Speed Limits are Too Slow

This report states that problem with speed limits is that they are too slow.

I could've told you that.

The "Green" Scam

Since the media and schools so loudly exclaim about global climate change, without giving all sides a fair shake here are some articles for you to read

• The Global Warming Scam. An article by Derek Kelly, PhD.
  
  
• The Founder of the Weather Channel says that global warming is the greatest scam in history.
  
  
• Another article entiled "The Global Warming Scam" by Nima Sanandaji
  and Fred Goldberg
  
  
• Eight Reasons Why Global Warming is a Scam, by Joseph Bast.
  
  
• Global Warming? Mark Jaffe, Denver Post.
  
  
• Nine Lies about Global Warming. [pdf]
  
  
• Science for Sale: The Global Warming Scam, from Accuracy in Media
  

No new Sermon on Mount Slides

My Father-in-Law was in the hospital this weekend when I usually work on my slides. I was at the hospital and didn't get a chance to make any new ones. He passed away on Sunday night.

I will be doing the Christmas slides from here until Christmas. I made some last year which I will post later and I will probably try to create a few new ones.

No new Sermon on Mount Slides

Because of Veterans Day, I did not create my next Sermon on the Mount Slides. I used the ones I did for Memorial Day.

Back at it next week.

Blogger, Labels, and FTP

I added labels to my posts this weekend so that I could put the Scripture Slides together. However, since I have done that, Blogger has gone all weird when it tries to FTP. It runs for a brief moment, then says that it has timed out.

This is causing issues like posts that are seemingly lost.

Long Time No See

Erin ran by the video rental store on Friday to pick up some movies. She had begun watching "We are Marshall" at her parent's house and had had to leave before finishing it, so she went to rent it. We had some late fees...from 2005.

I blame the children.

Sermon on the Mount Scripture Slides

I have been working on making scripture slides that come from the Sermon on the Mount. I've already done the beatitudes. Here is the next set.



You're going to notice an unintentional theme this week with one word being bigger and a different font than the rest.



See what I mean? I guess I am got caught in an uncreative cyclone.



Fear not, the one word bigger theme will return shortly.



See, I told you. I really like this one. Making the "burning" look on Angry was really easy. I love the ability to Google different Photoshop techniques and find answers.




I really struggled with how to best present this one. I would've liked to a black background with a hint of a womans' body coming down the side. But I figured that might be going to far. Then I stumbled across the lipstick and knew I had a winner. I was still a little worried about displaying this one because our western church culture does not like to talk about lust. I did receive one question about this slide from the worship leader. If somebody else asks or I get asked to speak with the Shepherds, I have my three justifications.

1. I am doing a series of slides based on the Sermon of the Mount
2. This scripture comes directly from Jesus' mouth and if somebody has an issue with me displaying something Jesus said, maybe the problem is them...not me. If you don't like the message, don't blame the messenger.
   
3. Of all the scriptures that I have displayed, this one is probably the most relevant. I would wager that 10 out of 10 men in our congregation need to be reminded of this scripture. If somebody is offended by the message, perhaps it is because he was pricked by it.

Finally, one of the reasons I really enjoy creating these slides is that it gives me an opportunity to evoke an emotion. Our Western culture is so focused on knowledge of the scriptures, that they sometimes forget the feelings that ooze out of scripture. Scripture is meant to evoke an emotional response that prompts action. Eastern cultures speak in word pictures for a reason. Communication is emotion. Rarely do people remember exactly what a speaker said, but they will remember how they felt. By marrying a picture and a scripture together I seek to create an emotional response...I seek to explain the scripture in a way that can be remembered.

Per request, the Scripture Slides are also saved as MS PowerPoint Presentation for you. The presentation automatically progresses every 7 seconds and loops until "Esc" is pushed. I've gone back to all the past Scripture Slide posts and placed a link to download the MS PowerPoint Presentation for those as well.

Who owns you? Who owns your children?

One of the tenets that one must hold if he is to be a believer in freedom and liberty is that a person "owns" himself. This is basically the inherent right of self-determination. I can choose what I do with my body and with my being.

Of course, self-determination, while an inalienable right, is one that has to be developed. While Lannom, my 7 month old, does not possess the cognitive abilities to make complex decisions for himself he still displays his inherent right of self-determination by crying when he is hungry and crawling towards items that grab his attention. Historically parents have been responsible for making the complex decisions of determination when children are not yet capable of making those decisions. An area you quite often see this happening in is health care. Parents make the decisions about what treatments and procedures are administered to their children because the children are not capable of making those decision themselves.

Problems occur when socially acceptable norms are not held by individuals. For instance, the Jehovah Witnesses have strong feelings about medical procedures and do not allow children to partake in some treatments. Society thinks that it should be able to step in and use legal force to protect the children from the decisions of the parents. There is the potential for an intellectual dilemma here for me. I believe in self-determination and I believe a parent's right to determine the course for their children should always override societies rights, with a caveat. No right can infringe on another person's right to life, self-determination, or right to property.

So, to a certain degree I believe that society has the right to preempt parental decisions when a child's life is in danger because it is morally wrong to take somebody's life through the use of force. A parent who is withholding life-saving treatment is using force to take their child's life, infringing on the child's inalienable right to life. This is the line at which a parent loses their parental authority of determination for their children and it is a line which must be guarded. Overstepping this line sets a course for degradation of paternal rights in other areas, like social teachings.

It is for this reason I was appalled at this story where the state of Nebraska physically removed an infant from its parents' custody because they refused to allow the state to do a mandatory blood test on the child:

A Nebraska couple sued state health officials Thursday, arguing their rights were violated when their newborn baby was seized by sheriff's deputies so a mandatory blood test could be performed.

Joel Anaya, who was almost 6 weeks old, was kept in foster care for six days until the tests came back negative earlier this month.

Note that the baby's life was in no danger. I do not believe the state has the right to require a mandatory blood test of any kind and they have overstepped the bounds by forcefully seizing and administering this test against the will of the parents, who have the rightful authority of determining health care procedures for their infant.

I guess I should assuage your opinion that I am an nut-job who would withhold medical treatment from my children. Personally I think saying NO to the tests is unwise, dangerous, and cruel. (Unless you have good reason to suspect the government is really using baby blood tests to store a record of our DNA so they can eventually create a race of alien-human super-beings, but I that's another post...) All three of my children have had the Alabama tests all three have had the required vaccinations. What does concern me is when I see the rights of those whose ideas have been deemed "crazy" by the majority of people trampled on. It could just a matter of time before the majority of people think my ideas are "crazy."

Sermon on the Mount Slides

I have started making a series of scripture slides based on the Sermon on the Mount. Here are the Beatitudes for your enjoyment.
















Updated: PowerPoint Presentation of Beattitude Slides

More PowerPoint Slides

I actually created this set for Grandparent's Day, which was Sept. 9. I just haven't had a chance to post them yet.








Updated: Scripture Slides in PowerPoint File

First baby boomer applies for Social Security

Thus begins the unraveling of the greatest (and only legal) Ponzi scheme ever.

First baby boomer applies for Social Security

Health Care 2008 - Not for the Squemish

I've not really been paying much attention to the Presidential Race for 2008. However, I have seen that THE BIG issue this season is going to be Health Care. Many of the candidates on both sides of the aisle seem to be spouting some kind of rhetoric that people have a "right" to health care.

Our society has become too squeamish to talk about human life in terms of trade-offs. However, trade-offs are an inescapable fact in every aspect of life, including human health and human life. The problem is that in our "feeling" and emotional society, anyone who talks about these trade-offs when life is at stake is likely to be denounced as someone lacking in compassion, if not cruel. This squeamishness is oft confused with humanity. But what are the costs of this humanity, especially when it comes to a "right" to health care?

