What if Jesus was an Illegal Immigrant?

This story is heartwarming, depressing, and thought provoking. Wow.

Quotes from von Mises

If it were really possible to substitute credit expansion (cheap money) for the accumulation of capital goods by saving, there would not be any poverty in the world.

-Ludwig von Mises

Hmmm

What is the phrase for taking an argument to its ultimate, and likely illogical conclusion.

Cause I think this lady did that for environmentalism. Sheesh

This is why I’m not too big fan of cops, or the drug war.

Unbelievable. This sorta stuff happens way too often.

I should know. I’ve had two instances in the past year where cops have beat on my door, one time with guns drawn and the other time they intimidated me into letting them search my apartment… even though it was quite clear after I gave them my drivers license, that I wasn’t the person they were looking for.

And I swear, if I hadn’t been awake at 11:30 PM when they had their guns drawn and were beating on my screen door while I was sitting inside, visible to them, I would have gotten the hell out of my house through the back entrance. When you live in East Nashville and someone’s beating on your door in the middle of the night, unless you’ve got a gun, you should probably try to escape. Had I done that, I might have been shot and killed.

Struggling With The Way Of Christ

On Saturday night, Carrie and I were on our way home from a long day of Christmas shopping. Her brother was all ready at our place and had decided to cook a big breakfast for us for dinner, but we needed to pick up a few things, so we pulled into the parking lot of the nearest grocery store.

As we were driving to find a spot, a man in an F150 pulled forward (he had backed into the parking spot) right into our car, destroying the front left side as well as ripping the bumper off the car. This just a month after Carrie’s car had been hit in Brentwood, and just a week and a half after we’d gotten it fixed. Needless to say, we were mad.

I jumped out of the car, burning with anger at this man who had no reason to not see us. We were moving slowly and he was facing us when he hit us. He got out of his truck. I asked him if he had insurance.

Nope.

What I said immediately following that isn’t PG 13 material, so its gonna stay off this blog, but lets just say that the gist of what I said was “I can’t believe you don’t have insurance, you know that that is illegal right?”

We pulled the car into a parking space… while he held up the critically injured bumper in order to keep it from being run over by the car.

We took his information… what little of it he had. No registration for the vehicle either. I called the police, and they said they were sending someone out. We got tag numbers, drivers license number, address, name, phone, etc.  Then we received a call back from the police who said they would not be coming since it occurred on private property. I was really hoping that this guy would be arrested… but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. At least he didn’t just leave without giving us his information.

While I was on the phone with insurance, Carrie was outside of the car talking to this gentleman. Apparently, he used to drive 18 wheelers, but lost his CDL after he had a stroke. He mentioned something about how maybe he shouldn’t be driving anymore.

Insurance got back to me yesterday and let me know that, while I had uninsured motorist bodily injury, I did not have uninsured motorist property. I wondered why I would have rejected that, but after thinking about it, I realized that when I rejected it, I thought it meant property damage (such as homes, stores, mailboxes, etc) but that is apparently not what it meant. I also don’t carry rental car insurance.

In any case, that means our collision will cover the damages, but the kicker is that my deductible is 1000 dollars. I did that on purpose. It lowers our payments considerably, and we’ve got the money in savings in case anything happens. And collision covers accidents that are your fault. I have no problem paying money when I screw up.

But I didn’t screw up. I was doing everything right. This guy screwed up, didn’t have insurance, and shouldn’t have been driving to begin with… as he admitted himself.

Here comes the problem. My insurance company is going to sue him to recover costs. Its going to happen. This guy supposedly doesn’t have any assets (he rents, and apparently is still making payments on his truck). He did tell us he has a pension and disability (and I would imagine social security) so he has money coming in every month. I called him to see if we could come up with a solution on our own, but he said he had no money, but might could pay us in installments monthly. I tried selling someone a vehicle that way once. I never got paid and after two weeks, almost had to get the police involved to get my car back.

I don’t want this man to be harmed. But I want some sort of renumeration from this because it wasn’t my fault that he ran into me, or that he didn’t have insurance.

How as a Christian, should I deal with this restoratively rather than retributively?

Ludwig von Mises quotes

Maybe it won’t be a Thursday thing; just a thing I do on occasion. Without further ado:

The factory owners did not have the power to compel anybody to take a factory job. They could only hire people who were ready to work for the wages offered to them…. Their only refuge was the factory. It saved them, in the strict sense of the term, from death by starvation.

-Ludwig von Mises

Fox News: I am ashamed…

I am literally ashamed at this point in my life that I once was a devotee of Fox News.  I felt it was obvious that they were supporting Giuliani, but I didn’t understand the extent of that relationship.

I will still say that Fox doesn’t really make their bias unknown. They say “Fair and Balanced” sure, but most of the on air talent is mostly involved in discussions, rather than just strict reporting of the news, and the on air guys are open with their political leanings. I’d rather someone tell me up front what their position is. At least that way I know how to interpret things.

“For God’s Sake, Please Stop the Aid…”

I’ve got a post brewing about why Jesus doesn’t care about poverty… at least not in the way we seem to care about poverty. But it needs some time.

So for now, check out why our government MUST stop sending aid to Africa and other nations. This interview with a Kenyan Economist might surprise you.

