Just another day: Dallas to Denver

As the crow flies, the distance between Big-D and Mile High runs just shy of 700 miles. That's about the same distance from Jerusalem to the Iranian border...as the missile flies. Nothing like a little perspective to sober you up to the coming confrontation.

In his novels, Joel Roseberg has posited some interesting stuff. He wrote about an Islamic terrorist plot on the president using airplanes before it occurred. In his book, "The Ezekiel Option," he imagines Iraq acquiring the stuff of nuclear weaponry and the chess match that took place as the free world attempted to hold Israel from destroying the "canned sunshine." Ultimately, the madman of Iraq hit the button.

Here we sit a half-dozen years removed from the novel, and the madman resides a hundred miles further east. This lunatic has vowed over and over the destruction of Israel. And he recently showed the capability of launching a missile into space (for geological purposes). And it's been learned that they have enough weapon's grade material to enter the nuclear club.

Some might consider this no different than the US and USSR standing nose-to-nose over Cuba in 1962. Except that an alliance between the Bear and Cuba is not mentioned in the Bible. An alliance between Russia and Iran is mentioned in a prophecy about the last days and war against Israel (Ezekiel 38:1-5). Such an alliance has not existed until recent days.

I came across an article in the Jerusalem Post online this morning about the imminent clash between Israel and Iran (here...a worthwhile read regarding how near the brink these two nation's are. Please take the time). The language the author uses is staggering. A few excerpts:

• "The consequences for this confrontation are apocalyptic because Iran's full partner in this enterprise is Russia."


• "The question of when and how this endgame will play out is not known by anyone. Israeli leaders wish to avoid military preemption at all costs if possible. But many feel the military moment must come; and when that moment does come, it will be swift, highly technologic and in the twinkling of an eye."

While I don't know that the writer understands the significance of his words, he uses language in a context that is hard to ignore.

Seat backs and tray tables

Don't you love the little sermonette you get when embarking the airplane about what to do in the middle of an aviation disaster? Do you really think folks considered getting their seat back in the full upright and locked position before their baby bellied into the Hudson River? The position of the tray tables had no impact on the horror that befell the flight that nose-dived into a Buffalo neighborhood a few weeks ago.

When life careens out of control, the petty dissolves away. You cinch down your lapbelt and pray that God carries you through to a smooth landing or ushers you home and into his arms.

Our nation has lost thrust in its engines. Now what? Most of us are passengers. We're hoping for Sully and his crew, but I fear we're stuck with Curly, Moe, or Larry. That said, it's time to focus on what I can do here and now, and pray the knuckleheads up front know don't crash the plane between now and the next election.

I've come to love the common-sense writings of a corny actor. While I don't cater to his drooling over the WPA, he offers good advice to us during this chaotic time about cinching down our lapbelts (read it here).

And next election, lets get the boobs out of the cockpit.

We'll take him!

Geert Wilders couldn't get into Britain. Banished, he was. Indicted in his own country, too. Hmmm...hundreds of years ago, the outcasts of Europe sought a place they could go and be welcomed to live their life. Hmmm...

The irony that Geert Wilders has come to the United States.

He spent the last few days making the talk show rounds. O'Reilly and Beck last night. Hannity tonight. All Fox. MSNBC? It's all Mardi Gras. Anyway, where Mr. Wilders could not show his film Fitna at Parliament, he will be showing it to our Congress. I wonder if Keith Ellison will walk?

Maybe we have a pulse, yet.

If we do, it's waning. Thomas Sowell wrote the most impassioned piece I've read from his pen. Pretty feisty for seventy-nine. Sadly, he's got bigger cajones than most of our pablum sucking politicians.

...There are moral corrosions within ourselves that weaken our ability to face the challenges ahead.

Give him a read (here) and pray that God blows the wind in our favor.

Living the dilemma

You want to raise blood pressure? Toss "abortion" as a topic into the middle of any conversation and you'll feel the temperature rise in the room.

For the pro-life folks, they need to come to terms with the life of the child on one hand and the care for the mother and budding family in the other. Neither need be sacrificed.

As I consider the ethical dilemma of the pro-abortion folk, I'm reminded of Arthur Fonzarelli (aka, "The Fonz" or "Fonzi") from "Happy Days." The man could not say he was "wr-wr-wr...wr-wr...", wrong. His face would contort and his eyes would close as his soul attempted to master his ego. The pro-aborts cannot mention the second L-L-L...L-L-L...L-L.. --ahem-- LIFE involved in this equation! So focused are they on personal autonomy that they will not acknowledge the God-given rights due the innocent life that cannot speak for itself.

Today in his Impromptus, Jay Nordlinger discussed his journey from pro-abortion to pro-life. A powerful read (here) about a man who had to come to terms with the other half 0f the ethical dilemma he had been ignoring.

