Round 7

Tomorrow, I begin my 7th full year as a teacher at Cair Paravel. It's a bit hard for me to believe that I have had the blessing and privilege of serving the Lord in this way for as long as I have. It has not always been an easy road; teaching, although it becomes easier with time, never reaches the point of being dull. Every year, I have a different group of students in each class, with their own strengths, weaknesses, failures, and fears. The challenge is to help them learn about mathematics and a bit about God, too. It is a task that I am not sufficient for, at least, not in my own strength. Only by God's grace can I have any hope of being effective at this challenging task.
So, as the 2009-2010 school year looms, I look ahead with excitement, yet also with a bit of fear and trembling. This year is going to hold many joys and trials, many highs and lows, and above all, innumerable little opportunities that will require me to have to trust in His grace alone. To paraphrase a cliche, I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future. And I know that they'll be exciting times coming.

Zounds! Summer Hasn't Happened!

So, now that I've completely by pointless goal of using all of the letters in post titles, I can get on to the important aspects of blogging.
And the weather once again is the story of the day. Well, that and the fact the Topeka City Council (thankfully) realized that they simply did not have enough money for a police helicopter unit. Unfortunately, they still wound up raising the property taxes to fund the Metropolitan Transit Authority (or whatever its official name is). Still, it's better to have a smaller increase than a huge one, which is what would have happened if the helicopter unit had stayed.
And I digress. Back to the weather. I can't remember the last time (because there hasn't been one in my 7 years in Topeka) where the weather was nice enough that we could have had soccer practice at 4 in the afternoon without worrying about the heat. Usually, it's already closing in on 80 degrees by 9 a.m. So far, it's been cool, cloudy, and rainy far more often than it has been hot and sunny. This unusually cool pattern is a welcome break from several years of hotter weather. I'm hoping that this cooler-than-average trend continues for the rest of the summer. I would love to be able to sit outside on some of these evenings and read and relax a little.
(Only 4 days left until school starts....)

Yes, I forgot about the Letters

I just remembered that I was trying to use every letter in the alphabet in my post titles. So, today, I knock out another letter. Whether I remember to use the last remaining letter is another story.
I worked 5 soccer games yesterday over in Kansas City. This was the second time that I've gone to a tournament outside of Topeka. It was a good experience to work with different referees in a different city. Interestingly, of the 5 games I did, two of the games involved a team from Topeka. It was a bit strange to drive 1 1/2 hours only to referee teams from my hometown. I'd write more about it, but I'm so tired that I'm not going to write any more.

The "Enemy"

News today out of Somalia, a lawless country, that four Somali Christians working at a Christian orphanage have been beheaded by radical Muslims. These Christians were killed for refusing to deny their faith in Jesus Christ.
This callous disregard for human life and the "convert-or-die" attitude are two hallmarks of the radical, militant Islam that underlies Islamic terrorism worldwide. Too many Westerners still think that we can negotiate with these terrorists or come to some sort of "life and let live" agreement with the radicals. The unfortunate reality is that such accords are probably not possible. Islamists, such as these radicals in Somalia, are literally following the Koran's command to make war on the infidels and to kill those who renounce Islam. They will not stop until the entire world is "Muslim" (with all the "infidels" dead) or until they are dead.
This sort of evil has been around for hundreds of years; it is part and parcel with much of Islam's history. These radicals are not going away, but we need to be aware of their motives if we are going to develop an effective response. Our current approach is to try to create win-win scenarios. That doesn't work well when the other side's only interested in "I win-you lose" and will not settle for anything less.
One part of the solution is highly active missions efforts on the part of Churches worldwide. If the Gospel can take root in this Islamic cultures, there will be fewer Muslims from which the radical sects can draw their resources and personnel. Another part of the solution is developing another energy source besides oil. If the Middle East, the source of oil and the money for most Islamic terrorism, no longer had billions of dollars at its disposal, many of these terrorists would cease to be a threat. There are other pieces to the puzzle, including the use of military force. But I won't discuss those here. One last thought, on the difference between radical Islam and radical Christianity: "The radical Muslim kills you when you refuse to believe; the radical Christian prays for you when you refuse to believe."

