Chris Whisonant

Word Bending

2009-02-20T08:42:00.001-05:00

While listening to some old Toad the Wet Sprocket music this yesterday morning, I heard this line from "Nanci": "I can't believe you - you bend your words like Uri Geller's spoons"

This got me thinking about the new Recovery.gov website. At the bottom left of the main page, we see this chart:

This leads many to believe that this colossal spending bill is around 1/3 "tax relief". Actually, we should all take a look at this a little differently. First of all, here's a pie graph representation of the bill using The Administration's numbers from above:

Yes, that's a huge slice of pie that's tax relief! But if you dig deeper into the site and go to the "Where Is Your Money Going?" page, we can see that 42% of the "tax relief" dollars are actually tax breaks allocated for some of the other parts of the pie. What happens if we re-allocate those "tax relief" dollars over into the separate sections? We see this:

As you can see, it's much more evenly distributed. But without the words (and numbers) having been bent like the spoon above, the public perception of the bill may be drastically shifted. Certainly we're still seeing a big chunk as pure "tax relief" [that I understand much of which will be allocated to taxpayers who should be seeing around $13 per week "extra" on our checks ($400/year single, $800/year couple)]. I won't go into the arguments for or against that here. But one of the other things about the "tax relief" is that $61,000,000,000.00 (yes, Billion) will be going to "Protecting the Vulnerable" (defined here as "low-income and vulnerable households"). This is in addition to the other $81 Billion dedicated to this group. Am I saying that we as people should not be helping out those less fortunate? Far from it! But, monetarily speaking, we should not be calling part of this "tax relief" because many of those people do not even pay taxes. It is estimated that $264 Billion of this spending bill will be welfare spending in some form or another. Sadly, this will be undoing a lot of what President Clinton changed in regards to welfare. (Did I just say it was sad to undo something President Clinton did?!?)

You may not agree that President Obama is bending spoons with his rhetoric, but it is pretty plain to see that he wants people to believe that this is one big "tax relief" +spending bill. I hope you do not get pulled into thinking that or that Republicans should just be onboard with it because it has tax cuts. A tax cut does not a conservative make... (nor does being a Republican mean one is a conservative).

Here's a nice quote from the "Tooth Fairy Economics" article:

"We should not want to "stimulate" an economy based on debt and
overconsumption back into existence. We should want to restructure it
along sustainable lines."

Think about that. Our leaders really do think that this version of our economy is what needs to be revived. It's not! We do need to seriously reconsider what we're doing. For one, the FairTax is a good start as I've said before. A bad idea is spending another $275 Billion to help with mortgages. Even if this bill passes, I've heard estimates that even 40% of those affected won't even be able to pay their mortgages if the interest rates are reduced to 2% on their loans. That estimate can be heard in this video.

Free Christmas Music!

2008-12-09T22:25:00.005-05:00

Over at Amazon, they are doing 25 Days of Free - a free Christmas MP3 download every day in December through Christmas day.

Also, hat tip to Greg for letting me know this! There are also a couple of free Brian Setzer Christmas tracks there: Angels We Have Heard on High and Take a Break Guys.

Happy Downloading...

Bailing Out Local Governments?

2008-11-25T08:51:00.003-05:00

So there are now many big cities seeking bailouts from the federal government. Atlanta is one of these cities - right down the road from me. Yesterday, in his Nuze, Neal Boortz outlined a plan for how Atlanta should make some changes that would prevent them from having to worry about some of the economic problems. Many of those things can be generalized and implemented by other local governments instead of them asking for federal assistance or raising taxes.

Here is a summary:
- Sell off some land for development
- Privatize some things like garbage collection and the servicing of fleet vehicles
- Trim spending in other areas
- Specifically for Atlanta, the airport should be privatized - good details on this above

This is very important that we start with reduction in local government spending and try to get that to "trickle up". We have way too many unsustainable entitlement programs already in our Federal government, and I'm shocked that doesn't bother some people.

