Hillary, Hillary, where have you been?
“It’s none of your business, for am the queen.”
Hillary, Hillary, are you a felon?
“In a dream that the right wing conspirators dwell on.”
The whole nursery rhyme: https://lenbilen.com/2015/05/17/hillary-clinton-as-a-nursery-rhyme/
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:21-22)
Watching the New Hampshire primary election the thought came to me. How many have prayed for their candidate to win, and if so, how many did it in faith, without doubting? Regardless of how many prayed for their candidate, there can only be so many winners in any election. The rest, having prayed in faith, not doubting will be disappointed. Some will be disappointed in God. Did God fail them?
Some will say yes, God failed them, but even more will question their faith, and acknowledge their doubts that God is capable of doing anything. So they blame themselves, the disappointments mount, and their prayer life takes a hit. Jesus’ half-brother James put it succinctly: You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:3). It is enough to forget the whole thing.
Or is it?
Many people are careful to add to their prayers: If it is your will, but even this caveat shows we acknowledge we really do not really know God’s will, and we resign us to the fate that our most sincere prayers are probably useless anyway.
Nothing could be further from the truth. God commands us to “be continually in prayer” and the promise in Matthew is repeated in Mark11:23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. And in John 16:23 the apostle quotes Jesus: “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. These are words from the Lord Jesus himself, so they must mean something, or God’s word cannot be trusted.
The answer is found in the age old question: What is the purpose of our being here on earth anyway? Does God really care? At first glance with terror, war and lawlessness spreading all over the world, God no longer cares. As one who has been reborn from above I can attest that God cares very much, and He really desires to have fellowship with us. There is nothing that compares to knowing you are loved by God and having fellowship with Him.
But back to whatever. The promise is not as ridiculous at it seems at first glance; all factions cannot get their petitions fulfilled. We must dig deeper: Jesus said in John 14:13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And in John 15:14 Jesus states: You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. Jesus doubles downs in verse 16: You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. And the answer to how we should live is found just above in John 15:9-12:
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
There it is: The greatest commandment, and if we abide in Him we can ask whatever, because it aligns with His perfect will.
Lest we be puffed up, this is still true: In Isaiah 55:8-9 God states:“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Yet, the Lord Jesus states in John 16:12-13 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
There we have it: The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, enough to give us grace and lead us day by day, but not so much that we can go forward all by ourselves.
When Palin endorsed, her act bumped Trump up ten.
With Kelley the Trump-killer in it again,
he refused to debate,
lost it all, sealed his fate.
A second place loser, all pain and no gain.
Donald Trump was solidly in second place in Iowa, about 5 points behind Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio was way behind. Then, on Jan 19 Sarah Palin endorsed him, an endorsement worth at least ten percentage points. See graph:
Then Donald Trump refused to debate right before the Iowa caucus unless Megyn Kelly was removed as a moderator. Unlike CNN, which caved in to Trump’s demands, Fox News stood their ground and refused to cave in, “on journalistic grounds.” 
The media should never cave in to political pressure. Having skipped the debate, Cruz and Rubio had the leadership fight to themselves, and could shine, all at the expense of Trump. The chart to the left shows the high water mark for Donald Trump.
Between the debate and the Iowa caucus Trump lost all the ground he gained from the Palin endorsement. Ted Cruz held his ground, but the big gainer was Rubio.
It is now a three way race, and this will very likely lead to a brokered convention.
All bets ate off.
I can understand Sarah Palin’s initial endorsement of Donald Trump, with his broad crossover appeal to disenchanted people, then having a chance to win the primaries outright. With his refusal to debate we are almost ensured a brokered convention. Personally I prefer Sarah Palin to enter the race on her own, making it a brokered convention, containing a majority of true conservative delegates.
The Baltic Dry Index has been in new all time low record territory since Dec 14 2015, hitting its nineteenth all time low. Before that the all time low was 509 on Feb. 19 2015. Today, February 3, it hit a value of 303, a 40 percent drop since Dec. 14. In the spring of 2008 it hit a record high of 11793 before dropping to below 700 a couple of months before the financial crash of 2008.
What is the BDI you say?
From the Economist: THE Baltic Dry Index (BDI), which measures the rates for chartering the giant ships that transport iron ore, coal and grain, has long attracted the attention of commentators hoping to take the pulse of world trade. The cost of shifting the basic raw materials that are the ingredients of steel, energy and food supposedly provides a leading indicator of the state of the world economy. If so the forecast would suggest that a storm at sea will shortly make landfall. The index, a composite of rates charged on a variety of important trade routes, has hit an all-time low, after sinking by 65% in the past 13 weeks alone. Even in the depths of the financial crisis shipping rates kept their heads further above water. Why are they so remarkably low now?
