August 24. Happy St. Augustine's Day. (well I hope that's today and I didn't mess this up like Bachmann did Elvis What's his name)
Steve and I were listening to a very Christian-on-his-sleeves Republican the other day. He leaned over to me and said, "You know if God's not a Republican, we are in deep trouble OR we only get in by grace." But then after a pause, he noted, " But then God said, 'by the sweat of your brow, you shall work all the days of your life,' didn't he? That's not a very Democrat thing to say." Maybe God is an Independent that leans Republican most of the time.
That said, here are some of my favorite Augustine quotes. These are 1600+ years old. As fresh today as in 385 AD. And a bit of comment on government and God by yours truly.
There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future. And from this we deduce that no government should stand in the way of an individual's future with his God; yet there is no favoritism of rulers to live above the law. And in humility we elect our leaders.
If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself. (which I think defines humanism) Because the central message of the Gospel is God's salvation and grace, He turns out to be the boss, even if you can't figure out his mystery or don't like his words.
Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee. Which says that our society, our careers, our mission in life is about a lot more than making money. A lot of the dissatisfaction of those who have no faith is due to the fact that they try to fill up their lives with $$$.
Christ is not valued at all unless He is valued above all. And thus our government is under, not over, the Supreme Being and those He claims as His Children. Rights come from the Higher Power and are inalienable.
In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love. So if your secular liberal friend scoffs at Life and Liberty...
Love God and do what you like. We are called to a special purpose by God. If we value Him above all, we can be truly free. Government doesn't grant freedom, He does.
In my deepest wound I saw Your Glory and it dazzled me. Only once we see our inadequacy and desperation, can we see the stunning surprize of His undeserved kindness. And what does He consider His greatest glory? That he sought us out and saved us. Is. 43:1-11. And He does that for nations too.
If you understood Him, it would not be God. Those who consider science or politics their god have a really small god.
It is not that we keep His commandments first and that then He loves but that He loves us and then we keep His commandments. This that grace which is revealed to the humble but hidden from the proud. And maybe why the secularists hate the mere display of the 10 commandments.
Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all. Everybody thinks this comes from Shakespeare, but he was quoting Augustine. Since our real home is not of this world, we can plunge into life, risking considerably working with gusto. Try to top that, ye dictators and leftists.
Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you. Because it does depend on God who works through us. Eph. 2:10
For no one should consider anything his own, except perhaps a lie, since all truth is from Him who said, "I am the Truth." So much for the lousy modernist thinking of relative truth.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Kansas
With temperatures from 104-112, we have been sweating our way through two remodelings and needed a break. So I suggested we take the back roads to Coffeyville just to see the country. We found the most amazing antique shop/restaurant/western clothing/ junk shop on the outskirts of Tyro. Coffeyville looks really tired these days. It was discouraging. They had a downtown renewal going with high hopes 25 years ago but now that is in struggling condition. But mostly we love seeing the country.
While at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, I noticed that they are still selling copies of Frank's "What's The Matter With Kansas?". It is a political book and I like to read both conservative and liberal ideas. This one won rave reviews by the New York Times and I decided on that basis to get a copy. The guy is a native Kansas Citian who, unlike most Dems around this area, is not the least bit moderate. He begins with a chapter on Emporia. He said the town has gone downhill and all the businesses are boarded up and it has lost population. It was so alarming, that I was reading excerpts to Miss Shirley who was also expressing her shocked alarm at the text. It made us jump in the car and head to Emporia by the back roads to see what had happened. You see, I grew up 35 miles from Emporia and went shopping there every two weeks for the first 30 years of my life. And she got her master's degree in library science there.
What we found was Not Much Had Changed. The town wasn't doing any big growth like Manhattan or Stillwater or Edmond. But it was hanging in there. Downtown wasn't dying. Businesses hadn't been boarded up. We laughed all the way home about how this ninny had hoodwinked us in his book. So I began to read farther and he covered other cities, the booming Garden City whose meat packing industry has fueled growth, Kansas City, KS which has become the distribution center for the center of America and is booming as well. The Johnson county suburb of Olathe has gone from about 10,000 when I was in high school to 217,000 today.
Frank hates it vicerally. Garden City exploits hispanics. Hey! I said, my best Mex workers in our hotel were all from Garden City. One woman told about their sad life in Chihuahua, got the opportunity to legally emigrate through Catholic Church and her dad is now supervisor at a plant. Frank Really hates KC. His dad owned a humble ranch house in Overland Park, one of the richest suburbs in USA. The mansions went up around poor old papa Frank and he loathed them all. Finally he sold out at a king's ransom and the ranch house was torn down the day they signed the papers. Frank calls KC 'cupcakeland' because so many malls and chain stores have established themselves. Hunh? Doesn't that happen in all urban areas? Not by Frank's utopian vision. He wants the inner city to move out from downtown complete with graffitti artists and night life. And as for small town Americans, he wants them storm the Bastille, that is the local bankers house and come out with heads carried on pikes. At the least he doesn't understand why rural USA doesn't join the gravy train of government programs and is ticked because farmers no longer vote for the party of FDR. Whatever happened to Eugene Debs and his socialists? Whatever happened to radical farmers and Mary Yellin' of the Grange?
What amazes me more than the fibs he tells about Kansas is that he gets away with telling this to a gullible secular progressive Eastern media. The Times ate it up, thinking his book profound and captivating. It made me laugh and shake my head in wonder. And by the way, Bluestem farm and ranch supply is still there in Emporia. So is Kansas State Teachers College.
While at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, I noticed that they are still selling copies of Frank's "What's The Matter With Kansas?". It is a political book and I like to read both conservative and liberal ideas. This one won rave reviews by the New York Times and I decided on that basis to get a copy. The guy is a native Kansas Citian who, unlike most Dems around this area, is not the least bit moderate. He begins with a chapter on Emporia. He said the town has gone downhill and all the businesses are boarded up and it has lost population. It was so alarming, that I was reading excerpts to Miss Shirley who was also expressing her shocked alarm at the text. It made us jump in the car and head to Emporia by the back roads to see what had happened. You see, I grew up 35 miles from Emporia and went shopping there every two weeks for the first 30 years of my life. And she got her master's degree in library science there.