Apple Folks, help!

2008-11-14T09:58:00.003-05:00

OK, iPhone support website is HORRIBLE!!

First of all, the choice of only 5 "descriptions" of the problem is really poor - none allow for an actual problem with the device, only for accessories. I guess I'll be calling them later. Here's the issue I'm having - can anyone help? This is on an original iPhone 8GB that I've had almost a year, so it's still under warranty... :)

Yesterday, I started getting this error message when synching my iPhone: "this iPhone cannot be synched. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable." I decided to restore from a backup but I continued to get the error. After working with this some more last night, I have found that I ONLY get that error when I try to sync my Photos. This sounds to me like there is some type of corruption on the flash drive. Also, when I try to sync my Google Contacts, the sync never completes or times out - it's been doing "Syncing contacts with 'Chris' iPhone'" for 30 minutes now. Whereas prior to yesterday my syncs would only take a couple of minutes at the most. I am running firmware version 2.1 and have been since the day it was released and I have only installed a handful of apps (which all sync fine). I've never had any problems with this great device, but now it appears that the drive is corrupt! Online searches don't help me out too much, either.

Georgians: Remember to VOTE on December 2!

2008-11-13T09:15:00.005-05:00

There are many pundits on both sides of the aisle watching Georgia's Senate runoff between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democrat challenger Jim Martin very closely. If you live in Georgia, like I do, then you need to make sure that you vote on or by December 2. Advance Voting will start on November 24. This site should hopefully have information soon on where you can vote early. If you need an absentee ballot, you can follow instructions here.

As we currently stand, the Democrats may have 59 seats in the US Senate. This is because the Alaskan and Minnesotan are extremely close and are in recount phases. Some of you may be thinking that 60 Democrat Senators is exactly what this country needs. Senator Clinton believes that this is needed to bring about a certain change and I've seen a quote from President-Elect Obama from several years back stating that the only way to bring about the sweeping change that he feels is needed is with a Democrat President and a supermajority in the Congress.

But I know I'm not the only one who doesn't think this is a great idea - whether it's a Republican or Democrat supermajority. I also know others who have said they don't think it's the best idea to have a single party running both branches - much less a blank check. I know that the House is still not a "supermajority" but it doesn't matter since they don't have filibuster privileges. Dick Morris also has a good column on this.

But really, no matter how you vote, make sure that you make your voice known again on December 2. Perhaps by then we will know if this is truly a case for preventing a supermajority, but you should still vote.

As a side note, I'm really tired of the misleading ads that Jim Martin is running regarding Saxby Chambliss' support of the FairTax. I've written about the FairTax plan here in the past. If you are not familiar with it, I urge you to look into it and give it some thought.

5 Years Ago

2008-10-16T09:02:00.004-05:00

Our wonderful daughter was born!! I can't believe that it's been 5 years... She's growing up way too fast too.

Happy Birthday Emma Grace!!!!

Then

Now

ESV Study Bible Out This Week

2008-10-11T18:46:00.003-05:00

The ESV Study Bible is now available for purchase online. It hit the stores on Wednesday, but you can pre-order it from the link above. I've been using this translation since it was first published in 2001. It's very readable, literal, and has taken advantage of many of the advances that the translators of the KJV desired to see so that their work of improvement on previous English translations would be still further improved. You can read from this version here.

Go check out this Study Bible - there are tons of resources available in it (check out the Blog section of the Study Bible site for many of these). I plan on getting one soon (probably for Christmas). Along with the resources available in the Bible, everything will also be available online at no additional cost if you own a copy of the Study Bible. Here is a video demonstrating some of the features:

7

2008-09-11T07:58:00.001-05:00

Around this exact time of day 7 years ago I was sitting at work when my mom called to tell me that a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. I thought she was crazy until I turned on Fox News in our server room and got my colleagues in there watching. Then hearing reports that the Pentagon was hit. Then the second plane hit the other tower and a plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Then the towers fell... It was really surreal and words can't describe it. Last year, I took the picture below. It's a shot of two flags standing at the site of the World Trade Center with a plane flying just overhead...

