Religion and the Boundries

For some of you that may know, I am a pretty spiritual person. Yes, I have asked the Lord for forgivness and I have made my pact to read from the Book of the good Father.

However, I am compelled today to make some observations and see what comes back to me. I am hoping that many will actually respond to this Blog today and over the next several days to gauge what I have come to learn a church is.

1) Is a church a place of worship? Where the "Body of Christ" can come together and fellowship in the belief of the Lord?
2) Is the Church a Body of people with a common goal to bring salvation to thoughs whom want it and to support them through the community?
3) Is the Church a place to raise new believers in Christ at any cost to move forward to spread the good news?
4) Is the Church a place where families can go to be counciled in their family lives and give up control of their families and homes to better themselves to meet the needs of the church or relationship?
5) Is the church a place where the children get involved in groups and fellowship with others from the church and be led to believe that all other ways are not righteous?
6) Can we draw a line that the church requires that a tith be no less than 10% of Gross Earnings and nothing less is blessed as much?
7) Do you agree church should have requirements in place that you meet specific tith goals and that they be met to be truly blessed and a full member of the church?
8) Do you believe that a Pastor should minister on Sundays and be NON accessable to members unless they follow protocols and meet with Elders first?
9) Do you feel that if a family (or a member of a family) if they have zero financial control.. The church should step in and make arrangements to have a church member handle such finances and make sure all required funds and payments are met. All other funding be tithed or a larger percentage be tithed?

I really hope I get feedback on this blog. I would love to hear as MANY thoughts as possible.

Mr Stein NH Speaks up: You "R"

Mr Stein NH Speaks up: You "R": "GOOD GAWD! Are you kidding me!!!!! Gov. Chris Christie of NJ has absolutly NOTHING better to do than sign a bill to make (and because I live..."

You "R"

GOOD GAWD! Are you kidding me!!!!! Gov. Chris Christie of NJ has absolutly NOTHING better to do than sign a bill to make (and because I live in NH) RETARD and Illegal Word.

Okay .... Listen up America. 1) We have a freedom of speech. 2) We should be more compassionate than to direct this word to the handicapped anyway. 3) We have WAY FRIGGIN BIGGER PROBLEMS in the US.... And seriously...NJ isn't a state without bigger problems either.

Has the US become so sensative that we need to make words illegal? So is websters going to make a special NJ edition now? PLEASE PEOPLE!!!! Wake up and see that your country is being stripped of EVERYTHING it was founded on. This is how society and democracy fail. We have given to much power without fear of it being reliquished.

How bout this Chris Christie or ANY other Governor that is about to pass a lame law about words. WHAT IS YOUR UNEMPLOYMENT RATE LOOK LIKE? What does the bottomline of the budget look like? Can I suggest that you possibly look at the commerce of your state vs industrial averages?

We are sinking. Time to wake up peeps!

Pride and Humility

I have been thinking VERY hard about a topic that came up the other day. It was mentioned that the United States has a lot of Pride and it is good. However one thing that came to mind is that PRIDE in our current time is actually bad.

Lets look at it this way.... We really have NOTHING to be proud of right now other than a tanked economy and one of the highest unemployment rates we have ever seen. PLUS from a spiritual aspect, Isn't pride one of the seven deadly sins?

I think what the US needs now is a big bite of the preverbial Humble Pie and become a little more humble that capitalism isn't always the best medicine. Look at the past and brace for the future. Pride has gotten us into a society that is SERIOUSLY lacking industry, when industry lacks, Jobs come behind, When Jobs come behind, We look to cut cost and outsource Jobs to 3rd world countries that are now becoming richer than the US.

Listen, I am all about capitalism and making money....Don't get me wrong. I consider myself to be a hard core republican (Or used to anyway as I don't know what the hell I am right now) But I know this. A big reason we fail as a country is we forgot the number one principle. Take care of our own and watch each others backs. Instead we have allowed corporate CEO's and CFO's to outsource half our economy to other countries.

Here is a challenge. BRING IT HOME! Invest in the american people although you feel it is expensive. Whats the worst thing that can happen at this point. You will create jobs and slow inflation as the transportation costs and costs of exchange go down by not importing it back into the country?

Commerce works. No dispute. But what is commerce without a strong industrial backing? GROW the United States and STOP growing India, Thiland, Japan. I agree something will need import. HOWEVER when you invest in the US people..... That will slowly become a thing of the past as we learn how to do it better, quicker, cheaper.