Take a moment and give it a read. At least through the first bullet. The other bullets deal with other stuff (they are also worth the read but are off topic).

By the way, have you ever heard of someone moving from staunchly pro-life to staunchly pro-choice after a time of ethical soul-searching? Hmmm...

The demise of moderate Islam

Let's see, we're over two weeks removed from the ritual beheading of a beautiful Islamic woman at the hands of her husband, and only now does a story surface on how Muslims are handling this PR crisis in America. That's the story. No visceral condemnation.

Eric Gorski in his AP article stated, "At least nine mosques, imams and Islamic organizations also agreed to denounce domestic violence at the behest of a coalition of Muslims that organized after (her) death." Oooh. That's bold. Denounce domestic violence. And only after a healthy prodding. Gorski's article asks some hard questions that many news outlets won't ask (read it, here).

Mark Steyn, ever with the watchful eye on Islam's spread, notes the shriveling of the moderate fraction of Islam in his recent National Review column (another tight, cogent read, here). In it, he provides more detail on the Islamic thuggery behind Geert Wilders ban from Britain.

I am not an Islamic bigot. If I see a Muslim, I don't itch to bead him before my 9mm. They, like me, are created in God's image. I have a Muslim in my neighborhood who seems to be a dandy neighbor. Many Muslims, a not insignificant percentage, would like to see the planet rid of folks like me. That cannot be ignored.

Until the cry goes out from within Islam against the losers who blow buildings, slaughter civilians, and behead their brides, we must be vigilant against this growing strain that seeks not only the demise of innocents but also the demise of civilizations. Our civilization.

Until the cry goes out, profile! Profile at the airports, profile at the mosques, profile at the Islamic charter schools that refuse to fly the American flag and that receive the preponderance of their funding from Riyadh. My grandma has heart medicine in her ditty bag, not C4. The kid your wanding has a PSP and some jerky in his backpack and not plastique.

Were I an Islamic man with the swarthy complexion of a Fertile Crescent native, I would be the loudest in the paper decrying the butcheries. I would be on local radio and TV stations explaining the peaceful nature of my purported religion of peace. I'd be screaming it from the housetops, and at the same time, I would be pleading with the police to profile any who looked like me to root the demons out of their dens.

Instead, we get a group trying to figure out how to repair its public image. They might start by cleaning house.

Stimulus: The physics of our demise, Part III

In the first part of this series, I noted the absurdity of the stimulus (here). In a nutshell, how is that taking ridiculous amounts of my money and your money (where else will the stimulus money come from?) and giving it to incompetent business owners who have already ruined their banks or their auto assembly lines will stimulate the economy? Do the gods in DC know better how to invest my money than do I? NOT-SO-MUCH!

Part two of the series (here) held the government accountable for thievery, legal plunder Fredric Bastiat called it in "The Law." Such conduct runs contrary to God's clear word. Such conduct also removes the responsibility from individuals to care for their fellow man because the government has taken that en masse upon themselves. This, too, is unbiblical.

Couple these two nasties together and you get the imminent demise of our nation.

We're approaching a trillion dollars in government handouts within the last six months. How big is that number? If you were given one hundred dollars every second of your life from your birth until you were seventy-five years old, you'd still be $800 billion shy of a trillion.

I heard a financial adviser speaking this afternoon, and he said that it's better to stimulate the economy now to dimish the long-term pain in getting the crippled companies back on their feet. Here's the problem. He has no clue (nor do Obama, Bush, Pelosi, Reid, etc.) that this "stimulus" will stimulate anything! Again, these CEOs and Boards of Directors have proven nothing but their incompetence and ineptitude; will more money suddenly make them sage and frugal with their money? HAH! Will the economy be stimulated or will the money disappear like the Lost Ark at the end of the only respectable Indiana Jones movie?

Failure brings about a spectacular biblical response. It is called "repentance." I screwed up. MY BAD! Not yours, not his, not government's, not Japan's. Mine. I must make amends. If I am criminal, I must repay. This is good. With regard to our sin, it causes us to realize we can't repay and need a Savior. But in our conduct with one another, we must make amends.

Caveat emptor is another great biblical principle. Be wise with your money! While "a fool and his money are soon parted" is not to be found in the Proverbs, the principle is there in spades. Perhaps I will study where to put my money with a bit more scrutiny next time.

With no one willing to man up, our government continues to grow like a malignancy. The genie is so out of the bottle only a cataclysm will get him back in. Think about this, government agencies wll be getting millions and billions with which to stimulate the economy. That will require government jobs for fiscal apportionment and oversight (wink-wink). Do you really think that any congressman or senator whose constituents will receive that money this year will want to see it cut next year? Do you?

Nobody knows what happened to the money President Bush doled out before he left office. Oh, sure, we know where it went, but what do we have to show for it? Anyone? Jobs? Stock market a-soaring? Any return on our dollar?

