Remember last year when gasoline went up to $4.00 a gallon? How mad you were at the oil companies?
If the Cap & Trade bill gets through the Senate, we can expect much more than that.* Who you gonna be mad at then?
*In the House, Republican amendments to the Waxman-Markey (Cap & Trade) Bill asking for a suspension of the bill IF gasoline goes above $5 a gallon, or if electricity cost doubles, or if unemployment goes higher than 15% were kicked out. That's a clear sign that at least one of these things will happen.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Not all revolutions are equal
The Iranian people -- being butchered by their own government -- are pleading for our help with their English posters of protest, and cries for US support from amateur reporters. And those of us who love our freedom want to help.
On the last day of my Beginning English as a Second Language class, I sat down with Kourosh Varanyi, a Kurd from Iran and asked him, "What can we do to help?" His English is quite rough, but he manages to get his meaning across.
He said, "Nothing." He explained that Mousavi, the opposition candidate, is just like Ahmadinajad.
"But maybe he's changed."
"No," Kourosh said. The Kurds* tried to revolt several years back when Mousavi was in charge. He signed for 24,000 people to be killed in one day. Kourosh swiped his hands, showing fait accompli. Then he pointed to a circular scar on the inside of his left elbow and another in his forearm. "Two more," he pointed to his left leg. "They shoot me."
"But Mousavi's wife . . .maybe it would be better for women." I was desperate for some kind of hope for the revolution.
"No. She's the same. No freedom for women. Islam law." Several times, Kourosh said, "We want government no religion. Like here."
"Secular," I said. "Freedom of religion." (Death to the dictator.)
"Yeah."
So now, my fellow believers, we know what to pray for. Not that Iran's revolution lead to a quick switch from Ahmadinajad to Ahmadinajad-lite, nor for a switch from the "Supreme Leader" to anyone else in the Islamic rulership. Instead, this revolution needs a carefully constructed new government, one created with as much wisdom and aforethought as our founding fathers had. This sort of revolution will not be quick. If it happens, it may take years.
*The Kurdish people are an ethnic minority of an area they call Kurdestan, that encompasses the north of Iraq and Iran, and the south of Turkey. They share more similarities with each other across the country boundaries than they do with the people of their nations. It was many villages of Iraqi Kurds that Saddam Hussein wiped out with chemical weaponry, after they got the idea that the US would support them in a revolt. No wonder the Iranian Kurds are hanging back and waiting on the Iranian revolt.
On the last day of my Beginning English as a Second Language class, I sat down with Kourosh Varanyi, a Kurd from Iran and asked him, "What can we do to help?" His English is quite rough, but he manages to get his meaning across.
He said, "Nothing." He explained that Mousavi, the opposition candidate, is just like Ahmadinajad.
"But maybe he's changed."
"No," Kourosh said. The Kurds* tried to revolt several years back when Mousavi was in charge. He signed for 24,000 people to be killed in one day. Kourosh swiped his hands, showing fait accompli. Then he pointed to a circular scar on the inside of his left elbow and another in his forearm. "Two more," he pointed to his left leg. "They shoot me."
"But Mousavi's wife . . .maybe it would be better for women." I was desperate for some kind of hope for the revolution.
"No. She's the same. No freedom for women. Islam law." Several times, Kourosh said, "We want government no religion. Like here."
"Secular," I said. "Freedom of religion." (Death to the dictator.)
"Yeah."
So now, my fellow believers, we know what to pray for. Not that Iran's revolution lead to a quick switch from Ahmadinajad to Ahmadinajad-lite, nor for a switch from the "Supreme Leader" to anyone else in the Islamic rulership. Instead, this revolution needs a carefully constructed new government, one created with as much wisdom and aforethought as our founding fathers had. This sort of revolution will not be quick. If it happens, it may take years.
*The Kurdish people are an ethnic minority of an area they call Kurdestan, that encompasses the north of Iraq and Iran, and the south of Turkey. They share more similarities with each other across the country boundaries than they do with the people of their nations. It was many villages of Iraqi Kurds that Saddam Hussein wiped out with chemical weaponry, after they got the idea that the US would support them in a revolt. No wonder the Iranian Kurds are hanging back and waiting on the Iranian revolt.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Daniel
I've been reading the book of Daniel. It occurred to me that, though it didn't happen through conquest, we conservative constitutionalists are in a similar situation as Daniel. Stuck in exile in a land we don't recognize, a land with alien values. . . our liberties curtailed.
