<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797</id><updated>2009-10-13T07:18:38.497-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Common Sense Thinking</title><subtitle type='html'>Common sense thinking that is not always politically correct</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>41</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-2944995450220186168</id><published>2008-08-25T23:06:00.004-06:00</published><updated>2008-08-26T18:33:23.121-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Obama</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SLSgsA1-qVI/AAAAAAAAABI/4P3s--wPPvA/s1600-h/honestobama.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SLSgsA1-qVI/AAAAAAAAABI/4P3s--wPPvA/s400/honestobama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238988944539822418" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SLOR21rTl9I/AAAAAAAAABA/P2Sxj7LYffE/s1600-h/Obama.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SLOR21rTl9I/AAAAAAAAABA/P2Sxj7LYffE/s400/Obama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238691162869700562" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Well, tonight the Democratic convention got under way. I don't know about you but I am SICK of the whole political process. It is bad enough that we have to go through these conventions but why do we have to put up with campaigning for three and four years before the actual presidential elections? Let's give all of these politicians three months to get their message across. that should be enough!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;How many of you watched Rick Warren interview Barack Obama and John McCain? Until that night, I really didn't know which candidate I was going to vote for. I thought both candidates are too liberal for me. Boy, was I wrong!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;After watching the interviews, I was totally impressed with John McCain. Obama came across as the politician he is. Yes, Obama is a great orator but that does not qualify him to president of the most powerful country in the world. His answers were vague. You can always tell how vague a candidate is by the length of his/her responses. The longer they take to answer, the more they are blowing smoke up your skirt.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;McCain was deadly direct with his answers. He is definitely the most experienced candidate. We do not need a rookie like Obama who is going to raise our taxes and take away our guns. If there was any question as to how liberal Obama is, just look at who he picked as his running mate. Joseph Biden is the original author of the 1990's gun ban. He has consistently voted to raise your taxes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;All I can say is, if Americans vote Obama into office in November, then America will get what she deserves, and it won't be pretty!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;JayMc&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-2944995450220186168?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/2944995450220186168/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=2944995450220186168' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/2944995450220186168'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/2944995450220186168'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama.html' title='Obama'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SLSgsA1-qVI/AAAAAAAAABI/4P3s--wPPvA/s72-c/honestobama.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-6712256379231264391</id><published>2008-05-27T00:51:00.004-06:00</published><updated>2008-05-27T01:53:22.509-06:00</updated><title type='text'>GREEDY Oil Companies are Destroying the United States</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SDuvt_K6ybI/AAAAAAAAAA4/mRZEID_0R_Q/s1600-h/demand.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SDuvt_K6ybI/AAAAAAAAAA4/mRZEID_0R_Q/s400/demand.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204946998942943666" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Who would have ever thought gasoline and diesel prices would reach $4.00 a gallon? Some sources say &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;$10.00 a gallon is absolutely feasible in the very near future&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; What will you do if it costs you over $150 to fill your car's gas tank? Will you be able to drive to work, take the kids to school, go on summer vacation, drive to church, take the kids to ball practice?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Not only will you feel the pinch when you fill up your vehicle, food prices are beginning to skyrocket! Everything you buy will double, triple and even quadruple in price due to increased transportation costs!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;The value of our dollar bill is shrinking at an enormous rate. So you make close to $100,000.00 a year between you and your wife? What happens when it will cost you over $1,000.00 a month to fill up your vehicles, $2,000.00 a month to feed a family of four? What if your natural gas bill is $1,000.00 per month in the winter and $1,000.00 per month in the summer?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;What if you don't make that much money? Let's say you make the median income of around $50,000.00 for a family of four? &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;u&gt;You won't make enough money to live!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Do not laugh, do not scoff, &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;u&gt;trouble is here!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;u&gt;Oil and gas companies are to blame!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt; If you don't believe me, do a little research and see just how much money these oil companies have made in profits in the last four or five years and even in the first few months of this year. Remember, these are &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;&lt;u&gt;PROFITS,,,,money that is left over after ALL of their expenses, drilling, research,,,everything,,,is paid for!!!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Recently, congress grilled several of the top oil company executives. Their response was, "This is good old supply and demand at work!" Bottom line is, &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;u&gt;they do NOT&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt; care about the American public!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;The &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;CEO's&lt;/span&gt; of these companies are making several million dollars a year in combined income. Do you think they struggle when they have their servants go to the gas pump for them?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;u&gt;We MUST do something about this travesty of justice!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt; America has laws that keep monopolies under a watchful eye. The companies that sell gas and oil in this country are not monopolies but in a way, they are. They all set their gasoline and diesel prices according to what their market analysts decide. &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;&lt;u&gt;It is time for the American government to get involved!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt; The oil companies obviously cannot control themselves so the government &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;&lt;u&gt;MUST&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt; step in.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;&lt;u&gt;YOU must get involved!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;It is not enough anymore to expect anyone else to do the work for you!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Call or write your congressmen and senators and &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;&lt;u&gt;DEMAND&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt; that a price cap of &lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;no more than $2.00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;a gallon be placed on gasoline and diesel! &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;&lt;u&gt;Do it today!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Without you, the prices will continue to rise until you cannot feed your family, drive your car to work or pay your mortgage!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;Don't believe the lies of the oil company executives that they can't make a profit on $2.00 a gallon!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;a href="https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml"&gt;Click on this link to find out how to write your legislators&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html"&gt;Click on this link to find out who your congressmen and senators are and then email them&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);font-family:arial;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"&gt;Please pass this message along to all of your friends! &lt;u&gt;WE MUST DO SOMETHING NOW BEFORE AMERICA OUR WAY OF LIFE IS DESTROYED BY THE GREED OF THE OIL COMPANY EXECUTIVES!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 204, 204);"&gt;Paste the following letter in your email to your SENATOR:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a citizen of these United States, I DEMAND that congress pass a law to put a price cap of $2.00 on a gallon of gasoline and diesel. Oil companies are not controlling themselves and our country and her citizens are suffering because of the oil companies' greed! As my senator, I DEMAND that you do something about this evil that is being imposed on me as an American citizen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 204);"&gt;Paste the following letter in your email to your REPRESENTATIVE:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a citizen of these United States, I DEMAND that congress pass a law to put a price cap of $2.00 on a gallon of gasoline and diesel. Oil companies are not controlling themselves and our country and her citizens are suffering because of the oil companies' greed! As my representative, I DEMAND that you do something about this evil that is being imposed on me as an American citizen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;JayMc&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-6712256379231264391?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/6712256379231264391/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=6712256379231264391' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/6712256379231264391'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/6712256379231264391'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2008/05/greedy-oil-companies-are-destroying.html' title='GREEDY Oil Companies are Destroying the United States'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_doBWd4swl2c/SDuvt_K6ybI/AAAAAAAAAA4/mRZEID_0R_Q/s72-c/demand.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-234489807290391370</id><published>2008-05-13T20:28:00.003-06:00</published><updated>2008-05-13T21:38:53.010-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Weather Modification???</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Okay, as you begin to read this article, please don't think I'm crazy! I am just reporting to you what has been reported in other media outlets and I am also inserting some conjecture and some wonderings.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;After Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans and many more coastal cities, Pocatello, Idaho weatherman Scott Stevens reported on his website reported that the storm was man made. There were also other reports that the Japanese Mafia had steered Hurricane Katrina into the Gulf Coast to avenge America's atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Before you begin to scoff and log off of my blog, consider this; Adolf Hitler in his book, "Mein Kompf" explained that people would believe big lies from a government before they would believe little lies. Of course, to think that anyone could steer a hurricane seems ludicrous at best. But, what if it is a possibility? When I first heard of this theory, I began to do some research and apparently the Russians have tried weather modification. Weather modification goes on in the United States quite frequently too. The North Plains Water District in Dumas, Texas seeds clouds in the Texas panhandle to try to increase average annual rainfall. We know that our government has done strange testing in the past such as ESP and other things so why wouldn't they try to modify the weather.