The greeting in this letter started out, "Dear Liberal". But then I realized you prefer to be called "Progressive", because I suppose that's a term that makes you feel good about yourself. My purpose in writing to you today is to ask you a question.
Why do you hate me so?
You deride me for my Christian faith. You call me supersitious, weak-minded, intolerant, ignorant, hateful. All because I believe there is an all-powerful God who created us, who loves us, and who will welcome those of us who acknowledge him into eternity after our physical bodies die. He never told us to be intolerant, ignorant, or hateful. Rather, God's message to mankind (oops, humankind) is to love each other and be good to each other. Why does that make you angry?
You think I'm heartless for supporting a political perspective that believes that people should take responsibility for themselves and their families. Why do think that's heartless? Studies have proven what I never needed a study to prove; that people who get a good education, marry and stay with a spouse for life, then together raise children in a cohesive family unit are far happier and more successful in life than those who choose "alternative" lifestyles. I don't need to be a Christian to recognize how those basic truths make for a safe, peaceful and prosperous culture.
You get red in the face when we talk about unions. I don't have a problem with a group of people who work together at a company somewhere banding together for the purpose of negotiating better pay, benefits, and working conditions for themselves. I simply think its unAmerican to force people into a labor union they don't want to join, where a large portion of their wages is confiscated to be spent on lavish lifestyles for the unelected union bosses and to fund campaigns for politicians chosen by those same bosses. As a member of a labor union, you are not allowed to so much as ask to see the books of what you thought was your own organization?! I prefer to choose what organizations I want to join and what causes deserve my hard-earned money.
My pro-life orientation also makes you angry. Why would you hate me for expressing scientifically established fact, that human life begins at conception. Surely you're not arguing that you will fight to the end to preserve a "right" to reserve infanticide just in case you find somebody cute you want to take to bed without consequence? Why do you insist on making a straw man argument about abortion for rape and incest victims, when the number of such cases are so small as to be statistically insignificant? Or is this merely an extension of your hostility over my inconvenient truth that sexual behavior is only appropriate within the context of the nuclear family?
You think I love war. I can't figure out where you got that idea, because in reality I believe war should be the last resort and used for protecting ourselves against enemies determined to kill us. It is the government's foremost responsibility to raise a strong army to protect its citizens. You often state that no war is justified. The very idea that a foreign soldier or jihadist might one day walk into your home and kill you is nothing more than some right-wing fantasy, according to you. When you and your like-minded friends take over control of everything, I suppose all I have left is to pray for God's protection - because you and your "Progressive" friends will never protect me. Sadly, you won't protect yourselves either.
Which brings us to guns. You find them frightening and unnecessary. You go on and on telling me that nobody "needs" a gun. You are appalled that I might go out in the woods to shoot a poor little animal. You scoff at the very idea I might need to protect myself from a home invader one day, something that happens every day across the country. Pardon me for pointing out, you don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about when you stridently demand that the government ban "assault rifles".
There are so many other things we could discuss, but I will end with the economy, jobs, deficits, and debt. You don't care to so much as consider the fact that our mutual destruction is taking place right now by ruinous spending in Washington, DC. I wish you would at least consider the harm your god-like president is doing to both of us as he pays interest on the debt with printed money. Everything costs more, but you and I don't get higher salaries to offset those rising costs, so our standard of living continues to erode. We're trying to save for retirement, but our retirement funds are drying up in front of our eyes as the value of each dollar in our IRA and 401K shrinks faster than their investment earnings can replace it. Your god-like president is telling businesses what they may and may not do within their own operations, pushing their costs ever higher and forcing them to consider leaving for a friendlier country or closing the doors forever. You're just fine with all that, and hate me for suggesting I am not.
I don't hate you, and it hurts me that you hate me. I want to be your friend. My hope for you is that one day you will open your mind and let the light in just long enough to understand. Perhaps the first step on the journey to enlightenment is the end of hatred.
Whether it offends you or not, I will continue to pray for you.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Proven Right
I was right.
Hillary finally appeared to testify this morning. I couldn't watch, but caught some excerpts. I was absolutely correct in my post about her delayed testimony. I can add that she claimed ignorance and forgot everything she's ever known or done about Benghazi. She was also defiant, projecting the attitude,
You guys have no right to question me!
There was one small revelation, when she screamed at a congressman who had the gall to question her about the false narrative of the spontaneous protest, "What difference would it make!". The small revelation is in what she probably meant by that outburst:
What I think she meant was, so what if we got together and made up a cover story. That's routine in politics. We make up stories every day to avoid scrutiny, and this was no different.
My point is still operative. She will never tell the truth about Benghazi. And nobody will hold her responsible. We are very likely to find out I'm right when she's the Democrat nominee for President in 2016, and Benghazi won't ever be mentioned in the campaign.
Hillary finally appeared to testify this morning. I couldn't watch, but caught some excerpts. I was absolutely correct in my post about her delayed testimony. I can add that she claimed ignorance and forgot everything she's ever known or done about Benghazi. She was also defiant, projecting the attitude,
You guys have no right to question me!
There was one small revelation, when she screamed at a congressman who had the gall to question her about the false narrative of the spontaneous protest, "What difference would it make!". The small revelation is in what she probably meant by that outburst:
What I think she meant was, so what if we got together and made up a cover story. That's routine in politics. We make up stories every day to avoid scrutiny, and this was no different.
My point is still operative. She will never tell the truth about Benghazi. And nobody will hold her responsible. We are very likely to find out I'm right when she's the Democrat nominee for President in 2016, and Benghazi won't ever be mentioned in the campaign.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Inauguration of a Dictator
I didn't tune in to the inauguration. I had to work. Plus I need to keep my blood pressure down.
But I caught the aftermath. The re-elected leftist president left little doubt about his attitude and ambition for the next 4 years. His message boils down to this:
"I'm going all-in on my agenda. If you don't like it, shut up and get out of the way. I'm opening the borders. I'm shutting down coal-fired electricity generation plants. I'm going to make gasoline so expensive you won't be able to afford to keep your car. I'm going to appease our enemies and insult our friends around the world - if we're attacked, I will not respond. I'm going to continue to expand the welfare state. I'm going to continue raising taxes, but not to reduce the deficit or debt. I will continue heaping onerous and unnecessary regulations on business until they are forced to close or relocate out of the country. I will control your healthcare. I will make every one of you dependent on me for your livelihood. I will force you to embrace and pay taxes toward new benefits for gay people who marry."
All to the cheering and celebration of the left-leaning or ignorant crowd. And network "journalists".
A sad day for a once great republic.
But I caught the aftermath. The re-elected leftist president left little doubt about his attitude and ambition for the next 4 years. His message boils down to this:
"I'm going all-in on my agenda. If you don't like it, shut up and get out of the way. I'm opening the borders. I'm shutting down coal-fired electricity generation plants. I'm going to make gasoline so expensive you won't be able to afford to keep your car. I'm going to appease our enemies and insult our friends around the world - if we're attacked, I will not respond. I'm going to continue to expand the welfare state. I'm going to continue raising taxes, but not to reduce the deficit or debt. I will continue heaping onerous and unnecessary regulations on business until they are forced to close or relocate out of the country. I will control your healthcare. I will make every one of you dependent on me for your livelihood. I will force you to embrace and pay taxes toward new benefits for gay people who marry."
All to the cheering and celebration of the left-leaning or ignorant crowd. And network "journalists".
A sad day for a once great republic.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Big Brother is Strangling Me
Mainly the slow torture from our Big Brother government comes from Obamacare. My health insurance premium is 50% higher this year, and it still has yet to pay a penny in benefits after about 6 years. I've already received the letter informing me that the insurance will be discontinued at the end of this year, to be replaced by Obamacare's "exchange" plan. Just great, how much higher will the premium be next year? Another 50% I'll bet. I can't afford the premium I've got now, so I think the fine will be cheaper.
Then there are prescription drugs. I first got my main brand-name prescription about a year before the Medicare prescription plan was passed by George W Bush and friends. That same pill costs me exactly double the price today versus the price back then. Half of that doubling happened the day after Medicare prescription drugs passed. The other half happened the day after Obamacare passed.
But that's only part of the story. I'm now forced by my insurance company (you know, the one that hasn't paid for any claim in 6 years) to follow their arbitrary rules. For example, I got stuck in St. Louis over the weekend a week ago this past Saturday. I only brought a week's supply, so I tried to get a temporary refill to get me through the second week. Guess what? The mail order pharmacy I'm forced to use exclusively said it's not time for a refill yet, therefore I am not permitted to add to my supply. So I tried a CVS pharmacy in St. Louis, but the pharmacist in a very nice way told me there was no system available get a temporary refill. The only possible way to do that was to get my own Doctor to call it in.
Well yeah, you know Doctors don't work weekends. So my only option was to go without for the weekend, then call the office Monday morning to get an emergency 1-month refill. You remember, the prescription that costs double what it did when I first started taking it.
Gee, I wonder what would have happened if I needed that pill to keep me alive? Try to get to an emergency room before I kicked the bucket, I suppose.
Big Brother is an idiot.
Then there are prescription drugs. I first got my main brand-name prescription about a year before the Medicare prescription plan was passed by George W Bush and friends. That same pill costs me exactly double the price today versus the price back then. Half of that doubling happened the day after Medicare prescription drugs passed. The other half happened the day after Obamacare passed.
But that's only part of the story. I'm now forced by my insurance company (you know, the one that hasn't paid for any claim in 6 years) to follow their arbitrary rules. For example, I got stuck in St. Louis over the weekend a week ago this past Saturday. I only brought a week's supply, so I tried to get a temporary refill to get me through the second week. Guess what? The mail order pharmacy I'm forced to use exclusively said it's not time for a refill yet, therefore I am not permitted to add to my supply. So I tried a CVS pharmacy in St. Louis, but the pharmacist in a very nice way told me there was no system available get a temporary refill. The only possible way to do that was to get my own Doctor to call it in.
Well yeah, you know Doctors don't work weekends. So my only option was to go without for the weekend, then call the office Monday morning to get an emergency 1-month refill. You remember, the prescription that costs double what it did when I first started taking it.
Gee, I wonder what would have happened if I needed that pill to keep me alive? Try to get to an emergency room before I kicked the bucket, I suppose.
Big Brother is an idiot.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Shooting Down Our Heroes
There are three sports-related stories getting a lot of play this week, all three combining to destroy our admiration of sports heroes. The message we're getting loud and clear goes something like this:
Stop admiring sports people who achieve at an extremely high level. Because the person you admire most likely achieved so much because he or she cheated or was given an unfair advantage.
Lance Armstrong: I was disappointed at how it seemed that people destroyed his reputation and took away all his trophies and medals by accusing him of doping without proof. Now they tell us that the reason he never had a positive test was because he or someone close to him was paying off the corrupt officials that oversaw the testing procedures.
I'm cynical, and take with a grain of salt whether the payoff charges are true. But the larger message is that "everybody" in cycling was doping. All the Tour de France winners over the last several years seem to have been caught doping in what they say was a rampant practice, with doctors who were experts in avoiding positive tests helped the athletes. So now we don't know whether any TdF winners over the last decade or so were actually clean.
Look at olympic gold medalists who took banned performance enhancing drugs. Every silver medalist who knew he or she was absolutely clean is justified in being very angry to lose that gold to a cheater.
Rather than going on Oprah to confess, Lance should have held a Press Conference. He should have told the truth, whatever that is, then announced he was retiring to his private life and will no longer be a public figure. That's the right way to do it. I'm disappointed that he was willing to go the exploitation route to try to rehabilitate his image.
Chip Kelly went on an interview with the Philadelphia Eagles. He came back and told his college, Oregon, that he decided to stay. Perhaps too coincidentally, he got all the Oregon recruits signed for Oregon right before he announced, "I changed my mind, I'll be taking the Eagles' job".
Maybe the Eagles came back with an offer he couldn't refuse. Maybe after taking some time to think about it, he decided that job would be best for his career. I hope so. But that story smells.
Manti Te'o was part of a big story last Fall about his girlfriend dying of cancer. It brought him fantastic press and the sympathy and increased admiration for Notre Dame fans all over the country. Now we find out the girlfriend didn't die. She didn't even exist. Notre Dame says Manti was duped by some sort of internet prank.
Sorry, I don't buy it. If your girlfriend is somebody you've never met but spend lots of time flirting with over the internet, she doesn't qualify as a girlfriend. Whether or not you were duped by the fake cancer story is irrelevant. She wasn't your girlfriend, but some fantasy date you found on the world wide web. Manti should have stopped the story when it started by telling the press that the girlfriend who died of cancer was somebody he'd never actually met, but just communicated with online.
All these stories suggest we should never get caught up in a sports personality as someone to emulate or admire. Because in real life that personality may be a complete and total jerk or fraud. So where does that leave the kids?
Without heroes, how can young kids aspiring to be great at some endeavour, or even just a person of high integrity and character, find the role models they need to actually achieve their goals?
Stop admiring sports people who achieve at an extremely high level. Because the person you admire most likely achieved so much because he or she cheated or was given an unfair advantage.
Lance Armstrong: I was disappointed at how it seemed that people destroyed his reputation and took away all his trophies and medals by accusing him of doping without proof. Now they tell us that the reason he never had a positive test was because he or someone close to him was paying off the corrupt officials that oversaw the testing procedures.
I'm cynical, and take with a grain of salt whether the payoff charges are true. But the larger message is that "everybody" in cycling was doping. All the Tour de France winners over the last several years seem to have been caught doping in what they say was a rampant practice, with doctors who were experts in avoiding positive tests helped the athletes. So now we don't know whether any TdF winners over the last decade or so were actually clean.
Look at olympic gold medalists who took banned performance enhancing drugs. Every silver medalist who knew he or she was absolutely clean is justified in being very angry to lose that gold to a cheater.
Rather than going on Oprah to confess, Lance should have held a Press Conference. He should have told the truth, whatever that is, then announced he was retiring to his private life and will no longer be a public figure. That's the right way to do it. I'm disappointed that he was willing to go the exploitation route to try to rehabilitate his image.
Chip Kelly went on an interview with the Philadelphia Eagles. He came back and told his college, Oregon, that he decided to stay. Perhaps too coincidentally, he got all the Oregon recruits signed for Oregon right before he announced, "I changed my mind, I'll be taking the Eagles' job".
Maybe the Eagles came back with an offer he couldn't refuse. Maybe after taking some time to think about it, he decided that job would be best for his career. I hope so. But that story smells.
Manti Te'o was part of a big story last Fall about his girlfriend dying of cancer. It brought him fantastic press and the sympathy and increased admiration for Notre Dame fans all over the country. Now we find out the girlfriend didn't die. She didn't even exist. Notre Dame says Manti was duped by some sort of internet prank.
Sorry, I don't buy it. If your girlfriend is somebody you've never met but spend lots of time flirting with over the internet, she doesn't qualify as a girlfriend. Whether or not you were duped by the fake cancer story is irrelevant. She wasn't your girlfriend, but some fantasy date you found on the world wide web. Manti should have stopped the story when it started by telling the press that the girlfriend who died of cancer was somebody he'd never actually met, but just communicated with online.
All these stories suggest we should never get caught up in a sports personality as someone to emulate or admire. Because in real life that personality may be a complete and total jerk or fraud. So where does that leave the kids?
Without heroes, how can young kids aspiring to be great at some endeavour, or even just a person of high integrity and character, find the role models they need to actually achieve their goals?
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sports Update
The weekend NFL games had their usual unpredictability. Favorites lost as some always do. Denver gave the game away to the Baltimore Ravens despite plenty of opportunities to close out their victory. Atlanta very nearly did the same, but escaped with a (literally) final minute drive for the winning field goal to edge a scrappy Seahawk team.
San Fransisco won more easily than I expected against the Packers, who many were picking to make the Super Bowl. New England won about as easily as I expected against the Texans. Too bad Houston, you're pretty good but you're not at the level of the Patriots just yet - you just need better pass defense.
Based on the weekend games, it seems that New England is a lock for the Super Bowl on the AFC side, but the Ravens have been talking destiny. We'll see. It's hard to pick between Atlanta and San Fran, both were rather impressive. I'm staying on the fence for the NFC title, because once again I have no idea how that game will go.
In college basketball, I'm enjoying the Indiana teams this year. As I write, Notre Dame just got beaten by St. John's, but they've been pretty good so far.
Butler lost their point guard and top scorer, Rotnei Clarke, to a scary neck injury over the weekend. So Butler might easily lose one or both of the two games Clarke is reportedly going to miss. Particularly against Gonzaga. But you never know.
Indiana looked great in their first half against Minnesota, but the wheels came off in the second half. They managed to hang on for the victory, but need to play two halves like that first one last weekend if they hope to beat Wisconsin. That's still a fun team to watch play offense, while Butler's fun to watch because of their hustle and relentlessness on both offense and defense.
San Fransisco won more easily than I expected against the Packers, who many were picking to make the Super Bowl. New England won about as easily as I expected against the Texans. Too bad Houston, you're pretty good but you're not at the level of the Patriots just yet - you just need better pass defense.
