Manns Medium

In an article titled “ Another oil crash is coming, and there may be no recovery ” written by Tom Randall for Bloomberg News, it is reported that “ In the next two years, Tesla and Chevy plan to start selling electric cars with a range of more than 200 miles priced in the $30,000 range. Ford is investing billions, Volkswagen is investing billions, and Nissan and BMW are investing billions. Nearly every major  car maker —as well as Apple and Google—is working on the next generation of plug-in cars.  This is a problem for oil markets. OPEC still contends that electric vehicles will make up just 1 percent of global car sales in 2040. Exxon's forecast is similarly dismissive. The oil price crash that started in 2014 was caused by a glut of unwanted oil, as producers started cranking out about 2 million barrels a day more than the market supported. Nobody saw it coming, despite the massively expanding oil fields across North America. The question is: How soon could electric v...

Washington politicians and the media that covers them wishes all of us to think that this so-called Tea Party Movement has taken over the GOP and candidates running for office has no other alternative except say outrages and outlandish things to get their vote.  Common wisdom in this up-coming election as well as a few prior says that the Republican voter wants obstruction to anything President Obama wants to do or want them to stand against anything he stands for.  They wish you to believe that common wisdom says that the Republican voter wants to get rid of governmental agencies, defund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood.  Common wisdom says that the Republican voter despises Obama, is racist and is full of bigotry and hatred for anyone who don’t look, act or think like them.  Common wisdom says that the Republican voter wants everything Washington does to be about finding dirty laundry to expose on anyone who is not Republican and they should remain obstruction...

You can get no more evident that how we currently live today is to pleasing to God than to have a church file a lawsuit against the city of Rockford, IL when the Bible clearly tells us that Christians do not sue another.  Now maybe some will say that the city of Rockford is not a Christian because it is not a person then we can say the same about the church, can we not?  Some may say that the children who was present during that shooting has been scarred for life and deserve some sort of compensation for their duress, pain and suffering but I say if you are attempting or had been attempting to teach these children the true word of God at this daycare then why not show them the ultimate lesson that Jesus shared with us, turn the other cheek. The title of the article is “ Trial nears in Rockford civil suit over Mark Anthony Barmore shooting death ” and it reports that “ a trial in a lawsuit stemming from the officer-involved shooting death of Mark Anthony Barmore could begi...

For years now many have been complaining about the state of our union and especially Black America has been crying about the state of the black community but no one involved in this struggle has ever considered that the reason these situations exist are simply because we violate, every day, the core argument of religion and we have gone so far to disguise it that many who truly wish to get on the right side of this issue cannot clearly see the lines or borders drawn by the word of God so many billions of years ago. The Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters and no matter how hard we try, we continue to fail and fail miserably.  The two masters we attempt to serve and the one that God was probably trying to warn us about so many years ago is both God and man.  God asks us to believe in him, trust in him and have faith that he will see us through all of our darkness, pain and suffering but we fail because when we are in pain we seek man’s remedy to cure us and only...

The situations that my fellow service members face day in and day out is the stuff of legends and on its own should merit front page in any newspaper, magazine or publication but to use an heroic situation add in a title you believe will get you more page views is an insult to these men and women who work so hard and dedicate so much than just their earthly lives, they risk their very souls. I was forwarded this article by a brother of mine, who is often at odds with me regarding a lot of things.  One of the things we stand in opposition with is President Barack Obama but even though we stand on different sides of any issue, make no mistake, if you place a scratch on him rest assured that I will put a gash on you.  He is my brother not because we have the same mother and not because we have the same dad but simply because we shared the same uniform as a Marine and traveled in the same circles like Beirut, Grenada, Lebanon, Somalia and Desert Storm.  He is my brother ...

In a nation which claims to be a Christian Nation, one would expect the primary text which guided that nation and act as the number one source for the actions and behaviors of that nation would be the Bible.  For a nation that claims to be a union of co-existing and cooperating souls with each pursuing his own goal of life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness while maintaining respect and dignity of the other, one would think that the one main source for the actions and behaviors of that nation would be the U.S. Constitution.  For a nation that seems to be claiming both attempting to serve two masters at the same time, it can get kind of confusing which primary guide to follow for each situation we find ourselves in and that is what may explain why this nation appears to be quickly becoming the less desirable and ignored nation on the planet. Now it is quite clear that the Bible is being greatly ignored when you have Christians pushing hatred for another group ...

