You will not envy me

Last night I went to La Mirada to hang with one of my roommates from ASP. Good times.
Except for the awful movie we watched: Envy.
If you have heard of this or seen it, please join my support group.
The cast included: Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler, Rachel Weisz and Christopher Walken. Supposedly it was a comedy about envy, but I have yet to figure out what it was really about or what they wanted the audience to walk away with besides the feeling of wasted time.

DO NOT SEE THIS FILM. I do not know why those actors signed on to it.

One of the best years in review I have read.
By Dave Barry here

Below is an excerpt:

DECEMBER . . .

the National Bureau of Declaring Things That Make You Go "Duh" declares that the nation has been in a recession since December of 2007. The bureau also points out that, according to its statistical analysis, "for some time now, bears apparently have been going to the bathroom in the woods."

The CEOs of the Increasingly Small Three automakers return to Washington to resume pleading for a bailout, this time telling Congress that if they can reach an agreement that day, they will throw in the undercoating, the satellite-radio package and a set of floor mats. "We're actually losing money on this deal!" they assure Congress. Finally, they reach a multibillion-dollar deal under which the car companies will continue to provide jobs, medical care and pension benefits, but will cease producing actual cars. The restructured operation will be overseen by the federal government, using its legendary skill at keeping things on budget

Articles

I love articles apparently.

This one I found on the Drudge Report: "2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved."

I had a short conversation with a Greenpeacer at a local mall a week or so ago while shopping for Christmas gifts. He was a cool guy. He was standing there with his buddy and they were trying to get people to sign up and become members of Greenpeace. It was $15, so I didn't join up. I was hip with most everything he was telling me that they were doing, saving old trees in the Northwest, whales and stuff, until he told me about some bill they were sponsoring in Congress: a mandate for all energy production to be renewable energy by 2020. Ewww. First of all, that would be intense government meddling, hoisting expensive technologies onto companies and citizens where the ultimate price would be paid by the consumer. Well no, my Greenpeace friend would say, the government will help make it cost effective. Where is the government getting this money? From the oil company subsidies they won't be giving out anymore. Ah hah! I've been looking for figures on how much we subsidize oil companies, but haven't found any. If anyone knows it, I would love to be hooked up with that info. Second, the very fact that we are able to worry about most environmental issues is thanks to the free-ish economy we have now and any legislation hampering it even more will put environmental issues further on the back burner because more people will be poor. Emerging markets and third world countries do not worry about environmental issues like we Westerners do with all our money. They more often than not worry about eating and ensuring their family's basic material well being, not sending out expensive boats to harass Japanese whalers. (Discovery Channel's Whale Wars, check it. It's a funny time. I'm not sure where exactly they get their funding, it's got to be a lot though with the equipment they use. If consumers enjoy it enough to pay for it, that's cool. But where are the Saving Children from Slavery shows?).
In sum: Greenpeace as a grass roots organization getting people/consumers to petition for Kimberly Clark to stop using ancient trees for Kleenex is cool with me. I think they honestly try to fulfill humankind's Divine mandate to care for the earth. However, backing legislation at the federal level which would force policy the market has not deemed cost effective or has not been properly incetivized will mean reduced freedom and will only result in adverse, unforeseen effects. Poor people would pay the biggest price if energy is more expensive.

Thomas Sowell

I liked this quote from one of Sowell's article: "Wal-Mart has done more for poor people than any ten liberals, at least nine of whom are almost guaranteed to hate Wal-Mart."

I would perhaps change "liberals" to "liberal politicians" or "liberal policies." Because I know some liberals who do some things for poor people. Conservatives too. Even some libertarians.

But have any of us done as much for poor people as Wal-Mart? That's a good discussion question.

For the full article, go here. There are other such nuggets within.

Government spending boosts the economy, right? Adding liquidity into the market spurs people's spending, thus driving production, providing work and getting the economy rolling again. Can't go wrong. Maybe.

A most excellent video.

The Gap

There is an historical gap between my post about the conference and when I actually left DC. That period was paper writing and saying goodbye to people from Koch and one of my other friends in the city. Doug and I also spent time hanging out with one of his friends from the Dept of Labor. During the course of that evening, we were able to share our faith with him, talk about evil and suffering, the historicity of the resurrection and other such topics. It was sweet.

The actual end of the program was sort of anti climactic because we all left at such different times. At the final banquet on Thursday, most were of the mentality that there would still be time to say goodbye. But not really. I hardly said goodbye to any of the Journalism program people and maybe a 1/4 of the ASP students. Comparing those goodbyes to the ones at the end of Ireland, this one was completely different. At ASP, we were not nearly as tight as a group since our time was spent at internships and doing our own thing with small groups of friends, rather than mobbing around a country in a bus. There were a few people I wanted to say goodbye to and was unable to, but on the whole, my world hasn't ended because I missed others. We are all on our own journey's and just happened to meet for 3.5 months in DC to learn more about what those journeys would look like.

There was a final banquet on Thursday where certificates were handed out, food was eaten and final words were said. The certificate ceremony was a good time. When they called our names we sat in a chair at the front and people would just say encouraging words to you or tell a story from the semester. There were also informal awards given out designating people "Most likely to be..." or "Brightest smile at ASP", etc. I got the "Adam Smith 2.0 Award." I was honored to be compared with the father of modern economics.

Home

Well, I am home. It is good to be back.

My semester in DC flew by faster than all get out. It was an experience I will remember for a long time and the things I learned there, along with the people I met, will probably impact decisions I make down the road.

As far as this blog thing goes, I'll still use it to rant about politics, economics, major life decisions, etc. So if you are at all interested in that (for some reason), keep tuning in. I'll probably change the title since I am no longer in DC. Ideas are welcome.

It

Alright dudes, I caught up on the readings, a missed lecture and I finished the final paper. Now I have some time to recount what all went down last week at the ALEC conference.

A bunch of stuff. Fasten thy seat belts, this may be a long one.

Last Tuesday, my time at the CGK Foundation wrapped up. We got a little certificate of completion even. After that, since I had packed all my stuff for the week, I went straight to the ALEC office to collect stuff and help out with some final prep for the Tax Academy we were having the next day. Once we arrived at the crazy hotel (huge place, super nice), we met some state legislators and speakers for dinner at a very nice steakhouse in the hotel. Since I had just gotten over some stomach issues, I was reluctant to get the $40 fillet, but hey I thought, when else am I going to have this paid for? Eating across the table from the Utah state senate majority leader was intimidating. At first I had the feeling of lowliness. But worry not, they are just regular people after all. Regular people who think they know it all, mainly because they have to. Still very nice. Others at the table included a state senator from Indiana and our very intelligent speakers who are influential in their own right. After that dinner, we went to work preparing for the next day and finally finished with that around 2 AM.

3:30 hour nap.

The Tax Academy was a whirlwind of speakers, lunch, speakers and then dinner at the City Tavern Club. This club was built in 1796 and played host to the Adams' before they moved into the White House as well as other historical things. Also, for night number 2, I had a perfect fillet. The highlight of that day and night was getting to talk with different state legislators. Most were really friendly and down to earth and it was sweet hearing about how they got involved in politics. At dinner, the former president of the Dallas Federal Reserve spoke. But during his speech, a state senator was passing notes to some women at our table and they were laughing uncontrollably the whole time. The legislator on my left leaned over to me and said "See? High school never ends." Ah hah!

