Acorns From An Okie

Allen January 29th, 2009

Last year was an interesting year in politics. The Republicans nominated a Democrat and the Democrats nominated a Socialist. I’m not quite sure who the Socialists nominated, but one can only imagine.

I can certainly understand those in the society who see President Obama’s election as a triumph of progress and a turn towards “the greater good.”

I certainly hope that President Obama has a successful presidency. The problem is that I think in order to have a successful presidency, he will have to repudiate many of his campain promises and the left-leaning politics of his consituents. I advise those who support him to read both “Basic Economics” by Thomas Sowell and “The Road to Serfdom” by Friedrich Hayek. I’ll wait….

So I think President Obama’s election was a triumph for some, I fear that his economic policies will lead to an entirely different place. And, unfortunately, some in our society will blame his race for this failure. And therein lies the tragedy.

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Allen October 2nd, 2008

Laura Hollis writes about Thomas Sowell’s eternal question: “And then what?” Thomas asks this question over and over in his book, Applied Economics

Laura stresses that many of the same people who got us into this mess with sub-prime mortgage crisis never asked the question “And then what?”.

Quoting from Laura’s essay:

As Thomas Sowell points out so elegantly, politicians tend to think only of the short term – what will get them through the next election. But the rest of us MUST think about the long term, because we’re the ones who are going to be stuck with it. If we allow ourselves to be distracted by yesterday’s problem and deluded by today’s promises, we will be blindsided by tomorrow’s crisis. And tomorrow’s crisis will be catastrophic.

With all due respect to the Underpants Gnomes, perhaps we need to formalize the Politician Gnomes’ plan for everything:

1. Propose a program that will get us elected.
2. Get Elected.
3. ???

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Allen October 2nd, 2008

BatesLine has a great extended quote from probably one of the best Senators in Congress today, Tom Coburn:

As a practicing physician, I compare where we are today to a physician who commits malpractice. We have a patient with cancer. They have a secondary pneumonia because of the cancer. We are going to treat the pneumonia. We are going to give the antibiotics, we are going to give something to lower the temperature, we are going to give something to suppress the cough, we are going to give something to thin the mucous, but we are not going to fix the cancer. We are going to ignore the cancer.

Let me tell you what the cancer is. The cancer is Congresses that, for years upon years, have totally ignored the Constitution of the United States and taken us to areas where we have no business being. There is no way you can justify, in the U.S. Constitution, that the country ought to be the source of mortgages for homeowners in this country. Yet Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac control 70 percent of the mortgages in this country.

I plan on voting for this bill. I support that we have to do something now. But how we got here is very important if we are going to fix things in the future….

If anybody in America is mad about this situation, there is only one place they need to direct their anger and it is right in the Congress of the United States.

I’m slightly in favor of the bail-out. However, I could also see this becoming a political boondoggle that will haunt our nation for a long, long time. That ’sense of needing to do something’ can quickly lead to poor legislation. Witness the ‘Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act’, socialized medicine schemes and other intrusions of government into areas where it doesn’t belong.

Perhaps we are giving the nation something to ‘thin the mucous’.

Or perhaps…

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Allen September 29th, 2008

From a recent psalm from the Book of Common Prayer:

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 with additional apocryphal verses

[1] Hear my teaching, O my people; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
[2] I will open my mouth in a parable; I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
[3] That which we have heard and known, and what our forefathers have told us, we will not hide from our children.
[4] We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, and the wonderful works he as done.
[12] He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers; in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
[13] He split open the sea and let them pass through; he made the waters stand up like walls.
[14] He led them with a cloud by day, and all the night through with a glow of fire.
[15] He split the hard rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as from the great deep.
[16] He brought streams out of the cliff, and the waters gushed out like rivers.
[A1] And thus we will will teach our children; and they shall teach their children.
[A2] Unto the 70th generation they will be taught and they shall know the works of the Lord.
[A3] And the 71st generation will say unto their elders, are you kidding me?
[A4] For I learned the truth from my professors; to their words I have listened.
[A5] This is all just sky-god worship. This is all just cultural mumbo-jumbo.
[A6] The split sea was just a cultural tale; the cloud was just a fog.
[A7] There was no fire; there were no streams.
[A8] And thus the Lord will say, “Oh$%@#$, here we go again.”