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed just how moody America has been lately.  I mean from politics to parenting and all points in between.  We hear people talk about a slight willingness to change their minds about anything except their core beliefs and principals but even those things are flexible depending on the right amount of influence used to alter their belief or principal.  Here are a few examples I have noticed and see if what I am trying to say makes sense to you. There was a group of young black boys calling themselves representing “Black Lives Matter” who was witnessed harassing a combat veteran at some restaurant.  As the veteran stood up and was walking out of the restaurant, one of them struck him in the back of the head and then he was robbed of at least $400.  Now for those who stand with “Black Lives Matter” and support their cause, you must now decide if every action by those who claim to support the same group you do depicts who you ...

Sometimes the best lessons are those things we learn from the past because history teaches us that human nature rarely changes, but the major difference between good history and bad history is not the person or people written about it’s the results of their actions.  Case in point:  The pilgrims ran from England and the result is them being credited with establishing a new nation later called America.  The slaves ran from their masters and the result is freedom and a much better opportunity at a better life.  These are examples of lessons from the past about running away from a problem that ultimately resulted in much better things for the runner and all those that came afterwards.  An example of bad history is when a young child run away from home to seek a better life which normally results in finding that the better life does not exist and results in  lonesomeness ,  isolation  and often times more trouble than staying home.  An...

By Timothy Organ How important is a name? Consider this:  a set of twins grow up and the only name they are given is “Twin.” Outside appearances and even mannerisms, likenesses, and desires are a complete match. In such an instance a mate comes along and wishes to marry one of them, except there is no way to distinguish one from the other and they have such a likeness to one another the mate becomes confused at times, because as it turns out they both like the mate. Having a name in such a case would definitely make things so much easier, if these twins are males the lady of interest would be at least able to call out the name of the one that she is interested in and then know that is the one she is with. This is no different with God. Unless we distinguish who it is we claim to be God then we fall short of leading ourselves to worship anything and even worse, we lead others out of a good intention to do the same. The God of Moses told him upon delivering his message t...

Everyone has their thoughts on why a reality TV personality is being favored by the voting block of Republican voters.  Many say that it is America’s weariness of Washington Insiders and if they want to shake things up they have to go with an outsider.  I don’t think so. Simply put, conservatives are looking for another Reagan and since he was more of an outsider when he ran, they are looking in that general direction and so many are attempting to claim that title.  It is believed that someone not of Washington will grab the spirit of Reagan and lead their party back to prominence and glory.  They believe in Reagan and all others are attempting to model themselves after him.  The only problem is, this is but one Reagan and none of those running are even close to him. Reagan had his faults but he was no without humility and compromise.  He knew that in order to get all he wanted, he needed to take a little at a time from several different areas to f...

As a beginner when it comes to political campaigns and not as experienced as those she has around her, I have listened to some of her speeches and saw how quickly her husband has stepped on his tongue, all this reminds me of the message she was sending during her contest with Senator Barrack Obama and all that was left was “oh no not again”.  I then came to the realization that there are only two things she needs to change is her message and her husband. Let’s deal with Bill first, many call him the greatest weapon in the Democratic arsenal and at one point maybe he was.  Maybe the Bill we wish to remember is the one who had his entire plan mapped out in front of him, knew where he wanted to go and most importantly how to get there.  Yes he made several missteps along the way but to a person those who voted for him was very glad they did.  I don’t think we are looking at the same Bill today.  The drive he had then was so that he could lead the free world ...

Well I guess that depends on who you are, where you came from and how far those who are supposed to be lead allow you to take them. Today I received a letter and on the outside envelope the return address  looks to be the signature of Ted Cruz, under it is printed “ U.S. Senator Ted Cruz ”, under that is printed “ personal business ” and finally under that is printed “ not printed or mailed at taxpayer expense ”.  Right next to the window of that same envelope is printed the words “ check enclosed ”.  This is a 4 page mailer paid for by Cruz for President in which they suggest that if I care about conservative values I need to send them a 45 dollar check immediately and when that happens a big money donor will match that donation but time is limited and the offer will expire in the next 7 days.  It appears to be pushing against the moderate Republicans that they say are in the mold of Mitt Romney or John McCain. The weirdest thing of all is, I do not know h...

