Thomas Sowell Agrees With Me and Lindsey Graham Is An Idiot

Here we go again with another so-called crisis for Congress to put their dingy hands on. This country and it's economy would be so much better off if Congress was only in session for about eight weeks a year. That way those opinion poll watchers would have much less opportunity to meddle with the free market and the freedom of American citizens. For some reason though, Americans have been cultured to believe that government is the answer for everything. When the price of a commodity begins to rise due to increased demand for that commodity, what do people do? Well of course, they ask government why the price of this commodity is so high and demand that government do something to lower the price of that product. And what do idiot Senators like Lindsey Graham do? Well of course, they make idiot statements like this:

"Its probably time to do some hearings in Washington to find out why gas prices are so high"
What? Hearings! Senator Graham, who has often been spotted following Senator McCain with a roll of toilet paper, apparently does not believe in the free market. About a week and a half ago, I explained all of this to my adoring public. In that post, I made the following common sense statements:

The price of gasoline is affected by two things specifically, the price of crude oil and the ability to refine that oil into gasoline. Just like any commodity, crude oil and refined gasoline are subject to the laws of supply and demand. In a normal situation, the demand for a product or service can be manipulated by raising or lowering the price. This is often done when the demand for something exceeds the supply. In other words, if demand is higher than supply, you raise the price, which normally lowers demand. With growing economies in places like China, India, and the United States, the demand for crude oil is higher than it has ever been. Therefore the price of crude oil is higher than it has ever been. Now that brings us to the issue of gas prices. Nothing affects the price of gasoline as much as the price of crude, but there is one other factor and that is refining capacity. We have not built a new refinery in this country in 25 years and during that time we have become quite prosperous.
In other words, what the government needs to do right now is absolutely nothing. That's right, government is not going to help this situation. Government will only make things worse.

Professor Thomas Sowell agrees with me on this issue. Of course he puts it much more eloquently and he uses history (as opposed to emotion) to back up his assertions.

Why, then, are oil prices so high?

There is no esoteric reason. It is plain old supply and demand. With the economies of huge nations like China and India developing more rapidly, now that they have freed their markets from many stifling government controls, more oil is being demanded in the world market and there are few new sources of supply.

What should our government do?

We will be lucky if they do nothing. But, with Congressional elections coming up next year, that is very unlikely. Candidates for Congress next year, and politicians hoping to run for President in 2008, are virtually guaranteed to come up with all sorts of "solutions."

These "solutions" will be packaged as brilliant new ideas, courageous and far-seeing. But most will be retreads of old ideas that remain untested or which have been tested in the past and found wanting.

Price controls, arbitrary new higher gas mileage standards for cars, "alternative energy sources," and other nostrums are sure to surface once again.

The last time we had price controls on gasoline, we had long lines of cars at filling stations, these lines sometimes stretching around the block, with motorists sitting in those lines for hours.

That nonsense ended almost overnight when President Ronald Reagan, ignoring the cries of liberal politicians and the liberal media, got rid of price controls with a stroke of the pen.

What happened is what usually happens when government restrictions are ended: There was more production of oil. In fact the 1980s became known as the era of an "oil glut" and gasoline prices declined.

So according to Thomas Sowell, what should Congress do about this so-called crisis?

Absolutely Nothing!

I know that may be a little hard for Senator Graham to understand.

NCAA Is A Joke Made Up Of A Bunch Of Pointed Head Liberal Academics

Okay maybe that heading was a little emotional, or maybe it reveals to all of you Tennessee fans that I am a fanatical Alabama fan who believes that NCAA actually means National Conspiracy Against Alabama. Of course some of you might actually be intelligent enough to realize that it was just a clever way to get this post noticed on an aggregator.

The purpose of this post though was not to complain about Philip Fulmer and the NCAA's effort to bring down Alabama's football program. Believe it or not, I am actually over that. It took about three years and a lot of therapy but I am okay now. What I want to talk about today is the NCAA's silliness in regards to the use of American Indian mascots by member institutions. Yes, I know I am supposed to say Native American, but I will be damned if I ever give in to that politically correct BS and start calling Indians Native American. I don't think it makes anymore sense to call them Native American than it does to call Americans who happen to be black, African-Americans. This is the way I see it. If you were born in this country, are you not also a native American, and if your skin happens to be brown and you were born in this country, does that not also make you a native American, as opposed to an African-American? Before I get too far off topic, I will just direct you to this old post that addresses this very subject.

