11.18.08
Another Cat? Really?
I have a feeling I’m going to lose this battle…
11.10.08
Mark Noll on Race, Religion and American Political History
From a recent CT interview with Mark Noll:
There’s irony and tragedy there, too, because small government is a really good principle, but one of the main reasons we don’t have small government anymore is because Christian people sat on their hands as the racist terror continued. If we complain about big government today, we have to repent of what happened when small government prevailed on these matters up to the 1950s.
11.04.08
Looks like it’s over
If the early counts are correct, then Obama has 200 electoral votes right now. If you assume he’ll win California (55), Oregon (7) and Washington (11), then he’s already over the 270 mark. Looks like this election is over.
(6:47 PM PST)
10.21.08
Agilification
I’ve needed an outlet for posting some more technically focused content, but have felt that my personal blog just isn’t the right place for it. So, I set up a new blog today for highly technical, highly geeky content for software application developers and agile project managers. If you’re interested in the latest in agile software development practices, Scrum, ASP.NET MVC, C#, jQuery, patterns and practices, etc., then head on over to
And if those topics don’t interest you, then you’re in luck because I won’t post about them here again. Now returning to my regularly scheduled personal blogging…
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10.03.08
Catalyst for Crisis - Your Government
Here’s another detailed look at the financial crisis from a perspective similar to the one I expressed the other day.
The road to financial ruin finds its roots in government policy
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09.29.08
The Socialists are Wrong - Laissez-faire is not to blame
I read this morning that Nicholas Sarkozy, the president of France, has said that the age of “lassiez-faire” is over. This is becoming a clarion call of many who favor more government intervention in our economy. But the problems we are currently experiencing in our economy cannot be squarely blamed on a “lassiez-faire” approach. An abundance of regulation has not led to the demise of our economy, but neither has a lack of it been the root of the problem. Instead, the primary contributing factor has been misregulation. One or two bad regulations are enough to have far reaching consequences which eventually reverberate through the entire economy.
Our energy crisis has come about in large part due to an artificial reduction in supply springing from anti-production regulations in the energy sector. Politicians talk of “energy independence” but the trouble is that we have layer upon layer of rules and laws that prevent the extraction and production of oil and coal. It is simply cheaper to purchase our oil from nations that do not artificially diminish their supply of energy through such forms of regulation. Supply of fuel is also kept artificially low in our nation because he have come to a halt in terms of building new oil refineries. Simply speaking of “energy independence” solves nothing when we have laws on our books that prevent the market from deciding which form of energy is cheapest to extract, produce and distribute.
We have also stifled our supply of energy because misregulation has made it cost prohibitive to build any kind of new power plant. Politicians speak of clean energy solutions which the private sector should certainly be promoted and encouraged to develop and distribute. But in the mean time we are not taking proper advantage of proven methods of power generation such as clean-coal technology and, especially, nuclear power. Even if we ramped up production of these kinds of facilities, our power grid currently struggles to keep up with the growing demand of consumers. No matter the source of our power, if we do not have a working distribution network, even new clean energy technologies will not be able to provide power to the people who need it. Once again, misregulation has made it difficult to build out and maintain our power grid.
In the financial sector, our government has been forcing banks to take on subprime loans for years. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) needs greater exposure for the economic travesty it has wrought. We should not blame the institutions of Fannie and Freddie themselves, because it was our government that has continually misregulated these institutions by treating them as quasi-government agencies which have, in fact, been heavily regulated. The intention of providing housing to everyone is noble. But offering large amounts of credit to those who cannot afford it is simply unwise.
More regulations would not have solved this crisis, and simply having fewer regulations would not have done so either. But a few restrictive regulations in a couple of key industries have had disastrous consequences. And so here we are. The Left screams out for more government intervention, and the Right squeals that government needs to be more hands-off, but what we really need is more intelligent government that takes time to consider the consequences of a few misguided regulations.
I’m not holding my breath.
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
How A Clinton-Era Rule Rewrite Made Subprime Crisis Inevitable
Global Business Regulation
[Update]
Cafe Hayek agrees: Laissez Faire to Blame?
09.14.08
Gas Prices and Simple Economics
Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution explains the real reason gas prices are high:
My wonderful mother is upset, like pretty much everyone else, at the price of gas. “Well, the hurricane has knocked out a lot of production on the gulf coast,” I say. “Yes but there’s plenty of gas in the pipes that was produced before the hurricane - the suppliers are gouging.” she responds. Arrghhh….must resist, must resist, must be ….nice. “mmm,” I say. You and my Econ 101 students (103 actually), however, are not so lucky…
Read the rest: Marginal Revolution: Response to my Mother
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09.10.08
Pigs, Lipstick, Pots and Kettles
I didn’t think too much of the whole “lipstick on a pig” gaffe until I heard it put this way:
If McCain had made some offhand comment like, “Barack Obama is criticizing me for being more partisan than I want people to think I am. Well, that’s kinda like the pot calling the kettle black,” that would have sunk him immediately. Never mind that it’s a common phrase. The standard in politics (and governance) is that you don’t make comments that can very easily be taken the wrong way.
Kinda makes you think…
About the “lipstick on a pig” comment
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08.31.08
Tim Keller @ Google
An absolutely fascinating talk and discussion at Google by Tim Keller regarding his book The Reason for God. Interestingly, this was one of Google’s better attended sessions of their “authors @ Google” lecture series.
