On Books. The United States has been at war for almost seven years. September 11, 2001 changed American life forever, but in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan life had not changed in centuries until one man determined to fulfill a dream and a promise. He began to build schools for the children, both boys and girls, in the remote regions of Pakistan. His odyssey began in 1993 after a failed attempted to scale K2 one of the most formidable peaks in the world. His story does not end with the last pages of his book, Three Cups of Tea, with David Oliver Relin. The Central Asia Institute was founded to fund and to promote his efforts, and it continues to build schools in Pakistan and also Afghanistan. His premise is simple—education is the key to ending terrorism and ensuring our security. He is changing futures one school at a time in a place long forgotten by the world..

The point of interest for this book is the United States involvement in Central Asia. I have read two other books set in this region, The Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell, and the Kite Runner by Khaled Houseini. The Lone Survivor is the true story of Luttrell and his SEAL team in Afghanistan. The Kite Runner is fiction based in Afghanistan before the take over by the Taliban. These three books together are an excellent primer on life in this part of the world. The American public is tragically ignorant about the countries where we are at war. In order to be informed citizens, we should not just be able to find Afghanistan, and Pakistan on a map. Many cannot. Still.

Reading at least one of these books would good a long way in self-education for the good of the country. Understanding what we are up against, knowing about the people we are at war with and the people we are trying to help is crucial if we are to make the correct decisions when we vote, when we work to influence Washington, and when we decide how to donate our time and money. Mortonsen’s first cup of tea is drunk as a stranger, the second is drunk as a friend and the third is drunk as family. Read three books, these or three others, and start to include Central Asia as part of the family of your heart.

On Movies. Movies are not in my original list of topics of interest, but I do like them even if I rarely watch them. In the last year I have seen only two movies in the theater. One received NO stars from the reviewers and was given devastating reviews. The other will probably win a number of Oscars, as well it should. The first is "Expelled: No Intelligence Required", and the second, "The Dark Knight." Without a doubt, in my mind, "Expelled" was an excellent documentary by Ben Stein. He interviews scientists and academics who support evolution and gets them on record voicing unwavering support for any origin of life story that will leave a creator God out of the story. I need to see it again to be able to give examples, but it was funny and infuriating. Funny because Ben Stein cannot help but be funny and infuriating because these people he interviews have bought so deeply into their philosophies that they cannot conscience any dissent from their positions, and this film is a dissent from the party line of evolution. It simply seeks acknowledgement of another possibility besides the unproven theory of evolution.
"The Dark Knight" is an unqualified box office smash hit. It has broken the weekend box office take to come in at number one over last year's "Spider-Man 3", which I have not seen yet in spite of being a big Spider-man fan.
The Dark Knight", however, was a must see and the opportunity presented itself on the opening weekend as Sunday was hot and a freezing theater sounded like a good idea. The movie did not disappoint. Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker was splendid and I can’t wait to get the DVD to hear the dialogue again. (or I may have to go see it again, it was that good.) He is creepy, but you kind of feel sorry for him. The cool Batman toys are great, too. I have been a fan of the Batmobile since I was a kid, and they just keep getting better. I need to see it again to identify Chicago landmarks; I started out looking and then. was so caught up in the movie I forgot to look. The best part, however, is what he did with a cell phone. Completely spooky. Can they do that?

