Seven Churches - Entertainment or Real?
People will pay more to be entertained than educated - Johnny Carson
This Sunday, in our ‘Old Testament in Revelation’ class, we will be in Revelation chpts 2 & 3 studying the Seven Churches. As y'all read these chapters, think on present day possibilities of these churches. Don't do this exercise to pigeonhole any church or condemn, but rather to open our eyes to our own needs for local wisdom and our Lord's admonition to do better.
For me, the letters to these churches emphasize Jesus' words from Matt 24, "...There will be wars and rumors of wars..." In other words, don't get distracted 365 days a year by something we can only effect for one day in the voting booth, Washington DC. The other 364 days of the year, or 729 days on a two year election cycle, we have local concerns for the souls of our community that politics and rumors of wars and famines won't fix. Hence, what is REALLY happening in our local effects that imitate the seven churches?
I think that's worth praying and thinking about.
Below is the Springs Taxpayer newsletter for this week. It has a lot of local and State things to be concerned about. Most articles have links for deeper dives. Here’s a challenge… What are the effects - good and bad - that are modern attributes or characteristics of the seven churches of Asia?
Jay
Cost of Polis Regulatory Offensive, Prop HH Scam Updates, Trees for Inflation Reduction, and More!
Here are some of the stories we are following this week. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for up-to-the-minute news.
Red light cameras essentially sit there and collect money for the city. How much money, you ask? Well, since 2019, over $4.9 million in revenue from fines has been collected. Also, camera installations have increased from 4, to a whopping 22 red light cameras. All just sitting there collecting money. Who thinks this money should go toward a new police academy, rather than taking more of our money via a TABOR retention measure? Read all the details in our latest original article.
Jared Polis’ Prop HH is such an obvious scam to leverage property tax increases to rob taxpayers of more money, that even the Wall Street Journal is reporting on it. Don’t believe the stories coming out of the Polis camp: Proposition HH is a grotesque lie and a terrible idea.
Additionally, renters will be some of the biggest losers if Prop HH is passed by voters. Renters, being renters and not property owners, will receive zero property tax relief, but will have 100% of their TABOR refunds taken. Forever. When politicians tell you Prop HH is about property tax relief, they are lying.
This week in “education” news, Denver Public Schools makes lockstep adherence to radical left-wing ideology mandatory when hiring new teachers. Are they schools, or political indoctrination camps? The goal of Denver Public Schools seems to be promoting “social justice” initiatives and political activism over reading or arithmetic.
The response to 911 emergency calls in Colorado Springs is below the national average. This seems to be a problem that needs addressed. Why is the highest priority for Mayor Mobolade a new police academy, and how is a new police academy going to fix lax, and potentially dangerous, 911 response times?
Governor Jared Polis thinks gasoline-powered lawn equipment is, “loud, smelly and noisy”, so he’s leading the effort to ban gas powered lawn equipment for state workers and contractors. For the record, he doesn’t have the right to wave his royal hand and ban thing he finds distasteful. Anyway, let’s break this down: State workers will need to rid themselves of perfectly good, gas-powered lawn equipment, which will likely end up in landfills. Then, the taxpayers will be forced to purchase new, battery-powered lawn equipment. This new equipment is made from petroleum-based plastics, and rare-earth minerals that are mined in countries far away. Then, all these elements are sent to China to be assembled, and the end product is shipped to the United States on huge shipping vessels. All to save the earth. Understand the logic?
What do you think the vast array of nitpicky regulations from the Polis administration costs taxpayers? If you guessed $2 billion annually you would be correct. And that’s what it is costing so far. Expect this cost to rise and rise. Regulations negatively impact real wages and purchasing power for Colorado citizens. Math doesn’t lie, but politicians do.
Many folks are apparently hoping to offset the costs of Governor Jared Polis’ expensive regulatory frenzy by playing the lottery. The Colorado Lottery has announced its 3rd straight year of record sales. Good luck out there, lottery players. And please, remember your friends at Springs Taxpayers United if you hit the jackpot.
In Denver, the Homeless Industrial Complex expands every week. Mayor Mike Johnston now plans to use taxpayer dollars to convert hotels into housing, or drug dens possibly, for the homeless. The cost for this will be $48.6 million, at least to start. Being a Homeless Industrial Complex Kingpin sure is lucrative for all the right people.
Federal taxpayer dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act are being used to plant more trees in Colorado Springs. How exactly does this reduce inflation? Seems like absolute nonsense and an absolute abuse of taxpayer funds to us.
Also in tree news this week, did you know that a tree equity gap exists? It’s true, according to politicians, specifically in Denver. But don’t worry, government is here to address this dire circumstance with taxpayer funds. People in government simply live in an unserious alternate reality, funded by tax dollars taken from you by force.
In related inflation-reduction news, the US national debt has surpassed $33 trillion this week. Interest payments on this debt are over $700 billion. The average debt per taxpayer is around $254,000 and climbing every minute. We’ve seen this government-induced madness before, and it goes nowhere good.
Expect your utilities costs to rise soon. Colorado Springs Utilities will be requesting increased rates in order to manage aging infrastructure. Should managing aging infrastructure have been a higher priority than creating an unnecessary broadband boondoggle last year?
Though special taxing districts are a contentious issue, one thing is certain: they sure are taxpayer-funded cash cows for attorneys, developers, and other politically-connected folks.
Some local economists say that inflation is slowing. However, this reported slowing will not benefit your finances anytime soon.
If you would like to help support us in our mission as government watchdogs by becoming a Newsletter Sponsor, we are offering two sponsorships for each weekly newsletter, at the nominal cost of $100 each. Funds raised from these sponsorship opportunities will help us to keep looking out for taxpayers.
Here are some upcoming meetings in the area. We hope you can attend one or more!
If there are other public meetings you’d like to see announced here, please drop us a line. We are happy to include them in an upcoming newsletter. These might be government-related, candidate, or elected official meetings. Thanks!
Colorado Springs City Council Meetings
Monday, September 25, 1:00 p.m.
Colorado Springs City Council Work Session
107 N. Nevada, 3rd floor
Live stream link here
Agenda
Tuesday, September 26, 10:00 a.m.
Colorado Springs City Council
107 N. Nevada, 3rd floor
Live stream link here
Agenda
El Paso County Board of County Commissioner Meetings
Tuesday, September 26, 9:00 a.m.
El Paso County Board of County Commissioners
Centennial Hall
200 S. Cascade
Live stream link here
Agenda not yet posted
Tuesday, October 3, 9:00 a.m.
El Paso County Board of County Commissioners
Centennial Hall
200 S. Cascade
Live stream link here
Agenda not yet posted
Colorado Springs Utilities Board of Directors
Wednesday, September 27, 1:00 p.m.
Utilities Board of Directors
Blue River Board Room
Plaza of the Rockies, South Tower, 5th Floor
Live stream link here
Agenda
Miscellaneous Meetings of Interest
Monday, October 2, 6:00 p.m.
Law Enforcement Transparency and Advisory Committee
City Hall
107 S. Nevada Avenue, Suite 200
Also, online via Microsoft Teams
Information and Agenda
Saturday, October 7, 9:30 a.m.
Independence Institute Speaking Up and Speaking Out Class
Koelbel Library
5955 Holly Street, Centennial, CO