Day 1 of the New Workers Paradise

Well, day one of paradise begins with a bang - Wall Street drops over 300 points and dips below 8,000 for the first time since the 80s.  It would seem that businesses are not feeling good about the new Paradise.  Of course, they will blame it all on "that darn George Bush" like they blame everything they don't like (from global warming, French arrogance, and the short shelf-life of quality ice cream).  We are SO set up to follow in the grossly mistaken footsteps of the New Deal, pre-WW2 dufai (plural of dufus).  They blamed everything on Hoover, continued to deficit spend year after year to "prime" the economy (despite the obvious evidence that it wasn't working) and to pour massive amounts of govt. money into every conceivable social program that warms a liberal's heart.  The result, massive inflation, double digit unemployment for 12  years and hardship for 99% of the country.  Only WW2 was large enough to shake us out of that death spiral.

I see the same things and the same words being used all over again.  God help us - my family is NOT ready for another Great Depression - we would be wiped out.  

Oh, but such gloomy Gus thoughts on this, the first glorious day of hope in the new paradise.  Never mind!

A Full MLK Weekend

Well, it's been a full MLK weekend. Thank you Lord for three day weekends once in a while. I spent most of Saturday teaching three astronomy classes at a University of Scouting. It was actually lots of fun though I was tired from having to be there at 6:45 a.m.

After that was finished I headed to a friend's house to have some juicy steak and enjoy a couple of fantastic cigars while we jawed around the fire. It was a great way to end a full day!

This morning, I went to church and then had a lunch meeting at Quiznos - first time I have ever been there. Pretty good subs. The meeting was pleasant too - sitting out in the warm sun - in the middle of January!

Then I returned home to a game of LOTR role playing with a half dozen friends. Had a tasty dinner of new potatoes and brats. Tomorrow, I plan to cook breakfast for my wife and then spend some of the day shopping for a new dishwasher now that our property tax refund arrived. I promised. SO, it will be a full weekend - but a satisfying one. I have SO much enjoyed the warm 60 degree days in the middle of January! I know I am supposed to be worried about the lack of rain, but it is SO nice to have the sun back and it not be hot yet. I'll worry about the rain later!

"Is this ALL there is? Is there Nothing More?"

Being a boomer, I find that most of life can be explained or illustrated using Star Trek, especially since the Universe saw fit to give us 5 different versions plus 7 or 8 movies and an animated cartoon series to boot. Some people feel the same way about The Godfather (I'm told). So I quote from Star Trek and use Star Trek episodes to illustrate things in my classroom all the time. So it is painful to watch as the years go by and fewer and fewer kids know anything about Star Trek. To quote another poet/singer, "What a drag it is gettin' old."

Anyway, as I was turning the lights out around midnight last night to go to sleep, I suddenly realized something quite profound. At long last, beyond all hope and with ways unlooked for, I have arrived as an adult. All those things I wished for in college and in my early 20's I now have in some measure. I always told myself and my friends, "I'm not asking to change the world, I just want to have a nice home with a nice job to provide my family's basic needs." Deep down I realize now that I secretly hoped my job would provide a lot more than my "basic needs" (food, clothing, shelter from the rain & cold) and I always envisioned myself living in a house where everyone has their own space and there is a nice view from the backyard of something. Not palatial - just maybe 2,000+ sq. ft or something like that.

Well, you know what they say, "Be careful what you wish for (out loud I mean)..."

Truth is, I have a wonderful family of 4 w/ my best friend in the world as my wife. I finally have some modicum of a career that provides a small but regular salary and enables me to meet my family's basic needs well enough I suppose. I know I AM grateful for my job! And we were finally able to purchase a home - it's only 1,300 sq.ft. and my kids have to double up in their rooms - not as spacious as my dream house but it's mine (and I never thought I would be able to afford even this so I'm seriously not griping). But as I turned out the lights, I realized that this may well be the house I turn out the lights in for the rest of my mortal life. In many ways, I thought, I would be quite blessed to have it that way. But at the same time, I found myself feeling quite melancholy and echoing the words of Spock in the 1st Star Trek movie - where after merging with V'ger he tries to explain the alien machine's state of mind. He tells Kirk and Co. about the history of the fomer earth probe that was equipped to learn everything in the galaxy and then report it to it's creator. He explains how it has come back to earth to do just that but can't believe that mankind is its creator - we are so puny! He says that the probe has done everything it is supposed to do and is now asking, "Is this all there is? Is there nothing more (to the universe and this existence I presume)?"

I just turned 45 last month. You are probably laughing about now and rolling your eyes about another dufus going through mid-life crisis. I don't know if that is what this is...but I DO find that I am not entirely sure I want my life to stay just like this until I die. I certainly don't mind living in this house or having this job for another 25 years. But there are still some things I feel are lacking about my life. I'm not sure what they are. But something inside tells me there IS something more. I really don't think it is a career move and heaven knows I don't want to move again. But still, there is something missing and it saddens me to realize it because I have a feeling it will not be easy to discover. But I may be wrong.

A Matter of Principle - Oh Yeah...

