Disasters, God, And Politics

"A God that can be understood is no God. Who can explain the Infinite in words?" ~ W. Somerset Maugham

OK, so it's been a while since I published a blog entry, but it's not because Hurricane Irene swept us out to sea or anything like that. It's just that nothing out of the ordinary has inspired me to write something.

For the record, we are fine here in Virginia. We suffered no damage to speak of in either the earthquake or the storm, other than a somewhat uncomfortable period of about 13 hours (total) of a power outage.

There is no shortage of subjects on which I could expound of course, but just nothing much that creates such passion in me that I feel compelled to express an opinion.

I will say this, however:

What the heck was Michele Bachmann thinking when she joked about the earthquake and the hurricane being some sort of judgment from God? Is she not aware that the Democrat attack machine (otherwise known as the Media) would be waiting with bated breath for any opportunity to ambush her? She had to know the attack would be inevitable if she made any mention at all of God in conjunction with the two natural disasters.

It's not her statement in itself that will end up haunting her. It's the fact that she even made the statement in the first place that will cast doubt upon her judgment.

I like Bachmann. I think she'd make a good President, but it's missteps like this that could cost her the nomination and/or the Presidency.

The deck is stacked against her already. She is a Conservative with outspoken views against all of the left's pet causes. That's more than enough for the Liberals in America to hate her.

Even after the Liberal media have admitted they realize her statement was a joke, there are still leftists out there pointing to that statement as proof of her fundamental nuttiness.

Perception becomes reality, especially when compounded by the tendency of the media to blow every little thing out of proportion (except where Obama is concerned).

Ms Bachmann would do well to learn from what others have endured from the Democrat attack machine.

Take Sarah Palin for example. The media and the Liberals have tried with all their might to besmirch Palin's reputation. They have, among other things, pored through all her e-mails, both private and public, searching for any and every morsel of malfeasance or immorality to use against her, to take her down, to destroy her reputation.

They found nothing. They filed multiple frivolous lawsuits, made multiple unfounded accusations against her, to no avail.

She is squeaky clean.

There are no skeletons in Sarah Palin's closet.

But there is this:

She quit.

It makes no difference why she quit. she could have been forced to resign under threat of her entire family being held at gunpoint. If the Libs had threatened to nuke Alaska, killing the entire population off if she didn't quit, the Liberal Democratic attack machine would still use the fact that she quit as evidence that she can't be trusted to handle the stress of a Presidency.

As far as these natural disasters being some kind of judgment or statement from God almighty:

If God wants to send a warning to America, I assure you, it will be far less subtle than these two little events. The idea that these two minor weather events could be a sign from God almighty is preposterous. If it's God sending a message, believe me, we will get the message in no uncertain terms. There will be no doubt of it's origin.

And, while I'm on the subject, why only America?

Why do Americans seem to assume the United States of America is somehow more important to God than--say--Israel? Or any other country for that matter?

Or, more blessed?

Or, more cursed?

How often have we heard, in an eschatological scenario, speculation that the Anti-Christ will be an American?

Are we not all His children? Are we not all His creation?

God is God of all Creation. Not just the U.S.A. If He decides to send us a message of warning in the form of great "earthquakes... in divers places, and famines, and pestilences", it will effect the entire world, not only a relatively small area of the United States.

And, politicians shouldn't attribute such minor inconveniences to God, even as a joke.

Well, Democrats should, so Republicans can attack them.

OK, so I do have some passion left, after all.

A Good Quote

"If Obama would leave DC and return to Chicago, he would raise the aggregate I.Q. of both locations." ~ Me

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

"Come on over, Baby. Whole lotta shakin' goin' on." ~ Jerry Lee Lewis

So, have you heard about the earthquake here in Virginia?

If you haven't, you must live in a cave with no contact with the outside world.

I have the dubious honor of being possibly one of a few bloggers who lives close to the epicenter of yesterday's earthquake. Already news media are calling it "The DC earthquake", but in reality it was closer to Richmond, although there are some who claim they felt it all the way to New York, Boston, and even Maine.

Our house is located within 40 miles of Mineral, Virginia, which, in turn, is about 9 miles from the reported center of the quake. My wife's dentist's office is located in Mineral.

Don't ask me why she drives that far to go to the dentist. She's never given me a satisfactory explanation, either.

I was actually browsing Facebook at the time the quake began. It started as a deep rumbling sound. I described it as like a freight train or a low flying aircraft. Immediately after that, the shaking started. My wife said she thought, at first, that the washer was out of balance, but then she quickly remembered the washer wasn't running.

Panicked, she ran out into the backyard, and I got up from my chair and started walking down the hallway, which by then had started rolling in a side-to-side motion. It was like surfing the floor. I stopped at the doorway between the utility room and the hallway where I could see my wife in the back yard through the back door, and stood there until the shaking stopped.

It lasted between 20 and 30 seconds, and then it was over. Kind of exciting for those of us who had never experienced an earthquake before, but nothing--dare I say?--earth shattering.

So, I walked back into our computer room (as we call it) and posted the experience on my Facebook status. Then I looked up the following videos on Youtube and posted them:







Then the other comments started appearing on Facebook. One friend wrote simply, "What's shakin'?"

I wrote, "It's God punishing us for electing Obama."

