Dishonesty

As you might have guessed, this particular entry is about our government's inclination toward being less than honest with us. So let's just jump right into it. I was in the parking lot of a convenience store here in Wichita, USA when I was approached by a young black lady requesting some help, in the form of cash, so as to provide for some gas and a meal for her and her daughter. While I did inquire as to where she lived I did not ask a lot of questions before handing her 12 bucks. She walked back to the old van she had pointed to when I asked about her vehicle and got in. I pulled over to another part of the parking lot but did not leave. She did not put any gas in the van and the driver, whom I assume was her daughter, looked like an old white man. (I suppose she had a nasty disease of some kind). I followed the van which took a route that would be a very inefficient way of getting to where she said she lived and pulled into another convenience store parking lot. I did not confront them but left quietly having been proven the fool once again. As I drove home it hit me how very similar this experience was to our journey as a nation down the Social Security highway. The money you put in will be put aside and used to help you as you enter old age. No really. So here we are with Social Security going bankrupt. How could that happen if the money was set aside as they said? Welcome to the legal scam known as Social Security. The only difference between my experience tonight and the Social Security scheme is that Social Security is being carried out by an armed perpetrator. We are forced to participate in this scam with no pretense of choice. It seems choice is a popular topic for discussion in matters other than taxes. Funny thing that.

Greed is not class specific

 Pictures are from Thomas Sowell's collection. (I don't think he'd mind)

Of course with all the economic unrest in our nation today there is a good measure of frustration and anger finding articulation from many in our society. My observations would suggest that the most commonly held opinion that finds expression is that of the rich not paying their "fair share". We have compiled quite a list of half-truths and incomplete stories that have brought us to this conclusion. As far as I can see the media and a plethora of politicians are happy to leave some important information out of discussions on this matter. Fairness is a tricky thing to define and is a dangerous end for a whole society to pursue. In the end there are thousands of differing ideas on just what is actually fair and to what extent society is obligated to promote whatever definition of fairness that seems fair to it. It may seem unfair for someone to have something someone else doesn't have but as we fill in the details of how this "something" was acquired we may actually conclude that it would be unfair to give this something to he who has it not. This isn't the path I intended for this blog so let me shift gears a bit here. As we look at our culture and our country in terms of the wealth that is generated by its economic system and the results of such wealth over several generations, we would do well to be careful about pointing fingers and concluding too easily that the unequal distribution of wealth is due to rich people's greed. Greed may play a part and is certainly at play in some wealthy people's lives but I would like to suggest we need only look in the mirror to see greed. Why can only the super-rich, (whatever that means), be greedy? Let me suggest that hourly paid workers whose demands first push a company to an un-competitive market position, then to bankruptcy should be included in our definition. You can point to overpaid CEO's all day long but if they drew no salaries at all it would have little effect on the overall economic health of the company. You have auto workers making twice as much money and receiving much better benefits than the vast majority of the people who are buying their cars. Is that fair? Then instead of the natural ebb and flow of free markets correcting this unfairness the government steps in and takes even more money out of our pockets to supplement the money we've already given them. Fair? I paid substantially more for the last set of tires I put on my vehicle due to a tariff the government placed on imported tires. The result of this is more of my hard-earned money going to people who make more money than I do and who have better benefits. Again, I'm wondering if this fits your definition of fairness. If this is all a little hard to follow let me try to tie things together for you. Instead of beating up on the top one or two percent of wage earners who already pay 50% of all income taxes, let's look for ways for our government to spend less money so we can all keep a bit more of what we make. And instead of looking for ways to interpret fairness to mean I'm entitled to someone else's money let's take a look in the mirror and see if we can make a fair effort to provide for ourselves. When that happens it opens up some wonderful opportunities for new-found joy in helping out others with what you have earned. 

God Found Me!

    OK then, let us see if we, (I), can get a reasonable facsimile of the walk I just finished and the accompanying thoughts that seem to flow like a stream once they get started. First of all, in case I haven't already mentioned it, I love Dollar Tree. It must be my favorite place to shop. So I went for a walk to get a bite to eat with the turn-around point being Braum's. Since I was there anyway I bought a double dip hot fudge sundae to enjoy. This is the second time Braum's has offered a near miss for me. As I bowed my head to thank God for cows, and milk, and chocolate, and farmers and freon etc. etc. It began to soak deep within me. Again I was left amazed at God's work in creation including man's ability to manipulate and massage what God made into such wonderful-tasting treats.  Sounds a bit silly I know, but if you sit and think about all the steps, the processes, the people between me and the part of God's creation that makes that sundae possible it is truly amazing. My taste buds fully appreciated all those steps and the job which offers me the resources to buy it. On the way home I was accompanied by what looked to be a full moon. It was shining bright and giving great depth to the clouds that were gliding in front of it. I stopped a couple of times just to stare at it for a while. The noisy traffic was sent away for a time as I considered the wonder of the night sky. As I continued my walk I was reminded of a thought that had visited me many years ago of how the full moon looks a bit like a flash light. I would think of myself as a cold and lost child huddled in the woods hoping to be found. As I stopped again to gaze at the beauty that was the sky I noticed that a clear spot was approaching the moon so I waited for a few minutes for it to make its pass. As the cloud gave way to the full, glorious, unobstructed moon I heard God say, Bert! I found you! I found you! My heart was overcome with that same old joy that is ever new as I became profoundly thankful, once again, that God has found me.

