HE'S RIGHT

The following is a quote by Gene Simmons (member of rock band KISS) which I came across today:

'...he has little sympathy with the anti-capitalist protesters outside St. Paul's." What they're really arguing about is they don't have jobs - but there are plenty of jobs. It just may not be the job you want. Too bad. Start at the bottom, the way your mum and grandmother did, and work your way up... Never a lender or a borrower be. Avoid credit cards. Pay Cash. It's common sense. But people don't have common sense. They have greed."'

For those who don't know who he is, this is him:

Can you spot the 'leodhsach' coming through Donald Trump? If you didn't already know, his mum came from Lewis.

DAVID MILLIBAND REMINDS US HOW OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY HE IS

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15774291

Everyone and his dog knows how stupid it is to make a song-and-dance out of footballers being ignorant on the pitch, but what does David Milliband do? He paints this petty silliness as the cardinal sin. Talk about a wasted opportunity to show the sensible attitude and just dismiss it as the feckless nonsense that it is.

THE GREAT LEWIS FUEL RIP-OFF

Since moving back to the island in August after 10 years on the mainland, the first time I ever had to pay over £100.00 to fill my tank was my first fill-up back in SY.

Shocking. And again I say, Shocking.

LIKE THE BANKS

Everyone knows about the mercenary rapacity of the banks posting obscene profits while every one else suffers. Well, this is exactly the same.

CARTEL

It is obvious that the people selling the fuel have all agreed that it would work against them to compete with each other as the inevitable result would be that they would have to drop their prices - they would all lose out. Better to agree to keep them up.

It is common knowledge that fuel retailers make a very slim profit margin - that doesn't stop healthy competition on the mainland. But it does here. Why? GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED GREED.

NO MORE INERTIA

People of Lewis - are you listening? NO MORE INERTIA.

No more shrugging of the shoulders and hoping someone else will bang on the doors of these robbers - yes - ROBBERS. These people are in collusion - agreement - aiding and abetting.

OK people, what are we going to do about it? Let's get organised.

ABUSE OF THE LAW

Recently, I met someone who described to me an experience he'd had with the law here in Stornoway.

He was doing contract work for the largest employer in the Outer Hebrides and was having trouble getting his money, so he phoned them. In the course of the call he lost his cool and called the man a f****** b******. The police were contacted and my friend was charged and fined £450 for breach of the peace.

Now, this is an easy one. We don't have to be Einstein to see how wrong this is - charged with breach of the peace for swearing down the phone? Do me a favour! Not that I'm condoning swearing or anything - but would you call the police because someone swore at you during an argument?

The person who reported him is not the only one at fault, so too is the justice of the peace that fined him - who should have just said, "ma chrech sa chanich (Gaelic) - off you go, and don't be swearing down the phone at any more petty minded people."

The blame for this kind of thing really lies with our silly legislators who have long since deemed the hurting of someone's feelings to be the cardinal sin.

Makes you wish you were a judge sometimes.

A WARNING

I Have just received an email out of the blue, claiming to be from Google, informing me that I am the "lucky" winner of £500,000.

Now, I don't want to insult your intelligence, but if you get one, do the sensible thing - DELETE - it's a scam.

MORE MADNESS

Here's a link to the latest chunk of insanity masquerading as justice:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15333744

So a man has been jailed for 8 months for being a bigot. Surely this has made history. When was a man last jailed for voicing an opinion, however distasteful?

Right. I demand we trawl the records and find every person who has ever said anything bad about anyone and bang them up. We can start with the muslims that rant about cutting people's heads off. We can search the internet (that should turn up heaps), we can send out special agents to catch out their neighbours if they say anything wrong (you know, like the Soviets used to do). Who knows, maybe one day someone will invent a mind reading machine so we can really police thoughts properly and cleanse society of all the baddies - whoa, heaven on earth!

Oh dear, am I beginning to sound like a Nazi, or a communist, or the kind of bigots this legislation is meant to be against?

Oh, I forgot, it only applies to football supporters. So the rest of us are OK then - we can rant all we like and get off, scot free.

Isn't it strange that the biggest bigots of all seem to be the ones who shout loudest about bigotry?

For example:

In this case the biggest and blindest bigots are:

OUR LAWMAKERS.

SPONTANEOUS EVANGELISM

Earlier today, just before 5.30, I answered a knock on my front door. It was a couple of local Stornoway boys aged about 10. They were looking for my boys. It being the Lord's day I asked them if they knew the fourth commandment. 'No', was the reply.

'Have you heard of the ten commandments?', I asked.

'Something to do with church and all that,' said one.

I asked them if they believed in God. The muted answer was in the negative.

'Who do you think made you - do you believe that you grew out of a piece of sludge?'

'My mum.'

'And who made your mum?'

'Her mum.'

'And who made the very first mum and dad?'

A shrug was the response.

'It was God.' I said. 'Do you know which is the best-selling book in the world?'

'No.'

'The Bible. That's God's book, he wrote it, and it's all in there.'

'How are you supposed to read that - it would take ages.'

'You don't have to read it from beginning to end. The Bible is full of little bits of important information scattered all the way through it.'

I told them the fourth commandment tells us to '"remember to keep the Sabbath day holy." That means we aren't to ignore God and just go about doing whatever we want on the Lord's day, enjoying ourselves - God didn't create us to enjoy ourselves, he created us to enjoy him.'

'So what are you supposed to do, just sit in the house all day?'

'No, you go to church, to worship God, and other things. God is real, and you can know him. He lives inside you, in your soul. That's what a Christian is, someone who has God living inside them.

'We all have to die one day, and no one knows when that day will be. Do you know what happens when you die?'

'No.'

Well, our body goes into the ground and rots away, and the soul - the invisible part - goes to God, then we have to answer for our lives - did we ignore God or did we believe in him? And if we ignored him, well I'm afraid it will be very bad for us.'

'We go down', said one of them, indicating with his thumb.

'That's right - down, to the fire which burns forever - hell. But if we believe in him, the opposite is true - it's very good for us. And do you know the secret?'

'No.'

'You ask him. When you're alone, you pray to him and ask him to show you.'

That was the basic sum of our conversation which occurred at my front door in the Cearns today. We have only moments in those situations, you're striking while the iron's hot and you certainly don't have time to prepare your sermon - but oh, how wonderfully scriptural it is - spontaneous evangelism.