do politics and christmas mesh

In answer to mine own rhetorical question, probably not, but for the purposes of this post - they will!

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Just a brief commentary on the state of the world...
The United States is Insolvent
The Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006

If those two articles don't make you want to either move out of the US entirely, or at least scream at the federal government, then you must be dead. Well, to be fair, the other possibility is that you don't fully understand some of the finer points of fiscal responsibility and economics. I'm no expert, but I know enough to get by, and this kind of stuff just burns me up.

Essentially, think of it like this: while a few government agencies attempt to crack down on predatory lending practices by banks and credit companies that are fueling the ability of Americans to live above their means by racking up insurmountable debt, the government itself is living so far above it's means that expenditures and debt total up to 400% of the entire country's market value (value of all goods/services produced == theoretical "national income"). Then, to top it all off, while they are burning money like it's going out of style, they gloss over arms races and foreign dealings in order to push other foreign policy agendas. Personally, I don't care what the president might have to say over the next 2 years... the actions of the US government over the past 6 years have not made the American public safer or more secure -- especially fiscally. We have more enemies, and upcoming generations have a very bleak economic future. If future candidates want my vote, they better have more than just words when it comes to environmental, fiscal, political, and foreign policy reform.

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On a more upbeat note --- Merry Christmas! I hope that you have a safe and happy holiday spending time with loved ones. While I recognize that for Christians this time of year represents a celebration of the birth of Jesus, I also would encourage you to look at this time of year as a time to focus on family, friends, and lending a hand to those less fortunate than ourselves. My wife and I decided that if we were going to go broke during Christmas, it was going to be because we poured extra money into local charitable giving efforts.

Unless something jumps up... see you next year! Cheers!

fluidity of time

No, I haven't change topics for the blog to quantum-multi-dimensional physics; it's time for another update and "I'm not dead" post. I could of course ask, nay beg, your pardon for my lack of writing and information, but I'm sure many of you will understand anyway.

Time is money. Time is of the essence. Time is on my side. Time is a piece of wax, fallen on a termite, that's choking on a splinter. Time is running out. Time to make the donuts. Time is a precious commodity. Time is irrelevant. Time heals all wounds. Time is... annoying!

I'm not normally a "not enough hours in the day" kind of person, but lately I could convince myself to be. Between the mountain of work I have to finish before my holiday vacation time, the preparations that go along with those holidays, and both recent and looming business travel to contend with, I want to know what happened to my 4th quarter lull. The increased demand on my time, conflicting schedules, and the ever unpredictable illnesses have made it extremely difficult to make forward progress with starting up ReGroup. I have been thinking about it a lot, and gathering bits of information here and there in anticipation of some possible areas of discussion. However, for the moment it is looking like ReGroup will not launch until 2007.

Time waits for no man, but...

James 5:7
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.

going back to the lyrics

So, I know in the past I've plugged my cousin-in-law's band, this is necessarily one of those posts. However, one of their songs is the subject of the day; let's face it music and song lyrics are a powerful influence in many people's lives. If you jump over to the MySpace page for Jo Henley, you can listen to 3 songs on the built-in player; listen to If God's My Pilot, I really like the lyrics. Here's the chorus...

If God's my pilot, someone wake Him up behind the wheel
If God's my compass, how come his direction's brought me here
It's long been said, that faith is all we get
So if God's my captain, what is there to fear...

I'd have to say, there was a long time (and some times still) where this is exactly how I felt. There are days I wish I were the least bit talented at songwriting, because there is just something more raw about the way the message comes across... well that's the way it is for me anyway.

of greed and falling morality

Work is keeping me busy, but I'll be back blogging with something in a day or two, or three... basically, hang tight!

In the interim, sometimes I wonder if there is something fundamentally wrong with American society and morals. Check out this story about one guy's Black Friday Nintendo Wii story.

Now, I saw all the news about the Playstation 3 and the violence that ensued with its release. Believe me, that made me question some people's sanity. I could never see myself standing in line overnight to purchase electronics, I don't need them that badly; let alone robbing someone at gun point, or beating them up and stealing $600 worth of electronics from them. However, I think the story above is even worse, this woman had the gall to prey upon someone's generous nature in order to cheat someone else out of money! The Nintendo Wii had the fortune of being a video game console that did not suffer from the ills of violence and extortion upon release, until I read this story. I honestly think that place like eBay should start cracking down on this kind of predatory auctioning of newly released, high demand consumer products -- especially leading up to a holiday that should be about generosity, family, and love (yes, I know, and Jesus). However, since I know that eBay will never do such a thing, I would hope that at least people would let go of the greed and violence... it is after all, just a video game.

I debated about jumping on the trend after I saw last year's debacle with the Xbox360, but I didn't; I'm just not that kind of guy. Plus, I don't think it helps the situation... companies get free press from these situations (the old, there's no such thing as bad press), and it promotes instant gratification at any cost. Am I interested in the Nintendo Wii, yes; am I willing to wait until they are actually available from any store on any given day if I buy one, yes.

Enough ranting... more on spiritual stuff later.

the un-meeting

In this instance, "un-meeting" does not refer to some interesting aspect of how ReGroup is different from other types of groups that exist out there. No, last night we had an non-meeting; or to put simply, there was no meeting. Due to some extenuating circumstances, the couple who had offered their home to host ReGroup for the evening had to cancel. The good news, is that things just like this -- life getting in the way -- are to be expected and must be given room. Sometimes other things just have to take priority, which can be a good thing. So, I'll be looking to reschedule this postponed kickoff for sometime after Thanksgiving when schedules allow. I hope to have at least one meeting, preferably two, before people start to disappear for Christmas.

So for those who were waiting on word, there it is... I appreciate your thoughts and prayers, hopefully it won't be much longer.