And of this money that will be coming out of our wallets for this next syringe full of narcotic, who's getting it and why? Who picks that? The thousand page stimulus bill hit the floor at 11 p.m. and was voted on the next afternoon. No one can scrutinize it that fast. I bet you didn't; I sure didn't. I was asleep. You have a warm fuzzy about that? You shouldn't (not my sleep habits but how the vote went down). Again, will the powerful seek to appease their constituents to shore up their re-election or will they truly seek the nation's good? The only way that will happen is by exposing the "legal plunder" for what it is.

The more the government grows, the more laws we get, the more regulated we are, and the less responsible and free we become. That's where we stand now with folks rejoicing over a hideous beast, birthed from the loins of the legislative and executive branches of our government. Our Founders built a small and limited federal government. We've turned our backs on their wisdom, and with fingers crossed, we hope the beast will redeem us.

But we have created a monster, and it's shaken loose its chains. The future looks dire.

God & Darwin

Darwin's 200th birthday came and went this past week like a burrito-induced gas bubble. I noticed its arrival but hardly noticed its passing.

Many know the title to his most famous work, "The Origin of Species," but I venture that better than 97% do not know Mr. Darwin's subtitle. Do you? It is:

"The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life"

Might someone explain to me why you cannot find a recent print of that book with the subtitle included? Hmmm...

Marvin Olasky wrote a column for a recent issue of "World Magazine" that highlights some huge misconceptions about evolution arguments and how to enter the debate with honey vice vinegar. It's a good read (here).

He ends with a quote from Kurt Vonnegut, a most secular writer/philosopher ("Slaughterhouse Five," "Breakfast of Champions"), who has come to a most observant conclusion:

"My body and your body are miracles of design. Scientists are pretending they have the answer as to how we got this way when natural selection couldn't possibly have produced such machines."

You go, Kurt!

Geert Wilders

Blame the Jews for the world financial crisis? Okey-dokey.

Put a crucifix in a beaker of urine? Art!

Make a film highlighting the dangers of Koran-adhering Islam? Bigot! Intolerant! Hate-inciting criminal!

Truly. Geert Wilders, a member of Dutch Parliament, made such a film and for it was indicted by his own country and not permitted to enter Great Britain to show his film to their parliament.

Civil rights outcry? As quiet as an English church on Sunday (or German or French...pick your Old World country).

Europe as we knew it is dead. Eurabia is metastisizing. Read all about it here.

BTW: Drudge, CNN, and Fox News have finally picked up on a wife's beheading in New York state by her husband, the founder of one of the first Islamic television stations in the US. That only took four days!

QotD: On Lewis

"He didn't set out to write theology. But his imagination had been thoroughly baptized, and Christ was the only hero who could emerge."

Janie B. Cheaney, "World Magazine"
On C. S. Lewis' inspiration for The Chronicles of Narnia

Just another day: Don't lose your head

I'll conclude my agony on the Stimulus Plan at some point this week. In case you missed it, you can read Part I and II here and here.

In case you're just stumbling into this quirky corner of the blogosphere, "Just another day" posts highlight the fact that these aren't just ordinary days. The Bible makes plain what life will be like in the days prior to Christ's return to earth. No, I didn't hit my head on the concrete. Christ's bodily return has held a place within credal Christianity for millenia.

Yes, I am one of those who believes what the Bible says. That said, I don't know the day nor the hour (biblical), but Christ commends His disciples to know the seasons. That said, I believe the season draweth nigh. And so, a few observations.

• Shake it up. More rumblings from across the globe. Indonesia topped out at 7.2 earlier in the week. That's a doozy of a quake, but the tremblers race upon the heels of one another such that folks begin to yawn. Ho-hum, guess we best buy new dishes. When New Jersey gets to rocking, though, at least an eyebrow raises away from the Sunday paper (here). Twice in the past few weeks, the Turnpike State has quivered to a couple of hiccups. For the folks who felt the earth waltz, imagine if either the 2.2 or the 3.0 topped out at 7.2!


• Religion of peace. Did you hear about the Muslim business man who cut off his wife's head? Probably not. Considering Islam is such the religion of peace, the Mainstream Media will not mar that image with such news stories. You can read about it here. Better yet, read Mark Steyn's commentary on it here. This isn't happening in Riyadh where we would expect such barbarity. No, folks, the infection has spread to our soil. I ask again, where are the moderate voices within Islam to speak out against this? Bueller?
  
  At least the Brits kept Geert Wilders off the island. Another successful game of "Don't Upset the Mullahs." Tea, anyone?
  