American Football Starts Tonight

Although the game is basically inconsequential, being an NFL preseason game, tonight is the first football (American football) game of the season. It's a harbinger of the end of summer. Soon, school will be in session, the weather will start to cool off, and MLB will be crowning another champion. Meanwhile, American soccer will be dwindling, European soccer begin, and American football will be in full swing.
I'm not sure I'm ready for summer to be over, yet. I feel like this summer has been the busiest I can remember in 10 years. I know that I've had plenty of slow days and plenty of goofing off, but I sort of wish I could have a week at home with nothing to do. Of course, the last time I thought I wanted that, I wound up with the flu over Spring Break and was miserable. So, I guess I need to be grateful to God for the times of rest He has given me. And I need to try to be more efficient with the time I have left so I can work and play.

X Has Not Been Used

As I ran through the list of post titles that I have used over the years in blogging, I've noticed that I've never used three letters. Today, I use up one of the three: X. Now, I realize that this is trivial and pointless, but I had to start the post some way. On to the point of this post!
There are a couple of national-level hot-button issues that are currently affecting Kansas. One is the placement of a new national biological and agricultural defense laboratory in Manhattan. The building of the lab in Kansas stirred controversy, and even though the government has already chosen a site, the hubbub still has not died down. A report (some speculate leaked by politicians from Texas) claims that the Kansas site was chosen incorrectly. A few Kansans are still concerned about what would happen if a tornado hit the facility. I personally don't care a lot about this issue. I trust the selection process to work correctly (most of the time). In this case, because of the choice (Kansas over some rich, influential states like Texas), I think that the decision was legitimate. I'm sure that the building's designers will be sure to set up the lab in such a way as to withstand a tornado. It can be done, for the right price, and if there's one thing that the federal government has shown over the years it's that it knows how to spend citizens' money quite well.
The other major issue is the suggestion that the terrorists currently held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be housed instead at Fort Leavenworth. This idea has evoked strong negative reactions from people on both sides of the political spectrum. Kansan Democrats who favor closing Gitmo still oppose bring the prisoners to Leavenworth. And the case they make is compelling: Leavenworth simply is not equipped to handle such prisoners. At the same time, there is a maximum-security prison in Michigan that is about to shut down, and it seems like the people in that city want to have the prisoners housed there. It seems logically to me to put the terrorists there if we have to move them. I still don't understand why Democrats are so big on moving everyone out of Gitmo in the first place. Do they think that we'll "Gitmo" respect for foreign countries by shutting down the prison in Cuba? There's one problem with that: most countries already dislike us for some of the abuses (or imagined abuses) that have occurred there. Shutting it down isn't going to do much to improve our standing in the world. Our allies already like us. Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and any other country run by an egomaniac already dislike us. And France was just starting to like us (not anymore), but that's another story. So, really, to me, ignorant of the details that I am, it seems that the best option is to leave the Cuban prison open. The second-best option is to put the prisoners in Michigan. Leavenworth seems like a bad idea from the start. And given that Congress has not authorized any funding for moving the prisoners or opening a new facility in the U.S., all of this speculation could be just that.
To re-cap, X now has been used as a title for a post. I'll try to knock out the other two letters in the next couple of posts.

Selling Something Nobody Wants

American car companies have almost failed in recent years because they make cars that nobody wants to buy. It looks like the government is trying to take the same approach with health care reform. This article summarizes the negative response. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Arlen Specter, Democrat Senator from Pennsylvania, received a very poor reception from Specter's constituents. There seems to be strong opposition to this legislation in Philly. I have a feeling that this resistance is not isolated, but I could be wrong. We shall see. In this instance, it sure looked like the government was selling something that nobody wanted.

