Compromise

The political games must stop. The only good reason for making a political decision is that it will work for the people. In these times the only possibility for the people is compromise. For the new year, a possible compromise seems obvious, the people want action that will work into the future. We are in a desperate place, the positive change can begin in December.

1. Openness and time to evaluate all new legislation.
2. Refusal to fund all spending not directly related to new legislation.
3. A 10 % across the board spending cut for all of the next budget.
4. Immediate 10% cut in all federal jobs.
5. Immediate 10% pay cut for all government employees, salary and benefits.
6. Extension of Bush tax cuts for two years.
7. The cuts for those earning above $250,000 should expire now. A tax credit should be given to businesses that hire in the coming year.
8. Extension of unemployment benefits.

This simple way forward seems to be a no brainer should Washington stop posturing the issues for political gain. We don’t care what party is in control because one party control gives our politicians license to ignore the welfare of the people. This compromise addresses all factions and means progress now for the people. What do you say politicians?

G.Goslaw
Victorville, Ca

Book Review

Book: “Crazy for God”, Frank Schaeffer, Da Capo Press, 2007.

“Crazy for God” is Frank Schaeffer’s story of growing up Christian. He was raised by parents influential within an evangelical or fundamentalist understanding of God. Few definitions for these theological descriptions are given but not far into the book, one gets the picture. It is a family narrative lived out through each generation as a changing of the guard. This particular change is familiar to those of us who were raised in remotely similar circumstances.

Truth be told, it is every man’s story, a search for answers to the big questions. Ancient Jewish wisdom in the Talmud identifies our predicament, “Whosoever gives his mind to four things, it were better for him if he had not come into the world - what is above? what is beneath? what was beforetime? and what will be hereafter?”* These questions are a vexation, a blessing and the curse of our humanity. We try to avoid them or explain them away but they never go away.

Spiritual adventurer’s who have gone before us have struggled with these questions and then codified apparent answers into hundreds or thousands of differing religions. The evangelical fundamentalist Christian answer is one such religious expression. Finding fair skies within evangelicalism, Frank Schaeffer split his energies between his art endeavors and working for the cause of his parents. There came a time when the “pat” answers of his parents no longer seemed to be enough.

Thank you Mr. Schaeffer for sharing your honest story, your courage relative to the big questions is exemplary. Please allow me to share a few personal observations from your book that are particularly meaningful to this reader.

1. All people are fallible, sinners and saints, including our heroes.

2. Each successive generation must individually choose it’s own religious expression.

3. Your resistance to throwing the baby of faith in God, out with the bathwater is to be applauded.

Dr. Schaeffer’s generation has lived out it’s priorities. The next generation, Frank Schaeffer’s generation, has either reacted negatively, conformed to parental expectations or sought a bridge to a spirituality that hopefully retains the best priorities of the passing generation. This reader put’s your journey in the latter category.

Thank you Frank for sharing your journey with us.

G.Goslaw

Victorville, Ca

* Joachim Jeremias, “Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus”, Paperback Edition 1975, p.237.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Letter to the Editor
Daily Press
P.O.Box 1389
Victorville,CA 92393

Re: Tighten the System, Michael Snow, Daily Press, Sunday, November 28, 2010.

Mr. Snow, do you watch Law and Order? As taxpayers we need leverage to change an agreed upon broken welfare system. Fixing the system from the bottom up, while desperately needed, is beyond our ability as taxpayers to effect. That is the job of those hired to manage the system but why should they? The more welfare folk to manage the more secure is the welfare of the managers.

What we as taxpayers don’t need is more welfare managers not doing their jobs. What we do need is our hired managers doing the job they were hired to do.

I was wrong, you have convinced me that your government employee management folk should have a 25% cut in their taxpayer funded welfare system.

G.Goslaw
Victorville, Ca

Continuing the Lie (Second Posting)

Letter to the Editor

Daily Press

Victorville, CA.

January 29, 2009

Our politicians are ignorant of any responsible economic policy. The American economy is not viable as a consumer based entity that produces little of any substance but banking products. We

the people are more than a potential sale.

The drive for cheap labor has created a bubble that has burst all of the hopes and dreams of the little people. This drive must be addressed by the same politicians that have exploited the people with such disregard.

But will they? Or will they continue the bailout lie? Of course they will.

