Well Saturday, the big day, arrived and with it the Championship games!  Here is how it worked out.  The teams were scheduled to play until they lost.  The winning team went on to the final game, the championship game!  As it turned out Nathan’s team lost their game that would have put them in the final game against James’ team. James team played against another team.

The big game was scheduled to go 30 minutes.  At first I didn’t pick up on the fact that the coaches, that would be the adults, wanted to win this game come hell or high water.  But it became apparent as the game unfolded.  James coach used his premier players for both offense and defense.  In doing this he left about 4 of the boys on the sideline, including James, faithful, hopeful, James.  The coach didn’t use James or the other three boys at all!  Imagine being six years old and getting psyched  up for this game and not being allowed to play even one down, not one!  I watch James go up and down the field following his team as they played.  Several times I thought his coach would send him in for a play or two.  He didn’t.

Look, listen to me, I understand the concept of winning and losing.  I know why a score is kept.  Life has winners and losers.  But sometimes losing a game of football can make you a real winner in life.  How is that?  Simple, the real lesson here, at the big game, for six year old boys, wasn’t just winning, but competing, trying to win, helping your team!  James, and the other little boys, were denied their moment to shine, to be a part of the team they had supported throughout the season.  They were denied that “earned” opportunity because a coach chose to use his “best” players so that he could win the game!  What an unspoken message this coach sent to these little boys; “you’re not good enough”, “winning is everything.” 

I thought that good sportsmanship and learning “team” concepts was important at this age level.  Apparently it wasn’t.  For the coach it was all about winning.

Winning isn’t everything.  Sometimes“what” you have won isn’t worth “what” you have lost.  “What does it gain a man if he gains the whole world and loses…….” 

My grandson may not have been the “best” player on the field with the greatest skills but I guarantee that James has as much “heart” as any player on his team.  He wanted to be there, to play, to try.

It is true, the coach did use his best players that day, Saturday, but those boys didn’t have the best coach that day. 

They lost despite his decision to use his “best” and bench the rest.

Shame on him.

Hal

Cutting spending isn’t going to happen with this Congress and this President.  The politicians are already gearing up for a “change” to the law that requires the automatic spending cuts.  Congress continues to “kick the can” down the road putting off the hard decisions that need to be made if our economy is to survive.

There was a poison pill in the creation of this committee; if they failed to come up with a plan then an “automatic” featured kicked in that mandated specific cuts in spending.  One of them has to do with our military budget.  It is estimated that it, the military spending, would be cut by about 550 billion dollars!  Yipes!  But wait, it is really only  55 billion a year.  Remember the “cuts” are spread out over 10 years.  That would be about 10% of its present budget.  Representative Howard McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee wrote to the Super Committee "Unless we act today, the dismantling of the greatest armed forces in history could begin tomorrow,"  Really?  C’mon.  Really?

Does it ever occur to anyone in Washington D.C. that maybe, just maybe, we could bring some of  our troops home from all of the various places in the world and save some money?  We have troops in Germany. Why?  Troops in Japan.  Why?  The war is over folks!  We financially support NATO even though many of our allies do not.

What would happen if we simply began to tap into our oil/gas reserves here and simply packed up and left the Middle East?  The savings would be enormous both in lives and dollars.  What does Congress do?   Congress kicks this can down the road avoiding the difficult decisions and opting instead for rhetoric and empty promises.

There are plenty of Americans that have cut much more than 10% from their budgets!  They didn’t get a choice.  They can’t spread it out over ten years, they simply had to cut.  Many more loss everything, their jobs, homes and hope.  Many seniors loss the equity in their homes and the value of their IRA’s and 401s.  What has Congress done about this mess?  Nothing, really, Congress has done nothing.  Instead of helping Main street they opted to rescue Wall Street.  And what has that gotten us?  Nothing.

One would think that Congress would, could, “find” 100 billion dollars a year in cuts or savings.  Perhaps they could reduce the incredible number of duplicate programs that waste our dollars?

The Government Accounting Office has “discovered” the following: 15 different agencies overseeing food safety laws.  There are 20 “separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.”  Add to that list another 82 programs to “improve teacher quality” and “ 80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation, 47 (programs) for job training…” and “56 to help people understand finances (apparently members of Congress forgot to sign up for this one.)”

The report continued, “…five divisions within the Department of Transportation account for 100 different programs that fund things like highways, rail projects and safety programs.