More sleep than the night before.

Thursday marked the beginning of the real conference, where everyone comes. We may have had around 600 in attendance, people from the public and private sector. The Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force hosted a few meetings this day. Lunch was steak, quality below the ones I'd had the nights before, but good. So much steak. So much politics. Beautiful.
My tasks for this week were typically passing out materials, making copies, courier, sit at the front table or guard doors into the ballroom at mealtime so people did not enter prematurely. In between times I was able to talk with cool people.
In the evening, there were a couple of receptions. The first was for the state chairs of ALEC and my friend and I met the one from Rhode Island. He told us that Rhode Island has the most coastline in the nation. Figure that one out.
After that reception, there was another one for everyone and their friend. This one blew our minds. Multiple open bars (couldn't drink though), beef tenderloin stations, pasta stations, turkey slice stations, salmon, veggies, desserts, coffee, live jazz (you couldn't eat those guys).

Friday morning Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels spoke at the breakfast on state reform. If there is anyone to talk on that, it is he. Afterwards I went up to say hey and was able to talk with him for a couple of minutes. Good guy. More meetings this day, although not nearly as busy as the days before, so I had some time to chill. That day for lunch Amity Shlaes and Newt Gingrich spoke. I was able to get Amity's book signed by her. It was cool hearing from them.

Saturday was intense with our task force meeting in the afternoon. We expected some intense debate since there was a controversial model bill being voted on regarding taxation equality for cable and satellite broadcasting. There were various interests involved with representatives from each industry there as well as public sector members with their constituent's interests to protect. All the other model bills passed easily, one was voted down, but this one was intense. A huge amendment was proposed, made and then the issue was tabled until the spring. The meeting went way longer than it was supposed to due to that one. At 6 PM that night, after saying goodbyes to all my intern friends, I was out the door, ready to just mellow.

In sum, that conference was revelatory because I had spent much of my time at ALEC preparing for it. I was also able to meet a lot of legislators and business leaders, hear their perspective on key issues as well as get a little advice. Walking and talking with them took some getting used to at first, but after a day, I was no longer intimidated. Being in public office is a fascinating life.

I cannot believe the Washington Post: Dear Congress, please make gas more expensive.

Adding a permanent tax to artificially raise fluctuating prices is so dumb. I laughed out loud at this quote: "Not only that, [higher prices] would reduce traffic, curb urban sprawl and, by giving drivers an incentive to drive more slowly, improve highway safety."
Look, cheaper gas means driving is a more accessible option for a great number of people. If Congress was to do the bidding of the Post and triple the gas tax for the sake of curbing urban sprawl, it would significantly reduce many people's freedom to drive.

OPEC wants to lower their output because oil is getting so cheap. Most of those countries get most of their revenue from oil sales. So when those governments made long term plans for programs based off of the high oil prices from the summer, of course they will want to raise the price of oil. They want to pay for their stuff.

All this meddling...
Gah!

21st Century New Deal

Obama's new plan to revitalize the economy.

I appreciate his plan to measure the effectiveness of his plan, because that is essential. Part of effective measurement is to discontinue wasteful processes. However, governments are not known to do that, especially our own.

The government cannot create jobs. It is merely a redistribution. If people are working on new roads or whatever, that means they are not looking or working on a different job in the private sector, where they would be creating real value and not be being payed from tax dollars which were taken from individuals in the private sector in the first place.

Two questions:
1. How are we going to pay for this, especially in light of our massive debt, bailout, market unease? Watch this film I.O.U.S.A for some crazy information.
2. Why do we expect the president to fix all our problems?

Gnarly

The break was sweet. Except for the part where I got sick. Nothing like experiencing a great thanksgiving dinner in reverse, if you know what I mean. Shout out to Marvel, Ruth and all you Johnsons and Van Pelts! It was great seeing you! Thank you for taking care of me.

I was worried I'd be lacking strength and stomach power for this upcoming crazy week, but Providence has deemed it, for which I am grateful. Koch wraps up tomorrow and Wednesday through Saturday I will be at ALEC conferences meeting all sorts of people from the public and private sector. ALEC is putting us interns up in the hotel, so it'll be nice to have someone make my bed for me and pay/prepare my meals. As you know, that is a major plus in my book.

The first conference is on tax policy that the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force that I intern for is putting on. That one lasts all day Wednesday with the likes of Stephen Moore speaking, amongst others. He's a good guy.

Thursday through Saturday is their States and Nations Policy Summit. This is one of the big three they have per year with members from legislatures and corporations coming together to network and learn stuff. Some of the speakers include Mitch Daniels and Newt Gingrich. It's a pretty sweet opportunity.

Thanks

I thank each of you for caring about my sustenance, especially what and how I eat. You each are lovely.

It's been a super mellow break thus far. Finishing a book, movies, shows, eating, Wii. Rock and roll.

I take the train to Richmond tonight, which will be a sweet time.

I have also been looking a little at jobs, finishing up an application to a guest ranch to work for at least the summer, thinking about the Secret Service, Florida Boy Scout Sea Base, a masters in economics at George Mason, GREs. Lying in bed last night, I wasn't sure how working at a ranch or in the Florida Keys for 6 months would play into any type of long term career. Whatev. I don't think I need to/am able to plan things out like that. Therefore, I will learn to Trust, strive for edification and do what I enjoy. Then we will see what happens!

My Habits

Last night, I bought a bunch of pizza with some friends, purposefully ordering a mess of it so there would be leftovers. I had about 3/4 of a large after all was said and done. I paid for the part I kept, of course. We taxed according to consumption at $1.25 a slice.

This occurs in the setting of the funk I am in right now of being hungry and nearly out of food here in the apartment, combined with a busy schedule and feeling of it's-too-much-work-to-go-get-food.

Thus, for the last 24 hours, I have subsisted on the leftover pizza and one helping of leftover green-bean casserole I found in the fridge that was up for grabs. Pistachios as well. I've been eating lots of those.

I straight up do not enjoy cooking, dudes. There is a mess, you have to plan ahead, get all the junk you need and then you have to wait. I merely need to hold out until Thursday-Sunday festivities where there is plenty to be found.

All this being said, I am doing some soul searching about my own laziness, what Proverbs has to say about sloth and starving, is this just a temporary phase I am going through, what will I do later on in life, etc.

Good times.

UPDATE: I bought groceries last night. Things are improving.

