Obama on Snooze-Control

Obama – On Snooze-Control

 The View from the Middle

There was actually some great news for many Americans in President Obama’s final news conference of 2016.  A recording of this event will be made available through YouTube for the millions of Americans who suffer from occasional to chronic insomnia.  And it really works.  This is just my own personal testimony, but I had to watch it four times because I fell asleep during the first three viewings.

It’s also hard to be humorous and boring at the same time, but our President was able to pull it off.  At the end of his prelude to the news conference, the President was talking about his plans for his final year in office.  His actual words were, “I’m going to leave it all on the field”, which to any sports enthusiast suggests a supreme effort.  However, he said it with so little emotion that I didn’t know whether to doze off or laugh. 

Then the President segued into what I'll call “statistical babble” in an attempt to convince us that things couldn’t be better here in the good old US of A.  For example, unemployment has been cut in half to 5%.  Wow, that’s great.  Of course, he didn’t mention that’s because his administration drove it up to 10% after promising it would never go above 8%.  He also didn’t point out that the labor participation rate is at its lowest level since 1978 and in its longest decline – EVER.

Blah, blah, blah.  By the time he got done spewing his selective data I thought I was living in Whoville (after the Grinch returned Christmas) instead of the United States. He then went on to congratulate Congress on the great work they just did on the budget deal.  He said it’s a big win, and I’m sure it is – for somebody, but certainly not for the conservative Republicans who control the House and the Senate.  The Republican Congress getting kudos from Obama is like Hillary Clinton getting al-Baghdadi’s endorsement for President.  That analogy actually works for any American Presidential candidate.

Of course, he had to report that ISIS is on their deathbed - again.  And he was tricked into saying ISIS instead of ISIL.  Please do not call these thugs ISIL.  It is an aspirational label, and if you don’t believe me just look up what “The Levant” (the “L” in ISIL) includes.  And for God’s sake, he suggested, use your common sense and say something if you see something, unless you see a Muslim kid carrying what you think could be a briefcase bomb into a school.  In that case you’ll be vilified and sued and Obama will invite the kid to the White House.

And then he finished with what’s on top of everyone’s mind - we must close Gitmo.  Actually, I could not find a single recent survey of the American people where “closing Gitmo” even registers as a concern.  And making a financial argument by this administration to close Gitmo is a farce.  We spent more money training five Syrian rebels (that’s right 5) than it would take to fund Gitmo for a year.  There is plenty of waste in Washington that can be eliminated if we want to balance the budget.

He did finish strong, however.  He really perked up at the end when he talked about seeing Star Wars and going on vacation.  You may want to delete that part from your sleep inducing video, however.  It might actually wake you up!

Sam's CEO Rosalind Brewer on Diversity

Diversity for Diversity’s Sake

Just yesterday, CNN reporter Poppy Harlow interviewed Sam’s CEO Rosalind Brewer.  Ms. Brewer is a black female and part of the interview focused on diversity in the workplace, which has led to some screams of racism (or reverse racism if you prefer).  Being a 63-year-old white guy and a diversity agnostic, I thought I should check it out.

I have to admit, the claims of racism are way overblown.  Most of the interview was a substantive discussion of compensation for Walmart and Sam’s employees in the form of salaries and benefits.  Not only did I agree with her positions, but I also thought she conducted herself extremely well.  She was articulate and thoughtful and came across as a great role model for anyone climbing the corporate latter, no matter your race or gender.  I particularly liked her stance that companies should be responsible for the decision to provide certain benefits like paid family leave, versus government mandate.

At the very end of the interview Poppy asked Ms. Brewer what was she doing to get more people like herself into leadership positions at Walmart and Sam’s.  She suggested that it starts at the top and she was trying to do her part to mentor young black women and men.  I certainly don’t object to that, in fact I applaud it.  She didn’t say that she didn’t mentor old white guys like me.  I’m sure she does that also, but if truth be told, young black men and women are in need of positive role models and if she can be an example, I’m way OK with that.

