Wednesday, January 31, 2007
RICO May Be Our New Best Friend in the Anit-Illegal Immigration Fight
From this story in the Houston Chronicle, a Chattanooga, TN, federal judge has set a March 2008 trial date in a civil lawsuit against Tyson Foods under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO, which was expanded in 1996 to allow punitive damages in cases like this one should the court find for the plaintiffs), alleging that Tyson hired illegal workers in an attempt to depress wages among its employees working in this country legally. Chicago attorney Howard Foster, a RICO expert, is representing the plaintiffs in this case, and is attempting to have it certified as a class action. If there's an attorney capable of winning this fight and striking a major blow against the hiring of illegals by corporate America, it's him. Tyson's argument that they should be absolved of civil liability because a few low-level managers went to jail of hiring violations of criminal law is, at best, unconvincing. The only thing most corporations care about is money, and hitting them in the pocketbook may be the only way to get their attention when it comes to enforcing the legal mandates that say they must employ only workers who are legally authorized to work in the U.S. I wish Mr. Foster and the plaintiffs in this case all the luck in the world, and I'll be rooting for them.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Book Review of "All He Ever Wanted", by Anita Shreve
This book, "All He Ever Wanted", by Anita Shreve, was one I got off the bargain shelf at the bookstore a few weeks ago and just finished tonight. The basic premise of this book is that Nicholas Van Tassel, the main character who is a professor at a local college, sees a young woman, Etna Bliss, one night in the street after a fire, and becomes determined to marry her, no matter what the cost and regardless of whether or not she actually loved him back. If only he knew how high the eventual cost might be going in, he probably would not have gone the route he went.
The thing that struck me the most about this book was how the story expounded very accurately on the dangers of one-sided love, unrequited feelings, and delusions of happiness and adequacy in the face of both these things. In the book, Nicholas courts Etna for several months, and falls into passionate, addictive, immature, and unhealthy love/obsession with her. At the end of these few months, he proposes marriage to her, and though at first she declines, she eventually says yes, partially out of pity and partially because she is moved at how deeply he cares for her. That said, she does not love him and tells him this before they ever get married.
The two of them have a fine life together by day, him being a professor and trying to become dean of the college and her raising the children. But at night, it is terrible and awkward...there is no romance, no passion, nothing. Lovemaking is mechanical and forced when it happens at all. It's like the movie "American Beauty", when Kevin Spacey says, "Our marriage is a sham, a commercial for how happy we are supposed to be." Eventually, Etna pulls away because she does not love him and leaves because of some very destructive lies her husband told in his misguided attempts to keep her, and she dies apart from him.
This hits very close to home because someone very close to me just got out of a relationship that, while there was passion, etc. in the beginning, the unhealthy and immature emotional state of the relationship eventually got to her. Good, strong, healthy relationships require two healthy people who love one another from their own internal reserves of strength and feelings, not a situation where one person is a parasitic drain on the other, always taking (be it by making the other person their entire world, not contributing their share to some or all parts of the relationship, etc.) As in the book, the relationship eventually became a one-person show, where the obsessed/addicted party simply needed an outlet for his feelings and thought that simply emoting onto the other person was enough to make a relationship work. I think the book serves as a similar cautionary tale for potential relationship-goers to pursue something real, where the feelings of love and respect are mutual and shared, and where passion and romance live and grow over time instead of fading away or never existing at all. An old Don Henley song says that sometimes love just ain't enough, and that's especially true when it only travels one way.
The thing that struck me the most about this book was how the story expounded very accurately on the dangers of one-sided love, unrequited feelings, and delusions of happiness and adequacy in the face of both these things. In the book, Nicholas courts Etna for several months, and falls into passionate, addictive, immature, and unhealthy love/obsession with her. At the end of these few months, he proposes marriage to her, and though at first she declines, she eventually says yes, partially out of pity and partially because she is moved at how deeply he cares for her. That said, she does not love him and tells him this before they ever get married.
The two of them have a fine life together by day, him being a professor and trying to become dean of the college and her raising the children. But at night, it is terrible and awkward...there is no romance, no passion, nothing. Lovemaking is mechanical and forced when it happens at all. It's like the movie "American Beauty", when Kevin Spacey says, "Our marriage is a sham, a commercial for how happy we are supposed to be." Eventually, Etna pulls away because she does not love him and leaves because of some very destructive lies her husband told in his misguided attempts to keep her, and she dies apart from him.
This hits very close to home because someone very close to me just got out of a relationship that, while there was passion, etc. in the beginning, the unhealthy and immature emotional state of the relationship eventually got to her. Good, strong, healthy relationships require two healthy people who love one another from their own internal reserves of strength and feelings, not a situation where one person is a parasitic drain on the other, always taking (be it by making the other person their entire world, not contributing their share to some or all parts of the relationship, etc.) As in the book, the relationship eventually became a one-person show, where the obsessed/addicted party simply needed an outlet for his feelings and thought that simply emoting onto the other person was enough to make a relationship work. I think the book serves as a similar cautionary tale for potential relationship-goers to pursue something real, where the feelings of love and respect are mutual and shared, and where passion and romance live and grow over time instead of fading away or never existing at all. An old Don Henley song says that sometimes love just ain't enough, and that's especially true when it only travels one way.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Relationship Wisdom, from Ian Kerner, Ph.D.
I actually finished the book, "Be Honest, You're Just Not That Into Him Either", by Ian Kerner, about a week ago, but I've been too busy to post my thoughts and key points from the reading until today. Yes, it is a book primarily advising women, and it's written that way. Being a man, however, I have a pretty good idea of what it means to be a man in today's dating world and I know (more or less) what I am seeking in a woman. So, I figured a woman's perspective on the pitfalls and upsides of dating could be a worthwhile read. I'd say the things that jump off the pages at me the most from this book are twofold:
1.) He doesn't try to give you a set of hard and fast "rules" to follow to "guarantee" relationship success. Most books of this genre are badly overreliant on such rules that, while they sound great in theory, have little practical use whatsoever. What he does instead is to relate his own stories and experiences, as well as those of some of his female clients (he's been a therapist and counselor for over twenty years); by doing it this way, he allows the reader to see that they aren't the only one that dating mishaps happen to, and he lets them take or leave the wisdom gleaned from these experiences as they wish, depending on how much it applies to themselves and their respective dating situation.
2.) His writing about dating (and living) "in the meantime" really struck a chord with me. It reminds me of Johnny Depp's line in "Blow", where he says, "Life passes most people by while they're making grand plans for it." I've always been a carpe diem kind of guy when it comes to dating, but I'll own up to having lived in the meantime a little in my life in general in times past (i.e., well, maybe I'll put off doing X for just a while, until I get settled, into a perfect financial position, etc., only to find that by doing that, the thing I hoped to do never even gets started). Kerner's theory is that by settling in the near-term for less than what we want and need, or just doing any old thing or dating any old mediocre person to fill the time until Mr./Mrs. Right comes along, we end up losing a lot of time and a lot of life, and in the process, we might even miss the opportunity to meet someone truly amazing.
The book was a fun and easy read, but it contained a lot of good experiential revelations, so I'd recommend it to anyone, especially women. Here's some pearls of wisdom I picked out from the book...enjoy!
"Like getting a pet, dating becomes another form of insulating ourselves from being alone. When we date in the meantime, it's often because we are afraid of dealing with ourselves.
Imagine going through years of your life with the gut feeling that none of it really matters YET, that it will start at some point in the future, and that the present doesn't really count. This is untrue, but it is equally impossible to live only in the moment. The ideal, yet difficult, course of action is to find a happy medium between the two.
Seeking perfection and holding impossibly high standards is only another form of living in the meantime, only it's at the opposite end of the continuum from settling for dating someone for the wrong reasons (i.e., to avoid being alone).
If I can only get one point across, it would be this: Trust yourself. Trust your instincts. Don't get wrapped up in finding or keeping someone to date, and don't resort to rules, tactics, or playing the numbers game. Don't succumb to the pressure to achieve coupledom. That way, when the real thing comes along, you will be ready, willing, and able to jump in with both feet, not caught on some infernal treadmill where you wouldn't know the real thing if it slapped you.
If you're into him simply because you need him to be into you, your ego is driving your decision. Stop this to prevent your ego from ruining your dating life.
If you're just in it for the chase, you're playing a game. Have good enough sportsmanship and self-respect to bow out and send him on his way.
If you're sticking with someone simply because there is less risk even though you're not that into them, you are settling and lowering your standards. If you ever hope to have anything worth having, you'll have to risk something, put something on the line to get it.
While compromise may be the name of the game in business and politics, it's NOT lowering your standards or settling for less that what you need, want, and deserve that will ultimately win the day.
Love is not a TV movie, a Hallmark card, or an elixir to all life's problems. It's still out there and you will find it, but once you get past the myth of love, the sooner you are likely to find something that's both wonderful and grounded in reality.
Love at first sight is a false conceit; people frequently confuse it with chemistry, which, while necessary, is only a fraction of what it takes to make a relationship work.
Part of finding love is getting past the myth of perfection and being able to love someone who, like all of us, does have some flaws. The package wrapping your future mate comes in might not seem perfect to you at first glance, but the stuff on the inside has the potential to surpass all of your greatest fantasies."
1.) He doesn't try to give you a set of hard and fast "rules" to follow to "guarantee" relationship success. Most books of this genre are badly overreliant on such rules that, while they sound great in theory, have little practical use whatsoever. What he does instead is to relate his own stories and experiences, as well as those of some of his female clients (he's been a therapist and counselor for over twenty years); by doing it this way, he allows the reader to see that they aren't the only one that dating mishaps happen to, and he lets them take or leave the wisdom gleaned from these experiences as they wish, depending on how much it applies to themselves and their respective dating situation.
2.) His writing about dating (and living) "in the meantime" really struck a chord with me. It reminds me of Johnny Depp's line in "Blow", where he says, "Life passes most people by while they're making grand plans for it." I've always been a carpe diem kind of guy when it comes to dating, but I'll own up to having lived in the meantime a little in my life in general in times past (i.e., well, maybe I'll put off doing X for just a while, until I get settled, into a perfect financial position, etc., only to find that by doing that, the thing I hoped to do never even gets started). Kerner's theory is that by settling in the near-term for less than what we want and need, or just doing any old thing or dating any old mediocre person to fill the time until Mr./Mrs. Right comes along, we end up losing a lot of time and a lot of life, and in the process, we might even miss the opportunity to meet someone truly amazing.
The book was a fun and easy read, but it contained a lot of good experiential revelations, so I'd recommend it to anyone, especially women. Here's some pearls of wisdom I picked out from the book...enjoy!
"Like getting a pet, dating becomes another form of insulating ourselves from being alone. When we date in the meantime, it's often because we are afraid of dealing with ourselves.
Imagine going through years of your life with the gut feeling that none of it really matters YET, that it will start at some point in the future, and that the present doesn't really count. This is untrue, but it is equally impossible to live only in the moment. The ideal, yet difficult, course of action is to find a happy medium between the two.
Seeking perfection and holding impossibly high standards is only another form of living in the meantime, only it's at the opposite end of the continuum from settling for dating someone for the wrong reasons (i.e., to avoid being alone).
If I can only get one point across, it would be this: Trust yourself. Trust your instincts. Don't get wrapped up in finding or keeping someone to date, and don't resort to rules, tactics, or playing the numbers game. Don't succumb to the pressure to achieve coupledom. That way, when the real thing comes along, you will be ready, willing, and able to jump in with both feet, not caught on some infernal treadmill where you wouldn't know the real thing if it slapped you.
If you're into him simply because you need him to be into you, your ego is driving your decision. Stop this to prevent your ego from ruining your dating life.
If you're just in it for the chase, you're playing a game. Have good enough sportsmanship and self-respect to bow out and send him on his way.
If you're sticking with someone simply because there is less risk even though you're not that into them, you are settling and lowering your standards. If you ever hope to have anything worth having, you'll have to risk something, put something on the line to get it.
While compromise may be the name of the game in business and politics, it's NOT lowering your standards or settling for less that what you need, want, and deserve that will ultimately win the day.
Love is not a TV movie, a Hallmark card, or an elixir to all life's problems. It's still out there and you will find it, but once you get past the myth of love, the sooner you are likely to find something that's both wonderful and grounded in reality.
Love at first sight is a false conceit; people frequently confuse it with chemistry, which, while necessary, is only a fraction of what it takes to make a relationship work.
Part of finding love is getting past the myth of perfection and being able to love someone who, like all of us, does have some flaws. The package wrapping your future mate comes in might not seem perfect to you at first glance, but the stuff on the inside has the potential to surpass all of your greatest fantasies."
Sunday, January 28, 2007
This Goes Out to Everyone Who Takes Religion a Liiitle Too Seriously
I am a Christian, and I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at this story...from the archives of one of my favorite "just for fun/life" blogs, Robservations:
"Today well, something both interesting and funny happened. Did you know that there are Jehovah's witnesses in Germany? Well I didn't. Those annoying, yet persistent rat bastards that have survived many an attempt at humiliation standing outside my front door are here as well. They're the religious/pseudo-human equivalent of cockroaches. If there is a nuclear war (thanks Israel...asses) the only people left will be Jehovah's witnesses with their white shirts, black ties, and bicycles. ...
Anyway, I was resting from an especially hard run this morning on a small bench in what is usually a very quiet and tranquil spot of the park. By 6am the sun has typically risen in this part of Germany, but it is a slow rise and combined with the high clouds, the colors and breezes produced are like a defibrillator for the soul. I had just begun to catch my breath, eyes closed, listening to the park's birds waking up from their slumber and communicating where the tastiest meals of the morning are located when all of this beauty and tranquility was shattered. A rather heavy-set young man was standing in front of me holding a flyer and a Bible.
Witness: (in German) My name is Heinrich. I would love to tell you some wonderful news!
Me: (in German as well) I'm sorry. I don't speak German.
Looking puzzled, young Heinrich continued in English.
Heinrich: I'd like to give you my story of how I found happiness and fulfillment!
Me: Sure, I'll listen if youll change clothes with me.
Heinrich: I'm sorry, I do not understand.
Me: Change clothes with me. I've been running from the police and I need a change of clothes.
Heinrich: The police?!? What did you do?
Me: I beat the sh*t out of a guy on the other side of the park. The police saw me and came chasing after me so I ducked through the middle of the park and I think I lost them.
Heinrich: (eyeing me suspiciously) Why would you do such a thing?
Me: Ehh this guy approached me and started babbling on about God and salvation something about finding peace with Jehovah or some other such nonsense. (looking a little wilder) The guy just wouldn't SHUT UP! Man, I think I hurt my leg kicking him!
(a long pause)
Me: So you wanted to tell me some good news?
Heinrich: No sir, I'm afraid I was mistaken, have a good day!
At this point he started walking away and as I got up to follow him yelling "...but, but the good news!", he took off in a fat-man sprint down the sidewalk running alongside the park."
