I avoid writing about politics or work, but a couple things from Obama's nomination acceptance speech last night sent the smoke curling out of my ears. I followed the primary races like most other adults and likewise was properly nauseated by the disengenuity of the Clintons. Obama had his share of gaffes of course, but by and large he has up to now been able to steer clear of any boondoggles surrounding his claims versus his record.
This is the upside of the experience issue. Maybe he hasn't spent much time in the game, but doggone it, isn't his uniform beautiful and stain-free?
Anyway, listening to his speech there were red flags galore indicating the chasm between his platform and reality. But there were two particular points that I felt noteworthy enough to break my no-politics guideline with this blog:
"I will cut taxes for 95% of the working families!"
Absent from Mr. Obama's speech was any mention of the crisis that America is facing with mandatory spending items (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlements that the U.S. Government is legally obligated to pay). The money that has been collected for those programs up to now has already been spent, and each year our payout comes out of the current budget.
As more baby boomers retire, there are going to be more people collecting on those entitlements and as such more of the budget will be required to meet the costs. If we are to maintain the amount of discretionary spending that this country engages in, that will mean that the amount of revenue the federal government takes in will have to increase (i.e. higher taxes). And that's not even mentioning what to do about America's $9.2 TRILLION dollar national debt, my non-political friends!
What's worse, Mr. Obama in several other points suggested that he would increase the government's discretionary spending with new programs (ex., $150 billion on renewable energy research).
Newsflash: You cannot decrease taxes and increase spending without borrowing more. It's not a democrat or republican thing. Nobody can do that. Come to think of it, maybe that's why he didn't mention the national debt. How any tax-paying American who was within earshot left there believing that their taxes will be going down anytime soon is beyond me. Nevertheless this unattainable promise was met with enthusiastic applause.
"I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East."
I guess it's nice to have goals, however lofty and unattainable they may be. The inference may be taken that he is counting on his $150 billion dollar renewable energy gamble to return a jackpot.
The fundamental problem with this statement of course is that Mr. Obama did not indicate the significant paradigm shift that this country will need to undergo with it's relationship to fossil fuels in order to accomplish this goal at all, much less within ten years, which is laughable.
The food we eat doesn't reach the store in the back of some ex-hippie's prius. The diesel trucks that move our goods, the planes, trains and automobiles and every mundane thing in our lives, including the plastic keyboard I am clacking away on right now, all come from oil.
America is not addicted to oil. America is a morbidly obese consumer of the stuff.
What Obama did not do is point his finger at America and say, "And that means you, fatty, are going on a diet!" I'm not arguing that we don't need the diet. Rather I am pointing out the disingenuousness of touting such superb-sounding ends and not mentioning the very painful means he will need to employ in order to keep that promise.
Those means, after all, will be falling directly on to our shoulders. With no renewable (or even nonrenewable for that matter) energy sources that can take the place of oil on the horizon, that means we are going to have to not only dramatically cut back on our consumption, but completely change our attitude towards consumption. Don't expect that to happen without a lot of kicking and screaming.
This statement by Obama, like all of his others, was met with thunderous applause. His supporters really do seem to think that within ten years we will all be using Mr. Fusion.
It's obvious that Obama's supporters believe in what he is saying. It is unclear if Obama does. But between Obama and his supporters I think that somebody is being naive, and I don't think it's Obama.
Sorry again for interrupting my stream of unimportant dribble with politics. As you were.
PS - Don't think for a second that this means I support the other guy... I think he's a snake too.
I can always count on the youngest of my big sisters to send me those feel-good emails with the animated puppies and kitties with their subtle warnings of dire consequences if I don't forward the email to at least 6 people.
But today she took a break from puppies and kittens to send me an email about a woman who purchased a 2006 Hummer H3 and converted it into a 'rolling memorial' for her son who was killed in Iraq. The H3 features a 25,000 paint job (a good-hearted body shop did it for her at cost for $3k) and you can see photos here.
I'm sure that there are a lot of people who see that as a touching homage to fallen heroes. Personally I see it as spending 3 grand worth of petroleum-based paint on a gas guzzler with a pathetic 16 MPG combined rating.
I am not some environmentalist global warming greenpeace nutjob, and the last thing I want is to be perceived of as bashing anyone - least of all a parent of a fallen veteran - But JEEZ, lady! I don't really do politics on this site but the sick irony of this story left me shaking my head as I watched a grief-stricken fellow countryman go out of her way to put money into the hands of her child's murderers.
