He Meant Well

I've been thinking about intentions lately. And this thought came to mind:

I think Hitler meant well. But let it be known, I do not agree in any way or form with what he did. It was bad. When I say he meant well, I mean that from his perspective. I am not a Hitler fan in the slightest.

I honestly do think he meant well. He meant to make the world a better place. He meant to bring up the poor, provide opportunities for healthcare for all and bring about general prosperity through this "Third Way," neither communist nor capitalist. Of course, Hitler's means to his end were evil and one of the most glaring examples of evil widely known to people. We learn about Hitler from our current, contemporary perspective, where he is taught as if he were the classic villain, scheming and twirling his mustache. We view Hitler as the icon of evil, plotting in his room, "What's the worst thing I could do today?" I don't think that's how it went. He meant well. His intentions were good. Hardly anything he did was good though. The way to make the world a better place, in his opinion, was for the "Master Race" to control it all by way of military take over. Thank God he did not succeed. After reading biographies, accounts, political science books about him and the Nazi state, there were good intentions by way of making the world a better place, but upon the Nazi's terms alone. He brought Germany out of a malaise no one wanted to be in anymore. He got into power while many good people, including Christians, stood by. It almost "just happened." We underestimate the resonence of his rhetoric and words of good intent as they were heard at the time.

He unified Germany as well. The word "unity" is thrown around a lot by politicians, but it's not a good thing in every case. I mostly remember Obama using it during his campaign, but I'm sure McCain used it as well. Saint JFK certainly used the word. Unity is not always a good thing. Pillaging barbarians are unified, the Mafia is unified. Similar to "intent," we must look at what the means and end are to our unity.

Let us think about what is at the core of politicians' statements when they use intentions as justification or unity as a necessity towards a greater goal.

Mallard Fillmore and Metal

Funny comic. At least to me it is, perhaps to others as well. Discuss.

This was a weekend full of driving, Los Angeles, friends and music. Went up to UCLA to visit my friend Andrew on Friday, got to see the campus for the first time, his fraternity, Westwood. Good times. Saturday met my friend Doug and we went to the Wiltern to see Brett Dennen. It was a good show. I hadn't been to a non-metal show in a long time, so it was weird being at a large venue with people who looked relatively calm and well kept. That was in complete contrast to AJ's and my adventure to Las Vegas last night to see Megadeth. It was funny thinking about these two completely different sub cultures: the hipster poet types vs. the metal heads. It's almost like two seperate species of people, all differentiated by lyrical content, how they tune their guitars and how big a drum set they have. Throw in a few different arrangements of chords, slightly different attitudes and BAM! a whole new world, as Aladdin would say. Human beings are diverse, if you haven't heard the news, and this weekend was a lesson in that for sure

AJ and I also visited Bass Pro Shops in Las Vegas, speaking of sub culture representations.

For Sale

1 Paintball Gun $100 obo

1 laptop computer with all original driver disks. Windows XP. Oooo. $200 obo

Thought I'd let you all know. These are sitting around, so I thought I'd begin the process of getting rid of them.

This should be the only time I sell things on my blog, but you never know.

For Those Who Want More

Check out this site courtesy of Politico: Politico44

Scroll down a bit until you find the "afternoon speed read." I've only been checking it out for a couple of days, but it's nice and condensed and seems to offer a balanced smattering of articles on hot topics. Also, the site seems like a cool place if you don't want to miss a beat on what the President is doing. Who doesn't like that?

Food Inc.

Recently, I watched the new documentary, Food Inc. to check out the buzz. It was exactly as I expected it to be: full of shocking images of cattle stock houses, slaughterhouses, shocking facts. It made me think about the groceries I was putting away yesterday in a new light: where did this steak come from? On the whole it was an almost balanced treatment of the subject with different solutions offered to solve the effects, but missing the mark on the cause. Many interviewees expressed their view of the evils of big corporations trampling down the little man. No doubt that happens and it is infuriating. However, the answer to the problem some say is that more government regulation is in order, or the Holy Word: Reform. I say Reduce. The bigger the government gets, the more power big business will have. Politicians respond to incentives like anyone else on the planet and the more government grows, the more it is able to respond to incentives offered to politicians to "look the other way." I think the FDA is a useless organization that does more harm than good, just by way of the beureacratization that approval for new drugs and oversight of food stuffs has become. If big food companies (about 4 own 80%+ of the food market in the US, if I remember from the doc) have only the FDA to answer to, rather than the consumer, the FDA -or the people in the FDA-will respond to insentives offered by business. I'm not saying that Big Food Corp is handing officials $100 dollar bills all the time, but they are able to affect change through lobbying, threats of making certain knowledge known, and other means of leverage that would affect election results and appointments.

