Former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine cannot stay out of trouble.
As chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group, he helped the company go public, making a fortune in the process. Eventually, he was edged out by a competitor in the firm, and resigned,
A Wall-street executive turned politician, United States Senator Corzine took over the reins of executive power in the Garden State, a state reeling from the shameful downfall of outed Governor James McGreevey. To win both statewide offices, he sunk $100 million dollars of his own money into the campaigns.
During his administration as governor, he suffered in a terrible car accident, though he was driving well above the speed limit. Before his accident, the New Jersey government had shut down. Later on, his approval ratings plummeted, until he was final ousted by United States Attorney Chris Christie.
Following his stunning defeat in the 2-to-1 Democratic Garden State, Corzine returned to finance, heading MP Global, a trading firm.
As if all the fallouts and failures were not enough, he has suddenly resigned from MP Global, five days after the firm declared bankruptcy?
What happened, exactly? He made risky investments with investor money on European Sovereign debt. Those investments spook customers, who fled the firm in droves.
And now everyone is asking, where did $600 million of clients' money go? Corzine, still claiming that his sudden departure is voluntary, has hired a criminal defense attorney in the wake of ongoing federal investigations.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Strident Conservatives: The Reason Why Part II
Then again, Joe McCarthy was looking for an issue to push at length.
Every legislator needs some issue to make a case for their ongoing service in politics.
Perhaps the content of conservatism is not the suspect element. Rather, media personalities who want to get high ratings will stir up as much strife as possible.
Joe Pyne of Delaware had his own radio program in the late 50's. A rabid anti-Communist, he would insult his guests, among which were Communist sympathizers and Red Scare skeptics. He even admitted to keeping a gun in his desk drawer in case any of his guests became violent.
In the opinion of many, shock radio began with Joe Pyne. Whether anyone could consider this an advance or retraction of civilization, is another matter entirely.
Every legislator needs some issue to make a case for their ongoing service in politics.
Perhaps the content of conservatism is not the suspect element. Rather, media personalities who want to get high ratings will stir up as much strife as possible.
Joe Pyne of Delaware had his own radio program in the late 50's. A rabid anti-Communist, he would insult his guests, among which were Communist sympathizers and Red Scare skeptics. He even admitted to keeping a gun in his desk drawer in case any of his guests became violent.
In the opinion of many, shock radio began with Joe Pyne. Whether anyone could consider this an advance or retraction of civilization, is another matter entirely.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Wisconsin -- Forward and Improving
While large municipalities coast to coast are struggling with mountainous, ruinous debt, and deficits that resist resolution, the Midwestern states esteem a high creditworthiness.
Wisconsin boasts of four of the top ten cities in the United States with the highest Experian credit score ratings, including Madison and Green Bay.
The report, released by MSN Money, does not credit the source for these high credit ratings where credit is due.
I would submit that Governor Walker and his GOP colleagues budget reforms have a lot to do with the improved economic climate in the Dairy State. Now that local school boards and municipalities have more freedom to negotiate less costly pension and benefits programs with their public employees, they have saved large sums of taxpayer dollars while also discharging massive debt.
By avoiding tax hikes in the midst of a slow economic recovery, the Republicans have improved Wisconsin's business climate, inviting more business, more employment, greater tax revenues, lower debt, better credit scores.
True to its state motto, Wisconsin is leading the way "Forward!" for cities and states across the United States.
Wisconsin boasts of four of the top ten cities in the United States with the highest Experian credit score ratings, including Madison and Green Bay.
The report, released by MSN Money, does not credit the source for these high credit ratings where credit is due.
I would submit that Governor Walker and his GOP colleagues budget reforms have a lot to do with the improved economic climate in the Dairy State. Now that local school boards and municipalities have more freedom to negotiate less costly pension and benefits programs with their public employees, they have saved large sums of taxpayer dollars while also discharging massive debt.
By avoiding tax hikes in the midst of a slow economic recovery, the Republicans have improved Wisconsin's business climate, inviting more business, more employment, greater tax revenues, lower debt, better credit scores.