Brian McLaren, Capitalism, and Common Sense

I want to preface this by saying I really like McLaren’s new book Everything Must Change. I think it succinctly and efficiently explains massive failures in Christian theology and the effects those failures have had on our culture. However, I just can’t fully agree with his take on Capitalism and Economics.

McLaren takes common jabs at Capitalism, criticizing things that should be criticized, but I think he errs in his understanding of the causes of poverty and wealth disparity around the world. Greed and bottom line production are not the causes of poverty. Massive capital accumulation and corporations are not the cause of poverty.

“Well then, what is the cause of poverty?” you might ask. I think the better question is, “What is poverty?”  How you define poverty is intrinsic in finding its causes as well as its solutions. In order to truly understand poverty and how capitalism effects it, you must look at poverty throughout history.

When the Industrial Revolution began in the United States, the way our citizens lived would be tantamount to how we see Third World Nations. Not so much in population density, but most certainly in luxuries afforded by citizens. No running water. No constant source of food. Constant threat of death from major storms, drought, lack of nurishment (anyone remember playing Oregon Trail and dying because there were no animals to kill?) . Clothes might be changed and/or washed weekly. People lived in Log Cabins with a wood burning stove for heat, bathrooms were outside, no toilet paper, etc etc. Life back then was far from comfortable.

But when Industry entered the country, people began leaving the agrarian lives for those in the city where they had steady jobs, and steady incomes. Were working conditions bad? Absolutely. Were people paid terribly small wages? Yes. But people chose that lifestyle, because, for better or worse, it beat the hell out of farming cause you knew at least you wouldn’t starve.

And what happened when this migration began? One of the biggest results was a new market for many living needs… clothing, food, shelter, in the city. These factor workers now had money but no way to provide these things for themselves, so those who couldn’t get jobs in the factory now could support themselves by providing these needs for those who were unable to provide for themselves. Eventually a self sustaining economy developed, and industry was no longer needed. Jobs were more plentiful and with jobs being more plentiful, competition forced wages to a point where industry left for greener pastures. Namely the American South.

And this process repeats, still today. In India, China, Mexico, etc.

Point being, we can’t compare the standards of work in Third World Nations to what we have currently here. What we may think of as terrible is possibly not problematic for people who live day to day. Having a factory job at 20 cents an hour is possibly the best thing that ever happened to them. And just because a business is paying someone those wages does not mean that they are being “greedy” and we shouldn’t force them to provide American standards in factories overseas.

Now, Christian business owners, whether in America or in Foreign Nations, should hold themselves to a higher standard. But it goes without saying that their presence in these countries, regardless of work conditions, is beneficial to these countries as a whole.

Another thing that McLaren addresses is sustainability. Does our constant consumption constitute a crisis for the earth? In some ways, yes… it does, but in others, it doesn’t. Are we running out of oil, or land, or coal, or other natural resources? Maybe. But when those things get scarce, new technology that previously wasn’t economically feasible suddenly becomes so. And when that technology is developed further progress is made. Could we have made solar panels and wind turbines without oil? Could we have acquired the technology needed to recycle and produce goods with less pollution without initial pollution? Probably not. We are polluting now. There is no question. But that constant development, whether its sustainable or not, is what pushes us towards new ideas that lead to new, more environmentally friendly options.

Most critics of Capitalism fail to notice that.

Must See TV Thursdays

I don’t know if they still call it Must See TV… I feel like last year they may have called it “Comedy Night Done Right”… regardless, I just got through watching what I consider the best two hours of television of my week; My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, and Scrubs.

This week, apparently, was the week to preach at people about global warming on NBC. I remember seeing something about NBC being Green this week during Heroes, but I paid scant attention to it. Tonight, it was a little more in your face, so to speak.

Not only were we barraged with “The More You Know….” public service announcements during every commercial break, but each episode had some sort of environmental theme running throughout. I mean, shoot, tonights Scrubs episode was called “My Inconvenient Truth”. Gag me. With a spork.

I am all for conservation. I have the special 5 dollar light bulbs, set my thermostat to uncomfortable temperatures, bought a small manual transmission vehicle (cause I can’t afford a decent hybrid) etc etc etc.

But this Global Warming stuff is hyped out of control and the media is insistent upon preaching every chance they get. Am I the only one getting sick of it?

Am I the only one sick of Robert Kennedy Jr lecturing everyone about driving SUVs when he has his own private jet?

Am I the only one sick of Al Gore’s hype filled movie while his home uses an exorbitant amount of electricity per month 

Am I the only one that thinks its absolutely ludicrous for someone to suggest using one sheet of toilet paper per bathroom visit ? (Note, there are plenty of other ridiculous statements in the previous link. Read away)

I will not disagree that there are some people who are involved in the Green movement for legitimate reasons. They really care for the environment (and should). They really think we need to be better stewards of the earth (we do). But from my vantage point, there is something deeper behind this whole movement. Its about control. Its about a group of people who believe that their ideas are superior to those of the masses, who are just too dumb to understand, so those who are intelligent should force their lifestyles (well, parts of their lifestyles) on the rest of the country regardless of the effects on the quality of their lives.