On Friday morning, I had the privilege of sitting down with others from my program with Dennis Bakke, who wrote the book Joy at Work. It was part of a mentorship course we are taking here at ASP. As former CEO of AES energy corporation, he had the goal of creating the most fun workplace ever. That goal came from his intense belief that work is meant to be a fulfillment of what God created us to be. Both in his book and in person he expounded on his view of organizational management and how the leader is best able to fulfill his own role through delegating responsibilities to those he or she is leading. In doing so the leader not only finds greater joy, but also the others who may not necessarily be reponsible for the organization in title.
What he states is basically what I have been learning this semester, at least in regards to leadership. People who are closest to the issue at hand are best equipped to make decisions. When we, as human beings, are able to make decisions and take responsibility for the consequences, we gain more purpose because that is what we were designed for. The consequences entail both success and failure.
Also on Friday, I went over to the Rayburn House office building to talk with a legislative assistant on the House Foreign Affairs committee about Iran, since I am working on an Iran-US relations project with some others. It was an informative time for sure. However the highlight was walking back upstairs to my friend's office next to Barney Frank. She noticed him at first and I was able to catch his back as he walked the corner away from us. His shinanigans with the bailout have not deepened my respect for him, to say the least.

Today I did end up going to the newly reopened American History museum. I saw the new, fancy star-spangled banner display, the great American hero R2D2, George Washington, fife and drum corps and sweet exhibits. It was a better museum than I remember. Maybe that's because it was refurbished.

American History

The American History museum is reopening tomorrow with festivities spanning the weekend. I plan to go on Saturday and brave the crowds.

When I go, I will have the opportunity to "shake hands and take your photo with historical characters across the centuries—First Ladies Abigail Adams and Martha Washington, Annie Oakley and Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Gale and R2D2, the soldiers of the Federal City and the Ft. McHenry Old Guard."

Apparently, R2D2 fought for America's freedom right alongside the soldiers of the Federal City and stood fast with Abigail Adams during the bombardment of Boston. He is a great American hero.

I am not making this up. It is from the website.

A Joke

This is a very good one.

What did Tarzan say when he saw the elephants charging toward him?





"Here come the elephants!"

I heard this a couple of weeks ago from a dude I was sitting next to in class. I genuinely laughed at the joke, which really doesn't happen to me that often when it comes to jokes. Other than a select few and most of you have heard those three.

Testimony Before the House Committee on Ways and Means October 29, 2008

Mark Sanders, governor of South Carolina, is the man.

I would highly, highly encourage you to read this entire testimony he gave before the Committee Ways and Means in the House. Ways and Means determines taxation, tariffs and other spending measures that impact you. It's pretty powerful.

Here are some highlights:

"Our national debt is now over $10 trillion – more than $4 trillion higher than when I left Congress at the end of 2000. We’re spending more paying interest on this debt (roughly $20 billion monthly) than we are on the War in Iraq (around $12 billion)."

"Their point is that we have over $52 trillion in contingent liability, amounting to a roughly $450,000 invisible mortgage hanging over the head of each and every American family."

"I’d ask you as political decision-makers in an overwhelmingly economic crisis to take the Hippocratic Oath and pledge to “do no [more] harm.” I believe the macroeconomic forces at work will hardly be slowed by an additional $150 billion, and I’d strongly urge against further tampering with what in principle should be a free-market economy. "

"In short, I’d ask members of the Committee to simply give the states more freedom. Give us more flexibility. Give us more in the way of control over the dollars we already have and less in the way of costs. Give us more options, not more money with federal strings attached. "

The Latest

Well friends, this weekend I went to Boston.

I went because I had a semi-free weekend and a semi-free ticket from accrued frequent flier miles. I also have a few friends up there, namely the famous Chris Tierney, Ben Briggs and Kirsten Swanson. I left early, early Friday morning so I arrived in Boston around 9AM and then spent the whole day doing the freedom trail thing, seeing the sights like Paul Revere's and John Hancock's graves, Bunker Hill, USS Constituion, Old North Church, etc. Then I went to stay at Chris's place in Wellesley. It was sweet hanging out with him again and meeting his wife. Saturday I slept forever then met up with Briggs, who is going to law school at Boston University. After chilling with him and a few of his law buddies, I mobbed back to Wellesley and we went to see Quantum of Solace having watched Casino Royale the night before. It was decent. Not nearly as earth shattering as Casino though. Sunday I went into the city to see Kirsten and we went through Harvard, MIT, Little Italy, Copely Square mall, bookstores. Good times. I went into 5 or so bookstores this weekend, which automatically mad it sweet.
While there was a lot of history stuff, it was a more modern city than I expected. The streets were narrow and screwy, mildly European and what I expected. I feel as though I got a good tour.

Of course I have to say something political.
Don't bailout the big 3 please. Granted, jobs will be lost, but that is an essential part of a market economy. The unions have constrained those companies into only a handful of limited actions and due to the union's involvement in many politicians' careers, the government is as well. I may be overestimating the power of the union, but this may be an example of when a few dictate to the many and that when knowledge is not disemminated, everyone just ends up worse off in the end. The unions and politicians want things to remain as "normal" (whatever that is), thus they constrain the auto companies into paying higher wages and giving more benefits than is economically feasible at the moment. An economic system is essentially an ordering of knowledge and since knowledge is so spread out among so many individuals (not to mention the shere amount of it) there is no way in which a group of "experts" can effectively order an economy. That applies to auto makers, I believe. That idea and persception of knowledge comes from Hayek and Sowell. Smart dudes.

Are they surprised??

Lobbyists Swarm the Treasury for a Helping of the Bailout Pie

A ton has gone on: I went to New York City for the weekend, had a ton of fun. I just went to a sweet dinner regarding the estate tax and met some great people.

Things are way busy with this week. I have assignments for ASP, Koch and internship. I'm going to Boston this weekend to see a friend and chill. A break is coming I hear.

Abundant learning and fun are all happening right now. It's a good thing.

Barack got it

Dudes, this is exciting stuff. Barack Obama is number 44. My feelings are mixed, because I think his policies are screwy and the foundation of his election is based upon guesswork and the myriad campaign slogans. If McCain had won though, DC would have gone nuts (93% voted for Obama), things would probably have been burned. Also, it will be fun and slightly mellowing to be associated with the party not in power. Instead of having to put up with the wrath we can just say Hey, it's your time now. The first black president is pretty sweet too, I think that means a lot. It will be a fascinating four years.

I had some good times on election night. I attended an event at the Cato Institute with author Gene Healy speaking on his book the Cult of the Presidency and making a few comments regarding the election that got the libertarian crowd cheering. I bought the book and have already read the introduction. It's very good. The author speaks of the way in which the presidency has been entirely overblown from what it was meant to be and I wholly agree. Presidents nowadays are expected to be, according to Cliton Rossiter, "a combination of scoutmaster, Delphic oracle, hero of the silver screen, and father of the multitudes. Also: World Leader, Protector of the Peace, Chief Legislator, Manager of Prosperity and Voice of the People." Taft in a 1912 campaign speech said the president can't cause the sun to shine, the rain to fall or whatever else good you want to happen (I paraphrase). He lost that election, but he spoke the truth, I think. This huge amount of expectation channels more power to the executive branch and provides for huge dissapointment. Just some thoughts.
While at Cato, I also had the experience of possibly being hit on by an older guy. He just seemed WAY to eager to give me his card and remember my name, despite the fact . He may be reading this right now. After Cato, I went on over to the National Taxpayer's Union in old town Alexandria for their election party, had some good food, chatted it up with other limited government types and watched some of the results come in. One of the ASP professors lives in that area, so I called him up and we went and got burgers while talking about business and vision. By the time I made it back to the apartment, Obama had been projected winner. It was decided way quicker than I thought it would be, for sure. All in all though, it was a fun night and other than the fact I didn't go to the impromtu party in front of the White House, I felt like I took advantage of some unique DC experiences.