So CEO's and CFO's also keep this in mind! My neighbor is asked on a daily basis to stay local and support small business by our Government. He would love nothing more than to take a walk to the "Oval" (Our town square) with his family and have dinner and buy a trinket or two at the local shop. OH YEA! his job just got outsourced to India and can't do that right now because the housing market is in the toilet and he has a mortgage payment and a reduced unemplyment check coming in that is barely making the bills. I hear it ALL THE TIME in the business I am involved in.

STOP hurting the US and help build it.

You've been TERMINATED....BY E-Mail?????

WOW! I read another instance of this. I thought the fact that when I had a client terminate via e-mail it was unique!!! Not in todays world.

THIS is a shining example of how impersonal the internet has made us in our generations. What is the conversation in the HR office? "Well.... Bill has been lax and lacking performance. I think you should send him an e-mail and let him go.."

Let me go on the record here. If I was EVER termed via e-mail. I would be more confrontational than if I was hauled in an office and the conversation was had with me. There is too many open variables that can slip through the cracks. I will take it face to face man to person way better and in my case of being laid off. I actually welcomed it.

What about the pay needs to hit in 72 HRS upon being termed? Cobra? Can I claim un-employment? is this completely performance related or is there an underlying issue? By e-mail. You never know.

I understand that an e-mail leaves an audit trail and also puts it in writing? But what about the "human factor"? What if there is a mis-communication... I am sure we have all had it via email. I know I face it often.

The bottomline.... How gutless it is to terminate via e-mail. If you have EVER been termed via e-mail.... I hope you put yourself on the other side first. If you have.... than you are truly a unique individual. Some of the nicest people I know I had to term at one point or another for various reasons. But I always have managed to salvage a connect or opportunity out of them. Just because they couldn't perform in one environment doesn't mean they will not perform in another and quite possibly, Your competetor.

Let take a word of caution here. Terminating via e-mail will always reflect on the person doing it and NOT the person executing the termination. Keep that in mind as well. No matter how you slice it, You are looking for a bad experience by using this practice.

Do you live here.....

Do you live in the United States today? Someone posted the Pledge of Allegiance on my Facebook Page today. Within it, It says that a lot of schools won't say it anymore as it might offend someone.

Seriously people. We send people out to war and others get upset. We send our children to foreign countries to gain cultural experiences but yet... We can't practice our own culture without "someone being offended" By pledging to the flag it not only is a cultural show of pride in our country but it also shows we support it, live it, love it. How do you think for one second a soldier in Iraq feels when he hears "MEH! we don't say the pledge in our schools anymore for the simple reason that it might offend someone."

The fact is this....the percentage of people that believe in our country has fallen.... Why? Dumb Decisions at the voting box or "Lack" of a good candidate (I say that as I didn't want to vote in the last election)

HOLD ON! Now if you want to dispute the one nation under God line.... Let me show you this....
1) If you are Jewish, You believe in God
2) If you are any wing of the 1000's of christians.... You believe in God
3) If you are agnostic... You8 believe the possibility of God
4) If you are one of the few Athiests in the room (which is said to be 3% of the religious Population before High School.... (box your ears or simply bow out and not say it or say that line)
5) If you are a person who just doesn't know. Say it out of respect that this is what your freedom was based on.

for the .0009 percent not mentioned. Your probably offended. Get over it. Don't think for one second Osama Bin Ladens people have stopped pledging their cause so don't ask me to stop mine.

The American Faith

Since the beginning of the United States, We have seen a vast amount of immigrants who have come to the country. Here we are more than 200 years later and the country has become a melting pot of many nationalities.

With this being said, we the people of the united states who came to this country with a basic idea of working for success and living a better value system has come under fire. We see it everyday in our economy, our military, and our lives in general.

In 1776 the founding fathers sat at a table and drafted and signed the Declaration of Independance. But in 2007 we were ridiculed by some of our own born country man for believing in God and how a Christmas Tree Lighting was offensive. (Mind you I agree, it is somewhat offensive to light the tree as a symbol of another launch into capitalistic bliss and madness)

We need to remember a principle here in our country. It was formed as one nation under God. And if you are not a christian... Thats okay, do not partake. HOWEVER! Don't force Christians into hiding or by saying you can't have a public display of your faith.