In Times of Trouble

I finished watching the HBO mini-series John Adams last week. The final episode was perhaps the best thing I have ever watched on television. John Adams was, of course, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the second President. He died fittingly on July 4, 1826, at age 90.


One scene showed Adams walking with his grandson and reminiscing about his life. He was looking at a wildflower and taking great pleasure in it. Looking at his grandson, he said that if he had it to do all over again, he would rejoice more, much more. Sage advice from a wise man.

Adams' advice echoes Philippians 4:4, " Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
The trailing verse is normally left out, but it is worthy of mention, "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." After a tumultuous life, I think Adams sensed this. In tumultuous times such as our own, we would do well to heed this advice too, especially during Holy Week. He is near. Rejoice! I will say it again: Rejoice! For He has overcome the world. John 16:33.

Out of Sight; Out of Mind

An excellent article by Roy Innis illustrates the true cost of being environmentally supercilious - people in poor countries die. Ghana is trying to build a power plant to bring the blessings of electricity to its citizens. When it turned to its U.S. agency "partner" for help with financing, though, the answer was a resounding "no" because President Obama had signed an executive order requiring all Federal agencies to reduce "greenhouse emissions" by 30% and this was a natural gas-fired plant. As Innis points out:

"Today, almost half of Ghanaians never have access to electricity, or get it only a few hours a week, leaving their futures bleak.

Most people in Ghana are forced to cook and heat with wood, crop wastes or dung, says Franklin Cudjoe, director of the Imani (Hope) Center for Policy and Education, in Accra. The indoor air pollution from these fires causes blindness, asthma and severe lung infections that kill a million women and young children every year. Countless more Africans die from intestinal diseases caused by eating unrefrigerated, spoiled food.

Out of sight, out of mind I guess, but darn we can feel green!

townhall.com/columnists/RoyInnis/2010/03/25/bringing_light,_health_and_prosperity_to_africa

A New Environmental Crusade in the Offing

SUVs, warm houses and ...showers? Yup. Here comes the next crusade. The EPA reports that active ingredients in soap and shampoos may be polluting the ocean. I can see the slogan now: "Skip the shower; save the planet!" No price is too high for a clean environmental conscience!

www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7513258/Daily-baths-and-showers-polluting-the-environment.html

Thank You Jefe - Castro Applauds Obamacare

Oh be still my heart! As the saying goes, you are known by the company you keep.

finance.yahoo.com/news/Cuban-leader-applauds-US-apf-124808403.html?x=0&.v=1

Salem's Mayoral Race

Salem elects a new mayor on May 18 and Anna Peterson is clearly the better candidate. Her CV is posted below. Of equal importance is that she was an adviser to Janet Taylor, who has been one of Salem's better mayors of recent decades. She also has a grip on economic reality. At a recent debate with her opponent, Chuck Bennett, Peterson said that now was not the time to consider a tax increase while Bennett left the door open. So take time to do some due diligence on the two candidates, but when you do, I think you will find Anna Peterson is the one to lead city government.

www.google.com/profiles/annaformayor

Warren Buffett Better Credit Risk Than U.S. Government

Michael Barone has written a good piece on the true cost of Obamacare. The key thing for voters to understand is that by not starting benefits until 2014, it gets a 4-year headstart on expenses so that the "scoring" by the CBO for the next 10 years looks good. It also did not include $114B in Medicare spending that will be necessary to run the program, but rather stuck it in a separate bill, again to preserve a favorable CBO rating.

This financial trickery hasn't fooled the bond markets, which are now granting lower rates to several American businesses floating bond issues than to U.S. Treasury bond issues, which have traditionally been the "gold standard" for bonds. Moody's is seriously talking about down-rating the bond credit rating for the U.S. government. This means future bond issues to pay for the increasing deficit will cost more, maybe a lot more. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but we are all going to pay for this debacle in myriad ways.

townhall.com/columnists/MichaelBarone/2010/03/25/bond_markets_reflect_the_true_cost_of_obamacare

An Oldie But Goodie

Here's one for aviation buffs. The venerable U-2, once our cutting edge and super secret spy plane, is still performing well in Afghanistan. Because of the extreme altitudes at which it flies, it can intercept line-of-sight communications from the bad guys. Predators are then vectored into the area to monitor the signals traffic and when pinpointed - voila, a few less bad guys! The recon cameras on board are also excellent for detecting IEDs and saving our troops travelling Afghan roads. Great job Lockheed and Kelly Johnson on an aircraft that has served this country extremely long and extremely well!

finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109138/u-2-spy-plane-evades-the-day-of-retirement