Based on the weekend games, it seems that New England is a lock for the Super Bowl on the AFC side, but the Ravens have been talking destiny. We'll see. It's hard to pick between Atlanta and San Fran, both were rather impressive. I'm staying on the fence for the NFC title, because once again I have no idea how that game will go.
In college basketball, I'm enjoying the Indiana teams this year. As I write, Notre Dame just got beaten by St. John's, but they've been pretty good so far.
Butler lost their point guard and top scorer, Rotnei Clarke, to a scary neck injury over the weekend. So Butler might easily lose one or both of the two games Clarke is reportedly going to miss. Particularly against Gonzaga. But you never know.
Indiana looked great in their first half against Minnesota, but the wheels came off in the second half. They managed to hang on for the victory, but need to play two halves like that first one last weekend if they hope to beat Wisconsin. That's still a fun team to watch play offense, while Butler's fun to watch because of their hustle and relentlessness on both offense and defense.
A Couple of Things I Picked Up
Since work has me completely buried lately, I don't catch much of the news and commentary stuff I usually get. But I did catch part of Obama's press conference about the debt ceiling and gun control.
It strikes me how brazen he is on both subjects. Only he seems to be able to get away with outrageous and misleading rhetoric, but of course the press abandoned all pretense of fair reporting a long time ago.
Let's see if I can condense the basic message. Second Amendment activists are happy to see school children get killed by men with "Assault Rifles". They refuse to even discuss the "common sense" regulations that will save childrens' lives. Why, they just scare everybody by telling them Obama's going to take away their guns because it makes them a ton of money.
On the debt ceiling, it seems Obama had nothing to do with the spending levels bankrupting the nation. It was Congress and Bush, don't you know. So there's no need to negotiate raising the ceiling because Congress simply needs to pay the bills they've already piled up.
And by the way, he will not talk to Republicans about spending cuts that will starve seniors and children and deny healthcare to millions. There is no such thing as unnecessary spending. If only the rich were paying their fair share, we'd be OK (wait, didn't he just get a tax increase with no spending cuts through congress only a couple weeks ago?)
This stuff is so over-the-top in its blatant dishonesty. And the Republican leaders never even tried to hold a press conference to refute Emperor Obama's slanders. Business as usual I guess.
My feeling is that the Republicans in the House and Senate should reconfirm their principles, then stick by them regardless of how badly Obama and his lapdog press want to mischaracterize them. They will anyway, so why knuckle under to score points you'll never get from them?
Then I find this little tidbit about the FOIA request to see the illegal emails the former EPA chief, Lisa Jackson. The court ordered those emails be released to Chris Horner. Lisa was using "Richard Windsor" as her email alter ego. The EPA eventually gave Horner a CD with a bunch of emails. They chose to inundate him with a high volume of irrelevant emails, while still holding back the smoking guns that are almost certainly there.
It makes me wonder whether Lisa at the EPA is merely the tip of the iceberg of corrupt practices throughout the Obama span of control in government.
I'm sorry there is no evidence that anybody's going to succeed in toppling the totalitarians that have grasped control of Washington. Obama's our new King George, only he's doing a lot more harm than merely taxing our tea.
It strikes me how brazen he is on both subjects. Only he seems to be able to get away with outrageous and misleading rhetoric, but of course the press abandoned all pretense of fair reporting a long time ago.
Let's see if I can condense the basic message. Second Amendment activists are happy to see school children get killed by men with "Assault Rifles". They refuse to even discuss the "common sense" regulations that will save childrens' lives. Why, they just scare everybody by telling them Obama's going to take away their guns because it makes them a ton of money.
On the debt ceiling, it seems Obama had nothing to do with the spending levels bankrupting the nation. It was Congress and Bush, don't you know. So there's no need to negotiate raising the ceiling because Congress simply needs to pay the bills they've already piled up.
And by the way, he will not talk to Republicans about spending cuts that will starve seniors and children and deny healthcare to millions. There is no such thing as unnecessary spending. If only the rich were paying their fair share, we'd be OK (wait, didn't he just get a tax increase with no spending cuts through congress only a couple weeks ago?)
This stuff is so over-the-top in its blatant dishonesty. And the Republican leaders never even tried to hold a press conference to refute Emperor Obama's slanders. Business as usual I guess.
My feeling is that the Republicans in the House and Senate should reconfirm their principles, then stick by them regardless of how badly Obama and his lapdog press want to mischaracterize them. They will anyway, so why knuckle under to score points you'll never get from them?
Then I find this little tidbit about the FOIA request to see the illegal emails the former EPA chief, Lisa Jackson. The court ordered those emails be released to Chris Horner. Lisa was using "Richard Windsor" as her email alter ego. The EPA eventually gave Horner a CD with a bunch of emails. They chose to inundate him with a high volume of irrelevant emails, while still holding back the smoking guns that are almost certainly there.
It makes me wonder whether Lisa at the EPA is merely the tip of the iceberg of corrupt practices throughout the Obama span of control in government.
I'm sorry there is no evidence that anybody's going to succeed in toppling the totalitarians that have grasped control of Washington. Obama's our new King George, only he's doing a lot more harm than merely taxing our tea.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Historical Perspective
The historical path that's led to America's fall helps put things in perspective. All that's been running through my head make the sad but obvious self-destructive path seem inevitable. My challenge is to try boiling it all down into a short blog post.
Mankind's earliest society was based on a tribalism. Tribes were extended families who lived together in their villages and worked together for mutual protection and made their living off the land, either by hunting and gathering or learning some basic agricultural and animal husbandry skills. The leader of each tribe was the father or grandfather of the family.
Tribes would raid each other to steal food or women, or take the land away from another tribe if they thought it was better than the land they already controlled. This grew into feudalism, where tribes began to coalesce into slightly larger regional kingdoms led by the strongest alpha male best able to keep enough people organized and controlled to protect their corner of the world from outside marauders.
But outside marauders were a fact of life, coming from other places in search of loot. Gradually there were newer things they came to steal, like tools and precious metals. So the petty Lords that were now calling themselves Kings got the idea of fending off the marauders by bribing them with those tools and gold and silver in return for leaving their little fiefdom in peace. The Lords came up with the idea of taxation and began taking a small percentage of each person's output each year to support the defense of the kingdom.
Some kings began to realize that they could become very rich and powerful by developing their tribes into accomplished warriors. The Persians conquered most of the known world, but the Greeks developed their own warrior class and the Persian Empire was supplanted by the Greek empire. The Greeks were so successful that they were able to explore cultural and scientific pursuits, once their society moved beyond the daily struggle to merely feed themselves and fend off invaders.
The Romans borrowed heavily from Greek cultural ideas and supplanted the Greeks as rulers of the known world. The Romans expanded on the Greek idea of democratic governance and formed a republic. Fighting to keep the republic alive, the Roman Senate executed the highly successful military leader Julius Caesar, the first Roman Emporer. But even that assassination turned out to be futile, as strongman warlords continued to rise and anoint themselves the imperial ruler of the Rome and thus the world.
Eventually the Romans became comfortable and decadent, just as the Greeks before them and perhaps the Persians before them. Their empire crumbled, and the western world reverted to feudalism.
Then Christianity took hold in the western world. Strong Lords were able to leverage a biblical idea based on King David, now called the Divine Right of Kings, to unite the fiefdoms under a single High King. The King found it easier to control larger and larger coalitians with a Bishop at his side, proclaiming him God's anointed ruler. Then the Europeans found America, the rich New World ripe for the picking. People flocked to the New World to escape tyrannical kings and seek their fortunes. Then English King George went too far, demanding ever-increasing taxes on the colonists. George needed the funds to support his ongoing war with France and restock his diminishing coffers as his own subjects productivity declined dramatically while the Americans were getting rich from the sweat of their brows. The onerous taxes George was imposing make him look like a piker when compared with modern tax rates.
America fought to be independent, and the fledgeling country decided to adopt a governing system modeled after the Greeks and Romans but leavened with Christian principles. There were plenty of struggles through the years with a terrible civil war fought over whether America was a confederation of independent states, or a unified country ruled from a powerful central government. The powerful central government won. But the country's success continued to build through the industrial age, then the Germans ignited two World Wars. After the devastation of the world wrought by the second War, a victorious America was left relatively unscathed and ascended to claim their perch as the most powerful and therefore wealthiest nation on earth.
The children of the war veterans who won this unprecedented power and prosperity for America rebelled against their parents, not as warriors but as philosophers of a sort. They rejected their parents' faith and values, despite enjoying the wealth and priviledge those values provided them. Now they're in charge of the American government. They weaken America's warriors because they've decided those warriors are bullies, not protectors and freedom fighters. They demand unprecedented taxation rates, demanding more than half of the output from the productive so they can give more to the unproductive (while lining their own pockets). In the meantime, marauders have begun their invasions. We are experiencing both economic and warrior marauders. Economic marauders sneak into the country to get in line for the post-war generation's generous wealth redistribution programs, while warrior marauders seek to destroy the country from within and out through terror, murder and destruction.
History shows that the marauders always win, eventually. The two factions vying for that role are Communists and Islamists, who for the moment are allies in the war against America. My guess is between the two, the Islamists will win because they're more committed to their cause and believe Allah is on their side. Communists are atheists, so they're not going to get revved up to win a victory for God. Their definition of victory looks more like a world where everybody's as poor and miserable as they are, they can kill all the babies they deem unworthy, and can grant homosexuals an extra share of the government dole with a false narrative about marriage rights.
America's already lost its perch atop the list of world economic powers. And enemy states no longer fear America's military, not because the military is no longer strong but because the Commander-in-Chief of that military is weak.
The only question remaining is how much longer does America have before it lands in history's dustbin alongside the Persians, Greeks, and Romans? 20, 50 years? Perhaps as few as 10 years, I think. Sorry about that, kids. It's all the fault of my generation. Your generation can save America if you so choose, but all indications are you're oblivious.
It all tempts me to join the Amish. Living on the farm with a lifestyle out of the 19th century, I can just grow crops and tend the livestock all day and remove myself from the cares and worrys of modern America. At least I won't have any time to worry about the marauders taking my farm away until they arrive. One day it will either be a communist government representative officially confiscating my farm on behalf of the People's Revolution, or a squad of Islamist warriors lining me up alongside my family in the barnyard and executing us for being unrepentant infidels.
Good luck, kids.
Mankind's earliest society was based on a tribalism. Tribes were extended families who lived together in their villages and worked together for mutual protection and made their living off the land, either by hunting and gathering or learning some basic agricultural and animal husbandry skills. The leader of each tribe was the father or grandfather of the family.
Tribes would raid each other to steal food or women, or take the land away from another tribe if they thought it was better than the land they already controlled. This grew into feudalism, where tribes began to coalesce into slightly larger regional kingdoms led by the strongest alpha male best able to keep enough people organized and controlled to protect their corner of the world from outside marauders.
But outside marauders were a fact of life, coming from other places in search of loot. Gradually there were newer things they came to steal, like tools and precious metals. So the petty Lords that were now calling themselves Kings got the idea of fending off the marauders by bribing them with those tools and gold and silver in return for leaving their little fiefdom in peace. The Lords came up with the idea of taxation and began taking a small percentage of each person's output each year to support the defense of the kingdom.
Some kings began to realize that they could become very rich and powerful by developing their tribes into accomplished warriors. The Persians conquered most of the known world, but the Greeks developed their own warrior class and the Persian Empire was supplanted by the Greek empire. The Greeks were so successful that they were able to explore cultural and scientific pursuits, once their society moved beyond the daily struggle to merely feed themselves and fend off invaders.
The Romans borrowed heavily from Greek cultural ideas and supplanted the Greeks as rulers of the known world. The Romans expanded on the Greek idea of democratic governance and formed a republic. Fighting to keep the republic alive, the Roman Senate executed the highly successful military leader Julius Caesar, the first Roman Emporer. But even that assassination turned out to be futile, as strongman warlords continued to rise and anoint themselves the imperial ruler of the Rome and thus the world.
Eventually the Romans became comfortable and decadent, just as the Greeks before them and perhaps the Persians before them. Their empire crumbled, and the western world reverted to feudalism.
Then Christianity took hold in the western world. Strong Lords were able to leverage a biblical idea based on King David, now called the Divine Right of Kings, to unite the fiefdoms under a single High King. The King found it easier to control larger and larger coalitians with a Bishop at his side, proclaiming him God's anointed ruler. Then the Europeans found America, the rich New World ripe for the picking. People flocked to the New World to escape tyrannical kings and seek their fortunes. Then English King George went too far, demanding ever-increasing taxes on the colonists. George needed the funds to support his ongoing war with France and restock his diminishing coffers as his own subjects productivity declined dramatically while the Americans were getting rich from the sweat of their brows. The onerous taxes George was imposing make him look like a piker when compared with modern tax rates.
America fought to be independent, and the fledgeling country decided to adopt a governing system modeled after the Greeks and Romans but leavened with Christian principles. There were plenty of struggles through the years with a terrible civil war fought over whether America was a confederation of independent states, or a unified country ruled from a powerful central government. The powerful central government won. But the country's success continued to build through the industrial age, then the Germans ignited two World Wars. After the devastation of the world wrought by the second War, a victorious America was left relatively unscathed and ascended to claim their perch as the most powerful and therefore wealthiest nation on earth.
The children of the war veterans who won this unprecedented power and prosperity for America rebelled against their parents, not as warriors but as philosophers of a sort. They rejected their parents' faith and values, despite enjoying the wealth and priviledge those values provided them. Now they're in charge of the American government. They weaken America's warriors because they've decided those warriors are bullies, not protectors and freedom fighters. They demand unprecedented taxation rates, demanding more than half of the output from the productive so they can give more to the unproductive (while lining their own pockets). In the meantime, marauders have begun their invasions. We are experiencing both economic and warrior marauders. Economic marauders sneak into the country to get in line for the post-war generation's generous wealth redistribution programs, while warrior marauders seek to destroy the country from within and out through terror, murder and destruction.
History shows that the marauders always win, eventually. The two factions vying for that role are Communists and Islamists, who for the moment are allies in the war against America. My guess is between the two, the Islamists will win because they're more committed to their cause and believe Allah is on their side. Communists are atheists, so they're not going to get revved up to win a victory for God. Their definition of victory looks more like a world where everybody's as poor and miserable as they are, they can kill all the babies they deem unworthy, and can grant homosexuals an extra share of the government dole with a false narrative about marriage rights.
America's already lost its perch atop the list of world economic powers. And enemy states no longer fear America's military, not because the military is no longer strong but because the Commander-in-Chief of that military is weak.
The only question remaining is how much longer does America have before it lands in history's dustbin alongside the Persians, Greeks, and Romans? 20, 50 years? Perhaps as few as 10 years, I think. Sorry about that, kids. It's all the fault of my generation. Your generation can save America if you so choose, but all indications are you're oblivious.
It all tempts me to join the Amish. Living on the farm with a lifestyle out of the 19th century, I can just grow crops and tend the livestock all day and remove myself from the cares and worrys of modern America. At least I won't have any time to worry about the marauders taking my farm away until they arrive. One day it will either be a communist government representative officially confiscating my farm on behalf of the People's Revolution, or a squad of Islamist warriors lining me up alongside my family in the barnyard and executing us for being unrepentant infidels.
Good luck, kids.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Tebow Victim of Informal Discrimination?
There are more than 70 quarterbacks in the NFL. There are maybe a half-dozen really good ones raking in huge salaries and many of them have their teams still alive in the NFL playoffs. The rest work hard as they dream of joining the elite group of quarterbacks like Manning and Brady.
But out of all those quarterbacks, there is one who is facing a likely expulsion from the league without being given an opportunity to prove himself. Tim Tebow took over the starting job in Denver a couple years ago. He was not a prolific passer, but Denver still made it into the playoffs. Tebow wasn't the only reason they achieved a playoff berth, as they had a good running game on offense and an above-average defense. But he was certainly a factor, because despite his unorthodox throwing style, he was a fierce competitor who found ways to win.
The Broncos jumped at the chance to sign Peyton Manning, so Tebow had to move on. The Jets decided to take him as a change-of-pace quarterback to run wildcat sets and perhaps other creative plays that were promised for the 2012 season. They ran a handful of wildcat plays with Tebow early in the season, then sat him on the bench. Oh, they had him block for the punter. When the Jets' starter, Sanchez, struggled badly for most of the season, the Jets stuck with him rather than try their backup. When the coaches finally gave up on a demoralized Sanchez at the end of the season, they bypassed Tebow for the third-string guy.
So Tebow's future is in doubt. He almost certainly won't be a Jet next season. News today is that even his hometown Jaguars aren't interested. Very possibly he'll simply be released, then no team will invite him to camp next summer, even for a tryout. Why has that happened?
Because he's a strong Christian who does not shy away from letting it be known. And many people hate him for it. How many unproven quarterbacks, especially former Heisman Trophy winners, are trashed daily on ESPN as incompetent and worthless? If he played in a half-dozen games this season for the Jets and stunk up the stadium, that would be one thing. But he hasn't even been on the field at quarterback. And there are plenty of quarterbacks who played horribly this season. So why the hyper-focus on Tebow?