What is a "right?" Well, a right is a guarantee of access to a certain benefit or entitlement. There are two types of "rights." Some rights are alienable, meaning they could be sold or granted. Other rights are natural (or inalienable) rights that are conferred upon a person just by the mere fact that he is a person. So, there are rights that are conferred upon the citizenry by the government and then there are a set of inalienable rights that can be thought of as being inherited.

We see clearly in our Declaration of Independence that our Founding Fathers thought that all men have been given a basic set of human rights that were granted by the Creator and not by any man. They then listed three, but the verbiage insinuates that there are more natural rights than were listed. According to them, every man has a natural right to life, to liberty, and to pursue happiness.

Most people would agree that inalienable rights supersede granted rights. In other words, the government (or society using the force of government) cannot grant an alienable right to its citizenry by infringing upon one of the inalienable rights.

The problem, therefore, with a "right" to health care is that it is blatantly an alienable right that is infringing on an inalienable right. In order for a person to receive health care some other individual must expend either his life or his property. When a doctor spends time treating a patient, he is actually investing a portion of his life in that patient. He has chosen (self-determined) to trade that portion of his life for a certain amount of money (a representation of a portion of the patient's life) . At some point he also chose to trade a certain portion of his money for supplies (which are his property) with which to treat patients. If a patient is granted an alienable right to health care, it comes at the expense of the doctor's inalienable right to life and the pursuit of property. To have a "right" to health care means that you have a "right" to a portion of someone else's life or property.

And that is the trade off that we cannot talk about. Can we force medical professionals to provide treatment to sick and dying people? If we say yes, then to grant the right of health care basically turns all medical professionals into slaves. If we remove our emotions from the debate, we can see that the long term effects of forced work is worse for our society than the dying of people. Everybody will die. But slavery can dehumanize a society for generations.

Progress on the Potty

While Noah is not yet "potty trained" he has made some significant advancements. First, the number of messes has dramatically decreased. The really good news, though, is that twice today he was "caught" in the bathroom trying to take his underwear off and get on the potty. That is two times that he knew he had to go and didn't wait to be taken.

What I think is so humorous is the difference between Mihaela and Noah. Mihaela asks permission to do everything. Even stuff she is always allowed to do (like go to the bathroom), she seeks approval first. While she potty trained very easily, we would never have caught her trying to go. She would've asked to be taken. Noah, on the other hand, doesn't ask permission to do anything, even stuff he knows he should. He just gets it in his mind to do it, and off he goes.

The Mom Song (set to the William Tell Overture)

This is very, very funny. I heard many of these growing up.

Noah and books

Noah has picked up "reading" this week. He has never been one to sit still and let you read to him. He has basically ignored books. This is such a sharp contrast from Mihaela who loves book. She takes books everywhere. We have had to limit her to only 3 books in her bed at any one time because she would slowly collect an entire library of books in her bed.

However, as we have been potty training with Noah (who doesn't really have accidents as long as we take him potty, but has yet to tell us he needs to go) we have been reading to him while he has sat on the toilet. It seems to have sparked an interest in books. He now will bring books to me to read to him. He has decided to let me read him a good night story and this evening he actually took a book to bed with him...and was "reading" it when I shut the door.

Now, the books still have to be short and you have to do lots of interaction with him (where is the tree? Let's count the berries. etc...). But it is such a vast improvement. By the way, speaking of counting the berries. He does count to ten. Its thick, but he has the rhythm and sounds of counting down.

I Like Mushrooms

For the past week or so Mihaela (our 3 1/2 year old) has been announcing at odd times that she likes mushrooms. While Erin and I found it weird, we really didn't find it too odd because she is ALWAYS telling us what things she likes, doesn't like and what her favorite X is. This is just part of her growing up and developing. Also, mushrooms are a staple in our house. Erin and I eat mushrooms in almost everything. You then consider that Mihaela has uncommon eating habits for a 3 year old (she eats Applebees wings and celery) it really isn't surprising that she would like mushrooms, although neither of us really have given her any.

Yesterday when she woke up from her rest she asked for a snack. I told her sure and asked her what she wanted. She went to the cupboard, opened it up and examined its contents. Not discovering anything that "suited her fancy" she said, "I want mushrooms for snack. I like mushrooms." I told her we were out of mushrooms right then and she said, "No we're not. We have some." I said, "oh...we do....where are they?"

She pointed to another cabinet situated above the counter. Now, we don't keep our mushrooms in the cupboards, they go in brown paper bags in the fridge. So, I open the cupboard and ask her point to the mushrooms, thinking she will point to a can of mushrooms. She says, "They are right there, on top of the popcorn." I look on top of the popcorn to find, not mushrooms, but MARSHMALLOWS.

Now that makes sense.

Are you dead, mon?

I am not dead and everybody in the immediate family is OK. I don't think I've ever neglected this blog for so long. So, let me give you a few pitiful excuses of why I took September off.

1. My wife's father has continued to struggle with cancer. In Sept. he was rushed back to the hospital because he couldn't breathe. He has been having radiation treatments and Erin has put a lot of time over at her parent's house spending time with her dad and comforting her mom.
   


2. I had two 5 day/4 night trips. One week I went to NYC for my organization's Annual Conference. I spoke at two of the sessions and spent a lot of time preparing for those in the first couple of weeks of Sept.


3. Another week my boss and I traveled to Orlando to provide training to BETA testers of the application that we are about to release. Preparing for this dominated my time the second half of the month.


4. We are releasing a web application that we have been coding since January to out BETA testers in mid-October. Anytime you are nearing a deadline, you seem to just enrapture yourself in the code, trying to finish up all those little details and get things working exactly right.


5. I've started reading again. My big hobby and passion is reading Sci Fi/Fantasy books. For the longest time I just haven't read because reading is like a drug to me. When I pick up a book, I can't put it down. When I was going on my trips, I knew I would need airport/airplane reading material. Since Sept. 9 I have read:
   
   
   • Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb (Book 1 of Soldier Son Trilogy)
   
   
   • Forest Mage by Robin Hobb (Book 2 of Soldier Son Trilogy)
   
   
   • The Eye of The World by Robert Jordan (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time Series) (I'm rereading the entire series because it has been a long time since I read it. Two days after I decided to reread the series, Robert Jordan passed away.)
   
   
   • The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (Book 2 of the Wheel of Time Series)
     
   
   
6. Finally, I just haven't been interested enough in any news stories lately to comment on them. It is too early to be excited about the Presidential run. And all the news stories just seem so overblown. Maybe I am just becoming to moderate in my old age. It just doesn't seem like there is really anything happening to get one's feathers all in a ruffle.

Let me take a few moments and update you on the children. Mihaela is 3 1/2 now and precocious as ever. She seems very grown up for a preschooler.

Noah will be 2 1/2 next month and still is not talking quite the way we would like. He is getting better, but his words are very "thick" and he is only using one word to convey entire meanings. If this Language Development Chart is accurate, he is about 9 months behind where he should be. We are going to be having his hearing checked very soon to see if that is an issue. He is in the process of being potty trained. We started last week with the "Naked & $75" potty training method and are having a modicum of success.

Lannom just recently has his 6 month check up and is doing well. He is 15 lb 5 oz. He is working hard to crawl. He is up on his hands and knees and rocking back forth. He likes vegetables, but is not a big fan of fruit. He only likes Rice cereal; he can't stand oatmeal. We are holding off on introduction wheat into his diet right now.

You must have trees in your yard

In the spirit of our forefathers, the Knights who say "Ni", we the government do hereby dictate that you must have 15 shrubberies and 5 trees in your yard. Failure to meet or demands makes you a menace to society and no better than thieves, rapists and murders.

