Tell me a story

Years ago when I managed a local Domino’s Pizza the managers were given a book on leadership to read. I don’t at this point recall the title or author but I kept it in the bathroom at the store to read on break. (A manager’s break was when you had to go to the bathroom and it lasted until a phone rang) I read enough to know that I was not tempted to take it home and finish. I suggested that instead let’s read Hornblower and the Hotspur, now that is a book on leadership! I learned by the example of the young Captain Horatio Hornblower about being decisive even when you felt conflicted, of the importance of maintaining discipline without being a tyrant, of having a well trained crew, that you can’t lead and live in fear of stepping on the feelings of those you lead, staying calm in the midst of turmoil, making decisions and excepting the consequence good or bad, and giving of your best and expecting the same of those in your charge. You see Horatio Hornblower was a hero despite his frailty, who held a profound affection for his crew yet maintained an appropriate detachment from them. How’s that for a book on leadership? And that’s just one book in a series of 11 novels and a couple of short stories.

Likewise I have heard sermon after sermon, about the sinful nature of man, many brilliant men have endeavored to set in order an understanding of the carnal nature and man’s propensity to err. All of them combined do not create the profoundly understandable picture that Robert Lewis Stephenson did with the short novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Our nation is at a crossroads and the stakes are high, the next election will likely determine the fate of the country for generations to come. Over the next couple of weeks I want to really examine the candidates and issues that are beginning to come to the fore front as the primaries loom closer. However if we as conservatives are able to redeem our constitution from the hands of the liberals and we effectively limit the oppressive role of government from our lives we will still not have arrived. The country is so much more than its politics, and the cultural war is even more vital than the political one. As we struggle to revive our culture one crucial aspect is found in the power of literature and its natural extension into the realms of the film and stage performing media.

It is wonderful that we have an alternative religious media; I thank God for “Christian literature” even if so much of it has a decidedly feminine slant. Family friendly Christian film such as Fireproof and Facing the Giants are of great value but they simply are not enough. We need Christian fiction, but so much more we need Christians who write main stream fiction. George Lucas never sat out to write Buddhist fiction, but his world view comes out clearly in Star Wars.  Gene Roddenberry had a view that man could evolve into a better being and brought those views to Star Trek. Now don’t get me wrong I love both, especially Star Trek’s original series where courage honor and duty were the most critical recurring themes. In the midst of failing deflector shields and straining warp drives valuable moral lessons were learned without ever having the sense we were being taught a lesson. If anyone doubts the power of story telling in the teaching of morality remember that Jesus used stories to teach.

My pastor is a brilliant man and a fine writer in his own right, who often quotes Oswald Chambers. Now Oswald Chambers was a brilliant man and I would love to have a fraction of the understanding he had, but when I read him my blood doesn’t rush in my veins, he doesn’t move me the way Bethany Hamilton does. That’s why I take so many opportunities to promote Soul Surfer.  That’s why we need a revival of the Judeo-Christian philosophy in the culture today.

So many things have to happen to save this country, and they all begin with prayer and revival, and revival always begins with an acknowledgement of sin. As long as we allow the moral relativism of the entertainment community dictate the popular culture we will always face an uphill battle in this critical revelation of our own sin. As long as cohabitation is presented as an acceptable stage in courtship and alternate lifestyles are glorified it will be ever more difficult to return to a culture of marital monogamy.

It was our idea at one time to do away with the bad by restriction and standards, such as the Hays Code which governed Hollywood between 1930 and 1968 with a certain level of success, (although a couple of the best scenes from my favorite movie King Kong were cut unnecessarily)  but good or bad, right or wrong that genie is out of the bottle and putting it back would be a monumental task. My advice now is for Christians and others with a traditional moral view to blessed with the abilities to write or act should do every thing in our power to get good stories written and published, filmed and distributed with the traditional values intact: For those of us without those talents to support those who do with our viewing time and entertainment dollars.

Until next time, keep on the firing line.

   

soul surfer on dvd

 several months ago a posted a review of  the movie Soul Surfer, I would like to again share these thoughts and encourage everyone to catch this movie on DVD or pay per view. when Hollywood gets it right i like to support them. 

To me a film needs three things to be great; the first is a great story.

