Missing the Definition of Love

While channel surfing I came across an interview of Rick Warren by Ann Curry of NBC. Out of curiosity I decided to see how it went.

NBC is of course arguably the most left-wing network, pretty much undeniable in their so-called "news" programming over the last few years, and particularly obvious during the recent Presidential election. Ann Curry is one of the Today Show liberals, but I'd always thought she had been relatively pleasant and less confrontational with people she interviews who may hold more conservative views, compared to Matt and Katie.

But she really got in Warren's face about his support for Prop 8 in California. Even more than her somewhat surprising confrontational approach to him on the issue, I was surprised at the assumptions she made in attacking him.

Especially when she asked him how he could possibly deny the rights of two people to "love each other". That was the most revealing statement of where the gay marriage supporters and Ann are coming from on the issue.

Ann and her growing mob of fellow travelers have adopted the disease of narcissism that has become our national epidemic. They can't seem to separate love from sex.

For Ann and her crowd, apparently love is sex. Pastor Warren gave her a pretty good response, but it seemed to me that she didn't even process his answer, let alone understand it. The essence of his response was that mature adults must rise above their baser instincts and do what's right for themselves and each other. And the gay marriage movement he fears is more about the suppression of free speech and practice of religion than it is about same-sex couples making commitments to each other.

News flash: Love and sex are not corollary. Sex is part of the expression of married love and of course is necessary to perpetuate the species, but has never been the definition of love.

Can one love another without having sex with him or her? Absolutely.
Can one have sex with another without feeling "love"? I don't even need to answer that.

The interview included a discussion of the fact that Pastor Warren has given huge sums to the treatment of AIDS. Ann couldn't understand why he would do that and yet "hurt" gays by supporting Prop 8. I suppose she's never been to church, or she'd know the answer to that one.

Too bad shallow Ann doesn't understand those of us who belong to that strange tribe called "Christians".

I Can't Say it Better

Found this from somebody named Herb London of the Hudson Institute.

The America of now is one where Orwellian logic rules. Redistribution of wealth is fairness. Taxes are patriotic. The free market should be a regulated market. Big government is good for you. Politicians know what kind of health care is best for you. Choice should be limited, except when it comes to abortion. Power comes from being powerless. Progressive education is designed to promote progress toward socialism. Race doesn't count unless a person of color tells you it counts. Higher education gets lower each year. Those who create our problems should be asked to solve them. Religion should be a private matter that does not inform public morality. Liberal is radical. Free speech is selective speech. Courage is impetuousness.

Herb wrote the best paragraph I could imagine describing today's America.

Christmas Thoughts

Hard times seem to inspire more folks to return to their Christian roots. We may still be a bit early in this current run of hard times, but I wonder if I'm not already observing some of that return.

It seems that people are divided into a few categories this Christmas.

The faithful joyfully go about the traditions of Christmas, many practicing those both sacred and secular. The faithful celebrate the birth of Christ while anticipating his triumphant return.

The nominal Christians enjoy mostly the secular traditions, perhaps considering making a rare appearance at a Christmas Mass or Service at the local church their parents took them to as children. They otherwise don't give the sacred meaning much thought.

The agnostics won't go to church unless dragged along by a friend or family member. They might enjoy participation in the secular activities, but give the sacred meaning little or no thought.

The atheists seem to spend most of the Christmas season angry. Inexplicably, as evidenced in the Washington State Capitol this year, they feel the need to insult and berate the faithful whenever possible. They try their best to remove all Christian symbols and speech from any public arena, and seem to make more progress on that agenda every year.

The Jews, excepting the atheists described above, go ahead and celebrate Hannukah, really more of a minor event for them, but it provides an opportunity for them to have their own alternative to Christmas.

The racially sensitive Black population embrace the relatively new Kwanzaa, which is a modern celebration created out of the ether by a communist college professor from California. I remain curious how many Kwanzaa celebrants truly understand how it came into existence, and how many of those also celebrate Christmas.

Islam doesn't seem to have a parallel celebration, except possibly the Islamic New Year. Other than the generally known plotting of the radical factions to exterminate Jews and enslave or convert Christians, I really don't know what the followers of Mohammed do during the Christmas season.

I've heard several times in the past few days people greeting each other with "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". Sometimes I hear someone greet another with "Merry Christmas" and hear the other person respond with "Happy Holidays", and other times I hear the reverse. My sense is that it's a sort of subtle argument happening, but everybody's generally pleasant in the greeting.

Personally, I use "Merry Christmas". My intent isn't to engage in the argument, but to sincerely wish a merry Christmas. As much as secularists would like to change it, this remains fundamentally the Christmas holiday season. And it will always be so, at least unless the enemies succeed in exterminating us and renaming the holiday to the pagan "Winter Solstice".

My best hope is that everyone will reflect on the lessons of the birth of that Hebrew baby that would change the world for the next 2,000 years. The story of his birth, life, death, and resurrection give us our greatest hope.

I'm sorry for those who choose not to believe, as their lives must be hopeless and empty. I pray more of them at least explore the faith enough to discover it for themselves.

Merry Christmas!

Why Can't We?

All the noise about bailing out the Big 3 has generated some questions in my tiny mind.

The government seemed to barely blink at overriding the overwhelming "NO!" from the public to allow Henry Paulson the 700 billion to hand out to his buddies in the financial sector, seemingly with little or no oversight. Then the Big 3 come along, hat in hand, asking for a measly 35 billion bailout, and are slapped around for it.

Why the difference?

We're hearing a lot about how the Big 3 can't be allowed to fail. They are somehow the last bastion of America's industrial power, and it's only patriotic to use tax dollars to prop them up.

But they can't seem to compete. They have monstrous overhead, paying outrageously above-market compensation to their unions and executives. And they still build an inferior product, at least as far as public perception is concerned.

So my question is, why haven't some gutsy automotive engineers gotten together and created the great new American car company? One that produces innovative new vehicles at a lower cost that Americans will line up to buy? Isn't there a great void in the market needing to be filled by a young, innovative, and aggressive new company?

I know the barriers to entry are extremely high. The amount of capital it would require to build and test the prototypes, build and staff the first production plant, contract the suppliers, create the marketing campaign, recruit a network of dealerships, etc., is staggering. Not to mention scaling all the government-imposed barriers.

But it could absolutely be done. All it takes is visionary leadership; a charismatic salesman to convince investors to take the risk.

There is where I might have stumbled on the answer. Our country is suffering from a terrible drought of leadership. In government and industry.

Will the Big 3 become the Big 2? Or 1? Or will we soon see America forever lose its industrial capabilities to the East?

Stuff I Notice

Just some stuff I tend to notice.

It seems like a disproportionate number of

television news reporters have speech impediments.
psychology professors are most in need of counseling.
professional athletes and politicians are sociopaths.
the most irritatingly opinionated people are the most ignorant.
college professors lack common sense.
celebrities think fame means intelligence.
those easily offended are themselves offensive.

Just saying ...

Justice at Last

Here's what I call Justice!

Talk about punishment fitting the crime.

Looks Like MN Needs the IN Voter ID Law

From John Hinderaker:

Minnesota makes no serious effort to prevent voter fraud. It has been reported that one-quarter of all the votes cast in Hennepin County, the state's largest, were same-day registrations. In most instances, not only are voters not required to show identification, it is illegal to ask them for it. So we have no way of knowing how many non-citizens voted; or how many students from Wisconsin voted there, then crossed the border to vote again in a college town in Minnesota; or how many people voted in another state and also cast an absentee ballot in Minnesota, or vice versa; or how many felons voted; or how many fictitious people registered by ACORN, the voter fraud organization that put on a major push in Minnesota this year, ostensibly showed up to vote; or how many residents of nursing homes voted without having any idea they had done so; or how many voted in two or more Minnesota precincts; or how many people voted for themselves and also for someone who they knew had died or moved out of a precinct by election day; or how many Franken ballots were slipped into voting machines by Democratic election judges when no one was looking. There is no way, at this point, to separate the legitimate ballots from those that were cast illegally. The legal and the illegal, the real and the fake, are being counted with equal precision.

The larger question for me is, how can it be possible that Minnesota would even consider electing Al Franken to the US Senate? It would seem that the cold (no global warming in those north woods, I can attest) has frozen their collective brains. Even if Norm Coleman is a jerk (and I have no information on that question one way or the other), how could anyone possibly believe Stuart Smalley is a legitimate replacement?

Then again, they did elect Jesse Ventura to be their governor once. Incomprehensible.

Incarcerated in the Zoo

The celebration moves into full swing, as an apparent majority of the population seem to have received their wish - full Democrat control of government.

So the celebrating individuals now feel free to examine me and the shrinking number of people like me, trying to figure out how any reasonably intelligent human being could possibly be disappointed or even frightened as the Messiah prepares to take over the government.

For what it's worth, here's the perspective of this oddity from the Zoo.

First and foremost, my objection is moral.

