H/T to Thinking in Christ via this post, Worth Reading: Election Edition.

Don’t Trust Your Instincts

By John Stossel (Archive) · Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Simple answers are so satisfying: Green jobs will fix the economy. Stimulus will create jobs. Charity helps people more than commerce. Everyone should vote.

Well, all those instinctive solutions are wrong. As Friedrich Hayek pointed out in “The Fatal Conceit,” it’s a problem that in our complex, extended economy, we rely on instincts developed during our ancestors’ existence in small bands. In those old days, everyone knew everyone else, so affairs could be micromanaged. Today, we live in a global economy where strangers deal with each other. The rules need to be different.

Hayek said: “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” (continued here)

Virginia Light Bulb Bill up Thursday!

Friends,

I’ve got two major legislative updates below. Both bills are very important and we need to contact our delegates on the committees listed below to make sure these bills become a reality. Thank you for taking the time to read through! – Bob

VA Light Bulb Manufacturer and VA vs. EPA/Corp of Engineers

My HB 66 would allow Virginia companies to manufacture and sell incandescent light bulbs only within Virginia despite the Federal ban on incandescent bulbs which will take effect next year. The federal ban was enacted on grounds that fluorescent lights were more cost effective. Under conditions of normal use the fluorescent lights wear out much faster than incandescent ones which are not affected by constant on and off use. (See http://freedomlightbulb.blogspot.com for problems with CFL bulbs.)

HB 66 will be heard in subcommittee Thursday afternoon, January 26, 2012. Please contact the members of the Labor and Commerce Committee (See below.)

HB 66 will help protect Virginia citizens from possible mercury contamination from incorrect disposal of Compact Fluorescent Bulbs or home accidents which require near hazardous materials treatment. Two hundred and twenty families lost their breadwinner in Winchester, VA when the last American GE plant making Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulbs was shut down in 2010 as a result of the Congressional ban.

These jobs were lost when GE shifted manufacture of the CFL’s out of the country. Lastly, the Federal ban is a 10th amendment issue. Congress should not be telling Virginians what type of light bulbs they should purchase and use. The people of Virginia should be able to choose when it comes to issues such as safety and jobs.

Thanks.

- Delegate Bob Marshall

Commerce & Labor Subcommittee #2

• Chairman Tim Hugo 804-698-1040 delthugo@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Harry Purkey 804-698-1082 delhpurkey@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Tom Rust 804-698-1086 deltrust@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Danny Marshall 804-698-1014 deldmarshall@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Ben Cline 804-698-1024 delbcline@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Jackson Miller 804-698-1050 deljmiller@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Manoli Loupassi 804-698-1068 delmloupassi@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Barbara Comstock 804-698-1034 delbcomstock@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Joe Johnson 804-698-1004 deljjohnson@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Kenny Alexander 804-698-1089 delkalexander@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Jennifer McClellan 804-698-1071 deljmcclellan@house.virginia.gov

Commerce & Labor Other Members

• Chairman Terry Kilgore 804-698-1001 deltkilgore@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Kathy Byron 804-698-1022 delkbyron@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Lee Ware 804-698-1065 dellware@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Don Merricks 804-698-1016 deldmerricks@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate John Cosgrove 804-698-1078 deljcosgrove@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Rob Bell 804-698-1058 delrbell@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Gregory Habeeb 804-698-1008 delghabeeb@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Johnny Joannou 804-698-1079 none
• Delegate Jeion Ward 804-698-1092 deljward@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Lynwood Lewis 804-698-1000 delllewis@house.virginia.gov
• Delegate Roslyn Tyler 804-698-1075 delrtyler@house.virginia.gov

Virginia vs. EPA Clean Water Act Controls

My HB 67 will ensure that Virginia controls and regulates its non-navigable waters. The bill will be heard Thursday, January 26, 2012, in the 7-West Conference Room of the General Assembly Building. This legislation is to help prevent cases where farmers and other property owners have been buried under EPA or Corps of Engineers regulations as a result of a large puddle or very small normally dry pond on their property because of the Migratory Bird Rule (also known as the” glancing goose test”) which in essence says if your property gets wet enough at any time of the year for a migratory bird to see its reflection, then the EPA can regulate that property as a wetland.