Comments that followed included, "Obama will blame Bush", "First an earthquake and a hurricane on the way. Well, Obama promised change", "Too bad a big azz crack didn't suck up a few of them in DC!", "It's Obama's new stimulus program to redistribute Earthquakes!", Our forefathers diggin their way out to show us how it's done probably", and, "The Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves"

This morning, I signed onto Facebook and saw this:

BREAKING NEWS: President Obama has just confirmed that the DC earthquake occurred on a rare and obscure fault-line, apparently known as "Bush's Fault". Obama also announced that the Secret Service and Maxine Waters continue an investigation of the quake's suspicious ties to the TEA Party. Conservatives however have proven that it was caused by the Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves.

All you readers who live outside the tremor zone, don't be fooled. What the media said and what actually happened are two very different things. As I observed later last evening, "20 seconds of event followed by 24 hours of news coverage"

I'm also wondering if some of those reports from New York and further about feeling the quake there aren't a bit overblown. I'm thinking either they are imagining the feeling or they want so badly to be a part of breaking news they simply say they felt it when they didn't.

I can remember more than one instance when a quake struck in a neighboring state, and reports started flowing in about how the tremors were felt in my state, and I never felt anything.

There was no mistaking what we experienced yesterday.

It couldn't have been anything else.

Blogger buddy Tug lives in North Carolina, and he says he felt nothing yesterday, while people in South Carolina claim they did.

Incidentally, We live in a 60 year old house less than 40 miles from the epicenter, yet we sustained no damage or injuries whatsoever.

Oh, a clock fell off out kitchen wall and the battery was dislodged. A portable mini-stereo fell off a cabinet, also in our kitchen, and the kitchen trash can fell over. That was all. An hour or so afterwards, I found a plastic tube of Mary Kay face cleanser floating in our toilet bowl, but my wife says that is my fault.

So, kids, what have we learned from all this?

A Good Quote

It's not that Conservatives aren't compassionate. We just don't let our compassion get in the way of rational thought. ~ Me

What Entitlement Spending Has Spawned

"That's what we're creating" ~ Judge Judith Sheindlin



Monday was the first day of the month. The first day of the month is the day retired people get their Social Security checks. It is the day Welfare recipients get their Welfare checks.

On the first day of the month, those with the entitlement mentality go out and walk (and shop) among us.

I've seen the first of every month come and go for years, but this past Monday was the first time I really noticed how forcefully the addiction to entitlements has negatively affected our society.

I've mentioned this several times on this and other blogs. I've pointed out how lines of people park their cars in the fire lanes at retail stores instead of in the designated parking spaces. I've pointed out how this is a demonstration of the entitlement mentality at work. They park where they want because it's closer to the door. It's more convenient to walk a few feet than it is to walk a few dozen feet.

Unless they are stopping there momentarily to let some handicapped passenger off, I don't know what else to attribute this to other than they feel somehow entitled to park their cars illegally.

This past Monday, I witnessed an extension of this phenomena firsthand.

I was in WalMart talking to an electronics associate, questioning him on GPS devices. A man walked up and rudely interrupted our conversation to demand where the Virgin Mobile phone cards were located. The associate excused himself to me, and replied the store doesn't sell Virgin Mobile phone cards. The man gruffly retorted, "You sold 'em two weeks ago!" After some more contentious conversation the associate helped the man locate the Virgin Mobile broadband-to-go cards, and explained that since the store doesn't sell the phones, he couldn't say for certain whether the broadband cards would work with the phones.

Instead of thanking the associate for his help, honesty, and patience, the man stalked wordlessly and angrily out of the area.

As I was standing before the register preparing to purchase my selection, a family consisting of a man, a woman, and a daughter walked up and demanded to be checked out first and, partly because I was in no hurry, and partly because I wanted to alleviate any possible contention between the associate and his "customer", I courteously allowed the associate to take them ahead of me.

As the associate tried in vain to initiate a friendly short discussion, the family stood unresponsive to his pleasantries and scowling. Then, they started complaining about the price, which, incidentally, was already marked down below list price.

Meanwhile, the daughter occupied herself by picking up various items, looking at them briefly, and then dropping them wherever she happened to be standing, regardless of whether that's where the items belonged. Not once did her parents request that she keep her hands off things or reprimand her.

Irresponsibility begets irresponsibility.

After they left, I made the observance to the associate that there seemed to be an abundance of rude, classless customers in the store that day.

He replied, "It happens the first of every month."

The welfare checks go out that day, and the recipients descend upon the merchants in hordes, spending their checks on luxuries, entertainment, alcohol, cigarettes, and other items that do nothing to lessen their debt, or help pay their rent.

All the while pushing, demanding, insisting, they get everything they want at the absolute lowest prices, and if the items they want are not exactly what they expect, the merchants can count on them to raise a loud, boisterous objection.

This is what the Welfare state in this country has spawned.

And, it will only get worse. In fact, our Government encourages the addiction. In our altruistic hope to help poor people afford living expenses, as well as the expense of giving birth and providing for the children born as a result of their promiscuous behavior, we are creating the perception that it thus becomes a reward for breeding and multiplying.

Their progeny inherits this entitlement addiction from the equally addicted parents.

And so it goes.

Where will it end?

Will it end?

Who knows?

The Democrats insist that increasing entitlement spending will increase demand and decrease unemployment.

How is that possible?

The Government (We, the people) has not shown any inclination to put a stop to this self-destructive cycle.

If we the people don't, who will?