Sunday Reflection

A quote to ponder on this Sunday morning:

If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.---Epictetus

We are not what other people say we are. We are who, we say we are.

We determine this not only by what we say, but how we act. If our actions meet the criteria for high moral principles, we are not bound by other people's faulty perceptions.

But....if we are getting feedback that can be verified as true by more than one reputable and validating source, it is up to us to make corrections that will ensure we are living up to the highest principles that we have set for ourselves.

It is not a sin to be wrong. It is a sin to choose to remain wrong, long after it has been proven to be so.

Sunday Reflection

This is not a post to toot my own horn or pat myself on the back. And I am not seeking anyone to do that in the comment section either. So please bear with me a moment, while I develop this line of thought.

The purpose of this post is to make a point about charity.

I know that I have no need to point out to my acutely intelligent readers that charity is not just money given to worthwhile causes or organizations. It is that.... but it is also the giving of oneself to help others. Time counts in that equation as well as the very acts of kindness that do not necessarily involve the transfers of funds.

Recently, I took a new job within the same corporate system. Now, I am again working alongside a lady that I once worked with in the same system for years. She is one reason I chose to work in this new area and is probably a big reason why I got the job to begin with. She knew what my work ethic was back in the past and she also knew that I know what I am doing. But i know know that it was probably a little more than this.

When I started in the new role, she was introducing me around to the people that I did not already know and she told a story that I had forgotten about.

Many years ago when this lady had shoulder surgery, she wasn't able to cook for herself, while she was Vicodined out and with her arm in a sling. So, I made some of my famous Italian Beef and along with Mrs. Sunsett, we took it over to her with all of the trimmings that go with it. It was no real trouble at all. But I honestly had forgotten about it until she reminded me.

So here's the point I want to make. My parents instilled a code of ethics within me that I have internalized deeply enough for it to manifest itself, without much thought being put into it. That is to say, I just instinctively help people who need it.....if it is within my power to do so

Through this instance and others, it tells me something that rings clear.

When we help people for the right reasons, others will remember it. And someday down the road, we will need help and those who we have helped will find about it and will rise to the occasion much like we did, when we had the opportunity.

Doing the right things for the right reasons means we do not need to keep score. Someone else is doing that and we just need to keep playing like we are behind. In the end, our rewards will come to us without having to call them in like political favors.

The World According To LA

Here is a short rundown on some current events as I see them. (As always, I could be wrong.)


US To Bail Out EU

Really now. This should come as no surprise, should it? The EU is entirely too big to fail.

But let's not forget, they are far superior to us.

And who knows? Maybe they are. I do know we are shoveling borrowed money from China to bail them out.

At Beneficial, they are good for more.


Sarkozy Thin-Skinned, Authoritarian

Not unlike any other French leader I have ever known of, in my lifetime. Must have been a slow news minute, when this one broke.


Friction Between Parker And Spitzer


Why she would even want to be on the same set as him (for any reason) is way beyond me. But she agreed to. And by signing a legal contract to this effect, she has demonstrated she has sucker written all over her face.

But moreover, it's not like anyone watches this show anyway. If she wanted to be accepted as a serious journalist, she would not have cheapened herself by taking this gig.


Dodd Says Farewell

GOODBYE

Friday's Food For Thought

One of our regulars, Leslie, posted a short but very poignant post up at her place yesterday. Most of my readers already believe as she does, so she won't be persuading those who are already persuaded. But what I really want to do with my post is provoke people to think about some things over the weekend, and the next few months.

I will start by reposting the comment I left on her post because there is always a danger of getting discouraged at times. I also think there are many who are sitting idly by that could take a more active role, people with the clout to make a difference.

Here is my comment to Leslie's voice of concern:

We have one chance to stop this dead in it's tracks. I hate to sound like a broken record. But, we need to work hard next year to get some of the jerks in Congress who are allowing this to happen. I really think the GOP can get control of either the Senate OR the House, with minimal effort.

It is time for these people who are in the corporate world, the big names, to make a sacrifice and run for office. People should get behind names like Carly Fiorina in CA, and people like Mitch Daniels should think about taking on the Bayh machine here in Indiana. How about Jon Voight, Bill Cosby? Any one of these names are better suited to lead this nation than the sorry bunch we have now.

People like me do not have name recognition and wouldn't raise near the money it would take to do something like this. But they do, and they can, if only they would. It's time for these pundits and prognosticators to ante up too. Some of them would be far more effective and competent.

It's time to man up and save this country. Every vote will be necessary to stop the Marxist machine that is being built beneath our noses.

