A Recommendation from Gene's Bookclub

 A book you should read (but liberals won't):

 

Fred Barnes has written a little book.  It’s called Rebel in Chief.

 

It's an extension of what he wrote in 2004 right after Bush kicked Kerry's Butt.

 

Just reading exerpts I grasped why I and so many of my ilk are so slavishly loyal to George W Bush.  He represents the person we wish we would be if somehow they made us President (or King).

 

Some of the things he says about our magnificent President in this book are:

 

GWB plays by a different set of rules, he has a complete lack of interest in being loved by the Beltway establishment.

 

He operates his administration like a small occupying band of insurgents, an elected band of brothers and sisters on a mission.

 

He sees himself as an alien in the realm of the governing class having been given a green card by the voters. 51-48%.

 

He avoids being sucked into the Washington mindset and echo chamber.  He and Laura avoid the capital’s social whirl.  He goes to bed early (he ducked out of a dinner with India’s prime minister at 9:30am to go to bed).  He was up at 5:30am because, as he said, “I’ve got a lot to do”. 

 

He goes to Crawford Texas, to relax, not to the Kennedy center.

 

His emotional distance makes it easy for him to break some furniture sometimes.  In his first term metaphorically he busted up a whole living room.  He abrogated the missile defense treaty (Star Wars), He gave a really cold shoulder to Al Gore’s Kyoto treaty (thank the Lord), He insisted immediately that 9-11 was an act of war, he ignored the international community’s insistence that the path to peace in the middle east was negotiating with Yasser Arafat. 

 

He committed Washington’s cardinal sin of taking on Social Security, trying to do major reform.

 

And he cut taxes.

 

As a result his Rebel in Chief style has brought republicans to the mountaintop.  He initiated a political realignment that continues today.  He helped congressional republicans achieve a majority as well.

 

Clinton got what he strived for, Personal Popularity.  Bush is willing to surrender personal popularity to get what he seeks: a transformation of American Politicos that makes the Republican Party the majority party.

 

Bush talks about Jesus far less than Clinton did.  He doesn't wear his faith on his sleve like Clinton did.  He is deeply religious but private about it.  But his memorable quote is: Liberty is not America’s contribution to the world but is God’s gift to Mankind.

 

Somehow Bush is able to stand strong in the face of bad news:

The news media hammers hard on him about Iraq, Drug entitlement program, the accusation of a culture of corruption, $3 gasoline, Iran, the ownership society that hasn’t yet gotten traction.

 

George W Bush has recently been reading about George Washington.  He is said to have commented, he was the first, I’m the 43^rd.  They’re still analyzing him.  In 200 years they’ll still be analyzing me.  I will do what I believe to be right.

 

I guess it will come as no surprise, I am so glad he is there in the White House and in Charge.  He is my hero.  

 

As for me and my house, God Bless President Bush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Year 2029

Headlines from the year 2029:

Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California. White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language.

Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United State s crops and livestock.

Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped.

Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the AmericanTerritory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon).

Iran still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 10 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.

France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica.

Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.

Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

85-years, $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss.

Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed, they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut. (Hummmmmmmmm)

Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.

Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.

Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches.

New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2036.

Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.

IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.

Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.

 

Responce to goodness

I got this from a freind of mine.  You may have seen it, but just in case.....

 

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut.  After the cut he asked
about his bill and the barber replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money
from you; I'm doing community service this week" The florist is pleased and
leaves the shop.

Next morning when the barber goes to open there is a thank you card and a
dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill the
barber again replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing
community service this week." The cop is happy and leaves the shop.

Next morning when the barber goes to open up there is a thank you card and
a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Later a Republican comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill
the barber again replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm
doing community service this week." The Republican is very happy and leaves
the shop.

Next morning when the barber goes to open, there is a thank you card and a
dozen different books such as "How to Improve Your Business" and "Becoming
More Successful."

Then a Democrat comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay his bill
the barber again replies: "I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing
community service this week." The Democrat is very happy and leaves the
shop.

The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are a dozen
Democrats lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the
left and the right

Facts Versus Truth

Years ago there was a program on NPR called Mr. Science.

He would propound some strange theory and then questioned he would say, “"Because I know more than you do, I have a degree in Science". It was funny. Kinda.

Last night I was listening to the last hour of an overnight program which is rerun in our market from 11-12 midnite. The conversation was about psychic phenomena and/or the paranormal at any level.

Dr Mark Schermer who writes Scientific American and Publishes the Skeptic Magazine was the main part of the discussion was incensed that anyone could believe any of this. He was dismissive, arrogant, defensive and pejorative of anyone who could or might believe any of the theory brought by the other sides of the argument. I have no dog in the hunt but I was amused by the vigor with which Schermer rejected any arguments. It was very familiar sounding.