And here was a shot of the construction that's happening at Ground Zero:

It was really odd to see this site nearly 6 years later. I wish they had it a little more open - there was a wrap around the fencing and you could only find gaps to look through.

For the past few years I've posted the lyrics to Dream Theater's Sacrificed Sons about 9/11. It's a pretty powerful song. You can find those lyrics here.

And here is a video of them playing the song live in Rome.

A Courageous Story

2008-09-01T19:31:00.003-05:00

One of the few podcasts I listen to is Albert Mohler's, and he has a great blog too. Way back on May 6, 2008, he posted a blog titled Welcome to the World, Trig Paxson Van Palin about Governor Sarah Palin's pregnancy and the birth of her son with Down's Syndrome. I urge you to go read it and the AP article to which it links.

She loves her baby boy and is proud of him. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin told the Associated Press. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"

Trig Paxson Van Palin has an extra chromosome, two proud and loving parents, four very happy siblings, and he will bring his own joy to untold numbers of lives.

He will face some unique challenges, but he has a loving family who will face those with him. They will learn together the wonder and beauty of a Down syndrome child and will learn to see the glory of God in his trusting face.

Mothers Day 2008 is certain to be a special day in the Alaska Governor's Mansion. What an unspeakable tragedy that so many other homes will have aborted that joy.

Anti-Obamanomics

2008-08-29T13:52:00.004-05:00

Just reading a good article at Mises.org titled: Anti-Obamanomics: Why Everyone Should Be in Favor of Reducing Taxes on the "Rich" Generally, the economists at the site don't post about particular candidates. But with so much focus on the election now, I urge you to go read some from it. It's actually a response to an article in the New York Times Magazine:

Are the American people being primed to elect as President of the United States a home-grown version of Hugo Chavez, in the person of Barack Obama? This is a question one can come away with after reading "Obamanomics," the featured article in this last Sunday's (August 24, 2008) New York Times Magazine. Written by Times' columnist David Leonhardt, the article provides insight into Obama's thinking on economics and the economic policies he would be likely to pursue if he were elected President.

Some of the highlights are as follows:

Two major impediments make it difficult for people to recognize the fact that everyone would benefit from reductions, or, better still, the total abolition of all of these taxes on the so-called rich — made possible, of course, by equivalent reductions in government spending. The first is simply massive ignorance of economics, especially of the general benefit from private ownership of the means of production. People have not grasped the profound insight of Mises that, in a market economy, in order benefit from privately owned means of production, one does not have to be an owner of the means of production. This is because one benefits from other people's means of production — every time one buys the products of those means of production.

I think I know a lot of extremely smart people who say they just don't "get" economics. I don't "get" a lot of things (like chemistry or physics), so that's understandable. But when we're talking about massive redistribution of wealth, this affects us all, so people should try to comprehend economics. And to pre-empt the comment that the Republicans are the ones who have allowed spending to get out of hand - I cede that point. I don't agree with that, but I'm a Conservative and not a Republican. There is a difference! Further, and with more pre-emption in mind, take a look at Senator Obama's acceptance speech. I was going to go through and count the new programs he's wanting to instate that "the government" will pay for, but could not stomach reading past the first few paragraphs of partisan politics and pandering. But you can go here or here for more information on how he's misleading us and how he will increase spending as well. Until Congress decides to buckle down, we'll have to keep raising taxes to pay for the pork.

The redistribution of wealth is allegedly necessary to enable an individual who does not own the wealth presently owned by others to benefit from that wealth. Only as and when their property passes to him can he benefit from it, the redistributors believe. This is the kind of "largesse" Obama intends to practice. It is taking funds from those most prodigious at accumulating capital, capital that would benefit all, and then giving the funds to others to consume. Meeting the needs of the poor with the consumption of capital is Obama's formula for prosperity.