Also, an important fact to remember in all of this is that our food industry is not free market. There are huge subsidies given to commodity crop sellers, like corn and wheat and many others I am not aware, I'm sure. Subsidies-your tax dollars-keep prices artificially low, allowing corn based products to be cheap compared to other food stuffs. It also drives out other developing economies and their chance to sell agricultural products to the US further inhibiting their growth.

Through the malaise though, Food Inc. offered the example of Wal Mart responding to consumer demand for more organic products, demonstrating the consumer does still have a voice. There is immense prosperity and productivity in American farming, unlike the world has ever seen. While most countries are worrying about starving, we are worrying about being too fat. Creating a true free market and dismantling regulatory agencies that are not accountable to anyone would be a near impossible task with the powers as they are, but it is the way to ensure prosperity and health for the most people.

A Few Thoughts

I heard today that the government is buying more gold. Interesting. Also, gold surpassed $1200 an ounce yesterday. Interesting. The government pruchases a valuable commodity with invaluable money it can print at will. Interesting.

Why is it the government's "job" to oversee medical care? Why is it the government's job to do anything? Do we ever ask the question, Is this a realm of life the government should have a say in? Are they qualified? Not only that, is it capable of performing well and if not, why do we not repeal it when it fails to do its proposed purpose?

There is no such thing as "free healthcare," "free bus system," "free gift." Period. They do not exist, never have and never will. Someone, somewhere is paying for them. And inevitably, we all will pay some price in time or money, however large or small.

Israel and Egypt

Hello friends and family. It's been a long time since last posting, but many exciting things have happened in the meantime.

For instance, I went to Israel, Egypt with my dad. It was a two week trip associated with Search Ministries, the organization he works with and he helped lead it. I basically tagged along. Highlights in Israel include the Garden Tomb (where Jesus may very well have been buried for the short time He was dead), the Temple Mount, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, vendors offering everything for $1, plush hotels, calls to prayer, the Dead Sea, Masada and so much more. Each day began around 8AM and went until at 5PM or so. We got on our bus each morning and let the guides do the rest. It's the way to see the Holy Land, if you ever ask me. Before I went, I expected the trip to be an earth shattering experience for my personal faith. You know, being in the places the Scriptures talk about, where Jesus walked, one would expect a sense of spiritual speechlessness. However, it wasn't as earth shattering as I thought it would be, but it was still significant and I would encourage every believer to go. They are just places after all and the significance of Christianity does not lie in locations but in the Person of Christ and what He did. After seeing, smelling and hearing the places talked about in Scripture with my own eyes, I feel I can read the Bible in color now. It is no longer in black and white and it's an incredible new aspect of my relationship with God.

In Egypt, the highlights included the Pyramids, Sphinx, tombs, the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in, the Egyptian Museum, and the Algerian soccer team we ran into at the airport in Cairo. Cairo itself was sprawling with over 22 million people. The traffic was remarkable.
This Egypt leg contrasted with Israel in that it was not as heavily focused on Biblical stories as Israel was (at every site in Israel there would be a Bible reading), but it was still beneficial in that it provided a focus on the General Revelation of God rather the Special Revelation of God emphasized in Israel. In Egypt we focused a lot on the ancient culture there, which we know so much about because they had a worldview that knew this life was only temporary and preparation for the next life was of the utmost importance. They emphasized resurrection of the body, reflecting the truth that humans are body and soul (spirit). They knew there was a greater power than they and got pretty close to the truth on observations they made from General Revelation.

On the way back, my dad and I spent two days in New York City, seeing the sights and visiting a couple friends of mine, which was great. It was a nice transition back into the US.

That's a short summary of my travels and what I learned. I have over 800 pictures, which would be a whole post/website.

This is Cool

Real Time Debt Clock

Private Law Enforcement

I have heard stories about private law enforcement being a possibility, but a recent story in Time magazine brought it to light again. In the story, it told of neighborhoods in Detroit where the residents each pay a monthly $30 fee to hire a private company to patrol their streets. The reason they did this is because Detroit's metro police force was cut by 25% and hence couldn't as easily deploy personnel to the outskirts of the city. This local private law enforcement stepped into the gap and the officers ride around the neighborhood with digital cameras and bullet proof vests, checking out suspicious vehicles, people and focusing on empty homes that are especially prone to theft. For the city in general, private security is one of the few growing industries in Detroit, according to Time.

This also reminded me a friend who spent 6 months in South Africa and told me about some private security there. Apparently, theft is high in Cape Town, so parking your car on the street, locks or not, is risky. So there are these guys who walk around in orange vests who will watch your car for a fee while you run inside. From what I remember, she took advantage of that service a couple of times. Lately, I haven't checked up on the status of this industry, but she was by no means a private, limited government type, so I don't think she was making this up.

The worry is often that with the repeal of a government program people will be left floundering because that was the only thing that kept the world going around. However, thanks to self interest, there are people out there always looking for a way to create value and I think the above stories add some credit to the fact that government is only one way of doing things.

Joseph on Ancient Egyptian Coins

Gnarly gnar: archeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the Biblical Joseph.

