Lions and Eagles

I recently ran across an article by a Presbyterian minister on 10 political things one supposedly cannot do while following Jesus. While I respect the author's viewpoints and even praise some of his motivations, I did personally find the article to be very heavily weighted towards one side of the political aisle. In order to offer a counterbalance, I thought I might offer my own list of 10 more political things, as seen from a different perspective. This will get long, but I'll ask you to bear with me. I feel it's very important to be clear not only with what I am saying, but also with what I am very specifically not saying. 10) Allow public expressions of faith to be silenced If you have good news, the best news in the world, do you not want to share it? If the news you have may save countless lives, are you not obligated to share it? The Gospel is Good News. Indeed, we have a Great Commission from our Lord himself to spread his News to every tribe, every tongue, every...

One of the big items on the discussion table for Federal budget cuts is NPR. Those in favor of NPR are talking about it as "de-funding Sesame Street". Well, let's look at Sesame Street a moment. I think that if there's a single NPR production that could survive without tax money to help, it would be the show with the Big Bird. Sesame Street is a huge international franchise, and the money made on Elmo toys alone must be worth a sizable fortune. Here's my devil's advocate question: Do they really need the money they get from our taxes? Or can they get along without it? We get upset when Wall Street gets tax money, especially when it goes to people who can clearly do without. Why don't we hold Sesame Street up to the same standard? Is it because it's "for the children"? Or is it the cute and cuddly monsters? I'm not saying that Sesame Street isn't a good cause. They do their job very well, educating and entertaining. But does ev...

Two things I ran across yesterday are spinning in my head. First, I ran across this link . Duquesne University Economics Professor Antony Davies compares the national debt to a household income. Here's a video from that page: Watch that. Listen twice to what he says at the end. If you take all of the debt, all of the unfunded promises that have been made in Social Security, Medicare, and so on... If you take all of that, and add it up, it outstrips the   economic output of the entire planet. That's right. Our government has promised to pay more money than exists, more money than can possibly exist. In the world. Let that sink in. When I learn this, I think: Ouch. We are screwed. Now, on to the next thing. An old college "sister" of my wife is in Wisconsin taking part in the protests at the state capital. She posted that the state budget shouldn't be balanced on the backs of state workers. I asked whose back it should be balanced on. She replied, i...