Current Event Ramblings, February 26

Just checking in, since I haven't done so in awhile.  We had an extremely busy week this week--almost 650 students from DongSan Christian High School.  The Christian religion is very widespread in South Korea; of a population of 50,000,000, 26% of the people claim allegiance to the religion of Jesus of Nazareth.  That's almost 13,000,000 people.  According to some schools of thought, that's not supposed to happen, but it is what it is.  I'll have more to say on that in upcoming article.

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James recently sent me the following (I also received the same information from another former student today).  Here are some data since Barack Obama became president.  All of this is verified, mostly through government agencies:

Avg. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S.
Jan. 2009--$1.83
Today--$3.104
69.6%  increase

Crude oil, European Brent (barrel)
Jan. 2009--$43.48
Today--$99.02
127.7% increase

Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel)
Jan. 2009--$38.74
Today--$91.38
135.9% increase

Gold: London (per troy oz.)
Jan. 2009--$853.25
Today--$1,369.50
60.5% increase (should have invested in gold, folks, but who can afford it?)

Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL
Jan. 2009--$3.56
Today--$6.33
78.1% increase

Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL
Jan. 2009--$9.66
Today--$13.75
42.3% increase

Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob
Jan. 2009--$13.37
Today--$35.39
164.7% increase

Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall
Jan. 2009--7.6% (that rotten Bush)
Today--9.4% (oops)
23.7% increase (this info is from the Bureau of Labor)

Unemployment rate, blacks
Jan. 2009--12.6%
Today--15.8%
25.4% increase (Where's Jesse Jackson?)

Number of unemployed
Jan. 2009--11,616,000
Today--14,485,000
24.7% increase

Number of fed. Employees, ex. Military (curr = 12/10 prelim)
Jan. 2009--2,779,000
Today--2,840,000
2.2% increase (why am I not surprised that only the government is growing?)

Real median household income 
Jan. 2009--$50,112
Today--$49,777
-0.7% decrease

Number of food stamp recipients (curr = 10/10)
Jan. 2009--31,983,716
Today--43,200,878
35.1% increase (more government dependency, just what the Democrats want)

Number of unemployment benefit recipients (curr = 12/10)
Jan. 2009--7,526,598
Today--9,193,838
22.2% increase

U.S. Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings
Jan. 2009-5
Today--9 

U.S. Dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate
Jan. 2009--89.76
Today--82.03
-8.6% decrease

National debt, in trillions
Jan. 2009--$10.627
Today, after 2 years of Democratic control of the government, $14.052
32.2% increase

There's a reason for this, of course, and that is that the policies of Barack Obama are simply wrong--they contradict economic law and they contradict moral law.  The figures above are of absolutely no surprise to anyone who knows the first thing about history, i.e., how policies similar or the same as Obama's have been applied before.  Hopefully, the Republicans can stem some of this, or at least slow it down.  Until I die.

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Let me remind you once again of the quote attributed to historian Sir Alexander Fraser Tyler, over 200 years ago:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves money from the public treasury.  From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with a result that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.  The average life of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."

Why do the Egyptians and Libyans want it?  I think the saddest thing I'm seeing in South Korea is the impact of Western "political correctness"--global warming, feminism, "children's rights" (don't discipline them.  Teachers are not even supposed to touch the children here at English Village, regardless of how bratty or disruptive they are being.  All teachers can do is yell at them.); the "heroes" of the kids who come here are brainless pop culture stars.  I've told some of the adult students I've had "please don't follow the West," but I'm afraid I'm spitting into a hurricane.  The family is still strong in Korea and other Oriental countries.  That's their only hope.

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Incidentally, March is "Women's History Month."  That's not sexist, of course.  However, "Men's History Month" would be, just like "Black History Month" is not racist, but a "White History Month" would be.  If we continue to patronize these "victim" groups, they will continue to demand more and more until they bankrupt the country, economically and morally.

Current Event Ramblings, February 13

Not a lot going on lately that I've felt worthy of my attention, but I thought I'd check in and let folks know I'm still here.  I've got the week off--vacation time.  I get two weeks a year, and I'll probably take another in April or May.  I'm not going anywhere, but maybe I can get some writing done.  That can be kind of tedious, too, so I may just sleep all week.

