Minor Thoughts from me to you

Archives for Joe Martin (page 82 / 86)

Losing the Presidency

I think John McCain just lost whatever chance he had at the Presidency:

[T]alking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government.

Yep, he really said "I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected". I certainly won't be voting for him, ever. Simply put, I don't trust him to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of these United States, so help me God".

(Hat Tip: Division of Labour).

Irreducible Complexity?

The biggest problem with our current tax code is that it's too complex. Millions of hours worth of effort are wasted every year calculating who owes what, to whom, for what, in what quantities. Every year Congress makes the entire enterprise more complicated. For instance, after Hurricane Katrina, Congress wrote all kinds of breaks into the tax code for those who had been harmed by the hurricane or those who were helping those harmed by the hurricane. The result is a mess of new forms, qualifications, deductions, credits, required documentation, and -- most of all -- confusion.

It turns out that there's actually a very good reason for all of this confusion:

Three of the four top lawmakers on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, which are in charge of writing tax laws, pay professionals to file their annual tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

(The fourth files his own taxes every year.) Will any of the other law makers ever consider filing their own taxes?

"Absolutely not," said Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.). "I'm not an accountant. I'm a lawyer."

Well, buddy, I think you should feel the pain that American taxpayers feel. I propose -- beginning next year -- that all Congresspeople and Senators be required to fill out their tax returns by hand. No calculators. No computers. No tax advisors. No visits to H&R; Block. Furthermore, any errors will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And why not -- they're writing laws that all Americans are expected to follow fully. It's only fair that they themselves face the same expectations and the same penalties for failure.

As for not allowing the lawmakers to have any help when filing their taxes, just consider it an incentive to simplify the tax code. After all, not everyone can afford fancy software of expensive advisors. If the people that write the code (who are supposedly experts on the topic) can't follow the code, maybe the code needs to be changed. Left to its own devices, I don't expect Congress to ever simplify the tax code. But maybe if we make them feel the full and undiluted pain of the tax code, they'll see the light.

Screwtape Loves the Da Vinci Code

It was revealed late last month that the Da Vinci Code has some non-human admirers. In a letter to his nephew, Wormwood, Screwtape revealed his true feelings for this marvelous book:

I surmised it should be well worth the trouble of familiarising you with it, inasmuch as it contains such a precariously towering heap of our very best non-thinking that it is quite dizzying! It has the genuine potential to mislead, confuse, and vex millions! Indeed the mystical sleight-of-hand involved in shoehorning so many cubic yards of gasbag clichees, shopworn half-truths and straightfaced howlers into a single volume simply beggars belief; and if I didn't know that the author had had unwitting "help" from my former colleague, the venerable Gallstone, I simply shouldn't believe it could have been done at all!

Now, Wormwood, before you object to my calling this book "non-fiction""” since it is technically classified as "fiction""” let me say that it is essentially non-fiction, at least as far as our purposes are concerned. That's because its principle delight for our side is that in the tacky plastic shell of some below-average "fiction" the book parades as "fact" a veritable phalanx of practical propaganda and disinformation that would make our dear Herr Goebbels (Circle Eight, third spiderhole on the right) jade green with envy! Souls by the boatload are blithely believing almost all of the deliciously corrosive non-facts that are congealed everywhere in it, like flies in bad aspic, and it is that precisely which most recommends this glorious effort as worthy of our dedicated and especial study.

If you take the time to read the entire letter, you'll be able to read Screwtape's full review of this best-selling novel.

(Hat tip to Right Reason).

This entry was tagged. Humor

Marrying in College

Getting married in college is something that most people are advised against. It's an advisement that comes with good reason: school work is uniquely stressful, the first year of marriage is uniquely stressful, and finances (one of the biggest drivers of divorce) are stretched doubly tight. Still, some people do decide to get married while in college.

The Wisconsin State Journal ran a nice article about this, yesterday.

