Webutante

Running Away From Home To the Mountains of East Tennessee

2012-02-02T19:39:00.005-06:00

WSJ: NO NEED TO PANIC ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING
POLITICO: WHY OBAMA SHOULD BE WORRIED

IT'S BEEN A VERY MILD WINTER HERE IN TENNESSEE as in much of the country. So I decided while the weather holds, it's a good time to get a little hike in with some of East Tennessee's regular, veteran hikers. So I've run over to the Eastern time zone in time to fall into bed and get up at the crack of dawn Friday to meet other hikers.

It's beautiful here in every season and I can't wait to get a good uphill climb in. Forecast calls for sun all day, then clouds and rain Friday night.

Letter To My Old Master (Circa 1865)

2012-02-01T20:18:00.010-06:00

JOSH BROWN AND THE NEW DENIAL: NO ONE IS EVER WRONG ANYMORE OR APOLOGIZES

A FORMER SLAVE WROTE FROM OHIO TO HIS FORMER MASTER IN TENNESSEE---who had written his servant asking him to come back South and work for him--- replying with (understandably) mixed emotions and mixed hostility.. The black man named Jourdan Anderson started by asking his former master of 52 years for combined back pay for him and his wife before they would consider going back to Tennessee to work as a free man and woman. His letter began:

“I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house.

“Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living."

The former slave said his wife, Mandy, wanted a show of good faith before they would leave Ohio for Tennessee: Back pay for their 52 years of combined service.

“If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future,” he wrote. “We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense.

“Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me."

This stunning letter, which should be read in full, was featured this week at Letters of Note.

H/T New York Daily News

The Latest Gallup Poll Map---Our Country's Going Red

2012-02-01T12:56:00.004-06:00

12 WAYS OBAMA COULD LOSE

WHILE THIS MAP is very encouraging, it's nothing to get smug about. If we do take the White House and Senate and hold the House, there are so many jobs to do. And Republicans have historically dropped many elelction balls once they're elected and catch the dreaded Potomac fever.

Battleground States Show Sharp Decline For Obama As Mitt Surges

2012-01-31T20:30:00.011-06:00

ROMNEY LEAVES NEWT IN HIS REARVIEW MIRROR

AS MITT ROMNEY MOPS UP IN FLORIDA TONIGHT, many of my fellow conservative commenters diss and whine about Romney's conservative qualifications, his excessive, big spending and slim chances of beating the incumbent Democrat in November, I find myself surprisingly at peace with the apparent GOP nominee-in-wating.

I simply can't remain on the anti-Romney bandwagon any longer. Decades of successful experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors, as well as being an admirable husband and family man, give Mitt an undeniable upper hand in qualifications and wide ranging experience that stand him in good stead if he becomes the next president of the United States.

Over the past few months I bet Mitt Romney had NO chance whatsoever of beating President Obama in 2012 and gave a litany of group-think reasons why. Today, I'm not so sure that Romney can't pull off a win. Sure it will be a tough fight. But I no longer think it's a hopeless battle that he's bound to lose.

It just may be that Mr. Obama may to defeat himself.

A piece at FoxNation---entitled Battleground State Nightmare for Obama--reports today a state-by-state Gallup poll on the president's popularity in 2011 as compared to 2009. There's a dramatic drop in his approval ratings especially in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.

Missouri (-16.5%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 55.1%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 38.6%

New Hampshire (-15.9%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 54.6%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 38.7%

Nevada (-14.6%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 55.9%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 41.3%

New Mexico (-14.2%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 55.9%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 41.7%

Florida (-13.2%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 56.8%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 43.6%

Ohio (-13.2%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 55.3%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 42.1%

Pennsylvania (-12.4%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 57.4%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 45.0%

Virginia (-12.2%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 57.7%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 44.5%

Iowa (-12.1%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 57.7%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 45.6%

Michigan (-12.1%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 60.2%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 48.1%

Colorado (-11.9%)

2009 Gallup aggregate: 52.3%
2011 Gallup aggregate: 40.4%

I find these number cautiously encouraging. And unless the president can turn this around, there's a good chance he can be defeated in November. I think Mitt will be the man to do it.

Oh yes he is.

John Tamny: Two Great Pieces In Three Days

2012-01-31T08:13:00.012-06:00

MORE STUNNING GOOD NEWS

FIRST: THE END OF AMERICAN-AS-WE-KNOW-IT--ALARMISM IS ANOTHER VARIANT OF MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISM. AND NEITHER IS TRUE.

I wholeheartedly agree. The good news goes something like this:

As hopeless as Obama's presidency has been, all the talk suggesting his re-election promises irrevocable damage to the United States is as arrogant as the alleged science that says we humans are destroying the earth. The earth will thrive well after all of us, and the U.S.'s culture of success will live and thrive whether Obama is a one or two-term President....

Obama believes we’re made better off economically when the most productive around us have their wealth redistributed away from them, he believes a cheap dollar that erodes our savings/paychecks in concert with reducing company-creating investment is a positive, and perhaps scariest of all, he believes that productivity (think computers, factory automation) is the source of our nosebleed levels of unemployment. Obama is an embarrassment (as was his dollar-cheapening, bailout loving predecessor in the White House) to this great nation, and simple American pride should make us desirous of putting him on the speaker’s circuit of failed presidents beginning in 2013...

Did Obama sign with great gusto a law that turned U.S. CEOs into accountants in the form of Sarbanes-Oxley? No, that was George W. Bush. Did he set capitalism back through the bailing out of banks and car companies? To some degree he did, but the aforementioned economic horrors similarly began under Bush. What about the dollar? In that case both Bush and Obama pursued policies that succeeded in collapsing the most important price (the dollar) in the world. That Obama passed a ghastly health care bill hardly recommends him, but legal realities of the Supreme Court kind mean he may see his signal legislative “achievement” go up in smoke....

A very successful Houston entrepreneur whose businesses have grown gangbusters throughout Obama’s presidency told me over a year ago that “I’m way too smart and hardworking for Obama. Nothing he does will keep me down.” Amen to that, and if our American sense of self has declined so much that we can’t outthink Obama, maybe it’s something other than Obama that explains our depressed state at the moment. If Obama is so pathetic as so many suggest, aren’t we even more pathetic for blaming him for all of our woes?

Yes, policy is bad, and the policies foisted on us by Bush and Obama surely weigh on growth. But for Americans to believe that the moment we’re in and the election we’re about to vote in will decide the future of the United States is the height of delusion.

Read it all and take heart at Forbes.com.

SECOND, TAMNY WRITES ABOUT HOW THE 'ECONOMIC DOCTOR' BEN BERNENKE IS KILLING THE U.S. ECONOMY PATIENT with far too much of his own prescribed medicine---medicine that's digging us deeper and deeper into the pit that we're trying to get out of. To wit:

I'm telling you that the cure is the disease. The main source of illness in this world is the doctor's own illness: his compulsion to try and cure and his fraudulent belief that he can. It ain't easy to do nothing, now that society is telling everyone that the body is fundamentally flawed and about to self-destruct." The Fat Man, The House of God, by Samuel Shem, p. 215

When doctors are asked what novel best describes what it's like to work in a hospital, Samuel Shem's 1978 classic, The House of God, is frequently the answer offered up. Though television dramas of the medical variety have historically glamorized the profession, up close the picture is often a gruesome one as the novel reveals.

A regular theme in the book is one of doctors, bursting with knowledge learned at the best medical schools, killing their patients given their hubristic desire to "do something" when their patients are sick. The Fat Man in the story, who is quoted above, did no such thing.

As he explained to intern Roy Basch, "My outpatients. I do nothing medical for them, and they love me. You know how much booze, hot merchandize, and food there's gonna be in that crowd as Hannukah and Christmas presents for me? And all because I don't do a goddamn medical thing." The Fat Man understood what interns fresh out of medical school hadn't quite figured out, that the body itself is often the best healer, so better it is in many instances to do no harm by virtue of letting the illness run its course.

The members of the Federal Reserve Board led by a doctor of different stripes, Ben Bernanke, could learn more from House of God than all the economics books they devour on the way to grandiose visions of fixing what ails us economically. Overcome with similar hubris that causes arrogant medical professionals to kill patients, the Bernanke Fed is foisting myriad fixes on the economy learned in textbooks, and in the process is strangling it.

Great thinking--- well worth reading and pondering it all.

A Life Of Favor And Living Out 'Christ In Us'

2012-01-29T15:14:00.012-06:00

PASTOR MIKE ATKINS OF RIVER CROSSING IN JH WYOMING CONTINUES HIS THEME OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST LIVING IN US. It all begins with knowing, agreeing with and desiring what the Word of God says and letting its supernatural, transforming power work in us as it helps us obey His Will--even when we don't want to.

When we do this, He gets all the credit and glory, and we get all the benefit! It makes life only get better and better.

Sunday: Is your Faith in Christ Real?

2012-01-29T13:06:00.001-06:00

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW whether your faith is real? Then try it by the feelings toward Christ which it produces. Nominal faith may believe that such a person as Christ existed, and was a great benefactor to mankind. It may show Him some external respect, attend His outward ordinances, and bow the head at His name. But it will go no further.

Real faith will make a person glory in Christ, as their Redeemer, Deliverer, Priest, and Friend — without whom they would have no hope at all. It will produce confidence in Him, love towards Him, delight in Him, comfort in Him, as the mediator, the food, the light, the life, the peace of the soul.

--J.C. Ryle

Stunning High-Def Images of Blue Marble Earth From NASA

2012-01-27T07:47:00.007-06:00

ACE: THE PROBLEM WITH HOMOSEXUALITY---IT'S UNDEREXPOSED! THANK GOODNESS MADONNA--OUR TEACHER--IS BRINGING GAY TO THE SUPERBOWL SINCE WE ALL NEED to be further familiarized with a subculture celebrated by about 40% of 1% of the population.

FROM WEATHER.COM TODAY:
NASA released the spectacular view of Earth below on January 25, 2012 from its newest Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.

This composite image below uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. NASA has renamed this newest Earth-observing satellite in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin who is recognized widely as "the father of satellite meteorology."

Wal-Mart's Fun Idol-Style Contest Seeking New Products To-Get-On-The-Shelf In Selected Stores

2012-01-25T14:16:00.003-06:00

STARTING WITH UGGS FOR DOGS and going to baskets for kids car seats and iPad pillows, there are plenty of new ideas and at least one will win the prize and get on some of the behemoth retailer's shelves.

H/T Carpe Diem

Mitch Daniels: Sobering SOTU Rebuttal

2012-01-25T04:22:00.011-06:00

RUBIO RISING: CALLING OUT NEWT

NEWT BACKS OFF

10 ISSUES O SKIRTED: THINK HUGE CORPORATE BAILOUTS (AKA WELFARE), JON CORZINE & MF GLOBAL, SOLYNDRA BANKRUPTCY AT TAXPAYERS' EXPENSE

APPROPRIATELY KNOCKING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S DIVISIVE, PRO-POVERTY AGENDA WITH ITS NIAGARA OF DEBT.
RICH LOWERY: O's Proposals Evasive and Irresponsible

You Suppose, President Obama Will Mention This Minor Little Tidbit In His SOTU Tonight?

2012-01-24T18:29:00.005-06:00

OH, I DOUBT IT, BUT A GIRL CAN HOPE, CAN'T SHE?

Thanks to My Heritage for this succinct, factual video reminder.

A Few Words About Mitt, Newt Verses Obama With Links

2012-01-23T08:18:00.010-06:00

THIRD SMALLEST PREEMIE ON RECORD FINALLY GOES HOME @ HOTAIR

FRANKLY, I'M LUKEWARM ON GINGRICH. Almost as lukewarm as I am about Romney.

Nevertheless, I'm open to supporting either candidate in this fight-to-the-death against the most destructive American president we've had in decades, if not ever, since the founding of our country.

Make no mistake, President Obama wants us--the American taxpayer---to finance his re-election by getting us and our children to pay for even more stimulus and entitlements---he can tout as his accomplishments---to the tune of trillions of moneies we don't have. But nevermind, he wants it anyway, will have Ben print it and take it to lure disenfranchised prospective voters.

This is no ordinary election as we all know. I've made up my mind I can and will warm up to any candidate I think can beat this pathetic excuse for a leader.

If Newt is the man, then so be it. If it's Mitt, then that's fine by me. In all cases may the best man win. And the race to the GOP is far, far from done.

A couple of good links this morning include:

Victor Hanson at PJMedia: Welcome to the 2012 Circus: The Acts, The Players, The Hype.

The at IBD this morning we read:

Leadership: A great debater. Politically polarizing. Prone to great error, but also prone to spectacular success. Steeped in history. Politically brilliant. Unorthodox. Audacious.

All these qualities were once used to describe Winston Churchill. Today, you might use the same words to describe Newt Gingrich. Sound absurd? Not when you think about it.

Churchill, like Gingrich, was a brilliant politician with a powerful sense of the occasion.

Compelling reading though I need more convincing. Daniel Flynn isn't the man to do it, since he doesn't think Newt is morally up to being president.

Maybe, maybe not. Only the long slog ahead will tell.

Sunday

2012-01-22T07:52:00.003-06:00

REFLECTIONS

LIKE EVERYTHING which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, owever passionate.
— W. H. Auden

Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocalities.

— Hannah Arendt

Some people ask who they are and expect their feelings to tell them. But feelings are flickering flames that fade after every fitful stimulus. Some people ask who they are and expect their achievements to tell them. But the things we accomplish always leave a core of character unrevealed. Some people ask who they are and expect visions of their ideal self to tell them. But our visions can only tell us what we want to be, not what we are.

— Lewis Smedes

Quote courtesy Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Manhattan

South Carolina Gets Newtered

2012-01-21T19:06:00.004-06:00

WINNER TAKES ALL.

RESULTS.

What happens now to Newt's campaign? Can his shoestring operation make it through Florida and on to Super Tuesday on March 6?