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Many of the "Weather Modification proponents" believe that the United States' uses their HAARP system in Alaska to modify weather. HAARP is an array of antennas in Alaska that is not well known of. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Just a day or two ago, Picher, Oklahoma was totally destroyed by tornadoes. The interesting thing to me is that a couple of days before the tornadoes ripped through Picher, news sources were reporting that the government was going to require all residents to move. Lead and zinc mining has taken place in and around Picher for many years. The lead for American bullets in World Wars One and Two was mined from Picher. Due to the mining, there is a tremendous amount of toxic material around Picher and that is why the government has condemned the area. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;As an experiment, did the U.S. government create the severe weather that hit Picher and steer it directily onto its target? It sounds totally crazy doesn't it but we all know that the truth is, many times, stranger than fiction!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Links:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.weatherwars.info/"&gt;Weatherwars Website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1756.cfm"&gt;Cuttingedge.org article&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/katrina.htm"&gt;Another article on weather modification&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2005-09-20-wacky-weatherman_x.htm"&gt;About Scott Stevens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-234489807290391370?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/234489807290391370/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=234489807290391370' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/234489807290391370'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/234489807290391370'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2008/05/weather-modification.html' title='Weather Modification???'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-2752338107325677135</id><published>2008-04-12T21:00:00.003-06:00</published><updated>2008-05-13T20:51:23.533-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Texas Found Guilty in the Court of Common Sense</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;As you all know, on April 4, 2008, the State of Texas decided to raid the FLDS (Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) compound near Eldorado, Texas. In doing so, the State of Texas took over four hundred children into custody. Apparently, a sixteen year old girl had contacted someone and said that her husband, a much older husband, had been abusing her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What was Texas thinking? You don't go hijack everyone in a faith because one person accuses another of violence. Go after the guilty parties, not everyone! Many of us in the United States of America believe that we are innocent until we are proven guilty. This could not be further from the truth. What gave the State of Texas the right to raid a religious compound and kidnap all of the children? Has anyone been charged and convicted of violence? Make no mistake, it could be your church next! Don't think it couldn't.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The last time this sort of thing happened in Texas was in Waco with the Branch Davidians. David Koresh and his followers went through similar attacks by the State of Texas and were eventually found to be not guilty of child abuse. Then, Janet Reno and her jack booted thugs in the BATF decided to attack the peaceful people of the Davidians. It doesn't matter whether we agree with the faith of the Davidians or of the FLDS. What matters is, the constitution of the United States of America is supposed to guarantee our "Freedom of Religion." The Davidians were murdered by the United States government and the State of Texas. Luckily, we avoided another murderous moment at the FLDS compound.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The media continues to exploit the fact that a sixteen year old was married to a fifty year old man. Did you know that it is legal in the State of Texas for a sixteen year old to be married with parental consent? The polygamists of the FLDS faith do not really practice polygamy as it is defined anyway. The men of the FLDS faith take one woman, legally, as their wife. They go to the courthouse like other married couples and pay a tax, or a fee, to receive a piece of paper to say they are married. The subsequent wifes are "married" to them only through a spiritual ceremony. The men that are "married" to these women provide for them. What about the man that lives in your neighborhood that has fathered many children with different women, many of those children he is not even aware of? Is he found guilty of polygamy for fathering these children even though he doesn't provide for his offspring? I have a lot more respect for the polygamous man than I do the guy that is running around impregnating every woman he meets.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The truth is, the FLDS and other polygamous groups are discriminated against because of their beliefs. Even though I do not understand why anyone would want to have more than one wife nor do I agree with their beliefs, they still should have the same religious freedoms I have. When you take away their rights, you hurt every American and you violate the constitution of this country.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The leader of the FLDS faith, Warren Jeffs was recently convicted and given a life sentence for giving his blessing when a sixteen year old girl married her nineteen year old cousin. Again, the marriage was legal by Utah's standards. As a matter of fact, at the time, fourteen year old children could marry with parental consent! Where were the parents in this matter? Obviously they gave their consent for their daughter to marry her cousin. It is insane that they would charge Warren Jeffs. Even if you don't agree with polygamy, you get to raise your children with the beliefs you have. Why should you deny that same right to the FLDS? The minimum age that one can be married is decided state by state, but when someone gets married legally, some states like Utah and Texas prosecute anyway. If public opinion, which is so often molded by the media, is against you, you cannot get a fair trial anywhere in this country. Innocent until proven guilty? Not at all. In fact, if you are "charged", people just assume you are guilty.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Polygamist Tom Green was convicted and sent to prison for marrying one of his wife's twelve year old sister. Green married the girl in Mexico and consummated the union there. Since when do we convict a person in the United States for a crime committed in Mexico? Do I agree with Green's actions? Absolutely not! But I can't condone what the State of Utah did either.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This all comes down to our fellow American's civil rights being violated by our states and our country. You should not be a part of it! You should be outraged that a segment of Americans are being victimized because of what they believe. It could be your church next, it absolutely can be! When the powers that be decide they don't like what the Baptist church down on the corner is preaching, they may just be the next group to be illegally raided and the children could be kidnapped just as they have been near Eldorado, Texas.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;JayMc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-2752338107325677135?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/2752338107325677135/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=2752338107325677135' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/2752338107325677135'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/2752338107325677135'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2008/04/texas-found-guilty-in-court-of-common.html' title='Texas Found Guilty in the Court of Common Sense'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-6880384477453302004</id><published>2008-04-01T21:28:00.002-06:00</published><updated>2008-04-01T21:59:56.826-06:00</updated><title type='text'>The High Price of Fuel</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial;"&gt;Yes, I hate to admit it but, I do work for an oil company in a refinery. Now, I won't tell you which one because I don't especially want to lose my job. It is a small, very small refinery. I used to work at one of the world's largest refineries.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now that we are seeing $4.00 on diesel pumps the truckers in our country have decided to try to sound the alarm. In certain cities today, several truckers parked their big rigs. They simply cannot afford to keep driving when one fill up costs them more than $1,000. Also today, several oil company executives answered questions from congress. Will this make the price of fuel go down? Absolutely not. The oil companies are greedy and want to make as much money as they can. Besides, the oil companies are supporting many of our congress men and women.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What caused all of this? Well, it all started when Bill Clinton was president. All of the major oil companies began to merge. BP went on a buying spree and bought many of America's largest oil and gas companies and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) didn't do a thing about it. Now that Exxon and Mobile have merged, Conoco and Phillips have merged, BP took over Amoco and Arco among others, there simply aren't many big players. Is it a monopoly? Yes and no. No, in that the oil companies are in competition with one another but yes in the fact that they all set their prices according to each other.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When a refinery, every refinery in this country, can make as much fuel as they possibly can, running at maximum throughput every day,, 365 days a year, and then sell every gallon of fuel they make, they can charge whatever they want. Is it ethical when it is destroying our economy? Of course not! Since when is big business worried about ethics anyway? The oil companies should be very ashamed of themselves. But, as long as the CEO's of these companies make their millions, they don't care about you! America needs to brand these men as traitors!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, let's go back a little further and give credit where credit is also due. The eco-nuts of our country are certainly partly to blame for the condition we see our country in. No new refineries have been built in this country since 1976 because of the strict environmental laws. Yes, all the refineries in this country have expanded their production capabilities and why wouldn't they when they can make so much money? Also, the eco-nuts have pushed laws through to take the sulfur out of diesel. It used to be that diesel was one of the easiest products to make in a refinery. Just put the crude oil in a tower, add a little heat and the first product you get is diesel. Now, when diesel is made, it then has to be put through a very high temperature and high pressure process using hydrogen and catalyst to remove the sulfur. So that also runs the costs up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It used to be, that in the very small refinery in which I work, if we made $25 million a year in profits, we had a very good year. Ever since hurricane Katrina, we have made several million dollars a month pure profit. I'm tlaking anywhere from $8 million to almost $50 million in ONE MONTH! This is PURE PROFIT and one of the smaller refineries in this country! Now, what are the big boys making?