"The researcher identified coins from many different periods, including coins that bore special markings identifying them as being from the era of Joseph. Among these, there was one coin that had an inscription on it, and an image of a cow symbolizing Pharaoh's dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry stalks of grain. It was found that the inscriptions of this early period were usually simple, since writing was still in its early stages, and consequently there was difficulty in deciphering the writing on these coins. But the research team [managed to] translate [the writing on the coin] by comparing it to the earliest known hieroglyphic texts…

"Joseph's name appears twice on this coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name, Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer. There is also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian administration at the time."

Free Golf Cart, Anyone?

A thank you to Josiah for pointing out the Post Office. Yeah, they're the cheapest option right now, (that I know of) for sending letters to girlfriends or checks to missions organizations etc. If they disappeared, could not a UPS type organization pick up the slack? Would we get as much junk mail then? Keep pointing out beneficial government programs to me, I need encouragement.

Free golf cart thanks to the government.

Some excerpts:

"The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart."

"In South Carolina, sales of these carts have been soaring as dealerships alert customers to Uncle Sam's giveaway. 'The Golf Cart Man' in the Villages of Lady Lake, Florida is running a banner online ad that declares: 'GET A FREE GOLF CART. Or make $2,000 doing absolutely nothing!'"

Don't walk, run to your nearest cart dealer!

Positive Examples?

Are there any positive examples out there of a government program truly benefiting people as it was intended to? The kind of thing I am looking for is the sort of long term, without-it-we'd-be-complete-goners type of testimony. Do government programs like welfare, Medicaid, Medicare help people in the long run? I need some help on this because my own perspective on government's ability to actually help people is increasingly negative.

Discuss.

Of course, I have a blog post brewing about private enterprise doing government's job, but I'll save that one for tomorrow.

End the Federal Reserve?

I just finished Ron Paul's new book "End the Fed." It's short, sweet and to the point mostly. In it he presented a couple of compelling arguments to rid the US from control of a central bank. I am still uneducated on the issue, but plan to learn more about it. On principle I disagree with the existence of the Fed. Reasons being: every day the Fed exists and prints more money, the less our savings are worth due to inflation, it permits the government to print money in order to fund programs it should not be involved in or promote, it is hardly controlled and allowed far too much power without adequate oversight.

Ron Paul brought up the valid point that if we can't print money, why should the Fed be allowed to? If we do it, it's counterfeiting, but if they do it, it's legit.

Ever since its inception, it has failed to do what it was created for, namely, provide a foundation for a stable economy. There have been nearly two dozen recorded recessions since 1913 when it was founded.

It's an interested read.

My Man Hayek

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." F. A. Hayek from The Fatal Conceit.

Amen and amen.

Tax Tax Tax!

I sort of liked Thomas Friedman until recently. His latest kick is the environment, I preferred his stuff on globalization and business.

But now he's all government, all the time, government is the answer.

Check this out from his latest article "Real Men Tax Gas": "Such a tax would make our economy healthier by reducing the deficit, by stimulating the renewable energy industry, by strengthening the dollar through shrinking oil imports and by helping to shift the burden of health care away from business to government so our companies can compete better globally. Such a tax would make our population healthier by expanding health care and reducing emissions. Such a tax would make our national-security healthier by shrinking our dependence on oil from countries that have drawn a bull’s-eye on our backs and by increasing our leverage over petro-dictators, like those in Iran, Russia and Venezuela, through shrinking their oil incomes."

Oh yeah, it'll turn out exactly that way. I mean, we've never complained about gas being $1 higher per gallon. (Granted, I'm not sure if he was promoting that $1 rate per gallon or barrel or what). Let's give more money to the government so it can solve our problems like governments have been doing since the dawn of time. Wait...

Tim Keller

Found this article by Tim Keller on the importance of hell. It's an excellent article. Not too long either.

From the conclusion:

"The doctrine of hell is crucial-without it we can't understand our complete dependence on God, the character and danger of even the smallest sins, and the true scope of the costly love of Jesus."

Spiderman Ride at Disneyland?

Disney to Buy Marvel Entertainment

Cost

All this talk of health/medical care reform got me thinking about the issue of cost. Nothing comes for free in this world. There seems to be this popular notion that whatever the government provides is "free." Any new type of program instated costs something, usually money. Health care for example is being pushed now with the objective to drive down the cost of health insurance across the board and to provide a low cost option to those who otherwise could not afford it. Sweet. Sounds good. But wait. How is this going to be paid for? Somewhere, somehow the cost will be absorbed by someone. The government will need to increase taxes or people under the Big Gov plan will pay for it in waiting periods or people will pay for it with lost jobs due to false competition, etc. Nothing is free!