There's an insitute for everyone: Carpet and Rug Institute

What's been going oN?

Well, a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
Friday was the usual day of sleeping in a little later than usual, getting some reading in and then class. Of course it was Halloween and I was tempted to go out on the town and see what was happening, but decided I didn't want to mess with the crowds. I avoid crowds whenever I am able. Who doesn't? I guess the crowd. We had a little costume shindig on our roof, people came out and dressed up for it. Good times. I was Tom Petty.
Then I watched two episodes of John Adams with the ASP intern, Abigail. If you are unaware of or have not seen the John Adams miniseries by HBO Video, check them out. The whole "history comes to life" thing really applies to the series.
Saturday was the birthday. I felt loved thanks to the many texts, calls, facebook posts, emails. Thank you to each of you! Since it was a beautiful day, I took some books and went to a nearby park to read for a couple of hours. Needless to say, it was really mellow.
A guy and his wife or girlfriend were sitting on the bench next to me basically the whole time I was there, just chilling. At 4:15, the guy asked me for the time, I told him, then he gave me the gospel in a nutshell and asked me if I knew Jesus Christ. Agreeing with him, he then asked me a basic theology question about whether I believed in the trinity or not. I agreed. Having never really had that happen to me before, it was a unique experience. He later asked if I knew of any pentecostal churches in the area. I don't.
That night I went to an all Wagner program with a friend I met back in Presidential Classroom in 2004. It was a great performance. A cool birthday surprise went down that night too. Apparently, where the peasant section was, where we were supposed to sit, was taken up by the translation projection screen. So they upgraded us to some kickin box seats.
Afterward we went to this restaurant called Clydes in Chinatown where I had one of my top 5 burgers.

Is Obama a Socialist?

Not exactly.
Don Boudreaux says it well in this article.

A well regulated militia...

Gun sales are up

I'll take a break from the boring economic posts I keep doing and focus here on what I have been up to. (Which you may find equally as boring).

I have found a church I enjoy! It is called Grace DC and I heard about it through a friend of a friend back in CA. The sermons are engaging, applicable and well thought out. One of the newer aspects to me is the weekly communion. It's also a different communion from ones I have been to in that they have a choice of drinks: grape juice in an individual cup, wine in an individual cup or wine from a communal cup. The service is also at 5PM which does the sleep department well.

We began a new course on Monday, focusing our attention on International Affairs. Our main project will be examining trade relationship with the US from the perspective of a respective country we chose to research. I chose Iran. Rock and roll.

At my Tuesday internship class, there was a beautiful presentation on taxes. It was amazing. They also got cheesecake for my birthday. I felt especially loved.

These days at ALEC, I have been calling our legislative members to see if they plan to attend our Tax Academy in December. It hasn't been too bad, I sometimes get to talk with the legislators. Other than that, I do spreadsheets, research things and write a little.

Okay, I just can't resist.

You can make a lot of money off of cigarette tax differences between states. Of course, it's illegal, but check this out:
Cigarette tax in Maryland is $2 while the tax per pack is $.30 in Virginia. If you load up your trunk with 300 cartons of cigarettes from VA and take them to MD to sell, you can make $5100 just from the tax difference. State to state cigarette smuggling, never would have thought of it.

What is seen...

Stephen Moore is on the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. He writes some intelligent stuff.
This excerpt is from an article about an interaction he had with the CEO of FedEx on the topic of our present economic situation.
In it is a key example of corporate taxation and what is seen compared to what is not seen:

"He uses an example from FedEx. "Look, our capital budget as we went into this year was about $3 billion. We went out to Boeing in July for our board meeting to see the new triple seven, [the Boeing 777] which we have bought. If we had a lower corporate tax rate with the ability to expense capital expenditures, guess what? We'd buy more triple sevens. We absolutely have to cut the corporate tax. Our current tax rate is about 38%. Even Germany has a 25% rate.""

What is seen: higher tax rates, revenue and expansion of aid programs. For a time.

What is unseen: the fact that more packages aren't getting delivered, jobs aren't being created and wealth spread to the rest of society in a meaningful, effective manner.

Of course, his opinion is one among many, but I thought it illustrated the seen and unseen well.

Here's the whole article if you're interested

Album Cover

This album cover is nuts! Check it out
Animal Collective

Third Party debate tonight between presidential candidates Chuck Baldwin and Ralph Nader. Watch it on CSPAN at 9PM EST. Should be a good time.

I found this today while on International Paper's website. They decry the myth that trees are disappearing and that there are more today than at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Of course, that's not the level America once had, but hey, they had to make room for some people.
Apparently, there is third party governance of some of our nation's forests. Sustainable Forest Iniative is a charitable organization which promotes sustainable forest harvesting practices.
This is an example of effective non-governmental regulation, funded by people's goodwill.

A cool grassroots movement put on by the National Taxpayers Union. Give it a look.

http://notaxhikers.org/

Too Much Fun

I think I can post this. I got this in an email from the director of ALEC and it ties in well with my below post. It's sick and has to do with taxes. Enjoy, if you dare read it all.

"Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he
said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group stil l wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men who are the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly
the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so: The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free.. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'

'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important.

They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier."

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Redistributing the Goods

Obama's desire to raise the tax on the upper 5% and to not on the lower 95% comes from a weird perspective on wealth. From some inner part of human beings, there is this assumption that the rich should not be so rich. We say, "What can they really do with $40 million a year? Some of that should go to people who are far less fortunate. We need to close the gap between the rich and poor." To borrow from Bastiat's illustration of what is seen and what is unseen fits well with this mistaken philosophy.
What is seen: government getting more funds to expand or better fund programs like welfare, Medicaid and Medicare, public education, etc. Right on!
What is unseen: where would that money have gone instead of to the government? Probably more investments, business ventures, or spent on some good. Jobs are required to supply a greater demand. Wealth is spread apart from government coercion in a much more efficient manner.
How efficient is our welfare program? LBJ tried that Great Society thing in the 60s, lowered poverty a little, but every since, despite the increased funding, the poverty level has remained the same. Education is no different. Twice as much is spent now per pupil compared to the 1970s and performance has barely risen in the last 30 years. If government were a non-profit organization, we'd stop giving to it because of its poor stewardship.
I am not saying the rich should not be taxed. They should and so should everyone else. But it must be kept within reason. There is a point of taxation, that when passed, revenue ceases. Check out the Laffer Curve. The t variable is movable, but usually below the 50% mark.
(I remember when I first encountered the Laffer Curve in Dr. Victor Claar's book on economics. It was a beautitful moment. Love at first sight).
When taxation is unreasonable, people and businesses leave. California is an example. There has been a migration out of the state the last few years, due in part to the 10.3% personal income tax, a 8.9% corporate tax rate, and a rising minimum wage. There's a gnarly deficit going on in CA now. I do not know where the disconnect between the fact that tax rate increases are directly corrolated to the outward migration of the very people who pay them. If no one is left to pay, you can raise the rate all you want but your revenue will continually decrease. It's been shown to happen and is happening.
Had to get that out there.
Think before voting for more programs which would raise taxes. Think before voting for politicians who under the guise of goodness, may end up doing more harm than good and in the course of it all, infringing upon liberty and property.