I realize that a few American tribes are offended by these mascots, but you see I don't care. Yes that is right. I don't care. I don't care if individuals who are overly sensitive get their feelings hurt. In my opinion, those types of individuals need to get over it. These schools are not trying to offend anyone with those mascots. Think about it. Would you want your University to be referred to by a derogatory term. Of course not. The political activists who litter the NCAA seem to think though that calling your team the FSU Seminoles is equal to calling your team the FSU Piles of Excrement.

I am just tired of tiptoeing around and making sure that what I say or do does not hurt someone's feelings. I mean, can people not just get over it? I can tell you that the 1/16 Cherokee in me could care less about these nicknames. But do the Indians really care? I realize that some do, but I would guess that most do not. I posted about some of them that did not on March 11. In that post I discussed how the NCAA had asked the University of North Carolina Pembroke, who used the name Braves, to undergo an institutional self evaluation because their nickname was deemed offensive. But as it turned out, the nickname dated back 50 years when the University was an all Indian school, and the Indians for whom it was named vehemently opposed a name change. But guess what. UNC Pembroke went ahead and changed the name anyway. Talk about ridiculous!

I have never understood these people who are so worried about offending certain individuals. At some point, we just have to tell folks to get over it. I refuse to walk on pins and needles around anyone. If I offend you, then maybe instead of shaming me, you should take a look at yourself. Maybe you are the one with the problem.

Religion, Politics, and the Real Purpose of a Church

Let me begin this post by saying that I do not believe that there is anything new or unusual about churches being involved in politics. Since religion is so interwoven into our culture, there is no way that you can keep religion or religious belief out of politics. Religion was used to abolish slavery and religion was used to bring about the Civil Rights Movement. Many people use religion today to justify government spending and others use it justify laws that ban same sex marriage. I have written on this subject before.

I do not believe that churches who engage in politics should lose their tax exempt status, no more than I believe that non-profit organizations like the NAALCP, that are obviously political, should lose theirs. The reason is simple. While I am a Christian, I am also a libertarian and I am wise enough to know that the federal government uses the system of taxation to manipulate the behaviors of its citizens. Think about it. The government wants us to conserve energy, so they give us tax breaks for buying hybrids. There are many other examples, but imagine what freedom of religion or freedom of speech would be like in this country, if the federal government started manipulating the teachings of churches or non-profit organizations with the tax code.

Although I fully believe that churches have a right to get involved in politics, I question their judgment in doing so. That brings me to this article in the Tennessean concerning Justice Sunday and the involvement of Two Rivers Baptist Church and their pastor, Dr. Jerry Sutton. I was once a member of Two Rivers. It is an excellent church and Dr. Sutton is a wonderful human being. When I had a broken ankle and was unable to work for several weeks, someone in the church anonymously gave me an envelope full of money. They did the same thing for me when my brother died. I will always love that congregation and appreciate all that they did for me. But I am really bothered by Dr. Sutton'’s involvement in politics and his using the church for the purpose of this rally. I was also troubled by that episode of Hardball filmed at Two Rivers, not because I disagree with what Jerry Sutton is saying. In fact on most things I very much agree. I just do not like to see the pulpit used for anything other than leading people to Jesus. I love to discuss politics, but when churches engage in politics to this extreme, it bothers me. I just feel that a pastor’s job and a churches job is specifically to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lead people to the Lord. The church was not created for those who are well, but for those who are sick. I really wish that churches would get out of partisan politics and get back to evangelism. That not only applies to conservatives like Dr. Sutton, but also to black pastors who are even more guilty of political grandstanding.

I believe that as a church we should stop focusing on others and begin focusing on ourselves. We talk about the sanctity of marriage, but instead of focusing on infidelity and divorce within traditional marriage, we are consumed with the idea of banning same sex marriage. We spend all of this time focusing on the things of this world, like the judicial branch, but we seem to have forgotten that the hope of this world does not rest in the Federal Judiciary, the Presidency, or the Congress. Since we know that the hope of this nation rests in Jesus Christ and his teachings, what are we so afraid of? Dr. Sutton is an extremely talented evangelist. I wonder though, how many people could have been led to God, if Dr. Sutton simply preached about the Lord Jesus Christ, as opposed to politics.