The Debt Dance

Am I the only one who wants to chuckle about the reaction to S&P downgrading the federal government's credit rating?

To be sure, there is nothing funny about the government creating a financial quagmire and saddling future generations with the consequences. But there is something amusing about its (and the media's) "shoot the messenger" response now that the chickens have come home to roost.

Anybody with an ounce of knowledge and sense has known for some time that the government deserved to have its credit rating downgraded. For years, under many different administrations, it has been borrowing way too much in order to spend way too much, and wary observers have been warning that a day of reckoning was inevitable. But under Barack Obama the situation escalated like a nuclear reaction, because under him the government has operated at larger deficits than under all previous administrations combined. Even George W. Bush looks like a tightwad compared to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

As the debt ceiling talks played out in previous weeks, the only time Democrats or the MSM mentioned the possibility of a credit rating downgrade was when they said one would happen if Republicans in general -- and "Tea Party Republicans" in particular -- refused to raise the debt ceiling. Specifically, they claimed that if the ceiling was not raised by August 2nd, the government would go into default on its debt payments, Grandma would not get her Social Security check, and as a result the government's credit rating might go down.

They echoed this meme loudly and incessantly, even though they knew the government had more than enough cash on hand to keep making debt payments and entitlement payments for several months after Obama's arbitrary August 2nd deadline. And, crucially, they kept echoing the meme in spite of the fact that S&P issued a statement declaring that a downgrade could be triggered not only by a default, but could happen anyway "unless substantial and credible agreement is achieved on a budget that includes long-term deficit reduction."

The only people at the table who made any proposals for "long-term deficit reduction" were "Tea Party Republicans," and the plan that eventually passed ignored all of their suggestions while still raising the ceiling...so in hindsight, it is obvious that the tea partiers were the only ones doing anything that could have prevented the downgrade. However, Democrats and the MSM are actually saying the tea partiers caused it! They are even calling it "The Tea Party Downgrade." This is laughable, but unfortunately, it is also deadly serious because the whole purpose of the propaganda is to get liberals elected in majority numbers. That would ensure that liberals' ruinous policies continue -- a prospect that would place America's future prospects in imminent danger.

Once again, the "takeaways" from this whole spectacle are to ignore the noise from The Left; to comprehend that The Left and the media are one and the same; and to follow what your common sense tells you to be true. And most importantly, to make sure your non-partisan friends don't listen to left-wing sloganeering without hearing the facts.

et ceteras

Deplorable

In this et ceteras I will get the unpleasant topic -- politics -- out of the way first. My thoughts today center around President Obama's handling of the so-called "talks" about raising the federal debt ceiling. Specifically, they center around how deplorable and disgusting (and frankly, how third-world-dictatorish) his handling has been.

To recap, under Obama's watch the federal government has operated at larger deficits than it did under all previous administrations combined. Then Obama appointed a commission to come up with ways to help get deficit spending under control. Then he ignored every single option that commission recommended. And he submitted a budget for this year which was so horrible that the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected it unanimously. And yet, he has the audacity to accuse Republicans of not being responsible.

To get him elected, Obama was portrayed as something new and unprecedented. But in truth, he is an automaton leftist who has spent his life peddling rubbish from Marx's 163-year-old Communist Manifesto. Fortunately, for everyone but blind ideologues, Obama's jig is now up because it is obvious to see through his untruths. His central problem is that he considers his runaway, unconstitutional spending to be good, so any attempt he makes to seem serious about reining it in comes off as laughably insincere. In other words, it comes off as what it is: A bald-faced lie.

Parenthood

As you may know, our fourth child (the second to make it to term) recently came into the "outside world." With me being 40 and Erika being 39, Parker is probably the last child we will ever have, and I am being sure to relish every aspect of these days. I am savoring that "newborn smell" when I hold him close to my face, and appreciating what it feels like to cradle such a small human being in my arms.

I am thinking about how much Parker looks like Sarah did at the ripe old age of 21 days, and I am proudly impressed with how well Sarah has adapted to her new role as big sister. Yes, she brags about her brother and shows him off to others...but more than that, she voluntarily helps out and she acts more mature than she did just a few weeks ago. She no longer complains about things that would have made her unhinged before. But then again, she looks so much older, and is so much taller, and she uses grown-up phrases when she speaks. Oh God, how the sands of time rush so swiftly through our fingers...

Epiphany

I have kept in touch with a few of my friends from my glory days at Auburn University. In 2005, Erika and I attended the wedding of one of those friends, whose name I will not share because I don't know if she wants it shared. Anyway, her husband has a heart condition which has been dragging him through the "valley of the shadows" over the last year. He has been hospitalized for more than two consecutive months. Late last week, they received the dark news that unless he received a heart transplant, his time on Earth was measured in days, not even weeks. And as you may have guessed, hearts are not easily or quickly come by to begin with...especially ones that are a match.

Over the weekend, two hearts came available but he missed out on both. Then, yesterday evening, with the clock ticking, they received word that an apparently compatible heart was available. He was prepped for surgery while the surgical team traveled by helicopter to inspect the heart and determine whether it was fit. It was, and the surgery took place in the wee hours this morning. There is a long road still ahead and he is not out of the woods yet, given how long and complicated it can be to recover from transplant surgery, but right now everything is looking good.

The faithful of you out there will appreciate this aspect of the story, and I trust that my old Auburn buddy doesn't mind that I'm sharing it about her husband. He made a promise to God that on the day he learned of getting a new heart, he would read whichever psalm coincides with the number of days he had been hospitalized. The day he learned of the heart was his 69th consecutive day in the hospital, so he read Psalm 69. I had never read it before (and honestly, I probably never would have) but when I heard that story I cracked open The Book and read it and man, did it ever make the hair stand up on my arms.

It is important to remember that there is tragedy in the midst of this triumph. Somewhere, some family lost a loved one who can never be replaced...and that family, in addition to their loved one, was generous enough -- moral enough -- to give up a part of the deceased to ensure that another may live. Tonight I pray for the peace of that family and for the soul of that loved one, about whom the only things I know are that he was my age and he died in an ATV accident. If you are his relative and happen to be reading this, God bless you.

But what did I mean when I used the word "epiphany" to describe this segment of this post? Well, up until today I have not been an organ donor. After today, that will no longer be the case.