The Poor

I noticed some discussions around a new study just released that says the proportion of poor, at least as defined by the Federal government, has declined somewhat over the last few years.

Naturally, the Left is invested in the idea that conservative policies make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The Right believes freedom and lower taxes create more opportunities for the poor to pull themselves up to prosperity.

Another interesting trend is among new Christian socialists, who have somehow decided that Jesus was a socialist. Their simplistic idea is that Jesus exhorted his followers to help the poor, so that somehow morphed into the position that Christians today should petition their government to confiscate more money from everyone else and redistribute it to the poor.

Actually, Jesus never told anybody to go to Rome and lobby Ceasar to tax the rich and give the money to the poor. He told individuals to help the poor. One poor rich fellow he challenged to sell everything, give the money to the poor, and follow him. That fellow walked away shaking his head, because that was the only thing in his life he couldn't do for Christ.

No, Jesus wasn't talking about helping the poor by trying to influence the government to confiscate the money from other people. He was talking about each of us caring about others and doing what we can to help those in need.

It's interesting to me that "poor" is in the eye of the beholder. Those in the United States labeled "poor" would be considered to be living high on the hog by the actual poor in third-world countries. Recently there have been studies trying to find people who are homeless and starving, and they struggled to find anyone. Homelessness would seem to be a choice these days rather than a forced condition - government housing programs, shelters, and all sorts of public assistance are accessible for anyone willing to seek them out. Food stamps and community food banks and school lunch programs and churches with free meals abound.

I've seen and met several members of the American poor underclass. They tend to be third or fourth generation poor, living as their parents and grandparents did since the start of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society welfare programs. They tend to be experts at working the system, knowing all of the government aid programs and local charities and taking advantage of them all. Mostly, they would be physically and mentally able to work, but holding a full-time job is the last thing they aspire to do.

The key to receiving housing, healthcare, food stamps, and cash, as most of these folks know, is children. Make sure there are a couple of dependent children in the household and there are agencies and charities all over the place eager to provide assistance and services.

Why work for a living if you can have a home, food, clothing, medical care, and some spending money by just learning to exploit the social services system? These "poor" folks have cable television and often even big-screen televisions. They have cars. For them, it's a better life than having to punch a timeclock every day and struggle to make house payments, car payments, buy insurance, pay for medical care and prescription drugs, etc.

Want a government approach to helping the poor that really works? Take the money out of the system. Transform social services to be there to help, but those who need help must come to them and ask for it. If people need food, it will be given to them. If they need a place to stay, a temporary room will be provided. Mainly, they need a job, so every person accessing services will receive assistance in finding a job.

Social services should exist for the purpose of helping the poor and needy become independent, not keeping them dependent. The approach is common sense, and it cannot fail. But politicians are more interested in buying votes than in solving problems, and Democrat politicians in particular have found a gold mine of votes among the poor. Get them a roof and food and some cash so they don't have to get a job, and they'll vote for you the rest of their life.

Bias Evidence

Have you seen the ads with the diabled Iraq veterans talking about the importance of success in Iraq and encouraging people to contact their congressmen to support that message?

Apparently MSNBC and CNBC refused to allow those ads on their networks. They claimed a previously unknown policy against running "controversial issue advertising". Interesting, since they seem to have had no hesitation in running controversial ads from the left wing.

For networks that run anti-Bush, anti-War, anti-Everything-slightly-conservative 24/7, this would appear to confirm that they are not legitimate news outlets, but propaganda mills.

If anyone would like to suggest they're not any different from Fox News Channel, let me ask this question: What do you think would happen if Fox News refused to air issue ads on, say, Global Warming?

The answer is easy: Blaring headlines. The primary topic for all the talking heads at places like MSNBC outraged at such blatant censorship.

Double standard.

Football Friday Night

Tonight's the big game in Columbus with North playing at East. East has won something like 4 in a row, but all of them were close and exciting to watch.

I haven't seen the North team play, but they apparently looked dominant in their first game last Friday, a 55-0 win against Seymour.

It's a senior laden team, starting a senior at nearly every position on offense and defense. I'm told those seniors are a strong and athletic group of guys, with an especially impressive group of linemen on both offense and defense.

There are high expectations for both teams this year, after both made it to the semistate last season. North knows that the only way to get to the RCA Dome for the Thanksgiving weekend championship is if they can get past the semi-pro team from Warren Central. Two times in the last three years, North has made impressive runs through the playoffs only to be humiliated by the giant Indy-area school that has dominated the state for so many years.

Even though East was a senior-heavy team last year and is breaking in new starters at many positions, that should not be interpreted as making a North win tonight any more likely. The game is always very close and hard-fought, and entertaining for the huge turnout of fans every year.