"Today well, something both interesting and funny happened. Did you know that there are Jehovah's witnesses in Germany? Well I didn't. Those annoying, yet persistent rat bastards that have survived many an attempt at humiliation standing outside my front door are here as well. They're the religious/pseudo-human equivalent of cockroaches. If there is a nuclear war (thanks Israel...asses) the only people left will be Jehovah's witnesses with their white shirts, black ties, and bicycles. ...
Anyway, I was resting from an especially hard run this morning on a small bench in what is usually a very quiet and tranquil spot of the park. By 6am the sun has typically risen in this part of Germany, but it is a slow rise and combined with the high clouds, the colors and breezes produced are like a defibrillator for the soul. I had just begun to catch my breath, eyes closed, listening to the park's birds waking up from their slumber and communicating where the tastiest meals of the morning are located when all of this beauty and tranquility was shattered. A rather heavy-set young man was standing in front of me holding a flyer and a Bible.
Witness: (in German) My name is Heinrich. I would love to tell you some wonderful news!
Me: (in German as well) I'm sorry. I don't speak German.
Looking puzzled, young Heinrich continued in English.
Heinrich: I'd like to give you my story of how I found happiness and fulfillment!
Me: Sure, I'll listen if youll change clothes with me.
Heinrich: I'm sorry, I do not understand.
Me: Change clothes with me. I've been running from the police and I need a change of clothes.
Heinrich: The police?!? What did you do?
Me: I beat the sh*t out of a guy on the other side of the park. The police saw me and came chasing after me so I ducked through the middle of the park and I think I lost them.
Heinrich: (eyeing me suspiciously) Why would you do such a thing?
Me: Ehh this guy approached me and started babbling on about God and salvation something about finding peace with Jehovah or some other such nonsense. (looking a little wilder) The guy just wouldn't SHUT UP! Man, I think I hurt my leg kicking him!
(a long pause)
Me: So you wanted to tell me some good news?
Heinrich: No sir, I'm afraid I was mistaken, have a good day!
At this point he started walking away and as I got up to follow him yelling "...but, but the good news!", he took off in a fat-man sprint down the sidewalk running alongside the park."
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The Old People Smell, by Robert Shagwell
This site right here is one of the funniest sites I have ever visited, hands down. This post, explaining the way most old women smell is hysterical, especially the part describing why the mothball-smelling old grandma perfume is necessary. Just great, fun times all around.
"Have you ever noticed how old people always seem to smell funny? Of course you have. Everyone has. They emit gusts of repuslive redolence at every step. It makes no difference geographically, either. You can have reekers in the plains of Kansas, the piers of San Francisco, and the suburbs of Chicago.
This is considered common knowledge. Well, duh; grandkids have been exposed to this malodorance since toddlerhood when visiting the grandparents. What I find interesting is that all senior citizens tend to smell the same, especially the older women. Now, our older senior gentlemen are usually sending forth fumes consisting of encrusted urine, gingivitis, and underwashed undergarments. Again, common knowledge. Older ladies, on the other hand, tend to emit nasty effluvium in one of two flavors:
1.) Wet Dog Funk- Yes, I said it. Don’t even deny it, because you know exactly what I’m talking about. It would be one thing to have an older lady giving her dachsund (for you psych majors: weiner dog) baths everyday and then considering the stray splashing water good enough to call a “shower". It’s another when the older lady doesn’t have a dog, or a neighbor with a dog, or even a neighborhood do-it-yourself doggy detailing shop. In short, no dog should mean no dog smell. Right?
Wrong. I went undercover to find out. I found a ladyfriend of mine sleeping naked, so I woke her up, fuc*ed the sh*t out of her, and put her to sleep again. Then I went undercover again to get to the real dirt on this perplexing problem. Turns out there is no scientifically compelling reason for this. Besides passing gas every fourth step, old ladies just happen to naturally smell like a sopping wet german shephard dry-humped them first thing in the morning, and that’s the truth.
What’s there to do about it? Well, glad you asked! You should seriously consider purchasing a nice bottle of:
2.) Old Lady Perfume- I don’t even have to describe it. You know exactly what I’m talking about. There seems to be only one type, because I have never smelled an old lady who wore any perfume other than this. It’s not very attractive, and chances are they sprayed entirely too much on ("too much” referring to any amount strong enough to kill smaller domestic puppies). Now, I want to believe in my heart of hearts that there are some older ladies out there who purchase fragrances other than Old Lady Perfume. I mean, come on. As kids, do you think they enjoyed smelling their grandparents with that ghastly stench? Nope. So why would they turn into seniors at their respective times and adopt the same fumes themselves? It doesn’t make any sense, no fuc*ing sense at all.
But wait, there’s an explanation! After conducting a large-scale, statistically significant double-blind randomly-sampled survey (read: asking my grandma), I found out older ladies do wear other types of perfume. But upon immediate contact with their skin, a chemical reaction (that has yet to be researched) causes all fragrances – no matter how sweet and wonderful – to decompose into Old Lady Perfume. Try it yourselves, kids! Take some of your momma’s best perfume and spray the shit out of the nearest old lady (you can nab plenty at the neighborhood Golden Corral buffet) and see what kind of magical chemical concatenation of events take place. Once left to fester, give it a good whiff, and viola, you’ve got Old Lady Perfume! Makes a great science fair project! Grandma won’t mind, as long as you set a daytime television show on repeat nearby.
Something must be done about this travesty in modern American society, and who better to step up to the plate and take charge other than your man Dick Shagwell? I decided to do a little experiment on my own and see what an older lady would smell like without the Old Lady Perfume. After unknowingly stealing my grandmother's unlabeled antique bottle of who-knows-what, I went back and visited her three days later (just enough time to make sure all her pores were free of contamination).
I couldn’t even step into the house. It smelled like semi-digested popcorn piss, curdled yogurt poop, and festering undercooked chicken sweat, rounded out by a pugnacious stench of a wet (and probably dead) golden retriever, and that was just my grandma, not her kitchen. It all makes sense! The only aroma strong enough to conceal/cancel out/overpower their natural putridity is that Old Lady Perfume! It all makes sense now!
My nose started bleeding, and I threw the bottle in like a hand grenade and made a run for it."
"Have you ever noticed how old people always seem to smell funny? Of course you have. Everyone has. They emit gusts of repuslive redolence at every step. It makes no difference geographically, either. You can have reekers in the plains of Kansas, the piers of San Francisco, and the suburbs of Chicago.
This is considered common knowledge. Well, duh; grandkids have been exposed to this malodorance since toddlerhood when visiting the grandparents. What I find interesting is that all senior citizens tend to smell the same, especially the older women. Now, our older senior gentlemen are usually sending forth fumes consisting of encrusted urine, gingivitis, and underwashed undergarments. Again, common knowledge. Older ladies, on the other hand, tend to emit nasty effluvium in one of two flavors:
1.) Wet Dog Funk- Yes, I said it. Don’t even deny it, because you know exactly what I’m talking about. It would be one thing to have an older lady giving her dachsund (for you psych majors: weiner dog) baths everyday and then considering the stray splashing water good enough to call a “shower". It’s another when the older lady doesn’t have a dog, or a neighbor with a dog, or even a neighborhood do-it-yourself doggy detailing shop. In short, no dog should mean no dog smell. Right?
Wrong. I went undercover to find out. I found a ladyfriend of mine sleeping naked, so I woke her up, fuc*ed the sh*t out of her, and put her to sleep again. Then I went undercover again to get to the real dirt on this perplexing problem. Turns out there is no scientifically compelling reason for this. Besides passing gas every fourth step, old ladies just happen to naturally smell like a sopping wet german shephard dry-humped them first thing in the morning, and that’s the truth.
What’s there to do about it? Well, glad you asked! You should seriously consider purchasing a nice bottle of:
2.) Old Lady Perfume- I don’t even have to describe it. You know exactly what I’m talking about. There seems to be only one type, because I have never smelled an old lady who wore any perfume other than this. It’s not very attractive, and chances are they sprayed entirely too much on ("too much” referring to any amount strong enough to kill smaller domestic puppies). Now, I want to believe in my heart of hearts that there are some older ladies out there who purchase fragrances other than Old Lady Perfume. I mean, come on. As kids, do you think they enjoyed smelling their grandparents with that ghastly stench? Nope. So why would they turn into seniors at their respective times and adopt the same fumes themselves? It doesn’t make any sense, no fuc*ing sense at all.
But wait, there’s an explanation! After conducting a large-scale, statistically significant double-blind randomly-sampled survey (read: asking my grandma), I found out older ladies do wear other types of perfume. But upon immediate contact with their skin, a chemical reaction (that has yet to be researched) causes all fragrances – no matter how sweet and wonderful – to decompose into Old Lady Perfume. Try it yourselves, kids! Take some of your momma’s best perfume and spray the shit out of the nearest old lady (you can nab plenty at the neighborhood Golden Corral buffet) and see what kind of magical chemical concatenation of events take place. Once left to fester, give it a good whiff, and viola, you’ve got Old Lady Perfume! Makes a great science fair project! Grandma won’t mind, as long as you set a daytime television show on repeat nearby.
Something must be done about this travesty in modern American society, and who better to step up to the plate and take charge other than your man Dick Shagwell? I decided to do a little experiment on my own and see what an older lady would smell like without the Old Lady Perfume. After unknowingly stealing my grandmother's unlabeled antique bottle of who-knows-what, I went back and visited her three days later (just enough time to make sure all her pores were free of contamination).
I couldn’t even step into the house. It smelled like semi-digested popcorn piss, curdled yogurt poop, and festering undercooked chicken sweat, rounded out by a pugnacious stench of a wet (and probably dead) golden retriever, and that was just my grandma, not her kitchen. It all makes sense! The only aroma strong enough to conceal/cancel out/overpower their natural putridity is that Old Lady Perfume! It all makes sense now!
My nose started bleeding, and I threw the bottle in like a hand grenade and made a run for it."
Friday, January 26, 2007
Another Illegal Immigrant Suing in the United States? Give a Mouse a Cookie...
and the damn thing will want a glass of milk to go with it. First, we have an illegal immigrant drug smuggler suing the U.S. for violating his "civil rights" by shooting him in an attempt to apprehend the lawbreaker and sending two decorated Border Patrol agents to prison for over a decade each. Now, from Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse, we have another one of the greedy little buggers having the nerve to sue a U.S. corporation for not giving her radio contest prize because she's an illegal. Most of these contests have rules that say you must be a U.S. citizen to claim your prize. The attorney for the radio station did his job and the right thing by telling this woman and her lawyer he'd report her to the authorities if she pressed her claim. I swear, I'm striking up the world's smallest nanotech violin of symathy for all these "aggrieved" illegal alien criminal and their "rights". Either come to this country the right way or stay home. Period. End of Discussion.
"What’s wrong with this picture? We can start by taking the Tribune to task for referring to the woman as “undocumented.” She is, of course, an illegal alien who is breaking the law by residing in the United States without a visa or green card. But hey! Whose counting?
And I don’t know what’s more shocking; the fact that the station tried to give her the car anyway without collecting the necessary tax information or the unmitigated gall of the woman to sue for “emotional distress.” Living here illegally is emotionally distressing in and of itself. But to try and soak a radio station for trying to follow the law and deny her the benefit of her ill gotten gains is beyond the pale, beyond avarice, and beyond belief. ...
Alvarez’s suit also names SBS lawyer James Cueva, who sent her attorney a letter on Dec. 19, 2005, threatening to contact immigration officials if she pursued a lawsuit.
“I will caution you that if you insist on filing suit against SBS, I will in turn be forced to refer this matter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as I believe your client is in this country illegally,” the letter said.
Why should the station apologize for a lawyer doing his duty as a citizen and reporting an illegal alien? The context is perfect; an illegal alien was trying to claim an expensive prize without having to pay taxes on it and was threatening to sue in order to get even more loot from the station. Whatever context you want to view that in is fine with me.
The woman is a fool. She should have waited a few months when the amnesty bill that will almost surely be passed gives her everything her little mercenary heart desires.
Until then, I sure hope she finds a way to deal with her “emotional distress.”
"What’s wrong with this picture? We can start by taking the Tribune to task for referring to the woman as “undocumented.” She is, of course, an illegal alien who is breaking the law by residing in the United States without a visa or green card. But hey! Whose counting?
And I don’t know what’s more shocking; the fact that the station tried to give her the car anyway without collecting the necessary tax information or the unmitigated gall of the woman to sue for “emotional distress.” Living here illegally is emotionally distressing in and of itself. But to try and soak a radio station for trying to follow the law and deny her the benefit of her ill gotten gains is beyond the pale, beyond avarice, and beyond belief. ...
Alvarez’s suit also names SBS lawyer James Cueva, who sent her attorney a letter on Dec. 19, 2005, threatening to contact immigration officials if she pursued a lawsuit.
“I will caution you that if you insist on filing suit against SBS, I will in turn be forced to refer this matter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as I believe your client is in this country illegally,” the letter said.
Why should the station apologize for a lawyer doing his duty as a citizen and reporting an illegal alien? The context is perfect; an illegal alien was trying to claim an expensive prize without having to pay taxes on it and was threatening to sue in order to get even more loot from the station. Whatever context you want to view that in is fine with me.
The woman is a fool. She should have waited a few months when the amnesty bill that will almost surely be passed gives her everything her little mercenary heart desires.
Until then, I sure hope she finds a way to deal with her “emotional distress.”
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
From author Ben Patterson, here's something good re: waiting. Having faith, living with patience, and trusting the outcome to God are things at the top of my list of life and spiritual struggles. One of the main reasons this is such a struggle is the difficulty inherent in trying to find a balance several competing things, such as: living in the moment and enjoying there here and now, trying to maintain and pursue personal goals both presently and going forward, not living "in the meantime" (i.e. you're so focused on what is or might be next that the quality of life in the present suffers), and trying to do all this while being flexible enough to go with God if He decides to come in and change things around (which He's known to do quite often, whether we are on board with it at the time or not). I suspect I am not alone in this. Fortunately for us, God pulls us through even when hurrying up and waiting is hard and makes us feel like giving up.
"To wait on God is to struggle and sometimes to fail, but sometimes the failures teach us more than the successes. The failures often teach us that to wait on God is not only to wait for His mercy, but also by His mercy. The glory hidden from the surface of our failures is the discovery that the very thing we wait for is also what we wait by. The success of our waiting lies not in who we are, but in who God is. It isn't our strength that will pull us through to the end, but rather God's amazing grace and mercy.