Only time will tell. But one of Newt's best ideas so far is his calling for a new Gold Commission and possible return to some form of the gold standard. I couldn't agree more with this idea. We'll see if this gives him more momentum in the days ahead.

Adding An Important New Link To My Sidebar

2012-01-21T17:30:00.015-06:00

PRIMAL SCOTCH EGGS @ THE LINK

IN THE SHORT, MEDIUM AND LONGER-TERM SCHEME OF THINGS, this is one of the most important links I've ever added to my sidebar since starting Webutante in late 2006. It's the daily blog of Mark Sisson, health and wellness role model and author of--The Primal Blueprint--Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy.

First and foremost, Sisson advocates a diet, exercise and lifestyle plan described as paleo that's come into fashion in the last few years. It centers around the theory that ancient man was much healthier and more disease-free before the advent of the agricultural revolution with its mass production and consumption of modern-day sugar, grains, beans and legumes which---the theory goes---cause high levels of blood suger and insulin leading to weight gain, obesity heart disease and cancer as well as the inflammation of arteries, brain tissue, joints and other chronic degenerative maladies of our post-modern age.

The paleo lifestyle also includes the most sane workout and exercise protocols I've ever seen. It works.

Of course this theory flies in the face of modern food pyramids and drug company propaganda advocating tons of starch and carbs for a myriad of faux reasons.

Anyway, my link is to Mark's Daily Apple and it's a wonderful way to become familiar with the paleo diet and lifestyle model. I also highly recommend one of his books. If you have any health, weight or aging issues, then you owe it to yourself to take a look at this material and give it a try. Without doubt, I think it's the most important lifestyle regime I've ever seen.

I'll be linking more to the health breaththroughs seen at Mark's Daily Apple as well as similar sites in 2012 and, God willing, beyond,

Meet Verlin Stoll, Funeral Director Fighting For Economic Liberty From Government Meddling

2012-01-19T18:19:00.005-06:00

HERMAN CAIN JUST SENT HIMSELF TO POLITICAL OBLIVION AND TOOK THE TEA PARTY WITH HIM

H/T Carpe Diem

Stays Put: Beckham Chooses LA After All

2012-01-18T20:16:00.008-06:00

UPDATE: BECKHAM THRILLED TO BE HERE

FORGET ALL THE RUMORS that David Beckam and his family are moving to Paris. They're staying put in LA with the Galaxy team for at least two more years. Gosh I thought they had already moved to the failing Continent. Can't blame them for staying here at all. Being in Europe now is like being in Rome for The Fall.

Newt Plays To The Crowd That Pays Him Most

2012-01-18T19:14:00.016-06:00

THE DARK SIDE OF PRAISING CHILDREN VS ENCOURAGING THEM

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE HE STANDS? NEWT'S EX SPEAKS OUT--- EVIDENTLY WHAT HE SAYS AND DOES ARE RARELY CONSISTENT==That's no integrity in my book.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

HE WAS FOR PRIVATE EQUITY BEFORE HE WAS AGIN IT.

Politics-In-Motion. Hypocrisy-Thy-Name-Is-Newt.

Inconsistency that's indefensible. Isn't the Internet/YouTube wonderful for highlighting these things?

Newt may be an articulate attack dog, but he will never win my respect or my vote this way. He's lower the bar in a race to the bottom.

H/T Zero Hedge: Newt's Hipocrisy Full Frontal

Chickens Come Home to Roost In Nashville

2012-01-18T12:17:00.004-06:00

NASHVILLIANS WHO HEART CHICKENS AND ORGANIC EGGS can now legally raise and keep them in backyard coops and cages---but hens only according to an ordinance passed Tuesday by the Metro Council. But roosters will have to continue strut their stuff and crow in the countryside outside the city limits.

This is a fight that's been waged for the past two years and finally won by local chickens-in-backyards advocates.

Personally I think it's a good sign and should never have been banned in the first place.

Please note, I have been away from the computer more than usual the past several weeks because of the needs of a good friend, still recovering in a rehab center. This schedule will continue for a while now, though I plan to be here as much as possible.

Best wishes.

Rendering of What First Photo of Black Hole At the Center of Our Galaxy Might Look Like

2012-01-16T19:46:00.005-06:00

EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE PROJECT joins astronomer and telescopes in hopes of capturing the first realitic image of the infamous black hole at the center of the galaxy.

MLK's Newly Renovated Church in Downtown Atlanta

2012-01-16T11:19:00.004-06:00

Photos of Ebenezer Baptist Church Courtesy CNN Belief Blog

My Two Favorite Looks At Golden Globes

2012-01-15T22:14:00.008-06:00

CAUGHT ONLY THE LAST 30 MINUTES OF THE GLOBES AT MARTHA'S after having a small dinner with friends. But it was enough to observe that white/cream was the color de jour, or should I say, le colour de nuit.

Most of the stars who wore the pale ale kept their makeup far too washed out and pasty for my taste. But these two women---Angelina in silver-white avec petite rouge with matching lipstick that looped and popped in the night and Stacey looking fit, tanned and healthy in grande rouge---were hands down my favorites. Thought Meryl looked disgraceful, and Kate, Tilda, Nicole and Charlize looked too tired, blah, anemic for words.

Sunday: Danny Wuerffel, One of Tebow's Greatest Role Models On the Field and Off

2012-01-15T07:01:00.010-06:00

I'VE LONG BELIEVED THAT GOOD MEN BECOME BETTER AND BEST OF MEN from relationships with other top-notch men.

Good women can take such a man only so far. Men need other men to teach and mentor them to become good, better, the best men. And when a man falls short, it's usually because he lacks superior manly role models he has a spiritual connection to.

While I could be wrong about this, there's no doubting the fact that without superior, manly role models in a man's life---up close and personal--who model godly living, relationships and accountability in all areas of life, a man will frequently fall short of full maturity. Good men role model life and godly living to other men. They show them how to treat women in more and more respectful and chivalrous ways, God's way. They show men how to humble themselves before God and repent when called for.

Men teach other men about godly real leadership.

The article below is a good example of this in Tim Tebow's life.

In a recent WSJ article co-written by Michael Flaherty and Nathan Whitaker called Tim Tebow's Role Model the headline continues,

In Danny Wuerffel, the star quarterback had an example of both religious and athletic devotion. Tebow's parents sought these kinds of inspiring role models for their son growing up. It's a wonderful piece and should inspire men and women everywhere to seek out healthy, godly same-sex role models for their lives---at all ages. Good role models matter if you're a man. It's not optional, in my opinion:

By MICHEAL FLAHERTY AND NATHAN WHITAKER

Have you heard about the quarterback who won the Heisman trophy and led his University of Florida Gators to a national championship? The multisport athlete, Florida's USA Today Football Player of the Year as a high-schooler? The son of a pastor who always put his faith before football, even while playing in the National Football League?

Of course we're talking about Danny Wuerffel, who has served as a powerful role model for a certain Denver Broncos quarterback currently making news.

Mr. Wuerffel and Tim Tebow didn't know each other well growing up 13 years apart, but Mr. Tebow's parents made it a point to introduce the two more than a decade ago, while Mr. Wuerffel was still playing at Florida. Both players' families understood that football provided a platform that could be used to talk about the most important thing in their life—their faith. Their attitudes mirrored that of C.S. Lewis, who reasoned that "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

Mr. Wuerffel was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1997 and played three years for the team. One day during that tenure he took a wrong turn leaving the city's Superdome and drove near the Desire Street Housing Project in the Upper Ninth Ward. Built on a garbage dump, the area was considered one of the worst in the nation for crime, drugs and poverty.

Several days later, he heard of something that would forever change his life: A family was chased from a burning house while the fire department showed up far too late in that seemingly forgotten neighborhood. The family's youngest child eventually died from smoke inhalation. Mr. Wuerffel began volunteering with Desire Street Ministries, which tries to improve the lives of families in the area by revitalizing neighborhoods—providing assistance to residents, tutoring children, supporting parents and schools.

After his tenure with the Saints, Mr. Wuerffel played for the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins. When the Redskins looked to re-sign him in 2003, he walked away. He and his wife, Jessica, found God calling them back to the Ninth Ward and into full-time ministry with Desire Street.

They say they were inspired by a passage from the book of Isaiah: "Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." The Wuerffels felt this would be better accomplished through full-time ministry with underprivileged youth in New Orleans than by signing a million-dollar contract to play football.

But Mr. Wuerffel remained a fan, particularly of the Florida Gators and their dynamic new quarterback, Tim Tebow. He was especially taken with Mr. Tebow's work at his own father's orphanage in the Philippines and in prison ministries in the U.S. Mr. Wuerffel also held great respect for the way Mr. Tebow handled the spotlight, always crediting God with his success, and always surrendering his disappointments to Him as well.

During one game, Mr. Wuerffel found himself on the Gator sidelines at Florida Field, watching Mr. Tebow against the rival LSU Tigers. As a Florida player returned a kickoff, the stadium went silent when an LSU player made a bone-crushing tackle on the return-man. Players on the Gator sideline were shocked to see Mr. Wuerffel jumping up and down in the middle of the Florida sideline, clapping and cheering on the player from LSU.

The player was Deangelo Peterson, one of the kids to come out of the Desire Street Ministries program in the Ninth Ward. Mr. Tebow probably didn't see any divided loyalties with Mr. Wuerffel's outburst. Faith and the friendships it creates transcend even the bitterest of worldly rivalries. As Mr. Wuerffel says, "When you care about someone, you don't care what jersey they're wearing."

Such mentoring by Christian men is one of the most inspiring and least understood stories in sports. Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy has been lauded—and criticized—for his work with individuals like Michael Vick, the NFL quarterback jailed for running a dog-fighting ring. Yet Mr. Dungy, the author of a book on mentoring, realizes that he gets just as much benefit from the experience. As the Proverb says, "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

This week all eyes will be on Tim Tebow in the AFC divisional playoffs. Few will be watching Danny Wuerffel, though, as he continues to fight for the disenfranchised in pockets of poverty in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida. But the crowds are irrelevant: Both men have always played for an audience of One.

Mr. Flaherty is the president and cofounder of Walden Media. Mr. Whitaker, the co-founder of Impact For Living ministries, is co-author of Tim Tebow's autobiography, "Through My Eyes" (HarperCollins, 2011).

A GREAT SERMON/COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 31: Between a Rock and a Hard Place All this and much more @ One Year Bible Blog at the top of the scroll on my sidebar.

Win Or Lose, What Tebow Knows For Sure

2012-01-14T17:04:00.006-06:00

GOOD NEWS FROM DAVID FRUM: THREATS MAY BE ALL IRAN HAS LEFT

IN THE MIDST OF TONIGHT'S NFL/TEBOW/BRADY-MANIA, it's 1,000% guaranteed Tim Tebow knows some things for certain. Don't be fooled by all the silly-puerile 'God headlines'---even on Drudge---after the game, especially if the heavily-favored Patriots win. Win or lose, Tebow knows these things without a doubt:

1. God loves Tom Brady and his teammates every bit as much as he loves Tebow and his. And miracles can happen on either side.

2. Tebow will give God thanks and the glory whatever the outcome---before, during and after the game. He knows nothing good ever comes from his taking credit that doesn't belong to him. Staying humble and keeping his eyes on his Maker is job 1.

3. Tebow knows having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ isn't a guarantee of winning anything---except in eternity. God is not a good-luck charm-cupie doll to be manipulated or leveraged to suit his greatest wishes or anybody else's for that matter.

4. As much a he's trained, hard as he's worked and well as he plays, Tebow knows his strength is in God and his talent is a gift from God to be used wisely for as long as he has it.

5. Tebow knows that fame and fortune is a flash-in-the-pan and can disappear as quickly as it comes. Tebow's real claim to fame is his name is written in God's Book of Life.....oh yes it is.

6. Tebow knows that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16) but you already knew he knows that.

7. Tebow knows that God's ways are often inscrutable and mysterious beyond human reason and things sometimes happen for God's purposes which we cannot begin to fathom.

8. It really doesn't matter a bit who wins tonight in the grand scheme of things. Either way he considers it a great privilege to be there playing his heart with the Broncos opposite Tom Brady et al.

So, as all America tunes in, all I can say is may the best man/team win. I know it's going to be great fun watching.

Sad Image Calls Up Future EU Headlines

2012-01-14T08:03:00.017-06:00

NOT OT MAKE LIGHT OF A TRULY TRAGIC SITUATION OFF THE COAST OF ITALY TODAY where a number of people have died and more are missing, I find myself mulling over the symbolism of such an event and what it could portend especially for Southern Mediterranean countries.

I've never had even a scintilla of desire to take a cruise ship ANYWHERE. However if I ever have a momentary lapse, it would be to take it on a very small and intimate vessel instead of the ill-fated, gargantuan one shown above--which would be my idea of paying to be luxuriously imprisoned in a small space with germs and viruses from all over the world without hope of bail for the duration. But enough of my travel issues.

The foremost symbolic thought I have is this is the forerunner of the final sinking of the European Union (EU) and the decline and disappearance of the EURO currency. With it will undoubtedly go the fatalities of many European countries like Greece, France, Italy which have borrowed far, far too much for present luxuries from future generations and coffers. It is money these countries don't have, never had and never will have. And it is a tragic failure of political chicanery and weak economic will.

Sure, life rafts will continue to be sent to save the sinking EU ship run aground but in the end, they will only forestall the inevitable sinking in full of this European-style over-sized, over-estimated Titantic. It's not a matter of if, but only when.

In seeing this imagine today, I like to recall when then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher predicted to much outrage in 2002 the sinking of the EU ship almost before it set sail:

The European single currency is bound to fail, economically, politically and indeed socially, though the timing, occasion and full consequences are all necessarily still unclear.

Sure enough this savvy, principled iron lady was correct in her prescient, unpopular perceptions against all odds and the unstoppable momentum of history.

When the end of the EU comes, the photo above will be a chilling reminder of idealistic hope over humble, hardworking reality.