One program that funnels transportation funds to the states "functions as a cash-transfer general-purpose grant program, rather than as a tool for pursuing a cohesive national transportation policy," the report said. Similarly, it chided the government over encouraging federal agencies to purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles while having policies that agencies reduce electricity consumption. It said government agencies have purchased numerous vehicles that run on alternative fuels only to find many gas stations don’t sell alternative fuels. This has led government agencies to turn around and request waivers so they didn’t have to use alternative fuels.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation said the president’s budget for fiscal year 2012 "proposes to cut waste, inefficiency and bureaucracy by consolidating over 55 separate highway programs into five core programs, and by merging six transit programs into two programs."

On teacher quality, the report identified 82 programs that often have similar descriptions and goals and are spread across 10 federal agencies, including the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Nine of these programs are linked to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Fifty-three of the programs are relatively small, receiving $50 million or less, "and many have their own separate administrative processes."

The GAO highlighted 80 different economic development programs at the Department of Commerce, HUD, Department of Agriculture and Small Business Administration, that spent a combined $6.5 billion last year and often overlapped. For example, the four agencies combined to have 52 different programs that fund "entrepreneurial efforts," 35 programs for infrastructure, and 26 programs for telecommunications. It said 60% of the programs fund only one or two activities, making them "the most likely to overlap because many of them can only fund the same limited types of activities."

The report took aim at several military programs, which could prove thorny because many lawmakers from both parties are wary to cut defense spending. It said there were 130,000 military and government medical professionals, 59 Defense Department hospitals and hundreds of clinics that could benefit from consolidating administrative, management and clinical functions.

For example, it said the government "may have developed duplicate" programs to counter improvised explosive devices, with the Marine Corps and the Army paying to develop similar "mine rollers." The Marine mine roller costs $85,000, and the Army mine roller costs $77,000 to $225,000. "Officials disagree about which system is most effective, and [the Pentagon] has not conducted comparative testing and evaluation of the two systems," the report said. The Pentagon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The GAO study was required by a provision inserted by Sen. Coburn into a law that raised the federal borrowing limit last year. This report is the first produced in response to the provision.”

How about them apples?  Now, ask yourself, is it really that difficult for Congress to “find” about 100 billion dollars a year in savings or cuts?

Members of Congress are more concerned with their reelection than the financial health of our nation.  They aren’t voting with courage, courage to face the crisis our nation faces.  They aren’t representing us, the people on Main Street.  What are they doing?

There are two things that I find incredible in all of this; first, the inability of Congress to cut spending in any meaningful way.  Second the stupidity of the average voter that continues to send the same people back to Congress and expect things to change.

Hal

Let’s begin with the national debt.  How much do you owe?  Clearly you don’t owe all of it but you do owe some of it, how much?  Your share is $48,000.00 and growing.  Of course if you remove all of the none tax paying citizens from the debt owed, tax paying citizens then owe a whopping $133,000.00 each!  Now think about this for a moment.  the debt, eventually, has to be paid.  The government can only pay this debt by getting the money from taxpayers, i.e. you!  So, to put this in understandable terms let’s assume the following scenario; you are employed and are earning $15.00 per hour.  In order to pay your individual share of the debt, the $48,000.00 you would have to work 3200 hours and give every cent to the government.  If you get stuck paying back the $133,000.00 then the hours worked jumps to 8866.  Of course there is a problem with this scenario.  Perhaps you have figured it out.  If you work a standard 40 hour work week then you would have to work 80 weeks to pay the $48,000.00 and 221 weeks to pay the $133,000.00.  That’s assuming you gave every dollar earned to pay off the debt. 

Of course no one talks about paying off the actual debt instead they talk about paying the interest on it.  So let’s talk about that, the interest payments we are making.  The national debt is growing by over 4 billion dollars a day.  If you break that number down you will find that the Federal Government is still borrowing about 168 million dollars every hour or about 2 million a minute!  The cost for all of this borrowing?  Approximately 400 billion dollars a year give or take a few billion.  And who pays for this? 