Small business owners will have a hard time growing their businesses when their capital is further taxed. Less growth also means less new jobs. And further, increased taxes on businesses will likely lead to increased cost of goods - which leads to increased prices at the counter. So while the personal income taxes may be less for a person, how much will that be offset by the increased costs incurred because the manufacturers of goods and services now have higher costs?

Starting with tax cuts for the so-called rich — based on equivalent reductions in government spending — is the only hope for the resumption of significant economic progress, indeed, for the avoidance of economic retrogression and growing impoverishment. Because of this, it is actually the quickest and surest road to any major reduction in the tax burden of the average wage earner. It holds out the prospect of the average wage earner being able to double his standard of living in a generation or less. The average standard of living would double in a single generation if economic progress at a rate of just 3 percent a year could be achieved. Such economic progress would also mean a halving of the average wage earner's tax burden in the same period of time — if government spending per capita in real terms were held fixed, for then he would have double the real income out of which to pay his present level of taxes. And then, of course, once all the taxes that most stood in the way of capital accumulation and economic progress were eliminated, further reductions in government spending and taxation could and should take place that would be of corresponding direct benefit to wage earners, that is, show up in the reduction of the taxes paid by them.

This analysis makes clear that an essential flaw of so-called supply-side economics — the policy both of the Reagan administration and of the present Bush administration — was the failure to face up to the need to reduce government spending. While the policy of reducing taxes by both administrations was perfectly correct, most of the potential benefit of the tax cuts was lost through the corresponding enlargement of federal budget deficits. Regrettably, both administrations and their supporters lacked the courage required to abolish government spending programs to make those tax cuts possible without deficits.

Their failure to have done so explains why the great mass of the American people have not benefitted from the tax cuts as they should have. The explanation is that, absent equivalent reductions in government spending, the tax cuts did not translate into increases in capital formation, but the opposite. Instead of there being more demand by business for labor and capital goods, there was less; instead of more rapid economic progress and rising real wages, there has been economic stagnation or outright decline, along with stagnant or falling real wages.

Of course, in a further display of their ignorance and blindness, members of the Left will undoubtedly characterize the line of argument I've presented in this article as the "trickle-down theory." There is nothing trickle-down about it. There is only the fact that capital accumulation and economic progress depend on saving and innovation and that these in turn depend on the freedom to make high profits and accumulate great wealth. The only alternative to improvement for all, through economic progress achieved in this way, is the futile attempt of some men to gain at the expense of others by means of looting and plundering. This, the loot-and-plunder theory, is the alternative advocated by the redistributionist critics of the misnamed trickle-down theory. The loot-and-plunder theory is the theory of Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of much of the Republican Party. It is time to supplant it with the sound economic theory developed by generations of intellectual giants ranging from Smith and Ricardo to Böhm-Bawerk and Mises.

Great points from Dick Morris

2008-08-28T15:49:00.002-05:00

I find it rather humorous that the DNC is still thinking they have to run against George W. Bush. A little reality check - he's not in the race! Here's a great article from Dick Morris:

A STRATEGIC OPENING FOR MCCAIN

The truth is, of course, that McCain is the most unlike Bush of any of the Republican senator. (When Obama’s people claim that Bush and McCain voted the same 94 percent of the time, they forget that most of the votes in the Senate are unanimous.) The fact that McCain backs commending a basketball team on its victory doesn’t mean that he is in lockstep ideologically with the president.

The issues on which McCain and Bush differ are legion:

* McCain fought for campaign finance reform — McCain-Feingold — that Bush resisted and ultimately signed because he had no choice.

* McCain led the battle to restrict interrogation techniques of terror suspects and to ban torture.

* McCain went with Joe Lieberman on a tough measure to curb climate change, something Bush denies is going on.

* McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts when they passed.

* McCain urged the Iraq surge, a posture Bush rejected for years before conceding its wisdom.

* McCain favors FDA regulation of tobacco and sponsored legislation to that effect, a position all but a handful of Republican senators oppose.