"To wait on God is to struggle and sometimes to fail, but sometimes the failures teach us more than the successes. The failures often teach us that to wait on God is not only to wait for His mercy, but also by His mercy. The glory hidden from the surface of our failures is the discovery that the very thing we wait for is also what we wait by. The success of our waiting lies not in who we are, but in who God is. It isn't our strength that will pull us through to the end, but rather God's amazing grace and mercy.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
More Questions for Johnny Sutton on the Railroading of Agents Ramos and Compean
Guy and Heidi at Charming, Just Charming, in conjunction with Pat Gray, have some very hard questions for U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton (someone should fire and/or disbar this overzealous hack, like yesterday), AUSA Debra Knopf, Judge Kathleen Cardone, and certain individuals within the Border Patrol...the people most directly responsible for the railroading of decorated veteran Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. These men are currently in prison for over a decade each while the illegal alien criminal they attempted to apprehend walks free and is suing the U.S. for violating his "civil rights". As an attorney, based on some of the things in these posts and the other things I have read, the case itself was flimsy at best. Viewed in its most charitable light, this trial was conducted in a biased and incompetent fashion; viewed less charitably, it appears there are serious holes in the allegations against the agents, shenanigans taking place during the trial, withholding of exculpatory evidence and/or other evidence that bore directly on the credibility of the alleged "victim", and an overall picture that shows a concerted effort by the judiciary and the U.S. government to lynch these men for doing their jobs in some sort of ridiculously misguided attempt to placate the Mexican government (who aren't our friends anyway). President Bush should pardon these men, IMMEDIATELY, heck, it would even give him a popularity boost politically, which he could surely use. However, given his pro-amnesty stance, his close ties to those involved in lynching these agents, and his utter cowardice and misplaced accommodation re: Mexico, I doubt that will ever happen.
"US Border Patrol Agent, Rene Sanchez
Upon returning to Mexico, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila complained of his misfortunes to his mother, who contacted the mother-in-law of Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez in Wilcox, AZ. According to a document, Rene Sanchez stated “that Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila's mother, Marcadia Aldrete-Davila, contacted Rene Sanchez's mother-in-law, Gregoria Toquinto, and advised her about the BP agents shooting Aldrete-Davila. Toquinto told her son-in-law, Rene Sanchez, of the incident, and he spoke to Osvaldo via a telephone call.”
Why would a Mexican drug smuggler's mother call the mother-in-law of a US Border Patrol agent, Rene Sanchez, and tell her that her son was shot by the Border Patrol after dumping a million dollars worth of marijuana?
Agent Rene Sanchez repeatedly called the Fabens Border Patrol Station requesting information to see if there were any seizures or shootings. However, according to the Department of Homeland Security in a memorandum of activity document, Rene Sanchez stated that he queried the Border Patrol Tracking System (BPETS) and found that the Fabens Border Patrol Station seized a load of marijuana on February 17, 2005. (Note: Agent Rene Sanchez also assisted with securing an attorney for Aldrete-Davila to sue Agents Compean and Ramos in a civil case.) ...
It is interesting to note that Johnny Sutton has also aggressively prosecuted a Sheriff’s deputy in Rock Springs, Texas, for allegedly violating the civil rights of illegal aliens he had apprehended. The 23 year old sheriff’s deputy, Deputy Hernandez, had a sterling record, and the Edward County sheriff said Deputy Hernandez was doing exactly what he was told to do. How did the deputy violate the civil rights of the illegal aliens he was trying to apprehend? He shot out the tires of their vehicle when they tried to run over him. One of the bullets struck an illegal alien in the back of the vehicle (he was not killed). Johnny Sutton recommended that the deputy be held without bond. He is sitting in the Del Rio jail today, without bond, and awaiting sentencing. ...
What does a cartel drug lord, with the audacity to put a bounty on the heads of the US Border Patrol Agents, do to a drug mule that loses his merchandise - $1 million dollars worth? Is it possible that within the weeks after Aldrete-Davila abandoned his load of drugs on the American side of the border, that he was shot by the drug cartel for whom he worked? Is it possible that he allowed himself to be “persuaded” by Johnny Sutton to be taken into protective custody in order to gain sanctuary from his employer? Alternatively, did this cartel drug lord have friends high enough in the Vicente Fox government to apply pressure on the Bush Administration?
Think about it: If Compean had shot Aldrete-Davila, a blood trail would have started at the levee.
If Ramos had shot Aldrete-Davila, a blood trail would have started closer to the border.
Based solely on Aldrete-Davila's testimony, with NO EVIDENCE or even a mention of a blood trail, both Compean and Ramos were convicted of shooting him. That's right. There was NO EVIDENCE of any blood to indicate which officer shot him.
It is just as likely that Aldrete-Davila was shot by the drug cartel boss in Mexico who would have been irate about losing over a million dollars in contraband.
● How much tax-payer money was used for this case?
● If there is no way to connect Aldrete-Davila to the van-load of marijuana, then why does Johnny Sutton keep tying him to the van-load of marijuana?
● If, as Sutton claimed in one statement, Aldrete-Davila was merely illegally entering the country, why was there a get-away van waiting for him on the Mexican side of the border?
● If there was no evidence – no blood, no fingerprints – from the scene, and no way to prove he was there, then why would Sutton accept every word of Aldrete-Davila?
● With the extremely lax chain of custody that occurred, with only a partial fragment of bullet removed, who shot Aldrete-Davila?
● Where is the bullet fragment?
● Where are the court transcripts? Repeated requests by Congressmen have been met with statement from the court that they are not yet transcribed. Why have they not been completed almost half a year after the conclusion of the case?
● Why was Aldrete-Davila given immunity - TWICE - plus a green card, and a car?"
"US Border Patrol Agent, Rene Sanchez
Upon returning to Mexico, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila complained of his misfortunes to his mother, who contacted the mother-in-law of Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez in Wilcox, AZ. According to a document, Rene Sanchez stated “that Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila's mother, Marcadia Aldrete-Davila, contacted Rene Sanchez's mother-in-law, Gregoria Toquinto, and advised her about the BP agents shooting Aldrete-Davila. Toquinto told her son-in-law, Rene Sanchez, of the incident, and he spoke to Osvaldo via a telephone call.”
Why would a Mexican drug smuggler's mother call the mother-in-law of a US Border Patrol agent, Rene Sanchez, and tell her that her son was shot by the Border Patrol after dumping a million dollars worth of marijuana?
Agent Rene Sanchez repeatedly called the Fabens Border Patrol Station requesting information to see if there were any seizures or shootings. However, according to the Department of Homeland Security in a memorandum of activity document, Rene Sanchez stated that he queried the Border Patrol Tracking System (BPETS) and found that the Fabens Border Patrol Station seized a load of marijuana on February 17, 2005. (Note: Agent Rene Sanchez also assisted with securing an attorney for Aldrete-Davila to sue Agents Compean and Ramos in a civil case.) ...
It is interesting to note that Johnny Sutton has also aggressively prosecuted a Sheriff’s deputy in Rock Springs, Texas, for allegedly violating the civil rights of illegal aliens he had apprehended. The 23 year old sheriff’s deputy, Deputy Hernandez, had a sterling record, and the Edward County sheriff said Deputy Hernandez was doing exactly what he was told to do. How did the deputy violate the civil rights of the illegal aliens he was trying to apprehend? He shot out the tires of their vehicle when they tried to run over him. One of the bullets struck an illegal alien in the back of the vehicle (he was not killed). Johnny Sutton recommended that the deputy be held without bond. He is sitting in the Del Rio jail today, without bond, and awaiting sentencing. ...
What does a cartel drug lord, with the audacity to put a bounty on the heads of the US Border Patrol Agents, do to a drug mule that loses his merchandise - $1 million dollars worth? Is it possible that within the weeks after Aldrete-Davila abandoned his load of drugs on the American side of the border, that he was shot by the drug cartel for whom he worked? Is it possible that he allowed himself to be “persuaded” by Johnny Sutton to be taken into protective custody in order to gain sanctuary from his employer? Alternatively, did this cartel drug lord have friends high enough in the Vicente Fox government to apply pressure on the Bush Administration?
Think about it: If Compean had shot Aldrete-Davila, a blood trail would have started at the levee.
If Ramos had shot Aldrete-Davila, a blood trail would have started closer to the border.
Based solely on Aldrete-Davila's testimony, with NO EVIDENCE or even a mention of a blood trail, both Compean and Ramos were convicted of shooting him. That's right. There was NO EVIDENCE of any blood to indicate which officer shot him.
It is just as likely that Aldrete-Davila was shot by the drug cartel boss in Mexico who would have been irate about losing over a million dollars in contraband.
● How much tax-payer money was used for this case?
● If there is no way to connect Aldrete-Davila to the van-load of marijuana, then why does Johnny Sutton keep tying him to the van-load of marijuana?
● If, as Sutton claimed in one statement, Aldrete-Davila was merely illegally entering the country, why was there a get-away van waiting for him on the Mexican side of the border?
● If there was no evidence – no blood, no fingerprints – from the scene, and no way to prove he was there, then why would Sutton accept every word of Aldrete-Davila?
● With the extremely lax chain of custody that occurred, with only a partial fragment of bullet removed, who shot Aldrete-Davila?
● Where is the bullet fragment?
● Where are the court transcripts? Repeated requests by Congressmen have been met with statement from the court that they are not yet transcribed. Why have they not been completed almost half a year after the conclusion of the case?
● Why was Aldrete-Davila given immunity - TWICE - plus a green card, and a car?"
Barbara Ehrenreich Book Review, Double-Barrel Style
Just finished up reading my second book by author Barbara Ehrenreich, this one entitled "Bait and Switch". It's about the struggles of middle-class working Americans who "did everything right", but who now find themselves strangely unemployed, cast aside, and otherwise shabbily treated by Corporate America. The other book of hers I read last year is entitled, "Nickel and Dimed", which details the struggles of America's working poor.
"Nickel and Dimed" hit much closer to home for me than did "Bait and Switch" because I worked so many low-paid, difficult jobs going through school. In this book, the author takes several different low-wage type of jobs, including Wal-Mart cashier, waitress, and retail, among other things. I did everything from cooking chicken to factory work to waiting tables to installing sprinkler systems on rooftops in the middle of summer to graveyards at a convenience store. None of these jobs paid very well at all, and I only took them because they allowed me to make some money and worked with my class schedule. I was miserable and tired all the time trying to do these jobs and complete my schoolwork, and the only thing that gave me solace was knowing there was a light at the end of the tunnel such I wouldn't have to work jobs like this ever again. Theoretically, this is the primary way in which most of these jobs are supposed to and should be filled, but sadly this is not the case.
Far too many people work one or more of these jobs to support themselves and their families, and it is very hard to make this work. Getting hired at these jobs is relatively easy, but it's much harder to advance economically from this lifestyle for a handful of reasons. Most jobs occupied by the working poor are physically strenuous and labor-intensive. That means that if they get injured, not only are they hurt, but they are out of work as well. Compounding the problem is that almost none of these jobs offer health insurance (or if they do, it's too expensive given the wages paid), so it's unlikely most of these folks get the medical care they need if they are injured. Also, if there's no health insurance, it isn't likely that unemployment insurance will be provided either. Last but not least, unless their children pull themselves up by the bootstraps (as I did), they are likely to grow up and continue in poverty, since thier parents make so little money that they can't afford to amass any savings of substance, much less pay for school. The author's struggles and learning reflected all of these truths.
In "Bait and Switch", Ehrenreich does a great job detailing the struggles of people who are stable, responsible, mostly educated, and at least up until they get downsized, are middle class or better. From there, it's a meteoric fall from grace into a world of unpaid bills, unmet responsibilities at home, and a shady world of false purveyors of "help" and hope the likes of which would make the criminal world proud. From resume coaches to personality experts to wardrobe advisors, she spends a year trying to land a decent lower middle class non-sales job in the fields in which she has expertise (PR, event planning, marketing, etc.), and nets nothing. In fact, she comes out several thousand dollars poorer and much more cynical and jaded than when she began.
The thing I like least about these books is the author's thinly disguised socialist tendencies. She uses both books as a platform to call for all manner of increased governmental intrusion and spending, including universal health care and all sorts of other things that, if mandated, would drive quite a few business bankrupt altogether. While I applaud her for trying to find solutions to problems she experienced throughout her searches, I disagree with her solutions both philosophically and practically, and I believe she does a poor job of separating her personal political beliefs from trying to solve these problems. The best thing about both books is how they bring to light, with real people and in vivid color, the struggles of the working poor and the cast aside middle class and the how hard their respective journeys to get back on track mostly are (even when they are doing the right thing and catching some breaks). I don't claim to have solutions for these problems, aside from advocating better choices and more personal responsibility of people in general (get an education, don't have children you can't support, stay out of criminal trouble, etc.). I'll post more on this later, but as far as the insurance thing goes, I think the President has it half right when he calls for a tax cut up to a certain amount for people who purchase health insurance on their own; the other half of that equation should allow people who receive health coverage from their employer a deduction for the value of the policy (or at least the premiums, like mortgage interest). That would definitely encourage more people to buy health insurance.
Anyhow, the books are a good read if you like these kinds of topics and if you can get past the socialist bent of the author; they're definitely worth the time and both books are a quick read.
"Nickel and Dimed" hit much closer to home for me than did "Bait and Switch" because I worked so many low-paid, difficult jobs going through school. In this book, the author takes several different low-wage type of jobs, including Wal-Mart cashier, waitress, and retail, among other things. I did everything from cooking chicken to factory work to waiting tables to installing sprinkler systems on rooftops in the middle of summer to graveyards at a convenience store. None of these jobs paid very well at all, and I only took them because they allowed me to make some money and worked with my class schedule. I was miserable and tired all the time trying to do these jobs and complete my schoolwork, and the only thing that gave me solace was knowing there was a light at the end of the tunnel such I wouldn't have to work jobs like this ever again. Theoretically, this is the primary way in which most of these jobs are supposed to and should be filled, but sadly this is not the case.
Far too many people work one or more of these jobs to support themselves and their families, and it is very hard to make this work. Getting hired at these jobs is relatively easy, but it's much harder to advance economically from this lifestyle for a handful of reasons. Most jobs occupied by the working poor are physically strenuous and labor-intensive. That means that if they get injured, not only are they hurt, but they are out of work as well. Compounding the problem is that almost none of these jobs offer health insurance (or if they do, it's too expensive given the wages paid), so it's unlikely most of these folks get the medical care they need if they are injured. Also, if there's no health insurance, it isn't likely that unemployment insurance will be provided either. Last but not least, unless their children pull themselves up by the bootstraps (as I did), they are likely to grow up and continue in poverty, since thier parents make so little money that they can't afford to amass any savings of substance, much less pay for school. The author's struggles and learning reflected all of these truths.
In "Bait and Switch", Ehrenreich does a great job detailing the struggles of people who are stable, responsible, mostly educated, and at least up until they get downsized, are middle class or better. From there, it's a meteoric fall from grace into a world of unpaid bills, unmet responsibilities at home, and a shady world of false purveyors of "help" and hope the likes of which would make the criminal world proud. From resume coaches to personality experts to wardrobe advisors, she spends a year trying to land a decent lower middle class non-sales job in the fields in which she has expertise (PR, event planning, marketing, etc.), and nets nothing. In fact, she comes out several thousand dollars poorer and much more cynical and jaded than when she began.