After about one and a half years of marriage, UW-Madison student Claire Hanschke and her husband, Tim, a recent graduate, finish each other's sentences like a seasoned married couple.

Both are comfortable in their new roles and say they have benefited from marriage. But being a student and a spouse can be difficult, others say.

"I've learned a lot about myself after getting married. I've really started to think about why I do the things I do," said Tim Hanschke, who says he doesn't feel as though he missed out on single life in the dorms.

Alexandra Hambright Solomon, a couples therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said maturity is key in determining whether a couple is ready to marry.

Students such as Janisch, who marry at a much younger age than the national average, may be ready for it if they're psychologically prepared for the challenge.

For the past six years, Northwestern has offered a "Marriage 101" course, which Solomon teaches with other couples therapists. Their goal is to teach students how to create healthy, long-lasting relationships.

Similar classes, including one at Edgewood, called "The Psychology of Intimate Relationships," are popping up across the country, many aimed at reducing the divorce rate.

I'm glad to see that some people are choosing to get married at a younger age. Frankly, waiting for "the right time" can often be an exercise in futility. There is always a pressing reason why marriage should be put off. But if it's put off too long and too often, it may never come to pass. I'm even happier to see that colleges are starting to offer marriage preparation courses. While I still recommend pre-marital counseling through a local church, it is good to see colleges truly preparing students for the real world.

This entry was tagged. Family Policy Marriage

Spiritual Turbulence

The hardest thing in the world can be witnessing to Americans today. Many people simply have no interest in discussing eternal issues: heaven, hell, the soul, sin, whether or not there's life after death. Having a desire to witness is well and good until one continually runs into a buzz saw of disinterest.

Fortunately, spiritual turbulence is ahead. On May 19, the Da Vinci Code movie will be released in theaters. As my pastor commented yesterday, it would be foolish to ignore this movie. It is directed by Ron Howard. It stars Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, and Alfred Molina. It's based on a book that sold 40 million copies. It's backed up by an all-star crew. This movie will make money and this movie will draw in millions of Americans.

This movie will cause spiritual turbulence because it contains many heresies, most of which the church thought were long dead. For the unprepared Christian, the attacks on Christianity may prove damaging. For the non-believer, the movie will challenge what they thought they knew about Christianity.

All of this will have two benefits: it will inspire Christians to know what they believe and whom they believe in and it will shut down the buzz saw of disinterest in spiritual matters. Many people leaving the theater will be filled with questions about Christianity. There first stop will probably be the Christians they know.

Because being forewarned is being forearmed, I wanted to pass along a resource that I've found helpful: The Da Vinci Opportunity by Dr. Mark D. Roberts. Dr. Roberts has a PhD in New Testament studies from Harvard University. During his graduate career, he spent an extensive amount of time studying the texts that the Da Vinci code references. In fact, he probably spent more time studying those texts than he did the New Testament texts themselves. As such, he is uniquely qualified to comment on the Da Vinci code and the accuracy of Scripture.

His three part series (part 1, part 2, part 3) contains 21 essays on the reliability of the Gospels, the background of Gnosticism, and the differences between the Jesus of the Da Vinci code and the Jesus of the Bible.

Read the series. Watch the movie. Stand firm in your own faith and be ready to answer the questions that are sure to come your way. That is all.

[tags]da vinci code, entertainment, culture[/tags]

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Today's Spoiled Kids

Michelle Singletary takes aim at overindulgent parents with her column Spare the iPod, Unspoil the Child. It's not that today's children have too much -- it's that they expect their parents to induldge their every whim, and their parents blindly fulfill those expectations.

Oh, and now we have the cellphone controversy in our house.

Can you believe my 10-year-old is incredulous that I won't get her a cellphone? All she wants to do is talk incessantly to her friends. We have a phone at home and she can talk to her friends during school hours for free.

