Coming to Terms

Today is a rough day. I'm coming to terms with the fact that I live in a country where I don't think the way the majority of people do.

Obama was elected president yesterday. It absolutely boggles my mind that anyone with two active brain cells could vote for him. All you have to do is look at who he associates with (Ayers, Wright and his hate-mongering racist church, Rezko, etc.) and the things he says ("spread the wealth", bankrupting the coal industry, the Constitution is "in the way"), coupled with his extreme left voting record (support for partial-birth abortion, voting against funding for babies who survive after an abortion) and utter lack of experience, and anyone with enough of a brain stem to draw breath can see that he is the wrong person for president.

Yet we elected him.

I figure it boils down to two types of vote. The first is the vote from minorities who will vote for a minority candidate no matter what because all that matters to them is skin color. They couldn't care less about what he says, how he votes, what he stands for, and who he befriends, they just want a minority in office.

The second vote is from the people who don't understand how wars are fought and how economies work, who have worked themselves into a lather of baseless hatred toward the current administration, and then get taken in by a cult of personality who promises "change" and "hope". They don't care about the fact that "change" and "hope" are never defined, as a matter of fact they don't care about anything he says, because he's good looking, is a great speaker, has a great smile - and he isn't a member of the current president's party.

And in reality, there is a third vote, although I don't think it's necessarily a major bloc. It's the jealousy vote. You can read my previous blogs for a more full explanation, but basically it boils down to "I don't have everything I want, somebody else does, they should have to give me some of what they got even though they earned it and I didn't, and Obama's gonna make them do it!"

None of these voting blocs cares about the issues or the facts. None of these voting blocs researches a candidate and makes an informed vote. All of these voting blocs are uneducated knee-jerk voters - the worst possible way of voting.

In the mean time, a friend sent me a link to a Mike Huckaby interview of Bill Maher regarding Maher's new movie about religion. While the interview was pretty civil, Maher did get in his arrogant, elitist jabs about religion being a bunch of myths, that western Europe has "grown up" and thrown religion away, why would a loving God allow suffering, blah blah blah. After I watched the interview, I read some of the comments left by other viewers, and it saddened me to the core. Almost all of them were along the lines of "religion is for the weak", it's just a bunch of silly stories, on and on.

Everything I believe in... everything I stand for... everything by which I define myself... It's all under attack. Whether it's what I believe is right for America or my religious beliefs, it's all being villified, looked down on, ridiculed, dismissed, dishonored, and disrespected.

So this is what it was like to live in Rome as the empire crumbled...

Why Does Obama Want You to Vote Early?

I've noticed something in Florida... The Obama camp has really, REALLY been pushing people to vote early. I mean, not just a suggestion, not just a "hey, make sure you vote, it's important" kind of thing. It's very much a "GO VOTE RIGHT NOW DON'T WAIT ONE SECOND" kind of thing.

Why?

Why are they freaking out about going to the polls before November 4th? Why are they insisting that their supporters vote that very day, right after the rally, don't wait until tomorrow, you must vote TODAY?

Here's why: They know McCain has been saving his advertising money for one big push during this week prior to the election. Obama is scared to death that once McCain starts to really point out his flaws, people are going to think twice. Obama knows better than anyone that his campaign is very much a cult of personality without real substance. He is scared stiff - and rightly so - that if his supporters actually start to think about his (lack of) qualifications, actually start to think about his connections with certain people and organizations, if his supporters walk out of the hall of smoke and mirrors and just simply start to think ... he'll lose them.

So Obama's strategy is to push his supporters to lock in their vote while he still has them snowballed.

There's going to be a lot of "voter's regret" after this election...

Liberalism = Jealousy

(This is an email I sent to a radio show host today.)

Schnitt,

Several of your callers over the last few days, especially George, have heightened my understanding of liberalism. I used to think of it in terms of class warfare, but I now understand that it's even more basic than that.

It's just plain jealousy.

That person over there has something I want, and they should be forced to give it to me because I want it. I want something I don't have and they do have, so they should have to give it to me.

