excellent stuff here…

Read this blog post by Justin Taylor.

http://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/10/counterculture-of-life-in-church.html

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Final Election Prediction

Quick note – Why does Barack Obama start out his asinine thirty minute political ad (which the mainstream media gladly moved around their schedule for) in a room that looks eerily like the Oval Office?  Because he can’t imagine anything but being President.  He and the rest of the Democratic Party are so power-hungry that they will do or say anything to get elected.

For what it is worth, I’m going to give you my final prediction for the election on Tuesday.  I write this as I watch the thirty-minute ad on major networks, so whether or not he gets a boost, these predictions do nottake that into account.

Shocking… Barack Obama will be the President-Elect on November 5.  He simply is too far ahead and McCain is too far behind.  Which states will he win?  All of the normal blue states – all the West Coast, All the East Coast, including Virginia.  He will win Iowa and his home state of Illinios, as well as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.  He will the key Western states of Colorado and New Mexico – key not because of their huge electoral votes, but because of the generally conservative nature of those states. I’m giving McCain a win in ohio, although that race is going to be really close.  McCain will win North Carolina and Florida, as well as Missouri.  The final electoral count will be in the neighborhood of 300 – 230.

So far this thirty-minute ad is basically how George W. Bush screwed people over.  Yeah, it’s all his fault.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating.  Barack Obama has publicly said that he wants to “spread the wealth.”  He wants to take what is rightfully one’s and give to someone else.  His running mate, Joe Biden, has said that the reason he wants to do this is because it is the “patriotic” thing to do.  Really?  Does anyone else see an issue with this?  IT IS NOT PATRIOTISM IF YOU ARE COMPELLED TO DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE DOING OUT OF PATRIOTISM!  If the government, at gunpoint (no, seriously… don’t pay your taxes and see what the IRS does… they carry guns when they come to arrest you for tax evasion), requires you to pay more in taxes one year than you do the previous year, how do you say that is patriotism?  That’s coercion!  There is no patriotism there.  Patriotism is saying, “I’m going to go out and serve my neighbor and provide his need for him because it is the right thing to do, not because I’m coerced to.”

Barack Obama is all about change.  He’s going to change things alright.  America will not look anything like it once did thanks to him.

But I hold faith that God has this election in His hands.  He has the whole world in His hands, and nothing that happens can surprise Him.  Nothing can befall Him.  And NOTHING that happens, good or bad, is outside the will of God.

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Abortion, Politics, Candidates, and the Glory of God

Read this about What Christians should think about abortion.  My thanks to Greg Pinkner for pointing this out.

http://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/10/robert-p-george-voting-for-most-extreme.html

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The Important 15%

15%… that’s what this election (as well as most in recent history) will come down to.  That’s it.  In fact, the number might be lower, but you don’t really know.  Polls are notoriously wrong.  When the major polls say that Barack Obama leads John McCain by 6-7 points, that is actually more like 2-3 points.  Why?  Mainly because the people who take these polls are not working (because the polls are during the day), uneducated (because they are not working during the day), and uninformed (the polls are designed with questions on soundbites, not issues).  Now realistically, these are vast generalizations, but they are nonetheless true for the most part.

What 15% am I talking about.  The 15% of voters that every candidate drools over.  It’s the 15% of voters who start paying attention to politics around primary times, and around the time of the worthless debates.  It’s the 30 second-soundbite crowd, who pick a cable or network news channel to listen to and form opinions off of what some partisan hack on TV has to say.  Basically, it’s the people that shouldn’t be voting, but do any way because they think they will feel better about themselves.

Don’t be part of that group, that mindless, uneducated, uninformed 15% who voted more times for the last American Idol than for President of the united States.  85% of Americans (or more) have already made up there minds. The two main parties can count on their base of support, as well as ten to fifteen percent of people that aren’t registered Democrats of Republicans but who will lean that way and vote that way a majority of the time. If you are truly torn between the two main candidates (and I don’t see how that can be), that is one thing.  I’m not talking to you.