New Ordinance Causing 'Shrub Scandal' In Barefoot Bay - Central Florida News 13

Absolutely ASININE. Where do these government officials get their brains. There are so many stupid laws that everybody is a stinking criminal.

By the way, 1/8 of an acre is about 12 yard of a football field.

Substitute Teen Class

Our church held its annual Men's Retreat this week. I was one of the few men who didn't go, so I was asked to substitute in the Jr. High and High School classes. They are studying Acts, so I picked up in Acts 9:31-42.

I went the concept that this was a time of peace for the early church in verse 31. Luke uses a particular word for peace here that you are probably familiar. He uses the Hebrew word
SHALOM. Shalom is more than the desire of your life to be more than hassle-free. It conveys a sense of total wellbeing, born of full health -- physical, spiritual, emotional soundness. Dorcas was bring SHALOM to the widows. Peter brought SHALOM to the two people he performed miracles on. The application of the lesson was that our mission here on Earth as Christians is to bring SHALOM to those around us. Heaven is a place of peace and we are to be bringing the future kingdom of Heaven to the world now by bringing PEACE to those around us.

I created a logo that spoofs the "Beef: It's what's for dinner" logo.

Here are my notes and discussion questions for Acts 9:31-42 and the logo.

Scripture Slides for this week

Here are the scripture slides I did this week. They are very random in nature.

This one required me to use a tutorial on how to make a branded look in Photoshop.

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I tried to make this one look like those "Inspirational Posters" that business display to encourage their employees. I thought that using the inspiration concept overlayed with the boasting concept was quite contradictory. It has a hint of irony, especially with the verse being about the proper way to boast. Also, I had hoped that the really large "Boasting" word would attract attention to the screen as that is not something one would usually see in a church.

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If I really had any Photoshop sK177z I would've been able to make the letters behind the glass magnify and look warped as actually happens when you try read something through a glass of water.

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At first I tried to make the verse appear to be "forged" into the anvil using the branding technique. However, I couldn't get it to be readable. Erin loved the font choice with this one.

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Updated: Scripture Slides in PowerPoint File

Let's Punish the Victim

Government Official's Great Ideas: City looks at fining victims of graffiti

Yeah...that's sensible.

STOP THE PRESSES: Half of families earn below the median family income. HALF

Someone is not too good at math. Read the second to last sentence of this article:

"Half the nation's families earn below the median family income of about $56,000. Three-fifths of American families report income under $70,000."

Liberal economist everywhere are blaming Bush over the fact that a full half of families live below the median. They are citing proof that during the Clinton years, half the families were making more than the median income.

Children are expensive

I find these numbers a little hard to believe. Sure, children are expensive, but you don't have to spend that kind of cash to raise them.

Hey, Clown: No Balloons for You

A British clown has had the smile wiped off his face after being told he couldn't use balloons in his act because children might be allergic to latex.

Balloon ban wipes smile off British clown's face - Yahoo! News

How did we ever survive childhood? Balloons at birthday parties, playing on asphalt covered playgrounds, walking to school by ourselves, riding our bike without a helmet, no seatbelts in the car or carseats for babies, playing with realistic looking toy guns without a fear of getting shot by a trigger happy cop, getting in trouble at school & not getting tasered, arrested & tried as an adult, but knowing we'd get it good when we got home...

Oh what a different world we live in now.

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT

I just ran across a mainstream media article that actually promotes a characteristic of men as more healthy than a characteristic of women. This is so unusual as our current social climate promotes the feminization of men.

Anyway, the article talks about the dangers of complaining too much and says that women tend to vent their frustrations more as a way to connect (i.e., build relationships with) other women. However, it is a misconception that people will feel better about a problem after the venting.
The researchers discovered that instead of "getting the issue off my chest" so I can feel better, the venting causes us to focus on the problem and exacerbate it, actually causing us to feel worse instead of better.

The researchers discovered that women do this more and actually encouraged women to be more like men in this case.

Why I'm not scared about a Hillary Presidency

I listen to t"evil, conservative" talk radio and I have been laughing at how the hosts are way over estimating how bad Hilliary will be for the country. I laugh when I read liberal websites that talk about how bad Bush has been for the country. My wife was commenting the other day about how bad America will be if Hillary wins next year and I told her I didn't really think so. Sure, she can pass some bad laws, but the great thing about our country is that if she screws up too bad, the people will vote her out in 4 years. Even if she gets eight years in office, that is really not that much time to that much damage because all laws have to go through the two houses and, anything really controversial, will then have to plod through the court system. Our system of government is designed to make it hard to make radical changes. You can really only make incremental changes and no president has enough time in office to make enough incremental changes to add up to something really bad. (Now, because we don't have term limits on Senators and Representatives, they do have enough time to make enough changes to add up to something really bad.)

I seem like a lone wolf with this view, so I was pleased to read on the Freaknomics Blog that Stephen Dubner has analyzed the impact of the President in a very similar fashion as me. Great article with insightful analysis.

Psalm 46

Part of my ministry at church is the creation of the announcement slides that run before and after worship. Besides the announcements I also display welcome slides, no food, no cell phone, and scripture slides. This week I am extra proud of the scripture slides because they were a collaboratives effort with Erin. Her insight and ideas proved invaluable.

All of the slides this week come from Psalm 46.

Psalm 46

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song.

1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

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Updated: Scripture Slides in PowerPoint File

FDA: To approve or not approve

I wrote a little earlier this week where an appeals court said that patients do not have a constitutional right to seek out "unapproved" medical treatments. I then vaguely remembered reading a columnist talk about the incentives used by the FDA to approve a drug.

So, we have a system where by it is better for the FDA to not approve a drug and it is not allowed for a patient to seek treatment outside of that approval. This does not sound like a good combination to me. I personally don't think the government should be in the business of approving and disapproving drugs. Now, that doesn't mean I don't think there shouldn't be any oversight.

The scope of the government's involvement in the drug industry should be limited to ensure that a pharmaceutical company does not use fraud when selling a drug. In other words the government should verify that the company has done testing and that the company makes the results of that testing freely available to doctors and patients. It is then up to the patients, with consult from their doctors, to determine if they are willing to take the risks.

So, if a drug is known to kill 50% or its patients and completely cure 50% of its patients, then that information must be freely given to the individual and let him make the decision. For the government to step in and prevent the individual from being able to even make that decision is an over-stepping of the rights of the individual

Not without OUR Permission

A U.S. appeals court ruled that terminally ill patients do not have the right to experimental drugs (i.e., drugs that are not approved by the government).

A basic fundamental principle of liberty is the self-determination, that is, the right of a person to determine his own destiny. In particular, the principle allows a person to choose its own political status and to determine his own form of economic, cultural and social development. It is the principle that also allows a man to determine the status of his own health and recognizes the dominion one has over his own body.

So, according to the U.S. appeals court, man does not have the right to choose an experimental drug when he is ill. How would you like to be on your death bed, suffering from some terminal illness, knowing that the government that you supported throughout your working life was willing to use force to prevent you from gaining access to a drug, though experimental, that might actually prolong your life while doing absolutely no harm whatsoever to someone else?

You might have one year, maybe six months, to draw breath. You know that it will be about 10 years for the experimental drug that might help you to become approved. You're going to die sooner than you otherwise would because of a GOVERNMENT REGULATORY AGENCY.

The lawsuit was brought by The Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs and the Washington Legal Foundation. The claim was that patients should at least have "more access" to experimental drugs.

The government (FDA) is thrilled with the ruling because it gets to keep control over access to treatments that only it deems appropriate. Government and control; what a wonderful combination.

Yes, there was a dissent. One judge that didn't go along with the majority opinion said: "There is no logic to be found ... in the conclusion that the right to save one's life is unprotected" by the Constitution.