Wall Street is crazy these days

Dudes
Sick weekend filled with beautiful Taylor University people invading DC.
More to come.

Weekend Summation and a Thought

The parents came out for the weekend. Good times had by all.
Friday night I went to the Americans for Prosperity dinner where George Will and D'Souza spoke. Will was my favorite. He pandered to my latest hobby of looking for wasteful government departments to get rid of. Two on my list are Depts of Education and Agriculture. Downscale man, that's what efficient government should be.
My parents met me after the dinner and we went to a cool pub in Chinatown.
Saturday we met up with some of my parents' friends and had pancakes at Eastern Market. They were friends of theirs from the Lost Valley Ranch days. It was good getting input from them about LVR because I've been thinking about applying there after graduation.
The rest of the day was showing them where I work, Georgetown, the Native American Indian museum and Old Ebbitt Grill (very good restaurant).
On Sunday, their short visit ended. It was great having them. My family is kind of like a dock in the midst of any type of storm. Definitely a beautiful gift. Don't let me take them for granted!

Now for a thought I had today:
Lately I have been thinking about the intensity of political discussions here, especially about social issues. I realized part of the reason discussions with people in DC are so militant is because most everyone is here investing their lives in a cause or worldview they believe to be true. It's difficult to have a peaceful conversation between the government worker in some department and the libertarian policy worker who is advocating its abolition. Ideas have legs and to admit someone with an opposing view is correct here often would mean a job/friend circle change. It seems you don't come here to seek truth, you come here because you already know what's true.

Week

It's been awhile since my last post. What have I been up to? (If you're interested, read on. If not, you know what to do).

Tuesday was the usual Koch Foundation class all day. Always good stuff there.
Wednesday was time at ALEC making phone calls and compiling data. Then class in the afternoon where we talked about things like, would Jesus talk to Ahmadinejad if he were president of the US.
We also had the "family dinner" and I was able to talk with my table about markets and whether Christians can be libertarians.
Thursday was ALEC all day with more phone calls, lunch with some new friends from the ONE campaign. Conversation topics there ranged from VP picks to stereotyping Christians to US foreign policy, etc. Then back to work talking with state legislators all around the nation, asking them if they had received our mailing and would like to update their email address. My dad also came last night since he was done with his meetings in Baltimore earlier than he expected. So we chilled on the roof and talked about self-interest vs selfishness and all its implications, who is Jesus? and dabbled in the roll of violence. It was great to process things with him, he's a pretty good guy, to put it very, very mildly.
Today I am supposed to be writing a paper, then to a White House briefing-which is only vaguely as cool as it sounds. There will be some official from the White House coming to speak to us on something. No doubt it will be good, it just wont be the President. Then I aim to campaign for McCain because we have to get in at least 30 hrs of volunteering with a campaign before Nov 5. Then I am going to a dinner to hear some speakers like George Will, D'Souza, and David Koch. Then my parents pick me up and we hang out over the weekend.
Of course, all those plans could change.

Shout out to 2nd East Wengatz for first place in Airband! Really wish I could have been there for that.

More Camping

This weekend I went camping for the second time in Maryland. It was way good. Randomly saw my internship coordinator at the Shady Grove stop, caught a baby bass in an old canal, absorbed the smokey smell, ate random food and slept really well that night, which I did not expect. Walking to and through Union station with a pile of blankets and a full bag which has a quote from Thomas Jefferson I got for free from my internship, is a great experience. Coming back from camping is even better because I feel more a part of the dirty parts of the city, smelling like smoke and a little dirtier than I was before. People look at me differently when I'm carrying a bunch of blankets than when I'm dressed for internship. I fit into a different niche. I also feel like it's a sampling of two different types of people who live in the city: the guy who just slept inside and guy who just slept outside.

Here's a trailer to the movie I saw the other night: Do As I Say
It was entertaining as well.

Failure #2

That last post of mine sounds horrendously heartless. I realized that last night when I was watching a documentary on hypocrisy (I'll mention it later). What's the Christian's role in all the evolution of the market?
Protecting people's life, liberty and property is the realm of government, I believe. In a market system there will be people who lose their jobs and those who are left out of it from the get go. Compassion and character are so important in order for good to be done to its greatest potential. Christ also calls us to be generous with our resources in helping the poor and disenfranchised. An integral part of that, I think, is affirming people's dignity as God's special creation. So much of Christian ministry and philanthropy as a whole, necessitates a relationship in order to best help people from where they are at. I envision this whole scene of Christian relationship with the world not as a "We're up here, let us reach down and pull you up" but as reaching across, at the same level, and saying "He will lift you up."

Just my evolving thoughts

Failure

Failure is a part of a free market. It's known as creative destruction. It's also the nasty part which no one wants to see happen, especially when it is your own invest which has been "creatively destroyed."
What would happen if we didn't allow this process to take place? I wouldn't be typing this on Blogspot or even a computer, the quality of everything would be down. Products and services sell when they provide higher quality than previous products or services.
In this way, when everyone has the ability to enter the market with a new idea, the good of the greater society is served. It is this right to enter the market which government must protect. The entrepreneur should also be able to have his property, both physical and intellectual, protected from the encroachment of others. These are the rights government should protect.
Everything gets messed up when we confuse those creative rights with the right to a job. For instance, many people lost their jobs when typewriter sales went down due to personal computer sales. Imagine now if those typewriter special interest groups had gotten government to protect their industy by heavily taxing PC companies. The jobs of thousands have been saved, their children can still go to school, ensuring a better life for potential more thousands, right?
Look at the benefits PCs have brought to the world, especially with the advent and proliferation of the internet. Imagine if the "rights" of typewriter manufacturers had been protected.
(This example didn't come from my own head, I read it somewhere and it stuck in my brain because it's a good one).
Also, I am not saying PCs are the embodiment of everything good on this earth. They've allowed also for the proliferation of evil ideas and bad ideas at a more rapid pace than the typewriter allowed. Still, the overall quality of life around the world has improved because the idea of the typewriter was creatively destroyed.

I have become a bus evangelist lately. They are so convenient. They're cheap, they usually drop you off way closer to where you want to be than the Metro does and you actually get to see where you're going. Granted, they take a little getting used to the city in order to use them effectively. Getting used to DC has been a little like getting used to a campus, after a while my travel becomes more refined and it seems less an expanse of unknowns.

