Veterans Mentoring Young Vets

I LOVE THIS PHOTO. Was taken last week on the American River in northern California. If you look a minute, it's pretty easy to figure out some of what's going on.

Want to post it for our hearts and prayers to fill in the details for Veterans Day.

God bless our veterans of all ages. May God bless America. And a good man with a good influence on other, younger men is hard to find.

A Little Antedote On the Muslim Killer At Fort Hood

COMPLIMENTS OF THE BLEEDING HEART NEW YORK TIMES

DOES this surprise you about the lunatic Muslim gunman at Fort Hood? Does it soften your heart?

An uncle who lives in Ramallah said Major Hasan chose psychiatry over surgery after fainting while observing childbirth during his medical training. The uncle, Rafiq Hamad, described Major Hasan as a gentle, quiet, deeply sensitive man who once owned a bird that he fed by placing it in his mouth and allowing it to eat masticated food.

When the bird died, Mr. Hamad said, Major Hasan “mourned for two or three months, dug a grave for it and visited it.”

How quaint. Get out the violins. Let's keep those humanizing articles coming in the NYT. I shudder to think what's next.

Funny, Yet Not So Funny

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S continuing weak dollar and tax and spend policies are going to take down more than Wall Street. Sadly they will take the American people down even further, before he and this insane, tooth-fairy Congress can be voted out of office and ridden out of town on the rails.

As John Tamny says below, every single day this administration is tied up in gridlock and experiences delays of all kinds is one day closer to the 2010 mid-term elections. Now that's something we can really hope for.

Took Some Profits in Gold Monday

ALSO WORTH READING: IF OBAMA IS SO BAD WHY ARE MARKETS UP? Hint--A better explanation for the stock-market rebound, then, involves what has not happened since last spring. The unseen threats (from the Obama administration) to market health yet to materialize may provide a better explanation.
WITH THE DEVALUING OF THE DOLLAR sadly begun under Bush and now continuing under Obama, the price of gold and gold stocks is soaring again. I believe this uptrend of gold verses the U.S. dollar will continue for the foreseeable future. That continues to send the smart money into hard assets like gold, silver and commodities in order to hold value. This isn't just happening on the personal levels, but with many countries, most recently like India.

Essentially, a devalued dollar is the same as a gigantic tax on the American people, as each of our dollars buys less and less. This is happening even as Mr. Obama wants to tax us more and more for government services most of us don't want. He will never be re-elected to a second term if he doesn't get this devaluation thing under control so that our buying power doesn't continue to erode.

Essentially, a devalued dollar doesn't cause inflation; it IS inflation.

Still, I think a small correction is coming in gold or will be here, perhaps today. So I took some profits yesterday. But only temporarily plan to stay on the commodities sidelines. I would not buy any more gold or silver until a little correction comes.

I believe it's important for all of us to understand the history of the relationship between gold and the dollar in this country and how Nixon unpegged the two at Bretton Woods decades ago. Basically, it was here that the gold standard of value was replaced by the almighty dollar standard. And here we got relative and floating standard values rather than fixed.

Anytime something fixed goes relative--be it morals, Constitutional interpretation or currency valuation--we're opening the door for eventual chaos.

It's a complicated thing for me that's taken work and concentration to understand, yet, it's well worth the effort, as the devalued dollar may be about to cause a geo-political earthquake, the likes of which we haven't seen. In the most severe scenarios, a complete dollar collapse could cause a collapse of our entire, and the world's, economy resulting in anarchy. I don't think that's imminent. However, I do think it prudent for all of us to prepare for a lesser case scenario.

Just read a fairly good article and review in the (London) TimesOnline by William Rees-Mogg that I want to link to here. Take a look if you have time and if you want to, come back and tell me what you think.

Meanwhile, I'll be watching the markets carefully today, more carefully than usual.

Preparing to "GO MOBE"

OVER THE WEEKEND, I had the pleasure of having a cup of coffee with these guys early one morning. They're Knoxville men in the 278th division of the Tennessee National Guard and are about to go mobe and deploy to Iraq on December 1. Most have been there before and will leave their families and full-time jobs again to serve our country another year.

Their particular unit is assigned to protect the American Embassy in Baghdad. After talking to them, I feel better already. Below the photos they kindly agreed I could take (Again, I do not tell anyone I meet that I'm a blogger), I would like to give a brief synopsis---later today---of some of the politically incorrect things they told me. Meanwhile, may God bless these men and soldiers who serve our country so well.
IRAQ 101 (none of this is new, but a fun review), IN A NUTSHELL, what they said:

Don't believe anything you read or hear in the news about Iraq, or Obama's War, cause they don't know what's really going on......There's been good progress in Iraq, but a lot more to do....not only more fighting, but rebuilding infra-structure and keeping things from going downhill.

All the other countries have pulled out, except us and the two-timing Saudis. We need to have a presence there for at least 10 more years so that some of the children who are now 9-10-11 can grow up with a sense of freedom and begin to take positions in the real world in business and government. These young people who've lived through the war and tasted freedom won't let it slide back again.

Basically, you've got the Sunnis who are like Old Testament pharisees going by the letter of the law of Islam and are really strict.

Then you have the Shi'ia who are more like New Testament people, not as strict and rigid as the Sunnis. The conflicts between the two sects of Islam in Iraq are ongoing.

Then you got the Kurds who just want their own land up north which is essentially a mountain range. (From the Wikipedia line above: As a major economic power in Iraq, Kurdistan has the lowest poverty rates and highest standard of living in Iraq.[3] It is the most stable and secure region of Iraq where not a single coalition soldier or foreigner has been killed, wounded or kidnapped since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[4] Maintaining its own foreign relations, Kurdistan hosts a number of consulates and representation offices of countries most notably those of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Israel and Russia.)