What we found was Not Much Had Changed. The town wasn't doing any big growth like Manhattan or Stillwater or Edmond. But it was hanging in there. Downtown wasn't dying. Businesses hadn't been boarded up. We laughed all the way home about how this ninny had hoodwinked us in his book. So I began to read farther and he covered other cities, the booming Garden City whose meat packing industry has fueled growth, Kansas City, KS which has become the distribution center for the center of America and is booming as well. The Johnson county suburb of Olathe has gone from about 10,000 when I was in high school to 217,000 today.
Frank hates it vicerally. Garden City exploits hispanics. Hey! I said, my best Mex workers in our hotel were all from Garden City. One woman told about their sad life in Chihuahua, got the opportunity to legally emigrate through Catholic Church and her dad is now supervisor at a plant. Frank Really hates KC. His dad owned a humble ranch house in Overland Park, one of the richest suburbs in USA. The mansions went up around poor old papa Frank and he loathed them all. Finally he sold out at a king's ransom and the ranch house was torn down the day they signed the papers. Frank calls KC 'cupcakeland' because so many malls and chain stores have established themselves. Hunh? Doesn't that happen in all urban areas? Not by Frank's utopian vision. He wants the inner city to move out from downtown complete with graffitti artists and night life. And as for small town Americans, he wants them storm the Bastille, that is the local bankers house and come out with heads carried on pikes. At the least he doesn't understand why rural USA doesn't join the gravy train of government programs and is ticked because farmers no longer vote for the party of FDR. Whatever happened to Eugene Debs and his socialists? Whatever happened to radical farmers and Mary Yellin' of the Grange?
What amazes me more than the fibs he tells about Kansas is that he gets away with telling this to a gullible secular progressive Eastern media. The Times ate it up, thinking his book profound and captivating. It made me laugh and shake my head in wonder. And by the way, Bluestem farm and ranch supply is still there in Emporia. So is Kansas State Teachers College.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Adiaphora
In the past few years, there has been so much cross-fertilization of Christian churches and that really warms my heart. Our Young Families class has lots of stories about friends and family who have been part of this. Many young people today marry someone from another background and have to find a Christian home at some new church. This week we were discussing Catholicism and it jogged my memory of a most amazing pastor and his congregation.
About 1983 (?) my Protestant denomination began a bi-annual event called the Great Commission Convocation and I was one of the attendees at the original convocation in St.Louis. The speaker who stole the show wasn't one of the leaders. It was a 20-something pastor from Corpus Christi. He was a Minnesota Swede who got assigned to Corpus Christi because he had taken high school Spanish. His church had about 20 members. It was a run-down building and when he got there, a hurricane had blown half the roof off. Church members were talking about closing down the whole enchilada. He told about how hard he prayed for that church. Sitting in his motel room he said he learned what G. K. Chesterton had said about how the army of God is a strange army which advances on it's knees.
By and by he found a group of Mexican guys who would do the roof cheap. As work progressed, he visited with them and discovered they were not regular church guys, Christmas and Easter attendees of the Catholic parish. What excuse? They hated the English services which they couldn't understand. As a lark, he told them he would do his service in both English and Spanish, thereby teaching them English if they would come. At the promise of learning better English, they thought this was a can't-lose proposition. Nobody in those days had given much thought to Hispanic ministeries.
So the Mex guys came and they loved it. And they began to tell friends. In three years the tiny church had grown to 1000 people, almost entirely Hispanics. He had 3 services now, Spanish, Spanglish and English. And he talked about some unorthodox ways he did things. When he told about how they had a rule that anyone who held office in this church had to attend a Bible Study that met minimum once a week, the crowd of convocation-goers was shocked. An elderly pastor held up his hand, "How do you get 'em to do that?" The MN Swede said, "I just tell them, if you didn't want to study the Bible, you could have just stayed Catholic." Did they have dissension? Not much, he noted. To which a Hispanic person in the crowd who knew Latin tempers asked disbelievingly, "How can you say that?"
Well, he noted, when they started, they had Catholic traditions in mind. So they would come to him with questions, "Do women need to wear chapel scarves? Do we need to fast on some days?" But he knew that a successful Christian, a successful church, needs to keep it's focus on Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him. But he didn't know the Spanish word for "It doesn't matter." So he taught them the Greek word "adiaphora" which loosely translated means "free choice". And it is really funny, he added, to see a bunch of Mex guys going around saying Adiaphora all the time. It has replaced "munyana" as the favorite word. An argument will erupt and then some guy throws up his hands and says, "Adiaphora!" Everyone grins and all is well, grace is in action.
Then he leaned back reflectingly and said, "You know, I think the reason they like adiaphora so much is because that is what it is like being American." Well put. Dinesh D'Sousa says the thing that is so compelling about America is that you are free to be your own person. You don't have to have an arranged marriage or do what your dad did. You are free to start an enterprise or try a new thing without government interference. To have freedom to choose within the context of a walk with God is the Christian sense of the word. To have freedom to choose within the context of being a responsible citizen is the American meaning. That's different than the European meaning of freedom. To many Europeans, freedom means being about to wear a shirt with an obscene gesture on it. That irresponsible free choice is crucially different than the responsible one. Irresponsible freedom storms an old prison and beheads innocent people, then celebrates the whole thing as Bastille Day every July 14. I gag when I read about the French Revolution. It is as if we had a day to celebrate the Newark and LA riots. But the American version of freedom means free choice to pursue what really matters. That's powerful stuff.
Knowing what really matters and what is "free choice" is most important for all of us.
About 1983 (?) my Protestant denomination began a bi-annual event called the Great Commission Convocation and I was one of the attendees at the original convocation in St.Louis. The speaker who stole the show wasn't one of the leaders. It was a 20-something pastor from Corpus Christi. He was a Minnesota Swede who got assigned to Corpus Christi because he had taken high school Spanish. His church had about 20 members. It was a run-down building and when he got there, a hurricane had blown half the roof off. Church members were talking about closing down the whole enchilada. He told about how hard he prayed for that church. Sitting in his motel room he said he learned what G. K. Chesterton had said about how the army of God is a strange army which advances on it's knees.