I believe it stems from an anti-Christian bias. If Tebow is out of the league next season, it won't be due to any government sanction against Christian players or even a league policy that frowns on the famous Tebow prayer pose. It will be an insidious popular culture shunning of somebody who doesn't fit the modern template for expected behavior.
My wish is that he can get free of the Jets then be invited to an NFL camp this summer where he'll either earn a backup job or he won't. But whether he sticks on a roster will be based on how he performs in preseason, and not his faith.
But out of all those quarterbacks, there is one who is facing a likely expulsion from the league without being given an opportunity to prove himself. Tim Tebow took over the starting job in Denver a couple years ago. He was not a prolific passer, but Denver still made it into the playoffs. Tebow wasn't the only reason they achieved a playoff berth, as they had a good running game on offense and an above-average defense. But he was certainly a factor, because despite his unorthodox throwing style, he was a fierce competitor who found ways to win.
The Broncos jumped at the chance to sign Peyton Manning, so Tebow had to move on. The Jets decided to take him as a change-of-pace quarterback to run wildcat sets and perhaps other creative plays that were promised for the 2012 season. They ran a handful of wildcat plays with Tebow early in the season, then sat him on the bench. Oh, they had him block for the punter. When the Jets' starter, Sanchez, struggled badly for most of the season, the Jets stuck with him rather than try their backup. When the coaches finally gave up on a demoralized Sanchez at the end of the season, they bypassed Tebow for the third-string guy.
So Tebow's future is in doubt. He almost certainly won't be a Jet next season. News today is that even his hometown Jaguars aren't interested. Very possibly he'll simply be released, then no team will invite him to camp next summer, even for a tryout. Why has that happened?
Because he's a strong Christian who does not shy away from letting it be known. And many people hate him for it. How many unproven quarterbacks, especially former Heisman Trophy winners, are trashed daily on ESPN as incompetent and worthless? If he played in a half-dozen games this season for the Jets and stunk up the stadium, that would be one thing. But he hasn't even been on the field at quarterback. And there are plenty of quarterbacks who played horribly this season. So why the hyper-focus on Tebow?
I believe it stems from an anti-Christian bias. If Tebow is out of the league next season, it won't be due to any government sanction against Christian players or even a league policy that frowns on the famous Tebow prayer pose. It will be an insidious popular culture shunning of somebody who doesn't fit the modern template for expected behavior.
My wish is that he can get free of the Jets then be invited to an NFL camp this summer where he'll either earn a backup job or he won't. But whether he sticks on a roster will be based on how he performs in preseason, and not his faith.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
False Hope
Republicans still hold out hope that they will actually get the truth once Hillary Clinton finally shows up in Congress to testify. They are delusional if they think she'll actually tell them the who, what, when, where, and how
about the terrorist raid and subsequent murder of our Ambassador and other Americans in Benghazi.
They held out a similar hope of getting the information from David Petraeus. He declined to share any meaningful information, even though one would think he had nothing to lose by telling the truth. But then again, how can we know exactly what he had to lose if he had exposed the President and Secretary of State?
We've seen it before. When her husband was President and she did several horrible things from the White House, she got grilled about them. They hoped to get the truth back then about various things like the missing law firm billing records from Whitewater, the Travel Office scandal, the FBI Files scandal. She didn't tell them a thing. She said she didn't remember.
That's exactly what she will do this time. Question after question will be answered with "I don't know", "I don't recall", "I had no involvement in that", etc.
Come on guys. Do you really think Hillary will actually tell you the truth? She'll never tell you why she denied repeated requests from the Ambassador for more security. She'll never tell you why the Seal Team was told to stand down while the consulate was under attack. She'll never tell who in the White House created the cover story about a protest gone awry.
The simplest answer is always the best. Hillary knew and supported the denial of requests from the Ambassador to increase security. They were denied because she and Obama were trying to be sensitive to the desires of the fledgling Islamist government being formed in the vacuum after Qadafi was executed.
They told the Seals to stand down for much the same reason. They expected the new Libyan government to be outraged at American commandos landing in Benghazi and killing a bunch of Libyan terrorists - in fact, that government reportedly told them they would not permit any troops in their country, even for a limited rescue mission.
They made up the cover story for purely political reasons, with the aim to protect Obama's re-election campaign from bad press. My guess is the idea came from somebody in the campaign, probably Axelrod. I wouldn't call it a guess to say Obama endorsed the idea and ran with it - we have plenty of evidence of that. Turns out it worked like a charm, because the press had zero curiosity about the inside story of how or why the Ambassador was killed inside our own consulate. So as it turns out, they could have told the truth and the press would have covered for them anyway.
Hillary will not admit her role in the massacre, and won't even admit to knowing anything about it. So stop dreaming about a grand expose in the hearing room. It's not going to happen, and you'll never get the truth. At least until some white house staffer writes his memoirs 20 or 30 years from now and tells the actual story.
about the terrorist raid and subsequent murder of our Ambassador and other Americans in Benghazi.
They held out a similar hope of getting the information from David Petraeus. He declined to share any meaningful information, even though one would think he had nothing to lose by telling the truth. But then again, how can we know exactly what he had to lose if he had exposed the President and Secretary of State?
We've seen it before. When her husband was President and she did several horrible things from the White House, she got grilled about them. They hoped to get the truth back then about various things like the missing law firm billing records from Whitewater, the Travel Office scandal, the FBI Files scandal. She didn't tell them a thing. She said she didn't remember.
That's exactly what she will do this time. Question after question will be answered with "I don't know", "I don't recall", "I had no involvement in that", etc.
Come on guys. Do you really think Hillary will actually tell you the truth? She'll never tell you why she denied repeated requests from the Ambassador for more security. She'll never tell you why the Seal Team was told to stand down while the consulate was under attack. She'll never tell who in the White House created the cover story about a protest gone awry.
The simplest answer is always the best. Hillary knew and supported the denial of requests from the Ambassador to increase security. They were denied because she and Obama were trying to be sensitive to the desires of the fledgling Islamist government being formed in the vacuum after Qadafi was executed.
They told the Seals to stand down for much the same reason. They expected the new Libyan government to be outraged at American commandos landing in Benghazi and killing a bunch of Libyan terrorists - in fact, that government reportedly told them they would not permit any troops in their country, even for a limited rescue mission.
They made up the cover story for purely political reasons, with the aim to protect Obama's re-election campaign from bad press. My guess is the idea came from somebody in the campaign, probably Axelrod. I wouldn't call it a guess to say Obama endorsed the idea and ran with it - we have plenty of evidence of that. Turns out it worked like a charm, because the press had zero curiosity about the inside story of how or why the Ambassador was killed inside our own consulate. So as it turns out, they could have told the truth and the press would have covered for them anyway.
Hillary will not admit her role in the massacre, and won't even admit to knowing anything about it. So stop dreaming about a grand expose in the hearing room. It's not going to happen, and you'll never get the truth. At least until some white house staffer writes his memoirs 20 or 30 years from now and tells the actual story.
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
The Point I Have Been Trying to Make
If this blog has a theme, it was summarized very succinctly by Steve McCann in this very good article.
The essence of his article appears in the following statement:
"Those that self-identify as progressives, leftists, socialists or Marxists, have one overwhelming trait in common: they are narcissists who believe they are pre-ordained to rule the masses too ignorant to govern themselves."
Finally the reason for the existence of Digging Out Truth has been summarized in one brief statement.
The essence of his article appears in the following statement:
"Those that self-identify as progressives, leftists, socialists or Marxists, have one overwhelming trait in common: they are narcissists who believe they are pre-ordained to rule the masses too ignorant to govern themselves."
Finally the reason for the existence of Digging Out Truth has been summarized in one brief statement.
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Faulty Wiring
There's a cognitive problem in America. Those on the Left seem to have a short-circuit in their brains, as they get crazier by the minute. The proof is in the latest news.
Krugman at the NY Times thinks we can solve the debt problem by minting a Trillion Dollar Coin.
Every high profile shooter over the past several years has been mentally disturbed and on psychotropic medication. Yet nobody on the Left seems to have any curiosity about whether American efforts to stop mass shootings might need to look into cause-and-effect of the mentally disturbed and the drugs they take. They just want to repeal the 2nd Amendment and confiscate firearms from all of us who aren't disturbed and aren't taking psychotropic drugs.
According to the usual Left-wing suspects in Congress, taxes still aren't high enough.
According to Leftwinger-in-Chief Obama, America does not have a spending problem. And don't try to tell him otherwise - he's tired of hearing it.
The new Secretary of State is 60's era anti-war hippie activist John Kerry.
The new Secretary of Defense is an anti-Semitic former Senator who doesn't think Iran's nuclear program presents a threat. Iran is proudly supporting his nomination.
A British visitor with a show on CNN is running a personal crusade to outlaw gun ownership in America. He nightly hammers a message that all gun owners and especially NRA members are evil, as if we're the ones that shot up the school in Newtown. Besides being a British idiot, American gun laws are none of his business.
New Jersey's governor, who pretends to be a Republican, is outraged by congressional republicans who hesitated at borrowing 60 billion dollars on New Jersey for disaster relief. So much for fiscal responsibility.
Illinois is giving drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. Presumably they get a voter card with their license?
Democrats are joining with Planned Parenthood to celebrate a record number of abortions (333,964)performed last year. Plus a record amount of Federal funds funneled into the organization. If we want to stop children from being killed, shouldn't we start here? Why does PP get record tax dollars to kill so many children?
The implementation of Obamacare continues despite a huge and growing list of related taxes and regulations that are killing the American economy. All while the law is being used to stamp out Religious Liberty.
If I could go back to school, I think I would study Neurology. I want to find out why the brains of half of all Americans are short-circuited. We've lost our ability to think logically.
Krugman at the NY Times thinks we can solve the debt problem by minting a Trillion Dollar Coin.
Every high profile shooter over the past several years has been mentally disturbed and on psychotropic medication. Yet nobody on the Left seems to have any curiosity about whether American efforts to stop mass shootings might need to look into cause-and-effect of the mentally disturbed and the drugs they take. They just want to repeal the 2nd Amendment and confiscate firearms from all of us who aren't disturbed and aren't taking psychotropic drugs.
According to the usual Left-wing suspects in Congress, taxes still aren't high enough.
According to Leftwinger-in-Chief Obama, America does not have a spending problem. And don't try to tell him otherwise - he's tired of hearing it.
The new Secretary of State is 60's era anti-war hippie activist John Kerry.
The new Secretary of Defense is an anti-Semitic former Senator who doesn't think Iran's nuclear program presents a threat. Iran is proudly supporting his nomination.
A British visitor with a show on CNN is running a personal crusade to outlaw gun ownership in America. He nightly hammers a message that all gun owners and especially NRA members are evil, as if we're the ones that shot up the school in Newtown. Besides being a British idiot, American gun laws are none of his business.
New Jersey's governor, who pretends to be a Republican, is outraged by congressional republicans who hesitated at borrowing 60 billion dollars on New Jersey for disaster relief. So much for fiscal responsibility.
Illinois is giving drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. Presumably they get a voter card with their license?
Democrats are joining with Planned Parenthood to celebrate a record number of abortions (333,964)performed last year. Plus a record amount of Federal funds funneled into the organization. If we want to stop children from being killed, shouldn't we start here? Why does PP get record tax dollars to kill so many children?
The implementation of Obamacare continues despite a huge and growing list of related taxes and regulations that are killing the American economy. All while the law is being used to stamp out Religious Liberty.
If I could go back to school, I think I would study Neurology. I want to find out why the brains of half of all Americans are short-circuited. We've lost our ability to think logically.
The Truth Sometimes Hurts
The truth must certainly be painful for the members of Notre Dame's football team this morning. Last night they found out that they were nowhere close to the best team in college football this year. The Irish defense could do nothing but watch as the faster, stronger, more athletic Alabama ran past them on their way to the end zone.
The offense did little better. The Irish running backs, accustomed to racking up 100-plus yards per game, kept searching in vain for a hole in the 'Bama defense. Everett Golson was under heavy pressure the entire game, yet managed to connect with Tyler Eifert and Tavaris Jackson a number of times for decent gains, but could not cross midfield in the first half.
The most memorable image in my mind from the game was a play in which Manti Te'o blitzed through the Alabama line with a clear shot at 'Bama running back Eddie Lacy. Te'o ended up on his back, grasping at air, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in stunned amazement as Lacy rumbled downfield for a big gain.
Alabama was bigger, stronger, faster, better coached, and showed superior skill over the stunned Irish. Were the Crimson Tide that much superior to the Irish, or did Brian Kelly fail to adequately prepare his team for this contest?
I think perhaps it's a little of both. It seemed that the Irish came into the game not realizing the talent level they were facing, and not really mentally prepared to play the game. The defense looked like they had forgotten how to tackle as the Alabama rushers ran over, around, and through them for easy touchdowns. The Irish defensive backs were completely confused, watching wide-open 'Bama receivers catch easy balls from AJ McCarron. The defensive front were stopped in their tracks on passing plays and easily moved aside on rushing plays by an unusually big, strong, and technically competent 'Bama offensive line.
The Irish should have been awakened to the fact that they're not as good as they thought. That they've got a long way to go to be able to match up with Alabama next year, should they make it to another national championship.
That truth must hurt for Notre Dame this morning. But the important thing is how they respond to that pain - they can shake it off and just be on their way, or internalize it as motivation to get a lot better next season. We shall see which approach they choose.
The offense did little better. The Irish running backs, accustomed to racking up 100-plus yards per game, kept searching in vain for a hole in the 'Bama defense. Everett Golson was under heavy pressure the entire game, yet managed to connect with Tyler Eifert and Tavaris Jackson a number of times for decent gains, but could not cross midfield in the first half.
The most memorable image in my mind from the game was a play in which Manti Te'o blitzed through the Alabama line with a clear shot at 'Bama running back Eddie Lacy. Te'o ended up on his back, grasping at air, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in stunned amazement as Lacy rumbled downfield for a big gain.
Alabama was bigger, stronger, faster, better coached, and showed superior skill over the stunned Irish. Were the Crimson Tide that much superior to the Irish, or did Brian Kelly fail to adequately prepare his team for this contest?
I think perhaps it's a little of both. It seemed that the Irish came into the game not realizing the talent level they were facing, and not really mentally prepared to play the game. The defense looked like they had forgotten how to tackle as the Alabama rushers ran over, around, and through them for easy touchdowns. The Irish defensive backs were completely confused, watching wide-open 'Bama receivers catch easy balls from AJ McCarron. The defensive front were stopped in their tracks on passing plays and easily moved aside on rushing plays by an unusually big, strong, and technically competent 'Bama offensive line.
The Irish should have been awakened to the fact that they're not as good as they thought. That they've got a long way to go to be able to match up with Alabama next year, should they make it to another national championship.
That truth must hurt for Notre Dame this morning. But the important thing is how they respond to that pain - they can shake it off and just be on their way, or internalize it as motivation to get a lot better next season. We shall see which approach they choose.
Monday, January 07, 2013
The QB from Columbus
There's an interesting article done in the Ft Wayne News-Sentinel about Gunner Kiel's Freshman year riding the bench as Notre Dame's fourth-string quarterback.
The article, along with a few others written about one of last year's top recruits, suggests he's the ultimate team guy. He's humble and happy to work his way up from the scout team. He is hoping to prove himself and earn playing time next year or be ready to step in if something happens to Golson. Other outside observers think he should bolt the Irish for a new college that will let him play immediately. That he's wasting his time in South Bend, because Everett Golson has the job.
The only thing the reporters don't know is what Brian Kelly is thinking. And I seriously doubt Kelly's going to share his plans with anybody, certainly not before the National Championship game tonight. I'd like to think he'll do the right thing with Kiel by not allowing him to waste away on the bench when he could be a star quarterback for some other team. If he doesn't advise his young 5-star quarterback to go play somewhere else, hopefully that means he's got plans to use him next year.
Might Gunner be behind center for Indiana or Tennessee or some other school next fall? If not, he should be appearing on the field for the Irish at least part of the time.
The article, along with a few others written about one of last year's top recruits, suggests he's the ultimate team guy. He's humble and happy to work his way up from the scout team. He is hoping to prove himself and earn playing time next year or be ready to step in if something happens to Golson. Other outside observers think he should bolt the Irish for a new college that will let him play immediately. That he's wasting his time in South Bend, because Everett Golson has the job.
The only thing the reporters don't know is what Brian Kelly is thinking. And I seriously doubt Kelly's going to share his plans with anybody, certainly not before the National Championship game tonight. I'd like to think he'll do the right thing with Kiel by not allowing him to waste away on the bench when he could be a star quarterback for some other team. If he doesn't advise his young 5-star quarterback to go play somewhere else, hopefully that means he's got plans to use him next year.
Might Gunner be behind center for Indiana or Tennessee or some other school next fall? If not, he should be appearing on the field for the Irish at least part of the time.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Good Picks
My NFL picks were pretty good. 3 for 4, and I only missed on the Colts. But I had to pick my home team, even though I knew it was probably a bit of a long shot.
