About Global Warming: No More Input Please, I Have Made a Decision

I just about missed a small article in the Fox News website. Apparently in Great Britain a study has been completed that solidifies scientists recommendations to the rest of us. It tells how we should alter our diets in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases.

Since it is now confirmed that the real big culprit in greenhouse gases are belching and farting cows and sheep, we, the people on the planet need to immediately cut our consumption of them by 50%.

Also, by the way, we need to also cut our production and consumption of foods with marginal nutritional value. That means we need to slash our consumption of all sweets, chocolates, and liquors.

OK?

Well, let’s see here . . . . . . uuuhh . . . . . no . . . . . . I don’t think so.

I have to confess when that Hillshire Farms commercial comes on and all the guys in the neighborhood stand at attention beside their grills and chant . . . I chant along with them. I actually have a different solution to the problem. If cows are that much of a threat to the environment, then I want to rededicate myself to eating as many of them as I can. That makes me feel proud that I am doing something for the environment.

And banishing sweets, chocolate and liquors? This helps the global warming cause? You know, I am beginning to think that this global warming thing has outlived its usefulness. This great guiding theme has grown a little too invasive, don’t you think?

I’m thinking of Valentine’s Day of course. “No, Sweetheart, we aren’t going to the Black Angus this time. I picked up some mouth watering tofu. And I have this classic carton of soy milk. It was boxed in 2006, a great year. Then I got you this beautiful red-heart filled with delectable pumpkin seeds.”

I have occasionally written about how I believe the corner has been turned on the global warming issue. There is too much good science out there that tells us the cause of global warming is not based on science but is nothing more than a political agenda.

Well, it’s been disconcerting that people have not woken up to that fact. But, I think that telling us we can’t grill a steak, have a glass of wine with it, and then enjoy a chocolate dessert after because it is bad for the environment – well that’s all I need to know. The global warming cause is doomed!

Ten Years After

It was ten years ago. I was handed an important role in our bank, that of Community Reinvestment Act officer. The Community Reinvestment Act was a federal program that was birthed under the Carter Administration. In essence, the Federal Government’s feeling was that if they are providing banks with FDIC insurance, insuring all of our deposits then we owe them the proof that we are lending on homes in all neighborhoods in our cities, not just the best ones.

When Clinton became President, he took the CRA to a whole new level, measuring our performance in 4 distinct levels and announcing that if we failed their standards our applications to build new branches would not be approved.

The concept and concern were well founded. I hired a team of bright Hispanic people and we scoured our branch system to be sure we were finding every way possible to prudently make loans to low or moderate income families. We had some success but in Eastern Washington, our opportunities were not as great as they were for lenders in say, Chicago or Los Angeles.

Eight months after I inherited the job, the next FDIC audit came and we were examined for our results. At the exit interview, the examiners took me, my crew, the bank, and our whole Board of Directors to task for not doing enough. I was the one with the big target on my back. The young FDIC auditors were not impressed with our explanations that we really had a problem with making home loans to people who were not credit worthy. If we wanted to grow our bank with new branches we would figure out a way, just like some of our competitors were doing.

After the very contentious meeting, the lead examiner and I met privately and he gave me his best advice on how to improve our CRA performance level. We talked for about an hour and then he reached into his briefcase and opened up a confidential file for me to see. He said there was a model institution that they had just examined that got an excellent CRA rating. If I could get our bank to emulate them and adopt similar programs to lower our benchmarks for loan approval, we would also get an excellent rating. He opened up the file and showed me the facts and information on their model institution, Washington Mutual.

With the closing of Washington Mutual’s doors on Friday, they established another new record; that of being the largest bank to ever fail. The failure was directly related to record defaults in their huge mortgage portfolio.

I would like to find that FDIC examiner for another conversation.

Are we Fighting a Holy War?

Newt Gingrich brings us a video that puts the recent ABC interview of Sarah Palin in perspective. Charlie Gibson tried an ambush. Would he have taken off his glasses and looked down his nose at JFK or FDR and asked this ambush question?

Rhetoric Versus Reality

This article was written by Bookworm, a lawyer, mother, compulsive reader and fast typer. If you are a lawyer, mother, reader, and fast typer you should read this. Do not only read the article, read the comments.

Go to it here.

Politics, the World, and Oil

We are experiencing a phenomenon right now that is incredible as it unfolds. In US politics, the Democratic candidates are desperate. Every day that they find themselves sliding in the polls they become more shrill. Press operatives are turning the world upside down to try to find something that looks like dirt on Sarah Palin. Who knows, they may find some.

The press that used to be owned by the left seems to have gotten out of their control. News stories on the main 3 networks show McCain and Palin speaking to huge crowds. They show Obama now speaking to smaller crowds, and they don’t ever show Biden at all.