North's got Mike Hladik returning at QB and Alex Turner at Running back, both seniors and 3-year starters. Turner racked up 197 yards against Seymour, and Hladik had an efficient night with 9 for 12 for 159 yards and 2 TD's. Hladik is a tall kid with a great arm capable of making big plays, but has tended to overthrow receivers in big games or under a pass rush in past years. Turner's a fast and shifty runner who can get big yards when he has a gap to run through, but has not been one that can overpower a tackler.

Both these key offensive players are stronger and more mature this year, and I think they'll both have notable seasons, barring injury. It will be interesting to see if Hladik has a new receiver to replace his best target, Brandon Butler, who graduated last year. If the running game continues to be as dominant as it was against Seymour, the question may not be that important.

Tonight I'll just enjoy being a fan and taking in all the excitement of the big Columbus crowds.

Reading Test

There's this survey in the news about people who read books. The study said that on average, a liberal reads one more book per year than a conservative, so of course some point derisively and shout, "See, we told you conservatives were stupid!"

Hmm, a typical liberal claims to read 1 more book than a typical conservative. It makes me wonder if liberals taking the survey asked how many books conservatives claim to read every year before answering the question, so they could be sure to one-up their rivals. There was no discernable political affiliation one way or the other with those who didn't read any books at all. Political moderates read the least.

Would that mean that moderates are the stupidest? Or maybe the most honest?

The survey said women read more than men. Does that mean men are stupid?

It also said whites read more than blacks and hispanics. Does that mean blacks and hispanics are stupid?

Suburbanites read more than urban or rural residents. Does that mean farmers and city dwellers are stupid?

Among the readers, the Bible and other religious books are the most popular, with about two-thirds choosing them. Interestingly, non-readers are most likely to be non-religious. What does that say about atheists? Stupid, maybe?

The types of books other than religious read by most people are popular fiction, biographies, mysteries, and romance novels. The survey found that an insignificant number of people read political books or classical literature or poetry.

It's funny to observe that there really isn't anything that can be drawn from this study correlating intelligence with political leanings. It anything at all can be said about the study, the most consistent readers of books seem to be people of faith.

If the small difference in the number of books claimed by liberals and conservatives was based on the number of Harlequin Romances read by liberal women, what would that say about intelligence and political persuasions?

Did they count comic books? What political beliefs are held by comic book readers?

If they had surveyed me, they'd find me at the top of the scale. I read about a book a week on average. Mostly popular fiction, but I can also be found reading religious books and biographies and political books that interest me. I even pick up a classic literary work from time to time. Historical fiction is a favorite.

But I'm a rural male, so according to those who might choose to lump me with the stupid and illiterate, I might present a conundrum.

I like that idea.

Super Bowl Champs

The question for the Indianapolis Colts is, can they repeat last year's Super Bowl championship season?

It's unlikely, but certainly possible.

Watching them play the Bears last night, it's difficult to tell much. The majority of the game was played by the backups and those trying to make the team, so all that could be said about the Bear's 27-24 win is that their rookies and free agents are a bit better than the Colts'.

And the Colts' special teams stink. Why they can't seem to find a decent kickoff team year after year puzzles me.

The Colts' first teams looked pretty sharp in the first quarter. The offense failed to score twice when they probably should have, but otherwise Peyton and the boys look like they'll continue to be one of the league's best offenses.

The Colt defense is questionable, just as they were last year. Last night, they looked good at times and not so good at other times. Which is also the same as last year. Will they miss their starting corners from last year? Somewhat. Will they miss Cato June? Not really. Will they miss Booger McFarland? Yes.

The same question asked about the Colts' chances in the last 4 or 5 years still applies this year. Can the defense manage to give up a few less points than the offense puts up this year?

They have a pretty good chance of winning their division again this season, although Tennessee should be a lot better this year. New England will probably be back as a major challenge to the Colts' Super Bowl hopes. It will be interesting to find out what other AFC teams rise to the top this year - will Pittsburgh be back with their new coach? Cincinnati should be strong as usual. Can San Diego break through? Did Kansas City improve or get worse with their QB shuffle and running back problem? Jacksonville and Baltimore could easily rejoin the elite.

For me, it's just fun to watch it all develop.

I'm not sure that Indy will be able to win their first regular season game against New Orleans. That's a pretty good team that might be able to run through the Colts' porous defense and keep the ball away from Peyton.

It's fun to move into the best season of the year. I also enjoy football at the high school and college levels, so that HD flat screen I've been saving up to purchase hopefully will be in place just in time for the regular season.

Staying Positive

Busy times. Not much time to post these days.

