Books

Some of the books I'd like to read:

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Mississippi Solo: A River Quest by Eddy Harris

Machine Shop Essentials: Questions and Answers by Frank M. Marlow

Power From the Wind: Achieving Energy Independence by Dan Chiras

The U.S. .30 Caliber Gas Operated Service Rifles: A Shop Manual by Jerry Kuhnhausen

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew Bacevich

How about you?

The Message of Reconciliation

Paul distills it down to its very essence. The pride-killing doctrine of double imputation:

"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

Note

I read several different blogs, and I read all manner of websites. Linking to them does not necessarily imply an endorsement of all or any of their positions. Please use your own judgement.

Feel free to comment. Criticism, disagreements, and arguments are fine. Generally, don't use any language that you couldn't use in a letter to the editor of your local paper.

Thanks.

The Ungodly

"And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness..."

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Spurgeon says:

'Are you not surprised that there should be such an expression as that in the Bible, "That justifieth the ungodly?" I have heard that men that hate the doctrines of the cross bring it as a charge against God, that He saves wicked men and receives to Himself the vilest of the vile. See how this Scripture accepts the charge, and plainly states it!'

Murderers, thieves, liars, swindlers, rapists, serial killers, prostitutes, hypocrites, child molesters; these are the people to whom God has sent His good news. He has commanded that the offer of free grace be made to the perjurers, to the serial killers, to the tyrants, to the drunks, to the prideful, to the adulterers, and to those who physically abuse their own families. To one who is even more horrific, putrid, and vomit-inducing than all of these sinners combined -- namely, to oldsmobile98 -- God tells His messenger to say this:

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Raise The Debt Ceiling Or We'll Steal Your Money!

Karl Denninger cuts through the fancy words and gets to the heart of the matter.

America is heading toward the black hole of hyperinflation, and we may have already passed the event horizon. There is a chance that we haven't yet; perhaps we can slam on the brakes and throw the spacecraft into reverse.

The only way that that will happen is if Americans understand, in plain language, what is happening to their money. And once they understand, they have to demand economic freedom. Immediately.

Shutdown

All the political talk today is about a government shutdown. Here are a couple videos for your perusal. The first one is from over a month ago. The second one was uploaded today.

I respect both of these guys (Andrew Napolitano and Rand Paul). The current situation in D.C. is a game of chicken. If the Republicans cave in and don't demand an end to increased borrowing and spending, America loses. In other words, you will see hyperinflation. As the judge said in the first video, the final decision about the government shutdown will not be made by Congress; it'll be made by the Obama administration.

A shutdown is not ideal, but it is much better than yet another increase in borrowing and spending. The United States is in $14.25 trillion of debt. We won't default on it. And there is only so much taxation that Americans will put up with. That leaves us with a choice between serious government budget cuts or monetizing the debt (hyperinflation). If the Republicans show a lack of resolve here, you will see consumer prices go way up, but wages and salaries won't. Bank on it.

Transparency

Last month, David Codrea requested documents related to the briefing that Senator Grassley got from the ATF about Project Gunrunner. Here is what he received, and here is his article about it. An image of one of the pages from the response to his Freedom of Information Act request:

Consider something with me for a minute. The reason David made the request is that he wants to expose ATF malfeasance and procure justice for the families of the victims of this taxpayer-funded atrocity. Does the image of the government email above look to you like freedom of information?

Now compare that with what the administration thinks about your emails.

Barack Obama said: "My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration."

If you don't get it now, what will it take for you to get it?

Issa Subpoenas the ATF

Darrell Issa has subpoenaed the ATF (arguably America's most corrupt government agency) for several documents related to the Gunwalker scandal. If you're not up to speed on this, the big picture is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (abbreviated ATF) helped send thousands of rifles to Mexican drug cartels. If you want to dig in and find the details, check out the timeline from David Codrea (part one and part two). Some big media types have not given them proper recognition, but Codrea and Vanderboegh are the bloggers who broke this story. They were first to get in touch with the field-level ATF agents who blew the whistle on this deliberate act of government malfeasance.

Now, I view the ATF as a unconstitutional sack of garbage that gets its jollies by ruining the lives of peaceable American citizens under the color of law. It only survives because Congress (and by extension, the voters) allow it to leech off of American taxpayers like a bloodsucking parasite. Having said that, there are ATF agents that have earned our gratitude by coming forward and speaking out about this scandal (John Dodson and Darren Gil). And we ought to thank them. Even so, they still belong to an agency that ought not to exist.

Anyway, you may or may not share my views on the ATF, you should still care about the Gunwalker scandal, because the deliberate transfer of these rifles to hardened Mexican druglords is costing precious human lives. When you send firearms to druglords, they use them to kill people. Most of the dead we don't know about, because they are Mexicans. The government down there has lost control of large regions of their country to the drug cartels. They can't do much about a few more dead Mexicans, assuming they care about it (I'm sure some officials do, and some don't).

So, you and I and all the other taxpayers unwittingly helped pay the ATF guys lots of money to ensure that the drug gangs would have the means to kill these people.

"But there isn't anything I can do! I have to pay taxes!" I hear you say.

That is why you have a U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators. Call those clowns (okay, so not all of them are clowns) and tell them you demand justice for Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata, and all the unknown and uncounted dead Mexicans that have been or will be killed by these firearms. Tell them that you want open Congressional investigative hearings on this. That phrase may not mean much to you, but it has the people responsible for this atrocity shaking in their jackboots. To a politician, open Congressional investigative hearings means stuff just got real. The guys who are trying to cover up this scandal are doing their best to avoid open Congressional investigative hearings. Are we going to let them get away with it?

Tennessee Senators:

Senator Lamar Alexander (R- TN)                   202-224-4944
Senator Bob Corker (R- TN)                           202-224-3344 

Tennessee Representatives:

Representative Phil Roe (R - 01):                    202-225-6356
Representative John J. Duncan, Jr. (R - 02)      202-225-5435
Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R - 03)     202-225-3271
Representative Scott DesJarlais (R - 04)          202-225-6831
Representative Jim Cooper (D - 05)                 202-225-4311
Representative Diane Black (R - 06)                202-225-4231
Representative Marsha Blackburn (R - 07)       202-225-2811
Representative Stephen Fincher (R - 08)         202-225-4714
Representative Steve Cohen (D - 09)               202-225-3265

Thanks to Contacting the Congress for the phone numbers. If you aren't a citizen of Tennessee, go there to find your reps' contact info.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard the Tennessee Doomboat. This is your captain, oldsmobile98, speaking. Please keep all arms and legs inside the railing for your safety. Expected weather for the journey is initially overcast with scattered showers, followed by an extended period of severe thunderstorms as we hit an intense squall line with predicted wind speeds approaching 100 knots. Please be prepared to take responsibility for your own safety, as we are headed into markedly turbulent conditions. In addition, there have been isolated reports of piracy and kidnapping in the area, so please familiarize yourselves with the crew-served weapons on board, including the fifty-cal mounted at the boat's stern. Thank you for joining us today, and we hope to carry you safely to your destination.