Two Weeks Left

In two weeks, my summer will be over. While the first day of classes is still three weeks away, all teachers have to be back in two weeks. So, as summer draws to an end, I can't help but find myself wishing for another week. Normally, I'd be very much ready to get to the business of teaching, but this summer has been so busy--and this school year seems so daunting--that I would love to have a week of "boredom" before the craziness of school starts.
Since I won't have that extra week, I need to remember--and live by--Jesus's words in Matthew 6:34 -- "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." I should probably make that verse my theme verse for the year. I can't change what is coming my way. I can--and have--prepared for it. Soon, it is time to take everything day by day. For now, I'm going to try to focus less on what's coming and more on enjoying what God has put before me. Doing so makes life more enjoyable, anyway.

Summer? What summer?

I am amazed at how cool this summer has been. Usually by now, it's sunny for days on end, with temperatures in the upper 90s and heat indices topping 110. It's felt more like late Spring than late Summer in the past two weeks since I've returned from Romania. It's quite nice, actually. I've enjoyed being able to have the windows open in the middle of the day, to be able to paint at any time of day, and to be able to get exercise without having to worry about the heat. I know that the hot weather is probably coming eventually. It's still too early in the summer for another heat wave not to show up. Until it does, though, I'm going to be thankful to God for the great weather, and enjoy it as best I can.

Concerning Returning

The past week has been an intense week of getting caught up from being gone for two weeks. It hasn't always been easy. It's always a challenge to recover from jet lag, whether going east or west. It's also a challenge to return slowly back to "normal" after the "high" of a short-term mission trip. I've certainly ridden the emotional roller coaster a little for most of the week. It's only by God's grace that I was able to function in spite of the ups and downs. It was not the most fun week of my life, but I've had worse.
It was not a pleasant shock to return to the cynicism and pessimism that pervade American culture. The whole Harvard-professor-getting-arrested fiasco exploded into the headlines right when I got back. That story, coupled with the usual doom-and-gloom that seems to pass for news lately, worked mostly to make me wish I was back at camp and isolated from all of the negativity. I realize that such is the world, such is life. Upon Christ's return, all will be set right and all of these hardships will be but distant memories. Until then, I will just have to rely on His grace to live each day well.

Painting and More Painting

The house painting project continues, but the end is in sight. Accent work is going on right now. Once it's complete, all that's left is the front porch and back deck. Then, it will finally be finished. I'm looking forward to having it done!

Back from Romania

I'm back from Romania. Still process everything and trying to get caught up with life and graduate school from being gone for nearly two weeks. No time to post anything else right now.

Another Bad Idea Floating around Washington, DC

In the midst of concern that Congress was going to do something detrimental to our nation, like passing Cap & Trade or creating government-run health care, I hadn't noticed another provision slipped into the health care "reform" bill. It would require all businesses with 25 or more employees to carry health insurance for their employers. Such a requirement is an unbearable financial burden for many companies and not possible for others. For example, I work at a company that has more than 25 employees. The company does not provide health insurance because the majority of our employees are insured through their spouse's insurance. As a result, our pool of people who would be covered by a plan is so small that no insurance company wants to cover us. Even if they did, the cost of such a policy is about twice what I currently pay in the "self-enrolled" pool. Requiring our company to provide health insurance for all of its employees is not only unnecessary, but it is also costly, as any policy that its available will be more expensive, not less.
This bill working through Congress is just another in a long line of ideas that our legislators are putting forward that show how out-of-touch many of them are with what life is like in normal America. I wonder how much longer the U.S. can last with this sort of disconnect between reality and what its leaders perceive to reality? Fifty years? Thirty years? I don't know. It's not good, though, and I fear that in thirty years I'll be looking back at my life today and reminiscing about them being the "good old days."

The Royals' Season in a Microcosm

From today's game:
1 run, 12 hits, 9 left on base

Weather

The weather is the news here, again. In this case, the news is good news: it's going to be "cool" here for the next few days. Cool, in this case, means about 90 degrees, which feels wonderful when compared to the near-100 temperatures that we saw last week. Aside from just having enjoyable weather, the best part of this cooler weather is that I can finally get my house painted! It's hard to get much done when you have to stop at noon because it's too hot. So, here's to a couple days of hard work to getting my house looking like new!

More Random Thoughts

A couple more random comments on news items.

