A Few Things I’m Tired of Hearing About

It’s been awhile, but I am feeling the need to post again.  As a social studies teacher, this may shock you, but I have stopped watching the news.  I am fed up with the media and what is portrayed on their stations.  With all of the news or whatnot that’s out right now, I feel the need to express just exactly when I’m tired of hearing about:

1) Michael Jackson. I’m sorry he’s dead, really I am, but let’s move on.  There are way more important things out there right now in this world than obsessing endlessly over the death of a fallen star.

2) Jon and Kate Plus 8. Or as I am calling them now “Jon and Kate plus 8 multiplied by paparazzi minus Jon divided by lawyers.” It not only makes me sad, but all this talking about it is, I believe, the root of everything.  Leave the poor people alone. And that’s all I’m saying

3) Barrak Obama as celebrity. He is the president of this country.  I could care less what show he went to with Michelle in NYC.  He does not need to be on E! but on CSPAN.  Stop putting him in the same category as Brangelina or the Jonas Brothers.  He is the president and I’d like to hear more about his policies than his swimsuit color choice.

4) The Recession/The Economy.  Would you like me to give you a simple overview how this whole recession thing started? Step One: before this county was technically in a recession, the media was whining about it.  Step Two: People freaked out.  Step Three: People stopped spending money.  Step Four: Places where people would have normally spent their money had to shut down.  Step Five: Other people lost their jobs.  Step Six: Those people stopped spending money.  Step Seven: The United States Government bought Chevrolet with the tax monies of those people who can’t afford to buy a car.  Ta da. Yes, it sucks, but seriously, stop talking about it.  When it gets to the level of the Great Depression, let me know.  Though if you’d watch MSNBC, they’ll tell you it’s already there.  For shame media.

5) The Phrase “How’s the job hunt going?”.  There is a hiring freeze in my school system. No one is hiring, no one is interviewing.  Our dear state government and governor can’t tell which way is up, much less plan a budget for next year—because it’s more important to spend money keeping the education lottery going rather than to spend money on keeping jobs for teachers.  I don’t have a job yet.  I’ll let you know when I do.

6) Twitter.

These are not, by far, the only things I’m tired of, but they are the biggies right now.  This weekend is the Fourth of July.  This holiday means so much more to me now that I’ve been in Ireland.  I love America more than I can express so I want to hear more about the good things in this country and those I can be proud of.  I want to hear about soldiers who are bravely doing their duty.  About families who are working for themselves to beat this economy.  About the politicians who are doing more than cheating on their wives. I want to know what is stimulating and thought provoking.  There needs to be more that encourages people to think, not sit mindlessly by and let the rest of the world pass.  I am seeking a better way.

 

After Election Night…

This is from Al Mohler who is President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I do not think it could be worded any better.

The election of Sen. Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States came as a bang, not a whimper. The tremors had been perceptible for days, maybe even weeks. On Tuesday, America experienced nothing less than a political and cultural earthquake.

The margin of victory for the Democratic ticket was clear. Americans voted in record numbers and with tangible enthusiasm. By the end of the day, it was clear that Barack Obama would be elected with a majority of the popular vote and a near landslide in the Electoral College. When President-Elect Obama greeted the throngs of his supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park, he basked in the glory of electoral energy.

For many of us, the end of the night brought disappointment. In this case, the disappointment is compounded by the sense that the issues that did not allow us to support Sen. Obama are matters of life and death — not just political issues of heated debate. Furthermore, the margin of victory and sense of a shift in the political landscape point to greater disappointments ahead. We all knew that so much was at stake.

For others, the night was magical and momentous. Young and old cried tears of amazement and victory as America elected its first African-American President — and elected him overwhelmingly. Just forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, an African-American stood to claim victory as President-Elect of the nation. As Sen. Obama assured the crowd in Chicago and the watching nation, “We will get there. We will get there.” No one hearing those words could fail to hear the refrain of plaintive words spoken in Memphis four decades ago. President-Elect Obama would stand upon the mountaintop that Dr. King had foreseen.

That victory is a hallmark moment in history for all Americans — not just for those who voted for Sen. Obama. As a nation, we will never think of ourselves the same way again. Americans rich and poor, black and white, old and young, will look to an African-American man and know him as President of the United States. The President. The only President. The elected President. Our President.

Every American should be moved by the sight of young African-Americans who — for the first time — now believe that they have a purchase in American democracy. Old men and old women, grandsons and granddaughters of slaves and slaveholders, will look to an African-American as President.
Regardless of politics, could anyone remain unmoved by the sight of Jesse Jackson crying alone amidst the crowd in Chicago? This dimension of Election Day transcends politics and touches the heart of the American people.

Yet, the issues and the politics remain. Given the scale of the Democratic victory, the political landscape will be completely reshaped. The fight for the dignity and sanctity of unborn human beings has been set back by a great loss, and by the election of a President who has announced his intention to sign the Freedom of Choice Act into law. The struggle to protect marriage against its destruction by redefinition is now complicated by the election of a President who has declared his aim to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. On issue after issue, we face a longer, harder, and more protracted struggle than ever before.

Still, we must press on as advocates for the unborn, for the elderly, for the infirm, and for the vulnerable. We must redouble our efforts to defend marriage and the integrity of the family. We must be vigilant to protect religious liberty and the freedom of the pulpit. We face awesome battles ahead.
At the same time, we must be honest and recognize that the political maps are being redrawn before our eyes. Will the Republican Party decide that conservative Christians are just too troublesome for the party and see the pro-life movement as a liability? There is the real danger that the Republicans, stung by this defeat, will adopt a libertarian approach to divisive moral issues and show conservative Christians the door.

