Archive for the 'thoughts' Category

Happy Birthday America!

Published by
Steve
at July 4, 2008 in Family, Holiday, USA and thoughts. 6 Comments

I\'m Happy!

Anyone else this happy about the 4th?  This is Nate’s first “4th of July” in his young life, and he’s gonna be spending it in Asia with his family and a group of friends from Kansas!  I hope he grows up to love and appreciate the USA like I do.

I think there is something about living abroad that makes you appreciate America even more than you would have if you had never left.  I know it’s certainly true for me.  There are many things (a couple of REALLY BIG ONES) that I have totally come to appreciate about America now that I don’t live there anymore.

As many of you know, I am just coming off of a 10 month stay in America where one of my observations was how much everyone - particularly politicians and journalist and those who listen to politicians and journalist without thinking for themselves - would go on and on about how TERRIBLE things were in America today.  Excuse me, ‘terrible’?!  Really?  Is your perspective really that microscopic that you cannot see beyond $4 gas?  Shame on you.  Go get a passport immediately.  Travel to ANY other country.  Live there (as opposed to being a ‘tourist’ there.)  Then come back and tell me how terrible Americans have it.

OK, I’m getting off my soap-box before I get in trouble (translation = before Erica gets upset with me.)

Happy 4th of July everyone!  Go have a burger, a Dr. Pepper and some yummy ice cream… I’ll be having rice… and I will appreciate every bite.

Efforts to Block Junk Mail Slowed by Postal Service and Environmentalists!

Published by
Steve
at March 24, 2008 in Politics, news and thoughts. 8 Comments

I am annoyed by “Junk Mail”, Erica loves it!  But she loves it mostly because we get so little mail in Asia, where we live most of the time,  that getting mail - even if it’s junk - is fun for Erica.

Junk Mail (aka Standard Mail)It is amazing though just HOW MUCH junk mail ends up in our mailbox!  It’s hard to believe that in our day-in-age of ‘Environmental Awareness’ and over all disdain for rude marketing (SPAM, Phone Calls at Dinner Time, Mountains of Junk Mail) that the US POST OFFICE and our Federal Government Representatives are promoting MORE junk mail, not less!

A recent article in the Washington Post highlights the problem.  Here are some excerpts from the story;

Chris Pearson, a state legislator in Vermont, had a sense that the people were with him when he proposed a bill last November to allow residents to block junk mail.

Then came the pushback from the postmasters, who told Pearson and other lawmakers that “standard” mail, the post office’s name for junk mail, has become the lifeblood of the U.S. Postal Service and that jobs depend on it.

Barred by law from lobbying, the Postal Service is nonetheless trying to make its case before a growing number of state legislatures that are weighing bills to create Do Not Mail registries, which are similar to the popular National Do Not Call Registry.

The Postal Service is working closely with the Direct Marketing Association, the trade group that represents retailers and the printing industry, in its new campaign — Mail Moves America — which is designed to quash the Do Not Mail initiatives.

So far in the 2008 campaign cycle, the Direct Marketing Association has made $141,877 in contributions to federal candidates, including $6,610 to Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), who chairs the subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service and does not face reelection until 2012.

Perhaps surprisingly, environmental groups — whose members say they are concerned about junk mail — are cool to the idea of a registry that prohibits marketers from sending mail to those enrolled and that fines violators.

One reason may be that most environmental groups are themselves junk mailers. They use standard mail for their solicitation letters.

Postal officials say they are aware of the environmental concerns related to junk mail. In testimony on Capitol Hill last week, Postmaster General John E. Potter told lawmakers that the Postal Service has one answer: Recycling bins positioned beneath personal mailboxes at post offices, to catch junk mail as it tumbles out.

So, which are you, a junk-mail lover or hater?

Macintosh users are more likely to buy (rather than steal) digital music

Published by
Steve
at March 3, 2008 in Apple and thoughts. 0 Comments

New research from the NPD Group finds that 50 percent of Mac users pay to download music, compared to just 16 percent of PC users.

New market research figures from the NPD Group may highlight some of the gap between users of Apple’s Macintosh computers and…well, users of those other systems. According to the NPD Group’s Digital Music Monitor, Macintosh users are considerably more likely to pay to download music, with 50 percent of all Mac users surveyed paying to download music during the third quarter of 2007 compared to just 16 percent of PC users.

hmmm!

the article

U.S. Demand for Smart Car is High

Published by
Steve
at February 27, 2008 in USA and thoughts. 1 Comment

Smart CarWhile visiting Erica’s parents in Italy, I experienced first hand why the “Smart Car” is so popular… the roads are VERY narrow and there is no parking anywhere.   Not to mention, gas prices are super expensive all over Europe.