Kudlow: U.S. Corp Needs A Bainful Turnaround Starting With A Stealth New CEO

2012-01-14T07:38:00.006-06:00

LARRY KUDLOWS NAILS IT when he writes the U.S. government desperately needs a financial turnaround starting with replacing its Chief Operating Officer, profligate spender Barack Obama, with a lean, mean CEO skilled at takeovers and the tough job of saving and restructuring corporations from bankruptcy and desperate decline. Larry writes at Real Clear Markets:

There's a very troubled company out there called U.S. Government, Inc. It's teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. And it badly needs to be taken over and turned around. It probably even needs the services of a good private-equity firm, with plenty of experience and a reasonably good track record in downsizing, modernizing, shrinking staff, and making substantial changes in management. Yes, layoffs will be a necessary part of the restructuring.
A quick look at the income statement of this troubled firm tells the story. Just in the past year (FY 2011) the firm spent $3.7 trillion, but took in only $2.2 trillion in sales revenues. Hence its deficit came to $1.5 trillion.

Just in the first three months of the new year (FY 2012), the firm's troubles continued. Outlays for all purposes came in at $874 billion, but income was only $554 billion. So the shortfall was $320 billion. No hope of a self-imposed turnaround here. Indeed, both the senior management and the board of directors show no signs of making major changes to their business strategy.

Hope for future profits? That's out of the question. The firms only chance of survival is a takeover.

Worldwide employment for U.S. Government, Inc. is estimated to be over two million, a completely unmanageable number for a venture like this. Total compensation for this company is roughly twice the level of its private-sector counterparts. And its retirement and health-insurance benefits are so large in relation to contributions paid that its benefit plans are careening toward insolvency.

In fact, the total debt of this firm now equals its total income -- an unsustainable position that suggests to many observers that future financing needs will not be met.

The product line of this troubled firm has been rejected over and over by growing segments of its customer base. And its product pricing (taxes) is not even remotely competitive. Even worse, heavily unionized work rules and regulations are so onerous that the prospects for even reasonable productivity and efficiency are long gone.

Its credit rating? That's been marked down, with more downgrades expected in the future.

The very troubled U.S. Government, Inc. had long been either number one or in the top three worldwide in terms of economic freedom. But as a result of all these deteriorating conditions, it has fallen four years in a row in this category, slipping all the way to tenth. In fact, over the past ten years, the firm has barely grown and its share price has been flat. Without the kind of radical change that comes from a takeover and turnaround, more economic slippage is baked in the cake.

Restructuring this company seems a hopeless proposition. But wait a minute. There's a highly regarded private-equity operation located in Boston that has a good (but not perfect) track record in turning around hopeless ventures. Though there have been failures for this firm, notable successes include Staples, The Sports Authority, Domino's Pizza, and Steel Dynamics.
Anyone operating in business knows full well that even the smartest reorganizing firms are prone to failure as well as success in our free-market capitalist system. But the customer base of the troubled U.S. Government, Inc. seems like it is desperate enough to go the takeover route.

Some are concerned that private-equity specialists are too hard hearted. But in these tough times, people are willing to take a risk. That even includes the current CEO of the failed U.S. Government, Inc., one Barack Obama. He just announced plans to merge the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In other words, he's borrowing a private-equity tactic.
Alas, this move is way too small and way too late. Much more radical surgery will be necessary.

At a recent family election in New Hampshire, the former head of the Boston takeover firm, one Mitt Romney, emerged victorious with a sweep of all the key voter segments. Sounding like Ronald Reagan on the evening of his victory, the former turnaround CEO expressed confidence that the troubled U.S. Government, Inc. could be saved. He was even optimistic.

But he warned that if family members expected a bidding war for more unpaid-for benefits with excessive price tags, well, he wouldn't be the man for that job. Tough measures would be necessary instead.

So now the question is, will America, Inc. ask this former turnaround CEO to prevent the bankruptcy of U.S. Government, Inc.? Isn't a Bainful turnaround exactly what America needs?

I wholeheartely second your motion, Larry.

Tamny: Romney Did A Great Job At Bain Capital

2012-01-13T07:52:00.004-06:00

NEWT AND RICK SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEIR IGNORANT, LOW-BLOW ATTACKS

JOHN TAMNY WRITES:

TO STATE WHAT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS to Romney's opponents, the current Republican frontrunner has handed them all the ammunition they need to derail his candidacy. Past policies, along with ones proposed for the future are his downfall. Stick to them.

Regarding Romney's work for Bain Capital, there it could and should be said that he was "doing God's work", to paraphrase Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Far from bankrupting companies, Romney and his cohorts at Bain frequently purchased poorly run companies in possession of underutilized assets, and in most instances managed them with great skill.

If this is doubted, the naysayers which sadly include Romney's opponents would have to explain the exceptional profits Bain earned for its investors during Romney's tenure that, according to the Wall Street Journal, ranged anywhere from 50 to 80% on an annual basis. To raise the money needed to purchase those companies, Romney et al obviously didn't hold guns to the heads of investors, rather the backers of Bain lined up for the opportunity to ask Bain to manage their money.

Did layoffs occur at the companies that Bain purchased? Of course they did. Businesses are not in business to create jobs; instead they exist at the pleasure of investors (including pension funds allocating the capital of the average worker) and must achieve profits in order to remain open. For Romney's opponents or voters in general to lament this reality is for both to lament progress, all the while revealing that they haven't a clue about how jobs are created.

Assuming they don't, jobs are created when profitable concepts are matched with capital. Simple as that. Of course a major reason that Bain purchased the companies it did was that existing management had failed on the profit front, thus necessitating layoffs in order to bring production costs down. Businesses are not charities.

And in reducing costs that would naturally include overhead, Bain succeeded a lot of the time in nursing the companies it purchased back to profitability. For those who care about jobs, what Bain did should excite them. Indeed, it is profits that attract the investment that is tautologically necessary for companies to expand, and through expansion, offer up employment.

With job creation in mind, Romney and his camp should regularly shine a light on his brilliant doings while at Bain. The layoffs that the corporate turnarounds necessitated set the stage for much better employment in the future for underutilized capital being freed up to fund expansion that was actually profitable. It's no doubt similarly true that the healthy companies Bain created were a magnet for further investment that fostered the creation of even more jobs.

Roger Simon Continues His Political Confessional And I Like His Punditry Anyway

2012-01-11T07:43:00.007-06:00

TAMNY: THE RIGHT'S BAIN OF ROMNEY'S EXISTENCE

WHAT ROGER @ PJMEDIA SAYS TODAY GOES FOR ME TOO. Our political, starry-eyed infatuation for the next best conservative candidate has run rampant with all us righties during this latest election cycle. I, like Roger, was very smitten with Rick Perry in the beginning, but after a couple of dates, I couldn't run for the door fast enough. With Cain, it was only one lunch date before I was excusing myself from the table. Punditry.

Could it be that political maturity is on the way for many of us as realities of Romney and our long-term fiscal problems makes better voters with more realistic expectations for the long haul?

I hope so, and not that we all become cynics because it's not what our country needs right now. We need to be more discerning and realistic and less quick to pull the judgment trigger as never before. Thanks Roger for saying what needs to be said. I still like your willing-to-be flexible punditry. We don't need for our opinions to be jammed in a straight jacket because there's far too many unknown factors coming down the old proverbial pike.

Lost Photos of the Mad Debtor With Friends/Family At WH Halloween Party, Circa 2009

2012-01-09T15:16:00.011-06:00

PHOTOS WORTH A MILLION VOTES? If only pumpkins could talk. Above, the usual suspects, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Michelle and the President playing his spendthrift self---scary even without a costume on.

SOURCE: PJMedia

Loving Actions Lead To Loving Feelings---Excerpts From Tim Keller's New Book

2012-01-08T06:44:00.010-06:00

LIKE LEANING AWAY FROM THE SLOPES WHEN LEARNING TO DOWNHILL SKI, many if not all of the basic premises of real, lasting love are counter-intuitive before we master the black slopes of lasting love relationships and friendship. They are certainly in direct opposition to what the world of hype and advertising bombard us with---if it feels good, then it's love, but if it doesn't feel, feel, feel good, then love has most assuredly died and it's time to move on.

I continue quoting from Tim, with wife Cathy, Keller's outstanding new book on real love and marriage: The Meaning of Marriage, Facing the Complexities of Commitment With the Wisdom of God:

(PLEASE NOTE: As fate would have it, I have a small, early morning crisis involving a lost black cat, aka Blackie, belonging to a good friend who's recovering in the hospital from a car accident this week---one of the reasons I've been away so much. So in true form of action before wanting to, I'm going to help find that little black cat, hopefully before church. It means that I'm dashing into my clothes and, God willing, have to continue this post later today!)

(ADDENDUM! Blackie--the little black farm cat spent his first night outdoors after being let out yesterday and refusing to come back last evening before dark! Therefore he was left to his own devices. I'm happy to report that this morning, I returned to find Blackie curled up on my friend's back deck under a table, contrite and more than ready to come into the house without any coaxing. He was hungry and tired. We were all relieved he was home! Needless to say, I didn't let him or his little companion Snickers the girl cat out today.)

OK, where was I? Oh, back to Tim Keller:

ACTIONS OF LOVE LEAD TO FEELINGS OF LOVE

In one of his BBC radio talks during WWII, C.S. Lewis expounded on the basic Christian virtues, including those of forgiveness and charity (or love). For the British, the world was then unavoidably divided into allies and enemies. In that situation, Lewis said, many of his countrymen and women found the Christian doctrine of forgiving and loving all human beings to be not just impossible but repugnant. 'This sort of talk makes me sick,' many said to him. But Lewis went on to argue that, despite feelings of indifference and even contempt, you can change your heart over the long haul through your actions:

Though natural likings should normally be encouraged, it would be quite wrong to think that the way to become charitable is to sit trying to manufacture affectionate feelings.....The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor, act as if you do. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking them him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less....Whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less....The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he likes them: The Christian, trying to treat everyone kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on----including people he could not ever have imagine himself liking at the beginning.

Lewis then used an illustration that had great potency, particularly at that time:

This same spiritual law works terribly in the opposite direction. The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the Jews because they hated them: afterwards they hated them much more because they had ill-treated them. The more cruel you are, the more you will hate; and the more you hate, the more cruel you will become---and so on in a vicious circle forever.

To be continued next Sunday.

Peter Schiff Interviews Anne Barnhart On The Devastating Lockout of Customers From Their Money During M F Global Collapse

2012-01-06T09:37:00.004-06:00

WHY MY FELLOW CHRISTIANS NEED TO EMBRACE TWILIGHT

SIGN OF THINGS TO COME? TECHNICAL INTERVIEW BUT VERY DISTURBING FOR CUSTOMERS OF BROKERAGE FIRMS.

Lawlessness that could lead to eventual total collapse of the financial markets. She reveals outrageous crimes committed in confiscation of customers' funds and the government's nefarious complicity in this. Jon Corzine stole customers money---period, end of conversation. Her call for investors everywhere to remove every kind of investment from the financial markets and brokerage houses before they are confiscated is a bit over-the-top at the moment, but her points are nevertheless well-taken. Very sobering interview. Good for Barnhart and Schiff.

Tuesday Links

2012-01-03T14:27:00.005-06:00

OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS, I've enjoyed a daily dose of a newfound site called The Reformed Broker written by Joshua Brown of Fusion Investments in Manhattan. He's young and his taste in music and movies is a bit underwhelming to me, but some of his market/business observations are fun and interesting to say the least.

Take for instance today his post The Red Giant: Five Reasons Facebook Is Over is well worth a read. In it Josh makes a strong point that FACEBOOK has/is peaking as an retail investment for everyone except the original, early, lucky few who got in on the ground floor. There's more so get your fill by following the link.

The second link is more disturbing to me. It's about the recent news of the politically-correct Pentagon recently approving the wearing of hijabs and turbans in the military.

All I can ask in horrified response is What's wrong with this pictture? It's a rhetorical question. Oh let me count the ways!

Sunday: Love Is---Emotions Or Actions?

2012-01-01T20:03:00.009-06:00

AND WHAT IF WE'VE LOST THAT LOVING FEELING?

THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM Timothy, with wife Kathy, Keller's much anticipated new book The Meaning of Marriage, Facing the Complexities of Commitment With the Wisdom of God. I'm in the process of reading every word and highly recommend it for anyone interested in marriage, friendship and loving relationships of all kinds from a Biblical worldview. You will not be disappointed. The following passage concerns whether love is primarily an emotion or an action and runs counter to the culture teachings which have spawned a tsunami of divorces and broken families:

Nearly everyone thinks the Bible's directive to 'love your neighbor' is wise, right and good. But notice that it is a command, and emotions cannot be commanded. The Bible does not call us to like our neighbor, to have affection and warm feelings toward him or her. No, the call is to love your neighbor, and that must primarily mean displaying a set of behaviors.

The feeling of affection, of course is a natural part of love, and it can enable us to better perform the actions of love. We are never more satisfied and fulfilled than when affection and action are joined in us, when we are serving someone we delight in. Nevertheless, if we don't distinguish between feelings and actions, it can put huge barriers in the way of loving people.

One reason we need to make this distinction is because of the sheer inconsistency of our feelings. They are tied to complex physical, psychological and social factors. They wax and then wane, often in infuriating ways. Our emotions are not under our control but our actions are. Most of our likes and dislikes are neither sins nor virtues---no more than our tastes in food or music. What matters is what we do with them. If, as our culture encourages us, we go so far as to define love as 'liking'---if we only feel that actions of love are 'authentic' if there are strong feeling of love present---we will inevitably be bad friend and even more terrible family members and spouses.

It is a mistake to think that you must feel love to give it....

So if your definition of 'love' stresses affectionate feelings more than unselfish actions, you will cripple your ability to maintain and grow strong love relationships. On the other hand, if you stress the action of love over feeling, you enhance and establish the feeling. That is one of the secrets of living life, as well as marriage.

