Why Caroline is Perfect

It seems to me that Caroline Kennedy is the absolutly perfect choice to fill New York's Junior Senate seat. Her credentials are perfect. She is an absolutely dedicated left winger. She is completely uninformed. She has inherited vast wealth and is a born member of priviledged political royalty. Just as the poor are 'entitled' to so many government programs, wealthy political royality is entitled to rule.

It simply is not possible to find a better match than Caroline for the needs of the Democrat machine. Because she will be an absolutely reliable far left vote, there is no need for any education, practical experience, body of knowledge, or personal experience relevent to the needs and issues that are important to New Yorkers. All of that would simply be baggage. The role of the new Junior Senator from New York will not be to represent the good people of the State of New York. The role of the Junior Senator will be to vote the party line as defined by far left.

Going beyone the obvious, the political ramifications of selecting Caroline are numerous. She was among the first to endorse President-Elect Obama. Only after Caroline came out for then Senator Obama did Senator Kennedy and others join her. It was the begining of a great time for the Obama Campaign. The President-Elect has made it known that she is his choice for the seat. Even Governor Patterson can see that there are advantages to appointing the President-Elect's pick. At a time when Governor Patterson is joining all the other governors begging for Federal money, it seems to be a no-brainer that appointing Caroline might help New York get to the front of the line. Blago should note how this is done. Patterson will get millions for the seat.

How is it that we have come to this? Caroline will be little more than a democrat hand puppet. With only her maiden name and her allegiance to the left to guide her, the only thing she can contribute to the legislative process is one more party line vote. No thinking. No debate. No substance. Just one more vote of ignorance.

It would seem to me that the people of New York deserve better, but then again....they did elect Hillary.

Twice.

Maybe we do get the government we deserve.

The Exit of the Imperial Priesthood

I realized today that the decline of my dear Episcopal Church was more of a testiment to the resiliance and strength of the christian faith than any other event in my lifetime. When the priests quit preaching the Gospel, most of the Christians left. Where once sat hundreds of parishoners each Sunday to hear the good news, now sit few listening to the hollow echos of United Nations programs, and social change. Many who realized that the church organization has been hijacked by people with specific secular agendas and no particular affection for the gospel have turned away. Some agendas are radical social agendas, and others are as simple as a desire to ride out the last few years before retirement by living off the tithes of widows and elderly parishoners. In either case, parishoners are waking up, and walking away.

A Sunday tour of parishes will reveal nearly empty parking lots, and cavernous sanctuaries where there were once strong and thriving parishes. It is in these parishes where the drumbeat of secular agendas and the droning of posturing priests have driven the faithful to find new church homes. In these dying parishes, it isn't too uncommon to find tenured priests feeding off of the few remaining parish funds, fighting the tooth and nail to hang on to their positions while exhorting widows and elderly to contribute more and more to the church. If only the priesthood were as devoted to Gospel and the spiritual needs of their parishioners as they are to the maintenance of their own comfortable positions. The young families in the parishes have moved on seeking christian guidance and education for their children, but for many of the elderly, the neighborhood church is the only choice. As in nature, the elderly are ones the jackels take.

It would be very easy to condemn a corrupt priesthood. At first glance, it may appear to some that the apparent theft of the church organization itself, the neglect of the Gospel, and the abandoment of Christian principles would easily justify harsh judgement. But it's not our judgement to make.

At some point in the near future, a priest will look out from a dusty pulpit at an empty sanctuary, and realize the last of the parishioners have turned their back and walked away. The reserve fund is exhausted, and the long con is finally over. No one will be there to hear the latest news from the United Nations. When the last lonely, fallen priest leaves the dark and empty church and retires to his warm and comfy home overlooking a placid lake somewhere, a new, young, inspired priest in a cold and dusty warehouse will read the Gospel to a people eager to hear the good news. The faithful will again gather. That is the day of the rennaisiance of the Episcopal Church.

Time Will Tell

As we wind up the eight years of the Bush Presidency, it seems to me to be fitting to pause to consider the state we find our selves in, and perhaps contemplate how we got here, and to consider where we may go from here.

