Category Archives: Everyday Life

Topics related to the world we live in

Creative Marketing

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I got the following letter in the mail not long ago:

Steve,

Our love began with a glance across a parking lot.
You possessed me in just a few days.
I remember long drives through the countryside,
And long weekend getaways.

But the years passed, and like upholstery in the hot sun,
Your love began to fade.
And now in a time when I need your care the most,
You hit the blinker and turn away.

And while our gas tank of love may be running on fumes,
I still have plenty of love to share.
So if you have a quart of tenderness left for me in your heart,
Take me back to Firestone Complete Auto Care.

Love,

Your 2000 Celica GT

I didn’t know my car felt that way.  It’s been over a month, and I’ve yet to take my car back to Firestone.  Now there’s an awkward silence every time I get in the car.  Someone else who got a similar letter from their car decided to write back.

Elections

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The elections are next week, so I thought I’d share some of my views. It strikes me that people like myself (conservative proponents of small government) frequently bemoan the problems of big government and the fact that decisions are made at a federal level that should be left to local government. However, we just as frequently have little knowledge or investment in some of the local government decisions closest to us. In light of that, I’d like to take a look at the choices many of us will face next week.

To see exactly what races and questions you will have an opportunity to vote on, find your precinct at the Indiana Voters site, then find the ballot you will vote on at the Allen County Election page.

PRESIDENT

I won’t say much on the Presidential level, because we all hear about that race every day. I’ll be voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin. I believe that they come closer to representing my values and their vision for the federal government is closer to what I believe it should be.

CONGRESS

For the 3rd Congressional District, I’ll be voting for Mark Souder. I don’t know enough about Mike Montagano to know what we stands for, how he would vote, and how effective he could be as a congressman. If he wants to shape public policy, I think he should gain some experience in the political arena first. Although Souder may make some decisions I disagree with, in general I believe he votes in a manner consistent with Christian morals and a conservative view of government.

GOVERNOR

For Governor, I’ll be voting for Mitch Daniels. I can’t say that I can think of anything in particular that Frank O’Bannon, Evan Bayh, or any previous governors accomplished. I think Daniels has made great progress at actually effecting positive change in Indiana. My impression is that he is very objective and seeks input from qualified individuals to help him make the best decisions. I have not heard Jill Long-Thomson offer much in the way of specifics that would make her a better choice for Governor.

INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL

In the race for Attorney General, I do not know much about either Greg Zoeller or Linda Pence. Zoeller is the current Deputy Attorney General. Some have indicated that Pence has a background of defending some rather shady characters in corruption cases in Northwest Indiana (google “sidewalks for votes”). Unless I learn something that changes my mind, I’ll be voting for Zoeller. (Note: Zoeller did respond positively to the Indiana Right for Life survey: view pdf here .)

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

One race in particular that I think could have significant impact is the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The teachers unions are backing Richard Wood, who is opposed to vouchers for private education, favors restrictions on homeschooling, and opposes allowing qualified professionals to teach without first getting licensed as a teacher. He also favors increased taxes, abortion rights, and other “rights” to practice immorality. On the other side is Tony Bennett. In responding to questions from the Indiana Family Institute, he did not respond to questions not related to education, but on the three education-related questions in IFI’s voter guide, Dr. Bennett scores high marks in my view. I’ll be voting for Tony Bennett. (Download a pdf of the voter guide here, or an expanded voter guide with comments at focusvoter.com .)  (Also see the News-Sentinel’s endorsement of Bennett.)

FWCS BOARD OF EDUCATION

Another educational race is the local Fort Wayne Community Schools board. Last year the board tried to implement a spending package of $500 million or more that would have significantly raised property taxes. The necessity of some of the spending was questionable, and the board was unwilling to compromise. Only one member of the board voted against the exorbitant spending: Jon Olinger. If you have a chance to vote for Jon Olinger, I recommend him as a reasonable voice on the board who will try to do what is best for the students and the school system as a whole, not being swayed by the administration’s wish list. The man who rallied Fort Wayne to stop the $500 million spending package was Evert Mol, who is a long-time volunteer and tutor in FWCS. He is running against Steve Corona, a long-time fixture on the FWCS board. Corona has had his chance to prove that he will make FWCS schools more efficient and effective, and in my view he doesn’t have much to show. I will be voting for Evert Mol.  (Also see the News-Sentinel’s take on the FWCS board.)

