Good! Fast! Cheap!

I went to the dry cleaners today and noticed a sign above the counter that read “Caesars’ Dry Cleaning – Good! Fast! Cheap!

“So” I thought, “Caesars has transcended the iron law of production which holds you can only have two out of three.” That is:

You can get things that are high quality, quickly, but they will be expensive;

You can get things that are high quality, inexpensively, but it will take a long time; And

You can get things quickly and inexpensively, but they won’t be very good.

Apparently this applies to everything but dry cleaning!

Joe H.

The Battle of the Bulge

I really liked this article depicting Christian holdouts on the "homosexuality is sin" posture to the Japanese soldiers in the Philippine jungles who continued fighting World War II long after it had ended - refusing to believe the war had ended despite repeated attempts to contact them via dropped leaflets and radio broadcasts.


Unfortunately, I don't think it is the most accurate analogy for our current situation. I agree that the "Christianity is sin" faction is doomed - just as the Japanese were doomed to inevitable defeat after the battle of Midway. But the Battle of Midway did not end the war with Japan - nor is the battle for the soul of Christianity on the gay issue over.

I think a better analogy is the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans were doomed once they lost the Battle of Stalingrad. But they didn't seem to realize it. The D-day invasion hastened the date of their ultimate demise, but they still didn't realize they were doomed. The Battle of the Bulge was Germany's final major counter-offensive - they realized they were doomed only after it failed.
I think the "homosexuality is sin" faction is in the midst of the Battle of the Bulge. Things are getting desperate, but they've still got some fight left in them.
By way of illustration, someone recently “outed” me as a supporter of gay love/marriage before our congregation. After the service, several attendees discretely approached me and quietly told me that "I was not alone." It is true that Christians are changing their minds. The hardliners are losing. But they still have enough power to keep most Christian gay love supporters in the closet.
Joe H.

Divine Endorsement

Don't look now, but it appears the Almighty has endorsed multiple GOP candidates for president.

Geez!

When I see such comments strewn together in the manner this article presents them, I laugh at the human folly (and narcissism). But because all of these candidates are supposedly followers of God, I also wonder why they fail to take proper heed to one of the first rules the Almighty ever laid down – e.g., “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.”

Misuses his name? Wonder what that means?

Joe H.

Tax Cuts at Ten Years

Apparently, the Bush tax cuts turn ten years of this week.  Here's a smart analysis of what the achieved, but mostly failed to achieve.


Joe H.

Warning Shots and Bells

Sarah Palin on Paul Revere.


http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/sarah-palins-american-history-class-1


What I find truely remarkable is that millions of Americans will still find her a compelling political figure.

Joe H.

The Moral Depravity of Senator Mitch McConnell

This is all quite mind-blowing. As you know, House and Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of Representative Paul Ryan’s budget plan which “ends Medicare as we know it” – see my two previous posts for an explanation. Ryan’s plan has proved so politically toxic that it recently caused Republicans to lose a special election in New York’s 26th congressional district – a district in which Republicans won nearly 70% of the vote just eight short months ago! A district that has been consistently Republican for decades.

The first thing to notice is how crazy it was for the House Republican leadership to force their members to vote on such a politically risky budget that had absolutely no chance of passing the Senate or getting the President’s signature. The magnitude of this blunder becomes even greater when you recall that Republicans used “death panel” and “government takeover of health care” rhetoric to win the last election. Scaring seniors into thinking the Democrats wanted to cut Medicare to get elected, and then, when elected, actually voting in favor of a plan that would do away with Medicare as a social insurance program, is pretty stupid if you ask me.

It’s stupidity arising from a mix of ideological rigidity and arrogance.

But stupidity is tolerable. Loving your political party more than your country is not. And that’s the only way I can read Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent threat that he will prevent the senate from raising the nation’s debt ceiling, unless cuts to Medicare are part of the deal

For those of you unfamiliar with the debt ceiling issue, and how economically catastrophic it will be if Congress fails to raise the nation’s debt ceiling within the next few months, here is an excellent, accessible, and mercifully short discussion of the subject by conservative economist Bruce Bartlett. Suffice it to say it would be akin to financial Armageddon for the United State and, most likely, the rest of the world.

Senator McConnell knows this. Republican congressional leaders have themselves publically admitted this numerous times. But McConnell is desperate to save Republicans from the political consequences of voting for Ryan’s Medicare killing budget. And the only way he can do this is to implicate Democrats in cutting Medicare. Hence, he is threatening to do incomprehensible damage to the nation’s economy if the Democrats don’t implicate themselves in cutting Medicare and thereby give Republican’s cover on the Ryan vote.

Threatening to kill the economy to save your political party from its own stupidity? How despicable is that? How does this man remain in office?

Joe H.

Demagoguery Verses "Sounding the Alarm"

Republicans voted en masse for Paul Ryan’s budget. Ryan’s budget ends Medicare as we know it – as a government run guaranteed health insurance plan covering all senior citizens – and replaces it with government “subsidies” (a.k.a. “vouchers”) which seniors would use to purchase health insurance from private insurers.

Ryan’s plan is deeply unpopular. However, instead of defending the plan on its the merits, the vast majority of Republicans are complaining about Democratic “demagoguery” on the Medicare issue.

For the record, “demagoguery” occurs when a leader uses false (or misleading) and inflammatory rhetoric to secure popular support. Republican allegations that the Affordable Health Care Act contained “death panels” and constituted “a government takeover of heath care” were demagoguery - they were both false and inflammatory and were used to win an election. To the contrary, the Democrats’ allegation that Republicans voted to “end Medicare as we know it” is not demagoguery - it is a fair and accurate description of what Republicans did.

Of course, there is demagoguery on the issue. The commercial in which someone dumps a wheel-chair bound senior off a cliff could fairly be considered demagoguery by those who think Ryan’s policy will work. That is because the ad unfairly assigns a sinister motive to the policy’s supporters. But that is a far cry from Democrats pointing out that Republicans voted to “end Medicare as we know it.” That assertion is entirely true.

The key distinction between “demagoguery” on the one hand, and “sounding the alarm” on the other, is the truth or falsity of the speaker’s assertions. So, I’m sorry Republicans. If you’re going to vote for alarming policies, you should not object when your opponents sound the alarm.

Joe H.