In the twenty years preceding the Bush 43 Presidency, American 'soft' targets were repeatedly attacked around the world. The Marine Barracks in Beruit, a night club in Germany filled with American soldiers, Embassies in serveral countries, the World Trade Center, and more. In each case, our government responded with a measured retaliation in kind of some sort, occasionally a criminal prosecution. "A Low grade conflict" is a term that may apply to this state. A state where Americans around the world are routinely killed, and our government retaliates. While that response may make sense to the State Department, and to the White House, to those who lost family and friends, it didn't bring loved ones back to life. Finally, the massacre of the Rangers in Somolia, and our government's reaction to it, encouraged the organizers of Radical Islam. They realized that if you bleed the Americans, they will run away.

So, they resolved to bled us some more. They attacked the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon. The third plane went down in Pennslyvania. Radical Islam thought that since we ran away when we lost Rangers in Somolia, we would cower when we lost thousands on our own soil. They thought that it would be the begining of a great period for Radical Islam. But this time, instead of killing a few camels, and knocking down a few huts somewhere with million dollar cruise missiles, we responded with overwhelming force. We have again bled, but they have bled more.

In the eight years since 9/11, not one American 'soft' target has been attacked.

So today, as we prepare to hand over to a new administration a quiet Iraq, and hot war in Afganistan, the question that the remaining elements of Radical Islam are asking themselves is this....If we bleed them, will they run? The test is coming.

We know what happens when we run, and we know what happens when we fight. The question is, does our new administration recognize and understand this.

Only time will tell.

The Heartbreak of Corruption

Somewhere, somehow, among the 23 brass plaques memorializing the good parishioners in a tiny church in New Jersey, I found the good Lord. For several years I attended services at this tiny church. It's an Anglican church in an hispanic town. When I began attending services, the congregation numbered nearly a hundred every Sunday. That was down from three hundred five years earlier. When I left, Sunday attendence was down to thirty five or forty.

It is said by many that the changing demographics of the town are responsible for the decline in parishioners. Many point to the over all decline in attendence of all the 'major' demoninations. Some conclude that this tiny church is simply dying a natural death.

Others say bunk. In looking at who has left the parish, and when they left it, something odd jumps out. Immediately prior to leaving, many of those who have left, served on the Vestry, as treasurer or on the Finance Committee. A mass exodus occurs when ever someone 'discovers' that the Reserve Fund's Constitution prohibits using it's monies for 'Operating Expenses'. Those who leave are the ones who realize that looting the Reserve Fund in this way is like stealing from dead people. Those who stay aren't bad people. they just don't see the 'man behind the curtin'. They don't realize that this wonderful little church is the victim of murder.

Another friend just discovered the corruption and may be leaving this tiny church. In a couple more years, the Reserve Fund will be exhausted, the looters will move on, and the building will be empty. Except for the ghosts of 150 years of loyal parishioners who gave to the church thinking it would always be there, the halls will be quiet. That's the greatest heartbreak of all. A quiet church. I prefere to remember this tiny church with a huge organ blasting out to a sanctuary full of parishioners singing Christmas songs in the candle light. I prefere to remember this church when the sancturary was full, and a small boy read the scriptures loud enough for all to hear. I remember the baptisms, and sadly, the funerals. I prefer to remember a living church.

And, regretably, I will probably never forget the looters.

Entitled to Success

Since when did it become the government's responsibility to prop up failing businesses? The reason GM, Ford and Crysler are broke is that they can not compete economically with other automobile manufacturers. Regardless of any other factor, it comes down to American manufacturers having costs that are too high. Until the costs of manufacture are reduced to the point that American maunufacturers can make a profit on every car, an injection of government money into the industry can be nothing but a waste of money. It will not be an 'investment', but a subsidy. Those of us who work day in and day out, in industries with benefits no where near as bountyful as those enjoyed by the membership of the UAW, will be subsidising the benefits of the UAW.

The reality of this whole situation is that the American Automotive Industry has allowed the UAW to negotiate it into insolvency. The salvation of the industry will depend on the UAW being willing to realign it's benefits structure with what the industry profitably support. The irony is that if the union does not realign benefits, it stands to lose all benefits in the inevitable collapse.

It may come as a shock to some, but the American Automotive Industry is not entitled to success. Success is the product of competition. Until the American Automotive Industry can compete economically, it will fail.

Politics As Usual

Momma always said, show me who you run with, and I'll tell you who you are.

So far, our president-elect, who campaigned on a platform of 'Change' appears to have spent the last twenty years hanging out with racist preachers, terrorists, slum lords and corrupt politicians.

Yep, that's the change I was looking for.