Plan to continue posting excerpts from Keller's book of great wisdom next Sunday. Happy New Year!

Seven 2012 Predictions I Hope I'm Right About

2011-12-31T16:24:00.006-06:00

UPDATE: GEORGE WILL AGREES---THERE'S MUCH REASON FOR CONSERVATIVE OPTIMISM

I'LL DO THESE QUICKLY and perhaps come back next year to flesh them out. Hope I'm right on these:

1. OBAMACARE WILL BE RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN PART OR IN TOTAL BY THE SUPREME COURT. The ruling will be based on the over-reach of the Commerce clause.

There is nothing more important in current events and to our freedom in the United States today than the reversal of this ill-defined, heavy-handed cobbled together law which most law-makers who passed it have already opted out of.

2. THE GOP WILL WIN THE SENATE AND RE-TAKE THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. There are many advantages to this, although President Obama will do many end-runs around the legislative process to hammer though his liberal agenda and remake America.

3. MUCH OF THE OBAMA LEGACY CAN AND WILL BE REVERSED ONCE HE IS OUT OF OFFICE. I do not subscribe to the hysterical theory that our country will be unrecognizable if Obama wins a second term. I believe much of his legacy is reversible and it will be reversed.

4 GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISM IS OVER AND AN ENDANGERED SPECIES, not a minute too soon.

5. KATE MIDDLETON BRINGS IN A NEW FASHION ERA OF elegant, inexpensive and great looking clothes for women.

6.TOO BIG, TOO WHITE TEETH WILL BE EVEN MOREOVER-DONE IN 2012 THAN BIG BOOBS AND BEE-STUNG, SWOLLEN-LOOKING LIPS, as the freak show continues.But the peak of this trend is near. The only thing that may curtail it completely is the economic downturn.

7. TATTOO REGRET WILL CONTINUE, fuelling an industry of tattoo removal shops which charge a high price to reverse the ungodly trend.

Five 2012 Predictions I Hope I'm Wrong About

2011-12-31T15:58:00.004-06:00

THE HOUR IS LATE AND I AM ABOUT TO LEAVE THE COMPUTER FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR, but I want to write down some predictions without much ado. Each one of them I hope and pray I'm wrong about:

1. PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL NARROWLY BE RE-ELECTED TO A SECOND TERM. The margin will not be as narrow if Hillary can be convinced to be the vice-presidential running mate and help win back some disgruntled, unhopeful Democrats. This prediction could be negated if food and gas prices soar next summer and into the fall.

2. NO MATTER WHO WINS THE HOUSE AND SENATE, President Obama will push his liberal, sometimes radical agenda through by presidential executive fiat and through administrative regulatory processes essentially circumventing the Constitutionally intended checks and balances within the three branches of government.

3. THE U.S. ECONOMY WILL CONTINUE to be extremely fragile and volatile in 2012 and taxpayers will bear an unknown gargantuan burden as Fed chairman Ben Bernanke continues secretly loaning European banks untold amounts of our money which will only forestall their inevitable default and collapse. The chickens will begin to come home to roost only after the 2012 presidential elections as the national and global economies will get progressively more dire. While 2012 will see volatility and fear in global markets, it will be nothing compared to what is going to unfold in 2013 and 2014.

4. IRAN WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE ITS UNHOLY ALLIANCES with Northern Sudan, Venezuela, Cuba and the drug cartels in Mexico which will incredasingly threaten world peace and stability as well as the internal fabric of domestic society here in America.

5. MORE AND MORE TAXPAYING CITIZENS with means will look for second homes outside the continental United States in countries like Brazil, Argentina, Panama and Canada as they fear the dominos starting to fall sooner rather than later---by 2013 and beyond---here in America.

In the End Zone: Over-the-Top Touchdown With Jerome Simpson

2011-12-27T20:28:00.008-06:00

WHILE I'M NOT THE WORLD'S biggest nor brightest football fan, even I know a great move when I see it. The video above of the touchdown flip by Cincinnati Bengal's Jerome Simpson Christmas Eve is literally Over the Top!

Lots of people saw this live, but for those who missed it, I post it here for your viewing pleasure and wonderment. But be forewarned, like potato chips, you can't just eat one---if you're like me you'll have to watch it again and maybe again and again!

Give that man a roaring ovation!

Vegetarian Redef

2011-12-26T14:49:00.004-06:00

ME THINK...VERY HA HA!

Winding Down

2011-12-26T12:15:00.010-06:00

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS ARE ALREADY OUTSIDE IN BOXES READY to go into storage. Plates and silverware are sparkly clean, stored and a few gifts have been put into their rightful places. As time goes on, everything about the holidays is pared down yet it never seems to diminish Christmas one bit. I'm not a big stuff person....and start feeling claustrophibic with too many decorations, presents and too much clutter.

I'm not one to drag the holidays on either. If anything I'd rather decorate for Thanksgiving, add a few more lights and creches for Christmas, then take everything down right after Christmas like I did today.

I know there are 12 Days of Christmas and I like that. But I'd rather go through these other days in more solemn, reflective ways. Have a stack of books I've dived into and will be reading non-stop over next few days.

I love the spareness and deep quiet of the next few days and weeks. And relish these long winter nights' sleeps for recharging our mental, physical and emotional batteries for the many challenges ahead.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T13:28:00.001-06:00

WISHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY AND LOVED ONES A MERRY, WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS! Thanks for coming by!

The Greatest Arrival Right On Time

2011-12-24T21:34:00.007-06:00

THE PHARISEES AND OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLARS WERE LOOKING FOR HIM TO ARRIVE EXACTLY WHEN HE DID

HARD TO FATHOM ISAIAH PROPHESIED THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST some 600 years before the actual event:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a child is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

---Isaiah 9:6, 7b

Yet it's only one of dozens of Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah. The prophet Daniel prophesied in the 7th century B.C not only the birth of Christ but also the exact timing in relation to the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, the birth of the Savior and then the total destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.:

24 “Seventy ‘sevens’[a] are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish[b] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.[c]

25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[d] the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.[e] The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’[f] In the middle of the ‘seven’[g] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple[h] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
More explanation

1977 Miracle: Bing and Bowie Make Christmas Music Together

2011-12-24T14:13:00.003-06:00

IF EVER THERE WAS AN ODD AND UNLIKELY MUSICAL COUPLING it has to be this one.
Matt Peterson @ Big Hollywood has the rather interesting story.

Lego's Wonderful New 'Occupy' Riot Brigade Collection

2011-12-22T08:30:00.002-06:00

GREAT CLEVER VIDEO/IDEA FROM LEGO.

Brian Lund On Living A Wise Life Of Correcting Big Mistakes Sooner Rather Than Later While Easier To 'Contain'

2011-12-20T08:47:00.011-06:00

WALL STREET'S DOUR CHRISTMAS PARTIES

The “Second Mistake” Theory In Trading And In Life.

We are all human and we all make mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are big and sometimes they are small. Calling the deceased the wrong name at a graveside eulogy leans more toward the “big” end of the scale.

I witnessed this awkward event at the service for my best friend’s mother.

The Priest stood at the head of the casket and started…..

“We are all here to celebrate the life of Mary Ann Anderson. Mrs. Anderson was a lovely woman who cared deeply about her family, her friends, and her faith. Often I would see Mrs. Anderson working long hours at one of our church functions……”

As he continued to speak I watched the priest begin a transformation. He was slowly morphing into a gazelle, like the ones you see on a Mutual of Omaha special, just peacefully standing in the high grass of some majestic African plain. Like that gazelle he had no idea that lions were about to jump up and rip his larynx out.

“….and I would always joke with her when I saw her at the Sunday service. Mrs. Anderson always had the best sense of humor….”

Suddenly all four of her grown daughters leapt up out of their seats and screamed almost in unison;

“HER NAME WAS SANDERS, NOT ANDERSON….MARY….ANN…..SANDERS….SAN-DERS…!!!!!”

The Priest was stunned and went into a moment of shocked silence that seemed to last a lifetime. I studied his face and watched his eyes and I am pretty sure his first thought was “is there room for me to jump in under that coffin”.

Then I saw it. I knew where he was going to go next. And I knew it was going to be bad. Real bad. Vanilla Ice bad.

A sense of empathetic panic gripped me and like a catcher attempting to brush off a bad signal from his pitcher, I tried to telepathically send him the message “don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it…you’re going to get taken downtown…!!!” But he did it.

He started to backtrack and explain how of course he knew her name was Sanders, and that he had just mentioned to someone before the service how he liked “Mrs. Sanders” so much, and that it had been a long week for him, etc., etc.

Not unlike the gazelle, having been mortally wounded and flailing about in its death throes, his reaction just brought more attacks.

Her sons and then grandsons got into the mix, loudly shouting their justified outrage. I think the only reason things did not get completely out of hand is the fact that beating up a priest pretty much takes you right to front of the line for admission to Hell.

The priest made a mistake to be sure in using the wrong name, but the fatal mistake was how he reacted when he realized his misstep. A deft and perhaps humorous comment acknowledging his mistake, while reaffirming his intimate relationship with Mrs. Sanders, could have saved the day and negated any ill effects his gaffe produced.

Sometimes our reaction to a mistake can’t negate it’s bad effects, but can at least contain them.

Read the whole piece as he gets personal with big mistakes he made, then compounded by ill judgment.

It's called digging ourselves deeper into the grave.

Hat Tip: Josh Brown

Duchess Dazzles, Diverts Us From Collapsing Currencies, Botched Bailouts

2011-12-19T22:00:00.016-06:00

YEAH HE SAID IT
WORST PERFORMING STOCKS OF 2011

TRULY A BREATH OF FRESH AIR.

More on Kate's sensational look tomorrow.

MEANWHILE, here's Rick Perry as linguist, historian, current events curator, soon-to-be erstwhile GOP candidate and political stand-up comedian:

Perry Botches Kim Jong-Il's Name

At this point, Rick Perry's general knowledge of history and current events is just laughable. The GOP Presidential hopeful had yet another "oops" moment today, this time referring to the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il as "Kim John the Second." Perry made the gaffe in an email which was posted on his website, then subsequently corrected. Interestingly enough, Perry incorrectly referenced his name three times, but then used the correct "-Il" once. Another interesting observation is that Perry wrote in the email that he was "a vicious dictator," but then referenced him three times as though he were a monarch.

Could be about time for Perry to head on back to Texas and stay there?

Source

Drudge Dreary Headline, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, Praise God!

2011-12-19T21:20:00.016-06:00

TEBOW: TOO BIG TO FAIL?

FEW THINGS have disgusted me more than that snippy little headline at Drudge this morning which read "GOD LOVES TOM BRADY TOO."

It was in regard to last night's playoff game between the winning New England Patriots starring quarterback Tom Brady and Denver Broncos with evangelical quarterback Tim Tebow. Let me say at the outset, of course God loves Tom Brady as Tim Tebow. Clearly, winning or losing a football game or season doesn't signify loving either more or less. Irregardless, to over-religiousize the game, this game, like over-politicizing every culture issue is puerile and sign of the time. We should idolize neither quarterback or make any team too important. Both men command our respect at this point for their hard work and excellence and lack of scandal. So far. Both men absolutely have feet of clay.
.
Drudge is better than that.

Unfunny. Unclever. Uncalled for. Stupid. And tomorrow I'll tell you what I really think.

I left the page and didn't come back until a few minutes ago. Interesting, tonight there's no sign of it anywhere to be found, even by scrolling down. I could have missed it, but it does appear someone removed it.

Good riddance.

Pastor Peter Scazzero Interviews A Trappist Monk On the Contemplative Life

2011-12-18T19:55:00.016-06:00

AND WHY EVANGELICALS CAN USE IT TOO, THOUGH MANY ARE FRIGHTENED BY THIS MOVEMENT, AS THE DESERT FATHERS (MONKS) STARTED OUT OF THE (NON-REFORMED, PRE-REFORMED) CATHOLIC CHURCH

CONTEMPLATION, OR CENTERING PRAYER, IS A FORM OF DEEP PRAYER. The desire and calling to come to God in silence and stillness for His sake, rather than just practicing intercessionsary prayer in which we ask God for our or other's needs, is a gift from the Holy Spirit and a spiritual discipline. Here Pastor Pete Scazzero of New Life Fellowship in Queens interviews William Meninger, a Trappist monk, on leading more of a Mary life in a non-stop Martha world.

This is well worth a listen if you're so inclined. This practice for me is in addition to daily Bible study and prayer. It's adding a silent time alone and quiet with God---something I've neglected over the past six years, but now am quietly, slowly coming back to.

Besides being the pastor of New Life, Scazzero has written several well-known books including Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, It's Impossible To Be Spiritually Mature While Remaining Emotionally Immature.

Justin Taylor On the Death And Atheism of Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)

2011-12-17T15:00:00.010-06:00

UNBELIEF is one of the most common spiritual diseases in these latter days. It meets us at every turn, and in every company. Like the Egyptian plague of frogs, it makes its way into every family and home, and there seems no keeping it out. Among high and low, and rich and poor, in town and in country, in universities and manufacturing towns, in castles and in cottages, you will continually find some form of unbelief. It is no longer a pestilence which walks in darkness, but a destruction which wastes at noonday. Unbelief is even thought clever and intellectual, and a mark of a thoughtful mind. Society seems leavened with it. He who avows his belief of everything contained in the Bible, must make up his mind in many companies to be smiled at contemptuously, and thought an ignorant and weak man.

---J.C. Ryle

**********

TAYLOR WRITING AT THE GOSPEL COALITION:

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS DIED on Thursday night at the age of 62, after a 18-month battle with esophageal cancer.

He was a brilliant and entertaining man. He was enormously gifted, and in his final years he took those gifts and used them to mock God, using his considerable wit and sharp tongue to convince as many people as possible to do the same.

