A BLOG BY ANY OTHER NAME...

...would not, indeed, describe the full intent of its author the way this one does. I have embarked, however unofficially so, on a more focused direction with this blog. It is intended to be a more thematic endeavor in line with God's Law in general, offering resources available for further personal study, education, and enrichment.

Much could be said at this point. But because fatigue and bedtime are fast converging upon each other, I must consider this a finished post and leave you with Cyber Good Night and God Bless!

OBAMA ON GOOGLE VIDEO

Well, in the interest of upholding the spirit of "fairness," I would like the cyber world to know that I watched or listened to the entire Google Video of President Obama's speech this evening.

The two comments he made which stood out in my mind more than all others were:

"I get it."

"We Americans don't do what is easy. We do what is necessary to move the country forward."

 The exact context of the first comment was indeed easy to get: Americans are fed up with bankers who should not have loaned money incorrectly/unethically to otherwise unqualified people who could not repay/afford their mortgages.  

The second comment came toward the end of his speech, when he was encouraging the country to take the initiative to solve these immense economic problems.

Well, in case you missed the live speech like I did, here's the link to YouTube. 

POLITICALLY INCORRECT, BUT RIGHT, ECONOMICS

I just read a post by economist Robert Murphy, author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism," on Mises.org, in which he makes a good case for tax cuts to increase production rather than consumption. This is a reversal and correction of the premise on which our government based its decision to pass the Economic Stimulus Package: to increase consumer spending and thus "stimulate" the economy to recover from its recession.

To boot, Mr. Murphy is a Christian believer, and he has posted on his blog, Free Advice, a pretty good analysis of Jesus' use of parables to expose the willful ignorance of the masses listening to Him, and the inherent ability of believers to listen and "hear" with spiritual ears.

In his inaugural post on Free Advice, August 22, 2008, he says, "In the weeks ahead, I'll explain why I am so pessimistic about the U.S. economy for at least the next five years, but I'll also suggest options for you to protect your personal wealth during this storm."

Thank God for men like Mr. Murphy.

A LIFE REMEMBERED

Well, I finally watched all three parts to the interview between Mike Wallace and Ayn Rand. I am neither a fan nor an enthusiast of Rand's, but as a Christian I can watch, without condescension, a very warm and friendly exchange between two people who hold diametrically-opposing worldviewpoints. Wallace represented the Judaeo-Christian worldview, and Rand held firmly to an atheistic, self-interested worldview which somehow overlapped with economic truths which I perceived in her answers and somewhat agreed with. 

For instance, she made  the point that depressions are caused by government intervention in a free economy, and not by the market forces themselves. This I would tend to agree with, based on my limited and recent exposure to the Austrian school of economics. An excellent starting point for learning about this philosophy is Mises.org .

She does, in my opinion, take an extremely hardline on most issues discussed here. I sympathize with her, for she has not experienced the new birth of the spirit given by Christ our Savior, whom Wallace actually mentions without being censored! I only hope she did so before her death in 1982.

More can be learned about this fascinating historical figure of American life by visiting Wikipedia.com and reading about her there.

 

ANYONE FOR AYN RAND?

Just wanted to post a link here for an interesting interview from 1959 between Mike Wallace and Ayn Rand. I watched the first part (there are three), and hope to see the other two. They run about ten minutes each. Enjoy, or feel sorry for the compassionate Wallace trying to appease the implacably unbelieving Rand...

Interview with Mike Wallace