In the last month or so, I've been discouraged enough to just not write in my blog. I wouldn't even look at it or at anyone else's blog. I felt originally that God wanted me to start this blog. I already had a "home" blog that I could write about little things, my dogs, my cats and cooking. . . But I felt led to create a blog about the big things: God and America, and how we relate. I felt some great purpose to this little blog.
But I saw no evidence that anyone -- other than a friend or two, in which case, I was preaching to the choir -- was reading my blog. So what's the use? Thus began my discouragement. And yes, I reminded myself that we can't always know the results of God's commands; we must only do them. But that didn't help me come back.
This discouragement is tied together with the feeling that I get when I call and write our senators' and representative's offices and get a polite acknowledgment, or worse, a response that explains to me why they choose to vote contrarily. The anxiety, the urgency within me, the need to do something, anything! is hardening to a husk of what it was. What's the use?
In the prospect of long-term exile, Daniel and his friends behaved in a way to glorify God. Their home, homeland, capital city was shattered. They had been, in essence, kidnapped, and taken to Babylon to serve the king. I wonder how much time and effort they spent in trying to get away. Or did they from the start give it all up to God?
When my Christian friends shrug and say, "These are the last days," and their attitude is to basically roll with it, accept it, I get really irritated. We can't just bend over and take it! This is not the time to withdraw and wait on the Lord! That's abdicating our responsibility.
First, Daniel and company made sure that they were able to continue to glorify God through maintaining dietary standards -- not with a protest fast, but with a suggestion of a scientific experiment. In order to get this far, they had to treat their jailers, the chief of eunuchs and the steward over him, as people, not as evil enemies. I'm sure that if God had not brought Daniel into the favor of the chief of eunuchs, whatever he suggested would have been dismissed out of hand. But the chief explained to Daniel the reason for the food they were having to eat. And Daniel could come back with this suggestion that they compare the results of the two diets after ten days. And in case you don't know the story, Daniel's diet of vegetables and water kept him and friends much healthier than those who'd been eating the king's delicacies and drinking the wine.
Their training was to last for three years, but even before that time was up, Daniel had his first big break in being able to tell the king his dream and interpret it. It was into their second year there.
Hmm, we've been in exile only a few months. We have to see ourselves as being in it for the long run. Even if we are able to put politicians with integrity (boy, is that an oxymoron!) into office in 2010, we will still be fighting an overall attitude of relativism and a lack of understanding of the Constitution.
And Daniel lasted as wise man, counselor for the king, through King Nebuchadnezzar's reign, the short reign of his son, Belshazzar, the reign of Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Persian. (This is where I am in the book of Daniel.)
What struck me is that through Daniel's behavior, all these kings knew God to be the "living God, steadfast forever." They didn't necessarily give up their own gods, but they recognized God and His power.
Let this be a wake up call. We've been called bitter clingers; let us now cling even more tightly to God. The anxiety is counter-productive. At the same time, let us not relax and give up our responsibility as citizens. That's part of the problem and why we are in this mess.
When I told a liberal (progressive) friend that I was planning to go to Washington, DC, to protest on the 4th of July, she said, "It's good that you're finally getting involved."
I said, "Thank you," but I was miffed. What do you mean finally getting involved? I've been involved all along. I've been doing the things we're supposed to do -- informing myself and voting. But . . . that wasn't everything we needed to be doing, I realize now. I think we have abdicated our responsibility as citizens, assuming if we voted correctly, then these politicians will keep the country running. It's like those parents who send their children to school with the idea that now they don't have to do much in the training of their kids. While protesting should not have to be a normal part of an involved citizen's life, when the citizen has allowed things to get out of hand, protesting is perhaps the last option.
We should have been training our children about the steadfastness of the Constitution, about our founding fathers and their vision, and making sure that our educational system doesn't allow the insidious changes, revisionist history, etc. to make inroads into our children's minds. In my defense, I didn't know about these things. But responsible citizenry requires much more thorough education than we got in K-12 and even through college.
We should have been keeping an eye on our representatives, both state and federal, following what they were voting on and how they voted, and expressing our educated opinion at every turn. If we had, they would not have been able to vote themselves an automatic pay increase every year, for example.
The US that Obama envisions and the results, which we envision, cannot be more alien to us than Babylon to Daniel. We must find a way to work within the framework we are given, so that when it's all said and done, God will be glorified.
