kc bob

Is this Post is a Waste of Time?

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." -Bertrand Russell

Read this quote the other day on my friend Barbara's blog and got to thinking about the things that many judgmentally deem a waste of time. Perhaps some consider blogging a waste of time? Occasionally I get a backhanded compliment about my blogging that seems to convey the idea that this sort of activity is a waste of time. Here are a few other things that people deem to be wasteful and my ornery commentary on their judgments.

Television: So often the people who rail against couch potatoes are the ones who spend hours reading romance novels and newspapers.
Sports: People who do not like athletics often portray jocks as dumb dolts who cannot do anything else. I counter with: Rhodes Scholar, NJ Senator and NBA Star Bill Bradley; Congressman and NFL Quarterback Jack Kemp; and Minnesota Vikings Purple People Eater Alan Page who became an associate justice on the Minnesota supreme court.
The Internet: Many people mock the folks who enjoy web surfing and interacting with others in venues like blogging and Facebook. I have grown so much through these venues. My thinking about many issues have been challenged and I have grown as a person from these venues.

Just a few examples. What other "time wasters" could be added to my list? What do you enjoy "wasting time" doing?

Hodgepodge

The folks at This Side of the Pond have a meme called Wednesday Hodgepodge. Heard about it at my friend Susan's blog. I have never tried it so I thought that I might today ...

1. Lake Superior University has once again banished a list of words/phrases they think should be banished from the Queen's English in 2012 -

amazing, baby bump, shared sacrifice, occupy, blowback, man cave, the new normal, pet parent, win the future, ginormous, trickeration and thank you in advance.

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why.

amazing. I think that it and awesome are way overused

2. Are you easily embarrassed?

I can be when I do not know the folks I am around.

3. what is your go-to snack?

I have a few. Lately it is munching on Bison Summer Sausage watching the NFL playoff games.

4. Have you ever been to Washington DC? if not do you have any desire to go? What site/attraction would you most like to see in that city? If you have been what's your favorite site?

Our spring day trip in Junior High School included a train ride from Staten Island to DC. Enjoyed the Smithsonian the most. I'd love to go again. I have heard that DC is fairly wheelchair accessible.

5. sit ups-planks-lunges-squats-which one do you hate the least?

My arthritis keeps me away from such things. I do well to get a walk in.

6. What's a small act of kindness someone did for you that you've never forgotten?

A supervisor gave me some tough advice when I worked in Newark in 1975. I wanted to blow it off because I did not like what he said. I took it to heart and it changed my life.

7. Have you ever been a blood donor?

I give blood every three months. I have donated over three gallons. Would have been higher if I was not banned from giving for about 12 years because of HH.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

In my life I have found that pain has changed me more than love has. I am hoping to see that change. :)
Which do you think has changed you more - pain or love?

What ever happened to cars riding on air?

ZDNet has posted some great images from the Detroit Auto Show. Several interesting concept cars and hybrids were included in their photo gallery. I did not see any though that rode on air, instead of wheels, the way that folks dreamed of 50 years ago.

Of the 24 cars displayed I think that I enjoyed this BMW i8 Concept Car the most. Maybe it is just those Delorean style doors. :)

Does God select the President?

Ever since Pat Robertson ran for the US presidency in 1988 God has often been credited with calling such people to run for the high office. Even today there are a few GOP presidential candidates that credit God calling them to run for office. There are a few verses in the New Testament that causes some to ponder the idea that the Almighty chooses, or at least calls, the leaders of nations. Consider these thoughts that the apostle writes to the Romans:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Taken in a literal and dogmatic way these verses pose a problem for Americans because our nation was founded by people who rebelled against British governing authorities. The verses also are troubling when one considers those who are rebelling in countries like Iran, Egypt and Libya. Is Paul telling these people to simply submit to tyrants who kill and oppress their neighbors? I think not.

I submit to you that Paul's words can be helpful when they are considered in the light of history. Ancient events record the rise and fall of nations - even Israel fell at the hands of pagan nations indicating that God allows such events. So, I believe that Paul is not saying that governing authorities are not to be challenged. My take is that Paul is simply saying to obey the law and stay out of jail. Tax evaders do well to heed his words. :)

But to the issue of the nations, I think that the prophet Isaiah said it clearly when he declared that God "brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness". In truth God's sovereignty over the earth is not about raising up or bringing down nations but about raising up and bringing down leaders. To that issue we would all do well to understand that, especially for leaders, God opposes the proud but empowers the humble.

Pride and humility? Something that people in New Hampshire should consider today when they cast their ballots.

Nothing to Say

Sometimes a cartoon like this one,
from the Shoebox blog,
speaks volumes.

Sometimes the sound of silence
is the best way to communicate
the way that we are feeling.

Sometimes the most friendly thing
that we can do is to simply listen
with an open and understanding heart.

Popularity is an Accident but Character Endures.

Saw this chart this week and was reminded how fleeting popularity can be. I can remember how many of the entities pictured were once esteemed in our country. In light of that I thought I might share a few quotes:

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.
-Horace Greeley

Avoid popularity if you would have peace. -Abraham Lincoln

Avoid popularity; it has many snares, and no real benefit. -William Penn

I don't care whether people like me or dislike me. I'm not on earth to win a popularity contest. I'm here to be the best human being I possibly can be. -Tab Hunter

One of my proudest moments is I didn't sell my soul for the sake of popularity. -George W. Bush

The presidency is more than a popularity contest. -Al Gore

I don't know one of my friends who is considered a conservative who has not had to go back and thoroughly think through everything. You do a lot of soul-searching - 'cause we are not going to win any popularity contests.
-Clarence Thomas

To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs. -Aldous Huxley

I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity. -Julius Erving

Popularity should be no scale for the election of politicians. If it would depend on popularity, Donald Duck and The Muppets would take seats in senate. -Orson Welles

The Candidate Match Game

I took the US Today Candidate Match Game and came up with these results. Not great results considering that I only resonated with five of eleven issues of the candidate that they declared most resonating with my views. I suspect the 66.7% was the result of the way that I weighted the importance of the eleven issues. Of course my number three is moot now since she dropped out of the race. That said, I admit that the other two candidates did not surprise me as they are my top picks from the crowd. Let me know if you play the game and if you are surprised by the results.

Kill the Irishman | ★★★★★★★

I read a review on this movie that said there are more car bombs in this flick than any other movie he had ever seen. That somewhat sums it up for this dramatization of the rise of real life Cleveland mobster Danny Greene. Ann and I watched the documentary that came with the DVD and was fascinated how the violence was so integral to the telling of Greene's story. I enjoyed the movie and thought that Ray Stevenson did a magnificent job in bringing out the gritty persona of the main character. A few other big time actors, Paul Sorvino and Christopher Walken, had bit parts playing off Greene but their contributions were just anecdotal. The movie was all about the Irish mobster.

If you enjoy gritty action packed reality based movies and are not put off by "R" rated action (and one risque scene) I think that you might enjoy Kill the Irishman. On a scale of ten I give it ★★★★★★★.

Access my movie reviews webpage by clicking on "Movie Reviews" above.

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... with complements from the How-To Geek ...

Red State Blue State TV

Entertainment Weekly recently weighed in on the political aspects of TV watchers in an article titled "Republicans vs. Democrats TV: Lefties want comedy, right wingers like work". They report:

In the findings, “sarcastic” media-savvy comedies and morally murky antiheroes tend to draw Dems. While serious work-centered shows (both reality shows and stylized scripted procedurals), along with reality competitions, tend to draw conservatives.

In their article they list TV shows that attract politicos with right or left leaning tendencies. Using their piece as a guideline I have to admit that I must be somewhat of a moderate or a centrist. Consider the evidence:

Red State shows that I like:

Hawaii Five-O

The Mentalist

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

Blue State shows that I like:

30 Rock

Modern Family

Saturday Night Live

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

The Late Show With David Letterman

You can check out their whole list here. I did find the list a bit limited and they did report that some of these shows appealed to both sides of the political spectrum. Even so, I wonder how some of the old shows would have fared. Would Bonanza fallen to conservatives and MASH to liberals. I think not. Yet I do think that Star Trek probably would not appeal to libertarians because everything seems to be run by the government.

2012 Word Dreams

I like the idea of thinking of a single word to represent your focus of intention for the new year (rather than a list of resolutions). What word would you choose?

One of my friends posted that to her Facebook status. I loved the responses she got.. Doomsday did not make the list.. my word was 'change'. Thought I might share a few of them along with a bit of commentary.

Happy: I often allow happenings to affect my happiness. I would like that to happen less.
Acceptance: I think that there may be a connection between this and happiness.
Intentional: There is something empowering about making plans and living on purpose.
Creativity: Not just for the artistically minded. Living and changing is sometimes all about this word.
Determined: Love that word! Speaks to me about persistence in the face of trials.
Adventure: A challenging word for someone like me who likes to play it safe.
Simplicity: Ann and I began to simplify and enjoy life more in 2010 when we downsized.

