Arjay's Weblog

Michigan Has 7 Millionaires in Congress

Man, when people say that the Dutch are tight, they are not kidding!  Check out how Peter Hoekstra, a Republican Congressman from nearby Holland, Michigan lives while in Washington.  [taken from a Detroit News article, linked below]

"...said Hoekstra, who ranks among the least wealthy of Michigan's lawmakers.  He sleeps in a sleeping bag on his office couch rather than pay pricey Washington rents or mortgages."

I like Mr. Hoekstra's example and I believe all our representatives should be made to live in much more spartan conditions.

I say we reform the way we send folks to Congress and make the process more like the draft or jury duty.  Americans are randomly picked and asked to serve a 2-year term.  Their salary will be the average of their last 3 years' income.  They can have government-provided housing - modest accomodations similar to military barracks.  After 2 years they go home and their name is removed from the pool of available candidates.

Anyone would be free to refuse service to the country and no felons or long-term welfare recipients would be asked to serve.

It couldn't possibly be any worse than the system we have now, could it?  Is there any more elite, out-of-touch group in America today than the United States Senate?  And the House isn't much better.

Yeah, it would be nice, but we'll probably simply end up in a state of increasing lawlessness leading to an eventual anarchy.  Then we'll be forced to do something.

The Detroit News:  Michigan Has 7 Millionaires in Congress

And here's another little gem I read about this morning regarding Republican Ohio governor Bob Taft, great-grandson of William Howard Taft.  He's a lawyer and you might think he would know better.

Ohio Governor Faces Public Reprimand for Ethics Violations

"The misdemeanor ethics charges and the professional complaint stemmed from the governor's failure to report gifts worth nearly $6,000 that he received over four years.  The case had spiraled off a scandal over state losses from investments in rare coins."

"Taft, a great-grandson of President and later Chief Justice William Howard Taft, is the first Ohio governor to be charged with a crime while in office.  He never considered resigning, but he forced out several staff members in the past for improperly accepting gifts."

What's the Difference Between the United States and North Korea?

While Americans grilled up some of their favorite foods and watched the 121st space shuttle mission blast successfully into orbit, famine-stricken North Korea was screwing around with bottle rockets in what has to be considered one of the lamest fireworks shows ever produced.

How many times must Communism fail before people stop trying to make it work?  I was just reading (and blogging) yesterday about how a man named John Witherspoon, the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence, had a great influence on James Madison, the man considered to be the father of the U.S. Constitution.

Madison went to Princeton from his home in Virginia in 1769 when he was eighteen. A delicate though studious youth, he tested out of the curriculum for the first two years and entered the college as in effect a junior.  He graduated after two years but stayed in Princeton for another six months to study elementary Hebrew and theology with Witherspoon.

Madison is often called "the father of the Constitution."  His contributions to "The Federalist," especially his analysis of the danger of and remedy for "faction," is a masterpiece of political philosophy.  The two great formative influences on Madison's outlook were his own Calvinist beliefs and Witherspoon's tutelage.

[empasis mine]

Roger Kimball, The Forgotten Founder

The North Korean people are in the midst of a horrible famine.  The Communist dictatorship led by Kim Jong-il is sucking up every  resource it can find to develop a military program, and it obviously isn't working.  Meanwhile, back in largely-Christian, definitely-capitalist America, all the population is well-fed (perhaps too well-fed), and we can watch amazing technological exploits like our space shuttle program, which is funded by the taxes generated by our incredible economy.  To paraphrase Malachi, we Americans have watched as God has opened the floodgates of heaven and poured out so much blessing that we are unable to contain it.  Back in Communist North Korea, people are forced to eat dogs.

Ronald Reagan was a Christian man.  His whole life seemed to lead up to a confrontation that brought Soviet Communism to its knees.  Many scoffed when he referred to that regime as an "evil empire".  Surely, words like "evil" and "good" were relics of some long-forgotten time, no longer relevant in our age of moral relativism.  But as history has repeatedly shown us, evil and good do exist today and they still compete for the souls of men and of nations.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell us which side is winning.

R.J.

P.S.  If you want to read an excellent book on Ronald Reagan's Christian upbringing and his faith, check out God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life by Paul Kengor.  Published by Harper Collins.

[Excerpt from Bill Gertz' Washington Times column of July 5, 2006]

The 9300-mile-range Taepodong-2, which can reach parts of the United States, appeared to have failed after 42 seconds of flight, said U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The missiles all landed in the East Sea/Japan Sea, between Japan and Korea, with no reports of damage, Mr. Abe said.

He said the first missile was launched at about 3:30 a.m. today local time (2:30 p.m. EDT yesterday).  If the timing is correct, the North Korean missiles were launched within minutes of yesterday's liftoff of Discovery, which blasted into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in the first U.S. space shuttle launch in a year.

230 Years and the War Rages On

Family and Friends,

This day really is more than just Art Van's latest furniture sale or a barbecue or a camping trip with family.  On this day 230 years ago, some very brave men signed their death warrants by signing the Declaration of Independence.  They not only put their own lives at risk, they put the lives of their wives and children, as well as all their earthly fortune on the line - for they were visionary enough to realize that it was better to have death if liberty could not be obtained.

And they secured freedom not only for themselves but they also looked forward to a time when their posterity would fully realize the blessings of all the manifold freedoms we indulge ourselves in today.

But the fight continues even now.  Let us remember those brave founders and revolutionaries who gave so much for us, but let us also remember that America's finest young men and women are still fighting and dying on battlefields around the world to maintain the inheritance we have been entrusted with.

May God continue to bless this great land - not with the cheap junk of malls and stores - but may He really bless us with what men and women in every generation must have to be considered truly blessed - His Spirit.

"Now the Lord is that Spirit:  and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."     2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV

Below is some linkage to an excellent web publication, The Patriot Post, as well as a Wall Street Journal piece on the only minister to sign the Delcaration.

Grace and peace,

R.J.

The Patriot Post

Independence Day Edition

The Forgotten Founder
John Witherspoon was the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence

"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?'...If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace.  We ask not your counsels or arms.  Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.  May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!"  --  Samuel Adams