Today Americans celebrate the ascendancy to the Presidency of Barack Obama, the anointed one. For now the plurality believes strongly in his messianic vision. Growing minorities however are beginning to look at him as the other end of that religious spectrum. My mission here today is not to change anyone’s opinion, but to point out that our forty-fourth president is just the latest and last (re)incarnation of what has set the American agenda for perhaps a century, at least from the end of the Viet Nam war.

This operating paradigm focuses upon the role of bigness to solve all the hiccups of human problems. Where do we begin, big urban centers, big business, big labor, big special interests, big politics, big wealth evolving into big debt, big consumption, big bureaucracies, and big government. All of these and perhaps many more are now giving us a world in which the individual has to go it alone, because these big solutions, treat human beings, created in the image of God, as no more than other components of the material world.

When you put the Obama presidency in that light what you see, is not the light of a messiah, but rather the end of an era in which largeness for the sake of itself has run out of gas. The emperors of the paradigm have no clothes, but they still believe they can create them if we figure out some way to provide a method to finance the whole shebang.

George W. Bush played his role very well. Under his watch enterprise imperialism became the dominant force in the world, and we are not talking about the shooting wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the War on Terror. Thru the unregulated financial schemes began in the Clinton Administration; the enterprise imperialists brought the world’s wealth to American shores, and exported incomprehensible debt financial schemes to pull it off. The roots of this growth emphasis however, can be traced back through presidents for most of the century, for big things take time.

As the final player, this time as a true big government leader, the gifted Obama has completed his first one hundred days. By being very busy, he and his teleprompter make their rounds. So far there seems to be little substance, which was not really preexisting underlying economic strength. Really the economy was not that bad until late last year the unsustainable nature of enterprise imperialism became apparent as a drag on real wealth and wealth creation.
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Tags: Barack Obama, enterprise imperalism, entrepreneurship, climate change, ice age, Babylonian fallacy, smart grid

Lord's Day 17
45. Q. How does Christ's resurrection benefit us?
A. First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He could make us share in the righteousness which He had obtained for us by His death.[1] Second, by His power we too are raised up to a new life.[2] Third, Christ's resurrection is to us a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection.[3]
[1] Rom. 4:25; I Cor. 15:16-20; I Pet. 1:3-5. [2] Rom. 6:5-11; Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 3:1-4. [3] Rom. 8:11; I Cor. 15:12-23; Phil. 3:20, 21.

Blessings Humans,

This is the link to the article “Defining Prosperity” by Philip Auerswald & Zoltan J. Acs, that I found in my email this morning. It is rather long for your short attention spans, but is well worth the commitment. Pass it on to others. There is also a link under the Wonder Springs Resources Tab.

Your friend,

Brute

Tags: Reformation, entrepreneurship

by Jerry Bannon

I have to admit I am a very recent convert to Fair and-or Flat Tax proposals. While I considered the concepts interesting, I believed that the current system was somewhat working and even if it appears broken at times, it would be more cost effective to fix our Income Tax system rather than starting over.

The last few months and the gargantuan Federal spending associated with all the meltdowns and the bailouts have changed my perspective considerably. Then when you add the Obama Administration’s (never let a good crisis go to waste), simplistic and pedantic narcissism, something needs to change.

In yesterday’s weekly post the essential focus of “TEA Party Flavors” was the reestablishment of the Founder’s absolute constitutional values, making money again related to real wealth, and limiting the power of special rights — special interests.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, “The Case for a Federalism Amendment” is a practical and doable option to rein in our bloated and out of touch Federal Government. All three constitutionally prescribed branches of the Federal bureaucracy need to be included, the Congress, the Executive, and the Judiciary.

Most of our current economic troubles however stem from the Fed and the monetary expansionist policies of Alan Greenspan, which exponentially exceeded the linear natural growth in the economy. By allowing unregulated growth in debt, especially debt leverage, cheap credit forced consumer consumption leading to an unsustainable cancer. Current Fed Chairman Bernanke’s belief that tight money and speculation brought about the Great Depression, does not look at all at the systemic overvaluation of assets, especially real estate, which truly brought about the bursting bubbles both in the Great Depression and in our present condition.