As the race gets more intense, we need to continue to pray for all the candidates. There are extremists on both sides. They all need divine protection.

But the real reason that I am writing this is to back us up a bit and look at the world. Russia’s attack on Georgia is a clear sign that they are not afraid of us or our European allies. Iran is lulling us to sleep while they set the stage for something big. Pakistan just named a new President after that last several choices have been killed. It is clearly a keg of dynamite with a lit fuse. Olmert is stepping down and Israel will be soon electing a new Prime Minister. North Korea's Kim has disappeared from public giving fears that his formidable military will soon be turned over to Generals who have been trained for only one thing.

While we are concentrating on Obama’s daily gaffes and who insulted who today, the stage is being set for volatility around the world. With everything that is facing us, the Bride of Christ needs to be sure that its lamps are filled with oil. This is no time to for us to sleep. In the Bible, some of the wedding party found themselves without oil when they needed it the most. Oil (the Holy Spirit) is ours for the asking today. Let's ask and ask and ask.

It is Time to Take the Field of Battle

For the next few months until the election we will be witness to an amazing time in history. Both sides have the finish line in sight. Obama has lost his lead to a man with a fraction of his oratory skills. In spite of a media overwhelmingly dominated by Obama troops, McCain and Palin have forged their way onto the front pages and into lead stories.

Now watch what happens. As I stated in earlier posts, the attacks against McCain and Palin will become more shrill with each day. You see, the Bush derangement syndrome that we have witnessed for several years now, will not cease when Bush leaves office. This fire hose of seething hate is now being redirected at Sarah Palin. How dare a Spirit filled Christian woman pick up the sword and shield that after 8 years seems to be so heavy for our battle wearied President.

Perhaps people will take a good look at the character of the Code Pink personalities and decide that they do not stand with them. Oh, I know it is easy to say that there are extremists on both sides. That has conveniently been the standard disclaimer. It was even used as we witnessed the red faced shrieking woman being escorted from the Republican Convention floor.

I want to be counted as an extremist on this side. But as an extremist I want to be known by completely different characteristics. This election needs for all of us extremists to now take the field. Rather than confront peaceful, law abiding people with shrieking tantrums, we need to now confront the heavenlies with fervent prayer. Rather than cackling at innocent family members caught up in the political firestorm, we need to pray for divine protection over the candidates and a spirit of grace and goodwill to cover them. Rather than publish hit pieces and slander stories, we need to not be silent, but be loud and articulate in our love of all people and our love for what is right. Most of all, when the opposition is campaigning hatred of our candidates, we need to increase our campaign of prayer. The world must see the contrast. If we lose then we need to demonstrate this grace to the other side. But if we win, and I believe we will, we need to be even more gracious winners.

This battle is not about Democrats or Republicans. It isn’t about those who would call themselves Christian, Moslem, or Athiest. It isn’t about those who consider themselves global or national, man or woman, Hispanic, Black, or White. It is about the Holy Spirit. It is about those of us who believe in God’s plan for each one of us, for His Church, for Israel, and for the World. Standing up and declaring that will get you the same wrath that Sarah Palin, George Bush, and Israel are getting. People will get in line to hate you too.

But why do you think that we have a candidate who has withstood years of torture only to come back and forgive his captors years later? Why do we have a candidate who is known by his efforts to reach across the aisle and treat his opponents not as enemies but as fellow countrymen? Why do we have a candidate who doesn’t bow to evil? And why did a bold, spirit filled young running mate suddenly appear upon the scene from literally no-where? To be defeated? I don’t think so.

Speaking Truth to Power or Just Spouting Hate

In the late sixty's and early seventy's when I was an undergraduate in the Political Science Department at the University of Oregon, I believed that the media was controlled by the entrenched interests. It was at that time that the descriptive phrase "the military industrial establishment" was born. Universities became islands of freedom that dared to defy the entrenched thought. Underground newspapers and radio stations sprang up to voice an "anti-establishment" point of view. The mindset of our generation was that truth was the first casualty when the media was controlled by the entrenched power brokers of the time.

Those of us in the beginning of this anti-establishment movement were aware, though that truth was not simply a casualty of the established power broker, but is unfortunately a casualty of the new power brokers as well. We were not so naive to think that power only corrupted the last group, but that it corrupts constantly. It saddens me to understand that so many people who today are still fighting that old establishment don't understand that they have become more corrupt and more blind to it than the original ever was. Indeed, if it was possible for the modern leftists on campus to stand before the original 1970's protestors, they would be shocked at the corrupt thinking and hypocrisy of today's "radicals." They are not radicals at all! They are the new mainstream and they blindly march lock-step to shallow and narrow thought without questioning the mind control spider web that is obvious to anyone who cares to see it.