The "Freedom of Choice Act" is a nightmare. Fortunately I don't have any daughters, because all parental consent laws regarding abortions for minors will be wiped off the books nationwide. As will waiting periods, counseling, and any other measures passed by the states in an attempt to offer alternatives to women who think they might want to vacuum their developing baby out of their womb. My tax dollars will be used to help poor women kill their unborn babies, and quite possibly the occasional baby born alive by mistake. Any and all public expression of opposition will be harshly prosecuted.

Gay Marriage is a direct assault on Christianity. Because the movement, at it's root, isn't about marriage at all. Gays can get together right this moment with a group of friends and make any promises, personal or contractual, they want. No, it's about telling Christians that we dare not breathe a word of the most mild suggestion that the behavior is wrong. And it's about forcing all employers through the force of law to provide benefits to same-sex partners. It's fundamentally about supressing freedom of thought, expression, and the right to hire and fire people based on a moral standard.

Universal Healthcare will kill the healthcare system. I do not disagree there's a massive problem with healthcare in our country, but the problem is high cost, not the lack of government control. If the government provides my healthcare, then they also can deny me healthcare. I want the problem of cost solved so healthcare is accessible, but the voters said they want the government to confiscate money from those who have and give to those who have not. I struggle to keep up with my own crippling healthcare costs, but the last thing I want is for the government to swoop in and rescue me with their new freedom-sucking plan.

Socialism is government control over the citizens' lives. It replaces the corporate fat cats with a new group of government bureaucrat fat cats, leaving everybody else worse off than they were under free enterprise. Because, you see, socialism sucks all incentive and work ethic out of the population. Why should I work my tail off to get the exact same government check as the guy next to me who is drunk most of the time and produces practically nothing? Socialism knocks the rich down several notches, but actually knocks everybody else down a few notches as well, all in the name of "fairness". But of course, don't dare peek at the lifestyles of the political party bureaucrats, who somehow manage to maintain lavish lifestyles for themselves.

We've already lost the country envisioned by our Founders. Congress ignores the constitution with impunity. And the Messiah President will soon stack the courts with judges who will make sure that can continue through the next two generations.

Solving the Big 3

Evidence of the sheer stupidity of the Big 3 CEO's, riding their Gulfstreams to DC to beg for cash, is the additional fact that they didn't really have a case to make.

Unless you call "please bail us out, we're going under" a case.

Here's an idea.

Federal Government, just say no.

Big 3 shareholders, fire your boards of directors and CEO's and put actual intelligent businesspeople in charge.

Management, get in a room with the UAW and hammer out a deal. They give back on some salary and benefits in the short run in return for employee ownership in the company. If and when the company makes money again, so will the union membership.

Make more deals with the union in the areas of quality and productivity. The more productive each union member and the better quality of the product, the more they stand to make from improved sales. Actually ask the Union bosses to allow the company to cut loose the dead weight.

Not to mention cutting loose the dead weight in the executive suites and the engineering departments and the administrative departments.

That sounds to me like a company that could survive and prosper.

Instead of the company that's asking the government for billions in bailout dollars that will end up funding union pensions and management golden parachutes.

America, where have ye gone?

Repeating History

Back to the future.

Economic troubles are so similar to the 30's it's amazing. Even more amazing is how few of our leaders in Washington seem to understand anything about our conditions. They certainly don't seem to have learned anything from the experiences of the "Great Depression". Mostly they seem be focused on making sure they and their buddies prosper, not caring much at all about the country as a whole.

And we've elected a president who fancies himself a pacifist version of FDR.

Only those able to pay off all their debt as soon as possible have a chance at survival over the next dozen years.

Personally, I have to try everything I can to keep income going. I know a regular job isn't going to happen, so I've got to find every possible way to keep the business bringing in revenue. Then make the payoff of the mortgage #1 on the agenda.

Maybe I'll have to actually start farming.

New Airport Over the Top?

I got my first look at the new Harvey Weir Cook International Airport when my flight got in late Friday night. It is certainly an impressive new facility for Indy.

I can't help but wonder just how much in tax dollars went into this new showpiece for the Indiana capitol. Was the old airport really that bad? I didn't think so.

I'm pretty happy that they named it after the old WWI Ace H. Weir Cook. It's refreshing that Indiana can actually remember their heroes from that far in the past.

They're certainly saving money on TSA employees, as I observed on Sunday as I flew out of the new airport on Sunday. The new combined security checkpoint has maybe 8 or more (I didn't count) security lines, but only had 2 open Sunday. So instead of my usual 5-10 minute trek through security at the old airport, this time it took almost 30 minutes. And I was in the new "expert traveler" line.

Woo Hoo.

I must also adjust to the fact that walking to the terminal from the parking lot is no longer an option. The new parking lots, which seem to go on for miles, are pretty much inaccessible to or from the terminal on foot. So waiting for the bus, then waiting as it stops at every shelter in the lot, is no longer optional.

Some things that made me chuckle a bit:

After only a few days, the carpet near the gates and on the jetbridges is already stained. Won't be long before it's every bit as disgusting as the carpet at the old airport.

The terminal is somewhat reminiscent of Detroit's on the inside, albeit a bit smaller and without the train. Like Detroit, there are flat-panel televisions on the walls. But unlike Detroit, they're small flat-panel televisions you can't really see unless you get very close. It's pretty clear somebody decided to save money on the TV's but might has well have saved all of it, since nobody can watch them anyway.

The bottom line for me is there's this beautiful new airport that takes longer to drive to, longer to get into from the parking lot, and longer to get through security.

They call that progress?

Like Conspiracy Theories?

Here's one that's about as plausible as any.

Just imagine that the current financial crisis was carefully planned and executed by the government, with willing accomplices among a few key CEO's from Wall Street.

Paulson, Bernanke, Cox, Reid, Pelosi, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Franklin Raines, and several others conspired to create a financial crisis by strong-arming major banking and investment firms into making a high number of bad loans. Included in their arm-twisting was an implied promise that when all came tumbling down, the powerful government leaders would see to it the executives involved would escape with very sweet parachutes.

Why was this crisis engineered?

Here's where the conspiracy theories really come into play.

The obvious motive: Destroying the public's confidence in capitalism to usher in a statist/socialist government controlled by the same people named above.

But how about this one: Decimating American's 401K's and Pensions to head off a Social Security crisis just when the peak of the Baby Boom generation are reaching retirement age. Millions of people who were planning to retire in the next 5-10 years have lost an average of 40% of their retirement assets, and the volatile stock market may move even lower.

So all these baby boomers are rethinking their retirement plans because they no longer have the money they counted on to see them through a comfortable retirement. Millions will have to postpone retirement, thus delaying their applications for Social Security Retirement Benefits.

There's a story running around that the new President Obama may introduce a plan that would offer Americans a sort of guaranteed defined benefit retirement pension in return for what's left of their 401K or IRA accounts, representing a massive government confiscation of the personal savings of the American population. I'm not yet sure whether it's true.

Sound plausible? I think it's frighteningly plausible.

When Empires Fall

The best civilization in the history of the world may soon die.

Founded by a small group of incredibly courageous and brilliant leaders, it's been overall a great 233 years for a nation carved out of the wilderness. No society in history has seen the heights of prosperity and military might of the place known as the USA. Never has there been a place where people from all four corners of the planet yearned to emigrate for a life unimaginable in their home countries.

But democratic rule has become mob rule. Anyone feeling a slight from this open society, whether real or imagined, finds a government receptive to granting them special treatment. Instead of encouraging and helping lift those on the bottom of the economic ladder, we make sure they don't succeed by redistributing wealth to give them a meager subsistence, while keeping their government-run schools abysmal.

Now the government moves to "rescue" the nation by taking over private industry, starting with the banks. The mob installs political leaders not based on their efforts for the good of all, but for the goodies they promise to take from others and hand out.

And the once-mighty military will be decimated by naive leaders without any apparent understanding of history or of the enemies who are bent on the destruction of this country.

In the meantime the population is lulled by hedonistic entertainment, hyped sporting events, and celebrity worship.

When the safety and security of the USA is gone, it will be too late.

My concern isn't much for myself. I've lived my life in the greatest era of technological and living standards progress in the history of the world. But what will my children be left to face within their adult lives? I fear the next decade or two will not be pleasant.

But I fervently hope and pray that somehow those fears will not be realized.

Trying to Avoid Election News

But it's very hard. Even listening to music on the radio during my drive to Nashville did not protect me from election reporting. I got to my hotel room and decided to just watch ESPN, but even there I have to hear at least a little bit about the election.

I did a quick channel surf and noticed that CNN and MSNBC were already celebrating an Obama victory with only two states called (KY for McCain and NH for Obama). All they're missing are the party hats and streamers.

Think Happy Thoughts. Before we descend together into the new Dark Ages.

Another Airline Misadventure

I'm increasingly in favor of letting these major airlines collapse under the weight of their own incompetence. Which leads me to my latest story of my own maltreatment by Continental Airlines.

We finished early on Friday. Checking online, it would cost me $400 to book an earlier flight, so I thought I'd try standby. So I headed to the George Bush International Airport, turned in my rental car and took the overcrowded rental car bus to the terminal.

