SRLucado

What's wrong with having Big Government?

2011-06-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

[From a weblog I used to write.]

Someone recently asked me why I was opposed to Big Government. I guess I've been a conservative for too long--my first reaction was How can anyone *not* be opposed to it?

Still, it's a good question. After all, on the surface of things, a lot of government programs seem like a good idea. Food stamps, for example. Who wants to see people starving in the streets? Or farm subsidies. Who can be opposed to support for the family farmer, who's been tilling the land for generations?

But the problem with programs like this is that they're so broadly defined that they end up robbing the poor to give to the rich--and the definitions keep getting broader. Social Security gets paid to people who make a lot more money than I ever will; farm subsidies go to millionaires whose farm interests are marginal at best; people are getting food stamps whose biggest problem isn't malnutrition but obesity.

Well, there's a little fraud and waste in everything, I suppose. Some sharpie will always be able to work the angles. The problem gets out of hand, though, when there's nothing but angles to be worked, and the help for those who truly need it comes at a staggeringly high cost.

For example, the government spends millions of dollars a month on various anti-smoking campaigns--yet also pays subsidies to tobacco farmers.

The programs themselves need to justify their existence, so they are constantly on the lookout for more ways to interfere. A program that helps abused children will see abused children everywhere; a service that provides translation services for immigrants will try to get a law passed that requires the availability of their translators on every streetcorner.

When the providers of goods (let's use the example everyone loves to hate: prescription drugs) know that not only the costs but the prices will be paid with other people's money, they not only have no incentive to control prices, but are actively encouraged to raise prices as much as possible (regardless of costs).

So, the cost to the government skyrockets. But wait--government doesn't pay for anything. The only way they get money is by taking it from someone else. So we pay for everything through taxes. (And in case you haven't been paying attention, taxes aren't something the government is entitled to--it's our money, involuntarily taken away from us.)

If, for example, the government said, "Cars are expensive, but people need to get around, so we'll pay for everyone to have a car." Pretty soon, cars would be unthinkably expensive--not only would manufacturers make the most advanced cars they could, people would demand the best transportation available.

Imagine, though, if government simply stayed the hell out of it, and didn't subsidize things like healthcare. Would some people suffer? You bet they would. But if medical treatment priced itself right out of a market, offering drugs and treatments that no one could afford, don't you think they'd pressure themselves into finding more economical solutions? And guess what--people are suffering anyway. There's no government program on the planet that can stop people from dying--they can only slow it down. More to the point, the tax dollars that go to programs like Medicare are dollars that are taken from individuals and businesses--so those individuals and businesses can't use those dollars for other things, such as expansion, or research and development, or education, or a new home.

Then there's another dimension of the problem--the removal of freedom. Every time people turn to the government to "fix" something, they've rejected the idea that they can do it for themselves. Self-reliance is a core American characteristic (or so I always thought). Government doesn't do anything without having lots of strings attached--and the more strings you have attached to you, the less you're able to move.

These aren't simple matters, and there are no simple solutions. Turning to government, however, is one way not to do it.

The basic idea of government is to alleviate suffering and unfairness by spreading it out. Each of us hurts a little (taxes) to prevent a few people from hurting a lot (those on Medicare, people in bankruptcy, etc.). A noble idea, and in some ways achievable (roads, for example). But government has overreached itself. Now, instead of mitigating these things, it has convinced itself (and a lot of voters) that it can eliminate suffering and unfairness.

I thought that was God's purpose. Frankly, I trust Him a lot more than I do anyone in government.

Headline: Universities partner to dying save languages

2011-06-11T17:08:00.001-07:00

"Universities partner to dying save languages"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7606368.html

Including English, obviously.

Contest on Catholic Bible weblog!

2010-12-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here, check it out!
http://catholicbibles.blogspot.com/

Lowering the US carbon footprint

2010-04-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently there's a move to get the U.S.* to lower its "carbon footprint".

How much lower would it be if we sent all illegal aliens back to their native countries?

*which is becoming less "U" every day

40,000 Americans stuck in England?

2010-04-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

Too bad they're not Haitian refugees; the Navy would send an aircraft carrier to evacuate them to the US.

Obama's View of Private Industry vs. Government

2010-04-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

So, our great socialist president thinks that private industry can do a better job with the space program than NASA can?

Where was this attitude when it came to health care, financial services, the automotive industry, or mortgages?

All it means is that he thinks the space program is a waste of time; otherwise, he'd want another trillion dollars for it--and have it be under the stultifying yoke of Big Brother.