1. The benefits (at least for teachers) of a union can be seen in this story from the AP and reprinted on Fox News. To summarize, hundreds of New York City teachers who are under suspension for one reason or another (each teacher has his own story, and all claim to be innocent, of course) are required to report to a "rubber room," where they have basically nothing to do. Some teachers are there for years. They still get full pay, however, because the union rules require them to be paid even while they are suspend. Moreover, the rules require that these suspended teachers continue working at tasks that do not directly involve teaching. The estimated yearly cost for this situation is $65 million. (Comment: We spend $65 million for basically nothing, and we wonder why our average per-pupil expenditure is so high!) Of course, a big part of the problem is that every tenured teacher (who are the ones who get reassigned to this "rubber room") has the right (again, thanks to the union contract) to have a disciplinary hearing with an arbiter. There are 23 arbiters in New York City. They work 5 days a month. (Comment: What?! So, we have teachers who, legitimately or not, are trapped in a sort of limbo and can't get out because the arbiters who are supposed to adjudicate their cases are only available 1 day a week? What sort of nonsense is this? Oh, wait, a union's involved. Never mind. I'm not shocked anymore. I have to wonder if unions have perhaps outlived their usefulness...)

2. The scary (and foolish) cap-and-trade legislation is headed to the floor of the House. This poorly-conceived, scientifically-flawed legislation is exactly what we don't need in this struggling economy. According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the average annual cost of this legislation per household is $175. Big deal, most of you probably are saying. But consider those who are not rich, such as myself. I'm a teacher, and unlike my counterparts in New York, I don't make huge amounts of money. The only way I'm going to get an extra $175 a year out of my budget is to cut about $15 a month out of my budget, meaning that I am going to have live on the bare-bones necessities if this legislation passes. And to make matters worse, this bill, which purportedly will help combat global warming, will do nothing of the sort, since global warming is a naturally-occurring phenomenon that we have absolutely no control over. So, we're going to spend a ton of money to enact a program that won't solve anything. All it will do is bankrupt more Americans who are already struggling in this faltering economy. I hope that this legislation fails miserably. This is the sort of "change" I feared would happen if the Democrats got control of both Congress and the White House. Get used to bad ideas coming out of Washington for a while. Socialized medicine is next. Get ready to wait in line. :-(

Random Thoughts on Random Topics

Father's Day
Happy Father's Day to my Dad. In a society where fathers are becoming more and more absent, I'm realizing what a great blessing from God my Dad was to me and my siblings. I would not be half the man I am without him in my life.

Iran
On the one hand, I understand why everyone in the West is upset with the Iranian government for how they're handling the recent election and the post-election protests. It is not right to have a vote and to say that people are electing the next president (sort of a #2 leader in the country) and then rig the vote to ensure that one man is guaranteed to win. The handling of the protests also is quite wrong. Opening fire on peaceful protesters and generally trying to stifle the voice of the opposition is wrong on every level.
On the other hand, I'm also not surprised at what is happening. It is quite in keeping with the nature of dictatorships, such as the one in Iran, that elections are rigged or manipulated as needed to establish who the powers-that-be want as legitimate. Protests are, of course, squashed as quietly as possible. And when quite calming doesn't work, there's always the aggressive tactics that we're starting to see. China has used such an approach for years, and we're seeing something similar in this situation.
These protests, I fear, are going to do very little, unless the military refuses to obey the Ayatollah's orders and organizes a coup to throw him out. That is not likely to happen.
I'm disappointed in the response of our President to this whole situation. He seems to be convinced that he can negotiate with Iran and have good relations with them. They have clearly indicated the opposite, and even if they started being nice to us, I fear that it would only be a part of some elaborate deception on their part. They do not trust the United States and have not ever since they deposed the American-backed Shah in the 1970s. No amount of playing nice now is going to change how they see us. We are seen as an evil country, and that is not going to change as long as Iran remains a theocracy.

