State of the State

We, the good people of Michigan got to hear from our Socialist royalty last night, also known as our Governor. I am talking about the State of the State. Instead of attacking the crux of her address last night, which would be way too much work and I probably couldn’t do justice to, I am going to remark upon a few sidenotes. First, the only real joke she made all evening was so corny that even my staunchest supporters would have groaned had I made it. “We are the state that put America on wheels – the state that put the “car” in NASCAR.”

First, this self-avowed Catholic said she wanted to end the ban in Michigan on stem-cell research. As the priest of the parish on Mackinac Island told the congregation one morning (the morning that all the Democratic bigwigs were on Mackinac for the Democratic Leadership Conference and many of them attended church that morning) “If you obey your party line more than you do what your pope says, you are not a Catholic.” MIRS also had a bit to say about it

Just about the first item Granholm mentioned in tonight's speech challenging the GOP-controlled Legislature to do something it almost certainly won't do, was removing limits on stem cell research. "If we are truly serious about improving both the cost and quality of health care in this state, we must tap the full power of modern science to combat life threatening illnesses," Granholm said. "Imagine having to watch your child suffer with juvenile diabetes. Imagine watching your wife lose her ability to speak, and walk, and even eat, as her Parkinson's worsens." Following these lines, the Governor called on the Legislature to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Andrew MEISNER (D-Ferndale) to remove the limits on stem cell research. The Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) fired off a response that called on all politicians and policy makers to "immediately halt any rhetoric that offers false promises to those families who are suffering." "Governor Granholm irresponsibly told thousands of Michigan families in her State of the State speech tonight that repealing the state's law prohibiting human cloning and embryonic stem cell research will lead to some sort of miracle cure," said MCC Vice President for Public Policy Paul LONG. "Governor Granholm is misleading these suffering families into believing that such 'clone and kill' legislation will alleviate the debilitating diseases that ail humanity. The facts are that scientists have been performing stem cell research on embryos for over 30 years, and to date have yet to produce any miracle cures for which the Governor has spoken." In closing, the MCC called on the scientific community in Michigan to continue supporting ethical adult stem cell research. According to MCC, this research does not involve embryos and is currently treating some 65 diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Sickle Cell Anemia, heart damage and spinal cord injury.

Granholm was also pretty insulting, I thought, to the American Dream. “This plan is about fighting to protect your opportunity for that middle class way of life. It’s our Michigan version of the American dream.” Apparently the Michigan version of the American Dream is to settle for mediocrity and be happy so long as we’re comfortable and have our plasma tv and X-Box.

“This is about a dynamic Michigan whose ancestors were not afraid to believe that one day there might be a Mustang on four wheels, not four hooves.” That’s right! Our forefathers were all psychic prophets who knew that we would eventually all drive cars, and before they were even INVENTED or conceived of by normal humans! They all had the powers of Nostradamus! And when Henry Ford was putzing around in his Model T he was thinking, “Yes, someday there’ll be a really sweet version of this and I’ll paint it red and call it “Mustang.” I’m sure.

And lastly in the just plain horrible quotes category: “The foundation of a good life, of course, is a good-paying job.” Yes, of course. All you need in life is lots of money. Of course, if the Michigan version of the American Dream is to be middle-class, then I guess that makes sense. Mediocrity and comfort are the foundations of a good life. What a far cry from the ideals of such apparently duped figures such as Socrates. We know that Socrates, through the writings of his pupil Plato, was very interested in what made up “The Good Life”. As one college website puts his philosophy, “The good life is a life that questions everything; it is a life of doubt, of self-awareness, and of ever more refined understanding. The good life is the life of an active and inquiring mind.” And from what I remember of my college English and History classes, Socrates believed that “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Apparently, here in Michigan we believe, “The life without plenty of money and comfort is not worth living.” What an insulting view our Governor takes of us, the people of Michigan, and shame on us if this is really true. I am not saying I believe everything that Socrates did, but he at least had a far higher-minded philosophy than our current governor apparently thinks we do. I would say that “The Good Life” would have something to do with loving God, serving Him, and loving and serving others. These things, I believe, do not have to contradict an active and inquiring mind and the examination of the world around me and my internal beliefs and thoughts, but their importance, I believe, far outweighs a mind that is just active and inquiring. However, if the people of Michigan are stuck with the “Good Life” just being one that is comfortable and mediocre, then maybe our unexamined lives AREN’T worth living.

Of course, I could be all irate just because she’s a Democrat. This is an interesting study of the findings of scientists on the internal thought-lives of politicians.

Not Again!