Obama's Stalingrad

2010-02-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite weblogs is Power Line; in this post, John Hinderaker refers to the necromancy of the Democratic Party with their foolishness trying to pass health care legislation that the people clearly don't want:
www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/02/025658.php

"Now the Democrats are back on health care, sort of like Napoleon returning to Waterloo."

With all due respect to John, a much better historical analogy is Hitler's assault on Stalingrad, where, to the detriment and eventual defeat of his army, he focused on capturing the city bearing Stalin's name, instead of merely bypassing it in the Blitzkrieg tradition. Month after month, Hitler poured precious divisions into the meatgrinder of the city, which Stalin was just as determined to defend--while preparing to counterattack.

Not a pretty sight in 1942, and not pretty in 2010.

About that Theology Degree...

2009-12-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I had enrolled in a place called "Catholic Distance University", and it turned out to be a mistake. A very big mistake.

To make a long story short, I withdrew from the university after I discovered multiple examples of the university plagiarizing material.

Judge for yourself:

Reviewing my 106-101 readings, I had found this paragraph, in Week Seven, Lesson 8:

"The third approach to understanding the relationship between providence and free will is the one that is officially taught by the Church. Called predestination, in its widest sense it refers to every Divine decree by which God, owing to His infallible prescience (foreknowledge) of the future, has appointed and ordained from eternity all events occurring in time. This applies especially to those which directly proceed from, or at least are influenced by man’s free will. It includes all historical events (e.g., the appearance of Charlemagne or the foundation of the United States). It includes particularly the turning points in salvation history (e.g., the mission of Moses or the election of Mary to the Divine Motherhood). In this general sense, predestination clearly identifies with the topic of this lesson, Divine Providence, and the government of the world. We may thus understand predestination on three levels."

This is from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

"Predestination (Latin præ, destinare), taken in its widest meaning, is every Divine decree by which God, owing to His infallible prescience of the future, has appointed and ordained from eternity all events occurring in time, especially those which directly proceed from, or at least are influenced by, man's free will. It includes all historical facts, as for instance the appearance of Napoleon or the foundation of the United States, and particularly the turning-points in the history of supernatural salvation, as the mission of Moses and the Prophets, or the election of Mary to the Divine Motherhood. Taken in this general sense, predestination clearly coincides with Divine Providence and with the government of the world, which do not fall within the scope of this article (see DIVINE PROVIDENCE)." (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm)

Do you think that the similarities are more than coincidental?

Subsequently, I came across another case of this in the same document. This is from the pages on Predestinarianism:

“We can reduce this heresy to two fundamental propositions which relate to each other as cause to effect. First, the absolute will of God is the sole cause of the salvation or damnation of the individual without regard to his merits or demerits. Second, as to the elect, the freedom of will is denied because of the influence of efficacious grace (see below); the reprobate is placed under the necessity of committing sin because of the absence of grace.” (Week 7, Lesson 8, page 9.)

And this is from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

“The essence of this heretical Predestinarianism may be expressed in these two fundamental propositions which bear to each other the relation of cause and effect: the absolute will of God as the sole cause of the salvation or damnation of the individual, without regard to his merits or demerits; as to the elect, it denies the freedom of the will under the influence of efficacious grace while it puts the reprobate under the necessity of committing sin in consequence of the absence of grace.”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12376b.htm

Can there be any doubt which is the original, given that one dates to 1917? Yet the course materials contain no reference to the original source. This seems a clear violation of CDU's plagiarism Rule 1, "Other people's words should never be presented as your own without acknowledging the source." (For the moment, we'll leave aside the oxymoronic wording of that sentence, which implies that if you do acknowledge the source, you can claim the words as your own.)

I also think CDU's writing on the Trinity borrows from Arendzen's "The Holy Trinity", but I haven't examined it close enough to be sure. I'm tired of doing their course QA work for them.

But you know, this isn't the really big problem. The Really Big Problem is the school's refusal to accept responsibility for this; instead, in classic shoot-the-messenger style, their response was to reprimand me for pointing it out, as though their arrogance is explanation enough.

Truly disgusting.

The Fruits of a Strong Foreign Policy

2009-11-30T14:33:00.001-08:00

1. President Obama visits China.

2. China tells America to go to hell.

3. Obama comes home, tells America to start packing.

Back to School--for a degree in Theology

2009-08-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

A few people have asked me how it's possible that at the age of fifty, I could become active in religion, especially in Catholicism?

It's not an easy question to answer; and while my story isn't particularly complex, it is long.

So to simplify it somewhat, let me answer that it is a combination of events, big and small, that have left me with no doubt.

All my life I have been on a path to some sort of faith--starting with the rather wishy-washiness of Methodism, the emptiness of various philosophies (which I'll admit I didn't study closely because none that I encountered ever held up in even the dimmest light of my observed reality), and the dry ice of atheism.

