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 John Adams, the second president of the United States, once made the following statement: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." As we promote a return to constitutional principles, perhaps we should also be asking ourselves if the American people are moral enough to uphold and defend our Constitution anymore. Will a political shift in Washington D.C. solve all of our problems, or should we be looking into our own hearts as well? As controversial as it may be to question the morality of the American people, the truth is that after all of the shocking things that have transpired in this nation over the last 50 years someone certainly should be willing to ask the hard questions. It would be hard to deny that moral relativism and moral decay are absolutely rampant in the United States today, and that our moral problems are very much at the heart of many of our problems. (Read More.....)
 When I was young, someone told me the following: "Life is like a coin - you can spend it any way that you want, but you can only spend it once." So how are you spending your life? Are you just "killing time" and watching world events go by or are you actively trying to make a difference? When your life is over, will you be proud of the legacy that you have left, or will you be ashamed of what you have done with the time that you were given? None of us can go back now and change what we have done in the past, but the future stands unwritten before us. The remaining chapters of your life can be a beautiful thing - but only if you are courageous enough to seize the day. One way that you can make a difference in this world is by being a watchman. So exactly is a watchman? Well, in the ancient world they did not have any of the modern forms of communication that we take for granted today, so the only way a city would know that a threat was approaching would be to post watchmen on the city walls. A watchman would stand at his post for endless hours, watching intently for any threats that might be headed for the city. If the watchman did spot something troubling on the horizon it was his job to sound the alarm - thus buying the residents of the city precious time to prepare. If the watchman did his job correctly, it could potentially deliver the city from total disaster and literally save the lives of thousands upon thousands of people. (Read More.....)
 An amazing thing is happening. Americans from every walk of life and from across the political spectrum are standing up and are saying "NO" to naked body scanners and TSA groping. It isn't as if we are against airport security. For decades, the vast majority of us have been more than happy to walk through metal detectors in order to get on an airplane. But when the government wants to look at our naked bodies and fondle our wives and our children that is just too much. The truth is that these new "enhanced pat-downs" would be considered sexual assaults if they were committed out on the street. Horror stories have been pouring in from airports across the United States and the American people have had enough. (Read More.....)
 Most Americans have no idea why rare earth elements are important or why the Chinese monopoly on them is so dangerous. But now that China is enforcing strict new quotas on the export of these metals a lot more people are going to start learning about them. So just exactly what are they? Well, "rare earth elements" is a name that has been given to 17 metals from the middle of the Periodic Table with nearly unpronounceable names such as lanthanum, cerium, tantalum, neodymium and europium. These metals are used in an increasing number of high technology products. Everything from iPods to wind turbines to missile-guidance systems use these metals. Unfortunately, today China controls over 90 percent of the world supply of rare earth elements. This puts China in an incredibly powerful position. (Read More.....)
 On some level, we all knew that this was going to happen. Health insurance companies across the United States are announcing that health insurance premiums are going to go up substantially. Why? Well, many of these health insurance companies are openly admitting that they are raising rates because of the mandates contained in Barack Obama's new health care reform law. Of course when the health care reform bill was being debated, Barack Obama swore up and down that this would never happen. At the time, Obama promised that the average American family would save $2,500 in yearly health care premiums under the new law. But did any of us actually believe that load of nonsense? The instant Obama made his pledge we all should have started reaching for our wallets. Of course this insane "health care reform" law was going to raise health insurance rates. The only question to be answered was by how much. (Read More.....)
 If you are a big fan of The Office on NBC, then you probably know that Michael Scott considers autumn to be "the most contemplative of seasons". Well, while that may or may not be true, what I do believe is that Friday is one of "the most contemplative" days of the week. Here in the great Pacific northwest there is still a couple of hours of daylight left before the sun goes down, and as the sun relentlessly continues its trajectory towards the horizon it makes me stop and reflect on how rapidly the world is changing. In just about any field that you want to name - technology, politics, economics, education, entertainment and even religion - the pace of change these days is absolutely astounding. We live at a time when we get to watch the world literally change right in front of our eyes. In the age of the Internet our attention spans have been reduced to approximately that of a squirrel, but sometimes it is good to sit back and think about the bigger picture. What does all of this change mean? Is it good? Is it bad? What kind of a future are we headed for? (Read More.....)
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Be A Watchman