Briefly checking the economic news this morning, there were discussions on whether the bottom had been reached at this time. The consensus was not yet, but the declines was showing signs of easing. All those commentators were really just blowing the smoke of their own opinions, not much better than a campfire, or a toxic cigar. Only the reestablishment of the Founder’s constitutional controls stemming from Natural Law and Nature’s God will give some absolutes for a profitable dialogue. Then perhaps some might begin to see that Natural Law did a more than decent job of predicting this mess and provides a path to a sustainable future based upon wealth creation, rather than monetary spin and debt leverage games.

Tags: Federalism Amendment, Alan Greenspan, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Great Depression

Last week’s TEA Parties on Tax Day were ignored, castigated, embraced, or celebrated. Some reputable sources have total attendances at between half a million to a million people. Some not reputable have this at much less to well over a million. It was said that President Obama was unaware of them taking place, or perhaps there was just an unwillingness to look seriously at a world who does not favorably endorse the Administration’s belittling of America’s past, while failing to understand his hope for a benevolent community of government centered personal peace and affluence for everyone - everywhere.

This week we will look briefly at three overriding points that came out of the TEA Parties. These three seem to fit with the concept of group leadership of KISS or Keep It Simple Stupid. We have seen a couple of these TEA Party analyses however that seem to have a dozen similar points, which may be modeled on step programs such as Tax Payers Anonymous.

The general tone of the Spokane TEA Party, which I attended, seemed to have a fundamental belief in the “Supremacy of America’s Founding Documents and Principles.” By this I mean absolute standards by which the country is to run. These documents and principles are not evolving into something more just and harmonious, by current whims of the intellectually enlightened, or a political class.

As we continually report here, those foundational writings center around Natural Law and the Common grace expressed by Nature’s God, the Creator of the Universe, a God consistent with the Biblical Trinity.

This comes into direct conflict with the post American Revolution concept of evolutionary enlightenment based solely on a different kind of naturalism, in which there is no god at all and everything has essentially a totally naturalistic explanation and source.

Evolution doesn’t really answer the big human epistemological questions of Origins, Purpose, and Destiny. Hence in a world, which came from nowhere and is headed nowhere, what we are to do now that we are here, is pretty hard to define in anything but relative terms. In fact it illogically asks, “Am I here at all?” Since logic itself has no basis for its existence either.

In such a world those who presume to be smarter, logically assume that they are more capable, of telling everyone else what to do, but that still begs the deeper question, what is the basis of that enlightenment and from where does it find its moral justification?

Here we quickly understand the difference between science and religion. When I was growing up, science was what my father used to convince me to eat my vegetables, religion was what I used to say that I didn’t need them. But as I grew I came to believe, that I could use science to not eat my vegetables and my father fell back upon his religion when confronted with my no vegetable scientific arguments. Luckily it never came to brute force, for I was raised in a very logical home where both the absolutes of my father’s power and authority were never really brought into question.
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Tags: tea party, Spokane Washington, Founding Prinicples, Sustainable Wealth, Special Interests, George W Bush, Barack Obama

Lord's Day 16
40. Q. Why was it necessary for Christ to humble Himself even unto death?
A. Because of the justice and truth of God[1] satisfaction for our sins could be made in no other way than by the death of the Son of God.[2]
[1] Gen. 2:17. [2] Rom. 8:3; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 2:9, 14, 15.

41. Q. Why was he buried?
A. His burial testified that He had really died.[1]
[1] Is. 53:9; John 19:38-42; Acts 13:29; I Cor. 15:3,4.

42. Q. Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?
A. Our death is not a payment for our sins, but it puts an end to sin and is an entrance into eternal life.[1]
[1] John 5:24; Phil. 1:21-23; I Thess. 5:9, 10.

43. Q. What further benefit do we receive from Christ's sacrifice and death on the cross?
A. Through Christ's death our old nature is crucified, put to death, and buried with Him,[1] so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer reign in us,[2] but that we may offer ourselves to Him as a sacrifice of thankfulness.[3]
[1] Rom. 6:5-11; Col. 2:11, 12. [2] Rom. 6:12-14. [3] Rom. 12:1; Eph. 5:1, 2.

44. Q. Why is there added: He descended into hell?
A. In my greatest sorrows and temptations I may be assured and comforted that my Lord Jesus Christ, by His unspeakable anguish, pain, terror, and agony, which He endured throughout all His sufferings[1] but especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell.[2]
[1] Ps. 18:5, 6; 116:3; Matt. 26:36-46; 27:45, 46; Heb. 5:7-10. [2] Is. 53.