• Dr. Frankenstein, I presume? As expected, the Friday after the inauguration and two days after Roe's anniversary, President Obama reinstated overseas funding for abortion providers. Expect the Freedom of Choice Act to be birthed from this administration in short order. Seems that President Bush's restriction to stem-cell research that barred the dissection and dismemberment of human embryos will soon be repealed by President Obama (here and here). There was a day that if folks considered a situation ethically iffy, they erred. No more. It's a moral free for all.


• Volcanoes. Volcanologists (studiers of Spock?) surmise that the magmic mountain to the west of Anchorage, Alaska wants to flip its lid (here). Standing by. One did erupt in Colombia (here). I wonder what George Bush did to cause these.


• Oscars. The Motion Picture Association of America, the folks that tell us the best movies of the year because we're not savvy enough to vote with our money, has finally gotten to where the best performances for the ladies only go to those who are dressed most often like the little gold statuette. First, Halle Berry in "Monsters Ball." Now we get Kate Winslet in "The Reader." The latter seems to be a tip-of-the-hat to all the teachers these past few years who've been convicted for their seduction of their teenage pupils. Normalizing child abuse. How very nice. At least she can read, though.
  
  So who will win the Best Female (naked) Actor this year or next ? Who cares! What happened to acting? Give me an actress as opposed to the politically correct "female actor." Give me Ingrid Bergman any day of the week! Let's here it for the few, the proud who actually try to act with a nuanced look, a vocal variation or -- gasp -- a well delivered line ... all while clothed! Grinding like greyhounds in heat should garner nothing but a bucket of water. The most erotic kiss I ever witnessed on screen was the one never seen between Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in "An Affair to Remember." On the steps on the ship. Zoinks, Scooby. Subtlety, understatement, imagination. Mmmm...acting!
  

To end on a happy note: CNN still recognizes the phenomenal affect of "Fireproof" this year in an article off today's web page (here). See you next time.

Stimulus: The physics of our demise, Part II

On February 10th, Mike Huckabee declared the entire stimulus monster "anti-religious" (here). His accurate gripe stems from the fact that the authors (dems) omitted religious halls of higher education from being able to get a slice of the stimulus pie to repair and modernize their facilities.

Full disclosure: he wasn't the only one to note the overt hostility of the package toward things religious (here), but he has served as a dandy lightning rod. Representative Jim DeMint of South Carolina nailed it on the floor of the House, too, and that's what prompted Huckabee's comments.

I contend that the Stimulus Bill, going to the desk of the President as I peck away, is anti-religious not because it opposes religion, but because it is godless at its heart. They could give half of the 800 gajillion dollars to churches and it would still be godless.

I don't know if he coined the term, but Fredric Bastiat, in his seminal work, "The Law,"* identified to the world the dangers of legal plunder, and in a sense, prophesied the nightmare in which we find ourselves today. Plunder is thievery. Legal Plunder is thievery with the blessing of the law.

Bastiat stated,

But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law—which may be an isolated case—is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system.

The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly, defending his acquired rights. He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry; that this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and to pay higher wages to the poor workingmen.

Reread that last paragraph. He wrote over a hundred and fifty years ago!! You'd think he targeted his comments at the bulls-eye of our predicament. Is it really godless, though? That's a terrible descriptor. Read on.

When a portion of wealth is transferred from the person who owns it—without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud—to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated; that an act of plunder is committed.

Biblically, "Thou shalt not steal."

I say that this act is exactly what the law is supposed to suppress, always and everywhere. When the law itself commits this act that it is supposed to suppress, I say that plunder is still committed, and I add that from the point of view of society and welfare, this aggression against rights is even worse. In this case of legal plunder, however, the person who receives the benefits is not responsible for the act of plundering. The responsibility for this legal plunder rests with the law, the legislator, and society itself. Therein lies the political danger.

My money gets taken by the government who in turn gives it to someone else. What does the government give in return for my money? Absurd, ridiculous, and grandiose promises. Utopianism. A socialism that would warm the heart of Karl Marx.

God's word advocates none of this. Paul summed up economics very nicely, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." And God makes provision for disaster. We, individuals, who have are to care for those who have suffered loss until such time as they are able to provide for themselves. This is thematic throughout God's word. Jesus Christ specifies that those who know Him will of their own choosing (not mandated through horrific taxation) show physical mercy to those in need (Matthew 25:31-40).

Nothing in God's word indicates that those who through corruption or sloth find themselves in financial straits should receive anything but justice. Even if they repent, they must pay back their debt...plus some! Zacchaeus, though not in such straits, is a great example of a thief who understood his responsibility (Luke 19:1-10).

When the government illegally takes my money and gives it to another, three terrible results ensue. First, they have committed a crime. Call it what it is.

Second, the recipient has no responsibility to show anything for the money they have received while the government has no vested interest in seeing that anything is returned for the money given since the money wasn't theirs in the first place.