The man in favor of the argument for psychic phenomena asked a simple question. What if certain psychic phenomena were factually demonstrated and proven beyond any reasonable doubt. Would you believe then? Schermer said no. “The facts would not disprove the truth”. HUH?

On Extension 720 radio with Milt Rosenberg two weeks ago Dr Leonard Susskind who has written a new book about string theory (The Cosmic Landscape : String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design: by Leonard Susskind). Susskind gave an intense rationale as to why string theory can not support intelligent design. The problem he was dealing in his book was a trend deep inside the research community where thousands of scientists are beginning to say that the nature of matter illustrates how intelligent design is actually the only valid thesis of all material existence. Many of them have begun to explore the Christian faith. Some have even become committed to it. Hawking and Einstein both postulated that an argument can be made for a creator God when you consider the basic nature of matter.

For the first hour he went merrily along propounding and demeaning faith in God as proven by his “truthiness”. Then in the second hour he had to take calls from listeners. To his dismay local scientists who have come to grips with the "“God created the universe”" concept in Chicagoland began to call him (we have Fermi Lab and Argonne Labs in town with about 5000 quantum physicists in house). They debated scientist to scientist with an equal authority of scientific depth. His arguments began to whither. His frustration became palpable. Halfway thru the hour he refused to take any more calls. They had gutted his arguments regarding string theory's ability to discount intelligent design whatsoever. Never let the facts get in the way of the truth. He wasn't convinced. I guess when Dale Carnegie said, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still"
It's still true!

I have been in a political, cultural and religious discussion for a few months now with some wonderful intelligent people who are proving this pattern perfectly.

They don'’t let the facts get in the way of their “"truth"”.

If you are solidified in your thinking and someone comes along with a contrary opinion, the capacity to consider the other side is limited by how it might disturb your matrix of life theory in which you live. Like the professor on Milt Rosenberg'’s program, the facts must never interfere with the truth matrix we have all developed for our lives.

This goes both ways. I have come out recently for re-examining the socio-economic fabric of our lower and lower paid work force and it'’s long-term implications politically for the USA. My thesis is that the wide division economically (middle class disappearing) with a permanent underclass who is allowed to vote will ultimately result in a demagogue taking power in the USA. Chile, Venezuela, and other elections demonstrate that potential. We are living in Germany 1927.

I have been pilloried by my right wing friends for this view.
They have called me every name including the one most vile, Liberal.

I have made public statements about why Wal-Mart is not good for America. My conservative friends have smiled knowingly and considered me just a bit wacky. Liberal friends have considered this a coup. Nope. I try not to let the truth I live by mess with the facts I plainly see. I am trying to see thru the Matrix of my own life. Fortunately other conservative thinkers are coming to this conclusion. Matt Drudge, and today, Kathleen Parker who is no liberal at any level are speaking out on this issue. I think the facts are starting to modify certain conservative "“Truths"”.

In an interesting article it was demonstrated by some researchers that political viewpoints were not processed by the reasoning portion of your brain. That in fact what you believe you believe in spite of the facts, your truth, is unmolested by reality. That by the way is true for me too. I am trying to wrestle against this incursion of bias in favor of reason.

I have discovered that when confronted with facts that counter their truth there are predictable responses from the right or left:

• Denial
• Ridicule
• Anger
• Refusal to continue any debate
• Arrogance (we'’re smarter than you are, The Mr Science Defense)
• Trumping by superior education
• I donÂ’t care what that proves, I still don'’t believe
• Discounting the person who said it as ignorant
• Parsing (this happens a great deal with people who struggle with the Bible, take a verse out of context and try to prove this or that)
• Changing the subject to deflect the power of the argument.
• Trying to pigeonhole the person. I am a charismatic Christian. Many mainline friends will couch anything I say within my prescibed (by them) Charismatic framework. That somehow sufficiently discounts the opinion I express. Never let facts get in the way of truth.
• Engaging in intellectual dishonesty to maintain a position you have become aware is destroyed by the facts

Sadly, this kind of attitude exists in families (that'’s why you feel so much like a child when you go see your Mom and Dad even when you have grandkids of your own). The facts have no bearing on the truth in your brain.

In the Matrix (the movie). Cypher has decided to rat out his fellows including Morpheus, Neo and Trinity. There is a scene within the Matrix where he and Mr. Smith (an agent) are in a fine restaurant. Cypher is eating a steak and drinking fine wine. He says, "“I know that none of this is real. I know the fact is this steak doesn'’t exist. When I taste it, that it's not real. That this wine is all a program. But I don'’t care. I'’m sick of being in that smelly dirty place"”. So he makes a deal with agent Smith in exchange for living in wealth, fine food and lots of women. Exchanging a "truth" for a lie the reality he knows to be correct is swaped for a new reality that is counter to the facts. "Truth" trumping facts.

Of course none of it happens. He dies. That'’s the way movies are.