But, I rarely agree with 100% of what anyone says, so I would have a small caution for Ms. Brewer.  At the end of her interview she talked about a company that was meeting with her that was represented by all white males.  This seemed to bother her.  My first warning to Ms. Brewer is that diversity is about more than skin color or gender.  Even if members of a group look the same, they could differ in levels of experiences, ways of thinking (brain styles if you wish), work ethic, etc.  The point is, diversity should be about results, not just looks.

I love to use sports as the example here.  The NBA has a real shortage of short, slow white guys.  Do you think they care?  They simply want to win and are willing to bring anyone onto the team that can help them do that.  However, they are looking for what I’ll call “good diversity”.  Shaquille O’Neal was a great player.  He was the NBA’s MVP and won four NBA titles with the Lakers and the Miami Heat, but can you imagine a team of five Shaqs?  They wouldn’t get the ball over mid court.

NBA teams want people with different skills.  Some need to shoot from the outside and some need to handle the ball and some need to dominate the paint, like Shaq did.  But the key to the diversity they are looking for revolves around winning, and so it should be with business.

As Ms. Brewer looked at the collection of white males, she should be asking, “how are they delivering for me?  Is there something missing from this group that is causing them to deliver a poor product to me?”  This will more likely deliver meaningful diversity that can make a positive difference.

In the mean time, I encourage Ms. Brewer to mentor and encourage all of the young people she can.  The world would be a better place with more Rosalind Brewers in it.

Climate Change and Terrorism

Climate Change Causes Terrorism?

 The View from the Middle

How would you like to create the perfect argument?  This argument would have to be invulnerable to actual statistics, impossible to totally understand and would not be reliant on any future results.  It would be impossible to prove wrong (or right for that matter).  And wouldn’t it be great if you could make millions if not billions of dollars supporting that argument!   Well, stop working on it.  It’s already been invented and it’s called “Global Warming”.   Oops, I mean “Climate Change”.  See, you can’t even tie these guys down to a name!

Remember, it was less than 40 years ago when Stephen Schneider, a top climate advisor for Al Gore, and a hoard of his fellow scientists were warning all of us of an upcoming “Ice Age”.  He also warned “we can't predict with any certainty what's happening to our own climatic future”.  Obviously, in the last 38 years Al has set him down and said, “Hey Steve!  Let’s go with warming instead of freezing and let's say we CAN predict what’s going to happen!”  That makes all the difference in the world.

Of course, Al and Steve stumbled out of the gate by making some actual predictions.  They said the polar ice caps would be gone by 2010, and New York and Miami would be under water.   But these missteps are no problem for the perfect argument.  They just denied those predictions for a while and then changed them when they got caught.  Now these catastrophic events will happen in a hundred years if we don’t act right now.  Of course, Al and Steve will be long dead by then and Al's children’s, children will be spending his billions on some other con game they can perpetrate on America.

And now they’ve changed their cause’s name to “Climate Change”, because temperatures have not been increasing for the past 20 years of so.  This allows them to use any weather related event in their argument.  If we have a year with a lot of hurricanes, it’s Climate Change.  If we have a year with very few hurricanes, it’s Climate Change.  If it rains – Climate Change.  If it doesn’t – Climate Change.  Tornadoes – Climate Change.  No tornadoes – Climate Change.  I think you get the picture. 

But the inaccurate predictions and claims that every event supports their theory have begun to make many of us a little skeptical.  Moving the goalpost for their prophecies to a hundred years from now was the straw that broke my climatological back.  Charles Krauthammer also became suspicious of the all-inclusive claims.  He pointed out that, “if everything supports your hypothesis, then nothing supports it!”  I’m with Chuck!

And now President Obama and Bernie Sanders are trying to claim that Climate Change is causing radical Islamic terrorism.  Wow, how do you disprove that, or prove it?  Don’t worry.  That’s the great thing about the perfect argument.  You don’t have to prove any of this stuff.  You just have to throw it out there and let the rest of us argue about it while you develop your next line of bull.  I’m going to take a big risk here and suggest a counter argument to the President and Bernie.  I think radical Islamic terrorism is caused by a relatively small but growing fanatical, religious group whose goal is to bring the entire world under their control.  Call me silly, but that’s what they say, and I take them at their word.