Finally, if the government is taking care of everyone, I don't have to. Be honest, if you know that I have volunteered to take care of the Dickinson's, to see to their medical needs (think squalor) and to ensure food gets on the table, what are the chances your going to get involved in the lives of the Dickinson's? God created us to be involved with one another. Helping those who need help is messy, painful, and often times thankless, but that's the business God's in, and that's the business He wants us in.

Bastiat concludes, "Although mankind is not perfect, still, all hope (for civilized society apart from Christ's return) rests upon the free and voluntary actions of persons with the limits of right; law or force is to be used for nothing except the administration of universal justice" (parenthesis mine).

Stimulus is godless because it robs us of our dignity and our responsibility as men and women created in His image, not because, as Mike Huckabee asserted, Christian schools don't get a cut of the legal plunder.

Next time, part III: the knell of our demise.

-------------------------------
* You can download in .pdf format the entirety of Fredrick Bastiat's, "The Law" free at this site. You can also order it there for $4. Many thanks to KC for introducing me to "The Law."

Stimulus: The physics of our demise

Stimulus - (n) some act or impetus intended to elicit a response.

Well, here's my response to The Stimulus.

It's absurd.

It's godless.

It portends our nation's demise.

No, it's not multiple choice, but the answer is all of the above.

I cannot believe that the populace hasn't erupted against the ludicrous tax-burden that will crush us. Let's get this straight. I don't blame Barack Obama. He simply waltzed through the door that George Bush blew wide open for him. But, oh, the glee with which he walked.

Let's step through this inch by inch, and it may take a few days. Lousy bankers made lousy decisions with money that wasn't theirs. It was ours. Those lousy decisions lost our money and tanked those banks. Sadly, it wasn't just one bank. When banks begin to heave, folks sit on their money. When folks sit on their money, they don't invest it, and companies don't have the ability to expand and grow (i.e. create new jobs). In fact, if the storm gets bad enough, companies will downsize to protect themselves against an economic downturn.

That happened last spring through last fall. Here's where the former President stepped in. Rather than let than let the storm pass and let folks slowly, and wisely, begin to reinvest the money they had left, George Bush and many lawmakers (law makers, mind you!!!) figured we needed money in the marketplace NOW! No prudence. No wait-and-see. Hundreds of b-b-b-billions pumped into the economy.

Now here's the "absurd." Who got the money? Corporates who ran their ship aground!! That's like giving the captain of the Titanic the helm of the Love Boat. You might as well make Benedict Arnold the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "You ruined your company? Here's $500 million." That's like giving the man in debt for $10,000 playing the slots another $8000 dollars to walk back in the casino. Are you kidding me???

Absurd, Part II. Who's money? Here's where things get vague, but I'm thinking the Saudi shiekdoms aren't coming to the rescue. Probably not Vlad Putin, either. Pry open that wallet, boys and girls! It'll be you and me. Taxes. Taxes and more taxes. Those hundreds of b-b-b-billions are coming out of our pockets!! And get this: If we pay more taxes, we have less money to invest in the economy. If we're not investing, companies aren't growing. Jobs are not being made, and again for preservation's sake, they're likely paring.

Absurd, Part III. Presidents Bush and Obama believe government slathering our money about will stimulate the economy. I asked the question to some co-workers, "Outside the military, what has the government done well." Cricket. Cricket. "The interstate highway system," one young man finally offered. Okay. That's one. Who do you think has a greater interest in seeing that your money earns interest, you or your congressman? Hmmm?

Our Founders did not create our federal government to dance in the economy. Even good brokers will only clear you 15% growth annually on a regular basis. Walter Williams wrote a great column the other day on the how buffoonish (and unconstitutional) the government is when it comes to matters of economics (read it here, it's a great read as Williams always is). How do bureaucrats determine who gets the money?

These folks didn't and won't invest our cash. Our elected officials steal when they take money from one group and give it to another.

That takes us to the godless nature of The Stimulus...next time.

Glasses

I remember the day my eldest son got glasses. He relayed after the fact the dread and the dour attitude accompanied him to the optometrist's to pickup his new specs. Then he put them on.

He had assumed that you simply see leaves on trees from a distance, that they were just blobs of green. Oh, to see individual leaves!

About a year and a half ago I grew tired of contorting my eyes to focus upon the pages of my bedtime stories, and so I picked up a pair of Walmart +150's for $7.00, and -- blam! -- the words were huge!

Today it became official. "Read the smallest line," said the eye tech. 10 and 11 used to be a breeze. Today I could not read nine. Nor eight. "I can read line six," I confessed like a student who understood one lone question of a ten-problem test.

For my remaining days in my current profession, I am required to wear...BIFOCALS!!! (Cue the screechy horror music.)