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let's face it, the oil company execs don't care about you, they don't care about me (an employee, after all I don't make anymore money and they keep trying to reduce my benefits) and they surely do not care about the state of our country's economy. $$$ is the bottom line for these &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;dillweeds&lt;/span&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Until we are all sick and tired of it and are ready t  park our cars for a week, maybe a month, we won't see any change. Right now, I don't think we have that kind of solidarity in America. We all are too worried about ourselves to join together and bring these companies to their knees and they know it. Until we can join together like they have in France in the past, we will not see any change so get ready to see $5 and more at the pump for gas and diesel. And expect everything else we pay for to increase due to increased transportation costs and also realize that almost everything we touch uses petroleum based products or was made by equipment powered by petroleum. &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It ain't looking good for us  and the oil companies don't care!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-6880384477453302004?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/6880384477453302004/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=6880384477453302004' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/6880384477453302004'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/6880384477453302004'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2008/04/high-price-of-fuel.html' title='The High Price of Fuel'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-6810178588053871805</id><published>2008-03-25T23:45:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2008-03-25T23:46:45.956-06:00</updated><title type='text'>I'm Back</title><content type='html'>With Blogspot being taken over by Google, I have been away for awhile. I finally spent the time to figure out how to get things switched over. So, to let you know, I will be posting again soon. Get ready for more "Common Sense Thinking!"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-6810178588053871805?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/6810178588053871805/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=6810178588053871805' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/6810178588053871805'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/6810178588053871805'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2008/03/im-back.html' title='I&apos;m Back'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-115066942329539067</id><published>2006-06-18T16:23:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-06-18T16:23:43.376-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Get the Facts or Shut the Hell Up!!!</title><content type='html'>While waiting outside to get a table for lunch on Friday, I heard some fellows talking. It’s not that I was trying to eavesdrop but they were right there. I had to laugh at the main speaker’s points. They were the same thing I’ve heard for the last two or three years; “Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. It was okay for us to attack Afghanistan because Osama Bin Laden was there. Bush just sent our military into Iraq without approval from congress. Blah, blah, blah, blah!!!&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Let me give a hand to the media. They have done a great job of blasting President Bush and the majority of people in this country are followers and believe everything that the media spouts. It is popular to bash Bush! As long as Hollywood does it, all the people that worship Hollywood will follow right in their footsteps. The unfortunate thing is that the people in Hollywood have no idea what it is like to live like the people that worship them. Do you really think that George Clooney has to worry when gasoline goes up to $3.00 a gallon? &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; It would be nice if all of the Bush haters could spout the truth instead of what they hear from the super-liberals. Let me reiterate once again, the truth.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;1.) President Bush had information from the CIA and other agencies in the United States government that Sadaam Hussein had nuclear weapons almost ready to be produced. He also had information that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Sadaam was given several months to allow United Nations weapons inspectors the ability to investigate these allegations and he would not let them do so. The United Nations passed at least sixteen different resolutions calling for Sadaam to be open about his weapon caches. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Another amazing thing that the liberals don’t mention is that former President Clinton also stated that he would have gone to war with the same information that Bush was given. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;One thing that the liberals don’t seem to think about too is that Sadaam had several months to move his weapons of mass destruction out of Iraq. Don’t you think he would do that and give them to other Islamic countries? No? Well, remember how dozens of Iraqi pilots flew their planes to Iran at the beginning of Desert Storm and the current Iraqi war? Even though Iran and Iraq are enemies, Sadaam would rather the planes be in hands of other Muslim countries. The same would obviously go for his weapons of mass destruction.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;2.) I really hate to break it to the hyper, pointy toed liberals but the majority of congress did vote for our invasion of Iraq. Next time you want to bitch at Bush, take a look at your congressman/congresswoman first!&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;I could go on and on but why? You pointy toed liberals are going to believe what you are spoon fed anyway. Believe it or not, the majority of people in Iraq are glad we are there. Once we have a stable government in Iraq and once the country is stabilized, it will be better for us in the United States. Don’t believe me? What if we just bailed out of Iraq and let the radical Muslims take over? What if all the Islamic countries decided not to sell oil to the “Great Satan” again? Is $20 a gallon gasoline out of the question? Certainly not. Our economy would be destroyed and our country would be thrust into the worst depression it has ever seen. We must have some stability in the Middle East! If we don’t, our world will be drastically changed, and not in a good way. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Next time you cone headed liberals want to blast Bush over the war on terror, get the true facts before you start spouting your rhetoric. Otherwise, just shut up and save some fresh air for someone else to use!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-115066942329539067?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/115066942329539067/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=115066942329539067' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/115066942329539067'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/115066942329539067'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/06/get-facts-or-shut-hell-up.html' title='Get the Facts or Shut the Hell Up!!!'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114801806442861192</id><published>2006-05-18T23:13:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-05-19T00:03:37.143-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Court's Ruling on Polygamy Another Step to Take Away Religious Freedoms</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The May 17, 2006 issue of The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Utah Supreme Court had ruled against Rodney Holm, a polygamist from Hilldale, Utah. Holm, a police officer in the small town of Hilldale, Utah which shares the state border with Colorado City, Arizona, both towns well known for their polygamous citizenry, was charged in 1998 with one count of bigamy and two counts of unlawful sexual relations with a 16 or 17 year old, all third degree felonies. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Utah's Attorney General has increased his prosecutions of polygamy cases and his office has stated that they are planning on many more prosecutions. Most Americans have been taught that polygamy is evil. Even the Mormon Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gave up the practice of polygamy in the late 1800's. Members of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church (FLDS), who believe that in order for them to ascend to the highest level of heaven, must practice polygamy, seem to be the victims of most of these prosecutions. The fact is, our society is one of the few in the history of mankind that does not practice polygamy as a whole. The Bible does not condemn multiple marriages. In fact, many of the main characters in the Bible were practicing polygamists. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Polygamy is the practice of taking two or more wives. The polygamists being charged with crimes normally have one wife that they are legally married to and then, one or more wives that they are "spiritually" married to. My first question in this matter is, "Who gave the state the right to govern marriages?" Marriage is traditionally a bond of a man and a woman that is sanctified by God not the state. My second question is, "If a man and a woman have not been legally married, how can the state charge them with being married to more than one person?" &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Utah's Attorney General uses the position that the members of polygamist groups such as the FLDS are marrying young girls, below the legal age allowed for marriage, to older men. While this has been the case in some examples and should be duly prosecuted, it is not the case in the majority of polygamist marriages. Tom Green, a Utah polygamist was prosecuted and convicted of having married a fourteen year old girl, a sister of one of his other wives. At the time, the legal age for marriage began at fourteen, as long as there was parental consent. The State of Utah also convicted Green for having sexual relations with his new fourteen year old bride on their honeymoon in Mexico. Since when does any state prosecute its citizens for crimes they have committed in another country? The State of Utah charged Green with marrying the fourteen year old girl and prosecuted him for having sexual relations with her. If Green would have married her legally, obtaining a marriage license and paying the taxes that go along with it, would he have been charged with having unlawful sexual relations with her (his wife)? The State of Utah cannot have it both ways but that is what they have been able to obtain. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;The fact is, Utah is on a witchhunt, not unlike the Salem Witch Trials.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Four out of five of Utah's Supreme Court justices ruled against Holm. The one dissenting judge, Chief Justice Christine M. Durham wrote, "Any two people can make private pledges to each other, with or without the assistance of a religious official, but these private commitments are not equivalent to marriage absent a license or an adjudication of marriage." &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;If the State of Utah insists on prosecuting men who sleep with more than one woman, let them prosecute those that do not provide a home for their partner or the children that result from that union!&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Prosecuting these men, and notice that the State of Utah is not prosecuting the women involved in polygamy, can only result in more sorrow for the man's wife and children when he is sentenced to time in prison and he is taken away from his family. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;Utah's attack on members of the FLDS Church is without warrant and stands in sharp contrast to the constitution of the United States that declares that the citizens of this country should have freedom of religion.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Whether you agree with polygamy or not, you should realize that this is an attack on your and my freedoms of religion! Our country is slowly whittling away at all of our rights, especially our religious rights. It is time we stand up and make it known that we will not stand for it any longer.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114801806442861192?