Save the children

Well, it appears there were enough signatures gathered recently to put a fluoridation vote on the next ballot here in good ol' Anytown USA. As usual, instead of having a substantive discussion about the matter we are left with a plethora of statistics and the age-old encyclopedia salesman ploy of leaving the only possible explanation for rejecting the idea as disdain for our children. The statistics are there to allow a vague semblance of thoughtfulness but the real "gotcha" is the exploitation of our children. If we spent as much time actually loving our children as we do using them to justify our political wants our country would not be falling into moral depravity as it is. As far as fluoridation goes it looks like another chance for the ruling class to force its poor ignorant citizens to do something they aren't smart enough to do for themselves. Compact fluorescent light bulbs anyone? Or maybe toilets that use so little water they can't even do their jobs? Or how about shower heads that require extended time in the shower to get yourself clean. The electric car is quite the success story too. And don't forget all that "clean" solar and wind power whose companies bankruptcies are sweeping the nation after spending billions of taxpayer dollars.

    If you're into statistics lets figure out how many people have died in car wrecks because the car they were driving was too small and light to protect them. Or how many people in third world countries have died from malaria due to banning DDT. War is not the only way to kill people. Political correctness has had a certain deadly effect on our world in a lot of ways. The bottom line is that we can't be trusted to "love" our children so the government must do it for us. So now, to circumvent our disdain for our children we have an organization collecting signatures to force yet another government entry into our already government-controlled lives. So we are on the verge of fluoridating our water supply so that the 1/10th of 1 percent of the water that actually comes into contact with our teeth might do a little good. Good that any citizen can achieve for himself by using fluoridated toothpaste or mouth wash. Seems like a waste of money to me. Fluoridate the water that commercial entities use, (100's of thousands of gallons I suppose),and the water we dump on our lawns and in our bath tubs, and the water that goes into our dishwashers and on our dirty cars, just so that minute bit that comes in contact with our teeth might do some good. I have a better idea, lets assume people are resourceful enough to take care of their teeth and the teeth of their children without the government taking another bite out of our precious freedom pie. But then that might set a dangerous precedent threatening their hopes of making politics a career rather than an opportunity to serve.

If It Looks Like A Duck

Let's go back in time a bit, if you have a bit of time.1973, the year I graduated from high school. There was some good pop music being written and some not-so-good music too. I had worked in a grocery store for a year or two and had waited patiently for my freedom. At least it seemed like freedom to me. I do remember getting those "growing pains" though. As it became clear that my freedom would require some assumption of responsibility the reality of those responsibilities became a burden. Still, there was a definite element of freedom and my buddy and I took off for some backpacking in Colorado. A great couple of weeks climbing Mt. Elbert and then kicking back in the Maroon Bells area for a few days. And we took my friend's dog with us too. His name was Bear and he provided some interesting situations for us. That fall, 3 other guys and I rented a house in a small town where we attended a Jr. College. The rent was fifty bucks a month so we each had to come up with 12.50 when the rent was due. We owned a cutting edge culinary preparation device called a Hot Dogger. It had two metal bars fastened to a plastic base. The metal bars were approximately 5 inches apart or so and each bar had 3 or 4 spikes protruding up from them. Each bar was connected to one side of the A/C so that when a hot dog was placed across the spikes and the unit was turned on, A/C current would flow through the hot dog which would eventually "cook" the dog. A sophisticated device indeed but the results were somewhat disappointing. Though with enough ketchup the dogs were consumable.
    So it was in 1973. I was so focused on my world that I barely noticed the history changing event that has produced more suffering and hardship than any other self-directed event in our nation's history. The United States Supreme Court took the Constitution, twisted it into a pretzel, held it up to the light and said, "See, there it is, the right to privacy". If it looks like a baby, sounds like a baby, and kicks like a baby, it must be an unviable tissue mass. And all the intellectuals stood up after the Supreme Court decision and said, "Amen", "so be it". What we cannot push through by legitimate democratic process we will force on society by defrauding our system of government and enacting what we know to be best for everybody. 40 million babies and untold, largely ignored, emotional damage is the current toll. As far as I'm concerned the up-tick in this tragedy is more disconcerting than watching the national debt clock shoot higher by the second. Come on folks let's return to some sense of common sense. Even many Atheists and Agnostics are curious about this issue. At some point before the baby is born doesn't it become human? If not at conception then certainly in the last trimester.
    And now on a lighter note I just realized my pants are unzipped. Jeepers Wally!