By and by he found a group of Mexican guys who would do the roof cheap. As work progressed, he visited with them and discovered they were not regular church guys, Christmas and Easter attendees of the Catholic parish. What excuse? They hated the English services which they couldn't understand. As a lark, he told them he would do his service in both English and Spanish, thereby teaching them English if they would come. At the promise of learning better English, they thought this was a can't-lose proposition. Nobody in those days had given much thought to Hispanic ministeries.
So the Mex guys came and they loved it. And they began to tell friends. In three years the tiny church had grown to 1000 people, almost entirely Hispanics. He had 3 services now, Spanish, Spanglish and English. And he talked about some unorthodox ways he did things. When he told about how they had a rule that anyone who held office in this church had to attend a Bible Study that met minimum once a week, the crowd of convocation-goers was shocked. An elderly pastor held up his hand, "How do you get 'em to do that?" The MN Swede said, "I just tell them, if you didn't want to study the Bible, you could have just stayed Catholic." Did they have dissension? Not much, he noted. To which a Hispanic person in the crowd who knew Latin tempers asked disbelievingly, "How can you say that?"
Well, he noted, when they started, they had Catholic traditions in mind. So they would come to him with questions, "Do women need to wear chapel scarves? Do we need to fast on some days?" But he knew that a successful Christian, a successful church, needs to keep it's focus on Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him. But he didn't know the Spanish word for "It doesn't matter." So he taught them the Greek word "adiaphora" which loosely translated means "free choice". And it is really funny, he added, to see a bunch of Mex guys going around saying Adiaphora all the time. It has replaced "munyana" as the favorite word. An argument will erupt and then some guy throws up his hands and says, "Adiaphora!" Everyone grins and all is well, grace is in action.
Then he leaned back reflectingly and said, "You know, I think the reason they like adiaphora so much is because that is what it is like being American." Well put. Dinesh D'Sousa says the thing that is so compelling about America is that you are free to be your own person. You don't have to have an arranged marriage or do what your dad did. You are free to start an enterprise or try a new thing without government interference. To have freedom to choose within the context of a walk with God is the Christian sense of the word. To have freedom to choose within the context of being a responsible citizen is the American meaning. That's different than the European meaning of freedom. To many Europeans, freedom means being about to wear a shirt with an obscene gesture on it. That irresponsible free choice is crucially different than the responsible one. Irresponsible freedom storms an old prison and beheads innocent people, then celebrates the whole thing as Bastille Day every July 14. I gag when I read about the French Revolution. It is as if we had a day to celebrate the Newark and LA riots. But the American version of freedom means free choice to pursue what really matters. That's powerful stuff.
Knowing what really matters and what is "free choice" is most important for all of us.
Tea Party, Lexington & Concord
This is August 2, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That is the day that John Hancock put his big John Hancock on the Declaration. It had already been published far and wide and given official sanction. And it was a couple weeks after the British drove George Washington out of Brooklyn, then Manhattan. I suppose if someone from the Lame Stream Media reads this he will howl like the dickens and claim that I don't know anything about history since he learned that the Declaration was adopted on July 4 and signed. (Wrong again. It was adopted on July 3 but not officially sent to the press until July 4.
Picky, picky, you say. Well, I always find myself hoping that people will consult the true historic record whenever some controversy arises, but I am often disappointed. The journalists, those jokers on campus we always made fun of because they barely passed any other subject than journalism classes, simply aren't interested in what's true, they incite readership with passions and then tomorrow they are on the next controversy. Drive-by media, Rush calls them.
This spring, Sarah Palin visited Washington for a Rolling Thunder parade and then went to Lexington, MA, making a statement to the media about how Paul Revere and the patriots had summoned the Minutemen with guns and church bells and warned the Brits they'd be opposed. The media pounced, saying that Palin didn't know her history. Why it was lights in the North Church and Revere warned patriots, not the Brits and, silly woman, she didn't know history (because after all, they had read the poem by Longfellow!). Palin didn't back down which surely proved that she was obstinately stupid.
She was right. I could remember only half the facts but found hers so exactly correct that I believe she may have actually read the plaques in the museum, unlike other travelers. Briefly, the story was that the Resistance leaders were Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The British were set to go to arrest them at Lexington. Joseph Warren, an underground patriot leader arranged for two horsemen to ride to warn the men when the soldiers were dispatched, so they could flee. One of the horsemen was William Dawes, the other unknown although some historians say he was a black free man. But Warren worried that neither runner would make it past the guards who ringed the city and across the Charles River. So Warren arranged for the sexton of North Church, to signal Revere across the river with one lantern hung from the steeple window if the Brits were going by land and two if by sea--which would make a difference in direction of approach to Lexington. Revere took off, met Dawes, and they met Prescott a Lexington local who knew the land and had a horse with superior night vision. The militia were summoned with church bells, cannons, and musket fire. Upon discussion, the Resistance patriots realized that the Brits had sent an alarmingly large dispatch of soldiers. And concluded correctly that this is because they intended to confiscate all the guns they could find. And so Dawes, Prescott and Revere rode for Concord to beg assistance. Dawes and Revere were caught by the British, and Revere boldly told the Brits that should they try to take the Lexington arms, 500 men would resist them. The Redcoats laughed. Revere was wrong. There were 314. The 1700 British soldiers easily defeated them. But Prescott made it to Concord. Again, church bells and guns summoned farmers far and wide who had trained extensively for just such a contingency. When the British regulars marched on Concord, they met a much better organized militia of 2000 Americans who repulsed them at Concord Bridge. As the Redcoats retreated to Boston, Americans armed with long-barreled muskets accurate for hunting deer, inflicted severe casualties in guerilla tactics. Brits lost 100 men, mainly officers, and had at least that many wounded, against far fewer American casualties.
