Monday, February 27, 2012

ELITIST VIEW ON THE PRICE OF GASOLINE

Robert Pavlik, Chief Market Strategist for Banyan Partners said on FOX Business channel February 27, 2012 said; Upon the rising prices of oil, will the rising prices of gasoline “ring the retail spending out of the equation” of the national economic health. Pavlik went on to say, “Gasoline prices are rising, however it is a small piece of equation when gasoline prices only go up a dime or twenty cents. You know you really are talking about a fifth teen gallon tank; you know it really isn’t that much money.”

It is aloof, out of touch elitist on Wall Street who are so disconnected from the real world that squeeze out every “dime and twenty cents” from the poor while they rake in 50 million dollars in bonuses. People like Pavlik, who are “strategist” and advisors to Bankers, Corporate executives and Government politicians about setting economic policies for the public. And those policies that are put in place come from the opinion and suggestions of the likes of Pavlik who say that gasoline prices of over $4.00 a gallon isn’t that much. No wonder the Bible condemns these elitist by prophesying: “you rich insult the poor man! Isn't it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? (James 2:6).

No, it certainly is not wrong to become wealthy, but to become wealthy with no regard to the poor or the economic disability that such obsessive price increases is evil. To suggest that paying $50 more a month on gasoline is no big deal is blinded aloof insult against the poor of the worse kind. Let’s see what Robert Pavlik would say about the price of gasoline if Pavlik worked at Walmart for $8.50 an hour while trying to pay rent, electric, food and household goods. Yes, Pavlik would not say that twenty cents extra in gas is no big deal.

© by Dr Tim McClure

Saturday, February 25, 2012

INTERSECTION INFLUENCES

The interstates, highways and roadways were already built when I started driving. Most of us today are driving in the directions that are already PAVED for us to drive. Every city was mapped out before it was ever created. What is known as the city grid (the roadways going east, west, north and south) were designed usually around a particular theme, landscape, resource or plan. Many cities were developed around rivers, ocean bays for shipping routes, scenic places, valleys or other themes. Each of these themes used to involve trade routes, interstate access, on or nearby already existing travel routes. Other cities were built around the land best for farming, timber or particular crop needs.

The highways, interstates and city roads is what is used to this day as ways and means by which we move, do commerce, work, shop, and engage in relationships. Our behavioral lives are set up around common metaphoric connections and interactions. Relationships are designed around previously “designed and proposed” presets for culture to follow. It is like we were born into an already created system by which we must squeeze our likes, dislikes, passion or purpose into.

Influence is like the road systems. We WILL be influenced by these cultural “grids,” it's just a matter of our choosing who and what we will be influenced by. These “Intersection Influences” were already set in place, therefore, we must chose how, who or what will become the pattern that we build our life around. Choose wisely.

© 2012 by Dr Tim McClure

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

10 PRIORITIES TO LIVE BY IN 2012

#1 - Set Your Goals
Buy yourself a copy of “Goals” by Brian Tracy and learn to define your priorities and what you want to achieve in life. You may be surprised that you are spending your energy chasing things that are not what you really want to achieve. You may be sabotaging the things that are important to you. One technique that Brian Tracy suggests doing is writing out your top 10 goals on a 5x3 piece of card, do this action daily for 30 days without looking at your previous day's card. By the end of the 30 days if your goals have settled down then you will find you have probably got a better idea of what is important to you.

#2 – Change your Mindset
By changing your mindset you can achieve so much more, moving yourself from limitation to possibility. This is generally hard for people to accept; namely that there are far more limitations in your mind than outside of you. These self limiting beliefs mean that people choose not to take action as they have convinced themselves it will not work for them or they cannot do it. Rather than thinking about the reasons why you can't do something, think of all the HOW you can get around your limitations and do what is possible. Remember, if you think you can or think you cannot, you are correct.

#3 - Stop Blaming Others
I know a number of people that spend much of their life blaming others for the situation that they find themselves at any point in time. In some way this is linked to the limitations issue described above. This is a very corrosive state of mind to be in, by constantly blaming others for things that happen to us is defeatist. It is to say that we are victims of things around us, and have a lack of control. Be accepting of others, and instead of blaming others of where you find yourself or what has happened or is happening to you, it is better to ask yourself what the best thing you can do now to be in a better place. You see now here's the thing, it has to be stated in the positive as well. It is believed that our unconscious mind acts far better in this frame of mind.
By the way, I do no endorse the happy clappy positive mental attitude movement, however in general there is still something to be drawn from this. It is generally better to be positive than negative in state of mind, and by no longer looking to apportion blame you are less likely to slip into an unhelpful negative state.
to be continued...
By Dr Tim McClure