True to its state motto, Wisconsin is leading the way "Forward!" for cities and states across the United States.
Strident Conservatives -- Rush Limbaugh and the Rest
Rush Limbaugh is not strident, but he is direct. He is not above name-calling either, but he is most interested in making a point.
He is a radio personality, not so much shocking as compelling. His blunt honesty has resonance across the country. Most people in a center-right country love to trash government, even if they secretly get handouts here and there.
Like most radio commentators, getting ratings is what the whole role is all about. Yet unlike print or Internet, strident conservatives have remained a mainstay for decades, whereas the liberal attempt, Air America, did not last one year.
Strident conservatism seems strident, therefore, because there is so little liberal opposition to counter it. In that case, the fault lies with the content of the left, not with the right.
Columnists like Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin are also strident people, but their rhetoric is a matter of personal style, not endemic to their political point of view. Whatever will attract more readers, that's what these ladies will put out.
Therefore, Conservatism in itself does not cause its adherents to be strident. Rather, the personality of the speaker or the rhetoric that sells the most, that determines the line and tag of strident conservatives, from Joe Pyne to Rush Limbaugh.
He is a radio personality, not so much shocking as compelling. His blunt honesty has resonance across the country. Most people in a center-right country love to trash government, even if they secretly get handouts here and there.
Like most radio commentators, getting ratings is what the whole role is all about. Yet unlike print or Internet, strident conservatives have remained a mainstay for decades, whereas the liberal attempt, Air America, did not last one year.
Strident conservatism seems strident, therefore, because there is so little liberal opposition to counter it. In that case, the fault lies with the content of the left, not with the right.
Columnists like Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin are also strident people, but their rhetoric is a matter of personal style, not endemic to their political point of view. Whatever will attract more readers, that's what these ladies will put out.
Therefore, Conservatism in itself does not cause its adherents to be strident. Rather, the personality of the speaker or the rhetoric that sells the most, that determines the line and tag of strident conservatives, from Joe Pyne to Rush Limbaugh.
Strident Conservatives -- Wally George
Then there was Wally George, an arrogant loud mouth from Orange County who loved to trash his guests, then throw them off the stage. He was a hit in the Early 1980s, riding the waves of the Reagan Revolution, which was a severe backlash to the feckless liberalism of the 1970s.
He spent more time shaming his guests -- a number of which were revealed as hired hands set to be destroyed in a public forum. There were also a number of real guests, too, some of who commanded a great deal of respect, including the now-deceased fashion designer Richard Blackwell.
He promoted the conservative line consistently, pushing against abortion, gay rights, pacifism. He was a national and social conservative, although his economic views remained relatively unknown.
Self-title "The Father of Combat TV", Wally George was a hit for a short while, then health problems limited his outreach. Toward the end of his life, he would issue passable commentary, a shell of the man that he used to be.
He was an angry guy, mostly because he was a down-and-out fellow who always saw himself taking on the world:
From a People Magazine profile:
"I'm a nice guy until someone presses the wrong button. Then I just blow up. I've had arguments in restaurants—violent shouting matches. It's been my handicap in life."
No, the fault is not with Conservatism per se, but with the personality of a man who found a comfortable niche trashing people. In the 1980's, Reagan's Conservatism was widespread and easily popular. It was easy to pick on liberals, marginalized by Carter's anemic failure of a Presidency and worsened by Walter Mondale's abortive run in 1984.
He spent more time shaming his guests -- a number of which were revealed as hired hands set to be destroyed in a public forum. There were also a number of real guests, too, some of who commanded a great deal of respect, including the now-deceased fashion designer Richard Blackwell.
He promoted the conservative line consistently, pushing against abortion, gay rights, pacifism. He was a national and social conservative, although his economic views remained relatively unknown.
Self-title "The Father of Combat TV", Wally George was a hit for a short while, then health problems limited his outreach. Toward the end of his life, he would issue passable commentary, a shell of the man that he used to be.