Folks, this peaceful but forceful resistance is working. The Democrats are very nervous, the Blue Dogs are sweating bullets right now. The GOP will never have a better opportunity to capitalize on this discontent again.

Are you writing your elected officials? Are you telling them they are not going to have your support, if they continue to support the shenanigans going on right now?

We should be. But we also should be encouraging able-bodied names to consider running for office against these whack jobs, thereby helping us retake the country from the irresponsible people who are spending it into oblivion.

There is not a better time for them to step up and offer to serve their country, if only for a few years. Then, they can go back to the private sector and enjoy the fruits of their labor, knowing they saved their nation from the likes of thugs and communist sympathizers.

A Few Words On The Loss Of Ted Kennedy

Bottom feeders who wish people on the opposite side of the political fence would drop dead are some of the most pathetic of all human beings. Wanda Sykes is one of those people, for saying publicly that she wished Rush Limbaugh's kidneys to fail. And I cannot count how many times commenters on the Daily Kos and HuffPo have wished George Bush and Dick Cheney an untimely death. Maybe there are some weak attempts at humor in some instances, but they are not funny in the least.

Here at PYY, we do not engage in that kind of deplorable conversation. We certainly don't have near the readership that many on the web who propagate that kind of hateful speech have. But if that is what it takes, that is fine with me. It just isn't going to happen here. Because at this stage in our existence, we don't have anything to be ashamed of in our endeavors. We have no regrets and we wish for none in the future.

I have been no fan if Ted Kennedy, ever. I did not agree with much of anything he stood for and had strong opinions about his conduct one night many years ago, when a young woman lost her life while being with him. But, when I learned of Sen. Edward Kennedy's brain cancer, I decided that PYY would not pile on and would take no glee in his situation. It is not within any part of who I am.

Cancer of anything, in anyone, is not funny and is not to be celebrated. The death of anyone is not to be celebrated either. So, today, I take no pleasure in Sen. Kennedy's death and truly wish his grieving family finds solace in each other, and whatever reasonable resources accessible to them.

Whatever regrets he may have had about anything in his life (if any) is between him and God. I truly believe in the scripture found in Romans 10:13, which says clearly: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. None of us here on the earth can say for sure. But he is now departed from this world and his loss to his family is what saddens me the most. I wish peace and comfort be given to them in this time of grief.

A Thought For The Day

The other day, Mrs. Sunsett read something in her readings that stood out enough for her to want to mention it to me. It's not much and maybe you have heard it, already. But I still would like to pass it along, on the chance there is someone else that has not heard it.

As I searched online to see who I could attribute this too, I found many are laying claim to it. But until someone comes up with more than what I have been able to find in my searchings, let's just say the source is unknown:

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

In these tough times, there appears to be little hope despite what the government hacks are telling us. Since January 20, there has been no evidence that there is anything to look forward to, nothing to plan for, and no end in sight. The Dow keeps going down after every speech, every promotion, and every plea for patience. Confidence is tanking out, faster and faster daily. People are getting sick and tired of being told, they are sick and tired.

But although our pain is nothing strange to us, although we can always be assured of a certain measure at some point in our lives, we need not sit about and suffer. We need not feel sorry for ourselves. We need not make the situation worse by ruminating on it.

Whenever a certain path seems like it leads nowhere, we need to change paths. Whenever we are sad, whenever we are bored or sick of present circumstances, it is at that moment where we need to effect some kind of change in our lives. It may necessitate some work and planning. But I still believe that old adage that we control much of own destiny. Not all, but a lot.

Sunday Reflection: The Pleasing Of The Eye

When I was a mere private in the U.S. Army (once upon a time long ago), 50% of our inspections were based on "eye wash".

Sarge didn't always have time to dig everyday, because the training schedule was often too loaded for him to spend too much time on one thing. The time spent in the morning doing PT, taking showers, eating chow, and squaring the areas away before work formation went fast and other things needed to be done, in order to properly to get ready for the day ahead.

He understood that looks are only important, in that, it gives an initial positive first impression. He knew that underneath it all, there were minds that needed knowledge and job skills that needed more improvement. But every now and then, when Sarge was aware of a possible hold-up for some reason or another, he'd take a little more time to dig. The deeper he'd search, the more flaws he'd find. The deeper one must search to find flaws gives a strong indication of how thorough of a job has been done.

Once, in one of my units not long after I had arrived, we had a new First Sergeant who wanted to hold an inspection of the barracks. It was billed as a room inspection, which meant it was to be closed locker. Lockers were to be secured and the troops were to be waiting in their rooms by their bunks. My stuff was thrown in the locker, in an effort to keep clutter out the sight of his eye. The locker was secured, the room was clean, and the bunk was tight.

