It is random thought time again. Fasten your seat belt and be prepared for quick changes.
The news this morning is about a killer whale which killed a trainer at Sea World in Orlando. It was a whale with a history of killing two other people - one a trainer and the other an ill-advised individual who jumped into the tank to go swimming. The trainer's family understood the risk the trainer was taking in working with the whale. Think about it. The species has "killer" in its name. As tame as my basset hound is, when we go to the vet he has a star on his chart that dictates that the vet hands me the muzzle and I put it on. Sam doesn't like vets and my vet is wise enough to not trust him. You should never be surprised when a dog acts like a dog or a killer whale acts like a killer whale. Having said that, you should also never put yourself in a position to pet a killer whale that has a history of killing people.
President Obama had a novel idea. Hold a health care meeting with the democrats and republicans to discuss how to go about health care reform. The meeting is going on as I type. The first quote that got my attention was, "Health care is a right, not a privilege." Wrong. Health care is a commodity. A right is something that you may exercise without infringing upon someone else's rights. You cannot provide health care for everyone without implementing a confiscatory taxing system and government control of benefits.
My second quote to hear from the health care meeting was that people are "Entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts." That is an awesome quote. The legislator then went on to give an anecdotal story about a person who was denied benefits because of pre-existing conditions. The story was a fact, but anecdotes are a terrible basis for making policy. Generally, laws made based on anecdotes tend to not work well in practice. While an insurance market needs to be provided for people with pre-existing conditions, the issue does not warrant a government take over of 1/6th of the nation's economy. There are much less intrusive and less expensive solutions than those being proposed.
And finally, a staffer in our district office called to tell me of a constituent whose son attends UTSA in San Antonio. Apparently, there are signs on campus promoting an event coming up sponsored by some atheist organization that instructs students to bring their Bibles, Korans, and other holy scriptures and they will exchange them for pornography. When the constituent called the university, he was told that it was a freedom of speech issue. (Don't explode. We are working on it.)
And so, the thought for the day is, Proverb 18:17 He who states his case first seem right, until the other comes and examines him.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Illusion of Security
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2
Yesterday it was the non-stop coverage of the plane crashing into the building in Austin. Prior to that it was the lock-down of the Capitol due to the man firing a gun on the south steps of the Capitol. Before that it was the underwear bomber, the shoe bomber, 9-11, Timothy McVeigh, the attack on the USS Cole and the list goes on and on and on.
Horrible, terrible no good things happen and people try to make sense of them. In an effort to create the illusion of security, the government generally intervenes to "close the barn door" on a particular situation so that it will not recur. So, we have long lines at airport security. Barefoot and beltless, we walk through the check points. Our finger nail clippers, nail files, and bottles of water are confiscated. We are subject to metal detectors, pat downs and searches of our luggage.
Does having the government employee search you make you any safer? It doesn't me. But then I don't generally carry anything other than my knitting needles that could be used as a weapon in the first place. And, oddly enough, airport security does not care that I have knitting needles, somehow thinking that ten inch long, pointed, metal rods do not pose the threat of something more sinister like nail clippers.
At work, I swipe my security card to get in the parking garage, use it again to get into the building, and yet again to get out of the building, and again to exit the parking garage. My every move in the halls of the Capitol are watched by DPS officers or security cameras. Great time and expense is gone to to ensure that I and my fellow employees are not a security risk. Meanwhile, the general public usually has unfettered access to the Capitol without question. Hence, the gunman on the front steps.
In all honesty, the security risks do not bother me as much as the loss of liberty in the name of security. The only way government can make our environment totally secure is by taking away all liberty. I would rather not see that happen. I prefer the approach of Todd Beamer, the great American who, after praying the Lord's Prayer and reciting Psalm 23, led his fellow passengers to take back control of the fourth hijacked plane on September 11, 2001. It was the only hijacked flight that day that failed to reach its intended destination.
Your security lies in your relationship with your Lord and Savior. Once you establish that, you do not have to spend much time fretting over the news of the day.
Yesterday it was the non-stop coverage of the plane crashing into the building in Austin. Prior to that it was the lock-down of the Capitol due to the man firing a gun on the south steps of the Capitol. Before that it was the underwear bomber, the shoe bomber, 9-11, Timothy McVeigh, the attack on the USS Cole and the list goes on and on and on.
Horrible, terrible no good things happen and people try to make sense of them. In an effort to create the illusion of security, the government generally intervenes to "close the barn door" on a particular situation so that it will not recur. So, we have long lines at airport security. Barefoot and beltless, we walk through the check points. Our finger nail clippers, nail files, and bottles of water are confiscated. We are subject to metal detectors, pat downs and searches of our luggage.
Does having the government employee search you make you any safer? It doesn't me. But then I don't generally carry anything other than my knitting needles that could be used as a weapon in the first place. And, oddly enough, airport security does not care that I have knitting needles, somehow thinking that ten inch long, pointed, metal rods do not pose the threat of something more sinister like nail clippers.
At work, I swipe my security card to get in the parking garage, use it again to get into the building, and yet again to get out of the building, and again to exit the parking garage. My every move in the halls of the Capitol are watched by DPS officers or security cameras. Great time and expense is gone to to ensure that I and my fellow employees are not a security risk. Meanwhile, the general public usually has unfettered access to the Capitol without question. Hence, the gunman on the front steps.
In all honesty, the security risks do not bother me as much as the loss of liberty in the name of security. The only way government can make our environment totally secure is by taking away all liberty. I would rather not see that happen. I prefer the approach of Todd Beamer, the great American who, after praying the Lord's Prayer and reciting Psalm 23, led his fellow passengers to take back control of the fourth hijacked plane on September 11, 2001. It was the only hijacked flight that day that failed to reach its intended destination.
Your security lies in your relationship with your Lord and Savior. Once you establish that, you do not have to spend much time fretting over the news of the day.
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