There is no connection for liberals between working hard and reaping the rewards of the hard work. There is no connection between coming up with a popular product or service and reaping the rewards. If you have something I don't have but I want, you should have to give it to me whether I have done anything to earn it or not.

Liberals don't understand the concepts of "responsibility" and "earn." They only understand "want" and "have."

George is such a perfect example of this. He saw no connection between having more kids than he could support at the level he wanted to support them. He thinks he should just go out and have as many kids as he wants, and then somebody else has to come in and help pay for them - even though they had no input as to the number of kids George had.

Do all careers earn what they deserve? No. As you said to the caller right before George, teachers and police officers and firefighters should make a lot more. But they don't, and if you choose to go into one of those careers you have to accept what they make. If you can't accept it, find another career, don't try to take wealth from someone else just because your career doesn't give you what you think you're worth.

Not long after accepting a job with a major corporation, I was asked to train a couple of temporary contractor workers. I came to find out that they were making a fair amount more than me, which I considered to be unfair since I knew more than they did and I was training them - seemed like I should be making the top dollar. When I mentioned this to my project lead, he said something that has stuck with me to this day:

"They made their deal with their employer. You make your deal with your employer. If they got a better deal, good for them. If you think you deserve a better deal, present your case to your employer, but don't hold it against them that you aren't getting what you deserve."

But the reason I think of it as jealousy instead of class warfare is because it goes beyond just money. Take one of the main planks in the liberal platform: abortion.

Is abortion about a woman's right to choose? No. Women have always had the right to choose to sleep with a man and risk getting pregnant (except, of course, in the case of rape).

Is abortion about "keep your laws off of my body?" No. The unborn child has a unique set of human DNA - it is not a bacterial growth, and it is not just another part of the mother's body. In the same way that a parent is not permitted to kill a unique human existance outside the womb, they have no right to kill a unique human existance inside the womb. The child is not "her body."

So what is abortion REALLY about? Women being jealous that a man can hop in the sack for a night, then walk away in the morning with no repercussions. They want that, but physiologically they can't have it. The reality is, their situation is different from a man's situation. So they're jealous of what a man has (the ability to walk away), and abortion is their means of getting what a man has, even if it means terminating another human existance to get it.

Liberalism is the refusal to acknowledge that not all things are equal or the same in this life - and there's nothing wrong with that. Some flowers are prettier than others, some mountains are taller than others, some people are smarter than others, etc. etc. etc. Yet instead of accepting reality, they try to live in a world of complete sameness.

Sad.

McCain and Abortion

I've heard a very disturbing political advertisement (approved by Obama) on the radio several times over the last few days. In it, a female health professional states that "as president, John McCain will make abortion illegal" and "We can't let John McCain take away our right to choose."

This is just patently wrong. The president of the United States cannot make law or amend the constitution. As a matter of fact, he has nothing to do with the amendment process, it is purely up to Congress and the states. About all he can do is nominate conservative judges to the Supreme Court, and even that must be approved by the Senate.

If John McCain is elected president, he cannot overturn Roe v. Wade, he cannot amend the constitution, and he cannot take away a woman's right to an abortion. The Obama campaign is blatantly lying in this ad, and is using nothing short of pure scare tactics to frighten poorly educated women into voting for Obama.

That's really sad. And dishonest. And despicable.

This Just In: Life is not Fair! Deal with it.

Big stink in the Tampa, FL area: Muslim girl on a soccer team wanted to wear her head scarf while playing. Soccer rules require all players to be dressed exactly the same, so ref decided she couldn't play unless she dressed exactly like the other players. She refused to remove her head scarf, and therefore sat on the sidelines.

Of course, everyone feels sorry for the girl, and as expected, there were immediate accusations of Muslim-hatred on the part of the ref. But how about this?
1. Soccer has rules, which are published and available to all prospective participants prior to try-outs.
2. Ref's job is to enforce rules.
3. The girl was breaking the rules.