The thing I like least about these books is the author's thinly disguised socialist tendencies. She uses both books as a platform to call for all manner of increased governmental intrusion and spending, including universal health care and all sorts of other things that, if mandated, would drive quite a few business bankrupt altogether. While I applaud her for trying to find solutions to problems she experienced throughout her searches, I disagree with her solutions both philosophically and practically, and I believe she does a poor job of separating her personal political beliefs from trying to solve these problems. The best thing about both books is how they bring to light, with real people and in vivid color, the struggles of the working poor and the cast aside middle class and the how hard their respective journeys to get back on track mostly are (even when they are doing the right thing and catching some breaks). I don't claim to have solutions for these problems, aside from advocating better choices and more personal responsibility of people in general (get an education, don't have children you can't support, stay out of criminal trouble, etc.). I'll post more on this later, but as far as the insurance thing goes, I think the President has it half right when he calls for a tax cut up to a certain amount for people who purchase health insurance on their own; the other half of that equation should allow people who receive health coverage from their employer a deduction for the value of the policy (or at least the premiums, like mortgage interest). That would definitely encourage more people to buy health insurance.
Anyhow, the books are a good read if you like these kinds of topics and if you can get past the socialist bent of the author; they're definitely worth the time and both books are a quick read.
Monday, January 22, 2007
As Much As I Can Be
"As Much As I Can Be"
By Suzanne G. Israel, 2007
Singing from my heart
So I don't fall apart
Still feel a little torn
But I feel also happy and warm
I feel as if my life is going
Moving forward with no regrets
I pray my life will go right
I pray God keep me safe along the way
I hope that I'll be happy
The small part thats still apart
Is why someone let themselves slip away
But I'm starting to find peace with it now
Still think of him now and then
And now... not bothered
Not by him and I
Times gone by with lots to show
I've got my friends and family
Who have always been there for sure
Even when angry words flew
I still loved my sister and
I prayed she always knew
My life is changing
And it's week two of the New Year
I'm working on a goal
To be happy with what I do
To paint a brick will be step one
I want to help others and
have a career I love
So please let me have my talent
To do the right things
To treat others like they deserve
And be a right wing
I thank God for every day I live
I love... I laugh... I cry
And I still ask him when, where and why
I get my answers one day at a time
It's usually staring me stright in the eyes
For me to live and breath
To have a heart that bleeds
I'll forever be as much as I can be
By Suzanne G. Israel, 2007
Singing from my heart
So I don't fall apart
Still feel a little torn
But I feel also happy and warm
I feel as if my life is going
Moving forward with no regrets
I pray my life will go right
I pray God keep me safe along the way
I hope that I'll be happy
The small part thats still apart
Is why someone let themselves slip away
But I'm starting to find peace with it now
Still think of him now and then
And now... not bothered
Not by him and I
Times gone by with lots to show
I've got my friends and family
Who have always been there for sure
Even when angry words flew
I still loved my sister and
I prayed she always knew
My life is changing
And it's week two of the New Year
I'm working on a goal
To be happy with what I do
To paint a brick will be step one
I want to help others and
have a career I love
So please let me have my talent
To do the right things
To treat others like they deserve
And be a right wing
I thank God for every day I live
I love... I laugh... I cry
And I still ask him when, where and why
I get my answers one day at a time
It's usually staring me stright in the eyes
For me to live and breath
To have a heart that bleeds
I'll forever be as much as I can be
Sunday, January 21, 2007
It's About Damn Time, al-Maliki
Iraq's PM finally came to the blatantly obvious conclusion that anyone with eyes could see: namely, that Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia forces were mostly made up of sectarian death squads committing mass murder, mostly against Sunnis. Not that I don't understand the Shiite desire for revenge after decades of brutal oppression by the Sunnis under Saddam (and there were probably some really bad Sunnis taken out by the death squads too), but if there is to be a multi-ethnic society in Iraq based on order and the rule of law, such killings just can't be allowed to happen. I don't know why it took President Bush so long to tell him to quit protecting this terrorist and his band of killers or else we'd leave him to the tender mercies of the Sunni inurgents/terrorists, but thankfully it finally happened late last year. Now, maybe we can get down to the important business of wiping out the killers and terrorists of every stripe, building up the army and police forces, and rebuilding Iraq overall. I just hope this hasn't come too late to save Iraq and our mission there.
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decided to drop his protection of the feared Shiite militia of a radical anti-American cleric after U.S. intelligence reports convinced him the armed group was deeply infiltrated by death squads whose actions were isolating him both in the Arab world and among moderate political forces at home, two government officials said on Sunday.
Al-Maliki's turnaround on the Mahdi Army was puzzling because as late as Oct. 31, he had intervened to end a U.S. blockade of Sadr City, the northeast Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is headquarters to the militia. It is held responsible for much of the sectarian bloodshed that has turned the capital into a battle zone over the past year.
Shiite militias began taking revenge after more than two years of incessant bomb and shooting attacks by Sunni insurgents."
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decided to drop his protection of the feared Shiite militia of a radical anti-American cleric after U.S. intelligence reports convinced him the armed group was deeply infiltrated by death squads whose actions were isolating him both in the Arab world and among moderate political forces at home, two government officials said on Sunday.
Al-Maliki's turnaround on the Mahdi Army was puzzling because as late as Oct. 31, he had intervened to end a U.S. blockade of Sadr City, the northeast Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is headquarters to the militia. It is held responsible for much of the sectarian bloodshed that has turned the capital into a battle zone over the past year.
Shiite militias began taking revenge after more than two years of incessant bomb and shooting attacks by Sunni insurgents."
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Concussions are to the NFL What Steroids Were to MLB
For the longest time, no one would even admit that steroids existed in professional sports, especially baseball...well, at least not until second basemen started hitting 50 home runs a season and the sluggers started looking like Popeye. I don't think the issue of steroids is something the federal government should become involved in, especially with the idea of sending people to prison. The manufacture and use of steroids by private citizens, is, in fact, legal, and until it isn't, no doctor or MLB player should be subjected to jail time over it. The NFL has acted a lot like MLB and the smoking industry (there's no conclusive evidence linking cancer and death to cigarettes) when it comes to the issue of concussions. Football is a violent sport that produces tons of collisions and more than its share of concussions. Some of the men who have played the game have reported depression, decreased mental function, and even brain damage after their playing days. I know it would make for bad PR, but the NFL owes it to the men who played the game and made the sport what it is to at least see what honest, unfiltered scientific data says about the link between conccussions and mental problems suffered by pro football players.
"Sad but true: You didn't have to actually read the comments by the NFL or the doctors on its concussions committee to know how they were going to respond to the Andre Waters case.
In a New York Times story on Thursday, forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu of the University of Pittsburgh says that former NFLer Waters had the brain of an 85-year-old man with signs of Alzheimer's disease before he killed himself on Nov. 20, and that multiple concussions caused or severely worsened Waters' brain damage.
And as usual, you could count on the league and the scientists conducting research for its committee on mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) to channel South Park's Officer Barbrady, who likes to say, "OK, people, move along - there's nothing to see here." For years, the NFL has maintained there is no scientific evidence connecting concussions to lasting injuries or brain damage while also asserting that its committee is about to look into the matter. ...
After more than a dozen years of studying concussions, the NFL is -- still -- just getting around to examining the long-term effects of head trauma but still -- still -- refuses to acknowledge the validity of outside research on the subject. As Julian Bailes, chairman of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, told ESPN The Magazine, the MTBI committee "has repeatedly questioned and disagreed with the findings of researchers who didn't come from their own injury group."
What gives?
The explanation is straightforward, if depressing. The NFL has used the work done so far by its concussions committee to justify league practices. And if that research turns out to be flawed, and those practices turn out to be dangerous, the league could face massive liability, financially and legally. ...
As independent research continues to paint a different picture, the NFL is finding itself pushed further and further out on a limb. It's getting harder to deny the assertions of outside doctors and former players that concussions are linked to lasting problems. ...
Yet it also would be difficult for the NFL to turn its back on its own research and admit it has a long-term concussions problem. The league is well-known in legal circles for tenaciously fighting even minor disability claims, and the last thing it wants to face is a flood of lawsuits by athletes who suffered head injuries and kept playing.
"There is the potential for bankrupting the league pension and disability plan if the NFL had to honor claims of disability brought by players who have concussions," says Michael Kaplen, a New York lawyer who specializes in brain injuries.
Some doctors and former players have long suspected that the NFL has always intended to use the MTBI committee's work as a bulwark against just such liability. One of the scientists who reviewed the committee's work for Neurosurgery told ESPN The Magazine: "They're basically trying to prepare a defense for when one of these players sues. ... They are trying to say that what's done in the NFL is OK because in their studies, it doesn't look like bad things are happening from concussions."
But as the concussion committee's studies turn out to be flawed or incomplete and outsiders are linking concussions to serious illness and even death, the NFL is going to need a new strategy. Its same old dismiss-and-wait statement on Andre Waters shows it's still looking for one."
"Sad but true: You didn't have to actually read the comments by the NFL or the doctors on its concussions committee to know how they were going to respond to the Andre Waters case.
In a New York Times story on Thursday, forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu of the University of Pittsburgh says that former NFLer Waters had the brain of an 85-year-old man with signs of Alzheimer's disease before he killed himself on Nov. 20, and that multiple concussions caused or severely worsened Waters' brain damage.
And as usual, you could count on the league and the scientists conducting research for its committee on mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) to channel South Park's Officer Barbrady, who likes to say, "OK, people, move along - there's nothing to see here." For years, the NFL has maintained there is no scientific evidence connecting concussions to lasting injuries or brain damage while also asserting that its committee is about to look into the matter. ...
After more than a dozen years of studying concussions, the NFL is -- still -- just getting around to examining the long-term effects of head trauma but still -- still -- refuses to acknowledge the validity of outside research on the subject. As Julian Bailes, chairman of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, told ESPN The Magazine, the MTBI committee "has repeatedly questioned and disagreed with the findings of researchers who didn't come from their own injury group."
What gives?
The explanation is straightforward, if depressing. The NFL has used the work done so far by its concussions committee to justify league practices. And if that research turns out to be flawed, and those practices turn out to be dangerous, the league could face massive liability, financially and legally. ...
As independent research continues to paint a different picture, the NFL is finding itself pushed further and further out on a limb. It's getting harder to deny the assertions of outside doctors and former players that concussions are linked to lasting problems. ...
Yet it also would be difficult for the NFL to turn its back on its own research and admit it has a long-term concussions problem. The league is well-known in legal circles for tenaciously fighting even minor disability claims, and the last thing it wants to face is a flood of lawsuits by athletes who suffered head injuries and kept playing.
"There is the potential for bankrupting the league pension and disability plan if the NFL had to honor claims of disability brought by players who have concussions," says Michael Kaplen, a New York lawyer who specializes in brain injuries.
Some doctors and former players have long suspected that the NFL has always intended to use the MTBI committee's work as a bulwark against just such liability. One of the scientists who reviewed the committee's work for Neurosurgery told ESPN The Magazine: "They're basically trying to prepare a defense for when one of these players sues. ... They are trying to say that what's done in the NFL is OK because in their studies, it doesn't look like bad things are happening from concussions."
But as the concussion committee's studies turn out to be flawed or incomplete and outsiders are linking concussions to serious illness and even death, the NFL is going to need a new strategy. Its same old dismiss-and-wait statement on Andre Waters shows it's still looking for one."
Friday, January 19, 2007
A Glimmer of Hope for Agents Compean and Ramos...?
I've blogged repeatedly about the fates of decorated, veteran Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, each sentenced to more than a decade in prison for doing their jobs. The government contends they violated the "civil rights" of an illegal immigrant drug smuggler (as if such a thing even exists) by shooting him in an attempt to apprehend him. These men were also denied the opportunity to remain free on bail pending the disposition of their appeal by the trial judge...more than a little ironic in light of their combined almost 30 years of service to their country between them. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have signed petitions asking the President to pardon these men, as have more than 50 legislators. While the pardon may or may not yet happen, it at least appears that the President has heard the uproar. President Bush has at least promised to review the agents' case and consider a pardon. While I am not encouraged given this President's unfortunate and ill-conceived ties to and spinelessness in the face of Mexico, at least there is now some hope for these men. I pray that the President, who once seemed to have a pretty clear idea of what doing the right thing looks like, rediscovers what that means and sends these good men home to their families.
"The Border Patrol or law enforcement have no stronger supporter than me,' Bush said in an interview with an El Paso, Texas, TV station. 'There are standards that need to be met in law enforcement, and according to a jury of their peers, these officers violated some standards.'
The Daily Bulletin obtained a transcript of the interview from the White House.
'On this case, people need to take a hard look at the facts, at the evidence that the jury looked at, as well as a judge. And that's ... I will do the same thing,' Bush said."
"The Border Patrol or law enforcement have no stronger supporter than me,' Bush said in an interview with an El Paso, Texas, TV station. 'There are standards that need to be met in law enforcement, and according to a jury of their peers, these officers violated some standards.'
The Daily Bulletin obtained a transcript of the interview from the White House.
'On this case, people need to take a hard look at the facts, at the evidence that the jury looked at, as well as a judge. And that's ... I will do the same thing,' Bush said."
Thursday, January 18, 2007
What I've Learned
I've learned that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
I've learned that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I've learned that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I've learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I've learned that you can keep going long after you can't.
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
I've learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I've learned that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.
I've learned that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
I've learned that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I've learned that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
I've learned - that no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.
I've learned that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.
I've learned that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.
I've learned - that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.
I've learned - that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I've learned - that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I've learned - that sometimes when my friends fight, I'm forced to choose sides even when I don't want to.
I've learned - that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.
I've learned - that there are many ways of falling and staying in love.
I've learned - that no matter the consequences, those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.
I've learned that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them, and less to do with how many years you have lived.
I've learned that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
I've learned that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other; and just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do love each other.
I've learned - that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I've learned - that it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.
I've learned - that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better know something.
I've learned - that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do but to the best you can do.
I've learned - that it's not what happens to people that's important. It's what they do about it.
I've learned - that there are people who love you dearly, but just don't know how to show it.
I've learned - that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance...same goes for true love.
I've learned that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
I've learned - that although the word "love" can have many different meanings, it loses value when overly used.
I've learned - that it's hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and standing up for what you believe.
I've learned that two people can look at the same thing and see something totally different.
I've learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.
I've learned that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I've learned - that writing, as well as talking, can ease emotional pains.
I've learned - that the paradigm we live in is not all that is offered to us.
I've learned that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.
I've learned that the people you care about most in life are sometimes taken from you too soon.
I've learned that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I've learned that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I've learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I've learned that you can keep going long after you can't.
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
I've learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I've learned that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.