Read the whole thing, watch the video of Hitchens with Doug Wilson.

You may know Christopher had a younger brother, Peter, who authored the book The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led me to Faith.

Weekend Homework: Bill Whittle On the GOP's Greedy, Racist Facists

2011-12-17T13:17:00.003-06:00

AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!

Ambushed By Jolly, By Golly!

2011-12-14T23:37:00.011-06:00

BRING OUT BOUGHS OF HOLLY

WHEREBY CARLSON HAS INSTANTLY BECOME THE BEST KNOWN management school in the country, maybe the world....

Priceless.

Yes It Tis!

HT M Perry

Amazing 3D Illusions of Eduardo Relero's Street Art

2011-12-13T17:52:00.003-06:00

SAW THIS AT THE TELEGRAPH and all I can say is WOW! Fun to look at and must have been amazing to design and execute. Go and see the entire slide show here and be amazed by the optical illusions too.

John Tamny: Obama's Economics Reach New Low of (Mis) Understanding; He Needs To Go!

2011-12-13T08:17:00.004-06:00

HAYWOOD: PRESIDENTIAL PRETTY PLEASE POLITICS

IN AN ECONOMICALLY THEMED speech last week in Kansas, President Obama revealed for all to see just how divorced he is from reality, and why his departure from the White House in 2013 is essential. It's not that we can't recover from another Obama term - that's the easy part - but that as a serious nation we can't have a president who possesses such unserious views. Call it a pride thing.

Though Obama acknowledged up front the certain wonders of free markets, he only threw out the initial bouquet to decry those same unfettered markets. As he put it, "the free market has never been a free license to take whatever you can from whomever you can," as though those who participate in the marketplace on the way to great fortune somehow took from others in doing so. Really?

When I read about the members of the Forbes 400, I'm made aware of extraordinarily driven individuals who not only worked very hard to achieve their fortunes, but who also worked very smart. In doing so, and as evidenced by their grand wealth, they've made the lives of millions much better.

To list but a few members of this most exclusive group, I find Michael Dell whose eponymous computer company has made the once elusive and expensive personal computer cheap and ubiquitous, and then Amazon's Jeff Bezos, whose online retail innovations have animated the PC. I see Patrick Soon-Shiong, whose pharmaceutical genius has made the scourge that is cancer more survivable, and then I see people like Michael Milken whose financial wizardry opened democratized access to capital for the kind of entrepreneurs just mentioned.

The skeptical may well argue that Obama was targeting the rich Americans whose fortunes were somewhat maintained by the bank and auto bailouts of three years ago, not to mention the profligate individuals who purchased homes they couldn't afford only to be saved on the backs of prudent Americans who didn't commit such egregious errors. As Obama put it himself back in 2008, "Part of why our debt crisis is so bad is that some folks are making reckless decisions - racking up big credit card bills by purchasing flat-screen TVs and other luxury goods that they know they can't afford."

There Obama would have a point, but then it was the political class of which he's a prominent member that made the ghastly decision not long ago to excuse the mistakes of rich and poor alike, all of this paid for by the taxpayers. As Obama put it in explaining his support for TARP in 2008, "Today I fully support the efforts of Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke. What we're looking at right now is to provide the Treasury and the Fed with as broad authority as necessary to stabilize markets and maintain credit."

Translated, it was when politicians like Obama led our retreat away from free markets that politicians (and presidential candidates in Obama's case) gave themselves "license" to take from others. As the word "free" in free markets makes plain, the very unregulated markets that our president mocks ensure that no one is coerced; instead consenting individuals choose to transact with those offering them the best deal. The greater the profit the greater the unmet need fulfilled, and the Forbes 400 is full of bright business types who removed a great deal of unease from the lives of their customers and clients.

But rather than embrace the certain achievements of the rich in our midst whose wealth mirrors our betterment and constantly rising standards of living, Obama last week resumed his call for increasing the tax penalty levied on those whose innovations serve us. Supposedly raising the price of work for the rich will strengthen the middle class, but apparently not understood by Obama is that most of the members of the Forbes 400 were once firmly part of the middle class; their path out of the middle a function of their past ability to access capital from the very 1 percenters whose income the president would like to take more of.

Missed by Obama is that to penalize the success of the rich with taxes is to reduce the amount of investable capital for tomorrow's entrepreneurs who aspire to join the 1 percent. After that, and considering the tautological reality that the U.S.'s economic success is the certain result of the individuals who comprise the top 1 percent, is it a good idea when the economy is struggling to put more weights on the men and women with the greatest economic skills? If the previous question is hard to understand, readers might ask if the NFL would be better off economically if tomorrow Roger Goodell decreed that Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger had to throw with their left hands.

Further on Obama argued that rebuilding the economy "will require American business leaders to understand that their obligations don't just end with their shareholders." Nice rhetoric if you're a community organizer, but very much beneath a president whose stated objective is to improve the economic outlook. To put it very simply, the only obligation business leaders have is to please shareholders precisely because without shareholders there are no companies and there are no jobs.

Apparently Obama missed the above memo as evidenced by easily the most frightening part of his speech in which he noted that, "Over the last few decades, huge advances in technology have allowed businesses to do more with less, and made it easier for them to set up shop and hire workers anywhere in the world....Steel mills that needed 1,000 employees are now able to do the same work with 100, so that layoffs were too often permanent, not just a temporary part of the business cycle....If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs or the Internet." Missed by our most economically illiterate of presidents is that the very definition of the productivity that attracts the investment necessary for company formation and job creation is the process whereby companies figure out how to produce more with less in the way of labor inputs.

After that, would President Obama prefer that U.S. business remain static, and free of innovation? Can he name one economically successful country in the history of the world that grew to be that way by virtue of shielding itself from technological advancement? The personal computer has arguably destroyed more jobs than any technology in the history of mankind, thus begging the question of whether Obama would prefer that it not exist.

At present Obama rightly decries the lack of opportunity within our limping economy, but rather than look in the very mirror that would reveal his policies to be the problem, he continues to blame his admittedly hopeless predecessor, and then when that doesn't work, he fingers the rich and their allegedly low rates of taxation as the source of our economic ills. As Nietzsche once said, "No one is such a liar as the indignant man."

What's funny and sad at the same time is that Obama doesn't realize how easy he has it. To understand true difficulty, it's worthwhile to consider Germany in the aftermath of World War II when, after losing a generation of human capital along with nearly its entire infrastructure, many Germans were reduced to living in caves. Having inherited this spectacular disaster that made the hand that Obama was dealt look positively grand, Ludwig von Erhard slashed spending and taxes, then pegged the country's currency to a gold-defined dollar. Within three years a once destroyed country could claim one of the most powerful economies in the world.

In Obama's case he too has had three years, yet the economy that he inherited is in many ways much worse today. Looked at through the von Erhard prism, Obama did the opposite on the policy front with predictably negative results. In short, the economic ill health that Obama properly bemoans can be directly correlated with the policies he's foisted on all of us. Obama's policy failures are our unemployment lines, and because they are, it's essential that voters relieve him of his presidential duties.

LINK
John Tamny is editor of RealClearMarkets and Forbes Opinions, a senior economic adviser to H.C. Wainwright Economics, and a senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading (www.trtadvisors.com). He can be reached at jtamny@realclearmarkets.com

Weekend Silent Advent Retreat

2011-12-09T15:01:00.005-06:00

THOUGHT I'D GET BACK TO THE COMPUTER SOONER BUT FAR TOO MUCH GOING ON. Now leaving for a weekend of silence and prayer up on Monteagle mountain. I need it. Will be back Sunday, God willing.

Jon Stewart on Herman Cain Dropping Out, Donald Trump Dropping In

2011-12-07T19:44:00.007-06:00

WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, OFTEN A BIG MOUTH OPENS

BEEN AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER enjoying cooking and entertaining the last few days. Have consumed more sugar since Sunday than all year long (something I rarely do). Fortunately have now gotten all the pumpkin pie and apple crisps either eaten or out of the house. Going to bed early. Hope to be back Thursday.

Monday: Obama On Hotel California Congress On SNL

2011-12-05T09:46:00.009-06:00

JOE BIDEN JOKES ABOUT U.S. SENDING MILLIONS OF OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO BAILOUT GREECE @ ZERO HEDGE....YES, THIS JOE BIDEN

IF ONLY IT WEREN'T SO TRUE!

Sunday Quietwalk, Selfishness In All of Us

2011-12-04T07:11:00.005-06:00

TODAY'S READING FROM James 4: While selfishness produces conflict, humility produces submission to God.

INSIGHT

SELFISHNESS IS THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL CONFLICT. When two hearts want different things - and neither is willing to sacrifice for the sake of the other - conflict arises. Selfishness is the cause of war, crime, and interpersonal conflict. By looking out for ourselves, we think we can get what we want from life. In contrast, the Lord teaches us that humility, not selfishness, results in satisfaction in life. Promote yourself, and wars and conflict result. Even God is against you (v. 6). But live in humility and wars and conflict cease, assuming all parties participate. And the Lord will lift you up.

PRAYER

Praise the Lord because He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble:

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name (Psalm 100:1-4).

Cain To Turn Out the Lights Soon

2011-12-01T19:34:00.015-06:00

FRIDAY PM UPDATE: CAIN TO MAKE A 'MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT' SATURDAY

HERMAN CAIN'S BID FOR PRESIDENT is over for American voters, if not yet for Herman Cain. No conservative I know takes pleasaure in his implosion, but there are far too many allegations attending his past liasons now, for him not to go and go soon. I find him less savory and credible as a candidate by the minute.

I believe Herman Cain, rather than vast left-win or right-wing conspiracies, set Herman Cain up notwithstanding many diehard apologists to the contrary (see above). I think the allegations of sexual harassment and extramarital liason(s) are probably true---true enough at this time for me to completely lose interest in Cain as a candidate. And yes, we may never know for sure the veracity of the charges.

All this on top of numerous foreign policy slip-ups that I won't go into here again.

It's time for Cain and the country to move on.

Isn't It Time For Herman Cain And Barney Frank...

2011-11-30T08:43:00.020-06:00

....TO TAKE A CHAIR AND SHARE A PEPPERONI?
HERMAN CAIN'S CAMPAIGN A NEW STUDY IN INEPTITUDE

AND SOON, VERY SOON, Mr. Cain can go back to where he came from, back to his, er, philanthropic work of 'helping' struggling, young (mainly white) women with their shaky finances on the casting couch.

All he wanted was a cookie.

A Brief Word From Barney

2011-11-30T06:53:00.003-06:00

BARNEY, BANKING AND BROTHELS

NO ONE SAYS IT BETTER THAN RAMIREZ @ IBD

One Photo Says It All: Just How Precarious Is Our Global Financial Debt/Credit Situation? How Far The Fall?

2011-11-29T11:13:00.001-06:00

THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING FIZZLE

(Michael Kemeter balances at a dizzying altitude of more than 3,000 feet on a strip of material no more than one inch wide. The highline was set up between a fissure across a steep gully at the Yosemite National Park in California.)
Picture: ALEXANDRE BUISSE / CATERS NEWS

Cramer Talks Global Credit Contagion, Sounds Fire Alarm On CNBC Monday

2011-11-29T07:49:00.016-06:00

JIM CRAMER OF MAD MONEY ON CNBC wants to educate his viewers as the the monstrous and perilous economic situation we're all facing. He wants us to know that the credit crisis in Europe will indeed affect us here in the U.S. and that we need to take steps right now to minimize the damage to come.

Cramer further stresses that we shouldn't be lulled into a false sense of security because of good reports of Black Friday spending or a good day or two in the stock market. He reiterates that we are not that far away from a global financial crisis so huge that it will be hard to get our minds around.

Click to play the first video, then move the curser to minute 6 to hear this rant. In the first minutes of the second video, he continues to explain this situation for investors whom he advises to sell into this rally any companies that depend on credit to survive because they will be the hardest hit.

Fresh Outrage: The Big Banks Need to be Broken Up Now, Put Out of OUR Misery

2011-11-28T07:09:00.015-06:00

MEANWHILE: HERMAN CAIN'S LATEST SEX SCANDAL

I'M TOTALLY WITH JOSH BROWN, taxpayers should be outraged, and I do mean outraged, by fresh disclosures of secret dealings, suppression of information and massive corporate welfare using our taxpayer money on these six big predatory banks----JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc. (C), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS).

They need to be broken up or need to fail---yesterday if possible
.
If any of us have not taken the time to educate ourselves to the reprehensible behavior of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department in coddling these corporate forever baby sharks---with no accountability or disclosure to us and our children on whose backs this depraved folly is now strapped to--- then we can and should get what we deserve.

We need to be outraged and stay outraged until this crazed and tragic chapter in our fiscal history ends. If we're not, we're all doomed.
Brown writes:

Fresh outrage as Bob Ivry, Bradley Keoun and Phil Kuntz (tough name) break an incredible story about the secrets of the 2008 bailouts. Banks fought to keep these details a secret, but Bloomberg Markets Magazine successfully sued for the truth.

Here goes:

The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing.

The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue.

And you can also thank these "smartest guys in the room" for those parasitic zero percent interest rates that are doing such wonders for your savings and retirement prospects.

Sunday

2011-11-26T18:04:00.002-06:00

The Hidden Life In Christ (Part 4)

AGAIN AND AGAIN, PASTOR MIKE ATKINS of River Crossing in Jackson Hole reiterates: Christ died for us so that He might live in us.

Newt: Victory or Death

2011-11-26T17:59:00.002-06:00

FROM SEVERAL YEARS AGO, but still worth taking the time to watch and listen. This is part 5. Newt is a compelling speaker with a hefty command of the English language, American history and the United States Constitution.

The Simplest, Easiest Solution To the Debt Problem

2011-11-26T08:52:00.013-06:00

THOUGH EVERY INDIVIDUAL AND COUNTRY WANTS TO MAKE IT MUCH MORE COMPLEX THAN IT REALLY IS...THERE'S A SIMPLE SOLUTION....