The girl wasn't singled out because she is Muslim, she was singled out because she was breaking the rules. The rules require that all players wear the same uniform so that no one player stands out and is easier to identify by teammates. She was wearing something that no one else on her team was wearing. It didn't matter if it was a head scarf or a bicycle flag strapped to her back or a screaming neon pink jersey - it was different, and therefore not allowed. So the ref did what he was supposed to do.

What if the ref decided to arbitrarily not enforce other rules? What if he allowed the other team to field an extra player? Do you really think that would be tolerated for an instant? So why is he being excoriated for enforcing the uniform rule?

And in an attempt to be fair to this girl and let her wear her head scarf and therefore be more easily identified by teammates, wouldn't that in fact be unfair to the other team? (For the record, the other team was fine with her playing with the head scarf.) So it's okay to be unfair to the entire other team just so this girl could violate rules that she should have known about before even trying out for the soccer team?

And just for grins, how quickly do you think the girl's parents would sue the soccer league and everyone else within a 30-mile radius if the girl had worn the head scarf in the Florida heat while engaging in an athletic activity, overheated, and suffered health problems?

Look, the rules have been in place for a long time. The girl should have looked at the rules, or the coach should have informed her of them on the first day of try-outs, and she should have made a decision: Which is more important, playing soccer, or following my religion's dress code? We all make decisions throughout our life, and most of those decisions have ramifications with which we must live. So here's one for the girl: If you follow a religion that has a dress code, you may have to refrain from participating in certain activities that have uniform requirements.

Please don't say that it's discriminatory. The rules are there to ensure the fairness of the competition. The girl and her parents are free to petition to have the rules changed. They are also free to start a "head scarf required" league. Just don't ask for special privileges in the current league with the current rules, especially when it's unfair to the other team. These are the rules. If you can abide by them, great, feel free to participate. If you can't, that's fine too, but you'll have to find something else to do with your time, because you won't be playing soccer in this league.

Why Elijah Dukes Matters

I am a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. (They're changing their name from Devil Rays to just Rays.) In case you haven't heard, we have a guy on the team named Elijah Dukes who has been in a lot of trouble off the field over the last couple of years. (He also had some team-related problems last year in AAA Durham, but nothing so far this year with the Rays.) The main thing lately is that he threatened to kill his estranged wife and their/her children. It's also just come out that he got a 17-year old girl pregnant a few months back. And he's dealing with some legal issues involving marijuana found in his car during a traffic stop.

As is always the case when things like this happen, some fans are calling for him to be cut or traded, while other fans are taking the position that what he does in his personal life is his business, and as long as he helps the team win (and he is VERY talented), keep him. I fall into the former category, and here's why.

The whole point of a sports team is to represent its community. The community rallies behind the team, the team plays for the community, it's a big community spirit/bonding thing. That's why we celebrate when the team wins and we feel bad or mad when the team loses - when they win, we win, and when they lose, we lose. We don't sit back and casually observe, and say, "Oh look, that team that happens to be based out of our area won a game, well good for them." No, WE won because that team is a proxy for us.

That's why a player's ability to help win games does matter. As our representatives, we want the team to do well. But the team's representation of the community goes so much deeper than just the win/loss record.

What community takes pride in being known as a bunch of thugs? What community takes pride in having no morals or ethics? What community wants to be represented as being less-than-decent people? Because when a team represents a community, everything about the team represents everything about the community. And that includes character as evidenced by off-the-field behavior. It's not just about wins and losses, it's also about being decent people.

So while Elijah Dukes' off-the-field behavior may not win or lose games, it still represents our community, and the vast majority of our community doesn't want to be represented that way. And the team owners need to take that into account.

One thing that they need to consider is that for a player to contribute to wins, the player must be available. When the player has to make court appearances or go to jail, the player is no longer available. Wouldn't it be better to have someone who can be counted on to be there?