But, to a person who has a mindset of emotional truth which cannot be challenged with facts will ultimately find themselves like Cypher deciding to live a lie. Oh they'’ll be happy, they'’ll think things are as they should be. They will even find others to reinforce their "“truth"”. That'’s why talk radio (conservative or liberal) is so successful. That'’s why the blogosphere is so explosive. We can build our own worlds in our own little truth matrix.

I can, you can, find truth from others that lines up with your truth. And you can live in your Matrix. I'll live in mine. We will be amazed that other people can possibly be so confused and deluded.

Just don'’t let the facts get in the way of the truth you have chosen.

As Neo said at the end of The Matrix, "“Now that you know, what are you going to do now?"

[W + (D-d)] x TQ) ÷ (M x NA ( I wish someone would have told me)

Now I know. 

 

Yesterday January 23, the one with all my catastrophe, was the worst day of the year. 

 

They knew over in Scotland ahead of time.

 

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=108812006

 

And they're 6 hours ahead of us. 

 

So why didn't they tell me? 

 

Maybe I didn't listen.

 

A Chronicle of Narnia

Last night when the Narnia movie finally moved to the old person discount matinee-pricing ($4) Peggy and I went to see it.  I’m cheap.  But I did buy popcorn and a coke (diet).  She snuck in her own drink.  CHEAPO.  So the movie tickets were $8.  The coke and popcorn was $8.50.

 

We went to a theater in Aurora.  Mostly Hispanics and their kids in the theater.  I like Hispanics.  I work with them.  Find them good folks.  But, 18 month old babies shouldn’t go to movies with lots of crash and bang in them.  I digress.

 

The movie was astoundingly beautiful. 

 

How they made the animals talk and act so real I’ll never know.  I guess it’s all with computers but the animals looked as real as any you would see, maybe better.  Not cartoon like at all.

 

The little girl Lucy was darling. 

 

The beings were so real.  I saw Lord of the Rings (all of them) and these were more real and more in some cases terrifying. 

 

The story of redemption was there but not in anyone’s face.  In fact, if you didn’t know the nuances of the redemption story you would never know that’s what it’s about.  C S Lewis was brilliant at maintaining integrity without sacrificing the story.

 

If you haven’t seen it, try to see it on the big screen.  It’s huge in it’s spectacle.

 

The white witch was more evil than I could have thought and without any redeeming quality at all.  Lewis really got the character of Satan right.

 

And I didn’t cry at the death of Aslan as I didn’t cry at the scourging of Jesus in the passion. 

 

There were other scenes of bravery and valor that choked me up.  I’m a sucker for a hero.  I love it when the good guys win.

 

 

 

 

Being Omniscient is Hard sometimes.

It’s Monday again.  Let’s see.

 

Yesterday I pushed the button in the car for the door opener and started to back up.  Before the door began to open.  Fortunately the door and I saw each other before impact.

 

Then I was off to Church.

 

I was teaching from Rev Chap 5 and leading to 6 on the duality of the Godhead and it’s Trinitarian implications.  Teaching people who have no clue what I’m talking about, I’m doing what no theologian ever tries to do:  Explain the concept of the Trinity in 40 minutes or less. 

 

Afterward in total despair I said to Peggy, “The bus didn’t get there today”.  My wonderful wife said, “Well you gave everyone a great deal to think about”.  That means the bus didn’t get there. (Terminology which in preacher terms means you tried as hard as you might and no one figured out where you were going or were able to ride along.  The bus didn’t get there). 

 

So, today, I’m feeling rather dismal.  I’ve got the Monday morning preacher blues.  Happens often.  I’m sure Dylan wrote about this.

 

Then, to top it off: 

 

I’m off this morning to see if there are any big checks at the post office.  Nothing.  Leaving the post office I look to the right, a minivan ahead of me.  I look to the left, nothing coming.  So I go.  The minivan didn’t.  Crunch.  1 mile per hour.  I’m sure that between our automobiles it will be $4000.  And Ford is going broke.

 

Idiot.  Not her.  ME.  So after a half hour on the line with a really nice lady from Liberty Mutual, my victim and I departed. 

 

I did a couple other errands.

 

Then, feeling very sorry for myself.  I decided on some comfort food.

 

I’ll bet as a German you would have prescribed sauerkraut.  Most of the time that wouldn’t be a bad bet.  But, comfort food for me is SUSHI.  I love sushi.  And the rolls.  The really hot mayo.  lots of wasabi.  Burn out the guts.  Now that’s real comfort.  No chocolate for me.  Noserii.

 

I could use some pity here.  I’m feeling kind of old and stupid.  I know I have friends who know that feeling sometimes.  You might be amused to know that on my business cards it says “Gene Redlin, Horticultural Q”.  I am almost never asked what that means.  If you are a Star Trek Next Gen fan it will be clear.

