Uncommon Common Sense

I've been giving a fair amount of thought to the whole two-party thing. Sometimes, I just can't believe some of the things I'm hearing...from either party. Then, a few days ago, my lovely wife just simply said, "Why does it always have to be about the 'party'? Why can't it be about what's right, and what makes sense?" She has a great point. Let me take just a couple of issues that our state legislature and governor are batting about currently, and ask those same simple questions. Gov. Culver's suggestion that we borrow...what was the rough figure....$700 million? $680 million?...and pay that loan off out of "future gambling revenues". Let me throw some questions at that... Are "gambling revenues" an assured source of income? Can we guarantee that we, the state, will always receive X-amount of dollars from that venue? What if the national economy turns even further south...will individual expenses on gambling decrease,...

Whew! Talk about an exercise in survival skills! December was a bit of one, for our household. My daughter graduated college, so drove to Moorhead, MN, for the graduation ceremony at Concordia College on Dec. 17th. Then, Christmas Eve-eve services at POG (Dec. 23rd), then Christmas Day, then hop in the car and scoot up to Minneapolis for daugther's wedding on Dec. 27th. Then, up to Battle Creek, Iowa, to go deer hunting with my friend, Randy, on Jan. 1 & 2 (unsuccessful). Was going to go out chasing Bambi again on the 3rd and 4th down by Knoxville, but freezing drizzle on the 3rd and really cold wind-chills on the 4th, and not having had much "quiet time" with my wife for too long...well, I stayed home. I have one last chance for some venison. Randy and I are going to go out first thing in the morning on the 10th, and see if we can find one deer that's less intelligent than I am. I was speaking with my TKD students last night about New Year's Resolutions....

Time for reflection, at least in our household. Someone asked me once, "What are you thankful for?" A response I heard from a friend at church went something like, "all of the things that didn't happen to me this week." It took me a few minutes to wrap my head around that, but it does present an interesting point of view. I didn't lose my job. No one in my family was diagnosed with an incurable disease. My wife (who has been traveling a bit lately) hasn't been in a car accident. While our financial resources are stretched, God has provided what we need to meet our needs and obligations. While I have a slight touch of a cold/flu, I'm not bedridden. (OK, I am a guy, therefore I must whine when I'm sick!) Gas prices continue to stay lower (except for that $.14 bounce in one day...what's up with that?), our family is healthy, our friends are doing well, and despite all the gloom and doom that everyone is spouting in the media about the economic...

Just had another thought I'd like to share. It's interesting what one can find out when they go do a little on-line research in the public domain. My opponent in the recent election raised over $40,000 for his campaign. Awesome! From the financial records posted, it appears that only ONE of those donations ($500) came from an individual, and that individual doesn't reside in the district. All the rest of the donations were from what appears to be political action committees, with some of them being out-of-state entities, and the address of one of the PAC's being the same as the address of the one individual contributor. I raised approximately $4,000, from friends and family, and business owners in the district. Only one of my donations came from a political action committee ($150). My opponent was so flush with cash that he even donated $10,000 to the House Truman Fund. So....was the election about issues and who really will represent the people of the Northeast side...

Just a quick observation today. President-elect Obama was all about "change", and "getting rid of the Washington insiders", etc., etc. Interesting that as of today, the majority of the people he has named to prominent positions on his transition team are all Washington insiders and/or previously involved in the Clinton administration.... help me understand how that is "change"? ...just my two cents worth today. --Larry Voorhees

I've always been an avid reader. When I was a kid, my folks would always be getting after me, because rather than doing chores (or homework), I'd almost always have my nose buried in a book. Absolutely loved the Hardy Boys series, and Tom Swift, Jr. I guess I had a real taste for action/adventure stuff. As I got older, and was living out west, I discovered Louis L'Amour, and especially his Sackett Series. In the past year or so, one of my students (who also is a pastor) and I have taken to writing action/adventure novels. These have been a great deal of fun for us, and I thought I'd share them with you. Well, at least with those of you that like reading that sort of thing. How to describe them? Well, action/adventure, with a martial arts twist, drama, intrigue, plot twists, mystery....pretty well sprinkled with a strong spiritual base, as well. If you're truly interested, we've published the first two in the series on Lulu.com. You can see the "brag...

That's the difference. I will need to be able to make the time to get out and speak to 2500 more people in 2010 than I did this year. Which shouldn't be too hard, considering I started my campaign in late August this year. Based on the reactions I received from the people I spoke with this year when I was door-knocking, I am convinced that if people have the opportunity to make an informed decision, they will find that I represent ideas and convictions that are more in-line with their own than my opponent does. But, in the absence of information to the contrary, they simply do "what they have always done", which is vote by party-line. One thing I've learned from my years in the ring as a sparring competitor. Every time I lose a match, I learn something. And I make sure that I use that new knowledge the next time I get into the ring with that same person, and I make certain that I win the rematch. There will be a rematch. The result will be different. my tw...