G.Goslaw

Victorville, CA.

(Published in Daily Press 1-29-09)

Absolutes?

Letter to the Religion page Editor

Daily Press

P.O.Box 1389

Victorville, CA 92393

Re: “Things every Christian needs to know”, by Shane Idelman.

Daily Press, B4, Sunday, November 13, 2010.

Rev. Idleman, your article in today’s Daily Press is sending a mixed message. What is all this absolute business? Pharisaism is merely a negative attitude to be avoided by the Christian but you possess the absolute truth that the rest of us heathen must accept or be eternally damned. Is this a fair summary? Do you believe in recruitment by bullying and threats?

Jesus seemed to have only one absolute, there exists a Father God who unconditionally loves and accepts each of us who ask. The asking opens a friendship beyond any human definition. The people eagerly responded to this good news but the ever present Pharisee types constantly nagged Jesus to preach the absolutes of their religion.

This conflict has been fought for 2000 years but has been the predominate methodology and theology of the last one hundred years. Sinner or saint, you must do thus and so, you must be thus and so. If you were really “saved”, if you possessed the correct spiritual credentials, you would be just like us. Ouch!

One reason this reader believes in God is that Jesus, the Messiah, comes to us not “fitting in” with the spiritual expectations of His day. Instead Jesus issued invitations to all for a party with the Father God! Once at the party, in the light of who we have found Him to be, there will be plenty of opportunity to learn of Him how best to navigate this world. The Scripture directs us not to be conformed to this world but transformed.

Salvation is not a static state of human definition but the possibility of increasing intimacy with the Father God beyond human definition. Most of us, including me, prefer at times to be static and throw absolute stones. Father forgive us, we all have been there.

G.Goslaw

Victorville, CA

The Fence

Mr. Mike Brossart

Opinion Editor

Voice of the People

The Sun

4030 N. Georgia Blvd.

San Bernadino, CA 92407

Re: “In Agreement”, Victor P. Lopez, The Sun, Sunday, November 14, 2010.

Mr. Lopez, thank you for your letter asking for an accounting from our politicians as to where they stand on illegal immigration. All of our politicians are experts at kicking every controversial issue down the road rather than making a contribution to the discussion and hopefully a solution. You are correct that in these times punting is unacceptable. Please let me make a suggestion.

Instead of advancing a detailed immigration plan to be voted on by our politicians, let we the voters of San Bernardino county insist that our politicians first answer one question. Going forward toward an immigration plan, do you support a demand that our Washington politicians and President first enforce the immigration laws already on the books? This simple question could be answered by a simple yes or no.

If the answer is no, there will be no solution. Most of America has no confidence that any new immigration plan will be enforced any better than the deceit of the last thirty years. All of us want the same basic solutions but it would seem that no solution is possible until the law ceases to be a political football. The political impasse will remain much higher than the shadow of the fence along our southern border.

Nothing else has worked, let we the voters and our politicians insist on a plan of action that has some possibility of success. Let us insist that Washington man-up to their legal responsibilities.

G.Goslaw

Victorville, CA.

The Lament

“Still No Shepherds Cry” by Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr., “The San Bernardino American Newspaper”, Vol. 41, No. 27, November 4, 2010- November 10, 2010, p. 4.

Thank you Rev. Childress and the San Bernardino American Newspaper for this mixing of faith and politics for your readers. Racism has devastated your black audience for the length of our American experience. Speaking as a white man, we are all rejoicing that in this new America, we have elevated a black family to the White House. However, our joy, as well as yours Rev. Childress, has been tempered by the leftist godless agenda coming from Washington.

Secularism is not color coded. As you so well know, the same negative pressures of secularism have been destructive to the biblical priorities of every Church for at least fifty years. It must be terribly disappointing for a black clergyman to see these ambitions coming from the Oval Office of the first black president. We respect your courage to speak up. Your authority to speak for God to the black believer is unquestioned. Please let we white believers listen and take heed as to how we all are failing our God. We need to hear your words because an authentic prophetic voice is even more non existent in our lily white congregations.