I'll let the reader consider whether Palin or her critics were right.
Now here comes the recent demonism of the Tea Party movement and my old false hope that we will again get historic facts straight. Media says the original Tea Party was a 'mob' just like today.
The Tea Party was 3 years before the war and was organized meticulously, not by a mob, but by those who opposed taxation. Taxes, in those days were a rare form of government fee. Only nobles were taxed and then in time of war as a national emergency. But following the expensive French and Indian War (Europe--7 Years War), Parliament decided that the American colonies should pay for it, all people, not just nobility. That's why our ancestors were angry over 1/2 percent Stamp tax--which upon protests was repealed. But the Tea tax was passed as a replacement. And with no recourse except to protest this, Bostonians organized to board a British East India vessel and dump the tea overboard. They were particularly careful about damaging the ship and stopped to repair a few parts they had damaged in the process. Leaders shook down participants to make sure they weren't pocketing some tea for personal use.
George Washington thought the Tea Party was a disgrace. So did Ben Franklin. They demanded the Partiers re-imburse the hapless East India Company and it was agreed they would do it. Just like the Tea Party today,the movement consisted of thoughtful individuals who weren't about to act against moral principles. Just like the well-planned resistance at Lexington and Concord, they thought it through and acted responsibly. The Tea Party today asks the government to live within its means. While that seems like the most mundane and uncontestable of assertions, that guy who is one heartbeat away from the Presidency called them Terrorists and Hostage-Takers. The MSM has piled-on, repeating the derision of Hobbits and Mob Rioters. Hunh?
This tells you more about the Democrats and Media allies than about the Tea Party. It shows that the Dems have spiraled down into leftist vitriol. I long for the old days when the Democrats were just normal people who wanted more of a safety net. Today, the Dems scream obscenities as they take our nation's economy and currency down. The Wisconsin capital reminded me more of the LA riots than democracy. The debt ceiling agreement asks for 2.5% cuts annually as the baseline of federal spending increases 8% leaving a net 5.5% increase atop an already horrendous deficit. They intend to double the size of the IRS which has already doubled audits from 2 years ago.
This seems the time for ordinary citizens to organize like Lexington and Concord. As we have a say at the ballot box, we must work to save our country there in Nov. 2012. Start polishing your weapons.
Picky, picky, you say. Well, I always find myself hoping that people will consult the true historic record whenever some controversy arises, but I am often disappointed. The journalists, those jokers on campus we always made fun of because they barely passed any other subject than journalism classes, simply aren't interested in what's true, they incite readership with passions and then tomorrow they are on the next controversy. Drive-by media, Rush calls them.
This spring, Sarah Palin visited Washington for a Rolling Thunder parade and then went to Lexington, MA, making a statement to the media about how Paul Revere and the patriots had summoned the Minutemen with guns and church bells and warned the Brits they'd be opposed. The media pounced, saying that Palin didn't know her history. Why it was lights in the North Church and Revere warned patriots, not the Brits and, silly woman, she didn't know history (because after all, they had read the poem by Longfellow!). Palin didn't back down which surely proved that she was obstinately stupid.
She was right. I could remember only half the facts but found hers so exactly correct that I believe she may have actually read the plaques in the museum, unlike other travelers. Briefly, the story was that the Resistance leaders were Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The British were set to go to arrest them at Lexington. Joseph Warren, an underground patriot leader arranged for two horsemen to ride to warn the men when the soldiers were dispatched, so they could flee. One of the horsemen was William Dawes, the other unknown although some historians say he was a black free man. But Warren worried that neither runner would make it past the guards who ringed the city and across the Charles River. So Warren arranged for the sexton of North Church, to signal Revere across the river with one lantern hung from the steeple window if the Brits were going by land and two if by sea--which would make a difference in direction of approach to Lexington. Revere took off, met Dawes, and they met Prescott a Lexington local who knew the land and had a horse with superior night vision. The militia were summoned with church bells, cannons, and musket fire. Upon discussion, the Resistance patriots realized that the Brits had sent an alarmingly large dispatch of soldiers. And concluded correctly that this is because they intended to confiscate all the guns they could find. And so Dawes, Prescott and Revere rode for Concord to beg assistance. Dawes and Revere were caught by the British, and Revere boldly told the Brits that should they try to take the Lexington arms, 500 men would resist them. The Redcoats laughed. Revere was wrong. There were 314. The 1700 British soldiers easily defeated them. But Prescott made it to Concord. Again, church bells and guns summoned farmers far and wide who had trained extensively for just such a contingency. When the British regulars marched on Concord, they met a much better organized militia of 2000 Americans who repulsed them at Concord Bridge. As the Redcoats retreated to Boston, Americans armed with long-barreled muskets accurate for hunting deer, inflicted severe casualties in guerilla tactics. Brits lost 100 men, mainly officers, and had at least that many wounded, against far fewer American casualties.
I'll let the reader consider whether Palin or her critics were right.
Now here comes the recent demonism of the Tea Party movement and my old false hope that we will again get historic facts straight. Media says the original Tea Party was a 'mob' just like today.
The Tea Party was 3 years before the war and was organized meticulously, not by a mob, but by those who opposed taxation. Taxes, in those days were a rare form of government fee. Only nobles were taxed and then in time of war as a national emergency. But following the expensive French and Indian War (Europe--7 Years War), Parliament decided that the American colonies should pay for it, all people, not just nobility. That's why our ancestors were angry over 1/2 percent Stamp tax--which upon protests was repealed. But the Tea tax was passed as a replacement. And with no recourse except to protest this, Bostonians organized to board a British East India vessel and dump the tea overboard. They were particularly careful about damaging the ship and stopped to repair a few parts they had damaged in the process. Leaders shook down participants to make sure they weren't pocketing some tea for personal use.