* McCain’s energy bill, also with Lieberman, is a virtual blueprint for energy independence and development of alternate sources.

* After the Enron scandal, McCain introduced sweeping reforms in corporate governance and legislation to guarantee pensions and prohibit golden parachutes for executives. Bush opposed McCain’s changes and the watered-down Sarbanes-Oxley bill eventuated.

* McCain has been harshly critical of congressional overspending, particularly of budgetary earmarks, a position Bush only lately adopted (after the Democrats took over Congress).

Remember that McCain ran against Bush in 2000.

McCain’s Republican advisers need to realize that they won the primary and that they do not need to cotton to the delegates at their convention or to appease the Bush White House. The more they respond to Obama’s and Biden’s attacks on Bush by saying, “It ain’t me, babe,” the more he will moot the entire purpose of the Democratic convention.

It is a rare opportunity to nullify the entire Democratic line of attack, and McCain should seize on it.

Lincoln Brewster featured in the Line 6 Newsletter

2008-08-09T13:00:00.003-05:00

This was cool - the most recent Line 6 newsletter has a "recommended" section in which they have this:

Lincoln Brewster discusses his live rig and the great gear responsible for creating his sought-after sounds.

Here they link to a YouTube clip where Lincoln discusses the gear he uses live. This was random to see Lincoln, who is a great worship leader and guitarist, featured in this. We have done a good bit of his music at church. The reason he is featured is because of the Line 6 PodX3 Live that he uses (I have the XT Live). He also discusses the '57 reissue Fender Strats he uses (like those hon??) :P.

But there's more - while looking at the video, I saw a link on the right to Lincoln playing a Journey song. So, being the child of the 80's that I am, I had to click that. Turns out that Lincoln used to play for Steve Perry - how crazy is that!

Here's the clip of Lincoln's rig:

Here's the Journey clip:

What's Your Blog Reading Level?

2008-08-06T13:48:00.002-05:00

Happy Anniversary Honey!

2008-08-05T07:35:00.004-05:00

Just want to wish my wife a Happy 8th Anniversary today!! I love you! I can't believe we have been married 8 years now and have been together for nearly 11!

Here we are just the other day - our big, happy family (except for OT who was being held captive by EG!)

Senator Obama Makes Paris Hilton Look Like a Recluse

2008-08-05T07:16:00.004-05:00

Sounds like something that the vast right-wing conspiracy would be accused of saying through a new John McCain ad. And to make the point that there is a wild media frenzy surrounding Obama, the McCain camp did release an ad touting that Obama is "the biggest celebrity in the world" complete with a passing picture of Paris Hilton.

However, the title of this blog post isn't something that McCain is saying to undermine Obama. Here's the full quote:

"Andy Warhol said we all get our 15 minutes of fame," ... "I've already had an hour and a half. I mean, I'm so overexposed, I'm making Paris Hilton look like a recluse."

Yes, you read that correctly, that was something that Barack Obama said about himself!! Even he had to admit (back in 2005 - even before the hype surrounding him has escalated to where it is today!!) that he was getting so much "fame" (a synonym of which is "celebrity") that it appeared to be more coverage than one of the "top" celebrities at that time.

I love irony... ;)

Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt.

2008-07-16T19:39:00.005-05:00

great masses of ice have now been replaced by moraines of earth and stones

at many points well-known glaciers have entirely disappeared

Quotes from Sunday's NY Times?

Negative. The blog post's title is the headline and the above quotes are direct from a November 2, 1922 Washington Post article!

Tiger Woods has met his match

2008-07-11T05:32:00.000-05:00

Saw this commercial on tv the other night...

Great Ronald Reagan Quotes

2008-06-20T07:22:00.002-05:00

'Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.'

'The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'

'The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.'

'Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. Was too strong.'

'I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.'

'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'

'Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.'

'The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.'

'It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.'

'Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.'

'Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.'

'No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.'