That was written Mar. 10 2015. Things are much worse now.
At 303, it stands 40% below its December 14 value, and 97.43% below its all time peak value a few months before the crash of 08.
The worldwide recession is coming, and it will be severe.
Update 1: The BDI index is at 298 on Thursday 2/4, down another 1.65% a new all time low.
Update 2: The BDI index hit 297 on Friday 2/5, a new all time low.
Update 3: The BDI index hit 293 on Monday 2/8. How low can it get?
Update 4: The BDI index hit 291 on Tuesday 2/9. Down, down, down, down, down.
Updqte 5. The BDI index hit 290 on Wednesday 2/10. Can it still go lower? The losses mount.
And he (Kish, a Benjamite) had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. (1 Samuel 9:2)
The Israelites, after they entered the promised land were told by God not to have any rulers over them except God. But there must be order so they had judges. A few were good, among them Gideon and one woman, Deborah. The country had peace for forty years under their judgeship, but most of the judges were bad. It got so bad they cried out for a king. After a series of events which you can read about in 1 Samuel 8 thru 10 Saul, the tall one was chosen and appointed.
We still tend to elect tall Presidents. To be tall seem to have its advantages, and according to evolutionary thought women tend to be attracted to tall men. Men also respect other tall men, since they are better at intimidating others. With a larger body comes a larger brain, and according to early evolutionary thought a larger brain means they are further along in evolutionary development than the rest of us.
Evolutionary thought tend to enhance prejudices. One early thought was that since a man’s brain on average is 40% larger than that of a woman, this must be a good reason why women should not be allowed to vote. We now know it to be true, a man’s brain is larger, but a woman’s brain cells are smaller, meaning that the cells communicate faster with each other. While we men take our time to get our threshing machines of brains in gear, a woman’s brain acts like a bolt of lightning, coming up with a plan of action before we even have defined the parameters. They have usually gotten good training dealing with active two or three year olds. An argument could therefore be made a woman would make a better president, having to deal with petulant people like Congress.
Lest this is a praise of women exclusively, they are not without their prejudices. The famous humanist Margaret Sanger, the inspiration to Planned Parenthood, idol of feminists and role model for Hillary Clinton once said:
“We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population….”
Choose carefully, look into each candidate’s positions on policy matters, check their character and convictions, then make your decision.
It is the civil duty for every citizen over the age of 18 to cast a vote.
Get involved, get informed!
Only let not height be your choice this year.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Philippians 3:30)
Down here on Earth, good old United States of America we have four types of citizenship. Both me and my wife are immigrants and while we were yet resident aliens, our three children were born. We applied for citizenship, passed all tests, and as the immigration officer was ready to schedule our immigration ceremony he discovered we had moved 8 miles from Delaware to Pennsylvania, a different federal district, he sent our papers to Pennsylvania. Being federal agency they promptly lost our papers. We waited and waited and finally started the process anew. This time we managed to become naturalized citizens. Since we were resident aliens at the time of the birth, our children are native born citizens. Our oldest son married an immigrant, their firstborn is a native born citizen, the second child, born after she became a citizen, is a natural born citizen. Our daughter married an immigrant, and their firstborn child is a native born citizen. After her husband became a citizen they established residence abroad and their second child was born abroad. He is now a native citizen after moving back to the States. As to our third son, no problem. His children are natural born citizens.
After all this, who can now be president? It is clear that me and my wife cannot. Can our children become president? How about all of our grandchildren? What about the children where the father is unknown?
The constitution clearly states that that only a natural born citizen can become president of the United states, and this is the only office that has that requirement.
Congress determined that John McCain was a natural born citizen, even though he was born in a hospital just outside the Panama Canal Zone. Congress never established the status of Barack Obama even though his father never even was a resident alien.
As Supreme court juctise Clarence Thomas put it: “We’re evading that one.”
The issue of who is a natural born citizen needs to be defined once and for all by the Supreme Court.
In the meantime I am eternally thankful I am a Supernatural born citizen.
The Lady and Trump on the stump
help Donald get over the hump.
Sarah Palin in Ames
added fuel to the flames.
The burn on the stump is with Trump.
Just imagine that! Donald Trump quiet for 20 minutes while Sarah Palin delivered her message!
Why did Sarah Palin endorse Trump over her previous favorite Ted Cruz?
Sarah Palin is against crony capitalism and Donald Trump epitomizes the crony capitalist.