ALLEN COUNTY TREASURER

In the race for Allen County Treasurer, current deputy treasurer Susan Orth is running against Maria Parra. I know little about either one, but my inclination is to vote for the Sue Orth based on the experience that she will bring to the office having already served as deputy treasurer.  (The Journal Gazette and News-Sentinel both endorse Orth.)

ALLEN COUNTY COUNCIL

For the Allen County Council, there are five people running for three positions. I don’t know much about any of them, but I do know I won’t vote for Kevin Knuth. I will probably vote for Moss and Buskirk, the Republican incumbents, and Armstrong unless I learn something that convinces me that Susan Hoot is a better candidate.  (Note: the Journal-Gazette and News-Sentinel both recommend Moss, Buskirk, and Hoot.)

JUDGES

There are five Indiana judges up for votes on whether they should be retained in office. Again, I don’t know much about any other them, other than the fact that Randall Shepard is the current Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. You can review decisions written by various judges at the Indiana judicial retention site. It’s pretty hard to wade through the cases trying to find something that is both understandable and offers a view of their character and competence. The Indiana Right to Life organization reviewed decisions that were made on abortion-related cases. Based on that information, it appears that Theodore Boehm has allowed his personal view that abortion is a basic civil right to cloud his judgment. I will be voting against his retention. Brent Dickson, on the other hand, showed a rational approach that upheld the constitution and basic human dignity. I will vote for his retention. I am also inclined to vote for the retention of Randall Shepard. I will probably abstain from voting on the retention of Carr Darden or Thomas Fisher, because at this point I just don’t know anything about them.

TOWNSHIP ASSESSORS

Other than some uncontested races, the remaining question on the ballet for many of us will be the question of whether “the assessing duties of the elected township assessor in the township [should] be transferred to the county assessor?” A little background on this question: in the past, it has been the duty of an elected township assessor to determine property values for homes in their township. They then turn this information over to the county assessor, who, along with the county council, determine the county-wide property tax rate. There has been a lot of scrutiny recently on the accuracy and efficiency of the assessed values, with some people seeing large swings in value, and some finding their property assessed for much more than it is actually worth. An independent, non-partisan group (led by former governor Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard) studied the topic of making local government more efficient, and presented their recommendations to Governor Daniels. One of their recommendations was to maintain uniform assessments by having assessments be carried out under the authority of the county assessor, rather than performed independently by various township assessors. The state legislature took up this concern this past year, and agreed that assessing duties should be given to the county assessor. However, they only stipulated that smaller townships would be affected. For larger townships, they decided to leave the question up to the voters. 95% (900+) of the townships in Indiana now have their property assessments performed under the auspices of the county assessor, but the largest 43 get to vote on it next week.

Normally, I would advocate that decisions with local impact should be made as locally as possible. However, assessing property values isn’t so much a “decision” as simply a task that needs to be carried out as accurately and efficiently as possible. Since the goal of assessing property values is to establish tax rates for the entire county, it makes sense for the county assessor to hold the responsibility for the assessments. Also, since county assessors now have the responsibility for 95% of the townships, it seems logical to keep the process consistent by putting the other 5% under their authority also. Visit MySmartGov.org to read more about this topic. I will be voting “Yes” to transfer assessing duties to the county assessor.  (Also see the Journal Gazette’s take on this issue.)

How are you voting? Are there facts I haven’t considered?

(Note: In addition to the voter guides mentioned above from the Indiana Family Institute and Indiana Right to Life, the Allen County Right to Life has a similar guide (in pdf format) with responses from local candidates here.)

Christian Research Institute

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Charity Navigator, “America’s Largest Charity Evaluator,” has several “Top Ten” lists for charities that stand out in particular ways (sometimes good ways, sometimes bad ways). What caught my eye was seeing the Christian Research Institute at the top of the list of 10 Charities in Deep Financial Trouble.

In explaining why these ten charities are considered to be in deep financial trouble, Charity Navigator says,

If an organization owes more than it owns, that’s a bad sign. If the bills it owes by the end of the year are more than it can pay, that’s an even worse sign. These 10 charities are insolvent. Not only do their total liabilities, or what they owe, exceed their total assets, they also maintain negative working capital — that is, the bills they owe in the next year exceed the short-term assets they can use to pay those bills. While these charities may not be facing bankruptcy, their fundamental insolvency puts these charities in a very dangerous position.

They give CRI one star (out of four) overall. Revenue was down significantly for CRI in 2007, leaving them with $-374,464 of net assets and $-2,471,537 of working capital.