IT'S CALLED BANKRUPTCY

The borrower says, "I can't pay you back" and then the borrower surrenders his or her claim on any assets that he or she still possesses.

The lender, meanwhile, sifts through those assets and recoups what he or she can. And in this normal, natural state of affairs, both parties get hurt by the experience, and they go home to nurse their wounds, having learned a harsh lesson that hopefully will help them avoid making similar mistakes in the future.

And that's as it should be.

Because they're both responsible for the mistake.

The borrower borrowed too much. And the lender loaned too much. And they both paid the price for their optimism and/or greed.
Now, note what does NOT happen in this normal, natural "debtor can't pay lender" state of affairs:

The world doesn't freeze up with paroxysms of angst, denial, finger-pointing, can-kicking, moral hazard, and endless bailouts--in which no one is ever forced to acknowledge his or her mistake and learn his or her lesson.

In the US housing market, as in the European sovereign debt market, borrowers borrowed too much and lenders loaned too much.

Both sides had good intentions, but the good intentions didn't work out. And now we're in the age-old situation in which borrowers can't pay. And, as always, both sides bear responsibility for this situation.

No matter how popular it is to bash Wall Street, no one forced American consumers and European countries to borrow money. And no matter how popular it is to rail about deadbeats and the loss of personal responsibility, no one forced Wall Street to make all those dumb-ass loans.

In a simple, fair, and just world, both sides would now pay the price.

And the world would move on, quickly, and put this whole mess behind it.

But instead, we just get denial, empty promises, can-kicking, finger-pointing, and endless bailouts.

The reason we're not getting the simple solution this time, of course, is that so many people borrowed so much and so many people loaned so much that, collectively, they have a lot of power to influence the solution.

And, of course, like anyone else who has made a colossal, painful mistake, they're slow to acknowledge that they made a mistake, and they're doing everything they can to never have to acknowledge that.

But that shouldn't change anything.

The simple, fair, and best solution to the global debt crisis is the same as it ever was:
Let the borrower and lender suffer the consequences for their choices.

Thanksgiving Time

2011-11-23T07:59:00.011-06:00

HAD HOPED TO GET BACK to the computer more this week, but alas too much is going on. Still want to write about my recent dinner with an acquaintance I had hoped would become a friend but turned out to be a radical liberal. We sparred in a civilised way over dinner. However as we left the restaurant, I shook my head in disbelief at how truly far apart culturally, politically we two really are. Now I doubt I will ever see this person again. I prefer to stay open and never completely close someone out of my life, but I certainly won't pursue this in the future. I will be back to write on some of our dinner conversation when I catch my breath.

Since I'm short on time, thought I'd leave with a couple of links I've found of interest over the past few days. Wishing you and your family a wonderful, thankful Thanksgiving. What a blessed time of the year. With all our problems and dilemmas, surely we in America have more than our share to be grateful for. Thanks be to God for the richness of His blessings.

Without further ado, I pass on a few noteworthy links:

****** Besides the individual mandate, what else is wrong with Obamacare? Jeffrey Anderson answers at PJ Media today.

****** My recent dinner with Vladmir Putin in Moscow at Heritage's blog The Foundry. In case you have any doubts as to whether Putin has already elected himself president of Russia for life, this should dispel them.

****** Is the megachurch bubble about to burst? Some say it is. Sure glad I go to a teeny church that has no huge building fund to support.

****** More charges for Sandusky which will probably send him to jail due to insufficient funds to post bail. The story just keeps getting more horrifying.

****** Another must read on Obamacare and the huge time----5.5 hours--- allotted by the Supreme Court for oral arguments. This is almost unheard of. What are the implications of this? Especially noteworthy is the amount of time parcelled out on the issue of severability, or the issue of what happens if the High Court finds part of Obamacare unconstitutional. Does that automatically invalidate the entire law? Very interesting issues to contemplate.

****** The Awful Tyranny of Having to Be Nice. Good piece from the Anchoress.

Will be back with more when I can. Meanwhile, Happy Birthday, G-Boy! Can't wait to see you soon!

Super Committee Deadlock A Victory For Fiscal Sanity Rather Than A Failure

2011-11-21T17:52:00.008-06:00

GINGRICH: IT WAS DOOMED TO FAIL

COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER THAN PHIL KERPEN writing at Fox News.

It now appears the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “Super Committee”) will deadlock, resulting in automatic spending cuts of $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. Some are decrying this as a failure; I’m celebrating it as a victory. Clearly, much more must be done to cut federal spending and avert a fiscal crisis. But real spending cuts were never on the table. What was on the table was a disastrous tax hike that would have undermined our economic recovery and given Washington politicians even more money to spend, undermining the goal of cutting spending.

Republican House Leadership reportedly offered as much as $640B in tax hikes in the negotiations, contrary to political posturing from Democrats that Republicans were anti-tax absolutists (which they should have been). Even Senator Pat Toomey and Representative Jeb Hensarling, the most conservative members of the panel, offered $300 billion in net tax hikes, offering to do much more than “pay for” an extension of the Bush tax cuts with an itemized deduction phase-out that would have, among other things, limited the deductibility of charitable contributions and home mortgage interest.The only thing that protected the American people from a large and extremely poorly-timed tax hike was Democrats’ unending hunger for more of our money. They rejected the big tax hikes the Republicans offered because they wanted even bigger tax hikes.

Democrats never intended to do anything about the spending problem. In fact, they insisted on tax hikes of more than the $1.2 trillion deficit reduction mandate so they could increase spending by funding the president’s latest stimulus proposal.
Considering what the offer was on the table, news out of the Super Committee that they won’t report a package is a huge success.

Although it is not nearly enough to solve the impending fiscal disaster, the sequester mechanism is a Washington spending cut, or more precisely a reduction in expected spending increases. It is not the doomsday scenario some on the left (and even some on the right) claim. As economist Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute has explained, spending will still increase every year under the sequester (although more slowly), including increases in defense spending.

In the end, Democratic intransigence made clear that the only option to even modestly reduce the runaway growth of federal spending was to deadlock and trigger sequestration. Under the circumstances, we should celebrate the outcome. But not for very long, because there is much more work to do to cut federal spending and we need to keep the pressure on.

Amen and amen, brother Kerpen. There's little time for a victory lap, and still the breakdown of this so called Super Committee---not!---is cause for celebration.
Phil Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity and author of "Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America – and How to Stop Him," available at www.DemocracyDenied.org.

Sunday, Being Born of the Spirit

2011-11-20T17:00:00.012-06:00

From River Crossing.

PASTOR MIKE ATKINS OF RIVER CROSSING TALKS ABOUT BEING BORN AGAIN OR MADE ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT. Jesus teaches Nicodemus, a Pharisee and leader/master of religion in Israel, who has no idea what that means. Jesus references Ezekiel 36 as an Old Testament prophecy of spiritual rebirth and renewal.

We all are dead in spirit when we're born.Yes, we're alive in our emotions, in thoughts and passions and desires. But we remain spiritually dead and live by our own Self Inspired Narrative (SIN) that leaves God out. Only when we're genuinely born of the spirit and God comes to dwell in us with His sactifying presence do we begin to be liberated from all our many idols and passions.

Atkins reiterates that we can never just live for God. Only by surrendering to God's indwelling us with His Holy Spirit living His life through us can we live a life worthy of His blessings and His calling.

In the end, we have to get off the thrones of our lives and surrender to God being enthroned in our hearts and minds.

Link to video @ River Crossing

Ms. Paltrow, Your Buddy Ms. McCartney Did You No Favors

2011-11-18T19:24:00.008-06:00

GOSH I HOPE GWYNNETH GOT THIS DREADFUL DRESS as a free gift from her close friend designer Stella McCartney because I can't imagine paying good money for this travesty. Better yet, perhaps Stella paid her to wear it as a promotion. No matter, it may be the least attractive dress I've seen on anyone all year. If this is cutting edge, then take me back to the Renaissance. It's so wrong for so many reasons, I might be here all night if I get started. I'm all for asymmetry but there are limits to where it should go. Clearly she's more than reached it with this whacko, strange and truly unbecoming cut. Both women can do much better than this.

Read more on this dreadful fashion risk.

At OWS, Real Heroes Emerge

2011-11-17T10:00:00.004-06:00

A COLLECTIVE TANTRUM

IT TAKES REAL GUTS for these guys to stand outside in the chaos with these signs. Bravo for them! Also, I understand the turnout today for the anarchists to close down the Wall Street financial district is much lower than expected. The MSM may not want to publisize the low numbers, but they're not very impressive.

Michelle, Back Into Her Fashion Groove

2011-11-16T11:43:00.004-06:00

AFTER DISSING THE FIRST LADY'S brocade curtain outfit last week, I want to give credit where credit's due. Very much like both dresses posted above and think Mrs. Obama is in good fashion territory here. On the left is Vera Wang with a signature hot, luscious accent color. On the right, the lively print dress is a perfect color for Michelle that not many of us can carry off.

She wears both well and looks terrific. Source.

Thuggery and Thievery: Tis The Season To....

2011-11-15T21:32:00.039-06:00

GREAT TAMNY PIECE: GEN ZERO REPEATS GEN X

.....HAVE YOUR CAR VANDALIZED AND PURSE (OR OTHER VALUABLES) STOLEN. BE AWARE. It happened to me Saturday.

Looking back, it was probably overdue. I learned a good, rock hard lesson. Thuggery.

My training hikes in the park several times a week always involve: parking car near a safe trail access, stowing purse under a blanket on the floor of the back seat, putting car keys, cell phone and pepper spray in a small pack to take with me, locking car, and hitting the trail. I did it like clock work last Saturday when I met a friend to hike at 11 AM----though we met much later than normal----which may be pivotal since we usually go between 7-8 AM, long before most burglars have thought of getting up to start their day of thievery.

We walked two hours then returned to the parking area. She got into her car and drove off, while I dilly dallied around before getting into mine. When I finally unlocked my car and slipped my key into the ignition I noticed little shards of tinted glass all over the front dashboard and looked up to see if the rear view mirror had been damaged or fallen from its perch above me

Then it dawned: Turn. Look back. Shatterered glass was everywhere. Everywhere. Back window destroyed. Purse stolen along with drivers license, check card, national park pass, Costco card, and $45. Big rock on back seat.

I called 911. Waited an hour for a police officer. Called a friend who found my bank's customer service number to cancel my debit/credit card even before police arrived. Warned other hikers at the parking area.

WHAT THE POLICE OFFICER TOLD ME:

A kind, burly, good humored black park police officer finally showed up. He told me the following most likely scenario:

1) Thief was likely a man between 18-30 seeking extra money for recreational booze or drugs for the weekend. Sometimes a gang of thieves come in big groups from other cities and divvy up and work the territory for a week or two before moving on to other cities.

2) Thief/vandal staked out parking lot either sitting or lurking in tinted-glass car/SUV----or hiding in the woods on a nearby hill-- watching -the comings and goings of hikers who were mostly women.

3) He saw me drive up, stow my purse on the back floor, then leave the area with a friend. Thieves don't break into cars unless they know there's bounty to be had. They usually go for a woman's car in parking lots of parks, rarely breaking in unless they know the sex of the 'victim.' We all need to look around when we arrive somewhere to see if there's anything jumps out as suspicious.

4) Once the thief knew my purse was stowed inside, it was pointless for me to lock my car doors, since all it took was a big rock to crash the window and snatch it out.

LESSONS LEARNED

1) Leave your driver's license and credit cards at home unless you're going shopping, then pack it and take it all with you when you leave the car. If it makes you feel better, bring a copy of your license and several dollars in your pack.

2) Take out any and all valuables from the car, especially purses, expensive camera equipment, iPhones etc. Don't store them there on trips unless absolutely necessary.

3) Organize yourself and belongings while you're at home, rather than being seen regrouping by thieves in parking areas.

4) Leave your car unlocked and a window partially down to potentially avoid a broken window and shattered glass everywhere.

5) Carry a personal defense device with you at all times. I always carry pepper spray on the trail. However, the police officer said I should keep it---or a hand gun (!)---handy at all times, wherever I am.

On Monday, I got my license, bank card and damaged windows replaced. It was a time-consuming pain but had to be done. On Tuesday, I went back to the park a bit wiser for the lessons learned.

Now I may be a tad bit more savvy and ready for the long holiday season ahead. Hope you are too.

Sunday, Paul's Letter to the Philippians

2011-11-13T18:52:00.008-06:00

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me---put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

....I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (NIV)

---Philippians 4:4-9, 11b-12

Saturday, When Clothes Wear Us

2011-11-12T09:49:00.005-06:00

FLOTUS MICHELLE OBAMA IS ONE BIG AMAZONIAN-TYPE WOMAN and can get by with a lot more large fashion risque-ness than someone the size of my 4-6 frame. However, even she can't carry this fashion train wreck off at her cameo Veterans Day appearance yesterday. Far too much busyness, fabric-ness, printiness going in for my taste. In fact it almost gives me a migraine just looking at it.

One can only wonder what she will follow this with in her nine-day trip to Hawaii this week. No doubt there will be many custom changes coming soon.

Epic Evidence As To Why Men Often Need Fashion Supervision

2011-11-11T09:00:00.008-06:00

NO FURTHER QUESTIONS, YOUR HONOR. I REST MY CASE.

Update: Yes, it's occurred to me, this sweater may indeed be a gift from one of ArSch's many girl friends.

Friday: Roger Simon Visits Victor Hanson, Talks About Taking Our Castor Oil

2011-11-11T06:48:00.012-06:00

...AS WELL AS THE STATE OF CONSERVATISM, the 2012 election and why candidates flip-flop. It's a terrific intereview, so watch the whole thing. Hanson begins by saying,

Romney is our collective castor oil and we know we have to take our medicine to beat Obama but we don't really want to.

Is Return to The Gold Standard Feasible?