On Politics. I know why gas prices are so high, why the deficient is out of control, and why congress’s approval ratings are at all time lows--it's the congress. I subscribed to Senator Jeff Bingaman’s (D-NM) monthly newsletter www.bingaman.senate.gov The June issue had the most astoundingly self-serving, misinformed or dare I say, plain stupid remarks I have read about the current crisis. I taught senior economics for ten years, and my degree is in political science, so I have some knowledge on these matters. He’s cracked. And if this is the leadership we have in Washington, we are indeed doomed. This is the line that really set me off: “Our national economic policies have been out of touch with reality for most of the last eight years – focused on delivering large tax cuts to a few Americans, paid for with money borrowed overseas.” The money borrowed from overseas is the money that funds deficient spending by Congress and the economic stimulus package that was an expensive boondoggle, eaten up at the gas pump and bloated by the cost of simply getting the checks out. Tax cuts add to the federal coffers. Tax revenues soared after Bush’s tax cuts. They always have that effect and they do it even when Democrats cut taxes, like when JFK did it back in the sixty’s. He understood that if you let people keep their money, they will spend it in ways that make more money for themselves resulting in more federal revenue. I agree with the Senator when he blames the weak dollar for the current gas prices. Oil is purchased in dollars and the dollar has been on a long slow slide. But the tax cuts are not the reason; the reason is the federal debt and the low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.
Senator Bingaman goes on to say that the new fuel economy standards passed by Congress will save us a million barrels of oil a day...by 2020 when the new requirements take effect. I think the free market is already taking care of that as people dump or park their gas guzzlers in favor of more fuel efficient vehicles. All you have to do is watch a little TV to figure this out. Or take a ride on you local bike path. Count how many people aren’t wearing helmets and it will give you an idea of how many people are new converts to cycling as opposed to the old converts who are lefty crackpots and yell at you for exercising your right to NOT wear a helmet.
His other wonderful suggestion (I’m slipping into cynicism here) is to drill on all the land oil companies have under lease but are not drilling on. Now these oil companies are not stupid. With oil at record prices and profits as high as they have been for the last several years and with demand out stripping supply, I think if there was oil out there, they would be drilling for it. So my guess is that since if they don’t drill within so many years they loose the land, there isn’t any oil there or not enough to drill for cheaply enough even at these prices. On the other hand, there is oil in places where there are no leases and some could be up and producing, according to some experts, in as little as two years or less. We know this because off the coast of California it seeps out of the ground. It would actually be more environmentally sound to drill than to let the natural seepage occur. How crazy is that.
In the spirit of fairness, he does say one thing I can agree with at least on the face of it because you never really know what a politician means by a statement like this, but he said that he would work to make “sure Federal agencies [had] the resources necessary to expedite the approval of responsible new production.” This would be a good thing since it takes 25 years or more to get the permits to build a nuclear power plant. (something, by the way, he does not mention as part of the solution)
This was an interesting insight in to how and what our politicians think. We should all be subscribing to our senator’s and representative's newsletters or be reading their web sites. And write back to them. If they don’t know how we feel and feel threatened by it, they continue doing what ever they please at our expense. Literally.

On Religion. I need to clarify, on further reflection, a statement I made. I am a Calvinist in so far as I firmly believe three of the five main tenets of Calvinism: total depravity, unconditional election, irresistible grace. I believe in free will only in the human world. Human depravity makes coming to Christ though free will impossible. Irresistible grace, the work of the Holy Spirit, is the only way a human ever looks to Jesus. Election makes it clear that some will be saved and others lost. Who they are is known only to God. The work of the church is to preach and live the gospel so those who are called can hear. The rest is up to God. Having said that, the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel illustrates the spiritual nature of humans and the “lostness” of those who are not called and are not regenerate. Holding to Hinduism, Islam, and Romanism, the Christianity described here, is not possible for someone truly regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Now what would have happened had Pi been introduce to Christianity through the gospel that says Jesus is the Way, not the institutional church, and repentance is required not just water sprinkled on the head we can not know, but I believe had the author been introduced to Jesus this way his story might have taken a different path. Pi would not have practiced elements of three religions, and the one God in his boat would have been a true source of help and comfort through his ordeal. Then having said all this, I stand on the statement by Charles Spurgeon in his Treasury of David, an exposition on the Psalms, many names will be erased and added to OUR Book of Life when we finally see the real Book of Life in to which God Himself has recorded the names of His children.

On Books. The Last Patriot by Brad Thor is a spectacular read. Historically and factually accurate, and the author at the end tells us were he strays from fact to fiction. It makes me want to read more about Thomas Jefferson. The Shack by William P. Young is another story altogether. Apparently it is very popular and very controversial. I did not know this when I read it and found it a fascinating story. My one thought on the controversial nature of the book is that it stretches how we think about God. It stretches our imagination out of our finite human limits and challenges us to think beyond our typical images that are based in our human experience. At any rate, I am going to reread it with pen in hand and will see what I think on the second pass.

On Politics or News from the rabbit hole. The stock market has closed below 11,000 today. That’s good/bad news. I think it should be below 10,000 but as a measure of confidence in the economy it is clearly not good. On the other hand, the mess with Fannie and Freddy is a complete disaster. It is another leftover from the ‘30s for which we are still paying. Thank you, FDR. Nancy Polosi was asked directly how to get out of the energy crisis and she replied that we needed to find alternatives. I think that alternatives are fine for cities and industry even, but our automobiles are simply not going to run on anything else for years to come. I intended to drive mine until the wheels feel off. So we still need to drill, drill, drill.