The next round is much more difficult to pick. Moreso the NFC side than AFC. I think Denver will defeat the Ravens without too much difficulty. Likewise I don't see how the Texans can steal one from the Patriots up in Foxboro, MA. So I'm pretty sure we'll get the media's favorite matchup, Manning vs Brady, for the right to play in the Super Bowl.
The NFC is nowhere near as easy to pick. I am leaning toward Green Bay stealing a win in San Fran, but am nowhere near confident in that pick. And right now I have no earthly idea how Seattle will do in Atlanta.
Although it's disappointing that the Colts blew it today, it was still an entertaining season. The patented Andrew Luck comeback story got derailed by a number of Colts mistakes. They were in the red zone when Anthony Costanzo got flagged for a false start, then Donnie Avery dropped a perfect pass that might have given them a first down, then Adam Vinatieri sliced off the field goal attempt.
Add in the Colts cornerbacks couldn't cover Anquan Bolden, and Luck threw a bad interception in the end zone in the Colts' next red zone opportunity. Any two of these key mistakes don't happen and just maybe the Colts go to Denver next week (and lose to their old QB). Oh Well.
These Colts might be able to move up to the next level if they can close a few holes. I think they need a tight end (in my opinion, Coby Fleener's a bust). They need another wide receiver to replace Avery. They need a cornerback and a quality outside linebacker to eventually take over for Freeney, who seems to have lost a step.
It would be nice if Bruce Arians decided to stay put instead of grabbing one of those head coaching jobs being dangled in front of him. My sense of the guy is that he'd rather be the Colts' Offensive Coordinator than take on the pressures of a head coaching job for another team in disarray.
Which teams will play in the Super Bowl this year? I don't know. If I were to pick the game I'd most like to see, I suppose it would be Green Bay and Denver. That at least seems plausible.
The next round is much more difficult to pick. Moreso the NFC side than AFC. I think Denver will defeat the Ravens without too much difficulty. Likewise I don't see how the Texans can steal one from the Patriots up in Foxboro, MA. So I'm pretty sure we'll get the media's favorite matchup, Manning vs Brady, for the right to play in the Super Bowl.
The NFC is nowhere near as easy to pick. I am leaning toward Green Bay stealing a win in San Fran, but am nowhere near confident in that pick. And right now I have no earthly idea how Seattle will do in Atlanta.
Although it's disappointing that the Colts blew it today, it was still an entertaining season. The patented Andrew Luck comeback story got derailed by a number of Colts mistakes. They were in the red zone when Anthony Costanzo got flagged for a false start, then Donnie Avery dropped a perfect pass that might have given them a first down, then Adam Vinatieri sliced off the field goal attempt.
Add in the Colts cornerbacks couldn't cover Anquan Bolden, and Luck threw a bad interception in the end zone in the Colts' next red zone opportunity. Any two of these key mistakes don't happen and just maybe the Colts go to Denver next week (and lose to their old QB). Oh Well.
These Colts might be able to move up to the next level if they can close a few holes. I think they need a tight end (in my opinion, Coby Fleener's a bust). They need another wide receiver to replace Avery. They need a cornerback and a quality outside linebacker to eventually take over for Freeney, who seems to have lost a step.
It would be nice if Bruce Arians decided to stay put instead of grabbing one of those head coaching jobs being dangled in front of him. My sense of the guy is that he'd rather be the Colts' Offensive Coordinator than take on the pressures of a head coaching job for another team in disarray.
Which teams will play in the Super Bowl this year? I don't know. If I were to pick the game I'd most like to see, I suppose it would be Green Bay and Denver. That at least seems plausible.
Finally They are Angry at the Messiah
Was just looking at some online commentary from the Left. Can you believe it, they actually didn't realize their taxes were going up this year!? The media and Democrats were silent while they allowed the temporary 2% reduction in employee Social Security contributions to expire.
I was in a Payroll Office Friday and overheard the payroll staff patiently explaining to a litany of employee callers that yes, the Social Security Tax rate went back up from 4.2 to 6.2 percent. Sorry about that, but the government tells us what to deduct and that's what we deduct.
Happy New Year! The low-information Obama voters finally got some information that made them realize he may not be a deity after all.
Let's hope the enlightenment continues.
I was in a Payroll Office Friday and overheard the payroll staff patiently explaining to a litany of employee callers that yes, the Social Security Tax rate went back up from 4.2 to 6.2 percent. Sorry about that, but the government tells us what to deduct and that's what we deduct.
Happy New Year! The low-information Obama voters finally got some information that made them realize he may not be a deity after all.
Let's hope the enlightenment continues.
Friday, January 04, 2013
Only in These Times
Can such a crazy irony take place. The opportunistic and hyper-hypocritical Al Gore wanted to sell off his failed cable network before tax rates went up. Glenn Beck expressed interest and was rebuffed before negotiations started, because Al didn't want to sell to any party holding such extreme and opposite points of view to the former VP.
Then he sells the network to Al-Jazeera. Which means the anti-American terrorism apologist media outlet from the middle east is better aligned with Al's philosophy than conservative American Beck.
Just in case anybody misses it, let's summarize:
Al Gore would rather sell his left-wing cable channel to jihadists than to a right-wing American radio talker. He has always supported increasing taxes on rich folks, but is scrambling to make his big bucks before the new higher tax rates go into effect. This is the same guy who pulls in big bucks from the very energy companies he says he wants to drive out of business. The same guy who lectures all of us about energy conservation but rides around the world in his own jet and owns homes that consume more energy than 10 average American homes.
And this guy was almost the President?!
Only in America, and only in 2013.
Then he sells the network to Al-Jazeera. Which means the anti-American terrorism apologist media outlet from the middle east is better aligned with Al's philosophy than conservative American Beck.
Just in case anybody misses it, let's summarize:
Al Gore would rather sell his left-wing cable channel to jihadists than to a right-wing American radio talker. He has always supported increasing taxes on rich folks, but is scrambling to make his big bucks before the new higher tax rates go into effect. This is the same guy who pulls in big bucks from the very energy companies he says he wants to drive out of business. The same guy who lectures all of us about energy conservation but rides around the world in his own jet and owns homes that consume more energy than 10 average American homes.
And this guy was almost the President?!
Only in America, and only in 2013.
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Wearing My Sportswriter Hat
Today I'll put the sportswriter hat on and share my thoughts on the NFL Wildcard Weekend. There are 4 games representing the first round of the NFL playoffs, and all 4 look like quality matchups. Picking the winners is difficult, but I'll take a stab.
Cincinnati @ Houston
Saturday afternoon's game is Cincinnati at Houston. Houston had control over the first seed in the playoffs until they stumbled in their last few games and fell all the way down to the third seed and lost the first round bye.
Cincinnati's been on a roll late in the season and earned their berth in the playoffs with quality wins against Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
Houston has the home field, but needs to rediscover their potent offense from early in the season. If Matt Schaub can find his rythm again and start hitting his talented receivers, and Arian Foster hits his stride and can gash the Bengals on the ground for over a hundred yards, the Texans will win. Otherwise the hot Bengals will steal the underdog victory.
As tempting as it is to predict a Bengals upset, I'm picking Houston. 28-24.
Minnesota @ Green Bay
Saturday night it's Minnesota at Green Bay. Minnesota beat Green Bay at home to edge out Chicago for the last NFC spot in the playoffs. There's no disputing the fact that Minnesota's success comes from a superhuman season by Adrian Peterson, without whom the team would have gone nowhere this season.
Green Bay has the home field, and should dispatch the Vikings on their famous "Frozen Tundra". With Christian Ponder nursing a sore elbow and the elements making a passing game difficult anyway, the Green Bay defense can focus on stopping Peterson. I'm picking the Pack. 35-10.
Indianapolis @ Baltimore
Sunday afternoon is the game I'm most interested to watch, the Colts at the Ravens. Nobody gives the Colts a chance, but then again, nobody's given them a chance all season. The team just keeps on winning anyway, most of the time with dramatic fourth quarter and overtime comebacks.
But the Ravens have their inspirational defensive captain, Ray Lewis, back to sweeten their home field advantage. By most objective measures, the Ravens should outclass the Colts in this game.
I can see a couple of scenarios playing out in this game. The undesirable outcome is that Luck throws a couple of early interceptions that the Ravens turn into touchdowns, putting the Colts into a hole. Then the defense lets Ray Rice run over them while Luck gets sacked a half-dozen times trying desperately to generate a comeback. That's a Ravens blowout.
The other outcome is Andrew Luck protects the football and the Colts stay close well into the fourth quarter. The victor makes a big play late in the game, whether a long pass or a breakaway run or a key interception. And that big play could be made by either team.
I've gotta support my team, despite the fairly long odds. Colts win a tight one late, 31-28.
Seattle @ Washington
This is a pretty good matchup. RGIII versus Russell Wilson, the other two fabulous freshman quarterbacks who with Luck have made the NFL more exciting this year. The Redskins have the home field, while the Seahawks have been hot late in the season.
This seems to be a game that could go either way, and might be the most difficult to pick. If the Seahawks can contain RGIII and get the discipline from their defensive ends to keep him corraled and deny him the outside run, they can win. I perceive Wilson is a better passer, so keeping Griffin away from the big running plays is the key to the game for Seatle.
I'm going to pick the Seahawks. 31-21.
Cincinnati @ Houston
Saturday afternoon's game is Cincinnati at Houston. Houston had control over the first seed in the playoffs until they stumbled in their last few games and fell all the way down to the third seed and lost the first round bye.
Cincinnati's been on a roll late in the season and earned their berth in the playoffs with quality wins against Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
Houston has the home field, but needs to rediscover their potent offense from early in the season. If Matt Schaub can find his rythm again and start hitting his talented receivers, and Arian Foster hits his stride and can gash the Bengals on the ground for over a hundred yards, the Texans will win. Otherwise the hot Bengals will steal the underdog victory.
As tempting as it is to predict a Bengals upset, I'm picking Houston. 28-24.
Minnesota @ Green Bay
Saturday night it's Minnesota at Green Bay. Minnesota beat Green Bay at home to edge out Chicago for the last NFC spot in the playoffs. There's no disputing the fact that Minnesota's success comes from a superhuman season by Adrian Peterson, without whom the team would have gone nowhere this season.
Green Bay has the home field, and should dispatch the Vikings on their famous "Frozen Tundra". With Christian Ponder nursing a sore elbow and the elements making a passing game difficult anyway, the Green Bay defense can focus on stopping Peterson. I'm picking the Pack. 35-10.
Indianapolis @ Baltimore
Sunday afternoon is the game I'm most interested to watch, the Colts at the Ravens. Nobody gives the Colts a chance, but then again, nobody's given them a chance all season. The team just keeps on winning anyway, most of the time with dramatic fourth quarter and overtime comebacks.
But the Ravens have their inspirational defensive captain, Ray Lewis, back to sweeten their home field advantage. By most objective measures, the Ravens should outclass the Colts in this game.
I can see a couple of scenarios playing out in this game. The undesirable outcome is that Luck throws a couple of early interceptions that the Ravens turn into touchdowns, putting the Colts into a hole. Then the defense lets Ray Rice run over them while Luck gets sacked a half-dozen times trying desperately to generate a comeback. That's a Ravens blowout.
The other outcome is Andrew Luck protects the football and the Colts stay close well into the fourth quarter. The victor makes a big play late in the game, whether a long pass or a breakaway run or a key interception. And that big play could be made by either team.
I've gotta support my team, despite the fairly long odds. Colts win a tight one late, 31-28.
Seattle @ Washington
This is a pretty good matchup. RGIII versus Russell Wilson, the other two fabulous freshman quarterbacks who with Luck have made the NFL more exciting this year. The Redskins have the home field, while the Seahawks have been hot late in the season.
This seems to be a game that could go either way, and might be the most difficult to pick. If the Seahawks can contain RGIII and get the discipline from their defensive ends to keep him corraled and deny him the outside run, they can win. I perceive Wilson is a better passer, so keeping Griffin away from the big running plays is the key to the game for Seatle.
I'm going to pick the Seahawks. 31-21.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Sigh
All the thinking person can do in response to the silly compromise from Congress today is shake the head and sigh.
It fixes nothing. It has zero impact on debt and deficit. It only gives Obama a victory, as he now can claim he's made things "fairer" by making rich people pay their "fair share".
But his next objective is to spend all of the extra tax revenue and then some. On boondoggles and giveaways to his cronies who are building his beloved trains and windmills.
The expected 600 billion dollars of added tax revenue won't materialize for obvious reasons. Those earning over 400 or 450 thousand will simply change their habits to get under the threshold. These rich folks aren't stupid, and they can easily manage their earned income down to the threshold and shift more heavily to other income sources. Or just work less.
The deal accomplishes nothing at all, and Obama certainly knows it. It's nothing more than a PR stunt. He created the crisis so he could claim victory today. It's all a charade.
And the most disappointing outcome is that most Americans fell for it.
It fixes nothing. It has zero impact on debt and deficit. It only gives Obama a victory, as he now can claim he's made things "fairer" by making rich people pay their "fair share".
But his next objective is to spend all of the extra tax revenue and then some. On boondoggles and giveaways to his cronies who are building his beloved trains and windmills.
The expected 600 billion dollars of added tax revenue won't materialize for obvious reasons. Those earning over 400 or 450 thousand will simply change their habits to get under the threshold. These rich folks aren't stupid, and they can easily manage their earned income down to the threshold and shift more heavily to other income sources. Or just work less.
The deal accomplishes nothing at all, and Obama certainly knows it. It's nothing more than a PR stunt. He created the crisis so he could claim victory today. It's all a charade.
And the most disappointing outcome is that most Americans fell for it.
Monday, December 31, 2012
The Good Stuff
On New Year's Eve I prefer to ignore the Fiscal Cliff, Hillary's illness, Piers Morgan's campaign to eliminate guns in the country where he's a guest, the GOP Eunuchs in Congress, and the White House that has us all under surveillance.
Instead I am focused on the good stuff. The Colts played an inspired game against the Texans yesterday to honor Coach Pagano. Is there any way we can expect them to repeat that inspired performance next week in their first playoff game against Baltimore?
In about a week we will find out if the Irish can pull out a National Championship against Alabama.
Indiana and Butler basketball teams continue to impress. Both are fun to watch. Notre Dame's got pretty good basketball teams as well - both their men and women are doing very well.
So as my taxes go up and the government wastes it lining the pockets of Obama's cronies, I'll offset my frustration by following our Indiana sports teams.
I can't get elected Senator, so I guess that's about all I can do. When the tyrannical federal government comes after me for believing the wrong things, I hope they just get it over with quickly.
Instead I am focused on the good stuff. The Colts played an inspired game against the Texans yesterday to honor Coach Pagano. Is there any way we can expect them to repeat that inspired performance next week in their first playoff game against Baltimore?
In about a week we will find out if the Irish can pull out a National Championship against Alabama.
Indiana and Butler basketball teams continue to impress. Both are fun to watch. Notre Dame's got pretty good basketball teams as well - both their men and women are doing very well.
So as my taxes go up and the government wastes it lining the pockets of Obama's cronies, I'll offset my frustration by following our Indiana sports teams.
I can't get elected Senator, so I guess that's about all I can do. When the tyrannical federal government comes after me for believing the wrong things, I hope they just get it over with quickly.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Life
For the new year, I was thinking about the essence of life. For me, there are so many ways to describe what life is about, at least for me.
Birth
Death
Faith
Wisdom
Knowledge
Family
Friends
Shelter
Food
Getting Warm
Cooling Off
Bathing
Nature
Loving
Fighting
Hating
Praying
Reading
Working
Watching
Sleeping
Restaurants
Chocolate
Fat
Ice Cream
Exercising
Romance
Arguing
Giving
Receiving
Grieving
Celebrating
Laughing
Crying
Pain
Illness
Entertainment
Best wishes that everyone gets all the good things on the list and very few of the bad things in the new year.
Birth
Death
Faith
Wisdom
Knowledge
Family
Friends
Shelter
Food
Getting Warm
Cooling Off
Bathing
Nature
Loving
Fighting
Hating
Praying
Reading
Working
Watching
Sleeping
Restaurants
Chocolate
Fat
Ice Cream
Exercising
Romance
Arguing
Giving
Receiving
Grieving
Celebrating
Laughing
Crying
Pain
Illness
Entertainment
Best wishes that everyone gets all the good things on the list and very few of the bad things in the new year.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Has the Faith Community Already Lost?
Two articles today suggest perhaps we have. At least on the Life issues.
Congress passed a Defense Authorization Bill. It includes free abortions for women in the military. The House passed it 315-107 and the Senate 81-14. So much for a pro-life legislature.
Sonya Sotomayor was up to bat to review whether or not the Supreme Court would hear a case about the HHS contraception mandate. She of course rejected it out of hand, saying that Hobby Lobby will just have to pay for the morning after pill or pay the million-dollar-a-day fine beginning next Tuesday for refusing to do so. Of course the lower court judge told them to go away because they aren't a church, therefore matters of concience don't apply to them.