There is this mental blank spot, somehow, in our collective thinking that seems to differentiate between every commodity and necessity we purchase with time and/or money and government spending. For some reason, the government is exempt from this very basic thought. Government builds a road? Sure! Government runs a mail service? Sure! Government provides doughnuts for everyone? Sure! I'm not paying anything! Oh wait. You are. Every year, Americans work more and more of the year just to pay off taxes. Tax Freedom Day is April 13, meaning that Americans' paychecks are going straight to taxes until that day. Let's apply some common sense to how we think about cost and government spending.

2-D Love

Check out this article by the New York Times on a phenomenon going on in Japan involving romantic relationships people are having with pillow cases, essentially.

Knots

I undo a lot of tangles as a fly fishing guide. A lot of the knots are my own creation, yet I also untangle a lot snarls that guests create themselves. With tangles, there are no shortcuts. Anytime you pull one end, you'll probably make it worse. Anytime you try and flick the rod to undo the snarl, it'll just make it worse. It's a type of puzzle and definitely a patience builder. I get the most irritated when the knots are my own creation.

But then you catch a fish and it's all better.

Long Overdue

Forget my posting weekly. Ha. I thought I would be up for posting something every week on my day off, but on my days off I like to read or watch movies and sleep. Sometimes I hike or go into town. For instance, during this last, most recent day off, Reno, Renee and Danny Berger came up to visit! It was a breath of fresh air seeing them. We camped up in the mountains a couple of miles away and hung out for the rest of the time until that left for NM again. For those who don't know, they are friends from college.

This is the third week of guests and I'm beginning to feel the rhythm of my time here. I'm also beginning to get the hang of guiding fishing, something I thought would take a little longer to get the hang of. But so far it's been simple since it's mostly on lakes and local ponds. Teaching people how to fly cast is still a challenge. In fly casting, there are about 50 different things that need to happen all at the same time and if they don't, it gets messy. So we have to break it down to the bare essentials at first, keep the guest encouraged and feeling like they are getting it. It is hard and exciting, especially when they get it.

There aren't too many crazy stories to tell. Yet. Guests have been fairly normal and friendly. The staff are all good at what they do and intentional about getting to know one another. It's cool to still be around that kind of community. Each day I am reminded about the blessing that I have to make some money fishing, teaching people to fish, hiking or biking. Anytime I get discouraged or down, I only have to look up at the mountains or feel the sun and it is a great encouragement.

Politically I am still of the same opinions, just not as in touch with the news out here. All I have to say on the matter is: Dear government, stop growing. You are helping very, very few people.

In CO

I have been here 5 days. It's been sweet.

I am a fly fishing guide at Vista Verde guest ranch near Steamboat Springs, CO. This past week has been oritentation, which for myself and the other fly fishing guide (the experienced one) means actually fishing. Guests arrive the week after next.

Aside from refining my cast and learning a bunch about flies, lines, etc, I have been meeting a lot of new people. It'll be a challenging, but cool summer I think.

I'll hopefully keep you posted weekly.

I loved the opening two sentences for this article on the abortion debate:

"As an atheist and a secular kinda guy, I practice moral relativism regularly. Still, I always have struggled mightily with the ethics and politics of abortion."

Honesty. It's a virtue.

The Fair Tax

Or National Sales Tax.

This Washington Post article got me thinking about it again. Still not decided on it, but anything that could potentially get rid of the IRS gets my interest.

One of the critiques is that since prices would rise across the board, the poor would be the hardest hit. Maybe everyone having an equal share-paying the same-in the taxation process would enliven political participation. In order for politicians to pay for whatever programs they dream up, they would need to sell it to ALL the voters since ALL the voters would be paying for it.

Hmm.

The Bells

This latest word from Thomas Merton in his book Thoughts in Solitude and to you who hear bells regularly or rarely. It's made the bell sounds at TaylorU a lot more significant to me:


Bells are meant to remind us that God alone is good, that we belong to Him, that we are not living for this world.

They break in upon our cares in order to remind us that all things pass away and that our preoccupations are not important.

They speak to us of our freedom, which responsibilities and transient cares make us forget.

They are the voice of our alliance with the God of heaven.

They tell us that we are His true temple. They call us to peace with Him within ourselves.

The Gospel of Mary and Martha is read at the end of the Blessing of a Church Bell in order to remind us of all these things.

The bells say: business does not matter. Rest in God and rejoice, for this world is only the figure and the promise of a world to come, and only those who are detached from transient things can possess the substance of an eternal promise.

The bells say: we have spoken for centuries from the towers of great Churches. We spoke to the saints your fathers, in their land. We called them, as well call you, to sanctity. What is the word with which we called them?

We did not merely say, "Be good, come to Church." We did not merely say "Keep the commandments" but above all, "Christ is risen, Christ is risen!" And we said: "Come with us, God is good, salvation is not hard, His love has made it easy!" And this, our message, has always been for everyone, for those who came and for those who did not come, for our song is perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect and we pour our charity out upon all.

No Way...