The Saudis act like they're helping us on one hand, but on the other, are sending radicals and terrorists into Iraq through Syria to destroy everything we're trying to do. Saudis know there are vast oil reserves in Iraq and they're very interested in them. It's more than the Saudis and Kuwaitis have together. There's a lot of money and oil money on the line in Iraq and that's the truth.

But we're going to make it a good year and progress will be made while we're there....

When I asked if any of them will return home to visit during the year away? they all said probably not except in emergencies. It was too upsetting and disrupting to their families to come and go again. But with cell phones and computers, they'll be in constant communications.

Monday, Let's Start the Week With An Ode to Political Incorrectness

A GOOD FRIEND in Wyoming emailed me this today. I like it. It's supposed to be written by Andy Rooney for 60 Minutes but who knows. I'll attribute it to him anyway and if he didn't say it, then attribute it to me, cause I agree with everything that's in it. While I don't usually don't put stuff from emails on Webutante, I'm making an exception here.

I feel rebellious and very politically incorrect this morning, and it fits my kick-the-can mood. So without further ado, take it away whoever-you-are:

I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers.

The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America.

Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America ; and see what happens.

Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE ?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.. I have the right 'NOT' to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English! My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

think the police should have every right to shoot you if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in English, see the above lines..

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business. We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich I don't pity the poor I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building...."

----Andy Rooney

Sunday, Tim Keller On Idols of the Heart

MOST PEOPLE SPEND THEIR LIVES trying to make their heart's fondest dreams come true. Isn't that what life's all about, "the pursuit of happiness?" We search endlessly for ways to acquire the things we desire, and we are willing to sacrifice much to achieve them. We never imagine that getting our heart's desires might just be the worst thing that can ever happen to us.

My wife and I once knew a single woman, Anna, who wanted desperately to have children. She eventually married and contrary to the expectations of her doctors, was able to bear two healthy children despite her age.

But her dreams did not come true. Her overpowering drive to give her children a perfect life made it impossible for her to actually enjoy them. Her overprotectiveness, fears and anxieties, and her need to control every detail of her children's lives made the family miserable. Anna's oldest child did poorly in school and showed signs of serious emotional problems. The younger child was filled with anger. There's a good chance her drive to give her children wonderful lives will actually be the thing that ruins them.

Getting her heart's deepest desire may end up being the worst thing that ever happened to her.

THE INEVITABILITY of IDOLATRY

Why is getting your heart's deepest desire so often a disaster? In the book of Romans 1, Saint Paul answers that the human heart fashions these desires into idols, and summarizes saying, "They worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25).

Every human being must live for something. Something must capture our imaginations, our heart's most fundamental allegiance and hope. But, the Bible tells us, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, that object will never be God himself.

If we look to created things to give us the meaning, hope and happiness that only God himself can give, it will eventually fail to deliver. And it will break our hearts.

The woman, Anna, who was ruining her children's lives did not "love her children too much," but rather she loved God too little in relationship to them. As a result, her child-god were crushed under the weight of her expectations.

The Bible is filled with story after story depicting the innumerable forms and devastating effects of idol worship. Every counterfeit god a heart can choose----whether love, money, work, success, sex or power has a compelling biblical narrative that explains how that particular kind of idolatry works itself out in our lives.

-----Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

I'm There!

UPDATE: Absolutely fabulous day, people, weather, views and most of all camaraderie! The hike was very strenuous and pushed us all, if not to our limits, close to them. Only wish I could do it once a week, forever! What a workout!

SO GOOD to be here, in the oldest mountain range in North America! Even though, I belong to--- am completely in love with--- another. It's only a weekend thing.
At the top, some of us just take a nap and enjoy the peace and exhaustion, happy we made it.

Sunshine in Spades

THE SUN CAME OUT Sunday and this week----after months and months of dreary, seeming endless rain---it's been about as perfect weather as any I've seen this year. Blue skies with cool, crisp air. It's all I could do to stay inside at all the past few days. Managed to barely do most house and office chores, but frankly, being outside has been too good to pass up.

Friday, I leave for East Tennessee to join hikers in the Smokies. Saturday there's a mountain to climb with my kind of elevation gain. All to say, I'll be doing some short posts for a while. Getting out in lots of fresh air and exercise is at the top of my list right now. We all need it, but I really do.

My dear family member who spun out of control several weeks ago after going through a very difficult bout of insomnia---having suffered with this for years, but after Michael Jackson died recently has gone into utter and debilitating terror/hysteria over it---has gone to a month-long treatment program to hopefully break the cycle and her paralysing fear---and negative self-speak--that she'll never be able to sleep again. Even when she gets 4-5 hours sleep, it's not good enough. The need and demand for perfection is destroying her sanity.

My prayers are for her to get help and relief and learn to connect and get reassurance whenever she needs it--and to learn to sooth and reassure herself sometimes through these panic attacks---before it gets to this completely dysfunctional and dire (in her eyes) place again. My solace is that God is in control and I'm not. I wish I could fix this, but she has to find her own way and I believe she will by the Grace of God. My job is to pray and stay sane and centered and do what I can. But it's been tough.

Anyway, I'm going hiking this weekend. Praise God!

Intrade Lowers Odds and Boom on Health Care Reform Passing This Year

ODDS DROP FROM 14% to 6% OVERNIGHT

SOME FUNNY, HOPEFUL THINGS are happening on the way to Nancy Pelosi healthcare-land: Monday's elections of two new Republican governors AND our continued protest of the government's attempted take-over of a huge, mammoth part of our economy. Please keep the heat on Congress. We can't get lax and let this Faustian thing sneak by. Nancy knows no shame and will do absolutely anything to get her way with this. And we need to keep the heat on so as not to win the battle and lose the war.