Checking in, I paid the $50 fee for the priviledge of standing by for the 4:10 flight to Indy, endured the TSA shakedown, and trekked to the gate. I grabbed some lunch and settled in for the wait for my flight.

Finally the gate agent boarded the flight, but never made any announcements regarding standby passengers. So I approached her as the last few passengers boarded and showed her my standby document. She checked the computer and couldn't seem to find my record, then shrugged and told me the flight was full.

Just full. No apologies, no explanations, no eye contact. She then took off down the jetway to send the plane on its way.

So I'm used to rude gate agents, and didn't think twice about her appalling lack of customer service skills. Disappointed, I made my way to the other concourse to settle in for the 3 hour wait for my originally booked flight.

The agent working that 7:15 flight was somewhat friendlier and more helpful than the previous one. But when I gave her my documents and she looked for me on the computer, she frowned and said, "I can't seem to find you in here".

A few more keystrokes later, she found me. "This shows your standby cleared on the earlier flight. Were you late or something?".

Of course, I told her no, I wasn't late. That the agent told me the flight was full and turned me away.

She shook her head and sighed, asked me where I would like to sit, and printed me a boarding pass for an exit row aisle seat.

I got home after midnight instead of early evening because of a Continental Airlines employee who was uncaring and incompetent.

Would I care much if Continental ceases to be a viable airline?

The answer is obvious.

Campaign Weariness

Just let it be over, please.

I'll go vote on Tuesday, for whatever it's worth.

It's hard to imagine anybody who really doesn't know the difference between Obama and McCain, or between their congressional Republican and Democrat candidates by now.

Does anybody really make a voting decision based on a political ad? I certainly hope not.

How many Obama voters have the slightest idea who the guy is, and what he stands for? I wonder, because I've had to really dig to just come up with the most likely profile for the guy. And I can't guarantee that profile is correct.

On the flip side, how many voters don't know all they ever wanted to know about McCain? He's been a Senator forever and might be the easiest politician in the country to research.

Yet we're told there's this huge group of voters out there who swing like an open gate in the wind. Obama today, McCain tomorrow, maybe Obama the next day - decisions, decisions. Who are these people? People lacking any personal convictions? Maybe simply ignorant and easily swayed by any persuasive influence that gets their attention? I don't think I've met any of them yet, but they must be out there.

My impression of the Obama voter comes down to this very basic theme. The typical Obama voter first and foremost hates Bush and wants the Anti-Bush. She thinks she will get goodies from Obama for free, like tax rebate checks and free heathcare. He thinks Obama will end the wars and make the world a peaceful place. They both think Obama will end the dreaded Global Warming, punish evil rich people, and get them a raise at work.

These people are going to become extremely disappointed. I'm not sure how long the Obama administration will be able to get away with, "be patient, this mess was all Bush's fault, and will take some time to turn around". I suspect they'll only get away with it for about 18 months, before people start figuring out who has really killed the economy and depressed their wages or lost them their jobs.

Obamamaniacs love Europe, even though they've never been there. Too bad they will soon find out what the average European lifestyle looks like.

Lemmings

I wonder if some lemmings don't really want to jump off the cliff, but have no choice. Could it be they have to join the rest of the lemmings simply because they'll be trampled if they try to leave the mob?

The American lemmings are already jumping off the cliff. Those of us who watch it happen are powerless to stop it, so we go over the cliff with everyone else simply because we have no other choice.

The financial crash we're experiencing now has no parallel since the 1929 crash, which led to the Great Depression. The house of cards built over the past 30 years finally fell down under the weight of Fannie and Freddie.

Our two Presidential candidates presumably wish to don the mantle of FDR, who created an alphabet soup of socialist agencies and entitlement programs. Many Americans revered him for "saving" them by giving them subsistence level jobs.

There's Bad - John McCain, who is so tone-deaf that he proposed more bailouts to a nation fed up with the idea that the taxpayers have to bail out the criminals who caused the problems and got rich in the process. In the last debate, he seemed to be trying to out-Democrat the Democrat. He seemed completely out of touch with the mood of the people and completely lacking any ability to concisely define the problem or propose any innovative solutions.

Then there's Worse - Barack Obama, who offers nothing but rhetoric suggesting Bush is the Herbert Hoover of our age and McCain is simply another Bush. McCain's plan may have been a bad one, but Obama doesn't even offer one. Worst of all, this approach has worked wonders for his campaign - polls suggest he's going to win the election running away.

At such a critical time, to have Dumb and Dumber running for President and Dumber winning ..., well, back to the lemmings analogy.

The cliff we're running over is the loss of America. Obama (aka Dumber) will gladly abdicate our soverignty to the New World Order, a globalist socialist government that will make the freedoms we have long cherished in the United States of America a thing of the past.

I don't fit the profile

I'm becoming somewhat surprised lately that the profile of the Obama voter doesn't fit me at all, but still it seems I'm outnumbered.

I can't vote for Obama, because I don't belong to his constituency.

I am not

Black
An angry minority
A socialist
A communist
Ignorant of American History or the Constitution
A Hollywood Celebrity
A guilty-feeling blueblood
An atheist
New-Age or Pantheist or Pagan
A vegan
A PETA member
A modern Christian who would recreate God in My image
A narcissist
A bureaucrat
A government dependent
A pacifist
A Muslim Terrorist
A Weather Underground Terrorist
An infanticide supporter
Naive
An ACLU member or supporter
Anti-American
A Bush hater
A La Raza (The Race) member or supporter
An illegal immigrant
A flag burner
Anti patriotic
Ready to see America humbled
A Trial Lawyer
A College Professor
A Teacher's Union Activist
A Union Leader
A felon
A single urban woman
A gay, lesbian, bi, trans ... or otherwise deviant
Prepared to bestow preferential rights to people based on a deviant behavior
A disciple of the Nobel winning climate scientist Al Gore
A Kos or HuffPo contributor
A megalopolis denizen
Prepared to abdicate national soveriegnty to a New World Order
A "journalist"
Influenced by Mainstream Media propagandists
from the Chinese government

Americans, meet your new ruling class.

Does any of this ring a bell?

Do these sound familiar?

1. Abolition of Private Property
2. Heavy Progressive Income Tax
3. Abolition of Inheritance Rights
4. Confiscation of Property from Emigrants and Rebels
5. A Central Bank
6. Government Control of Communication and Transportation
7. Government Ownership of Factories and Farms
8. Government Control of Labor
9. Corporate Farms, Regional Planning
10. Government Control of Education

The principles from the Communist Manifesto as defined by Marx and Engels are worth another look.

Does it frighten anybody else to read these again and discover how many of these have already happened in America, and that a major political party is seeking the power to implement the rest?

The Death of Objectivity

The evidence is overwhelming. From Fannie and Freddie to Lehmann and AIG, no major news outlet has yet taken the time to investigate the root causes of the meltdown and report back to the American public.

Where are the multi-part investigative reports on the news that cover the history of Fannie and Freddie, the conditions that caused the mortgage mess, why they happened and who were the key players?

Has anyone answered to your or my satisfaction these basic questions? --

Why were mortgage brokers allowed to sell mortgages to unqualified borrowers?

What was the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the buying and selling of these mortgage-backed securities throughout the financial industry?

Who ran Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Since they were quasi-government institutions, who in the government was responsible for their oversight?

Was there anyone on Wall Street or in the Federal Government who saw this meltdown coming and tried to sound the alarm? If so, how did authorities respond? If not, how could that happen?

What Federal Agencies were responsible for regulating Fannie and Freddie? Did they discover the problem and try to do something about it? Or were they stopped by politicians higher up the ladder?

Instead of independent investigations giving the public facts on these and other questions, all we see is a megaphone handed to Obama with a slap on the butt and a "go get 'em tiger!".

And that's the answer to the basic question I've posed. If such an independent investigation were to take place by reporters who are willing to report the truth, no matter how it might reflect on one candidate or the other, it could kill the candidacy of their own favorite candidate.

Objective journalism appears dead, and with it American democracy. When the press becomes monolithically partisan and chooses to withhold the truth from the public if it might reflect badly on their chosen candidate, the dream that was America is lost.

Did you know?

These things about Obama -

Jeremiah Wright was his pastor until a couple of months ago?

Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers are his neighbors, political sponsors, and friends?

That he padded his resume?

That he's closely tied to a radical left voter-fraud organization known as Acorn?

Obama's stand on late-term abortions where babies are born alive?

That he interfered with negotiations to wrap up the war in Iraq?

That he got help buying his home from friend and convicted felon Tony Rezko?

In Search of a Clue

It's sobering.

While the stock market plunges, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are absorbed by the government, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch fold or are absorbed into other giant financial mega-corporations, the presidential candidates seem to be completely clueless.

Instead of thoughtful and substantive ideas about what can be done to clean up this mess and get the American economy back on its feet, the candidates focus on the inane.

Obama: McCain's old. He doesn't even know how to use email. Palin is, well, so many distasteful and offensive things I can't even bring myself to print them.

McCain: Obama's a lightweight. He's no reformer, he's just a puppet of the Democrat/MoveOn machine.