Soul Surfer is the story of Bethany Hamilton, and hers is a truly great story. Ms Hamilton is the young surfer who at the age of thirteen lost an arm in a shark attack while training in Hawaii. Her injuries were severe and although she nearly died as a result, they kept her out of the water for only a few weeks. Soon she was surfing again, was able to compete and eventually fulfill her dream of turning pro. (And she is doing well as a pro). Ms Hamilton’s triumph is inspiring on par with the career of “Dummy” Hoy, the deaf baseball star of the early era of the game, Tom Dempsey’s record breaking 63 yard despite having only half of one of his feet, or Jim Abbott’s no hitter despite having just one hand.  While all of these athletes had distinguished achievements, Hoy should be a hall of famer, and all are inspiring what separates Ms Hamilton is the fact she was not born with her “disability” but was presented with the challenge of relearning how to do everything with one arm, not just how to compete at the highest level of a challenging sport. To me the most inspiring aspect of Bethany Hamilton’s story is summed up in the words of Christ in John: 10:10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.  If any one can testify of having something stolen and destroyed it would be Ms Hamilton moreover if any one is a testimony of what the abundant life of Christ really means it is this remarkable young woman! The wonderful peculiarity of Soul Surfer is that this part of the story comes through loud and clear. Hollywood is usually comfortable only with faith as it relates to a vague and unspecified deity, but the Hamilton family is Christian, their faith is in Jesus Christ, and the director and performers in the movie do a wonderful job of showing and modeling this faith. A home schooled girl who never gives her testimony without specifying that she gave her life to Jesus Christ at the age of five, in a family that goes to church and leans on the support of a youth minister who quotes from the Bible, in fact the Dad reads from the Bible (Phil. 4:13 from the NIV I can do everything through him who gives me strength.)  These people are shown as normal folk achieving extraordinary things?  And you thought Brokeback Mountain was revolutionary!

The second thing that makes a great movie is believability.

Realism and believability are not necessarily the same thing for example the 1933 version of King Kong is incredibly believable but not all that realistic, Soul Surfer is a true life story so realism does play heavily into the believability. The effects removing Annasophia Robb’s arm are flawless, the surfing, much of which is done by the real Ms Hamilton, is great and to my limited knowledge of the sport, the surfing competition seems realistic. Equally important is the scripting, if this story was told in platitude and cheesy dialogue with a few alligator tears thrown in it would hardly do justice to Ms Hamilton’s amazing story, but the script is tight, conversional, edgy and a little uncomfortable at times. You believe real people would talk this way. Finally you need to believe that the actors are the characters they portray and this movie has a heavy weight cast, in addition to Annasophia Robb as Bethany, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are played by Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt, certainly pedigreed actors, Kevin Sorbo puts in a good turn as Bethany’s coach Holt Blanchard, and Carrie Underwood does a great job in her acting debut as Bethany’s youth leader Sarah Hill. The supporting roles are also all well done.

Finally a great film makes the audience care, it forms a connection, and does Soul Surfer ever do this.

One thing that impressed me with Soul Surfer was the directing. Going in most of us know that Bethany will be attacked by a shark so Sean McNamara does a fabulous job of setting up the incident so that when it does happen it’s a shock to the viewer. Also Bethany has setbacks and discouragements, though she never looses her faith, we are able to identify with her struggles. A few of the films more touching scenes involve Bethany’s attempts to put others at ease about her injury. As a father I can identify most with Bethany’s parents. All of us with teenagers struggle with the conflict between trying to help our kids and teaching them independence, letting them fall and helping them back up if you will. I can’t imagine if my daughter lost her arm!

 In the end what Bethany Hamilton teaches us and shat Soul Surfer conveys is that God does not know the meaning of the word limit, and that when we are weak His power is perfected in us.

My advice, don’t miss this one!

Keep on the firing line.   

 

A lesson from the left

The US credit rating has been down graded. How could this have happened? We raised our debt ceiling; we agreed to allow the treasury to borrow trillions more now in exchange for phantom cuts in the distant future! How on Earth can anyone doubt our sincere commitment to fiscal responsibility! This is what the line of BS our leaders fed us over  the last few weeks, oh we conservatives tried, we wanted real cuts not just reduction in the rate of growth, we wanted cuts in excess of what was necessary to avoid a credit downgrade, we wanted a balanced budget amendment. WE WERE RIGHT! Cut cap and balance is the way, but even as the house passed this piece of legislation the brilliant Republican leadership was already falling over themselves to come up with the compromise that would a dear them most to the establishment media and the old guard DC crowd, instantly undermining their strong position and busting the knee caps out of our children’s future. Thanks Boehner, McConnell, and the gang of six!

