The Forest or a Big Group of Trees?

Women...what can't they do?  Well according to the Georgia Baptist Convention, be a pastor.  Women have held our civilization together since we all decided to live in communities.  Just look at their traditional roles in society.  They kept the household, raised the children, made the meals.  Even in this modern age many women still have this traditional role in the house along with holding down full time jobs.  That's not to say that men can't do those things, but in my experience women have a much easier time of it.  It basically comes down to physiology. 

The female brain and the male brain are simply different.  There are scientific studies that say men are better a some things, while women are better at more things.  As a modern male I am OK with admitting this.  I understand that women are wired to be more emotional attached to any given situation.  This is not a shortcoming.  It would be juvenile and immature to think that, because one would apply emotion that they are less capable of completing a task.  All over the world women are stepping into roles traditionally held by men.  Women in Israel have been serving in combat scenarios for almost a generation.  They do this job well.  No one would argue that Oprah couldn't do a man's job.  Not only did she beat a bunch of Men's men cowboys, she did it here in Texas.  Now she is starting her own network, OWN.  And that's Ted Turner territory.

So what's the point?  Well to some people, (men) women can't do the things that men can do.  Like what?  Pee standing up?  I've seen a women do it.  It wasn't by choice, but some things you can't unsee...especially while camping.  Run a major company, uh...Oprah...  And now be a pastor.  Those in Georgia say that the Bible says a woman can't fill that role.  It also says we should stone adulterers to death, but they seemed to let that rule fall by the wayside.  I'm not saying that we should abandon the teachings of the Bible, but I do think that it is time to take a good long look at how we interpret the Scripture.  I know that some of you out there will be up in arms about the idea of looking at the Bible as a teaching guide rather than a historical and factual document, but remember that this is the same book that says the second most important rule to live by (i.e. the Ten Commandments) is to "Love Thy Neighbor". 

I know I'm right about this.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...God loves all of his children.  He doesn't pick and chose His favorites and disregard the rest. He wants the best for all of us.  How dare we presume to understand His plan.  We are players on His grand stage.  He casts us in the role most suited to each of us.  He is the ultimate "Director".

Until we all get that, I suppose we will have to suffer the ignorant and narrow-minded "Producers" in this world. 

Give Me Liberty or Give Me an Opt-Out...

Well kids its finally here.  The day we all knew would come has arrived.  The US government is finally going over to Big Brother.  This was no one day revelation, rather a slow build up that we all watched happen.  We have finally reached the point where I can honestly say,  I hate what has happened to our country.  We have finally and irreversibly succumbed to the terrorists.  We have done what Benjamin Franklin said we should never do.  We have given up privacy and freedom for the sake of security.

The great fore-father's actual quote was " Any man willing to give up privacy for security deserves neither".  Think about that.  What does that mean to us today?  To me it means that we should never let our government get to decide that we are all liars.  When you give up your ability to say no to an airport screener then the fear-mongers have won.

A world where security is more important than privacy assumes that we are all liars.  It assumes that we are all criminals.  It assumes we are all guilty.  If thats the case then lets go ahead and toss out the judicial system and get rid of the Supreme Court.  If we are all guilty then we should be able to save some tax money on court costs.  Hey, while we are at it lets just say the cops can now decide our sentences on the street.  "That guy looks like a murder suspect, put him in jail.  He must have done something wrong."  This kind of "the world is out to get us" mentality is just like the witch-hunting mentality of the McCarthy era fear-mongers.  Not only that, but an attitude like that is a self fulfilling prophecy that will invariably come true.

A case for thought; in a college town in the mid-west, every year there was a big street party that, on occasion had a tendency to get  out of hand.  When one year the police sent out a bunch of cops in uniform and laid down a bunch of new rules, it wasn't long before a riot broke out.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property damage and lots of arrests later the police where at a loss.  So, the next year the sent out a bunch of UCs, (under-covers for those of you who have never seen an episode of Law & Order) convinced the bar owners to serve in only plastic cups, and didn't use great shows of force.  The result, no riot.  If there is no one to fight then, there can't be a fight.

I understand that there are people in this world that want to do others harm.  And I know that protecting the public is the responsibility of the government, but not at the expense of our privacy.

I think it would be a a tragic and ironic state of affairs if we continue down this road to Big Brother, and we become the exact kind of state that McCarthy and his cronies fought so hard to stave off.  Get ready for bio-chips and scanners... Or maybe we can find a nice tattoo artist to give us all numbers on our forearms...