 

I hope to return to my omniscient self soon.

 

Then I will have all the answers for all the world.  But not on Mondays.

 

 

Two Anniversaries and a Funeral

Yesterday was the 25^th anniversary of the Inauguration of Ronald Wilson Reagan.  Renauldus Maxima 

 

We have enjoyed a quarter century of prosperity and relative peace because of his greatness in just 8 years.

 

I believe George W. Bush may be in history’s rear view mirror ranked very close to the Maxima’s greatness. 

 

This is also the 33^rd anniversary of the death of the moral compass in America.  The anniversary of Roe V Wade.  This day will stand in the future as one of America’s worst times.  I’m thankful and confident that in the not so distant future we will see the end of this horror on a national basis.  There may be states where it is practiced.  I don’t with that, but prostitution is practiced in some states.

 

This is also the anniversary of the end of one of the worst Presidencies in the history of the Union.  Jimmy Carter, a good man but a terrible president was put out of office.  History continues to demonstrate him as weaker and ineffective.  Iran that you see today is because of Jimmy Carter. 

 

So, I’m hopeful.

 

Hopeful that our President will do the right thing, hopeful the new court will get rid of the horror of national abortion, and hopeful the memory of a bad president as played out in Iran today will end soon.

 

Happy not so happy sad anniversaries.

 

Iran - Long Oil Futures?

I’m suspicious.  When I see the kind of rhetoric coming out of Iran about cutting off world oil, I just wonder one thing.  What if:  The President of Iran has taken long positions in the oil futures market at $60, hopes to rattle sabers, run it to $100, then sell, pocket the cash and quiet down.

 

Probably not, but what a great scheme.  He, all by himself has the ability to do this.  And he controls the politics and global economic mood by his comments and actions. 

 

I’m just suspicious.  And I heard a prophecy to that effect.

 

Or it’s the topic of a great book or made for TV movie.

 

 

Can't Pass the Acid Test

I read an automotive column in the Wall Street Journal’s personal section on Thursday written by a supposed expert.

 

Yikes.

 

He gave advice on a discharged lead acid battery in a person's car.

 

He said:

A deep discharge of the battery would ruin the battery.

The car was not able on it’s own to recharge the battery.

That Batteries were not meant to be radically discharged because it would shorten the life of the battery.

 

We’re talking lead acid here.  Car Battery.

 

He couldn’t be more wrong:

An occasional discharge is GOOD for the battery.  It cleanses the lead plates of accumulations of lead oxide deposits as a result of long-term shallow charge usages.

 

The Car’s electrical system is well able to recharge the battery from near zero.  Not every day of course but on an occasional basis no problem.  Alternator diode voltage regulators know what to do. 

 

A deep discharge is part of the life cycle of a good battery and will not ruin it.

 

I blame this on bad science education.  Schools. 

No Sympathy for the Devils

I just returned from doing a trade show at McCormick place in Chicago.  It was a good show but the move in was terrible.  And it was all a problem caused by one thing. 

 

Unions.

 

The no-work-short-hours union.

 

And the “if we don’t have wheels beneath us we do nothing” union.

 

I say this because I never saw any union employee do any actual work other than drive around.

 

I am pretty sympathetic to unions sometimes.  But when they act like they did this week, I have no sympathy for them.

 

I hope they get new jobs real soon.  They are inviting replacement by a non union shop because of their actions or lack of them.

 

 

4 BIG LIES

 If you want to set me off, and I’m your customer and you say:

 

For your Convenience

            Means we changed policy and you’re screwed so lump it

For your Safety

            Means we don’t want to have to work that hard

For your security

            Means we have incompetent people working here  

For Better Service (your call to be taken in 10 min) or we’re taking care of other customers

            Means we are too darn cheap and don’t give a rip about you

 

If you say those things to me, you automatically put my radar on “look for another supplier quick” mode.

 

Thought you’d want to know, this is for your convenience and safety.

 

Keeping Kids Komotose

This is a true story.  Only the names are changed to protect the innocent child. 

 

I have friends whose little boy and little girl are rambunctious.  Energetic. Can be difficult.  I like having them around.  They are fun.  They are active.  They come to stay with Peggy and me from time to time.  They are like surrogate grandkids.

 

But, fun doesn’t fly in public elementary education.  Fun is a problem.  Fun is difficult for teachers.  So, the little girl and the little boy were sent home from time to time for behavior issues.  Behavior like they talked in class.  Behavior like they had a hard time sitting in their seats.

 

So, the school at first quietly and then more insistently recommended Ritalin.  They had a doctor that would prescribe it.  The option was they didn’t want their kids in the school any more and they would have to go to a private school. 

 

I advised that might be a good thing.  But the school won.  First the little girl (8) was drugged; Then a year later her little brother (7) was rendered comatose.  Oh they’re behaved now.  Like zombies.  The little girl is on drugs for over a year, he’s just begun.