Before we chuck aside the Republican Party completely lets remember one cold hard fact: in current government not all Republicans are true conservatives but all the true conservatives are republicans. Our stunning victory in last November’s midterms was only a start, and we knew it at the time. The temptation now “will be to take our football and go home”, but to paraphrase the liberal hippies who have infected our politics: heck no we won’t go”

We of the tea party are still here; we have learned a thing or two from our liberal adversaries. How many times did we bury healthcare reform in the last hundred years? Long before people like me were paying attention to these things a small group of dedicated folk stopped abortion in state after state time after time, when have we failed to vote down gay marriage on a fair ballet? Yet like zombies in a horror film, they came and they came, and finally they got their way. They don’t fight fair, what they fail to do in accordance to the constitution they do in spite of it. This we cannot match but the tenacity, the determination, the grit, and the unwillingness to compromise these we have in spades. If the constitution has been a formidable obstacle to them, imagine what a weapon it will be for our side when we return the judiciary to constitutional constructionism! We did not get a balanced budget amendment this time but we won the public debate hands down. To quote the legendary Bum Phillips, “First we knocked on the door, then we banged on it, next time we will kick the SOB down!”

Saving this country won’t be easy, and the debt and spending debate is not the most crucial issue except that it goes to the size and scope of Federal power, and that issue is fundamental.

We are fighting a firmly entrenched enemy in the Washington so my advice hit it as hard as we can and if it doesn’t break hit it again! (Constitutionally speaking of course)

Until next time, keep on the firing line!

An anecdote

I have been negligent to write over the past two weeks, thank the Lord I finally have returned to work in my field of expertise, commercial construction plumbing. I just want to offer an anecdotal suggestion that speaks to the debt ceiling debate in Washington.

Three years a go I finished up at a pharmaceutical job in Frederick Md. A great job that I was able to ride from the underground to start up; when it ended all the talk was that a huge job at Ft. Dietrich was about to start and that with a little luck we could jump right from one to the other. Three years later that job is finally under way with some seriousness but is still subject to delays and controversies. Ft Dietrich is where the army does much of its research into a lot of ugly stuff (a Ft Dietrich scientist was suspected in the anthrax mailings following 9/11) and naturally has a somewhat uneasy relation with the residents of Frederick. Still it is a vital facility and defense is a constitutional role of government so of course it takes forever to do any thing.

With Ft Dietrich on hold I tried to get on to a supermarket job but that fell through in a permit dispute, so then came a high school, one of the largest in the state of West Virginia and a local job to boot, but again delay delay delay. Again most would agree that education is a legitimate function of government and this high school is needed but trying to get it built is problematic even if the state has the money.

So for nearly three years I’ve gotten by on small jobs and side work. I prayerfully refused to continue on Federal extended unemployment as I would have been hypocritical to oppose extending those benefits for God knows how long and then to jump on them when I needed them. One of those small jobs was at the NCTC, (national conservation training center) which sits on the old Hendricks Farm about 2 miles from where I grew up. There many thousands of your tax dollars went to replace c-fold paper towel dispensers with environmentally friendly rolled ones and install water conserving faucets and flush meters on toilets and urinals. Thank goodness the government isn’t broke or anything. When you hear of green jobs created remember 4 guys working for 6 weeks is as good as it gets. Meanwhile in the Robert C Byrd auditorium of the same facility severe water damage from a burst pipe goes unfixed as it has no funding.

Finally though Macy’s decided to build a distribution center in our area, they acquired the property, cleared the property and now we are working 6 10 hour days just to get done ahead of the iron workers. My helper and I laid 600 ft of 8 inch pipe in 2 days and boy did if feel great! I come home tired hot and dirty not to mention a little scraped up and I love it! When this job is done, Macy’s will employ over a thousand people full time and another 500 or so seasonally. Not 4 people for 6 weeks like the stimulus, and it will add to the economy not suck treasure out of it.

What has this to do with the debt ceiling? Simply this: the roll and scope of government is too big and is wrought with economic killing inefficiencies in the end the talk of 1.2 trillion in cuts is cosmetic as in DC a cut is really just a slow down in the rate of growth. I don’t believe we can settle for any thing that doesn’t change the system of spending fundamentally. Government spending can’t grow at 9% a year forever; government has to be placed in the background of life not the fore front. Right now if the debt ceiling is not raised, would it be so bad? If government could only do its fundamental needs but had to lay off some EPA officials who are trying to devastate the coal industry in WV what would the harm be? I am willing to support any plan that requires a balanced budget and willing to reject any plan that does not and I will urge m representatives to do the same. We conservatives are on the cusp of victory but we can’t put our trust in Boehner’s and McConnell’s chamberlinesque negotiating skills, its up to us the American people the conservatives, the tea party patriots to save our country and its future and we will not be deterred.   Let us all pray for our country, that it can hold out for one more election, than we will have our turn to finish what we started last November.

Until next time keep on the firing line.