It finally dawned on me the other day, as I watched the President suggest that Climate Change caused terrorism that even the eventual results don’t matter.  If temperatures fall or maintain, Al, Mr. Obama and Bernie will take credit.  I can just hear them now.  “If we hadn’t done X-Y or Z we wouldn’t have seen these results”.   But, if temperatures go up, it will be because we didn’t do enough.  No one will be able to prove it either way.  And that’s when it hit me.  These guys are full of it, but they have invented the perfect argument.

Now, I’m not suggesting that we should trash the earth, but I am suggesting that no one totally understands how our climate works.  Even climatologists will agree that it is a VERY complex system.  We’ve been through these cycles before when man was clearly not the cause.  This could be a natural process that God put in place when He created the world and we can have little to no impact on it.  If you’re an atheist you can substitute “Mother Nature” for God.   Whatever!

But before we start trashing our economy by destroying the fossil fuel industries, we need to do a lot more honest study on this subject.  There are even some scientists who believe the warming that the President is predicting could be beneficial to the earth.  Whatever you do, feel empowered to be skeptical.  Don’t fall for this unprovable argument.  Don’t trust anyone who tells you that you have to give them money today in the form of carbon taxes or subsidized energy costs or the world will end in 100 years.  Conveniently for these doomsayers, anyone who is reading this article will be dead by then. 

If you aren’t skeptical yet, remember Rahm Emanuel’s famous saying, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”  He was implying that he would use any crisis to advance his ideological agenda.  And if you don’t have a real crisis lying around, just make one up.  Can anyone say “Climate Change”?

WWJD about the Syrian refugees?

Syrian Refugees – What Would Jesus Do?

 The View from the Middle

“What would Jesus do about the Syrian refugees?”  I’ve heard this question more than a few times in the last week.  The people asking it think they are being quite clever and painting Christians into an indefensible corner.  These people are often not Christians and have at best a superficial knowledge of the Bible.

My response has been, “Which Jesus are you talking about?”  According to the Bible, Jesus is the Son of God and a very intricate being, possessing many qualities.  Is He compassionate and forgiving?  Absolutely!  He died for all our sins.  ALL OUR SINS!  But He is much, much more.

He is the Lion of Judah, powerful and even frightening.  In Daniel, He is the stone that smashes the kingdoms of the world.  He is the Rider of the white horse in Revelation that judges and makes war.  He is also just and will hold us all accountable for our choices here on earth.  This is the quality of Christ that I believe matters most as we discuss our handling of the refugees from Syria.  Jesus is the perfect judge.  He is not a good judge.  He is not a great judge.  He is the PERFECT judge.

With Jesus as the judge of these refugees, not a single lying, inhuman, psychopathic, murdering ISIS believer would make it to the United States or anywhere else in the world.  But we aren’t Jesus, and the WWJD bracelets don’t suggest that we can “be” Jesus.  They would simply urge us to “try” to be more like Him.  In this case they would recommend that we should try to be the very best judges of these people that we can, and I think that is exactly what the bill that just passed The House is trying to achieve.

The people who handle our country’s security, like FBI Director James Comey, are saying that our vetting process for these particular refugees is ineffective.  Given that fact, we should take this opportunity to pause and reflect.  We should study and improve that process.  That would make us better judges of these refugees and thus more like Jesus.  That process will never be perfect, but if we make the effort, it will be more reliable than it is today.

Finally, I do get some comfort from knowing that Jesus will eventually judge each of these thugs and they will receive true justice.  I can’t imagine what God’s justice will be for these monsters, but I’m sure it will be appropriate.  Feel free to use your own imaginations here.

The Flip Side of Under Our Skin - Race in America

The Flip Side of - Under Our Skin

 The View from the Middle

Almost immediately after the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri announced its decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson, Benjamin Watson, a professional football player and a black man, sent out an expression of his emotions through Facebook.  His post was thoughtful, honest and dispassionate, which caused it to go viral overnight.  He has recently written a book called Under Our Skin which develops those feelings more fully, and which I highly recommend. 

