"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." -- Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

Let all have the opportunity to find financial success. Let them grow from it. Let those that give forth the effort enjoy the fruits. Everyone learns from cause and effect. Effort does not always equal results, life is clear enough on that count, but government should not reward no or little effort with results. Mediocrity should not be rewarded unless that is the destination that is being sought. Self reliance is prerequisite to real freedom.

It's so similar between all 3, it's crazy. 3 guys in the office thought this hummed beat was from 3 different songs:

Background music to WallE Tailer

"No One Knows My Plan" by They Might Be Giants (track 1)

"Touch Me" by The Doors (track 17)

"We can all sympathize with good folks who can't pay their bills. But as I've said repeatedly in my criticism of the mortgage entitlement mentality embraced by both parties in Washington, home ownership is not a civil right -- and neither is home retention. Artificially propping up the housing market will only result in more of the same costly borrow-spend-panic-repeat cycles that got us into this mess in the first place. Failing corporations need to fail. So do failing home borrowers. This is borrowing from frugal renter Peter to pay profligate Paul's home loan." -- Michelle Malkin, from article "ACORN and Obama -- together again"

Rewarding bad behavior will just breed more bad behavior. I have a hard time seeing how this will be helpful to anyone. Some say that it's a short-term unfairness that will stabilize us long term. I personally doubt this, as people will remember those that would have fallen but were then artificially propped up. And as in rock climbing, you can make a lot more risky moves knowing your on belay rather than free-climbing.

This is an interesting site that I had show up in a sidebar ad. I watched the little flash movie on their website. I think they hit a lot of good points: people are all of value (I guess I'd better point out that boys are too), that families impact communities and nations, that education is foundational in improving one's adult life, and that many problems in society today are brought about because of the waning importance given to upholding family by society. Hmm, where have I heard that before?

I'm so thankful to have the true gospel of Jesus Christ, taught by authorized prophets and apostles as in times of old. Heavenly Father has shown us the way that we can live and be happy. If we would all realize that this way is heralded by the prophet constantly, we might find happiness in our lives more often by following.

It's not just the girl effect. It's the child of God effect. We all matter to Him. I'm glad that I know that.

In the most recent issue of InformationWeek magazine that I recieved (Feb 16, 2009), Rob Preston (editor) had a great little column that can be found here.

The whole issue and the article talked about Obama's pending appointment of a new national-level CTO (chief technology officer).

What impressed me the most is Rob's abandonment of what could potentially be his and his audience's techy interests and treatment of the big issues that seem to be affecting one and all -- namely, economic and money issues. He hit some points so squarely that I'm including a few excerpts...

Spinergy is a fun word game that has easy and flexible rules but seems to provide good laughs. We've played it at a couple family gatherings and with friends

Basically, the rules are thus:
1. A 3 ring board is spun, lining up 3 words.
2. A situation card is chosen
3. Before the timer is out, write a composition that uses all 3 words in their exact form, fulfilling the situation on the card.
4. As everyone else writes, the person who is "it" writes down 5 other words that they suspect will be used.
5. Everyone reads their responses; if the 5 other words were used, the response is invalid; points awarded according to situation difficulty.

Read on to check out some of the situations you'll find...

That I Jacob said unto the computer, you shall go and live in another house as I have commanded. For I know that every household needeth a computer, save those who have two already.

Computer for the taking:

Desktop, tower, 1.4 GHz, 80gb harddrive, 1gb RAM, 15in flat panel monitor, no optical drives.

Send inquiries to:

Brass plate verbage
Computer sales
aprilandjake.com
comment on this post, 1-2-3 now, post!

And besides sitting at the computer, here's another few reasons for the modern physique.

Now the workplace is complete with a little natural wood grain...

"... that's hand-carved mahogany..."

And article...

I have a hard time getting excited about the stimulus bill currently being circulated through Congress mostly because it is such a large chunk of spending. This chunk is pulled out of the air (foreign debt), creating an even bigger hole for us to fall into later. And, if we're going to ever get national spending under control and pay off national debt (is anyone really thinking that'll ever happen), then this just makes it harder.

The market goes up and down. Greed and lack of integrity (among other factors) have led to a bubble. Now, the market is attempting to reset. As if in denial, and seemingly only worried about short-term gain, we're trying to feed the bursting bubble. And if it turns out that the market really needs to reset and the strain on the economy proves too much, we've just farther to fall.

Brother Romney makes some good points in his address. What happens when our debts outweigh our value (or are we there yet?)? It seems our government can't function without incurring more debt (just as many Americans seem to think themselves entitled extravagant living -- maxed out credit lines -- and yet it seems the government is mimicking the collective problem of many of its citizens -- maybe the children learn from the parents). What happens when no one wants to lend to us for fear of not getting repaid?

Anyways, wise counsel (prophets) says stay out of debt. And if the dollar is heavily devalued, wise counsel (prophets) also says have a year supply. And still wiser counsel (the Lord) says retire early. And so, wan an!