The Bible and Capitalism

I came across this article today and thought it was quite good.  It reminded me of a blog I made some time ago when everyone seemed to be trying to portray Jesus as a Socialist.

http://silentnomoremajority.blogspot.com/2009/09/stop-twisting-bible-liberals-jesus-was.html

The main difference is the author of this article actually has skills at writing.  I have linked the article below and copied the substance for your reading pleasure.  It is a pretty decent read, at least in my opinion.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577179303330474134.html


What the Bible Teaches About Capitalism 


As the Ten Commandments instruct, envy is corrosive to the individual
and to those societies that embrace it..

By ARYEH SPERO 
Who would have expected that in a Republican primary campaign the single
biggest complaint among candidates would be that the front-runner has
taken capitalism too far? As if his success and achievement were
evidence of something unethical and immoral? President Obama and other
redistributionists must be rejoicing that their assumptions about rugged
capitalism and the 1% have been given such legitimacy.

More than any other nation, the United States was founded on broad
themes of morality rooted in a specific religious perspective. We call
this the Judeo-Christian ethos, and within it resides a ringing
endorsement of capitalism as a moral endeavor. 

Regarding mankind, no theme is more salient in the Bible than the
morality of personal responsibility, for it is through this that man
cultivates the inner development leading to his own growth, good
citizenship and happiness. The entitlement/welfare state is a paradigm
that undermines that noble goal. 

The Bible's proclamation that "Six days shall ye work" is its
recognition that on a day-to-day basis work is the engine that brings
about man's inner state of personal responsibility. Work develops the
qualities of accountability and urgency, including the need for comity
with others as a means for the accomplishment of tasks. With work, he
becomes imbued with the knowledge that he is to be productive and that
his well-being is not an entitlement. And work keeps him away from the
idleness that Proverbs warns leads inevitably to actions and attitudes
injurious to himself and those around him. 

Yet capitalism is not content with people only being laborers and
holders of jobs, indistinguishable members of the masses punching in and
out of mammoth factories or functioning as service employees in
government agencies. Nor is the Bible. Unlike socialism, mired as it is
in the static reproduction of things already invented, capitalism is
dynamic and energetic. It cheerfully fosters and encourages creativity,
unspoken possibilities, and dreams of the individual. Because the Hebrew
Bible sees us not simply as "workers" and members of the masses but,
rather, as individuals, it heralds that characteristic which endows us
with individuality: our creativity.

At the opening bell, Genesis announces: "Man is created in the image of
God"-in other words, like Him, with individuality and creative
intelligence. Unlike animals, the human being is not only a hunter and
gatherer but a creative dreamer with the potential of unlocking all the
hidden treasures implanted by God in our universe. The mechanism of
capitalism, as manifest through investment and reasoned speculation,
helps facilitate our partnership with God by bringing to the surface
that which the Almighty embedded in nature for our eventual extraction
and activation. 

Capitalism makes possible entrepreneurship, which is the realization of
an idea birthed in human creativity. Whereas statism demands that
citizens think small and bow to a top-down conformity, capitalism, as
has been practiced in the U.S., maximizes human potential. It provides a
home for aspiration, referred to in the Bible as "the spirit of life."

The Bible speaks positively of payment and profit: "For why else should
a man so labor but to receive reward?" Thus do laborers get paid wages
for their hours of work and investors receive profit for their
investment and risk. 

The Bible is not a business-school manual. While it is comfortable with
wealth creation and the need for speculation in economic markets, it has
nothing to say about financial instruments and models such as private
equity, hedge funds or other forms of monetary capitalization. What it
does demand is honesty, fair weights and measures, respect for a
borrower's collateral, timely payments of wages, resisting usury, and
empathy for those injured by life's misfortunes and charity.

It also demands transparency and honesty regarding one's intentions. The
command, "Thou shalt not place a stumbling block in front of the blind
man" also means that you should not act deceitfully or obscure the truth
from those whose choice depends upon the information you give them.
There's nothing to indicate that Mitt Romney breached this biblical code
of ethics, and his wealth and success should not be seen as automatic
causes for suspicion.

No country has achieved such broad-based prosperity as has America, or
invented as many useful things, or seen as many people achieve personal
promise. This is not an accident. It is the direct result of centuries
lived by the free-market ethos embodied in the Judeo-Christian outlook.

Furthermore, only a prosperous nation can protect itself from outside
threats, for without prosperity the funds to support a robust military
are unavailable. Having radically enlarged the welfare state and hoping
to further expand it, President Obama is attempting to justify his cuts
to our military by asserting that defense needs must give way to
domestic programs. 

Both history and the Bible show the way that leads. Countries that were
once economic powerhouses atrophied and declined, like England after
World War II, once they began adopting socialism. Even King Solomon's
thriving kingdom crashed once his son decided to impose onerous taxes. 