    And now back to the heavier note. Can we at least agree that when an abortion attempt is unsuccessful and a living, breathing baby is the result, that we don't just throw that life in a trash can. Let's assume this is evolution's way of giving us a strong person who will help the human species survive. Maybe if we tie it into evolution the Supreme Court will condescend and let these little ones live, in-spite of the appearance of them standing in defiance of the courts' ultimate authority.

Healthcare News Flash

News Flash! Are you sitting down? A startling bit of information just came to my attention that may change the whole discussion of health-care in this country. As it turns out, more people are dying every day who have health insurance than those who are dying who do not.
 In fact, statistics are beginning to point to the possibility that even rich people with health insurance are dying on a daily basis. Only time, and a continued study of this emerging trend will bear out if it's true or not, but I think, if it is, it may change the on-going debate in this country. May I suggest, in addition to these revealing statistics, that if people without health insurance would practice good eating habits and otherwise attempt to maintain a healthy lifestyle, that they would live longer than someone with health insurance that does not take care of themselves. It is a proven fact that lifestyle is more of a factor in a person's health than whether they have health insurance or not. I am among those who could live without health insurance. Since my employer requires I accept health insurance offered only on their terms, (that is to say they do not offer any options for those wishing to receive even just a portion of the cost associated with their health insurance in the form of increased compensation),I do have health insurance. And, as long as I am able to afford it, I believe it's a good investment. I just wish I could buy my health insurance myself. In fact, I wish we were all in charge of our own health insurance. Why? Hello "free market". As with anything the government gets involved in our current insurance climate is really mucked up. (did I spell that right?) If I could buy just the insurance I wanted and could "shop" around for doctors and services I believe the costs would come down dramatically. Certainly on a case by case basis the costs would come down. I don't need maternity coverage. Nor do I want chiropractic coverage. I could have purchased a high deductible policy when I was young and put money into a Health Savings Account which could well have grown to a sufficient amount that I could be considered self insured except for those extended hospital stays which my inexpensive, high deductible policy would cover. Instead, I'm trapped in a system that will not allow me to take responsibility for, or, control of, my own health-care. A system that will not allow society to bring the most powerful and effective cost controls known to man to bear on our health-care system. A system whose most distinctive characteristic is to empower the ruling elite which is more and more in the position of giving us our opinion when they want it. In case that last line looks a little funny just think back to a scene from the Godfather.
Your homework for this week is to look into Health Savings Accounts and to start now to plan your escape from our perilous health-care system. If you are too old to pursue this worthy endeavor I am indeed sorry. God help us all.

It's Hard To Be Eeyore

They say it's hard to be humble, but I never really had any trouble with that. In fact I'm quite good at it. But maintaining a consistently gloomy disposition really is hard. There is quite a lot of rather disappointing news coming at us from all sides these days. News that is often presented in a more negative way than would be supported by the actual facts. After all, they need to sell newspapers and radio and tv ads. So the truly disappointing and tragic events are mixed in with the media's default position of taking the most negative tack on every story until it's too late to redeem it to its more factual state. How often are we left basing an opinion of a situation on an intentionally incomplete set of facts because the media isn't as well-served with the truth as with the more extreme notions conjured up by editors whose strengths seem to lie in the art of deception? I would suggest if we could pull the curtain of selfish ambition away from the news media long enough to see the real world we would be pleasantly surprised at how far our society has come in its 236 years. Upon a solid foundation of a constitution that balances and limits the government's power, which helps insure the people's continued freedoms, our society has moved into and beyond many difficult and troubling issues. We are still somewhat free, and we are more tolerant and accepting than we've ever been and moving in the right direction all the time. Lest you feel obligated to offer a disparaging word about those nasty intolerant Christians please allow me to interject a quick word. I hang around a lot of these "Christian" types and if I may, they are much more tolerant and loving than most of the people who find it so easy to criticize them. Yes, the media are fond of finding someone who calls themselves a Christian but whose mouth seems to run in opposition to that claim. Or they will edit responses from respected Christian leaders in such a way as to see that no one's prejudice is negatively impacted. Jeepers Wally, where have all the good reporters gone? The news is what it is, but they seem to want to make it what it isn't. Alas, I digress. Negativity, often within my own life, seems to abound and find a quick friend within the human spirit. There is something that wants to move me in negative directions and pull me out of earshot of the love of God. This morning, with a near full moon in the West and soon rising sun in the East, we sang songs and read scripture about the most blessed event this earth has ever encountered. It distracted me long enough to catch a refreshing, positive, uplifting song from Calvary's tree. A profoundly blessed moment that is there for the taking each and every day. May we all look more intentionally for God's love in every day.

So heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
(David Crower Band from the song How He Loves)

May God surprise you with a kiss this day.