Now, let’s put the Super Committees goal of cutting the budget into perspective.  It is true that the committee is looking at cutting about 1.2 trillion dollars out of the budget.  At first blush that looks like a lot of money.  But.  There’s always a but when you are talking about Congress.  The “savings”, the 1.2 trillion dollars is spread over 10 years!  Hmmmm?  So then that means the annual savings would be just over 100 billion dollars.  So then, why is Congress, and the Super Committee struggling over cutting the budget?  If they simply cut about 8 cents out of every dollar spent that would be a meaningful cut, that’s it, about 8 cents, that’s somewhere between a nickel and a dime!  They simply can’t seem to do it.  Why?

Look, if they really meant business about reducing the deficit all they have to do is one thing; freeze present spending for the next ten years!  That’s it.  They wouldn’t have to cut anything.  All they have to do is stop spending more and more, freeze Federal spending at its present levels.

Will they?  No.  The only “fix” is to rout the present office holders and replace them with new ones.  Oh, one more thing, go to term limits to prevent the new bunch from becoming tainted.

Hal

As things go I had an unusual trip this morning.  Christine and I attended Nathan and James football games.  The field was about a 45 minute drive from our home.  James’ game was first.  Nathan’s game was about half over when James decided he had enough and wanted to go home.  “Grandpa can you take me home” James asked.  Of course.

As we got to the car I told James that he could sit up front in the passenger seat.  Little did I know what I had done.  James’ eyes lit up “I can sit up front grandpa” he asked.  He then told me he had never, ever, sat in the front seat ever!  Come to think of it he probably didn’t never, ever sit up front. 

Literally, when I opened the car door to the front seat James, softly, said “wow."  And that was only the beginning.  As we began our trip home James began investigating all of the stuff the front seat occupant has access to.  He started with the center console, opened both of them, rummaged through all of the stuff, asking me what different things were and, from time to time, asking the “James question”  “Can I have this grandpa?” 

Then James pointed to the glove box.  “What’s this?”  “The glove box”, I answered.  “Go ahead and open it” I said.  He did.  More rummaging around, then he began to pull some things out, things I had forgotten were in there.  In fact he found a watch I was looking for!  He found a pen and pencil set that had Charity’s name on the box, and promptly asked for it, so I gave it to him. 

Then James discovered the switch to lock and unlock the doors.  In my opinion he spent entirely too much time working those locks!  Then the windows, up and down, up and down.  Thankfully his attention was drawn to all of the buttons on the dashboard and I do mean ALL of the buttons.  He asked me about the cruise control, the GPS, the phone, air condition, air condition mode, front and rear window defrosters, cd player, radio, even the gear shift lever.  As we neared home James, somehow, found the seat controls!   As I looked over there he was in the reclined position with his head all the way in the rear seat area.  The he moved the back of the seat up and down, up and down several more times and each time his eyes lit up with awe. 

As he sat up he pointed to the button that heats the seat, he pushed it, it heated, that was “neat” he said.  Finally, we got to the drive way and what did James see?  He look up at the headliner of the car and saw three buttons,  His curiosity was over the edge by now “what are these grandpa?’”  “Well, James, one of them opens the gate one opens the garages.”  “Which one opens the gates grandpa?”  “Number one button” I replied.  James unfastened his seat belt, reached up and pushed no. 1 button and the gates magically opened before his awe struck eyes. 

I confess I never realized the importance of riding in the front passenger side of the car.  Thanks to Wonder Boy James that has all changed for me.  Now I see nooks and crannies, buttons galore and a reclining, heated seat.  As it turned out it was a great trip home.  I can’t help but wonder what else James may have found in that car had our trip been just a bit longer.

That’s it for now, a newly aware grandpa signing out

Hal

cow pie

droppings, dung, muck – fecal matter of animals

The interesting thing about cowpies is this; ranchers, farmers and those familiar with the ranch/farm know what a cowpie looks like and thus they can avoid stepping in one.  It is the “Easterners”, those folk who would fancy themselves as cowboys or farmers, who tend to step into a cowpie.  Once they have stepped into one they, and everyone within smelling distance, knows it.  The problem is this; it’s too late, they already smell to high heaven.

Of course there is another use of this not to pleasant word.  In our common vernacular the word “cowpie” can mean that someone has stepped into a pile of, no, I mean they have unwittingly stepped into a mess of some kind.  And that’s exactly what President Obama appears to have done, again!

There was, is, Egypt, and President Obama’s  support for the overthrow of its government.  As it turns out the government of Egypt appears to have been thoroughly corrupt.  It’s leaders amassed great fortunes at the expense of its citizens.  Score one for President Obama?  Not yet!  Egypt, it turns out, was a cowpie, and our President stepped right into it!