More on this later.

WANNA BET? Go here.

H/T

From Mere Narcissism to Sociopathic Epidemic?

I BELIEVE, as did the late Dr. Murray Bowen who pioneered family systems/differentiation-of-self theories (The Bowen Center) of human behavior, that our country and culture---are in a massive societal regression. I also think there's no end in sight for our downhill spiral. We live in coarse and vulgar times, to put it mildly.

Anyway, Robin of Berkeley has just written a piece at American Thinker that's well-worth reading entitled Sociopathic Epidemic. This shows in shocking focus where we're probably heading and parts of society have already arrived.

Of course, her perspective is from the way-liberal, left coast and highlights some extreme and tragic behavior out in Pelosi-land., where empathy flows like honey.

In this piece, Robin makes the distinction between our being a nation of mere narcissists who nonetheless have in-tact consciences which can feel shame and remorse, to being a nation of sociopaths who have totally separated from all moral constraints and the ability to know right from wrong.

It's no surprise, in such a sociopathic world, black is white, up is down and evil is good. Everything in life is relative and divorced from all spiritual, moral and founding principles as individual omnipotence and its concomitant adoration of self-esteem is raised to dizzying heights and staggering proportions.

In the beginning, middle and end though, only profound, individual spiritual renewal can save us from ourselves. This is something we can seek and pray for.

I want to come back later with my short list of individual behaviors that I think lead us from narcissism to sociopathtic nihilism and endemic to individual behavior today. None of this is new, yet I want to reiterate it.

What do I mean when I say we're living in a societal regression? I'll be posting various thoughts during the day. But here are a few for starters:

***We live in a constant feeling state of anxiety which comes from our lower reptilian brains and mistake this feeling state for reality.

***Living out of feelings demands that we spend most of our waking hours and much of our sleep time managing and medicating our feelings from what we don't want to something we do. We want stimulation and then relief. Drugs, tobacco, alcohol, sex, shopping and all kinds of addictive behaviors---where we get less and less or a kick even with more of the substance---are part of this syndrome.

****Loyalty to tribe, family, friends, groups and significant others---even despicable ones in the face of cruel behavior---is mandatory and more important than living from principles and doing what's right. Taking a stand against group think is not OK and risks expulsion from the lower functioning immature group. Bowen called this fusion. The only way out is differentiation of self and such a process requires higher functioning brain power.

***Projection takes the place of human introspection which naturally leads to taking responsibility and making changes where changes are called for.

****The inability to either make an amends or receive and acknowledge another's amends comes with increasing narcissism.

****An irresistible attraction to drama and adrenaline in greater and greater amounts.

***The need to be right rather than authentic, especially when being authentic conflicts with our need to be loyal/fused to our group. Authenticity is not letting every crass emotion fly; it comes from having processed our emotions and then getting to the real issues underneath the rawness of feelings.

****A sense of entitlement---which is a lack of appreciation and gratitude---goes with increasing narcissism. In working the 12 steps a sign of recovery is always a sense of gratitude and of personal responsibility. Conversely, falling in the hole goes with ingratitude and narcissism.

All of us to some degree possess many these traits, and we must choose whether we take up the long and arduous spiritual journey of recovery and from narcissism to sanity and maturity. It is always a journey from living, working and recreating in the lower reptilian realms up into the saner neo-cortex and higher brain. It takes courage, humor and patience.

It's never a straight line up, but filled with many fits and starts and detours. I can tell you from experience. Still our recovery into sanity is the only hope for a regressed society. We can't even begin it without a belief in God which hopefully sooner rather than later becomes a belief in the redeeming power of Christ.

House Call in Washington on Thursday

ACCORDING TO AN EMAIL I received last night from Rep.Marsha Blackburn, thousands of people are so concerned about the Pelosi healthcare reform bill that may be passed in the House on Friday, that they're getting in their cars, hopping planes, buses and trains to arrive in Washington Thursday afternoon to demonstrate and protest against it.

It's called a House Call. Not a minute too soon either. Pelosi and her liberal band of thieves are hell-bent on passing this travesty. We all need to get on the band wagon and protest by phone, email, in person commiting ourselves to doing whatever we can to keep this bill from passing in the House.

Let's Start The Week With Only One Word: NO!

UPDATE: When No Means No!

LET'S BE HONEST: Sometimes the best way to start the week is with a resounding NO!

NO THANKS, NOT TODAY, NO WAY, JOSE! OVER MY DEAD BODY! There are many reasons to say NO this Monday---Nancy's stem winder health care monstrosity that is again being attempted to be rammed down our throats whether we like it or not for our own good, for starters. But, if the reason for NO! could be linked to so-called fashion pics, then look no further than the ladies below! These outfits are so bad, it's an effort to say the very word.

Go Fug Yourself has lots of clever copy on these ghastly get-ups--like sad starlet wearing grandma's curtains. However, it's late and we're all way too tired to read and laugh at them anyhow. So in the interim, all I can say is NO! And if you have to ask why, then you need a good night's sleep and maybe tomorrow you'll wake up and understand.

Sunday

THANK GOD FOR RENEWAL after a rough and rainy week! What a difference a couple of good nights' sleeps makes, as well as exercise, healthy eating, detachment and of course prayer. Thank you for your prayers. I'm back in business and will put a Sunday post below soon. Best of all---there must be some mistake---the sun is actually shining brightly early this Sunday morning!