OK, so I tend to agree with McCain. But he still can't seem to verbalize anything that makes any sense about his ideas for reining in this financial mess, other than something like "changing the way government works".

Funny, I thought congress created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, appointed Bill Clinton pals to run them, encouraged them to fund mortgages for the less fortunate (read: bad credit risks), then pretended to be caught by surprise when it all came crashing down.

Now they seem to support nationalizing everything. Fannie and Freddie - already owned by the Feds. Bail out Lehman and Lynch? So far it looks like the answer's going to be No (thank goodness). Bail out GM/Ford/Chrysler? Please let that answer be No.

How about some fresh ideas?

Get rid of Fannie and Freddie. Lenders should make loans based on the qualifications of their customers. Period. They will be more responsible if they are actually taking the risk for borrowers with bad credit.

Increase Energy Production. I'm an all-of-the-above person. Our economy is based on energy, despite the desperate hopes and dreams of leftists everywhere. Go get all the oil, gas, shale, wind, solar, hydro, non-food organic ethanol you can find. Stop messing around and make a deal with Iraq - we get to buy as much of their oil as we want at a discount, and we'll keep them safe from their enemies. Get us into a place where we're getting all of our energy either domestically or from countries that don't hate us.

Cancel CAFE standards on the Car Manufacturers. Let them build and sell any vehicles for which public demand is high, and stop telling them what they can and can't build.

Enforce Anti-Trust Law for a change. Competition is the way to get business booming. Stop letting the mega-corporations gobble up everybody so they can own their market. Let the companies that made bad decisions go bankrupt, then open up the market to start-ups who will compete with each other to provide better services to consumers.

Congress is clueless. The presidential candidates are clueless. The voters are clueless sheep.

I need to do something tonight to get away from this and get my spirits up.

Object Lesson in Propaganda

It's a very old cliche.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

Obama used it in a speech to his adoring Democrat followers to describe John McCain's economic policies. The crowd clearly latched onto it as a backhanded slap against the GOP Veep nominee, who was famous for her joke about lipstick being the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. Therefore the cliche drew a standing derisive ovation from the partisan audience.

The other campaign seized on this apparent slight with amazing speed and created a YouTube ad questioning the judgement and character of the Democrat candidate. Other leftist partisans managed to add fuel to the fire with overtly slanderous comments comparing Gov. Palin to Pontius Pilate against Obama's Jesus and suggesting her only qualification for VP was that she hasn't had an abortion.

So Obama decided to respond to the McCain campaign's response to his lipstick cliche with his own outrage, suggesting that they were unfairly characterizing an innocent comment. He angrily called out the opposing campaign as outright liars for making a campaign issue out of something that he claimed never happened (i.e. calling Gov. Palin a pig).

Obama's sycophants in the media immediately set out to echo his outrage, showing multiple politicians (all Republicans, of course) using the overused lipstick/pig analogy, ending with the piece de resistance, McCain himself using it.

The whole incident is rather comical, but more instructive in the fact that both parties seem to view the American public as a mass of sheep who are easily fooled. I mainly wonder how many were fooled either way.

The conclusions about the phrase itself are pretty easy for any objective person. Just take the facts:

Obama's statement clearly was referring to McCain's economic policies and never mentioned Palin, even tangentially.

The crowd obviously connected the lipstick on pig to the lipstick on pit bull, thus the derisive standing ovation.

Did Obama intend the linkage? Maybe not, but certainly he understood the audience's linkage. For him to pretend otherwise is disingenuous. The projection of outrage against the opposing campaign for feigning their own outrage is sort of an outrage itself.

The opportunistic ad run by the McCain campaign was pretty effective, if misleading. It was a great example of taking something out of context to convey a message completely different from what was actually spoken.

Guilty of propaganda? Both sides.

Did it work? Hard to say, but it might be safe to assume the true believers on each side believed their own side's version of the story. I wonder how many understand the whole story. Those who do won't find anything on either side worthy of their support.

Government Mismanagement

The quasi-governmental Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the Federal Government in an attempt to stop the bleeding in this major mortgage mess.

Following congress' strong desire to make home ownership more accessible to citizens, they actually created the monster that has so damaged the financial markets through massive mortgage defaults.

In an age of 100% home loans routinely made for borrowers that clearly had no ability to pay, congress has little right to point fingers at irresponsible lenders. They and their politically-appointed cronies at those government created monsters are at least equally to blame with the lenders and borrowers that simply took advantage.

I was thinking about my grandparents' generation. They lived through the Great Depression, and their remarkable frugality was often puzzling to me. Here were people who had, at least from my young perspective, plenty of cash and no debt. Yet they drove old cars, made sure no lights were on unnecessarily, were careful with their grocery budget, and would never consider buying luxury items.

We seem to have forgotten those lessons. The people and their government spend recklessly, don't save, and borrow as much as a lender will allow. So many people, including those making decent salaries, are leveraged so badly that if there is any lapse in income, they will face immediate bankruptcy.

Working with employers and seeing data on their employee's 401K retirement funds, I've been shocked at the high number of people who raid their retirement for more spending money. Many people participate to get the employer match, then take the maximum allowable loans so they can spend the money. For those people, there's no retirement nest egg, but a debt that must be repaid or they'll be faced with penalties and interest.

The government is no different. They spend way beyond their tax collections and borrow the difference. Now we have a federal budget that has to spend a significant amount of tax collections on debt service. Republicans were supposed to be the fiscally responsible party, but when they got control of congress, they somehow forgot. Democrats make no pretense of fiscal responsibility, but promise to raise taxes to cover their planned massive spending increases.

It seems our entire country is on the verge of bankruptcy, and there's nobody even close to doing anything to stop it.

Theme Songs

I just realized that the easiest way to describe the choices between our candidates is in the theme songs of each candidate and their larger party philosophies.

McCain and the Republicans: God Bless the USA (Proud to be an American) - Lee Greenwood

Obama and the Democrats: Imagine - John Lennon

Listen to the two songs and perhaps you'll agree with me. Little more needs to be said.

Olympics Observations

Watching the Olympics over the last couple of weeks has been fairly entertaining. The US has been impressive in events like basketball and volleyball, gymnastics, and track and field. It's actually been encouraging to see more overt patriotism from the American athletes than we've seen in previous games.

That patriotism seems to bug the NBC commentators. Chris Collinsworth seems to be one of them, based on his nauseating interview with Kobe Bryant. Too bad, because I've always thought Collinsworth was a pretty good NFL commentator. Maybe he fancies himself turning into the next Olbermann. Hope not.

The flap over the Chinese gymnasts, who certainly look closer to 12 than the minimum 16, is sort of interesting. Is anybody surprised that the Chinese cheat? Remember how the Soviets and East Germans were masters of cheating in the 60's and 70's? They had team scientists feeding their athletes all sorts of performance-enhancing drugs with the precision that guaranteed they wouldn't turn up positive when tested at the games. I remember the East German bearded women who were built like men taking the gold medals.

It's what communists do. They lie and cheat. Think anybody can prove those Chinese girls are under 16? Not in a society where the government can compel everyone to lie, and create all the false documents they want to "prove" whatever they need. The investigators have to find the evidence of cheating to make a charge, which won't happen.

It has been disappointing, especially in the case of Marion Jones, that US athletes have cheated from time to time. But at least that's because of their individual bad decisions, not because of a government athletic drug program.

Better than the Olympics, football is about to start.

My Gas Story

The gauge on my Volvo S80 was brushing the red at the bottom eighth, so I pulled into the station on the way to the office this morning. Despite the pain of the high gas price, I was still encouraged by the fact that the posted price this morning was lower than I've paid all summer.

I followed the usual procedure and began pumping the mid-grade fuel into my nearly empty tank. Things went along normally until I glanced at the pump. The dollars and cents were rolling along very slowly, which initially made me think the pump must be extremely slow. I had a mildly irritated thought that I'd have to wait a long time for my tank to fill.

But then I looked a bit closer, and noticed that the gallon counter was moving pretty fast. I quickly discovered that instead of $3.87.9, the gas was actually pumping at $0.387. When the tank was filled, I saw that instead of costing more than $60, the tank only cost a bit more than $6.

It didn't require much thought for me to conclude that the right thing was to inform someone at the station about what was obviously a mistake. So I walked into the convenience store and handed my receipt to the clerk, saying, "Either I just won some sort of contest, or the pump price isn't set right."

The clerk's eyes opened wide, and she said, "I can't deal with this." She immediately handed the receipt to someone else behind the counter, who must have been a supervisor.

The supervisor looked at the receipt with a sigh, apparently thinking she was about to have to handle some sort of customer complaint. She asked without looking at me, "What am I looking at?"

"The price."

Suddenly her expression changed, I heard "What!?", and she quick-marched over to the machine that I presume manages the gas pumps at the other end of the counter.

While the supervisor was busy punching buttons on the machine, I stood at the other end of the counter, unsure whether I should wait for her to return. After about a minute, I picked up my receipt, which she had put down on the counter in front of me, and walked to where she was continuing to work on the machine.

I asked her, "Do you need anything else from me?".

Again without looking up, she said, "Nope. Ain't nothin I can do with yours anyhow."