Are they signs of the times, just a picture of frustration, or are they the first fruits of something much bigger than we can now understand?

On Tax Day 2009 about 2000 people came together on the south shore of the Spokane River in downtown Spokane, Washington to protest taxes, government spending, and to just vent personal frustrations. In conservative Spokane even the television media attended, even though their reports stated hundreds present, which as a decidedly lower report than the 4000 stated by organizers. This respectful and pretty much happy group, at least in the sense of protesters, joined with as many as 600 similar groups across the country and reportedly around the world.

The question remains will this TEA Party, when combined with the others, amount to something or just become a remembrance of a decent spring day in Spokane, after a record setting winter snowfall?

Protestors were pretty much of the conservative tone, but to say that these were a Republican or even Libertarian groupies is a gross simplification. Perhaps better descriptions would be Traditionalists or Populists, run of the mill American working people.

If there was a central theme in the speakers, it focused on the founding documents of the American Republic and the universal rights that these documents give to the American people, and the limitations they impose upon government at all levels. What was not apparent to those present was just how deep their views collide with the prevailing evolving enlightenment of the power structures of big government, big business, and big special interests.

The success of these TEA Party endeavors probably most closely link with the battle of the Alamo in 1936 and the original TEA Party in Boston in 1773. Both center on American Independence and individual rights, but the first TEA Party was an overt confrontation with religious ramifications. The American Revolution was a battle between human created common rights given and sustained by the Creator, contrasted with the Divine Right of Kings. King George lost.

This battle can be also seen in The Reformation, this time the battle was between common grace human rights and the Supreme Catholic Church. The Pope lost. It should be noted however that the Roman Catholic Church of the Council of Trent was and is a much more humble version of the Church of the Renaissance. That is especially true also of the British monarchy after the American Revolution.

If this truly develops as a reformation based upon Divinely given and sanctified common human rights contrasted with enlightenment evolutionary egalitarianism, the TEA Parties will be remembered as a date inline also with Luther’s 95 Thesis. If God is for us who can be against us?

This vision also was really the dominate empowerment behind the American Revolution, even though many of the Founding Fathers were more Deists rather than committed Christians. This allowed for a uniquely American Religious freedom and hence common public freedom. Baptists wanted to be Baptists, and not Presbyterians, and neither wanted to be Congregationalists. The Papists enjoyed just being on the sidelines.

The Reformation and the American Revolution were of a much different scale than the one faced by these twenty-first century TEA Parties. Those two could be envisioned as a couple of pimples on the back side of an elephant. However these potential changes are on a similar scale to a number of common nation recreations of the last century, the fall of the Soviet Union being the most homologous. This American version however, has a much different free expressive heritage than Mother Russia.

If this recreation scenario is true we will begin to see pretty much ex nihilo creation of gumption in those selected to be leaders in this developing movement. For now we can look at some pictures of these Spokane signs of change.

Tags: Spokane Washington, tea party

Shortly after we foraged ahead in last weeks article, it quickly became self evident that the trail ahead had become overgrown with all types of spin and hype, much of it related to the rapidly growing weeds in the political ditches on both our left and right.

We mentioned last week that many spokespersons encroaching on the path from the right ditch were beginning to call actions we are now seeing from the Obama Administration fascist rather than socialist. That was highlighted by a Glenn Beck show last Friday on Fox News, in which the less charged term “stateism” was used in place of fascism, at least for the time being. Rather than using the evolving programs of our current crisis, that we can’t let go to waste, the Beck program focused upon the rise of the progressive movement under Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

From the left ditch, leaving the historically redefined term liberal in the mud, indeed the they are more and more using the tactics of the rise of the American Progressive Movement as a working plan by which to evolve the United States and the world into a diverse community by which all peoples will live in security through governmentally run programs and supervised enterprise.

Both of the positions have more to do with talking points rather than substance. There in lies the true danger to the American Republic as it evolves democratically to take its rightful position as just another member of the community of nations.

Evolution as espoused in general morality has no basis in science. At least science we can measure today. That is because the quantum leaps of information required for evolutionary progress to occur are not supported by the natural laws of Thermodynamics. This is not just a minor problem in logic and research, but also a divine necessity in a world in which there is no god other than we human’s evolving narcissism.

