"Third aircraft carrier sent to waters off Iran..."
That headline started a conversation with my favorite war skeptic.
"Shoot, that means more boys dying," was her response.
I firmly believe war has a necessary place. I wonder about Iraq, but I understand the premise. Like it or not we are in a war... a war with Islam. We are the infidels. Our culture is their enemy.
We can either choose our battles or have them chosen for us. Military wisdom says that in that situation, the wisest thing to do is to choose your battle, choose your ground.
Either take the war on your own grounds and lose some, or have it brought to you and lose many many more...
Israeli intelligence is saying that we're running out of time to destroy Iran's nuclear ability. Imagine a nuclear Iran... When they speak with a bomb in one hand, will we HAVE to listen??? Are we willing to strike pre-emptively regardless of public opinion...
It seems to me we must.
D--
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
:) Here we go again
Just a quick thought on the primary. Candidates are giving lip-service to New Hampshire, saying it's still important, but look at their agendas. And look at our own Merrimack Fourth of July parade. Only Duncan Hunter (GOP) and Bill Richardson (Dem) were a part.
Four years ago we had Kerry, Dean, Edwards, and all the 2nd and third tier.
Another interesting note, the only folks with any decent contingents were Dem, Clinton, Obama and Edwards.
D--
Four years ago we had Kerry, Dean, Edwards, and all the 2nd and third tier.
Another interesting note, the only folks with any decent contingents were Dem, Clinton, Obama and Edwards.
D--
Friday, March 30, 2007
Picking up the Gauntlet...
Why is it so danged hard to keep up with my blog? Might it be life? Might it be illness, a dam bursting in my hot-water-heater? Might it be a washing maching breaking? Might it be its replacement also breaking?
Might it be life?
I've been active of late in the local realm here in M-Town. Our school board is going through yet another spasm of "tax-cutting". I used to be right in line with the tax cutters until I realized that they were more about gutting than cutting.
I admit it, I LOVE the political process... the game of it... the heat of battle... the smell of gunpowder... the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd!!
General Lee is quoted and saying to General Stonewall Jackson, "It is a good thing that war is so bloody and terrible else we would learn to love it too much."
As for the picture, it turns out I am still not free to fully discuss the how and why that we got in to a receiving line on the South Lawn of the Whitehouse. All I CAN say is that I'm very proud of my eldest daughter. Her access badge has a different color and a different letter than ours.
Where to go next here...
D--
Might it be life?
I've been active of late in the local realm here in M-Town. Our school board is going through yet another spasm of "tax-cutting". I used to be right in line with the tax cutters until I realized that they were more about gutting than cutting.
I admit it, I LOVE the political process... the game of it... the heat of battle... the smell of gunpowder... the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd!!
General Lee is quoted and saying to General Stonewall Jackson, "It is a good thing that war is so bloody and terrible else we would learn to love it too much."
As for the picture, it turns out I am still not free to fully discuss the how and why that we got in to a receiving line on the South Lawn of the Whitehouse. All I CAN say is that I'm very proud of my eldest daughter. Her access badge has a different color and a different letter than ours.
Where to go next here...
D--
Friday, December 08, 2006
A Pause ... and a Picture
It was a great Thanksgiving. Got to see my eldest... Got to fix turkey dinner in a tiny kitchen in a big apartment.
Had a great time... In DC. In a place where everywhere we turned, politics was there to remind us.
And we had an amazing event. The picture is attached. I can't talk much about it now, but will in a couple of weeks... Still, this is a great system of government where our leaders are still reachable.
D--
Friday, November 17, 2006
None is not a choice...
Pick a party.
It's pretty obvious that my view of the world mirrors Thomas Sowell (see earlier post). I believe deeply that we are in a fallen world.
That man's heart never changes.
That left to his own devices, man will inevitably be selfish, self-serving, self-seeking.
That we are not getting better and better.
That we are in a constrained spiral.
That sometimes we are spiralling up to a point.
That sometimes we are spiralling down.
That the dregs of the Roman Empire and the depths of Nazi Germany and the horrors of Stalin's Gulag are the natural outcomes of one-sided rule.
That's why I believe in our parties.
I desperately believe we need the Conservatives (today that's the GOP mostly) to remind us that we are individuals and that collectivism batters incentive, trashes the economy, lowers a yoke of bondage to the group.
