Ad Populum Ad Infinitum

Share

Every time Obama speaks, it revolves around him. Every time Obama acts it's orchestrated to serve him. He tells us to sacrifice but he won't send any money to his relatives scattered around the globe. He tells us not to aspire while he swims in pelf.

For such a young man, he has very much to say about himself. In jest, I told a friend that I would entitle my biography iDoug as a play on iMac, iPods, and iLife. However, I am not nearly as brazenly hubris to suspect that at 30 I've amassed enough experince or expertise so as to entitle me to the presidency of this great nation. No man in his right mind wants to be the president of this country.

Yet, everything is about obama. He squeezes in a personal anecdote from his own life at every speaking engagement, as if his life represents in 46 years everything about everyone who ever lived in this great land. All that from a man who barely spent any of his life in America, rarely talks about good memories in this country, and never says anything good about the nation that elected him president.

His dronal accolytes drool over him anyway. He says it; they believe it; that settles it. They cannot be turned by logic or reason. They are swayed by the snake oil he sells, and he can't get enough of their adolations.

In 20 years, Obama will be irrelevant. If the Federal Republic dies, he will be swept aside by the secret combinations that put him in office. If the Federal Republic survives, we will begin to erase every last vestige of his legacy from our Inspired Constitution until it is free from the stain of socialism he has allowed to set in that shroud. People will little note nor long remember that he almost destroyed America. They will thank God he did not succeed.

McCain Knows Torture

Share

Today the Congress is once again all a twitter about waterboarding and torture, forgetting salient points:

our own marines are waterboarded as part of training

waterboarding produced information that saved American lives

only two terrorists have been waterboarded according to records

in order to torture, you must intend to torture

I find it highly odd that John McCain remains silent on this subject. I just read the speech Reagan gave where he mentioned McCain by name in recognition of his long imprisonment. During the campaign, they mocked McCain for not using a computer or dressing himself. He cannot do those things resultant from physical damage done under the hands of devious demons in Vietnam. I suspect that given the choice McCain would have rather been waterboarded.

My Own Household

Share

Obama told ASU graduates that we should work for other's interests, but working in your own self interest helps others.

I've found someone to be successful for--my own children.

So, let them say what they will. I am working for the children...my own.

How Can Someone Who is Always Wrong Still Have People Think He's Right?

Share

Wrong on torture

Wrong on the war in Iraq

Wrong on terrorists

Wrong on the auto bailout

Wrong on the bank bailout

Wrong on the stimulous package

Wrong on keeping nuclear material from our enemies

Wrong on how to create new energy

Wrong on how to end poverty

Wrong on how to stop drug use

Wrong on pollution

Wrong on taxes

Wrong on national healthcare

In every major issue, the President, the Speaker, and the Majority Leader have been on the wrong side.

Let's do something right. Turn the American people loose. Stop talking about more government and higher taxes in the midst of an economic curfuffle. People creat money. People create wealth. People created government.

Cash For Clunkers

Share

The administration proposed the Cash for Clunkers Act which will probably pass into law soon. Since I'm nearing what I expect to be the end of useful life for my dearly beloved Saturn, I am now looking for its successor. What kind of a car would I trade mine in for?

Mine is paid off, fully depreciated, and not on a loan. The measely amount they'd give me towards a new car would not offset the huge increase in costs I would incur by buying a more fuel efficient vehicle because so few of them exceed the fuel economy of my Saturn SL1. What's more, I don't want to own any of those cars. I don't like Japanese automobiles, and I certainly don't want to pay the amount necessary to buy one of those, even with the incentives from Obama.

If I had my way, I'd have GM simply rebuild me the car I already have with the engine it currently contains and do that in lieu of buying a hybrid. A friend of my father owns a hybrid and lucked out on escaping some costs. The console, the batteries, the periodic maintenance, all of those cost astronomical amounts to fix. What's more, you can't really work on some of that stuff yourself or you void warranty etc. I looked at the engine of a friend's parents' hybrid and I don't even know where to start in fixing it. Plus, you've got extra crap in there because a hybrid has a regular engine, albeit smaller, plus the electrical components.

I find it highly ironic that those kinds of cars barely beat me in mileage. They often have smaller engines, which in and of itself could account for that differential. Remember the Geo Metro and Chevy Aspire. Without the electric engine, would those cars even beat a Saturn? Even more embarassing, my mom's Chevy Malibu gets 36mpg highway and it has a 6 cylinder engine. I don't know about you, but I'll trade 10% economy for that kind of power and comfort.

Sometimes I Amaze Even Myself

Share

When I decide to do something, that usually ends it. Some of my father's coworkers tried to joust with me verbally last Saturday as I helped one of them move to a new home. They learned that when I put my mind to something, nobody had better get in the way. I learned long ago that you haven't failed until you stop trying, and that if I keep trying to do what I know I should then eventually things fall into place where they need to be.

It's no secret that I do this. I've spoken at length in previous posts about my dedication to physical activity. Some of my old HS friends marvel at my dedication to get up at 5:30AM to read the scriptures and then exercise. Some of my family groans at my refusal to shave off my beard. My mother worries about my car.