Taken from: http://boortz.com/more/reagan_quotes.html

Whew...

2008-06-10T15:41:00.002-05:00

Senate Blocks "Windfall Profits" Tax

This morning, a cloture vote on the Democrats' scheme to impose a "windfall profits tax" on America's oil companies failed on a 50-44 vote. The bill would have imposed a 25% surtax on any "unreasonable" profits being earned by the oil companies, among other provisions. The roll call is here. Several of the usual suspects--Corker, Smith and Snowe--voted with the Democrats. Every Democrat who was present voted in favor of the measure, but four Democrats, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, didn't show up; John McCain was absent as well.

I've posted about this in the past here and Greg has a good post on it here.

$4 Gas

2008-06-06T15:15:00.004-05:00

First of all, it's not good for me to actually have time to post on this blog, and now I've been challenged to post some things... ;)

While we're talking politics here, someone asked in a previous thread why I focused on something so minor. First of all, lately I haven't focused on much of anything here! But let's talk about "$4+/gallon gas" here for now.

For my part in this, I recently traded a gas-guzzling, supercharged, 93 octane drinking car that I really liked for a much more economical compact car (30mpg city now versus 18). So, I guess you could say I'm doing my part in reducing how much gas I'm using. (As an aside, Daimler-Chrysler should focus on fuel economy and not $2.99/gallon gas guarantees...)

But the blame on $4/gallon gas can't be laid squarely on the shoulders of those in the Executive Branch. We now have a problem with an ineffective Legislative Branch with empty promises. My pal Greg just posted a timely post regarding this yesterday. Let's look at what Greg wrote there:

April 24, 2006, [Nancy Pelosi] released another [statement about a gas plan]:

“Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”

Let me get this straight, according to Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats had a plan in April of 2006 to lower gas prices if they became the majority. Well, in November of 2006, the Democrat party came into the majority position.

As of this writing, it has been 779 days since Nancy Pelosi pledged to lower prices at the pump.

Greg, you're right. The Democrats ran on this platform back then and they're running with this as part of the platform again. And to address the comment ahead of time, it will be pointed out that if they did introduce legislation that President Bush would just veto it. Well they should have at least tried it. I'm really open to comments on some of the bills that were introduced. The Democrats control both Houses, so they obviously could have forced some legislation through. If any of you are aware of them, please let me know. But you can also feel free to see the list of vetoes that President Bush has made. There's even a veto that the Senate overrode back in 2007 after the Democrats had control, so that argument really doesn't hold water.

While there are a lot of people who place the blame for high prices on the War in Iraq or just poor policies by the President, what if a lot of what we're seeing is just Capitalism (gone awry)? What if those who pump the crude oil have decided that it would be a great time to hike the prices and have the perfect scapegoat in the Bush Administration? It's just a theory of mine. Some people have conspiracy theories about the Administration, and I have mine... ;)

By the way, here are a couple of good articles by economists regarding recent pricing.

"What Are Just Prices?"

We all have strange and contradictory wishes concerning what prices should be. We are outraged at what is happening to the price of gas and food. We don't think they should go up. In real terms, we want them to fall, and they have fallen in the last decade and a half. That's a good thing, right? That's how the world should work.

But housing? Now, that's a different matter. When the prices fall, people freak out. It's like the end of the world. How is it possible that my own home would fall in price?! That's not the way the world should work. Everyone knows that house prices are suppose to go up up up, all the time, without fail, until the end of time.

"The Oil-Price Bubble"

We suggest that there is a high likelihood that the massive increase in the price of oil is the manifestation of a severe misallocation of resources. The loose monetary policy of the Fed from January 2001 to June 2004 is the likely key factor behind this misallocation. (The federal funds rate was lowered from 6% to 1%.) The tighter Fed stance from June 2004 to September 2007 should undermine the existence of various nonproductive activities and in turn reduce upward pressures on the price of oil.