I saw a headline on Yahoo! that a returning contestant to Dancing With the Stars had a wardrobe malfunction.

Now. It seems as if this is inevitable and/or preferable and should be no surprise to anyone. Those ladies perform acrobatic feats in an amount of fabric that combined would make an adequate dish towel. "What!?! The dish towel fell off while you were flipping?!? That wasn't supposed to happen...*cough*"

The laws of physics are defied everyday in many ways on that show.

Keynes

One cannot get much more Keynesian than Noble Prize winnng economist Paul Krugman in his latest article:

Falling Wage Syndrome

Some excerpts:

"Whatever the specifics, however, falling wages are a symptom of a sick economy. And they’re a symptom that can make the economy even sicker."

"But if everyone takes a pay cut, nobody gains a competitive advantage. So there’s no benefit to the economy from lower wages. Meanwhile, the fall in wages can worsen the economy’s problems on other fronts."

"To break that vicious circle, we basically need more: more stimulus, more decisive action on the banks, more job creation."

Movies

I've watched some good movies lately.

Elephant, an independent film about a school shooting.

Being There, with Peter Sellers who plays a mentally handicapped gardener who through random circumstances makes it into the upper echelons of American government just be making general statements about gardening.

Philadelphia, where Denzel Washington played a different character than usual. Thoughtful, emotional. Best Picture 1993.

Annie Hall, Woody Allen and wit and post-modernism. Very good. Best Picture 1977. I'd buy it.

At Last

At last, a new title. For those of you still wondering, I have not been in DC since December 08, thus, there isn't much "DC Time" to speak of first hand anymore.

The new title came to me in class. If I remember correctly, there are as many people living today as have ever inhabited the earth. Roughly speaking I am sure. Each one of us little humans has opinions we think vastly important. For instance, most think that if we were the close advisor to whatever leader of countryX, countryX would no longer be in the dumps. Every time I fly over a city or suburban area or watch hundreds of cars go by on the freeway, it baffles me to think that each person who is represented by the buildings and cars possesses their own set of qualities, flaws, and opinions. By inference, I think this makes our opinions worthless. In the vastness of the cosmos, who cares what I think? Especially if I am an accident of some pre-historic (before time) physical law. But wait! Christ came to earth, demonstrating His love for all humanity, including myself. He gives value to what each of us has to say because we are dignified creations in God's image. We are not an accident but carefully crafted, able to reason and interact. So here's one being's voice (me) out of 13 billion (or so), insignificant, yet valuable for some mysterious reason in all its shortcomings.

Bribing the Public

Let's not be bribed. This article on Tocqueville and his insights:

"Is America on the road to comfortable servility? “The American Republic,” Tocqueville wrote, “will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” Since Roosevelt’s New Deal, America has slowly drifted towards a political economy of soft despotism. Despite the Reagan Revolution, the trend-lines of government-spending and intervention have been in the anti-liberty direction. Entire constituencies of people now exist who regularly support politicians who promise that, in return for their votes, their entitlements (corporate-welfare, bails-outs for the “too big-to-fail,” the old-fashioned welfare state etc) will be maintained and increased."

Despotism-The Soft Way.

Also, this is an interesting article on the collapse of the Icelandic economy. In elections coming up it looks like the conservative party is about to be outed and replaced by a the more left leaning party. The collapse is of the economy is blamed on the conservative party's ruling. I found this sentence to be most interesting: "After racking up massive debts during years of laissez-faire economic regulation and rapid expansion, the country's three main banks collapsed within the space of a week in October." I don't know details, but if I were a socialist, I'd eat this up.

Surprise!

Unexpected results. Usually everything the government gets involved in runs so smoothly.

Bank bailout may hurt taxpayers, be open to fraud.

GM spent $2.8 million on lobbying while on borrowed gov money. Duh.

Wealth

Allow me to clarify on this word and its meaning, since it was thoughtfully brought up by my friend from DC.
Wealth brings with it a connotation of rich businessmen living beyond their means. Or anyone living beyond their means for that matter. This is distasteful to most, for obvious reasons, especially in Christian theology where Christ has exhorted His followers to be mindful and help the poor.
The free market type of wealth refers more broadly to a type of value creation. Wealth means any measure of resources that are expendable in exchange for goods or services.
Why is it a factor? Calvin Coolidge said it well in a speech he gave to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on January 17, 1925. This excerpt took place towards the end of the speech about the relationship between the free, capitalistic press in America to a popular government. He used the poem as a preface to the following paragraph:

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. (Goldsmith)

