City of Portland Un-Streamliner

We visited the Oregon Rail Heritage Center yesterday (see post 9/12/12) and next to the building was parked this little guy representing the flagship of the Oregon Pacific Railroad. It runs excursions to Oaks Park and back every 2 hours for $5/person and is a fun and cheap ride for grandchildren without having to drive all the way to Hood River and the Mt. Hood Railway, although that is a lot of fun too. Besides an easy add-on to a tour of the ORHC, OMSI lies just a block north, which makes for a nice and varied day.  

www.orhf.org/

Pay Attention!

OK America, time to focus. Put down the hot dogs, skip the last piece of apple pie and realize that another anniversary of 9/11 is coming up quickly. The bad guys haven't forgotten, as demonstrated in this delightful piece from the Al-Qaeda magazine:

A new English-language Al Qaeda magazine features a how-to article on making car bombs and suggests terror targets in the United States, including casinos in Las Vegas, oil tankers and military colleges, and implies that an attack is imminent.

townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2014/08/28/al-qaeda-magazine-hints-of-looming-attack-n1884524

The Benghazi attacks that killed our ambassador and several other Americans occurred on 9/11. Persistent intelligence reports now say that they are picking up increased bad guy "chatter." We have an open southern border and suicide bombers are a low tech but effective terror weapon who can easily slip across it. Let's see - LA, Las Vegas, shopping malls, outdoor concerts, football games - all sorts of fun places await! Focus America, focus. The President isn't - he's off fund raising or playing golf, so I guess the rest of us have to take up the slack. These guys really do want to kill us.

A Santayana Moment

Victor Davis Hanson is on to something. Basically, his thesis in this column is that Obama's view of history is that it is like a river flowing by us and always in a positive direction. Thus, all we have to do is sit languidly on the bank and watch it go by, carrying despots like ISIS and Putin away like so much debris in the current of historical progress. Come to think of it, that's pretty close to what we have been seeing from the Prez. Too bad this view doesn't bear any resemblance to real history. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, gently down the stream...

townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2014/08/28/obama-fails-history-101-n1883977

Solution to the Illegal Immigration Mess

Gov. Jerry Brown said that all illegal immigrants are welcome in California. Perfect - problem solved. Rick Perry and Jan Brewer, are you listening? California will export its jobs to your states and you send all the illegals to them. A win-win solution!

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/26/Jerry-Brown-to-Mexican-Illegals-You-re-All-Welcome-in-CA

Observation Point

I got this one, okay?  Love, God

Daily Guideposts, 8/22/14

(Ed. note - I think this is occurs more frequently than we realize, having had a recent experience of it.)

Seattle's $15/hour Minimum Wage - Early Results

The Washington Post reports on some early results of Seattle's passage of a $15,hour minimum wage in June this year:

"In Seattle, 42 percent of surveyed employers were ‘very likely’ to reduce the number of employees per shift or overall staffing levels as a direct consequence of the law. Similarly, 44 percent reported that they were’“very likely” to scale back on employees’ hours to help offset the increased cost of the law. That’s particularly bad news for the Seattle metro area, where the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds is already north of 30 percent — due in part to Washington state’s already-high minimum wage.

Perhaps most concerning about the $15 proposal is that some businesses anticipated going beyond an increase in prices or a reduction in staffing levels. More than 43 percent of respondents said it was ‘very likely’ they would limit future expansion in Seattle in response to the law. One in seven respondents is even “very likely” to close a current location in the city limits.” (Emphasis added)

Perfect. Let's throw more people out of work! But it feels righteous saying you supported it, doesn't it? Welcome to the law of unintended (but predictable) consequences. 

www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/08/04/the-early-results-from-americas-experiments-with-higher-minimum-wages/

Observation Point

Show me your friends and I'll show you your future.

The Bluebird of Happiness

The drum beat continues on the economy: Happy Days are Here Again!!! Yeah, whatever. Did you know that retail sales tanked last month just when normally moms would be going out and spending to get kids ready to go back to school? Worst in 6 months in fact. Wonder why? Hmm...

