An Obamanomic Clunker

The Foundry's Morning Bell: Cash for Clunkers, A Case Study in Why Obamanomics Will Fail, shows why micromanagement of the economy is doomed to fail. Does the use of government funds to enable people to trade in their older vehicles for newer models make sense? From the article:

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are open to allocating more money for the program, but only if the rules are changed so that the program might actually do something for environment; because right now it is not. Edmunds.com auto analyst Jessica Caldwell explains why: “What you buy has to have an increase in fuel economy from what you traded in. But in some cases, that increase can be minimal. Owners of large pickup trucks like a Ford F150 only have to buy a replacement that increases efficiency by one mile per gallon. And they still get a $3,500 rebate. The environmental impact is negligible and the impact on national fuel demand and consumption is very small. The only real benefit in a like-for-like swap can be improved emissions standards on newer vehicles. Rather than discourage those people, they included them in this program.” Caldwell didn’t even mention the pollution costs of actually building a new car and the disposal of the old car, rather than just the pollution caused by driving the vehicle.

The environmental impact must be more than negligible if we transfer money from some Americans to others to enable them to drive newer vehicles. Emotional attachment to environmentalism leads to the type of expensive non-solutions we observe in the clunker program. We cannot afford playing with the economy and pretend environmental programs. Working Americans deserve more than this.

Faustian Tales

Goethe's 'Faust' is a Break Point commentary by Chuck Colson. Colson traces the Faustian bargain with the devil story back to its roots and in doing imparts know how as to how common ideas form and become separated from their origns. A quote from Colson's commentary:

As Ken tells his listeners, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe didn’t invent the character of Dr. Faust. The German legend of the man who sold his soul for knowledge dates back to at least the 16th century.

In the age of the Reformation, the story of Faust was seen as an object lesson and a warning. But in Goethe’s era, the Enlightenment, Faust was a prototype of man’s ideal aspirations. Faust had become a symbol of man’s emancipation from authority. His salvation no longer mattered—what mattered was his courage in seeking to obtain previously unobtainable knowledge.

Goethe’s idea of a hero as one who shakes off the bonds of religion in order to seek knowledge was central to the Enlightenment worldview, and turned the Christian message on its head.

The transformation to the Enlightenment version by German author Geothe illustrate a struggle over values that very much predates the culture wars of today. In fact they go back to biblical times. Although I've read some of Geothe's works I was unaware of his connection to Faust. More from Colson:

Mephistopheles offers to show Faust the secrets of the world and let him experience the profoundest pleasures in exchange for his immortal soul. Faust agrees, seeing himself as risking little, since he doubts the immortality of the soul.

In the end Faust is “saved,” but, as Boa points out, his redemption is anything but Christian. He is saved not because he repents of pursuing knowledge and pleasure but because he strove after them. Goethe employs Christian imagery to turn Christian beliefs upside down.

According to Boa, Goethe’s Faust is the supreme expression of faith in man’s humanity—humans as the center of everything. That this is expressed using Christian imagery makes the rejection of the Christian worldview that much clearer and exposes the same “bargain” that we’re being tempted with every day. I wish all politicians could understand this.

The assault on Christain values has been more like a slow erosion process than a sudden onslaught. American Christians need to bear this in mind when considering the "cultue war."

Applying Biblical Values in the Real World

I receive a steady dose of biblical wisdom in the form of emails sent from Anchor Your Life's Thought for the Day. Marji Mike Kruger is the author. In one of them sent this week titled Living in the Real World, Marji wrote the following:

The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. (NIV) Luke 9:37

Peter, James and John had just witnessed a supernatural scene. Jesus had been transformed. . . the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. . . Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. . . a cloud appeared and enveloped them . . . the voice of God came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him" . . . and then suddenly the disciples were alone with Jesus again (Luke 9:28-36). Not your everyday kind of experience!

But as wonderful as the mountain top experience was, the next morning, Jesus and His disciples descended back into the "real world". And they returned to much the same scene as they left, people wanting something from them. You see, our character is shaped on the mountain top. . . but our ministry is lived out in the real world.

Are you waiting for God to use you in some spectacular way? Start living out your faith in your day to day activities. God wants our character shaped during our times with Him to be seen in the routine of our regular lives. There's no job, no life, no activity, no work, no routine, that is too mundane that the touch of God cannot turn it into a reflection of Himself!

It Takes More than Muscle

Inside The Brain of an Elite Athlete, a HUM-MOLGEN article, indicates that more than muscle power accounts for excellence in athletics. The article cites a paper, appearing in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, which points out a key role for the brain in athletic performance. Specifically, skills linked to awareness and movement correlate to changes in sensory brain areas and brain areas linked to movement.

Baseball's All-Star Game

The American League All-Stars defeated their National League counterparts by a score of 4-3. This marked the 13th consecutive All-Star game in which the American League has either been victorious (12 times) or tied (once). The game's MVP honors went to Carl Crawford, the Tampa Bay Ray outfielder. Although he neither scored a run nor batted one in, he made a spectacular catch which robbed Brad Hawpe of a possible home run in the seventh inning. Mariano Rivera picked up his fourth All-Star save.

The NL still has an overall lead in the competition. The totals of wins, losses and ties now stands at: 40-38-2. Access the MLB website story on the game here.

Using Honey Bees to Study the Ageing Process

Biology News Net has an entry titled A young brain for an old bee. The brief article notes that cognitive function delines with age but it also mentions that our specific activites can impact the decline according to recent studies. That's where the study of bees comes in.

There are two specific bee activities which have differing cognitive decline correlates. Foraging is performed by the oldest bees in a colony. A diminished learning capacity has been linked to time spent foraging. The longer the bee forages the greater the cognitive decline.

On the other hand bees devoted to nursing functions are resistent to cognitive decline. It was demonstrated that foraging bees, when forced to become nursing bees, acquire improved learning ability. The implications for humans are exciting. If human activities can be linked to enhanced and diminished learning capacities then those activities will acquire an important new dimension particularly relevant to ageing effects.

New Jersey Legislative Inquiries

HTML has a means of linking to email addresses. This will be a test for me as I have not done that with HTML before. I'll link to an email address that would be useful to New Jersey residents looking for information about legislation that would be developed through the New Jersey state legislature. One of the web pages of the New Jersey government website advises those interested to use this email address when inquiring.