I saw this story on the news the other night, about a heartbroken individual who left their $15,000 Elvis painting at the end of their driveway and were shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to go outside later and find t he painting gone! I looked at the wife in disbelief and asked what these morons expected. Rescuing junk from the curb is a pretty common practice in my region; A lot of people pride themselves on what they scrounge out of other people's garbage. There's even a TV show based on this time-honored tradition. But the reporter explained that no, the 'thief' simply could not have mistaken it for cast off trash because the owners had set the painting on an easel.
Had I been that passing motorist I probably would have set the painting aside and took the easel. I always wanted an easel, but could never bring myself to pay full price for one. What the heck - free easel!
I guess I'm always a month behind the times. I report this incident now, that actually happened in August. For those of you who know and love the BWCAW, The bizarre behaviors perpetrated by the pseudo-humans described below is alien and unimaginable.
It seems that five 'men' and a juvenile from Ely have been accused of terrorizing campers in the BWCAW.
The six suspects are accused of shooting off fireworks, firing guns, using abusive language and threatening to kill campers on Aug. 7 on Basswood Lake.
One family described how they were hiding in the woods, terrified that several men were going to kill them. At one point, they said, the men appeared to come ashore, where they threatened to kill the father and rape his daughter.
The Lake County District Attorney announced that 79 charges have been filed against the men, including felony, misdemeanor and gross-misdemeanor charges for damage to property, theft, possession of stolen property, reckless discharge of firearms, underage drinking and harassment.
Confiscated items included cases of beer, a bottle of schnapps, mortar-like fireworks, a Russian-style, semi-automatic assault rifle, a .45-caliber Glock semiautomatic handgun, a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun, a .22 caliber handgun and a .22 rifle.
Here are some sources I found for this report... All of my information is regurgitated from these sources (Remember, shoplifting is stealing)
Pioneer Press (Click to see a couple of pictures of these clowns)
It was one giant wall of 'personal responsibility' buzz words, cobbled together by some lawyer/personal image consultant and mortared up with pure crap. The stick-up-his-butt insincerity of the apology was an insult to the intelligence of anyone watching.
The only thing this guy is sorry for is getting caught.
CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio county agreed Tuesday to pay $8 million to settle a lawsuit over photos taken of posed bodies in its morgue.
Hamilton County will pay the money to 532 families during a two-year period, formally apologize to them and make sure offensive photos and copies are destroyed under an agreement that must be approved by U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel.
The settlement also includes grief counseling and a memorial.
The photos were of bodies posed with fruit, doll house furniture and other props.
The photographer, Thomas Condon, said he took them as part of an art project to illustrate the cycle of life from birth through death. He was convicted in 2001 of eight counts of gross abuse of a corpse for taking the pictures.
His 2½-year sentence was reduced to 18 months on appeal.
"The current settlement, based on unauthorized manipulation and photography of bodies over a four-month period in the morgue, is viewed by both sides as a fair compromise, particularly with the focus on continuing improvement at the Coroner's Office," said a joint statement by the county and plaintiffs.
Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune said those responsible are no longer in county government and that current officials pledge to remain vigilant.
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.
It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.
There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades - where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem - because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.
The findings have prompted claims that some schools are using history 'as a vehicle for promoting political correctness'.
How I wish now that I had gotten out of math class by stating that it somehow offended me at a religious level, and thus intimidating my educators into dropping the course lest they offend me.
Even secular movements are in on the act, in this day and age when Big-bang and Evolution THEORIES are taught as fact and competing ideas are not permitted into the classroom. I cannot speak for other Christians but as for myself I think that the theories should be presented with proper acknowledgment to the fact that they are unprovable and in effect belief systems in and of themselves.
But the thing about the news story is that the holocaust is not an unprovable theory. There are photographs, eyewitness accounts, confessions from the killers and the buildings themselves which still stand. The leap of faith required to believe in it is not that great. Evolution and Big Bang theories ultimately are their own faith models, as there will always be gaps in the fossil records and no one will be able to explain how something came from nothing unless there was something that preceded it.
Romans 1:18-22 18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
In a speech on September 12 in Germany The pope enraged Muslims by quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Since then:
On Sunday 09/17/2006 an Italian nun and her bodyguard were murdered in a children's hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia - The nun was shot three times in the back.
An al Qaeda group in Egypt called for the German-born pope, who is 79, to be punished by "strict Islamic Shariah law" for insulting their religion.
An al Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq has vowed war on "worshippers of the cross."
Seven Catholic churches in the Palestinian territories were vandalized this past weekend.