"Give me liberty or give me death." are the famous words uttered by Thomas Paine. Our government, by this ruling and by their inability to be humane and flexible are indeed sentencing sick people to die, instead of letting them seek unapproved treatments. What a shame.

School Choice Analogy

Picture the local grocery store. Now, imagine it as "your store." Not in an ownership sense, but the store you were assigned to based on your district. You pay a property tax that goes to fund this store. You are allotted a certain amount to spend each week or month which is sent directly to the store for use only at this store. Not bad, I just run down to my store, get the basics of what I need, and go home. No hassles.

But what if your store doesn't carry a certain brand of something that you like? Or if it has bad management and the floors are not kept clean and produce is not so fresh? No problem, I just find another store. Do you? Remember, the money you paid in taxes will stay at your store.

If you wish to go elsewhere, it will have to come out of your pocket. Now you end up paying double for the service you want. Not a bad deal if you can afford it, but if you can't? Oh well, I guess I will just stay here and hope my store gets better.

Sound odd? We wouldn't accept this in our grocery store. Why then do we do this with our children? We send them off to their assigned government schools to be educated.

Read the rest...

Shocking News: Guilt can help change behavior

It surprises me when journalist find this kind of stuff to be newsworthy. However, I guess in our postmodern age, we need to be reminded of what everyone used to know: guilt can help change behavior.

So often these days we are told not to make children feel bad, because it hurts their precious "self-esteem." So, we don't try to make them feel guilty for their bad behavior and then are shocked we get more bad behavior. However, a little shame goes a long way.

A Reasonable Question

Tempest In a Teapot: "A private firm's downgrade of its hurricane forecast raises an obvious question: If scientists can't get near-future projections in a limited area right, how can they predict the climate decades from now?"

I absolutely love the ending line of the article:

The formula for a climate of fear, though, requires nothing more than a lot of thunder and a bit of heat generated by political activists.

To be Fair: Global Warming May not be caused by the Sun

I want to be fair and open minded in the Climate Change debate. A recent study is indicating that the Sun may not be a cause of Climate Change.

Now, the finding doesn't make sense to me since it is counterintutive that more heat from the sun should cool the earth. The vague reasoning about the the earth not be affected due to the ocean's ability to absorb and retain heat needs to be explained a little bit more. I would think that if the oceans are preventing the Earth from warming because of the Sun, then wouldn't they work similarly for warming caused by man?

I still have questions that cause me to be skeptical. There is no "man-made" explanation for the Medieval Warming period between 800-1100 when the Vikings were able to farm areas of Greenland. What did man do to cause the Little Ice Age from about 1300-1850?

Of course, as I have said before, I believe that global warming is happening. But we have to be careful with what is causing it. Each side want to say it is ONLY cyclical/solar activity/natural process or it is ONLY human activity. As with a lot of things, I say that truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The Magic House

We took the older kids to the Magic House today and left the three young boys at home with Mom and Dad. Mihaela loved it!!! She was a little dazed and confused at first, not quite knowing what to do there. But, once we took her to the water table and let her go, she started having a blast. She went down the slide, through tunnels, played, jumped, sorted, banged stuff together, did artwork, and played in the giant sand box.

We were disappointed that we had decided not to bring Noah, he would've had a blast. Well, we will take him next time.

Zoo Day

Erin and I left Lannom with Mom and Dad today and have taken Noah and Mihaela to the St. Louis zoo. Mihaela has been talking about this for weeks. We have a good zoo in Montgomery, but it is so small compared to the St. Louis zoo. Mihaela loved the penguins. I think that was her favorite part. Noah loved taking a nap in his stroller, and thus, missed over half of our time there.

Erin was busy photographing the animals. She plans on using the photos while doing art projects and letter time with the kids this Fall.

My only complaint is that the Zoo is big and has some pretty high hills. There were some times where both Noah and Mihaela were in the stroller and I was pushing over 60 pounds up a steep hill on a hot, humid, St. Louis summer day. Erin actually had to lean over and help me a few times.

Takin' it easy

I love vacation. It is great to just relax in a nice, cool house.

On Vacation

Due to the broken Air Conditioner, we have started our vacation early and have gone up to my parent's house in St. Louis.

The trip was pretty uneventful. We love the built-in DVD player in the minivan as it makes the trip so much easier with the kids. It was also great to have a lot of room. This is the first trip we have taken in years where we didn't feel cramped.

HOT! HOT! HOT!

Man, I am hot. It is sweltering right now. Our central air conditioner is broken and I am hot.

It started last night when Erin and I begin to smell a stench of burnt plastic. We checked the dishwasher, but it was not the source. We checked every outlet, every lamp, every electrical appliance in the house and could not find a source of the smell. I climbed up in the attic and checked outside. We got out the ladder and investigated every ceiling fan, still...no source.

After spending several hours searching for the source of the burning smell we decided to ask the fire department to come and investigate. They were very nice and came out and checked around. They too smelled the burnt plastic and checked around. The determined that the smell was coming from our air conditioner.

We called a local company to come out and take a look. He told us that our fan motor in the air-handling unit was toast. He could replace that right now, except...he noticed a lot of corrosion and damage in our air handler. He showed it to me and sure enough, it was bad. He recommended replacing the entire air handler unit. We agreed.

His engineer came out this morning to spec out the job and give us a quote. He noted that our air handling unit (the inside part) was a 2.5 ton system while our condensing unit (the outside part) was a 3.0 ton system. Supposedly, both systems should be identical for the most efficiency. He gave us three quotes, one to just replace the air handling unit, but advised against that because the condensing unit has been being damaged over the past 7 years by overheating because the air handling unit was not cooling down the freon appropriately before returning the freon to the condenser. The condenser can "go" at any time. He gave us a quote to replace both systems and make them 3.0 ton units. Finally, he gave us a quote for replacing both units with 3.5 ton units and duct work to the playroom (the room formerly known as garage).

We are leaning toward last option. There is only $800 separating the price of doing it right (the middle option) and doing it right and getting the playroom done too. The biggest problem is that they can't do the work until Monday. So we are out of air until then. It will take one and half days to complete.

So, we sit in the Alabama heat on the precept of July without air conditioning. Did I mention that is hot?

Children's Chores

Mihaela was playing on the computer while Erin and I cleaned the kitchen.

"What are you and mommy doin' daddy?", she inquires.

I respond, "We are cleaning the kitchen, baby doll?"

"Why?" she continues her inquiry.

"Because you're not old enough to do it, yet." I reply.

Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s - New York Times

Study Says Eldest Children Have Higher I.Q.s - New York Times

Well -- DUH!!!

Happy Birthday PowerPoint

PowerPoint turns twenty years old.

One of the greatest tools ever created for the computer. Also, one of the greatest curses.

I wonder why the Vikings called it Greenland?

When I was young my Dad was stationed in Greenland on a remote assignment for a year. Like every family we have a big box of pictures and nestled in there one can find snapshots of my dad's life while he was away. One thing you won't find in any of those pictures is green. Everything is covered in snow and ice.

Now, Greenland is Greenland is melting.

It makes one wonder if this is man-made global warming or is Greenland merely returning to the state it was found in by Vikings 1,000 years ago?

Noah's First X-ray

Noah is 100% boy. There is nothing that he fears. He climbs. He jumps. He somersaults. He wrestles. He seeks out adrenaline rushes and he is two. He is also a bit clumsy. He gets so excited, that he forgets to pay attention to what he is doing and ends up falling. He runs so fast that he trips himself.

We've known for a long time that we would become good friends with the radiologist. We just didn't think it would happen so fast. Tuesday night last week Noah kept us up. He was whining in his bed and would not go to sleep. Erin noticed that every so often he would jerk. She also explained that his whine was not a stubborn, "I don't want to go to sleep whine," rather it was a "I am hurting whine." That coupled with the jerking concerned her, so she packed him in the van and headed to our local emergency room.