Excellent poetry, but not a good working philosophy. Goldsmith would have been right, if, in fact, the accumulation of wealth meant the decay of men. It is rare indeed that the men who are accumulating wealth decay. It is only when they cease production, when accumulation stops, that an irreparable decay begins. Wealth is the product of industry, ambition, character and untiring effort. In all experience, the accumulation of wealth means the multiplication of schools, the increase of knowledge, the dissemination of intelligence, the encouragement of science, the broadening of outlook, the expansion of liberties, the widening of culture. Of course, the accumulation of wealth can not be justified as the chief end of existence. But we are compelled to recognize it as a means to well nigh every desirable achievement. So long as wealth is made the means and not the end, we need not greatly fear it. And there never was a time when wealth was so generally regarded as a means, or so little regarded as an end, as today. Just a little time ago we read in your newspapers that two leaders of American business, whose efforts at accumulation had been most astonishingly successful, had given fifty or sixty million dollars as endowments to educational works. That was real news. It was characteristic of our American experience with men of large resources. They use their power to serve, not themselves and their own families, but the public. I feel sure that the coming generations, which will benefit by those endowments, will not be easily convinced that they have suffered greatly because of these particular accumulations of wealth.

Hopefully that provides some clarification on an important aspect of economic development. Thanks, DM!

Some good, some bad

A friend of mine on the way out of chapel came up to me and said, "Hey, did you hear that the leaders at the G20 conference agreed to spend $1 trillion to stimulate the global economy. Aren't we in debt already?" Excellent observation.

Speaking of this global stimulus, the Financial Times article on the subject had a handy chart. I don't hold a high regard for what leaders discuss at summits. There are a lot of lofty words thrown around and mostly about more government control.

Good things first: "A repeat of November’s pledge to refrain from protectionism and minimize trade-distorting-fiscal stimulus measures" Sweet. Free trade, do it.

Bad things: "Support for fiscal, monetary and banking packages already announced." Mistake, as we've covered before. "Curbs on bankers’ pay and establish a new Financial Stability Board." Aha! Obviously because the lesson we have learned from this whole crisis is that bankers are SINFUL and government regulators are most likely, by some eyewitness accounts, angels. Whatever a banker does, regulate it! It's probably bad. This brings up the assumption that only capitalistic entrepreneurs are capable of harming other human beings. But wait, they are human just as all other occupations involve humans, including government. There is vice everywhere. Granted, bankers made mistakes, but they have also contributed to global wealth. Whereas it is much, much harder to find a government official who has created wealth. By principle, government entities do not create wealth, only redistribute it. Top down government regulations inhibit liberty and the opportunity to create wealth. I fear more harm than good from this lofty talk.

Where have I been?

Spring Break man.

Hit up Atlanta, New Orleans, Cozumel. Took a cruise ship from New Orleans to Cozumel. Beautiful sun, beautiful beach, food and rest. Pics on Facebook soon. Checked Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana off the state list too.

Read Slash, Slash's (the lead guitarist from Guns N Roses) autobiography. It's full of his crazy exploits throughout his life. Although full of many unrepeatable things (I don't recommend it for everyone), it gave me a new appreciation for music and the intense struggles that many people have with substance abuse. I also started reading Mark Twain's Roughing It. It is very funny and I recommend it. It's all about his travels out west or as he puts it, "variegated vagabondizing" when he was about my age. I need to read more from this guy.

Was out of the news loop, but I'm climbing back into it. I'll save the commentary until a late date.

Charles Murray

I heard this guy speak on education reform at the Cato Institute in DC. A guy I went with said he was regarded as a pretty extreme libertarian. I found this essay on The Europe Syndrome at realclearpolitics.com (if you haven't checked this site out, do it today). The Europe Syndrome to which he refers is the thought that the social policies of European states are examples of success in ideal governance. In reality, as Murray argues that new data is beginning to show, these policies are undermining key facets of life that provide true happiness or "deep satisfaction."

Read it all: The Europe Syndrome

Or some excerpts for those shorter on time:

That mentality goes something like this: Human beings are a collection of chemicals that activate and, after a period of time, deactivate. The purpose of life is to while away the intervening time as pleasantly as possible. If that’s the purpose of life, then work is not a vocation, but something that interferes with the higher good of leisure. If that’s the purpose of life, why have a child, when children are so much trouble—and, after all, what good are they, really? If that’s the purpose of life, why spend it worrying about neighbors? If that’s the purpose of life, what could possibly be the attraction of a religion that says otherwise?

For some years a metaphor has been stuck in my mind: the 20th century was the adolescence of Homo sapiens. Nineteenth-century science, from Darwin to Freud, offered a series of body blows to ways of thinking about human beings and human lives that had prevailed since the dawn of civilization. Humans, just like adolescents, were deprived of some of the comforting simplicities of childhood and exposed to more complex knowledge about the world. And 20th-century intellectuals reacted precisely the way that adolescents react when they think they have discovered Mom and Dad are hopelessly out of date. They think that the grown-ups are wrong about everything. In the case of 20th-century intellectuals, it was as if they thought that if Darwin was right about evolution, then Aquinas is no longer worth reading; that if Freud was right about the unconscious mind, then Nicomachean Ethics had nothing to teach us.