Another story that is sort of related, sort of not, is about the CNN Village Idiot from Britain. Piers Morgan now says the bible should be amended. Because it happens to identify sexual activities like fornication and adultery and homosexuality as sinful. How terribly outdated, says Piers.
How's that petition coming along to deport the idiot back to Great Britain? Perhaps I should add my signature.
So how about we boil everything down to the essence of what's happening in the new year. The 1st Amendment to the Consitution, especially regarding Freedom of Religion. Destroyed by ObamaCare.
The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, the Right to Bear Arms. About to be destroyed by the Senate, which is lining up behind Diane Feinstein's bill to essentially repeal that amendment. Just watched the video 'For Greater Glory', in which an early scene depicts a hit squad of Mexican Federales breaking down the Church doors and slaughtering the unarmed people inside attending Mass.
Is the day nearer than we thought when Ms. Feinstein might order a hit squad to do the same at a parish in California?
I'll bet the Christeros didn't think it could happen to them either.
Christians have been persecuted since the First Century. I suppose we Americans have enjoyed 200 years of freedom from such persecution, and our time is up.
As the priest portrayed by Peter O'Toole told little Jose as he awaited the Federales he knew were on their way to execute him,
"There is no greater glory than to give up one's life for Christ".
How many Americans will discover the truth of that statement first-hand over the next decade or so?
Congress passed a Defense Authorization Bill. It includes free abortions for women in the military. The House passed it 315-107 and the Senate 81-14. So much for a pro-life legislature.
Sonya Sotomayor was up to bat to review whether or not the Supreme Court would hear a case about the HHS contraception mandate. She of course rejected it out of hand, saying that Hobby Lobby will just have to pay for the morning after pill or pay the million-dollar-a-day fine beginning next Tuesday for refusing to do so. Of course the lower court judge told them to go away because they aren't a church, therefore matters of concience don't apply to them.
Another story that is sort of related, sort of not, is about the CNN Village Idiot from Britain. Piers Morgan now says the bible should be amended. Because it happens to identify sexual activities like fornication and adultery and homosexuality as sinful. How terribly outdated, says Piers.
How's that petition coming along to deport the idiot back to Great Britain? Perhaps I should add my signature.
So how about we boil everything down to the essence of what's happening in the new year. The 1st Amendment to the Consitution, especially regarding Freedom of Religion. Destroyed by ObamaCare.
The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, the Right to Bear Arms. About to be destroyed by the Senate, which is lining up behind Diane Feinstein's bill to essentially repeal that amendment. Just watched the video 'For Greater Glory', in which an early scene depicts a hit squad of Mexican Federales breaking down the Church doors and slaughtering the unarmed people inside attending Mass.
Is the day nearer than we thought when Ms. Feinstein might order a hit squad to do the same at a parish in California?
I'll bet the Christeros didn't think it could happen to them either.
Christians have been persecuted since the First Century. I suppose we Americans have enjoyed 200 years of freedom from such persecution, and our time is up.
As the priest portrayed by Peter O'Toole told little Jose as he awaited the Federales he knew were on their way to execute him,
"There is no greater glory than to give up one's life for Christ".
How many Americans will discover the truth of that statement first-hand over the next decade or so?
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Curious About What Your Paycheck Will Look Like?
In case you are wondering, your first paycheck of 2013 will look the same as your last paycheck of 2012. So we're all personally not falling off that fiscal cliff just yet.
Clearly there's no deal in Washington. But the bureaucracy failed to go ahead and release the new tax regulations per the automatic changes that were set to kick in January 1st, I imagine because the Obama White House told them to wait. Given that everything Obama does is politically calculated, it's pretty easy to understand and explain. (Obama doesn't want millions of angry people getting after him when their first check of the new year is well short of last year's).
Sometime in the next 2-3 weeks I expect to be helping my payroll clients set up their new Federal tax tables, where most folks will see their rate go up 10 to 15 percent.
But Republicans have concluded that ultimately Obama wants to make sure there's no deal and those tax hikes on everybody go into effect. I'm pretty sure it will hit sometime before the end of January. Then Obama will pretend to save everyone from those high taxes, pushing through a bill to cut taxes for everyone who earnes less than $200K.
It's pure semantics, but folks are easily fooled by such semantics. Now instead of imposing higher taxes, Obama can claim to have lowered taxes for the vast majority of American taxpayers. Although the end result won't be any different from what he's been trying to push through for the last 4 years. He's counting on it being a political victory - or in sports terms, a blowout of the opposing Republicans.
Those "low information voters" we've been hearing about since the election will fall for it, especially after all the networks trumpet that message 24/7. Fox News will continue to be called "extreme" for merely trying to point out the truth of the whole affair.
The GOP can't escape the trap that's been set for them. If they had developed and heavily publicized their alternative plan, assuming that plan was sensible and realistic, they might have had a chance to change the terms of the argument. But Boehner's been playing Obama's game, and one can never win playing another person's game.
So prepare to be hammered with a higher income tax rate, then miraculously rescued by your messianic president.
Clearly there's no deal in Washington. But the bureaucracy failed to go ahead and release the new tax regulations per the automatic changes that were set to kick in January 1st, I imagine because the Obama White House told them to wait. Given that everything Obama does is politically calculated, it's pretty easy to understand and explain. (Obama doesn't want millions of angry people getting after him when their first check of the new year is well short of last year's).
Sometime in the next 2-3 weeks I expect to be helping my payroll clients set up their new Federal tax tables, where most folks will see their rate go up 10 to 15 percent.
But Republicans have concluded that ultimately Obama wants to make sure there's no deal and those tax hikes on everybody go into effect. I'm pretty sure it will hit sometime before the end of January. Then Obama will pretend to save everyone from those high taxes, pushing through a bill to cut taxes for everyone who earnes less than $200K.
It's pure semantics, but folks are easily fooled by such semantics. Now instead of imposing higher taxes, Obama can claim to have lowered taxes for the vast majority of American taxpayers. Although the end result won't be any different from what he's been trying to push through for the last 4 years. He's counting on it being a political victory - or in sports terms, a blowout of the opposing Republicans.
Those "low information voters" we've been hearing about since the election will fall for it, especially after all the networks trumpet that message 24/7. Fox News will continue to be called "extreme" for merely trying to point out the truth of the whole affair.
The GOP can't escape the trap that's been set for them. If they had developed and heavily publicized their alternative plan, assuming that plan was sensible and realistic, they might have had a chance to change the terms of the argument. But Boehner's been playing Obama's game, and one can never win playing another person's game.
So prepare to be hammered with a higher income tax rate, then miraculously rescued by your messianic president.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thoughts for the End of the World
Today's an appropriate day to write down a few thoughts as I wrap up the work that needs to be finished before we break for Christmas.
A head-scratcher from the hard left is a seemingly endless stream of invective that threatens NRA members and other 2nd Amendment advocates. It seems the deranged controlling socialists may be plotting to shoot those they feel are standing in the way of firearms bans. They apparently have no appreciation for irony.
The "Freedom from Religion" group's latest initiative is an attempt to bully West Point into abandoning its oldest traditions regarding prayer and Christian observances. Join my new political action group, I think I'll call it "Freedom from Freedom from Religion". Why are they so hostile to people who believe in God?
Hillary can't talk to Congress about the Benghazi disaster because she claims she fell and hit her head. I give that excuse about a 20 percent chance of being true. If I caught the story right, she never even saw a physician about her alleged concussion. Come on, left-wingers, you don't really believe that fairy tale, do you?
The Benghazi story is proof that we have a corrupt and incompetent government headed by a corrupt and incompetent President. Hillary and Barack will never tell the truth about Benghazi, so we should stop asking them to. We already know what happened: Ambassador Stevens and his staff pleaded with Hillary's State Department for better security and were ignored. They got attacked in a siege that lasted almost 9 hours, while the fast-response team of commandos stood by their helicopters ready to mount a rescue. The White House told the rescue team to stand down. Then the White House concocted a cover story about a spontaneous protest to save Obama's campaign.
The only questions remaining will never be answered unless somebody in Obama's inner circle decides to blow the whistle. We don't know exactly why the State Department denied enhanced security in Libya, but there is a person at State that has stepped up and taken responsibility for the decision in congressional testimony. She really took one for the team. We also don't know who at the White House concocted the cover story about the spontaneous protest. But Susan Rice's punishment for being a team player by quite obviously deciding to go tell that lie on television all day the next Sunday was having her hopes to take Hillary's job dashed. And we don't know the exact reason Obama told the rescue team to stand down, and Obama will never tell us.
If you watch Cable Television, especially CNN, MSNBC, and to a lesser extent Fox News, it can be easy to form the impression that most people are fundamentally evil. CNN's Piers Morgan and their airhead anchorette with the pretentiously "diverse" name, Soledad O'Brien, continue a campaign to brand all gun owners and second amendment rights folks as the root of all evil. MSNBC's entire lineup more generally expound on how evil Conservatives are in general, telling their tiny audience that conservatives like seeing children shot, want to starve children and seniors, want to deny medical care to the poor, and of course are racist sexist homophobes. Of course no evidence is necessary of racism - opposing Obama is all that's needed to prove that charge. Homophobia is proved simply by opposition to Gay Marriage. Sexism is evidenced by resistance to forking over the money to pay for every woman's birth control.
I was just wondering what are Fox News' equivalent of the CNN and MSNBC slanders? The most partisan voice at Fox I think would be Hannity, so let's see if I can think of any slanders from Hannity toward liberals. Is it slander to accuse them of desiring wealth redistribution? Of desiring to control what we eat and drink, drive and shoot? Of desiring to eliminate fossil fuels? Which is slanderous? Aren't those things true, and isn't the best defense against a slander charge the truth?
Fiscal Cliff here we come. Boehner went ahead and proposed something in the House, but there weren't enough votes. Apparently he tried to give Obama a compromise based on his own rhetoric (remember "millionaires and billionaires"?) He set the bar at a million dollars for the increased tax rate. The Democrats of course refused to support it, as did the Republicans.
Proof that there will be no "deal". The sides are diametrically opposed. The right side wants to leave tax rates alone and cut spending. The left side wants to hike tax rates and increase spending. The left says they will accept no cuts, period. The right says they will accept no tax increases, period. That means there's no middle ground. So we will end up with one of two outcomes: The automatic spending cuts and tax increases they built in in their last "deal" kick in. Or they agree to extend the deadline and keep the fight going.
Obama's intractable attitude suggests he wants the automatic cuts and tax hikes, but knows his constituents don't support that. So he is trying an approach that he thinks allows him to blame the Republicans for refusing to compromise. The simple fact of his re-election suggests his strategy will probably work, given his worshipping news media and the ignorance of the masses who voted for him.
A head-scratcher from the hard left is a seemingly endless stream of invective that threatens NRA members and other 2nd Amendment advocates. It seems the deranged controlling socialists may be plotting to shoot those they feel are standing in the way of firearms bans. They apparently have no appreciation for irony.
The "Freedom from Religion" group's latest initiative is an attempt to bully West Point into abandoning its oldest traditions regarding prayer and Christian observances. Join my new political action group, I think I'll call it "Freedom from Freedom from Religion". Why are they so hostile to people who believe in God?
Hillary can't talk to Congress about the Benghazi disaster because she claims she fell and hit her head. I give that excuse about a 20 percent chance of being true. If I caught the story right, she never even saw a physician about her alleged concussion. Come on, left-wingers, you don't really believe that fairy tale, do you?
The Benghazi story is proof that we have a corrupt and incompetent government headed by a corrupt and incompetent President. Hillary and Barack will never tell the truth about Benghazi, so we should stop asking them to. We already know what happened: Ambassador Stevens and his staff pleaded with Hillary's State Department for better security and were ignored. They got attacked in a siege that lasted almost 9 hours, while the fast-response team of commandos stood by their helicopters ready to mount a rescue. The White House told the rescue team to stand down. Then the White House concocted a cover story about a spontaneous protest to save Obama's campaign.
The only questions remaining will never be answered unless somebody in Obama's inner circle decides to blow the whistle. We don't know exactly why the State Department denied enhanced security in Libya, but there is a person at State that has stepped up and taken responsibility for the decision in congressional testimony. She really took one for the team. We also don't know who at the White House concocted the cover story about the spontaneous protest. But Susan Rice's punishment for being a team player by quite obviously deciding to go tell that lie on television all day the next Sunday was having her hopes to take Hillary's job dashed. And we don't know the exact reason Obama told the rescue team to stand down, and Obama will never tell us.
If you watch Cable Television, especially CNN, MSNBC, and to a lesser extent Fox News, it can be easy to form the impression that most people are fundamentally evil. CNN's Piers Morgan and their airhead anchorette with the pretentiously "diverse" name, Soledad O'Brien, continue a campaign to brand all gun owners and second amendment rights folks as the root of all evil. MSNBC's entire lineup more generally expound on how evil Conservatives are in general, telling their tiny audience that conservatives like seeing children shot, want to starve children and seniors, want to deny medical care to the poor, and of course are racist sexist homophobes. Of course no evidence is necessary of racism - opposing Obama is all that's needed to prove that charge. Homophobia is proved simply by opposition to Gay Marriage. Sexism is evidenced by resistance to forking over the money to pay for every woman's birth control.
I was just wondering what are Fox News' equivalent of the CNN and MSNBC slanders? The most partisan voice at Fox I think would be Hannity, so let's see if I can think of any slanders from Hannity toward liberals. Is it slander to accuse them of desiring wealth redistribution? Of desiring to control what we eat and drink, drive and shoot? Of desiring to eliminate fossil fuels? Which is slanderous? Aren't those things true, and isn't the best defense against a slander charge the truth?
Fiscal Cliff here we come. Boehner went ahead and proposed something in the House, but there weren't enough votes. Apparently he tried to give Obama a compromise based on his own rhetoric (remember "millionaires and billionaires"?) He set the bar at a million dollars for the increased tax rate. The Democrats of course refused to support it, as did the Republicans.
Proof that there will be no "deal". The sides are diametrically opposed. The right side wants to leave tax rates alone and cut spending. The left side wants to hike tax rates and increase spending. The left says they will accept no cuts, period. The right says they will accept no tax increases, period. That means there's no middle ground. So we will end up with one of two outcomes: The automatic spending cuts and tax increases they built in in their last "deal" kick in. Or they agree to extend the deadline and keep the fight going.
Obama's intractable attitude suggests he wants the automatic cuts and tax hikes, but knows his constituents don't support that. So he is trying an approach that he thinks allows him to blame the Republicans for refusing to compromise. The simple fact of his re-election suggests his strategy will probably work, given his worshipping news media and the ignorance of the masses who voted for him.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
If Christmas Happened Today
This post was attempted one before, but in the spirit of Christmas, I thought I'd give it another shot.
Imagine if the Christmas Story took place today. A young schoolgirl, say somewhere between 14 and 16 years old, gets a vist from an Angel. She's told she will give birth to a baby who will be the savior of the world.
The part about little Mary being betrothed just doesn't happen in America, so we can't make that parallel. And her husband-to-be can't marry her, because if he happens to be an adult, well, that just isn't done either. So I can't figure out how to bring Joseph into the picture.
Absolutely nobody will believe her. They'll just toss it off as a young girl whose boyfriend got her pregnant. Only problem is that she doesn't have a boyfriend, and nobody has any clue about the identity of the middle-schooler (or maybe high schooler?) that got her pregnant.
There's also no such thing in America as going to your family's original hometown to register for a census. So if she travels somewhere right before giving birth, it would have to be for some other reason. But being forced to have the baby in a barn isn't completely impossible, although it's much more likely that she would show up in some hospital emergency room and have the child there under the care of professional medical personnel.
How about the star? A bright star appears in the sky and seems to move until it stops directly above the hospital (or barn if you prefer) where the birth takes place. The star might be explained as a comet, which of course the scientific community would immediately tell everyone was an ordinary comet on its ordinary orbit through the solar system. Means nothing. The fact it happens to stay directly over the place where a girl who claims a virgin birth is just silly superstition.
The Catholic Church will not even bother to investigate, and the rest of the Christian Community will reject the entire story to avoid being taunted as ignorant boobs for believing the little girl.
But there will be a small group of folks who will get wind of the story and believe the little girl. They will gather at the birthplace, trying to see the little girl and her baby. But most likely they'll be turned away by riot police sent there by an alarmed government that fears these religious radicals.
The news media will make a point to ignore the story entirely, telling themselves that it's best not to inflame those radical Christians by even mentioning it.
But God will know what he's doing. People will find out anyway, and will appear from around the globe to pay homage and pray together. The little miracle child will build a following regardless of government efforts to stamp out the movement from the start. But the real transformation of the world will have to wait until the child comes of age and begins spreading his message to the people.
Merry Christmas.
Imagine if the Christmas Story took place today. A young schoolgirl, say somewhere between 14 and 16 years old, gets a vist from an Angel. She's told she will give birth to a baby who will be the savior of the world.
