The Wicked Witch of the West

Nancy Pelosi actually has someone who is running against her for the San Francisco seat in the House of Representatives...and, he has a sense of humor! How cool is that? His name is John Dennis. Go to You Tube and search for wicked witch Nancy Pelosi. Note the reference to the McCain-Feingold incumbent-protection-mandated-message at the end of the video. Surprisingly, (heh) the powers that be would not allow me to post the video here.

On Communism, Capitalism, and Christianity

via Theo Spark







The Wall Street Journal has a front page story today about the fact that Cuba is going to lay off half a million state workers between now and March, and try to encourage the development of free market capitalism! Interestingly, the Journal article says that the Catholic Church has been recommending this course of action to the Castro brothers for some time now. But, how will these laid-off workers be absorbed into the private economy, when there is not much of a private economy to absorb them? 85% of Cuba's workers belong to the state union, and work for the state. Unlike here in America, where public sector jobs pay more than private sector jobs, when all benefits are considered, in Cuba it is the opposite. The few private sector jobs they do have pay three times what the public sector jobs pay.

Capitalism is based on the simple principle of providing goods or services that people decide voluntarily to choose to buy in a competitive marketplace. Socialism, of course, is based on the principle of taking away from some people to distribute to others; the opposite of voluntary choice.

One of the companies that has succeeded in the free market is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart emphasizes the three A's. All cashiers are trained to Acknowledge the customer with a warm smile as soon as the customer gets within ten feet of the cashier. Then Wal-Mart expects the cashier to Act on behalf of the customer; providing excellent service to that customer. Finally, Wal-Mart expects their cashiers to Appreciate the customer; to let the customer know that their business is appreciated. One of the features of the Wal-Mart experience is that there is a greeter at the door to make sure you have a shopping cart and are greeted with a friendly hello when you enter the building and thanked when you leave. Simple, but basic. Wouldn't all of us be better off if we ran our families on those three basic principles?

Of course, there is much more to the Wal-Mart story. There is also the principle of providing people with the stuff they want at a price that is lower than anybody else's. Those cashiers I mentioned? They have to be willing to put into practice cheerfully and sincerely those three A's, while working for wages and benefits that are lower than the union-operated stores of Wal-Mart's competitors. To survive on the low wages, Wal-Mart employees have to be willing to go along with the Biblical injunction not to lay up for themselves treasures on this Earth; meaning that they have to live simply with not a lot of material possessions, and still be people who practice the golden rule established a couple of centuries ago by Jesus Christ.

Fed up with appeasement

Talk radio has a real lively issue today: the Florida pastor's desire to burn the Qu'ran tomorrow. Judging by the calls I have heard, there is widespread support for this idea. People are tired of what they perceive as our country's kowtowing to muslims. There can be no doubt that Obama is an appeaser, and that he is solidly supported in these endeavors by the dinosaur media, and that a large segment of Americans are fed up with it.

"Conservatism's Extreme Makeover"

In my daily trip to the Washington Rebel blog, I was referred to an excelllent piece in the American Thinker blog by J.R. Dunn entitled Conservatism's Extreme Makeover. Dunn examines the history of conservatism from William F. Buckley to today's Tea Party movement.

Here are a couple of excerpts, but I urge you to read the whole thing.

Conservatives wasted effort and energy on silly crusades against popular culture, style, and behavior that isolated them still further from average Americans. Nothing about American music, film, sport, or social life seemed to please the new center-right. This deepened their isolation along with earning them a reputation as humorless, over-intellectualized stuffed shirts.

His conclusion:

The year 2010 is likely to be a banner year for the conservative impulse in American life. The Tea Parties have already pushed aside several go-along-to-get-along Republican hacks (which in itself repudiates accusations of partisanship). The sweep of corrupt and ideologized Democrats promises to be an order of magnitude larger. But the 2010 election may well turn into no more than another good election season if we don't take advantage of the disarray in the left's messaging system. We need to look farther and deeper than a single election. We need to bury the calumnies against conservatism that have given the left the advantage for a half-century and longer. To remove the weapon of slander from leftist hands. Elite conservatives failed to attempt this for decade upon decade. The time has arrived to see that it gets done. We must move to change the culture, to establish once and for all the truth that conservatism is a core element of American life, that it is no oddity, no perversion, no dead end. That the modernist political debate is over, with the failure of leftist progressivism manifest and undeniable, and that the game must now be played on American terms.


We will have no better opportunity than this. That most American of political phenomena, the Tea Parties, has established once and for all that conservatism is American and that America is a conservative nation. If we can build upon this, our road will be a lot smoother than it has been.

