Pygmies vs. Prophets

“Now, people when I say that people look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’ The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”
—Joe Biden

“There is no practice more dangerous than of borrowing money; for when money can be had in this way, repayment is seldom thought of in time, the interest becomes a loss, exertions to raise it by dent of industry cease, it comes easy and is spent freely and many things are indulged in that would never be thought of if to be purchased by the sweat of the brow.”
—George Washington

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“In my opinion, it’s not that the decision to have a child or have an abortion is ever not complicated; rather, it is as morally complex (and often conflicted) a decision as any. It’s never simple.”
—John Irving, My Movie Business: A Memoir, Knopf, 1999

“Moral issues are always terribly complex—for someone without principles.”
—G. K. Chesterton

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“One of the great clichés of the last few months was that September 11 changed everything. I never believed that. … I predict in the years ahead Enron, not September 11, will come to be seen as the greater turning point in U.S. society.”
—Paul Krugman, Op-Ed column, January 29, 2002

“An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.”
—Eric Hoffer

USSA 2015

USSA 2015

H/t: Imaumbn™ on Twitter

Why I Support NJ Gov. Chris Christie

Our country desperately needs someone like this great American patriot in the White House.

Keep the Change. 
Let’s take back America . . . one branch at a time:
Congress—2010
The White House—2012

A Miracle: Thirty Years Later

“Do you believe in miracles?”

Thirty years later, I still get goosebumps watching the umpteenth replay of the 1980 semi-final Olympic hockey game between the US and the Soviet Union. (Yes, the US team actually had to play another, defeating Finland 4-1 for the gold medal.) Each time, I experience the tension of those frantic final seconds, waiting for Al Michaels’ triumphant question that sounded more like a long-awaited answer to his shouted question.

Yes Al, I believe in miracles.

Einstein once wrote, “There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” For most of us who are neither skeptics nor mystics, I believe this event qualifies as a miracle. Not  because none of the experts predicted or even imagined that an amateur group of plucky but unpolished hockey players could somehow defeat an ”invincible” Soviet juggernaut that had humiliated NHL All Star teams. Not because no one except the coach and his players believed they could win. But because this most improbable of victories came during a time when most people had stopped believing in miracles.

No one believed in miracles except Herb Brooks and his team. And then, we all did.

The miracle on ice meant so much to so many, but for coach Herb Brooks, it meant much more. It wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that it was the instrument of his redemption.

Twenty years earlier, the 23-year-old Brooks was the last player cut from the 1960 USA Olympic squad, the last American hockey team to win the gold medal. Herb Brooks watched his teammates win the gold medal without him, he watched the game on a black-and-white television, sitting at home with his dad. One can only imagine his thoughts during such a bittersweet moment, happiness for his teammates mixed with bitter disappointment at coming so close.

Afterwards when his teammates stood to receive their gold medals, Herb’s dad turned to him and said: “Well, I guess that goes to show they cut the right guy.”

I can only imagine how much those words must have hurt. I can only imagine what terrible personal demons must have haunted Brooks for so long. But after twenty years in the wilderness, when the American team he led stood up to receive their gold medals, the crowd shouting “U.S.A. U.S.A.”, Brooks’ inner demons were expelled, and not only his sorrows, but those of a nation were healed.

When Jesus was crucified, only his mother and one of His disciples stayed with him until the bitter end. The rest all scattered and fled, demoralized and defeated, ashamed and afraid. No one could have anticipated or predicted anything like what happened when the tomb was found empty. But it’s because of this miracle, the most unbelievable miracle of all, that we as Christians have always known the answer to Al Michael’s question: Do you believe in miracles?

We believe in miracles because He is risen.

He is risen indeed, Hallelujah!

Never Forget

Janet’s Army

US Girl Scouts Prepare for war, pestilence

The United States wants to enlist its 3.4 million Girl Scouts in the effort to combat hurricanes, pandemics, terror attacks and other disasters.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a campaign Tuesday to entice the blue, brown and green-clad multitudes to be even more prepared, with the promise of a new patch if they pitch in.

Napolitano’s 3.4 million Girl Scouts to the rescue! This should have al Qaeda leaders shaking in their filthy beards.

No doubt the thinking is that Thin Mints pose a danger to people on dialysis like bin Laden. Not to mention the cavities and obesity potential from consuming too many delicious sugary snacks.

The young scouts will be able to emblazon their sashes or vests with the patch if they undergo the training which readies them for an emergency.

I’m torn between the obligatory “Patches? We don’t need no stinkin’ patches!” reference or linking to this Clarence Carter classic:

This much is true:

Janet’s army is here to stay
Janet’s army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
Than here today.

And yes, ladies and gentlement, Elvis has left the building.

Top Finger Gun

The Daily Telegraph compiled a list of the Top 100 Most Annoying Things:

Chavs, tailgaters and people with bad body odour topped a table of 100 of the nation’s annoyances topped the table.

Other pet hates in the top 10 included people who eat with their mouth open (50 per cent), rude shop assistants (50 per cent), foreign call centres (49 per cent), stepping in dog dirt (49 per cent), people who cough without covering their mouths (49 per cent), slow internet connections (49 per cent) and poor customer service (47 per cent).