Well, taxes are up, health insurance premiums are climbing steeply, wages haven't grown - in fact the average family has lost 23% of their buying power since 2008. Perhaps this has something to do with it. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. One wonders when Washington will get the word. 

townhall.com/columnists/billgunderson/2014/08/19/killing-an-economy-101-n1880299

Not Good

Not good at all. Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) are the ones who really make the military - officers may issue orders, but NCOs make it happen. With 8,000 chiefs being forcibly retired from the Navy and presumably an equal number from the other service branches, the military is losing muscle and institutional memory, not just excess personnel. Our country is crippling the military when it can least afford it. November, 2014 and 2016. 

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/18/navy-chiefs-continuation-boards/14223129/

Some Good News About Marriage

We went to a wedding over the weekend and it was lovely, but I couldn't help but wonder whether it would end in divorce sooner rather than later. We've all heard the grim statistics: 50% of all marriages end in divorce; Christians divorce at the same rate as the general population, and; even those who stayed married are unhappy. Well, Shaunti Feldhahn, who is a Harvard-trained researcher, says, "Bogus."

While researching a story about divorce, she and her research assistant kept coming up with dead-ends trying to verify the usual pronouncements on marriage. This led them to do their own research and their conclusions cut against the party line, to put it mildly. Some of their findings include:

“‘... if they stay married for five years, that almost 80 percent of those will be happy five years later...”

"Of all marriages, Christian marriages prove the most durable."

“‘... the divorce rate among those active in their church is 27 to 50 percent lower than among non-churchgoers,” 

Other observations were:

• The actual divorce rate has never gotten close to 50 percent.
• Those who attend church regularly have a significantly lower divorce rate than those who don’t.
• Most marriages are happy.
• Simple changes make a big difference in most marriage problems.
• Most remarriages succeed.

It's nice to have some good news to start out the week!

townhall.com/columnists/mattbarber/2014/08/18/flash-christians-actually-far-less-likely-to-divorce-n1879756

Observation Point

"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next... It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this."   C.S. Lewis as quoted by Ruth Malhotra in Just Thinking

Feeling Groovy

All the good progressives in San Francisco are rallying around the push for a $15/hour minimum wage - a "living" wage. Not to throw ice water on your fantasies, but the city’s Office of Economic Analysis has released its review of the impact of this proposal and says that if it passes:

"... by 2019 the private sector will have approximately 15,270 fewer jobs... This represents approximately 2 percent of private employment in the city.”

So what?! Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead! After all, it's our good intentions that count, not the actual results for the people that have to live with them.

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/08/15/SF-Proposed-15-Min-Wage-in-SF-Would-Cost-Over-15-000-jobs-by-2019

And a Child Shall Lead Them

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.

"Okay," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence,
thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea." To which
the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss
God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.

Unusual Facts with James Cheef Wright and Dyamond BeastMode Barrett

Something Stinks

What is happening in Iraq today is tragic. The scenes of a 5-year old cut in half or a young boy proudly holding a human head make it clear that ISIS is the Ebola of the human race. 
It can all be traced back to the failure of the Obama Administration to negotiate a status of force agreement with the Iraqi government in 2009 like the ones that have allowed American troops to stay put in places like Germany and Korea and keep the peace for decades. Had this happened, there would still be plenty to sort out in Iraq, but they would have had the time to do it without outside threats and the U.S. would have made sure that no one side got too far out of line while the process was taking place. Gone. It's all gone now and there is no real hope of getting it back. This begs the larger question: what the Sam Hill is U.S. policy in the Middle East? A very provocative article says that our goals are now the same as Osama bin Laden's.

Clare Lopez was a CIA field ops supervisor for 20 years in the Middle East and says unequivocally that:

"... Obama’s actions, or inaction, that reveals his blueprint for the Middle East and Northern Africa is to let the warring jihadi factions, the Sunnis and the Shiites, divide the region into two spheres of influence, and for the U.S. to withdraw."

