It's a Paul World

This Week's Beyond Today

2009-11-15T20:02:00.004-05:00

From the United Church of God is titled Surviving an Economic Crisis.

The link is here.

Going Rogue

2009-11-15T08:06:00.000-05:00

I have to admit I preordered a copy a couple weeks ago. Thought it would make interesting reading.

Sarah Palin is one of the more fascinating people in the public eye right now. The next couple months are make or break for her. She can redeem her public image on this book tour or reinforce it. If this tour and interviews are full of gaffs or an obvious lack of depth then she will be irreparably damaged politically.

On the other hand she can do herself a lot of good with this tour.

Terror Trials in New York

2009-11-15T07:50:00.001-05:00

Attorney General Eric Holder, of course with the blessing of President Obama, has decided to try the 9-11 conspirators in New York.

This is a decision bound to be controversial and one that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

These are people who were captured overseas. They are not American citizens or residents. They have no legal right to our criminal judicial system. There is no way the framers of the constitution meant it to be applied in this manner. They have no expectation of any kind of rights or treatment under US law.

Of course we have responsibilities to a certain level of treatment. We should make sure we have the right people and that they have done what they were picked up for but that is not a matter for a US criminal court. It opens a whole can of worms to give them the same legal rights as you or me.

There should be some sort of process but not this one.

Trying them in this way sets a horrible precedent which we will regret.

This Won't Play Well in Peoria

2009-11-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

The President continues his America Last tour and bows to the Japanese Emperor. Of course he already prostrated himself in front of the Saudi king earlier.

Who would have thought after World War II we would see an American President bow to the Japanese Emperor?

America was founded on the premise that all men are created equal, as The Declaration of Independence states. Bowing to a foreign ruler is a sign of subservience not equality. Our American tradition and values require that our president treat foreign leaders with respect but we do not bow. Our President bowing to a foreign leader is in direct violation and in blatant disregard of one of our founding principles.

Everything's coming up Roses

2009-11-14T18:45:00.002-05:00

On to the Rose Bowl for Ohio State, it seems, after an overtime win against Iowa.

UCG Material Posted

2009-11-13T20:17:00.005-05:00

Below is this week's About Our Father's Business from the United Church of God titled Running the Race.

The link is here.

Also posted today was an excellent Vertical Thought Commentary titled The Decline and Fall of Civility.

Vertical Thought is UCG's magazine and website directed towards young adults.

In it was this little snippet.

The French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne said it well: "Not being able to govern vents, I govern myself."I had not seen that quote before. I like it.

An Explanation

2009-11-13T20:12:00.002-05:00

I know I have neglected the blog for awhile.

First of course I was gone to the FOT. Then when I got home I came down sick with the flu, was laid up for about a week. Had other things going on. Just needed some time.

Was also thinking if I wanted to take the blog in a different direction. Haven't decided yet.

That's awkward

2009-11-12T12:47:00.003-05:00

So I just get this email from an old CareerBuilder resume online. I'd forgotten it was even active. I'd thought I had taken it down but I guess not. Anyway the email says they have reviewed my resume and believe I'm qualified for a position they have available.

That's good because it's from FROM MY EMPLOYER FOR THE JOB I ALREADY HAVE.

It's not to replace me. They are expanding my department and are looking for a couple people.

Of course when I use those sites I take all the precautions, make it anonymous, hide my present employer, etc.

One place I worked I heard about one guy who sent in a resume off one of those blind newspaper ads which turned out to go to our employer. That's definitely awkward.

Censors at the Job

2009-11-11T15:19:00.002-05:00

It looks like the political censors have hit my workplace.

We have a large cafeteria which has a big screen TV in it. It's controlled by the company. Us peons aren't allowed access to it. Usually the channels are rotated on a weekly basis. One week it is CNN, another week CNBC, Headline News and Fox.

Seems FOX News has been taken out of the rotation. Never mind that it has 3 times more viewers than the others.

There Are None So Blind

2009-11-10T07:13:00.010-05:00

It's been said over and over that there has not been a terror attack in the United States since 9-11.

