Benchmark

The DOW closed over 12,000 points today for the first time in history.

Let’s examine why this really matters, shall we?

I recall years of Democrats whining that the economy was a mess because the stock market had not broken its previous high mark under the Clinton administration, which was before the market went into decline, surprise surprise, during the Clinton administration. They blamed it all on President Bush of course. And they claimed that President Bush’s fiscal policies were a disaster and the nation needed a Democrat to run the country so we could recover fiscally.

We re-elected President Bush, giving him the time necessary to see the fruits of his fiscal labors come about while he was still serving and no one else could claim credit for his success. And he is, in fact, a fiscal success. Unemployment is low, the markets are strong, income is up, home ownership is up, and the economy is growing at a swifter pace than our population. Put simply, President Bush appears to have made all the right fiscal moves, with the support of the Republicans and almost uniform opposition from the Democrats in Congress.

Wait a minute . . . Could it be that conservatives were right and liberals were wrong, again?

WHAT A SHOCKER! (Is my sarcasm obvious enough for you?)

Put simply, we would not be where we are if the Democrats had their way. Remember that it was the Democrats who opposed every last bit of fiscal legislation that resulted in our very strong economy. Now that I have put that in your mind I want to remind who is blathering on about Iraq being a failure before we are even finished there with the war. And now I want to remind you that it was Democrats who both started, and lost the Vietnam war. It was also Democrats who refused to let the US and our allies win the Korean war, resulting in the North Korean menace we have today.

Democrats have sucked at war since World War Two ended. Democrats have sucked at economics since JFK died. And Democrats have sucked at civil rights since Bobby Kennedy died. They do not deserve to run our country and any clear thinking American who is honest with himself can see this fact to be true.

North Korean Nukes

This article is hardly timely, but I had to wait until I handled my own emotions to be able to write it sensibly.

I must admit that my first reaction to the news that North Korea had successfully tested a nuclear bomb was a desire to nuke Pyongyang, the North Korean central military command structure, and whatever area Kim Jong Il happened to be staying in at the moment. This is how strongly I feel about madmen getting their hands on this most horrific of weapons.

My next reaction was one of outrage; outrage at my own country for even allowing North Korea to exist. If we had done our job properly in the Korean War and simply destroyed the communists as we were poised, ready, and able to do rather than splitting up Korea between democracy and communism this problem would never have occurred. If Bill Clinton hadn’t given nuclear reactors and plutonium to the North Koreans they would not have had the materials they needed to develop a nuclear bomb. If President Bush had gone after North Korea rather than Iraq there is a strong chance that Korea be both whole and democratic once again. I have never met a people who so longed to be reunited wit their brothers as the South Koreans, and I have never heard of a people in this day that long for freedom more than the North Koreans.

Now . . . my desire: my determination to see the north and south reunited is stronger than ever, and I am willing to see it through by any means reasonable. I think of the poor, innocent people being starved to death, imprisoned without cause, tortured for having a religion of any kind, and then I see a nuclear test, and think about the money it takes to develop the nuke, and I am outraged at the needles waste of human life in the mad effort to create a tool of death. I cannot reconcile such actions in my own mind because what is done to the North Korean people is so reprehensible it is nearly incomprehensible to me. When your people are starving the last thing a leader should be doing is spending nearly every bit of money and food the nation has on maintaining an oversized military and developing the most horrendous tools of war possible.

I have criticized the communists and the North Korean government in particular for years now. There is nothing, NOTHING redeeming about the leadership in that nation. The time is swiftly passing where we can fix the mistakes of the past and reunite Korea as a single peaceful nation. If we delay action much longer then North Korea will have the ability to nuke Seoul, and much of South Korea in retaliation if we finish our duty and kick the mad commies out of that country for the sake of lasting peace. The current leadership of North Korea is so . . . insane, inhuman, unbalanced, despicable, murderous, vile, and numerous other foul adjectives that it is a threat to everyone, and most especially our allies in South Korea and Japan. One because the communist north lusts after the land, farms, and industry of South Korea, and the other because of the deep abiding hatred many Koreans still hold for Japan due to the Japanese enslavement of all of Korea in the first half of the 20th century.

Reasonably speaking, the only true obstacle to a free and united Korea is China, and China simply supports North Korea because North Korea is a communist nation just like China. But while China has been altering itself from pure communism to a simple tyranny, with all the benefits (when compared to pure communism) it entails, North Korea is still as degenerate and enslaved as ever, and they are losing the support of the Chinese.

Ideally we could convince the Chinese to participate in a full embargo of North Korea and starve the fat leaders of that nation until they feel the same plight they have inflicted upon their people and are forced to crawl to the US and beg for aid with the promise to meet any condition we set, which would of course, be the dismantling of the government and military and the unconditional surrender to and reunion with South Korea. More likely North Korea would respond by invading South Korea, which would force the world to smash them into submission and forcibly dismantle the North Korean government and finally reunite north and south into the one nation they ought to be.