 

The school doesn’t have any more problems.  There are several kids in the class who are doped up so the teacher doesn’t have to do any actual work.  Class size?  Little girls has 22, little boys, 28.  Boy that’s tough odds.

 

I am angry, frustrated, and will do everything in my power what little I have to see to it public education is abolished in the USA. 

 

That way the drug pushers will be put out of business.  Read this article about the abuse inflicted on our kids by the schools of America by the drug pushing teachers.

 

I should blame the parents, I should blame the pediatrician, but I blame the school.  It all started there.

 

Abolish public education.  Nationwide Vouchers.  Make having kids as customers instead of a nuisance a reality.

 

The Long Grudge

I just returned from the Mid Am trade show.

 

It was a huge success.  I sold stuff.  It worked well.

 

But I ran into a guy who could have sold me $30,000 worth of goods for me to resell.  He complained about a deal that happened years ago and how he couldn’t forgive me for it.  I don’t recall the whole thing.  It was small potatoes.

 

He proved that the price of a grudge is huge indeed.  He lost.

 

On the other hand I ran into a guy who stiffed me out of several hundred bucks a couple months ago.  I could now sell him $6000 worth of goods.  I am going to go ahead but make it all back in one fell swoop.

 

That’s how to keep grudges short and settled.

Food or Fuel at $70

 We are getting close to the place where agriculture is going to start making decisions to grow food or fuel.  This doesn’t auger well.  We will pay at the pump or pay at the grocer.  Competition for land and production inputs will make he decision where.

 

This is good short run for agriculture.  Long run it’s bad. 

 

We need to rethink this.  There are alternatives. 

 

Let’s not make the Hobson’s choice of food or fuel.  Food will lose and so will we.

 

ON the other hand, I stood on a scale today. Maybe that’s not a bad thing.

 

A Movie Test:

How to score:

Give yourself a

        1 if you've never heard of this movie

        2 if you've heard of it but not seen it

        3 if you've actually seen it.

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Transamerica
3. Capote
4. Walk the Line
5. The Constant Gardener
6. Syriana
7. Paradise Now, Palestine
8. Memoirs of a Geisha
9. Good Night, and Good Luck
10. The History of Violence

15 or less, you need to get out more.

16-20 You live a life of interest particularly to the NSA

21-25 Busy little Bee aren't you

26-30 Your liberal indoctrination is now complete

These were all movies honored at the Golden Globes last night. And Hollywood wonders why we all stay away in droves.

I'm sheltered.  I get a 14.

 

 

Rent - a - Negro

LeShawn Barber has a great post on a new service. Read her take on the new RENT A NEGRO business. You can give Tokens as fabulous gifts.

Since slavery has been outlawed LeShawn has brought to notice this useful service, particularly to white liberals who give lip service but do not actually KNOW any black folks. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It's time for this kind of piercing of the veil. Way to go.

Why Church Workers Shouldn't have a Spell Checker in their Computer

Church Bulletin Bloopers 2006

 

* Several members who have been in the hospital are not on their way to recovery, for which we are thankful.

 

* The Jack and Kill Daycare is looking for someone to help part time on Saturdays.

 

* We'll kick off the Christmas season this morning with our first hymn, "The First Nowell"

 

* Our Wednesday Night Family Cafeteria meal will feature a variety of Chinese dishes including One Ton Soup.

 

* Events: December 9th, Christmas Caroling at the Parkview Nursing Home 7:00 p.m., December 10th, Breakfast with Satan
6:00 to 9:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall.

 

* Saturday the Youth Group will Serenade a number of our Seniors with Christmas Thongs.

 

* Last Saturday the Men's Group had a great fellowship that included good conversation and delicious coffee.  Special thanks to Kate Michels for providing teats.

 

* The Youth Group had a scavenger hunt, did face painting, and played a game called, "Find the gun."  They had a great time.

 

* The Pastor's Corner: A Personal Massage from Jesus.

 

* Don't forget to make some New Year's Resolutions.  It's a great way to start off with a new ear.

 

* Due to Construction on the North side of the parking lot, we will soon be changing entrances.  Please exit the new driveway which is the one in between the old entrance and the old exit.  Please exit from the new exit which is the old entrance.

 

* What are you doing for Lunch Tuesday?  Local Funeral Director Barry Gilbert will talk about the benefits of cremation.

 

* The Riegieman Chiropractic Center will host Kid's Day this Saturday.  They'll be treating the youth group to spinal exams, backpack checks, I.D. Cards, etc.

 

Gene Redlin
St Charles IL
http://northerngleaner.blogspot.com/

The Rhino Principle

I received my Forbes Magazine over the weekend.  I am signed up to get that magazine until I’m 70 years old I think.  For a long time every time I got a call from the renewal department, I re-upd. 

