Thursday, February 05, 2009

Random Thoughts for February 5, 2009

Etta James is mad at Beyonce for singing her signature song to President Obama during one of the inaugural balls. James said she would kick Beyonce’s butt. Great idea. Maybe CBS can air it on Saturday night in place of their cancelled Elite XC series.

What does “shovel-ready” really mean?


This is one of the best pictures I’ve ever seen of Coach K, standing in his full-on “I’m about to erupt” posture. Is his face that red or is that the orange glow reflecting? Check out Wojo in the bottom right. I think he’s going to cry. If it wasn’t -20 degrees outside, I would gladly let Sarah wear her Tiger Paw shirt.


I think it’s a bad idea for the government to get involved in “faith-based initiative programs.” While we all like to have our elected officials to have high moral character (though that seems to be in doubt lately), I think it’s a bad idea to have the government getting involved in the funding of religious non-profits. That is such a slippery slope. As we have seen with the financial sector, as soon as they started asking for money, the government got real interested in what they were doing with that money and why they needed it in the first place.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Free At Last

Freedom means many different things to many different people. Some people want to be able to choose their local and national leaders by election. Some people want to be able to participate in their religion without government intervention. Some want to express their own ideas without government suppression.

Recently, Mrs. Rocker and I have started talking about what we would have to do for her to be a stay-at-home mom. We are seeking God’s guidance in this issue. You may ask, what does this have to do with freedom. I will explain in short. I would love for her to be able to stay at home with the kids. There are so many other things that she wants to do with her life than to be a music teacher, and if God calls her to do those things, then we should do those things.

Everyone is covered under my employer’s insurance plans so insurance isn’t a problem. While we would probably qualify for government programs because of the kids and one income, I don’t want the assistance. That is part of being free for me.

When one of my coworkers says to me that we could get assistance (Medicaid and food stamps) when not even thinking of other alternatives, it tells me that too many people expect the government to take care of their basic needs. And I certainly understand that some people need that help due to disability or other hardships (see today’s economy). It just disturbs me that people think that the government is there to help all the time and not just assist in times of need.

The Constitution promised truth, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It did not promise Corn Flakes, macaroni and cheese, and winter heating assistance.