In such a world, fertile bunnies laid colored chicken and candy eggs in hiding places during the spring fertility festival of Easter last Sunday. In church, as an American evangelical, you learned that Jesus will help you through this coming year so that next Easter you will be back on the wide road to material prosperity. Of course there were a few churches where a preacher proclaimed the Resurrection, as the first fruits of a future restored creation in which Christians will live eternally, based upon Jesus propitiatory sacrifice on a cross three days previously. Then in true unity with historical Christianity, we all went someplace and pigged out on ham and other acts of gluttony, ignoring any thought of an Inquisition.

This points us to the true reason for this season and that is security, either real or imagined. Both of the ditches of the narrow path ahead speak of all kinds of wonderful future things, money, self worth, purpose, community, health, but it all comes down to our personal perception of security.
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Tags: Glenn Beck, evolution, Natural Law, Sin Cosmos, Progressive Movement, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jim Hill, Great Northern Railroad, Ferry County, green energy

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.
Luke 24:5

Lord's Day 15
37. Q. What do you confess when you say that He suffered?
A. During all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end, Christ bore in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.[1] Thus, by His suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice,[2] He has redeemed our body and soul from everlasting damnation,[3] and obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life.[4]
[1] Is. 53; I Tim. 2:6; I Pet. 2:24; 3:18. [2] Rom. 3:25; I Cor. 5:7; Eph. 5:2; Heb. 10:14; I John 2:2; 4:10. [3] Rom. 8:1-4; Gal. 3:13; Col. 1:13; Heb. 9:12; I Pet 1:18, 19. [4] John 3:16; Rom. 3:24-26; II Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:15.

38. Q. Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge?
A. Though innocent, Christ was condemned by an earthly judge,[1] and so He freed us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us.[2]
[1] Luke 23:13-24; John 19:4, 12-16. [2] Is. 53:4, 5; II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13.

39. Q. Does it have a special meaning that Christ was crucified and did not die in a different way?
A. Yes. Thereby I am assured that He took upon Himself the curse which lay on me, for a crucified one was cursed by God.[1]
[1] Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13.

Foraging ahead is probably the best description of what is happening in the world today. I thought about forging ahead, but that seems to apply to just about anything without any specific direction. In that respect forging ahead is similar to, “Change you can believe in.” Foraging however signifies you are looking for something specifically relating to your subsistence. To some people that foraging has less vital implications than to others, but the foraging thought of providing present and future provisions pretty much applies to us all.

An article I read recently began with a quotation from some well-known historical economist and it went something like, “We shouldn’t forget that finance adds nothing to the underlying transaction; it is only a facilitator of the commerce.”

The mentor entrepreneur I worked with for many years always asked the question, “What does this new individual bring to the table? If the consensus was that the individual had little to contribute, they were not added to the team.

Putting finance in the context of both thoughts, finance should be the mechanism by which two or more tables facilitate their existence and their growth.

However the way things have developed recently and the utopian path ahead proposed by the US Treasury and the Fed, that statement must be modified to something like, “Forget the tables, forget the people, forget the underlying commerce, it is all about the finance.”
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Tags: Great Depression, bear market, money, tea party, Natural Law, Jesus

By Jerry Bannon

In “The Prosperity Myth” on March 23rd we showed the exponential growth relationships between the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Federal Reserve Monetary Base. As we pointed out in that report, virtually all this exponential growth took place under the administration of Alan Greenspan at the Federal Reserve. It also just so happens that Alan saw fit to retire at the zenith of his proclaimed monetary genius in February 2006.

Is it all that difficult to see, that all this prosperity, we all became so accustomed, began to fall apart shortly thereafter?

Mr. Greenspan was replaced with Ben Bernanke, considered by many the leading expert on the Great Depression. Bernanke, shares with many other economists, the Great Depression was caused by stock market speculators and tight money. But is that the whole or real story?

Today in the Wall Street Journal in an article entitled “From Bubble to Depression?” Steven Gjerstad and Vernon L. Smith, from empirical evidence, make a pretty strong case that the Great Depression was caused by a similar housing bubble that began to collapse in this country later in 2006.

I have little formal training in economics, about the same in finance. What I do have however is a very diverse training in natural ecology. Natural ecology is governed by natural laws that can be verified by direct observational science. It is my contention that these same natural laws govern human enterprise. As with the results of all science, you may disagree with that hypothesis, but that disagreement or wishful thinking (from my perspective) is not going to change reality.