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114801806442861192/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114801806442861192' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114801806442861192'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114801806442861192'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/05/courts-ruling-on-polygamy-another-step.html' title='Court&apos;s Ruling on Polygamy Another Step to Take Away Religious Freedoms'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114615348961469610</id><published>2006-04-27T09:08:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-04-27T10:24:23.140-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Ban Lawyers from All Judicial Posts</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;When the idea of this great nation and its democratic government, a government that began as one &lt;em&gt;"of the people, for the people and by the people,"&lt;/em&gt; was conceived, I am sure that none of our founding fathers would have ever dreamed that America would be in the shape that it is now. With income taxes at exorbitant rates, the plague of frivolous lawsuits and the scourge of government corruption, if George Washington was alive today, I believe he would call for another revolution!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Democracy is a wonderful principle. Unfortunately, there is one major cancer that is terminal to democracy, it is human greed. Instead of American's looking out for the good of the whole country, we have become a people that seek the good of only ourselves. Because of this we see frivolous lawsuits that are bringing this great nation to its knees. The fuel that feeds this fire is the abundance of lawyers in this country. All one has to do is open the Yellow Pages to see how many "ambulance chasers" are in every major city. On an average, these lawyers make a 40% fee for these ridiculous lawsuits they present to our courts. We are seeing the result of this corruption in our health care costs and other things such as car insurance, prescription drug prices and income taxes. If health care costs continue to soar as they have in the past few years, soon only the extremely rich will be able to afford any health care at all. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Many of you may remember the woman that was burned as she spilled her coffee at a McDonald's restaurant's drive through a few years ago. With a "good" lawyer, she was able to walk away with $1 million! Unbelievably, the judge in this case found McDonald's liable for the pain and suffering the woman sustained.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Isn't if amazing that judges are lawyers, as are most of our legislators? It is no wonder that our country is in a downward spiral morally and politically. Perhaps legislators, judges and lawyers should be charged and convicted under racketeering laws! They have the perfect system in America though, to keep not only money but power in their pockets. The legislators, with the help of their legal teams (lawyers), write the laws in "legalese", using Latin and other terms that only a lawyer could understand. It is no accident that laws are written that way. Because of the murkiness of the legislative waters, lawyers must be employed to decipher and interpret those laws. The lawyers are also able to find the loopholes in the laws that they write and sponsor. Are loopholes in our laws accidentally or were they put there purposely? &lt;span style="color:#000000;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lawyers have successfully built a self perpetuating kingdom for themselves!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All firemen are aware of the fire triangle. The fire triangle shows that there must be three elements in order for there to be a fire. Remove one element and the fire will not start or continue. The elements are fuel, oxygen and a heat source. In America we have our "law triangle." Each of our three elements in the law triangle feeds off of the other. The legislator writes and votes in the law, the lawyer represents the law or its opponent and the judge decides if the lawyer's case either passes or fails the terms of the law. It is very easy to see how corruption and racketeering can grow in such a system. If the people of the United States were to ban all lawyers from becoming judges or even legislators (thus removing an element from our law triangle), it would stop many of the frivolous lawsuits that plague our nation and drive costs to unbearable levels. In the McDonald's case, a "non-lawyer" judge would have, more than likely, found the woman to be at fault for not being more cautious with a hot cup of coffee and would have thrown the case out of court. He may have also de-barred the lawyer that brought the case before his court. By banning lawyers from being judges in this country, I believe it would free our courts up for more serious matters. It would also cut the costs of a doctor's malpractice insurance, car insurance, income taxes, prescription drug expenses and about every other kind of burden that is being forced on the American people.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I hope I am wrong but &lt;strong&gt;I feel very strongly that America is in a death spiral&lt;/strong&gt;. It actually began the day this democracy was formed. Although hard to recognize during the first one hundred years of this country's life, this death spiral is becoming exponentially worse. It is much like a whirlpool that spins slowly at the outside but the spiral becomes tighter and faster toward the center, or the end.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It used to be, when a nation's leaders were corrupt and the people got to a place that they could take no more, they rebelled and overthrew the government. America is a monster that has become too big for that to happen. The death spiral began to show itself in 1860 with Lincoln's administration going to war to force southern states to stay in the union when the citizens of those states did not wish to be a part of the union any longer. &lt;strong&gt;Force, by murder and destruction, was the first severe sign of this death spiral.&lt;/strong&gt; In the days of the War Between the States, there was a slim chance that the Confederate states could have been victorious in their struggle against a ferocious and brutal government, to remain free. In this modern day, there is not a chance that the people of any state could free themselves from the laws and moral turpitude of this country. America's military might is just too strong. Because of that and the fear instilled by our government (which is run by lawyers), we continue to pay unlawful income taxes. Because of the lawyers, we as citizens, continue to pay ludicrous insurance prices. Because of the lawyers we cannot worship freely as was once guaranteed by our constitution. As a result of lawyers and their seed, we will continue to be oppressed and demoralized. Speak out when you can!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114615348961469610?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114615348961469610/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114615348961469610' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114615348961469610'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114615348961469610'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/04/ban-lawyers-from-all-judicial-posts.html' title='Ban Lawyers from All Judicial Posts'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114481269656812810</id><published>2006-04-11T20:52:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-04-11T21:37:24.756-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Gay Student Expelled for Being Gay</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;News is out that Jason Johnson has been expelled from The University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky after admitting in a MySpace.com blog that he is gay. Well, what does this guy expect? Doesn't he know that homosexuality and Christianity don't mix? Word is that Johnson is considering filing suit against the school. Whatever happened to freedom of religion? If a citizen of this country believes that homosexuality is a sin, that is his protected right under our constitution. Unfortunately, our constitution only works for the minority. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Let me tell you where the church is headed in this country. For evangelical, fundamental Christian churches that preach that homosexuality is a sin, they are headed for persecution. I believe this persecution will begin with lawsuits being filed by groups, such as homosexuals, against these churches and their ministers. The special interest groups, in our example, the homosexuals, will prevail. Next, our government will revoke the tax exempt status of these churches. Also, I believe ministers will be charged with hate crimes if they refuse to allow homosexuals and other minority groups that are "anti-Christian" to attend or partake in church ordinances. Then, I believe the government will eventually either shut down churches that they do not consider to be "tolerant" or they may even take such churches over. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a gospel of inclusion. It is a gospel of exclusion. When a person converts to Christianity, they are required by God Himself to give up the ways of the world and sins such as homosexuality. If they do not, they are not worthy to be called by the name of Christ.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The horrors I speak of are already on their way. Hate crime has been passed in most of the United States which is a complete violation of our human rights. Unfortunately, for the true "church" to do what it is called to do, I am afraid that persecution is vital. When the church has it easy, they become complacent and do not fulfill the great commission as set forth by Jesus Christ. When it gets to the point that a Christian may have to face death if he/she proclaims their faith in Christ, it will weed out those that are lukewarm. When people see that sincerity in faith, the world will see the truth behind the Gospel and more people will begin to follow Jesus Christ and his teachings. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Way to go University of the Cumberlands! Stand strong for your faith!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114481269656812810?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114481269656812810/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114481269656812810' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114481269656812810'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114481269656812810'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/04/gay-student-expelled-for-being-gay.html' title='Gay Student Expelled for Being Gay'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114450067501605432</id><published>2006-04-08T06:29:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-04-08T06:51:25.223-06:00</updated><title type='text'>To the Dixie Chicks and the Rest of You Just Like Them, Doo Dah Doo Dah!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Please let me start this by warning anybody that is about read this post, I am P.O'd. It is probably because it is about 6:30 a.m. and I just got home from the first night shift after a week off of work. I'm frequently in a cantankerous mood after working night shifts but anway, here goes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;I was thinking about an article I read a few weeks ago about the Dixie Chicks. They were whining about how mistreated they were when they bashed President Bush in England. I'll be one of the first to admit, I didn't like it! I wouldn't buy their music either before or after the incident. I guess they are coming out with a new CD and one of the songs they wrote talks about a death threat someone made to them after their idiotic rampage in England. Well, to tell you the truth, I really don't think Bubba is going to kill any of the Dixie chicks. It's my guess that he wouldn't waste a bullet on them. He probably was just in a drunken patriotic rage.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;The problem I have with the Dixie Chicks and everyone else that is bashing Bush so badly is that they ought to be smart enough to realize that they do not know what is really going on in the world. Oh, I forgot, the Dixie Chicks are musicians so that makes them experts not only on internal affairs in the United States but in the entire world. The same thing goes for Barbara Striesend, who by the way, couldn't spell her way out of a wet paper bag. