06.29.07

Study Hall

Posted in Literature, Today at 10:27 am by artistry

I’ve had a good month. Finished my study of Thessalonians and started introductory reading for 1 Corinthians. I am a little intimidated by the books for this study. They are big and long. It has been my policy for these studies to consult more than one commentary. I may come to regret that before I finish 1 Corinthians … or not … I feel like I am learning a lot from these studies.

I haven’t read any fiction for a while because I couldn’t find anything that sounded interesting. But I continue to whittle away at my reading list, and that is a good thing.

Melting Pot or Chamber Pot?

Posted in Politics, Today at 10:20 am by artistry

Finally, or so it seems, the “grand compromise” has gone down to defeat. Some few senators, precious few, listened to their constituents and voted against further consideration. That they called it “reform” was a strange choice of words, but so were many of the comments. Talk about political doublespeak! The crux of the matter is that we have millions of illegal aliens in this country. But our politicians have chosen to call them “undocumented citizens”. What test of citizenship have they met? Instead of taking steps to correct the situation, they want to “normalize the status” and thus open the borders to a flood of future undocumented citizens.

It’s pretty sad when our legislative body wants to normalize the situation instead of correcting it. If we are going to apply such thought to our border laws, what is next? Should we normalize rape? Murder? Let’s formulate a comprehensive policy to deal with the situation and implement it. If we had been doing a good job in this area, 9-11 might never have happened. Until we fix the flaws in the current system, it is ridiculous to think that we could administer a program to deal with millions of illegals. Oh, and yeah, isn’t it pretty foolish to think that people who have successfully flown under the radar thus far will voluntarily admit their status? *sigh*

06.23.07

Filters

Posted in Today, Worldview at 8:44 am by artistry

We all have filters. Striving to communicate is difficult enough when we are all talking the same language. In addition to understanding the language, we have a need to know something of the filters that our words go through. Most of use will describe ourselves as fair, willing to give a hearing to all sides of a situation. We delude ourselves. Whether we are talking or listening, we all have our filters securely in place. What we hear or understand is the result of the presuppositions which filter all we hear and experience. Presupposition may be defined as:

  1. to suppose or assume beforehand; take for granted in advance.
  2. (of a thing, condition, or state of affairs) to require or imply as an antecedent condition: An effect presupposes a cause.

If you have read this far, you might be in agreement or strongly denying what I have said. But think about the misunderstandings you have had with others. How many of those were due to you reading into what someone said or taking offense to what they never said because you heard them through your filters? We all do it, and we need to learn to drop the shields and listen, really listen to what people are trying to share with us.

If we really heard what politicians are saying, there might be some mighty shakeups in the political world. If we really heard what some of the advocates of various interest groups are saying, they might have a lot of explaining to do. The sad thing is that people sometimes count on our filters to give meaning to their meaningless drivel. :-P

06.19.07

Al’s Book

Posted in Literature, Today at 11:09 am by artistry

I spent time last week reading Al Gore’s new book, The Assault on Reason. I would encourage you to do the same. Al takes issue with television news as entertainment, as well as television watching habits in general. He also catalogs how we got to where we are right now in Iraq and it’s not a pretty picture. Time has an excerpt online. You can also read portions at Amazon.

If we haven’t all lost our ability and patience to read, this book will open your eyes to the new reality of our country. More than anything else, it called to me to be part of the governing process. Like many, I have come to feel that the government doesn’t represent my concerns. Like many, I have been silenced by the refusal of Congress to do anything. Like many, I have been appalled that our republic seems to be eroding. It’s time to take it back. It’s time to let our representatives know what we want and expect from them and it’s time to hold them accountable.

06.14.07

Today in history

Posted in Today at 10:51 am by artistry

Flag Day!

06.05.07

Making the call

Posted in Politics, Today at 3:01 pm by artistry

I made a call today to my senator, Amy Klobuchar. I talked to one of her staffers, who listened to my concerns about the immigration bill and said he would pass them along. The bottom line is, we have to do more than just have opinions and complain. We need to let our representatives know where we stand. If not, we deserve what we get and have no grounds for criticism.