But the fact remains: It is the elites who are increasingly separated from the America over which they have so much influence. That is not the America that Tocqueville saw. It is not an America that can remain America.

Resurrection

My life has interests that resurface on a rotating schedule. They are:

Led Zeppelin (they always make a comeback every 6 months).



This comeback thanks to some anime Star Wars movies a friend had on the wing.

"The same politicians who have been talking about a need for "affordable housing" for years are now suddenly alarmed that home prices are falling. How can housing become more affordable unless prices fall?"

The latest from Thomas Sowell on the government eliminating foreclosures.

Full Article

Just Because

It's been a long time.

This has been a test taking week for me. Two tests on Wednesday, history comprehensive Thursday, one today, second comprehensive 8am-12pm tomorrow. This week was also Nostalgia Night and I played in three acts. Super fun, but time consuming with rehearsals and prep. Basically, that night show has been on my mind for about three weeks with practices and auditions taking place in mid February.

I usually write a lot of my political and economic opinions on this. I've still had them, but I felt this blog needed some variety. Apparently that variety was nothing.

Lately I had some adventures in my horsemanship class. It's a good class with about 15 of us vanning and taking a car over every Tuesday evening for a couple of hours to ride. There is an indoor riding area at the stables we use and its all owned by this lady named Maggie who probably was born and raised with horses. Overall, it's been stretching because I am not at all used to walking around animals that large, putting on their tack, grooming them and riding them. Ralph is the horse my class partner and I share every week. He is very nice and forgiving. Since I have zero experience in equestrian activities, I feel like I am coloring in a little spot of my life that otherwise was a blank outline in a nice horse shape.

Also, I will be working this summer at Vista Verde ranch in northwestern CO as a fly fishing guide. I'm stoked. It will be June through October, running through the mountains and getting paid to boot.

Why is Miley Cyrus at all these award shows?

And the latest from Bill Clinton...

This just in from Bill Clinton regarding Obama, the economic crisis and Those Darn Republicans:

"Look, the American people, I think, know the president has tried to reach out to Republicans," Clinton told ABC News' Chris Cuomo. "And it takes two to tango. I think there are some of them who really believe that just-say-no politics is good politics.

"It was -- briefly, only briefly -- in the '90s. It isn't anymore," he added. "So, sooner or later, I think if he just keeps chugging along, just keeps the door open, invite 'em to every economic conference, invite 'em to every meeting, eventually, he'll start getting some votes" in Congress.

Full Article

Apparently saying "no" to retarded policies which the government has no right to enact anyway is the wrong thing to do. Gosh, thanks, Bill!

Remember, when it comes to the government, just say yes.

A Presidential Job Description?

Although this guy has more optimism than I when it comes to Obama's success, he describes some of the roles the president will have to take in his last paragraph: "All Barack Obama wanted was to be president. He may have to become an auto executive, a banker, a mortgage broker and who knows what else before this crisis is done."

Not only is that not explicitly in the Constitution, but few people elected him for that. I do not believe it to be any president's responsibility, regardless of party.

Full article.

In other news, California is going out of business. "After years on the brink, it has finally come to this: California is going out of business."

If you wish...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is available for you to peruse, if you desire, on the House Appropriations Committee website. There is roughly 1,000 pages of content as condensed from the Senate and House versions.

Let me know what you find.

PS: Imagine yourself a voting member of Congress. Do you have time/endurance to read this? Discuss.

Mothers

In reading through the beginning of Calvin Coolidge's autobiography, I could not help but agree with this quotation of his: "It seems impossible that any man could adequately describe his mother."

Amen. Thanks, mom!

For those with the bandwidth...

Check out this video from the Cato Institute.

It regards a recent ad they ran in multiple papers regarding the stimulus plan. The video begins with Obama stating "There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help jumpstart the economy." What made the ad unique though, were the 200 signatures from economist around nation who disagreed with the stimulus.

Goodness

This from a Wall Street Journal article:

"To understand the problem with the stimulus bill, it helps to focus on specific parts. Take the $142 billion for schools, which is nearly double the total outlays of the Department of Education in 2007. Now consider that much of this cash would go to public-school systems that don't even need the money for its earmarked purposes.

The Milwaukee Public School system, for example, would receive $88.6 million over two years for new construction projects under the House version of the stimulus -- even though the district currently has 15 vacant school buildings and declining enrollment. "

"President Obama says education spending belongs in the stimulus because it will help the economy in the long-term. Fair enough. But if the goal is to increase productivity, lawmakers need to be use the money as a lever for better results. Simply doubling or tripling the amounts for states to spend on the same failing schools isn't going to produce different outcomes."

Mark Steyn continues his career with another well written article. Check it out. Here's an excerpt:

"In The Washington Post, E.J. Dionne tried to break it gently to us:

'No occupant of the White House has ever been able to walk on water.'