Regrettably, the loose monetary stance that the Fed has adopted since September of last year, coupled with still very buoyant Chinese economic activity, is likely to counter any downward pressure on the price of oil. The Fed's current policy of fighting an emerging economic slump is, in fact, a policy of deepening the misallocation of resources, thereby promoting higher prices for oil. If our thesis regarding the oil market bubble is valid, then it is the Fed's policies that must be blamed for the erosion in consumers' living standards and not the rising price of oil.

UPDATE This is the best Democrats can do?

2008-06-06T06:53:00.001-05:00

This is the plaque commemorating fallen police officers in Portland, Oregon

This is the entire memorial site

This is a disgrace!!!
When (less than one term) Senator Obama had his huge 75,000 person rally in Oregon, this is where someone decided to place the port-a-potties?!? What in the world were they thinking? This is truly sad.

Update: Apparently Senator Obama hasapologized for this incident and his campaign claims that they had nothing to do with it. However, everyone should be offended that someone thought it was a good idea to do this. The first I heard about this incident was yesterday, so thanks for the update Brian...

By the way, here is some good commentary on Obama's "acceptance speech" recently.

Maybe he should wrap up his tour of the States. I guess he has visited 58 of them so far...

Great Quote!

2008-05-30T19:44:00.003-05:00

While reading God in the Dock: The Apologetics of C.S. Lewis by Roger Nicole, I stumbled on a wonderful quote by C.S. Lewis from The Screwtape Letters

"It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one" (p. 56).

Wow, that is so true. Sometimes we think about the "big sins". Like the "Seven Deadly Sins" or the list of sins we see the Lord hates from Proverbs 6:16–19, etc... But Lewis tells us that if even the small things in our lives are dragging us from the Light of Christ that the net effect may be the same on our souls. I do not believe I have The Screwtape Letters, I should probably pick it up sometime...

My Guitar Hero Rig...

2008-05-25T07:31:00.005-05:00

Yep, here is what my guitar hero rig looks like... :) But it probably cost a lot more than a game, right Jen?

Just another reason to take a pic of Blondie! By the way, I just picked up the Line 6 PodXT Live in the picture. Got a great deal on it on eBay. I should have bought it a few years ago, but my Korg AX1500G was sufficient. I have always been impressed with the Line 6 stuff, so I finally broke down and got one.

Let me know if you still think it was a hoax

2008-05-21T20:25:00.004-05:00

This one's for all of the conspiracy theorists out there. At the link, you can watch videos of this test performed in 1988, but here are the results.

And just to make sure I'm clear - there are many who still believe that the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 wasn't a plane at all. This is because they cite that there wasn't any debris left. Well, these videos and tests from 1988 prove that if a plane crashes into a concrete object that no debris will be left. So if for some reason you still don't believe it was a plane, then there's nothing else I can say to you...

Here's some info from the Sandia National Labs site:

The purpose of the test was to determine the impact force, versus time, due to the impact, of a complete F-4 Phantom — including both engines — onto a massive, essentially rigid reinforced concrete target (3.66 meters thick). Previous tests used F-4 engines at similar speeds. The test was not intended to demonstrate the performance (survivability) of any particular type of concrete structure to aircraft impact. The impact occurred at the nominal velocity of 215 meters per second (about 480 mph). The mass of the jet fuel was simulated by water; the effects of fire following such a collision was not a part of the test. The test established that the major impact force was from the engines. The test was performed by Sandia National Laboratories under terms of a contract with the Muto Institute of Structural Mechanics, Inc., of Tokyo.

Some updates

2008-05-18T21:30:00.004-05:00

Yes, I've been a slack blogger - both here and at BleedYellow... For those who really want to know what happens in the Nut House, you can keep up with my wife's blog - there are some great pics of the family this weekend!! She does much better at keeping everyone up to speed. It's been a little busy lately, and we do appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers for Jen's mom. We're all taking it a day at a time now with her on chemo. She has some ups and downs, but we're grateful and thankful that this weekend was one of ups.

Oh, here's one of me and the kiddos: