Who and What are We Afraid Of?

Do you ever wonder why with all of the questionable decisions by our President, government and lawmakers that almost no one is standing up and saying "what the heck is going on"? I hear lot of people talking about it, but I see almost no done actively try to stop it. Why is that? Is it we are too busy? Is it we want someone else to do it so we don't have to "get involved"?

I will tell you what I think it is and it comes from a saying you have heard before. "The best way for evil to overcome good, is for good people to do nothing" Are you saying to yourself right now, "well that's not me, I am doing my part" Really? What "part" are you doing? Is this another case of "I don't care who else's ox gets gored as long as it isn't mine? When was the last time you challenged an elected official about "anything"?

If we go over the "fiscal cliff" you can bet your ox is going to get gored. Now don't get defensive! Its both parties so lets not start pointing fingers. In fact I believe that what has caused most of this is that our elected officials and "we the people" have set in motion a "we versus they" mentality in this nation to the point there is no "us". It is so easy to talk blame when those being blamed have a title or name. Why are we so anxious to set up mechanisms that foster division rather than unity? From football rivalries to politics we delight in "putting it to" the other side.

If we stand up who is going to "get" us? Our friends who disagree with us? Why can't we even have a conversation anymore without being concerned about hurting someones feelings? Is the government going to get us, the IRS, the FBI or NSA? Just who are we afraid of that makes us keep out mouths shut? If we don't start talking with each other about all this, there soon won't be anything to talk about because those that would control us will have won by our own default. Thank about it!!

IOWA - Much ado about nothing!

TV talking head political pundits say things only for one reason. To get you to watch. It doesn't have to be truthful, politically correct or reasonable as long as it is designed to get talked about. What is at stake in Iowa? Not much. Iowans would like you to believe that they set the trend for who will eventually be the Republican nominee. History is not on the side of that argument. They love all that attention until they get sick and tired of all that attention. Now which way do you want it? As of today 41% say they could change their minds by tomorrow. Boy they sure are decision makers. Why haven't they been able to make up their minds? Sounds like they don't know how to or that they have to check and see which way the wind blows tomorrow. Talk about flip flopper's, where is all the angst about that among the Iowa caucus goers. At least we get the chance to question the candidates about their changes of mind!

If we end up with a statistical dead heat where there is only 2 or 3 percentage points between the top two or three, those three will go on to New Hampshire and the rest of the field will for all intents and purposes be finished. Remember "it's the economy stupid"?  Well in this Republican Presidential race "it's the DELEGATES, stupid". For better or worse the Republicans don't do "winner takes all"! We could go to the convention with someone who won all the Primaries and still get a different nominee, after the first ballot! The Republicans have tried to design a system that allows for a person to get the delegates, who they don't like, Mitt Romney for instance, and still decide who will be the nominee "because those poor dumb primary voters didn't get it right".

Drama, it's all about drama! The candidates understand how the system works even if the public doesn't. That's why some, if they have the money, may try and hang on after Iowa in hopes of getting to a brokered convention. So unless one candidate just blows out the field in the primaries, the political bosses can still get their way. So go ahead Iowa and play those silly games you do for TV coverage. And for those of you who sit on the sidelines "because you just can't make up your mind", move to Iowa!

