Thought

The trouble is we spend more time making government bigger when we would be wiser spending time on making people better.
Patrick Davis 2004

On Politics and Religion

On Politics and Religion

One observation from a citizen:
If one refuses to allow the mixture of politics and religion, politics must forever remain the gateway to Hell, and those that serve in it the gatekeepers. And what of religion you ask? It serves as the entrance or the exit from Heaven, as God would judge, and so it will lead to the best of times or the worst of times.
So the choice it would seem is politics and hell or religion and maybe godliness?

Precarious Freedom

Precisely because we have a weak and ineffectual government we have a free people; let us maintain our high regard for freedom by disdaining the siren’s cry for bigger government. To live and build our lives around principles of our own choosing, or to live and build our lives around the choices of Leviathan—these are the choices each generation of Americans must freshly make. It takes only one generation, disregarding the wisdom of our fathers, to recreate a new government that will pale in comparison to that great government long ago set in motion, and will succeed only in making us an “un” exceptional nation.

Pat Davis 2011

Global Warning

We evidently do not care if they have been lying to us. We do not care if they have been covering up data. We do not care if they took great care to distort data to hide findings. We do not care if a decade of temperatures are going the wrong way for global “warnists”. The crisis is too important to ignore, even if the theory of man caused global warming is a farce.

How do I know we do not care? Because now, for the first time, the world has been given the means to see the lying, cheating and distortion, and what do they do? The world gives a prodigious yawn. The New York Times tells us virtuously that they would not consider publishing such illegally obtained data. (Can you spell Pentagon Papers? Or can you remember all the classified data they “reported” last year in an attempt to embarrass Bush?) One must simply gaze in admiration and wonder at the new-found virtue of the grey lady.

The mainstream media is attempting to glide past the embarrassing disclosure. The skeptics of global warming are as gleeful as a fox locked in a henhouse. For years many scientists have touted their warning sirens being neglected by the major media. My personal favorite is Dr. Roy Spencer, but he, too, is neglected as Mr. Al Gore tells us that “debate is over” and “science is settled”.

Prying apart a belief system is next to impossible. PJTV has a great video from a leading skeptic here. It is ironic to me that as responsible scientists are trying to tell the whole story of global change, the side that wants to hide the facts stand on the side of big government and squarely against freedom of men and women to live.

But did not the word “grantstanding” get coined for these same scientists? The term was given to those who were given millions more for their shriller cries. I remember reading years ago that we had less than a decade to act before it would be too late to save the earth. And now we read the personal emails of these “scientists” and find that they do not know what to make of data and are trying to hide their uncertainty. This should be the biggest story of the decade.

I talked to a friend who is a global warmist who said he had not even heard of the email hack. He insisted that it would be like mankind to cause destruction to the earth, and seemed to intimate that was enough of a reason to believe in man caused global warming. What can one say to such faith? David Warren has posed the problem brilliantly here. Robert Tracinski has a great synopsis of the scandal here.

What the average person does not get is the fascism theory that lies behind all of this urgency in global warming. Mussolini taught that it was necessary to declare an emergency to get people to be willing to suspend normal freedom and law. The political beginnings of our global scare lies in a committee from the UN. The committee then began a grant program to scientists who would forecast problems with CO2. Scientists all over the world are being paid to find problems with CO2 production. Now governments everywhere are attempted to suborn total economies to harness production of what seems to be a harmless inert gas. The US, long standing against suppression of freedom, seems tempted to give in and suppress the greatness that has fashioned our country.

I am a Christian. I do have a “fantastic” belief system in which the God of the universe is returning to earth and judging us for our sins. My belief system states unequivocally that we are not destroying nature by global warming; rather we are destroying ourselves with our unrepentant rebellion against God Himself. My main contention here is that our “faith” needs to be placed in truth, something that, with the new scandal, seems to be “as far as the east is from the west”.

I am reminded of the words of the famous atheist, Bertrand Russell. He said that he has heard that it is said that man is a rational creature. and that he has vainly searched all of his life to find evidence of this. If there is not any regard for truth, how can we then maintain? In recent months the main stream media has wrongly ignored Acorn, tea partiers, and now a global “warnist” scandal. Our view of reality is slipping badly in America, and if it continues I ask how can we possibly continue as a citadel of freedom? We will be doomed to become that nation that Obama already sees- a nation that is not any longer exceptional, a country that is just as blind as any other, and a people that are just as lost as the world that we were given responsibility to redeem. Christ said that He is the truth, and that those who come to him must come to him in spirit and truth. If we will be learn again to look at our world through His lens we will understand so much more.