George Washington thought the Tea Party was a disgrace. So did Ben Franklin. They demanded the Partiers re-imburse the hapless East India Company and it was agreed they would do it. Just like the Tea Party today,the movement consisted of thoughtful individuals who weren't about to act against moral principles. Just like the well-planned resistance at Lexington and Concord, they thought it through and acted responsibly. The Tea Party today asks the government to live within its means. While that seems like the most mundane and uncontestable of assertions, that guy who is one heartbeat away from the Presidency called them Terrorists and Hostage-Takers. The MSM has piled-on, repeating the derision of Hobbits and Mob Rioters. Hunh?
This tells you more about the Democrats and Media allies than about the Tea Party. It shows that the Dems have spiraled down into leftist vitriol. I long for the old days when the Democrats were just normal people who wanted more of a safety net. Today, the Dems scream obscenities as they take our nation's economy and currency down. The Wisconsin capital reminded me more of the LA riots than democracy. The debt ceiling agreement asks for 2.5% cuts annually as the baseline of federal spending increases 8% leaving a net 5.5% increase atop an already horrendous deficit. They intend to double the size of the IRS which has already doubled audits from 2 years ago.
This seems the time for ordinary citizens to organize like Lexington and Concord. As we have a say at the ballot box, we must work to save our country there in Nov. 2012. Start polishing your weapons.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
chicken feed
Okay, you are good at math. Try this one. If the Boehner bill becomes law it promises to raise the debt ceiling $900 billion (.9 trillion). If the current debt ceiling is $14.3 T, what will be the new debt ceiling? Answer: $16.3T. That is because of automatic baselining. Each year the fed gov't assumes that the next year's budget will grow by some percentage. It is now around 10% per year. So if you do that for 10 years, you accumulate $1.1T of extra spending needed automatically. 14.3T+.9T+1.1T=16.3T. Welcome to government math. So Boehner's $915 billion in accumulated 10 year spending is nicely counteracted by the increase of baseline. Looks like Washington has snookered us again. We need to elect someone who institutes Zero Baseline Budgeting in 2012.
A chicken has the ability to survive on most any seeds or grains for a diet. For that reason the traditional farming of chickens simply consists of letting them out of the chicken house to roam the farmstead and clean up spilled grain and eat weeds and seeds. But if inclement weather keeps the chicken couped, the farmer can scoop up the grain in the driveway of the granary or barn, dirt, gravel and all and toss it to the chickens. They will pick it clean. For that reason, when something is of little value or meager, the expression, "chicken feed" is used to describe it. We are going to get chicken feed budget cuts from Washington. When the government runs an annual $1.6T budget deficit and the best deal the House can get is about $90 billion in annual cuts, it will be almost imperceptible-- 2% of the entire budget. Chicken feed.
A soldier would just say "nuts", and tell the Democrats "I ain't voting for anything." Retreat, regroup, launch a later offensive. Indeed it might seem better to simply let Obluffer go on spending and ruining our credit rating since we are so powerless to stop the spending. But of course that might damage our nation's economy for years to come with high interest rates and runaway entitlements. This truly is a time of a silent national crisis.
More worrisome than the debt however is what Obluster told La Raza recently. Beck had this on his website glennbeck.com. He said he was very tempted to take matters into his own hands, i.e., operate dictatorially. La Raza, the socialist outfit of Mexican Nationalists who want USA to hand over everything from Texas and Colorado to California over to Mexico, wildly cheered and applauded the Prez.
You know I really don't fear Obama and his dictatorship daydreams so much. Who I fear is the real dictator who is serious about taking over this country and uses Obama's precedents of taking over auto companies and controlling banks. Of using the peronistas--those who pay no taxes--to riot in the streets. Of his methods of hooking so many people on government assistance, medicine, pensions, and jobs, that they look to the government for all that matters. Of his use of the EPA and agencies to hyper-regulate and make businessmen criminals for trying to do business. And I fear those who will stand and applaud and cheer wildly as this takes place.
A chicken has the ability to survive on most any seeds or grains for a diet. For that reason the traditional farming of chickens simply consists of letting them out of the chicken house to roam the farmstead and clean up spilled grain and eat weeds and seeds. But if inclement weather keeps the chicken couped, the farmer can scoop up the grain in the driveway of the granary or barn, dirt, gravel and all and toss it to the chickens. They will pick it clean. For that reason, when something is of little value or meager, the expression, "chicken feed" is used to describe it. We are going to get chicken feed budget cuts from Washington. When the government runs an annual $1.6T budget deficit and the best deal the House can get is about $90 billion in annual cuts, it will be almost imperceptible-- 2% of the entire budget. Chicken feed.
A soldier would just say "nuts", and tell the Democrats "I ain't voting for anything." Retreat, regroup, launch a later offensive. Indeed it might seem better to simply let Obluffer go on spending and ruining our credit rating since we are so powerless to stop the spending. But of course that might damage our nation's economy for years to come with high interest rates and runaway entitlements. This truly is a time of a silent national crisis.
More worrisome than the debt however is what Obluster told La Raza recently. Beck had this on his website glennbeck.com. He said he was very tempted to take matters into his own hands, i.e., operate dictatorially. La Raza, the socialist outfit of Mexican Nationalists who want USA to hand over everything from Texas and Colorado to California over to Mexico, wildly cheered and applauded the Prez.
You know I really don't fear Obama and his dictatorship daydreams so much. Who I fear is the real dictator who is serious about taking over this country and uses Obama's precedents of taking over auto companies and controlling banks. Of using the peronistas--those who pay no taxes--to riot in the streets. Of his methods of hooking so many people on government assistance, medicine, pensions, and jobs, that they look to the government for all that matters. Of his use of the EPA and agencies to hyper-regulate and make businessmen criminals for trying to do business. And I fear those who will stand and applaud and cheer wildly as this takes place.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Painting your house
I'm going to send a shortened version of this to the newspaper for an editorial.
Some folks have told me that EPA overreach will not be an issue in the next election. I disagree and though it won't be the main thrust, I think it should be highlighted as an example of the dictatorial bureaucracy that is being set up to snuff dissent in the future.