We can no longer say that.

Only those blinded by political correctness and fear can not see the attack by Nidal Malik Hasan ( I will not give him the honor of referring to his military rank.) for what it is; a terror attack of Islamic extremism. He didn't snap under the pressure. He didn't do this because of harassment. He was just flat a terrorist. Plenty has come out to show his ideology was stewing for years just waiting for the right moment to explode.

Oddly enough although his extremism had been festering for years it seems it took President Obama to bring it out. Reports seem to show that when Hasan realized Barack Obama was not going to immediately pull troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan he became more entrenched in his hatred. I'm not suggesting in any way this is President Obama's fault. It's just interesting.

When soldiers die they are described as dying in the line of duty, defending the country. I wish that could be said here. These men did not die for some described noble purpose but rather as a sacrifice at the alters of the gods of political correctness and fear. They were killed as sheep in a slaughterhouse.

Nidal Hasan did everything but wear a placard calling himself an Islamic terrorist. He vocalized it. He visited extremist websites. He went to extremist Mosques. He seems to have done everything but make one of those suicide videos. He gave away his possessions. He cleaned out his apartment. Yet the military did nothing except possibly pass him off to some other installation. Then one of General George Casey's first comments was that he hoped it didn't cause a backlash against other Muslims in the armed forces. Really? No concern that where there is one there is likely more? No concern that your army failed to deal with this guy? Unfortunately this is not the first case of Muslims in the US army turning against their comrades and it won't be the last.

The army needs a 12 step program and the first step is to admit they have a problem. We all need to admit we have a problem here. The FBI immediately came out and said they weren't treating this as a terror attack. Please, here's a napkin for the egg.

We have mosques in this country preaching Islamic extremism. We have government officials and media who have no problem calling tea party participants unpatriotic extremists but refuse to use the words Islamic terrorist. We have young men in the US Somali community who disappear and end up in Somalia. We know this because some have been killed there participating in terror attacks. Some of these men come back here. For what? Is Mogadishu the new Cancun? I hear it's beautiful this time of year. No there is only one reason to go there and it's not for the grilled goat.

Yet, we make it official policy to refuse to acknowledge what we have here.

Abraham Lincoln said "If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." We are headed down that road.

It's become fashionable among some to say the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made us less safe, have weakened our military. Nonsense, militarily we are stronger. Our troops have learned strategies, techniques and have gained knowledge that they couldn't learn in a thousand years of drills and war games. We have the strongest and unfortunately the most battle hardened military in the world.

Instead we are destroying ourselves from within. We have made ourselves weaker, willingly. We have put ourselves at the mercy of Islamic extremists. We have put ourselves at the mercy of the nations that hold our debt, notably the Chinese. There's a reason gold is at 1100$ an ounce and it's not because of the pretty color. We have put ourselves at the mercy of the nations we buy our oil from.

All of this because we refuse to do the things that could be done to relieve those burdens.

The danger is that we are rotting from the inside out. No military, regardless of how strong, can defend a nation that has lost it's national soul and it's willingness to confront danger. It's possible we will wake up one day, look around us and see that things have changed and America won't be the same as when we went to bed the night before.

Abandoning Europe

2009-09-17T08:33:00.001-04:00

Now it appears the Obama administration is abandoning Europe by deciding not to follow through and put a missile shield there.

While this is clearly a move to appease the Russians, probably in hope of something in return on Iran, it is likely to have the unintended consequence of strengthening calls in Europe for their own military force as they see America as an unreliable ally.

As history shows us a militarized Europe is never a good thing.

Money can't buy you class

2009-09-14T11:46:00.002-04:00

So it seems.

We had 3 examples of this over the last few days. There was Michael Jordan's self serving speech at his Hall of Fame induction, Serena Williams going postal at the US Open. Then there was Kanye West grabbing an award from someone at an awards ceremony this weekend and proclaiming someone else should have won it.

USC vs Ohio State

2009-09-13T07:18:00.004-04:00

To quote the great philosopher Elton John, "It's a sad sad situation."