*********

FROM TIM KELLER'S NEW BOOK, COUNTERFEIT GODS:

Money can become a spiritual addiction, and like all addictions it hides its true proportions from its victims. We take more and greater risks to get an ever diminishing satisfaction from the thing we crave, until a breakdown occurs. When we begin to recover, we ask, "What were we thinking? How could we have been so blind?" We wake up like people with a hangover who can hardly remember the night before. But why did we act so irrationally?" Why did we so completely lose sight of what is right?

The Bible's answer is that the human heart is an "idol factory."

When most people think of "idols" they have in mind literal statues---or the next pop star anointed by Simon Crowell. Yet while traditional idol worship still occurs in many places in the world, internal idol worship, within the heart, is universal.

In Ezekiel 14:3, God is saying that the human heart takes good things like success, love and romance, material possessions and even family, and turns them into ultimate things that come before God. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.

The central plot device of "The Lord of the Rings" is the Dark Lord Sauron's Ring of Power, which corrupts anyone who tries to use it, however good his or her intentions. The ring is what Professor Tom Shippey calls a "psychic amplifier," which takes the heart's fondest desires and magnifies them to idolatrous proportions.

Some good characters in the book want to liberate slaves, or preserve their people's lands, or visit wrongdoers with just punishment. These are all good objectives. But the Ring makes them willing to do anything to achieve them, anything at all.

The Ring turns the good thing into an absolute that overturns every other allegiance or value. The wearer of the Ring becomes increasingly enslaved and addicted to it, for an idol is something we cannot live without. We must have it, and therefore it drives us to break rules we once honored, to harm others and even ourselves in order to get it.

Idols are spiritual addictions that lead to terrible evil, in Tolkien's novel and real life.

---Tim Keller

I'll continue to post on this book next weekend and several weeks after.

Dr. Thomas Sowell's Superb Series on the True Economics of Healthcare

READ THE WHOLE THING AND ALL OF ITS PARTS

FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS and several to follow, Investor Business Daily is featuring an editorial series on the economics of healthcare, written by Dr. Thomas Sowell, of the Hoover Institute, and taken from his recently published book, Applied Economics. These daily writings are from a chapter in his book on the economics of healthcare. It is neither shallow nor easy reading.

I would like to say that every thinking American needs to read Sowell's long and extremely well-written series in IBD. It presents compelling argument after argument against nationalizing medicine which so far exceeds anything written in the MSM about the true costs of such government run programs.

For now, I'll link to the separate pieces, including Friday's, and continue linking as they come out in IBD. Later, I'll discuss what I consider the most salient points. It is well worth the read for anyone willing to put the time and effort into the whole series.

Part 4. Monday: Costs of Malpractice Insurance Go Beyond Doctors' Premiums

Part 3. Friday: How Payment by Third Parties Distorts Health Care Decisions.

Part 2. Thursday: How Quantity of Medical Care Is Influenced By Price Controls.

Part 1. Wednesday: The Economics of Medical Care.

Wednesday, The Darkening Time of the Year Is Upon Us

TODAY, I'M IN A STATE OF COMPASSION FATIGUE.
I could tell you some stories, but mercifully won't. For now, let it suffice, rather than blogging, I'm using all my excess life-energy to keep from being pulled into someone else's black hole. It never helps and always hurts when we let ourselves go down with them. We think getting dragged down is love and compassion, but it's anything but.

We can love someone---especially a family member---with a passion and want the best for them and their life, but when their black hole wants to eat our emotional sobriety, then we--I--have to let it go, sooner rather than later. I'm no good to anyone if I'm not coming from a fairly steady state of emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual sobriety. I'm a goner when I get hooked and take the bait. When someone makes me or not-me the answer to their life and problems, then I know I'm in a no-winner. When they ask me to do something I firmly believe is not in their best interest at the moment, and I refuse to go along to get along then I have to step back and let them get someone else to do their bidding. That's when prayer is the greatest gift we can give, and letting go.

Have you noticed the light is changing and every one and every thing is becoming more intense, and it's just the beginning of the season?

Welcome to fall and the darkening time of the year. We all need to do our own work and be more than willing to do specific things to help others when they ask or when we see a need we can meet. Sometimes we can only give a token of what's a much greater need, wishing we could much more. In the end, only God can fill that hole and there are simply no substitutes.

It's been one of those days, and it's still not over, though a good night's sleep will go a long way.

The Official ObamaCare Sports, Er, "Pace" Car

WE CAN only hope this portends things to come for ObamaCare, Cap and Trade and other morbidly expensive and moribund ideas from the left.

The Devil In David Letterman

UPDATE: Former staffer for Dave on why she resigned from working for his show
I'VE NEVER BEEN A FAN of Dave, and liked him even less after his drubbing of Sarah Palin and her family. So when he revealed recently that he was being extorted for having an affair with a female staffer, I wasn't so much surprised by his confession as intrigued by its irony.

Here before our eyes was a pot who'd been calling quite a few kettles black for years.

Tonight, while cruising the Web after being away today, I saw a link at Big Hollywood to this piece on the saga of Dave, and ended up reading the whole piece in New York Magazine. It's well written and frankly I found it fascinating.

So I thought I'd link to it here: The Devil in David Letterman.

Dave's world, like that of so many rich and famous, of course, is an enclave of specialness, secrecy and isolation from the flotsam and jetsam of the world. I can't imagine envying it in the least and also don't believe anyone could be shocked by reports of his infidelity and the many temptations he succumbed to over the years. I'm quite sure his life and his marriage---if not his ratings----are in deep crisis today. Only time will tell how it all plays out.

