Unofficial FDR Poll and Surprising Results

Recently there has been comparison's between Obama and FDR[1]
and I've heard conflicting opinions FDR. Either FDR was nearly perfect and saved us from the Great Depression or his policies extended the Great Depression. I decided to ask the oldest people I know.

1. My Father - although he died 8 years ago, I had a school assignment to ask him about FDR. My dad grew up in a small town in Arizona and remembered huddling around the radio and listening to the fireside chats. FDR apparently was good and communicating to the people.
   
2. My Father-in-law - He had a good opinion of FDR. He grew up near San Francisco and his family struggled. He believes FDR created jobs and helped people out.
   
3. Lady I visit from church - grew up in a larger city. Had positive things to say about FDR.
   
4. My Uncle Jack - created his opinion on the comments from my grandfather (who died in 1960). My grandfather was a small business owner in Los Angeles and didn't like FDR at all. Grandpa even blames FDR for us going to war with the Japanese (That was a new one for me!)[1].
   

My verdict on FDR:

• He helped the people who were struggling at the bottom of the economy.
  
• He punished businessmen who were in a position to help the economy.
  
• He opened the worst Pandora's Box in history by knowingly provoking Pearl Harbor thus turning our non-interventionist country into a powerful war machine. Read Day of Deceit
  

The last item to me dwarf's anything to do with the economy.

How many union workers does it take to change a light bulb?

I had an interesting conversation today with a friend I carpool with (I'm in a carpool as part of my effort towards U.S. energy independence). I decided to ask my friend if he has any experience with labor unions. I've been hearing more about unions in the news than I have in a long time, so I was curious.

My friend's response: "Boy, do I!" (This was with a southern drawl, since he's from Tennessee). I knew that he had worked for Lockheed Martin, but it turns out he also worked in the Auto Industry. Here's a couple of his stories:

The Arc Welder

Lockheed had a portable arc welder that could be towed to different sites. one day a union employee drove his truck to work, hooked up the arc welder and towed it home. He then put an advertisement in the paper and sold it. You can't say union workers are not enterprising! The company that purchased the arc welder wanted the manuals, so they contacted the manufacturer. The manufacturer asked for the part number and then responded "That arc welder belongs to Lockheed Martin!". Lockheed was notified and they promptly fired the employee.

The union attorneys fought saying that Lockheed incorrectly terminated this employee and got his job back. When my friend left Lockheed, the employee still had his job.

How many union workers does it take to change a light bulb?

The union went on strike so non-union employees were reassigned to make up for the slack. Since my friend has an "Electrical and Aeronautical" background, he was assigned as an electrician. He was given a cart and had to respond to a pile of work orders. Most of them were changing light bulbs. After his first week of work, his supervisor came to him and said "You've processed more work orders in 1 week than my crew of union workers has done in the previous year". During this period, they found a building where these workers had beds tucked under counters for their naps. They also threw away more pornography than they have ever seen in their life.

"The Union has done so much for me"

A union worker was always telling my friend how much the union had done for him. The union worker was a talented painter and had a dream of starting his own motorcycle custom paint shop. He talked about it about as much as he did praise the union. Someone finally asked him, "When you start up your custom shop, do you plan on allowing the union into your company?". The union worker's response: "Absolutely NOT!"

Overtime

My friend went to lunch with a union worker. They got along great, laughing and joking. My friend had to test a system he was working on so he slid a couple of pallets across the system. His union worker "buddy" came over and yelled at him and wrote him up for his "violation". It turns out that he has a quota for processing paletts and if he doesn't meet the quota, he works overtime. Apparently working overtime is more important to a union worker than being efficient.

I've never been in a union nor worked for a company with a union.

H1N1 "Swine" Flu Closes Local High School

I'm still a little baffled. There have been less than 20 people killed by this flu. The "normal" flu kills about 36,000 Americans each year. The 1918 "Spanish" flu killed over 600,000 people. I still haven't heard anyone say what makes the H1N1 flu unique or a concern.

On a personal note, we found out tonight that my son's High School will be closing for 2 weeks. I included the letter to the parents.