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The only two things I've seen in the news this past week are Egypt and the House Republicans talking budget cuts.  The "tea party" Republicans elected this past fall pledged $100 billion in cuts; the House Republican leadership is balking at that (no surprise).  The Democrats, of course, are throwing a fit--can't buy votes by cutting the budget.  They'll probably be some insignificant cuts, but nothing near $100 billion, which isn't much, but it would be a start.  $3 trillion is closer to what they need to slice.

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I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the Egypt thing; that country has been around, in some shape, form, or fashion, for 5,000 years now.  It's one of the three oldest civilizations in human history (anybody know the other two?  They'll all go back to about the same time.)  The length of Egypt's existence is one of the reasons why I don't get terribly disturbed or excited about what happens around the world.  I'm not sure if this current coup is good for that country or not; at least Mubarak gave the country peace and stability.  Everybody thought it was a wonderful thing when the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, and they ended up with the Ayatollah Khomeini and everything they've had since.  (That happens in the United States, too.  An awful lot of people couldn't wait to see George Bush go, and look what the country is plagued with now.)  We'll see what Egypt comes up with.  Whatever it is, it will change again some time in the future.  That is, if the Lord doesn't come back first and end it all.

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The Conservative Political Action Committee has had a get-together lately and they held a straw poll for their choice for President.  Ron Paul won with 30% of the vote; Mitt Romney received 23%.  Nobody else, including Sarah Palin, got more than 6%.  Paul is still my first choice, but he hasn't got a chance of being elected President.  Donald Trump spoke to the gathering a few nights ago, and tossed out the possibility of a run for President next year.  He was very well received, and probably would make a pretty good President.  Unlike the current administration, he's had a lot of experience running things, and he's had no government experience (that I know of), and that speaks highly of him, too.  Ideology cannot effectively direct a government (or anything else for that matter), and that's Obama's main problem.  He came into power with nothing more than a far-left, quasi-socialist ideology.  That's never worked anywhere, as the Soviet Union discovered and Europe is beginning to realize as well.  Conservatism does work, because it's based on what has actually happened in history and proven to be successful.  And part of that success is a respect and obedience to moral law, and THAT, dear reader, is what liberals truly cannot stand.  As much as anything, that is the motivation behind much of modern liberalism--abortion, homosexuality, free sex, victimization--in other words, anything that Christianity opposes.  "For everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:20).  As true today as it was when Jesus spoke those words nearly 2,000 years ago.  Do not underestimate the hatred the left has for God and Christianity and how much that influences their actions today.  It is the main reason they oppose Sarah Palin so strongly.  She's been an experienced state executive, far more qualified than Barack Obama, but, to the left, she isn't "qualified" for one reaon--what she believes.  And they will continue to hammer her--into oblivion, if they can.  Watch who the left attacks the most vociferously; that's who they fear the most.  And as long as they continue to control CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC, along with the Washington Post and New York Times, they have powerful voices to persuade the simple-minded.

Obamacare, Nullification, and Secession

Yesterday, a Florida judge declared several provisions of last year's health care bill unconstitutional.  This is, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant.  Other judges (Democratic appointees) have found the bill constitutional.  The matter will almost surely land in the Supreme Court, where it has no business being.

The Florida judge is, of course, correct.  There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution which gives the federal government the right to control or direct any of the nation's health care system.  The attempt to find such authority in the "interstate commerce clause" is ludicrous.  That phrase and the "general welfare" clause have been stretched to cover all possible contingencies, which means, in effect, there is nothing the federal government cannot do.  This is obviously far, Far, FAR from what the Founding Fathers of this country had in mind when they wrote our Constitution.

What I wish is that some state would try what Thomas Jefferson and James Madison said should happen--nullification.  This doctrine says that when the federal government goes beyond its Constitutional powers and inflicts upon the states some unauthorized legislation, the states--or any state for that matter--has the right to "nullify" that act, declare it unconstitutional, and not enforce it within its borders.  South Carolina did this with the Tariff of 1832; Andrew Jackson threatened to send in federal troops and we almost had a war of federal aggression 30 years before it happened.  A compromise was reached in 1833 and war was averted.  But nullification was a debate in early American history, and no less personages than Jefferson and Madison endorsed it (Madison is known as the "Father of the Constitution."  If anybody ought to know what it meant, it was him).  One wonders what Obama would do if a state today nullified his health care act and refused to enforce it.