One thing is certain: Dave can no longer point his judgmental, witty finger at others with impunity again. That holier than thou attitude won't hold water with his audiences, if it ever did. I was never a fan of Dave. And now, I have zero interest in tuning in for his next ironic monologue.

Monday, Thought For the Day

The only positive thing about the 'Cash for Clunkers' program is that it took 700,000 Obama bumper stickers off the road.

----Unknown (Thanks, C, for sending this brilliant insight and glory hallelujah for this small blessing!)

Sunday, It's All About Him

(TODAY, I'm happy to link directly to Tim Keller at Redeemer and his most recent sermon: Hope for the family. Not sure it plays all the way through, but am linking anyway.)

LAST SUNDAY, after attending McLean Bible Church, in Virginia outside D.C., I was chatting with some friends in the lobby when a man named Lee Vaughn introduced himself to me. Lee is now working to complete the mega-project called Jill's House that McLean---under the tutelage of Brenda and Lon Solomon who have a very handicapped and special needs daughter named Jill. He and his staff are now in the final stretch of completing and opening this facility next year to help families and children of severe disabilities.

My conversation with Lee took several twists and turns and included a lament about a couple I know whose marriage is currently in deep crisis. When Lee found out I'm from Nashville, he asked if I knew of the Jacksons, that would be Denise and Alan. I told him they were not exactly in my inner circle, but I certainly knew who they are. I had to confess, I know almost nothing about the country music industry here in Middle Tennessee, except to occasionally listen to something I like on my car radio or see the occasion star in Whole Foods Market. (Usually I just hear they passed me in the lettuce aisle.... Mom, did you see....that was Nicole Kidman that just walked past you!!!) I never see them....I'm too focused on the fennel.

Lee went on to tell me that his wife Ellen had co-authored a book with Denise Jackson several years ago about the Jacksons' life, love story, marriage and near collapse of their union after Alan's mega-success left him empty and tempted to call it quits with Denise after 19 years together. Alan moved out from his family and later told Denise he was involved with another woman.

The story of the Jacksons' life and relationship with all its ups and downs is a hopeful and inspirational one, Lee said as he then introduced me to his wife and co-author Ellen. May I have your address and send you a copy? I'm on my way to Israel next week with Lon, but will get it in the mail to you before I leave.

I gave Lee my address, thanked him, though I wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as I could have been.

This week, sure enough, only hours after arriving back to Nashville, the UPS man was at my door carrying the promised package from Lee Vaughn, the book on the Jackson's life together and marriage, It's All About Him, Finding the Love of My Life.

After opening it, I tossed it on a pile of books on my bedside table, never intending to read it. Then a funny thing happened on the way to the trash heap: I woke up early the next morning and actually picked it up as a part of my early morning devotional. I read the first few pages. Then I ended up reading the whole thing over the next day-and-a-half.

It's a simply but clearly written, uncomplicated tale of two kids growing up in a small town America, working hard to be their best, falling in love and getting married. It's the classic story of going from middle-class America to fame, fortune, power and status beyond their wildest dreams when Alan became a mega-country music star after they moved to Nashville from Newnan, Georgia. Along the way the Jacksons had three daughters. To the outside world, their lives were perfect in every way, but on the inside the pressures of too many good things were causing cracks on the deepest levels of their souls.

I loved this book and can only say it reveals the age-old truths that ultimately nothing---no amount the of adoration, fame, fortune, star status or even family and friends can ultimately bring lasting happiness or satisfy the human heart outside of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Sure, all the trappings may seem to make us happy for a while, but they are only illusions and never can---nor were designed to-- fill the empty hole in our hearts. Without Christ as the center of our lives, all that we hold most dear only become addictions, idols and shabby substitutes for the only real relationship that matters first and foremost.

Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have gone through the fires of brokenness and deep heartache and come out the other side, understand this. Others will. And all will be given the chance, though all will sadly not choose to take the gift of God's saving love and salvation.

The Jacksons reunited a year after they separated and are now living one day, one hour at a time within the Grace of God's will for their lives. I am so grateful that Lee introduced himself to me last week, and even more grateful that I picked up the inspirational book he sent me on the Jacksons' life story up to now. While their story is far from over and they certainly don't have the perfect lives, I know they will make it with their deeper commitment first to their walk with Christ and second their recommitment to each other. I ended up liking these people more than I ever thought I could. May God bless them--- their marriage. family and lives together. Each has given the other the forgiveness---painful as it's been---that Christ extended them, and both know the Grace that involves.

Red Pepper Spray and Chili Powder

IT'S SUCH FUN WHEN EVERY NOW and then I'm in the right place at the right time to really help someone in a meaningful way. It happened this afternoon when I ran over to Kroger's for some chili powder for the pot I'm making. The young black woman charged with the awesome task of sacking my three packets of chili powder saw my key ring with a miniature canister of red pepper spray attached and asked plaintively, Where did you get that mace on your key ring for protection? I need some because I go to the bus stop alone late at night. How much does it cost? Where can I get me some?

I told her it was not mace but red pepper spray and that she needed a little larger version than the one on my key ring---the medium size (but not my industrial grizzly bear edition) for her late night waits at the bus stop. I said I'd gotten it either over the Internet or out west. Then I asked if she ever ordered anything over the Web? She looked disappointed and said she didn't think she could do that.

Well, in that case, I told her, I'll run home and see if I have an extra one laying around in one of my drawers or backpacks. When I got home, I found one in the first drawer I opened---the perfect size for her fram and her needs. I grabbed it and ran back to Kroger's where this 18-year old was still sacking.

