My Inner Author

This weekend appears poised to become a landmark date in American Politics. According to the various news outlets, tomorrow will be the Health Care D-day in the House of Representatives. Early reports indicate public pressure has at least caused the leaders in Congress to quit play political shell games, and simply vote on the Health Care bill recently passed by the Senate, plus their own changes to the plan (tweaks, perks and pork). At least America will have a black and white, clear record of each congressman's vote for or against. As it should be. My opposition to the entire package is well documented, beginning with my own blog last summer ( The Health Care Debate ). Indeed, this one issue in particular has driven the greatest wedge between the political right and left in our country since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, perhaps even farther. Several friends have gone so far as to ask me why this one issue has instilled such fire in my veins and seemingly awakened an ent...

Do you know the rights guaranteed in the US Constitution? It is a tough question these days, given the educational emphasis on Math, Science and Reading. Indeed, History is an educational subject in decline, however, it is an issue at the forefront of American politics today. I regularly keep up with the news, read lots of opinion and editorial content online, and certainly I have had a more than a few people in the past couple of years remind me of these rights. In fact, they elected a President to make sure these rights are guaranteed by the US Government. What are these rights? The right to own a home. The right to cheap health care. The right to own a car. The right to have a job. Wow! I might need to sue my former school district and my university. These rights were totally excluded from my textbooks and class curriculum. Given the recent public trend, I am guessing today's teachers are including these in the lesson plan. So, I finally decided I needed to get educat...

The Obama Administration has a great new Education program for the United States. No Child Left Behind, has been universally praised and despised for years. Beyond that, and despite whatever good and bad components it possesses, it simply has a negative connotation focusing on the child being “left behind”, rather than moving forward (and it had that negative word “no” in the title). For this reason alone, a new program was necessary. However, this bold new educational program needed to emulate the goals and policies of all the other major Obama Administration's initiatives. It needed to include fairness for all, but most of all it needed to represent change. So, how can this be accomplished? First and foremost, a new grading policy will be implemented across the country, in every public and private school. This is the central component to the new plan. Henceforth, all students with a 100 (or higher) grade average in any class will be taxed 25% of their scores, and those points wil...

Many surveys taken over the past decade show a decline in church membership and also in the number of people who define themselves as Christian, or any other major religious faith. I have read many articles and theories about the cause of this decline: from the church crowd, from sociologists, from professors, research analysts, journalists, pundits and the like. It is certainly an interesting topic of discussion. One theory I read really struck a chord with me. The more I have pondered it, the more sense it seems to make. So, I am sharing the idea now: Politics and Causes have become the religion for some (perhaps too many) in the modern world. Think about this for a minute. If you were to take an “honest” poll (where people simply spoke the truth rather than thinking about what the pollsters want to hear or whatever paints themselves in the best light) of some of the hard-line supporters of some of these causes: Pro-Choice, Earth First, PETA, Greenpeace, etc.; you would find they are...

A momentary departure from my usual fare of social, religious or political commentary is due. This past week, the small amount of non-Super Bowl football news has been Tim Tebow's performance in the Senior Bowl as he gets ready to be drafted by an NFL team. Some people think he is the greatest college QB ever (please!, but he does probably belong in the discussion of the top 20). Some think he will be a first round draft pick, others think he will be lucky to be gone by the end of round 3. To the average Saturday afternoon college fan, this has to be somewhat mystifying. He ruled nearly every time he took the field. Well, I decided to read the breakdowns and went looking for video and pictures I could use to explain things. Personally, I like Tim (with the sole exception of his Gator past). He is an authentic Christian (at least to this point in his life) and he isn't afraid to speak his mind, his beliefs, and to take on the burdens of all the spotlight that comes with that lar...

Last night, President Barrack Obama gave his "State of the Union" address. While I vehemently disagree with many of the man's policies and strategies for our country, he does understand the art of speech. Honestly, I think it is the one time he is in his element: talking, especially about change. He hit on a few key points and I think they bear repeating, as they do get to the root of America's woes. In his speech he said "We face more than a deficit of dollars right now, we face a deficit of trust - deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years." Indeed. Democrat or Republican, you have to admit DING, DING, DING...we have a winner. However, what President Obama fails to understand, is that he is part of the problem. He got elected primarily thanks to a message of 2 words: hope and change. Sadly, he has failed to deliver on either one really, although you could make a strong argument that his sinking ...

The average American child will spend over 14,000 hours being educated in the public school system, and the average American parent spends less than 6 hours during those 13 years researching the platforms, beliefs and policies of the people who run for School Board positions, the people who decide public school policy at the local level. The average American child between the ages of 2 and 11 spends nearly 30 hours a week watching television (or over 1500 hours a year), and less than 300 hours reading books. Studies show these kids are more likely to be overweight and other ailments, including difficulty in speech development and cognitive development. The average American produces 4.5 pounds of garbage a day. In 1980, the average major league baseball player made $143,000. In 2009, the average salary was $3,150,000. If the same salary growth trend continues, in the year 2038, the average baseball player will earn $69.4 million per year. In contrast, the average starting school teacher...