Steve Jobs on Work, Passion, Life, and Death

Steve Jobs work passion life death by Chris Banescu –
As the world mourns the passing away of Steven P. Jobs, the visionary entrepreneur and creative genius behind Apple, it’s important to remember some timeless insights and essential lessons for life that he talked about. I was reminded of the maturity and wisdom of his message while watching a video of an inspiring and thoughtful Commencement address he delivered to the Stanford University graduating class on June 12, 2005. There are several notable comments and sage advice I highlight below. They have helped and reassured me, I hope they will help you also.

Steve Jobs on the importance of dealing with hardships, finding work that you are passionate about, loving what you do, and following your vocation:

“I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

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Coddling Misinformation About Taxation

Warren Buffet Obama Taxation Misinformation Taxesby Chris Banescu –
Warren Buffett and President Obama claim that the rich do not pay enough taxes. They both blame the American tax code of being unfair and coddling the rich. Both have been pushing the same class-warfare narrative for many years, using current US capital gains and dividends taxation rates as evidence for their big government progressive agenda. Both are spreading misinformation about all the taxes corporations and individuals actually pay.

As far back in 2007, Mr. Buffet, the third-richest man in the world, began criticizing the US tax code for its low tax rates on dividends and capital gains from long-term investments. One of his most infamous statements, one often repeated by the Left to support its punish the rich schemes, was made in a speech at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser for Senator Hillary Clinton in New York:

“The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.”

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Predators with Ph.D.s

B4U-ACT evil abuse demonic predatorsby Chris Banescu –
The latest offensive against morality, decency, and sanity in America has been launched by a pro-pedophilia group and several academics who openly advocate for the normalization and legalization of pedophilia.  Referring to Judeo-Christian moral principles and values as “cultural baggage of wrongfulness” and an adult’s desire to sexually molest a child as “normative,” these predators with Ph.D.s are hell-bent on destroying key moral boundaries and critical societal norms that protect innocent children from pathological and dangerous adults.

On August 17 of this year, the pro-pedophilia group B4U-ACT sponsored an event in Baltimore attended by researchers, professors, mental health professionals, and “minor-attracted persons” (MAP, a euphemism for “adults who crave sex with children”).  These individuals endorse the adult molestation of children, consider this sexual perversion as normal, and advocate for the declassification of pedophilia as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). [Read more…]

Bishop Savas is Wrong on Taxes on the Poor and the Rich

Bishop Savas Zembillas Wrong on Taxes
Bishop Savas (GOA)

by Chris Banescu –
Bishop Savas (Zembillas), GOA’s Director of the Office of Church and Society, has launched into yet another missive against conservatives whom he frequently condemns of hating the poor and only protecting the rich. On his facebook page, the main venue where one can find the bishop’s real views and interests, he recently posted a blame Republicans editorial from The New York Times titled “The New Resentment of the Poor.” Apparently forgetting that envy is a sin and truth-telling a virtue, Bishop Savas highlights his class-warfare passions in several false claims he posted in the discussions related to the NYT article.

This is not the first time Bishop Savas has posted such biased hit pieces on his facebook wall. He has a long history of supporting pro-Democrat and anti-Republican views via his many postings of overwhelmingly liberal and leftist-leaning commentary from NPR and The New York Times, his favorite sources of “balanced and objective” news and views. However, this latest editorial further showcases his superficial and misinformed thinking on taxation via several outlandish statements that distort the truth and advance a leftist/progressive agenda.
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Lessons in Leadership from an Airline Captain

Captain Chesley Sullenberger by Chris Banescu –
It is often in times of crisis and life-threatening emergencies that the real character of an individual is made manifest. The contrasts between the leadership of an American airline captain and that of our current president offer us an opportunity for personal and societal reflection. The differences could not be more striking.

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport with 155 passengers and crew on board. In the cockpit of the Airbus A-320 twin-engine aircraft were Captain Chesley Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles. With First Officer Skiles at the controls, the airplane climbed away from the airport. As flight 1549 approached an altitude of 3,000 feet, the plane struck a flock of geese and instantly lost thrust in both engines. At once Captain Sullenberger realized that both engines were failing and imminent danger awaited the passengers and crew. He quickly put his hand on the side stick, called out “my airplane” (at 3:53 in the video), and took over control of the aircraft from First Officer Skiles. There was no panic, no fuss, no paralysis, no moment of indecision — just calm, competent leadership and confident action. [Read more…]

Obama’s America: ‘It’s all about ME’

While America is going through very tough economic times, with unemployment at all time highs, inflation skyrocketing, financial markets in turmoil, the dollar’s value free-falling, federal deficit spending out-of-control, and the potential of another Great Recession or Depression threatening the country, President Obama is off to another round of golf and a lavish and luxurious vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. The character of a man is made manifest in times of crisis!

Obama America - All about ME
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The Non-Christian ‘Christians’ of the Netherlands

Klaas Hendrikse non-Christian impostor
Klaas Hendrikse

by Chris Banescu –
In an attempt to become more hip, modern, worldly, and relevant various Christian denominations have abandoned, over the years, many of the Christian sacraments, traditional forms of worship, and even universal moral precepts and teachings of the faith. Endless streams of “enlightened” pastors and priests or priestesses have interpreted and re-interpreted the Scriptures in ways that significantly diluted or distorted the actual teachings of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Christian faith as taught and practiced by the ancient Orthodox Christian Church since the time of the original Apostles. Few, however, while still claiming to be Christian and remaining sane, had ever fully crossed the line into outright and complete apostasy. That is no longer the case. Several Protestant “churches” in the Netherlands now proclaim that God doesn’t exist, Christ was just a man, and there is no life after death.

A prominent figure of the mainstream Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) is ‘reverend’ Klaas Hendrikse, author of the infamous book Believing in a God that does not exist: the manifesto of an atheist pastor. In his sermons Mr. Hendrikse paints a dark and hopeless picture of human existence and the meaning of life: [Read more…]