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;For all of you people that say, "The Iraq war is just about oil," you don't know just how right you are. Since I work in the oil industry and have ever since I got out of high school, I feel like I am a little bit qualified in this area. Most of you have no idea how many every day items you deal with are made from oil. Not only is your gasoline and diesel made from crude oil but so are plastics, paints and so many other things. You would be shocked to really know. President Bush did not get us in the quagmire we are in. It started at least as far back as Franklin Roosevelt, if not further back. And, you can't just blame presidents. Where have our congressmen been? None of them have worked to make American less dependent upon foreign oil. The huge wake up call came in the 1970's when Jimmy Carter was president. Anybody reading this remember the gasoline shortage? Now, let me reaffirm what I have already stated, I don't claim to be Republican and I sure don't claim to be a Democrat! I don't think either party is for the typical working American. Both parties are made up of rich people. Just try running for office and see if I'm not correct. Almost all of our congress people are in the game to get what they can get for them, not for the good of the country as a whole.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;Whether you are an actor, a musician or an oilworker like me, I hope you will have the common sense to know that we simply do not know what is really going on behind the scenes in the world! Not only did President Bush get information that Sadaam was an imminent threat to the U.S. but Bill Clinton got the same information and was thinking that he might have to invade Iraq too. Not only did Republicans vote to go into Iraq but so did Democrats.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;color:#cc0000;"&gt;So for all of you whining, snively nosed, pointy toed, soccer mom mentality liberals, quit your whining and for one time in your life, stop and realize that you aren't the smartest people that ever lived with all of the answers to the world's situations! For God's sake, at least ONCE!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;JayMc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114450067501605432?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114450067501605432/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114450067501605432' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114450067501605432'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114450067501605432'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/04/to-dixie-chicks-and-rest-of-you-just.html' title='To the Dixie Chicks and the Rest of You Just Like Them, Doo Dah Doo Dah!'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114347726865467002</id><published>2006-03-27T09:27:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-03-27T09:34:28.683-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Afganistan Dodges Moral Issue</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;It appears that Christian convert, Abdul Rahman, has been declared to be insane thereby allowing the courts in Afganistan to dodge the moral crisis they have been faced with in Mr. Rahman's case. Mr. Rahman is the gentleman that converted to Christianity some sixteen years ago and was recently tried on charges of leaving the Islamic faith which carries the death penalty. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and high ranking officials of other countries had voiced their concern to Afganistan's president over the matter. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;By declaring Mr. Rahman mentally unstable Afganistan and Islam as a whole is able to avoid the scorn of the rest of the world, this time. I do not know if Mr. Rahman is mentally unstable or not. He stated that he was not. Who will be the next victim of Islam's intolerance and visciousness? &lt;span style="color:#000000;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't fool yourself, it absolutely could be you or me!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114347726865467002?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114347726865467002/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114347726865467002' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114347726865467002'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114347726865467002'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/03/afganistan-dodges-moral-issue.html' title='Afganistan Dodges Moral Issue'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114325520907117108</id><published>2006-03-24T19:45:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-03-24T19:53:29.083-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The World is Taking Notice of the Evils of Islam</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Italy has stated that it would remove its peace keeping forces from Afganistan if Abdul Rahman has to give his life for converting from Islam to Christianity. Mr. Rahman converted to Christianity sixteen years ago while working for a relief agency in Germany. Under the strict rules of Islam, anyone who is born a Muslim and converts to Christianity is invited to come back to Islam. If they do not, they are put to death. In the last few days, American Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, contacted Afganistani president Hamid Karzi to voice the United State's concern of Mr. Rahman's human rights. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The world simply cannot allow Islam to continue. Islam is an enemy to freedom and human rights everywhere. All Imams that teach Islam law should be arrested and exiled to someplace that they cannot spread the hate of their faith. No other faith in the world is as evil as Islam. My stepfather used to say that it was a shame that the crusades did not succeed in their efforts to destroy Islam from the face of the earth. None of the world's dictators have been as evil as this religion. We must all realize this and do what we can to put a stop to the world's greatest terror, ISLAM!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060323-104945-2166r.htm"&gt;Click Here to read more about this story&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114325520907117108?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114325520907117108/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114325520907117108' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114325520907117108'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114325520907117108'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/03/world-is-taking-notice-of-evils-of.html' title='The World is Taking Notice of the Evils of Islam'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114295380700685138</id><published>2006-03-21T07:55:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-03-21T08:10:07.123-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Islam MUST be Stopped!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Associated Press reporter Daniel Looney reports that 41-year-old Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian in Afganistan. Abdul is faced with the death penalty for departing from Islam. Under Islamic law,  if a person turns from Islam to Christianity, they are asked to return to Islam and if they don't, they are to be put to death. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;What other religion in the world today is so barbaric? Americans have given their lives to bring peace to Afganistan yet this kind of vulgarity continues in the Islamic faith. I hope that President Bush will get involved in this issue. How can we, as human beings, support such a faith that has no more respect for human life than this? I understand that not all Muslims hold themselves to such immoral practices but their faith does. Obviously Mr. Rahman found something much better in Christianity and is willing to lose his life for his belief. I hope that other Muslims will see that there is much more to Christianity and a relationship with Jesus Christ! Islam must be stopped! &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;In World Wars I and II, evil regimes attempted to take over peoples and lands that were not theirs. Islam is much more of an imminent problem than Adolf Hitler ever was.  The rulers and radicals of Islam will not cease until they have taken over the world and killed the infidels. My stepfather used to say that it was a shame that the crusades did not succeed in destroying Islam. I must agree. Even though I don't agree with faiths other than Christianity, I respect people's rights to believe as they wish. Islam does not give anyone this right. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I would like to ask all of you who read this to pray for Abdul Rahman and then contact your congressmen to get involved and try to spare his life. We, as Americans, cannot support a regime that kills people for believing in Christ!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_3620352"&gt;Click Here to Read the Article in the Salt Lake Tribune&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.persecution.com/"&gt;Click Here to See Voice of the Martyrs Website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114295380700685138?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114295380700685138/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114295380700685138' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114295380700685138'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114295380700685138'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/03/islam-must-be-stopped.html' title='Islam MUST be Stopped!'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114205728256996376</id><published>2006-03-10T22:32:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-03-10T23:08:02.636-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Answers to the Violence in Israel</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Yesterday's news of two young boys killed when Israel targeted two Hamas militants has caused an uproar again in Gaza. Israel has taken it upon themselves to target criminals that attack it's citizens. I fully believe any country has this right!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Is the trouble in the Middle East ever going to cease? Personally, I do not believe it will. I must admit that my views may be a little skewed. I look at their problems as an outsider and from a Christian viewpoint but I do not agree with many Christian's thoughts on Israel.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Many Christians today, especially in the United States, believe that we must support Israel, no matter what they do. If we do, we will be blessed, if we do not, we will be cursed. Well, I don't believe that I should support everything Israel does by any means. I do believe that we (the U.S.) should support Israel as being a nation. I feel just as strongly that the Palestinians in Israel have a right to call Israel their home too. At some point, the hatred and animosity between Arabs and Jews has to stop. The only way this can happen is for each individual Jew and each individual Arab to come to a point that they can forgive what each of them have done to one another. It is hard for my generation in the U.S. to understand such hatred.  And I believe the only way that true forgiveness can come is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now that we know that is not going to happen to every individual in the Middle East, what is a solution to their problems?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;First of all, I believe Israel should take the high road by supporting dialouge with the Palesinians. Then, they should help rebuild Palestinian refugee camps and cities.  On the other hand, the Palestinians must stop their rhetoric of hatred. They must stop calling for the annihilation of Israel and the Jews. They must stop their attacks on Israelis immediately. They must also stop blaming Israel and the U.S. for all of their problems in life. They need to take ownership of their people's lives and start working together to build themselves up. If they would spend as much time in this effort as they do at scheming to attack Israel, they would be a model for other peoples of turmoil. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;One thing all nations can do is look at what has made America the great country it is. I also believe that America would do well to look back at what has made this country great. America is on a major decline and if something doesn't change, I don't see much of a future for America. What is it that has made America great? It is the freedom that the founding fathers believed every human is born with; freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion. Basically, all of these can be boiled down into one thing, respect for each other!