Yeah, sure, no previous occupant of the White House has been able to walk on water – your Eisenhowers and Roosevelts, your Chester Arthurs and Grover Clevelands and whatnot. But Barack didn't run as just another of those squaresville losers. He was gonna heal the planet and lower the oceans. So, even if he couldn't walk on water, he should at least be able to paddle in it. 'He is a community organizer like Jesus was,' said Susan Sarandon, 'and now we're a community, and he can organize us.'

So how's that going?"

Sarandon really said that at the Creative Coalition’s 2009 Ball.

We know more and more about less and less

Full Article. (It's short).
"You've got some economists and some folks who think they're economists. By the way, these days everybody thinks they're economists," he joked.

As well we should be, Mr. President. All citizens of a democratic nation should be exposed enough to economic, political ideas, etc, to be able to offer critiques. In addition, once we start accepting everything the government does as correct we'll be surfing in the USSR.

Too much good

For your reading pleasure, Dave Barry has a blog about the show 24.

It's way funny. But only funny if you watch it really.

Here's the address.

Dudes, mad stuff has gone down over the last couple of weeks: Chicago trip with a class last weekend, Wheaton to see the bros and friends this weekend.
Well, that's two things.

Don't worry, Obama will fix the economy.

Inauguration

The Inauguration is today, I am watching it now, you should be/have. It's an exciting time for sure.

On that note, according to this AP article:

"It will take years before an infrastructure spending program proposed by President-elect Barack Obama will boost the economy, according to congressional economists."

Here's the key part: "The economy has been in recession for more than a year, but many economists believe a recovery may begin by the end of 2009. That would mean that most of the infrastructure money wouldn't hit the economy until it's already on the mend."

AP Article

Get stoked, because any stimulus plan will probably slide through Congress. Sure, some will put up a fight, Democrats will caution about unwise spending, enough for sound bites at least, Republicans may pull the "I have to set aside my free market principles," and a few may actually, wisely, vote against it. In the end, we will probably end up voting for a literal ocean of money being spent for, ultimately, a significant increase in actual government responsibility and perceived responsibility.

Circuit City bites the dust.
30,000 jobs done with as one article stated.
Why not bail them out?
Hmm...

These past days have been full of catching up with good friends, hanging out, and, oh yes, school. A social life at TU can easily become a full time job. A gift, indeed. I'm glad I came back during JTerm, so as to take advantage of the more relaxed schedule to ease back into the swing.

Tuesday night marked an historical occurrence: attending a Metallica show in Detroit. After the four hour drive, Rosie, Elena and I finally made it to the nearly full arena. As soon as Metallica started playing, it was easily a packed arena. There were flames, lasers, moving lights mounted on giant coffins. Metallica being the band that it is, I feel I have checked something off the list of "To Dos" in my life.

I have also started reading Amity Shlaes' newest book, "The Forgotten Man," which is a history of the Great Depression. It's an entertaining, enlightening read. It's also relevant with the different theories floating around about our current economic malaise being similar to the 30's, comparisons between Obama and FDR and Obama wanting to be FDR (but who wouldn't? Pretty much everyone loves him because he fixed the economy. Maybe). One of the nuggets I have found is a case regarding a minimum wage law in DC in 1923. The case was called Adkins and it was overturned in the supreme court because the majorit saw it as violating individual's rights. What happened to this kind of sense? Why not let individuals and companies (which are composed of individuals) decide what their wages are?

The Weekend

This first Weekend back at school was full of thrills.

First up, we had two movies and card game on Friday night.

Next, Saturday, I went down to Indy with Ben and Josiah to see a Battle of the Bulge re-enactment. It turned out to be more of a WWII infantry skirmish demonstration, rather than a particular skirmish of the Battle of the Bulge. But it was still cool. There were Nazis and Americans, dressed up.
Then we went to Ben's house for some stellar dinner. Thank you, Gollers!
Night was full of more connections and question Jenga: You pull a block and then answer a question, like "What should you not do when you are naked?" A good one to ponder.

Today, I visited a new church with the roommates plus Rachel. We went to Dr. Jones' house for some Bible study and then to the main service where he is the minister. It was good. And in the words of MacArthur, "I shall return." There just won't be any killing.

Ah yes, and in the latest news: Global Warming is now out, Climate Change is now in, because 2008 was freaking cold and we may be headed into a new ice age according to some.

"In capitalism of the 21st century, there is room for the state..." Sarkozy
Boo.
I don't think that's capitalism anymore then.

European leaders meet.

Back

On Friday the 3rd, I flew back to Indiana. Chilled at Ben's house with his family and a few other close friends. The next day hit up the wedding of one of our PAs from our semester in Ireland. Got to see some TU people there. On Sunday headed up to campus and ever since then it's been a barrage of reunions and 1 minute catch up sessions.

The last seven months flew by. I can hardly believe that summer happened and then DC. Now here. It's great to be back, although I'm looking forward to settling in more and genuinely catching up with friends. It'll fly, but it'll be sweet.