For me, there was always something missing--something that at the core could speak to both my sense of the immediate and the eternal--without treating me like an idiot (for lack of a better term).

(As an aside, a former co-worker was a fan of a particular TV preacher, and in an attempt to convert me she gave me transcripts of several of his sermons. I read them carefully, and in all honesty, I couldn't figure out what the hell he was talking about. He seemed to take some scriptural passage and wrap some vague message around it--in a way that was neither informative, inspirational, or to my mind, even remotely related to the meaning of the text, like thinking the story of the Prodigal Son was a divine endorsement of eating veal.)

When I married a Catholic girl, it opened a door to a real majesty of faith. Not just in the grandeur of Catholic churches or the solemnity of the Mass, but in the greatest kind of majesty, the sort that shines from certain individuals. In this case, the best example was my mother-in-law, a woman who had endured unspeakable horrors (made a slave-laborer by the Nazis, later married and had 12 children, and survived traumas the likes of which would crush most other people I know). Her faith never wavered despite all that happened to her. It caused me to wonder what sort of religion could instill such courage and loyalty.

Over the years of my marriage (12 and counting), I learned a little more about Catholicism, but nothing really made a serious impression on me until I read a book by Pope Benedict XVI. I had read a couple of books by JPII, and they convinced me of his piety and greatness as a man, but I never saw how that could reach me personally.

But reading "God and the World" changed my life. When I first picked it up, I expected a rather dour glimpse of a stern, dogmatic German, about as lively and engaging as a hike through Death Valley. However...I could not have been more wrong. From the very first, I was riveted by the man's intellect, candor, wisdom, insights, and above all, his abiding faith.

For the first time, I saw how a person could be both devout and a lively intellectual. (Well-educated Catholics will laugh at my naivete, but I had been raised with the typical secular view of Catholicism as repressive, medieval, and anti-intellectual.) To say that this piqued my curiosity is a vast understatement; I felt as though I had tripped over the entrance to a spiritual treasure trove.

Since reading "God and the World" in November of 2008, I have probably read fifty or sixty books on Catholicism, each one of them filling in piece of a huge, complex jigsaw puzzle. I have started attending Mass weekly, joined the Knights of Columbus, am in process of becoming confirmed, and am starting classes towards a degree in Catholic Theology.

I'm not sure where this will lead--but I am trusting to God that it will work out. (And many, many thanks to my wife for her support in this endeavor. It's not easy to have your spouse become a "religious nut" to the point of pursuing Theology as a vocation.)

I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday in Abilene...

2009-04-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

So, let me tell you about my whirlwind weekend in Fun Capital of the World, Abilene!

Friday was kind of a downer, with the funeral Mass and all--really rainy and miserable, so we spent a pretty quiet day.

Saturday, we were up at 4:30 (yes, AM) to get on the road. A leisurely drive out west, with our usual stop in Eastland for breakfast (nothing good, just McDonald's) and to stretch our legs by walking around their Walmart.

Outside, they had a bake sale, and I bought everything. Okay, not everything, just a couple of brownies, some banana bread, and some peanut butter cookies. Hey--I wasn't just being a pig, it was for a good cause!

We reached the outskirts of Abilene a little after 9:00; we killed some time cruising around town, where I hit a couple of pawn shops (found some classic DVDs for $2 each, really lit up my cheapskate nature), then went to McKay's, a great local bakery. Irene asked me if I wanted a birthday cake...I looked at her like she was nuts. Me, *not* want a birthday cake? Was she kidding?

Yes, she was, because she'd had them bake me a nice red velvet cake...it was waiting for us. That sneaky little devil! I was completely surprised. (She's so good to me; there's no joy in the world like a happy marriage.)

Being satisfied with herself for having successfully sandbagged me, we killed some more time having lunch at a local Chinese place (Szechuan) until we could check into our hotel...where we settled in and took a nap. (Really exciting, yes?)

We decided to skip dinner, since I'd nibbled on bake-sale stuff and Irene was still stuffed with whatever she'd had for lunch, so we got organized in time to get to the Civic Center for the 8:00 performance--Copland's Appalachian Spring suite and Beethoven's Ninth.

The place was nearly sold out, which is quite surprising--we've been to several Abilene Philharmonic concerts, and they're usually well-attended but nothing close to sellouts. (Beethoven brings 'em in, I guess--unless there's a big contingent of Copland fans in Abilene.)

