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".
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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!
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!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
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?
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?
Thursday, December 04, 2008
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 ...
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 ...
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