En route she called the pediatric "on call" doctor for the practice our children go to. The "on call" doctor advised her to not go directly to the ER but to see if the car ride put him to sleep. She also advised that, if we did decide to take him to the ER, then to take him to a different hospital because it is the only one in town that has a pediatric ER unit. That hospital, though, is on a rough side of town...not a place to drive to at 2:30 AM. So we decided to wait.

When "we got up" (how do you get up when you were never really asleep?) the next morning, in the light of day Noah's problem became clear. His big toe on his right foot was black and blue and curled up and swollen. We thought he had broken his toe.

We were able to get him seen at the pediatrician and she confirmed that he had a "serious injury," most likely caused by something heavy falling on his foot. She sent Erin and Noah to the imaging center to have an x-ray. It came back negative for breakage.

We still don't know what fell on his foot. His foot was fine at bath time. He never screamed out between bath and bed when he and Mihaela were playing. We found nothing heavy out of place that could have fallen him. We will never know what caused it.

After spending a few days icing and elevating his foot (when we could...it is very hard to ice and elevate the foot of two-year old, active boy), he was feeling much better and back to his normal self.

Cable tries to shed bad-service reputation

Cable tries to shed bad-service reputation

My own cable company, BrightHouse, has done nothing to shed this reputation. They still have not apologized for losing all of my saved shows on my DVR when they did their software upgrade.

That was awful customer service. We still don't really like the new software. But, an apology would be nice.

Neptune Gets Warmer

According to the World Climate Report, Neptune is getting warmer. Obviously Humans driving SUVs are to blame as Neptune experiences global warming. Those darn capitalist destroying yet another planet in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Whoa? What do you mean there are no humans on Neptune? I only thought Global Warming could be caused by man.

Are you serious? Some planets in our solar system are warming up because the Sun is burning brighter.

Well...good thing that is not what is affecting us. We certainly couldn't fix the Global Warming problem if the Earth was getting hotter because the Sun is burning brighter. So, all the other planets are warming up due to increased solar activity but we are warming up due to man-caused activities . Yeah. That makes sense. Can I have my Kool Aid now?

Kilimanjaro not a victim of climate change

In his political indoctrination "documentary," Al Gore uses the example of the reduction of the glacier on Mt. Kilimanjaro as part of his proof of global warming. However, according to a University of Washington scientist explains that "Kilimanjaro is a grossly overused mis-example of the effects of climate change."

Now, what makes this interesting is that these scientist do drink from the cup of the Global Warming epidemic, but are clear to say that the changes on this particular mountain are not caused by Global warming. The article speaks directly to the cause of the Kilimanjaro's changes.

I wanted to point this out to show why we should at least question and be skeptical of the rantings of those who practice the religion of ecodeism. Like most fanatics they will exaggerate their claims and abuse any fact to push their agenda.

I Love the Internet

During my drive to Nashville, I begin to wonder what those four digit numbers on the placards on the side of trucks mean?

BEHOLD THE POWER OF THE INTERNET!!!

It would seem that when carrying unsafe materials, the companies place the placard on the truck so as to inform first-responders on how to deal with the product in case of an emergency. The first responder just looks up the code in a book, and then knows what product he is dealing with and what precautions he needs to make.

Check out Gary's Blog

I set up a blog for Gary (my father-in-law) to post updates about his recovery. If you are interested in what is going on with him, you can check it out.

Avenue for Doubt

We've had a wild weekend. Through a series of circumstances I ended up in the emergency room with Gary, my father-in-law, on Friday night. Gary has battled cancer for quite sometime. In 2001 he had his prostate removed because of cancer. In 2006 he was diagnosed with lung cancer, despite the fact that he has never been a smoker. He was treated with chemotherapy and had one lobe of his right lung removed.

Earlier this year a PET scan revealed that cancer was once again in his right lung. He had surgery and the doctor removed his entire right lung and the biopsy showed it to be a different type of lung cancer than the kind he had dealt with last year.

On Friday night, the ugly beast of cancer reared its head once more as a CT-Scan revealed that he had a tumor the size of a peach on his brain. His wife was up visiting his other daughter in TN and Erin was at home with the kids when the news came. I called them all to inform them that the the doctors had made it clear that we were seeing Gary's last days.

They moved him from the ER to the ICU. Hope had her other son-in-law drive her down from Tennessee throughout the night to arrive at the hospital at 4:30. Erin and I spent all night at the hospital. Brooke left Sat. Morn and arrived by noon on Saturday.

On Saturday, Gary's good friend and local neurologist, Dr. Epperson came by and visited and looked at the CT-Scan and agreed that the tumor was fatal and lethal and that he had only a little time left. We spent all day Saturday at the hospital. My parents drove into Montgomery on Saturday. They took the kids up to St. Louis on Sunday AM.

On Sunday AM before church Dr. Epperson came by the hospital to counsel Gary to spend his last days with dignity. Immediately after that conversation the results of the MRI became available and showed that the tumor was not nearly as large as was being displayed on the CT Scan. It was the size of a golf ball and the swelling associated with it had reduced by over half.

The doctors tried to explain the disparity between the results of the CT-Scan and the results of the MRI as being technical in nature. The CT-Scan technology does not allow for clear delineation between the tumor and the swelling caused by the tumor. Basically, saying that they had just mis-read the results of the CT Scan.

I have a problem with this though, because I heard the ER doctor say that the tumor on the CT Scan was 8 cm and then there was additional swelling. The hospitalist I talked to on Friday explained what the CT Scan was showing to Erin and me on Friday night and she too talked about the tumor as being the size of a tangerine and then there being swelling, speaking of the two as different entities. On Saturday when Dr. Epperson took us aside to make us aware of what he saw, he never mentioned swelling as part of the size of the tumor, but only spoke of the tumor in the size of 8 cm. Radiologists, oncologists, and neurosurgeons all also looked at the CT scan and they all reported the same thing, an 8 cm tumor. There were too many expert eyes viewing the scan for me to accept the "misread" theory.

Erin and I are convinced that God shrunk the tumor between the two tests. See, the 8 cm tumor was inoperable and no cure was available. There were treatments that were possible, but the side effects of those compared to the benefit (i.e., they might extend his life a couple months) made them almost insane to try. However, a 2.9 cm tumor is treatable and curable.

Gary had been praying the entire time he was in ICU for 10 more years. Every pastor that came to see him (and there were many) he reiterated his request. While we the family had given up, Gary sought solace in the power of faithful men lifting him before God. I believe that God granted his request. God's mind was changed. God shrunk the tumor.

You might ask, "Why not just take it away completely?" You might say, "The situation was never that bad, the CT Scan had just been read." I think this is because God wants us to choose to have faith, therefor, He gives us avenues of doubt. We each have a choice to make when confronted with the story of Gary. We can either choose to walk down the path of doubt and accept the "experts'" opinions of technical difficulties, or we can choose to walk down the path of faith and glorify God his for answer to prayer.

It is not just semantics. It is child-like faith vs. adult disbelief in the power of God. As a matter of fact, some people think that Erin and I are simple for acceptance of this miracle. We just don't understand how God works, they say. God caused the misread is their avenue for giving God control. I think that if God can cause a misread, He can certainly reduce a tumor in 48 hours.

I am reminded of a story when Jesus tells his disciples that unless they have childlike faith, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. My wife has an amazing ability to always have a childlike faith. I struggle there and want to rationalize God's working too. However, I think of these passages and then ignore my rational and accept that God is powerful and in control.

Gary's recovery is enough of a miracle that you can choose to believe that God's hand directly intervened and give Him glory, if you choose. But not so much of a miracle that there is no room for doubt. If you want to choose to believe in human hands and human error, you can. God always leaves an avenue open for doubt.

Now that the tumor is small, it can be treated. Gary is heading up to UAB this morning to have a procedure called Gamme Knife Radiation surgery. I am convinced that it will work and Gary will be healed and I believe whole-heartedly that the healing has nothing to do with the power or technology of man. I refuse to walk down the Avenue of Doubt.

Potty Training Noah: Day 4

Very bad morning. Mommy on the precept of giving up because "he is not ready." However, he had his two year checkup this afternoon and Erin spoke with the doctor. The doctor was very encouraging to her and opined that he is indeed ready. She said for a two-year old, middle child, boy, that he was doing spectacular.

So, he still had on underpants when I got home and he had no accidents all night.

Traffic Signs

Mihaela has recently become enamored with traffic laws. Red light means stop. Green light means go. Yellow light means be cautious. While driving anywhere with her one is subjected to a running commentary of what she sees (buses and motorcycles are of particular interest). Many conversations go like this:

"Daddy, a stop sign."

"I see the stop sign. What color is it?"

"Red"

"Good. What shape is it?"

"It's an octagon." (Yes, she knows octagon. She can recognize almost any shape: triangle, circle, oval, square, trapezoid, parallelogram, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon)

So, its a lot of fun. The other day we went to the grocery store. As I was exiting the grocery store parking lot I stopped at a yield sign to wait for a break before merging into traffic. Mihaela looked around and said,

"Why are we stopping? I don't see a stop sign."

"Well, Mihaela, do you see that triangle sign that is red and white?"

"Yes"

"That is a yield sign. It tells me that if other cars are coming, then I need to stop."

"Oh. OK."

A few minutes later down the road, we pass another yield sign and Mihaela pipes up with, "Look, Daddy, a triangle stop sign."

In Jesus Blessed Name

At family dinner time last night, I asked Mihaela if she wanted to say to prayer. This is the first time I had thought about it. She eagerly agreed and said, "How do I pray?"

"Start with 'Dear God'" I replied.

In her sweet child voice she then said, "Dear God, Thank you for this day. Thank you for this food. In Jesus Blessed Name, Amen."

Erin and I could barely contain our tears.

Potty Training Noah: Day 3

Not a good day. Six accidents. Mommy was very disheartened...

Sometime you have to learn the hard way

Sometimes you have to learn the hard way. We expect our children to ignore our directions and get hurt. We weren't looking forward to it, but are aware that personal experience is a better teacher than relying on the wisdom and experience of others. Actually, I think one of the defining characteristics of maturity is when a person no longer feels the need to make mistakes to learn from them himself, but will instead rely on the lessons others have learned by making those mistakes. Unfortunately, you can't expect that kind of maturity and insight in a three year old.

So, Mihaela had to learn a lesson the hard way. We certainly didn't expect this to happen to her. We were convinced that it would be Noah. However, this evening, Mihaela put her hand on the hot stove and got burned. Despite repeatedly being taught the dangers of the stove and to never, ever touch it because you never know if it is hot or not, she had touched it.

We have a flat-top stove and a little red light tells us if the stove is still hot. Luckily, I had been done cooking on the burner she touched for about 10 or 15 minutes, so it was still hot, but not too hot. I was standing by the stove making dinner and Mihaela was standing next me quizzing me about ways she could help (she loves to stir). There was nothing for her to do. Then, I watched in horror (and in slow motion) as she reached up and placed her hand on the burner. I reached for her, but she was too far from my grasp. She planted her hand firmly on the burner, paused and the picked it up and looked at it in astonishment. She never screamed, she never cried. She just seemed, surprised.

I quickly called on my experiences as a grill cook and restaurant manager and administered the appropriate First Aid for burns. She never complained or cried. Her hand got a little red and one blister formed. She has been tentative with her hand this evening. She avoided clapping and was very protective of it during bath time. She has learned her lesson though. She talked all evening about she got a burn by touching the hot stove and how she shouldn't touch it.

One down, two more to go.

*Sigh*

Potty Training Noah: Day 2

Only one non-BM accident because Mommy forgot that she was potty training and didn't take him. Otherwise, doing good.

Senseless Microsoft

My boss wants me to upgrade our production database server from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. We have been running SQL Server 2005 on our development database server for sometime and need to move a new product from development to production. We purchased the software. Now, on the CD is a little utility called the SQL Server Upgrade Advisor. This utility examines the SQL Server 2000 database configurations and advises you of any pitfalls that you may encounter in the upgrade. Being diligent, I decide to run the Advisor.

Well, the Advisor requires that the .NET Framework 2.0 be installed on the machine which I didn't have installed. So, I went to the MS Site, downloaded and installed the Framework. The Advisor ran. As expected, the Advisor turned up no specific issues. Of course, being Microsoft, we did get a generic warning that pretty much stated that the Advisor doesn't look at absolutely everything and a clean bill of health from the Advisor in no way guarantees there will be no issues in the upgrade and if you happen to get an issue, then you can't hold MS responsible, etc....

I decide to go ahead and do my install. I click the button to install the server and almost immediately I get an error:

Error: SQL Server 2005 Setup has detected incompatible components from beta versions of Visual Studio, .NET Framework, or SQL Server 2005. Use Add or Remove Programs to remove these components, and then run SQL Server 2005 Setup again. For detailed instructions on uninstalling SQL Server 2005, see the SQL Server 2005 Readme.

Well, this server has never had the BETA versions of anything on it. It is our production DB server and we don't do BETA software on production servers. But I did just install the .NET Framework to run the Advisor, but that really can't be it because SQL Server 2005 requires the .NET Framework to run as well. I check a few things out. Google. MS Knowledge Base. Nothing really crops up that meets my "smell" test for why this is happening.

Well, I finally decide that even thought SQL Server 2005 requires the .NET Framework, I will uninstall it and see if my error message goes away. The worst that can happen is that the install software will tell me it is required and ask me to reinstall it. I uninstall the .NET Framework that I just installed to run the Advisor that is not a BETA version and, lo and behold, my install of SQL Server will now progress and it tells me that:

SQL Server Component Update will install the following components required for SQL Server Setup:

.NET Framework 2.0
Microsoft SQL Native Client
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Setup Support Files

So...the .NET Framework 2.0 is on the CD, but the Advisor won't install it as part of its setup. You have to download it. But the downloaded .NET Framework is incompatible with the install of the actual server. This doesn't make an sense, why do I have to install something to use the Advisor only to have to uninstall it to use the actual product?

Potty Training Noah: Day 1

As much as we have dreaded this, the time is ripe to begin the potty training of Noah. He is very interested in the potty and actually has "experimented" a little. For the past week or so when we take his diaper off for bath time, he has climbed up on the potty and used it. This was our sign that he is ready.

So, today we officially began in earnest and he did fabulous. We took him every hour and only one time did he have a wet diaper. After rest time we put him in big, boy underwear and he did not wet himself once (he did mess in them though).

The first time we took him, though, it was kind of funny. He climbed on, did his thing, and then threw a hissy fit when I put his diaper back on because he thought it was bath time and was mad that I was not putting him in the tub.

S, all in all, a good Day 1 experience. We shall see how he does the rest of the week. Although, it is kind of weird potty training a kid who won't talk. We're not sure how he will tell us he needs to go...

A pill for Celiacs?

Scientist in the Netherlands have found an enzyme that may allow people with Celiac Disease to eat food with gluten. Basically, like people who struggle with heartburn or acid reflux, the Celiac would take a pill containing the enzyme right before he begins eating. The enzyme speeds up the breaking down of the gluten in the food so that none of it reaches the small intestines where the gluten does the damage.

I actually have thought that this would be the best method of controlling the disease. It makes sense to me.

Of course, they haven't actually tried this on people yet. However, I am hopeful.