The Most Unbiased, Scientific and Accurate Poll, Maybe

The political winds and the fortunes of the different candidates for the Republican presidential nomination have certainly been changing. Each day you turn on the news and someone has moved up or down in the polls or has disappeared altogether. Polls for the most part are amazingly accurate, for that moment in time, but as we have seen in the past, affected somewhat by who is doing the polling. So I thought I would do my own poll and here is what I found. The Republican candidate for president will have the following qualifications according to my poll: He/she will be between 5ft 4in. tall and 6ft 3 inches tall and weigh between 110 lbs and 240 lbs. He/she will be left of center, right of center or in the center. He/she will be between the ages of 50 and 67. He/she will be married, and/or divorced between one an three times and have between 0 and 30 children. He/she will either already be in office, have left office in disgrace or was once in office. He/she will be the next President of the United States. Admittedly this is not a rigid scientific poll. But it does reflect at least as good of information as that provided by any of the networks, print media etc. It is absolutely unbiased, because I wrote it and don't have a biased bone in my body. I am currently waiting for the clouds to part and to be lifted up. Hmmm, I guess this may be a long wait. So if your favorite candidate falls into the above description, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas, not happy holidays, that is for wusses, and a Happy New Year. If your candidate does not fall into the above description, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas, not happy holidays, that is for wusses, and a Happy New Year. My new years resolution is to be an equal opportunity blogger, maybe. I promise to be objective, maybe. I promise to limit my biases, maybe. Finally I promise to be entertaining, forthright, honest, true and benevolent, well maybe. God bless and Merry Christmas!

Who Does Your Thinking?

This was a response I wrote to a friend regarding a journalist's article saying why it was good that Herman Cain got out of the Presidential race, but not for the obvious reasons! The author of the email said it all "makes sense to me". This was my reply. Not to me! Pundits don't decide who runs for President. The people do. Cain or even you and I have the right to run. If we can get enough people to back us, then we might be President. This article is much akin to the commentators after a Presidential debate. I don't need anyone to tell me what I just heard and interpret it for me. This journalist is an entertainer just like most others. If you need someone else to tell you what the candidates mean regarding what they do or don't say, then you(any of us) need to get off our back ends and do the homework ourselves. Listening to this diatribe is the "lazy man's/woman's" way of not having to do so. How sad!

My Sabbatical

Thanks to all of you who inquired about this blog. I took some time off to go back to grad school but I am ready now to start sharing some thoughts with you as we head toward 2012. Thanks for your interest and patience. Jim

The death of O_ _ _ _ B _ _ L _ _ _ _.

I do not wish death to any human being. We are all Gods children. The ''being human" part of me wants to rejoice and celebrate the fact that "we got him" and the way it was accomplished. The spiritual part of me asks the question, "what would Jesus do". I try hard to "put off" the mortal man and embrace my spiritual being. In this case it is very hard for me to do. He now becomes a martyr. As we know in many cases of martyrdom, the legacy of the person becomes even stronger than the person themselves when they were alive. I do not want the hate, death and destruction of life that he espoused to become stronger in his memory. I want us to find a way to live in peace.

As a younger man I know that I felt hate and revenge for those who committed acts such as 9/11 and worse, Adolph Hitler comes to mind. Now I see that those feelings never made me feel any better, nothing really changed as a result and that as I have seen in so many people,including myself at times, it only took away from my ability to be the kind of person I believe Christ wants me to be. There is no time or place to celebrate hate or revenge. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord"

So on this day of celebration, according to news reports from around the world, I am tempted to join in. But I pause. In this instance, can I find my spiritual self and look at this through those eyes rather than my physical ones. I will struggle and there will be times when I won't put my "mortal by". I hope and pray there will also be times, as brief as they may be, that the still small voice will whisper in my ear, "well, done, thou good and faithful servant"

Health Care Reform Act ruled unconstitutional

Here is a link to the full text of the ruling so that you may read it for yourself:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/107134/20110131/roger-vinson-health-care-reform-unconstitutional.html

This is one of the most thoughtful and well reasoned decisions that I have ever read. No matter which side of this issue you are on, his historical, precedent and logical approach to the evolution of the thought and law that bears on this matter, I believe will make it very difficult for the United States Supreme Court to overturn based on either reasoning or law.

This is but a first step. Now we need to, within the Constitution and legal precedent AND listening to the American people this time, go about fixing our health care system. It can be done, the question is will it get done in a bi-partisan way, which it can and should be.

The Speaker of the House has promised to "open up" the system and let the "will of the House" work it's will. We need to keep the pressure on each of our Members of Congress to make sure they follow through on this pledge.