The “locals” in the region (akin to our ranchers/farmers)  understood that the Presidents support for the overthrow of Mr. Mubarak, was a cowpie.  The former leader of Egypt was only window dressing.  They knew that the real power was centered in the Egyptian military.  It still is.  The military, out of which every leader of Egypt since Nassar has come out of, was and is the ruling elite.  But the cowpies don’t end there.  Many people in the know believe that, if, elections are held in Egypt, radicals will probably assume power.  This would set up a confrontation with between the elected representatives and the military.  It is still possible that the move for democracy in Egypt could be coopted by the Muslim radical factions.  If the radicals succeed in winning a national election they could, theoretically, be in charge of the largest military force in the Middle East.  A military that we Americans help to build, train and equip!  Talk about a cowpie!

The next cowpie for our President is Libya.  Remember when our President was espousing the need to “protect” Libya’s citizens from the likes of Gadhafi?  The President gave the nod to use American forces to assist in NATO’s role in ousting Gadhafi and his minions.  The President really stepped into this cowpie.  If you follow my blogs, and I am quite sure millions of you do, then you may recall that I suggested that our government take a look at the men that made up the transitional government of Libya.  It included a good number of our enemies and radicals.  One would think the President, with his many advisors and spies, would have known what the future of Libya might look like. 

Just today the leader of the transitional government has announced the following; Libya will be ruled by Sharia law.  Translation?  Women will now become second class citizens, none Muslim’s will be outcasts, and a dictatorship of religious leaders will take the real reins of power.  I wonder if the President will be interested in protecting Libya’s citizens from their new taskmasters? 

One final cowpie for the President.  This one, though, is to be shared with our former President Bush.  It has to do with Iraq.  During the rule of Hussein the minority Sunni’s were in power.  After his fall the new Parliament is clearly Shiite, the majority religious group of Iraq.  This rift between the two dominant Muslim factions was the underlying cause of their civil war.  Now, the cowpie, Iraq, led by the majority Shiite’s is being courted by Iran, a religious dictatorship led by Shiite’s! 

Could our “Easterner” President have avoided these cowpies?  No.  Why?  Because he has never lived on a “ranch or a farm.”  He doesn’t know what a real cowpie looks like or smells like.  So, like any true wannabe cowpoke he buys a pair of spurs, chaps, hat and a horse, but he still doesn’t know what a cowpie is.

Of course none of these cowpies would present a problem for our Presidents if they had enough sense to wean America off of its insane dependence upon Middle East oil!  We need, I repeat, to drill here, drill now. 

Hal

I copied the poster above from a Facebook posting by Jeff Baker a young man I have known for many years.  When I recognized the posting was from Jeff I took a moment to read it, because I respect Jeff’s opinions and I was curious to see what the poster had to “say” about the Occupy movement. Now, I want to be clear that Jeff didn’t create the poster he merely posted it on his Facebook page.

After reading the poster I found myself agreeing with some of the complaints the poster raises.  First, I do agree there is corruption in the country, can any reasonable, thinking person disagree with that notion?  No.  Second, I also believe that money shouldn’t influence politics.  Of course that puts me squarely in the naïve column as money does influence (make that “buy”) politicians and their politics.  As to “healthy capitalism” vs. “corrupt capitalism” well, I would like a better definition regarding this for this reason; capitalism has no soul, no inherent guiding moral principles because it is an economic system not a religious one.  Any morality that may attach itself to capitalism must be brought to it by the people involved in the system.  If there is a lack of morality I would suggest looking at the people not the system.  Capitalism, as I said, is simply an economic system, not a code of ethics or morals.   

An honest assessment of capitalism in America, I believe, would reveal this fact; the American version of capitalism has been heavily compromised by the, you guessed it, government.  Bureaucracy, onerous, confusing and repetitive governmental regulation has all but put capitalism in the obituary column in the morning paper.  Socialist influences, usually, though not always, from left leaning liberal types, are on the ascendancy while capitalism is on decline in America.  There are reason for this.  Socialism promises “equality” economically, socially, politically.  Of course Socialism only “works” under one scenario; dictatorship.  We Americans would never tolerate a dictatorship, so, we have created, in its place a bloated federal government.  A central government that is controlling the nation; its economy, medicine, retirement, etc. 