The best exclamation is that pragmatism wins over purity.
Both Sarah and Donald want to shake up Washington.
Both Sarah and Donald speak their mind and are not afraid to tackle politically incorrect subjects.
And they both agree the most important issue facing us today is the epic battle against Islamic extremism, Jihadic terrorism threatening our very existence.
Way to go!
COLUMBIA, S.C.— Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day courting African-American voters in South Carolina, laying the groundwork for next month’s consequential primary in the tightening Democratic presidential campaign. (Martin O’Malley was also there).
Hillary Clinton celebrated that she no longer had to look at the confederate flag flying over the Capitol grounds. Bernie Sanders gestured widely toward the statue of George Washington.
What a difference from MLK Day in Columbia, S.C. 2011!The annual MLK observance at the state house 
in Columbia SC then had an interesting twist. The event was held on the north side steps of the statehouse. Prominent at that location is a large bronze statue of George Washington. In 2011, the NAACP constructed a “box” to hide the Father of Our Country from view so that participants would not be offended by his image.
George Washington shielded from view.
Is history fully askew?
What would MLK say:
Put this father away?
Let’s give him his honor anew.
January 7 2016 the Baltic Dry Index hit an all time low at 445, and has been in new all time low record territory since Dec 14. Before that the all time low was 509 on Feb 19 2015.
What is the BDI you say?
The BDI is a very leading indicator indicating guesses on the amount and price for shipping dry freight worldwide in the future. It is very volatile, as we can see from the chart with a high of nearly twelve thousand in the spring of 2008 and dropping to less than 700 a couple of months before the economic crash of 2008.
The new all time low of 445 signals major trouble ahead.
Update: The BDI index hit a new all time low of 429 on Friday 1/8.
Update 2: The BDI index hit another all time low of 415 on Monday 1/11.
Update 3: The BDI index hit yet another all time low of 402 on Tuesday 1/12.
Update 4: The BDI index hit yet another all time low of 394 on Wednesday 1/13.
Update 5: The BDI index hit a sixth daily all time low of 383 on Thursday 1/14.
Update 6: The BDI index hit a seventh daily all time low of 373 on Friday 1/15.
Update 7: The BDI index hit an eighth daily all time low of 369 on Monday 1/18.
Update 8: The BDI index hit a ninth daily all time low of 363 on Tuesday 1/19.
Update 9: The BDI index hit a tenth daily all time low of 358 on Wednesday 1/20.
Update 10: The BDI index hit an eleventh daily all time low of 355 on Thursday 1/21.
Update 11: The BDI index hit a twelfth daily all time low of 354 on Friday 1/21.
Update 12: After one day when the BDI index held steady the BDI index hit a thirteenth all time low of 345 on Tuesday 1/26.
Update 13: The BDI index continued its decline to levels much below operating cost and is now at 337 another new all time low on Wednesday 1/27.
Update 14: When will it stop? The BDI index hit yet another all time low of 325 on Thursday 1/28.
Update 15: How low can it go? Update 15: How low can it go? The BDI index hit yet another all time low of 317 on Friday 1/29.
Update 16: Down, down, down, down, down. The BDI index hit yet another all time low of 314 on Monday 2/1.
Update 17: The BDI index hit an eighteenth all time low of 310 on Tuesday 2/2.
This is a very strong global recession signal, indicating a future worldwide trading collapse, much worse than in 2008.
Note: It continues to go down. The statistics can be followed at: https://lenbilen.com/2016/02/03/the-bdi-index-hit-a-nineteenth-new-all-time-low-of-303-today-the-worldwide-economic-downturn-is-gaining-speed/
America is forced to weep over Obama’s releasing violent criminals into our communities – like the 121 illegal aliens who committed murders after they were released from custody by the Obama administration instead of being deported. And that doesn’t take into account the others we don’t know about.
The whole world weeps waiting for American leadership in these troubled times as Islamic savages commit genocide against the Christians of the Middle East and terrorize innocent people in cities across the globe.
Meanwhile, Obama wept as he blamed law-abiding patriots for the nation’s insecurity and sought to strip them of the Constitutional rights that generations of Americans shed blood to protect.
Obama wept, while we all continue to weep for our country and the civilized world. (Breitbart)
This brings us to verse 77 of the Obama Impeachment song (as if sung by President Barack Hussein Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”)
Gun control: It’s true, I wept.
I proved myself to be inept.
Not a promise that I kept.
In crises I golfed or overslept!
Here is the complete impeachment song: https://lenbilen.com/2015/02/25/the-complete-obama-impeachment-song/
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 