He was an angry guy, mostly because he was a down-and-out fellow who always saw himself taking on the world:
From a People Magazine profile:
"I'm a nice guy until someone presses the wrong button. Then I just blow up. I've had arguments in restaurants—violent shouting matches. It's been my handicap in life."
No, the fault is not with Conservatism per se, but with the personality of a man who found a comfortable niche trashing people. In the 1980's, Reagan's Conservatism was widespread and easily popular. It was easy to pick on liberals, marginalized by Carter's anemic failure of a Presidency and worsened by Walter Mondale's abortive run in 1984.
Robert Schuller and Sell-Out Christianity
The Reverend Robert Schuller was always big on appealing to the masses. Positive Thinking is an easy sell, especially when people are convinced that all they have to do is think the right thoughts, and then everything else will work out just fine.
He even appealed to mass culture, presiding over the funeral services of Wally George, the fire-eating hate-mongering "talk-show" host, whose "Hot Seat" set off a fire-storm in the early 1980's.
A vulgar man who hated every opponent, fully justifying himself to do all kinds of wrong to his belittled guests, Wally George trashed his guests mercilessly, a number of which he had hired beforehand just to be pilloried.
Schuller gave him a pass: "Do you ever watch his show. He promotes values like like and family." How Schuller could have praised so vicious a rhetor is not open to much guessing. Wally George was a congregant at the Crystal Cathedral.
Then there are the outrageous claims that Reverend Schuller has never struggled with temptation. Robert Schuller is not impressing anyone. Not to struggle with temptation is to be beneath contempt. He made this claim as recently as this year, in the midst of declining church attendance and chronic disruptions in leadership.
Years ago, he refused to remove his robe from hanging in the aisle of an airplane. Schuller argued that he did not want to ruin the robe, but the flight attendants insisted. Still refusing to cooperate, Schuller zipped off the casing around the robe and threw the empty bag in the overhead compartment.
He has battled with family members over the rule and management of the Crystal Cathedral, an institution struggling to stay solvent in the midst of a global recession which has plagued millions, and impoverished mega churches around the globe.
How does any of this advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ? When will Reverend Schuller come clean and admit that the whole operation has been at the behest of promoting the interests of man, not the mission of God's reconciliation through His Son's death on the Cross.
Reverend Robert Schuller: the patron saint of Sell-Out Christianity.
He even appealed to mass culture, presiding over the funeral services of Wally George, the fire-eating hate-mongering "talk-show" host, whose "Hot Seat" set off a fire-storm in the early 1980's.
A vulgar man who hated every opponent, fully justifying himself to do all kinds of wrong to his belittled guests, Wally George trashed his guests mercilessly, a number of which he had hired beforehand just to be pilloried.
Schuller gave him a pass: "Do you ever watch his show. He promotes values like like and family." How Schuller could have praised so vicious a rhetor is not open to much guessing. Wally George was a congregant at the Crystal Cathedral.
Then there are the outrageous claims that Reverend Schuller has never struggled with temptation. Robert Schuller is not impressing anyone. Not to struggle with temptation is to be beneath contempt. He made this claim as recently as this year, in the midst of declining church attendance and chronic disruptions in leadership.
Years ago, he refused to remove his robe from hanging in the aisle of an airplane. Schuller argued that he did not want to ruin the robe, but the flight attendants insisted. Still refusing to cooperate, Schuller zipped off the casing around the robe and threw the empty bag in the overhead compartment.
He has battled with family members over the rule and management of the Crystal Cathedral, an institution struggling to stay solvent in the midst of a global recession which has plagued millions, and impoverished mega churches around the globe.
How does any of this advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ? When will Reverend Schuller come clean and admit that the whole operation has been at the behest of promoting the interests of man, not the mission of God's reconciliation through His Son's death on the Cross.
Reverend Robert Schuller: the patron saint of Sell-Out Christianity.
"Vatican stunned by Irish embassy closure" -- Report from MSNBC
It was only a matter of time.
Did the Vatican really think that the Republic of Ireland would tolerate any of its diplomats in a nation that did nothing, even abetting predators who harmed young children in the Republic for decades?