Lately I've found new perspectives and continue to learn. Some things fascinate me, and when I pick up new perspectives that deepen understanding, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

Frustration with things political has almost led me to give up caring. For example, I recently heard a member of the Dem leadership admit that the party will attempt to force an exit from Iraq regardless of progress that will be reported next month. In other words, facts don't matter, security and stability don't matter; only political power for the party matters. It saddens me.

Candidates win by saying nothing of substance. When they speak in vague, blue sky utopian dreams, they can make people feel good. People vote for who makes them feel good. The last thing a presidential candidate wants to do is take an actual clear position on some issue. Because whatever the issue and whatever the position, half the voters won't like it.

We're in the most partisan and acrimonious time since the Civil War. All that's missing is the shooting. I wonder if the shooting will start after next year's elections? I'm not sure, but I am nearly sure that the freedoms of speech, religion, and possibly arms will be denied us very soon. I'm also pretty sure that government bureaucrats will make our healthcare decisions for all of us within the next decade.

The path is set. The next decade will be interesting, to say the least.

All I can do is stay positive. It helps to limit time spent watching television news, which drives up blood pressure. Better yet, football season is starting, creating my favorite diversion from more serious things.

Will the Colts win their opening game against the Saints? Too early to tell, but my early bet is no. Maybe when I have a chance, I'll post my preseason football thoughts.

Predicting the Future

My predictions are logical conclusions based on today's trends. Everyone says it's a foregone conclusion that the Democrat left will control the Federal Government after the next election. A simple analysis of their own words results in the following predictions.

The economy will go into the tank sometime in the next 3-4 years. Unions will regain the power they lost in the 70's and will drive many companies out of business and/or out of the country. Unemployment will skyrocket, and the move to socialism will be complete.

Healthcare will be free or very cheap from the government, which means every visit to the doctor's office requires several hours waiting to be seen. Surgeries won't be accessible for many months, and many people will die awaiting the surgery they need to save their lives.

High marginal tax rates on income over $100K could reach 70 or 80 percent. Taxes will increase for everyone else less dramatically but just as certainly.

Gas will rise above $4 a gallon, maybe even $5. Part of the increase will come from expanded federal gasoline taxes at the pump. Imports of oil and refined fuels will skyrocket as domestic production will be discouraged through high targeted taxes on the industry and additional restructions on domestic exploration and production.

Policies will be implemented that punish families with more than 2 children. With taxes at first, growing into serious proposals to follow China's forceable abortion policies. Abortions will be widely available and federally funded for anyone seeking one. Pro Life activists will be arrested and prosecuted wherever they are found demonstrating, and their pregnancy crisis centers will be forced to close through edict of the federal judiciary.

Public schools will descend to unprecedented depths, with violence and failing academic performance spreading to nearly all communities. Priorities in public schools will be to drive out all religious speech and increasing sex education, particularly focusing on teaching a gay-friendly agenda.

Domestic terrorism will explode across the country, as the war on terror is abandoned and jihadists aggressively pursue the bombing and killing of as many American infidels as they can. Political leaders will blame George Bush for the terrorism while trying to appease radical Islamists by choosing negotiation over military power.

Christianity will be driven underground. Any church that insists on discriminating against homosexuals on the basis of moral principals will lose their tax exempt status, then be prosecuted for violating federal civil rights laws. Mainline denominations will remain in place, but will abandon all moral teachings and abandon the basic tenets of the faith. Their services will become concerts with sermons about tolerance and diversity and self-discovery.

Crime will spiral out of control, as drug laws are relaxed or left unenforced and people lose jobs. Convicted criminals will spend increasingly less time in prison, instead receiving counseling and drug treatment in the misguided belief they will reform and can be released back to a vulnerable public that can not protect themselves due to new laws criminalizing the possession of firearms.

Will Americans figure it out in time to change this future? Right now it doesn't appear likely.

Junk Science

Judge science by application of its own method. Those who hoist the banner of science to support political activism on issues like global warming and evolution should be judged on facts and observable data. The scientific method demands that any theory be supportable or refutable on the empirical data.

Which brings us to a new revelation in the global warming arena. It would appear that the measurements used to support noted climate scientist Al Gore's chicken little act were flawed.

When science is trotted out by politicians to make a case for social policy, I get extremely skeptical. The Kyoto climate treaty so touted by the left was little more than an extortion scheme designed to extract hefty payments from the US to other countries to punish us for our prosperity. Al's solutions run in a similar vein; his euphemistic "Carbon Credit" scam is nothing more than a back-door tax that solves not a single environmental problem.

A telling sign for me of scientific quackery is the language I hear from the Al Gore acolytes. Those who don't "believe" in global warming are called "Global Warming Deniers", an ingenious wordplay that subtly suggests such "deniers" are the equivalent of Nazi symphathizers who deny the Jewish Holocaust ever took place.