Yesterday I surprised myself. Those who know me well know that for the past few weeks I've been dealing with a very disheartening and disappointing situation over which I have very little control. Although I enlisted the Lord's help in resolving it, it has not resolved itself the way I hoped, leaving me a tad dejected. Then, several people in rapid succession challenged me to try to be happy. Yesterday, I decided that I was going to try every day to make it a happy day and not let circumstances dictate my destiny, and yesterday was a happy day.

The illustrious legislature here handed down a 4.5% paycut to all state employees, of which I am one. What they intend to do is furlough us one day per month without pay to cut salaries and avoid layoffs. When I went to see my boss, I surprised myself by seeing in that a silver lining: what this actually means is that I get 24 more days over the next two years where I don't have to come to work and for which I don't have to take leave. Furthermore, my boss sees no problem letting me bank them up and use them when I see fit, meaning I don't have to tap into my leave at all for the next two years perhaps! Plus, I may get my annual pay raise in October, putting me right back up to my original pay as of right now after three months of reduced pay, almost all of which come during our flexible summer work schedule which will save me about $25 in gas per month not driving every day or driving in traffic. Life is good.

Much of what we cling to depends on our point of view. I'm not normally known for my cheery disposition or my optimistic outlook. I found it much more convenient to expect the worst; that way I was never disappointed and sometimes positively surprised. However, it doesn't make me look happy, let alone actually be it.

Then, on the way home, I told myself it didn't feel that bad, even though it was 96F. I guess I've finally acclimated to Vegas after two years. I know that this present state is a gift of God- who really does want me to be happy. So, like I said yesterday I will see to those things over which I have control and let the rest sort out themselves. For today I choose happy thoughts, and today is going to be a good day!

Blessings Disguised As Trials

Share

I was going back through some old emails because I was having a bad day and I found this. I am going to quote it in its entirety because I find it profound though a bit disjointed. Keep in mind that I understand how this person communicates and afterwards I will discuss what this person says:

I was thinking on a thing expressed on one of those power of thought things (ok from the secret dvd) that when some one gets up and something goes wrong right away they think this is going to be a bad day, and so it does.. well so I was just thinking that if you got up and something went wrong and thought, shoot this is going to be a great day! lol and even if more things went bad through out the day if you still thought the same thing and believed the same thing that it was a great day then it will be a great day and at the end of the day can be considered as such, no matter what bad thing may have or may occur through out it... lol I don't know if its a bad thing, but that has been my philosophy lately. Well that pretty much no matter what happens I want to be able to say that I had a great day. lol and then I was thinking how would I express the things that were technically not so great (in the category in normal world lol) I thought I would probably then express it as, well i've gone or going through some experiences right now. But you see all these experiences are for our growth!! and we really are able to be happy all the time, we know and specially if we believe it, that as long as we live our lives the best we can, all will work out, this experience will turn out the way it needs be, and it could be a horrible experience but if the fact that you can view it as a learning one, a good one, a happy one, or just simply as an experience well I think one really does not have to experience to much devastation or sadness more then need be. I have learned that there was many an experience that I had allowed myself feelings of sad emotions about that really were not things to feel that way towards.

The tools I learned and now often call upon are rather simple things, are for one, circle of concern and circle on influence, and the basic principle is to work with in you circle of influence, focus on the thing that you can actually do something about, and leave the circle of worry to be a very small one.

Another principle I learned in life before, but this book really challenged me to look at my self and look at my core belief. and to be confident with it as my core belief, focus, motivator in life. This book really had me dig into my my core and really have a good look at it. Like take it out and analyze it feel it in fingers take a needle to it and dissect it!! lol if you haven't gotten the picture well enough. lol well pretty much it really made me look at my core self, where is my core, how strong is it, what is it/who is it. and then how do I want it to look, how strong do I want to choose it to be, what I want it to be. !!!! It made me chose and recognize that... [I] can be confident, defiant, strong, and all because [I] do not wishy washy on the emotions sprung by others and because [my] core is Jesus Christs and his amazing teachings! I absolutely love this gospel and I am grateful for every single day that Heavenly Father gives me to experience and learn from!!!

OK, so what are the lessons I learned from this email:
1. People preach most vehemently that which they need most. This person has been ardently on my case for the last month telling me to think happy thoughts when almost exactly a year ago they had the selfsame problem.

2. There is no good or bad. There is just experience. I can't remember what I was reading recently, but it talked about how you can't really make mistakes- just learning experiences. Something to do with child raising...

3. Life becomes what you expect of it. If you expect things to go badly, sometimes they will. You help actualize that which you dread and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

4. Strenuous activity=growth. My workouts could have shown you that.

5. If you do your best, things work out the way they should. I have of late been doing the very best I know to do something I believe God wanted me to do. If He'd wanted it done better, he wouldn't have asked me. So, it turned out exactly as he knew it would.

6. Focus on the things youo control. Everything I control is under control, so I'm in pretty good shape.

7. Where you are at is a matter of perspective. You can choose who you want to be. You can do what you want. Just seize the day!

