Why did the chicken cross the road? Because gas was $4 a gallon...

There are a number of reasons we need "a change" of occupancy at the White House (as well as in Congress)...but rising gas prices isn't one of them.

President Obama has no more to do with the recent rise in gas prices than he had to do with the storm that blew through where I live last night. Now that's an ironic statement of unintended support for a moot position that Obama used himself against W. Bush four years ago. Why do we continue to let politicians insult our intelligence?



Uh...you're probably not going to like my answer here...

We live in an unprecedented age of information. With the click of a few keys, I can summons information on anything from making explosives to an awesome chicken casserole. Biographical information is available on most anyone in the public eye, as well as, information on corporations, legislations and litigations.

But we're just lazy and don't take the time to become informed consumers/constituents. Period.

True or False...The price of gas goes up at the beginning of summer each year because Big Oil knows demand will go up with warm weather?

False.

Demand is much higher across the board in colder months. Sorry....your summer vacation just doesn't have that much of an impact on gas prices. Some. Not much.

During winter months, butane is used as an additive in the production of refined gasoline because it is cheap.  However, butane can't be used in the summer because it evaporates in warm temperatures, so refineries must replace it with more expensive ingredients.

Blame chemistry for higher summer prices...not DisneyWorld or Obama.

True or False...If we drilled for more oil, all our problems would be solved!

Don't think so Sarah. Crude oil is not the problem. We have an abundance of oil overflowing from the North American crude trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. The problem is refineries are at near capacity in this country. While refining capabilities have actually decline in recent years do to aging facilities, no new refineries have been built in decades. Not to mention, U.S. exports of gas to fuel-thirsty foreign countries tripled over the past year!

So just build more refineries to fix the problem.

Seriously...think that's going to make gas prices go down? The huge cost of building new refineries would be directly past along to the consumer straight per the capitalism playbook. Hey, I love capitalism, but facts are facts. Besides, who's volunteering to have one of those built in their backyard?

Before you take this post as defense of failed economic leadership from the White House, just hear me out. The danger in blaming the wrong things on the wrong people goes beyond the obvious moral implications. If the electorate links the presidential election this fall to gas prices, what happens if gas prices fall? That's right. Point of contention lost. If Obama can be blamed for higher gas prices then he surely will take credit for lower gas prices, and the emotions of the moment sweep him back into the White House.

The fact of the matter is he has nothing to do with either stinking one!

Become an informed voter. Seek information on issues and don't just swallow what the left and right media sources feed us each day. Trust me. They're not working for a higher, nobler cause. The bottom line is all that matters on both sides, and that profit is sadly boosted when the public debates become toxic and less civil...as well as less cerebral.

I'm not afraid to give credit where credit is due even if that recognition falls on an opposing ideological figure. President Obama has been very successful from a foreign policy perspective.. in my opinion. But, that opinion thinks we were completely within our rights to go into Pakistan, without their consent, to kill Bin Laden. I don't think he has weak knees when it comes to these matters.

I also don't think he is a Muslim or wasn't born in this country. Those are both absurd and purely emotional arguments. Not to mention, we Christians need to be very cautious about blindly judging where another person is with the Almighty. I have no reason to question his proclaimed Christian faith...or at least any more than I did Bush or Clinton...and I shouldn't try to judge according to the Good Book.

My problems with the current administration are much more politically fundamental. President Obama believes government can solve all the ills of society. I most strongly disagree. While that's enough to turn me against his politics, it doesn't have to be bitterly personal.

If I vote for Obama, I know I'm voting for a liberal-minded ideology, and I can't do that in good conscience. Unfortunately, the catch here becomes that while most Republicans stand proudly on that platform of conservative policy making, their actions (read legislation) reflect a different motive. Some claim one thing and do another, and that does makes me mad.

Don't listen to the spin. Read how your public figures vote on the issues that matter to you. Hold them accountable for your vote. Become informed.

Click...click...click...

The world could look vastly different by 2012...

We're sitting in front rows seats as history unfolds in the Middle East, but most people are already bored and ready to change the channel.

60 Minutes aired a segment last night on the 26-old Tunisian fruit vendor most Westerners have never heard of...Mohammed Bouazizi. His act of defiance was the initial domino to fall in the ongoing sequence of revolutionary events. I encourage you to check the story out here. 

Tunisians ran a corrupt dictator in power for 23 years right out of the country by protesting in mass numbers. Far too many numbers for the small government police force to try to control. Nevertheless, people died to bring change to their country.  At the center of the revolutionary movement...Facebook.

Egypt took note. So did Yemen, Bahrain and Libya with ongoing protest still to determine an outcome. Iranian revolutionaries have tried to gain some type of momentum for change, but unlike the uprisings in the fore-mentioned countries, they lack the ability to coordinate and mobilize. They lack access to the new tools of revolution...Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Americans have become so saturated with daily doses of sensationalism from the 24-hour news stations that it has become increasingly difficult to recognize what history will record as pivotal and what will be forgotten next week. I believe we are watching history on a 'once in a generation or two' scale unfold. Our country has been fighting for democratic change in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade at the cost of thousands of lives and billions of dollars, while the action of a single, working and obscure man in one of the most peaceful nations on the planet triggered a wave of change still plowing through the region. Dictators Mubarak and Ben Ali are gone. Al-Asaad, Saleh and Gadhafi could be the next to go. Ahmadinejad can't be feeling too comfortable after Iranians protested over accused fraud in his 2009 re-election. My, my...the winds of change are whipping through the Arab region like never before.