One thing about the Abilene Philharmonic--they sing the National Anthem at the start of every concert, and the audience really belts it out. It's incredible, and beautiful, and more venues should do it. I remember as a kid going to Cubs games in Chicago, at a time when people would sing the anthem...for years afterwards, I thought that the last two words of the Star-Spangled Banner were "Play ball!"

(...Okay, dumb joke.)

The performance was wonderful, except for the audience, which coughed so much throughout that the Copland sounded more like a Concerto for Tuberculosis Ward and Orchestra. It was distracting, to be sure. (Many years ago I attended a TV taping of a Chicago Symphony concert, and before the performance they threatened us within an inch of our lives to be quiet--or leave before the start. I wish they'd do that at every concert.)

Anyway, the Beethoven was wonderful--the only mitigating factor being the relatively small size of the orchestra. During the finale, they were almost overwhelmed by the *three* combined choruses. Still, a great evening; I was left with a lump in my throat at the conclusion. Just astounding that someone stone deaf could compose anything so celestial. (If that isn't proof of a higher power, what would be?)

Sunday, we had a relaxing morning and checked out, stopped for an early lunch at an excellent local burger place (Rick & Carolyn's), then had a quiet drive home. Later, my neighbor brought over her 9-year-old grandson Robert for cake and presents (I was very touched; Robert conspired with Irene on a gift for me--I don't know why that kid likes me so much, but he's definitely the current president of my fan club.)

All in all, one of my best birthdays. Ever since my 39th, which I spent in the Emergency Room with a knee injury that put me in wheelchair for four months, any birthday I walk away from is a good one!

That's probably more than you wanted to know...but it was a good weekend. Too bad I was too busy to take any pictures!

Any day now...

2009-04-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

Our Obama, who art in Washington, Deficits be thy name.
Thy socialism come, thy will be done, On Wall Street as it is in Congress.
Give us this day our daily food stamps, and forgive us our income, as we fail to forgive those who actually create jobs.
And lead us not into bankruptcy, but deliver us from free markets.
For thine is the Oval Office, and the teleprompter, and fawning media forever and ever.
Amen.

Obama snacks...no wonder they don't sell well

2009-03-06T08:07:00.000-08:00

I saw this news story today:

"A gimmicky snack bearing a caricature of US President Barack Obama making a peace sign has gone on sale in Indonesia, but worried consumer activists are already calling for it to be banned.
The "Obama" snack packet shows a grinning Obama making a peace sign with his right hand and spinning the globe like a basketball on the fingers of his left hand."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e51d3128469e20a697ca763ff37e9031.21&show_article=1

No wonder Indonesians want them banned--they're probably too much like their namesake:
Great packaging, but nothing inside except a bill for $20,000,000,000,000 that's due in ten years.

Scott

Islamic Terror in Mumbai

2008-12-05T09:16:00.001-08:00

Ever since Vietnam, we've propagandized ourselves with the idea that nothing is worse than war, and therefore it is to be avoided at all costs.

The effectiveness of this propaganda is reflected in how unwilling countries are to face something that is really so much worse than war, and is getting worse (and more widespread) every day.

Islamic terrorism transcends borders and nationalities; it is a broad, relentless attack on civilization itself, and cannot be negotiated away, or bought off, or waited out.
How many more innocents are going to die before we wake up?

Should we bail out big auto?

2008-11-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

Should we bail out big auto?

Nope.

Sooner or later, everyone who’s made a bad decision has to take his lumps. Automakers have spent decades making bad decisions, and they’re going to have to face it.

Yeah, it’s tough to think about all those high-paying jobs being lost. But if they’re not value-added activities, they need to end.

This “bailout” is really corporate welfare, in which the rest of us get to subsidize the wages of automakers because their own efforts can’t justify their pay. Terrible idea.

I live in a city that twenty years ago went through a local depression; energy, transportation, and defense jobs went away simultaneously. It was painful - extremely so - but not ruinous. The economy diversified, some of those cyclical jobs returned, and things are better now.

So it’s far better to pay the piper and get over it than to throw good money after bad trying to perpetuate an unsustainable economic model.

Scott

Is Religion "Religulous"?

2008-10-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

The insufferable twerp Bill Maher has a movie out, "Religulous", in which he makes the point that organized religion is dangerous.

Movie critic Roger Ebert says "The movie is about organized religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, TV evangelism and even Scientology, with detours into pagan cults and ancient Egypt. Bill Maher, host, writer and debater, believes they are all crazy. He fears they could lead us prayerfully into mutual nuclear doom."

Maher's entitled to his opinion, of course, but I'd like to share something from what I saw last weekend.

My local Catholic church (I'm not a member) had its annual International Festival; it's a low-key fundraiser for the church and school. It features food booths with treats from various countries--Jordan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico (of course), Germany, and others.