The clever thing about crafting this kind of Socialist government is this; you don’t have to call it “Socialism.”  Besides, why would a Socialist want to do that in America, the word is very toxic in our nation.  But….while the word may be toxic more and more Americans are buying into the “notion” of Socialism by demanding more stuff from the government.  The government, that would be our elected officials, love the system that empowers them to take money from its citizens who work and spend it on things that will ensure their reelection.  To a greater or lesser degree that is what many politicians think of when they think of imposing taxes on us. 

As a result there is a large constituency, both corporate and individual, in America that has become dependent, addicted, to the “largesse” of the government and the many programs that the government has created to make them dependent. 

Some of the “addicted” are found among our largest corporations and financial institutions.  They spend enormous amounts of money currying favor from various politicians to get “consideration” on a bill before them or a tax break.  I believe they wield a disproportionate amount of influence on our law makers.  All gifts, donations, trips, etc.,  of any amount, given to a law maker should be prohibited.  Any lobbying would have to be on its merits not on its money.

The other group of addicted constituents are the voters.  Some, about 50% don’t pay any federal income tax at all ( I know they pay the payroll taxes).  Others get tax refunds even though they haven’t paid any money in taxes!  The government is involved in almost every phase of our lives now, from cradle to grave!  They build bridges to nowhere and pay a hundred dollars for a screwdriver (don’t miss the irony there).  What’s going on?  Is our government truly an altruistic “parent” fixated on our wellbeing?  Naw.  Not a chance!

Many politicians have discovered that they can get votes by using tax payers money.  It is the easiest fund raising they can do.  They don’t call it buying votes but, essentially, that is what they do.  They take tax dollars and try to steer them into their district, or build bridges to nowhere, or create programs for select groups in order to garner votes and stay in power. Does is strike you as odd that here, in America, the “melting pot” of the world, we identify ourselves with so many different groups?  There are the AARP’s, Black Americans, Latino’s, Asian, Women’s groups, liberals, conservatives and independents, libertarians, (did I miss your group?) just to name a few.  How did this happen?  Politics.  These “groups” are seeking to have  clout in the political arena, a voice to be heard.  They all seek the same thing; special treatment, access, to the politician.  In splintering into various groups or factions they have unwittingly weaken themselves collectively!  American’s need to get back to voting for what is good for America not just their group.

Politicians have discovered that if they can create and maintain a large, majority of voters that “need” to be taken care of by the government they can then “barter” with them at election time.  They offer to take care of them and then they tell them if they vote for the other guy they will “lose” their benefits, exemption, or whatever.  So vote for “me” if you want your stuff to continue!  That is, in my opinion, the mantra of the liberal left in America.  The promise of more stuff from the government if you vote for “me” is an implied contract of sorts.  I call it what it is; buying votes with taxpayer dollars.

Perhaps it would help to put all of this in focus if you were you to equate your money, wealth, assets, as freedom.  That’s what economics is really all about; freedom.  One is free to risk, to fail, to succeed.  And everyone is free to pursue their dream.  If a government is permitted, by indifference in our case, to confiscate the wealth of its citizens, I would argue that that puts its citizens in jeopardy of losing its freedom. 

So, having said that, I respectfully suggest to the Occupiers’ “get off of your *** and occupy the only street that matters; not Wall St.  but Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.”  If the Occupiers want to do something of lasting value they would do well to put the spotlight where it belongs; on a broken Federal System together with some politicians who conspired with some financial institutions to steal Americans blind!

Occupy Washington D.C. “…and they will come!”

Hal

So, let’s take a moment, or two, and see if we can figure out just how the numbers in Washington “work.”

To arrive at what some call “the real unemployment rate”, known as the U6 rate, one has to use three different measurements.  First you have the unemployment rate.  Second, you have the number of people working part-time who want full-time work.  And the third category is people who are considered “marginally attached.”  That means they have left the workforce but would like to be employed. 

The number dished out by the government and then regurgitated to the masses (you and me) is the first one; the unemployment rate which is just above 9%.  If you have been paying attention you have figured it out; this isn’t a real number representing the real problem of unemployment in America.  But it is the one everyone is familiar with.  And what does this number represent in the real world? How did the government come up with that number? It is a measurement of people looking for jobs in the last four weeks or about 2.5 million unemployed people!  It doesn’t count the underemployed, about 8.6 million and the “marginally attached” which is about 2.7 million.  If you add all of them into the number then you actually have about 16.2% unemployed!  That figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (June of 2011). 