At the end of Genesis, we hear how after years of famine the people in
Egypt gave all their property to the government in return for the
promise of food. The architect of this plan was Joseph, son of Jacob,
who had risen to become the pharaoh's top official, thus: "Joseph
exchanged all the land of Egypt for pharaoh and the land became
pharaoh's." The result was that Egyptians became indentured to the ruler
and state, and Joseph's descendants ended up enslaved to the state. 

Many on the religious left criticize capitalism because all do not end
up monetarily equal-or, as Churchill quipped, "all equally miserable."
But the Bible's prescription of equality means equality under the law,
as in Deuteronomy's saying that "Judges and officers . . . shall judge
the people with a just judgment: Do not . . . favor one over the other."
Nowhere does the Bible refer to a utopian equality that is contrary to
human nature and has never been achieved. 

The motive of capitalism's detractors is a quest for their own power and
an envy of those who have more money. But envy is a cardinal sin and
something that ought not to be. 

God begins the Ten Commandments with "I am the Lord your God" and
concludes with "Thou shalt not envy your neighbor, not for his wife, nor
his house, nor for any of his holdings." Envy is corrosive to the
individual and to those societies that embrace it. Nations that throw
over capitalism for socialism have made an immoral choice.

Rabbi Spero has led congregations in Ohio and New York and is president
of Caucus for America.

Honor Killings??

I have but one simple question.  Why does the media refer to these as "honor killings?"  I see no honor involved in this whatsoever.  Every time the media refers to these cases as "honor killings" they give credence to this cowardly act of murder.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/29/jury-finds-afghan-family-guilty-in-honor-killings/?test=latestnews

KINGSTON, ONTARIO –  A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor" in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians.

Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and using the Internet.

The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.

Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger said the evidence clearly supported the conviction.

"It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honorless crime," Maranger said. "The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."

In a statement following the verdict, Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson called honor killings a practice that is "barbaric and unacceptable in Canada."

Defense lawyers said the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride with her sisters and her father's first wife. Hamed said he watched the accident, although he didn't call police from the scene.

After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, "We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust."

His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."

Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, "I did not drown my sisters anywhere."

Hamed's lawyer, Patrick McCann, said he was disappointed with the verdict, but said his client will appeal and he believes the other two defendants will as well.

But prosecutor Gerard Laarhuis welcomed the verdict.

"This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances," Laarhuis said outside court.

"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," he said to cheers of approval from onlookers.

The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.

Shafia's first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.

The prosecution painted a picture of a household controlled by a domineering Shafia, with Hamed keeping his sisters in line and doling out discipline when his father was away on frequent business trips to Dubai.

The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.

The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar's room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret. Geeti was becoming almost impossible to control: skipping school, failing classes, being sent home for wearing revealing clothes and stealing, while declaring to authority figures that she wanted to be placed in foster care, according to the prosecution.

Shafia's first wife wrote in a diary that her husband beat her and "made life a torture," while his second wife called her a servant.

The prosecution presented wire taps and mobile phone records from the Shafia family in court to support their honor killing allegation. The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.

"There can be no betrayal, no treachery, no violation more than this," Shafia said on one recording. "Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows ... nothing is more dear to me than my honor."

Defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.

Shafia's lawyer, Peter Kemp, said after the verdicts that he believes the comments his client made on the wiretaps may have weighed more heavily on the jury's minds than the physical evidence in the case.

"He wasn't convicted for what he did," Kemp said. "He was convicted for what he said."

Bernie Sanders Knows His Class Warfare

I saw this on a friend's facebook page today.  It infuriated me because I know this friend to be a conservative, yet even he was buying into this demonization of the rich.  This statement is a big load of garbage!!  The deficit was caused by the government spending spending spending money it does not have...not by tax breaks for the wealthy.  The wealthy are the job creators in this country and their businesses are what grow the economy.  If people keep buying into this "evil rich" villainization, they're going to painfully find out just how bad the economy and unemployment can be.  The lefties love to start class warfare at every corner.  It allows them to rally the poor and lazy welfare collectors and government subsidy leeches who will aggressively vote for whoever promises them a free ride!!!

Meet Ron Paul...Anti-Semite and Racist Extraordinaire

Did anyone else read the story a couple of days ago about the mother who got high on methamphetamines, killed her two kids, two others, shot her husband, and then killed herself?  Yes, folks, Ron Paul thinks it would be harmless to legalize drugs in this country.  Along with ideas such as this regarding domestic policy come even more disturbing views on foreign policy, like the naive idea that Iran is no threat to us and we shouldn't so much as raise an eyebrow regarding their plans to develop nuclear weapons.

