Tag: Ronald Reagan

6 Things You Might Not Agree With

Lots of stuff going on around here. Tonight is Cajun food night at our church meal, and I got nothing, so I’m just gonna go get tacos from Taco Bell. I know, it is the lowest form of food, but I figure they have Taco Bell in Louisiana, too.

But here are some things that are on my mind, and I need to get them out. I recognize you will probably not agree with some of them, which is fine. Maybe It will stimulate some thinking.

1. President Trump is right to question why good financial news, like more people working and higher wages, causes the stock market to go down. Probably points to the reality that Wall Street and Main Street have two completely different sets of priorities.

IMG_6487

2. As a Seahawks fan, it is extremely rewarding that the man who cost us a Super Bowl victory also cost the Patriots a Super Bowl victory to a team wearing green. Thanks, Malcolm Butler.

sb49-malcolm-butler-int-ji-1
Seeing this picture still stings.

3. Yesterday was Ronald Reagan’s birthday. He would have been 107, if my math is right. It made me a little nostalgic to remember a time when conservative Republican presidents advocated for walls to be torn down, not built.

4. I have an almost uncontrollable desire to buy a red Tesla Roadster. Watching that launch was amazing, and really made me miss when NASA use to do great things.

5. I’m watching a lot of Oscar movies right now, which means I’m eating a lot of popcorn. I will blog about them all when I’ve seen all the best pic nominees, but for now I will tell you that The Shape Of Water was a terrible disappointment. I mean, it was almost unwatchable at times, but it did make me miss The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

6. I’m preaching about the Holy Spirit right now, and finish the series up on Sunday. I think the smartest thing I’ve said in a very long time is something I tried to point out this past Sunday.

The reason we have so many different churches and kinds of churches is a strength, not a weakness. The Holy Spirit takes pleasure in diversity, and this diversity makes it possible for there to be a spiritual home for all different kinds of people.

 

Okay, that’s all I got for now.

Update, while writing this, I decided to go with KFC and a bucket of chicken. Everyone loves chicken, right?

MAYBE, MAY THE FOURTH

The Fourth was with them?

Friday is International Star Wars Day because it is May the Fourth.  Get it, as in “May the Fourth be with you.”  All apologies to people who have hard time forming the “th” sound, but it is a pretty clever idea.  To celebrate such a momentous endeavor, I am sharing my all time favorite Star Wars quotes.  However, the spin on it is I am setting them in slightly different contexts.  You’ll figure it out.

If your not with me, you’re my enemy–Hitler, to Stalin in 1939

Anakin?

My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count–Big Bird

Using the Force?

Sith Lords are our speciality–Seal Team Six

Whose scruffy-looking?–Mel Gibson

Nerf Nerder

I am your father–Sigmund Freud

There is no try–Steve Jobs

Around the survivors a perimeter create–Rick Santorum

Your father was seduced by the dark side–Pebbles Flintstone-Rubble to Bam Bam

I find your lack of faith disturbing–Billy Graham

What a piece of junk–a Mariner’s fan commenting on the 2012 starting lineup.

I’m Luke Skywalker, I”m here to rescue you–Ronald Reagan, 1980

A little short for a stormtrooper?

The circle is now complete–Simba

These aren’t the droids you’re looking for–A cellphone buyer

You’ll find I’m full of surprises–Colton Harris Moore aka The Barefoot Bandit

There is always a bigger fish–Roy Scheider

A Bigger Fish

I’ve got a bad feeling about this–President Obama before the State of the Union address

That’s no moon, its a space station –An NFL quarterback as he goes ‘under center’

Full Moon

MSNBC’S REPUBLICAN DEBATE

 

(DISCLAIMER—PASTOR GREENBEAN IS NOT AN IDEOLOGUE OR A PARTISAN.  HE WATCHES POLITICAL DEBATES LIKE ONE WATCHES A SPORTING EVENT IN WHICH NEITHER TEAM IS BELOVED.)

This will be a short blog—I promise.  The last blog was far too long.  Last night I watched, with popcorn in hand, but no Kool-Aid, (Jim Jones reference intended).  Half-way between I had to leave to go to a very important ministry team meeting at church with some great guys so I DVR’d the thing and finished it when I got home.  Tonight I will do the same, DVR’ing President Obama’s speech because I have a dinner party to attend.  But, for now, here are some things I noticed.

1.  Michele Bachmann did poorly.  Someone has advised her poorly and encouraged her to be ‘on message’ a little too much.  In a debate people like to see, and expect to see, a crisp, flexible, in-the-moment quality of their leadership.  Bachmann may have that, but she didn’t show it last night.

2.  Mitt Romney won the debate, by far.  He seemed together, collected, and very presidential—whatever that means.  The contrast between him and Perry was quite astounding.  Perry seemed confident but unprepared.

3.  Poor Ron Paul.  I don’t think I could ever vote for him, but I find him fascinating and interesting—and I agree with a great deal of what he says and proposes.  The “poor Ron Paul” bit is that the media just ignores him.  Did anyone else notice how he seemed to only get ‘left-over’ questions designed to make him look irrelevant?

4.  The others in the debate did very little to highlight themselves.  Santorum looked confused every time he was asked a question, Cain feels too inexperienced and naive, Gingrich was amusing but predictably belligerent, and Huntsman is boring.

5.  Brian Williams is affable enough; but the other guy from Politico was a jerk.  He seemed bent on trying to argue policy with the candidates instead of giving the candidates opportunity to differentiate their polices from their opponents President Obama.

6.  What was with the surprise questioner from Telemundo?  If you want him asking questions, then let him be on the panel—not walking on in a ‘Aha’ moment.  That seemed very forced and awkward.  Can only Spanish speakers ask questions about immigration?  If that is so, only doctors or insurers can ask about health care, only soldiers can ask about foreign policy, and only business people can ask about the economy.

7.  All the candidates and MSNBC were upstaged by the setting.  It was a real mistake to have the debate at the Reagan Library with that gorgeous Air Force One hanging over the room and Nancy Reagan right there.  It reminded everyone of two things.  One, none of those people are Ronald Reagan.  Two, we don’t need to duplicate Reagan’s policies of the 1980’s, we need someone who had Reagan’s clarity on what needs to be done.  Those are not the same qualities.

8.  Did MSNBC know this was a Republican debate?