The Smart Car is perfect, it is 8-foot, 8-inches long, which can park nose-to-curb when others are parallel parking and it gets 40 miles to the gallon!

Smart, which reaches U.S. dealerships in January, has received $99 deposits from more than 30,000 customers to reserve the two-seater and about 9 in 10 are placing full orders, said Daimler AG Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche. More than 50,000 motorists have taken the tiny vehicle for a test drive at road shows around the country.

However, I don’t see the Smart Car catching on here in Texas - the land of the SUV.  It seems that to get anywhere here, you have to drive on the highway.  I just can’t see many people enjoying the experience of going down the highway, being passed left and right by SUVs and pickup trucks that are towering above your head.  I can see how someone in a big city might like one of these, but then again, if I lived in a big city where a Smart Car was necessary, I think I might just take public transportation.  I’ve grown fond of taking public transportation while living in Asia.

Amazing!

Published by
Steve
at February 9, 2008 in thoughts. 0 Comments

How is it that the majority of Dallas / Ft. Worth’s terrible drivers are driving big, white SUV’s?

Hershey - We Expect Better!

Published by
Steve
at December 2, 2007 in thoughts. 0 Comments

How in the world did this product ever get made?  Were there no sane people in the meeting where this idea was discussed?

“Hey guys, I had this great idea last night while watching CSI, let’s make a product that looks just like cocaine and sell it to kids at 7-11!”

This idea is even dumber than candy cigarettes!

Icebreakers or Cocaine?New mint packets being sold by The Hershey Co. look nearly identical to the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell illegal powdered drugs like crack, heroin and cocaine and glorify the drug trade, a Philadelphia police official said.

Ice Breakers Pacs, nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside, hit store shelves in November. The packets, which come in blue and orange plastic slide-up cases, are similar enough to drug packets that a child familiar with the candy could mistakenly swallow a heat-sealed bag of drugs, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector William Blackburn told the Philadelphia Daily News for an article published Friday.

“It glorifies the drug trade,” he said. “There’s really no reason that a product like this should be on the shelf.”

A Pardon For A Turkey…

Published by
Steve
at November 25, 2007 in Food and thoughts. 0 Comments

So it seems another turkey has received a presidential pardon…

President Bush Pardons Thanksgiving Turkey

My personal opinion, if you pardon a turkey, you better NOT be eating turkey on Thanksgiving.  Otherwise, what’s the point?

Between Christian GEEKS and Christian CHIC

Published by
Steve
at November 13, 2007 in Faith and thoughts. 5 Comments

A great article by Dr. Reid;

Pendulums tend to swing from one extreme to another. We see this in the life of the American church. In particular I have observed the tendency of many to go to one extreme or another in their personal walk with Christ. On the one hand you have what I would call the Christian Geeks. These are the folks who truly love Jesus and generally love people, sometimes lost people. Some characteristics:

–They are thankfully very loyal to their local church or parachurch group and know every mantra related to them
–They do not understand why Chris Tomlin is not your most played artist on your ipod
–They have a Christian tee shirt for every occasion
–They have all the Sunday School answers down from how to be saved to how to make moral decisions to how to find the will of God for your life, and they will tell you
–They have learned the Christian subcultural lifestyle is the one for them

Now I am not saying folks like that are all bad. I happen to like several of Chris Tomlin’s songs and have been encouraged by them. I have a closet full of Christian tees. I have been to Sunday school all my life and know most of the big answers. The problem I have is this:

We use the term “geek” to refer to someone who does not fit in. I am not endorsing the term but I am recognizing its use. I fear too many believers, including many young people raised in church, act like Christian geeks when around people not like us. They find it hard to understand or even to care for hardcore lost people. It is much easier to pass judgment than to become involved in someone’s life, after all.

But the pendulum swings yet another way. On the other extreme we have the Christian CHIC, those who are:

–so cool they amaze themselves at their cultural awareness
–more comfortable talking about pop music or pop culture or displaying their piercings than boldly proclaiming the great news of the gospel
–genuinely interested in communicating with the culture of today, but swing so far in that direction that they, intentionally or unintentionally, tend to forget to talk about the wonder of a God who would call us to die to ourselves to be His slave. In other words, they would rather display their cultural savvy than speak of their Savior
–quick to celebrate their freedom, but not so quick to affirm standards (“rules” tends to be a naughty word). They forget freedom in Christ means not freedom to do anything, but to do the right thing.

