Moral Side

Top Five Issues for 2011

What are the issues facing our communities, nation, and world in 2011.  I have identified five areas that shall be at the forefront in 2011.  The overarching theme for these five issues is the continuing assault on Western culture, values, and democracy.  I welcome your comments.

1. The Assault on the Foundational Values of the American Nation.  The values of the American Nation are threefold:  "Liberty," "E Pluribus Unum," and "In God We Trust."  If these sound familiar, they are printed on our coins.  These values are under assault.  Liberty, or equality of opportunity, is being replaced as a primary value by Equality, or the guaranteed equal outcome.  E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one), is being replaced by political correctness and divisive diversity.  In God We Trust, or faith in God, is being replaced by trust in government and an anything-goes I-can-co-what-I-want approach to morality.  Issues within this general area will be family, abortion, protection of children, education, marriage, drug-abuse, and religion in society.
2. The Conflict with Middle Eastern Fascism and Asian Communism.  Western Democracy has always opposed and been in conflict with systems that enslave and diminish human beings.  Western Democracy has defeated European Imperialism, European Fascism, European Communism, and Middle Eastern Imperialism in the Twentieth Century.  The conflicts for 2011 and for the Twenty-First Century are Middle Eastern Fascism (e.g., Iran), Asian Fascism (North Korea), and Asian Communism (China).
3. Border Security and Related Issues.  Illegal immigration, the smuggling of drugs and human beings across the border, protection against terrorists, cyber-terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and the current administrations lethargic and clumbsy response to these problems are a major area of concern for 2011.  One of the primary tasks of the federal government is protection of its citizens.
4. Economic Strains in the US and Western Europe.  This area includes the collapse of Western European socialism.  In the US there are the continuing conflicts over health care, taxation, national and individual debt, unemployment, and bailouts of large companies and state and local governments.  The uncertainties of the housing and financial markets are adding to the problems.  No longer will we be able to assume (or hope) that governments will be able to take care of every problem.
5. Transformation of the Christian Church.  I list this area of interest not because it is the least.  Indeed, it is the most significant, but will occur over a long period of time.  I list it last because it is something we can see God at work and join Him.  It is the NewReformation.  Mainline denominations (including Roman Catholicism) are collapsing under the weight of their bureaucracies.  Those organizations who focus on survival of the institution instead of continuation of the mission are fading.  Just as the Reformation of the 1500s and 1600s brought new life and new understanding of the Church and was fueled by new technology (the printing press); so too will this New Reformation bring new life and new understanding fueled by the Internet.  Denominational "brand names" will become less important.  The focus will shift from social issues to witnessing.  Organizations and ministry will become decentralized and local.  Mid-sized churches will disappear.  Small fellowships, para-church organizations, and mega-churches with satellites (mini-denominations) will flourish.

The Top Ten Events of 2010

What is your list of the top ten events of 2010.  Here is my top ten list.  Many "events" in my list are multiple events - but events that are related.

This is not a list of the top ten most covered news stories of 2010.  I invite your comments.