The criticism’s cited in your article rightly describe the wrong turn we all are taking as a country. The creeping secularism of the past is declaring victory. Our welfare system has created a disadvantaged underclass to be used and abused and taken for granted by our politicians. Now the underclass is exploding in numbers and color because the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. These same federal mandates have devalued marriage and the family beyond any recognizable biblical priority. The racial scourge of abortion is being codified into our new genocidal healthcare system. The welfare and opportunities for ethnic minorities are being ignored by our political muck-y-mucks by propping up the monopoly of our failed public education system that is staffed by selfish childish adults.

As you scream, where are the leaders? Who has an answer? Where is a Martin for this generation? The church or the country seems to have no creditable leadership to speak in behest of God and then to lead us.

Thank you for your loud voice, would that we were listening!

G.Goslaw

Victorville, Ca

D Day

Letter to the Editor

Daily Press

P.O.Box 1389

Victorville, CA 92393

November 10, 2010

Forget the Skin Heads, forget the Black Panthers, forget the Weathermen and all those so called violent revolutionary movements. Change has to happen now to benefit the lives of the small time, faithful, hardworking, American worker voter, or there will be a violent revolution in the streets of America. The time for political games has run out. As our countries’ politicians increasingly strip the blue collar, middle class worker of any hope for feeding his family, violent desperation is the only option.

We have become a nation of consumers taking from the livelihoods of others. We are now a nation of takers. There needs to be a redefinition of violence when a government refuses to protect the interest of all it’s people. Wall Street and the free trade driven stock market with their Washington D.C. thugs are the worst offenders who are driven to destroy America for the almighty dollar. It is almost time to declare open season on the Wall Street conspiracy, we will not go quietly. Washington this is your last chance.

G.Goslaw

Victorville, CA

The Funeral

One of the most unpleasant experiences of this life is the funeral. It is most unpleasant for the leftovers in the casket that just a few hours earlier exhibited life’s energy. For you and I it is an

unpleasant reminder of this our temporary human state. The flowers surround the casket while the organ music provides a gentle tone for the contemplation of our condition. The appropriate words are said. The pallbearers are in place, each lifting their side of the casket and placing the casket in the ground. To those of us who remain life goes on but it will never be the same.

This is the California election of November 2, 2010, it is the funeral of our golden state. The forever point of departure has been reached and there will be no going back. Our fate is sealed. The pallbearers on the left have won and dumped the state’s remains on the steps of our capital in Sacramento. The retort of most of California is that these words are the whining noises of an old white state reality. Not so, for this funeral is not about race, class or age, it is not fundamentally a clash of political parties but a culture clash.

Who are the culture adversaries? The winners are the consumers of the state’s life blood on the left side of the casket. Who are these folk? They are the entitlement crowd. They view the state as a means to an end, a self centered attempt to get ahead of the other guy. They milk the social welfare system for all it’s worth with no regard for the fact that welfare was intended to be a last resort. The system was intended for those in survival mode but now it is about a bigger flat screen. This abuse has long been a negative reality in our state but if the truth were told, this reality has become grotesque and regrettably socially acceptable.

The new offenders that have formed an unholy alliance with the welfare culture are their new labor union co-conspirators. The list of union offenders is long, according to unionsmart.org, 47 are operating in the state of California, all of whom are venders for political influence. One of the most aggrieving unions is that of the AFSCME and their branch organizations feeding at the Sacramento trough. The voting block of these governmental employees along with the teachers union, the firefighters union, the prison guards union, the medical and nursing communities is huge.

Under the pressure of these economic times and Governor Schwarzenegger, a few of these unions have agreed to minimal adjustments but the liability to the state into the future is insane. As of November 2, the election results guarantee that even these minimal adjustments will not be honored. The readers of the Daily Press who call the voters stupid are misguided. These California voters, to their own shame, are voting for their own self interest, to call them merely stupid is a backhanded compliment. The unholy alliance has doomed our fate. The alliance is a brotherhood of consumers.

We are doomed to a perpetual financial crisis and the raising of taxes on both individuals and businesses. You union folk will soon come to realize the enormity of your selfishness. We are doomed to a downward spiral to third world status in the extreme near future. The Golden State of California is dead and there will be no resurrection.

Producers let us mourn together or like rats, if you can, abandon ship!

G.Goslaw

Tea Leaves (Third Posting)

May 4, 2009

Our president finds it necessary to minimize the intentions of the Tea Party crowd. They are portrayed as a radical fringe movement that is a step away from being terrorist. The veteran label has gotten thrown into the mix. Guns owned by the good guys is, in government circles, a threat to order and stability. Visible protest is only acceptable if the signs are politically correct. Where is this leading?