 

But sometimes I read something that knocks me for a loop.  This commentary titled the Rhino Principle is one of the best.  It is so motivational.  I have to confess there are some things I am not getting done that this caused me to take another look at.

 

Paul Johnson says:

 

This principle can be applied to many other things, particularly business. When an entrepreneur has an object in his line of vision, he should dismiss all other considerations from his mind, abandon all other activities and charge directly at that object, continuing to charge until the object has been secured. All kinds of qualities are needed to make a great businessman. But aggressive single-mindedness is by far the most important. Indeed, it is indispensable.

 

I found it encouraging.  I hope you will too.

 

Read the whole thing here. http://www.forbes.com/opinions/free_forbes/2006/0130/031.html

The Dispirited Defeated Left

I have lots of friends who I love dearly who are as left wing as you will ever find.

For a long time I have had the opportunity (even joy) to engage in spirited discussions re politics, culture, religion, and life in general.

Suddenly silence, nothing, from any of them.

I wondered. Is it just me? But I watch the talking head shows, I listen a bit to Air America, I listen to Right Wing Talk Radio, I read the blogs like Huffington. The air has gone all out of their balloon. Oh there’s a few hanger on’ers. But they are few and far between.

I know it would be easy to say they have accepted the bankruptcy of their positions; that they are unable to respond to reason and common sense.

But that never stopped them before.

Something has happened here. Could it be the calm before the storm? Did the Alito thing embarrass them so much? The Pillage Idiot thinks so. Is the lost 2006 election cycle to them painful? I think something is up.

Lawance Tribe, a political consultant was quoted:

Tribe said Friday that Democrats were increasingly discouraged in their efforts to mount opposition campaigns. "When it comes down to it, the numbers of Democrats means that it begins to feel to some like tilting at windmills,"

And at a time when Dick Morris says the country is turning left. His thesis is interesting and a warning to those of us who might become complacent.

It is always dangerous to generalize about ideological trends among the American electorate, since it will always lean right on certain issues (like defense, terrorism and taxes) and hew to the left on others (like healthcare, education, poverty and the environment). But the data are becoming overwhelming that the nation is moving left and is likely to stay that way through at least the 2006 election — and, if President Bush doesn’t adjust, for a lot longer.

A big part of the reason is the success the Bush administration has had in solving and hence diminishing the importance of the Republican agenda. Taxes have been cut, we have not had a terror attack since Sept. 11 and trial lawyers are on the defensive. The issues that remain — energy, environment, healthcare and Social Security — usually are Democratic and liberal.

The battle is still on. But, to my quieted lefty friends; come back little Sheba, come back. I still love you.

Martin Luther King's Conservative Roots

Martin Luther King Jr’s Holiday is being celebrated on Monday. You will hear Al Gore and all species of Liberals parroting things MLK supposedly said. Mostly it will be quotes from his late in life conversion from Conservative thought patterns to those influenced by liberals like Jesse Jackson.

Almost everything you will hear quoted Monday will be from the years 1964-1968. Four years of his whole life’s work is the shallow well from which liberals will draw their water.

What you are not going to hear on Monday are any quotes from his less famous years. The years he said what he believed and not what gave him fame.

He spoke conservative truths that resonate today in the emerging black conservative community from the early 50’s. He was passionate about helping black Americans in 1954 become all they could be in his mid 20’s during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and worked tirelessly until he was in his mid 30’s without wavering from fundamental black conservative principles.

It is easy to point to the pivotal day of his conversion; The Jobs and Freedom rally in Washington DC in August 1963 (he was 34 years old) with nearly a half million cheering people hanging on his every word. He used this platform to promote Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bill. This became law in 1964.

Fame is deceiving. From that point forward he said what the crowd cheered for and not what he really believed. The last 4 years of his life were governed by influences that caused the fame and acclimation to take the place of principle

He was murdered just after his 39th birthday.

He was a great man who believed in right principles that became perverted by the spotlight and voices around him filling his mind with more and more liberal fantasies. The power corrupting and absolute power corrupting principle held.

Here’s what you WON’T hear on Monday when the Liberals co-opt the stage like they did at Rosa Park’s funeral. They are shameless.

“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well,” he advised. “If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music.”

“Set out to do a good job,” not “a good Negro job.” Three years later, he was even more adamant: “We must seek to do our life’s work so well that nobody could do it better. The Negro who seeks to be merely a good Negro, whatever he is, has already flunked his matriculation examination for entrance into the university of integration.” Even the later King touted this line. “[W]e must work assiduously to aspire to excellence,” he proclaimed in 1967.

He excoriated schoolteachers “who can’t even speak the English language” and wouldn’t know a verb “if it was as big as that table.” “For a college graduate to be standing up talking about ‘you is,’” he charged, “there is no excuse for it.” He added angrily: “And some of these people are teaching our children and crippling our children.”