This closure is a welcome slap in the face to the Roman Catholic Church, a monstrous bureaucracy that has done much to sucker people out of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. What's worse, the religious authorities have engaged in a great deal of cover-up.
The smoking gun -- a letter from the Vatican enforcement of doctrine, directly instructing the Irish bishops not to report predatory priests to the to civil authorities, lest the canonical consequences against suspected religious be annulled.
I am pleased to see the Emerald Isle insist on being treated like a pearl of great price, rather than a washpot or filthy rag of a bloated, world-wide bureaucracy.
Did the Vatican really think that the Republic of Ireland would tolerate any of its diplomats in a nation that did nothing, even abetting predators who harmed young children in the Republic for decades?
This closure is a welcome slap in the face to the Roman Catholic Church, a monstrous bureaucracy that has done much to sucker people out of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. What's worse, the religious authorities have engaged in a great deal of cover-up.
The smoking gun -- a letter from the Vatican enforcement of doctrine, directly instructing the Irish bishops not to report predatory priests to the to civil authorities, lest the canonical consequences against suspected religious be annulled.
I am pleased to see the Emerald Isle insist on being treated like a pearl of great price, rather than a washpot or filthy rag of a bloated, world-wide bureaucracy.
Wounded elephant walks again, thanks to jumbo-sized false foot" Commentary
Chhouk the elephant was caught in a poacher's trap in Cambodia.
Animal activist Nick Marx came to the animal's rescue, nursing the creature back to health. He also replaced his mangled foot with a prosthetic piece. Although the animal will never be able to go back into the wall, the elephant can have a peaceful existence.
Still, Marx's attachment to the elephant borders on disturbing:
"I stayed with him, slept beside him, hand-fed him everything he ate.”
I wish that mankind would exhibit that kind of tender loving care to one another.
This article was written in the context of the widespread poaching trade, which is close to rivaling the illicit drug trade ravaging Mexico. A free-market solution would preserve the dwindling numbers of endangered species like Chhouk the elephant. If nations would permit endangered animals to be raise like livestock and farmed accordingly, their numbers would augment quickly.
Compassionate stories do stir the hears of readers, for so long beset with headlines declaring economic woes and horrific inhumanity to man. At the same time, small-time sympathy does not create long-term solutions to economic and political problems which impoverish many.
If the Cambodian government spent more time relaxing strict trade rules and regulations and promoted political liberty for her people, they would not have to fend off poachers with greater encroachments of the state.
Rather than policing the poaching trade, South East Asian countries ought to promote free markets, open trade, and liberal policies for their own people.
Not just for the animals, how about more compassion from governments for their own people?
Animal activist Nick Marx came to the animal's rescue, nursing the creature back to health. He also replaced his mangled foot with a prosthetic piece. Although the animal will never be able to go back into the wall, the elephant can have a peaceful existence.
Still, Marx's attachment to the elephant borders on disturbing:
"I stayed with him, slept beside him, hand-fed him everything he ate.”
I wish that mankind would exhibit that kind of tender loving care to one another.
This article was written in the context of the widespread poaching trade, which is close to rivaling the illicit drug trade ravaging Mexico. A free-market solution would preserve the dwindling numbers of endangered species like Chhouk the elephant. If nations would permit endangered animals to be raise like livestock and farmed accordingly, their numbers would augment quickly.
Compassionate stories do stir the hears of readers, for so long beset with headlines declaring economic woes and horrific inhumanity to man. At the same time, small-time sympathy does not create long-term solutions to economic and political problems which impoverish many.
If the Cambodian government spent more time relaxing strict trade rules and regulations and promoted political liberty for her people, they would not have to fend off poachers with greater encroachments of the state.
Rather than policing the poaching trade, South East Asian countries ought to promote free markets, open trade, and liberal policies for their own people.
Not just for the animals, how about more compassion from governments for their own people?
Foreign Policy -- Unfair but Unavoidable
From YouTube commentary "Zenga Zenga People"
"What pisses me off the most, is how western nations were shaking hands with this man a year ago; making arms deals, oil deals. Today, calling him a despot and a brutal dictator, it's like they're insulting our intelligence."