• Current Affairs , Humor , Religion
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Allen September 11th, 2008

Up until the day John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running-mate, I was more in the mode voting against a candidate than I was voting for a candidate.

Up until that day, I felt that the Republicans had nominated a Democrat (old-school) and the Democrats had nominated a Socialist (new-school).

While there is still quite a bit to learn about Sarah Palin, I have been quite pleased with what I’ve seen so far. She strikes me as a far more authenic agent of change than any other poseur candidate I can think of.

The fact that she drives the paleo-media types into a frothing frenzy is just a bonus.

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Allen September 8th, 2008

As I may have alluded to earlier, I work with the Boy Scouts of America. Most of my activities lately has been constrained to mentoring Eagle candidates for our Troop, but the Anchoress highlights in a recent post what has troubled me with some of the rank requirements that the young men need to achieve in order to advance.

The Anchoress here is talking about Bill Whittle (another of my favorite authors), “required volunteer service” and the authenticity of political candidates. A worthy read for both the Anchoress’s words and Bill Whittle’s original essay.

I used to volunteer at a local hospital, working with patients recovering from brain accidents, and also at a local Alzheimer’s facility. I did that because I wanted to, I was not compelled to do it (except, perhaps by the Holy Spirit). Because it was truly voluntary, it was real, authentic service.

…

Think of monasticism. A monastic gives up everything, moves into a community, share all his goods and even lets go of individuality; if superficial individuality is subsumed in the cause of something greater, it is because the monks and nuns have individually determined that it must be so. Because everyone there is of a like mind, and voluntarily giving themselves up – voluntarily practicing self-abnegation – it works. It is an authentic life of service and sacrifice because it is voluntary.

If you were to try to force monasticism, to compel people to work at something in which they do not believe, to give themselves up for something that does not speak to their individual hearts and spirits, it would not work. It would be completely inauthentic, and it would die.

Ellipses are mine.

The problem is that Boy Scouts require so many hours of “volunteer work” in order to advance in rank. While I understand what they are driving for, this has bothered me for quite some time. How can this be in any way, shape or form volunteer work? This is work required in order to obtain a goal. Worthy work and a worthy goal. But not volunteerism.

Mind you, I don’t have a solution to this problem. I’m not sure how big of a problem this is as the Boy Scouts are a volunteer organization — Adult volunteers (by and large) and young men who volunteer to join.

• Current Affairs , Personal , Politics , Religion
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Allen August 11th, 2008

I keep hearing from our political betters that we cannot ‘drill our way’
out of our current energy ‘crisis‘.

Isn’t this like saying we cannot ‘grow more food’ as a solution to
hunger?

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Allen August 11th, 2008

“But what about you?” Obama asked. “Who do you say that I am?”

And a disciple answered, “You are the symbol of the possibility of
America returning to our best traditions. You are the one we have been
waiting for. You are the Kwisatz Haderach.”

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Allen May 16th, 2008

But neither does poverty.

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Allen April 23rd, 2008

Today has been a rather exhausting day. I’ve been working overtime in order to attend Dr. Belknap’s funeral tomorrow. When I arrived home, my wife and I attended the wake for Dr. Belknap at Resthaven funeral home. We had to cut out early because we needed to eat dinner and then meet…

with our next Eagle candidate — Paul. Paul is developing a butterfly garden for a local park.

Our troop has a set of adults who are Eagle mentors that assist the young men in obtaining their Eagle rank. Some time after my son David obtained his Eagle rank, I started mentoring Eagle candidates in our troop. Every Eaglet that I have mentored has probably accomplished more in terms of handling responsibility and planning a large project than most adults. And that is the key to Scouting.

Paul wanted to attend the wake as he is not able to attend tomorrow’s funeral. So back we went to Resthaven and another visit with our extended Scout family.

I will miss Doc B’s infectious laugh and his weather-beaten hat. I will miss his deep love of these young men. I will miss someone who was like a grandfather to my children.

I close with one of Doc B’s favorite quotes from Lord Baden-Powell:

It is easier to bend a boy than mend a man.

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