The ultimate response a state was to have to unconstitutional acts of the federal government was secession.  This was the Damocles' sword the states held over the national government.  This federal government was created by the states as a tool for certain universal matters, such as war, peace, foreign diplomacy, which could not be handled effectively at the state level; one does not want Maine declaring war on England and dragging the rest of the country into a conflict.  So matters such as these were left in the national government's hands, and clearly stated in the Constitution.  Indeed, every power given to the national government--and there are only about 17--was itemized in the Constitution, and, just in case the point was still unclear, it was manifestly stated in the 10th Amendment that all powers not directly delegated to the federal government by the states belong to the states or the people--not the national government.  Secession was the last resort.  If the federal government absolutely refused to back down from its unconstitutinal laws, a state--or a number of them--could withdraw from the Union and form their own.  This, of course, would limit the authority and income of the national government and was wholly in line with the meaning and intent of the Founders; several of them said so, and even Abraham Lincoln acknowledged the right in 1848.  But when the Southern states exercised that right, Lincoln killed or wounded approximately 1,000,000 Americans--3% of the population, or the equivalent of over 10,000,000 Americans today.  The Europeans chided him for his undemocratic stance--"all the South wants to do is govern itself and you won't let it.  How democratic is that?"  Lincoln eventually used slavery as an excuse for the war, but that didn't wash with even a lot of abolitionists.  Lysander Spooner, a rabid New England abolitionist, severely chastised Lincoln for the war--"you're going to enslave 9 million others in order to free 4 million."  For indeed, if people do not have the right to choose their own government, they are not free.  The South had a slavery problem, no doubt about it.  They needed to be allowed to handle it peacefully, in their own time.  Lincoln didn't permit that and race relations in the United States have suffered ever since.  The North has demogogued the issue since the 1860s and very, very few Americans understand the issues involved in the War for Southern Independence.  If they did, the federal government couldn't get away with 99% of what it does.

My point here is--nullification and secession.  It's not going to happen, of course, too many Americans have succumbed to the false idea that the federal government is to have ultimate authority in all matters.  But if South Carolina seceded again...what would Obama do?  Kill a few millon Americans to force his health care law on us?  I have a sneaking suspicion that if South Carolina, along with several other states seceded, an awful lot of Americans would say, "Let them go.  It isn't worth another civil war."  As for me, I wish the South would secede again.  Let the heathen Yankees have their part of the country and let the Christian South have its.  And then let's see which is the safest, freest, and best governed.  That's a no-brainer.

Cowboys and Arabs

The best thing I've done in a long time is find a place online to publish my western stories.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I have my blogs metered with a couple of "hit meter" sites, and that I've been getting "hits" on my cowboy stories from literally all over the world, as well as the United States.  I also mentioned that the ultimate goal would be for some of those people to go to my Bible blogs, which are, far and away, the most important.  Well, that has been happening.  Some of my cowboy story readers have made their way to my Bible blog, including one of my readers from the United Arab Emirates.  I do not know, and have know way of knowing, if that fellow is Arab or not.  There's also somebody in India who's read some, maybe all, of my westerns, and he's been on my Bible blog, as well as a couple of people here in Korea, somebody in New Zealand...these are people who probably would never have found my Bible blogs if it hadn't been for my westerns.  The Lord does move in mysterious ways.  I also have no idea how much good is being done with these Bible blogs hits, but all I can do is publish the material and let come what may.  We can only pray for God to be glorified.  The Internet is certainly a wonderful thing and Jehovah can use all sorts of things to accomplish His will.  I've often wondered, since I've been in Korea, why He sent me here.  Well, maybe He did so I could publish my westerns.  Who knows?  I've got a pretty good following with these westerns, that is, several people have read most or all of them, and I get new readers all the time.  So I reckon I best keep writing them, and publishing Bible material for them to read as well.