Merry Christmas

Yesterday the 28th of SEPTEMBER, I was standing in Target in the middle of 4 fully dedicated Christmas aisles. Isn't September just a little early for a full blown Christmas display of merchandise?

Has he nothing better to do?

I am opposed to President Obama flying off to push for the Olympics for Chicago. It is unseemly and inappropriate for the office. I don't care if Tony Blair and others have done it before him. It is enough that Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey and whoever else go there.

Afghanistan in a growing crisis, the economy eternally haunting us, a desperate need for health care reform, Iran kicking up dust and spitting in everyone's face, an undisciplined Democratic Party that can't unite, an über-partisan Republican Party who wants his demise the-good-of-the-country be damned, wholly unresolved border and immigration issues on the back-burner,

and he needs to go to Denmark or wherever it is to lobby for the Olympics? And if he succeeds and the Oly's come here, what will be said? American hegemony again! The bully pulpit again!

Americans are throwing their weight around as usual!

If he feels he must add something to his plate, he ought to focus on stopping the fierce and inexplicably appalling violence taking place daily among Chicago's poor youth.

Wasting his time with the Olympics? What an awful decision. This is not why I voted for him.

I'm a racist

...or so says Maureen Dowd, Janeane Garofalo, Former Pres. Carter, Former VP Mondale, and an many other Obama supporters. I am racist because I oppose his policies. The apparent logic is that Obama's policies are so obviously correct that the only explanation for opposition to such policies must be racism. I am growing weary of it and it is becoming clear that many Obama supporters resort to calling people racist when they can't win the debate about an issue. For strategic electoral purposes at least, the Democrats should speak out against such statements because it is offensive to seniors and independents who have doubts about the pending health insurance reform legislation. Offending such groups is not only electorally dangerous, but such talk does not make any useful contribution to dialogue about pending issues.

Public speaking

"Grrrr....I dare you say something more brilliant than I!"

I didn't get him! Am I being too judgemental to say that I think he looks like the devil himself?! I know....I am very surface, I am sure that I should dig deeper!

No pigs...too much trash

This article caught my eye because I get frustrated when I see just a few people with all the power make decisions that they know nothing about, and don't care to listen to those who do know. It can be so detremental to thousands, all because of the uninformed decision of a few.

I have just experienced a similar but very downscaled version of people in power making decisions with out asking the people who know, and it's adverse affects. The chapel we attend in downtown Brussels is too small to accomodate all the people now in attendance. So the buildings and facilities people in France, over our region, decided that we could make more seating room for the ward, by bringing in the podium area and shrinking it's size, leaving more room for seating in the front. They drew up the plans and gave the Bishop barely a weeks notice that they would have to have church at the other building for a few weeks while the "remodeled" the podium area. They didn't ask for his or the ward's feed back, and how they could make the changes to better meet the needs of the meetings etc. So when we came back to church after it was complete, they made drastic changes that don't meet our needs. They removed all the extra seating we had for the choir seats, they removed the organ (it wasn't functioning anyway) and left room for one row of seating and the sacrament desk. They forgot about leaving room for the remaining piano. So, they put the piano up against the wall, so that the piano player'sback (that would be mine)would be toward the audiance and all the music from the piano is being obsorbed into the wall. Neither can I see the music leader as I face the back wall and she faces the audiance. So, the problems are: the congregation can't hear the piano well, I can't see the music leader, and the music leader can't see me. I told my Bishopric that I refused to play with my back toward the audiance...that's a muscian no-no, and that if I can't even see the music leader, we may as well not have one because then it is really me, the pianist deciding when we stop or go, or sing fast or slow, not the music leader. So I asked them to bring the piano to floor since it won't fit any other way on the podium. The Bishop agreed with me and wanted to comply, but the building and maintenance people in Paris said...."no...the piano stays on the podium, as we made the changes to accomodate more seating, and that is the way it must be." Ok....so the few people with the power and the money, decided that we the people in Brussels needed a solution to our space problem, and made a decision how to fix it without consulting with we the people. Now we are stuck with their uninformed, and disfunctional remedy. It's like deciding to build a gourmet kitchen for restaurant and not asking a shef who knows what it would need and the best set up for the design for his input.

What a waste of church funds...and a slap in the face to the musicians who have to try and support our meetings with music. If they would have met with the people who have to use the facilities before they make changes to it, we could have told them of our needs before they made the changes.....it just makes me crazy! It just really, really, really makes me crazy!