Dear Parent/Guardian:
As you know, H1N1 influenza A virus (also known as swine flu) has been detected in San Diego County residents, several of them children. I want to share with you what the situation is at your child’s school, how the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency’s Division of Public Health Services is responding, and what you can do.
We have been working closely with individual schools to determine if students might have been exposed to the virus. We have determined a student that attends XXXXX High School has a probable infection with H1N1 influenza A virus. Under the guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in a
decision made jointly between Public Health Services and the XXXXX Unified School District, we are closing XXXXX High School for a period of 14 days. The closure dates will be from 05/02/2009 to 05/15/2009 with the school being allowed to reopen on 05/18/2009. This closure includes all school-sponsored activities, such as sports or school dances.

Please understand this does not mean that your child has been directly exposed to the H1N1 virus. However, you should watch your child over the next 14 days to see if he/she develops the symptoms of: fever (100 degrees or higher), cough, sore throat, and runny nose.

The Church of “Happily Ever After”

No story ever told truly comes to an end, however we all like closure to our stories. We ask, “So! What happens next?” A classic ending to many stories is “…and they lived happily ever after”.

Imaging inserting this ending “…and they lived happily ever after” in alternative positions in the Holy Bible:

In Genesis, “IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”. In five days He created the stars, moon, earth, plants, and animals. On the sixth day, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the dearth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
Genesis 2:8 “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed….and…made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”

…and they lived happily ever after?

No! They broke a commandment, got kicked out of the beautiful garden. But then, they had children, Cain and Abel.

…and they lived happily ever after?

No! “Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.”. But then Adam and Eve had Seth, “For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel”. And Seth had children, and they had children, etc.

…and they lived happily ever after?

No! Along came Noah. Man became wicked, so God told Noah he was going to destroy man. Noah built an Ark and save his family from the flood. “And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground.” After 40 days, “Noah opened the window of the ark … he sent forth a dove”. The dove came back with a olive leaf. “…and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake;” As a covenant, God put a rainbow in the sky.

…and they lived happily ever after?

No. There was the tower of Babel. Abraham had from flee the land of his father, etc. etc. Let’s skip ahead to Moses. Abraham’s seed were now slaves in Egypt, Moses comes in and saves them, parts the Red Sea and delivers the house of Israel out of Egypt.

…and they lived happily ever after?

No. They got hungry, so God gave them manna. They were thirsty, so Moses smote a rock and God gave them water. They got wicked, so God gave them the Ten Commandments. They were plagued by serpents, so Moses used a staff to heal them. They got grumpy, so God made them stay in the wilderness for 70 years. Then, God finally brought them to Canaan, a “land flowing with milk and honey”.

…and they lived happily ever after?

I’m getting tired of this. Let’s skip to the good part. God sends his son, the Savior. He teaches amazing things: sermon on the mount, countless parables, etc. He performs miracles: feeds the multitude, heals the sick, casts out devils, walks on water, raises the dead.

…and they lived happily ever after?

No! They take him prisoner, falsely accuse him, publicly ridicule him and they crucify him. But, three days later he rises from the dead, a resurrected being, visits his friends, goes into the heavens. His church thrives and his apostles and disciples spread the Gospel throughout the land. It’s revealed to Peter that they should open the Gospel to the non-Jew or gentile. Even more converts!

…and they lived happily ever after?

Again the answer is “No!”.

Remember, the New Testament is not chronological. The order of Paul’s Epistles in our modern Bible is by size, not date.

The Apostles continue to perform amazing works and miracles.

The Apostles and disciples of Christ are rejected, persecuted, arrested, beaten and murdered (Acts 4:3; 5:18; 6:1; 16:20; 17:8,13; 18:5-6, 21:27, 25:4), (Acts 12:2).

The saints (early Christians) are mislead, blinded, start falling away and perverting the gospel (Galatians 1:6-7; 2:4; 3:1; 5:15; Hebrews 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 4:8; 2 Thesselonians 2:1-7; I got tired of looking). Wide spread persecution of Christians starts about 60-70 A.D.

The Bible is compiled somewhere between 60 and 200 A.D. closely resembling its current form today

…and they lived happily ever after?

We had no choice

Liberty is the ability to change the course of future events. What this implies is that there must be options or choices in order to change the course of future events.

A few years ago, I took a course sponsored by my work. There were several teams each from different companies. For our final presentation, the audience included executives from the various sponsoring companies. During one of the presentations, the comment was made about the executives having the freedom to make choices to influence positive change at our companies. The executives responded, and all agreed, that the further up the ladder, the less freedom you have.

With that in mind, look at the quotes from our protectors of freedom and liberty.

• Sept. 8, 2008 Henry Paulson - "We had no choice" on $200 billion bailout of Fannie-Mae and Freddie Mac (The largest in history)
  
  
• Oct. 3, 2008 Barack Obama - "Congress has no choice" on $700 billion financial rescue plan (The new largest in History)
  
  
• Jan. 7, 2009 Nancy Pelosi - "We must pass an economic recovery and jobs package no later than mid-February"
  
  
• Feb 13, 2009 Congress passes $787 billion recovery package (Largest spending bill in history)
  
  
• March 3, 2009 Ben Bernanke - "We had no choice" on new $30 billion lifeline to AIG (Total = $180 billion)
  
  
• March 13, 2009 Timothy Geitner - "there was nothing he could do legally to stop..." the payout of AIG bonuses.
  

The Creation/Evolution Scale

"Creationists" believe the Bible's version of God creating the world.
"Evolutionists" believe the physical evidence of a creation by natural forces and evolution of life.

For most, there is no compromise.

I would like to propose a scale with creationism on one end and evolution on the other to show that there is a middle ground. Then I'll explain my current belief.

1. Literal Biblical Creation - As stated in the Bible, God created everything in 6 days (literally 24 hour days). This occurred about 6,000 years ago. Any physical evidence doesn't matter.
   
2. Apologetic Biblical Creation - Same as literal biblical creation, but explain the physical evidence away by stating that dating methods must be wrong or God created all the evidence to make the earth look older.
   
3. Interpreted Biblical Creation - God created everything, but a "day" could be interpreted as "period of time". Thus, the Creation can possibly be compatible with the physical evidence.
   
4. Intelligent Design - The belief that accepts the physical evidence, but asserts that the order in our World and Universe to too extra-ordinary to have occurred by chance. Some divine hand must have been involved.
   
5. Big Bang and Evolution - Everything started with the Big Bang and the laws of Physics governed the creation of our earth, solar system, stars, etc. Life started in the primordial soup and evolved to what it is today. This history is "proven" by science using the evidence of geological layers and other dating methods, fossil history, cosmology, etc.
   

What do you believe? (Note: I haven't included viewpoints from other cultures)

I believe:

A. We are children of God who loves us and created this world as an opportunity for us to learn and grow.

B. God is omnipotent and capable of creating anything in any amount of time. He is capable of performing the "Literal Creation" in 6 days. This would include creating fossils, geological formations, and all the physical evidence of an old earth and evolution.

C. God would NOT create the physical evidence of evolution, as that would be deceptive. I don't think God would deceive us.

D. The physical evidence science has provided is real, however the truth may deviate from the conclusions of scientists (I think extrapolating back millions of years leaves room for error).

E. God had a hand in shaping all events that lead to the creation of all physical evidence. This includes a belief that God is not bound by time as we are.

Here are some interesting tidbits I consider in my belief of creation:

• The organization of atomic matter (protons, neutrons, electrons) just happens to create an enormous variety of physical properties. (I actually had a spiritual witness in my Chemistry class when I learned about this. It was a beautiful experience)[1]
  
• The organization of molecular matter adds even greater variety.
  
• The Earth has the most perfect orbit of all the planets, resulting in a moderate environment with H2O in solid (ice), liquid (water) and gaseous (clouds) forms. Ideal conditions for life.
  
• DNA is so complex that a single cell can continuously divide and each cell knows when and where to be skin, muscle, bone, nerves, blood, hair, organs, etc. The eye alone contains cells arranged intricately to make up the cornea, pupil, iris, lens, retina. The retina includes 126 million photoreceptors (rods and cones) connected to the brain via the optical nerve. Our "optical system" is more capable than the most sophisticated camera and computer of today.
  

"Global Warm This..."

In a recent post I told about the upcoming 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. It happened last week. From the Heartland Institute website it says:

The world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming skeptics took place in New York City on March 8-10, 2009, to confront the issue, “Global warming: Was it ever really a crisis?”

About 800 scientists, economists, legislators, policy activists, and media representatives attended the event...

I followed this up with my blog post on Global Warming. This is my second official Global Warming posting.

I titled it "Global Warm This..." as a response to the GW hysteria.

Here are some silly facts:

• Using Google increases Global Warming [1]
  
• Divorce increases Global Warming [2]
  
• Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulbs help Global Warming but are bad for the environment (If you break one, it could cost $2000 to clean up the spilled mercury)[3]
  
• Fat people are bad for the environment[4]
  

And now you can really commit yourself to helping the environment!!!

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