Okay, I watch 12 hours of television a year. I watch Dexter. The day I left my house, the day I told my ex-wife that I was losing it and she told me it was my problem, I went to a friends apartment, that was the same day that Dexter put on it's first show. I didn't know where I was or what was going on and my friend sat me down in his living room in Santa Monica and put on the television, it was Dexter.
The show was amazing, no idea what was going to happen. The best writing on television and it distracted me, I have watched every show since. The show starts again on October 2nd, I am actually looking forward to watching it, always surprising.
Today I am giving a sermon, it will not be about Dexter. I don't know what it will be about. Pastor Daniels is on my mind, she drove every Sunday to a town far away on the chance that someone might show up. That is how I feel today, yet, I know there will be at least a few people there, she had a mighty faith and will be my inspiration today, I hope she knows that.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Your Best Hope For Us
So here is an easy question, what is the best we can do? Everyone wants to justify their actions, nobody wants to reach for what is best. What are we capable of? What is the best we can be? Find me an atheist that believes in the best we can do, not okay, not right, the best we can do. If you cannot then the best an atheist can do is take care of themselves. You live and you die, that is the best for them, a meaningless life, they might be nice but are incapable of greatness.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
A Chip and a Chair
An old saying in poker is that all you need is a chip and a chair, well here is an article from the Associated Press about how the U.S. gets the chance to catch up on credit card security.
Now, in order to protect you, your credit card and debit cards will have a rfid chip in them that is only for you. Aren't you lucky.
Now, in order to protect you, your credit card and debit cards will have a rfid chip in them that is only for you. Aren't you lucky.
Friday, September 9, 2011
What Shall I Say Sunday
Sunday I am to speak at a church. I don't know how many people will be there and don't know most of them. I do not know what I am going to say, I don't know what my subject will be. Okay, that means I am ready because I don't need to. I don't know how many times I have spoken before others, it always goes well, I just need to know my subject matter.
I don't know what scares me more, if next week there are more or less people. This will be interesting.
I don't know what scares me more, if next week there are more or less people. This will be interesting.
Lets talk Jobs and problems
So what are the biggest problems in the United States. To me the number one is a lack of commitment to one another, it is from that that all the others happen. We cannot make anything work if we are not committed to each other and the goals.
We have gone from being about each other to being about ourselves and momentary pleasure, to having an advantage over others and prosperity (whatever that may mean to the individual). That is what led to the fraud, corruption and shoddy approach to work.
The housing problem is not that we are not selling houses, it is not the value of the houses, it is not that we are not building houses, it is that people cannot afford the houses we have. There are only two ways to deal with that problem, give people bigger paychecks or bring down the price of the houses. It is unlikely that we are going to see people make more, we don't have anything to sell overseas.
What is the problem in the job market, our labor is too expensive and industry was too focused on high returns rather than steady and fair returns. It was also severely warped by basing the value of a company on the value of it's stock rather than it's product. The solution is also simple, we cannot insist upon being better paid than people in other countries making the same product and that includes management. CEO's should not be paid based on the value of the stock; but, instead on the profitability of the company and not for one year's profitability; but, on a multi-year approach (ten or twenty year rolling average for instance).
China has invested trillions in it's infrastructure, we have let ours deteriorate. We do need to upgrade our infrastructure and that is the place to start. With healthy and efficient infrastructure it costs less to produce goods and transport them. That means you can pay your workers more. A new Work Progress Administration is needed and that will put people to work so that they can buy our goods so that our industry can hire people again. That is why I am so disgusted by the lame jobs program announced by President Obama, tax cuts will not get people jobs if we cannot compete with foreign countries.
This new program proposed by the president may pass; but, it won't create any jobs because it does not address the underlying issues and nobody seems willing to. Management wants to keep getting millions of dollars in bonuses even when their companies fail, employees want more money that their labor is worth compared to the rest of the world and nobody wants to pay the taxes that are needed to rebuild this country; therefore, things will not get better. The party is over kids when will we recognize that?
We have gone from being about each other to being about ourselves and momentary pleasure, to having an advantage over others and prosperity (whatever that may mean to the individual). That is what led to the fraud, corruption and shoddy approach to work.
The housing problem is not that we are not selling houses, it is not the value of the houses, it is not that we are not building houses, it is that people cannot afford the houses we have. There are only two ways to deal with that problem, give people bigger paychecks or bring down the price of the houses. It is unlikely that we are going to see people make more, we don't have anything to sell overseas.
What is the problem in the job market, our labor is too expensive and industry was too focused on high returns rather than steady and fair returns. It was also severely warped by basing the value of a company on the value of it's stock rather than it's product. The solution is also simple, we cannot insist upon being better paid than people in other countries making the same product and that includes management. CEO's should not be paid based on the value of the stock; but, instead on the profitability of the company and not for one year's profitability; but, on a multi-year approach (ten or twenty year rolling average for instance).
China has invested trillions in it's infrastructure, we have let ours deteriorate. We do need to upgrade our infrastructure and that is the place to start. With healthy and efficient infrastructure it costs less to produce goods and transport them. That means you can pay your workers more. A new Work Progress Administration is needed and that will put people to work so that they can buy our goods so that our industry can hire people again. That is why I am so disgusted by the lame jobs program announced by President Obama, tax cuts will not get people jobs if we cannot compete with foreign countries.
This new program proposed by the president may pass; but, it won't create any jobs because it does not address the underlying issues and nobody seems willing to. Management wants to keep getting millions of dollars in bonuses even when their companies fail, employees want more money that their labor is worth compared to the rest of the world and nobody wants to pay the taxes that are needed to rebuild this country; therefore, things will not get better. The party is over kids when will we recognize that?
Thursday, September 8, 2011
I Love LA - Randy Newman
Raymond Chandler, Phillip Marlowe, Chinatown, all nice representations of our home. Let's do a little better.
What matters.
What matters.
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