By the way I am not anti-piercings. A guy in the band who travels with me has them. Not a problem. But he also knows he goes to some places where wearing them at some churches would be a distraction, so he removes them without a problem.

If you are on the Geek extreme you expect people to be like you, and that tends toward the sin of the Pharisees. The ironic thing is that the Chic on the other side suffer from the same problem. If you are not as cool as they are you are missing out. Uh, no.

I don’t have to dress like a teenager to talk to them. I actually do better when I am who I am, a minister of the gospel and a father. On the other hand, it actually helps to realize that one can find good art in music not necessarily playing on KLove, and good literature beyond so called “Christian fiction” in our Christian bookstores. By the way have you read some church signs lately? Geekism on parade.

One can be a thoughtful Christ follower and be both committed to the best of one’s heritage and be culturally aware at the same time. I am sure I fail more than I am successful. But I will try to walk with Jesus and be a disciple not a clone. I will avoid as best I can being a Christian Geek who gives pithy little church answers to people who just don’t get us, reinforcing their confusion.

And I will try to avoid the temptation to be Christian Chic, jumping on every new bandwagon that comes along in the name of being relevant. I would actually rather be significant than relevant.

Jesus was full of grace and truth. To avoid these extremes, so should we.

Originally found here; http://alvinreid.com/archives/271

What do you think?

First Baby Boomer Files For Social Security Benefits

Published by
Steve
at October 15, 2007 in USA, news and thoughts. 0 Comments

Disturbing news today. This seems to be every politician’s favorite issue to talk about (at least here in Florida it is!) but the least favorite to ACTUALLY do anything about… I’m thinking I better not plan on collecting Social Security when I retire!

Kathleen Casey-KirschlingKathleen Casey-Kirschling filed for early retirement Monday, becoming the first baby boomer to start collecting Social Security.

Born one second after midnight in January 1946, the retired teacher leads the way for as many as 80 million individuals who will qualify for the retirement payout.

“We face a tsunami of spending due primarily to the retirement of the baby boom generation and rising health care costs,” Walker said. “So what’s happened is we’ve gone from 16 workers paying into Social Security for every person drawing benefits in 1950 to 3.3 to one today, and we’re going down to two to one by the time the boomers retire in big numbers and that’s about where it will stay over the long run.”

“We’re going to have tens of thousands of baby boomers retiring every week over the next decade or so and that means that by time we get to 2017, just 10 years away, we will no longer be collecting enough payroll taxes to pay Social Security benefits,” said former Minnesota Democratic Rep. Tim Penny.

Under current law, Social Security won’t have enough money to pay promised benefits in 2041 but there is another crunch much, much sooner, the result of the the federal government relying on Social Security to pay for its annual spending.

When Social Security gets payroll taxes it pays out most of the money in benefits. The rest is supposed to go into a trust fund. Instead the government has been spending the money on other government programs, and putting IOUs into the trust. When Social Security needs the money it’ll turn to the government waiting for the payback. But the government won’t likely have any.

“This money has been borrowed, it’s been spent, and there’s no easy way to put it back,” Penney said.

The loan is expected to be called in 2017, when the largest bloc of the boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — will be retiring. By the mid 2020s, the federal government will have to fork over more than $200 billion a year, and then it climbs to more than $300 billion a year.

At the same time, all that is money that was being used for federal programs will no longer be available, meaning everything — from education to defense to the environment — will face a financial crunch.

Excessive?

Published by
Steve
at September 20, 2007 in news and thoughts. 6 Comments

Probably most of you had heard the story about Andrew Meyer, the University of Florida student who was at a John Kerry event on the UF campus who got a little annoying and disruptive. The result was several cops taking him down and while holding him down, shocking him with a ‘taser’ in order to subdue him.

UF’s president, J. Bernard Machen, states on UF’s website;

University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump has requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct a formal investigation into the arrest of UF student Andrew Meyer. An independent review such as this will make sure the results are objective and impartial. Chief Stump’s priority is to ensure that the public remains confident in the department’s ability to keep the campus safe.

Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

From the video, it seemed like a lot more than TWO officers involved… maybe math has changed at UF since I graduated from UF in ‘96! The ‘exaggeration’ of the facts by Machen seem to signal at least some felt ‘wrong doing’ on the University’s behalf - if not, why mis-represent the facts that are clearly visible to the thousands who’ve seen the video of the incident?

So, what do you think? Was the use of force excessive, or did Andrew Meyer deserve everything he got from the police?