I thanked her and left, wondering a bit at the bizarre experience but thankful for the 1960's gas price.

Energy Truth

In the energy debate, Pelosi and Obama have both made anti-oil statements in defense of their blockade of any legislation that includes permission for domestic exploration and drilling. There are only two possible explanations for their outrageous statements; either they are astoundingly ignorant, or they are lying through their teeth.

They've been caught in some whoppers.

First, I heard Natasha spit a venomous statement about the group of GOP congressmen using the floor of the house to continue to demand a vote on their comprehensive energy bill. She called them the "handmaidens of the oil companies".

Mike Pence from Indiana is one of the leaders of the little energy revolt in the House. He's from Indiana, which is hardly an oil state. I looked up his political contributors - it's public information after all. He's taken in about a million dollars this past year, which is nothing in this age of big money politics. The top 5 industries contributing to his campaign?

Retirees
Israel Supporters
Real Estate
Investment
Lawyers

And the biggest group, retirees, barely topped $50K in contributions. So Ms. Pelosi, how again is Rep. Pence a Big Oil toady? Could it be you've told a whopper of a lie in that statement? You certainly have convinced me you're jaw-droppingly stupid, so I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt that the statement wasn't an outright lie, just dumb.

Speaking of stupid, how about Obama's speech yesterday where he proposed a goal of eliminating oil completely in 10 years? Does he have the slightest clue how much of all our daily lives are impacted by oil, both for energy and in the products we use?

During this whole debate, Democrats across the board have been speaking loftily about eliminating fossil fuels in favor of clean, renewable energy. I've been wondering something - how many people drive cars that aren't powered by gas or diesel? Aside from an infinitesimal number using natural gas or batteries, pretty much nobody.

Do Obama and his disciples really believe we can eliminate all coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power and replace them with wind and solar? In 10 years? Hundreds of millions of Americans will have to scrap their gas-powered vehicles and buy new miracle cars within 10 years using what money? Millions will have to replace their oil and gas furnaces with new miracle solar panels that, last time I checked, didn't really work?

So Obama's either frighteningly stupid and naieve, or he's lying through his teeth. No other option is possible.

But his disciples have blind faith in The Great and Powerful OB. Will that faith continue when the country falls into a deep depression after access to energy is shut down by OB and his minions, Boris and Natasha?

Boris and Natasha

I loved Rocky and Bullwinkle when I was a kid. That's why it was so easy to figure out that the Democrat dictators of the House and Senate are actually Boris (alias Harry) and Natasha (alias Nancy).

What's hilarious about Boris is that he shut down all debate over domestic oil production while pretending he was being reasonable and the other side was the one playing politics. I'm not sure that would even be believed by his own base, although I'm sure that base is happy with anything he does to stop the evil "Big Oil".

But the biggest belly laugh was provided by Natasha, who vindictively shut down the House and turned the lights, cameras, and microphones off on the Republicans.

Meantime Barack has lost his lead in the Presidential race. Worthy of a chuckle is that Boris and Natasha are oblivious to the fact that their own actions blocking even debate of energy policy are responsible.

What a great corner Boris and Natasha have painted themselves into; if they allow debate and a vote on energy, they force the Great and Powerful OB to cast a vote that will be used against him in the campaign.

If they continue to block any votes, they are rightly vilified for doing so, taking the Great and Powerful OB down with them in public (dis)approval.

Just like poor Boris and Natasha, suffering defeat and humiliation every time they try to destroy that heroic little flying squirrel.

Warehousing Children

The front page photo in this morning's Republic newspaper sent a shiver down my spine. The image showed a baby lying in one of those infant carriers in the foreground, with a rank of infant cribs and a daycare worker sitting in a rocking chair with another infant in her arms.

The photo was intended by the newspaper to depict a positive image of the local daycare center that was the subject of the article. That made me shudder every bit as much as the image itself - most people seem oblivious to the terrible implications of these child warehouses.

The article itself decried the fact that this daycare center, perhaps the largest in Columbus, was closed indefinitely because of the recent flood. How were these mothers going to find "quality daycare" to replace what had previously been provided by the center?

My fervent hope is that at least some of these mothers will come to their senses and realize their children need them more than the big house and new car and fulfilling career.

I've blogged before about the epidemic level of narcissism we've reached in this country. This article hit me like a bolt of lightning with the primary root cause of our societal illness; children raised by minimum-wage workers in baby warehouses.

If there's one thing I know from my life experience, it's this simple fact. Children need their mothers. They need their mothers to feed them, teach them, protect them, love them.

What's the lesson a child learns when their mother races back to work within a few weeks of giving birth?

That Mom's car, the nice house, her career, the resort vacations, her social status, are all more important than you, her child. So you grow up ingrained with the idea that life means getting all you can for yourself. Children are inconvenient, so they must be warehoused in daycare, then preschool, then school, so you can be free to be, and get, all you can.

Relationships are fleeting, because there's no such thing as lifetime commitment to anybody else. Sacrificing for somebody else is unnecessary. Why commit to a husband (or wife) when somebody better might come along?

I grew up before this sickness took hold, but I fear my generation may be the the first to become infected with the narcissism virus. We were given prosperity by our parents and grandparents, who learned the importance of family and morality from the hard times of the Great Depression and WWII. But like the rebellious children we were, we rejected and ridiculed the lessons they tried to teach us and spawned the amoral "me first" disease with which the majority of Americans are now infected.

Those who run the child warehouses are nurturing the disease by teaching the children how to be good little narcissists so they can grow up to protect and nurture the virus for the next generation. These factory babies learn less about traditional skills like reading and math and history, and much more about celebrating diversity and Darwinian evolution and hatred for religion, capitalism, and the white male.

All the while their parents trade partners and pursue their next big house, nice car, expensive vacation, and are irritated that their children come out of the warehouse so unruly.

Marketing Genius

Recent events in the presidential campaign have led me to conclude that the Obama campaign may be the best-organized and well-conceived marketing campaign ever. The armies of adoring media types who represent the vanguard of Obama's army have created an amazing image-making machine that is now telling the world that the great and mighty BH Obama is already a shoo-in for January's inauguration.

By comparison, McCain's marketing seems inept. If you were visiting the US from another country where you didn't know or care anything about American politics, a few minutes watching TV news would convince you that OB was already the country's president. And McCain's some old coot who snipes at the Great and Powerful OB now and then.

Interestingly, the marketing campaign has been very careful and successful at avoiding specifics. Keeping it at the level of "Hope" and "Change" without getting into any specific message about whose "Hope", or what "Change" seems to be working marvelously.

Not to belabor the obvious, but it's become painfully obvious that the marketing wizards behind the campaign includes all the major Television and Newspaper "news" outlets. It seems they're all donating their own free services to the marketing juggernaut so determined to place the Great and Powerful OB on the throne.

The election has become not between the Great and Powerful OB and John McCain, but a simple referendum, yes or no, whether the American people (plus the illegal immigrants and dead people the Democrats can find to vote) want the Wizard of OB as president.

The marketing campaign says the "Yes" votes are leading.

All Thumbs

I allowed myself to be cornered into a little home improvement project. Making the purchase of the needed materials at the local home improvement store, I spent the afternoon fretting over my usual fear that I would make a mess of the project.

And what a mess I made. Spending well into the evening, the project blunders got progressively worse. The only good news was that I had Chris to help me. With no experience with these things, he's already better at them than I. At least we got more accomplished than I would have on my own. Still, the project was a disaster. A day later, sitting at my computer, I'm still upset by the whole ordeal.

These little projects look easy when everybody else does them. Like on the TV home improvement shows, or when other people do it, or even when I help somebody else do it.

Not for me. I'm so horribly deficient in all things mechanical that I now have an ugly mess that I may have to pay somebody else to clean up. Nearly every step that looks so easy when done by others is for me a herculean task.

See, I married a fearless do-it-yourself-er who would never pay somebody to do anything to her home. But she'll happily browbeat her incompetent husband into making a fool of himself and making the project cost twice as much.

See, this is why I went to college (for 3 different degrees). So I wouldn't have to get stuck in these situations. So I could hire people who actually know how to do these things while I go to work pounding a computer keyboard and wrecking my eyesight all day.

Now I suppose anybody who happens to read this who also knows who I am now knows my terrible secret. I'm a mechanical idiot incompetent.

Our Societal Epidemic

Narcissism. Selfishness and self-centeredness. Ruthless and heartless disregard for others. Always asking, "What's in it for me?".

The somewhat sobering realization that has been taking hold of me lately is that it's not just a phenomena of the younger generation. Nor is it just the atheistic and non-religious. It seems just about everybody has contracted the disease.

It's understandable that the large and growing anti-religious crowd would tend to be self-indulgent. After all, where there is no morality there is nothing more important than oneself.

But these days it seems this disease also infects the religious. This is just an individual's observation, certainly completely absent any sort of scientific study, but it seems the more someone wears their religion on their sleeve, the more likely they are infected.