Foreign policy is not an easy game of good guys and bad guys.
Global politics becomes fraught with issues when my alliances with mutual enemies defeat their the source of their shared animosity. Right away, the latent divisions that would divide member-state rise to forefront.
During the eight year Iran-Iraq conflict, which decimated hundreds of thousands of people, the United States supported Saddam Hussein against the virulent Ayatollahs, who had expelled our diplomatic corps and held them hostage for over a year. In
1998, the United States Senate drafted a resolution to effect regime change in Iraq, which was accomplished in 2003.
Ronald Reagan assisted the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan against the invading Soviets. That Islamic group later fed into the Taliban and assisted Al-Qaeda.
After 9-11 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Moammar Gadhafi surrendered Libya's weapons program to avoid being targeted next by the United States. He was still a menace to his own people until his recent grisly demise.
No proverb better encapsulates the inherent complexity and conflicts of foreign policy than:
"The enemy of my enemy if my friend."
"What pisses me off the most, is how western nations were shaking hands with this man a year ago; making arms deals, oil deals. Today, calling him a despot and a brutal dictator, it's like they're insulting our intelligence."
Foreign policy is not an easy game of good guys and bad guys.
Global politics becomes fraught with issues when my alliances with mutual enemies defeat their the source of their shared animosity. Right away, the latent divisions that would divide member-state rise to forefront.
During the eight year Iran-Iraq conflict, which decimated hundreds of thousands of people, the United States supported Saddam Hussein against the virulent Ayatollahs, who had expelled our diplomatic corps and held them hostage for over a year. In
1998, the United States Senate drafted a resolution to effect regime change in Iraq, which was accomplished in 2003.
Ronald Reagan assisted the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan against the invading Soviets. That Islamic group later fed into the Taliban and assisted Al-Qaeda.
After 9-11 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Moammar Gadhafi surrendered Libya's weapons program to avoid being targeted next by the United States. He was still a menace to his own people until his recent grisly demise.
No proverb better encapsulates the inherent complexity and conflicts of foreign policy than:
"The enemy of my enemy if my friend."
Response to Chambers "My Utmost" November 4
"The dominating power of the world, the flesh and the devil is paralysed, not by your act, but because your act has linked you on to God and His redemptive power."
Here, there is cause for some misunderstanding. Oswald Chambers, like James, may appear to undermine the infinite power of God's grace in our lives. Yet even Chambers makes it clear: not our doing, necessarily, but His working in us, accomplishes great things.
His act cannot be a fact in our lives, although it remains forever the truth, until be faith we allow His power to be released in our lives.
"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:2)
Paul in his letter to Ephesians connects how this grace through faith works in our lives, working out the great works that God has already worked in :
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
"Not of works, lest any man should boast.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
God created us, God redeems us, and He esteems us enough to have placed good works in us, which He then accomplishes through us.
Seems too simple or too good to be true? Consider Jesus' final words to His disciples before the Passion:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5)
He is the Vine, we the believers are branches who are nourished by His Word, infused with the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit borne in us is manifold (cf Galatians 5:22-23), but we do not effect it -- we receive it by grace through faith!
Here, there is cause for some misunderstanding. Oswald Chambers, like James, may appear to undermine the infinite power of God's grace in our lives. Yet even Chambers makes it clear: not our doing, necessarily, but His working in us, accomplishes great things.
His act cannot be a fact in our lives, although it remains forever the truth, until be faith we allow His power to be released in our lives.
"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:2)
Paul in his letter to Ephesians connects how this grace through faith works in our lives, working out the great works that God has already worked in :
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
"Not of works, lest any man should boast.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
God created us, God redeems us, and He esteems us enough to have placed good works in us, which He then accomplishes through us.
Seems too simple or too good to be true? Consider Jesus' final words to His disciples before the Passion:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5)
He is the Vine, we the believers are branches who are nourished by His Word, infused with the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit borne in us is manifold (cf Galatians 5:22-23), but we do not effect it -- we receive it by grace through faith!
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