Another crucial point to consider is the role Islam will ultimately play after all this shakes out. The Western view of democracy vastly differs from the rising views of the Middle East where democracy and freedom of religion (and thus, ultimately speech) are not interlaced. Stephen Prothero, professor of Religion at Boston University, has an excellent editorial piece in the USA Today that's worth checking out here. 

No conclusions today folks...this one's got a ways to play out. Stay informed because in the end, it's really going to matter.

 

Curtis James Forbes- Man of God...rest in peace.

Curtis James Forbes

Born in Charleston, SC on Jun. 29, 1967
Departed on Jan. 29, 2011 and resided in Gastonia, NC


What's missing from those coldly straightforward and factual words are what really tell the story...

Curtis James Forbes
Man of God 





I never met my brother Curtis face-to-face. The blessing of coming to know him is courtesy of David Johndrow (Fire & Grace), another true friend God placed in my path via the internet. But the fact I never shook my friend's hand or gave him one of those 'man hugs' I often declare to find awkward is completely a moot point. Fact is...I wish I could hug him today, but God called him home last Saturday morning.

For the past half year or little more, I've been in regular contact with my friend Curtis via cell phone calls or text messages. We also often exchanged Facebook messages too. My friend Curtis died from cancer. It was one of the trials in his life that the Apostle Paul wrote about building our Christian character and leading us to the ultimate hope in God's promise. Curtis had tremendous character. He leaves behind a wife and four children all under the age of 18. He also leaves behind a solid testimony from a man who lived what he claimed to believe. I have no doubt his lasting influence will have an astounding effect not just on his family, but also his church family, his friends...and people like me who only got to see glimpses of God's love through him from a distance.

I prayed for Curtis daily. I will continue to pray for his family and ask humbly that you join me. This lost world is filled with pain and suffering, but if you are a Christian, you are not alone. God gave us one another to lift  up and encourage, to watch after each other, lend a helping hand when needed and join together in a single accord of worship and praise for His glory.

Today, we can communicate with one another in ways completely unimaginable five decades ago, and I believe that is a gift to us from God that we should use for His glory. Sure, there's plenty of opportunity for Christian fellowship right in the shadows of our home church steeples. No doubt. I thank God for that fact. But what a blessing it is to be able to reach literally around the world and find brothers and sisters in Christ that have far more in common with us than they do cultural, social and economic differences.

Thank you Curtis for being my friend and, more importantly, for being a Godly influence in my life...if but for a short while. I look forward to meeting you on the other side brother...and I promise not to hesitate or flinch when giving you a big bear hug when we do.

Reality is a point of view...(WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO)

I jumped over to CNN this morning to catch the latest from Iran. There's a lot of things going on in the country, and Twitter just can't keep up. Some of you have probably already heard about the YouTube video circulating showing a teenage girl named Neda being killed during the protest on Saturday. She has become a rallying cry worldwide for the outrageous reaction by the Iranian government in response to the peaceful protest.

Be warned- the video is very graphic and shows the teenage girl actually dying. I post this for one reason only...people need to see and know this is real and Iranian citizens are risking their lives or actually dying for their right to be heard.




I started by mentioning my visit to the CNN website. As I'm writing this, the number 1 viewed story on CNN is listed as Reality bites for Jon and Kate...

...well, reality isn't too peachy for Neda either.

God please forgive us and be with the people of Iran trying to stand up and be heard.

He rocks in the tree-tops all day long...

I came to Twitter reluctantly. The benefits of 'micro-blogging' my oft drudged daily routine to solicited followers seemed...narcissistic. Maybe there's still truism in that initial feeling, but I'm also sold on the fact that social networking mediums are a powerful force in our world today.

As I write this, the future course of Iran is playing out in the streets of Tehran...history in the making. With the media blackout imposed by the reigning power, news is finding it's way to the rest of the world via Twitter, Facebook and other such mediums. The U.S. State Department requested that Twitter delay a scheduled maintenance outage mid-week so the flow of information would continue. Just typing State Department and Twitter in the same sentence would have been completely incomprehensible to me a few months ago.

For those of you resisting the fad, Twitter is a web-based social networking service that allows users to 'tweet' 140 characters at a time to their followers. According to a recent front page Time magazine article, Twitter is changing the way we look at our world. Some would say it already has...

Most of you know I try to stay on top of the latest trends in internet innovation. My motivation is really quite simple, if it draws the interest of people...Christians need to be there with WWJD bracelets on representing Christ. As I've stated in numerous blog post, the internet is only evil because evil people are there. Evil people who need to know about the love of God...even for them.

So now, like my fellow blogging buddy Katdish among others, I'm a Twitterer (?). Katdish just calls us Twitter ho's, but I don't think that's a sanctioned title by Twitter. I'm tweeting about daily task and thoughts, prayer request, good articles or blogs I've read...any number of things each day. I must say it's quite liberating in the fact that I have yet another daily opportunity to witness for God. I receive prayer request daily from people which I add to my daily prayer list...sometimes taking a moment to stop and pray the minute they're received.

At the risk of sounding Pharisee-like, I think it's important for Christians to acknowledge our piousness to the rest of the world. After all, Christ hung on a cross in a public spectacle that changed the world as it had never been changed. I'm not trying to undermine the importance of humility by any means, but people need to know they are loved and cared about by Christ and Christ Followers. If one tweet can show that love and bring another soul to heaven...color me there.

Twitter or Facebook may not be your thing and that's perfectly okay. Just don't avoid them because of the negative stigma we often place on internet based application as Christians. God needs to be all over the world wide web too...