My own lifelong study in the Christian faith informs me that the behavior of those professing the faith is far more important than the act of profession itself. Those uber-Christians (or uber-Catholics) I encounter these days have confused Christian Witness with Pharisaic elitism. They show off their piety and austerity and moral superiority, while separating themselves from the world full of people less worthy. And in so doing, they lose the entire point of the Gospel.

Unfortunately, I have seen and experienced firsthand more backstabbing, slander, gossip, and plain meanness from the Pharisaic Christians than those without faith. It seems to come from the elitist attitude that gives them license to mistreat others whom they deem inferior.

The lesson I will try to reflect in my own dealings with others is simply to abide by the golden rule. I will neither bury my faith nor wear it on my sleeve, hoping that my decent behavior will somehow counterbalance that of my Pharisaic brethren.

The only hope for our way of life is that the citizens rediscover the light of faith and truth, and thus inoculate themselves against the epidemic of narcissism. To do so, the light must be rekindled by the few remaining who can reflect it.

History

Maybe it's a sign of age, but my interest in history grows in direct relationship to my advance in age. I have been reading some historical books, and find it remarkable how little things have changed. Particularly remarkable is how people learn nothing from the experience of their forefathers.

The ancient Greeks were being invaded by the Medes and Persians. They had a sort of political party back then that strongly protested going to war against the invaders, preferring to negotiate peace. They didn't want to fight, did not believe their democratic society deserved to survive the invaders, and some of their numbers actually allied themselves with the invaders. Only the strong leadership and heroic exploits of some notable generals saved them from slavery and domination by the repressive rule of Darius.

But of course the Greeks still eventually lost their civilization to an increasingly comfortable and slothful population that was easily defeated later. But that civilization became at least an inspiration for the Romans, who of course also lost their empire due to the same sorts of sloth and decadence that brought down the Greeks.

The parallels with today's America are striking, and the enemies who would destroy this country all too evident. They may not be massing as armies along our borders this time, but with the technology of nuclear and biological weaponry, they don't need an army. And we have an entire political party that hopes to negotiate peace rather than fight for our continued freedom. Even some notable advocates in that party have gone so far as to ally themselves with the country's declared enemies while the government fears to even speak out against their seditious rhetoric.

America has reached the depths of the same sloth and decadence that led to the destruction of the Greeks and Romans. Citizens are no longer permitted to speak out against such things, lest they be persecuted as "intolerant". The decadent plurality now in charge of the government will not tolerate any call for return to the core values that founded America, nor will they tolerate any military action against the country's declared enemies.

The destruction of America and enslavement to a totalitarian government seems imminent. It may come to pass before I pass.

All substantially because the citizens have been systematically brainwashed by government schools that fail to teach history. In its place they teach a socialistic version of history that calls western society evil and repressive to all those who are not members of their race and religion.

My Chicago Adventure

I snagged a ticket to the Cubs versus Reds since I was in Chicago anyway. It turned into an interesting adventure that I mostly enjoyed, even the parts that I normally wouldn't normally find enjoyable.

About an hour before gametime, I went down to the hotel lobby and asked the bellman how to get to Wrigley field. He pointed to the stairway right outside the door and told me to take that train north. Wow, that was too easy.

The underground train station was like an urban cave. It was dirty, smelly, and full of a mix of other fans going to the game with businesspeople and others headed to their own destinations.

The train arrived, the doors opened, and people crowded in. I held back a bit, and feared I wouldn't make the train because it didn't look like there was room for everyone on the platform. But somehow, right before the doors closed, I saw a small gap and jumped in.

The ride was maybe 20 minutes, and I stood in the aisle with the crowds the entire way. If a seat opened up, I tried to be chivalrous and help any nearby woman take over the seat. Handholds were minimal, and it was challenging at times to stay on my feet when the train rounded corners, accelerated, or braked. At the same time I had to focus on keeping my big feet from stepping on the feet of the seated passengers.

Arriving at the Addison Street stop, I emerged from the train station to find the stadium only a block away. I found the ticket window and picked up my "Will-Call" ticket and proceeded to my seat on the lower level, third base side.

The stadium was packed. I didn't see a single empty seat anywhere, including the rooftops outside the stadium. I wondered how that worked, buildings outside the Wrigley outfield placing bleachers on their roofs and selling tickets. I wonder how much the building owners have to pay to the Cubs for selling tickets to their rooftop bleachers.

The game was fairly entertaining, with some highlight-quality defensive plays and a couple of home runs. The fans were enthusiastic, and more into the game than any other sporting event I can recall attending.

Remarkably, as the game approached its end with the Cubs leading 7-1, I looked around and saw very few heading to the exits. The vast majority of the crowd stayed to the last pitch. Another unique observation, as pretty much every other professional sporting event will see the stadium or arena empty out as soon as the outcome is settled.

Then there's the singing. The CSI actor William Peterson led the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch, and it was remarkable to hear the whole stadium singing the song loudly and enthusiastically. And as soon as the last out was made in the 9th inning, a Cubs song began, and I was astounded to find nearly everyone around me singing it loudly, with many dancing to the song. And the crowd began moving toward the exits, but there was no sense of any racing to be first out of the park.

The huge crowd jamming into the train station caused me to wonder how long it was going to take for me to get a spot on the train. Surprisingly, it wasn't as long as I expected, and once again I was jammed into a train car where I tried to keep from stepping or falling on someone as it transported me back to my hotel.

I think I'd do it again. It would be a lot more fun if somebody was with me next time, but I still enjoyed my little Chicago adventure.

Trying to Buck Up

Hopelessness, helplessness, a little fear. All of it I'm feeling lately. Because apparently it's true that ignorance is bliss, as a plurality of Americans appear to be in a state of pure bliss. That bliss named Barack Obama, of course.

My discomfort comes from many areas of observation and conversation, what I read, and what I experience directly. For the first time in my adult life, I truly believe we have reached a crossroads. To the right lies freedom and security and continued prosperity. To the left lies misery, war, and oppression.

Don't get me wrong, as I'm neither a McCain supporter nor an Obama detractor. The bottom line is that both are poor choices for the most powerful office in the world. It's not just those two individuals, though. The fact is that our entire democratic system of government has been co-opted. It has been taken over by the elites in both political parties who, I am now convinced, are driven by a long-term vision of a single, socialist, worldwide government.

No more pride in American exceptionalism. No more freedom. America will become indistinguishable from Canada or Europe. The European Union started something that will gradually lead to the North American Union, African Union, Far East Union, and eventually the model of global governance. Which will be oppressive, restrictive, and brutal to its detractors.

And political talk around this presidential election centers around whether McCain is too old (maybe) or whether his captivity and torture in Viet Nam is an asset or detriment to his ability to hold the presidency (I think asset); or whether Obama is a "flip-flopper" on issues like Iraq (I think he said whatever made his audience happy) or if his association with Rev. Wright is an indication that he shares his pastor's rather extreme anti-American views (I think he pretty much does).

Nobody has much of anything to say about actual policy. And the news there is bad. Both are open borders advocates, both are globalists, both are environmentalists demonstrably willing to destroy the economy in the name of stopping the mythical "global warming". And, as far as I can tell, both are socialists. McCain just a bit less than Obama.

But nobody seems to understand issues and ramifications. Those who want an immediate withdrawal from Iraq are naieve both about what such an action will cause in terms of terrorism and war and genocide, but also naieve that their candidate (Obama) will grant their wish. Those who think we can somehow eliminate oil as a source of energy in the forseeable future are jaw-droppingly naieve, and unfortunately both candidates and a plurality in Congress share in that mass stupidity.

Of course, when the topic of the war on terror comes up, an entire political party says either "what war? there's no terrorism." or "America is the real terrorist!".

It doesn't take much. All anybody has to do is a bit of reading. It is possible to find facts, as long as you exercise a bit of discernment between fact and spin (or lie). Then just apply a bit of logic and common sense to carry forward the facts and analyze the political positions and figure out how they'll impact the country and its citizens.

Evidence is clear. We are in for an extremely painful, expensive, difficult, divisive, and possibly disastrous next four years. Almost certainly under President Obama. Very probably also under President McCain.

Defining Social Justice

As the left continues its political ascendancy, their boldness increases to the point where I'm hearing more and more about how they plan to wield their power. One of the catch-phrases I keep hearing is Social Justice.

I've been hearing the term for just about as long as I can remember, but never really figured out how it was defined. My vague understanding was that it must have something to do with treating everyone fairly and not allowing the poor to be abused by evildoers.

Ask me to define Social Justice, and I might suggest it might be efforts at insuring that everyone have fair access to freedom and the American Dream. Nobody should be forced to live anywhere, told where or when to travel, what to eat or drink (aside from reasonable restrictions on public drunkenness), what they read or believe, or with whom they associate. Pretty much the Bill of Rights.

But as I've come to understand it, the prevalent definition of Social Justice by the Left is simply Socialism. They seem to be saying that Socialism is the only "fair" path to Social Justice. But Socialism by its very nature is opposed to freedom.

When the government bestows the "rich" label on certain citizens and proclaims all "rich" are evil and deserve to have their wealth confiscated, that's antithetical to Justice. When the government takes over half the income of the majority of its citizens, keeps most of it, and gives the rest to those who do not produce anything, that's not Justice.