1. The Earthquakes in Haiti (January), Chile (February), and Indonesia (October) -  The destructive power of nature was shown in these massive earthquakes and the aftermath of these disasters.  The earthquake in Haiti caused the greatest suffering.  Once again Americans responded with concern and generosity.  The funds raised by celebrities, however, have often times not reached those in need.  These tragedies have faded from the mainstream view.  Christians were there before, during, and after the quake in Haiti.  How true we find the words of Paul in Romans 8.20-23 to be:  "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son-ship, the redemption of our bodies."
2. The Collapsing Western European Socialist Economy as exemplified most drastically in the bailout of Greece (April) and Ireland (November) - Margaret Thatcher was correct:  "Eventually you run out of other people's money."  The economic collapse will have far-reaching effects in all of Europe and the different countries attempt to prop up each other and save themselves.  No longer can the governments provide everything to their citizens.
3. The Local, State, and National Elections in the United States (November) - This mid-term correction at the national level provides hope for a return to fiscal responsibility and reaches far down into state legislatures and governorships, as well as local governing bodies.  Fueled by the "Taxed Enough Already" people and groups, this historic change is a reaction to the economic and political trends.  It gives energy to the attempt to repeal the national health care legislation and has already had an impact on federal income taxes.
4. The Arizona Immigration Law(SB 1070 signed into law in April) - This law focused the frustration of the American people on illegal immigration and the apathy of the federal government.  The Arizona Law and the challenge to it by the federal government sets up a constitutional conflict that will be resolved in 2011.
5. The Enactment of Health Care Legislation(March) - This new legislation will have far reaching consequences -intended and unintended, foreseen and unforeseen.  The legislation does nothing to improve medical care, but it will have serious impacts on the economy, the medical profession, and the health of individuals.  Challenges to the legislation will continue into 2011 in the judicial and political areas.
6. The Wiki-Leaks Information Dump (July and November) - The leaks and the lethargic response of the US government are alarming.  Publicly the US government has not been damaged, but embarrassed.  The leaks make diplomacy and the war more difficult.
7. The Aggression of North Korea as exemplified in the attack of the South Korean Navy ship (March) and the artillery shelling of the South Korean island (November) - North Korea has always been an unstable rogue nation.  The upcoming change in leadership and North Korea's development of a deliverable nuclear weapon will cause greater instability in Asia.
8. The British Petroleum Oil Spill (April) - This spill certainly had immediate economic and natural consequences.  The negative results of the spill were exacerbated by the slow immediate response of the Obama Administration and the long term response of the administration that has blocked much of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.
9. The Floods from the Monsoon in Pakistan (July) - This devastating natural disaster caused great suffering to that struggling nation.  The devastation reminds one of the Haitian earthquake.  Again I am reminded of Romans 8.20-23.
10. The Eruption of the Volcano in Iceland (Aptil) - Though this event had no great loss of life, the eruption and the spread of volcanic ash through the atmosphere brought air travel in Europe to a standstill for about two weeks.  Once again saw the power of Creation over human endeavors, and once again I was reminded of Romans 8.20-23.

The "Feel Good" story of 2010 was the rescue of the mine workers in Chile.  This event was over-covered by the news media.  It's lasting effect will be the high number of sermon illustrations that grew from it.

President Obama's State of the Union Address

President Obama gave his first State of the Union Address on January 27, 2010.  For a complete text click on this link:  Download State of Union 2010.  I gave myself a couple of days to collect my thoughts before commenting.

Overall, I felt that the speech was rambling and weak on substance.  The President seemed to lack energy.  He has begun to appear to me to be like one of my cousins - a persons who enjoys pursuing and getting a job and having a title, but not a person who actually wants to do the job.

The anticipated graceful pivot away from Health Insurance Reform to jobs and the economy was more like a bat-turn.  He has left his party in the House and Senate to clean up the mess and an encouraging pat on the back.  He even tried to play the House of Representatives against the Senate.

His gratuitous jab at the Supreme Court was extremely inappropriate in style and incorrect in substance.  A constitutional law professor should know better.

The President - like a skier on a slolum course - demonized and stigmatized the usual target - President Bush - and then called for cooperation and bipartisanship.  As time goes on people will weary of the President's "blame it backward" strategy.  At some point he will have to take responsibility.

President Obama made some attempts to sound centrist and populists.  With rare exceptions his proposed policies are a continuation of his far left agenda.  He attempted to place himself on the side of the people and against Washington.  The problem is that he and his party own Washington.  They are Washington and the Lobbyists.

The President is either confused or duplicitous in equating tax credits with tax cuts.  Tax cuts are for everyone who pays taxes.  Tax credits are ways that the government encourages specific behavior for specific constituencies.  For example, the doubling of the Child Care Tax Credit will help only parents who place their children in day care.  Families who have made the decision to have one parent stay at home recieve no tax credit.

The President has moved from attempting to stigmatize "Big Oil" to "Big Pharma" to "Big Insurance."  Now he is focusing on "Big Banks" and Wall Street.  His proposal in the past week to tax banks that have taken (and paid back) the TARP to generate funds for other programs is punitive and misdirected.  The financial markets have reacted this last week - take a look at your pension!

The President's proposed spending freeze is a transparent fraud.  It does not address the real federal budget crisis, is announced after expenditures have increased, and do not take effect until after the 2010 elections.  This was a clumsy political stunt.

The President made only a nod in the direction of national security.  He spent as much time on his concern for for terror by infectious diseases as he did on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, trials and imprisonments of enemy combatants, the global conflict against Islamic Fascism, and the nuclear threats of North Korea and Iran.  He ignored the striving for freedom in Iran.  We heard simply more of the same - withdrawal, sanctions, and growing "pressure."  The Presidents foreign and national security policies are weak and dangerous.  His heart is not in protecting the United States, its values, and its people.