What is it about me? I deftly got around being hugged (again) by Representative X, only to now be accosted by Representative Y (another Democrat). This guy, I wasn't even sure of who he WAS until after I talked with my co-worker. What is it about these Democrats!??!? (thiink BIll Clinton)

After my co-worker and I got back to the office and I told him that working on some assignments he gave me would complete my life he asked me, "Wow, you're really in a good mood. Must be that hug Rep. Y gave you." my reply? "Yeah, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy and sexually harrassed." At least I got free breakfast today and remember a ziploc bag to put any leftover fruit in. mmmm fresh pineapple....

Here's my rant

I attended a concert last night for a friend with a bunch of people from my church small group. It was highly enjoyable until after the concert one of the pastors of my church, Pastor X, came up to me and put his arm around me and asked me, speaking of singing, what God was telling me about the worship team. I tried to answer him, to tell him that I was so busy with other ministries and with trying to fit in some time for myself around it that it came down to 2 ministries: the youth group or the worship team, and I decided that working with people in ways that might help them was more important than being just another voice. Even if I do have a good voice. He wouldn’t let me answer him, just said something like, “Well, I don’t need to know what God is telling you, I just know what I’d be telling you if I were Him.” Which is such a horrible thing to say. When someone won’t let you give them your reasoning and just says, “well, what is God telling you?” then there’s this implication that if you knew what God was saying to you, you’d do whatever they think you should do. Since earlier that day I had been told by someone else what “God wants me to do” I was getting a little sick of everyone ELSE apparently having better knowledge than I about what God wants me to do with MY life. Then Jeremiah, knowing how upset I can get when people try to pressure me to do things with my voice, or only talk to me when they are talking to me about my voice (So hurtful. Imagine people NEVER taking the time to talk to you until after they hear you sing and then they come up and are all chatty. It’s like they’re saying “well, I guess you have enough value for me to talk to you now that I’ve heard you sing” Sorry, being valued only for my voice is not my idea of someone who actually cares about me.) decided to try to rescue me. He was my gallant knight and jokingly flourished a non-existent sword and cried, “Unhand my lady!” Good try to get the conversation stalled so I could escape, but then Pastor X said, “and who made her your lady?” and Jeremiah replied, “uh...God” and Pastor X stated, “Not yet, He hasn’t” and then started asking us a barrage of questions about who we’re talking to. Jeremiah was a tad confused, “what do you mean, who are we talking to?” I know the lingo though. Basically Pastor X was asking us whether we have a courtship, not a dating relationship. To which Jeremiah replied that he didn’t like to argue semantics (often the difference between dating and courtship) but then Pastor X started asking us who we speak to about our relationship, who is our authority, who are we accountable to etc. And it really started to irritate me. I know he’s concerned because I guess it’s easy for couples to be all hormonal and do inappropriate things physically before they’re married, but my parents have not questioned the way we’re handling the relationship, and I talk to them about it, I talk to various friends, including a little with another pastor at my church and his wife and Jeremiah talks to his dad and to his cousin (and we are usually with some member of his family or hanging out at his parents home with them there), but I felt condemned because we don’t have some specific, formalized system where we tell someone every single little detail about our romance, with that said person dispensing advice on what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong. And that pissed me off, because my church really isn’t legalistic usually and all of a sudden here I am feeling condemned for not doing something that is extra-biblical in the first place. And it was not by the pastor who has opened up his home to me and treats me like a second daughter and takes the time to get to know Jeremiah (who I would accept advice and constructive criticism from), but by someone who never takes the time to talk to me except to pressure me to join the worship team and usually ignores me. This is extremely aggravating to me. I probably do have an “authority problem” in that I don’t automatically accept someone as my authority. They have to earn enough respect from me to have me listen to advice they decide to give me without me specifically asking for it. That is a lot of respect usually for me to give someone, but there are people who have earned that much. It’s not like I only listen to myself. Also, I would not mind having a formalized system of one person Jeremiah and I go to advice etc for, in fact, I think it can be a very good decision for couples to make. However, I don’t like the implication that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to have a good, God-honoring relationship without that set system. I also don’t like it being implied that we are making some huge relationship mistake by not having that system in place that may be fatal to the health of our relationship and we’re just going to go out and screw like rabbits and make bad relationship decisions because without some specific person in control we can’t possibly make the correct choices with respect to our relationship or have enough self-control to stay sexually pure until marriage. It’s insulting, not only to us but to also to our parents who have not communicated with us any concern over how we are going about our relationship.

Feeling Poetic

A clash of similar natures
Unnerving to extreme
But produces such a spark
To ignite a lasting passion

Divorce

This is a really great article on divorce, its affects on children, and how the prevalence of it in our culture affects us all.