When the government decides to give special privileges to certain people based on their skin color or behavior, threatening to prosecute churches who preach the behavior is immoral and businessmen who don't hire specific quotas of those groups regardless of qualifications and suitability for the jobs, that certainly isn't Justice.

We will always have poor. It seems to me that Socialism simply makes the poor minimally less poor in return for complete and total dependence on the government, while making everyone else much more poor by confiscating their wealth and taking their freedom.

It seems to me that instead of promoting Socialism and its direct opposition to the American Constitution, maybe government should focus on working with the citizenry to make sure the doors are open for anyone from any race, class, or gender to walk through if they're willing to work hard and prove themselves. Then perhaps others would be inspired to achievement based on the pioneering example of those who successfully pulled themselves up from poverty to success and happiness.

Sadly, it seems that most of our citizens have decided they are willing to lose their constitution, freedom and wealth to a corrupt Socialist government that will become the new "rich". And by then it will be too late to go back.

Stream of Consciousness

Even though I have work to do, it's mid-evening and I'm avoiding it.
So here I am on my blog, but I don't really have any burning topics to write about.

There's the flight yesterday where I was stuck on the plane while it sat on the tarmac in Indy for about 3 hours. Believe it or not, I actually arrived at my destination, even though it was about midnight.

TV is the default passive activity for the evenings out of town. But the primetime lineup is inane, and baseball's the only sport available. And I care about baseball, well, not really at all.

Something that worries me lately is that I find most of the people I meet on the road nice enough, but mostly stupid. Today I had a sort of secret panic that I might somehow let that attitude show, which doesn't bode well for a consultant. Are people really getting more stupid, or am I just getting intolerant? I really don't know.

Something sort of related to that last ramble is that lately everything has taken on a certain clarity. I feel like I understand things on an incredibly deep level, and suspect nobody else has a clue. It's not some sort of sudden arrogance; I despise arrogant people and hope never to come across as such. But I seem to have gained some weird insight on the world and God and history and people. But at the same time I feel constrained against sharing it.

I was really hungry last night. Probably from traveling 12 hours without the benefit of a meal. But tonight my survival instinct must have kicked in, because I've had dinner but still think I could eat another one. So part of the blogging is trying to stop thinking about eating, but you can see how well that's working.

Many times I have thought, wouldn't it be cool if I could go back to about age 14 and relive my life knowing everything I know now? But that's not the way life works, and instead of thinking about that, maybe I should start thinking about living the rest of my life the way I could look back and be pleased about. So when I realize how difficult that is, at least for me, I realize the whole going back to childhood idea wouldn't work.

Iyam what Iyam and thats All that Iyam. - Popeye the Sailor Man.

What I Know

Given the many years I've been around so far, there are a few things I know.

People are capable of great good or great evil. Most of us are a little bit of both.

There is a God. Everybody knows it; some merely spend their lives hating or avoiding Him.

The world is an incredibly beautiful and amazing place.

Everybody mostly wants intimacy. I don't mean sex. Happiness is family and close friends.

Careers don't matter, unless you have one that impacts people in a significant positive way. Most of us have jobs to provide our family a roof, food, clothing, and hopefully a decent education and occasional nice vacation.

People live until they're done. Somehow it makes sense for most I've known who have passed.

We don't mourn our dead. We mourn for ourselves because we miss them terribly. Or didn't say or do something we should have before they passed.

Hatred is born of misunderstanding. Hateful people usually are too proud to put it aside.

Women and men are quite different. By design, to complement each other, not to fight over dominance.

Life is hard. If it were not, what would be the point? Then again, if we think we have it tough, we should try living 200 years ago. Or 1,000 or 2,000 or 4,000.

Even those who reject God adopt their own religions. Atheism seems the most dogmatic of religions.

Conflict is inevitable. It exists everywhere, only separated by degree. Conflicts cannot be resolved when the resolution chooses a winner and loser. We model conflict through sport, where each participant gives their all in a fair arena and the best competitor wins. The loser is able to say, "we'll get them next time". More serious conflicts don't offer that option.

The best legacy most of us could ever leave behind are our children. We don't take enough time to realize this fact and act accordingly.

America the Mental Hospital

Things continue to spiral out of control in this country, and it seems most of the citizenry is enjoying the ride.

Not me. It's already having an effect on my livelihood. Six months ago I had more work than I could accept. Suddenly I have to take less attractive assignments and go digging to just try to keep my calendar full enough to make ends meet.

Who is at fault? Our very own elected government. Yes, the same government that responds to $4 gas by promising to confiscate the profits of the oil companies while they stand guard over fields of oil and gas reserves within our own borders. They promise to raise taxes on me so everybody else can have free healthcare and college and whatever else buys them the votes of the ignorant.

Oh well, pretty soon there won't be anything left of me to tax. I suspect the same will be true of lots of other evil businesspersons. The cynic in me wonders whether it's all by design - once we're all forced to place ourselves at the mercy of our government for our very lives, they have achieved their objective.

Why, except for the price of gas, aren't millions of Americans converging on Washington to surround Capitol Hill to blockade congress until they come to their senses? Like opening up every possible source of energy to drilling and mining. Like allowing new refineries to be built across the country to meet the needs of our citizens and economics. Like putting a stop to the ridiculous spending that's killing every one of us.

Instead I see the masses of zombies drooling at the very sight of Barack Obama. They cannot possibly be using any faculties of reason, or they would understand he promises to make our lives much worse, not better.

Zombies, a few basic questions. Are you better off having your healthcare paid for by other people, but being unable to afford the car that would take you to the hospital? Are you better off having more of your paycheck confiscated by the government than already is today? Are you better off with all the new rules about what you can drive, eat, drink, do with your property, what ideas you may see on TV or listen to on the radio, or even where and when you can travel?

How do you like the ideas of illegal immigrants being given special rights, possibly even taking your job? In a broader sense, how do you like the idea of people getting preference over you for jobs and benefits based on their skin color or sexual orientation? How do you feel about new laws that punish your church for its "intolerant" teachings?

Don't believe me? Try reading some stuff. Not just blogs like mine, but actual statements by people like Obama, Clinton, Reid, Pelosi, and the rest of the gang on Capitol Hill.

Or you can continue the zombie thing. Maybe somebody from the government will take pity on you someday and reward you with a free appendectomy. Or lobotomy.

Fooling People is Easy

While at lunch yesterday, I happened on a speech Barack Obama was giving, I believe in Troy, Michigan. And I got a first-hand reminder of what serves as a winning strategy for winning the Presidency these days.

Speak clearly, sound intelligent, look good, and most importantly, promise heaven on earth.

Barack's message is simple. End war, improve education, give healthcare to everyone, give jobs to those who don't have one and higher wages to those who do, give every child a great education and pay for their college tuition, solve energy and environmental problems, right every wrong and punish every evildoer.

It's mesmerizing and easy to be fooled by a smooth-talking candidate. He tells us it won't cost us anything - the money will come from ending war and making the evil rich pay taxes.

I imagine that's the sort of rhetoric that led to the rise of the Soviet Union and Communist China. Since they don't really teach history in the schools anymore, I suppose most of the foolish people worshiping at Obama's feet don't know anything about such things.

It seems we're all about to get a firsthand look at what happens when Socialist/Communist politicians take control of government. Maybe I'll get to spend my golden years in some Alaskan Gulag where the Obama government hopes to get my mind right.

Sounds chilly.

Stupid Pop Culture

While flying home this weekend, the flight attendants were discussing the Sex in the City movie that must have just hit theatres. They were gushing over it, talking about how the women cheered and clapped. They also said the vast majority of people in the theatre were women, with only a few unhappy boyfriends that got dragged in and some gays.

As an actual guy, I clearly don't get it. And if you're guessing I won't be caught anywhere near that movie, you can bank on it.

I admit I've never invested time in the HBO series on which this thing was based, other than surfing past it enough to pick up my perception that it's a shallow, amoral, hedonistic and narcissistic portrayal of single women in New York. If it's anything close to an accurate portrayal of actual women in New York or anywhere else, well, I'm glad I'm not young and single.

Why can't there be movies that both men and women can see where they're cheering and applauding heroic or uplifting stories instead of a gang of NYC rich single sluts?

Just asking.

Misplaced Anger

Tell me whether any of this is factually untrue:

The United States has vast untapped oil reserves in Alaska and just off our coastlines.
We also have vast coal reserves that can be converted to a synthetic oil for well under half of today's market price.
There's oil shale in the west ready to be dug up and added to the oil supply.
Refinery capacity has been exceeded, forcing the US to import refined gasoline to make up the difference in demand.

I think I've got the facts right.

So why aren't we exploiting every possible option like those listed above to ease the burden on every one of us of $4 a gallon gas?

Because our own Congress won't allow it.

OK, so why haven't millions of Americans marched on Washington and blockaded Capitol Hill until our elected representatives finally pass changes to the laws that would permit us to use our own country's oil reserves?