July 3, 2008

The Dow Jones has entered bear territory having lost 20% of its value. It is currently up 73, which is not much of a recovery. Gas is 4.15. The governor of the People's Republic was on WSL this morning and actually said the reason there is no budget in place is because the house democrats would not pass the revenue generating legisation. No consideration for cutting anything which he can do. It should be a no brainer, everybody already hates him. use the pen and get some revenge. But no not this time. This guy is a disaster.
The farmers want the price of grain to continue to rise, that will be good for them. They still don't get it. It is called inflation, and ultimatly, they will pay the higher prices, too. There is no end to the insanity. The Chigago Tribune proposed the repeal to the 2nd amendment. That's why we get to have guns.

June 30, 2008

On the economy. I am on a roller coaster. I don’t know whether to be scared to death or hopeful about the future. On one hand, gas prices continue to rise and on the other hand some politicians seem to be getting the message that something must be done to lower prices (except democrats), innovation is rearing its head, and I am getting good exercise riding my bike. The country is still afloat. The stock market is down but not out. However, the airlines are in real trouble and at least one big three auto maker (GM) is in serious trouble. I am looking for a trailer for my bicycle so I can haul groceries. Since you can push it too, I will be able to get groceries when it is too cold to ride. Not paranoid, just prepared. Really.

On books. I have finished The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes. This is a must read to understand how so many things the left would like to try to “fix” the economy. Today the democrats want to try taxing the rich, tried that didn’t work, taxing corporations, tried that didn’t work, “economic stimulus” packages, tried that over and over, still doesn’t work. Because the American public has no idea what has been tried before nor the outcome of those fixes, they are willing to let politicians talk them into trying them again. It is ridiculous. Actually, it is socialism bordering on unabashed Marxism i.e. nationalizing oil companies and refineries.

On a lighter note, the fourth book in the Artemis Fowl series, The Opal Deception by Eion Colfer is another delightful read. This series just gets better. It is smart, funny, imaginative, and suspenseful at the same time. The only disturbing part is the too liberal use of sentence fragments. I don’t think this sets a good example for young readers who will eventually have to write. Unfortunately, “writing” is not specifically taught in government schools so kids will write like they talk or if we’re lucky like what they have read. For that reason I believe authors of youth literature should make every effort to write in a way that can be imitated.
I am looking forward to reading the next book, a birthday present I had to work up to.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham was, however, a disappointment. It had more potential than he gave it. It was good football, the Italians were great, but the girl ruined it for me. I felt her character was very inconsistent and muddled the story both by her appearances and by her absences.

July 1, 2008

Yesterday I felt like I was on a roller coaster, but today the country has jumped down the rabbit hole. There is talk of 170 dollar-a-barrel oil which would translate into SIX DOLLAR A GALLON GASOLINE. I THINK I WILL HAVE A HEART ATTACK. It is not so bad for someone like me except maybe EVER BEING ABLE TO DRIVE HOME AGAIN…EVER. But for someone who must drive to work and school and is only barely making it now it will be impossible. In the Peoples Republic of Illinois, the legislature has raised minimum wage to $7.75 an hour, effective today. Fast food places and other low wage jobs are just going to disappear because owners won’t be able to pay more as commerce drops off. The drive through is going to look like a hitching post, a relic of a by-gone era. This is insanity.
The Great Depression is going to look like a walk in the park. Prior to the Great Depression, the government had never been in the business of providing for the people. They did what they were supposed to do and provided for national defense against enemies foreign and domestic. They did not hand out welfare for all. They even had to be dragged kicking and screaming to provide pensions for veterans. But today everything is different. We have already pulled out all the stops. We have huge deficits and enormous national as well as personal debts. As a country we spend more than we make at every level. One of the things about the Great Depression was that those who were not in debt by and large did alright. The bank didn’t get the house or farm or the car or refrigerator. Today we are mortgaged up to our eyeballs. Foreclosures are all ready soaring. If the Big One happens, everyone is in trouble. Everyone. I wish I had a bicycle shop with an apartment over it and no mortgage. That’s the guy who’s going to survive. (Oh, and maybe a pig, some chickens, and a big garden, too.)


On books. Tuesday is garage sale afternoon in this part of the Peoples Republic. I picked up an interesting book for a former high school teacher—The Art of Teaching Adults. For a quarter in the midst of economic melt down it seemed like an amusing book. As all teachers know, it is easier to get five year olds to stand in a line than it is to teach adults.