Blogger Blahs

Man, has December been a busy month! And on top of it all, illness has beset me for the past couple weeks, I've been travelling, and etc., etc....

Then there's been the mental/writing block. It seems that I can only think of worthwhile blogging topics at odd times (like, for example, when I'm driving my car or moments before I fall asleep for the night). Or, truth be told, I have the occasional urge to write on something horrifically controversial, but can't think of a good way to do it. (For example, one of these days I'm going to write a post on why ladies should always wear nylons with skirts/dresses when attending any sort of formal event or church service, but I can't even come up with a good title for the post. Another topic: Who still knows how to dress for a wedding?)

With a lot of huge elections coming up this year, a Sunday School lesson series in the works, and the inevitable events of 2010 looming, I'm sure the writing juices will soon start flowing freely again. Happy New Year to everyone!

Why You Should Still Be Concerned

I blogged earlier about why Senate liberals, despite all their bluster about not getting everything they want in the healthcare bill, will inevitably vote for it. (Howard Dean says he wouldn't, but he does not get a vote.)

This opinion was backed up by, of all people, former President Bill Clinton. From foxnews.com:

Former President Bill Clinton came to the defense of the Senate bill. Clinton, whose ambitions were humbled by the collapse of his own health care remake, reminded Democrats that political pros don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good.

"Take it from someone who knows: These chances don't come around every day," Clinton said in a statement. "Allowing this effort to fall short now would be a colossal blunder -- both politically for our party, and far more important, for the physical, fiscal and economic health of our country."

Clinton understands how this has worked and how it will work. Quite frankly, so do the Senate liberals/statists. They will argue for what they want, and they will complain about what they don't get...but they will vote for the bill.

It's the (so-called) "moderate Democrats" and the Senators from Maine that we have to put pressure upon.

Republicans in the Senate: Fight!

I read this absolutely first-rate article over at the RedState blog today and thought that I must share it with everyone who reads my blog. I will copy part of it here; you can read the rest at this link.

It is absolutely vital that the contemptible healthcare legislation sitting in the Senate be killed (and then bludgeoned) by whatever means necessary. The means are there. This is how it should happen:

The Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, has parliamentary rules and procedures that give the minority the ability to stall legislation. In fact, unlike the House, the minority have the ability to virtually paralyze the Senate. Doing so is not something we would want or expect for every bad bill that comes through Congress, but the proposed healthcare legislation is probably the worst piece of legislation ever considered by the United States Congress. It is the most intrusive, most damaging, most costly, most dangerous bill to the economic and personal freedom and liberty of individual Americans that Congress has ever considered. If there is any bill that deserves being stopped by shutting down the Senate, it is this one.

There are a whole series of parliamentary maneuvers that could be used by Republican senators to stop this bill. There is a hard backstop to the current process (Christmas). The Republicans’ goal should be to prevent Reid from passing the bill before that time. If he goes past Christmas and is forced to adjourn or recess, the momentum will shift in favor of those opposing the bill.

How could this be done?

Keep reading here.

2010 Nobel Prize Nominees

President Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize today, and gave a speech that essentially defended his role in war. I can agree with that...but he didn't exactly pick the most appropriate time to say what he said.

In the spirit of today's event, I was running through my mind some possible nominees for the 2010 Nobel prizes.

Physics: To the guy who was able to use the dinky car jack to successfully change a flat tire on his car in under 30 minutes, and was able to replace everything in the trunk as it was originally found.

Economics: To Dave Ramsey, who could teach a lot of world leaders a lot about such important topics as debt.

Medicine: To the mom who successfully and simultaneously treated three sick kids on the same weekend.

Peace: Me. Just because I'm a nice guy. And I like peace.

Literature: My wife. She writes great poetry about such things as turning 40 and healing after a bout with diverticulitis.

And On A More Thankful Note...

Today I encountered the text of Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation of 1863. With the Civil War continuing amidst a great deal of uncertainty, these words of Lincoln's remind us today that we have all the more reason to be thankful.

Here is the text:

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.