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114205728256996376?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114205728256996376/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114205728256996376' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114205728256996376'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114205728256996376'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/03/answers-to-violence-in-israel.html' title='Answers to the Violence in Israel'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-114101472171295806</id><published>2006-02-26T20:45:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-02-26T21:37:39.936-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Terminal Cancer in American Government</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;First of all, I want to say that the United States of America is the greatest country in the world but we still have our share of problems. This last week, Irwin Schiff, an author and anti-income tax activist was sentenced to prison for not paying income taxes and for encouraging others not to pay. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Bush administration promised to overhaul our tax system but has yet to do so. President Bush has cut taxes but the whole system is corrupt and needs to be scrapped. Most young Americans don't know that income taxes only became a part of our life in the 1940's. Before that, there was no income tax on the American people. The federal income tax was started as a temporary measure to help finance World War II. Of course, any tax that is levied, is never taken away! When the federal income tax began, only a very small percentage of Americans made enough money to qualify to pay income taxes. That was back when a family might bring home $5,000 a year. Now, the system has flip-flopped. Very few people now do not pay income taxes. With the median income of the American citizen being somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000, what is average for an American citizen would have once been considered riches. Where the problem lies is that our tax system is based on percentages. When the income tax system began, a person making the median income of, let's say, $5,000 would not have made enough money to have to pay any income tax. Now, sixty years later, the same average American makes, let's say, $40,000 per year and he is taxed somewhere around 28% of his income, not counting sales tax, property taxes, taxes on good, etc. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;America has become spoiled. The Democratic party, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, began programs like the "New Deal" and "Social Security." American's have come to depend upon their government to provide for them instead of them doing what it takes to make ends meet. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In comes Irwin Schiff. Another one of the many tax protesters this country has endured for a time and then destroyed, Schiff was just sentenced to several years in a federal prison. At Schiff's age, this is certainly a death sentence. I am afraid that, even though America is the greatest country in the world, we are not a free country. We supposedly espouse virtues such as free speech until that voice is against the government and its institutions. The U.S. government will tolerate the antagonism for a time, until it begins to gather steam, all the while picking away at the smaller members of the voice. Let me explain. Irwin Schiff has been selling books and making speeches about the federal income tax system for years. Up until now the government has not touched him. They have however, attacked those that chose to follow Mr. Schiff's advice. Rest assured, the Department of Justice has been building a case for years against Mr. Schiff and the volcano has finally erupted. Once the government has your number, your chances of ever winning in court against it would be slim to none. As in Mr. Schiff's case, the judge will not even give the defendant a true opportunity to present his case. Whoever said that we are innocent until proven guilty in this country was not aware of the truth.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let me give you a couple more examples of people, one that the government did destroy and one that the government tried to destroy. The first is Utah polygamist Tom Green. For the most part, Tom Green lived peacefully in his compound of trailer homes in the Utah desert with his wives and children. For some reason, Tom Green began making the American talk show circuit and began to be noticed by the federal government. One of the founding principles of the American society is that of freedom of religion. In the U.S.A. our rights to believe as we choose are protected by our constitution and bill of rights, unless it infringes upon someone else's rights or, in Tom Green's case, it is something that the majority of Americans disagree with. The federal government wanted to silence Tom Green but knew they had a problem. How could they arrest him for polygamy without having to go after the tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of other polygamists in the U.S.? After much digging, the government discovered that Mr. Green had married one of his wife's 14 year old sister and had consumated the marriage. I do not believe that any adult male should ever sleep with a fourteen year old girl but there are two problems with the government's case against Tom Green. In Utah, a fourteen year old girl can marry an adult male with her parent's consent! I think that is totally irresponsible and Utah needs to change that law but it is the law. Secondly, Mr. Green slept with his fourteen year old bride in Mexico. Since when can we be charged in America with a crime we committed in another country. This may not have even been a crime in Mexico. One of the many reasons I believe that the government does not go after more polygamists is because they only marry one woman legally. With the other wives, the couple goes through a religious ceremony but no marriage certificate is applied for or filed through the state. How many people in our society have sexual encounters with multiple partners but it is not considered polygamy? The fact is, Tom Green became too vocal and was garnishing too much attention and our government shut him down without a good case against him. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The second victim of government abuse I want to speak about is Monica Lewinsky. Ms. Lewinsky, a White House aid was involved in the well known sex scandal with then President Bill Clinton. We all remember how President Clinton lied to try and find a way out of the situation he had caused. I still remember watching the political television shows one day when Clinton spin doctor, James Carville, began to label Ms. Lewinsky as a stalker. Clinton's administration had decided to destroy Monica Lewinsky's reputation and for all practical purposes, her future. In a matter of hours, Ms. Lewinsky produced the, now famous, semen stained dress. This immediately silenced the Clinton administration. As with many other administrations and our government as a whole, they showed no regard to the well being of their citizens. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I wish Mr. Schiff the best but I know that fighting the government in something like income taxes is an impossible tax. It is my belief that our government is consumed by a cancer that is terminal. I do not see how that our country will survive as a democracy for too many more years. Whether we are still a democracy is an arguable point now anyway.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.paynoincometax.com"&gt;Irwin Schiff's Website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/March/04_tax_182.htm"&gt;U.S. Department of Justice's Website about Irwin Schiff&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-114101472171295806?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/114101472171295806/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=114101472171295806' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114101472171295806'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/114101472171295806'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/02/terminal-cancer-in-american-government.html' title='Terminal Cancer in American Government'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113691224341367169</id><published>2006-01-10T09:50:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-01-10T09:57:23.423-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Brokeback Mountain wins "Critic's Choice"</title><content type='html'>What the HELL is "Critic's Choice?" &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It looks like the "beautiful love story" about two queer cowboys has won several awards. Oh, by the way, it's not me that calls them queer, it's homosexuals themselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just because this perverted story is set amongst the beautiful scenery of Wyoming does not make it a masterpiece. What ever happened to guys just being buddies? It's all about sex or they would just be buddies. Although I've not seen the movie and do not have any intentions to see the movie, I understand that both of the characters in the movie, after having a homosexual relationship, each go on to marry. Then, each year they return to their ranch in Wyoming to carry on their homosexual tendencies. How would you like to be their wives when they found out that the man they have sex with is also having anal sex with another man? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is next, abortions set in the beautiful mountainscapes of Patagonia? Oh, it would be so beautiful, no matter the bloody murder of an innocent baby!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113691224341367169?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113691224341367169/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113691224341367169' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113691224341367169'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113691224341367169'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/01/brokeback-mountain-wins-critics-choice.html' title='Brokeback Mountain wins &quot;Critic&apos;s Choice&quot;'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113683269614115972</id><published>2006-01-09T11:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-01-09T11:51:36.186-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Musings About Pat Robertson and Bill Clinton</title><content type='html'>Pat Robertson has been in the news again. He suggested that Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for "dividing God's land" of Israel(&lt;a href="http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/05/060105231109.adssezuz.html"&gt;See this article&lt;/a&gt;). Could this be true? I don't have a clue but if God was behind Israel's success in winning the lands they did in the 1967 Six Day War, it stands to reason that God might just be more than a little upset that someone in the Israeli government would give land away. I, for one, felt like giving Gaza to the Palestinians was a bad move, just because I don't think it will bring any peace to Israel. I do feel that the Palestinians need a home just like anyone else but not by displacing the Jews. I know that God has a plan for the Jews but I don't believe that Christians should kowtow to everything they do. More on that later.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Something came up the other day too that made me wonder about Bill Clinton. I had read a news report several weeks ago that Bill Clinton, even though he cannot become president of the United States again, may end up being the "President of the World." The assumption was that Bill Clinton may eventually become head of the United Nations. As much as I despise Bill Clinton and all he stands for, I could actually see this happen. &lt;strong&gt;Another thought I had was, could Bill Clinton be the Anti-Christ mentioned in the Bible?&lt;/strong&gt; I could also see this coming to pass except for one thing. Finis Jennings Dake, who edited the Dake's Annotated Bible made some strong arguments that the Anti-Christ would come from Syria. I like much of what Dake has written and I lean strongly toward his beliefs in this area. Even if Bill Clinton does not become head of the United Nations and even if he is not THE Anti-Christ mentioned in the Bible, I do believe strongly that he definitely is "anti-Christ" as is the American Democratic party.