Formed from clay and infused with and brought alive by a spirit made in the image of God and blessed with the power to reproduce and re-create these man-made bodies, we occupy these worlds and spend much of our earthly lives searching for a reason for us existing.  Only to finally come to a realization that our being here is not by accident but because of a purposeful and loving God who chose to create a spirit that would take the best of him and spread it all over these universes.  However, by putting evil in charge of preparing these nations for our arrival, God overlooked the thought that evil would be filled with so much hate for him, that he would turn that hate on his greatest creations and add something to preparation of nations by making it very easy to corrupt God’s greatest gift to any nation. I say that this is true, not because I claim to be smarter and more intelligent than any others that have come before me and shall come after and not because I wish to bec...

Been hearing this phrase being thrown around and finally got a few people to tell me what this is supposed to mean.  They tell me that it's simply watching what you say and where you say it because it could be considered offensive and if anyone or any group considers what you said or what you do as offensive then by default it is.  While this may work and make sense for many, it does not to me and therefore I call “stupid” on it.  Not because I do not care about the feelings or others or that I have not been the victim of offensive language directed toward me.  I call “stupid” on it because like being sin-free, it is virtually impossible to be and stay politically correct based on that definition. It’s impossible because in order not to offend, one must then have complete control over how their words or actions are taken by another person or a group of people.  Since none of us possess that power, how can you expect to be politically correct in all and ever...

In the beginning, judges were set up to administer justice by counseling and being peacemakers between those who had a dispute.  They were supposed to be above bribes and godly which is where wearing of the dress/robe may have come in.  They were supposed to listen carefully to all sides then find common ground, make the ultimate decision where both parties walked out of there with a slight win and all would be fair and balanced.  That was how it was supposed to work so what happened to that concept now. According to Exodus Chapter 18 Moses’ father in law, Jethro came to visit, saw him spending morning to night helping to settle people’s disputes among them and when asked called himself a judge to dispense who was right or wrong.  His father in law gave him some advice and told him to choose capable, godly, honest men who hate bribes and appoint them judges under him.  They could decide and hear the smaller cases but if the case was too complex or complicat...

In a conversation with friends and family, I mentioned back in 2010 how it would be nice if we would incorporate all races history into our American History so that all of us can share in the accomplishments of people from all races who were heroes and provided a leadership role or a  mentor ship  to all who came after in building this nation and the world.    Since then I hadn’t thought too much about it until recently. I kept hearing the phrase “I want my country back” but never really paid that much attention to it.  I shrugged it off as a saying adopted by a few closet Klan members and moved on.  It resurfaced recently and I was compelled to asking those who said it exactly what they meant.  The answers I got were more confusing than the phrase and today, no one has been able to tell me exactly what they mean when they say “they want their country back”.  The only thing that I can think of and what makes the most sense to me is ...

For me, there was no one better at having an opinion about anything and everything than I was.  You could ask me about anything and immediately I would pontificate and even speak so passionately about it that I would convince myself I knew more about that subject than I actually did.  Boy, was I so full of myself and until lately never really thought that this could be wrong and a major mistake in the salvation of my soul.  I am now coming around to believing that pretending to have an idea about anything and everything is not a mark of a well-traveled gent nor is it a true mark of wisdom.  I’m coming around to thinking that it is simply a mark of an unsure and uncertain person who desperately desires to be accepted and liked.  A person who may do anything and everything to just feel a part of something and to be seen in a much more favorable light than he has in the past.  I’m coming around to the thinking that I am more concerned about how others see me ...

Was checking my email and ran across this email from a group calling themselves the Dream Defenders titled “No One Hand Should Have All That Power”  in it talks about the power of social media and how we as human being allows it to have so much control over our lives.  The over-all message appears to be “Millions of our youth are internalizing the notion that democracy is the ability to say and do as you please without the responsibility of consequences or to a collective greater than oneself” and it calls for all of us to “think of our responsibilities to others in everything that we do and build”.  While I must say that I can see, understand and agree with their point, this email made me began to realize that we, as human beings, do this with so many other things including but not limited to social media.  You hear it in the speech of mostly anyone you come in contact with when they say, I would have done something different had I been in charge and it has app...