Any way...it looks like thousands in Egypt are dealing with a trash crisis because a few at the top, thought it would be a good idea to slaughter all the pigs in Egypt so that they wouldn't get swine flue. They were warned not to do it as the pigs eat their organic waste and it was a natural part of their environment to have the pigs there to do that. Now they don't have the pigs and the organic waste is making a mess of their city and is a hazard to the people. All due to the fact that the few in power made uninformed decisions for the masses, with out really checking with those in the know. It just makes me crazy!

News a Conservative Can Cheer

Although I take a dim view of the current direction of our country, occasionally I see things that I can cheer for.

First, the administration announced that it supports extending all three of the provisions of the Patriot Act that will expire at the end of the year. The provisions give the government the authority to access business records, operate roving wiretaps and conduct surveillance on "lone wolf" suspects with no known link to foreign governments or terrorist groups.

Second, President Obama signed an order authorizing special forces to take out one of al Qaeda's most vicious operatives, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Somalia's top terrorist.

Third, though probably not directly tied to Obama himself, the FBI, which is under the Obama administration, apparently foiled a terror plot in NYC.

Government: The Perfect Answer for Everything

This cartoon sums up why so many people are against government health insurance.

Bam! Smack! Pow!

It has been week of Batman and Robin style fighting!
Bam! An Oregon football player sucker punches a Boise State player. The Oregon player is suspended for the rest of the season.
Smack! A BYU player drives the Oklahoma quarterback into the ground. The quarterback is out for 2-4 weeks. It's a legal play so no suspension.
Pow! A Republican representative calls Obama a liar during his speech. Will the representative get punished? Hopefully. Prediction: The representative will be chosen as Keith Olbermann's silly "Worst Person In the Woooorld!"

Obama to address the Nation's school children

I have been reading/hearing about Obama addressing the Nation's school children and the controversy surrounding it. I was curious to know what ya'll think about it. I think this has been done in the past with other President's sending out positive messages to school kids and first lady campaigns with positive messages to the nation's school children. I see no harm in this. I think it to be a good thing to have the President encourage kids to go to school and stay in school. What I am leary about however, isn't the message from the President, but the follow up discussions led from teachers/administrators and their possible pro-Obama indoctrination. I would love to see positive messages from Mr. President with no political agenda, and nuetral teachers enforcing those positive messages, with out the political inuendos. His message shouldn't be about his politics, and the follow up discussions he is encouraging the teachers to have, shouldn't be about his politics either. I am afraid his leftest political views will be what many of the discussion leaders will want to talk about, and that would be the wrong platform for it. Let's hope that he keeps his message of going to school and staying in school on topic...and the follow up the same.

The Coming Fork in the Road

As I have noted in prior posts and comments, our national debt has reached a point where we can no longer pay back the debt by taxation alone, even with robust economic activity that would result in higher revenue and even if any health care reform is revenue neutral (the former is not guaranteed, and the latter is highly unlikely). If we cannot pay our debt via additional revenue, whatever form that may take, there remains only three options.
1) Drastic program cuts, including military, social security, medicare, pork, infrastructural investments, and so forth.
2) Hyperinflation. This means we inflate our currency so as to reduce the value of our debt, thereby making it easier to make payments.
3) Default. This means the US government would renege on interest payments and maybe even principal.

#1 is unlikely to happen. In the end, politicians are self-serving and are mostly incapable of thinking beyond the next election. Cutting popular programs, though they be unwise, takes courage that few politicians have, and certainly not in a large enough number to make the necessary cuts.
#2 is most likely in my opinion. It is what most countries do to stave off disaster. However, our debt is so large that the inflation would have to be considerable and the Chinese and other creditor nations would be more than just a little annoyed, they would be angry and who knows what actions they may be inclined to take to protect their interests?
#3 is hard to conceive, but anything is possible. Refusal to pay the debt would hurt the US image and interests very badly. In fact, creditor nations could begin to impound or take over US assets abroad while assigning whatever value to the assets that they deem proper. This would result in a national crisis the likes of which we have never seen. The magnitude of such a disaster is hard to imagine.

In my opinion, #1 is the safest and wisest route, but for reasons described above, I can't see it happening.
I worry about #2 constantly because I wonder what it would mean to the well-being of my family. Money will have far less value and prices will be higher. Ultimately, the living standard of my family and the nation as a whole would change dramatically. Nevertheless, I think this is the most likely outcome.
#3 would likely cause us to rethink our form of government and hard decisions would have to be made by those on the left and the right. Our relationship with creditor nations would irreparable. The desired form of government of the left and the right are at risk, so both the left and the right should be able to agree that default is out of the question.

My advise: Start preparing for inflation, whatever that may entail (I am still researching the best options). Hyperinflation may not happen right away, but I think it is inevitable.