I've learned that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
I've learned that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I've learned that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
I've learned - that no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.
I've learned that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.
I've learned that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.
I've learned - that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.
I've learned - that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I've learned - that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I've learned - that sometimes when my friends fight, I'm forced to choose sides even when I don't want to.
I've learned - that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.
I've learned - that there are many ways of falling and staying in love.
I've learned - that no matter the consequences, those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.
I've learned that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them, and less to do with how many years you have lived.
I've learned that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
I've learned that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other; and just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do love each other.
I've learned - that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I've learned - that it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.
I've learned - that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better know something.
I've learned - that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do but to the best you can do.
I've learned - that it's not what happens to people that's important. It's what they do about it.
I've learned - that there are people who love you dearly, but just don't know how to show it.
I've learned - that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance...same goes for true love.
I've learned that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
I've learned - that although the word "love" can have many different meanings, it loses value when overly used.
I've learned - that it's hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and standing up for what you believe.
I've learned that two people can look at the same thing and see something totally different.
I've learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.
I've learned that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I've learned - that writing, as well as talking, can ease emotional pains.
I've learned - that the paradigm we live in is not all that is offered to us.
I've learned that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.
I've learned that the people you care about most in life are sometimes taken from you too soon.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
With Immigration Law Enforcement Comes Job Opportunities Americans Will Take
The MSM, both parties in Congress, and the illegal alien lobby would have you believe that illegal immigrants are simply doing jobs Americans won't do. If that's so, the how is this even possible? It's because when illegal immigrants are removed from the workforce, employers are required to pay legal American a fair, decent wage along the lines of what the work is actually worth. It might cost corporate America a few pennies here or there, but by American citizens being able to get jobs that pay a decent wage, they can get off the welfare rolls and provide for themselves and their families, saving taxpayers millions and millions of dollars in the long run. Overall, this trickle down effect of enforcing immigration laws decreases the size of government and increases the prosperity of American citizens, both goals worthy of striving for.
"...for local African-Americans, the dramatic appearance of federal agents presented an unexpected opportunity. Crider suddenly raised pay at the plant. An advertisement in the weekly Forest-Blade newspaper blared "Increased Wages" at Crider, starting at $7 to $9 an hour -- more than a dollar above what the company had paid many immigrant workers. The company began offering free transportation from nearby towns and free rooms in a company-owned dormitory near to the plant. For the first time in years, local officials say, Crider aggressively sought workers from the area's state-funded employment office -- a key avenue for low-skilled workers to find jobs. Of 400 candidates sent to Crider -- most of them black -- the plant hired about 200.
Interestingly, there was a lot of friction between these new workers and the Crider management. Two sides to the story, I suppose, but it seems to me that Crider was disappointed to work with actual employees who could demand their rights and speak up and who expect an ice pack when they get injured on the job. It's much easier when your processing plant is staffed by powerless, compliant drones who you can threaten to send back to Mexico and who therefore dare not organize or even gripe."
"...for local African-Americans, the dramatic appearance of federal agents presented an unexpected opportunity. Crider suddenly raised pay at the plant. An advertisement in the weekly Forest-Blade newspaper blared "Increased Wages" at Crider, starting at $7 to $9 an hour -- more than a dollar above what the company had paid many immigrant workers. The company began offering free transportation from nearby towns and free rooms in a company-owned dormitory near to the plant. For the first time in years, local officials say, Crider aggressively sought workers from the area's state-funded employment office -- a key avenue for low-skilled workers to find jobs. Of 400 candidates sent to Crider -- most of them black -- the plant hired about 200.
Interestingly, there was a lot of friction between these new workers and the Crider management. Two sides to the story, I suppose, but it seems to me that Crider was disappointed to work with actual employees who could demand their rights and speak up and who expect an ice pack when they get injured on the job. It's much easier when your processing plant is staffed by powerless, compliant drones who you can threaten to send back to Mexico and who therefore dare not organize or even gripe."
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
A Story to Live By
A Story To Live By
by Ann Wells, Los Angeles Times
"My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and
lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. "This," he said, "is not a slip.
This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It
was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The
price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. "Jan
bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years
ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well,
I guess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me and put it on
the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His
hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the
drawer shut and turned to me. "Don't ever save anything for a special
occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that
followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores
that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane
returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's
family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or
heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without
realizing that they were special. I'm still thinking about his words,
and they've changed my life.
I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and admiring
the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden.
I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in
committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of
experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments
now and cherish them.
I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every
special event-such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the
first camellia blossom.
I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if
I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of
groceries without wincing.
I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware
stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my
party-going friends'.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my
vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and
hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would have done had
she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for
granted.
It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew
that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends
whom I was going to get in touch with-someday. Angry because I hadn't
written certain letters that I intended to write-one of these days.
Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough
how much I truly love them.
I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that
would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I
open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every
minute, every breath truly is...a gift from God."
by Ann Wells, Los Angeles Times
"My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and
lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. "This," he said, "is not a slip.
This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It
was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The
price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. "Jan
bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years
ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well,
I guess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me and put it on
the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His
hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the
drawer shut and turned to me. "Don't ever save anything for a special
occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that
followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores
that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane
returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's
family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or
heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without
realizing that they were special. I'm still thinking about his words,
and they've changed my life.
I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and admiring
the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden.
I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in
committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of
experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments
now and cherish them.
I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every
special event-such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the
first camellia blossom.
I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if
I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of
groceries without wincing.
I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware
stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my
party-going friends'.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my
vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and
hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would have done had
she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for
granted.
It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew
that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends
whom I was going to get in touch with-someday. Angry because I hadn't
written certain letters that I intended to write-one of these days.
Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough
how much I truly love them.
I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that
would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I
open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every
minute, every breath truly is...a gift from God."
Monday, January 15, 2007
John Elway for Senate?
Redstate.org floats an interesting rumor that appears to be gaining some steam. There is precedent for this, given that former Nebraska head football coach Tom Osborne ran for and won a House seat after he retired from coaching. Elway is a Republican, he's as close to a sports deity as there is in Colorado, and he is from outside the political establishment, so I think he'd at least have a shot if he decides to run...I for one hope he does.
Elway Seen As Potential Senate Candidate
Legendary Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway would be heavily recruited by the GOP to run for Senate in Colorado should Sen. Wayne Allard (R) choose not to run again, former GOP Rep. Scott McInnis tells the AP. McInnis said that if Allard doesn't run, and Gov. Bill Owens (R) opts not to run, he would enter the race, but added that at that point, there would be a "substantial effort" to recruit Elway. McInnis added, "I think Elway could clear the field."
Elway Seen As Potential Senate Candidate
Legendary Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway would be heavily recruited by the GOP to run for Senate in Colorado should Sen. Wayne Allard (R) choose not to run again, former GOP Rep. Scott McInnis tells the AP. McInnis said that if Allard doesn't run, and Gov. Bill Owens (R) opts not to run, he would enter the race, but added that at that point, there would be a "substantial effort" to recruit Elway. McInnis added, "I think Elway could clear the field."
Sunday, January 14, 2007
So THAT'S How They Help Save the Pandas?
OK, so after reading this Yahoo News story, I am just brimming with questions here. So someone put on a panda wedding ceremony...so who catered it and what was served? What did they wear, and did they seek the bears' input before selecting their wardrobe? Was there music? What about the reception? Then after the "marriage", was there marriage counseling before the trial separation? Did the same person who arranged the "wedding" somehow sense problems in panda land and think this would be a good way to arrange some "makeup" panda sex? Last but not least, the adult panda videos they showed...um, just wow. Besides National Geographic, who thinks of filming something like that? Is there a market or industry of these kinds of videos? Was there music there too, and exactly what type of music brings back that lovin' feeling for pandas? Are there panda fluffers? Last but not least, who on earth thought up and performed the research that purports to show that pandas didn't learn or benefit from watching such videos, and what variables were measured to determine whether or not the pandas liked the videos or put them to good use? These are the things I think of when I read stories like this...like George Carlin says, I didn't ask for this, I'm just a vessel. :)
"Cutting out carbs is only the latest tactic used by the zoo in the hope of giving Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui a more loving feeling.
The two have been separated since December, in the hope absence will make their hearts grow fonder, Kannika said.
A plan to show them "panda porn" videos to coach them in mating techniques has been put on hold after research indicated that not all pandas learn from such videos.
Chiang Mai held an elaborate, traditional Chinese wedding for the couple in 2005 in the hope of encouraging them to procreate, and is considering bringing in a snow machine to help recreate a mountainous habitat.
But with the annual panda mating season due to begin within weeks, the zoo is preparing to try artificial insemination if the natural method does not work, Kannika said."
"Cutting out carbs is only the latest tactic used by the zoo in the hope of giving Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui a more loving feeling.
The two have been separated since December, in the hope absence will make their hearts grow fonder, Kannika said.
A plan to show them "panda porn" videos to coach them in mating techniques has been put on hold after research indicated that not all pandas learn from such videos.
Chiang Mai held an elaborate, traditional Chinese wedding for the couple in 2005 in the hope of encouraging them to procreate, and is considering bringing in a snow machine to help recreate a mountainous habitat.
But with the annual panda mating season due to begin within weeks, the zoo is preparing to try artificial insemination if the natural method does not work, Kannika said."
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Why Raising the Minimum Wage is Not A Panacea
I've read lots of dry, dull economist drivel regarding why raising the minimum wage isn't the cure-all many folks (mostly Democrats) make it out to be, and how it ultimately ends up hurting most the people it purports to "help" (i.e., lower-class low-wage earners). Mrs. DuToit has said it easily and in understandable English in a single post better than any economist I've seen, so enjoy her Minimum Wage chapter of Economics 101.
"So, say the Democrats, Let’s give them more money!
The minimum wage is raised to $7.50 an hour, which increases the family’s net income to $28,000 a year, or $630 a month.
That $2.00 an hour increase represents a 26% increase.
Great! They can buy more stuff!
Except, of course, that every business owner just had a 26% increase in their costs of minimum wage labor. The businesses that have the lowest wage workers are also the businesses that make the categories of items that the family already had very little wiggle room (housing, food, clothing, and transportation). Since a business owner, especially in something like grocery or food, doesn’t have the profit margins to absorb that, they have to make some changes in their prices.
The other way the business owner will respond to the increase will be to reduce his labor costs by cutting staff, or reducing hours. Across the board, that will represent about a 5% reduction in hours. So our minimum wage worker, who was working full time (2,080 hours a year), was just reduced to 1,976 hours.
That means that the family’s $639 a month increase, just got cut to $520, a net increase of 24%.
But his costs went up by 25%, a net loss of 1%.
And the death spiral begins.
In spending power then, the minimum wage earner is the one who experiences the greatest loss.
But they got a raise! We forced those greedy business owners to give them more money, and they’ll remember that come election day!
And the Evil Party retains power."
"So, say the Democrats, Let’s give them more money!
The minimum wage is raised to $7.50 an hour, which increases the family’s net income to $28,000 a year, or $630 a month.
That $2.00 an hour increase represents a 26% increase.
Great! They can buy more stuff!
Except, of course, that every business owner just had a 26% increase in their costs of minimum wage labor. The businesses that have the lowest wage workers are also the businesses that make the categories of items that the family already had very little wiggle room (housing, food, clothing, and transportation). Since a business owner, especially in something like grocery or food, doesn’t have the profit margins to absorb that, they have to make some changes in their prices.
The other way the business owner will respond to the increase will be to reduce his labor costs by cutting staff, or reducing hours. Across the board, that will represent about a 5% reduction in hours. So our minimum wage worker, who was working full time (2,080 hours a year), was just reduced to 1,976 hours.
That means that the family’s $639 a month increase, just got cut to $520, a net increase of 24%.
But his costs went up by 25%, a net loss of 1%.
And the death spiral begins.
In spending power then, the minimum wage earner is the one who experiences the greatest loss.
But they got a raise! We forced those greedy business owners to give them more money, and they’ll remember that come election day!
And the Evil Party retains power."
Friday, January 12, 2007
About a Dozen Corrupt Lawmakers Too Late
Via Yahoo News, we get some news in the better late than never category. I can't believe the jackals and weasels in the halls of power actually decided that some of the laws that apply to the plebes they represent should apply to them too...and the fact that John Kerry is the author of such a fine amendment is enough to make me go outside to check and see if the sky is still blue. Any regular Joe caught embezzling, stealing, or committing similar crimes in violation of the trust placed in him by his employer would definitely lose his pension and benefits in addition to being sent to jail. Losing pensions is a step in the right direction, but I think anyone in Congress convicted of these kinds of offenses should have their sentences doubled. They hold great power and are entrusted with much, so much more should be expected of them.
"Members of Congress convicted of serious crimes would lose their taxpayer-paid pensions, sometimes totaling more than $100,000 a year, under a measure unanimously approved by the Senate Friday. The 87-0 vote to deprive lawbreaking lawmakers of their retirement benefits was part of a comprehensive ethics and lobbying bill that the Senate has taken up as its first piece of legislation in the new Democratic-controlled Congress.
"There's something that really grates in the notion that you can put the public's trust and the public's business up for sale and then walk away and have the people that you betrayed turn around and pay for you to be able to have a fat pension," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., author of the amendment. Currently, a lawmaker can lose his or her pension only if convicted of crimes such as treason or espionage. The Kerry provision would extend that to cases of bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States and perjury."
"Members of Congress convicted of serious crimes would lose their taxpayer-paid pensions, sometimes totaling more than $100,000 a year, under a measure unanimously approved by the Senate Friday. The 87-0 vote to deprive lawbreaking lawmakers of their retirement benefits was part of a comprehensive ethics and lobbying bill that the Senate has taken up as its first piece of legislation in the new Democratic-controlled Congress.
"There's something that really grates in the notion that you can put the public's trust and the public's business up for sale and then walk away and have the people that you betrayed turn around and pay for you to be able to have a fat pension," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., author of the amendment. Currently, a lawmaker can lose his or her pension only if convicted of crimes such as treason or espionage. The Kerry provision would extend that to cases of bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States and perjury."
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The Letter Every Border Patrol Agent Should Submit a Week From Now
Many bloggers, including myself, have chronicled the travesty of justice regarding Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. For simply doing their jobs, they were both sentenced to over a decade in prison while the drug smuggling, illegal immigrant criminal they were attepting to apprehend gets taxpayer-funded medical care, immunity from prosecutiion in return for testifying against the agents, and likely a multimillion dollar verdict from some mouth-breathing federal jury for violating his "civil rights". A reader of Emperor Misha pens a fine letter that should be submitted by every active Border Patrol agent on January 18th (the day Ramos and Compean are scheduled to report to prison). I certainly wouldn't go to work if I had to live in daily fear of a decade in the federal pen for doing the job I was hired to do, but that's just me.
There are nearly 30,000 border patrol agents, officers and employees
currently out there, doing a very necessary but very hard job.