I recently persuaded a couple to get rid of the cellphone for their 12-year-old daughter. I bumped into them at the movies and I couldn't help but notice that the girl had a cellphone plastered to her ear rather than conversing with her family. I asked her dad whom she was talking to.

"You know, I don't know," he said.

It was like a light bulb had come on over his head.

That child's cellphone bill was about $40 a month. Are you kidding me? If parents just saved that money, the cash they spend on monthly cellphone charges would add up to thousands of dollars by the time their children go to college. That would certainly help them buy books and supplies for four years of college.

Sounds about right to me. Parents don't have a "duty" to provide their kids with cell phones. They're expensive -- let the kids pay for them, if they need them so bad. Doing so will certainly teach responsibility, thrift, and the value of money.

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Absurd Argument

Dr. Rick Scarborough in his latest "Rick Scarborough Report":

The New Testament is largely silent on the subject of immigration. However, the Old Testament has much to say on the subject of boundaries. In Genesis, the Children of Israel are invited to settle in the land of Egypt; they don't just up and move there without permission (illegally).

Well, sure. Then, 400 years, later they left Egypt, trecked across the desert, moved back to "the sacred land of our ancestors" (uninvited), and proceed to kick the stuffing out of everyone who was currently living there. Kinda makes our own reconquista problems seem minor, doesn't it?

This is a perfect example of why I get nervous when Christians get involved in politics. While Christ does say that our beliefs will make us appear foolish to the world, I'd rather not give "the world" any extra ammunition along the way. So, let's lay off of using the Bible to support any positions on immigration policy. It's just not there. It's not a subject that the Bible is concerned with. Trying to pretend that the Bible does speak on immigration is foolishness and does a disservice to the Gospel.

This entry was tagged. Government

This One's For You, Papa

While I was growing up, my dad frequently mentioned a set of tapes he had once heard. The speaker on the tapes proclaimed that no American truly owed income taxes. He proclaimed that the entire tax code was a fraud foisted upon the American public and that you were free to earn income without paying taxes. The idea sounded kooky, but my dad (and I) was intrigued and, as I get older, asked me to help him investigate the idea.

Well, Papa, I've got your answers in. Reason magazine published a May 2004 article: "It's So Simple, It's Ridiculous": Taxing times for 16th Amendment rebels.

The partisans of the tax honesty movement go beyond complaining that the income tax is too high, or that out-of-control IRS agents enforce it in thuggish ways. They claim, for a dizzyingly complicated variety of reasons, that there is no legal obligation to pay it. The continued life -- and even flourishing -- of that notion, in the face of obloquy, fines, and jail sentences, says something fascinating about a peculiarly American spirit of defiance. It may even say something encouraging about what it means to live in a nation of laws, not of men.

Never has any court anywhere -- much less the IRS -- accepted as valid any of the many arguments the movement offers for how and why there is no legal obligation for individuals to pay federal income tax. In fact, courts will fine you up to $25,000 for even raising them, insisting such arguments have been rejected so often by so many courts at so many levels that they are patently frivolous and time-wasting.

Explaining Expensive Gas

Yesterday, the price of a gallon of gas in Madison jumped up to $2.79 a gallon. I have every expectation of seeing it go higher over the next several weeks and months. Why is it so expensive? Well, there are several factors at play.

First of all, the demand for gasoline is starting to increase. The weather is getting warmer and people want to travel more: to the park, to the grocery store for cookout supplies, to State Parks for get-togethers, to the Wisconsin Dells, etc. Simple supply and demand: as the quantity demanded increases, the price will tend to increase as well.

Secondly, the supply of gasoline may be decreasing. Many cities and regions regulate the type of gasoline that can be sold and used. They require one blend of gasoline for winter driving and another blend of gasoline for summer driving. As the refineries switch from winter production to summer production, supplies of gasoline will drop. It will take time for the refineries to fully gear up for the summer blend of gasoline. Until that happens, supplies of the summer blend will be limited. As the quantity supplied decreases, the price will tend to increase.