An anecdote

I have been negligent to write over the past two weeks, thank the Lord I finally have returned to work in my field of expertise, commercial construction plumbing. I just want to offer an anecdotal suggestion that speaks to the debt ceiling debate in Washington.

Three years a go I finished up at a pharmaceutical job in Frederick Md. A great job that I was able to ride from the underground to start up; when it ended all the talk was that a huge job at Ft. Dietrich was about to start and that with a little luck we could jump right from one to the other. Three years later that job is finally under way with some seriousness but is still subject to delays and controversies. Ft Dietrich is where the army does much of its research into a lot of ugly stuff (a Ft Dietrich scientist was suspected in the anthrax mailings following 9/11) and naturally has a somewhat uneasy relation with the residents of Frederick. Still it is a vital facility and defense is a constitutional role of government so of course it takes forever to do any thing.

With Ft Dietrich on hold I tried to get on to a supermarket job but that fell through in a permit dispute, so then came a high school, one of the largest in the state of West Virginia and a local job to boot, but again delay delay delay. Again most would agree that education is a legitimate function of government and this high school is needed but trying to get it built is problematic even if the state has the money.

So for nearly three years I’ve gotten by on small jobs and side work. I prayerfully refused to continue on Federal extended unemployment as I would have been hypocritical to oppose extending those benefits for God knows how long and then to jump on them when I needed them. One of those small jobs was at the NCTC, (national conservation training center) which sits on the old Hendricks Farm about 2 miles from where I grew up. There many thousands of your tax dollars went to replace c-fold paper towel dispensers with environmentally friendly rolled ones and install water conserving faucets and flush meters on toilets and urinals. Thank goodness the government isn’t broke or anything. When you hear of green jobs created remember 4 guys working for 6 weeks is as good as it gets. Meanwhile in the Robert C Byrd auditorium of the same facility severe water damage from a burst pipe goes unfixed as it has no funding.

Finally though Macy’s decided to build a distribution center in our area, they acquired the property, cleared the property and now we are working 6 10 hour days just to get done ahead of the iron workers. My helper and I laid 600 ft of 8 inch pipe in 2 days and boy did if feel great! I come home tired hot and dirty not to mention a little scraped up and I love it! When this job is done, Macy’s will employ over a thousand people full time and another 500 or so seasonally. Not 4 people for 6 weeks like the stimulus, and it will add to the economy not suck treasure out of it.

What has this to do with the debt ceiling? Simply this: the roll and scope of government is too big and is wrought with economic killing inefficiencies in the end the talk of 1.2 trillion in cuts is cosmetic as in DC a cut is really just a slow down in the rate of growth. I don’t believe we can settle for any thing that doesn’t change the system of spending fundamentally. Government spending can’t grow at 9% a year forever; government has to be placed in the background of life not the fore front. Right now if the debt ceiling is not raised, would it be so bad? If government could only do its fundamental needs but had to lay off some EPA officials who are trying to devastate the coal industry in WV what would the harm be? I am willing to support any plan that requires a balanced budget and willing to reject any plan that does not and I will urge m representatives to do the same. We conservatives are on the cusp of victory but we can’t put our trust in Boehner’s and McConnell’s chamberlinesque negotiating skills, its up to us the American people the conservatives, the tea party patriots to save our country and its future and we will not be deterred.   Let us all pray for our country, that it can hold out for one more election, than we will have our turn to finish what we started last November.

Until next time keep on the firing line.

CUT CAP AND BALANCE

I pledge to urge my Senators and Member of the House of Representatives to oppose any debt limit increase unless all three of the following conditions have been met:

1.                     Cut - Substantial cuts in spending that will reduce the deficit next year and thereafter.

2.                     Cap - Enforceable spending caps that will put federal spending on a path to a balanced budget.

3.                     Balance - Congressional passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- but only if it includes both a spending limitation and a super-majority for raising taxes, in addition to balancing revenues and expenses.

Two weeks ago I shared a copy of a letter to the honorable Shelley Moore Capito urging the support of a balanced budget amendment. I feel I should do due diligence and go into more detail about the plan I support. A number of conservative pro-growth and pro fiscal sanity groups have combined to author the above pledge. Let me tell you why I support it and why my unsolicited advice to you is to do the same.

