Last updated on July 7th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Photo Courtesy of Times Union
As the high pressure looms over the Midwest and East bringing rain and heat, in the Southwest, in Colorado, there is a fire raging out of control. Checking the weather report, there is a 30% chance of thunderstorms…a relief to the fire-drenched area. But there is a catch. There is a 70% chance that there is just lightning sparking new fires.
The fire killed two according to the Fox affiliate KDVR, in Colorado Springs’ Waldo Canyon Fire, two people died and almost 350 homes were destroyed.The cause remains under investigation. The problem is, it costs a lot of money. Colorado being a purple state, Republicans’ mantra of no taxes ultimately led to the destruction of the State and now these same tax-hating Republicans (and I call the Dems who cut taxes Republicans) are seeking grants from the other 49 States to help rebuild their cities.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
I wonder if the Congress members who voted to cut taxes for the wealthy folks in Colorado are rethinking about reelection now that their homes are destroyed? In California, we too had our share of fires, the biggest being the Firestorm of 2003. Five counties were on fire: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego were burning. It got so bad that the smoke, being fanned by the dry heat of the Santa Ana winds made Los Angeles and coastal towns smokey. Heat from the fire 10 miles away were felt and like a nuclear fallout, cars were covered with ember. But we were prepared.
California had the foresight to tax ourselves and invest in our first responders, minimizing the use of federal resources. On the other hand, in the conservative part of San Diego, the rich were living in a lap of luxury, had their own volunteer fire department. The fire started when a hunter got lost in the forest and shot a flare. Well the flare caught the forest on fire and the rest was history. The hunter was saved.
But, because of tax cuts, San Diego had to borrow from other fire departments to put out the fires, and the wealthy folks who lost their homes, had second thoughts about their tax breaks and now are taxing themselves to have a full-fledged fire department. Something the wealthy in Colorado should think of too…especially since Focus on The Family, whose main headquarters is in Colorado Spring.
Speaking of FOTF and Dr. James Dobson. There has not been a peep from him. Probably because god has answered his prayers:
Q: Why does God allow suffering to happen?
A: I wrote an entire book in which I attempted to grapple with this question, titled When God Doesn’t Make Sense. Indeed, the theological implications of a tragedy of this magnitude present difficult questions.
But one thing is certain: it is wrong to blame God for the suffering in this world. It is inaccurate – and almost blasphemous – to say that He is responsible for the great evil that occurred on September 11. He loves His children, and He doesn’t spend His time looking for ways to inflict pain and sorrow on them. As for why He allowed this particular event to happen, I can only articulate an answer based on my inadequate understanding of how He deals with us as mortals. God has given each of us a free will. Without the ability to make choices – whether right or wrong – we would be nothing more than puppets on strings. God could have programmed us to perform predictable behaviors as He does animals, but that would have made it impossible for us to love Him voluntarily. Therefore, He has granted us the ability to make independent choices, and many times those choices lead us to do terrible things to one another. But people are responsible for their own behavior, and just as we have the ability to do things that are pleasing to God, we also have the ability to do things that grieve Him.
Q: Has God withdrawn His protective hand from the US?
A: Christians have made arguments on both sides of this question. I certainly believe that God is displeased with America for its pride and arrogance, for killing 40 million unborn babies, for the universality of profanity and for other forms of immorality. However, rather than trying to forge a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the terrorist attacks and America’s abandonment of biblical principles, which I think is wrong, we need to accept the truth that this nation will suffer in many ways for departing from the principles of righteousness. “The wages of sin is death,” as it says in Romans 6, both for individuals and for entire cultures.
Funny thing, while Colorado burns, Dobson is silent. Is the burning of Colorado god’s will? Yes, according to Dobson and religious ilk like him. Has god withdrawn his protective hands from the Colorado? Apparently Dobson says so, and now with the headquarters in Colorado Springs, Dobson’s headquarter may feel god’s anger.
Or is it all a scam? Is it merely the babbling of a rich person, whose whole goal in life is to make a boatload of money, pay less in taxes and refuse to pay for first responders? Maybe it’s time that Dobson does come clean and say neither 9/11 nor Colorado’s fire has nothing to do with the wrath of some cloud-being but the greediness which led to death and destruction because the wealthy hates paying their fair share of taxes…and global warming.
Tim’s first experience into journalism was at East Los Angeles College. Then Tim was a stringer for a local Japanese American Newspaper in Los Angeles. He then completed his Bachelors in Business and RECEIVED his MBA, but his desire to seek the truth has not been assuaged by fear of the 1% or their followers. When Tim isn’t doing his liberal thing, he enjoys sitting back, relaxing and listening to Rush…the band folks!