Could it be because the country is populated by idiots who think the high prices are nothing more than "big oil" greed? The same idiots that will vote for Barack Obama, thinking when he slaps down those greedy oil companies with confiscatory "windfall profits taxes", that will somehow bring back $1 gasoline?

In the meantime, the same congress mandates most of our food go to making ethanol, driving food prices through the roof and starving people all over the third world. And they're proud of that!?

The congress and their elitist minders try to tell us that we will just stop using gasoline when the new "alternative" fuels are ready? Does anybody out there drive a car or truck that will run on any of these mythical "alternative" fuels? No, the only way we get to move to, say, a Hydrogen Fuel Cell or Electric vehicle is to buy one after they come on the market.

Who but the elites will have the cash to pay, what, double? triple? the price of a gas-powered new car if and when these amazing new vehicles appear?

Does anybody out there have a brain?

What, me worry?

Worry is a waste of emotional energy, but many of us do it anyway.

How much time is spent stewing about things that might or might not happen? I wonder, if someone were to keep track of everything they worried about for a year, what percentage of those worries actually came to pass? And those that did, were the consequences worthy of the amount of time and emotional energy spent worrying about them?

I wonder how often our worries become self-fulfilling prophecies?

Sure, it's easy for me to point out a number of very legitimate worries in my own life. After all, I'm self-employed with no guarantee I'll have enough work to pay the bills. Health insurance is a nightmare. I'm one lawsuit or accident or illness away from bankruptcy.

I'm pretty sure this year's elections will install a government that will be hostile to business. The new President and congress are most likely going to be socialists who may damage the economy enough to dry up my business, not to mention will probably raise taxes to a level I can't sustain.

But do I lose sleep over all that? Ha! Me, lose sleep? You probably don't know me if you think that.

Sure, I think about those things sometimes. I also have a variety of concerns about my family. But I don't let any of it dominate my thoughts or interfere with my day.

I've learned this simple truth about worrying. There's absolutely nothing worry can do to help avoid something bad. If you work hard and pay attention to detail, you've already done all you can to keep the bad things you can control from happening. All that's left are the bad things you can't control. If those happen, you just deal with them. Worrying didn't help.

So now the economy has slowed considerably, and it's beginning to show in my business activity. Sure, I'm concerned, and it is only prudent to begin thinking about what options I should consider if things slow down to the point where I have to close down. But I'm not worrying or stressing over any of it.

Maybe it's time to think about getting a job to tide me through to retirement anyway. All will work itself out in time.

Web Control

The various companies I visit in the course of my profession range across the entire spectrum when it comes to granting employees access to the internet.

At one extreme, I have a client that only allows web access to Managers and above. They won't even give email to the rest of their staff.

At the other extreme are clients who place no restrictions at all on their employees related to internet activities. However, I believe some of those clients do monitor web activities of employees and will deal with excessive browsing or visits to inappropriate sites.

For me, the restrictive companies seem counterproductive. I've directly observed the inefficiency of being unable to communicate with staff members in the company that denies all web access to employees.

Many companies restrict access to certain types of sites, such as game sites, porn sites, social networking sites and blogs.

It reminds me of when an old employer of mine implemented a no-smoking policy. Employees could not smoke in the office, but could only smoke in designated outdoor smoking areas.

There was a high percentage of smokers in the operations department. Since it was a trucking company, those employees were responsible for taking customer and driver calls, coordinating pickups and deliveries and giving instructions to drivers.

So the smoking ban sent those folks outside for their nicotine fix. Problem was that they were spending almost as much time away from their post on smoke breaks as at their desk performing their duties. Naturally, their non-smoking co-workers became offended by a perceived special treatment that allowed the smokers much longer and more frequent breaks.

Of course, technically those smokers were not permitted any more or longer breaks than anyone else. They simply were taking them on their own initiatives to feed their nicotine addictions.

So rather than dealing with the problem by cracking down on enforcement of scheduled breaks, their managers decided to rescind the non-smoking policy for that department. By allowing the smokers to resume their habits at their desks, important calls were no longer missed and business went back to normal.

One little problem with their approach to that problem: People were hired during the non-smoking policy under the promise of a smoke-free workplace. Some of those people were intolerant of cigarette smoke with specific respiratory problems. Guess what happened when the managers of the operations department rescinded the non-smoking policy.

I think restriction of web access for employees is something of a parallel to the smoking ban. Shutting down web access is lazy management. Managers don't want the responsibility or the conflict of having to deal with an employee who might be abusing the priviledge of web access at work, so they choose to shut it down completely.

I like to listed to web radio at work, which is blocked by many companies. Perhaps if it's blocked due to a possible bandwidth problem, I could see the logic of that policy.

But otherwise, employees should be treated like adults. Tell them up-front that they will have web access, but are expected to limit web browsing and avoid inappropriate sites. If they visit inappropriate sites or their web browsing affects their job performance, they will be verbally warned the first time, receive a written warning to go into their Personnel file the second time, and will be terminated the third time.

Very simple, but lazy managers don't want to be bothered.

Supreme Insight

What was most troubling for me about the Supreme Court decision to uphold Indiana's voting identification law was that three justices actually dissented.

As I do with any issue, I searched for arguments on the side against the law, which simply requires voters to present a photo ID when they arrive at the precinct to vote in an election. If someone shows up without a photo ID, they can cast a provisional ballot, which will be counted as long as the individual shows up at the courthouse within 10 days to prove they are who they claim and are indeed eligible to vote. In addition, anyone who doesn't have a drivers licence may obtain a free photo ID from the BMV with proof of citizenship.

The ACLU and their Democrat Party allies brought the suit against Indiana, claiming it would disenfranchise a substantial number of poor voters who don't have a valid photo ID.

Naturally, my question for them was, who exactly? I searched in vain for an answer to that simple question. The only people I could think of that could possibly be affected negatively by the law are the Amish, who have a religious objection to having their photos taken. Since Indiana dealt with that issue long ago when it came up in a licensing law for their buggies, I'm pretty sure the Amish issue is addressed. Even if it's not, my knowledge of the Amish would seem to indicate they would be more likely to vote Republican than Democrat, so I'm also pretty sure the ACLU wasn't trying to protect their voting rights.

So the court essentially said that there was no evidence presented that identified a single voter who was unreasonably denied their right to vote because of this law.

News reports also said there also was very little evidence presented suggesting any widespread voter fraud, which the voter ID law was designed to stop. I am curious about that, but suspect the reason is because any effort to find voter fraud is certain to result in angry charges of "disenfranchisement" and "harrassment".

Stories have abounded here in Indiana for years about busloads of people in Indianapolis and Gary and East Chicago being ferried around to the various precincts by Democrat Party officials. According to the stories, at each precinct, each person on the bus is handed a name, which is the name they assume when they enter and sign in at the precinct. They cast their votes and move on to the next precinct, where the process is repeated.

Also often repeated are the stories about Democrats registering illegal immigrants and taking them to the polls to vote as well. Poll workers often report hispanics who obviously can't speak English signing in and voting. It's not too difficult to figure out that someone who can't speak English is almost certainly not a citizen.

So the only reasonable conclusion I can reach is that the real objection to Indiana's voter ID law is that these longtime Democrat practices of fraudulent voting will be mostly stopped.

Which is the reason I'm very troubled that 3 Supreme Court justices actually dissented. What that tells me is that those 3 justices could care less about the constitution or rule of law, and are unqualified to hold their positions on the court.

Just a brief reminder to those who are ready to vote for Hillary or Barack; those 3 unqualified justices will almost certainly be joined by 2 to 3 more just like them within the next few years should either of those Democrats win the Presidency. If they can't get a clear-cut ruling like this one right, imagine what havoc they can create for our country if they are able to become the majority of the court.

Academic Freedom?

I had a chance to see the Ben Stein film, Expelled.

Rather than summarizing the film here, I'll just suggest you go see it yourself. For me it clarified an issue that had intrigued and puzzled me before.

Now that I know what Intelligent Design actually is, I have perhaps a better perspective on why it is so loudly vilified and excoriated by academics.

The larger story is about academic intolerance. Academia has become the home for left-wing radicalism, and Ben Stein's exploration of the big flap about ID is merely a single example.

How many times have you heard the phrase,

The science on this matter is settled.

or

This is the consensus of the scientific community.

If you are a scientist who dares question one of these "settled" or "consensus" hot button issues, you do so at the risk of your career.

How can you be denied tenure? By sexual harrassment of students in your class? Probably not. By pointing out the flaws in Darwin's Origin of the Species? In a heartbeat.

How can you be fired from your position in government or even The Weather Channel? By pointing out the flaws in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth? Unemployment line, here we come.

How many scientists have lost tenure or research funding at our universities only because they've tried to stay true to the mission of science; which is to always question and explore? I'm not sure anybody knows for sure, but Ben Stein seems to suggest it's widespread and endemic.

I wonder how much this academic intolerance spills over into other courses of study? If biologists and climatologists are not permitted to pursue their professions unless they toe the party line, how about others? Are musicians, historians, engineers, chemists also required to fall into lockstep with the Marxist politics of today's universities if they hope to attain and keep their tenured positions?

It would seem so.