CUT- buzz words in DC right now are balanced approach and shared sacrifice. We can’t just cut spending we must raise revenue as well. What they really mean is that the libs want tax increases now in exchange for phantom cuts later. D… those corporate jet owners anyway! When the real truth is told however, tax cuts and not tax increases spur economic activity and lead to increased gross revenue. A smaller percent paid by a broader base and it has worked every time it was tried.  The dirty little secret, the President knows this, in his debate with Hillary April of ’08 he said that capitol gains tax rates should be raised “for the purpose of fairness” despite the fact that such increases have always resulted in less revenue.  The truth is you can take every dime of all the wealthiest people in the country including those D…. corporate jets and those accursed yachts and fund the government for…. A COUPLE OF MONTHS! Then you couldn’t do it again, just as when you tax a business out of existence they suddenly produce $0.00 in tax revenue. We call this killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Cutting spending NOW not promising to do it later is not the best way to lower the deficit it is the only way.

CAP- the only way to keep the politicians hands out of the public fund cookie jar is to padlock the darned thing. Discretionary, defense and entitlement spending must have a ceiling just as the debt does. I like the idea of a specific percent of gross domestic product, say 18% or so, with an allowance for war and defense emergencies. Politicians will spend every dime they can as long as they can rather we have it or not if it helps reelection. Why not? Its not their money why not spend it with abandon? They will unless we the people don’t let them any more.

BALANCE- the constitutional amendment is the only thing that will prevent this cycle from repeating. Can't spend more than you make, can’t raise taxes willy-nilly and a limit on what percent of the nations wealth can be flushed down the bureaucratic toilet in DC! Amending the constitution is difficult and should only be undertaken in extreme situations, but this counts as that. Incumbent can buy reelection by spending the wealth of a generation yet born. I suspect that wasn't in the founders plan, and should be eliminated from ours.

If you agree with me, go to http://cutcapbalancepledge.com/pledge.php and join me in signing the pledge.

Until next time, keep on the firing line.

America’s birth certificate

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

One sentence of the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental congress on July 4, 1776, perhaps the most famous line, but it only begins to tell of the marvelous work that is the birth certificate of our great nation. While others can give a far more scholarly view, I simply wish to tell you exactly what these words say to me.

We hold these truths to be self-evident,  

Certain things are true just because they are. This is called by some natural law or moral absolutes by others. In some of the early states no law exists to make murder a crime, only to prescribe the penalty. It was superfluous to make a law against what God had so clearly set his stamp against. Moral absolutes in a Christian nation are Biblically based but natural law, the ideas of right and wrong precede even the books of Moses; they were hardwired into the human soul at the moment Adam arose from the sand, a part of the breath which God breathed in his nostrils.  (Romans 1)

that all men are created equal,

This too is a Biblical concept. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. (Acts 10: 33,34)   this was a monumental application of truth. To this time the will of God, or so it was supposed, resided in the hands of kings and noblemen and the concept of divine right was widely accepted; now these revolutionaries had decided to revisit the fundamental relationship between, government and Providence. One law equal for all. Sadly it would be some time before all Americans in all states were free, but with these words defining our very existence it was destined to be so.

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

Inalienable rights granted by God. Even in the Magna Cartra, as historic and bold as it was, the rights granted were granted by the “dread sovereign King John”  the continental congress proclaimed God and not the king as the source of all rights, this was as revolutionary theologically as it was politically.

that among these are

These rights listed are not the sum total of all rights. This foreshadows a government where only the specific enumerated powers fall to the purview of government.

Life

It is the most basic of all rights. Only in certain very limited cases has one man the right to take the life of another. Yet in our society the life of the unborn can be taken on a whim, yet in the health care law rationing will take the inalienable right to life out of the hand of God and put it in the hands of bureaucrats. It is no surprise that those who deny God, and deny moral absolutes and natural law would also deny the sacredness of life. If we do not restore our respect for life, our society will collapse and the same God who so richly blessed our founding will leave us to the wailing and gnashing of teethe that is the fate of all nations who abandon the just principles of their founding.   

    

Liberty

  Liberty is defined as- freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction,hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking,speaking, etc., according to choice.

That we and not the king or the president, or the first lady’s commission on nutrition can dictate our personal choices better than we can. The concept that we may pursue our lives according to our will and our conscience seems distant at times when our government wishes to dictate for us our toilets, our light bulbs,  rather we have to purchase health insurance or not. Still we have the power of the vote so if liberty is lost it was not stolen it was ceded. If we act now, I believe it still can be restored.

and the pursuit of Happiness

From these five words spring the American dream, that we can improve our lot and build a better future for each generation. From these five words has arisen the freest most prosperous society in the history of the world, and these five words imply the unbreakable link between the attainment of happiness and a free market system that affords those opportunities for rich and poor alike.

My friend from one sentence we gleaned so much, my advice to you between cookout and fireworks, take time to read the whole document, read it aloud, discuss it, grasp its meaning!

  

Until next time, happy Independence Day!