Today, I remain the same - holding up the desire for truth rather than the war against the old establishment as my cause and belief. I want truth wherever it may be found. But so many of my contemporaries and those that came after them have failed in their understanding of this call. Rather than remain seekers of truth, they remained embracers of leftist ideologies. For sure, it is the easier course. And the left has now become the power broker. It has now saturated universities with its philosophy so pervasively that an alternative opinion cannot even be expressed on campus.

Over the last 40 years it has entwined itself into the journalism field so heavily that ideology expressed from any direction other than the radical left is fully shunned and smothered. Our schools have been flooded with young left leaning teachers that have indoctrinated subsequent generations with a "moral equivalency" prime directive that has neutralized their thinking to where they cannot tell the difference between "good" and "bad" or "right" and "wrong".

No previous entrenched power ever held such pervasive control over its society. It has become so obvious that no one is surprised when polls show overwhelmingly that the public is aware of an incessantly left bias in our media. It is actually a demonstration of arrogance that acknowledges it, shrugs, and then continues to turn up its volume.

Yuvall Levin of the NRO website today offered this observation:

I have always tended to think that conservative complaints about the media are a little exaggerated. There are occasionally obvious instances of bias and clear examples of a double standard, but most reporters don’t want to fall into those and some conservatives are surely too sensitive to them. But this week has changed my view. I have never seen, and I admit that I could never have imagined, such shameful, out-of-control, frenzied, angry, condescending, and pathetic journalistic malpractice. The ignorant assault on Palin’s accomplishments and experience, the breathless careless airing of deranged rumors about her private life, the staggeringly indecent mistreatment of her teenage daughter in a difficult time, the ill-informed piling on about the vetting process, the self-intensifying circle of tisking nodding heads utterly detached from a straightforward political event, have been amazing and eye-opening.

His closing remark was:

They have shown themselves to be too insulated and too solipsistic to help the public better understand our politics, and too self-important to report on events as they happen. This is far more than media bias. Let us hope it is a passing episode.

I have news for Mr. Levin. It isn’t a passing episode. We can expect worse from these people.

McCain Interupts the Coronation with His Choice of VP

In an earlier post I mentioned that this Presidential race was Barack Obama’s to lose. One of the reasons why is because the mainstream media has already voted. In addition to the campaign effort that the Democrats have to pay for, virtually the entire media throws in their front pages and their nightly lead stories for free. Obama has gotten an unprecedented free ride and sympathetic slant in every news story.

But the tactic is not just what they say, it is also about what they don't say. Just as effective as their support for Obama has been the black-out of positive stories for McCain and his campaign. It is frightening to talk to someone who only absorbs their information from the main-stream media. They can only understand what they have been fed and they remain ignorant to much of reality from which they have been shielded.

It is sobering when you understand the reality of what is being done to us by the mainstream media. The enemies of truth are using it against us every day in an attempt to control our lives. So, you have to hand it to John McCain and his selection of his running mate. It has stunned the Democrats and their media. It shows a great strategy. When the enemy owns the radar, then you just have to fly under it.

How effective has McCain’s choice been? It appears to have virtually neutralized their much anticipated post-convention bounce. It has caused considerable confusion among Democratic strategists on how to handle her. Joe Trippi, a CBS News Political Consultant (euphemism for Democratic Strategist) said this on the CBS News webpage:

The McCain/Palin duo will challenge Barack Obama’s claim of “a new kind of politics” and chastise Obama and Democratic vice presidential Nominee, Joe Biden, for their “silence” in taking on corruption in their own party in Illinois, Delaware and Washington, DC.

The McCain campaign intends to claim that “more of the same” in Washington means Barack Obama and Joe Biden and will make the argument that if you want to “shake things up” then McCain and his reform minded running mate from Alaska will get the job done.

My initial reaction was that in picking Palin, McCain had taken away the argument that Barack Obama wasn’t ready to be president. I now think my initial assessment on that score was wrong. Over time, the McCain team will insinuate that if you think a first-term Governor isn’t ready for the number 2 slot, are you really sure that a first-term Senator is ready for the number 1 spot?

Mr. Trippi was a Howard Dean strategist at one time. His alarm and acknowledgement of how the choice of Sarah Palin changes the race is incredible in its juxtaposition of earlier thoughts on her.

The other shocker is that suddenly the media coverage has shifted. Suddenly the Democrats cannot control their press as reporters clamor to find out more about this exciting new VP candidate. The nation's attention is on McCain and Palin. What was once a coronation is now a full fledged race.