This happens often enough that I had to come up with a better reply; better than the old “Yeah sure...I, er, um... knew that, but I was just testing you” bit. So now, I look at them with a lit up face and a big grin, while simultaneously clapping my hands once, pointing at them, and saying “You Passed!!! I was testing you, and...You Passed!”.
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Would anybody be surprised if first we had an African American president, then a woman president, then a homosexual president? If you think this one hates conservative values, wait till you see that one.
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I've been spending more time away from the computers, and into making or fixing things, with great results. One thing I had been putting of for about 30 years is front end work on a vehicle. My vehicles weren't unsafe, but they wore the front tires unevenly. For whatever reason, I was under the impression that it was a job for professionals only; not a do it yourself one. The work isn't cheap, and usually costs more than the price of the old vehicle. After asking around more, I was told that I could do it myself. I didn't keep track of the parts cost, but it was 3 or 4 hundred dollars. I put them in on a couple of separate days; the upper and lower ball joints one day, then the tie rod ends and other parts another day. I didn't replace the upper and lower control arm bushings, because they felt pretty tight. When I was done, I didn't have the money to pay for an alignment, so I did that myself too. I've since gotten the money to pay for an alignment, but it works so well that I haven't gotten around to it. This is a very satisfying situation.
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So the stock market is booming, big whoopty-do. When the factories come back, and people have $20 per hour jobs, then maybe I'll believe in a recovery. Look what lights up Wall Street: economic news from Europe and a dubious domestic jobs report. No mention of innovation in a particular industry, or efficiency in a company. The stock market is a casino; if its players do well, it only fits with the idea that the middle class is disappearing in the U.S. American employers have tasted cheap labor, and if the masses get any ideas about organized labor, the borders will just be opened wider.
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If you look at the troubles this country has, the the roots were in place many decades ago, but it's as though it all broke loose in the late 50's and early 60's. Evolution went into schools, prayer went out. Look at what the Bible says about teaching children:
Psalm 78:
1 Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, [to] my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide [them] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know [them, even] the children [which] should be born; [who] should arise and declare [them] to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments
Psalm 132: 12:
If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.
Deuteronomy 6: Note verses 2, 7, and 21:
1 Now these [are] the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do [them] in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do [it]; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 11 And houses full of all good [things], which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 12 [Then] beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which [are] round about you; 15 (For the LORD thy God [is] a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted [him] in Massah.
17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. 18 And thou shalt do [that which is] right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, 19 To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
What they are to teach their children
20 [And] when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? 21 Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: 22 And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:5 23 And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as [it is] at this day. 25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
Deuteronomy 11:
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth
