Hello, it is Tuesday, August 23, 2011 and we are setting heat/drought related records left and right around here. This has been a summer we will not soon forget, and it may go on into October, no one seems to know for sure. Are you as tired as I am of seeing the remake of Conan the Barbarian ads on TV? Some fans have already seen the movie as a preview and one had this to say: “It was like two hours of being punched in the face with someone also screaming in your ear.” I'm not planning on seeing that movie but you have to admire the brutal honesty in that particular assessment. That's not one where you would have to ask how they really feel about it. It would be great if our politicians could speak the unvarnished truth. You thought some of that outlandish stuff being put out by some of the candidates may fit that definition. Give me a break. My assessment is that many of those soundbites sound more stupid than significant. One candidate promised, if elected, to lower gas prices to $2 per gallon. I think if this is a legitimate promise and it sounded like one to me, they should immediately be required to give a specific and detailed plan on just how that will be accomplished. Another indicated they might pursue treason charges against certain federal officials, or maybe rough them up a little if they visit their home state. Sure, I am aware of the use of symbolic language, but these along with many other crazy comments do nothing to advance genuine solutions to the mammoth problems we are facing. They may stir a certain response among a particular audience, but, my way of seeing it says we do not have time for such foolishness. Scoring a few points politically with some, actually zero with me, does not reflect the seriousness of the challenges that our nation faces. You happen to like those kinds of soundbites? That's okay, at least for the time being, because last time I checked this is still America, and it's still a place where we all are free to have our own version of The View From Here.
We have our veritable gaffe machine Vice President in China seeing how many different ways he can create a communications disaster. We have candidates here running from place to place scattering nonsense like it was confetti. And, we have the President on vacation. He said he thought it was best that Congress also stay on vacation so they can be told a thing or two by their constituents. His implication is that we would support his plans as opposed to theirs. Fat chance. Meanwhile, the economy is tanking and Congress can't get much lower in terms of what people think of them but the President seems intent on trying to match their bottom feeder approval ratings. I don't know what kind of disaster it would take to bring together on an emergency basis, every influential group from government and business with a unified commitment to do something about the economic situation in our country, because the way I read the tea leaves we are in the midst of that kind of disaster. For some reason the subject makes good fodder for the campaign speech circuit but when it comes to actually doing something meaningful, we see that it is a sad lot in deed, the whole bunch of them, carrying every political banner, but for the most part with nothing but more rhetoric to show for their efforts. Bitter? In many ways, yes. Cynical? Somewhat, and with good reason, as I see it. Defeated? Never! That's because I do not have my hope and trust in what goes on in Washington, D.C. The Psalmist put it this way: "Some trust in chariots, (the Army and its implements of war, representing the mighty power in that day), but we will trust in the Lord our God." (My paraphrase, you can read the actual quote from the 20th Division of the Psalms, Verse 7)
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| Tectonic Plate Singers |
I've heard the really old timers say they do not believe the current generation and especially the younger children could endure another Great Depression. I listen when they speak because they were there, they know what they are talking about. I hear about some of these temperature records and they compare it to a date back in the 1950's or 1960's and I know we were a part of that heat wave back then, and I know we did not have air conditioning but for the life of me I can't remember us kids ever complaining about it. Perhaps it was because we never had it, therefore, we didn't lose it when it got hot, we just endured. And, might I be clear that with many years of conditioning with things like air conditioning, I'm not 100% clear how well I would do without it again. My wife and I did get some taste of what it might be like when we dealt with the personal property devastation from Hurricane Ike, but, a nationwide depression in these modern times would be a whole different issue of a magnitude beyond what we might envision or imagine. I continue to hear from a variety of news sources the term 'of Biblical proportions', I suppose based on the Bible accounts of the flood, the plagues in Egypt, and the prophesied end time events. I've always said that creation itself is very much a part of God's plan. The Apostle Paul in Romans Chapter 8 said the creation is groaning as it too awaits that day when all things will be made right. We might all have to learn how to sing along with those tectonic plates as they present their lamentation far beneath the surface. I've heard that sound and it's a deep rolling rumbling rush melody. They could within their created natural instinct know more about what is going on than most of those who occupy the planet. Something to ponder on a Tuesday morning. Have a great day and read that Psalm I mentioned to encourage you as you go about the doing of your day. Amen. ....More later.
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