Premium increases deserve maximum transparency - Bozeman Chronicle editorial

My comments in bold.

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This editorial may take the award for Cluelessness of the Year. Almost every sentence reveals a complete lack of understanding of the issues and processes being discussed.
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When Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana recently pared back its planned health insurance premium increases from 65.4 percent to 58.4 percent after a state analysis found them to be too high, it begged an important question: If the company can get by with lower rate increases now, why was it demanding so much in the first place? (When you know you are entering a situation where negotiation will happen, do you  go in with your bottom dollar offer and leave no room to negotiate, or do you come in higher so that you can compromise?)

And how much less could it gel by with and remain profitable? (BCBS of Montana is a non-profit company.)

Cessationism - Proving Charismatic Gifts have Ceased - by Dr Peter Masters

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Followers of this blog know that we are continually searching for someone who can explain the biblical basis for cessationism. We have simple criteria:

1) Appealing to contemporary behaviors of charismatics is not relevant to the biblical case

2) Appealing to the silence of the Bible or history is not relevant to the biblical case

3) Suppositions or inferences about what biblical words mean is not the same thing as making the biblical case

Thus it falls to the defenders of cessationism to simply show from the Bible that the "supernatural" gifts of the Spirit ceased.

Here is the next contender, a Dr. Peter Masters. We were unable to locate a biography, but apparently he pastors a church in London. We don't know what his doctorate is in. Perhaps he can bring some light to the cessationism position. We will quickly discover our search to be in vain.

This is a long article. The author makes all sorts of a-biblical assertions. They mount up to the point where by the end we must call into question his competence as a teacher of the Bible.

We simply want the biblical case for cessationism. The author does not supply us with one.

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Ministering at Burning Man 2016 - By Rob Mazza

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!

Friends,

Burning Man is a place of absurdity, abstractions, art and artful dodging of reality. Then God tells us to go there, and Samaria gets all too real with its hunger and lies all intertwined in the serpents folds. We feel both the promise and the darkness. It’s Monday morning, our first day of business. Everything has been erected - the coffee dome, the kitchen, the 100 foot encounter tent. The beautiful art is in place and the Spirit Dream signs outside shoulder the dusty playa winds. We are inside the encounter tent, doing our first day orders from the King. Intercession is at a higher level (it will increase in the next couple days). We have just welcomed and protocoled our twelve new members of the tribe of thirty eight. Their sponsors have hugged and spoke into their lives.

Suddenly the familiar first line of the Christmas song comes distinctly from the street outside our canvas walls. The distinct sound of “O come, all ye faithful…” What?

The case against pets - by Gary L Francione

Found here. My comments in bold.
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This article is replete with moral preening. The author goes on and on about the "immorality" of eating animals and keeping them as pets without bothering to establish why these are immoral or why we should accept his imposed morality for ourselves.

With all the fervor of the most rabid religionist he demands we conform to his notions of morality on the basis that animals have rights exactly like humans. He anthropomorphizes animals, imputing to them a mental capacity to ascertain their lot in life.

If animals have some sort of set of rights akin to humanity, then what about plants? Bacteria? Viruses? These also must have a right to life, and the use of antibiotics and harvesting are by his definition murder. 

His plate of bean sprouts are living, taken unjustly for his own selfish use.

Taken to a logical conclusion, we must acknowledge that animals themselves are murderers. That poor wildebeest taken by a lion to eat is a victim. Even herbivores are guilty. 

If all life has a right to life, then all life is guilty.
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Bozeman's strong-arm enforcers - Fireman!

• Three firemen, an intimidating number, walked into my office last week, and it turns out they were there to inspect my office for compliance. No notice, no warrant, no knock. 
  
  My office is private property, so one would think that agents of the government would be required to comply with the Constitution. Amendment Four: "The right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated..."
  
  But apparently I am not secure. Why? Here's the Bozeman Municipal code:
  
  Sec. 12.02.140. - Inspections; persons authorized.

  A.

  The following persons are authorized to conduct inspections in the manner prescribed herein:

  1.