Last night, McCain's faith based initiatives rep came to talk with us since she was unable to make it last week. It was a sweet time listening to her perspective as well. When it comes to this issue, Obama and McCain both agree that the faith based initiative program should be kept alive. However they disagree over whether the equal opportunity employment law should be applied to these faith organizations if they are to receive federal funding. Obama's position is that people of different faiths, other than the one the organization promotes or follows, should be protected under law in order to have opportunity to work. McCain's position allows organizations to choose who to hire or not and still be able to receive federal funds.
Discuss

Pure good times.
Time for some campaignin'

Campaigning

Saturday was spent working on McCain's campaign. As part of our course work here, we are required to spend at least 30 hours between now and November 5 volunteering with a presidential campaign of our choice. It's all part of this campaign notebook we're supposed to compile about all our adventures, opinions, etc. McCain's national campaign headquarters is just over in Arlington, so it's super easy for us to get over there and help out with whatever. We started with the phone banks, making calls to the populace with the goal of asking them a few questions about who they planned to vote for and by what method, what party they affiliated themselves with. Stuff like that. We did that for about an hour then they asked for some people to go with some other staffers and work a booth set up at a street fair. So my friends and I went there, slapped on some stickers and talked it up with people. It was a chill environment with people stopping to rant or pick up bumper stickers. Democratic National Committee people were floating around too. It felt like a sports rivalry seeing them.
Afterward, I patrolled over to Old Town Alexandria to meet up with some Taylor U. people. Since I had some extra time to kill, I went down King Street, which is the main drag for Old Town. It was super rockin. I found this really cool bar which has live bluegrass every Friday and Saturday night. Most of the people who were in there looked to be at least 50 as well (not that that's old, they just weren't my age. You know). It was good to connect with a bunch of TU grads and see what they are up to in life after the rural Indiana community.
Sunday I went to Captial City Church for the second time. The people there are very welcoming and it's great to see a new set of faces who genuinely care.

In other news: as I'm sure you know, the most recent bailout plan failed in the House. Bummer. Not really. It's a shortsighted move to try and prop up those failures. It'll be as painful as all get out letting them go, for there will be repercussions. But is/was it the government's business to get involved with the financing market in the first place? Insuring people's financial ventures, while coming from a sense of goodness, creates the wrong incentive. I think the government has crossed the line, for the role of government in economics should be to oversee the transactions people voluntarily make, not, as Bastiat would say, under the guise of false philanthropy enact legal plunder. Letting banks fail would cleanse the system. But the problem with that would be freeing up the markets enough to let them self correct, which would necessitate a lot of backpedaling on legislation and tax laws. Such a move would also recquire a lot of will power on the part of the people, stemming from a belief that government has little role in market economics, thus preventing politicians from meddling in it for their own political gain. Can we get back to a nation founded on We the people?

Just simple thoughts of mine.

Killer day today, more details coming.

I was kicking it at a friend of a friend's house tonight and they showed me this video. Pure awesomeness.
Watch it multiple times and listen carefully to the lyrics.

I'm watching the debate now and you should be/have too.

Obama just said that what we need to alleviate our debt is not a cut in ear marks but a tax increase. Incredible.
Never has a tax increase done a state well in an economic crisis. All it does is drive businesses away. Imagine if we do that to a country. An increase in tax rate past a typically low rate is inverse to the revenue received by the government.

This information I found at that tax meeting. It blew my mind, so I thought I'd share it. Courtesy of the Tax Foundation

"In 2005, the estimated time and money cost of complying with the federal Internal Revenue Code was 6 billion man-hours worth $265 billion."

"The code that year stood at 7 million words in 736 code sections, up from 718,000 words in 103 code sections in 1955. By contrast, the King James Bible has 788,280 words in 66 books, the Harry Potter series has just over 1 million words in 7 books, and the English translation of War and Peace has 560,000 words."

"In 2008, Americans worked 113 days of the year to pay for federal, state, and local taxes. This more than the days worked for housing (60 days), food (35 days), and clothing (13 days) combined."

"The form 1040 and instructions in 1913 was only 4 pages. Today they are 144 pages."

The IRS is a beast. So are most other government programs.

The Groove

My life has begun to enter into the busyness of the semester as of this week. On Monday, my supervisors gave me the project of making sure the voting members of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force had updated information in our data banks. The project consists of me comparing what info we have to what they each have on their government websites. It's sort of tedious.
Yesterday at Koch was sweet. We talked about Bastiat's The Law for a good two hours. If you haven't read that book, read it. He'll most likely get you stoked on Life, Liberty and Property. The conversation at my table even turned into where does morality come from? Is there Truth? Rockin stuff. Various speakers came and spoke about originalism and their efforts to spread property rights in Africa. Spending time at Koch has been great so far. What makes it crazy is the fac that I had no idea about it before I had applied at ALEC. God was just like Here, have this free education. That night, I went on over to the Heritage Foundation and saw a pre-screening of their new film on America's failing education system. The film is called Flunked. It was good, not all doom mongering, but also told the stories of teachers, principles and administrators who were having success within the system.

Today was more data entry and then a meeting over lunch with a bunch of tax policy think tanks in DC. They exchanged information with other, policy successes, etc. It's a meeting that goes on about once a month. I then booked it on back for class where one of Obama's campaign members involved in faith based projects spoke about his approach to faith and politics. A McCain rep was suppossed to come, but didn't make it. Oh well. For dinner, there was a picnic on the mall. Good times.

Condensation

I never expected to go camping while here in DC. But I did. On Friday night, in fact.
After a tiring week, I didn't really want to accept the invitation to sleep in the woods of Maryland with only blankets. I ended up going though and had fun nonetheless. A couple other guys from the apartment and I were dropped off at this random park my friend found out about. We then wandered into the park, looking for the campgrounds. Despite the pitch blackness in the trees we found a site tucked away which we thought wouldn't too near the main drag because we had not registered with the park service. Basically, we just sat around the fire and chilled for an hour and a half and then using our four blankets slept on the ground. An hour or so after we and lain down, we were awakened to bright lights. A representative of the Maryland law had found us and proceeded to ask three guys sleeping in blankets, without a car and only a few pieces of gear on the picnic table what the heck they are doing in the woods. I explained to him that a friend had dropped us off, that we are students spending a semester in DC and just had an urge to go camping. He told us that since we didn't have a sticker showing our registration, we would be in big trouble the next night if we were still there sans sticker. The rest of the night was cold, warmer, cold, warm, colder, warm and then the sun came up. We walked to a bus stop and found our way to the metro station at about 10:30 the next morning, carrying our blankets and smelling like campfire.
Even though it was not beneficial towards my sleep habits and I initially did not want to go, it was refreshing to get out of the city into the woods and just be.

Last night, a friend here from Burundi made us all African food. There was soo much good stuff to eat, it was really great and extremely generous since she bought it all. Something we also did last night, which has been going on for about a week is reading aloud short stories from a contemporary short fiction book I had found back home for $1. It's been a lot of fun taking turns each night, reading aloud the different pieces. Of course, since they are contemporary stories, the endings seem abrupt, they are usually heavy and real and often contain more "mature" elements. It's a lot of fun to just sit around and imagine together though. Another station of rejuvination for us from the constant barrage of theories, politics, philosophy and theology. While in DC, I've needed those times, like camping or stories to just be, relax, gather and condense all that I have been learning.