Thirdly, taxes. Every person in the U.S. pays 18.4 cents a gallon in Federal gas taxes. We Wisconsin residents are privileged to pay another 31.1 cents a gallon in state gas taxes. I pay a total of 49.5 cents a gallon in taxes. That means that 17.7% of the price of gas is tax related.

Fourthly, gasoline additives. Federal regulators are concerned with reducing the amount of pollution produced by gasoline. To accomplish this, they require that oil refineries put pollution reducing chemicals into the gasoline. MTBE used to be the preferred additive. However, in March of this year, federal regulators started requiring all oil companies to use ethanol instead. This is, or will be, a problem. Midwest ethanol producers were already struggling to keep up with the demand for ethanol before it was mandated as an additive for all gasoline sold in the United States. The demand for ethanol is now far, far greater than it had been. In additional, ethanol is more expensive to transport and to store than MTBE was. To put it bluntly, this "simple regulatory change" could add another 30 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline.

Finally, balkanized gasoline markets. For most products, supplies can move freely from one region of the country to another. If there is a shortage of (for instance) wood in New Orleans, New Orleans businesses can buy more wood from other areas of the country. If there is a shortage of steel in Manhattan, construction firms can buy more steel from Indiana. The gasoline market doesn't work this way, unfortunately. Many cities and states mandate unique blends of gasoline. California has a very strict set of requirements. Milwaukee has another set. Buffalo has a third set and New York City has yet another. Most of the Midwest requires different gasoline than most of the East Coast.

All of these requirements are mutually exclusive. Milwaukee drivers can't use Buffalo gas and California drivers can't use gas from New York City. If New York City faces a gasoline shortage, there is no one to buy extra supplies from. Thus, the price of gasoline will sharply increase in New York City -- but nowhere else. If New York City drivers were free to use gasoline from other regions, then New York City gas station owners could simply import more gasoline from Upstate New York, New Jersey, or other surrounding regions. Sadly for NYC drivers, it is illegal to do so and they simply have to suffer with higher gas prices.

These five factors: increasing demand, (temporary) decreasing supply, taxes, federally mandated gasoline additives, and balkanized markets have a large influence on the price of a gallon of gasoline. Of those five factors, three are government created. Sad to say, your government has a larger influence on the price of gasoline than the oil companies do. As a matter of fact, over the years, the Federal government alone has "earned" more money from gasoline than the oil companies have.

As you drive this summer and watch the steady climb of gasoline prices, remember who to blame. Your state and federal representatives will tell you that greedy oil executives are ripping you off. What your representatives won't tell you is that their own greed will have more influence on the price of gasoline than that of the oil executives. What your representatives won't tell you is that their rules and regulations concerning what gasoline you can put into your car will affect the price of gasoline far more than the greed of oil executives. They won't tell you, so you will have to remember -- and hold them accountable for their actions.

The Dirt on Muhammed

It turns out that Muhammed himself was actually a pretty decent guy. Yesterday, the Anchoress posted a conversation she had with Ali -- a "reformist" Muslim. She started the conversation after she became curious about this question: "Is this something Muslims are also taught to do? Is there a "turn the other cheek" component to Islam?"

The following discussion is very interesting and informative in light of what Mohammed's more ... energetic ... followers are doing.

[tags]islam, muhammed[/tags]

This entry was tagged. Islam

Espresso Book Machine

Few things can get me as excited as a new application of technology. This time I'm excited about the Espresso Book Machine.

The new machine as a technological innovation promises to revolutionize how we buy books. It allows printing and binding a single copy of a book at the point of demand without human interactions. Buying a book will eventually be very similar to getting cash from an ATM. You choose a title, insert a credit card to pay for the book -- and walk away with the finished book a few minutes later. On a global scale this would eliminate shipping and warehousing costs for books (thereby also eliminating returns and pulping of unsold books) and allow simultaneous global availability of new books. POD offers the opportunity to deliver development knowledge and content to students, practitioners, media, and simply interested individuals in a way they could not be reached before.