I did find, however, that while I experienced the same emotions, I did so for very different reasons.  After all, I am a 63-year-old white guy, and have lived a different life from Mr. Watson.  I’m hoping that this view of the same circumstance, but from a different perspective will only serve to enhance Mr. Watson’s message.

Now, before you read on, take your mind back to the riots and looting that took place in Ferguson.  Remember “hands up, don’t shoot” and the deep division of opinion and even testimony in the wake of Michael Brown’s death.  Now, here are the feelings that I experienced at that volatile moment.

I’m Angry – The evidence seemed clear.  Michael Brown was a huge young man and a thug who threatened a storeowner, stole some Tiparillos and then walked down the middle of the street, asking for confrontation.  It was also evident that Michael Brown attacked Darren Wilson in his car and turned on him after the chase with the intent of assaulting him.  Michael was 6’ 4” and weighed nearly 300 pounds.  I probably would have shot him myself.

I’m Frustrated – We finally have a black President, and while I didn’t vote for him, my hope was that he would have a positive effect on race relations in this county.  But up to this point, I feel they have gotten worse.

I’m Fearful – Even though I’m very sympathetic to the plight of the black community in America, I fear I will be seen only for the color of my skin and my opinion will be marginalized or I could possibly even be physically assaulted.

I’m Embarrassed – I know that there are prejudiced people in America who are either ignorant of our country’s history or just don’t care.  I’ve heard the off color jokes and bigoted statements and sometimes I’ve even responded to them with silence, which isn’t enough.  I like to think that I’m as unbiased as possible, but if I’m the high side for whites in America, I understand the frustration of the Black Community.

I’m Sad – A young man is dead and another young man’s life will forever be in shambles.  There are no winners here.  As I watch the looting and destruction I can almost “feel” the widening of racial divide in this country.  My heart also goes out to the shop owners who are innocent victims of the carnage.

I’m Sympathetic – I’m acutely aware of the intentional and systematic destruction of the black family for over 200 years in America.  I’ve read the history of subjugation and the denial of education (the great liberator) to blacks in this country.  Given this deliberate suppression, I’m actually surprised at the recovery the black community has made.

I’m Offended – Because of the color of my skin I’ve been labeled a racist by some and blamed for an inhuman practice that ended 150 years ago.  Because of the color of my skin I’ve been condemned for racial sins since abolition that I did not commit.

I’m Confused – I don’t understand why so many young black men resist arrest.  How do they think these confrontations will end? 

I’m Introspective – I understand that while I may be sympathetic, I have lived a very different life than the majority of black Americans.  Since I don’t carry the same baggage as they do, the answers to this issue seem oh-so apparent to me.

I’m Hopeless – I see the black community in America continue to suffer from the same depravation instituted by slavery.  Over 70% of black children are born out of wedlock.  More black boys drop out of high school and fewer young black men attend college even though I know that education is the key to equality and success in America.

I’m Hopeful – Because I’ve seen the country change for the better in my 63 years.  I’ve seen great role models like Martin Luther King, Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell and Dr. Ben Carson who have risen to the highest levels of influence in America.  I’ve seen racial attitudes change from generation to generation, and I see the innocence of our young people as many of them face the world today from a colorblind perspective.

I’m Encouraged – As I stated earlier, I have seen so much progress in my life that I have to be encouraged.  I continue to see more and more positive role models for young black men and women, now to include Benjamin Watson.  If our current President or the next has any intelligence at all, they will bring Mr. Watson into public service as “Racial Unity Czar” or something to that effect.  I have long said that empathy from whites and forgiveness from blacks will be needed to eventually resolve racism in America, and I think Mr. Watson might agree with that.

I must also agree with Mr. Watson that the real change needed is a “heart” change, and the source of that metamorphosis is Jesus Christ.   Through Him all things are possible, even racial unity.

If you have not read Benjamin Watson’s original Facebook post, fear not.  Just buy his book, Under Our Skin.  That post appears in the introduction.  We can only hope that his book goes as “viral” as his Facebook post did.