Blood-sucking relationships

There are many things happening in today's world that I do not understand. Close to the top of the list is people's fascination with vampires. In times like this, when money is tight, to say the least, how is it that so many people spend their limited discretionary funds on books, movies, and cable t.v. shows that glorify blood-sucking relationships?

Who on Madison Avenue is behind this? How did so many people get this addiction? If any reader of this blog has any insight into this phenomena, I would really appreciate hearing from you. It is not just teenage girls; the phenomena has a solid grip on adults, too. It seems to be mainly females, though, who are caught up in this. Why?

Colleen thinks it is about risk containment. A woman knows that a relationship with a man involves risk, but she also believes she can change him, domesticate him.. By engaging in romantic love with that man, does she hope to contain the risk? Kinda like a romance novel with extra bite?

The Burning Platform

Tonight I read a blog with which I was very impressed. Backing up esays with impressive graphs, The Burning Platform had these stories: THE AGE OF MAMMON, RETAILERS - REALITY CHECK TIME, To Burn - or Not to Burn (The Qu'ran), YOU CALL THIS AUSTERITY?, WHERE THE JOBS AREN'T, and REAL WORLD IMPACT OF OBAMACARE.

Demographics matter

Daphne, who writes the Jaded Haven blog in the great state of Texas, has some thoughts about what Texas is going to look like in the not-too-distant future. As Mark Steyn showed in his brilliant book America Alone, demographics matter. Here is an excerpt from her post on the demographics of Texas:

Texas will become a majority Hispanic state within eight short years. By 2020 the majority of Texas voters will be Hispanic and we will no longer be a reliably red state in senate or presidential elections. Several other western and southern states will quickly follow suit as the tide of Hispanic births drastically alters predictable voting patterns and we’ll eventually watch the political fruits of our GOP business friendly immigration policies fundamentally change the American face of politics forever.

The "new tyranny of multiculturalism"

Victor Davis Hansen, in a new blog called RIGHTNETWORK, posts on the subject of multiculturalism. Here is a brief excerpt:

What are the wages of this new tyranny of multiculturalism?

One, the double standard is untenable. Once we deify multiculturalism, all else becomes subordinate. There is no reason why feminists should object that Muslim immigrants arrange marriages or practice female circumcision inside the U.S. In sum, multiculturalism will eventually discredit liberal feminism and the entire idea of universal racial and religious tolerance.

Two, bigotry abroad will only grow, as others sense that the United States lacks the confidence in its own values to extend its self-critical principles abroad. Already, countries not only smile at the notion that a self-proclaimed liberal United States proves not so brave in its criticism overseas, but also believes, even if in condescending fashion, that non-Westerners enjoy some sort of high moral ground that shields them moral audit.

Three, the contradictions lead to caricature. This was best evidenced last summer in Cairo when President Obama falsely claimed certain historical achievements on the part of Islam—from helping to foster the European Renaissance and Enlightenment to Muslim opposition to Christian inquisitions in Cordoba—all the while delineating Western shortcomings. The problem was not just that even President Obama’s compliant audience in Cairo did not believe all that, but they also earned certain delight with his strange eagerness to bend the truth on their behalf. Here at home, supporters did not care that their President had fabricated and distorted history; it was his intention to reach out to the other that mattered.

Multiculturalism is a good reminder that when standards are relative, there are no standards at all.

Can laughing at serious problems help you to solve them?

I have hinted a few times that I am trying to deal with an incredibly difficult situation in my life. Faithful and much appreciated reader, Terri Wagner, read my recent post on Christopher Buckley's satirical novel, Boomsday, and shared this insight in the comments section at the end of the post at Bob's Blog: "Sometimes laughing at a serious problem helps you to solve it, now why is that so?" If that question is not fodder for a blog post, I don't know what would be!

In a recent blog post entitled Making Good Choices, I quoted from two consultants who advised, among other things, that the person who has the problem should try to go directly to the source in order to "get the real story." But what if that leads one to heartbreak or to self-pity, two highly undesirable experiences? The consultants also advised that we try to be optimistic and hopeful; to look at the future with positive expectations, even though one is trying to deal with an extremely difficult situation in the present. I like that approach. Humor is one way to turn negative expectations into positive ones. It also helps rid one of self-pity, anxiety and heartbreak.

Most helpful of all, though, is belief in a loving God, and faith that by acknowledging my own role in the creation of the problem, asking for the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, and trusting God, a better reality will emerge. Maybe it is the Holy Spirit who is leading me to utilize humor in solving the problem!

But wait, there's more!