So you want to paint your old house? Not your residence but perhaps your rental house, your cabin by the lake or your business is what you have in mind. Well, you can't unless it is post 1978 in construction and won't have children more than 6 hours per week. For example, a day care or school obviously falls in this category. Maybe your little shop on mainstreet can argue its way clear of this regulation. It takes a pro who has Lead-Safe Certification. He will have correct equipment (Hazmat suit, disposable headgear and shoe covers, and P100 respirator), training (all day EPA course), license, testing equipment, and know-how to set up containment and abatement procedures.
This "act" went into effect over a year ago, but until recently was not enforced and no fines were given. But since the first of the year, draconian fines have been handed out to many contractors and individuals. What? You say you must have missed the Congressional vote on this new law? No, you didn't. There was no vote. It is simply done by executive fiat--EPA wrote regulations that required Lead-Safe. Homeowners can still paint their primary residence. Cleverly the bureaucrats have also exempted work done by charities where volunteers do work and receive no remuneration. Think about the tornados in Tuscaloosa or Joplin. If Lead Safe practices were required, the costs would be astronomical and vols could never do any relief work. Politically, that would be hard to defend. But what about folks like the Laborers For Christ who built much of a recent church project for my church? They ask for minimum wages in order to buy accident insurance for the volunteers who otherwise go to great personal expense to help with these projects. No, they have to get certified and follow EPA rules. They are paid. Bottom line: if you are an evil businessman, you have to follow the rules.
Suppose you simply disregard the Lead-Safe rules and get caught painting your wife's day care in your pre-1978 home (doesn't matter if the day care is in the new addition. It depends on when property was first built.) ? Fines are levied up to $32,500 PER JOB and $3750 PER DAY out of compliance. The days when dad handed his son a paintbrush and taught him to paint are fading. But say you just shrug and hire a pro? Costs are headed up dramatically to reflect the added procedures. And this doesn't affect painters only. It affects ANYONE who disturbs more than 6 square feet of lead painted surface doing a job. (2 s.f. if a HUD project) This applies especially to window installers who remove trim boards in order to install a new window. I am not certain about this but the EPA class instructor seemed to indicate that window jobs are covered no matter how small the square footage. It also pertains to heat and air, plumbing, carpenters, electricians and anyone doing construction. Weirdest of all is roofers. How, you might wonder, would a roofer disturb lead paint? If he puts on drip edge, he might flake off paint and then the entire facia board is counted as 'disturbed'. The ground under eves must be draped with plastic or tarps out 20 feet from the house--and cannot be reused. (Plus vertical drapes if there is wind. Is there ever 'no wind' in Oklahoma?) I asked the instructor what happens when there are shrubs around the house? He noted that those have to be draped well enough to be sealed. Don't think your roofer will do this for free. Once repairs are made, the certified Lead Safe technician must keep a log of the entire project including proof of cleaning (pictures) and cannot clear more than 40 s.f. of surface with an appliance before discarding.
As a conscientious landlord, I've acquired the training ($275 class) and license ($300). Lead poisoning is a bad hazard. But I disagree with EPA in many ways. Their pamphlet, which I am to distribute to all renters, "The Truth About Lead Paint Poisoning" says, "Once poisoned, it's for life and can never be reversed." That's a baldfaced lie. Lead Chelation Therapy has been used by physicians for years to cleanse people of lead. I have a friend who got a dire, near-death case of lead poisoning 30 years ago. And after chelation, is doing quite well, arguing spiritedly with me at nearly age 80. So I asked the EPA communications director for USA Southwest Region about that statement. He vacillated with what to say and told me that if I looked at other EPA literature, they state, "the effects of lead poisoning can never be reversed." Which is to say that the psychological trauma will always be remembered even after chelation. I would say that their pamphlet is a scare tactic. Now think, if lead poisoning was a common and pernicious hazard, why didn't the federal government declare that all old houses had to be tested and stripped accordingly? This would have provided the ultimate shovel ready stimulus plan, providing jobs in the moribund construction industry for several years! In fact the National Assoc. of Home Builders alleges exactly that logic in a lawsuit over EPA rules.
Most contractors who have been forced to comply saythe reg is just a means of shaking down the tradesmen for high fees. I asked, who enforces this? EPA answer: We are asking people to turn others in. This has caused much consternation and back-stabbing on the part of competitors in large metro areas. It will surely spred to small towns like ours. But when you hear about "neighbors turning in neighbors" does this remind you of Soviets or Nazis? I refuse to turn in other landlords or contractors. Heck, if they don't know how to do the Lead-Safe stuff, I would volunteer for that part of their job. Around here, we are all doing our best to just make a living! So talking to the contractors who took the course with me, I have discovered that the 3 main snitches are some neighbor or another contractor who doesn't like the guy who got the job, or some neighbor who doesn't like the construction next door, or disgruntled employees. It's a great way to enforce something important!
So what if a renter scrapes and paints without approval? He is held harmless but the landlord is held responsible if the rug rat ingests paint flakes. (But that is because we are evil businessmen) What I am going to do to combat the EPA is start a revolution among my renters. As I hand out my brochures, it will be accompanied with estimates of how much of their rents are due to the EPA, and if they want cheaper rents they need to vote the party of Big Government Control out. It won't change anything in OK, already a red state, but I would love to see this become a nationwide campaign.
If we don't get EPA under control, it will certainly illuminate a precedent for how some future socialist can gain control by using the bureaucracy. Because tyranny doesn't stop. No tyrant wakes up one morning and says, "Well, that's enough tyranny. I won't do that anymore." Already our Mayor Nicholson tells about how EPA is standing by with a regulation that would require every incorporated town in America to catch all storm water and then treat it before releasing it into rivers. He calls such regulation "crazy" as does Representative Frank Lucas. How could such a rule be done? Have they not seen our inability to control storm water like Katrina or Minot? Farmers will soon face fines for creating dust (and counties with dirt/gravel roads too). Insecticide spraying must not have more than 1 foot of drift. Good-bye crop dusting industry! Many of these regulations are scheduled for Jan. 2013.