When they talk about a belief in global warming, it makes me want to ask, "I thought Global Warming was based on science - belief is about faith in something that can't be objectively proven. So are you suggesting that it requires a leap of faith to accept that there is a developing planetary climate crisis?"

Also, Gore and his followers like to claim that human-induced global warming is "Settled Science". That all the scientists who matter have formed a consensus, and the argument is over. It's strange, because I read stuff all the time from people who seem to be highly credible and well-credentialled climate scientists, who are increasingly contradicting Al Gore's expert analysis. These scientists point out problems with the data collection; the fact that data can be and often is manipulated to "prove" a preconceived outcome; and that the planet always has and always will go through cyclical climate changes, and human effect on such macro climate trends is negligible at best.

Moving on to another science-related subject, I recently saw a story about the discovery that two ancient hominid finds were discovered to be contemporaries. That appears to blow their previous idea that the two pre-human species represented evidence of human evolution. Creationists of course were happy to say, "I told you so", while the evolutionists sniffed, "This in no way casts any doubt on the reality of evolution".

Which I find kind of laughable. The most ardent apologists for Darwin's macro evolutionary theories sound just like (and might be the same people) those who call human-caused global warming "settled science". Last time I heard, Darwin's theory of evolution was still a "theory". That means it seems as good a guess as any, since we can't really objectively explain the origin of the species on this planet any other way.

It seems pretty simple to me. It's long been observable that species adapt to their environment. The problem is, nobody has ever observed that adaptation extending to the emergence of a brand new species. The old poster showing the amoeba morphing into a fish morphing into an amphibian morphing into a small mammal morphing to a chimp morphing to a neanderthal morphing into a modern human cannot be demonstrated either with a fossil record or laboratory observation.

So being a macro evolutionist requires just as much faith as being a creationist. So this whole argument is not about science versus faith. It's about faith versus faith. Faith in a godless world populated by creatures that appeared completely at random versus faith in an unseen God who created all life. Both sides are so deeply invested in their brand of faith that they must fight their ideological foes with everything they have, because if one side or the other could be objectively proven wrong, the losing side would have their entire existence shattered.

All I ask is that science do what science does well, and be humble enough to admit that some answers remain elusive. For the religion side of the aisle, go ahead and believe as you do, but recognize that science is not necessarily an adversary to faith. I rather think current theories about the formation of the universe are fairly consistent with the Bible's account. But none of us was there, and we really can't do more than theorize and wonder.

Maybe if we understand each other just a bit better, we all can get along.

Short Subjects

I've lost patience with all the "Yellow Page" advertisers. This week I've been in the office, so I get two or three calls a day from them. I'm now hanging up on them, because I've had it with people from India calling to "verify my information".

They're wasting my time, for one. The whole thing is a racket, for another. If it's legal for all these bogus companies to pose as the "Yellow Pages" and send out bogus invoices for listings never ordered, it shouldn't be. As a green new business owner I got taken by one of their scams. I got what looked like an invoice for a yellow page ad, which I thought was for the ad I took out in the local telephone directory. So I paid it. A few weeks later I found out I paid the wrong company.

I tried to get a refund, but couldn't even get anybody to take a call or respond to my email. It would have been too difficult and time-consuming to badger them for my money back, which would never have been probable anyway, so I gave up and chalked it up to experience. I think that's the whole idea of these rogue companies to rip off small businesses that haven't caught on to their game.

It wasn't my local "Yellow Pages", but some other rip-off company touting some other directory called "Yellow Pages" that had nothing to do with the local phone company. I was scammed. These days I don't bother to buy any listing in any Yellow Page directory, not even the local book. It doesn't bring me business anyway, so there is no point.

The car lot on the corner has this on their sign:

Beware of becoming too open-minded; your brains might fall out.

Exactly.

Let Me Try

I'm sorry to read what seems to be a rather bitter tone in the comment to the previous post. All I can do is try to respond. I'm no trained theologian, but let's see:

Point-by-Point:

1. there is still no better theory put forth by christians than evolution
From my point of view, it's not necessary or required that a Christian prove scientific arguments for or against evolution. That's not the business of religion. Strict literalists may interpret Genesis to say that the earth is no more than 7,000 years old. For me, I can't say because I wasn't there.
I understand the arguments being made by some that the idea of "Intelligent Design" should be presented alongside Macro Evolutionary theories, suggesting that both theories rely as much on faith as measurable science.
I see an observable and solid case for adaptation of species to changing conditions - those species that do not adapt to their environment tend to be doomed to extinction. It seems to me it requires a great deal more faith to believe all life evolved from single-celled organisms that evolved from a chemical soup than to believe there was some divine influence.
On the other hand, it does not seem particularly antireligious to me to consider that God simply followed His own rules in enabling creation of life, including the amazing ability of life to sustain itself against all odds.