The part about little Mary being betrothed just doesn't happen in America, so we can't make that parallel. And her husband-to-be can't marry her, because if he happens to be an adult, well, that just isn't done either. So I can't figure out how to bring Joseph into the picture.
Absolutely nobody will believe her. They'll just toss it off as a young girl whose boyfriend got her pregnant. Only problem is that she doesn't have a boyfriend, and nobody has any clue about the identity of the middle-schooler (or maybe high schooler?) that got her pregnant.
There's also no such thing in America as going to your family's original hometown to register for a census. So if she travels somewhere right before giving birth, it would have to be for some other reason. But being forced to have the baby in a barn isn't completely impossible, although it's much more likely that she would show up in some hospital emergency room and have the child there under the care of professional medical personnel.
How about the star? A bright star appears in the sky and seems to move until it stops directly above the hospital (or barn if you prefer) where the birth takes place. The star might be explained as a comet, which of course the scientific community would immediately tell everyone was an ordinary comet on its ordinary orbit through the solar system. Means nothing. The fact it happens to stay directly over the place where a girl who claims a virgin birth is just silly superstition.
The Catholic Church will not even bother to investigate, and the rest of the Christian Community will reject the entire story to avoid being taunted as ignorant boobs for believing the little girl.
But there will be a small group of folks who will get wind of the story and believe the little girl. They will gather at the birthplace, trying to see the little girl and her baby. But most likely they'll be turned away by riot police sent there by an alarmed government that fears these religious radicals.
The news media will make a point to ignore the story entirely, telling themselves that it's best not to inflame those radical Christians by even mentioning it.
But God will know what he's doing. People will find out anyway, and will appear from around the globe to pay homage and pray together. The little miracle child will build a following regardless of government efforts to stamp out the movement from the start. But the real transformation of the world will have to wait until the child comes of age and begins spreading his message to the people.
Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
About Tebow (Update)
Tim Tebow is the most famous NFL player that doesn't play. He's a backup quarterback for the New York Jets who has been languishing on the bench all season. That's puzzling to many Jets fans and other NFL observers, who believed he would be integrated into the Jets offense as a change-of-pace quarterback. Everyone thought he'd run a wildcat offense to confuse opposing defenses.
The Tebow-hating media jumped on reports out of the Jets camp from teammates who claimed that Tebow was a horrible quarterback in practice. Theoretically that's why he was never really tried in the expected wildcat. Even as the Jets starter, Mark Sanchez, struggled mightily throughout the season, the Jets never so much as gave Tebow a look.
I think the time has come and passed to give Tim his shot. The guy managed to lead the Broncos into the playoffs last season, despite his unorthodox and awkward quarterbacking skills. The Jets are officially out of the playoffs, so what would they lose by giving Tebow a shot in the next game? Whether the Jets lose with Sanchez or lose with Tebow, does it really matter? Who knows, maybe the home-schooled anachronistic quarterback who wears his Christianity on his sleeve can pull off another miracle for a Jets victory?
Hey Rex, Jets fans and non-fans alike want to see Tebow. Give him a shot in the last game, or maybe the last 2 games. Then release him. Maybe another team will give him a shot, maybe they won't. But at least we'll all find out what he can do.
Update: Shortly after I posted this, Rex Ryan named Greg McElroy the starter, bypassing Tebow. It's a pretty big insult to skip your backup and go to the third stringer, but that's what Ryan did. Tebow reportedly wants to be traded. More likely he'll be released. We may never find out whether he can be a successful NFL QB. Maybe the story ends here.
The Tebow-hating media jumped on reports out of the Jets camp from teammates who claimed that Tebow was a horrible quarterback in practice. Theoretically that's why he was never really tried in the expected wildcat. Even as the Jets starter, Mark Sanchez, struggled mightily throughout the season, the Jets never so much as gave Tebow a look.
I think the time has come and passed to give Tim his shot. The guy managed to lead the Broncos into the playoffs last season, despite his unorthodox and awkward quarterbacking skills. The Jets are officially out of the playoffs, so what would they lose by giving Tebow a shot in the next game? Whether the Jets lose with Sanchez or lose with Tebow, does it really matter? Who knows, maybe the home-schooled anachronistic quarterback who wears his Christianity on his sleeve can pull off another miracle for a Jets victory?
Hey Rex, Jets fans and non-fans alike want to see Tebow. Give him a shot in the last game, or maybe the last 2 games. Then release him. Maybe another team will give him a shot, maybe they won't. But at least we'll all find out what he can do.
Update: Shortly after I posted this, Rex Ryan named Greg McElroy the starter, bypassing Tebow. It's a pretty big insult to skip your backup and go to the third stringer, but that's what Ryan did. Tebow reportedly wants to be traded. More likely he'll be released. We may never find out whether he can be a successful NFL QB. Maybe the story ends here.
Sports Time
So Butler knocked off Indiana this weekend. When Yogi Ferrell knocked down the 3 to force overtime, I really thought it was over for Butler. Two of their key players had fouled out, and Indiana went into the huddle after the end of regulation smiling and confident. I think Indiana believed they had withstood the Butler storm and would run away with the game in overtime much as they did in the overtime game against Georgetown.
But somehow Butler hung in there in the overtime, falling down early but regaining the lead with dead-eye 3-point shooting from Rotnei Clarke and Chase Stigall. Then the walk-on aspiring basketball coach found a gap in the Indiana defense to knock down the game winner.
Such an entertaining game to watch. I remain stunned that Brad Stevens hasn't been lured by a major program with millions to spend on a quality coach. UCLA comes to mind. But there are programs all over the country that I'm sure would happily pony up the big bucks to pry Brad away from Indianapolis. There's something to be said for having a job you love in a place you feel at home, so I respect Brad for fending off those offers. Gotta think he's going to get the one he can't refuse this year, though.
Indiana shouldn't worry too much about losing their spot in the national polls. They're still a good team. Now they know they are vulnerable, and maybe it will tighten their focus going into the Big 10 part of the season. I think they'll probably lose at least 2 games against Big 10 opponents. I can see them being beaten by Illinois, Michigan, or Michigan State.
I was curious to see how the Colts would do this weekend against the Texans. The outcome was pretty much what I expected. Most Colts fans probably stuck with the game until there was no hope left, given the history of comebacks this year. No comebacks against Houston, unfortunately. The Texan team is just too good.
The Colts will get into the playoffs, probably by beating Kansas City next week. They could possibly beat the Texans at home in the last game of the season, presumably because by then the game will have no impact on either team's playoff position and Houston might rest some of their starters.
Right now it looks like the Colts may play the Ravens in the wild-card game. The Ravens would probably be favored, and the Colts haven't been very good on the road. But if they manage a victory, I can't see them making it past the second round, most likely against the Broncos or the Patriots. A second round matchup with the Broncos would be fun to see.
But somehow Butler hung in there in the overtime, falling down early but regaining the lead with dead-eye 3-point shooting from Rotnei Clarke and Chase Stigall. Then the walk-on aspiring basketball coach found a gap in the Indiana defense to knock down the game winner.
Such an entertaining game to watch. I remain stunned that Brad Stevens hasn't been lured by a major program with millions to spend on a quality coach. UCLA comes to mind. But there are programs all over the country that I'm sure would happily pony up the big bucks to pry Brad away from Indianapolis. There's something to be said for having a job you love in a place you feel at home, so I respect Brad for fending off those offers. Gotta think he's going to get the one he can't refuse this year, though.
Indiana shouldn't worry too much about losing their spot in the national polls. They're still a good team. Now they know they are vulnerable, and maybe it will tighten their focus going into the Big 10 part of the season. I think they'll probably lose at least 2 games against Big 10 opponents. I can see them being beaten by Illinois, Michigan, or Michigan State.
I was curious to see how the Colts would do this weekend against the Texans. The outcome was pretty much what I expected. Most Colts fans probably stuck with the game until there was no hope left, given the history of comebacks this year. No comebacks against Houston, unfortunately. The Texan team is just too good.
The Colts will get into the playoffs, probably by beating Kansas City next week. They could possibly beat the Texans at home in the last game of the season, presumably because by then the game will have no impact on either team's playoff position and Houston might rest some of their starters.
Right now it looks like the Colts may play the Ravens in the wild-card game. The Ravens would probably be favored, and the Colts haven't been very good on the road. But if they manage a victory, I can't see them making it past the second round, most likely against the Broncos or the Patriots. A second round matchup with the Broncos would be fun to see.
Monday, December 17, 2012
I Joined the NRA
The heated and emotional arguments coming from the Left after the incident in Newtown, CT is frightening me. The iron-fisted control freaks in the leftwing government are embarking on a full blown campaign to outlaw firearms, so the least I could do in response was join the NRA.
Is it time to acquire a handgun? Maybe. If I can get a day off. But then I'd need to join a shooting range somewhere to become competent. Another day off or more. Then I'd need to get a concealed carry permit. Maybe more than a day off.
Days off are the hardest part these days. So I'll have to wait and see if and when I can acquire a means to protect myself and my family before the National Socialist in the White House orders all private firearms be confiscated, leaving us all without the means of protecting ourselves from the roving gangs that will spring up to endanger us.
In Connecticut a mentally disabled kid got hold of his Mom's guns then used them to kill her, the adults in the office at the elementary school, and a kindergarten class. The guns didn't cause the problem any more than the vehicle he used to drive to the school. The disturbed boy who invaded the school and shot so many innocent people was the problem.
Maybe instead of trying to control people by taking away their guns, sodas, french fries, and SUVs the government should try to stop mass shootings by mentally unstable people. Maybe by trying to make sure unstable people have the care and supervision they need. You don't stop the next mentally ill young man from going off his meds and shooting a bunch of people by taking firearms away from stable and responsible adults. Maybe you stop it by having more stable and responsible adults armed so they can stop the shooting before it takes out two dozen people.
I'm devastated by the way those kindergarteners lost their lives. But the Second Amendment is not to blame. Actually, the willful destruction of the family is ultimately to blame. I think it is now up to people of faith to step up and change people's lives and minds one at a time until our country is once again the best civilization in the history of the planet.
Is it time to acquire a handgun? Maybe. If I can get a day off. But then I'd need to join a shooting range somewhere to become competent. Another day off or more. Then I'd need to get a concealed carry permit. Maybe more than a day off.
Days off are the hardest part these days. So I'll have to wait and see if and when I can acquire a means to protect myself and my family before the National Socialist in the White House orders all private firearms be confiscated, leaving us all without the means of protecting ourselves from the roving gangs that will spring up to endanger us.
In Connecticut a mentally disabled kid got hold of his Mom's guns then used them to kill her, the adults in the office at the elementary school, and a kindergarten class. The guns didn't cause the problem any more than the vehicle he used to drive to the school. The disturbed boy who invaded the school and shot so many innocent people was the problem.
Maybe instead of trying to control people by taking away their guns, sodas, french fries, and SUVs the government should try to stop mass shootings by mentally unstable people. Maybe by trying to make sure unstable people have the care and supervision they need. You don't stop the next mentally ill young man from going off his meds and shooting a bunch of people by taking firearms away from stable and responsible adults. Maybe you stop it by having more stable and responsible adults armed so they can stop the shooting before it takes out two dozen people.
I'm devastated by the way those kindergarteners lost their lives. But the Second Amendment is not to blame. Actually, the willful destruction of the family is ultimately to blame. I think it is now up to people of faith to step up and change people's lives and minds one at a time until our country is once again the best civilization in the history of the planet.
Telling Me I Should Support Obama
Somebody told me I should be an Obama supporter, not opponent or detractor. Because he's been good for my personal economy.
That's true, I'm busier than ever largely because of Obama's love for government regulation. Because I help companies comply with regulations every day. And boy do companies have piles of new regulations to which they must comply, and quickly.
I almost feel like an ancillary government employee without the health and pension benefits.
Clients are worried about the "fiscal cliff". They fear that massive new tax regulations will be passed with no notice, and may even be retroactive.
Sure, the idiots in Washington are capable of pulling that sort of kooky policy on America. But my personal analysis is that there are two scenarios that are most likely to play out at year end. I'm thinking the odds of the two options are about 50-50, although I'm leaning toward the second option being more likely.
Option 1: Boehner and Obama decide to join hands and jump off the cliff together. It means a return to Clinton-era tax policy. Most likely companies will be told after they've already issued their first payroll of 2013. Those companies are just hoping they're not forced to adjust their employees' next paychecks to collect the extra taxes. What is certain to happen under this scenario is angry phone calls from employees into every company's payroll department, asking why his or her net pay is so much lower than it was in December?! The media of course will tell them it's the Republicans fault, because they refused to compromise with the President.
Option 2: Nothing happens. Congress passes the buck by passing a bill that keeps all tax rates exactly as they are today, setting a new deadline 3 or 6 months out. So no scrambling to get new rates in the payroll systems, and no need to worry about retroactive tax collections. But the fight will go on. And on, and on, and on ....
Strangely, I always thought "Compromise" meant that in order for one side to get what he wants (i.e. tax rates higher for the "rich"), he offers something the other side wants in return (i.e. cutting some spending, or relaxing bans on energy development).
But Obama's definition seems to be, "I get what I want. I give you nothing. I won. You lost". So unless the GOP Representatives suddenly have their privates surgically removed, no deal is possible. Therefore, a binary choice - jump off the cliff or pitch a tent at the cliff's edge and keep arguing for a few more months.
That's true, I'm busier than ever largely because of Obama's love for government regulation. Because I help companies comply with regulations every day. And boy do companies have piles of new regulations to which they must comply, and quickly.
I almost feel like an ancillary government employee without the health and pension benefits.
Clients are worried about the "fiscal cliff". They fear that massive new tax regulations will be passed with no notice, and may even be retroactive.
Sure, the idiots in Washington are capable of pulling that sort of kooky policy on America. But my personal analysis is that there are two scenarios that are most likely to play out at year end. I'm thinking the odds of the two options are about 50-50, although I'm leaning toward the second option being more likely.
Option 1: Boehner and Obama decide to join hands and jump off the cliff together. It means a return to Clinton-era tax policy. Most likely companies will be told after they've already issued their first payroll of 2013. Those companies are just hoping they're not forced to adjust their employees' next paychecks to collect the extra taxes. What is certain to happen under this scenario is angry phone calls from employees into every company's payroll department, asking why his or her net pay is so much lower than it was in December?! The media of course will tell them it's the Republicans fault, because they refused to compromise with the President.
Option 2: Nothing happens. Congress passes the buck by passing a bill that keeps all tax rates exactly as they are today, setting a new deadline 3 or 6 months out. So no scrambling to get new rates in the payroll systems, and no need to worry about retroactive tax collections. But the fight will go on. And on, and on, and on ....
Strangely, I always thought "Compromise" meant that in order for one side to get what he wants (i.e. tax rates higher for the "rich"), he offers something the other side wants in return (i.e. cutting some spending, or relaxing bans on energy development).
But Obama's definition seems to be, "I get what I want. I give you nothing. I won. You lost". So unless the GOP Representatives suddenly have their privates surgically removed, no deal is possible. Therefore, a binary choice - jump off the cliff or pitch a tent at the cliff's edge and keep arguing for a few more months.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
More NFL Racist Idiocy
How long must we continue to endure this ongoing display of stupidity among racist sports commentators? ESPN hired Rush Limbaugh to add the controversial spice he could bring to their NFL studio show. Then they fired him after the second show of the season, calling his comment that Donovan McNabb was overrated because of the media's obsession with building up black quarterback racist.
Whether Rush's commet was racist is debatable. But now after Bob Costas makes a racist observation that black NFL athletes shouldn't be allowed to own firearms comes Robert Parker, who vents his frustration over his perception that Robert Griffin III is not authentically black.
OK, as a white guy I'm completely ignorant about the lingo. I really don't know what "Cornball Brother" means. But I can figure out what Parker was getting at, that RGIII isn't "down for the cause". Why, he may even be a *gasp* Republican!
RGIII actually responded to a reporter's question about his race by saying that race isn't how he wishes to be defined, but by his character and accomplishments. Very mature, reasoned, and M. L. King-like, I'd say.
My belief about race relations is that the ultimate goal is that we can someday become a color-blind society. But apparently the goal for folks like Parker sounds more like black separatism with dictatorial leadership enforcing conformity of thought and belief among everyone who happens to have a certain skin pigment.
Whether it's Parker trashing RGIII for not being black enough, or the rest of the ESPN commentators destroying Tim Tebow for being openly Christian, I'm getting tired of it all.
Sportscasters and commentators on ESPN, NBC, CBS, FOX, or anywhere, I'm pleading with you! Please just stop with the social commentary, you're not smart enough for it. Just stick to the game and get out of politics, please. RGIII is an exciting rookie quarterback who plays for the Washington Redskins. End of story. Tim Tebow's a backup quarterback for the Jets. End of story. When either guy plays, talk about how they played like you would any other player. Leave it at that.
I'm weary of all the racist talk, as well as the anti-Christian talk. Just cover the games and spare us the stupid social commentary.
Whether Rush's commet was racist is debatable. But now after Bob Costas makes a racist observation that black NFL athletes shouldn't be allowed to own firearms comes Robert Parker, who vents his frustration over his perception that Robert Griffin III is not authentically black.
