Intelligence

So why are people who are intelligent enough to "discover" there is no God so stupid as to jump in bed with an attractive coed that had the unfortunate experience of signing up for his or her class? Why are we so intelligent as to make the medical "discovery" that a human embryo is an unviable tissue mass until such time as its mother, (father?, what father?) decides she wants it, leaving us with the utterly comical discussion about when "life" actually begins. Wouldn't real intelligence take us to a very different place? A place where proven facts don't have to be treated like obstructions and philosophical dialogue can have at least a thread tying it to known fact. Why does not believing in God compel action against those who do? Does my not accepting Mormon doctrine compel me to attack every influence I can find that Mormonism has been part of? If I were to engage in such an attack I would be weakening the society I am part of while also wasting a lot of time. I think I've picked a bad example but to follow through with it, while I do not accept the teachings of Mormonism I also do not try to destroy everything that is traceable to that religion. Granted, if the Congress passed a law requiring adherence to Mormon doctrine I would object. But to live in a country where many Mormon teachings are graven into our laws, such as not murdering, not stealing etc. is an advantage to me regardless of their origin. (Which, while not uniquely Mormon, are certainly part of their doctrine). Atheists and Agnostics alike benefit from a system based on an understanding of a Creator, but rather than living peaceably with their neighbors and enjoying this great land some are driven to destroy those who follow Christ as God's son. A life, by the way, whose teachings are often in contrast to accepted social and cultural behavior.

Integrity

This whole idea of men governing themselves is a complex and unsettling study indeed. How do you set up a government that is effective at governing and also effective at offsetting man's inclination of being drawn to power? Not sure I would want to tackle that one on my own. Personally I think the Constitution of the United States of America is where I would start; ratified in 1787, it has guided a nation for 227 years and could easily move us, with our civil society intact, through the next 227 years if we could figure out a way to re-establish it as our guiding document.

    While my endeavors as an amateur singer-songwriter have not provided any significant monetary gains, they have provided a bit of education. While talking with a respected lawyer here in Wichita once about a contract that would define my position as related to any royalties that may be generated by a multi-artist project I was considering taking part in, I inquired as to what I should look for in the said contract's wording. After offering a few suggestions he basically said the whole thing hinged on the integrity of the one writing the contract. Paramount to any other consideration was whether this person is trustworthy because regardless of the care taken in the wording of the contract, an unscrupulous person could find a way around it. This lesson has stuck with me over the years and I have seen evidence of its presence in other places as well. For instance, our Constitution is said to be useless if used to govern an immoral people. I believe we are witnessing a government being facilitated by men and women who have demonstrated their lack of integrity by swearing to uphold the Constitution then circumventing it when it is the least bit inconvenient for them. My hope for this great country is that "we the people" will wake up and start electing men and women of integrity as our representatives and that it is not too late to find our way back to a government guided by the greatest Constitution ever conceived. Disciplining oneself when so much power is available to you by way of  language manipulation and the skewed presentation of facts by a largely willing media machine, is a difficult thing to reject. Much too difficult for most of those currently residing in Washington these days. While I believe John Adams when he said "Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." It would also seem it is  inadequate to reign in an immoral and irreligious Washington elite. What do you say we start to fix it this November.

Up Up and Away

Has anyone else noticed their electric bill has increased recently? Just wondering. I've noticed. Our bill is considerably more than it was just a few years ago and seems to be increasing by the day. Staying true to their inconsistent and illogical ways our bloated and inefficient government has forced us to buy more expensive light bulbs, which pose a more real health threat than the old ones by the way, to ostensibly reduce our energy consumption. While this mandate might have actually saved us a little money on our electric bills, all things being equal, they end up just costing more to buy while we continually pay more every month for our electricity due to their policies. All I seem to hear about anymore is how the poor are suffering and how we have more and more people living below the poverty level. Well, maybe if the government found something to do other than obstruct market forces and causing everyone's cost of living to go up, (yes, this includes the poor), we might make some meaningful headway in overcoming the epidemic of poverty we are having. As the air in the US continues to be cleaner by the year, an incredible feat considering the amount of energy we use, we are attacked on all sides by environmentalist and others who are somehow bothered by our success as a nation, as being greedy and poor stewards of the world's resources. Therefore, we must pay more for electricity and for light bulbs and for vehicles and for toilets and for showers and for new construction and for tires and for (fill in the blank; quick, before the government does). Just go to the World Health Organization website and check out how the cleanliness of the air over our major cities compares to other countries. Rather than tearing down a country that has demonstrated such an incredible resilience through the last 237 years and which has offered so many people so much opportunity, why not reinforce those principles which have brought us here and see what incredible things might come of the next 237 years. Who knows, maybe we can actually come up with a "war on poverty" that actually works. If fact, there's no doubt in my mind that we can. Whaddaya say we give it try rather than burning down the whole house for the sake of a ruling class who couldn't survive in the real world if they had to.

Predatory Gambling

    Just wanted to get some thoughts down whilst I was in the midst of them. I've never quite understood the whole concept of "predatory" lending. Someone who has poor credit and cannot qualify for a loan from a bank for instance should expect to pay a higher interest rate for whatever loan they may find as the lender will be taking a much higher risk lending to them than to someone with a good credit record. Additionally, these loans tend to be fairly short-term loans and for lesser amounts of money. If I'm going to loan a high-risk individual 1000.00 for 2 months at 5%, my profit will be approximately 50.00 if things go well for me. If not I go to the back of the line of institutions who are owed money by this person and wait for who knows how long to collect some portion of my principal or interest. Not a good business decision. To make the decision look a little more doable from the loaner's standpoint he asks for a much higher interest rate to offset the risk he is taking. It all seems pretty understandable to me and if the word predatory is to be applied I would say it should be shared between the loaner and the person who has earned such a bad credit rating by preying upon unsuspecting loaning institutions. Or how about this. Don't borrow money at all. This would preclude any lending, predatory or otherwise. 
    How about applying the word predatory to the casino industry. You have to pay back a loan, but hitting the jackpot at the casino doesn't involve paying off any loans and therefore no interest either. Think about it. The less I have, the more attractive a jackpot looks. At least a loan has some built-in unattractive parts to it. You have to pay back more than you are borrowing, for instance. Hitting the jackpot has no such unsightly side effects and it's fun to gamble, besides. I'm sure the argument is that people are free to choose whether to gamble or not but the same is true with borrowing money. If we are going to suggest the loan industry "preys" on the vulnerable then we must apply this to the lottery and the casinos as well. The poor are far more vulnerable to the draw of easy money than are those who already have a sufficient income.
    I understand that there are those in society who will take advantage of people who are vulnerable in various situations. These situations are as numerous as the sands of the sea and as varied as the human face. So I am not arguing that someone might try to lend someone some money who doesn't need it or try to charge them an unduly high rate of interest. My problem is with the terminology and with the fact that so many other, more egregious and common infractions are absolutely ignored in this discussion. Besides, maybe the loaning institutions are just trying to even the score after the government forced them to make so many bad loans under the guise of fairness. Talk about someone taking advantage of the vulnerable. Make a study of the U.S. government's entitlement programs sometime. You may conclude we have a predatory government.