He gave lip service to the military and veterans, but the only substantive policy promise was to work to change the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that will allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military.

I have nothing against homosexuals as persons, though I do not agree with their lifestyle choice.  That is another matter.  As a retired military officer, it is very simple.  When the bullets are flying and I have a mission I want as few complications as possible.  I want nothing that will degrade the unity and effectiveness of my command.

As a nation we must decide what we want from our military - social engineering or victory in battle.  If we want social engineering, then we shall have a military of the likes of Belgium.  If we want a military that protects the people and values of the United States and the western world, then leave the military alone.  The reason that western Europe and Canada could have military forces that were "socially enlightened" (and militarily weak) was that the United States military protected them.

President Obama needs to go where he was during the campaign - toward the center.  He will find many of us waiting for him their.  If he cannot bring himself to do that, then it is not so bad obstucting a misguided agenda.

I shall be a part of the loyal opposition.

Moral Side of the News (January 10, 2010) - President Obama Says the First Line of Defense Failed

President Obama said Thursday that the immediate reviews he ordered after the botched Christmas terrorist attack have been completed.  Obama said America's first line of defense is "timely, accurate" intelligence that is properly integrated. "That's not what happened" before the attack, he said.  Sources said that in his remarks Thursday, Obama would take direct responsibility for administration mistakes in releasing his report on the December 25 terror incident, according to a senior administration official familiar with the president's remarks.  But he is not planning to fire anyone for the foul-up, the official said.

“He will say, ‘Here are the warts; I'm responsible,’” said the senior administration official, who requested anonymity because aides were not authorized to discuss the remarks before they're delivered by the president.

The official said the president believes that previous administrations would "play hide the ball" and not come clean with the American people when things go wrong, so he wants to be direct about what needs to be fixed, but the official said the president does not want this process to devolve into finger-pointing.  Pressed on whether people in the administration are likely to be fired to follow through on Obama's promise last week to bring "accountability" to all levels of government, the senior administration official said no.  “It's about holding accountable a system so that it works,” said the senior official.

Another U.S. official briefed on the investigation said federal agents flagged the name of the suspect in the botched Christmas Day terrorist attack while his plane was headed from the Netherlands to the United States and were planning to question him at the Detroit airport.

The source said agents with Customs and Border Protection officials "analyzed the database" as is their practice when the plane was in the air and were ready "to meet" and interview Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab when his plane arrived.

Also, an administration official said Customs and Border Protection followed its normal procedures as it prepared for arriving passengers, and by doing so, it accessed the suspect's record in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database.

The White House is pushing back on an Los Angeles Times report published Wednesday saying U.S. border security officials became aware of the suspect's alleged extremist ties while he was en route.  “As we have indicated before, there were bits and pieces of information about AbdulMutallab available in a variety of areas in the system prior to December 25. There was no new information that emerged when the plane was in the air,” an administration official said. 

On Thursday, the White House plans to release an unclassified report by John Brennan, the assistant to the president on homeland security and counterterrorism, detailing what went wrong and also to reveal new steps intended to thwart future attacks. Obama will make a statement after the review is released, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

QUESTION:  What is your reaction to the security review report released by the White House on Thursday?  What are your thoughts on terrorists being tried in our criminal justice system?  

 Does it strike anyone as strange that an administration official made an unauthorized leak of the President’s comments on security?

Oh, well, to respond to the questions, the President must realize that not only did the first line of defense fail, but EVERY line of defense failed – unless we count as lines of defense the courageous and timely actions of civilian passengers and the incompetence of the terrorist.  These lines of defense were the only ones that did not fail.

The President is correct:  He is to blame.  That is, he and his administration.  I was pleased to see the President stop blaming the previous administration and admit that we are at war.  I hope that his administration and media surrogates will get in line with the President.  Step up.  Quit blaming President Bush.  Take charge.

The President correctly admitted that we are at war and he named the enemy.  Still, many of his supporters and defenders wish to approach this war in terms of law enforcement, social work, and group therapy.  Let us realize that we are at war with an evil force.  We need to fight the evil that seeks to destroy us and freedom.

That being said, to put terrorists into our legal system is counterproductive.  We have tried it for decades.  It has not worked.  The President should not only admit we are at war, but he should start acting like it.  We need a commander-in-chief, not a solicitor general.