As I pondered this testimony to my age, I came to appreciate the many ways God helps us to see that we've been seeing poorly. Stimulus packages might consume my moments. Or A-Rod's steroid predicament (really, it was only three seasons). Or perhaps the hideous options for the Academy Awards. Then God, in His extraordinary goodness, gives us (me) an eye exam and tells us we need glasses.

The exam might come through tragedy. A lost loved one. The evaporation of our IRA's. The disintegration of our nation. God uses such difficulties to call our attention to Him (Luke 13:1-5).

It might happen through a brother in Christ. Think of the two-by-four that wacked David when Nathan had the courage to confront him about taking his subordinate's wife and then having that man, one of his elite soldiers, murdered.

It happens when God speaks to us in His word (if we study it) and through our listening for Him in prayer.

It can happen in the most random circumstances.

In an instant, all refocuses. God sits enthroned. I stand naked before Him as His creature. All that I am is by and for His good pleasure. Stark clarity returns to all that surrounds me.

Many folks don't like to be told that an eye exam might be in order (gentle nudge) or that they might need glasses (neck-snapping push). I have no doubt that I will experience inconvenience in the days and weeks ahead. But then again, I look forward to seeing the leaves.

25 Crimes I wish I'd committed

Do I have your attention? Really, there aren't 25 crimes I wish I'd committed; probably only a half-dozen. That aside, "25 Questions..." have become all the rage on Facebook and blogs across the cybersphere.

Frankly, I enjoy reading them. The only ones I've read are those from folks I know, and it's neat getting to know information about friends and family you didn't know before.

That said, you'll not find a 25-list here, and here's why. Identity theft. Some considerations. Anything I post on this blog remains will last as long as the pyramids. It's out there for anyone to see. Even if I restrict the access to my blog, when I post, I launch the trons into cyberspace and trust the Blogger site manager to keep my stuff secure. And who's to say a distant friend from Facebook won't copy and paste your information to someone looking to collect such information?

Paranoid? Maybe. I've thought about this as I've read some recent 25-lists. A lot of those questions are very, very similar to the security questions asked of banks, financial, and credit institutions to verify your identity should your PIN get lost.

I'll continue reading the answers to your questions. It provides me great insight into who you are and provides me great questions to ask folks I'd like to get to know better.

But if you have the remotest desire to know my 25 (or 27) answers, give me a holler. They won't find their way onto my blog.

President Obama: The gloom darkens

Katherine Sebelius, the pro-abort governor from Kansas, is the President-of-Change's choice for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (here). That makes the most at risk people group for the next eight years en utero children.

Let's see. So far we have a tax-evader as head of Treasury (here), a porn advocate as #2 in the Justice Department (here), and if Sebelius is the pick, an abortion advocate for HHS. Travesties all.

What's next? Jane Fonda for the Department of Defense? Paris Hilton for the Department of Education? Perhaps we could get Osama Bin Laden to take care of our National Security Agency. And, I know, Rod Blagojevich for UN ambassador (or perhaps teaching manners and gentility).

This sure isn't the change I was hoping for, but it is the change I expected.

A tale of two couples

The Holt's and the Wheeler's were both young couples, beautiful on the outside, but locked into suburbian routine. Both had miserable marriages. Neither couple entered their relationship hoping to see it tank, but neither couple expected the erosive and corrosive power of 24-7-365.

Marriage is hard. No doubt about it. When two individuals with individual expectations come into a relationship, something's got to give. Anyone who has walked the aisle and donned the ring knows that the idyllic dreams of marital bliss get swept away with the day-to-day routine of committing to another person.

This past year, you might have gone to see what happened to the the Holt's and the Wheeler's at your local theater. The tragedy that had become the Holt's marriage came packaged as Fireproof (FP). You can find the story of the Wheeler's train wreck in Revolutionary Road (RR). Both films expose marital misery, but more than that, they expose the enormous chasm between what Hollywood thinks of marriage in America and what God thinks.

Hollywood loved RR (the review by Focus on the Family (not so much in love) is here). They loved Dicaprio and Winslet. Oscars. Golden Globes. Rave reviews. What is the message of RR? Suburban marriage is a dead end. In fact, it's lethal in the most abominable way imaginable. Escape, according to the sage west coast, is the only hope for suburban marriage. Even Rupert Holmes came to that dismal conclusion in the 1970's song, Escape/Pina Colada. Why does Hollywood love RR? It ends in abortion and death.

Critics loathed FP (Focus' review is here). It's not Casablanca, but it is a film of reasonable quality, moderate acting, but outstanding in story. Hollywood and film critics dismissed it as trite. Why? Kirk Cameron (of Growing Pains --scoff--titter) and his relationship with Jesus. They dismissed it because Holt (Cameron's character) determines to put aside his selfishness and strive to honor the commitment he mad to his wife. They dismissed it because along the way, he learns about the ultimate love, the love that God has for his creatures in Jesus Christ (there's that name again), and because Holt takes that love and begins to lavish it upon his bride.