I handed it to her and said it was a gift from me and warned her to be aware of how the wind might be blowing so that it wouldn't blow back into her face if she ever had to use it. She was ecstatic and thanked me profusely. Then she came around a shopping cart and threw her arms around me. I was touched but most of all glad I could provide this young woman with a small bit of self-protection on dark nights when she is alone at the bus stop after a long day at work.

Wish I could do something this helpful every single day for someone, don't you?

Below, after the red pepper spray comes the chili. It's better the second day and even better the third, but, alas, it never lasts that long.....

My Apologies

I WANTED TO FINISH A POST YESTERDAY AND WRITE AFRESH TODAY. Alas, I got bogged down playing catch-up since I got home with myself, family, friends and duties at home and various business interests.

Fell asleep last night early and slept like a baby for over 10 hours, not my usual 6-hour style. Hope to be back soon. Maybe later tonight, but perhaps not till I play catch-up a little longer and process the many amazing, interesting, scary and outrageously fun, rich experiences over the past 3-4 weeks on the road, hopefully soon.

Thanks most kindly to my readers who put up with me and come by in spite of my life which seems to span the country from Wyoming through Tennessee and on to Washington and New York. It's a lifestyle I resisted for decades while I told myself, my former husband (a liberal who travels the globe) and God I wanted nothing more than to live peacefully all my days in the state of Tennessee.

Evidently, there was another plan for my life. Who knew. I was the last to know and to agree with it. I finally started going along, literally kicking and screaming for decades. What has unfolded was far, far different than my vision for my life, and still catches up with me. Sometimes I just have to rest, sweep the floor with a broom and take out the garbage for a while in spite of my best intentions.

One of the most wonderful things I've learned in the process is how truly expendable I am. Some people find that a horrifying thought. I have come to think of it as wonderfully freeing. And it certainly allows me to play catch-up and restore myself with lots of sleep and exercise.

Tuesday

THE PUBLIC OPTION THAT WON'T DIE
THIS FROM Rep. Marsha Blackburn on women and health care reform:

I'd like to call your attention to this story in the POLITICO. It points out that women are split on the liberal health care plans and advocates in Washington are urging politicians to target women in order get their reform plans passed. This is completely off base. Most women aren’t uninformed about liberal health care plans, they are unimpressed.

I would also call your attention to a poll released by WhyMomsRule.com right here in Tennessee. It points out that only 7% of mothers think that they have a voice in Washington.

Women are the primary family decision maker where health care is concerned. If they don’t think that Washington is listening to them, why would they turn over their decision making power to a big government bureaucracy? Plans, like the ones I am co-sponsoring with Rep. John Shadegg would give moms more decision making power by allowing them to pool together and design plans that fit their family’s needs.

Women make up the core of America’s small business owners. They know that plans like the Baucus bill would impose a $554 billion “surtax” to fund a government takeover of healthcare. More than half of the people targeted under this “surtax” are small business owners. That tax would cripple our economic recovery in the name of a health care system that will ultimately drive up prices and reduce quality and access.

At Heritage: Breit Lights Shine on Ann McElhinney's New Film, Not Evil Just Wrong

IRISH FILM MAKER Ann McElhinney arrived in American with her new film---Not Evil Just Wrong ---which she co-produced with her husband Phelim McAleer---to premier Sunday night at Heritage in Washington and all over the country via the Internet. It comes with her resounding pre-screening announcement:

Tonight is Day 1 of our war on the false, green religion of global warming being taught in our schools.

Furthermore, Ann said, You like to say in America that religion can no longer be taught in your schools, but I'm saying religion IS being taught every hour of every day here and England too.

It's the apocalyptic Green Religion of false prophet Al Gore who's declared carbon dioxide the devil and human beings both its cause and unwitting victims. The doctrine says only big government, new taxes and global regulations on everything that breathes, works and emits can save us from ourselves. It's indoctrinating every school child in America from the first grade on and based on false and highly politicized science that is far from settled. We're all supposed to be believers, or else.

Think Al has met his match.

She's my kind of woman. Evidently Andrew Breitbart's kind too: I want to get her an RV so she can go around to every school in America with this message.

Breitbart hosted the event and panel discussion---with other notables including John Fund of the WSJ---at Heritage Sunday night and shone his new media breit lights on Ann and her message. She couldn't be more fortunate. Ann is as fortunate as ACORN and NEA were unfortunate to have Breitbart take an interest in what they were doing and how they were doing it---much to their detriment. I sure wouldn't want to meet Breitbart in a dark alley with my hand in the till or my pants down.

Meanwhile, Ann's PM dispenses the latest global warming hysteria.

*******

A brief critique of Not Evil Just Wrong:

This documentary film makes the much needed point that man-made climate change hysteria is based on science that's far, far from unanimous but has nonetheless been politicized into a green religion by many politically-correct scientists, educators, politicians and economists.

The movie contends that the current demonization of carbon dioxide emissions has its counterpart in recent history: the indictment of DDT in the 40s after the release of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

It further argues that CO2 is the new DDT. When DDT was banned, mosquito-born malaria throughout the world, especially in Africa and under-developed nations, increased rapidly and resulted in untold misery and death. These claims against DDT were ultimately based on faulty science and reasoning. Today the World Health Organization has restored its rightful place on its list of safe, useful, life-saving chemicals that save lives and are not a threat to the environment.

The movie also shows how the banning of fossil fuel production and use in America will destroy countless middle-class jobs and upward mobility by sentimentally focusing on a working family in Vevay, Indiana who fears Cap-and-Trade legislation as much as it fears Al Gore.

The film provides a much needed antidote to An Inconvenient Truth, I would only point out a few criticisms to make it more effective and watchable.

