this information out.

Given this climate, if the disgusting defence of this continues there will be social unrest. I hope the powers that be see sense and I hope the electorate takes this as a cue to become more concerned with politics and less with Z list celebrities.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

What Makes You Laugh?

I just had a look at the ‘Put a Ring on it’ spoof video on You Tube. It has Justin Timberlake and a couple of other guys behind Beyonce, in the black leotard and heels, valiantly trying to keep up with the steps. Go to You Tube and look it up – it is hilarious!