Why does Hollywood hate FP? It ends with a marriage healed and the relationship between one man, one woman, and their Father in heaven healed because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

The story of the Wheeler's marriage ends with death and despair, and it will probably take home a troves of Oscars. The story of the Holt's marriage ends with hope and joy, and has earned no secular awards. But it has had a hand in forcing men and women across the country to get serious about their relationships with God and with one another. One of these rewards will find its way to the trash heap; the other will ripple through eternity.

Just another reason the Academy Award has slipped into utter irrelevance.

Bless your marriage and go buy Fireproof. Great flick to see and see again.

QotD: Boasting about my bride

"You do not tell your lover in private how awesome he is, and then act embarrassed about him in public. This would not be called discretion but betrayal. And yet I have called discretion my public silences about God, and have spun Byzantine rules for the when, where, and how of it, until my sledge has bogged down in th mud and I hardly speak of God at all."

Andree Seu, "Silent Betrayal"

World Magazine, January 31, 2009

Resting on the bottom

As a kid, I loved "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." It oozed cool. In 50% of the episodes, the Seaview, a -- get this -- private nuclear sub, came to rest on the bottom of the ocean. Somewhere around the fifty-minute mark, the ships heroes would concoct some solution to save the crew in the nick of time (or the 56th minute).

As pedictable as the sunrise, and yet it led to some great role-playing games, the kind kids used to play in the wide open, unfenced back yards of yesteryear, on swingsets and in trees.

As the ship sank, some part of its hull touched bottom first. As it settled, more of the hull touched. Finally, the ship was plainly resting on the ocean floor. Some might argue that the top of the boat wasn't touching the sandy bottom. True. Neither for that matter was the crew compartment in contact with the ocean floor. True, too. Only a ding-bat playing silly philosophical games would argue that the Seaview had not sunk to the bottom of the sea.

I don't know how much of our nation is touching the bottom, but stuff like this makes plain that, argue though we might, some portion of our nation is there. (WARNING: the article, Associated Press, is horrifying.) And so we are there.

A woman, 21 weeks along, sought to have an abortion. The doctor gave her medicine to begin uterine contraction, but he was delayed. The woman birthed the baby. The baby was subsequently destroyed by the attending. That's as plain as I can state the abomination.

President Obama tipped his hand by renewing the funding of overseas abortions, and considering he's been the most pro-abort Senator these past four years, don't anticipate him to right our crippled vessel, despite having the audacity to declare at today's National Prayer Breakfast:

"There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know."

It is for policies such as these that we ought to pray that our President fail. Should he follow what is right and good and true, yes, may God bless him and us and bring us success. But when he and we follow after expediency and convenience and endorse what God calls evil, we must pray that such not succeed. Even to the doom of our vessel.

Considering the state of our ship, it would not surprise me if leviathan were to happen by and crush us to pieces while we shoot craps in the abyss.

The gender of God

God's gender really hasn't been much of a discussion until German higher criticism neutered the Bible. Now scripture's authors are accused of being men (which they were) and concocting a God in their image.

I'll be the first to say, "Not so." God's word is plain. God revealed Himself as our heavenly Father. God the Son took on flesh as Christ the man. Even the Holy Spirit is referred to throughout Scripture as "He."

Still, some struggle with this. Some seek additional confirmation. This isn't very authoritative, but you might find it interesting nonetheless.

Published January 30, 2009 by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Just another day: What goes up...

• Iran's launch. No, not a new web-site. And not Ahmadinejad out a window. They put a satellite in orbit (here). Neato, huh? Until the satellite is made with weapons grade uranium, plutonium, etc., and rather than staying in orbit, it comes down...we know not where. But they do. Neato, huh?


• North Korean irony. Coincidence that ill Kim Jong and his rabble announced a pending long-range missile test (here)? Now who would North Korea have issues with that they would need long-range missiles? Hmmm...
  

• Independence Day irony. The movie. It's on tonight. Tuned in briefly and caught this repartee between the President played by Bill Pullman and an alien in the process of choking the daylights out of a former scientist played by Brent Spiner.

  President: There can be peace between us, if we can find a way to coexist. Can there be peace between us?
  
  Alien choking Spiner: No peace.
  
  President: What do you want from us?
  
  ACS: Die.

  Ah, sounds like the regimes of the previous two bullets, doesn't it. President Obama's going to have to have some supernatural savvy to appease those folks who want no appeasement; they only want our demise.
  
  In the movie, the ACS tries to off the President with his alien mind trick, but the cool USAF dude with his pistol blows him to pieces. After he's recovered, the President sobers up to the silliness of his former negotiations. Remember what he said?
  