She goes on to say that:

“I can just see the pattern that is enabling the rise of Islam, empowering the Muslim Brotherhood domestically and abroad, alienating and distancing ourselves from our friends and allies and debilitating the American military.”

I agree. If you look at Obama's actions and more importantly non-actions going back to the failure to negotiate the status of forces agreement in Iraq, staying out of the Green Revolution in Iran, to Libya, supporting the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and the active non-support of Israel against Hamas in Gaza, the pattern is very clear. The "why" is not, but it is the same vision articulated by the late bin Laden (may he not rest in peace) and that is something the American people should be demanding that our erstwhile CINC explain. Pronto. 

www.wnd.com/2014/08/cia-expert-obama-osama-share-mideast-goal/

Unleashed

President Obama finally pulled the trigger in Iraq - 2 F/A -18s bombed one ISIS truck towing an artillery piece. It remains to be seen whether this massive display of American air power turns the tide on the genocide occurring in Iraq. The jury is still out. 

Please Assume the Crash Position

And speaking of the trifecta I just mentioned - PC, idiocy, and open borders - did you know that the Feds are bending medical entry standards already for other diseases for illegal immigrants that would keep someone in the legal immigration process out of the U.S.? Very encouraging. My confidence is soaring! They really are trying to kill us. 

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/07/Feds-Bend-CDC-Rules-for-Sick-Illegal-Immigrants

Question of the Day

Political correctness; government incompetence, and open borders - what could go wrong? Great question.

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/07/Political-Correctness-Open-Borders-Governmental-Incompetence-and-Ebola-What-Could-Go-Wrong

Time to Roll Out the Big "No, No!"

Christians in Iraq are being slaughtered. So are the Yazidi sect, a group which is Islamic but insufficiently so for ISIS. And the response from the White House? Cue the crickets. Then there's Israel, which no doubt would suffer the same fate except that the Israelis vowed "Never again!" and mean it. And the White House response? The Israelis are being "disproportionate," and "troubling" and this and that although, of course, they have a "right to defend themselves." Not very much apparently. Like, why don't they just politely roll up and go away? Can't you just draw a red line or something? Keep it up Israel - there ain't going to be any help from this bunch.

Alien-nation

An odd alliance that - Big Government and Big Business - on the immigration amnesty issue, but not when you follow the money. Democrats want votes and immigrants tend to vote Democratic because it's the party of handouts. Many Republicans, fearing they will be left out, are also steadfastly saying. "Me too!" when it comes to unfettered access to this country. And last, but not least, Big Business wants a large pool of low-paid employees which puts downward pressure on wages for everyone and is willing to pay the pols to get it. And the result for the rest of us:

According to a new Center for Immigration Studies analysis of government employment data released Monday, the number of working-age immigrants holding a job in Tennessee increased by 94,000 from 2000 to 2014. However, the number of working-age Americans in the state holding a job declined 47,000.

With numbers like these it isn't a great mystery why there is such a disconnect between the political and economic elites and the great majority of ordinary Americans on this issue. Now if the electorate would just wake up and realize that they have the power to vote at least the political bums out of office, things would start to take a turn for the better. 

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/04/Report-All-Tennessee-s-Employment-Growth-Since-2000-Went-to-Immigrants

Granny Took My Job Away!

True story. A new study shows that:

"... higher tax rates, labor rules, anti-business regulations, and Obamacare mandates have made hiring millennials for full time work much more expensive. Businesses are increasingly adapting to higher government cost burdens by hiring the over 65-year-old seniors who are exempt from Obamacare."

This made the the True Believers at the L.A. Times grouse that Millennials were somehow shirking their "duty" to pay higher taxes by working odd jobs just to get by. The gall! Typical bassackwards comment illustrating the Progressives' on-going clear understanding of how economics works. Note to the rocket scientists at the Times - both Millennials and seniors are doing what they have to just to survive in this rotten economy made worse and worse by all the stupid ideas from you and your ilk! Keep it up and soon everybody will be equal - and out of a job.

