Calling Ken Mehlman...

One of my favorite daily blog visits is Power Line.

I admire their writing and analysis so much. Check out this posting on their blog. It's an e-mail that was sent to RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman concerning the border and illegal immigration issue. I wish I knew Mr. Mehlman personally; I would have gladly sent it as well.

April 28, 1986

Today is not the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. That was two days ago, on April 26, 2006. Instead, today is the 20th anniversary of the Tass News Agency report announcing the disaster to the people of the former Soviet Union and confirming what the world had already discovered.

An accident has occurred at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant - one of the atomic reactors has been damaged. Measures are being undertaken to liquidate the consequences of the accident. Those affected are being given aid, and a government commission has been created.

Can you imagine something like that happening today? I can't. Too many freedoms have been unleashed in the former Soviet Republics that make keeping such an event secret, even for a few hours, a Herculean task. The world saw that a few years ago with the Kursk submarine incident. Certainly, many more freedoms need to be unleashed in that part of the world, but between that date and today, the United States won the Cold War. Those freedoms can grow in fertile ground.

Books, Books, Books

I love books. I love collecting books. I love reading books. And now, since I have a blog, I'll be reviewing books.

Please understand, however, that I have neither the money nor the time to review every best seller that hits the market. In fact, I get most of my books from either the clearance rack at local bookstores or from Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller. I highly recommend them.

Therefore, my reviews will be of books that have been out for quite a while, many times years. I'll do my best to tie my review to current events. (I don't think it will be hard to do.) So you've been warned: book reviews of non-current books are headed your way.

"Obscene" Oil Company Profits

If you know much about economics, you know that the state of Economic Education in our nation's schools is deplorable. Because of this, many people who think they understand the subject of economics are, in fact, economically illiterate. Some of these people should know better, but instead choose to wallow in their ignorance. One such person is Dick "Turban" Durbin, Democratic Senator from the state of Illinois.

If you did not see it, I recommend that you read this transcript of Neil Cavuto's interview with Senator "Turban" on April 27. (As I am not clear as to copyright laws and what I'm able to excerpt here on my blog, you'll have to read it in order to know what I'm writing about.)

Neil begins the interview with simple softball questions about who is to blame for high gas prices and what party has done what about high gas prices. Then Neil attempts to get at one of the stealth causes of those gas prices, taxes. But it seems that Senator "Turban" just can't wait to get to his sound bite about ExxonMobil's record profit. And Senator "Turban" can't wait to avoid more questions when Neil points out that average profits account for about 9 cents of the price of a gallon of gas while Federal Taxes account for about 50 cents of that price.

But, to the point of this post, Senator "Turban" makes this breathtaking statement during the course of the interview:

There's no correlation between the increase in the price of a barrel of oil and what we are paying at the pump.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you an epitome of economic illiteracy. This man, who should certainly know better by this time in his life, cannot seem to understand that oil is bought and sold in a market. He seems to not understand that neither ExxonMobil nor any other oil company can set the price of a barrel of oil in this market. He seems to not understand that oil is purchased from other companies, and that these suppliers—not the purchasers—set the sales price. Moreover, he seems to not understand that this price is set by the suppliers based on the demand for oil in the market, and that in the last few years India and China have begun to demand a lot more oil.

How sad for Senator "Turban" and for other economic illiterates like him who cannot comprehend these simple market principles. For a much more educated and in-depth discussion of this subject, I recommend this article by Tom Lehman at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

His Grace is Sufficient for Me

My adorable daughter, my little Daffodil, was diagnosed today with juvenile onset Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.

Part of me is so very hurt and angry with God. How could You let this happen again? I want to scream and hit something. That is my human part, and all too often it rules me. Thankfully, there is the other part of me. And that part knows that the Living and Almighty God, who laid the very foundations of the earth, knew this day would come even before he laid those foundations. He knew that my little girl would need parents who were responsible and capable of caring for her, strong and uncompromising in her discipline, merciful whenever possible, and loving always. He knew that she would be encouraged, comforted, and probably challenged by her older brother, afflicted with the same disease almost six years earlier. He knew then and knows now all these things because He is in control. He is sovereign. Nothing — not one thing — happens with out His knowledge.

I know all these things very well, and they give me great comfort. But my heart still hurts.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
— II Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

Please pray for my beautiful wife and I as we begin this new phase of our family's life caring for two diabetics, for our son who is now no longer the sole diabetic, and for our little Daffodil.

Big Pile of Money

Speaking of large amounts of money in budget surpluses, some fellow Texans have written a song called "Please Don't Tax Texas Again." And it's on their web site - Big Pile of Money.com. I recommend a visit. There are some incredible figures under the "Return the Surplus" section.

Ah, Texas Politics

There's nothing else like it. OK, there are some things like it, but it's true: "everything is bigger and better in Texas."

One of the fantastic things about Texas politics (or more accurately, governance) is the fact that our state legislature meets only once every two years. Oh . . . did you hear that? That was the audible gasp of a northeastern liberal who thinks that life as we know it would come to a grinding halt if government wasn't involved in every facet of his daily life. Well, we Texans hold the diametrically opposed opinion (or very close to it) that daily life is a thing 'o beauty, until government gets inappropriately involved. That's why we limit our legislators to one session every other year—they have less time to screw things up for us. (I think I heard another sudden intake of air coming from the northeast. Did you?) But wait, there's more. We also pay them very little for being a state legislator; in fact, they earn $7,200 per year. That way, if they want to eat more than once or twice a week, they have to do something the rest of us have to do: find a real job. (*Thud* The liberal just passed out.) Yes, indeed, they have to earn money in the private sector. And in doing so, they'll experience first-hand what it's like to live under all the laws they create.

Anyway, I digress. Recently, our Governor called back our legislature into what's called a "Special Session" for the purpose of fixing our school finance system. (I just can't get into that topic right now, so I won't. But I certainly will have to come back to this topic in the future.) But instead of fixing our school finance system, do you know what these legislative bozos are doing? They are considering passage of a new tax increase plan. In fact, the plan was passed out of committee this past Thursday. Oh my. I seem to have left out a small detail in all this. Ready? Here it is: as of this past week the State of Texas has a budget surplus estimated to be north of $8,000,000,000. (Everybody put your little finger up to your mouth and laugh maniacally.) Yes, everything is bigger and better in Texas.

Each legislator, their family, their staff, their poodles, their hamsters, and their hamsters' fleas could take a bath in all this money and still have a whole dang bunch left over to return to the taxpayers. It is, after all, eight billion dollars of overtaxation.

Before I started this blog today, I was concerned that I might not have content to post or anything worthwhile to say. Guess I was wrong on the content part. Our legislators (and others, I'm certain) will see to that. You let me know about the worthwhile part. It's bed time for me.

UPDATE - By the way, here's an article covering the announcement by our state's comptroller of the greater-than-eight-billion-dollar tax revenue surplus - Comptroller: Texas Surplus Funds Almost Double.

Hello World

Here's my very first post to my brand new blog.

It seems everyone has a blog — my brother-in-law has one, his brother has one, as do many of his friends. Last week at my nephew's birthday party, my brother-in-law's Mom talked about the fact that she has posted stuff to both of her son's blogs. And that was the straw. I knew then that I had to "get out there."

Please don't expect a daily dose of profundity from me. As you might infer from my profile, I'm busy with life. But occasionally, you might find here an intellectual nugget of gold. Maybe once or twice a month or so. And I'll be doing a good bit of linking to articles I've found or others have pointed me to and to books I've read which I believe every other human on the planet should read as well.

Let's get started.