In the garden of God, growth takes place via two curve models, linear and exponential. Linear can proceed over long periods of time, I have called that the Toil Growth Curve. Exponential growth is of much shorter duration, which I have called the Bug Growth Curve, growth occurs for a season and then dies.

Growth is really quite easy to manage, either in the linear or exponential phases. It really gets difficult however once the zenith is reached and things begin the natural decline, many times resulting in death, death of the individual or the population.

Some ecosystems reach a climax state, which is really just a more specific term for sustainability. These climax communities can exist in harmony with their environment for long periods, like centuries, or even millennia.

So far all efforts to manage the housing bubble by both the Bush and Obama Administrations have focused exclusively on the hypothesis that loose money and more regulation will fix the problem. Disregarding the fact that we are not playing with reality with real wealth, but highly leveraged debt money, there is absolutely no emphasis other than restoring bug economic growth, whatever it may cost.

It is long past the time when we should have looked at the cost — benefit ratio of this charade. Toil produces long term sustainable growth. In economic growth this can only occur in a climate where there are known principles by which to build. So far efforts to resurrect the dead Greenspan Bug Curve have failed. In this case the impossible is really impossible.

The Europeans understand that, so does much of Latin America and Africa. Even the communist government of China has criticized America’s current monetary policy. What the Obama Administration has yet to learn is “Change you can believe in” must be anchored to a real natural world, not some shining vision of an unobtainable present utopia.

Tags: Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Great Depression, Steven Gjerstad, Vernon L. Smith, ecology, linear growth, exponential growth, ecosystems

Lord's Day 14
35. Q. What do you confess when you say: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary?
A. The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God,[1] took upon Himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary,[2] through the working of the Holy Spirit.[3] Thus He is also the true seed of David,[4] and like His brothers in every respect,[5] yet without sin.[6]
[1] John 1:1; 10:30-36; Rom. 1:3; 9:5; Col. 1:15-17; I John 5:20. [2] Matt. 1:18-23; John 1:14; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 2:14. [3] Luke 1:35. [4] II Sam. 7:12-16; Ps. 132:11; Matt. 1:1; Luke 1:32; Rom. 1:3. [5] Phil. 2:7; Heb. 2:17. [6] Heb. 4:15; 7:26, 27.

36. Q. What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?
A. He is our Mediator,[1] and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin, in which I was conceived and born.[2]
[1] I Tim. 2:5, 6; Heb. 9:13-15. [2] Rom. 8:3, 4; II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 4:4, 5; I Pet. 1:18, 19.

Tags: Warm Fuzzies, reserve currency

This week’s article is dedicated to the memory of Dale Anderson a compatriot from my college days at both Eastern and graduate school at WSU, fellow sojourner to the land west of the Cascades, and Chronicle email subscriber. Dale died suddenly Sunday. We pray that the peace of God will comfort and direct his wife Pam and his family as they move forward in this time of great economic uncertainty.


Glenn Beck is the new rising star on the Fox News Channel. Much of that success that has allowed his show to rise to the number three most popular cable program stems from his focus on nine principles and twelve values of traditional American culture. These talking points are focused visually by adapting the “Unite or Die” flag from the era of the American Revolution. The problem with this number of things to remember is that there are: twenty-one things to remember. Without a teleprompter or some method of similar display, all those values and principles of something, get confusing and all mixed up.

For some time, I have been involved in cultural survival discussions that revolve around four simple words that begin with G. Those four are God, Gold, Groceries, and Guns. Those four necessities served us well, but as we move forward in this new era of 21st Century change, we need to do a little modification and add another point to make a total of five. Compared with the twenty-one on Beck’s list these five definitely qualify for the concept of KISS, keep it simple stupid. If kept in alphabetical order these five also allow you to understand the unique nature of the United States in the world.

So here is our list of Five Essential Gs: God – Gold – Grub – Gumption – Guns.

What makes the United States of America unique in the historical sense is that our Founding Fathers surrounded the means of prosperity with two absolutes. Put in theological terms the indicatives of God and Guns were the absolutes that allowed the imperatives of Gold, Grub and Gumption to grow and prosper without a significant threat to national unity.
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Tags: Five Essenital Gs, Glenn Beck, nine principles, twelve values, God, gold, grub, gumption, guns, Natural Law, United States, Russia, gold standard