2011-11-10T13:26:00.003-06:00

JEFFREY BELL EXPLAINS THE RETURN TO THE GOLD BACKED DOLLAR, how it might be accomplished and how long it would take.

Wednesday Career Crashes

2011-11-09T22:26:00.009-06:00

ROGER SIMON: END THIS TEDIOUS DEBATE ROAD SHOW NOW

IT'S BEEN A VERY LONG DAY for ending careers. Both Graham Spainer, president of Penn State, and Joe Paterno famed PS football coach have been fired effective immediately due to fallout from the horrendous child sex abuse scandal there. Then Texas governor Rick Perry stumbled badly in tonight's presidential debate, and most likely will never recover from his frozen gaffe. In all three cases, it may have been a while in coming, but in the end, it was over very quickly.

Sobering how quickly life and aspirations can turn on a dime. Meanwhile, mayhem and riots have broken out at Penn State tonight, while this one is on the way out.

Eddie Murphy, Brett Ratner In The Center of Hollywood P C Flap

2011-11-09T18:43:00.016-06:00

IT'S ALWAYS FUN WHEN THE RICH, POWERFUL AND FAMOUS lapse into gross political incorrectness and cause an earthquake of instant outrage. Those who don't have a life go bonkers. You'd think they'd been shot in the head with a .45 Magnum at the Oscars. An off-the-cuff remark in Hollywood involving the word 'fag' caused a tsunami of nuclear proportions, and the dominoes have fallen like flies. Say what funny fellas? Don't you know, no one knows how to take a joke there anymore!

Big Hollywood explains:

Eddie Murphy is a complicated man and it’s impossible to know his precise motivations for jettisoning his Oscar hosting gig just a day after the Hollywood P.C. Thought Police took out his friend and creative partner Brett Ratner, but it certainly looks like a rebuke of the repressive “tolerance” mandate that has eroded Hollywood and the art it attempts to create.

This isn't really much of a story, but frankly after the last two weeks of focusing on Herman Cain's peccadilloes, it's fresher and a lot more fun to write about. Thanks for keeping it slightly interesting in Hollywood fellas.

Karen Kraushaar: Portrait of Another of Cain's Accusers

2011-11-08T11:46:00.007-06:00

UPDATE: CAIN---AWAY FROM CLARENCE THOMAS COMPARISONS TOWARDS HIS BILL CLINTON MOMENT
LIVES IN MARYLAND. WORKS IN CURRENT ADMINISTRATION:

Yesterday, Cain’s campaign wouldn’t comment on the specifics of any of the allegations, but has a press conference scheduled for today.

But Kraushaar family members who spoke to The Daily said the only lies were coming from Cain.

“His denial of the whole thing, and his making light of it, seems to me to be more damaging to his character than the initial allegations,” said Karen Kraushaar’s sister-in-law, who asked not to be named. “If he would have just come out and said, ‘This is what happened,’ it would have been so much better for everybody.”

Since Politico broke the story that two women had received cash settlements after filing sexual harassment claims against Cain, various news outlets have declined to identify the women, citing privacy issues. A third woman’s case was disclosed last week, but The Associated Press did not name her.

Now wants Cain's other accusers to band together.

Herman Cain And The Ladies

2011-11-07T16:29:00.028-06:00

HE'S NOT GOING TO BE THE NOMINEE

KLAVAN: WHY WE SHOULD BE UNFAIR TO HERMAN CAIN

AFTER WATCHING SHARON BIELEK'S press conference today with lawyer Gloria Allred I have to say I wouldn't exactly call her accusations of Herman Cain's behavior sexual harassment. It didn't happen in the workplace and it wasn't recurrent.

At the most, she's gone public accusing him of making a rather gross, disgusting pass at her, or if you will, an inappropriate sexual advance at a time and place she should never have been with him in the first place. Certainly not if she was serious about talking to him about landing a new job. Breakfast or lunch, sure.

Ms. Bielek was not a victim no matter how much she insists. I don't care if she was wearing a turtleneck up to her lower lip, she still made herself a sitting duck that night. It was unpleasant, but if she's honest, she has to take responsibility for choosing to meet him at a bar, go to dinner, then get into his car afterwards. How much more can a tarty woman set herself up while seeking a favor?

To his credit, when she cried foul, he backed off and took her back to her hotel.

So I'm not inclined to be highly sympathetic to any portrayal of herself as a victim of Cain's sexual advance which probably happened. Let's face it, men will be men, and powerful men away from hearth-and-home much of the time will be boorish cads if they can get by with it, especially after a few drinks. A woman conveniently forgets this at her great peril.

Having said that, I find Herman Cain less savory by the minute as a man, a husband, and a presidential candidate. My female radar flashes red alert. I think he fancies himself a ladies man and has probably made more than his share of female employees and colleagues squirm in discomfort over the years. It sounds like some of them ran for cover and got paid off for going away and keeping quiet. Yes, yes, I know it could have been an Anita Hill moment for them. But three or four women have come forward and I tend to think where there's that much smoke there's got to be some fire.

Who knows what's next. And who cares who put who up to expose this whole thing to the American people. It's all part of the messy vetting process.
Frankly I don't even care what happens next one way or the other.

For now, I file this Cain affair under unsubstantiated innuendo and mark it read and unimpressed. Cain's vehement denials---if in fact it really did happen---make him a liar. If so, it's a character issue for me and a much more serious offense than groping a woman in his car after dinner and a few drinks.

We shall see.

Evening Reflection

2011-11-06T17:00:00.003-06:00

I THANK YOUR LADYSHIP for the information concerning the Methodist preachers, but the doctrines are most repulsive and strongly tinctured with impertinence and disrespect toward their superiors, in perpetually endeavoring to level all ranks and do away with all distinctions. It is monstrous to be told you have a heart as sinful as the common wretchesthat crawl on the earth. This is highly offensive and insulting; and I cannot but wonder that Your Ladyship should relish any sentiment so much at variance with high rank and good breeding.

—-- From The Duchess of Buckingham to the Countess of Huntingdon, after being invited to come and hear the ‘Methodist’ evangelist George Whitefield, 1741
H/T Redeemer Presbyterian, Manhattan

Sunday, Part 3 Behold The Man

2011-11-06T15:16:00.001-06:00

Behold the Man (Part 3) from River Crossing

John Tamny: LSU vs. Alabama Shows We Don't Need College Playoffs

2011-11-04T08:47:00.023-05:00

SEVEN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WINNERS AND LOSERS @ PJ MEDIA

INTRADE LONG SHOT: CAIN TO BE THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE = 5.4%

SATURDAY'S EPIC GAME BETWEEN LSU AND ALABAMA is a perfect example of why NFL-style playoffs would be a bad idea for college football. Can anything in sports be more fun and interesting than really great college football?
John Tamny answers this ponderous question in the negative:

Tomorrow night #1 ranked Louisiana State University (LSU) will take on 2nd ranked Alabama. As it’s widely assumed that these are by far the two best college football teams in the country, this match up is the latest to have a variation of “Game of the Century” attached to it
Every few years these games present themselves, some are more exciting than others, but perhaps not commented on enough is how unique they are to college football. Of course, they are unique because quite unlike other college and professional sports, there’s happily no end-of-season playoff that would largely devalue this exciting collision of what for now are the two highest ranked teams.
Despite the excitement that this Saturday holds, much like Groundhog Day college football fans will suffer yet again this year myriad breathy articles from emotional sportswriters about how a playoff must be implemented. To the nearsighted a playoff would be more equitable such that more teams would have a chance to hoist the trophy (those who follow modern economic policy perhaps detect a pattern here…), and better yet they allege, a true champion would be discovered on the field.
Ignored by the hysterics is the simple truth that playoffs don’t always achieve what is presumed. Indeed, does anyone think the 2008 New York Giant Super Bowl Champion team was better than the New England Patriots that they beat?

When I comes to most sports, I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other and listen more than I speak. But Tamny makes good sense to me. I'll be watching the game Saturday night with one of the all time big fans of college football. Read the rest of Tamny's piece.

7 Most Common Financial Mistakes

2011-11-03T22:58:00.010-05:00

LOVE ARTICLES LIKE THIS! It's a great way to check our financial intelligence and do a tune-up. This obscure little piece at Investopedia caught my eye. I remember learning most of these lessons from my parents. They used to say it was always the little, recurring things in life that mattered most, especially, but not limited to keeping up with money. They were right of course.Whether it's frivolous spending and impulse buying or recurring monthly payments, there are a lot of ways to cut back and save money. Learning how to tighten our belts has never been more important.

End of the Line For Herman Cain

2011-11-03T10:56:00.002-05:00

SO WHAT IF PERRY TIPPED THE PRESS?

AS WELL SHE SHOULD: GLORIA BAILS ON FRIDAY INTERVIEW WITH GRETA

PJ MEDIA LATE BREAKING DETAILS

If the above piece at PJ Media is true, Herman Cain's presidential run is completely finished not because it's becoming evident he has a history of being on the make with women he takes a fancy to, but because he hasn't been honest and forthcoming with the American people. By dodging, obfuscating, blaming and playing the race and victim cards, Cain has lost our respect and trust. We are in no mood as voters with all the problems we're facing to have another Bill Clinton episode in the White House circa 2012.

*******************************************

DEAN STEPHENS AT AMERICAN THINKER says what none of us wants to hear but needs to delve into about Herman Cain: As with many candidates, there's a mythology, as there was with Colin Powell, we should examine to see if it bears up under deeper scrutiny. To wit:

Herman Cain supporters have accepted his narrative that he is an American success story. The question is, just how much of that "success" did he earn on his own? And is it really the Horatio Alger story we are led to believe?

Stephens believes that while Cain has achieved a measure of success which is fine as far as it goes, it's vastly over-rated. He also thinks the candidate long ago became a professional politician rather than the full-time businessman he likes to portray himself as being:

Herman Cain did not build Godfather's Pizza. He was made manager of an existing organization within a large corporation and given staff and a title. The parent company soon spun it off, as big firms often do with subsidiaries that offer modest upside scale potential. Cain did not grow the business while he ran it as a subsidiary or after it was spun off. He made it more profitable by closing restaurants and firing several thousand employees. Cain then used that profitability success as a stepping stone to run for public office -- and quit. That act itself was typical of an employee, not an entrepreneur. In fact, many insiders do not consider Cain key to the turnaround. They tout Ronald Gartlin, who helped build the Godfather's chain before Pillsbury bought it, as key to Cain's efforts to return it to profitability. Gartlin replaced Cain on his departure and continues to run the business today. For the last 20 years Herman Cain has been active in politics. Although he has never won public office, he and his supporters cannot realistically claim he is not a professional politician. He is! Cain was appointed to the Federal Reserve board despite absolutely no credentials in monetary, fiscal, or economic policy that would justify the appointment. His status as a black businessman was likely his most important qualification. I cannot find any transcripts or video interviews of Cain discussing economic issues with any depth or breadth of insight. He talks in generalities. Details that require true knowledge are avoided. Cain is a sound-bite candidate in a sound-bite era. Even so, why is this Federal Reserve experience considered a good thing? Many of our problems in economic mismanagement are directly attributable to board members like Cain rubber-stamping disastrous Federal Reserve policies

Stephens continues by bringing up the sexual harassment charges leveled against Cain which he does not believe are true. I disagree and think there's probably a long-standing pattern of Cain being on the make which has had the effect of making female associates he comes in contact with uncomfortable if not downright fearful. I could be wrong, but it certainly now seems so. Cain clearly needs to address this issue and not just deflect it by blaming Perry or anyone else. It's bad politics at its worst.

The main concern Stephens has is Cain's inexperience with foreign policy which he thinks makes the candidate unfit to lead the country in these perilous times. The piece ends with a clear call for Cain to stop stonewalling and answer many questions that we need answered to fill in the blanks of our collective projections. I agree. We can't and shouldn't vote for the projection of any candidate.

I am just as guilty of getting carried away with superficial and often hyped mythology on the candidates as anyone. For that, I have read this piece with relish and hope to be better for it.

R.I.P. Herman Cain Cracks Up, His Candidacy Is Toast, It's So Over

2011-11-02T17:26:00.011-05:00

WEDNESDAY MAY HAVE SEEN THE FINAL NAILS DRIVEN INTO THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF HERMAN CAIN.I could be wrong, but it looks like only a matter of time before this campaign breathes its last.Things got rolling at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner this morning where Cain said various factions were out to destroy him and his campaign. Then at his next stop at the Hilton Hotel in Alexandria, VA the wheels came completely off, as tempers flew, effectively sending Cain's campaign to the graveyard. It's all over but the shouting. Dana Milbank at the WaPo reports:

In Wednesday morning, he raised the paranoia dial another notch. “There are factions trying to destroy me personally, and this campaign,” he announced, revealing this conspiracy to a group of technology executives at the Ritz-Carlton in Tyson’s Corner.At his next stop, a Hilton hotel in Alexandria, the amiable candidate finally blew his stack – and the scene quickly escalated into violence. It began when a reporter asked Cain if he would release his accusers from their confidentiality agreements.“I’m not going to talk about it,” Cain snapped, “so don’t even bother asking me all of these other questions that y’all are curious about. Okay? Don’t even bother.”“It’s a good question,” the reporter pointed out. “Are you concerned?” asked another.Evidently, Cain was. “What did I say?” he hissed at the reporters, then attempted to break through the pack, shouting: “Excuse me. Excuse me! EXCUSE ME!” At that, his bodyguards began throwing elbows and shoving the reporters and photographers. “Stand back! . . . Do not push me! . . . Pushing is against the law!. . . Watch out!. . . Get a grip on yourself!” In the melee, a young boy and his father were shoved up against a wall.