Others will declare these struggles over, arguing that the election of Sen. Obama means that Americans in general — and many younger Evangelicals in particular — are ready to “move on” to other issues. This is no time for surrender or the abandonment of our core principles. We face a much harder struggle ahead, but we have no right to abandon the struggle.

We should look for opportunities to work with the new President and his administration where we can. We must hope that he will lead and govern as the bridge-builder he claimed to be in his campaign. We must confront and oppose the Obama administration where conscience demands, but work together where conscience allows.

Evangelical Christians face another challenge with the election of Sen. Obama, and a failure to rise to this challenge will bring disrepute upon the Gospel, as well as upon ourselves. There must be absolutely no denial of the legitimacy of President-Elect Obama’s election and no failure to accord this new President the respect and honor due to anyone elected to that high office. Failure in this responsibility is disobedience to a clear biblical command.

Beyond this, we must commit ourselves to pray for this new President, for his wife and family, for his administration, and for the nation. We are commanded to pray for rulers, and this new President faces challenges that are not only daunting but potentially disastrous. May God grant him wisdom. He and his family will face new challenges and the pressures of this office. May God protect them, give them joy in their family life, and hold them close together.

We must pray that God will protect this nation even as the new President settles into his role as Commander in Chief, and that God will grant peace as he leads the nation through times of trial and international conflict and tension.

We must pray that God would change President-Elect Obama’s mind and heart on issues of our crucial concern. May God change his heart and open his eyes to see abortion as the murder of the innocent unborn, to see marriage as an institution to be defended, and to see a host of issues in a new light. We must pray this from this day until the day he leaves office. God is sovereign, after all.

Without doubt, we face hard days ahead. Realistically, we must expect to be frustrated and disappointed. We may find ourselves to be defeated and discouraged. We must keep ever in mind that it is God who raises up nations and pulls them down, and who judges both nations and rulers. We must not act or think as unbelievers, or as those who do not trust God.

America has chosen a President. President-Elect Barack Obama is that choice, and he faces a breathtaking array of challenges and choices in days ahead. This is the time for Christians to begin praying in earnest for our new President. There is no time to lose.

 

I Know I Am Going to Step on Some Toes Here

After watching the debate last night and reading some very ignorant comments that people are making about it, I decided that I need to post a short little synopsis of what I think.  I might be stepping on someone’s toes, but I think that this is very important.  The direction this country is moving worries me greatly.

I just would like to say that Obama is NOT Jesus, he is NOT the savior of this country (as I have read several people write).  Now, I personally am not a huge John McCain fan; however, I do not want to see this country run further into the ground even more so that it already is.  Last night during that debate, Obama proved to me that he will do that.  It is facinating to me how he could talk in circles, never really say anything, and people still think gold coins are popping out of his mouth.  Barack Obama contradicted himself several times last night, and never really gave a good answer.  The answers that he did manage to give, scared me a little bit.  The problem with Obama is he doesn’t really say what he means, you have got to read between the lines of his “pretty” words.  What I heard last night is that under his government, the economy WILL get worse before it gets better (despite his denial to the contrary).  Barack Obama reminds me a lot of JFK.  Kennedy was a young, good looking guy, a junior senator with not a whole lot of experience (actually he had more than Obama) and he ran against a older man who was not quite as eloquent as he (actually Nixon was a pretty decent speaker).  People voted for JFK because they thought they wanted “change”.   I’m going to give you a short little history lesson here: most people think that JFK was a great president NOT TRUE.  People remember him because he was killed, but when you look at what he did before he was shot, he was nearly the ruin of this country.  LBJ had to fix what JFK has screwed up, and he didn’t even do the best job.  People, just look at history, if Obama wins this election, there’s a really good chance the same kind of thing is going to happen.  I loved the quote that McCain said last night: “My hero is a man named Teddy Roosevelt.  He used to say, ‘Talk softly and carry a big stick.”  Senator Obama speaks very loudly.” How true! I am not saying McCain is the perfect choice as president; I didn’t agree with everything he said last night either.  However, McCain obviously understands some of the basic principles of economics and politics, Obama did not seem to. Now, its true, McCain probably could have backed off on some of the side comments; but that is merely just a professional courtesy, as I was making some of those same comments myself.  

And while we are on that subject: I would also like to point out that George Busch, whether you love him or hate him, is NOT under any circumstances unintelligent.  Rather, he is a perfect example of how a person is judged on their speech.  He is not the most eloquent of men and speaks like a Texan.  Heck, as a Southerner myself, I speak very similarly to G. Busch, and I am a senior college student with a high GPA.  Ignorance comes from both sides of every argument, and it is not fair judge someone because of the way they say “nucluar”.  Regardless of what you think about him, George Busch is still the president of this country and deserves to be disagreed with because that is our conistutional right, but he also deserves to be respected as the leader of your nation.  What right do we have as a nation to bash our leader?  It lowers the opnions of other nations of us as a people.  Why in the world should they respect us as a nation if we cannot even treat our own leader with dignity?  That is the real reason that so many other countries hate us. 

So, here is the real plea I have with the United States right now: please use the brain that God gave and think about what is being said, not just the way someone is saying it. Research for yourself before making a judgement and heaven forgive that you judge someone based on the prettiness of their speech: and that goes for Obama, Bush, and McCain.  Don’t be stupid, don’t trust what the media tells you, think for yourself.  Don’t be influenced by others; stand your ground! Try to eliminate ignorance on both sides of every issue.