Prolyl Endoprotease Enzyme May Allow Patients with Celiac Disease to Safely Eat Gluten on Occasion

.: U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works :: Minority Page :.

.: U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works :: Minority Page :.: "Many former believers in catastrophic man-made global warming have recently reversed themselves and are now climate skeptics."

Maybe, just maybe, the tide of hysteria is turning. Thanks the new media. While mainstream newspapers and media outlets regurgitate the global warming and climate change mantra, people remain free to log on to the Internet (for now) where they'll find more than enough to read from scientists who were once global warming alarmists but who are now skeptics.

Take Dr. Nir Shaviv, an Astrophysicist. has recently recanted his belief that man was warming up the earth. He recently wrote: "Like many others, I was personally sure that CO2 is the bad culprit in the story of global warming. But after carefully digging into the evidence, I realized that things are far more complicated than the story sold to us by many climate scientists or the stories regurgitated by the media. In fact, there is much more than meets the eye." Shaviv adds that "Solar activity can explain a large part of the 20th-century global warming."

Dr. David Evans is a mathematician and engineer. This is the man who did the carbon accounting for the government of Australia. He spent six years building models for the Australian government to estimate carbon emissions. He's now a global warming skeptic. Evans says that "By the late 1990s lots of jobs depended on the idea that carbon emissions caused global warming." He adds: "The science of global warming has become a partisan political issue, so positions become more entrenched."

And there's the curious question. Global warming, or climate change, if you will, has indeed become a partisan political issue. But there's more to it. It's an issue for the left; for the world's anti-capitalists and socialists. And just why would that be? Could it possibly be because these anti-capitalists and leftists see the religion of climate change as a way to bring down or harm powerful nations with economies based on capitalism and free enterprise?

More Climate Change Info

Here's a couple of "climate change" news bits you might not have heard somewhere else.

I know you are aware that glaciers are melting. We are told that this a BAD THING because it will cause seal levels to rise. However, something rather odd is happening as the glaciers retreat. We are finding evidence of civilization where those glaciers once stood! In Switzerland they're finding silver mines.

So, as the glacier retreats they're finding the mine shafts and the mining tools stacked up and waiting ... waiting for the mine workers to return as the winter snows melted. It seems that one year those winter snows didn't actually melt. Then year upon year passed and the snows grew deeper. Finally, a glacier. It was the little ice age! Now the little ice age is ending, the glaciers retreating, and evidence of civilization emerging where we've known nothing but ice.

We're also finding water management structures built by man where glaciers are retreating elsewhere. So, yes, it's warmer. One whole degree in the last 100 years. But we've been there before. Warmer than this. And we did it without SUVs and the industrial revolution. Interesting...

Sowell talks about Amnesty

I think Thomas Sowell is not only brilliant, but articulate as well. If you're not tired of reading or talking about the amnesty bill, here are two of his columns for you: The Amnesty Fraud, and The Amnesty Fraud, Part II.

Yes to Immigration, No to Amnesty

I'm all for immigration. Our nation was founded by immigrants and has succeeded because of the efforts of immigrants throughout the years. I believe we should allow as many people who want to become citizens of this great country to come and be citizens (i.e., I am against immigration quotas). However, I believe that immigration needs to be controlled to a certain degree. Obviously people who want to be citizens here need a background check to ensure that we are not importing criminals. Immigrants should receive a medical overview and terminal and long-term ill people should not be let in to be a burden on this society. Immigrants should be able to prove that they will be productive members of society by showing they have education, skills, and work ethic. We don't want to increase our welfare rolls or our Medicare rolls with people from another country. This is just common sense.

However, if a person from another country wants to come to America and join this great society in a productive way, then I am all for it and say let as many in as possible. I just want them to come in a legal and orderly fashion.

The HOT TOPIC of the day is the "Comprehensive Immigration Bill Compromise." It continues to baffle me how elected officials could be so out of touch with the American People. If there is an issue that unites many Americans it is the fact that 85% of the people in this country do not want to grant any kind of legal status to the 12-20 million illegal immigrants in this country. Yet, the elected elite officials continue to try and force this issue down our throats.

Here is my "Comprehensive Plan":

1. Secure the border. And I mean secure it. I want a wall 15 feet high, twenty feet deep running across most of the border. Place agents on the wall every 1000 feet. Create a "virtual" fence using Predator Drones, Satellites, and other technologies. If China could be the Great Wall of China without modern machinery, then we certainly can do it. The wall should be fully completed in 5 years.
   
   
2. Make it virtually impossible for corporations and businesses to hire illegal aliens. The fines for hiring illegal citizens should be so high that the expected profit from cheap labor should make it a "no-brainer" for businesses to not do it. Sure a few would take a chance of not getting caught, but there should be jail time and multi-million dollar fines for the owners when they are caught.
   
   
3. Make it virtually impossible for landlords to rent to illegal aliens.
   
   
4. To accomplish two and three the Federal Government must make an easy, web-based application that allows for the confirmation of the legality of somebody. Yeah, it will be expensive. Yes, it will be hard to maintain and confirm the legal status of 300 million people. But, just put the IRS on it.
   
   
5. Clarify the 14th Amendment so that natural citizenship of a child flows from his mother. Whatever Mom's citizenship is, so is the child's. Obviously, though, we can't make this retroactive, so we have to do something with all those children born in America to illegal immigrant parents who are American Citizens. My plan there is to allow these children to have dual citizenship in America and their country of origin.
   
   Anytime an illegal is rounded up for deportation, the child would be sent back to the country or origin with his parents. He will have an opportunity to decide on one of those citizenships after they turn 18 and before they turn 25. If he has not pro-actively chosen American citizenship by the time he is 25, then the American citizenship for him would be dropped.
   
   
6. While we can not logistically deport 12 million people, I firmly believe that we won't have to. If we make it impossible to find work or a place to live (i.e., it is a hostile environment for illegal aliens), many of them will find their way back home without help.
   
   
7. Anytime an illegal alien is discovered by law enforcement or hospital workers or anything like that, they are given basic treatment and then deported within 7 days.
   
   
8. To ensure that the jobs that need to be done get done, a stringently enforced Guest Worker Program would be set up. There is a way to insure that anyone in this country to participate in such a guest worker program would not stay here once their time is up. It's really very simple. You don't pay them. You pay a private agency that has arranged for them to be here. When their time is up, the money is gone.

   Let me explain. There is necessarily going to be some government involvement in this program, but we can keep it to a minimum. You set up some employment agencies that specialize in obtaining guest workers for U.S. businesses that need the extra or seasonal help. These employment agencies are hired by and paid by the private businesses who need the workers. They obtain the workers from foreign countries and provide for their transportation to their place of employment in the U.S. as well as provide for their housing, food and medical care while here.
   
   The employer pays the agency for the workers, and then the agency pays the workers. When the temporary guest worker assignment is over, the employer stops payment to the agencies and the money to the guest worker dries up. We would need harsh -- extremely harsh -- penalties for any employer that tries to pay a guest worker directly. Under this system the agencies are responsible for transportation to and from the U.S. and making sure the workers get paid. These agencies, of course, would work under strict federal regulatory supervision.

   The key to this ... and the key to removing any suggestion of amnesty ... is that all guest workers in this country must sign up for the program in their home country, not here. All ID cards for guest workers must be issued ONLY in that worker's country.
   

9. Remove all federal dollars from "Amnesty Cities and Counties" until they get their act together and cooperate.
   

So, I have outlined an expensive, yet simple plan, to handle the immigration issue without amnesty. There should be no reward of "paths to citizenship" or automatic "legal status" to people who break our laws to be here. If we aggressively enforce this program for 5 to 10 years, I am confident we could have a handle on the illegal issue.

Only after the Government has earned our trust as being willing to enforce our borders through the consistent enforcement over a long period of time, we could talk about removing immigration quotas and streamlining the process to get people here legally.