Looking around, I noticed that it was an event that transcended race, gender, age, income, and any other demographic lines you'd care to name. Everyone had a good time. Parents supervised, boys and girls flirted, little kids played games, and everyone was eating a lot. The unifying factor of this diverse group was Catholicism.

I just have to think--despite Maher's concerns that religion is a negative influence, all I have to say is that it's been the atheistic cultures (Nazism, communism) that have been both the most murderous and the shortest-lived. (Cany anyone name any great culture in the history of the world that has been without worship?)

Of the atheists I've known, I've never seen any of them engage in the kind of simple community pleasures offered by this one parish's event. I've heard a lot of talk from them about tolerance and brotherhood, but frankly, I've never seen them practice the kind of tolerance I saw at this church-sponsored event.

Perhaps religion has a lot to answer for--no doubt, killing others in the name of God isn't much of a recommendation for brotherly love--but it would be a shame only to focus on the negative and ignore the long history of kindness, creativity, and even unity that religion can offer.

The First Presidential Debate

2008-09-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

I was counting Obama's stammers, pauses, "umm's", etc. throughout (I got a total of 165), and they were occuring at an increasing rate as the debate wore on, getting quite obvious at the end.

As to the Kissinger statement, I think it might have been another attempt by Obama to get a rise out of McCain (as he tried earlier with the litany of things McCain had been "wrong" about). Much to McCain's credit, he kept his cool despite the taunts.

Overall, I think Obama was clearly trying to do two things: Tie McCain to Bush and blame businesses for all economic problems. The first point is absurd, and the second reflects Obama's hostility toward capitalism.

Has anyone noticed that Obama knows nothing about how money is made? He pictures the capitalist as a misanthropic Scrooge McDuck, sitting on piles of cash while laughing at the misery of the peasants. (Even McDuck knew better than that; see 1967's "Scrooge McDuck and Money". Obama would be well-advised to watch it.)

Anyway, economic prosperity depends on business doing well, expanding its efforts, making more capital investment, hiring more workers, finding new markets around the world. Prosperity does not come from the government, which is confiscatory at its foundation.

A glaring ignorance for someone who wants to be the leader of the nation with the world's largest economy. (Note that I did not say "leader of the world's biggest economy"--I don't think that is or should be the President's job.)

Scott

Global Talent Shortage?

2008-09-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

I've read that some feel there's a shortage of talent in the global labor pool.

Here in the US, I see the problem differently: talent is plentiful; the ability to identify, develop, and retain it is what's lacking.

Companies' recruiting efforts are failing to bring in genuine talent. Instead, it's an automated game of word-match, trying to reduce sophisticated skill sets to a handful of keywords. For commodity jobs, this might work, but for the genuinely outstanding talent, it's doomed to failure.

Retention remains problematic not through lack of talented workers, but effective leaders. In this downturn, we'll see whether companies are serious about "people are our most valuable asset"--I'll bet many of these "assets" are dispensed like excess office furniture. This shows a serious lack of recognition of employees' value.

Sarah Palin and Wolf Population Control In Alaska

2008-09-18T18:18:00.001-07:00

Just for the record, I'm a hunter, a wolf supporter, and a wildlife lover. I'm also someone who will vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin, and I encourage everyone to do so.

I have learned that one of the most important factors to consider in discussing any wildlife issue is not to take our personal experiences and apply them to the rest of the world.

For example, until a few months ago, I had never visited Alaska, though I'd always wanted to.

Once I finally got there, I was impressed by a few things. For one, it's unimaginably huge (and this is coming from a guy who lives in Texas). It's also unimaginably remote. For most towns, there are no malls, no Wal-Marts, no Domino's Pizza delivery, not even any paved roads (as an example, Eagle, Alaska, a relatively major town with a population of 133, has one road in and out of town, it's unpaved, a single lane, and it's more than 100 miles to the next town, which is even smaller). Most of what you and I take for granted just isn't available to many Alaskans.

For another thing, virtually every person who lives in Alaska comes face-to-face with wildlife in ways the rest of us can't imagine--and for everyone concerned, it's not just an academic exercise. People who hunt moose do so for food; without killing one or two, it means no meat for the whole winter. The winters are long. And dark. And very, very cold.

Personally, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of killing wolves. But I understand that predator-prey relationships are important. Wolves in particular aren't just beautiful, noble hunters--they compete with people for food. And they're very good at it, too; their large numbers are evidence of that. Which is why they have to be controlled.

Palin's support of predator control isn't some arbitrary, cruel, bloodthirsty decision--it's one that is specifically intended to make sure that all wildlife thrives, and just as importantly, that Alaska's citizens (including the Native Americans) have a good opportunity to feed their families, especially through the winter. What is wrong with that?

