ATHEISTS BLAME GOD

April 19, 2010

As a retired missionary who served nearly four decades in Europe, I derive a bit of personal satisfaction from hearing many Europeans fuming like volcanoes about an "act of God" which has shut down their airways.

For many years, Europeans have been proud of their enlightenment and looked with scorn on Americans who actually believe that there is a God. To most Europeans, anyone who believes in the existence of a God who meddles in earthly affairs, is extremely naive.

So, I am amused to hear many of these atheists talking about "an act of God." Can't they produce an Al Gore who can come up with another explanation?

History Lesson

Statism was modus operandi in Europe for many centuries. During the middle ages, secular government and the church ruled in coalition, sharing the spoils. Usually, the secular powers held the upper hand, giving special privileges to the church, but occasionally, the Pope called the shots. Powerful Emperors stood barefoot in the snow, pleading for mercy. But it was the church which convinced the common people, called peasants, to submit to government. The church promised heaven for submissive souls and sold indulgences to sinners. No other religion was tolerated and those who dared to voice criticism were tortured, burned or drowned.

Today, Europeans are socialists and their churches are empty. Under socialism, humanists provide the propaganda. European humanists of the 18th and 19th century officially declared that God was dead and Charles Darwin offered an explanation of natural origins which most adopted. Hitler and Marx wrote their own bibles, paving the way for socialism and the elimination of people who stood in their way (eminent domain for dissidents and undesirables.

After the discovery of the new world, millions of disenchanted Europeans fled the continent and came to America. European powers first sought to build and rule their colonies, but many colonists had had enough of European style government and determined to build a free nation based on biblical concepts. They were determined that this nation should never become a church state or have a state church. Later immigrants were just as determined that America should reject socialism and communism.

Enough of the history lessons. History has taught us that no one ever learns from history. History is apparently about to repeat itself again - in America! And when calamity strikes, atheists will still blame God.

APRIL FOOL TRICKS

April 7, 2010

I was going to write this blog on April 1st, but no one would believe it, so I waited a week.

April Fool from Bayer Aspirin! I bought this bottle of low-dose aspirin at CVS & got a bottle of cotton. There were aspirin buried underneath, but they fit easily into an empty 35mm film canister.

Also on April Fools Day, the NHTSA announced new CAFE standards for the automobile industry.

NHTSA is the acronym for "National Highway Traffic Safety Administration" and CAFE has nothing to do with coffee or traffic safety. It stands for "Corporate Average Fuel Economy."

CAFE Standards (plural - some would say, "double standards") were invented back in the mid-seventies to enhance fuel economy, but they accomplished the opposite. CAFE created one standard for passenger cars and another for light trucks. The Ford pickup soon became America's best selling vehicle and Detroit invented the SUV, which was classified as a light truck and not a passenger car.

The new CAFE Standards released on April Fools Day obviously had input from Government Motors (formerly General Motors) and Al Gore. As most recall, Gore was awarded a Nobel prize for his PowerPoint about carbon footprints. The "footprint" provides a foundation for the new CAFE Standards. The idea is borrowed from "Cap and Trade" and is just one more redistribution effort.

CAFE Standards demand that passenger cars average 39mpg by 2016. The key words here are expressed in "Corporate Average". Some large footprint vehicles will continue to guzzle gas, but other passenger cars must get 45-50 mpg in order to compensate. There are two ways to get that kind of mileage. The car could be very small and lightweight, be underpowered and packed full of electronics. Or it could be an electric vehicle which doesn't consume fuel from the pumps. CAFE Standards will be met!

Both these options would be prohibitively expensive and problematic. The electric car requires heavy batteries that must be recharged regularly and replaced every couple of years. How will these batteries be recycled and at what cost? The extra weight will certainly affect economy, but is not expressed in miles per gallon. Few people are interested in driving a tiny lightweight and sluggish car on the same roads as heavy electric cars and large footprint trucks, not to mention the big rigs which certainly won't diminish!

That brings up a question that President Obama didn't bother to answer in his presentation of the CAFE Standards.

"Who will purchase all the small, expensive, underpowered cars and the heavy electric cars that must be sold in order to meet the 39 mpg average consumption required by CAFE?"

The answer is written on the wall: the taxpayers of course! Government agencies on national, state and local levels will be required to purchase these cars for their fleets.