Internship

Well friends and family, I have begun my internship with ALEC.
Its offices are located near K street in the NW part of the city off the McPherson metro stop. The K street area of DC is full of corporations, financial centers, businessy type places, so everyone walking around looks important. I do my best to fit in, mastering the DC stare and walk, never talking to anyone. I am working on the 11th floor of the building and the ALEC offices take up the whole floor which is cool because we can muse about free markets and creative destruction all on our own floor. The task forces I am researching with are great, interesting topics and fun people. My directors are solid, fun, relatively young guys. Yesterday, they had me researching for an upcoming education policy publication and I spent all afternoon looking at a bunch of figures on tuition at Ohio State, the doings of its president, Gordan Gee (interesting fellow), and how 73 upper level faculty and adminstrators are paid over $300k. That kind of pay in itself isn't necessarily an evil, just the fact that it's at a public school and tuition prices keep rising as they add more people onto the heavy payroll. Fun stuff. For reals. Tax and Fiscal policy research hasn't begun yet, but I've been reading over that department's publicatons, such as Rich States Poor States and the "inverse relationship between higher taxes and higher growth rates" (Steve Moore said that, not I).

In other news, there have been a lot of heavy conversations lately amongst all the neighbors on our floor. I love political and social conversations, but having multiple heavy ones within two days, flying solo too, is a tiring experience. Good but tiring.

In other other news, how about us taxpayers taking over all those multibillion dollar (or trillion dollar) failing banks? Feels great, right?

Gnarliness

Got this story from Hugh Hewitt's blog.
Some fools hacked Palin's Yahoo! email account and took screenshots of her address book, photos and emails.
Desperate people out there.

The Update

This weekend was full of goodness, although not much sleep. But those elements usually come together.
Friday after class I booked it straight to the Family Research Council conference place in time to peruse the exhibit hall for a little bit and get an early seat to catch Mitt Romney. Before hand though, I ate at a super good hamburger place called Five Guys. Good stuff. Anyway, I got a sick seat two rows from the front. After a few minutes this guy sat down in the front row, directly ahead of me. A few people were going up to shake his hand, etc. Turns out it was Romney. Hip. I didn't go to shake his hand because I didn't want to bother him. Dumb reason, yeah. Soon thereafter he spoke, covering all sorts of issues the crowd resonated with. The other speakers that night weren't of as much consequence. At about 9pm I went to see this movie called Fireproof created by the same church who did Facing Giants. I thought it would be super cheesy and it was, but the message it presented overrided most of the cheesiness. Overall pretty good for a Christian movie. I then went back to the apartment.
Saturday morning I got up at 7:30 to go see Dr. Bill Bennett speak in the morning session. It was great hearing him address some of the issues. Gary Bauer spoke. Okay. Sean Hannity spoke. Okay. My favorite though was a guy I had never heard of, Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. from Maryland. He was near the very end of this 3:30 hr session but I thought he actually addressed an important topic rather than just energizing the crowd with stuff they've already heard and agree with. One of the things he said was "being a Christian can make you a conservative, but being a conversative doesn't necessarily make you a Christian." He also challenged us to serve God first and foremost and check our motivations for being politically and socially active. His message was a refreshing one, challenging us toward truth, not fanaticism. Afterwards, I bought a book of his on racial issues and the church and got it signed by him. Good stuff. For lunch, I had a salad and bought the new Metallica album. For the afternoon, there was a panel-ish thing on media which was okay. I then went to a breakout session on illegal immigration and national security, which was pretty good although I didn't stay for the Q&A session because I went to meet some friends.

Thoughts on FRC: It's an organization focused on energizing grassroots movements in very specific social issues, namely pro-life, traditional marriage and wholesome media. You know, family things. When addressing those issues, I didn't hear much logical argument for their implemenation, which may have been because they assumed everyone their already agreed with them. It was called the Value Voters Summit after all. But I feel as though even the people who are pro-life/traditional marriage need encouragement and training in how to reasonably present those ideas in this pluralistic world. That was something I was hoping for but didn't see much of. Overall though, it wasn't as extreme as I thought it would be nor were some of the people I talked to as much of the stereotype that would be associated with the FRC. Duh. I should be learning not to stereotype, right?

So I met my friends that Saturday afteroon at the Smithsonian metro exit on the mall. While waiting for them I picked out all the home school families and noticed the intense tourist crowd which was completely different from I'd been all that day around DuPont Circle.
We then went to the art museum for 30 min because it was closing. We ran to the modern art and went through it all quick. Some alright stuff.
Needing dinner, we took a trek to Adams-Morgan area, found an Afghan restuarant but decided to not eat there because the prices were too high. As we were leaving though, the owner comes out the door and tells us that we are missing some very good food. Tempted, I jokingly asked him we'd eat there if the prices were lower and he said he'd take 10% off the total for us if we ate there. We were sold and it was indeed very good food. Walking ensued afterwards and then a bus ride to U st where we didn't find anything cool so we took a bus down to the White House to hang out. There, we spent most of our time talking with one of the protestors who was holding down the fort in the tent that's been there since 1981. We asked him what he was all about and why the protest was there. To put it quickly (we talked for about an hour), he told us of how Love is the strongest bond there is and everything promoted in society today is against that message. If we don't change our ways, we are headed towards doom. His worldview was basically a mixture of new age/Jesus Moral Man teachings. His name is Start Loving which is tatooed on his bald forehead in the midst of three crosses. On his cheeks were the words Wage Love. We left him feeling loved, but a little confused in what he was trying to say and a little enlightened in what some people think our world needs to get out of the mess.
Sunday I went to a local church with my roommate because we got a flyer in the mail telling us about it. At the door I was greated by this guy whose voice sounded like my internship coordinator I hadn't met yet. Lo and behold it was him! He and my supervisor happen to go to that church along with one of our professors here. It was a very nice surprise. After church we met a few people, including this guy named Stuart who is a marine in the capitol hill barracks and whose sole job is to participate in ceremonies, most of which are funerals in Arlington. He had to do 5 today. He and his wife are way cool, maybe a year or two older than us, live nearby and are expecting a baby anytime. We also made plans to go camping soon/go shoot things. My roommate and I also went to lunch in an Indian restaurant with them, my supervisor, his roommate from Liberia and a guy from Armenia. It doesn't end there though.
That afternoon, right after I got back, I found some people who wanted to go to the Evensong service at the National Cathedral. In short, it was fabulous. Not crowded at all, beautiful music in a beautiful setting.
That was the weekend.

Today the internship started with an introductory class at the Koch Foundation where we will be taking a class every Tuesday in economics and how to apply those ideas within a corporation, either for profit or non-profit. It was sick. They fed us breakfast, lunch, pens, notepads (neither of which I had bought yet) will give us free books for the course whose authors include Sowell, Hayek, Smith, Mises and Friedman. The classes will be super solid. We have two more days of the intro stuff and start with ALEC on Thursday.

It's been out of sight. If you read the whole thing, you're cool.

Announcement

For those of you that know me well/have lived with me, you know that I am a cluttered type. My desk is usually piled with papers, books, sometimes bread crumbs, etc. But in my apartment, I am the neat one. I am typically the guy who cleans the dishes or reminds people to pick up our living room or to clean the bathroom.
Weird.