Now I, as an American, am going to ask you to do something very, very
hard.
I’m asking all of you, on January 17, 2006, to quit your jobs.
No two-weeks notice, no nice words. Just 30,000 letters of
resignation, handed in all at the same time. Something to the tune of —
—————————–
Dear President Bush,
Due to the incarceration of two of my colleagues in the Border Patrol,
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, I no longer believe that I can perform my
lawful duties without fear of prosecution by your own federal attorneys and
federal judges. Therefore, I hereby resign my position in the United States
Border Patrol, effective immediately.
Turn in your guns, badges, vehicles, keys, uniforms, and any other
U.S. government property with your letter, so you don’t get wrongly accused
of stealing and end up in the slammer for that.
I am not talking about a PATCO-type strike. I am seriously and
honestly asking you to lay down tools and walk away. Permanently. You
won’t be breaking any anti-strike laws by doing that. You’ll just be
exercising your right as a free individual to end your employment. If
you’ve got a contract with the government people, break it. They could try
to sue, but I doubt they’re going to flood their already overloaded courts
with suits they’ll never collect a penny from. And if they try to force you
back to work, may I suggest you invite a couple of Minutemen over to your
house? Since Janet Reno’s no longer in a position of power, I doubt very
much that there’ll be any early morning closet raids in any event.
Now, why should you give up your jobs? It’s an honest question.
Here’s a brutally honest answer. Because paid or not, you’ll never be able
to do your job properly. Your own employer is royally boning two of your
fellow colleagues, and if you remain in the Border Patrol, you’re in the
same position (bent over, ankles gripped firmly in hands).
The President of the United States, the chief law enforcement officer
of the nation, is unwilling to override this travesty of justice. This
should worry you. I know it worries me!
Dubya doesn’t even talk a good game anymore when it comes to border
protection. Sure, he has nominally expanded your ranks. However, he’s also
put into place a system that emasculates your ability to enforce the laws
that are already on the books. The U.S. prosecutor and the federal judge
who presided over this charade are both Bush appointees.
I support George W. Bush on the War on Terrorism. In other areas, I
also find him to be a good president. However, he’s dead wrong on the
idiotic non-protection protection of our nation’s boundaries. Protecting
our borders is a necessary element in the War on Terrorism. Why Dubya
doesn’t see that is frankly beyond my ken.
Unemployment rates right now are at historical lows. That means that
you’ve got an excellent chance of finding new jobs quickly. There are a lot
of communities in the country who would gladly pay top dollar for your
training, your expertise, and your dedication to service. Without putting
you in the position of threatening you with imprisonment for actually doing
your job.
Now, those of you who stay on (because I’m certain that some always
do) should remember one very important thing. You may continue to draw a
paycheck. However, you’ll always be at risk of prosecution from your own
employer, for the simple act of doing the job you swore an oath to do.
Think about that. You can keep a job where you have to violate an oath, a
promise before God, to protect American citizens.
Could you really sleep at night, knowing that? I couldn’t.
I suspect that a lot of people who live near the border wouldn’t sleep
too well either, knowing that you weren’t able to do your job to the best of
your ability. Moreover, I don’t think you could either. Because you took this job
not to protect politicians or protect corruption, but to protect America.
If you are not permitted to do that, if you’re under threat of imprisonment
by your own boss for doing your job, well, I’d say you’re already in the
wrong job.
Time to find a new one.
Yours respectfully,
Doc Farmer
There are nearly 30,000 border patrol agents, officers and employees
currently out there, doing a very necessary but very hard job.
Now I, as an American, am going to ask you to do something very, very
hard.
I’m asking all of you, on January 17, 2006, to quit your jobs.
No two-weeks notice, no nice words. Just 30,000 letters of
resignation, handed in all at the same time. Something to the tune of —
—————————–
Dear President Bush,
Due to the incarceration of two of my colleagues in the Border Patrol,
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, I no longer believe that I can perform my
lawful duties without fear of prosecution by your own federal attorneys and
federal judges. Therefore, I hereby resign my position in the United States
Border Patrol, effective immediately.
Turn in your guns, badges, vehicles, keys, uniforms, and any other
U.S. government property with your letter, so you don’t get wrongly accused
of stealing and end up in the slammer for that.
I am not talking about a PATCO-type strike. I am seriously and
honestly asking you to lay down tools and walk away. Permanently. You
won’t be breaking any anti-strike laws by doing that. You’ll just be
exercising your right as a free individual to end your employment. If
you’ve got a contract with the government people, break it. They could try
to sue, but I doubt they’re going to flood their already overloaded courts
with suits they’ll never collect a penny from. And if they try to force you
back to work, may I suggest you invite a couple of Minutemen over to your
house? Since Janet Reno’s no longer in a position of power, I doubt very
much that there’ll be any early morning closet raids in any event.
Now, why should you give up your jobs? It’s an honest question.
Here’s a brutally honest answer. Because paid or not, you’ll never be able
to do your job properly. Your own employer is royally boning two of your
fellow colleagues, and if you remain in the Border Patrol, you’re in the
same position (bent over, ankles gripped firmly in hands).
The President of the United States, the chief law enforcement officer
of the nation, is unwilling to override this travesty of justice. This
should worry you. I know it worries me!
Dubya doesn’t even talk a good game anymore when it comes to border
protection. Sure, he has nominally expanded your ranks. However, he’s also
put into place a system that emasculates your ability to enforce the laws
that are already on the books. The U.S. prosecutor and the federal judge
who presided over this charade are both Bush appointees.
I support George W. Bush on the War on Terrorism. In other areas, I
also find him to be a good president. However, he’s dead wrong on the
idiotic non-protection protection of our nation’s boundaries. Protecting
our borders is a necessary element in the War on Terrorism. Why Dubya
doesn’t see that is frankly beyond my ken.
Unemployment rates right now are at historical lows. That means that
you’ve got an excellent chance of finding new jobs quickly. There are a lot
of communities in the country who would gladly pay top dollar for your
training, your expertise, and your dedication to service. Without putting
you in the position of threatening you with imprisonment for actually doing
your job.
Now, those of you who stay on (because I’m certain that some always
do) should remember one very important thing. You may continue to draw a
paycheck. However, you’ll always be at risk of prosecution from your own
employer, for the simple act of doing the job you swore an oath to do.
Think about that. You can keep a job where you have to violate an oath, a
promise before God, to protect American citizens.
Could you really sleep at night, knowing that? I couldn’t.
I suspect that a lot of people who live near the border wouldn’t sleep
too well either, knowing that you weren’t able to do your job to the best of
your ability. Moreover, I don’t think you could either. Because you took this job
not to protect politicians or protect corruption, but to protect America.
If you are not permitted to do that, if you’re under threat of imprisonment
by your own boss for doing your job, well, I’d say you’re already in the
wrong job.
Time to find a new one.
Yours respectfully,
Doc Farmer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Where the Enemy Operates
Usually, when something sets me to thinking, I will try to improve or expound further on what I've heard if possible. Sometimes though, what's said is so spot-on correct, that improvement is difficult, if not impossible to come by...so it was with a sermon I heard not too long ago.
The pastor speaking told us that, in the arena of personal temptation, Satan works most often through our thoughts. People have thoughts all the time, and as long as whatever a person thinks is just that, a thought, it can be taken or left, processed or discarded, acted on or not. The example he used is a spouse cheating on the other spouse. Let's say there's a thought that it might be fun to act on the sexual attraction a spouse has to a co-worker. At the thought level, the spouse can quickly and easily get rid of that thought, thereby heading off any possibility of acting on that attraction and messing up the marriage on the front end. But what happens when the thoughts sticks there, when it gains a foothold?
The thought then graduates to the imagination stage. Once the thought metastasizes (like cancer) into imagination, it is much harder to get rid of. Now it's to the point where instead of a "Oh this person is attractive." thought, it's become "What might they look like with no clothes? How might it be to touch them?" And once they've gotten here, it's easier to go down the bunny trail of magnifying the shortcomings of their spouse, minimizing the pitfalls of being with the person to whom they are now attracted, and possibly even rationalizing that having feelings for this co-worker is OK in spite of being married...very dangerous stuff.
After that, at some point comes action...now you've started spending time with this person, confiding in them, maybe it's even graduated to physical infidelity. The marriage is now in trouble, if not destroyed, and all because thoughts were not properly controlled. What was once only a thought has now become a stronghold, immune from the effects of mere willpower alone. At this point, some heavy duty spiritual lifting/warfare is required to tear it down, but obviously it's much easier if we never let it get there in the first place.
In the arena of relationships, friends or otherwise, I think the Enemy operates primarily from a place of fault. If there's a disagreement, it might occur to me that the other person is at fault, and if it does, that presents me two choices, to forgive them, or to meditate on the disagreement, allowing anger and resenment to breed. If I choose the latter, soon those negative feelings escalate into preparation, trying to figure out how to win the fight, how to prevail in the argument, what cutting words might I say to make my point. Finally, if I persist long enough in assigning fault and failing to forgive, eventually there will be a grudge or sustained unhappiness, either of which could doom the relationship.
The best we can do as humans is to lean on God, to ask Him to help us keep around only helpful and productive thoughts and to discard the rest...and in relationships, ask Him to help us be strong enough to forgive freely and fully and let the chips fall where they may.
The pastor speaking told us that, in the arena of personal temptation, Satan works most often through our thoughts. People have thoughts all the time, and as long as whatever a person thinks is just that, a thought, it can be taken or left, processed or discarded, acted on or not. The example he used is a spouse cheating on the other spouse. Let's say there's a thought that it might be fun to act on the sexual attraction a spouse has to a co-worker. At the thought level, the spouse can quickly and easily get rid of that thought, thereby heading off any possibility of acting on that attraction and messing up the marriage on the front end. But what happens when the thoughts sticks there, when it gains a foothold?
The thought then graduates to the imagination stage. Once the thought metastasizes (like cancer) into imagination, it is much harder to get rid of. Now it's to the point where instead of a "Oh this person is attractive." thought, it's become "What might they look like with no clothes? How might it be to touch them?" And once they've gotten here, it's easier to go down the bunny trail of magnifying the shortcomings of their spouse, minimizing the pitfalls of being with the person to whom they are now attracted, and possibly even rationalizing that having feelings for this co-worker is OK in spite of being married...very dangerous stuff.
After that, at some point comes action...now you've started spending time with this person, confiding in them, maybe it's even graduated to physical infidelity. The marriage is now in trouble, if not destroyed, and all because thoughts were not properly controlled. What was once only a thought has now become a stronghold, immune from the effects of mere willpower alone. At this point, some heavy duty spiritual lifting/warfare is required to tear it down, but obviously it's much easier if we never let it get there in the first place.
In the arena of relationships, friends or otherwise, I think the Enemy operates primarily from a place of fault. If there's a disagreement, it might occur to me that the other person is at fault, and if it does, that presents me two choices, to forgive them, or to meditate on the disagreement, allowing anger and resenment to breed. If I choose the latter, soon those negative feelings escalate into preparation, trying to figure out how to win the fight, how to prevail in the argument, what cutting words might I say to make my point. Finally, if I persist long enough in assigning fault and failing to forgive, eventually there will be a grudge or sustained unhappiness, either of which could doom the relationship.
The best we can do as humans is to lean on God, to ask Him to help us keep around only helpful and productive thoughts and to discard the rest...and in relationships, ask Him to help us be strong enough to forgive freely and fully and let the chips fall where they may.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Words of Wisdom from Nelson Mandela
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
--Nelson Mandela
--Nelson Mandela
Monday, January 8, 2007
When Your Name Becomes a Verb
This is when you know you have really screwed the pooch...when your name becomes a verb. Via Urban Dictionary and Michelle Malkin, we learn that to "Nifong" someone means to zealously and unjustly prosecute them based on motives far less noble than seeking justice. Sometimes, the Internet is a very cool thing, and I hope this is yet another nail in the coffin of Durham, N.C. District Attorney Mike Nifong's career. Someone should have told Mr. Nifong that while fame lasts 15 minutes if we are lucky, infamy lasts much, much longer. :)
Nifonged describes the railroading or harming of a person with no justifiable cause, except for one's own gain. It is someone being taken advantage of unfairly by someone without scruples or morals. It is created more in disdain of North Carolina/Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong, and his screwing of 3 Duke University Lacrosse Team members and helping to inflame a tense racial situation for his own glory, ego, and political gain.
Being Nifonged, Getting Nifonged, Nifonged
-examples
1. We knew we were BEING NIFONGED when we were forced to pay an extra $50 duty to the customs agent for bringing foreign magazines into Mexico under the threat of jail time.
2. When I saw that the rebate on my new DVD player was not honored by the company I'd bought it from, I had the distinct feeling I was GETTING NIFONGED.
3. "When we noticed that our belongings were missing from our room, we had the distinct feeling we had been NIFONGED by the locals.
Nifonged describes the railroading or harming of a person with no justifiable cause, except for one's own gain. It is someone being taken advantage of unfairly by someone without scruples or morals. It is created more in disdain of North Carolina/Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong, and his screwing of 3 Duke University Lacrosse Team members and helping to inflame a tense racial situation for his own glory, ego, and political gain.
Being Nifonged, Getting Nifonged, Nifonged
-examples
1. We knew we were BEING NIFONGED when we were forced to pay an extra $50 duty to the customs agent for bringing foreign magazines into Mexico under the threat of jail time.
2. When I saw that the rebate on my new DVD player was not honored by the company I'd bought it from, I had the distinct feeling I was GETTING NIFONGED.
3. "When we noticed that our belongings were missing from our room, we had the distinct feeling we had been NIFONGED by the locals.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
I'll Wait for My Lawyer, Thanks
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the ONLY appropriate response to a law enforcement official who wants to talk to you about anything more serious than a traffic ticket. Sure, you might get arrested, but as Kim DuToit correctly points out, that answer will not get you charged with a separate "crime" of lying to a law enforcement official. Think it can't happen...? Just ask Martha Stewart. Police do a difficult, dirty, and dangerous job for not nearly enough money, but my interest in those things end where my constitutional rights, including my freedom, begin.
Heck, I'm a lawyer myself, and that's the answer I would give them...so take the advice from your friendly criminal defense lawyer here. If the police, state or federal, start asking questions that make you even suspect that you might be a target of their investigation, pretend your lips are stuck together with superglue until you have an attorney present who is on your side...because in this situation, the authorities may be lots of things (including liars who can lie to you with impunity if they think it will get them the information they're after), but on your side ain't one of them.