  Program administrator. The program administrator shall make all investigations reasonably necessary to the enforcement of this chapter.

  2.

  City officers. All police, fire, building inspectors, city engineers, zoning officials, and other officials designated by the city manager, shall inspect and examine businesses located within their respective jurisdictions to enforce compliance with the chapter.

  (Code 1982, § 5.04.140; Ord. No. 1273, § 13(A), 1988; Ord. No. 1948, § 10, 5-9-2016)

• Note that a whole gamut of people can be authorized by the city manager to conduct inspections. Now read the next section, which unconstitutionally empowers government to enter without a warrant or even probable cause: 

  
  

  Sec. 12.02.150. - Authority of inspectors.

  A.

  All persons authorized herein to inspect licensees and businesses shall have the authority to enter, with or without search warrant, at all reasonable times, the following premises:

  1.

  Those for which a license is required;

  2.

  Those for which a license was issued and which, at the time of inspection, are operating under such license;

  3.

  Those for which the license has been revoked or suspended.

  (Code 1982, § 5.04.150; Ord. No. 1273, § 13(B), 1988)

• The foot in the door is the city business license. Apparently the city grants permission to do business, and thus thinks it has the power to do whatever it wants as a result. 

  I suppose the city would claim that my office is a place of public accommodation, the same reasoning they use to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. However, the people who enter my property only do so by my permission. I do not accommodate the public. 

  In all cases, my customers and I are engaging in private, consensual, perfectly legal transactions. The is no public action occurring at all. Therefore the city has no authority to intervene in the private affairs of its citizens.  

"Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People." And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control - BY DENNIS HENIGAN

Found here. My comments in bold.

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The author never gets around to actually refuting any of these "myths." 

You will find that I deleted long passages that had nothing to do with the supposed myths. That amounted to most of the author's article, leaving precious little material having something to do with the article's stated purpose.

Welcome to Your Local NFL Stadium: Home of the Sensitive and Easily Offended - BY CHRISTIAN CHRISTENSEN

Found here. My comments in bold.

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Christian Christensen represents himself as a journalist. As you read, remind yourself that this is a product of the current state of journalism.

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Given the norms of behavior in the stands, the brouhaha over Colin Kaepernick's dignified protest seems like championship hypocrisy. (Dignified? More like a childish stunt.)

A new NFL season starts tonight, and I’m going to let you in on a little secret: sporting arenas can be a rancid soup of racism, misogyny, homophobia, jingoism and all-around alcohol-soaked nastiness. So much so that the NFL and other major league sports have had to initiate “fan conduct classes.” (All of which is irrelevant. This is about Kaepernick's actions, not about unconnected fan behaviors.

The author suggests some sort of hypocrisy, but the people misbehaving at games would need to be the same people who are criticizing Kaepernick in order for there to be hypocrisy. The author provides no evidence this is true.

At no point does the author establish that the criticism of Kaepernick is inappropriate, unjustified, or beyond the pale. Quite the contrary, he doesn't even offer evidence or quotes from Kaepernick's detractors.)

Come Up Here - an exploration of vision and the presence of God

It seems that we are regularly revisiting the idea of vision in our prayers. It was several months ago that the words "lift your vision higher" came to our minds, and we reflected on the idea that our vision as Christians is frequently on our circumstances. But we should be looking up!

Ps. 123:1 I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.Ps. 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He helps us to look up, because our human strength fails us:

Ps. 3:3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.Ps. 27:5-6 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. 6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me…

The spiritual man looks up

Gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has taken Montana politics in an ugly direction.

I receive up to 5 email solicitations from the Democrats per day. The latest one said this:

"Gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has taken Montana politics in an ugly direction." -- Bozeman Chronicle Editorial Board

 In a blistering editorial, Greg Gianforte’s local newspaper took him to task for his latest fear-mongering attacks.

Show you agree and donate $15 to send a message to Greg Gianforte that these kinds of scare tactics won't be tolerated. 