Other links of interest:
Scientific scandal appears to rock climate change promoters, by Clarice Feldman

The Day Global Warming Stood Still

Editorial: From Copenhagen to Nopenhagen for climate treaty

Update:
Climategate: Alarmism Is Underpinned by Fraud (PJM Exclusive)

On Statists and Christians

The statist always has the upper hand in our age for he uses morality as toilet paper; when it is clean, free of conflict, keep it around; but when dirty, conflicting or cumbersome, cast it aside. The Christian has not that prerogative; morality is handed him as one lump, dirty and clean together. Thus we see universally the governments with the most statism are the ones with the least religions; morals are the first inconvenience cast aside.

But optimism is used of both statists and Christians. The statist arranges new laws and orders in unceasing reformation. In my country education has undergone 100 years of reform and still has a marred image. But the statist believes that the next “reformation” will be the one which will bring salvation. The wise Christian who points out that this marred image of man is an example yet again of the fallen who are in need of redemption, and that our Redeemer draws nigh. Thus, both are optimistically believing in salvation; the former believing in his own wisdom to bring redemption; the latter believing God will send His Redeemer.

America

How is it that America can lay claim to greatness? I think that its greatness lies largely in this: that we have a large population of people with Christ. Our greatness lies then in His blessing, not in our wisdom; time and again God has intervened to stop our country from its inane stupidity. If indeed the Jews are the chosen people, then Americans are His adopted people; and their claim to favoritism is the same as that of the Jews. He chose us not because of our beauty, but rather because we are a “stiff-necked” people, and small among all the peoples of the world. This is our claim to exceptionalism—and the proof of it lies in the blessings of inventions and cures for diseases and luxuries to all that compares to no other nation on earth. How ironic it is, that in these last days, Obama gainsays all the blessings of our country to garner for himself a Nobel Prize. Liberal drivel for all its prose is still drivel. A man who cannot see his country’s greatness is small indeed!

Obama’s Biggest Mistake

We have a President who is unfortunately making some bad choices. One of his worst choices is his non-support of Israel. No president since Harry Truman, and I include Carter, has treated Israel in such a high handed cavalier fashion. Do you realize that Obama is the most unpopular American president as polled in Israel? He is absolutely feared and loathed by over 90% of Israel. At least he is scoring high in something.

No President has ever seemed to be able to foster such fear in Israel. In fact the record of our Presidents, both parties, has seemed rather stellar until now. Obama forbade us to talk even a bit of his “Muslim heritage” during the campaign, but now seems to turn at every opportunity to apologize to his Muslim brothers and offer peace at every chance. Terrorism was for the first months a forbidden term, and until public ridicule, was not returned to use.

I cannot remember any president making so many Mideast peace overtures in such a short time. How many trips, how many overtures has Obama made to the Middle East? It is obvious now that Obama’s feelings toward his fellow Muslims was a germaine issue in the campaign. Obama, like all of us, feels his roots. Only his roots are one half here, and one half in the Muslim world. How is that affecting his world outlook? Even Carter, the president who is most similar in this, took a long while to develop his peace talks and bring both sides to mutual agreement. Jews in America largely supported Obama’s campaign, but now must be moved to a bit of ‘self-reflection’ and wonder.

Anti-Semitism is again on the rise in Europe. I read today where the Swiss are being fed from a popular paper that Israel is murdering Palestinians to harvest their body organs. I am sickened by seeing the fires of bigotry against the Jews being stoked yet again, and by a people who are supposed to know better. Anti-Semitism is always on the rise in the Middle East. I fear that it will rise all too readily here in the United States again. I fear that our President is making such basic foreign policy mistakes that, even if unintentionally, the movement could be stoked yet here again.

I know my liberal brothers would be aghast at reading this, and would think that it could never happen here. But Democrats in the last two weeks have called those who dare to disagree with them about health care the following names. This list, I am sure, is not complete, but I was appalled by the number of leaders, who again should know better, that were spewing these appellatives.