That's incredible. Any book, any time you want it. Walk into a bookstore, walk out with any book you want. If these become widespread, you won't have to wonder whether or not a book is in stock -- or even whether it's still in print. These are even better for the developing world. Put these machines in cities and towns, and allow people to buy whatever books interest them. No international shipping, no worries about what to stock and what not to stock.

This is fantastic. I love it. I think it will have a huge impact on knowledge and education.

(hat tip: Truck and Barter)

[tags]publishing, world bank, books[/tags]

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The Judas Gospel

Lately, there's been a lot of discussion about the Gospel of Judas in the news. From reading those who know what they're talking about (several prominent bloggers), most of the media has been remarkably uninformed about the entire topic. So, here's some links for your reading enjoyment.

First off, a vicious takedown from David Kopel at the Volokh Conspiracy:

The Judas Gospel: Suppose that sometime around the year 3,800 A.D., someone wrote a newspaper that began: "According to a recently-discovered document, which appears to have been written sometime before 1926, Benedict Arnold did not attempt to betray George Washington and the American cause, as is commonly believed. Rather, Benedict Arnold was acting at the request of George Washington, because Washington wanted Arnold to help him create a dictatorship of the proletariat and the abolition of private property."

Secondly, a bevy of Christian theologians:

Finally, a historical look at the Gospel of Judas, gnosticism, and the church fathers: "Judas gospel" a Yawner

I found all of these helpful in understanding what "The Gospel of Judas" really is and why it doesn't matter nearly as much as CNN and National Geographic would like us to believe.

This entry was tagged. History

Smoking Ban Takes Effect

Madison's smoking ban claimed its first (business) victim yesterday. The Hammer Time bar on Madison's East Side announced that it will be closing on April 15. Bob Tague and Carla Hammerschmidt, the current owners, blame the loss of business, caused by the smoking ban.

The Wisconsin State Journal attempts to spin the story as nothing major -- just another bar, already in financial difficulty, that was forced to close:

But financial difficulties already plagued the location when the current owners ... bought it in June 2004.

When the couple bought the bar, formerly known as Vial's Lake Edge Tavern, the asking price reflected $58,800 in needed repairs, money owed to vendors and back taxes, according to court documents.

But the history of financial difficulties at the location, along with the decision to buy a tavern business after the ban was approved, led some observers Wednesday to doubt the connection between the ban and the shutdown.

It's true, Tague and Hammerschmidt took a risk by buying the bar. It needed repairs, still owed taxes, and the ban had already been approved. This is something to applaud. Had they succeeded in renovating the bar, they would have kept jobs in the neighborhood (possibly creating new jobs along the way) and kept taxes flowing to the City Council.

The Council chose to make that renovation harder than it had to be. Instead of supporting local business, supporting private property rights, and supporting people's moral right to choose whether or not to expose themselves to cigarette smoke, the council chose to hamstring local businesses and limit their competitiveness. As a result, Tague and Hammerschmidt will lose their investment. The bar employees will lose their jobs. And the city of Madison will lose another tax-paying business.

The bar may have failed even without the smoking ban. But the smoking ban made success far harder than it otherwise would have been. It would be nice to have the City Council stand up and take responsibility for the results of their ban. But they won't. It's far easier to make moral stands than to face the results of those stands. And Madison voters have shown that they're perfectly willing to accept that behavior from their Aldermen. Indeed, many Madison voters seem to positively relish doing the same thing.

To those voters: Enjoy your moral certainty. While you're celebrating the success of the ban, I'll be thinking of the employees and employers that you're hurting. One of us has the right to the moral high ground. I'm not certain it's you.

[tags]smoking ban, regulation[/tags]

This entry was tagged. Madison Regulation

Lobbying "Reform"

The Senate missed two golden opportunities to reform the lobbying process yesterday. First, they chose not limit earmarks (hat tip to Captain's Quarters in future appropriations bills. Given that earmarks are one of the largest sources of purely wasteful spending that the Congress engages in, this is a big disappointment.