After controlling most of the game Ohio State could not hold on to win. Perhaps it's just my fatalistic view of Buckeye football brought on by the big game losses of the last few years but I just had this feeling all game the Buckeyes were one play away from blowing it. I was waiting for the big interception or fumble. That never happened. Instead we were treated to death by a thousand cuts on USC's last drive.

A defense that played admirably all game could not get it done when it counted.

Offensively I was surprised Ohio State could run the ball effectively. They didn't get big yards but they were tough yards. Dan Herron ran stronger than his 190 pounds.

Terrelle Pryor regressed this game. While he made many good throws he reverted back to some bad habits under pressure.

The offensive line played better than I anticipated.

Seemed to me that USC did an effective job of not letting Pryor scramble around the end. Ohio State failed to adjust by running at speed instead of away from it.

Jim Tressel's decision to kick the field goal when 4th and goal will be questioned but I felt that was the only decision he could make. Normally I'm a go for it kind of guy but in that case it was crucial to get the points and go up 10-7. In the 4th quarter he decided to punt instead of try the long field goal. I also thought that was the correct move. Didn't want to give USC a short field in case of a miss.

Special teams played well. Jon Thoma did his job pinning USC back in their own territory on a few occasions. Kickoffs were covered well. Ohio State got decent starting position from their own return teams.

Both teams kept penalties to a minimum although Ohio State got a couple of inexcusable delay of games that seemed to be Pryor's fault.

All in all it was a great game to watch. The ending not so much.

That's two heartbreaking losses in a row against ranked teams for Ohio State. The good news was that Ohio State did not get blown out on the national stage like against LSU, Florida and USC previously. The bad news is, like against Texas last year they could not seal the win.

YOU LIE!

2009-09-10T08:41:00.002-04:00

Not usually appropriate to shout out during a presidential address. Joe Wilson did break decorum for sure.

The democrats are a little more subtle when they disrupt a presidential speech. They normally just smuggle in their code pink proxies that do their dirty work for them.

Regarding the substance of Joe Wilson's statement, illegal aliens will get free health care under this bill, it's hard to see how they won't. The version most often talked about has no residency verification clause. The illegals will either get vouchers for the public plan due to low reportable income (not the same as low income) or they will simply ignore the requirement and continue to flood the emergency rooms.

Interesting question

Since everyone would be required to have some form of insurance what happens to those who show up without any, such as illegals? My guess is that they automatically get signed up for some government program, get their care and go on their merry way. In essence proving Joe Wilson's assertion.

I do know what will not happen. They will not be reported to immigration after they get their emergency care.

Will Joe Wilson's outburst help or hurt Barack Obama's cause? My guess is neither. It will give people something to talk about but in the long run it is not going to change anyone's mind one way or another.

The president has even lost the AP?

2009-09-09T20:35:00.002-04:00

The AP, generally the mouthpiece of the Obama administration has a rather harsh critique of the speech.

OBAMA: "Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have."

THE FACTS: That's correct, as far as it goes. But neither can the plan guarantee that people can keep their current coverage. Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and they'd be free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or drop insurance altogether. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it because their employers would decide to stop offering it.

Yep, it depends what the definition of is, is. Some of the provisions proposed would also require employer insurance be changed if certain terms of the coverage were changed by the insurance company. Eventually we would all be on the government dole.

Anyone else get the impression

2009-09-09T20:20:00.002-04:00

That Barack Obama's speech is more like the democratic response to Sarah Palin than a presidential address.

It's almost like a role reversal here.

The Health Care Speech

2009-09-09T19:44:00.001-04:00

CNN has part of the script up.

First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

Nonsense. Of course there is no "requirement" to change but the incentives are there that will lead to it, especially employer provided coverage. Most analysis shows millions will lose employer coverage and end up being funneled to the public plan.

What this plan will do is to make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most.

Guess what, if you have group coverage through your employer this is already the case. My plan can't drop my coverage. There is no preexisting condition problem so long as you had insurance with your previous employer.