The “underemployed” include people working at least one hour a week or part time. That’s correct, someone is working as little as one hour a week they are counted as “underemployed.” These people are not able to get full time jobs. Now, an argument may be made for the government not counting the “underemployed” as they do have a job though not a full time job.  But how do they possibly explain not counting those who have given up looking for a job?  They want jobs but there are none to be had for them! So they aren’t counted in the unemployment figure.

The President, for two years, had a majority of Democrats in the Congress and the Senate.  He, together with the Congress, had the ability to tackle any problem(s) they chose. And what did they decide to focus on? Health Care reform!  We need jobs Mr. President.  Jobs will help us keep our homes.  Jobs will put food on the table.  We need jobs!

If there was a message to be “read” from the mid-term Congressional elections, in which the Republicans swept to power in the House of Representatives, it was simple; Americans didn’t want health care reform, at least not on the massive scale enacted by the President. They wanted jobs! Now, the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost in the upcoming national elections. It’s going to be difficult to get the “real unemployed” the “part time workers” and the “marginally attached”, and their families and friends, to vote for a President that chose to “fix” health care instead of fixing the economy.

The only “positive” thing to come of this ceaseless unemployment in America could be the unemployment of the President. I say it’s time to add him to the “real unemployed. “ What about you?

Hal

Mr. Gaddifi called upon the various tribes that make up a large segment of Libyan society, to march to Tripoli and retake the city.  He called for a million man march on the city to fight the “rebels.” 

Mr. Gaddifi is quoted as saying "Libya is for the Libyan people and not for the agents, not for imperialism, not for France, not for Sarkozy, not for Italy," he said. "Tripoli is for you, not for those who rely on NATO."  Oh?  Libyan’s have known for a long time that Libya is not for Libyan’s.  It was the personal fiefdom of Gaddifi and his family and close associates.  Libyans have not enjoyed the benefits of freedom or  Libya’s wealth under his rule.

Continuing he said “The enemy is delusional, NATO is retreating. It cannot go on forever in the air. NATO be damned," he shouted. "We will defeat them with determination, through will, commitment to freedom, sovereignty, dignity and glory. Never be afraid of them, only fear God, you are closer to God than they." 

Let’s dissect this part of his broadcast.  He said the enemy was “delusional.”  “NATO is retreating..”  I hope someone has the courage to explain to him that the NATO planes are not retreating they are refueling and rearming for the next sortie.  Clearly someone in all of this is delusional.  I will let you guess who that is. 

You got to love it when  he said “you are closer to God than they…”  I think his supporters are closer to God than the rest of us, that is to say they are very much closer to meeting God than the rest of us!  And if they continue to fight the “rebels” they will probably meet God sooner than later.

The news reports mentioned that Gaddifi was ”speaking from an unknown location….”  Hmmm  That should tell you something. 

Let’s stop here for a moment and gather our thoughts.  Mr. Gaddifi is calling on a million men, tribesmen from all over Libya to march on Tripoli while he hides.  I have an idea for Mr. Gaddifi, you lead the march on Tripoli!  My guess is that he is looking for a one way ticket to Venezuela to be with his fellow dictator Mr. Chavez. 

But wait!  There’s more! He called on his “people” to go “Street by street, alleyway by alleyway, house by house," "The tribes that are outside of Tripoli must march on Tripoli. Each tribe must control its area and stop the enemy setting its foot on this pure land." Pure land?  For 42 years Libya has been his personal possession, he and his minions, owned Libya and its wealth.  He turned Libya into a terrorist state, an international pariah.   Now he calls upon those very people whose country he stole and whom he enslaved to drive out the “rats, crusaders and unbelievers…”  I don’t think anyone is listening.

Now for the best part.  Mr. Gaddifi called upon the religious leaders with the following plaintiff cry "O sheikhs of the mosques, O scholars, incite the people to jihad. Go out as their leaders."  Did you read that last part?  The part about going out as their leaders?  What does “going out” mean?  Dying for the cause?  Why doesn’t Mr. Gaddifi “go out” as a leader?  He, like so many of his ilk, enlist the simple minded, the lost souls of our world, to do their sinister bidding.  Strapping bombs to their bodies, putting them on the front lines, demanding they sacrifice.  All the while they live in opulent homes, possess great personal wealth and refuse to become “martyrs” for the cause.  When was the last time one of the Sheiks blew himself up in the name of God?