It doesn’t take an Einstein to answer that question. The new world order is being dumped upon us. Big government includes our international ambitions. Secretly the first bailout package under president Bush went to prop up the world economy. Murder and mayhem is to be continued in Iraq and Afghanistan. National pride is out of fashion. An apologetic and submissive posture in diplomacy is the politically correct motif required for progress toward world unification.

Mr. President, we are reading the Tea Leaves. Your supposed hero President Lincoln is turning over in his grave because his sacrifice is being betrayed. He loved the union of the United States of America! Your leadership as well as that of George Bush, abrogate the special significance of America. Patriots value freedom and fairness. Neither is a remote possibility amongst the governments of the world.

The WWII, the baby boomer and all subsequent generations have increasingly succumbed to the love of money. The love of spending money is the back side of the same coin. Spending is the overriding concern of the tea party crowd because taxes will inevitably rise as a byproduct. Ballooning interest rates are sure to follow within months. Runaway inflation will follow closely behind.

Our freedom will be further in hoc to the deep pockets of the world, our children’s future is dismal. We shall soon be just another banana republic governed by the few. It is time to stop blaming George Bush when your spending is a whopping 8% of GDP. (Daily Press, April 16, 2009, Tea Parties)

This increase of almost 50% is unprecedented and it is all yours. Your intent may be for this level of spending to be temporary but this is an extreme gamble. Our greed ridden politics has never been successful in cutting costs. The tea leaves say that this level of spending is doomsday for all time.

President Barack Obama, you won the election and therefore set the agenda. The Democratic majority in Congress will make your agenda the law of the land. We former Republicans who dared to vote Democratic, did not vote for this change. We voted against the failure of Republican liberalism. You appear to be peddling only an even more liberal flavor. What will be your legacy?

Please Mr. President, read the tea leaves for yourself!

G.Goslaw

Victorville, CA. 92395

Election Day

Letter to the Editor

Daily Press

P.O. Box 1389

Victorville, Ca. 92393

This is election day November 2, 2010. There is no real change in sight despite the many changes likely to happen in the next few days. The needed change for the benefit of the middle class is not being mentioned by our politicians or any political pundit on the tube. The silence is deafening and defining. The issue is Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, but no one is addressing the greatest reason for our joblessness. Even Glenn Beck, who says most of the right things is silent on this most important issue that prevents any possibility of economic growth.

On the NBC channel today a Democratic analyst noted how this recession was different from all the recessions of the past. This recession is not cyclical but systemic. He failed to mention the Democratic supposed solution of stimulus spending was the wrong call. We cannot spend our way to a growing economy! The economy will not work for the people until the systemic problem of free trade is addressed.

As things stand, the working American is being asked to shoulder the costly burden of this selfish economic policy that only works for the fat cats. Our jobs go overseas for the sake of the corporate bottom line and the corporate stockholders. The American worker is being betrayed.

To this point we have been accepting of the Free Trade reality but we are angry. It is why Meg Whitman and Carly Forina might fail in their grossly expensive bids for elected office in California. They both participated in the betrayal of the American worker by corporate America. It is, however, hypocritical of Barbara Boxer to run those adds for she sat in Washington for the last 26 years and made the betrayal possible.

We are angry. There is no good reason why anyone should listen to this unknown quantity but please allow me to take a stab at the obvious. We the people are now bounty hunters. Every politician who is content to take the big business dollars, regardless of party affiliation, Republican or Democrat, will not survive. The sleeping American voter is awake, no politician can promote jobs while remaining silent about trade reform and supporting illegal immigration. American worker, for all of our sakes, for our children’s sake, stand up and demand change!

The only creditable pundit to speak up for us is Donald Trump. Please allow me to quote him on Fox News this afternoon, “I don’t care about China”. What a refreshing statement! Donald Trump cares about the American worker and our needed manufacturing base. We will run scared no longer. Fox news, you are a consistent voice for the conservative cause but it would seem that you are resisting involvement in this issue because of the Almighty advertising dollar.

We want to hear more from Donald Trump on behalf of the American middle class.

G.Goslaw

7983 SVL Box

Victorville, CA 92395