Obama’s change

One thing I know about Obama is that throughout the next four years, we will have no lack of rousing speeches in times of difficulty. His inaugural address was inspiring. The kind of speech that if all its declarations were carried out perfectly, would heal the nation in next to no time. It certainly drew a crowd and numberless raving Obama fans. I did not vote for Obama, but I really hope he does what he says he will do. His record does not assure me that he will succeed as president, but then again records only go so far. He may surprise me and I am hoping he does.

Something that I have struggled to understand though, is the fierce loyalty that many people have for this man.  None of them knows how his presidency will unfold, yet they act as if The Savior Himself has just assumed the country’s highest office.  I suppose such loyalty is admirable, but he hasn’t done anything yet.  He has given hope for sure, but as the next four years unfold, I will need more than that to shower him with the praise that so many others do.

I understand that everybody shows excitement or anticipation in different ways.  Personally, I will offer my loyalty to the new president and then observe and process what I see before I offer praise.  I never have been the type to fall over myself trying to catch a glimpse of some public figure.  Instead I try to ask what it is that inspires such wild reactions in their followers, and if it is admirable, then maybe I can model myself after it.  But that “something” has to be admirable. 

In Obama’s case, he has some big promises to keep; a big mess to fix.  He’s not a rock star because he has promised to enact change – he will be deemed worthy of my admiration when he shows me he will uphold the constitution at all costs, strengthen moral values as much as he is able, and keep the promises he has made to reform broken Washington.  Even then I won’t be tripping over my feet to see him as tears fall from my eyes, but I will respect him.

The bottom line for me is that he is our president and he has my support.  But great presidents have proven themselves by actions in tough times.  Promises are ok, but we demand more now that Obama has assumed the office.  As far as I’m concerned, the honeymoon is over and it’s time to bring that change.

Tags: Barack Obama, President of the United States, Obama change, American president Obama

Expelled

Every so often I’ll see this advertisement floating around on conservative news sites, showing a picture of Ben Stein and a movie called “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed“. I stopped to read a little about it once, and the prospect of a movie about the intelligent design vs. Darwinism debate seemed very interesting to me. I saw the movie a few nights ago at Blockbuster and decided to rent it.

This one goes right to my list of recommended movies.  Ben Stein (he’s the teacher on Ferris Beuler’s Day Off who calls Beuler over and over in his monotone voice) narrates this movie about how intelligent design has come under attack in the academic community.  He interviews a few academics who were either denied tenure or forced out of their schools for daring to even mention ID in their scholarly work.  He also interviews some atheists and proponents of Darwinism, asking questions about their beliefs.  Ben Steins question is why, if the theories of Darwinism are pushed so much in universities, can’t ID receive the same chance to be analyzed in the classroom.  A legitimate question, I believe, since a university education should be about discussion, debate, and critical thinking.

The problem that exists now is that we are only allowed to think critically about Darwinism when inside the classroom.  The “well educated” apparently fear that the mentioning of the words intelligent design to a student would be the same as imposing a religious ideology on him or her.  Students are not given the credit that they can think for themselves and decide which theory makes the most sense.  Instead anything that even remotely insinuates God is kept as far from campus as legally possible.

What it comes down to for me is this: there are two sides to every argument.  In this case, the Darwinists may be right, or the proponents of ID might be right.  The important thing is that each side be given a voice, especially at a university.  Darwinists will say that there is no evidence of ID therefore they cannot teach it.  That’s nice until you ask any Darwinist to prove that ID didn’t happen.  They cannot do it.  That alone means that there is a base for discussion.

I am a religious person so I believe in God as the Creator.  No matter what I say to a Darwinist, they will not take scripture as proof.  That is fine with me.  But on the other hand, not one of them can show me that God did not create the heavens and the earth.  They must live with that.  Whether you believe God was the intelligent designer, or you don’t know who or what designed all things, the fact remains that it cannot be discounted and should not be excluded from scholarly discussion.

The prominent atheist in the movie said it best when he first suggested that life began on the backs of crystals but then conceded it was possible that somebody could have created those piggy-backing organisms.  Even this big bad atheist couldn’t look Ben Stein in the eye and tell him how life started.  Why?  Because he doesn’t know.