All these EPA rules have one common thread. They all hit hard at small town America or rural America. Now think. Farmers vote 85% Republican. Small towns are lopsided bastions of non-Democrat voters. Looks like a political vendetta to me. What do we need? Someone to pull the plug on EPA would be a good start. Congressional hearings would be lesser but good for those who have less fortitude to stand up to bureaucrats run amuck. Americans need to be educated to what is happening to their freedom.
Some folks have told me that EPA overreach will not be an issue in the next election. I disagree and though it won't be the main thrust, I think it should be highlighted as an example of the dictatorial bureaucracy that is being set up to snuff dissent in the future.
So you want to paint your old house? Not your residence but perhaps your rental house, your cabin by the lake or your business is what you have in mind. Well, you can't unless it is post 1978 in construction and won't have children more than 6 hours per week. For example, a day care or school obviously falls in this category. Maybe your little shop on mainstreet can argue its way clear of this regulation. It takes a pro who has Lead-Safe Certification. He will have correct equipment (Hazmat suit, disposable headgear and shoe covers, and P100 respirator), training (all day EPA course), license, testing equipment, and know-how to set up containment and abatement procedures.
This "act" went into effect over a year ago, but until recently was not enforced and no fines were given. But since the first of the year, draconian fines have been handed out to many contractors and individuals. What? You say you must have missed the Congressional vote on this new law? No, you didn't. There was no vote. It is simply done by executive fiat--EPA wrote regulations that required Lead-Safe. Homeowners can still paint their primary residence. Cleverly the bureaucrats have also exempted work done by charities where volunteers do work and receive no remuneration. Think about the tornados in Tuscaloosa or Joplin. If Lead Safe practices were required, the costs would be astronomical and vols could never do any relief work. Politically, that would be hard to defend. But what about folks like the Laborers For Christ who built much of a recent church project for my church? They ask for minimum wages in order to buy accident insurance for the volunteers who otherwise go to great personal expense to help with these projects. No, they have to get certified and follow EPA rules. They are paid. Bottom line: if you are an evil businessman, you have to follow the rules.
Suppose you simply disregard the Lead-Safe rules and get caught painting your wife's day care in your pre-1978 home (doesn't matter if the day care is in the new addition. It depends on when property was first built.) ? Fines are levied up to $32,500 PER JOB and $3750 PER DAY out of compliance. The days when dad handed his son a paintbrush and taught him to paint are fading. But say you just shrug and hire a pro? Costs are headed up dramatically to reflect the added procedures. And this doesn't affect painters only. It affects ANYONE who disturbs more than 6 square feet of lead painted surface doing a job. (2 s.f. if a HUD project) This applies especially to window installers who remove trim boards in order to install a new window. I am not certain about this but the EPA class instructor seemed to indicate that window jobs are covered no matter how small the square footage. It also pertains to heat and air, plumbing, carpenters, electricians and anyone doing construction. Weirdest of all is roofers. How, you might wonder, would a roofer disturb lead paint? If he puts on drip edge, he might flake off paint and then the entire facia board is counted as 'disturbed'. The ground under eves must be draped with plastic or tarps out 20 feet from the house--and cannot be reused. (Plus vertical drapes if there is wind. Is there ever 'no wind' in Oklahoma?) I asked the instructor what happens when there are shrubs around the house? He noted that those have to be draped well enough to be sealed. Don't think your roofer will do this for free. Once repairs are made, the certified Lead Safe technician must keep a log of the entire project including proof of cleaning (pictures) and cannot clear more than 40 s.f. of surface with an appliance before discarding.
As a conscientious landlord, I've acquired the training ($275 class) and license ($300). Lead poisoning is a bad hazard. But I disagree with EPA in many ways. Their pamphlet, which I am to distribute to all renters, "The Truth About Lead Paint Poisoning" says, "Once poisoned, it's for life and can never be reversed." That's a baldfaced lie. Lead Chelation Therapy has been used by physicians for years to cleanse people of lead. I have a friend who got a dire, near-death case of lead poisoning 30 years ago. And after chelation, is doing quite well, arguing spiritedly with me at nearly age 80. So I asked the EPA communications director for USA Southwest Region about that statement. He vacillated with what to say and told me that if I looked at other EPA literature, they state, "the effects of lead poisoning can never be reversed." Which is to say that the psychological trauma will always be remembered even after chelation. I would say that their pamphlet is a scare tactic. Now think, if lead poisoning was a common and pernicious hazard, why didn't the federal government declare that all old houses had to be tested and stripped accordingly? This would have provided the ultimate shovel ready stimulus plan, providing jobs in the moribund construction industry for several years! In fact the National Assoc. of Home Builders alleges exactly that logic in a lawsuit over EPA rules.
Most contractors who have been forced to comply saythe reg is just a means of shaking down the tradesmen for high fees. I asked, who enforces this? EPA answer: We are asking people to turn others in. This has caused much consternation and back-stabbing on the part of competitors in large metro areas. It will surely spred to small towns like ours. But when you hear about "neighbors turning in neighbors" does this remind you of Soviets or Nazis? I refuse to turn in other landlords or contractors. Heck, if they don't know how to do the Lead-Safe stuff, I would volunteer for that part of their job. Around here, we are all doing our best to just make a living! So talking to the contractors who took the course with me, I have discovered that the 3 main snitches are some neighbor or another contractor who doesn't like the guy who got the job, or some neighbor who doesn't like the construction next door, or disgruntled employees. It's a great way to enforce something important!
So what if a renter scrapes and paints without approval? He is held harmless but the landlord is held responsible if the rug rat ingests paint flakes. (But that is because we are evil businessmen) What I am going to do to combat the EPA is start a revolution among my renters. As I hand out my brochures, it will be accompanied with estimates of how much of their rents are due to the EPA, and if they want cheaper rents they need to vote the party of Big Government Control out. It won't change anything in OK, already a red state, but I would love to see this become a nationwide campaign.