08.25.08
Tech Savvy?
The democratic national convention claims it is going to be the most “tech savvy event of its kind.”
Go to: http://www.demconvention.com/
and click on the “quick-link” entitled “A Tech Savvy Convention”
which takes you to this page: http://www.demconvention.com/the-2008-democratic-national-convention-the-most-technologically-savvy-event-of-its-kind/
Which shows this message:
Page not found
Sorry, it seems you were trying to access a page that doesn’t exist or has been moved.
* If you need to confirm your Community Credential for Thursday night at INVESCO Field at Mile High, click here.
* Click here to go to the home page
* Click here to read our Frequently Asked Questions
Tech Savvy indeed!
[UPDATE: and of course it is working now. so they fixed the bug quickly, perhaps proving that they are, in fact, tech savvy.]
08.22.08
Guitar’s New Hero
Crazy:
The Moog Guitar can sound—and feel—like anything from a banjo to a synthesizer
Read more: Guitar’s New Hero
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08.20.08
Saddleback Forum
If you missed the Saddleback Civil Forum this weekend, you should take the time to check it out. Trevin Wax has posted video links for the entire forum.
Amy usually can’t stand “political stuff” but even she enjoyed this format. It was compelling, informative, and civil. Here’s hoping that this format becomes more typical of political discourse in the USA.
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Fall Is Coming
I’ve got a week-and-a-half left of summer, but fall is already encroaching on my life.
- Kyle starts soccer practice tonight and Kaitlyn will be starting ballet again soon.
- In the interest of saving some coin, we’ve also found Kaitlyn a new piano instructor that will teach her for free (it’s me).
- Amy is starting school with the kids on September 1st (yes, we know that Labor Day is a holiday for everyone else).
- We’re meeting with our life group tonight to talk about our fall schedule.
- I just registered for the fall quarter (only 6 units! I may actually survive that load).
So much for my “relaxing” summer. Fall, here I come!
07.29.08
Paul Tripp on Appropriate Speech
Warning: this video may offend the delicate sensibilities of some. But if you watch it through to the end, it is well worth it. Best quote:
The Bible doesn’t define wholesome communication in a vocabulary way. The Bible defines wholesome communication in an intention way.
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07.28.08
Cellphone Law
HL spins a tale of woe regarding the new “handsfree” law in California.
This morning, I was abiding by California Law, driving with my cell phone in “speaker” mode…
Check it out: HL Arledge: Use the Cone of Silence: It’s the Law
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07.15.08
Why God Doesn’t Fully Explain Pain
The problem is, we would have to be God to grasp all that God is doing in our problems.
Why God Doesn’t Fully Explain Pain :: Desiring God
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Restraining Grace, Redeeming Grace and the Words We Speak
Paul Tripp speaks of the impact and import of the words we speak as well as what would happen if God did not restrain our tongues.
07.10.08
Life Update
Why am I not blogging regularly? Let me count the ways…
- Just finished two quarters of school where I carried a near-full load each quarter (10-11 units)
- Still taking a class this summer and trying to wrap up work on a class I didn’t finish last quarter (thank you God for extensions…)
- Managing development operations for SJV Tech
- Managing development operations and a member of the development team for Lotpath
- Leading worship most weekends at The Well (due to unplanned staffing changes at our church)
- Kaitlyn and Kyle are on the Kingsburg Seawolves swim team
- Most spare time I have left is spent with my lovely wife
I’ll graduate from school in May of 2010 with my M.A. I’m just over half-way done. Hopefully our church will be able to staff up this fall so that I don’t have to lead as often. And swim team will end in a week. If I can just hang in there a bit longer…
07.09.08
Exegetical Diagramming
I received an e-mail this morning from a reader asking how I came about my method for exegetical diagramming of scripture passages. I used this method when I preached on Foolish Things a few months ago (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Exegetical Diagram). In case any other readers are curious as to my method, the following is my response:
My approach is a bit of a hybrid between methods I learned in hermeneutics class, books, and my own personal methods.
In hermeneutics, we used a book called “How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth” by Fee and Stuart which does a good job of discussing issues of the context, history and genre of each text. The specific structural method comes from chapter 2, section 1 of “New Testament Exegesis” by Gordon Fee (same Fee who co-wrote the previous book). The highlighting, circling and lines are simply personal inventions of my own taken from my experiences with things like the Inductive Study Bible and simply being creative with thinking through how to bring out authorial intent in my diagramming.
If you find this method useful in your study of the Word, let me know!
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06.27.08
Knowledge Increases Mystery
I have thought this for a long time.
Increased knowledge does not equal decreased mystery. It’s the other way around.
It’s nice to see John Piper and Jonathan Edwards explain it so well.
Knowledge Increases Mystery :: Desiring God
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06.24.08
Great Schism
I was talking to a friend recently about my fledgling understanding of the Orthodox church. I took a Church History class earlier this year and took advantage of the opportunity to learn more about this branch of the Christian church. So for my friend, and for you also if you’re interested, here’s my paper. Let me know what you think if you take the time to read it. I’d love to hear your thoughts/experiences/interactions regarding the Orthodox church.
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