Do you resonate with any of these words? What is your word for this New Year? Hopefully it is not Doomsday. :)

The Middle Matters

With the Iowa Caucus just a day away I thought that I might share a few quotes from a Christian Post article titled Huckabee: GOP Needs to Skip Political Bashing, Focus on Independents.

“I watched this whole cycle unfold, sadly the focus seems to be about who can tear each other up as Republicans or how can we tear up Barack Obama, not whether we can build up the country.” -Mike Huckabee

“While Obama-bashing may again fire up the conservative base, it delivers nothing to those crucial Independent and middle-of-the-road voters who are anxious, confused and looking for someone to convince them they have a better plan.” -Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal editorial board

“On issue after issue, the opinions of the GOP’s conservative base are out of step with those of white working-class Independents. Rather than grasp this fact, however, many Republican political leaders have listened solely to the base and ignored the other partner in the marriage.” -Henry Olsen, vice president of national research for American Enterprise Institute

I feel that the candidates would do well to take this advise to heart. The independent middle matters.

Can a Christian be a libertarian?

“It’s a far stretch and a great distortion to use Christianity in any way to justify aggression and violence.”

I lifted that Ron Paul quote (written in his book Liberty Defined) from a Washington Post blog post titled "Can a Christian be a libertarian?" The post tries to explain what a Libertarian is and how this ideology synthesizes to biblical Christian views. Here are a few clips from it:

Christians from the left and the right are increasingly turning to libertarianism not because it is a “middle ground,” but because it is an entirely different way of thinking about government and power.

The core of libertarianism is the non-aggression principle: that the initiation of force against person and property is immoral, and it is in many respects a kind of political corollary to the Golden Rule. Thus, Christian libertarians think that government power should be limited, sound money and truly free markets should return, aggressive war must cease and civil liberties must be preserved.
...
Libertarianism treats man’s sinful nature realistically. James Madison famously quipped that if men were angels no government would be necessary. Christian libertarians take this a step further, saying that it is precisely because men are not angels that government must have extraordinarily limited powers.
...
It is truly unfortunate that modern American churches seem to think the state’s means of “spreading democracy” through aggressive war is more important than spreading the peaceful message of the Gospel of Christ. Jesus came to bring “peace on earth, good will to men,” and by extension the Christian’s goal ought to be the same.

Norman Horn, the writer of this post and the founder of LibertarianChristians.com, obviously believes that a Christian can be a libertarian. I, of course, agree with that answer. Being a Christian is all about a relationship with Christ and not about embracing a political ideology. It is true that there are Christians in conservative, liberal and libertarian circles.

My struggles, however, with libertarianism is about how passive and isolationist it appears to be - not only in foreign policy but in domestic policy as well. I heartily endorse the idea that we are our brothers keeper and Christians do well when we help the poor - both here and in other countries. And I heartily wish that people of faith would care for the poor so much that government assistance would not be required. But history teaches us that people of faith spend more on religious buildings and teachers than they do on the poor.

Now, for my libertarian leaning friends, I am not saying that I endorse a bloated entitlement driven federal government. All I am saying is that the answers to caring for the poor are complex and excluding governmental help may be a bit short sighted. And perhaps it is all about the kind of government that we, the people, want?

12 Predictions for 12

It really wouldn't be New Years Day if someone wasn't making resolutions or predictions. As I have given up on the making of resolutions I thought that I might weigh in and prognosticate a bit about the year ahead. Here goes:

Chris Christie will be the GOP VP candidate.
Charlie Sheen will return to Two and a Half Men.
Google will unveil a major new piece of hardware.
Harold Camping will not predict the end of the world.
To the dismay of many, the Supreme Court will validate Obamacare.
Sarah Palin, and other would be king makers, will endorse a GOP presidential candidate when it is safe to do so.
Congress will stay the same - Dems will barely keep the Senate and the GOP will make gains in the House.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals will surprise us and have great seasons.
The Iranian government will topple the way that the governments of Egypt and Libya did in 2011.
The Kansas City School District will still be a big mess even though big changes are made.
Iraq will be embroiled in a Civil War for much of the year and Obama will get the blame for it.
A Mormon will shock the nation by winning the GOP nomination and the presidency.

Agree with any of my prognostications? Care to make any predictions of your own?

I wish you a blessed New Year that is filled with much love, peace and joy!

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