The latest daily talking points the media seems to be harping on is the so-called impending doom of a recession. While I try to stay away from politics and the economy in this blog (for my own sanity), I just had to broach this topic.

I’m tired of hearing the media/pundits scream and pout that a recession is on the horizon or already here in the U.S. While I don’t claim to be any sort of financial expert (far from it), I think I have enough common sense and basic business/economics acumen to see most signs do not point down the recession road as much as they would like us to think.

Even the curmudgeon Andy Rooney, who is the definition of a pessemist, said last night on “60 Minutes” that he doesn’t think there is a recession, while at the same time making fun of the Wall Street Journal.

“I don’t know anything about economics but I don’t think what we’re in is a Depression - or even a recession - whatever the difference is.”

Ironically today’s commentary essentially agrees with Mr. Rooney’s statement that we are not in a recession.

Check out “The Economy Is Fine (Really)” in today’s Wall Street Journal by Brian Wesbury. Brian is chief economist for First Trust Portfolios, L.P. here in Chicagoland. A common sense approach is needed when evaluating today’s US economy. This commentary summed it up concisely in my opinion.

I have intentionally not posted on Iraq because I’m not interested in getting into that much on this blog. From time to time however, I like to share an article covering facts that seem to be skimmed over or ignored by the media.

Read this article in World Magazine titled “On Borrowed Time: Captured memo shows terrorist leaders realize they are fighting against the clock.” By John Dawson. I have quoted the article below:

“While Washington lawmakers were debating an exit strategy for the United States’ prolonged engagement in Iraq, terrorist leaders may well have been cheering them on. That’s because when it comes to measuring the insurgency’s success in war-torn Iraq, enemy leaders and many American politicians don’t seem to see eye to eye.

Documents found during a raid on a former safe house of super terrorist Abu Masab al-Zarqawi and released after his June 7 death suggest the terror leader didn’t think the insurgency was as strong as some Washington pols say it is. Instead, the letter, penned by Zarqawi himself or someone close to him, reveals an insurgency nerve center worried about a prolonged engagement and the rise of the Iraqi National Guard.

The prevailing wisdom among administration critics on Capitol Hill maintains that time has worked against coalition forces in Iraq. Prolonged conflict, they say, gives insurgents an edge as continued casualties eventually will turn the American public against the war effort and the Shiite majority against the new Iraqi government.

After House Republicans pushed through an early June resolution rejecting an “arbitrary date” for withdrawal, Senate Democrats tried to pass a nonbinding resolution calling on President Bush to set a timetable for removing all U.S. forces from the Iraq theater.

“The administration’s policy to date—that we’ll be there for as long as Iraq needs us—will result in Iraq’s depending upon us longer,” said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, during a Senate debate on setting a timetable for withdrawal. “Three and a half years into the conflict, we should tell the Iraqis that the American security blanket is not permanent.”

Terror leaders inside Iraq apparently see things differently. In the preamble of what appeared to be a strategy memo composed by Zarqawi’s organization, the terrorist leaders of the Iraqi insurgency declared time to be working against them.

“As an overall picture, time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time. However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance,” the seized document stated. In particular, the memo pegged the mass arrests of insurgents and the freezing of terrorists’ assets as prime reasons insurgency leaders believe they are failing.

(more…)

Contrary to notorious alarmists like Al Gore and his ilk, junk science is just not cutting it in the global warming debate. To me this debate really has little to do with political partisanship as some people on both sides of the aisle believe the myth that according to Gore “the debate in the scientific community is over.” The debate is far from over in the scientific community Mr Gore. Just because those that agree with Gore speak louder and are never really questioned by the media does not mean the debate is over. In fact it is just the opposite. Of course like any of these issues some “scientists” have their agendas on both sides of the argument. However many scientists try to stay as far away from that and rely on the unbiased scientific evidence. Based on this, many of Gore’s claims are refuted easily.

Read this article from the Op-Ed section of this past Sunday’s Wall Street Journal by Richard S. Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT.

I take the position that we are very far away from knowing the full truth on this subject and to ignore the other side of the argument as Gore and many do is scientifically irresponsible. It seems many have this belief that we know almost all there is to know about how this planet that God created works. When the truth of the matter is we really only know a fraction of it.

The recent injuries suffered by ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt in Iraq have been all over the news this past week. All of the networks, cable news, and even local news channels were making it a top story.

I certainly hope they both make a full recovery and am glad that their families did not lose them. I have great respect for anyone who puts themselves in harms way when they are not required to.

That being said, I have been frustrated to see the obsessive over-coverage of this incident. I realize Bob Woodruff is a recognizable face to many because he is a national news anchor. But what really irked me was how the media gave relentless coverage of this for days on end. What about the our brave military soldiers over there? Did they cover the incidents where our soldiers died that day?

Bob Woodruff is not any more important or any more brave than our great military personnel there in Iraq and around the world.

In fact, he’s not even in the same league as our troops. But with the coverage of this incident, it seems the media thinks that Woodruff is more important. He is not. Our military faces those incidents and attacks every day! He travels over there to cover the war, for a very short time and some how he’s a hero? Yet again proof that the media has no clue about what is important. Their self-important mindset is sad and disgraceful. I really hope and pray that they will change someday.