2. when we die, there's no one who can justify the assertion that that is NOT it except by saying "you have to have faith"

This touches on something that is core to Christianity - the idea of an eternal spirit and life after death. If Jesus did not die on the cross and rise from the dead, then Christianity would not exist. He is the proof, but absolutely - it is difficult 2,000 years later for people to believe the story really happened. Without getting into all the potential evidence for thinking people on this topic, my first thought is to look at his disciples. If Jesus was crucified and was not resurrected, why would every single one of them become his evangelists to the known world, causing all but one to be killed for their preaching? Many of them by horrific and painful means. Would they subject themselves to such torture for no good reason?

Ultimately, yes, you have to believe the story. That's where our personal search for the truth and our life experiences come into play.

3. show me a miracle, performed recently, that cannot be easily explained by rational means.

I've had events and experiences in my life that I feel were somewhat miraculous. So have other family members. But outside those, let me use some Catholic miracles. Mother Teresa was about the best example of true Christianity in modern times, and she will be canonized by the Church as a saint soon, if not already. To be canonized, miracles must be attributed to the saint, and such miracles are reportedly being investigated by the Church. The miracles attributed to intervention of saints are typically unexplained healings of severe illnesses, where the patient may have asked, say, Mother Teresa to intervene for them with God.

Do you think that when Mother Teresa is canonized, the Church lied about the miracles claimed to be based on Mother Teresa's intercession on behalf of the patient(s)? Essentially, your comment suggests that the Church not only has been lying about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for 2,000 years, and also has lied about miracles attributed to hundreds of saints over that time.

Is it reasonable to accuse the entire Catholic Church of 2,000 years of deceit? If it's all a big lie, how has the Church been able to avoid exposure through all those generations?

4. a vocal portion of Christians ARE ignorant superstitious sheep

A vocal portion of Americans are ignorant about their constitution and form of government. Does that make the constitution invalid? Vocal groups of all kinds are ignorant about all manner of things.

People are what they always have been. The ignorant will always be with us, boldly proclaiming their ignorant ideas as truth. As will those who seek to profit from them. Those truths do not invalidate the truth that can be found in the Christian faith as defined pretty well in an old book called The Bible.

5. have you seen televangelists... ever?

Honestly, I don't pay them much attention. Some are money-grubbing charlatans, I'm sure. Tammy Faye just died. Do you think she was sincere, at least when she and her (then) husband Jim Bakker started their TV empire? Do you think they went into televangelism with a cynical profit motive, or did they fall victim to the greed and power they found when their TV empire took off?

I don't know. But I tend to believe the latter.

More importantly, do you watch televangelists? If so, do you think their message is inherently evil? Do you think their programs are worse than the trashy stuff on commercial television?

What have they done to you to make you so bitter, hateful, and angry? As far as I know, not a thing.

if christians want respect, they need to start earning it.

True. Ultimately, non-Christians judge the faith not on its true teaching, but on the people who profess to be Christians. If such people are mean, pushy, unethical, immoral, etc., then they are doing more damage to the Church than they will ever know.

I wonder if you are making the comment because you have seen too many such hypocrites. If so, I only hope I can offset them just a little.

God Bless.

Just Pity

That's mainly what I feel about the angry atheists who seem to have ascended to political and social power these days.

How desolate and hopeless it must be to believe that

humans are just more highly evolved mammals

when we die, that's it

there are no miracles, only coincidences

Christians are ignorant superstitious sheep

Christian leaders are evil greedy burgeoisie happy to clip the sheep to fill their own desires for wealth and power

religion is nothing but a set of arbitrary rules enforced only for the benefit of Christian leaders (interesting that the only Christian "rules" that really upset these folks are related to sex; they seem more upset at those than Muslim Jihad)

government should replace religion and control every aspect of human life (except sex, of course)

that stamping out religion will somehow lead to a peaceful, utopian planet

I indeed only feel pity for such people, who for their own reasons have become bitter and angry crusaders against God. It must be a sad and empty existence.

Tax

Indy has been in turmoil lately over their property tax reassessments. Most people don't pay much attention to such things until they get a tax bill with a big increase, which is pretty much what happened in Indy. And down here everybody's nervous, because our bills haven't been sent yet. It's almost certain that the property taxes here will go up for almost everybody, and people are hoping they don't double like the poor residents in the Indianapolis area.

Mitch ordered a review of the assessments in Indy, plus a couple of other counties. It could partially be a political decision to dampen down the level of anger, but he says there seems to be some evidence that commercial property was undervalued, shifting a bigger burden to homeowners.