If wolves are hunted from the air, it's because it's the only way to get at them. Again, most of Alaska has no roads at all. (Think of people who go "flightseeing" in Alaska--part of the reason to tour by airplane is for the views, but a big part is because that's the only way to get there. You can't drive; you can't take a boat; it's too hard to walk--things like mountains, rivers, and glaciers get in the way.)

Finally, let me dispel some common misconceptions about hunting. For one, hunters contribute more to wildlife conservation than any other group. Any other group. For another, people who hunt have more respect for the animals they harvest than you imagine. I have great respect for the animals I've hunted; in fact, getting started in hunting taught me more about wildlife than anything else I'd ever done. It sounds paradoxical, but I have a higher regard for deer now, after having killed a few, than I did a few years ago. (This is something that most non-hunters simply cannot understand, but it's true.)

Those of you who've eaten meat all your lives but never done the killing yourself have no idea what happens to put your meals in front of you. Let me tell you, it isn't pretty. Deliberately going out to kill an independent, beautiful animal is not an easy thing to do. Watching it die is not pleasurable. (Did you know that animals die with their eyes open? It's not like they're going to sleep. They kick, and thrash, and bleed. It's very sad, and I don't enjoy it one bit.) The first time you see--and smell--an animal cut open and butchered, it'll make you want to throw up (it did for me). But these things have to happen--someone has to do it--unless you want to eat rabbit food the rest of your life (or be a hypocrite).

Please don't impose the "morality" of your comfortable consumerism on everyone--they may not have that choice. For many Alaskans, wildlife management is literally life-or-death. And not hunting--killing a moose or caribou--means looking your kids in the eye and telling them there's nothing to eat. How would that make you feel?

Vote McCain/Palin.

Scott

P.S. Here's a link to my Alaska photo album, from earlier this year, including lots of wildlife photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/srlucado/sets/72157605530077351/

Here are some photos of local Texas wildlife (mostly deer):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/srlucado/sets/72157603508893223/

While We Await the Election, the World Doesn't Wait

2008-09-15T06:37:00.001-07:00

While our election sells a lot of newspapers (relatively speaking) and keeps a lot of pundits busy, it certainly doesn't stop world events from moving forward.

The rest of the world is not waiting with bated breath to see whether The Light-Bringer or The Maverick wins the White House; they really don't care.

Islamofascists want us all dead anyway; Russia wants hemispherical domination anyway; China is an environmental, human-rights, and economic mess anyway; Europe is sinking into oblivion anyway; the Middle East will be an unholy mess (as it's always been) anyway.

One thing's for sure...whoever wins the election (and I pray it'll be McCain), he'd better be prepared from day one to deal with a complex, dangerous world that's got flashpoints simmering darn near everywhere. Our next president had better be ready to *do something* (or a lot of somethings) - not give speeches, not take opinion polls, not look for someone to blame, not invent meaningless slogans, not count on personal charisma. The world won't wait.

Scott

Obama Spent $8M in Florida; Trails More Now Than Before

2008-09-13T20:19:00.001-07:00

Wow, good use of all those donations to Obama’s campaign.

Out of their pockets--right down the drain in a futile effort.

Sort of what the whole country could expect to happen to their tax dollars under an Obama administration.

Scott

Being Right Should Count For Something

2008-09-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Being right should count for something...but not in the liberal world. Because if being right counts for something, so does being wrong. And people like Joe Biden have been wrong on so many things (and continue to be). But that doesn’t stop them, slow them down, or even shut them up.

So, what does matter? Intent (real or imputed), of course.

Bush’s intention (according to liberals) was “blood for oil.” Bad boy. “War criminal.”

How about Obama’s intentions? Community organizer. Good boy. The fact that the community remains disorganized? Irrelevant. That the Annenberg’s $100,000,000 produced no improvement? Irrelevant. Voting “present”? Irrelevant. He means so well, don’t you see?

Scott

McCain's Convention Speech

2008-09-13T20:16:00.001-07:00

I thought his speech was okay. McCain isn’t a great speaker, but his sincerity is quite evident, and that’s worth a lot, at least to me.

I worry that presidential elections will hinge too much on who sounds better in front of a teleprompter, a sort of American Idol empty-headedness (it’s already true of one party).

We need an emotional connection to our leaders, no doubt. In fact, I believe that an emotional connection is necessary for any successful undertaking. But on its own, it’s not enough.

McCain’s emotional connection is way, way different from Obama’s. Obama acts born to it; McCain survived the crucible, and it has left its marks on him, quite literally. His discussion of imprisonment was quite moving.