Health Care
I am scared at what I'm hearing about the health plan being proposed by the Democrats in Congress. To force every American to carry health insurance is not going to do anything to address the real problem in the health care industry: spiraling costs. These spiraling costs result from many factors, one of them being the addiction of American medicine to technology for diagnoses and another being the fear of malpractice suits if every avenue isn't exhausted. Congress can't do much about our technology-obsessed society, but they can do something about the malpractice suits. There needs to reform in how medical malpractice suits are handled. I don't have any specifics because I am not knowledgeable enough in law or medicine to know what to suggest, but I do know that there are some proposals that could work. I would far rather have that than be trapped into a government-run health care program, which will be the eventual outcome of a program such as the Democrats propose.

Weather
Central Kansas had some brief tornado touchdowns yesterday, a brief burst of late-season tornadoes. Tornado season is nearly over for Kansas for the Spring. As the summer progresses (it technically began today), the middle atmosphere is going to become too warm to allow for thunderstorm development on a regular basis, hindering the development of tornadoes.

That's All, Folks!
I have no more random thoughts to write right now. So there!

Quiet Week So Far

Things have been relatively quiet in Topeka, lately. No more proposals for roundabouts in places that they probably shouldn't be, no fights breaking out between city council members, and no major weather events in the city itself, other than some rain. It's nice for things to be quiet once in a while. Usually, there's some sort of crisis happening. So, I'm going to enjoy the quiet and get to work painting the outside of the house.

Media Bias or Non-story?

I ran across an interesting story from my old hometown today. You can read an article discussing the story here. To summarize, a conservative political science teacher in Lawrence, KS, has not had his contract renewed for next year. He is protesting the decision, claiming that it was political bias that cost him the job, not poor teaching.
I don't have enough information about the situation to know whether that is the case, of course. There could be many factors at work here, none of them political. It would not totally surprise me if someone was fired for his political views, though. Having grown up in Lawrence, I can tell you that it is the most politically-liberal city in Kansas. Conservative ideas are not looked on as being good, but the people who hold conservative political views are still treated with respect on those rare occasions that they dare speak their mind. The seeds are there, then, for a teacher to be fired for his political views, but it seems unlikely at the same time.
The whole story of this situation doubtless will come out in time, but the part that fascinates me about the whole story is the complete lack of coverage from any local news source. (You'll notice that I ran across this on FoxNews...and lest you accuse me of reading biased news, I'll point out that I also read the equally-biased CNN to get a bit of a counterpoint.) The Lawrence Journal-World, the paper that should be covering this story, has nothing about it. The Topeka Capital-Journal, usually quick to pick up on discrimination stories, has nothing on it. Now, noticing the nature of the story and the lack of coverage, I have to wonder would have happened if a political liberal had been non-renewed and made the same claims. Would the LJW and CJ have picked up the story and trumpted it from the front page? Or would they also have left it be, considering it a non-story? I don't know. And I refuse to speculate. But it is something that the journalists at both papers need to ask themselves if they truly want to stay balanced in their approach to the news.

No Roundabout

It's time for a minor news note, brought to you by Petty Corp., maker of the Irrelevantator, the greatest useless gadget ever!
The Topeka City Council has reconsidered its decision to put in a roundabout at 17th and MacVicar, mostly in response to protests from those who lived in the area. The majority of those who opposed the change pointed out that there was insufficient space for the roundabout (which is true) and that a roundabout would be potentially more dangerous for pedestrians (also true). The question remains, however, about what to with the intersection. It is somewhat dangerous and definitely narrow. Traffic tends to back up there during the late afternoon "rush" home, and MacVicar jogs slightly to the east as one drives north on it. Perhaps the best solution would to widen 17th Street and re-align MacVicar. That solution, like the traffic circle, would probably result in more protests from the neighborhood. Still, given the amount of traffic that 17th Street carries, it would make sense to add in a right-turn lane on westbound 17th at MacVicar. That would help some, as would a new traffic signal that allowed for both protected and unprotected left turns. The current model is a '70s unit that allows only for unprotected turns. Those ideas, of course, are the thoughts of an amateur observer. The professionals know these things better, and hopefully, they'll find a way to make that intersection safer for all without using a traffic circle.