Here's the ad in question:

Paradoxes, dilemmas, and contradictions in the Bible - Think like a Hebrew

There's a lot of wrestling going on in the Church with various doctrines. It sometimes gets to ridiculous proportions, with claims of heresy flying about. There are various groups taking on the role of Doctrinal Police, micro-examining every little statement of suspected infidels. 

This is the intellectual mindset that descends out of the Greek tradition, more generally termed western thought. By contrast, the Bible is a Hebrew production. The Hebrew mindset is completely different than the Greek one:

Letter writer should have checked his facts - By Jerrold E. Johnson

My comments in bold.

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First Mr. Christiansen's letter:

Cry Me a River, Aetna - by WENDELL POTTER

Found here. My comments in bold.
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This post originally appeared at HealthInsurance.org

You might be thinking, based on what insurance company CEOs have been saying over the past few weeks, that carriers are awash in red ink because of Obamacare and would surely go bust if they had to keep paying the medical claims of their Obamacare customers for even one more year. You might even be shedding a tear or two for their poor shareholders.

Here, for example, is the grim news Aetna’s CEO, Mark Bertolini, delivered to Wall Street financial analysts a few days ago:

In light of a second-quarter pretax loss of $200 million and total pretax losses of more than $430 million since January 2014 in our individual products, we have decided to reduce our individual public exchange presence in 2017, which will limit our financial exposure.

This despite the fact that since January 2014, the date Bertolini mentioned above, Aetna has reported operating profits of $6.7 billion. That’s right. Even though Bertolini said Aetna hasn’t yet turned a profit on its Obamacare business, overall it has pocketed nearly $7 billion.

So even though Aetna is still hugely profitable, it will stop offering coverage in most Obamacare markets because its bean counters recently noticed what Bertolini described as a spike in “individuals in need of high-cost care.” (Apparently it has escaped the author's understanding that companies of all sorts examine the profitability of all their lines of business, and the grand total is comprised of all the subtotals. Thus a company is making a widget and the widget is not profitable, something needs to change, regardless of if another product is profitable.)

Vote for those who will protect Social Security - By Virjeana Brown

My comments in bold.
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On Aug. 14 Social Security celebrated it’s (sic) 81st anniversary. Never a late or missed payment. (When the debt ceiling debate was happening in 2011, who was it that threatened the taxpayer by suggesting that Social Security checks might not be mailed? Barack Obama.)

Pretty impressive, in fact, the most successful anti-poverty social insurance program ever. (Successful? What about seniors having to choose between food and medicine? Or the huge poverty problem among seniors? Or their soaring bankruptcy rates? This is a successful anti-poverty program?

Oh, wait. Ms. Brown said it was the "most successful." That lowers the bar considerably. Of all the ill-conceived, wasteful, corrupt, failed government anti-poverty programs, SS is the "most successful." That makes more sense.)

This is an important milestone as Social Security has been highlighted in the presidential campaigns/debates this year and has been under attack since it’s (sic) inception. One side clearly wants to cut and privatize Social Security, while the other side wants to expand it. Social Security is more important now and will be in the future with the loss of defined contribution retirements, student debt, mass incarceration as well as low wages preventing people from saving for retirement. (In other words, all those government economic interventions and programs have have had a devastating impact on people, so government needs to rescue us from government with expanded SS. Hmm.)

This year the Senate and House Budget Appropriations Committees voted to cut $700M from the administration budget of the Social Security Administration (SSA). Social Security is self-funded. Of every dollar you pay into Social Security, 99 cents comes back as benefits and 1 cent goes to administration. What is the potential impact of this cut? Potential office closures, across the board cuts in office hours, a push to get people to use the 800-number (long waits already) and on-line services. In order to use on-line services, you must have a cell phone with texting capabilities to access your own information.

This is intentionally being done to make Social Security unpopular and undermine confidence in the program. (We should have our confidence undermined, because the program is bankrupt, the Trust Fund is empty, and government has spent all that money.)

People become angry at the SSA instead of the congressmen voting to cut this administration budget. How dare these people cut money out of the SSA administration. This is our money, that we pay into this program, to ensure the disbursement of benefits. (It is not our money, it is government's. Government taxed us, took the money and spent it.)