Is this just the unfortunate result of the struggling economy, or is something deeper going on here? Are people just not able to give as much, and CRI hasn’t been able to adapt quickly enough; or is there a fundamental flaw behind the reason why giving has dropped off or why CRI is spending more than they are bringing in?

I enjoy listening to the Bible Answer Man radio broadcast. I think Hank Hanegraaff gives good answers to most questions, and I appreciate his knowledge and ability to explain things clearly. I’ve also appreciated some of the articles produced by CRI. (Many articles from their Christian Research Journal are available on the CRI website.)

However, Google “Hank Hanegraaff” and you’ll also find this site detailing some decidedly un-Christlike behavior on the part of CRI’s current president. I’m not going to go through all the dirt on the way Hank Hanegraaff has purportedly run CRI, but it does make me wonder: is their current financial state a reflection of integrity within the leadership of the organization?

Ray Boltz is gay

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“Watch the Lamb” will never be the same.

Just a few weeks ago, via an interview with the Washington Blade (“The Gay and Lesbian News Source of Record – DC Gay News, National Gay News, Entertainment and Opinion”), Ray Boltz informed the public that he was gay. Apparently, he’s felt this way his whole life, admitted it to himself and his family in 2004, and become increasingly comfortable with it in the last few years.

One of Ray Boltz’s most popular songs, “Watch the Lamb” was one of the first contemporary Christian songs I ever heard, back in the 80’s when CCM consisted of Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Sandi Patti, Steve Green, Larnelle Harris, and a few others. When I first heard the song, it became one of my favorite songs, and I have always liked it.

It will never be the same for me, not because it changes the meaning of the song, or because I can no longer like the song. It’s still a great song, and I still like it. However, whenever I hear it from now on, I will be saddened that the author of the song took his eyes off the Lamb. Instead he turned his eyes to himself and the world around him, declaring that he knew the truth about himself, and looking to the world for affirmation.

After accepting his feelings of being gay, Boltz indicates that “there was a peace he hadn’t felt before” and that he had a “feeling that I didn’t hate myself anymore, so in that sense I felt closer to God.” I have to wonder, does he really have peace with the One True God, or does he have peace with a god of his own making?

Who is his authority? He says, “I felt that the church, that they had it wrong about how I felt with being gay all these years, so maybe they had it wrong about a lot of other things.” According to the article “he doesn’t want to get into debates about scripture.” He says, “I’m just an artist and I’m just going to sing about what I feel and write about what I feel and see where it goes.”

Boltz wrote in another popular song, “I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb,” but he certainly isn’t allowing the Word become flesh to be his authority.

The other sad note from the article is the response of the Gospel Music Association. They provided a statement stating that “GMA is a trade organization that works for our members to promote gospel/Christian music, not a religious or political group. As such, we do not comment on the lifestyle choices of people in our community.” For a true follower of Christ, there is no distinction between business (trade) and the living out of our faith. To declare that lifestyle “choices” are not worthy of comment, is decidedly un-Christian.

Poverty and Economics

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The upcoming elections have me thinking about the different approaches to social economics.

Democrats tend to talk a lot about being for the little-guy, the middle-class, the worker, and doing things that will rescue people from poverty. Republicans have the same desire to help the little-guy, the middle-class, and the worker, but they take a different approach. Democrats tend to talk about the people and the goal. Republicans tend to talk about the task and the means. That’s not to say that Democrats don’t talk about the tasks they will undertake to help people or the means of accomplishing those tasks, or that Republicans don’t talk about the people that will be helped by the tasks they hope to accomplish or the goals that will be achieved by the processes they hope to use.

Not only do people at different ends of the political spectrum communicate differently, they have different ideas about how to accomplish their (shared) goals. And this is the difference that really matters. If Democrats and Republicans were going to do the same things, and just talked about them differently, then it wouldn’t really matter what your political views are, we would get the same results in the end. However, since they mostly have different ideas of what it will take to reduce poverty (the shared goal, in this case), it is important to evaluate whose techniques actually work the best.

(Note: I’m using the words “Democrat” and “Republican” in this article, because those are the two major political parties in the US, and they represent ideologies that tend to be distinct and in opposition. There are other words that could convey similar distinctions, like “liberal,” “conservative,” “socialist,” “capitalist,” etc. If you like some of these or other words better, feel free to substitute them in your mind as you read this article.)

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