Atheist Advert – All Aboard….

Check this out.  A group in England is going to roll out an atheistic ad campaign on buses.

“There’s probably no God.  Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”

First – I think it’s funny on a few different levels.  I’ve never really seen an atheist ad campaign before.  and I love the fact they said, “There’s PROBABLY no God.”  They at least have the decency to approach the issue with a little honesty and humility.  

Should we be worried?  (About the atheist ad that is)  Yes…  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the atheist are taking over.  I’m more worried about the point their really hitting at with this statement, God = Worry in your life.  So forget about God and you can enjoy life.

That’s sad.  But it points out a very true perception about how we communicate God to people and maybe more importantly how some of us choose to walk out our faith.

In a fog…

I’ve had a super busy last couple weeks with work stuff.  A lot of traveling, a lot of late nights, lot of work and little sleep, little time with the family.

I noticed the last several days this deep and dark fog settling in on me.  I’m becoming more irritable, more angry, more selfish, more not myself.

I caught myself thinking about it on my drive to work Sunday morning – when i should have been going to church, but couldn’t.

I think everyone of us gets into some cycle of life.  Some of our choosing and some of our circumstance.  And once you get in that cycle it can be hard to get out of it.  In fact you can get so far into the fog, so caught up in the cycle you don’t even know where you’re at or how far off track you’ve gotten.

So I spent some of the car ride doing a little self-evaluation with God.  Really asking, where am I at now?  And God are you ok with that?  Is that where you want me to be?

I feel better.  I’m trying to get on the right track.  Trying to clear up the fog.  What i need most is sleep and time.  Time with my family, time with my church family/community.

My Nightmare

At work in Shipshewana. Again I’m reminded why I’m not a plant person i feel much more comfortable at a desk behind a computer.

For today, This is my nightmare. (see pic of welder)

Been here 2+ hours (not including 2.5 hour drive) and haven’t got a thing done. Drives me nuts. I still can’t get used to how long it takes to do things in a plant/production environment. There is definitely a different pace and mindset there.

Hopefully things will go smooth when we start making parts. Which should be soon.

I’ve done a lot of work on this part. It’s one of the most difficult on a vehicle – something I am proud of on this program. Will be a good achievement when we are able to wrap it up.

I lost $4,000

Just looked at my 401k and from June when the economy took a dive I’ve lost $4,000.  That sucks…  But the good news is I haven’t been investing long.  I imagine others have lost a lot more then that though.  That really sucks..

Permission to vote for a Democrat…

I’ve been talking to a number of friends and family members about the upcoming election.  When I ask them to tell me why they are voting for McCain, the issue of abortion is always tops on their list.  For a few of them at least, I get the feeling that their vote hinges solely on this one issue of abortion.  And since Republicans are Pro-life and Democrats are Pro-Choice they just cannot morally allow themselves to vote for a democrat.  In spite of how they feel on other issues.

I fully understand and appreciate their dilemma.  How can someone that believes life is precious, that life is a gift from God vote for a party that supports killing innocent, unprotected lives?

As my own political, social, and religious views continue to take form this is one of the issues that I’ve had to deal with.  How do you get over the abortion issue?  Here’s a couple things that I’v begun to work through in my mind.

1.)  Abortion is more of a political issue then a moral issue.

Both parties (Republican and Democrat) have used the issue of abortion to further their political aspirations.  Both parties have taken opposite positions to attract a certain demographic of person.  Just look at the labels they’ve coined to identify themselves.  Republicans are “Pro-life”, which obviously makes the Democrats “Pro-death”.  And Democrats are “Pro-Choice”, which obviously makes the Republicans “Anti-Choice”, anti-women’s rights, repressive, etc… 

So every election the rhetoric machine is fired up again and again, igniting the passions of people from both parties, turning out the vote in force.  But when the bumper stickers and yard signs are removed and the confetti is all swept up – abortion – A major plank in both parties platforms – becomes nothing more then a mere sliver that you feel from time and time but never have time to address.

Regardless of which party you favor.  I think we could all agree that neither party is doing enough to reduce the amount of abortions in our country and that is the real tragedy.

2.)  The Real answer is somewhere in the middle.

For all of you die hards out there on either side of the political fence I have some real bad news from you.  Roe vs. Wade will never be repealed and abortion on demand (Whenever and For Whomever) will never happen.  