Vote for candidates who will expand and protect Social Security, not those who would cut and privatize our earned benefits.

Virjeana Brown

Belgrade

If private revelations agree with Scriptures, they are needless - John Owen

Posted on FB by a friend:



Discussion ensued:

Me: Then why have preachers?

K.T.: To preach God Word and not their own visions and day dreams.

Me: Isn't a "private" revelation the same as preaching about God's word?

K.T.: Not necessarily. Private revelations are usually someones vision or day dream about something. God speaks to us through his Word and spirit. Most private revelations don't agree with the principles that God has given us in His Word. God's Word is the standard by which everything is to be judged.

Me: I don't see the difference between a pastor reflecting on and sharing his insights into the Word vs. an individual reflecting on and sharing his insights into the Word.

The meme says that a private revelation is unnecessary if it agrees with God's word. But you say that most private revelations don't agree with God's Word. So we aren't talking about those, we are talking about revelations that do agree.

If God speaks to us through His Spirit, then the meme is negated.

K.T.: God speaks to us through his Word AND Spirit. Never the one without the other. When some one has a revelation apart from God's Word it's usually with a spirit that's the human spirit and not the Holy Spirit.

Me: Again, the meme says in agreement with God's Word, not apart from God's Word.

K.T.: I think he must be speaking of preachers telling of their own revelations. If they agree with Scripture there's no need for them as ministers are to preach God's Word and not their own "revelations". Those are the false prophets we're warned about in Scripture.

Me: Not meaning to dispute with you, just trying for clarification. 

Preachers by definition are preaching their own insights into the Word. By definition they are private insights. Either these are Scriptural or they are not. If they are Scriptural, they need not be preached, if the meme is correct.

What I'm trying to get at here is the idea that anything apart from Scripture is heresy, that is, there is no revelation today except Scripture. That's what the meme suggests, and I think it's muddled thinking, as we are discussing.

If there is nothing today for us but Scripture, then insights into Scripture are private revelation and are prohibited. A preacher should then only preach Scripture quotes. Anything else is going beyond Scripture.

The CCLI 2015 Top 100 Songs for United Methodist Congregations list

Found here. Critiques found here. My comments in bold.

It's interesting indeed how the Doctrinal Police ascertains heresy. Here we have the United Methodists evaluating song lyrics with some peculiar criteria. 

My comments are found in the synopsis at the end. They are brief, largely restricted to quoting passages that contradict the assessments of the authors.
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Aetna Shows Why We Need a Single Payer - by Robert Reich

Found here. My comments in bold.

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This missive boarders on astonishing. Aetna, fully on board with Obamacare, jumps in without a net, fails, and Dr. Reich views it as a success.

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Why I Will Not Be Preaching the Longer Ending of Mark - by Josh Buice

Found here. My comments in bold.
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The passage in question is Mark 16:9-20, which the author never quotes:

9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

12 Afterwards Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

In fact, the author does not quote any Scripture.

It is somewhat surprising to us that a pastor would simply decline to preach on a passage of Scripture. We grant there is some question in scholarly circles as to whether this passage is genuine. However, we are not going to consider this issue. We are here to examine the author's presentation.
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Zinke, Gianforte sacrificing country’s common decency - By Cara Wilder

Found here. My comments in bold.

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This letter to the editor writer is completely unaware of her own irony.

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From Corporate Lawyer to Corporate Critic: Ciara Torres-Spelliscy Dissects Citizens United - BY KATHY KIELY

Found here. My comments in bold.

I'm pretty sure going in that the author either doesn't know what the Citizens United did, or will misrepresent it.
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Why a Tax on Wall Street Trades is an Even Better Idea Than You Know - By Robert Reich

Found here. My comments in bold.
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There is a fundamental flaw in Dr. Reich's reasoning, and it comes from a faulty premise. The purpose of taxation is to fund the constitutional duties of government, not to engineer outcomes or punish/reward taxees.
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