As of now the UN has declared sanctions against North Korea, and if the past is any indicator the North Korean government will flourish and continue to grow fat while the people suffer even more and the UN does nothing at all to fix it. It is the way of the UN to talk much, sanction often, and ultimately do nothing of any real consequence. I hope and pray that this time I am wrong.

What must be done is clear. North Korea must cease to exist. The real question is: what is the best way to do it?

Foley Scum

I have said it before, and I shall say it again. Child predators must die.

Congressman Foley has been exposed a child predator. His homosexuality does not matter any more than it would matter if he were a heterosexual. What matters is that he has been exposed as an active pedophile. He has been exposed as a man who attempts to use the naiveté of youth to gratify his sick sexual desires. Such behavior cannot be allowed in our world, much less our leadership.

Anyone, Republican, Democrat, or otherwise who knew of this and kept it hidden for even one day is a collaborator in this atrocity and must be justly punished.

This said; let me look at this situation and the past.

Currently, there is some evidence that people on both sides of the political aisle knew about Congressman Foley was using his position to access and seduce, or attempt to seduce teenage boys. Everyone who knew and did nothing, whether it was to protect congressional seats, or to wait for the most advantageous moment to release the information is guilty of aiding abetting this criminal. Every last one of them should be jailed.

However, if the past is any indication, there is no chance of this happening.

Long enough ago for the general public to have forgotten, Democrat Congressman Gerry Studds was convicted of raping a teenage boy while serving as a US Congressman. In a perfect world this crime would have been punished with death for the child rapist. Instead, the Democrats decided to do almost nothing, until Republican Newt Gingrich made a stink about the lack of action. The end result was that Congressman Studds was censured. At his censure hearing he actually had the GALL to turn his back on the congressional leadership in defiance, and was actually applauded for his “bravery”. Not only was he allowed to continue to serve in the Congress after this, but he was actually left in prominent positions of leadership for the remainder of his time in the Congress. This was done, of course, through a vote by the Democrats in the Congress over the intervening years. In fact, House Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so outraged by this man’s crime that she voted for Congressman Studds to be in his leadership position at least 5 times following this incident.

I am not justifying anyone who commits an atrocity upon our children. What I am doing is pointing out that our leadership on both sides of the political aisle are corrupt and degenerate to varying degrees. At one time this disgusting fact convinced me to remain apolitical. In recent years it has motivated me to work for change. I want to see every corrupt and dishonest politician in America removed from office. I don’t care whether these people are Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Liberals, or something else. What I care about is fixing a system that is breaking, and getting people into office who will at least TRY to do the right thing, and who will not compromise their stated morals for either money or political expediency.

I know I am just beating my head against a wall by working for such a change. But it is work that MUST be done, and perhaps, given time, enough people will join me to make this dream a reality.

The Man of Faith I Most Admire

I know what you are thinking. I shall name some famous evangelist, perhaps a well known preacher, or a close personal friend. And you are wrong.

The man of faith who I admire the most is an unknown. In many ways, he is even unknown to me as I have only spoken to him twice and I do not know his name. But let me tell you why it is him that I admire most.

He is a young man, and he is mentally retarded with some apparent minor physical handicap. Every time I am in church I see him there. Every time I see him he is filled with joy. When he dances as he sings hymns badly out of tune and frequently with incoherent words I know that out of everyone there, his joy in the Lord, his outright enthusiasm is guaranteed to be genuine.

I have seen many people in my life who sing and dance, even who go so far as to run up to the front of the church and dance for all to see, only to see them be harsh and Godless in their personal lives. I have seen the grandstanders who make a great outward show of faith in front of the many, only to be degenerate or cruel in private. These Pharisees managed at one time to cause me to question God Himself, and to view all Christians with suspicion, thinking, wondering if anyone’s faith were really true, even as I struggled to keep my own.

In the childlike faith of this very special young man I see a pure soul. I see one who loves God and never finds any need to question to question faith. I see someone whose outward enthusiasm is a true reflection of his heart, and not just a show to make people think he is faithful.

He reminds of the time Jesus took a child upon his lap and admonished His disciples to have the faith of a child, and warned them that any who cause a child to stray are promised the harshest of judgments. Sometimes I fear for him. I worry that in his childlike trust that one day someone with ill intentions may seek to steal his faith. It is partly motivated by own selfishness though. The joy and encouragement I get from his faith are of incalculable value to me, even as his faith is of eternal value to him.

Though he does not know it he has taught me valuable lessons. I once struggled with the idea of whether a child who is diagnosed with a major crippling disorder should be aborted before birth. I was convinced that I could never live with such a handicap from a child of my own. From this young man I have learned that even people who have a severe enough handicap that they can never be independent are precious. I have learned that I have the ability to empathize with and even love such a person. I have learned that God does not forsake even those whom most of humanity would abandon.

I do not know him well. I have only ever spoken to him twice, and to my shame I cannot remember his name. Truth be told, as much as I admire him for his pure faith, I do not know how to relate to him as a person, and that is my own failing. It is my prayer this day that I may one day be able offer myself to him and others like in full and true friendship without the social difficulty I have now. For I know that it is people exactly like him who are the most treasured of God in this world.