When he arrived to my area, he ordered me to open my locker and the mess was plainly visible to anyone that was in the room. He left my area unhappy, and later the entire unit was informed that we would be reinspected that evening. (As it turned out, I was not the only one that had their locker in gross disarray. Remember, the entire unit had been informed this was to be a "closed" locker inspection.)

This particular first sergeant was soon to become known as First Sergeant HB (House Beautiful). His concentration on the barracks being as clean as a surgery suite was a good thing for when the Annual General Inspection (AGI) came around. No one in the entire battalion had better looking billets, than we did. And it was noted as such, by the inspection team.

However, this is not the only job an AGI team has when they visit. There are many other areas which must be examined to determine how ready a unit is, should they find themselves in combat. The serviceability of unit equipment, the preciseness of military paperwork which ensures accountability of the equipment, and a soldier's knowledge of their job and basic military affairs are just as, if not more important, than having eyewash in the barracks.

But because this First Sergeant was fixated on eyewash, this particular unit ended up failing the overall inspection. In his mind, the superficial far outweighed the underneath. By focusing on cleanliness almost exclusively, he was not properly prioritizing. He thought the pleasing of the eye (and not the soundness of the heart) was what determined how many people will end up alive, if the balloon ever went up

What am I getting at here? Let me first throw one more analogy out, before I come to the main point of this post.

A few months back when i visited my friend Mustang, we were chatting and half glancing at TV. I don't remember the movie's title, but it was based on something written by Evelyn Waugh. We didn't watch the entire film, but there was one scene that stood out and made an impression on me.

Dan Ackroyd's character was that of a powerful man who had something one of the younger characters wanted (a job, maybe?). As the young man sat in front of an ornate desk in a large office, Ackroyd's character read him some portions of the riot act, but this particular part stood out. He asked the young man what kind of insect he wanted to be. Did he want to be a butterfly, something very majestic, beautiful to look at, but produced nothing? Or did he want to be a bee, not very sightly, but hard working and very productive?

As I think back to that movie scene and that First Sergeant's desire to be the butterfly, it causes me realize that looks are superficial and not always an indication of how squared away an individual actually is, on the inside. Please understand that I am not saying appearances and cleanliness are not important, but some of the most intelligent people I have ever met in this world did not look like they were. They were not formally educated and many times worked with their hands. Their fulfillment came when they produced something of value, something they would not have been ashamed to sign their name to.

Ackroyd's character may have seen through the young man and made a determination that he only wanted a job, for status purposes. Looking and acting important seems to be fashionable, in the younger generation today. But I wonder, what will happen someday when the worker bees with stringent work ethics retire or pass away, leaving the world to these youthful butterflies?

So today in your reflections, ask yourself some things. Are you a butterfly or a bee? Do you want a car that looks good, or runs well? Do you value appearances or depth of spirit? The eyes are but one of the senses, there are four others to consider.

Sunday Reflection

I don't often mix politics and theology here at PYY, but this is going to be an exception. The London Telegraph has published a piece that warrants some consideration.

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

For the three significant respects, you'll have to read the entire article, and I do recommend doing so. But it's important to know that the Global Warming crowd has made this more of a faith than a science, which many in the group already spurn because they are not proponents of real theological faith, but rather adhere to science as a form of religion. They openly engage in proselytizing in a manner very similar to those that are in evangelical organizations, of which they thoroughly despise. This they do, despite the fact that science is not cooperating with their deeply ingrained belief systems.

This observation leads us to a scripture that is more than appropriate for this line of thought, it comes from II Thessalonians 2:9-12 and states as follows (emphasis mine):

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

In our musings, maybe we should consider the argument that this global warming cult is one of those strong delusions causing people to believe lies. I can think of others, but they will have to wait for a more appropriate time.

More Random Thoughts

I am trying to get some posts together to share. But until I can finish them, I want to recommend something for my readers to read, and if you desire, comment on. It's located at Mustang's Social Sense and I have left my comment there, so as not to hijack his thread.

The subject is China and it contains some things we all should be thinking about, when formulating some semblance of a policy.


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Another thing I'd like to bring up is a question he and I have been discussing offline, via telecommunication devices:

The subject arose during the campaign. It involved McCain's class standing at the Naval Academy. It seems he ranked on the low end of the totem pole and the question becomes the efficacy of a person in a vital profession, whereby the margin of error can be costly to human life.

Military leaders, medical personnel, public safety people all must meet standards that have been set by a collaborative effort of a given profession's leaders (and in some cases government) just to qualify to study the science of such. I'd like to believe that out of the many people that apply for appointments to the academies, medical and nursing schools, and others that rank high in the public interest, the ones that were chosen were the cream of the crop.