This morning I turned on the radio and heard that a preacher in Florida plans to have a book-burning on September 11. The problem is that the book he plans to burn is the Koran! General Petraeus has asked that he not do so. My first thought was that this is straight out of a Christopher Buckley novel!

Then there was the story about the woman who for years has been involved with a lawsuit pending against the USDA for millions of dollars on behalf of black farmers in Georgia. The Obama administration hired her to have a high level position where? The USDA! But wait, there is more! Someone sent to Andrew Breitbart excerpts of a video in which the woman, Shirley Sherrod, is seen addressing a predominantly black audience, telling them that she had received a request from a poor white farmer for some assistance. The audience appeared to happily receive her initial words that she did not want to help the white farmer. Breitbart published the video. Sherrod was fired from her USDA position

But wait, there's more! It turns out that in fact she did help the white farmer, as a viewing of the entire video, not an excerpt, would have revealed. The "mainstream media," whose biases Breitbart is dedicated to exposing, skewered Breitbart. Breitbart blogs at Andrew Breitbart.com, but he also is the proprietor of three other excellent blogs, Big Hollywood, Big Journalism, and Big Governemnt.

But wait, there's more! An incident had allegedly occurred in which members of Tea Party groups had spat upon two black members of Congress as they were walking into the Capitol building. The Tea Party members also allegedly used the vile "n" word. Breitbart had obtained videos of the members of the black caucus as they walked into the capitol, and in the videos there is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations. Breitbart took the videos to NBC, CBS, and ABC, but none were interested in exposing the fact that no one confronted the Black politicians on their walk to the Capitol. No one from the black caucus has produced videos or eye-witnesses to substantiate their allegations. Do you suppose it is possible a scenario of alleged racism was cooked up by politicians to discredit the Tea Party movement? Nah, that sounds like something straight out of a Christopher Buckley novel!

My point is that a wonderful satirical novelist like Buckley can help us realize that politicians really can have sinister motives behind the actions they take. Laughing at the novel helps us not to take seriously the allegations made by politicans in real life to manipulate us one way or another on issues.

Church Planning to Burn Korans on 9-11

As a follower of Jesus, I am extremely concerned when "fellow followers of Jesus" feel the need to take drastic action to make a point, like burning Korans.

I cannot in good conscience support this action. I have been struck again and again by the need to consider seriously the words of Jesus and the early church of "overcoming evil with good" and "when your enemy strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek so he may strike it also".

I have struggled mightily in my life between pacifism and fighting back. I still debate that in my heart. I do think there is a difference between the actions of the church and the actions of a government.

In this case, to burn Korans is to become the enemy. This is an action that will sow discord, hatred and fear in my opinion. We must overcome evil with good. Evil, not being Muslims, but evil being those who would want to enforce Sharia law upon humanity, overthrowing Western ideals like democracy and the rule of law providing equal access and freedom to express ideas like my own and contrary to my own.

Lord, please guide our church leaders to channel their frustration to righteous deeds and action.

Cockroach Brains May Be a Source of Antibiotics

I have officially seen everything!

From Bloomberg: "Cockroach brains may be a source of new antibiotics capable of killing deadly drug resistant bacteria, according to research that suggests the germ spreading pests may be good for something after all..."

Democrats Bringing Surprise Tax Cut?

Niall Ferguson, History Professor at Harvard University, and one of the more prescient thinkers today is predicting a surprise tax cut from the Democratic Party just before the election to take some of the steam out of the Republican Party. This is a 6 minute or so CNBC interview and Mr. Ferguson speaks with refreshing frankness as to the current political climate and the economic situations both in the US and in Europe. Mr. Ferguson, a Brit, is interviewed in Europe and I have to admit whenever I see several British guys talking in an interview format, that really, this is a Monty Python skit...

Good interview nonetheless!

The Lancer

Making good choices

If you are like me, you are faced with difficult decisions. Reading the Denver Post's job section again today brought me some pearls of wisdom from consultants Jamie and Maren Shokeir. These tips are designed to help you in the workplace, but it seems to me they also work in the home, and I added my own perspective.

1. Acknowledge your role in the problems you are trying to deal with. See yourself in control of your future.
2. If you spend too much time speculating on what may happen next, things may get worse.
3. Get the real story. I am prone to anxiety attacks, fear of loss. The best way to deal with anxiety is to ask direct questions about the bottom line.
4. Don't play the victim. That leads nowhere except Hell.
5. Think big picture. Put aside rivalries. Collaborate.
6. Be more of a listener than a talker.
7. Try to focus on the possibility of better times ahead.

To these I would add: Turn to the Almighty. Ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you. Be aware of the things that push your anxiety and fear buttons, and turn to God when you know you are about to be tested.