There is nothing in this for people who have decent employer provided coverage. In fact your coverage will change for the worse and you will likely end up paying more, either in premiums or taxes.

Now, if you're one of the tens of millions of Americans who don't currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices.

Ok, so these are the people that insurance reform should target, the self employed and those who work for companies that don't offer insurance.

If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage. We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange – a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices. Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage.

That could actually work but the devil is in the details.

He still though is short of details in his speech but long on promises.

This is desperation time for him. What can be said about a president that can't get his centerpiece passed while he has super majorities in both the Senate and House?

I'm pretty sure something will get passed. It will be political Armageddon if they don't.

They'll pass something and declare victory

Looks like it's Brady

2009-09-09T16:08:00.002-04:00

The most closely guarded secret in the country, next to the location of Barack Obama's birth certificate, was who Eric Mangini was going to start at quarterback for the Browns Sunday against the Vikings.

Per the blog Dawgs By Nature it seems it has leaked out that Brady Quinn is the starter. The leak came from an unlikely source.

Terrell Owens

Could it possibly be that Terrell Owens of all people was the first one to break the word on who the Browns starting quarterback is? On his Twitter feed not too long ago, Owens posted the following:

"Congrats 2 Brady Quinn 4 starting job w/Cleveland Browns!!"
Link

Local Cleveland reporter Mary Kay Cabot is also reporting Brady Quinn has won the job.

"Brady Quinn has won the quarterback competition and will start Sunday's game against the Vikings, a league source told The Plain Dealer today."

Mangini was supposed to tell the QB's yesterday or today. It was inevitable it would leak out. I don't understand all the cloak and dagger. It's not like he was deciding between Joe Montana and Steve Young.

It was fairly obvious to most that Quinn should have the job. We've seen the Derek Anderson show and know how that ends. It's time for the Brady Quinn pilot. Need to find out if he can play or not.

City wants to settle with Derris Lewis

2009-09-09T15:12:00.002-04:00

The city is recognizing the inevitable and will be offering Derris Lewis a settlement. Derris Lewis was the guy accused of killing his twin Dennis Lewis. After a mistrial the city was forced to drop charges after its key piece of evidence, a supposedly bloody palm print, turned out to be bogus.

This seems to be a pretty clear cut case of people all around failing to do their jobs. How the prosecution didn't know before the first trial that their key evidence was invalid is beyond me.

The city needs to pony up the money.

Sarah Palin the Phantom

2009-09-09T10:39:00.003-04:00

I see Sarah Palin gives Barack Obama another beatdown today in the Wall Street Journal on his health care proposals, even uses the term "death panels" again.

This has got to be beyond frustrating for the administration. She's sitting up in Alaska controlling the health care debate via Facebook and an occasional op-ed. She's not appearing on TV, not appearing in public. There's no target for the administration to go after. This is where her decision to step down as Governor pays dividends.

President in the Classroom

2009-09-07T11:05:00.000-04:00

Hadn't posted yet on the Barack Obama speech to school children controversy.

First there is nothing wrong with a president addressing school children. It's been done before. Probably should be have been done more often. It's a good way for children to learn a bit more about how our system works. Civics are grossly under taught in our schools.

On the other hand this is yet another self inflicted wound by President Obama. The initial lesson plan put out by the Department of Education seemed to confirm the worst fears of groups already suspicious of anything the president does.

Asking school children what they can do to help the president? It's not the job of school children to help the president. It's akin to some schools turning children into little environazis who come home and lecture parents on the green subject of the day.

Having children write letters to themselves about the president's speech? For some reason class rooms in North Korea and Cuba come to mind. Too much cult of personality.

Ideally schools would take this opportunity to teach children something of the history of our presidents, their roles and some of the different men who have occupied the office. Unfortunately during the election some class rooms became little more than extensions of the Obama campaign as some teachers were shown to cross the line from instructing to advocating.

For various reasons there is a visceral distrust of anything the president does by various groups. His administration's failure to recognize that leads to them to continue fanning the flames.

