Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

 Promises, promises, we are all making and breaking promises. Some of the things we promise we know we cannot keep, like having a tooth pulled won’t hurt, I promise. Then it does and the child looks at you and makes you feel about two inches tall. 

   Now promises of a different kind, like the bank saying your savings are safe, or the government telling you that you do not have to worry about your retirement. These are more than such promises; these can be deadly. Even the rich know that they have to be able to produce a certain amount of cash or credit to pay the banker or the grocery bill. 

   The thing is right now we have a Congress that is loaded with very wealthy people that are looking at the Veterans Administration and saying we are paying too much for them to be around so let’s break our promise and stop caring for attending the cannon fodder. This like so many other budget cut ideas comes from the Republican party and is just another way of saying to those that have served, thanks sucker, best of luck. I am not sure how many veterans there are in the Congress but we know that Trump was not a service member. His brag is that he was fortunate enough to bypass VD in time square and that was his contribution to the war.

   Judging by the way he thinks I believe that he contracted syphilis, and it is eating his brain. He has to have some sort of problem as no one should be that delusional and classified as sane. His idea that every agency and every agent is corrupt if they do not hand him what he wants is definitely a sickness of the tiny gray cells.

   To have the House come up with a plan that takes away benefits of those that provided most of them with the opportunity to advance to a higher calling is just sick. Making the rich richer has never benefited anyone but the rich. The idea that the nation is going to be a better place if we put more pressure on the low and middle classes while rewarding the robber barons with tax breaks and excessive profits only proves that the GOP has totally lost focus on the reality of reality.

   If you take a pig and cut it up into roasts and chops and ribs and sausage you will have something for most everyone but not all as the prices to have the variety make parts out of reach of many. If you take the entire pig and make it into sausage, then you can feed everyone and leave nothing on the scrap bin. When we consider all of humanity then no one gets the roast but then no one is relegated to the chitlins either.

    I started with promises and one that was made to this nation at founding was that there was to be a separation of church and state. Now religion has got into everything including the public pocket. It isn’t enough to have a tax-free status and to collect from the folks that feel the need to show up every week, now we have to have tax money as well. 

   It is claimed that we cannot have independence without religion being the bulwark behind it. Independence implies knowing how to do things on your own without being lead around by your nose. Not to say that the tenants of religion don’t have value as a moral code but most religious groups are referred to as flocks, that implies sheep and sheep huddling together and never seem to know which way to go until a dog shows up and shows them the way. 

   Religion has been the boon and bane of mankind. All religions were started by men and men tend to run most of them. Women are of minor importance except for the fact that if they were not here neither would the men. Above that is the elevation of all things religious, churches tended to be the most opulent buildings in a city. The higher officials of the church seemed to be the wealthy and have the most privilege. You can still see some of those tendencies today. 

   On the other side of the coin they have promoted or allowed some of the most unbelievable events the world has seen. The inquisition, the slaughter of thousands because they did not believe the way they were told. The Salem witch trials, Jim Jones and the kool aid, Waco and tomorrow there will be some other event that makes the news that is negative. Yes it is said that if we lose the leadership of the church we tend to look for a leader somewhere else. Well if current events are any indication of lose of leadership when the religious right hangs their fate on the coattails of Donald Trump then religion itself is in trouble.

   Religions say only men can lead from the pulpit yet nations have had women run things for decades with marvelous results. Many men have taken a faith based organization and turned it into a huge money making deal. One opened a university what about the rest? If religious leaders want to or hope to attract members then perhaps they should start by being the kind of human they expect everyone else to be. 

   When a person of the cloth shows up to a funeral they should be as ordinary as the people they preach to not driving a BMW. Don’t tell your congregation that you need a new car and that college tuition has gone up for your daughter so fill that collection plate. Above all else don’t ever be so busy that you cannot make time for one of your members. All this and more has been observed more than once and just like not wanting to hire a crooked cop you don’t want a lazy minister. 

   Could any of these issues be why church membership is going down. When you work two jobs and can’t make ends meet it is difficult to get to church and if you go it is embarrassing to not put something on the plate. It does not help to know that your pastor, priest, minister, or whatever title will be playing golf on Sunday afternoon while you are putting in another shift at the gas station.