A Brief Reminder Of Christian Theology

Boomsday

Now reading Boomsday, Christopher Buckley's hilarious take on how to fix the Social Security mess. The boomers reach the magic age of retirement, and who is left with the bill?

Once again, the chief character of the story is a woman. Ditto Florence of Arabia and Supreme Courtship. No doubt this reflects the influence of the complex and powerful woman who was Christopher's mother. Not only was he the beneficiary of such a fascinating woman, but now, we are, too.

To whom do we give attention?

Whenever I am home in the evenings I like to ask the kids if they want to go on a bike ride. Greg and Sara said yes last evening. I don't have gears in my bike, so the kids invariably charge out ahead of me on the sandy country road. Toward the end of the long ride, though, Sara fell behind and started to whimper loudly. I asked what was wrong. She did not answer. So, did I continue to cater to her and give her attention for expressing her misery? No! Instead, I told her that she would be going to bed as soon as we arrived home. She recovered amazingly, and soon passed me on the home stretch.

If you give kids attention when they are whining and wimpering, you lay the groundwork for that child to become a whiny, wimpering adult. I want to give attention to the child who is tackling a challenge, who is displaying good humor and enjoying life.

Front row students

After paying an unannounced visit to my sons' classrooms, I couldn't help but inquire of them how it is that both ended up being placed immediately adjacent to their teachers desks. Ten-year-old Jon explained that his teacher thought he might need that in order to focus on the tasks at hand. I noted that his teacher seemed like the type not to put up with clowning around. Jon agreed and said she is "really good about that." I asked him, "you mean you respect her for not putting up with your silliness?" He said yes, he did. We then had a good discussion about how kids need to know that adults care enough about them to not let them run over them. Those adults who do allow children to just always do what they want, are really giving the kids a message that they do not care.

Nine-year-old Greg then noted that teachers put kids in the front row who have demonstrated that they need to be "kept an eye on." I asked Greg if it was really true that he put up two fingers behind the teacher's head (making rabbit ears) while walking behind the teacher. He said yes, that is the reason he is now in the front row.



It was while paying my daily visit to the Washington Rebel blog, that I came across this parody from The Onion News, which reminded me to post about my discussion with my sons about being front row students.

Stephen Hawking: God didn't create universe

LONDON, England (CNN) -- God did not create the universe, world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book that aims to banish a divine creator from physics.

Hawking says in his book "The Grand Design" that, given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing," according to an excerpt published Thursday in The Times of London.

"Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he writes in the excerpt.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going," he writes.

His book -- as the title suggests -- is an attempt to answer "the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," he writes, quoting Douglas Adams' cult science fiction romp, "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going.

--Stephen Hawking

His answer is "M-theory," which, he says, posits 11 space-time dimensions, "vibrating strings, ... point particles, two-dimensional membranes, three-dimensional blobs and other objects that are more difficult to picture and occupy even more dimensions of space." He doesn't explain much of that in the excerpt, which is the introduction to the book.

But he says he understands the feeling of the great English scientist Isaac Newton that God did "create" and "conserve" order in the universe.

It was the discovery of other solar systems outside our own, in 1992, that undercut a key idea of Newton's -- that our world was so uniquely designed to be comfortable for human life that some divine creator must have been responsible.

But, Hawking argues, if there are untold numbers of planets in the galaxy, it's less remarkable that there's one with conditions for human life.

And, indeed, he argues, any form of intelligent life that evolves anywhere will automatically find that it lives somewhere suitable for it.

From there he introduces the idea of multiple universes, saying that if there are many universes, one will have laws of physics like ours -- and in such a universe, something not only can, but must, arise from nothing.

Therefore, he concludes, there's no need for God to explain it.

But some of Hawking's Cambridge colleagues said the physicist has missed the point.

"The 'god' that Stephen Hawking is trying to debunk is not the creator God of the Abrahamic faiths who really is the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing," said Denis Alexander.

"Hawking's god is a god-of-the-gaps used to plug present gaps in our scientific knowledge.

"Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative," said Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.

And Fraser Watts, an Anglican priest and Cambridge expert in the history of science, said that it's not the existence of the universe that proves the existence of God.

But, he said, "a creator God provides a reasonable and credible explanation of why there is a universe, and ... it is somewhat more likely that there is a God than that there is not. That view is not undermined by what Hawking has said."

Hawking's book will be published on September 7 in the United States and September 9 in the United Kingdom.

The Blaze

Glenn Beck has a new internet site called The Blaze. It advertises itself as a news, information, and opinion site. We'll see if he can do what he does not believe the "lamestream media" (Sarah Palin's phrase) is doing: seek the truth in a fair and balanced way.