Heck, I'm a lawyer myself, and that's the answer I would give them...so take the advice from your friendly criminal defense lawyer here. If the police, state or federal, start asking questions that make you even suspect that you might be a target of their investigation, pretend your lips are stuck together with superglue until you have an attorney present who is on your side...because in this situation, the authorities may be lots of things (including liars who can lie to you with impunity if they think it will get them the information they're after), but on your side ain't one of them.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Now I Know How the Troops in Iraq Must Feel
The only difference, apparently, between the National Guard "force" sent to the Mexican border and the troops in Iraq is that the Guard don't have overeager, P.C. JAG officers breathing down their necks every second. Both groups, on the other hand, are hamstrung by rules of engagement so ridiculous that it prohibits them doing their jobs and renders their presence wherever they are a sad joke. As this article shows, there are consequences for this kind of madness. In this case, a bunch of Mexican drug dealers forced U.S. forces from a guard post. This can only embolden these thugs and encourage international terrorists to try the same thing to penetrate our borders...oh wait, they don't have to, they can just walk right across under the guise of "doing jobs Americans won't do". People think I am joking when I say both Presidents Clinton and Bush should be impeached for the deterioration of the situation on the border, but I am dead serious. Their neglect borders on the criminal, because they both failed miserably to secure our borders and to protect the citizens of this country. Unfortunately, outside of a few voices in the wilderness, they are enabled by Congress on both sides of the aisle, so if you ask me, every last one of them could go home tomorrow and I don't think the country would be any the worse for it.
CAUSE: "The Guard troops are not allowed to apprehend illegal entrants."
EFFECT: "National Guard troops working at an observatory post near Sasabe were approached by a group of armed individuals late Wednesday night and forced to flee, said Border Patrol and National Guard officials Thursday."
CAUSE: "The Guard troops are not allowed to apprehend illegal entrants."
EFFECT: "National Guard troops working at an observatory post near Sasabe were approached by a group of armed individuals late Wednesday night and forced to flee, said Border Patrol and National Guard officials Thursday."
Friday, January 5, 2007
Tap Dancing Through Life
With me, up until about two years ago, the focus of life ever since I could remember had always been about something else first and foremost rather than Chris. First, it was getting good grades in high school and excelling in sports, then finishing with a certain GPA and rank, then getting into college. After HS, it was rinse, lather, and repeat that same process at undergraduate school...charging after good grades, doing extracurriculars, playing D-1 football, and working two jobs at a time. Then it was on to law school, and although I wasn't playing ball anymore, school was much more demanding, and I worked full-time to help pay for school. I was basically in survival mode for those three years. Then, I got my first attorney job, which paid so poorly I had to wait tables on top of that to make the bills, so still, no time for much else.
I think what I've described above occurs most frequently in young people, especially those with ambition who are driven to succeed professionally. I don't think anyone ever intentionally sets out to tap dance their way through life, but we all do, and we all have at some point. Tap dancing occurs when we are so focused on something, usually external, that we lose at least part of who we are. Or, in the case of young people, especially those in survival mode and/or trying to make a name and a place for themselves in the world, maybe they don't have or take the time to figure out lots of important things they never knew to begin with. In the process, we forget to take care of ourselves and figure out what we want, what's important to us, and who we are. Living life this way is very likely the genesis of many quarter-life crises, because once school is done and the world is here, the journey of defining one's self begins in earnest, whether we want it to or not.
Back to my story, a couple of years ago now, I landed my current job as an Assistant Public Defender. I moved all the way across the state to a strange place, knowing no one, and taking a job I had last learned anything substantive about 4 years ago in a single law school class. Fortunately, I got the hang of my job pretty easily, and I have learned a lot in addition to getting some good trial experience. Moreover, while it won't make me rich, this is the highest paying job I've ever had, and it has provided me a little financial breathing room and does not necessitate me taking a second job. :)
What's especially noteworthy about this job, however, is that it's a state position, meaning I basically work 8-4:30 and that's it. I'd never, EVER had this kind of free time in my life, and frankly, it scared the crap out of me because I had no idea what to do with it. Accordingly, I once thought that getting this job, with all the free time it brings, was one of the worst things that had ever happened to me. As I would soon find out, it ended up being one of the best and most vitally necessary times in the life of me.
The more free time I had that passed, I soon realized there were a lot of things I didn't know about myself, and these were important things! Not only that, I now had the time to figure this stuff out, and these questions were demanding answers. What does Chris want from life? What makes him happy? Where do I place my hope, faith, and trust? It was certainly high time for the journey to find those answers to begin, but it hasn't always been easy or fun. While my learning curve has (thankfully) been pretty sharp and steep, there's been more than my share of sad, painful, and/or uncomfortable times, plenty of mistakes, and lots of soul searching...in addition to the many amazing experiences I've had and the wonderful people God has brought into my life.
"Life is a journey, not a destination" is definitely a cheesy motivational poster saying, but it makes more sense to me now than it ever has. There will be plenty of landmarks, accomplishments, and heartbreaks in life, but one of the secrets of leading a happy and fulfilled life is to never get complacent and rest on any of those things...it's about walking out the journey God has for us, savoring each and every experience along the way, always being willing to learn from both our successes and failures, and adapting our lives accordingly.
I think what I've described above occurs most frequently in young people, especially those with ambition who are driven to succeed professionally. I don't think anyone ever intentionally sets out to tap dance their way through life, but we all do, and we all have at some point. Tap dancing occurs when we are so focused on something, usually external, that we lose at least part of who we are. Or, in the case of young people, especially those in survival mode and/or trying to make a name and a place for themselves in the world, maybe they don't have or take the time to figure out lots of important things they never knew to begin with. In the process, we forget to take care of ourselves and figure out what we want, what's important to us, and who we are. Living life this way is very likely the genesis of many quarter-life crises, because once school is done and the world is here, the journey of defining one's self begins in earnest, whether we want it to or not.
Back to my story, a couple of years ago now, I landed my current job as an Assistant Public Defender. I moved all the way across the state to a strange place, knowing no one, and taking a job I had last learned anything substantive about 4 years ago in a single law school class. Fortunately, I got the hang of my job pretty easily, and I have learned a lot in addition to getting some good trial experience. Moreover, while it won't make me rich, this is the highest paying job I've ever had, and it has provided me a little financial breathing room and does not necessitate me taking a second job. :)
What's especially noteworthy about this job, however, is that it's a state position, meaning I basically work 8-4:30 and that's it. I'd never, EVER had this kind of free time in my life, and frankly, it scared the crap out of me because I had no idea what to do with it. Accordingly, I once thought that getting this job, with all the free time it brings, was one of the worst things that had ever happened to me. As I would soon find out, it ended up being one of the best and most vitally necessary times in the life of me.
The more free time I had that passed, I soon realized there were a lot of things I didn't know about myself, and these were important things! Not only that, I now had the time to figure this stuff out, and these questions were demanding answers. What does Chris want from life? What makes him happy? Where do I place my hope, faith, and trust? It was certainly high time for the journey to find those answers to begin, but it hasn't always been easy or fun. While my learning curve has (thankfully) been pretty sharp and steep, there's been more than my share of sad, painful, and/or uncomfortable times, plenty of mistakes, and lots of soul searching...in addition to the many amazing experiences I've had and the wonderful people God has brought into my life.
"Life is a journey, not a destination" is definitely a cheesy motivational poster saying, but it makes more sense to me now than it ever has. There will be plenty of landmarks, accomplishments, and heartbreaks in life, but one of the secrets of leading a happy and fulfilled life is to never get complacent and rest on any of those things...it's about walking out the journey God has for us, savoring each and every experience along the way, always being willing to learn from both our successes and failures, and adapting our lives accordingly.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
An Entire Political Party as a Not-So-Sleeper Cell
Ann Coulter, writing at Human Events Online lays out a pretty compelling comparison of the Democrats of today as the exact clones of their predecessors from the 70's, the only difference being that our enemies to whom they wanted to surrender and who they were rooting for were Asian and Communist back then, whereas they are Islamic and Middle Eastern right now. The thing of it is, they can't be really classified as a sleeper cell in spite of their obfuscation of their intentions and their running on a platform of no substance whatsoever. This is because they've always been clear that they oppose the Iraq war (and every other war in history save WWII), that they are unwilling or unable to recognize evil when confronted with it, and that they believe America as currently constituted to be a country unworthy of its status, success, or even its continued existence in the world. Disregarding their words, their every action is based on this fundamental belief. Their self-hatred, guilt, and delusions of adequacy will be chief among the things that eventually brings this entire country to its knees. I only pray that, when this happens, the richly deserved consequences that flow therefrom will be visited upon them.
"Liberals spent the Vietnam War rooting for the enemy and clamoring for America's defeat, a tradition they have brought back for the Iraq war. They insisted on calling the Soviet-backed Vietcong "the National Liberation Front of Vietnam," just as they call Islamic fascists killing Americans in Iraq "insurgents." Ho Chi Minh was hailed as a "Jeffersonian Democrat," just as Michael Moore compares the Islamic fascists in Iraq to the Minute Men. ...
More troops, fewer troops, different troops, "redeployment"—all the Democrats' peculiar little talking points are just a way of sounding busy. Who are they kidding? Democrats want to cut and run as fast as possible from Iraq, betraying the Iraqis who supported us and rewarding our enemies—exactly as they did to the South Vietnamese under Ford. The passing of Gerald Ford should remind Americans that Democrats are always lying in wait, ready to force a humiliating defeat on America. ...
Three months after Nixon was gone, we got the Watergate Congress and with it, the new Democratic Party. In lieu of the old Democratic Party, which lost wars out of incompetence and naiveté, the new Democratic Party would lose wars on purpose. Just one month after the Watergate Congress was elected, North Vietnam attacked the South.
Even milquetoast, pro-abortion, detente-loving Gerald R. Ford knew America had to defend South Vietnam or America's word would be worth nothing. As Ford said, "American unwillingness to provide adequate assistance to allies fighting for their lives could seriously affect our credibility throughout the world as an ally." He pleaded repeatedly with the Democratic Congress simply to authorize aid to South Vietnam—no troops, just money. But the Democrats turned their backs on South Vietnam, betrayed an ally and trashed America's word. Within a month of Ford's last appeal to Congress to help South Vietnam, Saigon fell. The entire world watched as American personnel desperately scrambled into helicopters from embassy rooftops in Saigon while beating back our own allies, to whom we could offer no means of escape. It was the most demeaning image of America ever witnessed, until Britney Spears came along.
Southeast Asia was promptly consumed in a maelstrom of violence that seems to occur whenever these "Jeffersonian Democrats" come to power. Communist totalitarians swept through Laos, Cambodia and all of Vietnam. They staged gruesome massacres so vast that none other than Sen. George McGovern called for military intervention to stop a "clear case of genocide" in Cambodia. Five years after that, Islamic lunatics in Iran felt no compunction about storming the embassy of what was once the greatest superpower on Earth and taking American citizens hostage for 14 months. To this day, al Qaeda boosts the flagging morale of its jihadists by reminding them of America's humiliating retreat from Vietnam. In addition to being wrong about Ford's pardon of Nixon, liberals were wrong about a few other things from that era. Democrats haven't admitted error in rejecting Ford's pleas on behalf of South Vietnam because there are still dangerous foreigners trying to kill Americans. Nixon is safely interred in the ground, but the enemies of America continue to need the Democrats' help."
"Liberals spent the Vietnam War rooting for the enemy and clamoring for America's defeat, a tradition they have brought back for the Iraq war. They insisted on calling the Soviet-backed Vietcong "the National Liberation Front of Vietnam," just as they call Islamic fascists killing Americans in Iraq "insurgents." Ho Chi Minh was hailed as a "Jeffersonian Democrat," just as Michael Moore compares the Islamic fascists in Iraq to the Minute Men. ...
More troops, fewer troops, different troops, "redeployment"—all the Democrats' peculiar little talking points are just a way of sounding busy. Who are they kidding? Democrats want to cut and run as fast as possible from Iraq, betraying the Iraqis who supported us and rewarding our enemies—exactly as they did to the South Vietnamese under Ford. The passing of Gerald Ford should remind Americans that Democrats are always lying in wait, ready to force a humiliating defeat on America. ...
Three months after Nixon was gone, we got the Watergate Congress and with it, the new Democratic Party. In lieu of the old Democratic Party, which lost wars out of incompetence and naiveté, the new Democratic Party would lose wars on purpose. Just one month after the Watergate Congress was elected, North Vietnam attacked the South.
Even milquetoast, pro-abortion, detente-loving Gerald R. Ford knew America had to defend South Vietnam or America's word would be worth nothing. As Ford said, "American unwillingness to provide adequate assistance to allies fighting for their lives could seriously affect our credibility throughout the world as an ally." He pleaded repeatedly with the Democratic Congress simply to authorize aid to South Vietnam—no troops, just money. But the Democrats turned their backs on South Vietnam, betrayed an ally and trashed America's word. Within a month of Ford's last appeal to Congress to help South Vietnam, Saigon fell. The entire world watched as American personnel desperately scrambled into helicopters from embassy rooftops in Saigon while beating back our own allies, to whom we could offer no means of escape. It was the most demeaning image of America ever witnessed, until Britney Spears came along.
Southeast Asia was promptly consumed in a maelstrom of violence that seems to occur whenever these "Jeffersonian Democrats" come to power. Communist totalitarians swept through Laos, Cambodia and all of Vietnam. They staged gruesome massacres so vast that none other than Sen. George McGovern called for military intervention to stop a "clear case of genocide" in Cambodia. Five years after that, Islamic lunatics in Iran felt no compunction about storming the embassy of what was once the greatest superpower on Earth and taking American citizens hostage for 14 months. To this day, al Qaeda boosts the flagging morale of its jihadists by reminding them of America's humiliating retreat from Vietnam. In addition to being wrong about Ford's pardon of Nixon, liberals were wrong about a few other things from that era. Democrats haven't admitted error in rejecting Ford's pleas on behalf of South Vietnam because there are still dangerous foreigners trying to kill Americans. Nixon is safely interred in the ground, but the enemies of America continue to need the Democrats' help."
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Peace Through Bold Outreach
Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life", sends out a daily e-mail devotional piece, which usually includes some scripture and thoughts for daily living. Catching up on my e-mail after the holidays, I came across the devotional from 12/26, written by John Fischer. In it, he speaks of attempting to make peace through avoidance, and how it hasn't really worked out for him the way he thought it would. It's often scary and difficult to put ourselves out there in an attempt to make peace in any situation, and that goes double (or more) when it's someone we have wronged and/or care for. Fischer is right when he says that it takes two to want to reconcile, and in saying it is up to us to make the first move to create the environment for reconciliation. I think that's all God really asks of any of us, whether in relationships with others or in our relationship with Him...to reach out and take the first step(s) toward healing in faith and with boldness and let Him take care of the rest.
"If I know a conflict exists in a particular area, I will avoid the subject altogether, or if I am in conflict with a certain person, I will avoid them altogether. This is not being a peacemaker...it’s being a coward. A peacemaker who works for peace by avoiding conflict says that I am not willing to put forth the effort necessary to face into a problem, I am too afraid to face into it, or I don’t care enough for the other person to want to seek peace. Do I care enough for myself to want to live in peace instead of conflict and denial?