To sum up, Obama is the comfort of a down pillow. McCain is the security of a good sword, tempered to be strong, flexible--and respected.

That’s what I think came across in his speech.

Scott

Outcome of the Republican Convention

2008-09-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Here’s the way I see it, from my vantage point deep in Flyover Country.

At the start of the Democratic convention, their party was about equally divided between very enthusiastic and very unsure.

At the end of their convention, they were in the same position. Maybe Obama rallied them a bit, but not convincingly so.

For the Republicans, they started their convention almost universally nervous. Not a lot of great enthusiasm for McCain (nor would they have had it for anyone, really), but a perfunctory sense that “We have to keep the tax-and-spend socialist out of the White House.” (Good enough for me, anyway.)

But at the end...well, that’s a different story. Now not only is the party energized, but there’s a lot of man-on-the-street enthusiasm for Palin, and McCain looks like he’s riding her coattails at the moment (who’d’a thunk it?).

As I said elsewhere, Palin has given America a yardstick with which to measure Obama, and he looks pretty lame by comparison. It’s as though the Dems have two VP candidates, with plenty of room at the top (if you know what I mean).

I say the conventions score big for the Republicans. Let’s hope they can keep the jump-started momentum going, and build on it.

Scott

Political Contributions vs. Expenditures

2008-09-13T20:11:00.001-07:00

McCain's campaign took in $47 million in August.

I suspect that Republican donations will increase now that the ticket is defined.

Of course, that’s only half the issue, the other half being where the money goes.

Obama continues to rake it in, but he’s burning it at a rate that would be the envy of a late-90’s internet startup. (Probably a good indication of what he’d do with tax dollars, eh?) Come October, he may wish he’d hung on to a few million of those dollars.

I hope that McCain/Palin make the most of the $47 million.

Scott

Right-wing Nutcases?

2008-09-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

(re: Hurricane Gustav & the RNC)

Apparently anyone who shows a Democrat in a moment of candor is a “nutcase”.

I guess they’re establishing precedent for sending all conservatives to re-education camps.

Left unsaid is the obvious fact that Democrats love votes, but don’t have much concern for actual voters.

Of course, since so many Chicago Democrat voters are already dead, this may explain it; perhaps the Democratic strategy is to see to it that everyone washed into the Gulf of Mexico still manages to pull the lever for Obama...several times, if necessary.

Scott

Obama's Line-by-line Analysis of the Federal Budget

2008-09-13T20:07:00.001-07:00

I keep coming back to Obama’s promise to look through the budget “line by line” to find unnecessary spending.

In a budget of whatever it is--$2,800,000,000,000 or something, that’s got to be one hell of a lot of lines. That ought to keep Obama busy reading for at least four years. Well, he can’t get into any mischief with his nose in the books.

Unless he was just lying about all that, of course.

Scott

Sarah Palin, Aristocrat?

2008-09-13T20:05:00.001-07:00

"Aristocrat” has become such a pejorative term that I think Sarah Palin would be uncomfortable with it, but she’s definitely a natural.

Maybe politics will finally learn what business has learned a long time ago--there are women who are natural leaders, natural entrepreneurs (entrepreneuses, I guess), natural stars.

Tupperware, Mary Kay, Avon, and Pampered Chef have mined these talents for decades--taking “ordinary housewives” and unleashing their hidden talents. (I was a Pampered Chef “kitchen consultant” for a year and met some truly stellar women who’d come out of nowhere.)

Maybe it’s about time the rest of the world noticed it, too.

Scott

Sarah Palin Grilled by Charlie Gibson on the Economy

2008-09-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

I adore Palin; I think she’s the best thing to happen to American politics in a generation. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to has some misgivings about her as President. As VP, though, she’s a treasure.

I also agree that her answer about the economy wasn’t great.
Here’s what I would have said:

“Improve the economy? How about a $750,000,000,000 shot in the arm, starting tomorrow? That’s what we’re paying foreign countries for their oil. Do you think that keeping that money in America would help the economy? If we were paying Americans to drill for American oil and gas, those highly-paid workers would be buying houses, cars, TVs, and other stuff; they’d be eating in restaurants, getting haircuts, going to movies, and buying stock in American companies. In other words, they’d be spending money in America, creating jobs for more Americans. Think that’d help, Charlie? I do, and that’s why I support exploration and production of American energy resources. Let’s start today. Are you with me?”

