Saturday, March 10, 2012

Common Sense and Voter Fraud

To there extent that there is "voter fraud," one would have to assume that it is evenly split between votes for Republican candidates and for Democratic candidates -- effectively self-cancelling.

Or do Republicans claim that all fraudulent votes would be caste for Democrats? That the only fraudulent voters are democrats?

Are concerns about voter fraud nothing more than psychological projection?

In my experience, you can tell a lot about a person and his values by the way he views others - honest people tend to assume others are honest -- liars tend to assume everyone else is
a liar.

So, when someone gets all worked up about other folks committing voter fraud - well, you figure it out.....

Monday, March 5, 2012

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

Are you your brothers' and sisters' keeper?

Last spring I started asking various folks about God's question to Cain about the whereabouts of the slain Abel in the Genesis poem and Cain's question in response: "Am I my brother’s keeper?"

8 Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:8-10 (NASB)

Recall that God doesn't answer Cain.

So I've asked folks (maybe a couple dozen or so): If God had answered Cain, would his answer been
  1. "Yes, you are" or,
  2. "No you aren't" or,
  3. "Well, its complicated"?
Interestingly, for the most part dems and liberals pretty much answer "Well, 'yes' --- duh!"

I'd always thought/assumed everyone's answer would be "He's have answered 'Yes.'"

But I was wrong. I have found that the few conservatives who answer "yes" usually hesitate for awhile before answering. (A couple haven't hesitated in the least.

Most end up either with "well it's complicated" or by avoiding an answer altogether.

One conservative internet friend went so far as to argue that God was using the term "keeper" in the sense of animal husbandry so that is was a trick question!

(He found that argument through a google search and found a site that argued that The argument is based on the line a few passages before that "Abel was a keeper of flocks..." I checked an interlinear Hebrew translation, however, and found that the two passages use two different words which are translated into English as "keeper.")

So I was intrigued by this little tidbit from President Obama speech to the UAW.

I have a number of concerns about President Obama's values and his presidential record, but I sure liked his clear pronouncement of being our brothers' and sisters' keepers.