You have to chuckle about this one. Remember after the mid-term elections when the smug Ms. Pelosi carped about how the Democrats would put an end to the "culture of corruption?" Right.... As others have pointed out, for wanting to end corruption, Democrats have been strangely quiet when one of their own is caught red-handed! There's that congressman with all that "cold" cash in his freezer, and - oh the instances are too numerous to mention. As a result, I have not taken the vapid Ms. Pelosi's empty diatribe seriously.

But this time it seems a little different. The Gov. of Illinois was caught red handed a little more conclusively than the usual. The dude is as crooked as a willow switch. The whole nation is laughing at him if they aren't calling for his immediate impeachment. Illinois Democrats have, naturally, feigned shock at the Governor's massively crooked actions and seem to be tepidly interested in ending the culture of corruption starting with Blagojevich. Gov. Blagojevich made things even dicier by going ahead and appointing Roland Burris to the Senate seat - the very one he tried to sell to the highest bidder. Congressional Democrats were outraged and are threatening to ignore the appointment. They don't really have much of a legal stand to do that, but, and I never thought I would ever be saying this, they seem to be standing on principle - not wanting a criminal to prosper from their blatant misbehavior (Blagojevich not Burris - hopefully he wasn't one of the bidders!).

I applaud congressional Democrat's stand. IF they are really serious about rooting out corruption they have to not only do things right, but they have to make sure those who are corrupt cannot prosper from their misdeeds. If they want us to take them seriously, ever, they need to push hard for Blagojevich's IMMEDIATE impeachment and disallow ANYONE that crooked popinjay appoints. If they do anything less, well, then I was right all along about their genuineness about fighting corruption.

A Matter of Principle - Oh Yeah...

You have to chuckle about this one

Eagle Eye dwells on chlling ideas...

I just watched the movie Eagle Eye. Besides being well made and full of white knuckle action, the movie revolves around several Constitutional issues. Whoa! Very egg-headed for Hollywood! The spooky master computer concludes that the US govt. has become tyrancial and is operating contrary to the common good and in violation of Constitutional principles. Therefore, the computer decides the govt. must be overthrown and replaced with one that will. Spooky and very Civil War-like eh?

But I gotta tell you, the concept for this movie (not the super computer of course) comes right out of the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. As I teach my elementary students about the constitution and early American history, I am often struck by just how far off center our nation and govt. has become from what the framers and "fathers" envisioned. I don't think any of them save maybe Marshal (1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) would feel like our country has stayed true to the principles laid down in the Declaration and Constitution. Let's review them:

1. Popular Sovereignty. Govt. existed for the people - to be their servant. It was to be made up by citizens who were there for the good of their fellow citizens. Govt. was to serve the people not the other way around. You hear this talk in politics today but it seems to be merely window dressing. Most civil servants seem to be there for the purposes of lining their own pockets as much as possible. That's why corruption is so prevalent. We need to take this more seriously than we currently do.

2.Limited Government. The framers DESPERATELY wanted to avoid political tyranny like that they had just fought free of. Therefore, they deliberatly crafted a central govt. that was limited to doing ONLY what was assigned to them in the Constitution. They understood the dangers of power and how it corrupts the well meaning. A limited central government was the only way to help avoid this as much as possible. Now, can anyone really say we still operate with the concept of limited govt.? Our govt. is SO bloated and invasive I think EVERY early American would be horrified and turn over in his or her grave. We trade our civil liberties for what we are told is greater security and greater ease of life. But if you really examine those issues in the long term, you find we get neither. A great man once said, "those who trade liberty for security end up with neither." We NEED to be prickly when the govt. invades our privacy and our individual rights and freedoms. The less govt. dictates our choices and lifestyle the better. Govt. is a terrible parent/moral authority. Outlawing everything govt. decides is bad for us smacks more of Demolition Man than sound constitutional law.

3. Federalism. NO state expected to shed their sovereignty by ratifying the Constitution. Sure they knew they would have to give up absolute autonomy to be part of a union. But they expected to retain a significant amount of autonomy and power over the lives of their citizens. But activist courts and presidents have all but erased this. States have no real autonomy anymore. They are more like administrative units than governing authorities. The mighty federal govt. gets whatever it wants. State govts. are powerless to resist. The last group of states to try to do so were attacked by the federal govt. and the Civil War began. I think the same thing would happen today - don't you? Eagle Eye does it right though when it has a super computer do the rebelling - because none of our pampered, neutered state governments would EVER have the stones to tell the federal govt. "No" and make it stick.

4. Separation of Powers. This refers to the power of the federal govt. being split into 3 branches so that no one branch or no one person could become a tyrant. This is largely gone now thanks to the Imperial Presidency and the arrogance of the Supreme Courts. Presidents essentially make laws by making presidential declarations and acts that have the force of law. And the Supreme Court constantly makes laws by force of its rulings. Yet, this is the clear responsibility of the Legistlative branch. The executive and judicial branches are not supposed to make laws. Yet they essentially do and have been getting away with it for a hundred years or better.

5. Checks and Balances. Related to the Separation of Powers, this is the idea that one branch can prevent the other from becoming a tyrant and ignoring the Constititution. But special interest money and rank cowardice has prevented this from seriously working for a long time now.

Pretty heady stuff from a Hollywood movie, eh?