In the last month or so, I've been discouraged enough to just not write in my blog. I wouldn't even look at it or at anyone else's blog. I felt originally that God wanted me to start this blog. I already had a "home" blog that I could write about little things, my dogs, my cats and cooking. . . But I felt led to create a blog about the big things: God and America, and how we relate. I felt some great purpose to this little blog.
But I saw no evidence that anyone -- other than a friend or two, in which case, I was preaching to the choir -- was reading my blog. So what's the use? Thus began my discouragement. And yes, I reminded myself that we can't always know the results of God's commands; we must only do them. But that didn't help me come back.
This discouragement is tied together with the feeling that I get when I call and write our senators' and representative's offices and get a polite acknowledgment, or worse, a response that explains to me why they choose to vote contrarily. The anxiety, the urgency within me, the need to do something, anything! is hardening to a husk of what it was. What's the use?
In the prospect of long-term exile, Daniel and his friends behaved in a way to glorify God. Their home, homeland, capital city was shattered. They had been, in essence, kidnapped, and taken to Babylon to serve the king. I wonder how much time and effort they spent in trying to get away. Or did they from the start give it all up to God?
When my Christian friends shrug and say, "These are the last days," and their attitude is to basically roll with it, accept it, I get really irritated. We can't just bend over and take it! This is not the time to withdraw and wait on the Lord! That's abdicating our responsibility.
First, Daniel and company made sure that they were able to continue to glorify God through maintaining dietary standards -- not with a protest fast, but with a suggestion of a scientific experiment. In order to get this far, they had to treat their jailers, the chief of eunuchs and the steward over him, as people, not as evil enemies. I'm sure that if God had not brought Daniel into the favor of the chief of eunuchs, whatever he suggested would have been dismissed out of hand. But the chief explained to Daniel the reason for the food they were having to eat. And Daniel could come back with this suggestion that they compare the results of the two diets after ten days. And in case you don't know the story, Daniel's diet of vegetables and water kept him and friends much healthier than those who'd been eating the king's delicacies and drinking the wine.
Their training was to last for three years, but even before that time was up, Daniel had his first big break in being able to tell the king his dream and interpret it. It was into their second year there.
Hmm, we've been in exile only a few months. We have to see ourselves as being in it for the long run. Even if we are able to put politicians with integrity (boy, is that an oxymoron!) into office in 2010, we will still be fighting an overall attitude of relativism and a lack of understanding of the Constitution.
And Daniel lasted as wise man, counselor for the king, through King Nebuchadnezzar's reign, the short reign of his son, Belshazzar, the reign of Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Persian. (This is where I am in the book of Daniel.)
What struck me is that through Daniel's behavior, all these kings knew God to be the "living God, steadfast forever." They didn't necessarily give up their own gods, but they recognized God and His power.
Let this be a wake up call. We've been called bitter clingers; let us now cling even more tightly to God. The anxiety is counter-productive. At the same time, let us not relax and give up our responsibility as citizens. That's part of the problem and why we are in this mess.
When I told a liberal (progressive) friend that I was planning to go to Washington, DC, to protest on the 4th of July, she said, "It's good that you're finally getting involved."
I said, "Thank you," but I was miffed. What do you mean finally getting involved? I've been involved all along. I've been doing the things we're supposed to do -- informing myself and voting. But . . . that wasn't everything we needed to be doing, I realize now. I think we have abdicated our responsibility as citizens, assuming if we voted correctly, then these politicians will keep the country running. It's like those parents who send their children to school with the idea that now they don't have to do much in the training of their kids. While protesting should not have to be a normal part of an involved citizen's life, when the citizen has allowed things to get out of hand, protesting is perhaps the last option.
We should have been training our children about the steadfastness of the Constitution, about our founding fathers and their vision, and making sure that our educational system doesn't allow the insidious changes, revisionist history, etc. to make inroads into our children's minds. In my defense, I didn't know about these things. But responsible citizenry requires much more thorough education than we got in K-12 and even through college.
We should have been keeping an eye on our representatives, both state and federal, following what they were voting on and how they voted, and expressing our educated opinion at every turn. If we had, they would not have been able to vote themselves an automatic pay increase every year, for example.
The US that Obama envisions and the results, which we envision, cannot be more alien to us than Babylon to Daniel. We must find a way to work within the framework we are given, so that when it's all said and done, God will be glorified.
Friday, May 15, 2009
What can you say?