I had to look up Chavs.

I forwarded the article to some folks and my friend David G. asked: “How are the finger guns NOT on this list?” along with this photo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hilarious. I would like to see Top Finger Gun do that to this guy:

Give a Man a Fish, Give a Kid a Penthouse

From today’s Boston Globe:

From the 26th floor of Boston’s newest high-rise, residents are treated to a sweeping view encompassing the historic Bunker Hill monument, the gilded dome of the State House, the majestic Harbor Islands, and the jets alighting and ascending from the distant airport. Just below, sailboats and rowing shells silently glide along the Charles River.

Despite the million-dollar vista, this is not the penthouse suite of a four-star hotel or a luxury condominium in the Back Bay. It’s the common room of a Boston University dorm, perhaps the most opulent residence hall to ever grace the local college landscape. Name tags taped to students’ doors say it all: “Skyview from the Center of the BUniverse.’’

“Sometimes I miss the elevator because I’m too busy looking out the window,’’ said Rina Beyda, a junior from Los Angeles and one of just 14 students lucky enough to land a room on the 25th floor, the highest residential level.

The view is not the only amenity. So luxurious is the 960-bed dorm that parents’ jaws dropped in disbelief when they helped their children move in last week. The suites of singles and doubles, with elegantly furnished common rooms, large private baths, walk-in closets, and floor-length mirrors, resemble nothing like what older generations remember of their college housing – sterile cinder-block boxes with institutional bunk beds and a communal bathroom down the hall.

Full story here.

What a splendid idea! Build beautiful expensive luxury dorms for college kids to trash. In addition to the myriad economic benefits the community will reap from the broken window fallacy, this “investment” should inculcate highly useful modern virtues like selfishness, narcissism and an inflated sense of entitlement.

The “New” GM

. . . has a plan, sort of:

DETROIT (AP) – With an almost certain bankruptcy filing days away, General Motors is beginning its reinvention, planning to retool one factory to make its smallest vehicles ever in the U.S. and rid itself of the biggest.

. . . GM said it plans to reopen a shuttered U.S. factory to build subcompact cars. The retooled factory would be able to build 160,000 cars a year and create 1,200 jobs, offsetting some of the 21,000 that will be lost when GM closes 14 factories by the end of next year.

. . . GM is banking on more demand for smaller cars previously shunned by Americans. The government decided earlier this month to raise fuel economy standards for the entire U.S. fleet by 2016 (emphasis mine).

Building the cars you don’t want that government will force you to buy!

The market responds:

GM’s stock tumbled to the lowest price in the company’s 100-year history, closing at just 75 cents after trading as low as 74 cents. The government plan for GM revealed Thursday would make the shares virtually worthless.

Understatement of the year:

Smaller costs after bankruptcy should help the companies make money even though compact cars carry far smaller profit margins than pricey SUVs. But there remains a risk that gas prices will remain low and the cars won’t sell, blowing up the automakers’ new business models.

Full article here. Read it and weep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it’s Socialism! Strange visitor from the 19th Century claiming powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men!

Socialism . . . which can plunder the wealth of affluent nations, crush industries with its perverse plan to punish success and reward failure!

And who, disguised as Barack Obama, mild-mannered Marxist figurehead for a cesspool of corruption and cronyism, fights a new-ending battle against TRUTH, JUSTICE and THE AMERICAN WAY!

Don’t worry America. There’s plenty more Hope and Change™ on the way. Coming soon to an industry near you!

Remembering

I listened to this incredible song several times today. It’s called Remembering and it was written by my friend David Vassilaros to honor our fallen heroes.

When I first heard this song, it brought back all the emotions that swirled the first time I touched the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. It recalled the ineffable sense of awe and reverence you feel standing amidst the sacred silence of the hallowed ground that Lincoln consecrated at Gettysburg.

Dave’s song sums up what Memorial Day is all about. It’s about remembering. We set aside this day to honor those who serve and remember the extraordinary sacrifices they made and continue to make to preserve our freedoms.

One of the central themes of the novelist Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis’ friend and member of the Inklings, is the idea of exchange and substitution. Disqualified from serving in World War I, Williams came to the realization that the peace and tranquility he enjoyed in England was owed to the sacrifice of nearly a million of his fellow countrymen dying in the trenches across the English Channel, and that this was a debt he could never repay. For Williams, the idea of exchange and substitution was not only true during wartime, but was at the heart of life. Everything we have, everything we enjoy in this life, comes from the sacrifice of another, from the grains of wheat that fall into the ground and die to give us our daily bread, to the pigs we slaughter for our breakfast slices of bacon, culminating in the ultimate sacrifice at the place of skulls to win us eternal life.

So too, the blessings of liberty, security and prosperity we enjoy in a world of chaotic terrorism, crushing tyranny and ubiquitious suffering were dearly purchased by the substitution and sacrifice of heroes at places like Valley Forge, Antietam, Omaha Beach, Khe Sanh and Fallujah. We can never repay our indebtedness to our fallen heroes, but we can honor and remember their sacrifice on this Memorial Day.

It’s worth remembering.