Stephan: When I was doing research on social transformations that were compassionate and life-affirming, and from that data formulated the 8 Laws of Change, the 7th Law emerged: The individuals in the group, and the group itself, must make their private selves consistent with their public postures.
When you look at these Christofascist movements one of the indicators that tell you you are dealing with a cult is that the leaders consistently violate the 7th law. Here's yet another one.
Christofascist cult leader Todd Coontz
A former Charlotte “prosperity gospel” preacher who owns a garage full of expensive foreign cars and lives in a million dollar condo was indicted on multiple counts of federal tax fraud this week, reports the Charlotte Observer.
William Todd Coontz, 50, formerly a minister at the Rock Wealth International Ministries, and now living in Florida, is accused of participating in a check-cashing scheme involving travel reimbursements for speaking appearances and for book sales – and then filing fraudulent tax returns in order to hide the money.
“This is a classic example of ‘Do as I say, not as I do,’” explained U.S. Attorney Jill Rose. “As a minister, Coontz preached about receiving and managing wealth, yet he failed to keep his own finances in order. Coontz will now receive a first-hand lesson in ‘rendering unto Caesar’ that which is due.”
Christian “prosperity gospel” preachers encourage their flock to contribute heavily to the ministry with the promise that God will return their tithing multiplied leading to great wealth.
Stephan: If you travel internationally you have undoubtedly noticed that in no other developed nation do people lie awake at night worrying whether someone in their family who has a significant medical condition will be able to get the care they need, or to afford the drugs their physicians want them to take. Why is that? Because in the United States we don't have a system that puts wellbeing first. Instead we have an illness profit system. When you strip away the political bloviation it becomes clear that this whole debate is about how to lower taxes on the rich and still assure vast profits for the corporations that make up the healthcare sector. Americans value profit above health, or even life itself.
Credit: The Gallup Organization
These results come from a June 7-11 Gallup poll.
Americans’ concerns about the cost of healthcare fell substantially in 2008 amid the financial recession. These concerns were replaced with more fundamental financial problems such as a lack of money, low wages and unemployment. Higher gas prices also weighed heavily on American families’ finances at that time.
As the political debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) heated up in late 2009 and 2010, healthcare costs once again became one of the most commonly cited top financial problems, reaching as high as 15% in April 2010, shortly after the bill was signed into law (though the figure fell to 10% later that year).
Over the next few years, concern about healthcare typically stayed around the 12% to 14% range, though in 2013, concerns dropped down to 10% as more provisions of the legislation were implemented. However, concerns again inched up in 2014 and continued moving up in subsequent years, culminating with this year’s 17%, the highest level since October 2007.
Stephan: Here is some excellent news. Even in Texas carbon energy's days are numbered.
As attractive a renewable-energy concept as wind power is, it’s plagued by a fundamental flaw. It blows the most in the dead of night, precisely when there’s the least demand for electricity. That’s true for just about every wind-blown spot across the U.S., from the foothills of the Tehachapi Mountains in California to the coastal plains of North Carolina.
And then there’s South Texas.
It is to wind, engineers have discovered in recent years, a bit like what Napa Valley is to wine and Georgia is to peaches. For not only does the state’s Gulf Coast generate strong evening gusts, but it also blows fiercely in the middle of the day, just as electricity consumption is peaking.
It’s the result of something called convection currents—a phenomenon caused by the gap between the temperature on the water and land—and it’s allowing wind farms owned by Apex Clean Energy Inc. and Avangrid Inc. to tap into the midday spike in electricity prices that comes as air conditioners start to hum.
Stephan: In spite of the best efforts of Pope Francis one of the enduring hallmarks or Roman Catholicism, something it shares with Protestant fundamentalism, remains a profound sexual dysfunctionality. One of the manifestations of this can be seen in the ongoing child molestation crisis which has plagued the Roman Church for decades and which, I suspect, has been a feature of its clergy for two millennia -- just unreported and ignored. But it is worse than that; it reaches a level of personal nastiness that really is breathtaking. Here's one example of what I mean. It is in such blatant conflict with Jesus' teaching, that I can only think of it as evil.
Roman Catholic Bishop Paprocki
A Catholic bishop has instructed priests in his central Illinois diocese to deny communion, last rites and funeral rites to people in same-sex marriages – unless they repent. (emphasis added)
In the decree he sent to priests, deacons, seminarians and staff in his Springfield diocese last week, Bishop Thomas Paprocki sets forth a set of norms on same-sex marriage and related pastoral issues that he says are the policy of the diocese.
Paprocki’s decree bans priests and parish staff from performing same-sex marriages or allowing same-sex weddings or receptions at any Catholic facilities. People in same-sex marriages “should not present themselves for Holy Communion, nor should they be admitted to Holy Communion.” A person in a same-sex marriage who is facing death may only receive communion after expressing “repentance for his or her sins.
Finally, Paprocki writes that “unless they have given some signs of repentance before their death,” people in same-sex marriages may not […]
Stephan: Here is a prime specimen of Super flumina Babylonis Republican.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson Credit: NBC
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) suggested on Sunday that people with pre-existing conditions deserved to pay more for insurance because they were like cars that had been involved in an automobile accident. (emphasis added)
During an interview on Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd noted that Republicans in the Senate had held no hearings on their health care bill and so they could not say for sure why insurance companies were abandoning some markets.
Johnson sidestepped the refusal to hold hearings and insisted that he already knows the answer “but nobody wants to talk about it.”
The Wisconsin Republican pointed to Obamacare rules that forbid insurance companies from charging more for people with preexisting conditions.
“We know why those premiums doubled,” he opined. “We’ve done something with our health care system that you would never think about doing, for example, with auto insurance, where you would require auto insurance companies to sell a policy to somebody after they crash their car.”
States that have… guarantees for preexisting conditions, it crashes their […]