Passage of my HB 67 will ensure that this sort of Federal Government micro management does not occur. Please ask members of the Subcommittee (below) to support HB 67.

Thanks.

- Delegate Bob Marshall

House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Chesapeake Subcommittee

• Chairman Ed Scott delescott@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1030
• Delegate Lee Ware dellware@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1065
• Delegate Brenda Pogge delbpogge@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1096
• Delegate Michael Webert delmwebert@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1018
• Delegate Margaret Ransone delmransone@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1099
• Delegate Lynwood Lewis delllewis@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1000
• Delegate Luke Torian delltorian@house.virginia.gov

ALERT: Stop Indefinite Detention of American Citizens!

Under the recent passed 2012 federal Defense Authorization Act American citizens may be indefinitely detained, incarcerated, not presented with charges and denied counsel based on an accusation by federal agents of collaboration with or support of terrorists.

While Virginia cannot directly undo this purported law which undermines the Sixth Amendment, I introduced HB 1160 which will prevent the use of any Virginia agency or member of the Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force to assist in any way to unlawfully detain a citizen of Virginia on behalf of the United States Government in violation of the Constitution of Virginia.

Because of this act of moral and constitutional violence masquerading as a law, agencies of the Federal government can detain citizens without a warrant and without a trial who are just accused of being terrorists.

This evil has come to America and Virginia must not participate in it. My HB 1160 would keep Virginia from adulterating the rights of our citizens. If Congress wishes to play the prostitute with the US Constitution, Virginia must remain faithful to our moral roots by passing my HB 1160.

That is why you must contact members of the Courts of Justice Civil Law Subcommittee Wednesday morning and afternoon. The contact information for the members of the subcommittee and the members of the full committee are below. Please contact all of them in support of this legislation.

Thanks for your support!

Delegate Bob Marshall

Courts of Justice Civil Law Subcommittee

Chairman Sal Iaquinto delsiaquinto@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1084
Delegate Terry Kilgore deltkilgore@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1001
Delegate Manoli Loupassi delmloupassi@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1068
Delegate Gregory Habeeb delghabeeb@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1008
Delegate Peter Farrell delpfarrell@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1056
Delegate Randy Minchew delrminchew@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1010
Delegate Joe Johnson deljjohnson@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1004
Delegate David Toscano deldtoscano@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1057
Delegate Jennifer McClellan deljmcclellan@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1071

Remaining Courts of Justice Committee Members

Chairman Dave Albo deldalbo@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1042
Delegate Robert Bell delrbell@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1058
Delegate Ben Cline delbcline@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1024
Delegate Todd Gilbert deltgilbert@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1015
Delegate Jackson Miller deljmiller@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1050
Delegate Ronald Villanueva delrvillanueva@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1021
Delegate Richard Morris delrmorris@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1064
Delegate Vivian Watts delvwatts@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1039
Delegate Charniele Herring delcherring@house.virginia.gov 804-698-1046

Ironically, Heather uses Christian values to reject the Bible. This is all too common. Modern Americans often believe in Christian values, but they do not know enough to attribute those values to Christianity. How did this happen?

At the time of our nation’s founding, about two million Americans, almost all Christians, lived on the Atlantic seaboard. Prosperous and freedom loving, they chose what seemed  to them an obvious course of action. They sought their fortunes by heading west. Now centuries latter, we are over 300 million strong. Unfortunately, somewhere along this journey our Christian roots, our connection with the Bible, withered. We still see God as the giver of rights; we still believe in brotherly love, but we have allowed our secular education system to undermine proper Bible scholarship. So we have forgotten from whence our beliefs came.

So now some just study the Bible enough to sound knowledgeable when they denigrate it. What Heather complains of is an example, the seeming harsh God of the Old Testament, that progenitor of that strange and arbitrary Mosaic Code.  Why would a loving God ever contrive such a thing? It seems He did so to make a bad situation less awful. Consider, for example, what Jesus had to say about divorce.

Mark 10:2-9 Amplified Bible (AMP)

2 And some Pharisees came up, and, in order to test Him and try to find a weakness in Him, asked, Is it lawful for a man to dismiss and repudiate and divorce his wife?

3 He answered them, What did Moses command you?

4 They replied, Moses allowed a man to write a bill of divorce and to put her away.

5 But Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart [your condition of insensibility to the call of God] he wrote you this precept in your Law.