My contention is simple. Despite the fact someone graduated last in his or her class, it should have no bearing on their ability to effectively performing their job, according to acceptable standards set by society's reasonable expectations. They may have been last, but they made it. In all classes, there are those who didn't. In addition, there are those that do well in the theory portion of the curriculum, do not always translate to a competent...whatever.

So, what do you think?

Random Thoughts

I have been busy of late and haven't had a chance to develop any real cogent post on any of the hot topics of the day, but I would like to share a couple of random thoughts about a couple of things that have been going around, of late.

Bernanke On The Recession.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday the current economic situation bears "no comparison" to the much deeper crisis of the 1930s Great Depression.

"Well, you hear a lot of loose talk, but let me just ... say, as a scholar of the Great Depression -- and I've written books about the Depression and been very interested in this since I was in graduate school, there's no comparison," Bernanke said in a question period after an address in Austin, Texas.

Bernanke cited "an order-of-magnitude difference" in the current situation compared to the 1930s.

"During the 1930s, there was a worldwide depression that lasted for about 12 years and was only ended by a world war," he said.

"During that time, the unemployment rate went to 25 percent, at least, based on the data that we have. The real GDP (gross domestic product) fell by one-third. About a third of all of the banks failed. The stock market fell 90 percent."

I have stressed some of this information before. Plus, anyone that can read credible history texts can understand the differences, those that lived through it can speak it from experience.

I am not saying things aren't that bad. They are. I am not saying things cannot get this bad. They can. And they still might.

But let's step back take a breath here for a moment. Bernanke only touches on this but it's enough to cause a person to think, unemployment could have been higher because of obsolete methods of record keeping. When you factor in the GDP falling by a third and stocks falling by 90%, how can anyone believe this recession is at the same level?

Yet, some are content to make this sound worse than it is, for political gain. Their goal? To paint the worst possible picture, so that when the markets recover, they can claim credit. Basically, I am still waiting for anyone to prove that government intervention is an effective method of controlling the economy with it being central planning. Because in a free market economy, the word that stands out most, is the word "free".


Twitt Witt

Greg brought this video to our attention:

ALEX WITT: You know, John, and it’s interesting because there are many who had such an optimstic and hopeful opinion of things, and you certainly can’t expect things to change [snaps fingers] on a dime overnight, but there are many who suggested that with the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama administration there would be something of a lull in terrorism attacks. There had been such a global outpouring of affection, respect, hope, with the new administration coming in, that precisely these kinds of attacks, it was thought — at least hoped — would be dampered down. But in this case it looks like Barack Obama is getting a preview of things to come.

Now let's see a show of hands here, how many people with an ounce of sense cannot understand why it is to the terrorists' advantage to test the strength of the transition? Anyone that knows anything about this kind of thing, knows well and good that the time to hit is when the target's security is at its weakest. Alex Witt must not have an ounce of sense.

Where Is "The One" When You Need Him?

India is currently at "war level", after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week, militants in Thailand are in control of the airport, and Nigeria is burying its dead after days of Christian-Muslim riots.

Am I missing something here? Wasn't Obama's election supposed to bring peace to the world?

Not only has this magical peace and goodwill eluded the planet since his election, not a word has been said on any of these events, by anyone in the Obama camp. Nothing, nada, zip, nil, zero.

Oh well, don't mind me. I am just thinking out loud again.

Recommended Reading

Busy, busy. No time to write, but time to share some good reads with the PYY faithful:

From the American Spectator comes this piece on Obama's 95% smoke and mirrors illusion. Tax cuts are for those pay taxes. Anything else is just another entitlement.

Krauthammer draws some distinctions in the guilt by associations game in this column.

A commenter on Mustang's blog insists that Fannie and Freddie had nothing to do with the meltdown. But he is unable to explain why in a cogent manner. Here is something to help him better understand the entire situation. (Not that it will help him)

Finally, here is Mustang's latest, poignant as always.

Thought For The Day

There's an old saying. I am not sure if anyone knows who is attributed with this particular quote, but I first came across it many years ago:

Nobody is ever completely worthless. At very least, they can serve as a bad example.

With this in mind, one needs to look no further at what has become of the most famous North Carolina prosecutor in history, Mike Nifong.

Disgraced and disbarred, Mike Nifong is now bankrupt.

Whenever his name comes up, I still sit and shake my head in utter amazement and ask just how in the hell everyone in the free world could see this coming, except for him. I also wonder, how many people tried to talk him out of it?