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, food for thought!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113683269614115972?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113683269614115972/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113683269614115972' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113683269614115972'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113683269614115972'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2006/01/musings-about-pat-robertson-and-bill.html' title='Musings About Pat Robertson and Bill Clinton'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113592362371680804</id><published>2005-12-29T23:02:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-12-29T23:20:23.733-07:00</updated><title type='text'>What Would Have Happened if the South Would Have Won?</title><content type='html'>I have oftened wondered what would have happened if the South would have won the War of Northern Aggression, also known as the War Between the States and The Civil War.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is hard for me to understand how President Lincoln decided to &lt;strong&gt;forcibly&lt;/strong&gt; make the southern states remain a part of the Union. It seems to me that if a group of people, i.e. a state, would &lt;strong&gt;freely&lt;/strong&gt; join the Union, why they could not &lt;strong&gt;freely disscociate&lt;/strong&gt; from that union if that became their wish.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Several northern states threatened strongly to secede from the Union a few years before the southern states actually did. I am also amazed that they would go to war with states that acted on the same threats they, the northern states, had made.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is the United States a free country? Not really. I do believe it is the greatest country in the world at this time though. I think it would still be a great country had President Lincoln not attacked and murdered the many hundreds of thousands of southerners. I also believe the Confederate States of America would have been a great country in it's own right. I like the idea of states running themselves and not being run by a centralized government that is thousands of miles away. I believe that political correctness would not be such a major problem in the southern states like it has become in the United States.  I, for one, am tired of the north eastern liberals dictating how our country is run.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If the South would have won, I believe that in most of the southern states, abortion would be illegal, it would be legal for municipalities to have nativity scenes, frivolous lawsuits would not be so rampant and common sense would rule in every day life instead of the insanity we see.  As a matter of fact, I think the population in the North would be much lower than the population in the South because people simply wouldn't want to live with the problems that the United States is facing today.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I found a very interesting article on this very subject. &lt;a href="http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2003/030109WL.asp"&gt;You can click here to read it&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What do you think would have happened if the south would have won?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113592362371680804?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113592362371680804/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113592362371680804' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113592362371680804'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113592362371680804'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-would-have-happened-if-south.html' title='What Would Have Happened if the South Would Have Won?'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113543207282633989</id><published>2005-12-24T06:31:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-12-24T06:47:52.836-07:00</updated><title type='text'>History Channel Changing Established Truths</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I have to admit, I probably spend 90% of my television viewing time watching the History Channel but they continue to do something that is really beginning to irritate me. Yesterday, there were shows about Bible topics, no doubt because it is the Christmas season. During these programs and many more programs like this these, the film makers try to change what has been accepted as truth for centuries. One of the things I saw was a show about Moses and the Hebrews when they made their Exodus from Egypt. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The "scholars" used by the film makers in this particular program believe that the Hebrews were a military force in Egypt instead of a captive people. They believe that the reason Pharoah decided to attack the Hebrews after they had already left Egypt was because he found out they had sacked a city for supplies for their trek through the desert. The Bible is clear that they borrowed these items from their masters to use in worship. Another thing the "scholars" stated is that the miraculous pillar of fire by night and the pillar of smoke by day that led the Hebrews through their forty year journey was simply a fire that was carried in front of the Hebrew "military" that was covered so as to make smoke. They believe the purpose of the fire was to destroy the night vision of the Egyptians. I have also seen shows on the History Channel that say when Moses and the Hebrews crossed the sea, it was on a narrow spit of land and something like a drought caused it to be dry.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;If you know anything about the Bible you will see how utterly ridiculous these claims are. Have you known people, like I have, that try to come up with a new twist on every little thing just so they can get some attention? The History Channel is contributing to this pointy toed delinquincy by continuing to air such malarky! Just because someone claims to be an authority this does not give them license to change history. Does the History Channel feel this is the only way to keep up their ratings? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113543207282633989?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113543207282633989/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113543207282633989' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113543207282633989'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113543207282633989'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2005/12/history-channel-changing-established.html' title='History Channel Changing Established Truths'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113529788596570387</id><published>2005-12-22T17:26:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-12-22T17:32:21.850-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Christ's Humanity</title><content type='html'>Most people don't understand that Jesus Christ has always existed in His diety. When the baby Jesus was born, that was Jesus coming to earth in His humanity! When you totally understand the truth of the Gospel, it is incredible!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of the Christmas cards I got this year was from a lady that I consider to be my spiritual mother. Here is what part of the card said,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff9966;"&gt;"God loves us so much&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff9966;"&gt;that He took on our humanity,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff9966;"&gt;walked with us for awhile,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff9966;"&gt;spoke and ate with us, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff9966;"&gt;touched, laughed, cried,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff9966;"&gt;and shared our joy."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ this season, I hope that you will look to Him to be your Lord and Saviour! He loves you so much that He suffered and died for you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113529788596570387?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113529788596570387/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113529788596570387' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113529788596570387'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113529788596570387'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2005/12/christs-humanity.html' title='Christ&apos;s Humanity'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113392157337538060</id><published>2005-12-06T18:22:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-12-06T19:17:04.273-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Corporate America's Increasing Attacks on Americans</title><content type='html'>Today, according to a report from ABC News, Verizon has decided to stop "&lt;a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=1378711&amp;amp;page=1"&gt;making contributions to the pension plans of non-unionized managers and would instead offer them 401(k) plans, beginning in 2006&lt;/a&gt;."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Verizon officials suggest this will save their company$3 billion dollars a year when they made a $4 billion profit last year. American workers are increasingly under attack from corporate leaders in America. Those people that are against Unions need to rethink their stance. Unions are simply workers who are trying to make a liveable wage. If a company clears several billion dollars per year in profits, why shouldn't their employees be able to make enough money that they can afford a mortgage and a decent car?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of the worst in corporate America is Wal-Mart! Even though Wal-Mart clears billions of dollars a year, they continue to pay their employees, $8, $9 and $10 per hour. Most of them are restricted to less than forty hours per week so that Wal-Mart does not have to pay them benefits! I have even heard that in some Wal-Mart stores, employees are instructed how to get on public assistance because their wages are so low.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I agreed with President Reagan's trickle down economics but America's greedy executives have kept it from working. Many of these executives and CEO's are worse than some of America's worst criminals and belong in prison.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113392157337538060?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113392157337538060/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113392157337538060' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113392157337538060'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113392157337538060'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2005/12/corporate-americas-increasing-attacks.html' title='Corporate America&apos;s Increasing Attacks on Americans'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113302926938432043</id><published>2005-11-26T11:03:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-11-26T11:23:17.206-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Austria Holding Man for HIs Beliefs</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffff33;"&gt;"British historian David Irving, known for his controversial views on World War Two, must stay in custody in Vienna while he is charged with denying the Holocaust, a court ruled on Friday. "&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051125/wl_canada_nm/canada_irving_austria_col_1"&gt;Read the story here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am amazed that Austria would arrest and jail anyone for their beliefs. David Irving has said several times over the past few years that he does not believe the holocaust happened and for this reason, Austrian officials issued a warrant for his arrest in 1989. Although Austria's law forbids the existence of the Nazi party, they are doing exactly the same type of thing the Nazi party would have done during Hitler's reign.