Then he continued ""Do not leave Tripoli to those rats, kill them, defeat them quickly. You are the crushing majority… There will be no safe place for the enemies."  "I call upon you to organize a million man march that will fight this time, that will fill the streets and fill the squares. Do not fear the shelling. These are blank shells that scare you."  Do not fear the shelling?  Is that what he said?  He did indeed.  He said they are “blank shells that scare you.”  Is he crazy?  If the shells are “blank” why is in hiding?  Why doesn’t he “go out” and bravely stare down one of those blank shells?

He then stated "Bring out the men and women this time to purify Tripoli. Bring out the young inside Tripoli to protect all alleyways and districts… They must fight and not give up."  He even instructs the women to come out and fight.  But, I repeat myself, he hasn’t come out and fought.

Is it at all possible that he doesn’t “get it?”  He enslaved the Libyan people for over four decades.  Stole their wealth.  Created a society with rampant unemployment, no hope, filled with despair among all of the people.  And what does he do?  He calls upon Libyans to fight for him while he remains in an “unknown location.”  He wants others to spill their blood while he steals their future.  He is a mad man.  Sadly, he is not alone in our world.

Hal

We know who our enemies are.  And we know who our friends are.  We have an emotional attachment to them.  We like our friends and dislike our enemies.    Our enemies may evoke deeper emotions in us; fear, bitterness, even envy.  In either case, though, we “know” them.  And, unlike His contemporaries (and ours), Jesus didn’t teach believers to retaliate, to seek to harm our enemies.  This was, and I suggest still is, a revolutionary attitude.

But there is another attitude that believers must concern themselves with.  The response for them isn’t a matter of love or hated, it is more subtle.  It is known as “indifference.” 

Indifference is something we engage in when the problem is so overwhelming or the “numbers” are simply beyond our ability to imagine them.   And there is one more component to indifference; we don’t know the people involved.  We have no ties to them. We know they exist but they don’t “exist” in our daily lives, our “world.”  Their problems are, somehow, well, their problems, or their governments problems.  There is a disconnect between them and us.

As an example; we read about the mass starvation occurring in Africa today.  Millions of people are being displaced due to civil war and drought.  Tens of thousands are dying.   These people are neither friend or enemy to us.  They are nameless, faceless and far removed from our daily lives.  We read the stories, see the video on the nightly news but our minds tell us that we can’t “fix” this one because of the perplexity of the problem or the sheer, overwhelming, numbers of people involved.  This is when indifference makes her entrance into our psyche.  It is a disguised though.  Most of us simply can’t handle, emotionally, ignoring the needs, the life and death struggles of these people; so, instead of ignoring them, we tell ourselves there is nothing that we can do except pray for them.  Now, don’t misunderstand me on this; prayer is important but look at the words of the Master.  When our enemy needed food He didn’t tell us to pray for them; He told us to provide it.  If the enemy needed water, shelter, or whatever, He doesn’t tell us to pray for their needs He tells believers to supply it.  Of course there is a caveat in all of this; we need to be “able” to supply the need.  And this is exactly when indifference makes her entrance.  We know that we cannot possibly meet the needs of so many people.  Unlike the enemy whom we know, and who’s needs we know, we don’t know these people they are “news” items for the daily consumption.  So a disconnect occurs between us and “them.”

Another example comes to mind from recent headlines; it has to do with the people of Haiti.  Following a massive natural disaster the country and its people are, literally, destitute, beyond measure.  Haitians are relatively close to us in America.  But, they no longer occupy the headlines and, so, their plight continues with little relief in sight. 

But there is a way to fight back, to overcome indifference and to make a difference.  While we can’t solve all of the problems of the world, we can solve, perhaps, one small one.  We could give a few dollars to a world aid organization and feed a family for a day.  We could buy malaria protecting nets for children and protect them from the deadly mosquito carrying malaria.  There is “Smile Train”, an outreach that repairs cleft palates among children in third world countries. 

The other day Christine and I, together with Hope and the Wonder Boys, Nathan and James, went to our local shopping mall.  While there the girls wandered into a children’s store.  A short while later they emerged with a bag full of “flip flops.”  I asked Hope why so many flip flops?  She told me that the children in Haiti (the orphanage)  have nothing on their feet so she bought some for them.  Besides, she said, they are only $1.50 a pair.  And, she continued, we could go on line and buy more.  So we determined to go on line an buy 100 more pairs of them and ship them to the orphanage in Haiti.  Granted this is a small gesture but it sure beats indifference by a country mile!