“Let’s live within our means. Save our money and invest it in meaningful ends.” Blacks shouldn’t spend more than they could afford on houses and cars, he counseled, and they should especially “stop wasting money on frivolities,” such as “all these alcoholic beverages.” “It would be one of the tragedies of this century,” he maintained, “if it is revealed that the Negroes spent more money for frivolities than we spent for the cause of freedom and justice and for meaningful ends.”

If blacks were to integrate themselves into America, King felt, black crime rates had to fall. “Let’s be honest with ourselves and say that . . . our standards have lagged behind at many points,” he declared in 1957. “Negroes constitute ten percent of the population of New York City, and yet they commit thirty-five percent of the crime,” he observed.

“We can begin a constructive program which will vigorously seek to improve our personal standards,” he said. “It is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of high maturity, to rise to the level of self-criticism,” King declared. “Through group unity we must convey to one another that our women must be respected, and that life is too precious to be destroyed in a Saturday night brawl, or a gang execution.”

“Through community agencies and religious institutions, we must develop a positive program through which Negro youth can become adjusted to urban living and improve their general level of behavior.”

He pointed out in 1957 that, in St. Louis, “the Negroes constitute twenty-six percent of the population, and yet seventy-six percent of the persons on the list for [A]id to [D]ependent [C]hildren are Negroes.” Several years later, he regretted that “56 percent of Negro children at some point in their lives have been recipients of public aid.”

He echoed Franklin D. Roosevelt’s argument that government handouts are a potential “narcotic” that can result in “moral disintegration,” robbing welfare clients of their “self-respect, their self-reliance and courage and determination.”

Shortly before his assassination, King even began to speak of a black “underclass”—“an underclass that is not a working class.” In King’s view, those who belonged to this group, “alienated from the routines of work,” lacked the “habits of discipline” that enable someone to succeed in the workplace. How could self-help be the road to success for people who seemed bent on destroying themselves?

"When these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters," King wrote in his Letter From a Birmingham Jail, "they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence."

So you read it here. You can also read all about it here and here and here

Happy Birthday Dr King

Why I am Optomistic but not Black

I am optimistic that a turn is taking place in the Black Community.  The conservative Christian black leaders (I Didn't say Republican) are beginning to take the mask off of the so called Poor Oppressed Black culture and starting to get at it's organic roots.  The black population in New Orleans  crushed by organized socialistic policies with permanent poverty as a result was washed away by Katrina.  It ain't coming back.  The backlash against so called self serving leaders like Jesse Jackson is accelerating.  I predict that Al Sharpton (who I actually believe is pretty sharp) will get on board.  Bill Cosby, Don King and others who are recognizable will say the things needed to be said.  This will give permission to the Church and Political leaders (Like Lynn Swan) to help restore the respect and culture 45 years of social experimentation by "intellectuals" who played around with other people's money, great society schemes and EOC boondoggles that generated the opposite results intended.  It's time to set the captives free.

Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty,  Free at LAST.

Lashawn Barber wrote this. I couldn't.  I'm White.

If American blacks, as a group, don’t start: 1) marrying before they have children, 2) stigmatizing illegitimacy as they once did, 3) ostracizing immorality and decadency, 4) holding themselves accountable for their children’s low educational achievement, 5) shunning criminality, and 6) resisting the “racism” hustle — moral decay, social pathologies, underachievement, and other ills will define the “black community.”

And thug culture will be the perverse crown jewel sitting at the top.

Addendum: It’s important to note that I’m advocating responsibility for individuals and responsibility within families. Without a return to strong and intact families, the tasks ahead will be extremely difficult to accomplish.

Black people do not need another propped-up, opportunistic so-called leader helping them do anything. I believe blacks as a group have the intellectual, spiritual and cultural knowledge they need to dig out of this hole. It requires policing our own and holding one another accountable for our actions, not listening to some stump speech from a puffed-up peacock. So please don’t comment on this thread about leaders for the black community, especially if you’re white.

http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2006/01/11/dine-young-cannibals/

 

Another powerful voice in the community is Alveda King, Neice of Martin Luther King jr.  Her father also died tragically.  She spoke last Sunday at the Justice Sunday II rally held in PA in suport of Judge Alito's confirmation. 

http://www.kingforamerica.com/index.htm

 

This rally was held at a Black Church which is Pastored by a Conservative (note I didn't say Republican) Black man.  Keep Hope Alive.

 

Of course the Snarky Left Wing Website Salon couldn't celebrate progress:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/01/09/justice_sunday/index_np.html

 

This train is leaving town and the left doesn't even know where the station is.

 

  

How to end Global Warming in 10 years, Not that anyone of us would know

Some German Scientists have just revealed a shocking fact. Plants put off Methane Gas when they grow. CH4. Nasty old greenhouse gas. So, planting trees doesn’t work. They say,

This is JUNK SCIENCE at it’s worst.