I'm one of those who don't trust him. I look at who he has surrounded himself with and some of his own words of the past and believe he is taking this country a direction I don't want to go.

That being said, not everything is part of some mind controlling plot.

The best thing for him to do in this case is post the speech before hand. Assuming it is what he says it is, schools should probably show it in the relevant classes. They could discuss the contents of the speech, positives and negatives.

It's sad things have come down to this in our country, where we are now at the point that a president addressing school children even becomes a political issue.

Ohio State vs Navy

2009-09-06T07:45:00.002-04:00

That was too close. I was feeling pretty good about the USC game next week. Now, not so much.

First the good.

Terrelle Pryor is clearly light years ahead of last year when it comes to throwing the football. With the exception of one interception his throws were on target and with zip. He moved well in the pocket and did not take off at the first sign of trouble.

Boom Herron and Brandon Saine ran the ball well and with authority. Both took on tacklers and made extra yardage. They ran tough.

Duron Carter looks to be a keeper at wide receiver. He may be the next great Buckeye wide receiver. The reports of him having his dad's (Chris Carter) hands appear to be true.

Brian Rolle seems to have stepped in well at linebacker.

The Bad

Jim Tressel got caught up in the emotion and went for it on 4th and 2 when the smart play would have been to kick the field goal. On the other hand, and this goes to our next bad, if the Ohio State offensive line can not blow off an undersized Navy line for 2 yards then we still have problems there.

The defensive line did not generate enough pressure in passing situations. Our defensive backs got taken to school by a Navy quarterback. That's bad news.

It also seems we can no longer count on those booming punts to change field position. Tressel has said the punt is the most important play in football. We may see evidence of that this year.

No longer so confident about the USC game.

Happy Trails

2009-09-06T06:56:00.003-04:00

I see Van Jones finally accepted the inevitable and caught the stage coach out of town. He may have had some help packing though by Barack Obama.

Van Jones was possibly the most offensive government appointment in the history of the republic.

If it weren't for Glenn Beck, who really seemed to get the ball rolling on this, and bloggers who stayed on it while most of the mainstream press failed to do their jobs the American public would have been stuck with this guy making policy.

Make no mistake, Barack Obama knew most everything about him. He may not have known Van Jones signed the 9-11 truther petition but he had to have known most eveything else and didn't care. It's like he made this appointment to see how much the public would take.

Van Jones is now crying SMEAR!

Nonsense.

Most of what caused the uproar were his own words, able to be seen on the internet by all coming out of his mouth.

Love thy neighbor

2009-09-04T13:48:00.002-04:00

Sometimes it is tough though, especially when he shoots a cannonball through your wall.

UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- State police have charged a self-proclaimed Civil War buff with accidentally firing a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of a neighbor's home.

Fifty-four-year-old William Maser, of Georges Township, hasn't answered his phone today, but he told WPXI-TV yesterday that his hobby is recreating Civil War cannons.
Maser says he was firing a cannon Wednesday evening when the ball ricocheted and hit the house about 400 yards away.

Police say nobody was hurt by the cannonball, which slammed through a window and a wall before landing in a clothes closet.

It gets worse for Van Jones

2009-09-04T13:44:00.002-04:00

I've been indisposed most of the week. That's why there has been no posting.

This Van Jones controversy has just taken off. We have him referring to a good chunk of the country as a bodily orifice. There's him referring to himself as a communist, talking about redistributing the wealth.

Now turns out Drudge links to an old 1999 article showing him organzing protests in favor of convicted cop killer and lefist cause celeb Mumia Abu-Jamal.

``We knew there was another event going on, but the timing of the court decision is what dictated when the protest was held,'' said Van Jones, a San Francisco civil rights lawyer who helped coordinate the protest march.

Jones said about 15 protesters occupied the rotunda at the Federal Building on Clay Street in an act of civil disobedience with the hope they would be arrested.

At some point President Obama is going to have to give Van Jones the Jeremiah Wright treatment.

People are going to be able to pull stuff up on him forever. It's going to be Chinese water torture. Drip, drip, drip as every other day some new outrageous statement or action is dug up.