For years he has snuggled up to crazy conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and been responsible for numerous anti-semitic and racist articles throughout the 80's and 90's in his newsletter.  Apparently Paul has given an excuse to the latter by stating that he never read what was printed in his newsletters.  Whether he did or not, the newsletters were titled, "Ron Paul's Freedom Report," "Ron Paul's Survival Report," "Ron Paul's Political Report," and "Ron Paul's Investment Newsletter," and the majority of the articles were written in the first person.  I come from a land of common sense and logic where, if I choose to put my name on a newsletter, article, or periodical of any type, that means I either wrote it myself or endorse it wholeheartedly as my viewpoint.  I find it impossible to believe that the American voter has accepted this lame excuse from Mr. Paul...oh wait...no I'm actually not, as the American voter accepted a lot bogus excuses from another candidate regarding the "strange bedfellows" he was known to be friends with just four years ago.  Look where that got us!!  All of this information was recently brought to light, AGAIN, by an article written by James Kirchick for the Weekly Standard .  Here is a short excerpt:

“Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks,” read a typical article from the June 1992 “Special Issue on Racial Terrorism,” a supplement to the Ron Paul Political Report. Racial apocalypse was the most persistent theme of the newsletters; a 1990 issue warned of “The Coming Race War,” and an article the following year about disturbances in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., was entitled “Animals Take Over the D.C. Zoo.” Paul alleged that Martin Luther King Jr., “the world-class philanderer who beat up his paramours,” had also “seduced underage girls and boys.” The man who would later proclaim King a “hero” attacked Ronald Reagan for signing legislation creating the federal holiday in his name, complaining, “We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day.”

It is incredibly disturbing that this nutjob is being allowed to run for President as a Republican.  It is far more disturbing that he is coming in 2nd or 3rd in the primaries.  This man is clearly a fringe lunatic who's cultlike following seems to be, at the least, incredibly naive.  If you make the mistake of attempting to debate a "Paulbot" you are sure to learn one thing.  Paulbots accept everything uttered by their messiah, Ron Paul, without question.  If you ask them to reference facts to back up their claims, they will reference something Ron Paul said, or depending on their level of schizophrenia, will show youtube videos from one of Alex Jones many fear-injected websites of madness, like Infowars.

My mother used to say, "There are more of them walking around than there are locked up."  As I grow older, I am seeing that not only was my mother correct, but the ratio of "walking around" to "locked up" has now grown to the point that a complete lunatic can pull 20% of the popular vote in the Republican Party.  Be afraid folks!!  Be very afraid!!

My Thoughts On The Urinating Marines

Reason #36 why I can't wait to retire...In light of the recent headlines concerning Marines here in Afghanistan, I've been told I have to sit all of my Marines down and give them a period of instruction explaining to them that it is not okay to urinate on dead enemy combatants. Really??? Seriously??? I can just see all the bourgeois mo-mo's sitting around at a meeting saying, "if only we had told all the Marines that this isn't an okay practice." That is the line of thinking that has become of the military...last I checked these were grown adults that should already know better. What a waste of time!!

Ever since this story broke I have been hearing everyone's varying opinion on the matter, and to be completely honest, I am disappointed with both arguments I'm hearing.  On one side I hear the judgmental holier-than-thou's who are outraged and wish to immediately crucify all of the Marines involved.  On the other side I hear a boisterous "eye for an eye" crowd who seem to actually be cheering on the act of urinating on dead combatants, justifying it by stating what the enemy has done to our armed forces and innocent civilians.  This is my official opinion on the matter, knowing already that I will get a lot of grief from many who read this blog. 

While I do not think it is this horrific act that should ruin their lives forever, it is not an acceptable act whatsoever. We (The United States and The Marine Corps) pride ourselves on our professionalism and the honor of defending the greatest Country in the World. We became the mighty United States of America by standing on morals and principles that are above this type of behavior. If everyone would stop looking at this from an emotional perspective (on both sides of the debate) and start looking at it from a logical one, they will see that if we celebrate this type of behavior, we lower ourselves to their level and are no better than the indecent animals we are fighting.  Additionally, if we allow our emotional outrage of the act to overshadow what a rightful punishment for the crime should be, that will be equally sickening.  These Marines made a mistake and should face punishment, but they should not be sent to the brig for twenty years just for the purpose of being politically correct and/or to appease an enemy combatant that is arguably the most brutal and inhumane to be witnessed on this earth. 

Your Blog Author, On The Scene In Afghanistan

Okay, I have not been posting since arriving in country in mid-September, other than the self-gratifying pompous post about the article written on me in November.  I seem to have hit a lull in the action over here and thanks to one of my blogging buddies, Kim Jossfolk, who writes the "Just a Conservative girl" blog I have been inspired to try and get this site of my many rantings and pontifications  started again.  I have written a lot in a notebook of what I have seen over here so far and will be attempting to add some of it, along with my opinions on things at a somewhat regular clip.  So, for those who used to enjoy reading my blog before (all 30 or so) but gave up on me months ago, I shall attempt to redeem myself over the coming months.  Plus, I'm also sure all of the atheists and Ron Paul supporters have missed posting hateful comments here as well.