Well if you're ever in Elgin Texas, which is about 25 miles east of Austin, and you like good barbecue, I suggest you stop in at the Southside Market.

I promise you won't be sorry you did.

I hit the road early this morning and took the scenic route to Austin.

Instead of taking 183 staight in to Austin, I took it as far as Lampasas, then I took 281 south.

I always stop in Lampasas for a break at Sulphur Creek, and then I continued on through Marble Falls for another quick moment of peace where the Texas branch of the Colorado river flows.

These two stops are necessary because these places refresh my spirit and remind me why I love this Lone Star State.

They are just two of many places here in Texas and throughout this country that I've visited time after time because of their natural beauty and their calming influence upon this old mans soul.

I then headed down and took 71 on in to Austin.

I pulled in to headquarters, on the southeast side of Austin, a little after 9 am.

My two techs were there busy prepping the trucks and equipment for the Marfa Texas job.

After a couple of hours we were done and hungry.

So I treated them both to a barbecue lunch at Southside market, and we've been nothing but smiles and good natured conversation til now.

I checked into my room and showered and directly started writing this thread to you folks.

Tomorrow we're off to Marfa, where the desert awaits us and work begins.

I think I'll catch up on the news now which will undoubtedly lead to a nice nap.

I'm plum crazy about y'all, my OPP friends.

And as always I wish you;

Happy Trails.....................Amigos.

Muslims are as bad as the Christians and Jews when it comes to salvation. They all believe that if you're a member of their religion, you will go to Heaven and all non believers will go to Hell. Ezekiel 13:22 "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad: and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life". The only way into Heaven is righteousness and repentance. Both the wicked and the righteous come in all races, creeds, and colors. Right now, it doesn't matter what religion you are.

I would like you right wingers to recount all those "accomplishments" only you and the orange man can see...

The Environmental Protection Agency is weighing its options the day after a federal appeals court blocked the EPA from delaying implementation of Obama-era methane regulations, a major victory for groups fighting against the rollback of environmental rules under the Trump administration.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt first informed oil and gas industry leaders in a letter in April that the agency was reconsidering methane emissions rules, which required oil and gas companies to identify and fix equipment leaks, and placed a 90-day pause on certain core requirements for companies under the regulations. Later in June, the EPA announced a formal two-year freeze of the regulations in order for the agency to "look broadly" at the rules, absorb public comment and issue a final action on the specific requirements.
But in a 2-1 decision Monday from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the court concluded Pruitt "lacked authority" to halt implementation of the regulations.
"We are reviewing the opinion and examining our options," an EPA spokeswoman said in a statement to CNN.
The practical effect of the court's ruling means that EPA may still reconsider the Obama-era rule and solicit public comment, but the industry groups are not allowed to escape compliance in the meantime.
The ruling marked the latest legal defeat for the Trump administration's agenda in court, as federal judges across the country have blocked the President's attempts to fully carry out new rules on travel, immigration and punishing so-called, "sanctuary cities" for refusing to hand over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities through sweeping executive orders.
"The final (Obama-era) rule ... responded directly to comments and information EPA now claims it was impracticable for industry groups to have presented," and therefore, it was unreasonable for Pruitt to delay implementation explained Judges David Tatel and Robert Wilkins.
"EPA's decision to impose a stay, in other words, was 'arbitrary, capricious, (and) ... in excess of (its) ... statutory ... authority,'" they wrote.
Judge Janice Rogers Brown -- an appointee of President George W. Bush -- said in dissent that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case because Pruitt's freeze of the regulations didn't amount to a "final agency action" that is reviewable in federal court.

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I've listened and read and including our president's many tweets. I've come to this conclusion.
The republican congress and senate, formed a healthcare replacement for Obamacare. Okay, now there are a lot of problems with this Obamacare.
But the Trumpcare bill, as is, will leave 23 million of people without healthcare. The sickest and the working class poor who will not be able to afford increased premiums and or copays, because of pre existing conditions. Many will die. I believe it's the republican way of " culling the herd". In otherwords, thinning out the weak and sick. One other in history thought the same way, his name was Adolf Hitler.

Their hate and fear mongering days seem just about over. This alt-right and GOP appendage posing as a news outlet is about to meet their maker..and he is pissed. Misogyny, racism, debunked conspiracy theories as news, hiring Republicans affiliated with Republican campaigns as "impartial analysts," sexism, lies and distortions, and so on and so on have finally caused an implosion at this toxic venue of divisiveness and delusion. All credibility is gone. How it ever had any and why did this fall take so long are the two burning questions.

**************************
Einstein was a spiritual man but not too keen on religions that needed churches. From my readings, he believed in a power but without all the mysticism that so-called religious people prefer. His pursuit of science is proof that he did not believe in the "God theory" which automatically assumes that, if a quick answer could not be found, it was beyond man and was mystical. I do believe that he lived up until the beginning of the 20th century and passed before the introduction of the Big Bang theory.

Humans have developed numerous methods for justifying a lie, including a drop down menu of TYPES of lies with a corresponding lie factor, i.e. seriousness of the lie. An example would be a "white lie", where we lie for good purposes. The problem with that, is that it is completely arbitrary.