The thing that bothers me most about this whole affair is Cain losing his cool today. His anger belies a defensiveness that does not bode well for him to become president. When he lost it, it was ugly.If all that's not enough, Steve Deace, Christian talk show host in Des Moines, Iowa today said Cain made awkward and inappropriate remarks to a female staffer at the station recently .Deace is quoted as saying

"Like awkward/inappropriate things he’s said to two females on my staff, that the fact the guy’s wife is never around…that’s almost always a warning flag to me,” Deace wrote. “But I chose to leave that stuff out [of the opinion piece] and make it about his record and not the personal stuff."Pressed about what exactly Cain said to the employees of his show, Deace responded by describing how he himself treats his staff.“Many a man has been done in by the inability to control his urges,” Deace wrote. “I am no different and just as vulnerable as any other man, which is why I put safeguards around me and hold myself accountable to my wife and other men in my life. Especially since I have very talented employees that happen to be women. I go out of my way to treat them like my sisters. For example, I wouldn’t tell them or any other woman I am not married to nor related to how pretty she is.”

Deace is clearly conservative, Christian with higher standards than most people in government. Still it appears Cain's suggestive behavior may be a long-standing pattern which cannot be overcome in time to save his candidacy. The American people are in no mood, no mood---with its extreme concerns for the economy and jobs---to be sidetracked by sexual scandals and innuendos in the White House over the next four years.I defended Cain over the past few days, but now I sadly now do an about face for no other reason than his massive and frightening show of temper at the Hilton today.

Gloria Cain Steps Up, Stands By Her Man

2011-11-02T11:03:00.014-05:00

ONCE WE HAD PROBLEMS AND SOLVED THEM, TODAY WE HAVE ISSUES WE TALK ENDLESSLY ABOUT SHE'S KNOWN TO PREFER STAYING OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT and in the shadows behind husband of 43 of years, Herman Cain. Still there are times for a wife to come forward and be in the spotlight. Now--with sexual allegations swirling around her husband--- it seems to be as good a time as any to speak up. Friday night she plans to open up with Greta Van Susteran at Fox News for her first big national interview. It can only do Cain good even as his accuser clamors to tell her side of the story by going public and grabbing the spotlight (she probably already has a book deal in the works!) for her 5 minutes of Anita Hill-like fame:

After a lifetime spent in her now-famous husband’s shadow, Gloria Cain will make her public debut on Friday night, when she sits down for her first national interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. The interview will come under less than ideal circumstances: Van Susteren will have to ask Mrs. Cain about the sexual harassment allegations against her husband, and any drip of scandal or innuendo that emerges between now and then.

Meanwhile, Iowa yawns. Even as Carl Rove who supports Mitt Romney for president wants his accuser to speak. That's fine. But after all is said and done, very few minds will be changed: those who stand by Cain will still stand by him. Those who want to see him fail, will still be there cheering his accuser on in a he said/she said conversation that will never ever be proven except through known character over time.

Stock Market Plunge On G-Pap's Big Fat Greek Referendum

2011-11-01T07:58:00.009-05:00

THIS IS ANCIENT SPARTA

HOW DO YOU SAY 'GET REAL' IN GREEK? G-Pap's announcement is a big fat joke that his government will hold a referendum vote for it's citizens to decide whether they will willingly accept the EU's bailout money with conditions of austerity attached to them. How do you say does anyone not know the outcome of this childish, entitled, debt-ridden country's vote that will demand that life goes on as it has, business as usual?

Truth is, Greece have no choice but to tighten its belt no matter what the outcome of the vote. It can pretend a little longer. But in the beginning, middle and end the country is massively bankrupt and not to admit it and take the austerity measures only digs it further in the grave.

Markets are plunging all over the world. Trading was halted on the Russian markets. Will ours be next? We can only hope the contagion of fear and volatility will not spread and accelerate to epic, out-of-control proportions.

We're living in very treacherous times with much bigger concerns than whether Herman Cain once told some employee at the NRA that she's about the same height as his wife.

Cain Should Have Called A Spade A Spade From the Start

2011-11-01T07:27:00.011-05:00

CAIN'S BEST DAY OF FUNDRAISING EVER
PAUL GIGOT @ WSJ WEIGHS INAFTER REVIEWING THE LATEST NEWS today on Cain's defense of the 'baseless' allegations of sexual misconduct years ago, I believe more than ever this is indeed a case of a trumped up non-event used by liberal news outlets to take him out of presidential contention as he soars in the polls. How successful his detractors will be in accomplishing this remains to be seen. I certainly would and will still vote for him at this point.

Having said that, I do not think Cain and his handlers have handled this situation as well as I would have hoped. Bryan Preston writes about it this morning at PJMedia. Though the allegations are extremely flimsy and probably baseless, as Cain contends, the changing explanation as the day went on Monday shows a campaign that's inexperienced at facing the kind of heavy hitting smears and scrutiny the liberal media can dish out in gargantuan quantities. He and his campaign knew ten days ago the story would break at Politico and should have formulated a much better plan than ducking and hoping it would go quietly into the night.He should have gotten his explanation right the first time then stuck to it.

Cain's campaign looks amateurish. Do they think a dog willingly drops a bone before every bit of blood and marrow are sucked out? Does a tick stop it's blood sucking before it's pulled of the it's unwilling host. Of course not. So Cain's biggest mistake is not necessarily happened but the bumbling and slightly apprehensive way he's handled it so far.

In other words, he should have called a spade a spade from the start. This mishap doesn't have to be fatal. It remains to be seen.

Halloween Witch Hunt For Herman Cain

2011-10-31T14:06:00.023-05:00

MORE ON EVOKING THOMAS HEARINGS
IBD: WHY IS THIS NEWS?
GOOD NEWS: THERE'S NO, ZERO, NADA MENTION OF THIS ON FOX NEWS?THERE'S A church in America that dreadfully fears candidate Herman Cain. I know it. Ann knows it. Roger knows it. Sibby knows it. Attempting to use black magic on a strong, conservative black man who's truly left the plantation of government dependency surely is going to backfire.

One of the first things I thought of when I saw the Cain headlines at Politico was the striking similarities to the Anita Hill allegations of sexual misconduct against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. The stature and presence of both Thomas and Cain are so similar and the unsubstantiated accusations so nefariously alike that it's hard not to draw a corollary. Was this just a copycat fad of the time? I wonder if other people made the same deja vu association when reading it the first time?

Neo has a piece up on the parallels and how hard it is for a man to defend against a deck so stacked against him. It's a he said, she said game that can never have any substantial proof in anyone's favor. But in today's highly charged political climate, guilty until proven innocent certainly seems the sad and sensational norm. I give it about as little credence as I gave the Kim-Kris wedding sham. And that's pretty little.

Tidbits: Not In Front of the Corgis

2011-10-31T03:58:00.015-05:00

CHURCH OF THE WHOLLY LIVING PIETIES
BIG FRAME: HIGH-TECH LYNCHING OF HERMAN CAIN AUTHOR BRIAN HOEY has written a book on the royal family due out next summer to whet our never-ending fascination with all things British monarchy. Meanwhile, Tom Sykes @ The Daily Beast pilfers an advance copy and offers some of the high/low points of its daily life. No wonder Kate and William love living off the coast of Wales, doing their own shopping, cooking and cleaning! Ah, the joys of privacy! Below are two excerpts:

PRINCE CHARLES IS A CLOTHESHORSE WHO GETS HIS SHOELACES IRONED

Prince Charles employs 133 staff to look after him and Camilla, more than 60 of them domestics: chefs, cooks, footmen, housemaids, gardeners, chauffeurs, cleaners, and his three personal valets—gentleman’s gentlemen—whose sole responsibility is the care of their royal master’s extensive wardrobe and choosing what he is to wear on any particular day. A serving soldier polishes the prince’s boots and shoes every day—he has 50 handmade pairs each costing over £800 by Lobb of St James’s—and a housemaid washes his underwear as soon as it is discarded. Nothing Charles or Camilla wears is ever allowed near a washing machine. Particular attention is paid to handkerchiefs, which are monogrammed and again all hand-washed, as it was found that when they were sent to a laundry, some would go missing—as souvenirs. HRH’s suits, of which he has 60, cost more than £3,000 each, and his shirts, all handmade, cost £350 a time (he has more than 200), while his collar stiffeners are solid gold or silver. Charles’s valets also iron the laces of his shoes whenever they are taken off.

THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD KNEW OBAMA'S PREFERRED TOILET PAPER

When President Obama arrived for a state visit in May 2011 with his wife, Michelle, he was astounded at the attention to detail that accompanied their two-day stay. The palace officials had even found out what sort of toilet paper the Obamas preferred in their bathroom (thickness, consistency, and color), their favorite flowers, and whether they liked sheets and blankets (wool or cotton) or duvets on their beds.

Desire For Holiness? Begin and End With Christ

2011-10-30T14:00:00.004-05:00

WOULD YOU BE HOLY? Would you become a new creature? Then begin with Christ! You will do nothing, until you feel your sin and weakness—and flee to Him! He is the beginning of all holiness. He is not only wisdom and righteousness to His people—but sanctification also. People sometimes try to make themselves holy first—and sad work they make of it! They toil, labor, and turn over many new leaves, and make many changes—and yet they feel nothing bettered, but rather worse. They run in vain and labor in vain! Little wonder, for they are beginning at the wrong end! They are building up a wall of sand; their work runs down as fast as they throw it up. They are baling water out of a leaky vessel. The leak gains on them, not they on the leak. Other foundation of holiness, can no person lay, than that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus. Without Christ, we can do nothing.

---J.C Ryle

ON PARENTING WISELY

IF, THEN, you would deal wisely with your child, you must not leave him to the guidance of his own will. Think for him, judge for him, act for him, just as you would for one weak and blind; but for pity’s sake, give him not up to his own wayward tastes and inclinations. It must not be his likings and wishes that are consulted. He knows not yet what is good for his mind and soul, any more than what is good for his body. You do not let him decide what he shall eat, and what he shall drink, and how he shall be clothed. Be consistent, and deal with his mind in like manner. Train him in the way that is scriptural and right, and not in the way that he fancies.

Race To the Elevator Button

2011-10-29T06:13:00.003-05:00

THE Gs, UPPER WEST.

Libertarian NYU Law Professor Richard Epstein Debunks Liberal Myths On Inequality

2011-10-28T19:22:00.006-05:00

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: YOU DO NOT MAKE THE POOR RICH BY MAKING THE RICH POOR

HOW DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE? Epstein explains, debunks, dismisses.

PBS came, it saw, but did not conquer the brillant Richard Epstein!

H/T

EU Debacle Is Far, Far From Over

2011-10-28T08:00:00.004-05:00

FROM A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE EURO CRISIS @ ZERO HEDGE:

I have little faith in Papandreou's socialist PASOK government's ability to adhere to the agreement...I feel it may be one, if not THE, stumbling block in this whole eurozone mess. Greece will be dragged down perhaps for a decade or more because I don't see them instituting the necessary free market reforms that will spur future growth. I also don't believe it will be easy to dismantle the elaborate social welfare system there without political unrest. I wonder if not only the Papandreou will last long, but if a democratic form of government in Greece will last long.

And Greece is not the only problem. Spain and Italy are large economies and face similar problems, just not quite the scale of Greece's. It all comes down to their ability to fund their excessive debt. Even France is being warned about its credit rating.

The EMU is built on a weak foundation. They allowed in countries that according to the Maastricht Treaty were not supposed to run deficits of more than 3% of GDP, yet they all did, even Germany. They allowed their members to spend and borrow without regard to economic reality and now the money has run out. At some point one wonders if Germany will be outvoted and they elect to bail out debt through inflation by printing money.

It's a mess and it's not over.

Great Fun: Peter Schiff Of The 1% Meets Occupy Wall Street---Holds His Own and Then Some

2011-10-26T20:51:00.004-05:00

JUDGING CHARACTER

PETER SCHIFF, NO SHRINKING VIOLET.

Matt Taibbi @ CNN Talks Class Warfare/ Obscene Corporate Welfare and How Democrats Are Greatly to Blame

2011-10-26T06:23:00.016-05:00

WHICH BIG BANK IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST? GARY RIVLIN TAKES A STAB AT THE ANSWER

A MUST-WATCH IMO. While I don't agree with everything that's said here, I do concur with a lot. No corporation should be too big to fail. Corporate welfare in this country for the big banks is out of control and should end. Period. Heartening that both men think the Democrats are to blame big time for the mess we're in. Would have thought these liberal commenters would have bashed just the Republicans. Of course there are no easy answers and there's plenty of blame/responsibility to go around.

I admit I think some good will come from these unruly protests because it's calling attention to most taxpayers' deepest concerns: we're sick and tired of bailing out everyone and his brother, especially the fat cat, opulent Wall Street bankers! Nothing is allowed to fail anymore, so no one ever learns from their mistakes. I don't think OWS is an organized movement with a common focus, nor ever will be. Still, it serves some purpose and will have to play out to see if it has a worthy component that is productive to all of us taxpayers.

Flatlander's Vacation Goes Downhill In High Country

2011-10-25T13:30:00.014-05:00

CARPE DIEM---BOOMTOWN STRIPPERS MAKE MORE THAN DOCTORS: $2K/NIGHT ON 'LONELY' OILMEN
FROM TETON PASS, WITH LOVE

CALLING CHEVY CHASE: HERE'S ONE OF THOSE WILD VACATION STORIES---borrowing a good friend's RV in Florida, then driving it West--- that's pretty bad, but could've been even worse. Nobody gets seriously hurt so we're allowed to laugh out loud even when we don't think we should. OK, go on. Actually, it's a Three Stoogies kind of cautionary tale we laugh at no matter what.

Read the full horrifying-hilarious comedy-of-errors escapade today @ Jackson Hole News

Obama's And Then Moment

2011-10-25T07:12:00.004-05:00

THAT OLD IRONY JUST KEEPS WRITING ITSELF.

Sunday

2011-10-22T08:40:00.006-05:00

THE END IS NEAR: VATICAN CALLS FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF GLOBAL BANKING AUTHORITY BEAST
PSALM 121

I shall lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will not slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.
Amen.