I came across this article the other day and I completely agree with it. It really echoed what I have felt since this story broke. Our troops deserve better recognition for their efforts and sacrifice.

For the most part, I have no interest in former CNN anchor Aaron Brown’s opinions on the news business. He’s just as biased as anyone else in that business (on either side of the political landscape).

An event that sticks out where I did respect his work was coverage of 9/11. I remember watching him and others report from New York and Washington D.C. as the events were happening that morning on a big screen TV in my office cafeteria. He covered it about as well as anyone could and I appreciated how clearly he communicated new information as it was coming, with that surreal, horrible scene just behind him.
In a recent speech he spoke about the news business today. Highlights were reported in a Palm Beach newspaper online about this speech. Many topics he discussed I could debate and others I could care less about. However there were two statements I thought were important to note:

“‘Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news,’ said Aaron Brown”

“Many Americans on the left and the right aren’t interested in the truth, but simply want news that confirms their viewpoints,” he said.

I read those sentences a few times. Whichever side of the political spectrum we fall on, we do prefer to hear news that confirms our worldview. However, I think many Americans are interested in the truth, whether it agrees with our position or not and if we want to admit it or not. I can absolutely see why he would question that with the culture we live in today. But I see his point in the sense that the truth is not always what we prefer to hear if it doesn’t confirm of our opinions. I think the statement cuts much deeper than cable news channel choices.
Do we want the news to report the unbiased truth? I think we all do, but to his point, many also want it reported to support our personal opinions. But the truth and our personal opinions do not always match up.

Note: This was originally posted on Dec 25th, however due to some technical issues with my website host it got lost in the shuffle. I didn’t realize it until now.

Merry Christmas! And I am not ashamed to say it!

Much has been made in some media outlets this month about the ridiculous shunning of the phrase “Merry Christmas” in corporate America and retail outlets nationwide. It must say its about time this really was made a focus nationally. Replacing the phrase Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays, Season’ Greetings, Winter Holiday, X-mas, Festivus, etc has become more widespread in the past 10-15 years. This is a shame as it is hiding the true reason for this holiday. I find it ironic that this trend has spread, yet most everyone in the country has this day off of work and 98% of businesses are closed. These are the same business and companies that forbid using the word Christmas.
Although this is the case, I am not surprised. Our culture had become increasing hostile toward anything referring to Jesus Christ. This is sad to see, however as a Christian I expect that many elements of this world will be hostile towards anything related to Christ. Despite the culture drifting away from a Christ-centered life, the great thing to know is the Lord God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And on this day when we celebrate Jesus’ birth, it is reassuring to know that He will never sway in the turbulence of today’s culture, offering everyone mercy, forgiveness and redemption from sin through Him.

Merry Christmas!

Glad to report my friends in the Houston-area of Texas were able to return to their homes, all of which had little to no damage and the electricity was on. Gas is still scarce, but that’s really not a big deal considering what could have been if there was a direct hit by Rita.

They dodged the bullet however far east Texas and western Lousiana did not. The first pictures have come in from the air of the affected areas, complete devastation is best way to describe it.

I heard an ignorant comment by a TV anchor (now there’s a surprise) sitting so comfortably in their studio in New York. They said that if there were a good place for Rita to hit, it was where it ended up since it was not as densely populated. Well tell that to the who lost their homes there. The fact is there is no “good” or “preferable” place for any hurricane to hit no matter the size of the population.

I have to say the more I watch coverage of this disaster the more I want to do something beyond what I have donated already. Like physically go do something. It’s so sad to see what is happening in the affected areas. I can not even begin to fathom what it must be like to be in that situation.

I’ve been watching the coverage on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. For the most part they have done a great job covering this story amidst difficult conditions. However, I have to say what in world are the big 3 networks, CBS, ABC, NBC thinking? Even tonight they have re-runs and worthless “reality shows” on. The worst natural disaster in the history of this country and they have that crap on TV with maybe an hour special coverage in prime time? Ugh! Clueless networks!

All of that and what I have to say is an apathy about this tragedy. Some people, including many I have encountered in the past few days seem to only be paying attention to this when it raises gas prices and complain about that. Ugh! Perspective people! Look… We have what could be close to a million homeless people from this! Thousands could be dead! The first complete evacuation of a major city in US history.

God help those people in need. And show us as a nation how to assist them.

Please consider donating money to relief organizations such as:

• Salvation Army

• Samaritan’s Purse

• Red Cross

Linking back to my Memorial Day post, I watched a show on TLC that just began the other night called Operation Homecoming. It’s a series of documentaries about soldiers returning from Iraq or places unknown to their families and loved ones after being gone for a year or more. Most of the stories are told by the families here in the US, what they go through, the challenges, their fears, sadness for those who never come home and relief and joy for those who arrive safe and sound. What I appreciate about this documentary, at least so far, is they do not politicize the stories. Too many times I see the media use these families and soldiers to promote their agendas. Of course mostly to bash the current administration. I could go on and on about that, but I’ll spare you that right now. Yes, I am very opinionated about this subject, but ultimately I would like to just hear the stories of our soldiers without going through the “agenda filter” the media spin-meisters place on them.