And is that what we really want anyway?

Why do we have to slide from one extreme to the other,  when the real answer is somewhere in the middle.  Why can’t we all agree that abortion is a tragedy and we need to do all that we can to reduce the amount of abortions in the US.

Check out these statistics on abortion. (It was the first site that came up on Google if you’re wondering).

Who is having abortions?  50% are under 25.  It affects all ages – it’s not just a teenage issue.  60% are white – it’s not just a race issue (Though in relationship to the population, black women are 3 times more likely to have an abortion then white women and hispanics 2 times more likely) Over 68% claim to be either Protestant or Catholic.  Woman that make >$30,000/yr account for over 50% of all abortions.

If you check out the link you’ll notice I flipped the way the statistics were given – on purpose.  Because so often we think that abortion simply affects the young, the poor, the unwed, the minorities.  But the truth is it affects us all.  Four out of ten pregnancies end in abortion and 93% of the time the reasons given are “social reasons”.

The problem is bigger then a Republican or Democratic solution.  It’s going to require all of us coming together and focusing on the best way to reduce the amount of abortions in our country.

3.)  The real tragedy of abortion is not abortion itself.

What causes a women to want to have an abortion?  Is it carelessness?  She made a mistake and now wants to fix it.  Is it laziness?  It’s easier to get an abortion then to practice safe sex.  We can tell ourselves these things if we want, but I think the issue of abortion is much more complex then that.

For a woman to be willing to put herself through an abortion, there must be some pretty heavy things going on.  Life must be hard…  I feel sorry for any women that feels it’s better for her, better for her unborn child to be aborted then to be brought into the world.  That is a tragedy.

I feel sorry for the women who after having an abortion has to live the rest of her life dealing with the guilt and same of her choice.  That is a tragedy.

I feel sorry for a women that feels forced into bringing a child into the world out of moral, religious obligations.  Even though she is terrified, even though she feels unprepared.  That is a tragedy.

I feel sorry for the children born into abusive relationship and disfunctional families.  Children that are brought up feeling unwanted and unloved.  That is a tragedy.

I believe God grieves – God mourns for those in any of these circumstances and so should we.  Killing an unborn child, that is a tragedy – but it does not lessen any of the other tragedies abortion presents.  And in my mind any solution to abortion must address all of the issues, not just one.

4.)  What’s needed is a consistent ethic of life.

Our politicians and even our church leaders have done an excellent job making elections about small things – individual issues, like abortion.  Everyone has the one or two issues that are important to them and they vote based on where the party line falls.  For those of you on the Right, my friends (As John McCain would say), my fellow believers.  Those of you looking at Abortion as your watershed issue.  Consider this…

4,000 children a day – die from Abortion.  Yes, a terrible tragedy.  But…

9,000 children a day – die from Aids.

30,000 children a day – die from hunger/disease/poverty

500,000 children a year – die from Wars/Conflicts.

As you carefully consider which candidate, which party to vote for in the upcoming election.  Please consider the fact that as a Christian we can’t focus on just one issue, but we must focus living a life consistent with the life that Jesus lived out in the gospels and asked us to follow.  And I think for us today that would include issues like…abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, nuclear weapons (war), poverty, and racism.

Does the candidate or party you support have a consistent ethic of life?

So as election day draws near, consider all of that.

And just in case you need to hear it from somebody.

Yes, You do have permission to vote for a Democrat.  And you shouldn’t feel the least bit guilty about it.  I don’t.

Life lessons

I’ve been in Shipshewana IN the last couple days for work. Today I had a few minutes to reflect on a couple of life lessons I’ve learned during my time here.

1. Not all combinations of things, though singularly great, work well together.

I learned that at Subway this afternoon when I tried their new Chicken Pizziola sandwhich: grilled chicken, pepperoni, marinara sauce and cheese on a toasted bun. It looked great on the sign but tasted terrible in my mouth.

How many other combinations have we seen that look good on paper, good in theory, but leave a bad taste in your mouth? I can think of a couple.

2. The truth and traditions you hold onto so tightly today can seem very foolish tomorrow.

And… If you do not change you become irrelevant and outdated.

There’s a beautiful Amish community here in Shipshewana – but the horse and buggies get in the way and become a danger sometimes to everyone.