Hope has been to Haiti recently.  She made contact with some local people who run the school in Haiti.  The children in the school are in need of supplies.  And they need a teacher.  In order to have a teacher they need to have the money to pay her.  So, Hope decided that would be another goal of Bringing Hope to Birthdays; raising enough funds to pay the teachers annual salary.  It isn’t a great deal of money but it is a great deal of love and concern.  And, it beats indifference.  We are still raising funds for Haiti ( we have raised enough for a teacher part time, for a year).  Hope plans to return to the Island early next year.  Our goal is to bring supplies for the children and the school together with enough money to pay a teachers salary for at least one year.  You can help by going to the ministry website ( http://thefishermensnet.com/) and click on the “outreach” button.  On that page you will find a large “Donate” button, it is a Paypal button.  I would remind you that all gifts are passed through to the recipient.  100% of the money donated is passed through nothing is taken for administrative costs or travel expenses, nothing.   Or you may write a check (make it payable to The Fishermen’s Net) and mail it to The Fishermen’s Net, 38925 De Portola, Temecula, CA 92592. 

I could go on, but I think you get the point; we may not be able to “fix” the world but we can overcome indifference and “fix” one small problem, meet one small need in someone’s life.  Perhaps your “problem” is in your neighborhood or you may want to help “fix” something in a third world country.  Just remember this;

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  Matt 25:31-40 (KJV)

Hal

If we can see through the smoke and mirrors a rather interesting picture begins to come into view.

Let’s look at it.  The first thing that stands out is this; the debt ceiling will be raised immediately.  The debt reduction, on the other hand, the bulk of it (1.5 trillion dollars) will not be implemented immediately.  Less than a trillion dollars is slated for cuts (over 10 years) while the rest will be dealt with by a “commission.”  Even if the commission is successful in implementing 1.5 trillion in reductions, these “savings” will come over a period of 10 years!  In the meantime the debt continues to grow together with the interest being paid on the debt, right now, today!

Here is what I find of interest, though not obvious.  The deal pushes most of the heavy lifting, the reductions, past the 2012 elections!  How convenient!  This is especially important when trying to figure out why liberal Democrats might vote for this present bill despite the lack of tax “revenues” (what we on main street call taxes) in it.  The reason they will vote for it is simple; they believe the “revenues” are coming on December 31, 2012.  You see, on that day the “Bush” tax cuts expire and the “revenues” will increase without a vote.  The estimates are as follows; when the Bush tax cuts expire tax rates will return to the Clinton era levels.  That increase is estimated to be about 3.6 trillion dollars over, you guessed it, a ten year period!  In case you haven’t noticed, the tax, oopps, I mean “revenues” will outpace the anticipated cuts in spending!  Will the Congress and the President apply these revenues to reducing the deficit?  Not if the President is Mr. Obama.  These monies will simply go to feed the insatiable appetite of the federal government.

Here is how I see things.  First, this isn’t the first time the Congress and the President have passed legislation to balance the budget. 

There is the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.  That’s right 1985.

Then there was the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 .  Getting the picture?

And finally this President, Mr. Obama, signed the Statutory Pay As you Go Act of 2010 on Feb. 12, 2010. 

And yet for all of this “legislation” we have an enormous deficit that is eating away at our national well being.  The interest on the national debt is out of control.  Clearly we need an amendment to the Constitution as previous legislation has failed to stop the reckless spending of Congress and the President.

There are some “losers” in all of this.  Mr. Obama is a loser.  He has a good deal of repair work ahead of him in preparing for what he hopes is his re-election.  He has lost face with the liberal wing of the Democratic party and he has lost face with the average American who witnessed his unabashed push for new taxes rather than cut spending.  He is the poster child for big government.  This time he lost but be assured he will be back. 

The other loser is the Speaker of the House Mr. Boehner.  He almost, and may yet, lost the vote for the compromise in a House controlled by Republicans.  His stature has been, rightfully, diminished as he traded our financial future away to the ever growing, never satisfied, federal government.

But the biggest loser is the American Taxpayer.  We got the promise (again) of reducing government spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.  Let’s see; we get a promise and they get reelected.  Anybody else see a pattern here?

Hal