“vandals” –thank you to Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak
“false witnesses” –thank you to our beloved BO
“evil mongers’ –thank you to Harry Reid
“racists” –thank you to news media
“un-American” –thank you to Nancy Pelosi
“hate mobs” –thank you Steven Crowder (great short film!)
“paranoid”
“astroturf”—thank you again, Nancy Pelosi (Does she ever get tired of hearing herself?)
“evil oil companies are funding health protesters” thank you, DNC
I know fully well that a similar list might be compiled from the other side; that is not the point. The point is that Democrat’s pride is in their alleged tolerance and respect of others and other people’s viewpoint. Yet the shrillest appellatives are from the leaders themselves.

I am saying, in the strongest terms I know how, beware America. If we turn not aside from our course we will find ourselves on the wrong side of the Middle East problem, and possibly, on the wrong side of Armeggeddon.

Death Panels

Much has been said about death panels in the news since the twitters of Sarah Palin. I find it appalling that many conservatives seem to so quickly diss idea of death panels. Perhaps it is because the end of the life discussions that were mandated under several of the plans were plainly not worded to include diabolical plans to “abort” someone’s life span. They could be read to see that courageous conversations took place between a doctor and his patient in crisis. I did read Palin’s followup to her initial response to the outrage over her death panel remark, and it was remarkably lucid and well argued. She cites provisions of the bills under consideration, and proves her case remarkably well.

So well did she prove her case that the language from the bill was removed within two days. I do find it strange that few commentators remark on this removal. I do find it more appalling that conservatives have not seen that she had a valid point, which liberals said that they removed such language, “because it might prove confusing to someone misinterpreting it.” Match, set and game to Palin.

But more fundamentally I want to look at the idea of “rationed” care. There is no doubt in my mind that we have a very different system now than we would have under the public option. Each and every day, in every way, we would discriminate against older people. No doubt the fine young bureaucrat would insist quite properly that America needs to spend its resources responsibly, and it would make more sense to spend money on a 22 year old junkie’s rehabilitation than on a hip replacement for an 83 year old. The 83 year old would not be told to shrivel up and die; they would just be left without needed care and shrivel up and die. No one will actually be killing him; they just will not give him needed care.

It is an Orwellian difference- but one that looms very largely before us. I am not aware of any system of public health care that does as good a job of trying to maintain quality life for our seniors. Obama tacitly admits this Orwellian twist when he talks about operations that can be avoided. He used the example of tonsils being removed unnecessarily. Unfortunately for him, my grandson was under one health plan that refused to remove tonsils. My grandson was sick and myopic all the time, until my daughter changed plans and had his tonsils removed.

He instantly improved! I realize that anecdotes can be too easily used to justify anything, but the question I have is: Do we really want to have a third party bureaucrat telling us what is right and what is not right? My daughter was able to change her doctor, find needed care and resolve the situation in the best interests of my grandson. This would not be possible under public health care.

Obama tells us that we can do this and save money. He says we can insure 40 million people, keep our same doctor, keep our same health plan, and still spend less on health care. My Dad used to tell me that if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Obama is on record in 2003, stating plainly that he desires for us to stair step our way into public health care. Evidently he feels we are too stupid to pay attention to what he has said. The video has been saved and floats around the internet. If the man states his plain plan, and we refuse to believe he is implementing his plan, then maybe we are too stupid.

I have one question for you. Are we stupid enough to let him get away with this? We have the best health care system in the world. The only problem is that it does not cover everyone. We do need to make some reform to make it more easily available. We do not need the public option. Our system needs tweaking, not reformation.

In the 1960’s medicare was presented as a public option. We were told it would not take private insurance’s place, and that it would “compete” with all the other choices. We were told it would not cost (politicians miscalculated its costs by a factor of 10) more, and what is the result? Today it has taken over health care for all seniors, who are rationed as to the care that they can get. More and more doctors are refusing medicare patients because they cannot afford the charity. The government, not the market, determines the price of needed treatments, and more doctors are refusing to do the treatments than ever before. This is the “successful program” Obama touts. He wants everyone to end in this kind of program.

We do not need to go down this Orwellian road. Refuse the public option, and demand that the best health system in the world be preserved. Or else live with the idea of a young person someday telling you that “quality of life” decisions have been made and left you behind.