The larger problem of taxation goes to all levels of government and all types of taxes. Government exists to perpetuate itself, and bureaucrats are driven by a desire for personal power rather than the public good. Politicians argue about how high the tax rates should be on "rich" folks, but are strangely silent on the question of whether they're spending the tax money wisely.

The proponents of the "Fair Tax" plan, which would eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a national sales tax, have some decent ideas. But they're fighting an impossible battle against the very system used by our politicians to keep them in office. It's not going to happen.

I think the best solution is a very simple one. It would probably require a constitutional amendment at the Federal Level to be enforceable, but here's the idea: The law of the land should simply say, "No citizen or for-profit organization may be exempted or relieved of any tax levied by federal, state, or local government entities."

Ever seen the Federal Tax Code? Know why it's contained in such a gigantic volume? Because it's loaded with exemptions, rebates, credits, and other considerations given to specific individuals and businesses. Not by name, because that would be gauche. But with a description of the person or entity being exempted worded in such a way as to remove all uncertainty about who's getting the special exemption.

Why do they exempt certain corporations and individuals from taxes? Because those individuals and corporations help insure the congressperson who inserted the exemption in the tax code is re-elected. Not a bad deal for a businessperson, really - all he has to do is contribute $100,000 to the campaign, and he'll get a $200,000 tax break. It's corrupt. And it's a way of life for our legislators.

It happens at the state and local levels too. Honda is building a new plant nearby in Greensburg. The governor and other state and local politicians get to crow about their great success in attracting this big Japanese automaker to Indiana. What do you think they offered to help incent Honda to locate in Greensburg? Tax exemptions, of course. Ever heard the term "Tax Abatement"? It's a simple device used to favor certain businesses. Honda's probably getting free infrastructure (roads, power, water & sewer, etc.) from the state as an added bonus.

Imagine what would happen if the law were written as I suggested? Nobody - no congressman, governor, mayor, city councilman, could hand out any tax favors to anybody. Honda would have to choose their sites based simply on the best place overall for them, not on how much of a tax break they're getting. I think it would force legislators to be more responsible in their tax policies, and maybe even rethink their wasteful spending habits.

Unfortunately, this idea likely has no better chance of passing than the "Fair Tax". For the same reasons.

Overblown

All the hand-wringing over child obesity is getting out of control. Maybe more kids are fat than ever before. It's a sign of prosperity. To me, some kids are going to be fat; so what?!

What is more disturbing is what some in positions of power are doing about it.

Taking the candy and soda machines out of the schools. What a joke. As if fat kids won't be fat anymore if they can't buy Mountain Dew and a Baby Ruth at school?

Passing laws against restaurants serving food with trans fats. Big Brother is alive and well and living in our big cities.

The worst idea: Removing fat children from their homes under the philosophy that the parents of fat kids are guilty of abuse and neglect. If the government can define child abuse any way they choose, what's next? Removing children from Christian homes where they are taught intolerance of homosexuals and skepticism of Darwinian Evolution? Totalitarianism.

Do we really want to find ways to solve the problem, assuming it's really a problem? How about some practical ideas -

Stop the practice of washing out kids from sports by the fifth grade. Get everybody playing their favorite sports on organized teams without slamming the door on them before they even got the chance to develop! Make active sports and games a required hour in every school day, then let everybody play on a school team that practices every afternoon. If 100 boys want to play basketball, then form 10 teams.

See, all the Big Brother policies will ever accomplish is denial of everybody's freedom to do whatever they want with their lives. We live in a society of rampant permissiveness in all areas, including raising of children. Parents don't want to do the hard parenting stuff, so they let their kids eat whatever they want, play stupid video games all day, and pretty much do whatever they please. No wonder lots of them get fat. They also fail to learn the most basic concepts of morality and civility.

So government can't fix that problem except through long-term policies that value and support those institutions that teach morality. But they can provide plenty of opportunities for kids to do active things that are fun. And if they have the courage to buck the ACLU, maybe even provide teachers and coaches who serve as strong role models for the kids while giving them outlets for healthy physical activities.

It's just one of the many issues of our age with a huge disconnect between the common-sense solutions that can work and the non-solutions proposed and implemented by the ignorant elites.

Better than Hotels

This week and next I get to work in my own office, which means no airplanes or hotels. It's nice to have an almost normal working schedule and sleep in my own bed at night.

Even though I usually get rental cars much nicer than my old beat-up Jed. Sometimes the hotel rooms can be very nice, with some recent examples with flat panel HDTV and kitchenette and big beds. I still prefer home.

This web training is a pretty decent gig. It will never be as effective as face-to-face classroom instruction, but the more I do it the better I get. Been teaching classes over the web all week, and today I felt like I am really getting the hang of it. I'll be doing a lot of it through the end of this year, so we'll see how that works out. So far not bad.