Peace is never found in walking away from our fears, but in walking into them. Like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz, courage comes when you care enough for someone that you will face into your fears on their behalf. It takes this kind of work to be a peacemaker.
Think about where there is conflict in your life and ask God to show you how you can make peace. It’s true that a relationship is made up of two people, and if there is a conflict, both have to want to make peace in order to achieve it. We can’t change the other person, but we can do our part to create the environment for reconciliation.
If there is a chasm in a relationship, you may have to reach all the way across to establish peace, but won’t it be worth it? God didn’t stay on his throne of righteousness, but reached all the way through the cross to bridge the chasm to us. Halfway is probably not far enough."
"If I know a conflict exists in a particular area, I will avoid the subject altogether, or if I am in conflict with a certain person, I will avoid them altogether. This is not being a peacemaker...it’s being a coward. A peacemaker who works for peace by avoiding conflict says that I am not willing to put forth the effort necessary to face into a problem, I am too afraid to face into it, or I don’t care enough for the other person to want to seek peace. Do I care enough for myself to want to live in peace instead of conflict and denial?
Peace is never found in walking away from our fears, but in walking into them. Like the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz, courage comes when you care enough for someone that you will face into your fears on their behalf. It takes this kind of work to be a peacemaker.
Think about where there is conflict in your life and ask God to show you how you can make peace. It’s true that a relationship is made up of two people, and if there is a conflict, both have to want to make peace in order to achieve it. We can’t change the other person, but we can do our part to create the environment for reconciliation.
If there is a chasm in a relationship, you may have to reach all the way across to establish peace, but won’t it be worth it? God didn’t stay on his throne of righteousness, but reached all the way through the cross to bridge the chasm to us. Halfway is probably not far enough."
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Saddam, Say Hi to Your Sons, Room and Temperature, for Me
With all that's gone on the last few days in my own life, I failed to mention that Saddam Hussein, serial murderer, dictator, and torturer, was finally sent packing to his own warm corner of the afterlife where he can join his equally murderous and evil sons, killed by coalition forces a couple of years ago. After a trial where he had a right to counsel, a right to present evidence on his behalf, a right to be innocent until proven guilty, and a right not to be tortured or murdered (all things he denied his victims), he was sentenced to hanging by an Iraqi judge, and that sentence was carried out over the weekend. It certainly won't solve all of Iraq's problems, but it does close a horrific chapter in Iraqi history...here's to hoping 2007 brings better times for Iraq.
As Leatherneck M31 pointed out:
"Interesting contrast this weekend... the deaths and funerals of two national leaders. One (former U.S. President Gerald Ford) was given the full honors of his nation and the respect of his countrymen. He returned to the nation's capitol to lie in repose with the pomp and circumstance rendered as only the U.S. military can.
The other shuffled to the gallows where his countrymen roughly placed a noose around his neck and intentionally provoked him during his final moments. With absolutely no warning, he was dropped to his fate and without ceremony, zipped into a rubber bag, then tossed in the back of a van.
Sic semper tyrannis."
As Leatherneck M31 pointed out:
"Interesting contrast this weekend... the deaths and funerals of two national leaders. One (former U.S. President Gerald Ford) was given the full honors of his nation and the respect of his countrymen. He returned to the nation's capitol to lie in repose with the pomp and circumstance rendered as only the U.S. military can.
The other shuffled to the gallows where his countrymen roughly placed a noose around his neck and intentionally provoked him during his final moments. With absolutely no warning, he was dropped to his fate and without ceremony, zipped into a rubber bag, then tossed in the back of a van.
Sic semper tyrannis."
Monday, January 1, 2007
2006 Reflections and 2007 Resolutions
Wow, I can't believe an entire year has gone by so quickly! Seems like just yesterday, I was wondering how 2006 got here so fast, but such is life. The beginning of 2006 brought about, hands down, the change of my entire life...my spiritual reawakening and making things right with the Lord after having been far away from Him for quite some time. As good a writer and speaker as I am, words simply fail when attempting to express how thankful I am that God never quit on me...so a simple "Thank You Father" will have to do. If that was all I accomplished in 2006, it would be a resounding success of a year by any measure.
As I look back on the year past, I honestly can't believe how much things have changed for me in so many ways, how much I really have accomplished (if only I give God the glory and myself some credit), and how much there still is yet to be done. It is on that note and in that spirit that I begin 2007, broken of my delusions of being able to do anything on my own and humbled before God, but resolved and cautiously optimistic inside in a way that has never been before.
I truly feel that Satan did everything in his awful power to try to strangle my relationship with God in its crib and kill me in the process...HE HAS FAILED! I now understand that my spiritual awakening was not the end, but rather the beginning. To those whom much is entrusted by God, much more is expected of them, and that means me. He has trusted me with so much...it's high time I started thinking, acting, and living like it. If I do that, I am confident that everything else will work out. So here goes, Chris's 2007 New Year's Resolutions...
1.) Stretching- OK, so this has nothing to do with my faith, lol, but if it makes me healthier and feel physically better, then it certainly can't hurt the mental and spiritual side of things. My workouts with weights and cardio are more or less where I'd like them to be, but as my days of competitive sports get farther in the rear view mirror, my flexibility has decreased quite a bit. I feel my muscles tighten too quickly during periods of exertion, and I cramp up far more than I should. So if I can even take 5 minutes a day to do some quality stretching, it should help a lot...and as of today, I am one for one on the year, WOO-HOO! :)
2.) Learning to Better Forgive Myself, Grieve Losses, Let Go, and Move Forward- These things are all inextricably linked, and as I've discovered the hard way, especially these last couple of months, they are some of the things the Enemy was using to hold me back and keep me down. Since re-dedicating my life to the Lord and my Boot Camp experience, I have made substantial progress in the area of forgiving others, grieving whatever pain was caused or loss suffered by me due to their actions, and then moving on. For that, I am more thankful than I can adequately express, and that progress certainly lifted some heavy weights of the past from me. There's just one little thing...somehow I forgot to follow this process on/with myself. I know beyond any doubt that God has forgiven me the mistakes I have made, whether stumbling in my faith, hurting others, etc. That's all well and good, but it doesn't really count for a whole lot if you are sabotaging yourself from within with a lack of self-forgiveness...besides, it only makes sense that if God commands us to forgive others and if He forgives us freely, then we should treat ourselves no differently.
Imagine this for a moment: picture yourself in your daily life, and then imagine that with every action you take, you feel the entire weight of the past 26+ years of mistakes you've ever made weighing down upon you. Now, if that isn't heavy enough, try adding this on top of it...when you do make a mistake (and you will), imagine replaying in your mind every ounce of pain and regret you've ever experienced in similar situations past, and that should give you a glimpse of how I've lived my life up to, well, until yesterday. The biggest problems caused by thinking and living this way are twofold: a.) living with and in a spirit of fear to the point of near-paralysis; and b.) then once you realize the mistake you've made, trying to correct an entire life's worth of miscues in a single response, throwing faith and patience right out the window, and actually making things worse by overcompensating badly in the process. Anyone who knows me well can attest to the havoc this has wrought in my life (especially in the area of romantic relationships), and it simply must end. Leave it to God to use the one area of my life with which I struggle most and which I used to try to withhold from him to affect the biggest changes in my life for the good; He's an interesting fellow like that, and that's just how He rolls, yo! :)
Again, as with resolution #1, I started today. Driving back home today, I left the radio off and just talked to God for most of the trip. I literally sat and thought of every mistake I could think of having made, every loss I had suffered and not yet grieved for, and everything for which I hadn't yet forgiven myself, and I just gave it to Him. It certainly isn't the end and there's more to be done I'm sure, but it was a fine beginning. It's a good thing for me that life is lived in the present and experienced moment to moment, because that means there is always fresh opportunity for a change in both behavior and direction, even when I mess up in the future. It isn't going to be an easy process, but if I lean on God moment to moment, each hour, each day, and even more so during times I am feeling down or weak, then His word says that I am guaranteed success, so that is where I put my trust and hope.
3.) Getting off the Bench and Learning About my Spiritual Gifts- The first step here is attending church more regularly than I have been...I think it's time. After Boot Camp, I was so spiritually full and had so much to process that I took a brief hiatus from formal church until I could figure some things out. If I am completely honest with myself and with God, however, I think that once I accomplished that, I inadvertently and unitentionally lapsed into a state of spiritual atrophy that bred laziness. With no place to go to get spiritually replenished on a regular basis and no use of the gifts God has given me, that's really not so surprising. I don't know exactly what God wants me to do, where He wants me to do it, or what I would specifically be good at, but it's awful hard to find these things out if you aren't actively looking, isn't it? I have some ideas though about how I might fit in...for example, I know I have a spirit of service. Rare and implausible though it may be this day and age, it actually makes my heart smile to serve, fulfill, encourage, and lift up others. Given that Christ came to us as a servant, that seems like something He could put to good use, no? ;) Perhaps in exercising my spiritual muscles with which I've been gifted, I can find my ministry...again, by leaning on God, I'm guaranteed success, and that gives me hope.
As I sit here writing this post, I don't have the foggiest idea of exactly what my life will look like as the next year unfolds. There's much to do and experience, and no time like the present to get started. One thing is certain though...in sticking to these resolutions, it is sure to be an interesting ride if nothing else, and I am genuinely excited to see where God takes it. So, in closing, in the words of our President, I say to this upcoming year, "Bring it on!"; and to the Enemy, because the Lord is in my corner and you have no chance, I quote the famous ring announcer Michael Buffer, "Let's get ready to rummmmmbllllle!" ;)
As I look back on the year past, I honestly can't believe how much things have changed for me in so many ways, how much I really have accomplished (if only I give God the glory and myself some credit), and how much there still is yet to be done. It is on that note and in that spirit that I begin 2007, broken of my delusions of being able to do anything on my own and humbled before God, but resolved and cautiously optimistic inside in a way that has never been before.
I truly feel that Satan did everything in his awful power to try to strangle my relationship with God in its crib and kill me in the process...HE HAS FAILED! I now understand that my spiritual awakening was not the end, but rather the beginning. To those whom much is entrusted by God, much more is expected of them, and that means me. He has trusted me with so much...it's high time I started thinking, acting, and living like it. If I do that, I am confident that everything else will work out. So here goes, Chris's 2007 New Year's Resolutions...
1.) Stretching- OK, so this has nothing to do with my faith, lol, but if it makes me healthier and feel physically better, then it certainly can't hurt the mental and spiritual side of things. My workouts with weights and cardio are more or less where I'd like them to be, but as my days of competitive sports get farther in the rear view mirror, my flexibility has decreased quite a bit. I feel my muscles tighten too quickly during periods of exertion, and I cramp up far more than I should. So if I can even take 5 minutes a day to do some quality stretching, it should help a lot...and as of today, I am one for one on the year, WOO-HOO! :)
2.) Learning to Better Forgive Myself, Grieve Losses, Let Go, and Move Forward- These things are all inextricably linked, and as I've discovered the hard way, especially these last couple of months, they are some of the things the Enemy was using to hold me back and keep me down. Since re-dedicating my life to the Lord and my Boot Camp experience, I have made substantial progress in the area of forgiving others, grieving whatever pain was caused or loss suffered by me due to their actions, and then moving on. For that, I am more thankful than I can adequately express, and that progress certainly lifted some heavy weights of the past from me. There's just one little thing...somehow I forgot to follow this process on/with myself. I know beyond any doubt that God has forgiven me the mistakes I have made, whether stumbling in my faith, hurting others, etc. That's all well and good, but it doesn't really count for a whole lot if you are sabotaging yourself from within with a lack of self-forgiveness...besides, it only makes sense that if God commands us to forgive others and if He forgives us freely, then we should treat ourselves no differently.
Imagine this for a moment: picture yourself in your daily life, and then imagine that with every action you take, you feel the entire weight of the past 26+ years of mistakes you've ever made weighing down upon you. Now, if that isn't heavy enough, try adding this on top of it...when you do make a mistake (and you will), imagine replaying in your mind every ounce of pain and regret you've ever experienced in similar situations past, and that should give you a glimpse of how I've lived my life up to, well, until yesterday. The biggest problems caused by thinking and living this way are twofold: a.) living with and in a spirit of fear to the point of near-paralysis; and b.) then once you realize the mistake you've made, trying to correct an entire life's worth of miscues in a single response, throwing faith and patience right out the window, and actually making things worse by overcompensating badly in the process. Anyone who knows me well can attest to the havoc this has wrought in my life (especially in the area of romantic relationships), and it simply must end. Leave it to God to use the one area of my life with which I struggle most and which I used to try to withhold from him to affect the biggest changes in my life for the good; He's an interesting fellow like that, and that's just how He rolls, yo! :)
Again, as with resolution #1, I started today. Driving back home today, I left the radio off and just talked to God for most of the trip. I literally sat and thought of every mistake I could think of having made, every loss I had suffered and not yet grieved for, and everything for which I hadn't yet forgiven myself, and I just gave it to Him. It certainly isn't the end and there's more to be done I'm sure, but it was a fine beginning. It's a good thing for me that life is lived in the present and experienced moment to moment, because that means there is always fresh opportunity for a change in both behavior and direction, even when I mess up in the future. It isn't going to be an easy process, but if I lean on God moment to moment, each hour, each day, and even more so during times I am feeling down or weak, then His word says that I am guaranteed success, so that is where I put my trust and hope.
3.) Getting off the Bench and Learning About my Spiritual Gifts- The first step here is attending church more regularly than I have been...I think it's time. After Boot Camp, I was so spiritually full and had so much to process that I took a brief hiatus from formal church until I could figure some things out. If I am completely honest with myself and with God, however, I think that once I accomplished that, I inadvertently and unitentionally lapsed into a state of spiritual atrophy that bred laziness. With no place to go to get spiritually replenished on a regular basis and no use of the gifts God has given me, that's really not so surprising. I don't know exactly what God wants me to do, where He wants me to do it, or what I would specifically be good at, but it's awful hard to find these things out if you aren't actively looking, isn't it? I have some ideas though about how I might fit in...for example, I know I have a spirit of service. Rare and implausible though it may be this day and age, it actually makes my heart smile to serve, fulfill, encourage, and lift up others. Given that Christ came to us as a servant, that seems like something He could put to good use, no? ;) Perhaps in exercising my spiritual muscles with which I've been gifted, I can find my ministry...again, by leaning on God, I'm guaranteed success, and that gives me hope.
As I sit here writing this post, I don't have the foggiest idea of exactly what my life will look like as the next year unfolds. There's much to do and experience, and no time like the present to get started. One thing is certain though...in sticking to these resolutions, it is sure to be an interesting ride if nothing else, and I am genuinely excited to see where God takes it. So, in closing, in the words of our President, I say to this upcoming year, "Bring it on!"; and to the Enemy, because the Lord is in my corner and you have no chance, I quote the famous ring announcer Michael Buffer, "Let's get ready to rummmmmbllllle!" ;)
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