1. The movie needs some more editing. Cutting here and there can only make it more effective.

2. The segment on family in Vevay, Indiana gets a little long and sentimental for my tastes. Basically its message is, please don't kill our jobs, Mr. Gore. The wife even drives to Tennessee and hand delivers a letter to Gore's home---right around the corner from me---in Nashville. One of his house staff opens the door, thanks her for concerns then closes the door.

OK.

3. A concurrent salient point that needs to be hammered in---along with the movies' claims that man-made climate change is based on false and refutable junk science---is that robust economies and low taxes always produce cleaner and healthier environments. This needs to be drummed into the the current lunatics in Congress and Obama administration, not to mention school kids around the world....it's called free markets 101.

Conversely, economies ladened down with gargantuan government regulations, taxes and spending---like the Cap-and-Trade being proposed here now--- are ineffective against CO2 and stagnate growth and prosperity. We have only to witness the deperate degradation in poverty-stricken African countries to know this is true.

There's more, but for now, I have only the highest regard for Ann and her husband's film. It has its flaws, but is a wonderful start in turning global warming hysteria around (if in fact anything can at this point) especially in our schools, where it is indeed being taught as religion.

Ann, let me know when your RV pulls into Nashville! I'll have a pot of greens and cornbread waiting....and I live just around the block from the false prophet, you-know-who!

Big Hollywood critiques.

Sunday, Attending Brooklyn Tabernacle Prayer Service Last Tuesday in New York

AFTER RECENTLY READING TWO of Pastor Jim Cymbala's books on the supernatural, transforming power of prayer which chronicles some of the many of amazing experiences he's seen over the years at Brooklyn Tabernacle where he pastors---I decided to go to one of their world-famous Tuesday night prayer services while in New York City last week.


While it wasn't easy leaving my children (who had no interest in going with me) or G-boy for the night and finding my way to Brooklyn on the subway from the upper East side, I have to say nothing prepared me for the absolute joy and spiritual grace I found there in the company of believers.

Have you ever sensed the Holy Spirit's presence the instant you walked into a place? I felt it for the first time when I entered McLean Bible Church in Tysons Corner over four years ago. Later I felt it at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC too. And since then in other churches I've attended. But Tuesday evening at Brooklyn Tabernacle, it hit me like a powerful, quickening wind the minute I walked in and sat down. It was as if something was alive there. People were fully engaged and focused on God and prayer. It woke me up instead of putting me to sleep, as so many liturgical services and sermons of old had done.

I can't tell you how glad I am to have gone there last Tuesday. Before the service with Jim began, hundreds of people went down to the altar for one-on-one prayer with members of the church staff and prayer teams. They take prayer very seriously there. I went down to pray with them too. Profoundly humbling and touching.

I can only say, if you're in New York and want a true Holy Spirit experience, then go to either the Sunday or Tuesday evening prayer services. I truly believe you will never completely be the same when you leave. I plan to return every chance I get.

Here are some links to several of Cymbala's sermons:

A Slippery Slope

Quitting on Jesus

Meeting Thursday

(TO BE UPDATED LATER SUNDAY)

AT TNC

WALKING into the reception area of the Hilton Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, where the Nature Conservancy was having its fall board business meeting, I had one goal in mind: to meet and visit---however briefly---with the new TNC president and CEO, Mark Tercek who had arrived from Goldman Sachs less than a year ago.

I'd already met Hank Paulson, Tercek's former boss at Goldman, in 2006 as he was stepping down as TNC board chairman to accept then-president Bush's offer to become Treasury Secretary. (I won't even go into the ensuing bailout bubble Paulson engineered which greatly profited Goldman.)

Paulson's involvement and fast friendship with TNC frankly left me uneasy in ways I couldn't put my finger on at the time. As Paulson stepped away from TNC, he accomplished another fast feat that left me even uneasier: He managed to have his protege at Goldman Mark Tercek named president and CEO of the conservation organization. Tercek is a man who had absolutely no background, no experience and no prior known interest in land conservation in America. It was unheard of for TNC to name such a man to head its million-member organization. Unheard of. And yet it did it anyway. Why? I wondered.

I kept asking myself, Why in the world would Goldman Sachs suddenly want to be so palsy-walsy with The Nature Conservancy and vice versa? Carbon credits vaguely kept popping into the back my mind.

Then in early July of 2009, I read Matt Taibbi's wildly popular and controversial article in Rolling Stone on Goldman Sachs called The Great American Bubble Machine, chronicling the big financial bubbles of the 20th century and how Goldman had positioned itself ahead of each-and-every curve so it profited wildly, always getting out before the bubble burst. Bingo! I finally understood my undefined unease over TNC being in bed with Goldman and the dots started to get connected:

Gone are Hank Paulson and Neel Kashkari; in their place are Treasury chief of staff Mark Patterson and CFTC chief Gary Gensler, both former Goldmanites. (Gensler was the firm's co-head of finance.) And instead of credit derivatives or oil futures or mortgage-backed CDOs, the new game in town, the next bubble, is in carbon credits — a booming trillion- dollar market that barely even exists yet, but will if the Democratic Party that it gave $4,452,585 to in the last election manages to push into existence a groundbreaking new commodities bubble, disguised as an "environmental plan," called cap-and-trade. The new carbon-credit market is a virtual repeat of the commodities-market casino that's been kind to Goldman, except it has one delicious new wrinkle: If the plan goes forward as expected, the rise in prices will be government-mandated. Goldman won't even have to rig the game. It will be rigged in advance.