I need a secretary.

Destiny

There's a strange feeling nagging at me today that something momentus is about to happen. I can't identify what or when or even if it's a good or bad thing.

Then again, these days I don't really think about events so much in terms of good and bad. Sure, I have days that are better than others. I don't especially care for things that cause me physical or emotional pain. I can get irritated by stupid and unreasonable people.

But I've never really been one to get terribly worked up worrying about things. I never felt like I feared my own death, but I did fear intense pain and suffering. I have feared disability. But these no longer elicit fear for me. Not that I'd welcome them, but neither do I worry much about them.

Maybe its the age I'm reaching, but I've come to realize that I am the culmination of my life experiences. The pleasant experiences leave nice memories I can recall to cheer me up. The unpleasant experiences, in most cases, led to something better. Or they made me more resilient, perhaps a bit less fearful.

I've been taught from an early age in Sunday School that God doesn't give any of us more than we can bear. Now the way I think of that old idea is that we don't have much choice in the matter - whatever happens, we must accept and find a way to deal with or overcome.

Even though I'm disheartened at the state of today's world and the corrupt people who run it, I no longer fear the collapse I think is imminent. Sort of like Sodom and Gomorrah, perhaps the only way to cleanse the world of its corruption is some major catastrophe. Not that I wish for it, but it seems somehow natural and inevitable.

So whether my strange feeling involves a momentus success or catastrophe in my personal life, my community, nation, or the world, I can accept it. Whatever occurs, assuming I survive, I will simply re-evaluate the situation and make the best choice I can to move forward.

Is that destiny? Is the course of life preordained, or do we choose our own? Is there a destiny out there for each of us, but only a select few have the courage to find it?

I can't say. But whatever is coming, let it come.

Stuff that Wastes Time

Being independent implies that I don't have to answer to anyone.

But that's not the reality.

I answer to my customers every day. And my biggest customer is the one that supplies me with the bulk of my work. So in that sense, I regularly answer to them.

Lately they've been getting irritating, asking for extra time-consuming things that they of course don't pay for. Stupid little administrative rules designed to shift paperwork from their staff down to me. Playing games with what they will and won't accept in terms of billing, expenses, and so forth. It all costs me, in time or money or both.

The essential problem of a small business is that you must constantly make your biggest customer happy. Knowing that, the big customer raises the bar and lowers the pay. And the small business person, despite seeing all his (my) other costs continue to grow year after year, just has to accept the fact that the trend will continue until it becomes so one-sided that there's no longer any point to continuing the business relationship.

The only avenue open to me is to do my best to be more sought-after than any of the customer's other contractors, which hopefully grants some small bit of leverage to push back against the next list of silly rules and requirements. The ability to just be able to say, "Sure, we would be happy to comply with your new requests. To cover our cost of providing these additional services, our rate will be increased to $X."

I know. Dreaming again.

Faulty Logic

I've listened closely, and the point about the Iraq war is that Bush should be forced to end it. Because war is bad, people die, we never should have started it, and so on.

So I think, sure war is bad. Nobody likes a war, except maybe people who like to watch war movies in the safety of their living room. Was Iraq a bad idea? I didn't know when it started, and still don't know. I don't think all of us ordinary people get in on the information that led to our leaders (not just Bush, but an overwhelming majority of congress, democrats included, by the way) to decide we needed to take on Saddam.

But then I start to get lost. See, they tell us the war should end because we shouldn't have started it in the first place, Saddam wasn't that bad a guy and wasn't really a threat, and now our soldiers are just stuck in the middle of a civil war between Sunni and Shia.

From what I'm able to discern, it's true that lots of the current violence involves turf wars between the Sunni and Shia. And our soldiers probably are unfortunately caught in the crossfire from time to time. But aren't they mostly killing each other? And if we just leave, won't they kill each other in massive numbers until one side or the other wins?

See, I'm confused by the left side's position on that, given they've been clamoring for us to intervene in Darfur for years. Isn't the situation in Iraq likely to become a repeat of Darfur the minute our soldiers leave the country? So what are you saying, anti-war lefties? That people in Darfur are more valuable than Iraqi people?

Then are the other questions the anti-war people never seem to want to answer. Like Al Quaeda. They're the ones who blew up the towers in New York - you know, September 11th? They're making Iraq their central front in their war on America. They say so, openly and often. Then there's Iran. They're arming and training people and sending them into Iraq to blow up our soldiers, so they're actually at war with us too.

So here's my big question for the get out now folks: How exactly does it help protect our country from terrorism if we just drop everything, say "never mind", and bug out of Iraq? As soon as we do that, doesn't it seem reasonable to predict that a holocaust will soon follow among the Iraqi people? That Iran will move swiftly in alliance with the Shia to rule what used to be Iraq? That Al Quaeda will strengthen with the aid of Iran and immediately begin hatching plans to bring Iranian nukes into America to set off in our cities?