What can you say to those "bleeding heart liberals" who throw the number of 47 million people in the US being uninsured at you? Especially when they add that 9 million of them are children and most of them are working families?
Well, first you can point out that the numbers are misleading. Of that 47 million, about 10 million aren't even citizens! Almost 18 million make more than $50,000/year; they can afford to have the insurance but they choose not to (more than half of 18 million make more than $75,000/yr.) It's not a money issue here. And 19 million are young people (between the ages of 18 and 34) who feel they don't need it right now. And finally almost half of 47 million are only temporarily uninsured, like for four months, because they're between jobs. Yes, those numbers and groups can overlap, but there is an exaggeration of lack of health insurance in the US. (I'm taking these numbers from "Next on the Statists' List: Health Care" by David Limbaugh, but I'd heard them before.)
Second, point out that lack of health insurance doesn't mean lack of coverage. The law requires emergency room care even when someone can't afford it.
Third, and most importantly, you can tell them government health care will do the opposite of what's intended. Government mandated health coverage will make people less likely to get health care. I know it sounds crazy, but it's a simple matter of economics.
Government control of medicine is price control. When the price is required by government fiat to be lower than the market dictates, you get more demand (more people taking advantage of the lower price) and less production. Fewer people will be encouraged to become doctors and nurses. So you end up with a shortage.
That's why the long waiting periods for care in Great Britain and Canada. Many people die while waiting for their treatment! That's why they need "advisory boards" to decide what medical treatments are not financially feasible. So they'll be weeding out the people who won't benefit enough from treatment (i.e., they're old anyway and will be dying soon) and weeding out the treatments that are too costly.
So the old man above will not receive much care in Obama-care. Too bad, huh?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
With My Boots On
Latest reports are that Medicare has only eight more years. To be honest, I don't expect to be able to use any Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.
For one thing, I can't imagine not working. Yes, I'm getting older, and a few times, my mind has wandered over the path of thought the word "retirement" leads it. Thoughts like how many more years? How will we be able to live? But I'm pretty sure that even once I retire, I'm not going to stop working. How boring would that be? How useless I would feel.
My dad worked up until he died. I guess you'd say he died with his boots on.
In the movie Secondhand Lions, Hub, one of Walter's great-uncles, is fighting the idea of growing old. He's used to a life of war and battle, having fought in two world wars and numerous other smaller wars. Now Hub keeps doing crazy, dangerous stuff and Walter's afraid he's going to die. At one point, Hub and Garth, his brother, use their money to buy a lion so they can have a lion hunt. But the lion is an aging lioness that won't even run. Walter keeps her as a pet. Then when the boyfriend of Walter's mother is beating up the boy, the lion attacks the boyfriend and dies in the fight.
"She died with her boots on," the uncles told Walter, "protecting her cub."
Later, Walter convinces Hub that he needs both his great-uncles to take care of him. Hub promises to lay off the crazy behavior until Walter has graduated from college. The movie ends (and begins) with the uncles flying a homemade WWI bi-plane into a barn. The sheriff telling Walter says, "They died with their boots on."
That's what I want. Let me die with my boots on.
For one thing, I can't imagine not working. Yes, I'm getting older, and a few times, my mind has wandered over the path of thought the word "retirement" leads it. Thoughts like how many more years? How will we be able to live? But I'm pretty sure that even once I retire, I'm not going to stop working. How boring would that be? How useless I would feel.
My dad worked up until he died. I guess you'd say he died with his boots on.
In the movie Secondhand Lions, Hub, one of Walter's great-uncles, is fighting the idea of growing old. He's used to a life of war and battle, having fought in two world wars and numerous other smaller wars. Now Hub keeps doing crazy, dangerous stuff and Walter's afraid he's going to die. At one point, Hub and Garth, his brother, use their money to buy a lion so they can have a lion hunt. But the lion is an aging lioness that won't even run. Walter keeps her as a pet. Then when the boyfriend of Walter's mother is beating up the boy, the lion attacks the boyfriend and dies in the fight.
"She died with her boots on," the uncles told Walter, "protecting her cub."
Later, Walter convinces Hub that he needs both his great-uncles to take care of him. Hub promises to lay off the crazy behavior until Walter has graduated from college. The movie ends (and begins) with the uncles flying a homemade WWI bi-plane into a barn. The sheriff telling Walter says, "They died with their boots on."