Earmarks are pet spending projects that Senators can attach to almost any bill. Currently, multiple earmarks are bundled together into a bill, then voted on as a package. Earmarks also provide plenty of opportunity for lawmakers to reward lobbyists who donate to a Senator's campaign.

Secondly, the Senate voted down the Coburn / Obama amendment to the lobbying bill. This amendment "directs the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to establish a publicly available database of the more than $300 billion the federal government spends each year via contracts and grants to more than 30,000 groups, businesses and organizations."

Nothing would limit government corruption like creating a giant database that shows exactly who the money goes to. This database would quickly expose any politician that tried to give away taxpayers' money to family, friends, or lobbyists. It's somewhat surprising, then, that Senator Trent Lott felt compelled to raise a "Rule 22 Point of Order" when the amendment was brought up for a vote.

The Senate's Rule 22 refers to the germaneness - i.e. relevance - of a proposed amendment. Translated from the Washington legislatese in which senators and congressmen so often hide, this means Lott thinks making sure the public can see who is getting more than $300 billion of their tax dollars has nothing to do with congressional ethics.

Put another way, Lott just told taxpayers to butt out.

Yes, indeed. Senator Lott doesn't think that knowing where the money goes is relevant to lobbying reform. I wonder why that is Senator? Do you have anything you'd like to hide from the American people? Or do you just believe that being accountable to the voter is an idea who's time has not yet come?

Once again, I'm disappointed in the Senate Republicans. For a party facing a tough election year, they're certainly not doing anything to inspire the voters, excite fiscal conservatives, or even show that they're aware of the election.

[tags]earmarks, pork[/tags]

This entry was tagged. Earmarks Pork

My Views on the Immigration Debate

I've been trying to figure out how to articulate them. Jane Galt beat me to the punch. Go read her post.

The three-quarters of my forebears who were Irish probably didn't speak English when they got here, and showed no particular interest in learning how to do so. Cramming themselves into tenements ten or more to a room, they were willing to work longer hours for lower pay than native-born Americans. Having brought a rich, and very foreign, culture with them, they clustered in urban areas so that they could preserve it, including a drinking culture that horrified the Protestants then flocking to temperance reform. None of them showed much propensity for assimilating; they established their own churches, schools, social organizations, and businesses, allowing their descendants to live in a little parallel Irish world that kept them out of the mainstream. More than 100 years after they landed in North America, my father's family was still living in an Irish neighbourhood in Boston (though by then they had learned how to speak English). Then, as soon as there were enough of them, they took over the political apparatus of the cities they lived in, and began running it for the benefit of the immigrant communities swelling the tenements, instead of the native-born. This separatism was so complete, so pervasive, so stubborn that America is still riven by the threat of . . . gay Irishmen marching in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

You really should read it all. It's what I would say. Err, except the part about three-quarters of my ancestors being Irish. I think most of mine were English. But, given that I never finished my genealogical research, that could apply to me as well.

This entry was tagged. Immigration Policy

Representative Joe Parisi and the TPA

Two weeks ago, I e-mailed Representative Parisi to ask his opinion of the proposed Taxpayer Protection Amendment:

Representative Parisi:

As a constituent, I am interested in your position on the Taxpayers Protection Amendment. Do you think this is a good idea? As currently written, do you plan to vote for it or against it?

~joe

This morning, I received a response from Representative Parisi:

Dear Mr. Martin:

Thank you for your email regarding Senate Joint Resolution 63/Assembly Joint Resolution 77, the so called "Taxpayer Protection Amendment" (TPA).

While I support government spending controls at the federal, state and local levels, I believe the proposed "Taxpayer Protection Amendment" will have a devastating effect on our state and local government with regard to the disabled, the elderly, University and K-12 education, the unemployed and our prison system. It will remove control from our local governments and restrict essential services from keeping pace with need and growth. And, most importantly, this proposed constitutional amendment will impair Wisconsin's ability to invest in the future.