I don’t say that as someone who just fell off the turnip wagon. I spent many hours in Plant Physiology studying the Dark Cycle, sometimes called the Calvin Cycle.

It is a description of how plants create carbohydrates from Carbon, sunlight thru photosynthesis. You can read all about it here.

Here’s the short version. Plants put off gasses. Sometimes those gasses are CH4. Mostly because of certain anaerobic decomposition activities. By the way, bacteria which operate in those environment are plants too.

So, now I will reveal my cure for global warming.

Kill all life on earth completely.

Will it work? If it happens we’ll never know.

But that’s what the Looney left junk science advocates are really saying.

Of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere here is the breakdown of the sources:
90 billion tons from Vulcanite sources, 90 billion tons from oceanic life sources, 8 billion tons from terrestrial life sources (human and animal).

There’s a problem with this. We didn’t cause nor can we stop climate change. It’s going to be what it’s going to be.

Wear a coat if we’re going thru a new Ice Age as some say, or buy a new umbrella if we are going to go thru intense global warming.

I’m not sure, and if I were it doesn’t matter.

Adapt. You have no choice.

A Peek at Nationaized Medicine

Today I needed to get some stamps.  You knew, the postal rate changed.  Right? No problem you say?  HA!

 

I stood in line for a half hour.  I needed stamps for a small mailing I was doing.  About a hundred pieces. 

 

They didn't have the right stamps.  They didn't have any stamps.  So after waiting a half hour the poor guy behind the counter who I did NOT harass came up with a bad solutions.  If I put this stamp and 2 2cent stamps (they have no 4's)  It would work out.  A really bad fix.

 

I'm astounded that they can even keep track of this mess. 

 

I was talking to others in line.  The consensus is that if the USA ever nationalized health care we would have a system akin to the efficiency of the post office. 

 

NOT EFFICIENT

 

This is a mess, they are doing what they can.  But bureaucracies are really bad at doing almost anything. 

Delivering the mail is nearly out of their realm now.

 

Don't let them take over health care. They can't do that either.

 

 

 

The Messiah Mythology in Business

If you ever wonder why in business, in politics and in sports that some people can earn enormous huge gargantuan amounts of money and others do not, I have the answer for you.

 

They believe in the Messiah.  Not Jesus, a Messiah that will come and solve all their ills. 

 

Here’s what they believe:

            This person will move people to do great things because of his power

            This person will have knowledge of all things happening everywhere

            This person will have answers that are perfect

            This person knows where to find the people needed to do the job

            This person can perform miracles where none seem possible

            This person will be controversial but makes things happen

            This person can do what needs done because others can’t

            This person is worth lots of money because of his promises

            This person will get gigantic results because of who he is

 

If that sounds like Jesus it’s because it is.  And it’s the guy every company, ball team, and political party is looking for. 

 

The problem is, the last time this person showed up they hung him on a cross.

 

Oh, American business is still looking for him, and when he turns out to have feet of clay (as any human ultimately will) they crucify him and look for another messiah.

 

I know.  I was that person once for a company.  They were looking for the guy who was going to solve all their problems.  I solved some but they were looking for more so I was exiled.

 

When I see the likes of Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, and others who are scandal ridden, or Tom Delay and George W Bush, or Kobe Bryant, the wonder of their accomplishments whatever they might be are soon eclipsed by the need to get rid of this messiah and find a better one. 

 

I go back to pay.  The job of corporate messiah I took in 1985 for $55,000 per year was succeeded by the next corporate messiah at about double my starting salary.  The one after that was more still.

 

This has happened in spades in the last 20 years in American business.

 

It’s all a con game, I’ll try to con you into thinking I’m the next corporate messiah and you pay me thusly and I’ll get enough of a golden parachute to cover my sorry behind when you kick my butt out.  This con game is then played by the next would be Messiah.

 

Let’s stop the insanity.  There is no such thing as a corporate messiah.  Corporate boards hire these guys because it covers their sorry behinds.  We hired the best they say, he failed not us they say, let’s get a new one to sweep clean like a broom they say, in the end it’s all a spoof.

 

Same in politics and sports.

The job of being CEO of fairly large corporation is best held by someone who doesn’t have all the answers, who tries hard to find them, who works with good people toward a common goal and if a person they are working with isn’t good, helps find someone who is.

 

It’s not rocket science.  Don’t pay for rocket science. 

 

Corporate boards: hire for right money, get a good person, pay them well but not stupid and make your company a great company.  Take your position at the table.

 

This is getting out of hand.

 

That Job in 1985 I was hired for if it existed today would be a $250,000 per year job.  I would not have been then and am not now worth that much money.  Neither is anyone else for that size company.  Stop the insanity.