You might be surprised to know how many people lie, but convince themselves they're telling the truth. This process is called rationalization. An exaggeration is a lie, but we routinely do it and even accept when someone else does it, even when we're aware that they're doing it. Every salesman, every ad, turns exaggeration into an art form, and if we fall for the lie - we blame ourselves for not being savvy enough to avoid it.

We minimize lies by calling them something else, such as "stretching the truth". Listen to nearly any politician, and you'll see examples of every "type" of lie there is. Lies of omission ( I misheard the question ), minimizing facts that undermine their agenda, conflating numbers to bolster their point, outright lies ( I misspoke ) and creating "facts". The fact that everyone lies, that there are whole industries devoted to lying and the fact that it has been going on forever, does NOT make it ok.

Repentance and atonement is a four step process. 1) Remorse 2) Confession 3) Restitution and most importantly, 4) Change. There are seven deadly sins that cannot be forgiven. They are 1) Any sin against God's person 2) Any type of abuse or neglect of a child 3) Murder 4) Rape 5) Kidnapping 6) Paying or taking a bribe 7) False witness or swearing falsely by Hashem. We are required to forgive those who truly repent. It is a sin to take vengeance or hold a grudge. Leviticus 19:18. Vengeance belongs to God. There is a commandment to love God and God does not love everyone. She only loves the righteous who love her. Psalm 146:8, SOS 1:4, Proverbs 8:17. If we do not forgive God, for bad behaviors and things said, then God cannot forgive us. The Book of Life, also called the Book of Remembrance, will contain the names of those who love God, who fear God, and who have forgiven God. Malachi 3:16-17, Exodus 20:6, Daniel 12:1, Daniel 7:10. The guilty will not be forgiven by God. They are those who have committed a deadly sin and those who refuse to repent of their sin.

A lot of those adults that converted had substance abuse problems. How many times as a child did hear adults testifying to their faith get up and at I used to be a drunk but then I found God. They had turned one addiction into another. Although the religion wasn't damaging physically It is damaging to mental faculties Organized religion like to get them right about the start of puberty when their little minds are a blank slate and cram them full of a lot of nonsense. Bronze age Jiberish. atheists and agnostics do not behave less morally than religious believers, even if their virtuous acts are mediated by different principles. They often have as strong and sound a sense of right and wrong as anyone, including involvement in movements to abolish slavery and contribute to relief efforts associated with human suffering. The converse is also true:

A second problem is that there are no moral principles shared by all religious people (disregarding their specific religious membership) but no agnostics and atheists. This observation leads to a second: atheists and agnostics do not behave less morally than religious believers, even if their virtuous acts are mediated by different principles , including involvement in movements to abolish slavery and contribute to relief efforts associated with human suffering. The converse is also true: religion has led people to commit a long litany of horrendous crimes, from God’s command to Moses to slaughter the Midianites, men, women, boys and non-virginal girls, and save the virgins for them selves, through the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Thirty Years War of the 17th century, innumerable conflicts between Sunni and Shiite Moslems, and terrorists who blow themselves up in the confident belief that they are going straight to paradise.

The third difficulty for the view that morality has its origin in religion is that despite the sharp doctrinal differences between the world’s major religions, and for that matter cultures like ancient China in which religion has been less significant than philosophical outlooks like Confucianism, some elements of morality seem to be universal. One view is that a divine creator handed us the universal bits at the moment of creation. The alternative, consistent with the facts of biology and geology, is that we have evolved, over millions of years, a moral faculty that generates intuitions about right and wrong. For the first time, research in the cognitive sciences, building on theoretical arguments emerging from moral philosophy, has made it possible to resolve the ancient dispute about the origin and nature of morality.

You keep talking about "free will". Could anyone here explain what that means, please?

As I see it, you don't have any more free will than any other robot or Pavlov's dogs.

From the moment you are born you must follow a distinct path set for you by others.

Your parents start teaching you what they want you to know and do.

They were taught by their parents, who were taught by theirs, etc. who ultimately were taught by those who controlled your tribe in the distant past.

You speak in a code (language of your tribe).

You eat the foods that are common to your tribe.

You wear the clothing of your tribe. And change it's style when salesmen/con men in your tribe dictate a change.

With your mothers urging you are brainwashed to adhere to some tribal mysticism (religion), (whatever of the thousands of religions she has been brainwashed in) and taught that religion by the con men running that sect. As the Pope is quoted, "Give me a child for it's first 6 years and I will give you a Catholic for life".) You must know that the higher ups in that religion don't really believe it, don't you.

Ever watch a Catholic self hypnotize herself using her Rosary Beads and repeating the same litany over and over?

No most of you do not have free will by any means, as long as someone else controls what you think and do.


BTW, only a really stupid being would not realize that there is a Universal Intelligence that created and maintains the universe and everything that is in it. Give it whatever name you wish. But I doubt that you or me personally is of any real interest to it. And I doubt that it has such low self esteem that it would want us to worship it.

You are brainwashed with your country's political religion, (yes politics is another Pavlovian brianwashing).

You are lied to, hypnotized and victimized by similar procedures regardless of where you live.

Most of you have very little if any free will. Sorry about that.