When you don’t know, you can’t attempt to silence the other side for proposing their ideas.

Tags: Ben Stein Expelled, Creationism, Darwinism, Expelled Movie, Intelligent Design

On Desktops and Vista

A few months have passed since I was forced to get a new computer because of the laptop death.  I wondered then if it was the right decision to ditch the name brands and build my own system a la PC Laptops – without the ridiculous mark-up of course.  I also made the decision at that time to upgrade to Vista, a logical conclusion since it comes with most new systems anyway.

The last few months have been filled with price remorse-free bliss and a good share of satisfaction with the new operating system.  I bought all my parts at Newegg.com, a website whose experience is second to none.  I was able to do all my research for every single part on that site as a result of the huge number of experienced builders who contribute their recommendations and warnings to the comment section of each product.  Newegg had all my stuff here and in fine condition within a few days.

Vista, so far, has not disappointed me at all.  I have come across a few obstacles that took a little searching on the internet for answers, but I have always found what I needed.  I am used to the interface, and it’s much better than XP, in my opinion.  Maybe someday I’ll run across some big bad problem like Apple warns of, but that day has not come yet.  I’m a happy user.

So my conclusion is that building a desktop didn’t take a ton of research and time, so I’m glad I did it and came out with a high quality machine at a mid-quality price.  It truly is not that complicated if you put in a little research beforehand.  You’ll have the advantage of knowing exactly what is inside your case and being able to better troubleshoot any problems.  It’s also just nice to know things like this work.  Maybe that’s just a thing of mine, I don’t know.  Also, I don’t believe Vista is the monster it has been made out to be.  I think it just has a bad rap.

So you can count me as a satisfied Newegg customer and Vista user.  Next come the complexities of the laptop, but that may take a while longer.

Tags: Windows Vista, Newegg.com, PC Laptops, Computers

Lessons of crisis

I’ve never been much of a magazine reader, but I’ve found one that is worth my time. I subscribed to Portfolio magazine after being impressed with their online features, and is hasn’t disappointed.

October’s issue came yesterday, and two articles got me thinking about how I can learn from the latest financial crisis.  One article was an interview with Chuck Schwab and the other was the cover article about Toll Brothers (the McMansion builders).  So what can I learn?

First, I think Toll was being nice when he said that the blame for the housing crisis is to be equally distributed among various groups, consumers being among them.  I think irresponsible consumers should be CHIEF among them.  I do not believe consumers can take all the blame, but my newly discovered inner locus of control attitudes force me to say that many consumers were just plain greedy and stupid.

I mean come on, does a homebuyer really need to be told what he or she can comfortably afford?  So you’ve been renting an apartment for $800 or $900 a month, you’ve been barely getting by, and now just because the bank told you you qualify for that $400,000 home you are going to buy it?  Did these people truly not know what they were getting into???  No, they knew.  They just got greedy.  They walked into the bank and initiated the conversation that ended in the zero down, no interest loan on that McMansion that they couldn’t afford.  Unscrupulous lenders they were, but they weren’t forcing people to buy the super-sized boxes.  There was greed first.

So Schwab pointed out how pathetic it is that American’s save next to nothing these days.  We’re maxed out, or worse yet, upside down in debt.  We know we will have to retire some day, but those granite counter-tops and home theater systems are just too appealing today.  He stressed the importance of saving and investing in a market like this, not spending.  We may be at or very close to the bottom of the market, so we should start looking for investments that will pay off as the market corrects.  He predicts that many people will become responsible savers by force, not by choice in the next five or ten years.  The market will correct as it has done in the past, and hopefully our saving habits will too.

I know that’s not really what I learned, rather an assessment of what I read.  I’m learning that the gratification now is just not worth it.  Prudent living would be a better goal, alongside smart money management.  That’s no matter how much money I’m making.  I can always save for something – children’s college, missions, retirement, family vacations, etc.  The general crisis doesn’t have to be a personal crisis, so long as smart living has been the rule and not the exception.

Tags: Charles Schwab, personal finance, money, Portfolio Magazine, Toll Brothers