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

POWER OF NETWORKS part 2

When anyone, religious or not hear the name of Billy Graham, they instantly think of no doubt the most popular preacher in America and the world. Question most never seem to ask is; How did he become so popular? Was it because Graham is the best preacher or religious speaker in the world? No one would assert this, not even Graham himself. Was it because Graham is highly gifted in persuasion, personality or power? He is gifted, but there are hundreds more just as gifted and some more and we have never heard of them. So what was it that turned the tide that allowed Billy Graham to become so popular?
It started when Billy Graham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles in 1949, for which he erected circus tents in a parking lot. When Graham started preaching under the tent, he received the attention of several prominent media moguls. Graham gained the attention of William Randolph Hearst when Graham spoke out against communism as an evil of the devil.
Graham's rise to national prominence came from the assistance he received from news mogul, William Randolph Hearst. Most observers believe that Hearst appreciated Graham's patriotism and appeals to youth and thought that Graham would be helpful in promoting Hearst's conservative anti-communist views. Hearst sent a telegram to his newspaper editors reading "Puff Graham" during Billy Graham's late 1949 Los Angeles crusade.
In 1949, for example, William Randolph Hearst, head of one large publishing empire, and Henry Luce, chief of another, Time, Inc., were both worried about communism and the growth of liberalism in the United States. Hearst and Luce interviewed the obscure preacher and decided he was worthy of their support. Billy Graham, an obscure evangelist holding poorly attended tent meetings in Los Angeles suddenly gained the power backing from the largest news outlets in California.
Billy Graham became an almost instantaneous national and later international figure preaching anticommunism. In late 1949, Hearst sent a telegram to all Hearst editors: “Puff Graham.” The editors did – in Hearst newspapers, magazines, movies and newsreels. “Within two months Graham was preaching to crowds of 350,000." (Ben Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly, Boston, Beacon Press, 2000 6th ed., p. 39 ff).
Most agree that if it wasn’t for Hearst and Luce, Billy Graham might have become no more than a good country preacher with menial success. It is my belief that Graham has become more than a spiritual giant from his networks than from any other single natural assistance – besides the divine hand of God. Never underestimate the Power of Networks.

© By Dr Tim McClure

Sunday, February 5, 2012

2012 – THE PIVOTAL YEAR OF CHANGE

The year 2012, represents the actual hinge-point time of this century that even the Mayan calendar predicts this as well. In numerology the year 2012 simply adds each number together: 2+0+1+2= 5. The number 5 is a pivotal number because of all the numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; 5 is the transitional number in the middle of the four numbers before and the four numbers after. In a prophecy sense, 5 is the Pivotal year of going forward or backward.

Today in 2012 our world is not unlike what Charles Dickens wrote in his Tale of Two Cities; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” The way Dickens saw the world during the pre days of the French revolution is similar to the way it is today. Not necessarily in economics alone, but in the exact time where the world could go either way: Forward to a drastic change for the better, or worse to the continued downward destructive path of Malays.

In this pivotal year of 2012, there will be change, change and more change, covering everything under the sun: the economy in U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East predominantly. The Politics like the Arab unrest, election results in the US, escalating unrest in the UK and Europe’s economic meltdown. Nothing will be as expected. Economic power slips from the Elites to the populist and back again. The largest economies in the world are held hostage to their own corruption of power. The political arena, already a three-ring circus, continues to get sucked deeper into the mire of selfish greed at the peril of the common people of the world. Worse is the devastation of America because of its $17 trillion Debt.

2012 is the pivotal year of all our lives. Virtually everyone, everywhere agrees that if America, Europe and Asia continue down this vile economic slavery, there will be no America, freedom and life as we have come to know and love for the past 200 years. If we have ever dreamed of being someone good, doing something great, changing something in our life, 2012 is the year we must do so. 2012 is your year of change. Do not delay, start your change today.

© 2012 by Dr Tim McClure

Thursday, February 2, 2012

COMMON SENSE DIED

OBITUARY
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for generations upon generations. No one knows for sure how old he was as his birth records were lost long ago in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the only way to get ahead is to get out of bed and our favorite; you become what you hang out with most.
Common Sense lived by simple sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations and political correctness were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their disrespectful children. It declined even further when schools replaced the Bible with sex books and replaced prayer with propaganda. We knew common sense was failing fast when we started seeing Hollywood make movies excoriating preachers and exonerating pimps.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became entertainment halls and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee from McDonalds was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement for her stupidity. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents Truth and Trust, his wife Discretion, his daughter Responsibility and his son Accountability. He is survived by three stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame and the worse, Entitlement.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

By Dr Tim McClure