[TheRealThing]

Unless one believes that billionaires have managed to escape the "steeped in sin at birth," you, TRT, ought to be cognizant here. The United States is not in a free fall. That is hyperbole.

I am wary of Exxon-Mobil's CEO, who orchestrated exploitative land grabs in far off lands, and who sits in board rooms with Putin and friends talking oil prices and revenues and "human capital" as pawns in a great game of real world chess. That's one.

However, "cause for concern" does not mean, in my view, automatic attribution of failure. It means be alert and watching, with a healthy skepticism.

Maybe a nation guilty of murdering three quarters of a million babies each year is not in freefall and maybe it is. Maybe a society which recognizes homosexuality as perfectly viable behavior and has passed law awarding 'life partners' tax payer funded benefits is signatory of freefall and maybe it isn't. If FDR was right and December 7, 1941 does live in infamy, then I would argue that so will the ides of August 2012. That was the day our President drew the 'red line' for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Since that time the dictator in question did in fact use chemical weapons on his own people, and since that day over a half a million of same have died. So I say that maybe, there are quite a few folks in Aleppo who would side with me on the matter. Believe me, I could go on. I believe if history is any indicator, a few well placed smart bombs ala the ones dropped on the proximity of one Muammar Gaddafi and it would have been problem solved, and about 500,000 people would still be with us.

In any case, Christianity would seem to be in retreat in our society. In a fit of demonic irony, the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ evidently causes the lost who see it as much agony as a vampire in a Hollywood production. It's the Christmas season, and right on cue the ACLU sued the town of Knightstown, Indiana, forcing them to remove a cross used as a Christmas Tree topper from a tree in the town square. And the people of Knightstown? They're furious. Of course these are all signs of our moral freefall. However, Christianity will not be driven back and the forces of Satan (I've already read the end of the book) will be defeated. But the indications should be clear enough. Upon the birth of our Savior the angel's message to the shepherds and all of mankind was "Peace on Earth and goodwill towards men." Man's message is do not display the cross on pain of lawsuit. I would ask, which message is positive? We are in freefall. I know one thing, only the enemies of Christ oppose the cross.

A quick trip to the internet and you come up with Steve Coll's indictment of big business and Rex Tillerson huh? Vague and nonspecific hogwash. And that is not to say there is not something out there to disqualify Tillerson, but that is for those who are to confirm him to determine.