Real Environmental Perils

A Nature special on Colony Collapse Disorder  (CCD) just ended, and not on an encouraging note.  Seems a multiplicity of factors are causing the problem, not just the Israeli virus, new pesticides, or predator mites.  The cell-phone theory has been thoroughly debunked (originally thought to interfere with the bees internal navigation), which surely disappoints hardcore Luddites.

I admire, respect, and have a great deal of affection for bees.  Like ants, I respect their industriousness, and their willingness to lay down their individual life for the good of the colony (sick bees will leave the hive to protect it from infection).  I’ve often thought beekeeping would be a fun and tasty hobby.

CCD has gotten so bad farmers in certain parts of China are now forced to pollinate by hand.  It’s estimated similar necessity in the U.S. would cost an extra $90 billion annually, and cause famine and a global food crisis.  At the current rate of collapse, we could see this become a reality by 2030.

Some of the scientists on the special quite rightly pointed out this crisis trumps global warming.  In my book, alongside the contamination of the oceans and food chains by plastics (a topic for a future post), CCD ranks as the most serious environmental issue facing humanity today.  It’s tragic so much attention, funding, and effort has been hijacked away by “global warming”.

Brush With Celebrity: TobyMac

I was privileged to work security at TobyMac’s sold-out concert last night.  He and the band have impressive stage presence, and though his style of music isn’t my favorite, it was a slammin’ show.  He didn’t do much preaching, but as a prelude to one song, spoke about remaining chaste and waiting for the one God has prepared for you.

Afterward, though visibly exhausted, he took time to sign autographs, which meant a lot to the fans.  As I and another officer escorted him back from the crowd, I got the chance to thank him personally for all he’s done for Christian culture and witness:

“Sir, if I could just say something…I’m a high school teacher.  I teach theology, and there are kids who will write me off because I’m a teacher, but they’ll listen to you.  Thank you for your message of chastity.”

He seemed a little surprised, and said there are kids who will listen to me that won’t listen to him (I think the reverse is more the truth).   He reached out and shook my hand, thanked me and wished me God’s blessings.  He’s a truly humble man who’s allowed his love for God to mix with his passion for music, and it’s doing profound things in the lives of the youth (many of my freshman loved his music).  If you like great performers who bring rap/hip hop/funk with a Christian message, don’t miss his show.

The False Idol of Government Healthcare

This week the Kennedy healthcare bill, another $600 billion government monstrosity, cleared it’s first hurdle.   It’s a nice dream; a country in which everyone has adequate healthcare.  It is a goal to aspire to reach one day.  But has that day come?  Is it even possible to deliver this dream, or is it a false idol that will bring ruin rather than well-being?

When one bothers to do even the most elementary level of research on the subject, it becomes quickly evident that universal government healthcare lies outside humanity’s ability to justly implement.

Here is an article of evidence, that is a timely expose on the government’s inability to adequately provide medical care for the 8 million military veterans in our country.   Some highlights:

“Justice demands that government provide for the medical needs of those who have been injured in the conflicts it enters.  Yet prudence suggests that if government’s competence is strained even to fulfill this obligation, then creating new and ultimately unrealistic responsibilities for government will increase the likelihood and scale of injustice.

Veterans’ healthcare has accomplished amazing feats, and many of the health officials and workers who work in that industry do so because of their desire to serve those who served their country.

But the government must and should do a better job taking care of veterans, especially those wounded in America’s wars.

The government needs to prove it can handle existing obligations before proposing the adoption of any universal government plan. If it cannot handle the challenge of caring for 8 million veterans, how will a government bureaucracy manage a system dealing with 300 million Americans?“

On the other end of the spectrum, we have a display of ignorance and idiocy from a Catholic that misunderstands Catholic social doctrine and the Pope’s latest encyclical.  He is quite willing to tax the rich to fund an unachievable and wasteful system that would delay efforts that could bring the dream to reality, and therein lies the problem.  Too many Christians are worshiping at the false idol of government intervention, rather than with Christ in truth and love.  Christ, when faced with the hunger of the multitude, did not tell his disciples to resort to government intervention to solve the problem.  Christ urged his disciples to feed the multitude themselves.   It is a travesty that Christians would  choose government  coercion (taxes) instead of trusting human charity.   The rise of government welfare in the 30s hurt charity once (how many orphanages are around these days?), will we make the same mistake again?

Will we act with so little hope in the goodwill of fellow citizens–and God–that we implement an unjust system to forcibly take property from some in the hopes of providing for others?  God forbid we should be so faithless, and so quick to disavow our responsibilities in exchange for convenient government scapegoats.

Grab Your Pitchforks and Torches…

…we’re going on a sewer hunt.  The creature detailed in the below video must be hunted down and destroyed, post haste.