I have had very limited exposure to muslims but the ones that I have met have identified themselves as peaceful and have indicated to me that the violent 'militant' muslims that I see on TV are not the true followers of Allah. It leaves me in a bit of a conundrum as far as who to believe, as I get conflicting accounts of what is actually written in the Qur'an. It seems that the verses which permit violence against unbelievers are preceded by the qualifier that the violence is permissable if it is done in response to an oppressor. It does not seem to go into any great detail about what constitutes oppression worthy of violent reprisal.
These same muslims that I have talked to are also very quick to point out the ruthlessness of the Christian church (Specifically the Catholics) throughout history from the crusades up until now. As an in-law to the Filipino community I have heard many tales of abuse and exploitations of the Filipino people at the hands of the Catholic church. Each story has left me shaking my head and contemplating Mark 8:36 and thinking to myself that even under the authority of the church, these clergy who terrorized the Filipino people could not have been true Christians.
Perhaps then too not all who claim to be muslims or do violence in the name of Allah are truly muslims.
Oh by the way:
"Benedict's main point - and few have noted this - is that the West, unless it recovers a vision of God, cannot engage in a fruitful dialogue with the other great cultures of the world, which have a basic religious conviction about reality. Among these great cultures, of course, is Islam. His entire talk was focused on this point."
Space.com put out an article about dark matter this week in which astronomers admit that what we can see with our own eyes makes up only a small portion of the universe.
My favorite part of the article:
A preposterous proposition
The normal matter in the cosmos - atoms that make up stars, planets, air and life - accounts for only a small fraction of what must exist, based on the fact that without an additional source of gravity, galaxies would fly apart and galaxy clusters could not hold together as they do. Nobody knows where all that gravity comes from, so scientists say there must be some invisible stuff out there, which they call dark matter. Its presence is indirectly supported by many observations. Given what's known, this is the makeup of the universe:
* 5 percent normal matter * 25 percent dark matter * 70 percent dark energy
So in a nutshell, 95% of the universe is an invisible, unknowable force that keeps the other 5% of the universe (That's us and the billions of other galaxies) from falling apart.
Sorry, but people are really getting on my nerves with all of the protesting and complaining about the Da Vinci code. I really wish they would stop worrying about the insult to their 'religious' sensibilities and instead consider a biblical approach in their response.
The Da Vinci code is not a threat, it is an opportunity. If you take the time to understand the main points of the book and learn the refutations, you can not only easily expose the ficticious claims in the book, but more importantly use the book as an opportunity to share your faith (1 Peter 3:15).
If the Da Vinci code causes 1 million lukewarm Christians to fall away from the faith but gains the Lord even one hot one, God will consider that a bargain. (Revelation 3:15-16)
Who's Faith will be shaken by the Da Vinci code? People who profess to be Christians but have not taken God's message to heart. The bible says that only a fool's faith can be 'shaken':
Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
Who will be turned off from Christianity because of the Da Vinci code? People who do not want to consider Christ to begin with:
John 10:25-30: Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me,
but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
I and the Father are one."
The Author of the universe cannot be thwarted by an author of lies.
Psalm 33:10-11: The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Job 5:12-13: He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
So don't worry about the Da Vinci Code. Instead consider why there is a market for it, and that God allowed for it to be written, for all things, even acts of rebellion, can NEVER decrease but only increase His Glory. Consider this and look for opportunities to join God in his work. (John 5:19)
Limu Coffee, a five-year-old shop on Silver Lake Road in St. Anthony is being forced out of it's place of business because the property owner is refusing to renew the shop's lease at the Silver Lake Road Shopping Center. The shop is owned by a woman named Gedam Azeze, who came to the U.S. from Ethiopia in 1989.
Caribou Coffee, which opened a new outlet in May in the nearby Silver Lake Village Shopping Center, negotiated a lease that prohibits other coffee shops at the development.
I have drank at both coffee houses and as a self-described "Hardcore" coffee drinker I personally preferred the coffee served at Caribou. As a consumer I could live with the thought that the independent shop could bite the dust because I preferred the big company's product - To me that is fair competition, even if the indie is at a disadvantage in terms of branding & marketing. But I am sickened to think of how many of my purchasing dollars over the years have gone toward a company that engages in corporate sleaziness at such a level as to eliminate their competition without actually competing with them. The owners of the shopping center wanted this highly recognized chain in their center so that they could pull more people off of Silver Lake Road and they were willing to sign anything to get them. Than my friends, is the insidious power of branding.