OK, as a white guy I'm completely ignorant about the lingo. I really don't know what "Cornball Brother" means. But I can figure out what Parker was getting at, that RGIII isn't "down for the cause". Why, he may even be a *gasp* Republican!
RGIII actually responded to a reporter's question about his race by saying that race isn't how he wishes to be defined, but by his character and accomplishments. Very mature, reasoned, and M. L. King-like, I'd say.
My belief about race relations is that the ultimate goal is that we can someday become a color-blind society. But apparently the goal for folks like Parker sounds more like black separatism with dictatorial leadership enforcing conformity of thought and belief among everyone who happens to have a certain skin pigment.
Whether it's Parker trashing RGIII for not being black enough, or the rest of the ESPN commentators destroying Tim Tebow for being openly Christian, I'm getting tired of it all.
Sportscasters and commentators on ESPN, NBC, CBS, FOX, or anywhere, I'm pleading with you! Please just stop with the social commentary, you're not smart enough for it. Just stick to the game and get out of politics, please. RGIII is an exciting rookie quarterback who plays for the Washington Redskins. End of story. Tim Tebow's a backup quarterback for the Jets. End of story. When either guy plays, talk about how they played like you would any other player. Leave it at that.
I'm weary of all the racist talk, as well as the anti-Christian talk. Just cover the games and spare us the stupid social commentary.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
All Hold Hands and Jump!
Let's just get it over with. We can all join hands and jump off that Fiscal Cliff together. Why not?
The stalemate looks something like this: Obama will do no deal that doesn't include his tax increase on higher income earners. He also will agree to no discernable spending cuts.
Boehner is trying to negotiate increasing tax revenue by scaling back deductions. He's even hinted at a willingness to discuss a lower percentage increase or moving the income level higher for Obama's tax hike. But he is still insisting that Obama agree to cut some spending, somewhere.
So now we're hearing they're negotiating tiny fringe things like cutting COLA's on Social Security, which of course isn't a drop in the ocean.
Let's forget the whole thing and just let the automatic tax increases kick in. After all, that's what most honest Democrats admit they want to happen anyway. The people will get angry when they see that first 2013 pay stub, and the press will work overtime to tell them they need to be angry with Republicans, not Obama for that smaller check. So what?
Democrats own the narrative and Americans don't have a clue about what Republicans actually stand for, so what else will be new?
Republicans are being given a choice - give in to what Obama wants, or ... umm ... give in to what Obama wants. So I say they just refuse to play the game, thereby giving in to what Obama wants.
Oh Well.
The stalemate looks something like this: Obama will do no deal that doesn't include his tax increase on higher income earners. He also will agree to no discernable spending cuts.
Boehner is trying to negotiate increasing tax revenue by scaling back deductions. He's even hinted at a willingness to discuss a lower percentage increase or moving the income level higher for Obama's tax hike. But he is still insisting that Obama agree to cut some spending, somewhere.
So now we're hearing they're negotiating tiny fringe things like cutting COLA's on Social Security, which of course isn't a drop in the ocean.
Let's forget the whole thing and just let the automatic tax increases kick in. After all, that's what most honest Democrats admit they want to happen anyway. The people will get angry when they see that first 2013 pay stub, and the press will work overtime to tell them they need to be angry with Republicans, not Obama for that smaller check. So what?
Democrats own the narrative and Americans don't have a clue about what Republicans actually stand for, so what else will be new?
Republicans are being given a choice - give in to what Obama wants, or ... umm ... give in to what Obama wants. So I say they just refuse to play the game, thereby giving in to what Obama wants.
Oh Well.
Interesting Idea
This idea from Hinderaker is fascinating. He makes a very compelling case. Let's figure out how to make the low-information voters get just a bit more information. Or at least cut down on the misinformation they think they know.
Channel Surfing
Nothing on TV last night, so I turned it off and read a Kindle book.
But while channel surfing on my way to making the decision to abandon the tube in favor of the Kindle, this analogy popped into my head.
Two men, let's say John Boehner and Barack Obama, are having dinner in an expensive restaurant. Boehner suddenly realizes he doesn't have enough money to pay for the dinner and mentions the fact to Obama. Obama doesn't have enough either, but says "Don't worry, it will work out. I see Warren Buffet over there at a table in the corner; we'll just get him to cover us".
Boehner is uncomfortable with the idea. "Aren't you the least bit embarrassed at having to get somebody else to pay for dinner? I was raised to be responsible for myself".
So a negotiation ensues between the two. Boehner proposes choosing the cheapest entre on the menu, which he thinks they can almost afford. Obama insists on ordering the most expensive steak and lobster entre, then getting Warren to pick up the tab.
As the waiter waits impatiently, the negotiation continues until a compromise is reached. They'll cut the tip from 20 to 15 percent and get Warren to pay the rest of the shortfall. So the waiter is mad, Boehner is embarrassed, and Obama is clueless.
But Warren agrees to kick in only 5 bucks, leaving the two still short by about 100 dollars. They order, knowing that when they leave the restaurant they will have a big problem. They will leave owing the restaurant 100 bucks, that is if the restaurant allows them to leave and doesn't have them arrested or put them to work in the kitchen washing dishes.
That's what the current fiscal debate sounds like to me.
Back to the channel surfing:
Fox News was still on the union thug punching out one of their people. And the hypocritical press who like to do stories about the racist and violent Tea Party sans evidence completely ignores this story of actual violence.
MSNBC is bewailing the destruction of Labor Unions, claiming it's actually a destruction of the middle class. Ignoring of course the fact that unions are all but extinct in the private sector anyway. But that doesn't slow down their characterization of Right to Work laws as complete by and for the corporate fat cats.
On CNN, Piers Morgan's still obsessing over gun control.
Nobody is choosing to present the big picture. Maybe because it's not sensational enough to talk about budgets and deficits and debt.
I'd rather watch sports.
But while channel surfing on my way to making the decision to abandon the tube in favor of the Kindle, this analogy popped into my head.
Two men, let's say John Boehner and Barack Obama, are having dinner in an expensive restaurant. Boehner suddenly realizes he doesn't have enough money to pay for the dinner and mentions the fact to Obama. Obama doesn't have enough either, but says "Don't worry, it will work out. I see Warren Buffet over there at a table in the corner; we'll just get him to cover us".
Boehner is uncomfortable with the idea. "Aren't you the least bit embarrassed at having to get somebody else to pay for dinner? I was raised to be responsible for myself".
So a negotiation ensues between the two. Boehner proposes choosing the cheapest entre on the menu, which he thinks they can almost afford. Obama insists on ordering the most expensive steak and lobster entre, then getting Warren to pick up the tab.
As the waiter waits impatiently, the negotiation continues until a compromise is reached. They'll cut the tip from 20 to 15 percent and get Warren to pay the rest of the shortfall. So the waiter is mad, Boehner is embarrassed, and Obama is clueless.
But Warren agrees to kick in only 5 bucks, leaving the two still short by about 100 dollars. They order, knowing that when they leave the restaurant they will have a big problem. They will leave owing the restaurant 100 bucks, that is if the restaurant allows them to leave and doesn't have them arrested or put them to work in the kitchen washing dishes.
That's what the current fiscal debate sounds like to me.
Back to the channel surfing:
Fox News was still on the union thug punching out one of their people. And the hypocritical press who like to do stories about the racist and violent Tea Party sans evidence completely ignores this story of actual violence.
MSNBC is bewailing the destruction of Labor Unions, claiming it's actually a destruction of the middle class. Ignoring of course the fact that unions are all but extinct in the private sector anyway. But that doesn't slow down their characterization of Right to Work laws as complete by and for the corporate fat cats.
On CNN, Piers Morgan's still obsessing over gun control.
Nobody is choosing to present the big picture. Maybe because it's not sensational enough to talk about budgets and deficits and debt.
I'd rather watch sports.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Upside-Down
Wow. Politifact picked Romney for their "Lie of the Year". The article goes on to provide the actual facts of the matter, which prove he didn't lie. Or it was only a lie if you change his words to pretend he said Chrysler's new owners were "moving" jeep production to China. Inconveniently for them, that's not what he said. He said they were going to build jeeps in China, which according to the actual article is TRUE.
Given Obama's daily prevarications, this is Stalinesque.
Given Obama's daily prevarications, this is Stalinesque.
A Late Perspective on NFL Gun Drama
I wasn't going to comment on the murder-suicide committed by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher. But Bob Costas' tone-deaf commentary on the incident set off my hypocrite alarm.
Bob blamed some kind of "gun culture" in the NFL for the incident, and claimed a belief that if Belcher hadn't had a gun, he and his girlfriend would still be alive.
So Bob seems to be saying that NFL football players, who are overwhelmingly black, should be denied their second amendment rights. For the race-hypersensitive Left, isn't that blatant racism? Certainly if conservatives can be called racist for pointing out that the family is the best solution for our problems. The racist charge comes because the highest percentage of unmarried mothers is found among black people. Consequently, shouldn't Costas be held to the same standard?
Where's the NAACP, marching on NBC and demanding Costas be fired for his racist comments? Where's the outrage over suggesting rather overtly that young black athletes are irresponsible young men who should not be allowed to own firearms?
Men killing their wives and girlfriends in fits of jealous rage is an unfortunate event that happens far too often among people of all colors. They don't need a gun to commit that crime. It's certainly not unique to NFL players, unless one wants to make the case that they are more prone to 'Roid Rage than the general population.
Incidents like this go beyond a sports commentator pretending to be some sort of sage that is somehow smarter and wiser than the rest of us. This is not just about an idiot sportscaster trying to jump into the arena of politics in the middle of a football game. We football fans don't like being dragged into another Left-Right debate on our entertainment time. Is there no longer any refuge from the constant political bickering?
Repealing the second amendment won't stop people from becoming murderously jealous of their romatic partners. Following Bob's logic, if Belcher didn't have access to a gun, would he have killed his girlfriend? I don't think there's a definitive answer to that question.
Can we all at least agree to keep sportscasters away from politics? As Laura Ingraham suggested in "Shut up and Sing", we don't want our politics and entertainment to mix. And just because somebody's pretty good at singing or acting or sportscasting doesn't mean we care to hear their political opinions.
Bob blamed some kind of "gun culture" in the NFL for the incident, and claimed a belief that if Belcher hadn't had a gun, he and his girlfriend would still be alive.
So Bob seems to be saying that NFL football players, who are overwhelmingly black, should be denied their second amendment rights. For the race-hypersensitive Left, isn't that blatant racism? Certainly if conservatives can be called racist for pointing out that the family is the best solution for our problems. The racist charge comes because the highest percentage of unmarried mothers is found among black people. Consequently, shouldn't Costas be held to the same standard?
Where's the NAACP, marching on NBC and demanding Costas be fired for his racist comments? Where's the outrage over suggesting rather overtly that young black athletes are irresponsible young men who should not be allowed to own firearms?
Men killing their wives and girlfriends in fits of jealous rage is an unfortunate event that happens far too often among people of all colors. They don't need a gun to commit that crime. It's certainly not unique to NFL players, unless one wants to make the case that they are more prone to 'Roid Rage than the general population.
Incidents like this go beyond a sports commentator pretending to be some sort of sage that is somehow smarter and wiser than the rest of us. This is not just about an idiot sportscaster trying to jump into the arena of politics in the middle of a football game. We football fans don't like being dragged into another Left-Right debate on our entertainment time. Is there no longer any refuge from the constant political bickering?
Repealing the second amendment won't stop people from becoming murderously jealous of their romatic partners. Following Bob's logic, if Belcher didn't have access to a gun, would he have killed his girlfriend? I don't think there's a definitive answer to that question.
Can we all at least agree to keep sportscasters away from politics? As Laura Ingraham suggested in "Shut up and Sing", we don't want our politics and entertainment to mix. And just because somebody's pretty good at singing or acting or sportscasting doesn't mean we care to hear their political opinions.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Being in the Minority
Suddenly I discovered I'm no longer a member of the majority in America. It's a bit disconcerting. I'm not referring to race, but if mine is not in the minority yet, it seems it will be soon.
I'm referring to those American values I used to believe were nearly universal. Only hippies and communists rejected them. Now the hippies have grown up and taken over, and we call them Democrats. Likewise communists.
So all this stuff going on I can't even understand, and am stunned that it's all taken seriously by a reported majority of Americans.
The debt/deficit problem can only be addressed with spending cuts and tax increases. But the media tells me that the majority says the answer is tax increases only, and only on the "rich". Defined as anybody that makes more than they do. Because somehow they came by their wealth dishonestly and deserve to have it taken away from them. I don't understand how it's justified to hammer people based on an arbitrary $200K earnings number that won't make a measurable difference. At least raising taxes on everybody would make a difference in the deficit we might notice.
Gay Marriage is now a fundamental human right. In my world, marriage is an institution we received from God for the purpose of building and maintaining families. It seems the majority has redefined it as all about sex. I don't understand the logic.
Illegal Immigrants are now just people who need to be welcomed with open arms. It doesn't matter that they broke the law to enter the country, often avail themselves of our generous welfare programs paid for by the rest of us, and commonly break laws against identity theft, driving without a license, etc. Why should America be the only country on the planet that must open up the borders to anybody who wants to come?
America's got the richest energy resources on the planet, including vast untapped reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas. But we're told the majority think those energy sources are dirty, and they've elected people who have essentially shut down development of those resources and forced us to import them from countries that hate us and hope to annihilate us someday.
Science is settled, not on Climate Change, but on human development. Babies are human when they're conceived. Aborting them is murder, plain and simple. But we have a president who would kill them even after they've been born alive, calling it 'honoring the mother's right to choose'. The majority allows the issue to be obscured by silly arguments over allowing the murder of children conceived through rape or incest, as if those represent most abortion cases. I don't get why we can't tell the truth about abortion without the hippies changing the subject.
We're assured that everything's just fine in the world due to the president's "smart" leadership. But all I see is country after country melting down into chaos and the middle east about to go nuclear. A clear failure in security and horrific bad judgement by the President and his Secretary of State led to an American Ambassador and a number of others being killed. The same President and Secretary chose to lie about what happened for a month after it happened, then angrily denounced those criticizing the obvious failures and lies as racists. And strangely that majority does not care.
Christianity is the religion that founded the nation. Now the majority holds Christianity in disdain, and supports driving all messages about the Gospel of Jesus Christ underground. Many in that disdainful majority rank the Christian faith above Islam as the most dangerous and violent faith on earth. Despite a total lack of supporting evidence.
So yes, I'm a minority. It's strange and confusing to suddenly discover the "majority" consider me some sort of racist-bigot-homophobe-teaparty rube.
In other words, the majority is insane. And America is becoming their asylum from which the sane can only hope to escape.
I'm referring to those American values I used to believe were nearly universal. Only hippies and communists rejected them. Now the hippies have grown up and taken over, and we call them Democrats. Likewise communists.
So all this stuff going on I can't even understand, and am stunned that it's all taken seriously by a reported majority of Americans.
The debt/deficit problem can only be addressed with spending cuts and tax increases. But the media tells me that the majority says the answer is tax increases only, and only on the "rich". Defined as anybody that makes more than they do. Because somehow they came by their wealth dishonestly and deserve to have it taken away from them. I don't understand how it's justified to hammer people based on an arbitrary $200K earnings number that won't make a measurable difference. At least raising taxes on everybody would make a difference in the deficit we might notice.
Gay Marriage is now a fundamental human right. In my world, marriage is an institution we received from God for the purpose of building and maintaining families. It seems the majority has redefined it as all about sex. I don't understand the logic.
Illegal Immigrants are now just people who need to be welcomed with open arms. It doesn't matter that they broke the law to enter the country, often avail themselves of our generous welfare programs paid for by the rest of us, and commonly break laws against identity theft, driving without a license, etc. Why should America be the only country on the planet that must open up the borders to anybody who wants to come?
America's got the richest energy resources on the planet, including vast untapped reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas. But we're told the majority think those energy sources are dirty, and they've elected people who have essentially shut down development of those resources and forced us to import them from countries that hate us and hope to annihilate us someday.
Science is settled, not on Climate Change, but on human development. Babies are human when they're conceived. Aborting them is murder, plain and simple. But we have a president who would kill them even after they've been born alive, calling it 'honoring the mother's right to choose'. The majority allows the issue to be obscured by silly arguments over allowing the murder of children conceived through rape or incest, as if those represent most abortion cases. I don't get why we can't tell the truth about abortion without the hippies changing the subject.
We're assured that everything's just fine in the world due to the president's "smart" leadership. But all I see is country after country melting down into chaos and the middle east about to go nuclear. A clear failure in security and horrific bad judgement by the President and his Secretary of State led to an American Ambassador and a number of others being killed. The same President and Secretary chose to lie about what happened for a month after it happened, then angrily denounced those criticizing the obvious failures and lies as racists. And strangely that majority does not care.