I’m talking to the masses of voters who stream into polls every four years, expecting government to solve their problems.  I’m talking to the 18-22 year old college stuents who have been told in no uncertain terms by their college professors that liberalism works and that they should vote for Barack Obama.  I’m talking to the people who vote to feel all good about themselves like Bob Schieffer said last night.  Bob, I don’t vote to feel good about myself.  I vote to express my belief in ideals and to voice beliefs on issues that I deem important.  In fact, most of the time, I don’t feel very good about voting.  I’m left dumbfounded, saying to myself, ‘Is this all there is?  Certainly there is somebody better.”  Alas, I leave the polling place with my American flag sticker that proudly states, “I voted” in dismay, knowing that some girl out there with a limited high school education of civics just negated my vote because she listened to CNN that morning before she spent four dollars at Starbucks for sugary coffee, getting into her brand-new (and leased) minivan with her “My government-educated son is smarter than you government-educated son” sticker on the back.  She’ll go to PTA that night and hear teachers who are members of teachers’ unions talk about how much they think that “school choice” and “vouchers” and “charter schools” are a bad idea because it will make education a business and not a right.  She’ll collect her paycheck the next week and not understand why the government takes so much of her paycheck, but will hope that the “Change” that she just voted for was enough to help her pay her mortgage that she can’t afford on the new house she bought on an Adjustable-Rate Mortgage three years ago that she and her husband bought because they wanted to live “The American Dream (whatever that is).  She’ll also hope that the “Change” she voted for will give her affodable health insurance, which she heard one time was her “right.” She’ll open up her credit card bill the next day and see that she and her husband spent more than they said they were going to spend this month, which only adds to their mounting personal debt.  She looks at some of the charges and sees Comcast Cable, Applebee’s,  Walt Disney World (for next month’s family vacation), and of course, Starbucks (“Dang, honey, $4.32 at Starbucks everyday is really adding up.” her husband says.  “I deserve it,” she responds emphatically).

Folks, this is not hard.  If you want your taxes to go up, vote for “Change.”  If you want the Freedom of Choice Act (allowing unrestricted abortion in every state) to be passed within the first three months of a new administration, vote for “Change.”  If you want our soldiers, airmen, and sailors to come home to a country that denigrates their service, vote for “Change.”  If you want your government-educated, government-employed, $12.32/hour case-worker to tell you when you are allowed to go to the dentist or when you are allowed to get the x-ray of your foot that you injured last night, and if you want to put ANYBODY in government (Democrat or Republican) in charge of the health care decisions that you make, vote for “Change.”  If you want to vote for change for change’s sake (not because it is the right thing to do, vote for “Change.”  If you want to see your favorite boutique, your favorite local restaurant, your favorite golf course, and your favorite local supermarket go out of business because of higher taxes, vote for “Change.”  Go for it… do it… I know you want to.

But if you think to yourself, “Government isn’t the answer to my problems – I am,” don’t vote for change.  Vote for somebody else, but don’t vote to change.  If you look at the markets and say to yourself, “Dang, my 401(k) sure did take a hit this year – that’s alright, I’m in it for the long haul.  This is the free market at work”, don’t vote for change.  If you think that the unborn children of the world deserve to be protected and preserved, and not discarded like they are some nuisnace or some pest, treated instead like who they are – children of God, made in the image of God, for the glory of God – precious creations that deserve to be nurtured and loved, don’t vote for change.  If you think that you can make your own decisions about your health care and prefer not to have to run to “Change” to ask if it’s okay to get seen for your abdominal pain or sinus problems, don’t vote for change.  If you want more control over your life and would prefer the government to leave you the heck alone, don’t vote for change.

The decision is yours.  Unfortunately, more people than not are eerily similar to the family I described above.  That’s why I do not see John McCain winning this election.  I also don’t see Barack Obama winning by more than 3-4 points, if that.  As my wife said last night, “We survived Clinton.”  I suppose we did… why not move forward though?

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Debates, Diatribes, and the Glory of God

As I was listening to a little of the debate tonight, I was struck by a few things.  First, John McCain is more comfortable in this setting.  Barack Obama is less comfortable.  He doesn’t quite have the technique down… I know, it is difficult, Barack.  I mean, having a conversation with a normal human being is one of those upper level courses you must have missed at Columbia.