6 But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.

7 For this reason a man shall leave [behind] his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently,

8 And the two shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.

9 What therefore God has united (joined together), let not man separate or divide.

How would a “good,” religious Jew divorce his wife. The process is described at the beginning of Deuteronomy 24. He writes a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and then he sends her out of the house.  And why? He just felt like doing it. That woman no longer served his purpose. If God thought this better, can you imagine what the alternative must have been?

At the time the Old Testament came to be, it was a man’s world, and it was a world where might made right. Gods were idols, nothings that men worshiped in a vain effort to dominate creation. Yet an idol can serve one purpose. When a man does something he knows in his heart is wrong, with an excuse provided by an idol, he can do as he wishes.

The Old Testament provided no such ready excuses for evil. The Creator God could not bought with sacrifices. He wanted something quite different.

Psalm 51:14-17 Amplified Bible (AMP)

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness and death, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness (Your rightness and Your justice).

15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

16 For You delight not in sacrifice, or else would I give it; You find no pleasure in burnt offering.

17 My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.

Yet even knowing what God wanted, believing that their salvation depended upon absolute obedience, the Jews could not obey the Mosaic Code. Instead of obeying God, time and time again the Jews demonstrated that men cannot on their own perfect themselves. Even when the rules are adamantly clear and God Himself enforces them, we cannot of our own volition live without sinning.

So God had mercy, and He offered up His own son on our behalf. Jesus became one of us, and He sacrificed Himself. He even set an example we can try to follow.

Therefore, because of Jesus Christians see the world differently. Instead of arbitrary rules, Christians measure their choice of actions based upon two goals: love of God and love of neighbor. We understand that instead of trying to lord over others the best of men strive to serve God, and those who best serve God serve their fellow human beings.

I’m a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That Government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more. (from here)

And no more? This is the man who thinks government has the right to tell Americans they must buy health insurance, and he fed the entire country that quote in a State of the Union speech?

What Obama did is give an election year speech, one full of platitudes and promises for all his constituents. He provided them delightful visions of hope and change, and spend, spend, and spend — other people’s money.

Obama also found nice things to say about our military. They captured Osama. So of course Obama will spend more on the VA.

Following his accolades for our military, Obama provided us a militaristic vision of harmony, one designed to appeal to the sons and daughters of the WWII generation. Obama told us we need to follow the example of the citizens of the WWII generation and work together. Why would Obama like that example? Even after all these years, WWII remains just about the biggest government project ever, and no period – except Obama’s presidency — rivals WWII for the control our government exercised over the economy.

Then there was this.

We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them. (from here)

American values? From that redistribute the wealth Marxist? Do we really want our government to get in the business of guaranteeing a “fair” outcome? What would that be? When life is not fair, what exactly is “fair”? Who decides? How much power do we want to give our government to decide?

Anyway, I have to go to work tomorrow, I need my beauty rest, and I am sick and tired of pointing out that man’s lies.

Here is the transcript: Obama’s 2012 State of the Union. It should not take a genius to figure out:

• Obama is still blaming George W. Bush.
• The economy is not in as good a shape as Obama wants us to believe, and we still have not fixed the problems that led to the housing bubble.
• That if we just gave him more power Obama still would not fix everything. Would it really be a good idea if Congress let Obama reorganize the entire government just the way he wants?
• That if we just gave him more money to spend Obama still would not fix everything. Yep! Obama could spend lots of money. He could make all kinds of crony capitalists, labor interests, education lobbies, and environment activists sooooo happy with other people’s money, but how would that help the rest of us?
• That the whole world is not enraptured with either Obama or the United States.

In addition, if you read between the lines you will see Obama borrowing some of the more popular (with Democrats) planks in the platforms of the Republican presidential candidates. Two were quite obvious.

• Obama spoke of providing tax incentives for American manufacturers. That’s something Rick Santorum advocates (see the tenth bullet here).
• Obama borrowed on Romney’s Human Capital plan to create his own program for worker retraining.

What Obama’s speech points out is the fundamental failure of his administration. Instead of getting out of the way and letting private enterprise work, Obama has been too busy transforming our country. If Obama had given this kind of speech three years ago, it might have been believable. Now its just a miserable joke.