This isn’t just chatter. Where I live (Fort Worth, Texas), we’re seeing a lot of natural gas exploration. It creates jobs; the workers buy cars here, rent houses here, buy local services. In addition, the lease royalties paid to property owners is like found money (I’m getting some myself). This adds up to our local economy being quite strong, and I’ll take it over more tax-and-spend wasteful government programs any damned day of the week.

Scott

No matter what you call it...

2008-09-08T16:17:00.001-07:00

At age 25, you're unemployed.

At 35, you're between jobs.

At 45, you're considering a career change.

At 55, you're semi-retired.

At 65, you're just trying to stretch your Social Security.

But no matter what you call it, it's still that miserable state called "being out of work." And it sucks.

Sarah Palin, American

2008-09-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's funny how something that's hard to define becomes obvious once you have an appropriate measurement.

Obama, Mr. Speechmaker, all bluster and charm, sounding great but lacking any kind of substance, had a lot of voters uneasy though they didn't know why.

Now they do.

Palin can give speeches - and instantly demonstrates that she is everything Obama is not. Grounded, sincere, funny, relaxed, connected, informed, and committed - not to herself but to her family and her country.

Our democratic process produces an awful lot of lousy politicians. But every now and then...every now and then the clouds part and we see someone who will keep America great.

God, what a moment. "It's morning in America," as someone once said.

Scott

Hurricanes Aren't People

2008-08-31T17:41:00.001-07:00

News coverage of weather events is terrible; for the most part it's sensation and statement of the obvious.

"Brian, I'm standing here in the fury of Tropical Storm Britney, and it's windy and raining..."

Yeah, no kidding.

But to me, what's worse is the anthropomorphizing of storms. Right now, there are plenty of headlines like these (which are real):

Crude Oil, Gasoline Advance as Gustav Cuts Production, Refining
Gustav targets Louisiana: 'It looks like it's going to happen.'
New Orleans is abandoned as Hurricane Gustav takes aim
Is Gustav a Republican or a Democrat?

Ye gods. Hurricanes don't vote. They don't "take aim". They don't cut production. They're storms. They don't have personalities. They're events.

Is that a difficult concept for the media? Apparently.

President Obama, Utterly Harmless...

2008-08-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Let's see...in Obama's acceptance speech, he said he'd go through the federal budget "line by line".

How many lines are in the federal budget, anyway? Since the feds spend $2,800,000,000,000 a year, that's got to be one hell of a lot of lines!

I went to the the President's OMB website and downloaded some summary documents. The "Detailed budget estimates" appendix is over 1,280 pages. That's without getting into any specifics whatsoever.

The actual details must number in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pages.

Well, that ought to keep Obama busy reading for at least four years. At least that way he can't do any harm.

What to do with those empty seats in Beijing?

2008-08-20T19:15:00.001-07:00

I've been wondering...what will China do with those brand-new stadiums (okay, stadia, for you Latin fans) once the Olympics are over?

Even now, they can't get people to fill the seats for the world's biggest sporting events--what's going to happen once the torch is snuffed?

Here are some ideas:

+ Holding areas for dissidents (may not be large enough).

+ Communist Party Athletic Events (the swimming "cube" can be used for auto da fe re-education trials).

+ Convert them into giant clothing sweatshops. One 8-year-old girl and sewing machine per seat.

+ Use the "Bird's Nest" to attract a really big bird to nest there.

In the interest of international goodwill, I'll try to think of some more. Stay tuned.

Who remembers...

2008-08-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember this phrase?

"Do not fold, bend, spindle, or mutilate."

If so, you're probably over 40.

Is the Economy Really So Bad?

2008-08-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

While I have my own serious concerns about the state of the economy, I do believe that the negativity is vastly (and melodramatically) overstated by the media. I saw some network news report the other night that made passing reference to “…with the economy now in recession…”

Well, it’s technically not, of course. But why let facts get in the way of a good story, especially one that will help the Democratic party?

As for the housing crisis…well, plenty of blame to go around there. A couple of years ago, I had the hobby of reading an online forum for mortgage brokers, and I simply could not believe how that business was being run; people I wouldn’t have lent a dollar were getting jumbo mortgages based on no documentation at all. There’s no way that was going to have a happy ending, and it’s a long way from over even now.

More work, less whining will get the economy moving better than any new tax-and-spend-and-spend government initiatives.

As for “windfall profit tax”, there’s another word for it–stealing. But that’s one of government’s specialties, isn’t it?

Scott

China vs. US in Gymnastics

2008-08-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

The US team won silver, but they have nothing to feel bad about. They turned in an excellent performance.

As for the Chinese, they did well, but the only way some of those girls could be over 16 would be in dog years. I have food in my refrigerator that's older than some of those kids.

Scott

First Entry

2008-07-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well, let's see...time for a new weblog.