I desperately believe (though I don't want to) that we need the Liberals (mostly the Democratic party) to remind us that the group must work as a whole to lay out a safety net, that individualism can leave many in the dust.
As believers we must have BOTH parts to us... we are a body... we are one in Christ... we are individually saved and stand alone before our Judge.
But I believe if we do not choose one party or the other to be involved with we are saying that Christ does not belong in the Public Square. That we abandon the ideas of the parties to the godless who will run them both into the ground and attempt to gain absolute precedence.
Christians ARE the middle.. but only if we are engaged.
But still...
Which party?
D--
It's pretty obvious that my view of the world mirrors Thomas Sowell (see earlier post). I believe deeply that we are in a fallen world.
That man's heart never changes.
That left to his own devices, man will inevitably be selfish, self-serving, self-seeking.
That we are not getting better and better.
That we are in a constrained spiral.
That sometimes we are spiralling up to a point.
That sometimes we are spiralling down.
That the dregs of the Roman Empire and the depths of Nazi Germany and the horrors of Stalin's Gulag are the natural outcomes of one-sided rule.
That's why I believe in our parties.
I desperately believe we need the Conservatives (today that's the GOP mostly) to remind us that we are individuals and that collectivism batters incentive, trashes the economy, lowers a yoke of bondage to the group.
I desperately believe (though I don't want to) that we need the Liberals (mostly the Democratic party) to remind us that the group must work as a whole to lay out a safety net, that individualism can leave many in the dust.
As believers we must have BOTH parts to us... we are a body... we are one in Christ... we are individually saved and stand alone before our Judge.
But I believe if we do not choose one party or the other to be involved with we are saying that Christ does not belong in the Public Square. That we abandon the ideas of the parties to the godless who will run them both into the ground and attempt to gain absolute precedence.
Christians ARE the middle.. but only if we are engaged.
But still...
Which party?
D--
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Party Animals...
What about party affiliation? Can an avid disciple of Jesus be active in a party? Is it right, or should they remain actively independent??
First, it is my belief that the CHURCH of Jesus should NEVER attach themselves to a party. I believe the American Evangelical church has done that too much today. Say Evangelical, and you hear Republican.
The problem is that Jesus is superior to politics. The church can be the handmaiden only of Jesus, and not of a party as well.
Power-politics, also, is not the way that Jesus' Kingdom is realized.
Remember?
That said, the American system IS a party system. As individuals, if we are activist (SHOULD we be activist??) the only adequate mechanism to work within is the party.
To say we should NOT be party members strikes me as saying we should not belong to any corporation or organization outside the Church of Jesus.
Not very practical.
Yet party membership is often delusional. IT's so easy to forget that it IS Jesus' Kingdom we seek. That we are working for a Kingdom and Master not of this world. That we will NOT make His Kingdom come by any means save His power.
And Jesus' power is usually at cross-purposes with the World.
But if we absent ourselves from parties (retreating back to the Evangelical/Fundamentalist model of pre-1976) we cede the ground. We are to be IN the world and not OF the world.
But which party???
D--
First, it is my belief that the CHURCH of Jesus should NEVER attach themselves to a party. I believe the American Evangelical church has done that too much today. Say Evangelical, and you hear Republican.
The problem is that Jesus is superior to politics. The church can be the handmaiden only of Jesus, and not of a party as well.
Power-politics, also, is not the way that Jesus' Kingdom is realized.
My Kingdom is not of this world.
Remember?
That said, the American system IS a party system. As individuals, if we are activist (SHOULD we be activist??) the only adequate mechanism to work within is the party.
To say we should NOT be party members strikes me as saying we should not belong to any corporation or organization outside the Church of Jesus.
Not very practical.
Yet party membership is often delusional. IT's so easy to forget that it IS Jesus' Kingdom we seek. That we are working for a Kingdom and Master not of this world. That we will NOT make His Kingdom come by any means save His power.
And Jesus' power is usually at cross-purposes with the World.
But if we absent ourselves from parties (retreating back to the Evangelical/Fundamentalist model of pre-1976) we cede the ground. We are to be IN the world and not OF the world.
But which party???
D--
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State
Just a quick one today... Emerging church "father" Brian McLaren has said that Christians should not be Red or Blue, but should be Purple.
Meaning? We need to stay away from party affiliations. The whole of the gospel is not containable in either.
More on that tomorrow...
D--
Meaning? We need to stay away from party affiliations. The whole of the gospel is not containable in either.
More on that tomorrow...
D--
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