Oh yeah, you guys say those are just scare tactics by the Nazi Republicans. Just let me get this straight - you're saying that if we leave Iraq immediately, somehow all those radicals that want to kill us will suddenly like us and leave us alone?

Please explain it to me. Because I don't get it.

If Asked for Advice

Interesting that lately I've been watching the political scene in sort a detached, analytical manner. Deeply disappointed by Republicans on the Immigration issue and dumbfounded by the antics of the Democrats, I've lost any hope for reason or common sense to prevail.

So instead, here are some of my suggestions for the outgoing President and those who want to be President when he leaves.

Bush only has one chance to salvage his presidency, and that's a miracle in Iraq. The miracle has to be in the form of a great success with his surge and actual progress in stabilizing a US-friendly government there. Problem is, even if the surge becomes a resounding success, we'll never get to hear about it, because the Bush-haters between congress and the news media are way to deeply invested in failure.

Hillary can win if she succeeds at shutting up those who mention her personal inconvenient truths. You know, her baggage from the years she spent with Bubba in the White House. Like the travel office firings, the Whitewater billing records, Vince Foster, the FBI Files, HillaryCare. Stuff like that.

Oh yeah, she's already succeeded. Nobody is talking about that stuff. So she wins, unless Obama can knock her off.

Speaking of Obama, all he has to do is say something really good. So far, he's an empty suit, but is doing well partly because of that. He needs to verbalize some bold plan for something or other that nobody else has, but can get people excited.

I don't know what that is, but it might not matter. The media are drooling over both Obama and Hillary, and don't really care which one wins - as long as one of them wins. Probably both, because I think the Dems will end up with a Hillary/Obama ticket.

The rest of the Democrat candidates are window dressing.

On the Republican side, Rudy could wrap it up with a simple strategy: He should clearly define his stance on the two big social issues he's on the wrong side of the party on - abortion and gay marriage. If he suddenly does an about-face on those issues (ala Romney), nobody will believe him. But if he tells everyone something like he can't force abortion law to be changed himself, but will use the bully pulpit as president to educate women and encourage alternatives to abortion, it could go a long way. On gay marriage, hmm, I think he's got a problem there.

Romney just has to get past the Mormon thing. I think that instead of running away from the issue, he should take it head-on and challenge those who want to make it an issue. He needs lots of prime-time publicity letting everyone know that his religious faith will influence him no more and no less than the faith of any president before him. Those who keep hammering him on it should put up or shut up.

Fred Thompson has a great opportunity. When he gets in the race, he has to personify the image he currently has as a common-sense, no-nonsense guy. Like Reagan, he can draw on his acting talents to project a straight-shooter that never backs down on his principles. But also like Reagan, he can somehow make his critics and enemies with nowhere to go by meeting their attacks head-on.

If Fred does it right, I think he might be the only Republican who can beat Hillary/Obama. Or I could just be fantasizing.

McCain's already done because of Immigration. And nobody else has a chance, even if there are a couple of them that deserve one. Because the Media chooses the candidate, not the rest of us.

By the time Indiana has primaries next summer, the choices will have already been made. So I'll only be a spectator anyway.

Scent Sensitivity Rights

Check out this story.

Some people would scoff and say Ms. McBride is just creating a stupid issue.

Not me, because I share her pain. Fortunately I'm not in a situation where I need to share a small office space with a woman that bathes in perfume or lathers her hands in pungent lotions several times a day. If I were, I would be forced to resign the job, because such things make me violently ill.

Our society has gone smoke-free almost everywhere to protect people from secondhand smoke. What's wrong with sensitive people like us being protected from toxic perfumes?

My bigger question is, why is this woman's co-worker so insensitive that she refuses to skip the perfume out of respect for her office mate? She certainly can pour it on as much as she likes on her own time, and it's hardly an imposition on her to skip it at work. Unless she's got a bad case of B.O. and uses the perfume in lieu of a daily shower (?)

I'm not big on Ms. McBride getting damages, but I do think it would be reasonable to accomodate her need for a perfume-free workplace.

Happy Independence Day

This will be a very nice day for the July 4th holiday. I'm looking forward to a relaxing day off.

Whenever I read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, I am reminded of what an amazing group of guys our founders were. To think that they created this system of government in a world where nothing like it existed adds to my awe and respect for this group of gentlemen. To think that the Brits regarded them as nothing but rabble and hayseeds from the colonies who didn't have the sense to govern themselves. I think they were proven wrong.

The very act of signing that Declaration they knew to be very likely their own death warrants, but they stepped up and did it anyway.

Happy 4th!