Christianity is the religion that founded the nation. Now the majority holds Christianity in disdain, and supports driving all messages about the Gospel of Jesus Christ underground. Many in that disdainful majority rank the Christian faith above Islam as the most dangerous and violent faith on earth. Despite a total lack of supporting evidence.
So yes, I'm a minority. It's strange and confusing to suddenly discover the "majority" consider me some sort of racist-bigot-homophobe-teaparty rube.
In other words, the majority is insane. And America is becoming their asylum from which the sane can only hope to escape.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Pleasant Distractions Continue
The good sports stories continued for Indiana teams over the weekend.
The Hoosiers continued to roll. The only question now is, who's going to finally beat this team? If there was an office pool on the question, I'd pick Michigan. Or maybe Illinois. Could it possibly be Butler next Saturday?
Indiana's soccer team won the national championship, although the lack of media coverage was disappointing.
Butler knocked off Northwestern.
Manti Te'o didn't get the Heisman, but that wasn't really a surprise. He was up against an anti-Notre Dame bias among the "elite" sports people, plus a Heisman bias that has always favored quarterbacks and running backs. Although Johnny Football seems like a great guy and a decent college quarterback, I'm not sure the freshman was the better choice over Te'o.
The Colts won again. The custodians at Lucas Oil must still be trying to clean up the stench from that first half performance yesterday. Bob Lamey had it about right when he called it "horrible". But the Colts just played better in the second half, mostly on defense, and grabbed the ugly and sort of boring victory. The stunning realization I had this morning is that if New England beats the Houston Texans tonight, that would give the Colts an actual shot at stealing the division championship.
As much as the Colts have overachieved this season, the possibility of a division title shouldn't be ruled out entirely.
It's a nice distraction from all the stupidity elsewhere. Liberals are getting ridiculous, pushing outrageous new communist ideas and saying stupid things. The entire "Fiscal Cliff" issue is disturbingly dishonest from nearly every aspect. If hiking the top tax rate to forty percent had even a chance of solving the massive deficit and debt problem, at least the argument would be worth considering. But it won't even make a tiny dent, and that dent gets even smaller as people change their behavior to avoid having to pay 40.
I'm rapidly losing respect for Boehner, who continues to play the Democrats' game. It's beyond me why he and the Republicans don't go out and push hard to sell their own solution to the economic and budgetary problems that are burying the country. Push a plan to cut spending and bring back a booming economy! Instead he talks about small ideas to close loopholes. OK as far as that goes, but we need to see a much bigger vision.
I'd rather continue to enjoy the distractions.
The Hoosiers continued to roll. The only question now is, who's going to finally beat this team? If there was an office pool on the question, I'd pick Michigan. Or maybe Illinois. Could it possibly be Butler next Saturday?
Indiana's soccer team won the national championship, although the lack of media coverage was disappointing.
Butler knocked off Northwestern.
Manti Te'o didn't get the Heisman, but that wasn't really a surprise. He was up against an anti-Notre Dame bias among the "elite" sports people, plus a Heisman bias that has always favored quarterbacks and running backs. Although Johnny Football seems like a great guy and a decent college quarterback, I'm not sure the freshman was the better choice over Te'o.
The Colts won again. The custodians at Lucas Oil must still be trying to clean up the stench from that first half performance yesterday. Bob Lamey had it about right when he called it "horrible". But the Colts just played better in the second half, mostly on defense, and grabbed the ugly and sort of boring victory. The stunning realization I had this morning is that if New England beats the Houston Texans tonight, that would give the Colts an actual shot at stealing the division championship.
As much as the Colts have overachieved this season, the possibility of a division title shouldn't be ruled out entirely.
It's a nice distraction from all the stupidity elsewhere. Liberals are getting ridiculous, pushing outrageous new communist ideas and saying stupid things. The entire "Fiscal Cliff" issue is disturbingly dishonest from nearly every aspect. If hiking the top tax rate to forty percent had even a chance of solving the massive deficit and debt problem, at least the argument would be worth considering. But it won't even make a tiny dent, and that dent gets even smaller as people change their behavior to avoid having to pay 40.
I'm rapidly losing respect for Boehner, who continues to play the Democrats' game. It's beyond me why he and the Republicans don't go out and push hard to sell their own solution to the economic and budgetary problems that are burying the country. Push a plan to cut spending and bring back a booming economy! Instead he talks about small ideas to close loopholes. OK as far as that goes, but we need to see a much bigger vision.
I'd rather continue to enjoy the distractions.
Friday, December 07, 2012
Red Dawn Movie
Wemt to see the remake of Red Dawn this week. The old one, with actors we got to know well in the years after its release, was based on the idea of what it might be like if the communists invaded. A group of teens became an insurgent group that fought a guerilla war against the invading Cubans, who were advised and supported by the Russians.
This time the invaders are North Koreans. They were originally going to be the Chinese, but substantial pressure was brought to bear on the producers by the offended Chinese, so they switched to the North Koreans. Supported once again by the Russians. Portland, Oregon took over ground zero from Colorado (I forget what town in Colorado it was supposed to be). This time the invaders made use of some sort of EMP weapon that shut down all communications to hamstring the US Military defenses.
Nick told me the reviews were very negative. I hadn't read any reviews before going to see the movie, so I just finished reading one. The negative review was not about the movie, but politics. The reviewer was derisive and dismissive over the very idea that communists might ever invade, therefore the movie (in his opinion) was a silly right-wing fantasy unworthy of attention.
I liked it. Not because I'm one of those right-wingers happily immersing myself in the fantasy of evil communist invaders. Because I thought it was a pretty good movie. Well scripted, beautifully shot, and even pretty well acted. And beyond the fact that the invaders were communists, there were no overt political messages in the movie.
Bad reviews ignored the qualities of the movie itself because the reviewers themselves are, well, Communists. Presumably they don't believe their friends from Russia and North Korea would ever actually invade America, because they don't have to. These folks are doing a fine job with the president of "transforming" America into a Socialist State, so there's no need to invade.
The original made a rather chilling point about gun control, depicting the invaders as seeking out the gun registration papers immediately after they arrived to identify and go round up all registered gun owners, then executing the ones who couldn't produce their firearms for confiscation. The new version didn't bother with anything like that.
I'd recommend the movie not for its patriotism or anti-communist themes, but for pure entertainment. Some arguments are going around the net about which version was better. I'm not participating in that argument. The two versions are different enough that they don't require comparison, and I enjoyed both.
This time the invaders are North Koreans. They were originally going to be the Chinese, but substantial pressure was brought to bear on the producers by the offended Chinese, so they switched to the North Koreans. Supported once again by the Russians. Portland, Oregon took over ground zero from Colorado (I forget what town in Colorado it was supposed to be). This time the invaders made use of some sort of EMP weapon that shut down all communications to hamstring the US Military defenses.
Nick told me the reviews were very negative. I hadn't read any reviews before going to see the movie, so I just finished reading one. The negative review was not about the movie, but politics. The reviewer was derisive and dismissive over the very idea that communists might ever invade, therefore the movie (in his opinion) was a silly right-wing fantasy unworthy of attention.
I liked it. Not because I'm one of those right-wingers happily immersing myself in the fantasy of evil communist invaders. Because I thought it was a pretty good movie. Well scripted, beautifully shot, and even pretty well acted. And beyond the fact that the invaders were communists, there were no overt political messages in the movie.
Bad reviews ignored the qualities of the movie itself because the reviewers themselves are, well, Communists. Presumably they don't believe their friends from Russia and North Korea would ever actually invade America, because they don't have to. These folks are doing a fine job with the president of "transforming" America into a Socialist State, so there's no need to invade.
The original made a rather chilling point about gun control, depicting the invaders as seeking out the gun registration papers immediately after they arrived to identify and go round up all registered gun owners, then executing the ones who couldn't produce their firearms for confiscation. The new version didn't bother with anything like that.
I'd recommend the movie not for its patriotism or anti-communist themes, but for pure entertainment. Some arguments are going around the net about which version was better. I'm not participating in that argument. The two versions are different enough that they don't require comparison, and I enjoyed both.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
GOP Urged to Abandon "Social Conservatism"
"Social Conservatism" has become the metaphor for "Christianity". The Left says that religion is now irrelevant, and are convinced that as long as Republicans continue to support the Christian agenda, they'll never win national races again. Many establishment Republicans agree with them. With Mitt Romney's narrow loss this year, the Left, the GOP Establishment, and the Media are piling on the party to abandon the "Religious Right".
Interestingly, their argument is based on inflated themes on irrelevant questions. Mitt Romney was in part a victim of collateral damage when Senate candidates from Missouri and Indiana made some unfortunate blunders when answering "gotcha" questions about abortion. Both made statements about strongly-held beliefs that innocent human life should be protected that were distorted by Democrats to make them seem ignorant and out of touch.
Another common "gotcha" question that's a media favorite against Republicans is the one about the age of Planet Earth. Bible Literalists believe the earth's between 6 and 7 thousand years old, because that's what the Bible suggests in Genesis. The Left loves it when they get a conservative Christian to admit to holding something akin to that belief, because they can proceed to use it to bludgeon the entire party with the charge that they're flat earthers who ignore science.
My perspective is that Conservatives need to blunt all these attacks on their faith by refusing to play the game. I'd parry their "gotcha" questions like this:
"You don't have to be a religious person to understand that abortion is the willful execution of a human being. Why punish the innocent baby for the sins of her parents?"
"I don't know how old the earth is, I wasn't there. Why ask an irrelevant question about ancient history when there are so many substantive questions about here and now that need to be discussed?"
"It is an established fact that children raised in intact families with a mother and father who are responsible adults committed to each other are much more successful than children raised in single parent households. You don't have to be religious to acknowledge the societal benefits that result from a country that values families."
My advice to the GOP is don't abandon your Christian base and traditional values. Embrace us and be smart about your message and you will win.
Interestingly, their argument is based on inflated themes on irrelevant questions. Mitt Romney was in part a victim of collateral damage when Senate candidates from Missouri and Indiana made some unfortunate blunders when answering "gotcha" questions about abortion. Both made statements about strongly-held beliefs that innocent human life should be protected that were distorted by Democrats to make them seem ignorant and out of touch.
Another common "gotcha" question that's a media favorite against Republicans is the one about the age of Planet Earth. Bible Literalists believe the earth's between 6 and 7 thousand years old, because that's what the Bible suggests in Genesis. The Left loves it when they get a conservative Christian to admit to holding something akin to that belief, because they can proceed to use it to bludgeon the entire party with the charge that they're flat earthers who ignore science.
My perspective is that Conservatives need to blunt all these attacks on their faith by refusing to play the game. I'd parry their "gotcha" questions like this:
"You don't have to be a religious person to understand that abortion is the willful execution of a human being. Why punish the innocent baby for the sins of her parents?"
"I don't know how old the earth is, I wasn't there. Why ask an irrelevant question about ancient history when there are so many substantive questions about here and now that need to be discussed?"
"It is an established fact that children raised in intact families with a mother and father who are responsible adults committed to each other are much more successful than children raised in single parent households. You don't have to be religious to acknowledge the societal benefits that result from a country that values families."
My advice to the GOP is don't abandon your Christian base and traditional values. Embrace us and be smart about your message and you will win.
Monday, December 03, 2012
What Party Platform Promotes Breaking Ten Commandments?
Let's run it down quickly:
1. Don't have other gods before God. Which party promotes Government as God, and their President as the Messiah?
2. Don't Worship Graven Images. A bit tougher, but does one party tend to build more monuments to their leaders?
3. Honor your Parents. Hollywood cranks out movies and television shows every day depicting parents as clueless idiots. Which party dominates the political leanings of Hollywood? Which party thinks the Education System should take children away from their parents from infancy so they can indoctrinate them against the parents' old-fashioned and bigoted attitudes and faith?
4. Respect the Sabbath, Keep it Holy. Which party scoffs at everything Christian and will never darken the door of a Church? The don't work part of this commandment isn't really a fair indictment for a party that doesn't really think work is a value to be promoted.
5. Don't Curse in God's Name. Think of the crudest and most profane people you know, then think of which party they're most likely to favor. (Bill Maher, perhaps?)
6. Don't Murder. Which party stridently promotes the murder of infants, calling it "Choice"?
7. Don't Commit Adultery (ie, don't have sex with somebody else's spouse). Which party demands we ignore it when their leaders are guilty of this one?
8. Don't Lie. Which party's favorite president lies in every speech to the delight of his followers?
9. Don't Steal. Which party thinks it's their right to take others' property and give it to those who "need" it.
10. Don't Envy Others. Which party campaigned for the last 4 years on the idea that "rich" folks don't deserve to keep what they have and should be punished with high taxes?
See what I'm getting at? More than half of America now is dedicated to breaking each and every one of the 10 basic laws God gave Moses way back when. And they've turned their hostility toward God into a political movement!
Just think about it for awhile.
1. Don't have other gods before God. Which party promotes Government as God, and their President as the Messiah?
2. Don't Worship Graven Images. A bit tougher, but does one party tend to build more monuments to their leaders?
3. Honor your Parents. Hollywood cranks out movies and television shows every day depicting parents as clueless idiots. Which party dominates the political leanings of Hollywood? Which party thinks the Education System should take children away from their parents from infancy so they can indoctrinate them against the parents' old-fashioned and bigoted attitudes and faith?
4. Respect the Sabbath, Keep it Holy. Which party scoffs at everything Christian and will never darken the door of a Church? The don't work part of this commandment isn't really a fair indictment for a party that doesn't really think work is a value to be promoted.
5. Don't Curse in God's Name. Think of the crudest and most profane people you know, then think of which party they're most likely to favor. (Bill Maher, perhaps?)
6. Don't Murder. Which party stridently promotes the murder of infants, calling it "Choice"?
7. Don't Commit Adultery (ie, don't have sex with somebody else's spouse). Which party demands we ignore it when their leaders are guilty of this one?
8. Don't Lie. Which party's favorite president lies in every speech to the delight of his followers?
9. Don't Steal. Which party thinks it's their right to take others' property and give it to those who "need" it.
10. Don't Envy Others. Which party campaigned for the last 4 years on the idea that "rich" folks don't deserve to keep what they have and should be punished with high taxes?
See what I'm getting at? More than half of America now is dedicated to breaking each and every one of the 10 basic laws God gave Moses way back when. And they've turned their hostility toward God into a political movement!
Just think about it for awhile.
Thanks for the Distractions
My personal message to the Colts, Irish, Hoosiers, and Bulldogs:
THANKS!
Andrew Luck and the Colts, that comback and winning touchdown on the last play of the game yesterday was awesome!
Notre Dame, thanks for a great season. What a fantastic defense, led by the most deserving Heisman candidate this year despite the fact he's not a quarterback or running back or even receiver. Hope you get the trophy, Te'o.
The Indiana Hoosiers are finally back after wandering in the wilderness these many years after the silly firing of Bob Knight. Cody Zeller, I hope you lead your talented and athletic team all the way to the national championship this year. If the team doesn't quite make it all the way, I hope you forego that ridiculous contract that awaits you in the NBA and come back for one more shot at the title. The big question for now is, who's going to be the first team to defeat the #1 Hoosiers this season? I'm guessing a Big 10 team is going to trip the Hoosiers eventually. But just maybe this team's the one to repeat the 1976 perfect season.
Butler is making some noise. Great job beating the Tar Heels in Maui. The Bulldogs have added some nice new pieces to the team. The Atlantic 10 is going to be much tougher than Horizon ever was, so it will be a very difficult road to get back into the tournament. I don't expect another trip to the final game, but a Sweet 16 berth would sure be nice this year.
All of these Indiana teams are providing me a very pleasant distraction to the horrible news from the rest of the country and world.
Thanks to all of you!
THANKS!
Andrew Luck and the Colts, that comback and winning touchdown on the last play of the game yesterday was awesome!
Notre Dame, thanks for a great season. What a fantastic defense, led by the most deserving Heisman candidate this year despite the fact he's not a quarterback or running back or even receiver. Hope you get the trophy, Te'o.
The Indiana Hoosiers are finally back after wandering in the wilderness these many years after the silly firing of Bob Knight. Cody Zeller, I hope you lead your talented and athletic team all the way to the national championship this year. If the team doesn't quite make it all the way, I hope you forego that ridiculous contract that awaits you in the NBA and come back for one more shot at the title. The big question for now is, who's going to be the first team to defeat the #1 Hoosiers this season? I'm guessing a Big 10 team is going to trip the Hoosiers eventually. But just maybe this team's the one to repeat the 1976 perfect season.
Butler is making some noise. Great job beating the Tar Heels in Maui. The Bulldogs have added some nice new pieces to the team. The Atlantic 10 is going to be much tougher than Horizon ever was, so it will be a very difficult road to get back into the tournament. I don't expect another trip to the final game, but a Sweet 16 berth would sure be nice this year.
All of these Indiana teams are providing me a very pleasant distraction to the horrible news from the rest of the country and world.
Thanks to all of you!
Saturday, December 01, 2012
My Sentiments Well Stated
Count on Powerline for re-publishing a very timely letter. May I add my support to the writer's sentiments.
Thanks Kids!
Thanks Kids!
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