That's what I want. Let me die with my boots on.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
My Prayer
Dear God,
On this National Day of Prayer, I pray for our leaders, for the people whom we put into power over us, starting with Barack Obama. I don't pray for him enough. Lord, be with him. Be that niggling little voice of conscience that never leaves him. Surround him with people who will tell him the truth, and help him to accept the truth. Even, Lord, if it's Your will, provide him a "road to Damascus" experience and a change of heart. I pray that Your will be done.
I ask the same for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Let the believers in Congress listen to Your voice and act on Your directions in interactions with these leaders and other congressmen. Further, let the believers wake up to their true duty. And Lord, if they do not, help us to vote them out of office. Guide us in knowing the truth about our representatives.
Please help me love those certain people in our government that I have trouble loving. Show me again how to love with Your love those that I have, in my fleshly reasoning, written off as not deserving of respect or love. And forgive me for my arrogance of judging, better left up to You.
There are many more to pray for, but I wanted to start with these people. Thank you for reminding me that You, Father God, have the ultimate victory.
Connie
On this National Day of Prayer, I pray for our leaders, for the people whom we put into power over us, starting with Barack Obama. I don't pray for him enough. Lord, be with him. Be that niggling little voice of conscience that never leaves him. Surround him with people who will tell him the truth, and help him to accept the truth. Even, Lord, if it's Your will, provide him a "road to Damascus" experience and a change of heart. I pray that Your will be done.
I ask the same for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Let the believers in Congress listen to Your voice and act on Your directions in interactions with these leaders and other congressmen. Further, let the believers wake up to their true duty. And Lord, if they do not, help us to vote them out of office. Guide us in knowing the truth about our representatives.
Please help me love those certain people in our government that I have trouble loving. Show me again how to love with Your love those that I have, in my fleshly reasoning, written off as not deserving of respect or love. And forgive me for my arrogance of judging, better left up to You.
There are many more to pray for, but I wanted to start with these people. Thank you for reminding me that You, Father God, have the ultimate victory.
Connie
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Don't Tell Obama about Quadrillion
I'm terrible with numbers. All my life, I've been strong with words, weak with numbers. For this reason, when my husband and I played darts, I'd be figuring out how much was left on my score, while others would be yelling out the number. I'd just shake my head and keep figuring. If I didn't do it for myself, how would I know it was right? And how would I learn?
Numbers tend to just have symbolic meaning to me. It's like the number 202 on an apartment. The number is a designation, but it doesn't mean amount of (as in two hundred and two apartments). So I find 300,000 to be quite similar to 3,000. To really know the difference, I have to think about it.
The budget that just passed Congress is $3 trillion. Just how much is one trillion?
According to one source, if you spent one million dollars EVERY DAY from year 1 (after Christ's time) to now, you would still not have spent one trillion dollars. It comes to about $734 billion.
Here's another way to look at it. One trillion seconds makes 31,546 years! But I can't really fathom that. A year of seconds becomes more than I can fathom.
This was the best way for me. If you stack up $1,000 bills, one million dollars makes about a four-inch stack. (I confirmed this with my husband who used to deal with stacks of bills.) Now to make one trillion dollars from a stack of $1,000 bills, you need to stack them up to (and over) 63 miles!
The Sandias are approximately one mile high from the valley floor. Sixty-three Sandias stacked up would be level with our stack of $1,000 bills that makes ONE trillion dollars. Triple that, and you've got three trillion.
WHY, WHY, WHY???
Numbers tend to just have symbolic meaning to me. It's like the number 202 on an apartment. The number is a designation, but it doesn't mean amount of (as in two hundred and two apartments). So I find 300,000 to be quite similar to 3,000. To really know the difference, I have to think about it.
The budget that just passed Congress is $3 trillion. Just how much is one trillion?
According to one source, if you spent one million dollars EVERY DAY from year 1 (after Christ's time) to now, you would still not have spent one trillion dollars. It comes to about $734 billion.
Here's another way to look at it. One trillion seconds makes 31,546 years! But I can't really fathom that. A year of seconds becomes more than I can fathom.
This was the best way for me. If you stack up $1,000 bills, one million dollars makes about a four-inch stack. (I confirmed this with my husband who used to deal with stacks of bills.) Now to make one trillion dollars from a stack of $1,000 bills, you need to stack them up to (and over) 63 miles!
The Sandias are approximately one mile high from the valley floor. Sixty-three Sandias stacked up would be level with our stack of $1,000 bills that makes ONE trillion dollars. Triple that, and you've got three trillion.
WHY, WHY, WHY???
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