I understand the need to reduce the state's property taxes. As a co-sponsor of the Democratic proposal to establish a "Homeowner's Tax Credit" we would eliminate school taxes on the first $60,000 of assessed value of the taxpayer's residence. This would cut the property tax bill for the average homeowner by $400. I think it is much better to change the current system and reduce people's property taxes than to freeze the unfair system into place.

Again, I appreciate your email on this issue. Please don't hesitate to keep in touch with my office on any issues of concern.

Sincerely,

JOE PARISI

State Representative

48th Assembly District

I appreciate his answer, but I do see a few things that raise further questions. I'll be composing a response later today.

This entry was tagged. Wisconsin

Is There Anything Good About "Feel Good Christianity"?

Apparently, some modern hymnals are changing the words of Amazing Grace from "how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me" to "how sweet the sound that saved and set me free". Ugh. Apparently we are no longer wretches before being saved. Just chained up, I guess.

The Anchoress penned a marvelous response to this craziness:

But that decision has always seemed to me to be extremely short-sighted and cheap. As with what Deitrich Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace" in The Cost of Discipleship (yes, it is in The Bookshelf, it's one of my faves), these monastics are creating "feel-good" liturgy that is all-grace-and-all-light but which does not permit introspection, does not allow one to read a hard verse and stop to consider - "Lord, is that me?" If you're only looking at the positive, it's very easy to equate any negatives you do encounter as being the fault of "someone or something else." The problem can't be rooted in you, after all - you're all-positive!

At some point in every life, the ugly and dark stuff intrudes. Seems to me the best and healthiest way to deal with it, when it comes, is to have more than a passing acquaintance with it - if you're acknowleding on a daily (or weekly) basis that what is lesser, and baser, exists and resides within our own hearts right next to all of our highest and purest ideals, you're much less likely to be shocked or overwhelmed when you encounter the dark, either within yourself or within others. Or even within your town or your church or your government.

Please, do go and read the entire thing. I read it to my wife before she left for work. We both agree that sometimes spiritual growth requires being exposed to dark truths.

No, there's nothing good about "feel good Christianity". All that's good in this world comes from God. It's impossible to appreciate how good God is until you're aware of how bad this world is -- and how bad we are. Grace is meaningless without an appreciation of my own need for it. Short of God's grace, I am a wretch and can say with Paul "I am the chief of sinners".

This entry was tagged. Christianity

Shakeup in the Wisconsin Governor's Race

On Friday night, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker dropped out of the Republican primary race against Representative Mark Green. You can read the Wisconsin State Journal story on the event.

Owen Robinson, of Boots & Sabers, was at the 5th Congressional District Republican Caucus where Walker announced his decision. He uploaded a copy of Walker's speech. He also provided a copy of Representative Green's response (with audio) and an audio copy of Walker's speech.

This announcement makes things simpler for me. I had been leaning towards supporting Scott Walker, but hadn't made up my mind yet. Now I can focus on campaigning for one candidate and know exactly where to send my money. I back Representative Green 100% and look forward to having a governor that will require photo ID to vote, that will sign a concealed-carry bill into law, and that will work towards lowering Wisconsin's tax burden. As of this morning, I'm a member of "the Green Team".

Two side notes. Walker wins my award for best political soundbite of the month: In the end, I love this state too much to see Jim Doyle elected to another term.

Democratic Party Chairman Joe Wineke won the award for "Cutest Attempt at a Political Attack: The good news for Wisconsin voters is that Scott Walker is out of the race. The bad news is that extreme Mark Green is still in it. Wineke gets bonus points for clever use of assonance -- glad to see he was paying attention when his English teacher covered clever uses of rhyming.

This entry was tagged. Jim Doyle Wisconsin