Travelled to Nashville

I drove up to Nashville last Thursday afternoon (5/17) because I had to make a presentation before the National Land Council on Friday morning. Anyway, as I was driving up I kept a little notepad next to me and jotted down ideas from news stories and what-not about some stuff to blog about. I know you are all waiting with great expectation for words of wisdom to flow.

Anyway, some topics that I will be writing on and posting over the next few days include:

• Dobson's un-endorsement of Guliani
• How to spend the 2.9 trillion dollars in the Federal budget.
• The Immigration Bill, including Randy's solution to anchor babies
• Mihaela and traffic signs
• Some more Climate Change thoughts
• and a few other tidbits...

Stay tuned.

(P.S. - I'll probably update this post with links to the other posts as they become available)

The Dilbert Blog: Imagination

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, talks about his views on imagination. Since I have previously written on the subject, I was fascinated by his analysis.

Random Thoughts by Thomas Sowell

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Random Thoughts

Some of my favorites:

Liberals hold us individually responsible for nothing but collectively responsible for everything.

Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented worker' is like calling a drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist.

Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.

I am so old that I can remember a Democrat, at his inauguration as President, say of our enemies: "We dare not tempt them with weakness."

Climate Change II - Is Global Warming really a bad thing?

As I wrote about last week, one of my traits is that I tend to question assumptions. An assumption is an idea that you take for granted or accept without proof. Our lives are full of assumptions. For example, I used to assume that when I got a message from my servers that the backup was successful, that indeed the backup was good. However, I later encountered a situation where I needed to recover some files from a supposedly good backup only to discover the backup had not really been successful. This is why most network administrators verify backup operations by periodically doing restores.

The fact is, some of our assumptions are not as reliable or absolute as we think. And sometimes our confidence in our knowledge of an area or our skills makes us a little cocky. We stop considering new ideas or questioning the way we have "always done it." Sometimes the result of an ill-considered assumption can be disastrous. That's why it's essential to keep an open mind and learn to question your assumptions.

But before you can question your assumptions, you must first identify what they are. And this is usually harder than you think. It's hard to remember that your perspectives and opinions are not necessarily true, no matter how undeniable they may seem to you. The first step in the innovative process is to dig out these assumptions with some leading questions.

There are some assumptions we need to address in the Climate Change debate. For instance we assume that the current climate is the norm. What if this is not really the case. What if the current climate is actually the aberration and we are retuning to a normal climate? This leads to the question of what if there is no such thing as a "normal climate"? What if the climate needs to be a some sort of cyclic process of heating and cooling to maintain the weather engine we depend on?

One of the big tenets of those who practice the anti-capitalist, anti-technology, anti-individual religion of ecodeism is that the climate changes experienced are bad. We listen to the supposed changes that will take place if the Earth continues to warm up and assume that those changes are indeed a bad thing. After all, the flooding of coastal cities, where most people live, due to ice cap melting sure doesn't sound like a good event, especially for those people that live there. Of course, that depends on how much flooding those coastal cities get. Those estimates appear to be all over the place; I've read over time that the average sea level will rise from a couple of inches to many feet. Besides how high the flooding gets, it is also how quickly the flooding happens. A few feet of worldwide flooding over a days would be very detrimental. However, only the most extreme models and extreme movies predict this kind of flooding. The reality is the IPCC's latest estimate is 7-23 inches, which frankly does not seem an unmanageable amount to adjust to over the next 100 years.

But global warming would also extend the agricultural year and open up a lot of land in the northern US, Canada and Siberia that is frozen tundra to be used for farming. If we were farming and grazing on grasslands that are inhospitable now, but would be useful after warming, we may not need to cut down rain forests to grow food and raise cattle. This sounds like a good thing to me. So, right away, we see that climate change is not all bad. We have questioned our assumption and discovered that there are trade-offs and some of the results are positive.

You might counter that I am just speculating. But I am not. I recommend you read J. R. Dunn's essay, "Resisting Global Warming Panic," especially his exposition of the:

"medieval warm period, more commonly known as the Little Climatic Optimum (LCO), a period stretching roughly from the 10th to the 13th centuries, in which the average temperature was anything from 1 to 3 degrees centigrade higher than it is today. (emphasis added)

• How warm was it during the LCO? Areas in the Midlands and Scotland that cannot grow crops today were regularly farmed. England was known for its wine exports.
  
• The average height of Britons around A.D. 1000 was close to six feet, thanks to good nutrition. The small stature of the British lower classes (and the Irish) later in the millennium is an artifact of lower temperatures. People of the 20th century were the first Europeans in centuries to grow to their 'true' stature - and most had to grow up in the USA to do it.
• In fact, famine - and its partner, plague - appears to have taken a hike for several centuries. We have records of only a handful of famines during the LCO, and few mass outbreaks of disease. The bubonic plague itself appears to have retreated to its heartland of Central Asia.
• The LCO was the first age of transatlantic exploration. When not slaughtering their neighbors, the Vikings were charting new lands across the North Atlantic, one of the stormiest seas on earth (only the Southern Ocean - the Roaring 40s - is worse). If you tried the same thing today, traveling their routes in open boats of the size they used, you would drown. They discovered Iceland, and Greenland, and a new world even beyond, where they found grape vines, the same as in England.
• The Agricultural Revolution is not widely known except among historians. Mild temperatures eased land clearing and lengthened growing seasons. More certain harvests encouraged experimentation among farmers involving field rotation, novel implements, and new crops such as legumes. While the thought of peas and beans may not thrill the foodies among us, they expanded an almost unbelievably bland ancient diet as well as providing new sources of nutrition. The result was a near-tripling of European population from 27 million at the end of the 7th century to 70 million in 1300.
• The First Industrial Revolution is not widely known even among historians. Opening the northern German plains allowed access to easily mined iron deposits in the Ruhr and the Saarland. As a result smithies and mills became common sights throughout Europe. Then came the basic inventions without which nothing more complex can be made - the compound crank, the connecting rod, the flywheel, followed by the turbine, the compass, the mechanical clock, and eyeglasses. Our entire technical civilization, all the way down to Al Gore's hydrogenmobile, has its roots in the LCO.

But temperatures started crashing in the late 13th century, after which came the Great Plague, killing a third to half the population of Europe."

So let us suppose two things: first that global warming really is occurring and human attention to it can reverse it, and second, that we do reverse it. Are we then to agree that a cooler earth really is in our best interests? Why?

I've always kind of suspected that underlying much of environmentalism is a desire for the impossible: stasis. For the earth will either get warmer or cooler, but it definitely won't stay the same. Even if everyone were to agree that the globe really is warming, can we please see some scientifically-sound documentation that it is a bad thing that needs to be stopped?

Before you point out specific areas where global warming will cause damage, let it be known I too have read articles explaining the prospects of increased desertification and other warming-related effects, such as the extinction of some species (although, Darwinian philosophy says they will either adapt or were not fit to be alive, anyway). But the thrust of my question, might it turn out to be a good thing, is oriented not in micro-climates here and there, but on the net overall effect worldwide. For every hectare turned to new desert, would there be a hectare turned to verdancy, especially land newly useful for agriculture when it wasn't before? Is there really a downside to the extension of the growing season is more northern and southern latitudes? After all, certain commercial grains can now be grown in Iceland, which couldn't be done only 20 years ago. In the literature I've read on warming, potential positive effects seem to either be ignored or glossed over.

Again, the issue cannot be maintaining a climatic status quo, since that wasn't the case even before humanity's earliest known ancestor, Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba, walked around more than six million years ago. The earth "rests" only briefly between periods of cooling then warming. So it's warming now. Is that worse than cooling? Answering that question might give some balance to the political debates on the issue.