If we don't get EPA under control, it will certainly illuminate a precedent for how some future socialist can gain control by using the bureaucracy. Because tyranny doesn't stop. No tyrant wakes up one morning and says, "Well, that's enough tyranny. I won't do that anymore." Already our Mayor Nicholson tells about how EPA is standing by with a regulation that would require every incorporated town in America to catch all storm water and then treat it before releasing it into rivers. He calls such regulation "crazy" as does Representative Frank Lucas. How could such a rule be done? Have they not seen our inability to control storm water like Katrina or Minot? Farmers will soon face fines for creating dust (and counties with dirt/gravel roads too). Insecticide spraying must not have more than 1 foot of drift. Good-bye crop dusting industry! Many of these regulations are scheduled for Jan. 2013.
All these EPA rules have one common thread. They all hit hard at small town America or rural America. Now think. Farmers vote 85% Republican. Small towns are lopsided bastions of non-Democrat voters. Looks like a political vendetta to me. What do we need? Someone to pull the plug on EPA would be a good start. Congressional hearings would be lesser but good for those who have less fortitude to stand up to bureaucrats run amuck. Americans need to be educated to what is happening to their freedom.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
EPA regulations
Obama is going to lose in 2012. A week ago, I wrote he would lose because of economic problems. But even if he magically gets past that, the Republican candidate should skewer him on his EPA policies which go beyond absurd and target rural areas and farming. These edicts are so stunningly looney, that I believe even someone in an urban area would choke on the overreach, especially if it is pointed out that the real poor in America are those who live in rural areas. It's Obamacare Reaction all over again. Go after Obama for abusing the rural poor the way Dems have so often gone after Republicans for hurting the poor. So here's a little quicky speech I would write for a candidate.
"Barack Obama didn't get Cap and Trade. So he decided to implement his version of environmentalism by executive dictate. For example, cities will now have to capture all their runoff storm water and treat it. Imagine how difficult this will be, even for an urban city. How is New Orleans supposed to catch all the hurricane storm water? I catch myself wondering who would write such an outlandish regulation. Someone with no sense of reality? Now think about those small towns and tiny hamlets in our countryside. Is a town of 50 people supposed to catch their rainwater and install a treatment plant that they can't even afford for their drinking water? The poorest people in America live in rural America. Why are we picking on them?"
"The EPA has new rules to curb dust. They don't like farmers plowing fields and they don't like dusty roads. Kick up a cloud and you get fined. Never mind that dust is heavy particulates and non-toxic. It's just dirt! How can you farm and not have dust? They have a new ban on burning in agriculture. This will not only make farming prohibitive and drive up the cost of food as never before. It is unsound ecology. Good stewardship of grasslands and forests requires burning to control brush and diseased tree stands. It's safer than pesticides. Elect Obama again and you'll see these natural landscapes die. Farmers and foresters make a living on these resources and they are already maintaining them far better than a foolish federal government."
"There is a now a regulation for sprayer drift. If you spray crops, the sprayer drift cannot exceed one foot. In practice it is impossible to limit drift to these dimensions. Ever watch a crop duster? Another rule re-classifies milk as an oil substance. A farmer who spills milk had better cry. He must now go through the same kind of rigorous environmental clean-up that a big oil company does."
"Maybe we need to stop asking what kind of an ivory tower nitwit wrote and approved these rules and ask, Why? All these jaw-dropping regulations are aimed at rural America. Rural areas don't vote for Obama and this is Chicago-style hardball payback politics. You and I, we never voted for these regulations. Congress never voted for them. They are done by executive order. And rural America constitutes the poorest people in our country, the least able to pay the EPA's extortion. I call on Obama to call off the dogs. Stop this vindictive campaign against rural folks. They don't ask for much. They work hard. They are still the backbone of America. This kind of partisan tit-for-tat is the last thing our country needs. It is old style political payback that we are tired of. Rural America needs jobs, Mr. President , not worn out politics and rules enforced by fiat. We need a new approach and a new leader."
"Barack Obama didn't get Cap and Trade. So he decided to implement his version of environmentalism by executive dictate. For example, cities will now have to capture all their runoff storm water and treat it. Imagine how difficult this will be, even for an urban city. How is New Orleans supposed to catch all the hurricane storm water? I catch myself wondering who would write such an outlandish regulation. Someone with no sense of reality? Now think about those small towns and tiny hamlets in our countryside. Is a town of 50 people supposed to catch their rainwater and install a treatment plant that they can't even afford for their drinking water? The poorest people in America live in rural America. Why are we picking on them?"
"The EPA has new rules to curb dust. They don't like farmers plowing fields and they don't like dusty roads. Kick up a cloud and you get fined. Never mind that dust is heavy particulates and non-toxic. It's just dirt! How can you farm and not have dust? They have a new ban on burning in agriculture. This will not only make farming prohibitive and drive up the cost of food as never before. It is unsound ecology. Good stewardship of grasslands and forests requires burning to control brush and diseased tree stands. It's safer than pesticides. Elect Obama again and you'll see these natural landscapes die. Farmers and foresters make a living on these resources and they are already maintaining them far better than a foolish federal government."
"There is a now a regulation for sprayer drift. If you spray crops, the sprayer drift cannot exceed one foot. In practice it is impossible to limit drift to these dimensions. Ever watch a crop duster? Another rule re-classifies milk as an oil substance. A farmer who spills milk had better cry. He must now go through the same kind of rigorous environmental clean-up that a big oil company does."
"Maybe we need to stop asking what kind of an ivory tower nitwit wrote and approved these rules and ask, Why? All these jaw-dropping regulations are aimed at rural America. Rural areas don't vote for Obama and this is Chicago-style hardball payback politics. You and I, we never voted for these regulations. Congress never voted for them. They are done by executive order. And rural America constitutes the poorest people in our country, the least able to pay the EPA's extortion. I call on Obama to call off the dogs. Stop this vindictive campaign against rural folks. They don't ask for much. They work hard. They are still the backbone of America. This kind of partisan tit-for-tat is the last thing our country needs. It is old style political payback that we are tired of. Rural America needs jobs, Mr. President , not worn out politics and rules enforced by fiat. We need a new approach and a new leader."
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