So, Taibbi contended in closing that Goldman Sachs, as the smartest money in the world, smells wads and wads of money ahead of the carbon bubble it will help to inflate. But he stopped short of actually saying some of the ways Goldman is positioning itself to skim the cream off the top of the Carbon/Climate Change bubble.

So, let's see if I can help connect those dots in the next several posts and talk about why Goldman people are especially enamoured with its new best friend, TNC. *************

As I was saying, I wanted to meet Tercek at the TNC meeting and size him up for myself. I didn't have to wait long. As I signed in at the reception tables and picked up my name tag, a very tall, lanky man turned to me and said: "Hello, I'm Mark Tercek, and who might you be?"

To be continued....

What's Not to Like? Who Would Ever Oppose Such a Noble Idea?

TUGS AT YOUR HEART STRINGS, DOESN'T IT?
AND YET. Yet.....could anything be wrong with this picture? Is more going on under the surface that warrants a closer look?

Copenhagen in December: We'd Better Educate Ourselves and Be Ready for a Continuing Push Towards A One World Government....with a new currency based on carbon credits or offsets. The biggest players are lining up for obscene profits and mega-power plays on a scale we've never seen before on planet Earth: Albert the Conqueror, The United Nations, the US Congress, Goldman Sachs and the world's biggest conservation organizations---The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International---along with many other groups and investment syndicates.

Why don't we connect the dots to see why the myth of man-made global warming is central and critical to forming new One World power base to those who are positioning themselves by getting out ahead of the carbon curve for profit and power. The rest of us will be paying the bills until the Second Coming.

IS IT NATURE + PEOPLE = SOLUTION?

OR

NATURE + PEOPLE + MASSIVE GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS/COERCION = HUBRIS?

The Pit in My Stomach

FOR THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, I've had a pit in my stomach over the direction the mainstream conservation movement (MSC) in America is heading. (I'm not talking about the ever-radical NRDC or Sierra Club.) I'm referring to business conservation groups like The Nature Conservancy. In the same way the mainstream media (MSM) is in the process of crashing and burning, I feel like MSC is jumping the shark and going down a road of no return.

A new obsession is sweeping the world of mainstream conservation and it's called carbon mania related to climate change. The bubble has only just begun to inflate but when it grows too large and finally, inevitably pops, it will take the global economy with it to a degree and scale we've never seen before. It will make the housing, gold and oil and gas bubbles look like children playing monopoly. If we let it happen, mainstream conservation organizations like TNC could be one of the chief villains----as well as one of the chief victims.

After serving a good deal of time on boards and fund raising committees from the 80s into the early 2000s, I began to lose interest and distance myself slowly but surely from MSC. Groups that had prided themselves as uniters of business, private and public interests for the sake of saving the best of species and ecosystem habitats, like the Nature Conservancy, began to become more and more politicized and strident.

It seemed to me that these groups, rather than continuing to work with business, private citizens and groups, and state and local governments, were being co-opted by the agenda of the big fat federal government. This became increasing apparent to me, within the last five years, as TNC took the bait, hook-line-and-sinker for the idea of anthropological global warming, better known as man-made climate change. In order to do this, its science went from being rigorous, to being politicized.

Thursday, as a board member emeritus of the national board of TNC, I was invited to the fall meeting in Arlington, VA. Because it coincided with my visit to the East coast, I decided to make a point to be there, though I've long-since gone off the national board (mercifully for them and me). I very much wanted to hear what the organization was up to from the horses' mouths and also meet the new president and CEO, Mark Tercek, who was recently installed from Goldman Sachs with no background, experience, or prior interest in land conservation.

Tercek is a protege of Hank Paulson who served as chairman of the TNC board until two years ago when then-president Bush appointed Paulson as Secretary of Treasury. Paulson had to step off TNC's board. But I met him at this same meeting two years ago here in D.C. and that's when my sure-nuff queasiness began

Because of time constraints, I'm going to spit this out in bits and pieces. Whether anyone reads it, I want to get it down, sooner rather than later.

Three things I will write about: My conversation with Mark Tercek Thursday; why I'm very uncomfortable with Goldman Sachs' increasing involvement in the Nature Conservancy; and why organizations and businesses like TNC and Goldman have MUCH to gain by seeing Cap and Trade legislation pass, even though such legislation will ultimately devastate economic interests and bottom lines of every business in America. It will also be a huge tax on the American consumer.

Also want to write briefly about the new Secretary of Interior (and former U.S. Senator from Colorado) Ken Salazar's speech at the TNC's luncheon.

Folks, if you're not on board for man-made climate change, especially here in D.C. you're considered a heretic, a lunatic, an idiot and a thorn in the midst of a bed of roses.....And that thorn today---that would be me.

Preparing My Defense for District Traffic Court This Morning

I HAVE LOTS to write about, but alas it will have to wait until I make my voluntary appearance in the D.C. traffic court this morning to contest a parking violation. What better thing do I have to do on a chilly, rainy Friday than to mount my defense in the midst of the bureaucrats from the SEIU? I'm ready with pictures, "proof," and a rational explanation. But of course, as with most things these days, I'm sure I'm guilty until proven innocent.

Off I go to Judiciary Square on the Metro!

This Week: Solar Decathlon and State of Nature Report

Back in D.C. where I'll be at a meeting (of The Nature Conservancy) Thursday to hear the president (Hank Paulson's protege from Goldman Sachs) talk about the state of the environment from the organizations perspective. Unfortunately I think TNC has bought the man-made global warming myth and is far down the path of justifying its position for fund raising purposes. We'll see and I hope I'm wrong.

Also plan to go back to the Solar Decathlon on the Mall soon to find what I consider the best solar design this year. Rain is here and forecast for the next several days.