8. I too am grateful to have God in my life directing it. If you could only see my journal from the past week... He's actually getting perturbed that I keep asking him the same questions and not listening to his answers...

9. I have decided to try every day to have a happy day and not let circumstances dictate my destiny. Today was a good day.

Everything I control is under control. I was true to myself. I was honest. So things didn't turn out like I hoped. It doesn't mean they won't and it doesn't mean that something better isn't just over the horizon.

Sometimes in my prayers I ask for "blessings that are not disguised as trials", but when I see the blessings in the trials, I am grateful. God thought I could handle it, and difficult thought it may have been it proved to me again that I believe what I believe and that I am strong.

These truly are great days. Thousands and thousands of them.

In Opposition to VR Classes

Share

There is a great push in the world to go virtual. However, I see a great problem in the prospect that people may lose the ability to communicate with anyone in any other way. We are quickly losing our ability to interface with others of our species, and it plays out in strange ways (like giving you no recourse in job applications since a computer filters all resumes).

Some of the students at the university where I work worry, as do some faculty members. When professors go on sabbatical, they try to put as much of the course online as possible. Granted, it's tempting to never actually have to administer a quiz/test or grade it by having the computer do it for you, and I really hate that I lose 20-30 minutes at the beginning of each lab period to administer the quiz, but in a hands-on career field, how can we possibly adequately prepare students to do things at which they've never actually plied their hand?

I made it through an advanced degree without ever dissecting anything. I never took anatomy. I would never teach those things. Yet, some people are willing to trust diagnosis, treatment and their very lives to people who have essentially done nothing more than watch a reality series on surgery.

Back when I was an undergraduate, WebCT version 1 came out, and I had to buy a computer in order to complete the online portions of the class, a single class. It's not convenient, cost effective, or "fair" to demand that of students. Simply because we can do a thing does not follow that we must. Significant numbers of students still learn best by doing, and if we eliminate that option, we render them useless to the betterment of society, which is a real shame.

Too many people spend too much time in virtual worlds and forget to live in the real one. It breaks up marriages and indicates deeper problems. Some of my students confessed that they buy their boyfriends games to get free time. Is that really love, that you send them into a fake world so you can relax? It's not healthy, and I see no end to this trend.

I happen to be of the old school and believe and bank on the preconceived notion that labs will always have an in person component. That's why I teach lab- I enjoy it, and that's why I think my job is safe because most professors hate teaching lab. Their loss.

Don't let it be yours.

Just Another Flu

Share

Much as I hate to say it, the president did the right thing about this recent H1N1 flu hybrid strain- he ignored it and played golf. If he'd wanted to actually be a leader, he had two options- take charge or let it play out. He of course chose the latter, because the former impinged on his ability to "pursue happiness" at our expense.

In all honesty and in my semi-professional opinion, the media mandates are blowing it out of proportion. If only what 150 people worldwide caught it and only 30 of those died, why are they bouncing around the concepts of pandemic and epidemic? Unlike some a priori, "swine flu" resembles those weak strains they use to vaccinate us, so if you want to avoid a flu shot, go out and catch it.

Instead, our fearless leader proposes common sense items that we would do anytime to avoid getting sick. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, avoid common areas, stay home and rest. Who does he think he is, my mother? We all do those things. Sometimes people get sick. That's why you have an immune system. If he really cared about your well being, he might have availed himself of the opportunity to talk about behavior and lifestyle modifications that would render America healthier like adequate rest and hydration, frequent physical exertion, and portion control.

Obama has never really been a paragon of self control. In his own book, he confesses with braggadocio that he whiled away many a day dragging on weed or other narcotics. Besides, he wants a different type of control- control over YOUR life. Listen to how often they say one should never underestimate the opportunity presented by a crisis to advance a statist agenda. That's something we don't want to catch.

Disproportionate to Difficulty

Share

I read this morning how, despite the current state budget crisis, firemen won't take a pay cut. They do risk their lives, true, but the police do as well, and they didn't refuse flatly to take a pay cut.

Our illustrious governor wants us to take a bigger pay cut again because he refuses to raise taxes. Much as I respect that, I think the problem remains as always that if 50% of the state budget is for wages then we have too many people on the government payroll. The only workable solution I see is to cut government employees.

People in positions of risk and responsibility like to set themselves up as exceptions to the rule. Firemen claim they have hard jobs, but they know before they go out, unlike the beat cop or traffic citation, the nature of the situation into which they walk. The governor has a hard job, but his secretary doesn't warrant a $20K pay raise next year. They're not suffering. They make sure their coffers are stuffed while they ask us to sacrifice.

There are people in every echelon of every entity who are paid disporportionate to their contribution. At my last job, I performed at an average 130% of expectation yet never qualified for a bonus for mitigating reasons exigent to my control. In fact, they started staffing our shift predicated on the proposition that I was going to be able to give 130% in perpetuity, which of course I did not do. At my current job, there are people without whom we could manage. It would burden the remainder to be sure to pick up their work, but we could manage without them. As a matter of fact, do we even need a governor? What has he actually accomplished? Argh.