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank God, in the United States of America, we still have the freedom to express our thoughts and views without fear of imprisonment. With political correctness eroding our freedoms away daily in this country, I am afraid that we had better enjoy those rights because if the liberal left has it's way, those days will be over soon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just a Few Signs that our freedoms of thought, speech and views are being destroyed:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Hate crime legislation - It seems to me that if you murder someone it is most likely because you hate them already. This is just another example of the left finding more ways to descriminate against the white, male minority since most hate crime prosecution is against white males. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Municipalities, counties and states removing the ten commandments and Christian related items such as nativity scenes from public areas.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Schools no longer have Christmas programs, they are holiday programs.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;This year political correctness has hit an all time low with "Christmas" trees being called "Holiday" trees.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p align="justify"&gt;In just a few short years, America will become exactly like Austria. It has begun slowly and will begin to pick up steam exponentially. Before long, ministers that preach against sins such as homosexuality will lose their jobs and their churches will lose their tax exempt status. Eventually they will be jailed. I can even see a day in this country that people will be jailed for their views such as Mr. Irving. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="justify"&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113302926938432043?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113302926938432043/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113302926938432043' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113302926938432043'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113302926938432043'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2005/11/austria-holding-man-for-his-beliefs.html' title='Austria Holding Man for HIs Beliefs'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113255784367550915</id><published>2005-11-20T23:32:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-11-21T00:29:01.060-07:00</updated><title type='text'>What is a Fundamentalist Christian?</title><content type='html'>In my last post, I discussed former President Jimmy Carter's views and attacks on fundamental Christianity. Since I consider myself to be a fundamentalist Christian, I thought it might be useful to give my definition of what a fundamentalist Christian is.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A fundamental Christian can be and is, male or female, young or old. Fundamentalists are not tied to any certain Christian denomination or sect. They may be Catholic, Baptist, Full Gospel, Word of Faith or any of many other varieties of denominations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fundamentalist Christians may be leaders of a congregation or may just be the members themselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fundamentalists tend to believe there are certain absolutes as put forth in the scriptures. One, for example, is that Jesus Christ is the only way to reach God the Father. In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me." We take this to mean that unless a person believes in Jesus Christ, they will not be able to reach God. Because of this we believe that Muslims, Jews, Buddists, etc. are spiritually lost. We do not think less of them or treat them any differently. We do believe that it is the mandate of Christ that we reach those people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I would never try to shove Christianity down anyone's throat but am certainly willing to talk to anyone about my beliefs. Fundamentalist Christians do not consider unbelievers or followers of other faiths to be "infidels" in the respect that Muslims do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Politically, the majority of Christian fundamentalists are conservative. The liberals in this country do not stand for the moral arguments that the fundamentalists do stand for. For this reason, Christian fundamentalists have unknowingly, become among the liberal's greatest enemies thus the beginning of this great attack that Mr. Carter is leading.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fundamentalist do not "subjugate" women as Mr. Carter would have the world believe. We do however, believe that God made the man to be the spiritual head of the house. In this respect, men are to love, cherish, honor and protect the women in their lives. There is some division among fundamentalists pertaining to women being leaders in a church such as a pastor or a deacon. My own personal belief is that women are just as inspired of God to preach from a pulpit as men are. I do not believe that God calls women to pastor for the reason that a pastor is a "type and shadow" of God the Father. The pastor is a father figure to the members of his congregation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is an old saying, "In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty." This is saying that there will be things we, as fellow fundamentalists, will disagree on but there are certain things that we must agree on, such as Christ's virgin birth, his death, burial and ressurection. Mr. Carter's statement, &lt;span style="color:#ff6666;"&gt;"they &lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;(the fundamentalists)&lt;/span&gt; don't believe that it's right to negotiate or to compromise with people who disagree with them because any deviation from their absolute beliefs is a derogation of their own faith."&lt;/span&gt; is absolute lunacy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jimmy Carter has taken on the role that General William Sherman had toward the end of the civil war. Any country that believed in civil rights would have charged Sherman with war crimes due to his inhumanity to the citizens of the South. Mr. Carter puts on a good facade but he has taken on the leading role to try to discredit and harm the public's perception of Christian fundamentalists. The Bible tells us that there will be a persecution of true believers such as the world has never seen in the last days. I do believe that this is the start of that persecution. Just as Bill Clinton and his administration were able to destroy or defame the credibility of true patriots through their evil efforts at Waco and Ruby Ridge, I am fairly certain that Jimmy Carter and the liberal mindset he adheres to will be able to do the same thing to Christian fundamentalists.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113255784367550915?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113255784367550915/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113255784367550915' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113255784367550915'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113255784367550915'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2005/11/what-is-fundamentalist-christian.html' title='What is a Fundamentalist Christian?'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15852797.post-113254526353661716</id><published>2005-11-20T20:37:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-11-21T00:29:31.760-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Attacks on Christianity Under Way</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5851/1482/1600/200px-Presidentcarter.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5851/1482/320/200px-Presidentcarter.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;On November 13, 2005, former President Jimmy Carter was a guest on &lt;a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/13/lkl.01.html"&gt;CNN's Larry King Live&lt;/a&gt;. Mr. Carter was there to promote a new book he had wriiten, or was he?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The attacks on mainstream, conservative Americans began under President Clinton's administration with the government's attacks at Waco and Ruby Ridge. The State of Texas had recently concluded an investigation on David Koresh and his followers and had determined that there had been no children molested at their compound outside of Waco. Koresh had a class 3 firearms dealer's license so all of the weapons he had were absolutely legal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the case of Ruby Ridge, Randy Weaver had moved to remote mountains of Idaho and was struggling to survive. He was invited to a meeting which ended up being a meeting of white sepratists. An FBI informant, trying to set someone up, asked Weaver if he could buy a shotgun from him but there was one condition, the barrell had to be cut off at a specific length. Weaver, needing food for his family, did as the informant asked and that is when the whole thing started. Shortly thereafter, an FBI sharpshooter murdered Weaver's 14 year old son and his wife.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The purpose of these actions were to discredit the conservative voice in America and to make anyone that was patriotic and that owned a gun, to look like an insane maniac. There is no doubt that Clinton had an agenda to try and disarm America. Clinton did very well in his spin against patriots and militias.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, the democratic party has fundamentalist Christians in their sights. Jimmy Carter claims to be a "devout" Christian but he is the general in charge of discrediting a voice that has proved to hurt the liberal cause.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ff6666;"&gt;"A fundamentalist though, as I define in this book, in extreme cases has come to the forefront in recent years both in Islam and in some areas of Christianity. A fundamentalist by, almost by definition as I describe is a very strong male religious leader, always a man, who believes that he is completely wedded to God, has a special privilege and relationship to God above others.And, therefore, since he speaks basically in his opinion for God, anyone who disagrees with him at all is inherently and by definition wrong and therefore inferior. And one of the first things that a male fundamentalist wants to do is to subjugate women to make them subservient and to subjugate others that don't believe as he does."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"The other thing they do, and this is the only other thing I'll add, is that they don't believe that it's right to negotiate or to compromise with people who disagree with them because any deviation from their absolute beliefs is a derogation of their own faith. So, those two things, exclusiveness, domination and being very highly biased are the elements of fundamentalism."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#6633ff;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ffffff;"&gt;Jimmy Carter and the liberal spin doctors are trying to equate fundamentalist Christians with Islamic terrorists who are no more than cruel, viscious, murderers of innocent men, women and children! Mr. Carter's definition of a fundamental Christian is horridly false! But, we can be assured, in this society that the media will push his definition and his agenda to the forefront until "fundamental Christianity" will be thought of the same way as we think of someone who cuts the head off of an innocent victim.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Personally, I believe God has a special place in hell for Mr. Carter and all of his liberal friends. I know this to be true because God has told me and I am NOT wrong. :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jay Mc&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/15852797-113254526353661716?l=utahwest.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/feeds/113254526353661716/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15852797&amp;postID=113254526353661716' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113254526353661716'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/15852797/posts/default/113254526353661716'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://utahwest.blogspot.com/2005/11/attacks-on-christianity-under-way.html' title='Attacks on Christianity Under Way'/><author><name>JayMc</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08907567401673652631</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='11060654594606008051'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry></feed>