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/08/05/Millennials-Jobs-Getting-Outsourced-to-Their-Grandparents

Another Corona Please

A number of illegal minors streaming across the Mexican border have been flown to the U.S. Virgin Islands for resettlement. Cool. Is this a package deal - do they get a condo? Another Corona, sir?

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/04/Unaccompanied-Minors-Released-on-Lavish-Vacation-Spot-Virgin-Islands

EMP Near Miss

I have blogged several times about the catastrophic effects of an electromagnetic pulse hit (EMP) hit on the United States. While 1-2 nuclear weapons exploded 300 miles over Kansas would be a possible candidate, man is not the only potential culprit. 

NASA released a report 2 weeks ago that the earth had a solar flare near miss in 2012 that would have moved much of the world back about 200 years in development. NASA said:

"If an asteroid big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century appeared out of deep space and buzzed the Earth-Moon system, the near-miss would be instant worldwide headline news.

Two years ago, Earth experienced a close shave just as perilous, but most newspapers didn't mention it. The "impactor" was an extreme solar storm, the most powerful in as much as 150+ years.

'If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,'says Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado."

Phew! We missed this by a week. Thank you Lord for your providence. On the other hand, He said he would never destroy the earth by water again, but...

science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm/

The British Lion Becomes the British Lamb

England fought valiantly in two world wars and developed some of the best tanks in the world. Particularly during the Cold War, its armored units in Germany made the Soviets think more than twice about what the price would be to invade the West. Alas, no longer:

"By the end of the First World War, Britain had 25 tank regiments, rising to 44 after World War II.

However, from today there will only be one Royal Tank Regiment, which will have 56 Challenger 2 tanks. Two other regiments – The King’s Royal Hussars and the Queen’s Royal Hussars – will also each have 56, bringing to total number of tanks in the army to 168.

This means tanks the modern British Army now has fewer tanks than horses, and also puts the UK behind many smaller countries, including neutral Switzerland."

This is one of the reasons that Putin feels he can throw his weight around - who is going to stop him? Not the Brits, unfortunately. 

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/08/02/British-Army-Now-Has-Fewer-Tanks-than-Horses-Thanks-to-Military-Cuts

Bursting the Bubble

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.  Matt. 24:6-8

The banner headline in this morning's local newspaper is "Summer of Human Suffering" and has pictures of this summer's horror stories in Israel-Gaza, the Ukraine, Syria, etc., etc. and spends one-third of the space of hand-wringing wondering what went wrong with the the globally-connected world, the post-Cold War world of mutual interests in which all sorts of human suffering would be "...lessened, if not eradicated, by advances in technology and human collaboration." Sigh. The key line in the front page that tips off the befuddlement of the author is: "It is as if 'Lord of the Flies' has come to life." Sorry to burst your bubble folks -he never went away. 

We in America have lived in a privileged bubble precisely because we have paid the price since 1941 to build and maintain a preeminent military. This was made possible by a dynamic economy and a widely-held understanding that there was evil in the world and America had a leading role in helping to restrain it. Today, unfortunately we have none of the above and we are now beginning to see the consequences of its passing. 

To be sure, we have to have compassion on the innocents wounded by war. Individually, we need to spend our time and resources to help these people. If development efforts can be safely and effectively undertaken, then that should be done too. This is also true at the governmental people. Americans have always been a compassionate people and we would be untrue to our nature to be otherwise. But...

The world will always be a place where, as Scripture reminds us, will be filled with wars and rumors of wars and natural disasters because its people and the world itself are all broken. Solomon said it well when he said that there is nothing new under the sun. That was as true then as it is now. Bad things happen a lot faster because of technology but the people unleashing it would have been totally recognizable by Solomon as to their motivations and inherently evil nature. As we move into the future, if America is to regain its footing and enjoy a relatively safe existence, we will have to relearn the lessons that the Greatest Generation and others before it going all the way back to the Founders learned the hard way. Again and again. 

Observation Point

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”

Saul Bellow

www.wnd.com/2014/08/america-exceptionally-good-or-exceptionally-evil/