Second, healthcare and health insurance are too separate things (click “here” to read my post on Barack Obama’s Healthcare Policy).  Healthcare is what you get when you are swick, as well as what you get to preent you from getting sick.  Health insurance is the process by which most people finance their health care.  Get it right, Obama.  Secondly, and I have said this before and I will say it again, HEALTHCARE (and CERTAINLY Health Insurance) IS NOT A RIGHT!  Barack, your Constituional Law course must have skipped over, say, I don’t know… THE CONSTITUTION!!!! (You must be reading the same one where you read that privacy is a right in the Constitution… silly me).  Health care is a necessity, a necessity that you must take care of in order to live a long and productive life.  If you cannot afford health insurance to finance your healthcare, there are plenty of ways that already exist to help you (I hate to say this, but you might actually have to look a little, ask around, do some research).  There are major medical plans out there for you to buy to cover catatrosphic illness/surgery if you are relatively healthy and watch your costs, you can see your doctor for wellness visits and check-ups for far less than typical health insurance.

Part of the problem with health insurance is that there are few true “choices” out there.  There are typically one, maybe two, types of plans available to you through your employer.  There are other plans out there, especially for younger, healthier individuals.  Health Savings Accounts are GREAT avenues for younger individuals to insure themselves and save money at the same time.  There need to be more choices in the health insurance industry.  Government mandates, government-sponsored, government-funded health insurance will decrease options because the masses will flock to this plan like rats on a cheet-o.  That is not the kind of choice that will change health insurance.  Read my post on Barack Obama’s Healthcare Policy (this is not why McCain is right, just why Barack Obama is wrong).

I have to admit something – John McCain might have lost my vote after last Friday.  He voted for the largest overnight increase in the federal deficit in history (that I have found, at least).  As of last Friday, the deficit was right around $10.125 trillion.  With the $700 billion Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (and the $150 billion or so that was added in “goodies” and “sweeteners”, that bill is about $950 billion.  If you do the math, that means an OVERNIGHT increase in the federal deficit of close to 9%… in one day… with one stroke of the pen.  Now, just to be sure, that in no way means I’m going to vote for Obama.  I couldn’t bring myself to vote for someone who I disagree so strongly with on a whole host of issues.  It just means that I might not vote in the presidential race.  I might be voting in every other race except that one.  Don’t worry, there is no way Tennessee will go blue on November 4th, so it’s not like it will make a difference towards the negative.  In fact, it might wake some Republicans up to start adopting some different ideas, some, I don’t know, CONSERVATIVE IDEAS?  Shocking, I know…

One last thing… aren’t you glad that we aren’t in control?  Aren’t you glad that God is sovereign over the leaders of our nations, and that not only does He control them, but that He puts them into those postions in the first place.  We have a responsibility to be active in the goings on of our government, but HE ultimately controls it.  He ultimately chooses who our next President will be.

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Great Article on the Bailout – Why it is NOT the right thing to do

Take four minutes and read this article on the bailout.  This is a grouping of economists from all over the country who are voicing their displeasure and flat-out opposition to this disasterous bill.  America (or the fifty people or so who read this – CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN.  Tell them that you will vote their hind end out of office in November if they vote “yea” on this bill.

I cannot say this strongly enough.  If the House passes this bill, and President Bush signs it into law (he never saw a spending bill that he didn’t like), our nations economy will take years to recover.  Why?  BECAUSE THIS WILL NOT BE THE LAST TIME!!!!! (me yelling).  Do you seriously think that when the bad effects of this bill are manifested in about a year and the country’s financial system is on the verge of another big nose-dive, the president and Congress won’t see fit to stick their noses into business most of them know nothing about?  Most of these people are lawyers.  Most of them never had to work in a real business and count real costs and make real decisions about business.

My wife and her business partner’s store would be bankrupt in months if they ran their business the way our stinkin’ Congress runs it.  My / Your / Your neighbor’s own personal budget and spending would be broke by the end of the month if we did what Congress does.  The old saying goes, The opposite of PROGRESS is Congress.”  Truer words have never been spoken.

SERIOUSLY… pick up the phone and call your congressman.  No, I mean it.  If you get put on hold, wait it out.  If you get hung up on (it’ll happen if you live in a liberal district), e-mail them.  This is going down on Friday, so do it first thing in the morning.

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