  President: Nuke'em. Nuke the $#@%&*@$!

  Sometimes Hollywood gets it right.

• Chimeras: Hey, guess what! Scientists have discovered that animal-human clones don't work (here)! Reading between the lines, they're going to keep at it, though. God have mercy...or something.
  

• Technological Singularity: Huh? Yeah, I didn't get it either, even after reading the article (here). Seems that Google and NASA have cyber-birthed a new university to bring the moon into the seventh house and to align Jupiter with Mars. A bit about the university from the article:
  

  "Proponents say that during the singularity, machines will be able to improve themselves using artificial intelligence and that smarter-than-human computers will solve problems including energy scarcity, climate change and hunger."

  Unless Al Gore and the Davos Summit team beat them to it.
  
  One final quote caught my attention. Consider it the comedic part of this post:

  “The day before something is truly a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.”

  That from the vice-chancellor to the university. He failed to note that when the breakthrough doesn't occur, the crazy idea remains a crazy idea.
  

That's enough for now. We are one day closer. Sleep tight.

A parable: 4 copper coins

I know the fare of late has been lighthearted. I hope that doesn't trouble you. The things of this world have made my head swim of late. I'm sure I'll address them again before too long.

Nothing like a parable to clear up clouded eyes. So here we go.

One evening, the story goes, a button of a beauty with eyes as black as her pig-tails attended a concert at her daddy’s side, an Irish concert with fiddle and accordion, guitars and penny-whistles. It was like nothing she’d ever heard.

A little past four years old and three feet high, she stood on the floor craning her neck to improve her vantage while all those around her remained seated. Her tiny hand clutched two pennies. The performers purposed to glorify God with their music, and so they did. They traveled to minister, putting food on the table through the offerings of those who appreciated their music. The waif was eager to give them her two cents before she’d ever heard a note.

The music started. Its radiance matched the joy of those making it, and like a delicious contagion, it evoked delight from its hearers. From the little girl broke a smile typically offered only to her mama.

As the melodies frolicked, her face beamed even brighter, and she bent down for her canvas purse, the one with Eeyore silk-screened to its side. After climbing upon her chair with feet dangling far from the floor, she withdrew an expended Altoids can. Inside? Her treasure. She opened it up and pulled out another penny, the third.

Song followed song from mad to mellow and back again as the little girl’s dimples dug deeper and her eyes twinkled brighter. Again she plunged into her pixie purse and extracted the magic tin. One more penny to give for the pleasure that touched her soul.

When the offering plate came around, she lavished it with her four copper coins, bursting with joy that she could give some of what she possessed to those who had given her so very much. They would never know what she gave; that never crossed her mind. She did not seek their affection or their approval. She gave out of gratitude-soaked love.

While her daddy savored the sweet sounds of those anointed musicians, that richness paled in comparison with the oceanic outpouring of love from so precious a pint-sized container. He slid his hand around her shoulder and gave a squeeze.

Oh, to be a dad.

Married life: The tooth brush

In the days, weeks, and months after the wedding, the husband must learn those things which repulse the wife and avoid them at all cost! Some revulsions are rational; some, not so much. It doesn't much matter. If it disgusts your spouse, go through the minor inconvenience to detour.

It might gross a wife out that changed underwear don't find their way into the dirty close basket. Others screw themselves into the ceiling when toilet seats remain in the full upright and locked position. Most times, it's an easy thing for the husband to resolve, and if he doesn't, the event will remain a pebble in the gears of their marriage.

I learned long ago to not forget my tooth brush on trips. When I once left the sacred utensil at home, I looked to my bride and remarked, "I'll just use yours tonight." She looked at me like I'd asked her to remove her heart or her liver. I didn't ask her to eat African grubs. I would just use her toothbrush that night and on the morrow, I'd go to the local drugstore and get a new one.

I went to bed that night having cleansed my bicuspids the best I could...with my finger.

If I forget my toothbrush now, I head straight to the store. I don't pass go. I don't collect $200.

One evening last week, I walked into the bathroom to chat with my bride before bed. She was brushing her teeth. That's always a fun conversation. Lots of vowels. Not many consonants. Anyway, I reached for my blue toothbrush and it wasn't there. But her pink one was. I leaned against the wall and just stared at my wife.

She paused mid-brush and looked at me looking at her. The question mark floated over her head. I just smiled. Her brow wrinkled. I pointed at the toothbrush holder, holding her pink toothbrush.

You'd have thought she had a mouthful of fertilizer. She spit and rinsed, spit and rinsed, and danced that sacred Indian dance called, "Ewww-ewww Gross." She then brushed her teeth for fifteen minutes with her own toothbrush.

And here I thought she was just trying to overcome her phobias. Not so much. Ahhh, love.

(Told with permission...otherwise I'd be sleeping on the futon for the next three months).