Jammin'

Friday and today were jam packed. Details to come which entail: sitting two rows behind Mitt Romney, FRC conference, Afghan food and talking with the protester who has been camped out in front of the White House.
Sick stuff.

Last day for awhile at Martha's Table today. We made another 900 sandwiches. Rock and roll.

Finished up the first paper today as well for our class.

Went for a walk to check in at the Family Research Council convention here in the city. I got off at the DuPont Circle metro stop, got turned around and ended up walking to the White House, the opposite direction I wanted to go. I was ticked. But at least I saw the White House. It was kind of trippy coming up on it, because I really didn't know where I was. But I saw some lights in the distance and was like Is that the White House? No, can't be! It was though. Feeling like an idiot, I took in the sights and then grumbled all the way back up Connecticut. Finally, I made it to the hotel, saw some friends, checked in, got my bag of goodies. Should be a good conference. Opinion time: I like the philosophy of the FRC, but they really turn a lot of people off to their message. They come across as a bunch of angry conservatives soap boxing it. One lady I met tonight thought her soap box would get bigger as a result of the conference and felt sorry for her kids. Why do we need to kick it on soap boxes? Let's reasonably, patiently, lovingly approach those we don't agree with, doing more listening than shouting, seeking the truth God has placed before us in His creation. However, that's not a shout out for open minded, whatever, let's-frolick-through-the-field type outlook. There is objective truth. Let's go find it.

Anyway, the conference should be a good time. Mitt Romney is speaking at it tomorrow and I plan to go to that session. John McCain may also make a surprise visit, Obama too, on Saturday. If that happens, it'll be a candidate filled week indeed.

PS-I am living on 8th Street, NE in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, for those wondering.

Yesterday was the usual Tuesday service project where we made a mess of sandwiches, both turkey and peanut butter. It was mellow.

Today, however, I had the privilege of attending a McCain/Pail rally in Fairfax, VA. I found out about it yesterday evening because a bunch of the crazies here were planning on going. Ultimately, I was just attending to see McCain and Palin in the flesh and indeed I did. Another dude and I left here at 6AM, took the orange line all the way to the end, hoped on a city bus in Fairfax and took it to where the shuttles aka school buses would pick us up. We ended up at this monster long line where we waited for about an hour to get into the park. Fortunately we made it into the park and got a pretty cool spot to see the podium. After about 5 local speakers, Fred Thompson made a surprise appearance (at least we didn't know he'd be there) and spoke for about 15 minutes, introduced Palin who spoke and then McCain was up. Because there were about 15,000 people there and a two lane road leading out, my friend and I decided to leave before McCain's speech was done. Best decision ever. The roads and buses were swamped leaving the area and we made it back to DC 2 hours before our friends who watched the whole speech.
All republicans were in attendance making it a cultural event as well. They were throwing out the classic lines about Obama voters lacking brains, shouting back at the boisterous Obama supporters who were attempting to persuade us all from our political doom. It didn't work. At the end, there was a lady with a microphone yelling things and a sign that said "Pro-war is not Pro-life." She got a few remarks including a lady who screamed at her "Baby killer!" and an old dude who said he wasn't afraid to die for his country. Oh republicans...
Also: oh democrats...
Also: I checked out the Constitution Party line today and was almost persuaded to switch, until I heard about their very isolationist type foreign policy. I don't think we can swing that in this day and age. What a bust. They were cool anyway because they combined Libertarian government style but with a Republican concern for the social issues.

Hipness

Bros, this quote rocks all:
"In speaking of man's fallenness, we point not only to his persistent rejection of the created order, but also to an inescapable confusion in his perceptions of it" (Oliver O'Donavan in his Resurrection and moral order).

That quote just makes so much sense to me. Our theories are wrong a vast majority of the time and only Christ's death and resurrection helps us make sense of it all. In everyone's approach to a problem or injustice, there is an assumed ought, is, can, will which comes from and matches up with the biblical narrative of creation (ought), fall (is), redemption (can), consummation (will be).

Rock and roll.

Went to the holocaust museum this morning to kick off week #2. It's a sobering experience, but well, well worth a visit or two. I plan to go again. The last time I was there I was about 14. It was really moving then, but it's even more so now and I wonder what it will be like in another 15 years, should I get the privilege of visiting it then.

Interesting poll counts today. McCain 08.

To all you McCain/Palin supporters (including myself), this NYT article by Frank Rich is a must read.
Helps one's discernment.

It's raining like deuce here. Remnants from whatever hurricane. However, despite the crummy weather, some friends and I decided to take a trip to some museums. We hit up the Natural History, Smithsonian Castle and Air and Space. Solid afternoon.

For those who haven't heard, I live in an apartment with 5 other guys. Two are in the journalism program, so we only see them when they're in the apartment, since we have separate classes from each other. There are two rooms upstairs, along with the bathroom. Downstairs is our common area and kitchen.

Speaking of kitchen, buying and preparing my own food has been an experience. My entire life food has just appeared. BAM. But here I personally have to make the effort and expend the money to keep myself alive. It's a hard knock life and a good experience.

I do a lot of walking since it's about 7 blocks to the nearest Metro station and then once you get off the Metro, it's a nice little jog to wherever you have to get usually. I guess the whole walking thing is typical of city life. Those of you who have lived/live in a city are probably thinking "what a dip, he should have known this stuff." I agree. Although, I came here to learn and learning I am. It's only been the first week too. Bring it on.

Ultimate on the mall.
Enough said.

Went to our volunteer place today. Made about 1000 sandwiches and cut some potatoes and onions. Met a lady named Naomi from Liberia. She was really cool.

Last night did a walking tour of the Jefferson, FDR, WWII and Washington memorials/monuments. It was a long walk, but well work seeing the sites. I hope to make more than three visits to each this semester. I think that's a reasonable goal.

Yesterday, I and a few other people volunteered at a food distribution center/daycare. Most of our time was spent making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that they take out into the neighborhoods every night. Then for the last hour, I helped out in the 2.6-3 yr old classroom. Cute kids.
The area the mission is located is a predominantly black neighborhood. Our volunteer coordinator asked us if we'd heard DC referred to as the "chocolate city." I said I hadn't. It's always a good experience to be in the minority, even for just an afternoon. But we'll be back to the place for another three days helping out with whatever they want us to do.

This morning I got up at 6:30 and did the business attire thing for the first time in DC because we went to talk with one of the assistant chiefs of the Border Patrol and had to look all hip. We met in the food court in the Ronald Reagan building. That opportunity was sweet and apparently we will be doing more stuff like that in the future.

Arrival

Well friends, I made it to DC. After about a year of prep and a bit longer of aiming for it. I feel like this is exactly where God wants me at this point in my life, so we'll see what He does.

Got into the city after a bus ride from Dulles, the Metro to a station and confused bus ride arriving around 9PM. Sick.
Sunday, walked around all day basically beginning with church in the morning, Target and then a scavenger hunt type thing all afternoon. The people here are great, interesting and well intentioned, at least that is the impression thus far.
My internship doesn't begin until Sept 15 and these few weeks classes will be starting and we'll be getting oriented to the city.

This blog will be full of actual historical events, thoughts and maybe even some feelings. I will try to write frequently.