Caribou CEO Michael Coles said that the decision to decline Azeze's lease renewal request "had nothing to do with us. If the landlord wanted to keep the tenant, it should not have granted us the exclusive, and we'd still have gone there."
Then why don't you just negate the clause from your lease and let the independent stay, you slimeball?
Over the last couple of years I have turned to making my own espresso drinks. With a little milk-frothing practice I have reached the level where I can say that I prefer my own drinks to anything that I can buy at a shop. Shop-bought coffee has become more or less a once-a-month treat that I will get at a mall or when I am running early for work. But this story has irritated me to the point where I am ready to finally say "no more" to Caribou. Or to Starbucks, for that matter. From now on the only coffee shops I will patronize will be independents.
Am I a activist? No, not even close. I am just a consumer who from now on is voting with his feet.
Suburban dwellers of the Twin Cities metro area have similar complaints about Canadian Geese. Who is encroaching upon who's living space seems to be the question. Unless a day comes where people are corralled into the cities, stories like this will continue to get play. America has a Love/Hate relationship with itself - So gleeful about the housing boom, so sad that some mean people want to kill the deer that wander into these new neighborhoods.
That fish dates back to the Carter administration and the first Star Wars Movie! It never occurred to me to wonder how long these fish might live if they are not harvested or predated upon. Or Gill netted.
1:00 PM - I removed the photo of Mace Windu and the reference to 'Going out like some sucka." Not everyone might get the Samuel Jackson reference plus I don't want any trouble for linking to a SW.com photo.
I am having more outdoor urges today. Partly because it is sunny and warm, partly because the wife read my desperate plea for help from last friday and suggested that we could "maybe" go somewhere this spring. Wherever it is I hope that they have trees. Of course stories like this also get me itchy to go into the woods. Owls large enough to carry away children and small livestock. Sign me up!
I don't know what it is about owls that captures my imagination. As a toddler the story goes that whenever we drove past a red owl store I would get excited and point up at the sign. My Red Owl obsession was apparently acute enough that my grandmother took notice and made a Red Owl pillow for me. At the farm where my grandparents lived there was a wooded pasture inhabited by a great horned owl. I canot recall if I ever actually saw the bird myself, but what I do recall is that I had some very wild ideas about the appearance of any creature with the words "Great," "Horned" and "Owl" in their name. I envisioned some sort of ultrabird, a super-owl. Perhaps a man-sized owl with horns like a bull. In the mythology of my childhood the great horned owl that lived in my grandparents' pasture was like a flying minataur. Except instead of being mean he was wise, of course. Not just because he was an owl, either. this creature had decided to live on my grandparent's farm and to me that seemed like a pretty wise move on the owl's part.
These days I take in information and it just sits in my head like the wool fluff that you find in a pillow. I look back to those days and I reallize that the way a child can take that wool fluff and spin it into a golden tapestry, designed to suit their entertainment needs. It's a lost art, insofar as we all have it and by growing up we lose it. Day-to-day living, task-oriented activities, and duty-Duty-DUTY suck the creativity out of us, until we can scarcely remember what it was like to think like a kid.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but very soon I will return to the woods and look for my old friend the great horned owl.
Not only is truth stranger than fiction, in this case it is also a better story than anything I could have written on my own. What worries me is that I think Joshua is at least as smart as this kid. By the time he's 4 we will need to keep him away from helicopters and tanks.
4-Year-Old Mich. Boy Drives Mother's Car Associated Press February 8, 2005 0208AP-YOUNG-DRIVER
SAND LAKE, Mich. (AP) - A boy drove his mother's car to a video store in the middle of the night, police said - and he's all of 4 years old.
Even though he was unable to reach the accelerator, the boy managed to put the car in gear and the idling engine provided enough power to take him slowly to the store, a quarter-mile from his home, about 1:30 a.m. Friday, Police Chief Doug Heugel said. Finding the store closed, the youngster began a slow trip home.
Weaving and with its headlights off, the car got the attention of police Sgt. Jay Osga, who initially thought he was following a driverless car that had taken off after being left running at a gas pump.
The car turned into the boy's apartment complex and struck two parked cars, then backed up and struck Osga's police car.
That's when Osga discovered the boy inside.
"He knew how to go from forward to reverse," Osga said Monday. "The mother said she taught him how to drive by letting him sit on her lap and steer."
No charges will be filed against the boy or his mother, Heugel said.
"He's 4 years old. His mom didn't even know he was up," Heugel told The Grand Rapids Press. "I don't think he even realizes what he did."
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