Also, a team is a business. They want to make money. How do they make money? By filling seats at the stadium, selling gear, and getting viewers to watch the game on TV so that they can get television money. Right now the Rays have a pretty small fan base. They need to build it up to generate revenue. One way to build it up is to field a winning team, which attracts fans who go to games, buy jerseys, and watch games on TV. But if you upset those fans, especially when you don't have many of them, you can lose a lot of revenue. Lose the revenue and you can't pay quality players that attract fans. It's a spiral, and the spiral can go up or down.

So the ownership needs to pay attention. Yes, the community wants wins, but we want wins with players of whom we can be proud to have representing us. Ditch Dukes. Keep and grow your fan base. Generate revenue. Get even better players. Grow your fan base some more. Generate more revenue.

Upward spirals are a good thing. Players like Dukes don't contribute to upward spirals.

I'm Scared to Death

My 15 year old daughter is going on a missionary trip to Africa this summer. She's spending a month in Zambia and a month in Botswana.

I'm terrified.

She's going to be working at an orphanage that cares for children whose parents have died of AIDS. Many, if not all, of the children are HIV-positive. What if my daughter contracts HIV? I love her desire to help others. I love her desire to declare the gospel to the lost. But the father in me just can't tolerate the idea of a death sentence in return for following her heart.

What if some rebel group attacks her bus on its way from Zambia to Botswana and kills everyone on board?

She's going with Global Expeditions and I know they would not knowingly allow the young people to go into a dangerous situation. I know their track record. But still, it scares me to death. But how can I say, "No, you can't follow the Spirit's nudge, I'm too scared."? I realize she isn't mature enough or doesn't have enough life experience to fully understand what she's getting into and therefore be as frightened as I am.

Or maybe she is, and she's going anyway.

So I pray for her. I pray, and I pray, and I pray, and I sure would appreciate it if you'd pray, too. Pray for her safety. Pray for her health. Pray that she would introduce those children to the love of Jesus, because they're not getting any love from anybody else.

Kinda weird when your kid is the person you'd like to grow up to be...

(If you'd like to support her trip, you can make a secure, tax-deductible online donation here. Click on "Missionary ID" and put in 2331798. And then pray that God would forgive me for hoping that you won't, and she won't have enough money to go.)

Are We Being Conditioned?

Okay, time for a little conspiracy theory indulgence...

Six Muslim imams do their prayer thing in an airport, then board the plane in the standard hijacker seating arrangement. They ask for seat belt extensions even though none of them need them, and then place them under the seat in front of them instead of using them (maybe to be used later as a weapon?).

So some concerned passengers say something and the imams are removed. What's their response? We were picked on because we're Muslim. It's discrimination. CAIR gets involved, big outcry, and there's even talk of legislation that would levy heavy fines on airlines for discriminating against Muslims.

Then we have three Muslims who drive a truckload of car wiring harnesses from Detroit to the port of Miami. Couple of things: Many car bombers get hold of junk cars that insurance companies total and that are supposed to be demolished. But they aren't demolished, they disappear into a black market, where they are bought by terrorists, fixed up enough to run, and then used as car bombs. Using junked cars from the black market means they can't be traced. And here's three Muslim men driving a truckload of automobile electrical wiring harnesses.

Another thing is that two of the three men hid in the truck when it went through security at the port. Why?

But now that they've been arrested and (for some bizarre reason) released, what are they doing? Threatening to sue for (you guessed it) discrimination against Muslims.

Now, think about 9/11. The hijackers planned and trained for years before carrying out their plans. Years. Islamic fascist sleeper cells are known for lying in wait for years. The terrorists think long term. They hold grudges long term. They're in it for the long haul. They're not into the instant gratification thing.

So is it possible, just possible, that there is an active effort in the works to desensitize Americans to suspicious terrorist behaviors and activities? Is it just possible that they are trying to make us afraid to say something, for fear of being sued or being called prejudiced? And then, after spending years setting up this mindset, they walk onto an airplane and an hour into the flight... They walk into the Mall of America carrying a suitcase, and 30 minutes later...

Understand something: We have an enemy who is focused on killing us, and this enemy operates in ways we've never experienced before.