3. Perspective is double sided.

I wonder what the Amish think of me? Probably very much what I think of them. That they are a little foolish. A little misguided. That their faith, though genuine, is a little off the mark.

But i also recognize that there is a great beauty, simplicity, authenticity, a realness, a groundedness to their lifestyle. And though our world may pass them by they still have a place in it.

So that’s just a few. I’m sure there will be more.

Control my computer through my Iphone

Ok… I feel a little slow here on this one. But I played around with something today that I think was really cool.

I downloaded an app on my Iphone (VNC Lite) and now I can have remote control of my laptop through my iphone. The app isn’t bad, especially for a free one. It’s pretty amazing how that all works. I see my entire computer and have complete control on the phone. I tried it first over the Edge network then over wifi. Obviously the wifi worked better, but edge wasn’t terrible.

I’m feeling a little slow, because VNC isn’t that new. It’s just that I really haven’t had any use for it so I never looked into it. As I left for work this morning I said to myself, “Self, I’d sure like to check in on something my computers doing today while I’m at work. I wonder if I can do that on my phone?” So I found out I could.

This is going to help me out in another big area as well. Tech support for my family. It’s frustrating when they call for help and I can’t really help them because I can’t see what’s on their screen. So now I’m going to have them all install VNC servers on their machines and should be able to do the work for them. I’m pretty geeked about that.

The Rescue Plan…

If you watch or listen to the news, like me you can’t escape talks of the bailout… umm… I mean Rescue plan.  It’s one of those things that I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about, but yet I can’t stop reading articles or listening to people talk about it.

Last night I listened to an interview on NPR that was really good.  Check it out here if interested.  The guest made some good points about the bailout.  I was leaning against the bailout and after listening to these guys talk about it I’m firmly entrenched now, against the plan that was at least.  No idea about the latest rescue plan that’s supposed to be voted on today.  Here are some things I learned that made me think the plan was bad.

1.  Buying the assets of troubled investment banks is a good idea if that’s what we were planning on doing, in fact you can even make money out of it.  But the plan as it was was more of a gift then a buy program.  The example was given of a 10 million dollar loan that is now only valued at 6 million.  If the Treasury department buys the loan at the correct value of 6 million, then there’s nothing wrong with that.  But if the Treasury buys it for what the bank owes 10 million, they are essentially gifting them 4 million dollars and rewarding them for poor judgement and bad investments.

One of the problems I keep hearing about though is that, loans and investments have been so chopped up that it’s really hard for banks to determine there value.

And if I’m a bank and there’s talk of the Treasury department being given a blank check to purchase up bad loans, how willing are you going to be to write down loans and take loses.  If you think the government will give you 10, 9, 8 even 7 million on that loan why make a move and sell it for anything else.

Part of this lock up on Wall Street was created by talks of a bailout and it’s become a self-perpetuating prophecy.

2.  A $700 Billion Bailout or Rescue Plan (Or whatever you want to call it) is not the answer.  It’s like sticking a piece of bubble gum in the cracked dam.  Our system is broken and we need to fix it, not put a band aid on it.  This problem comes down to one word, GREED.  We’re so focused on the names of Business and institutions we forget the problem is really a personal one.  It’s about people like hedge fund managers wanting to make more money then anyone is ever worth.  It’s about CEO’s and their Multi-Million dollar Golden Parachutes. It’s about people and businesses wanting to make short term profits so much that they don’t care about the long term affects.  And truthfully they make so much money, so quickly that they don’t even care.

How do you Rescue that?  How do you rescue us from ourselves?  From our own selfishness and greed.

And I’m so tired of this talk of: Free Market, Capitalism, Big Business –  This is the mess we’re left with.  Because that kind of thinking wants to assume the best about business – but neglects the ugly truth about human nature. If you’re such a proponent of the principles then stand behind them now!  Let the Free Market work itself out.  Let’s see what happens then.  I’m willing to take that risk are you?

With that let me point you to this article…  Very interesting.  It discusses the ultimatum game.  And Yes…  I am the kind of guy that would say screw you if you offered me only the 20%.

And that’s the way I feel about this Bailout…  errrr….  Rescue Plan.  Even though I’m pretty sure the Senate will probably pass the plan their voting on tonight.