bierkergaard

I have been on the receiving end recently of several harsh confrontations...one where third parties who I totally respect told me that I got hammered undeservedly. They are the same people who tell me when I am in the wrong so it is a valid read. I kept my cool and took it like a man. It didn't mean that I didn't answer the accusations, yet I tried to do it a spirit of understanding their perceptions, even though the facts hardly were on their side. It is not that I am not capable of attacking people...as a psychologist I often know how to get at people...I choose not to use these weapons even though I have them. Don't doubt this...I am a student of people and pick up on things that most people don't perceive. It is part a gift and part my training. The reason of not going on the attack is practical. I try to think of the end game. What does it accomplish? There are a lot of situations that spiral into stupidity because neither party has the good sense to hit the brakes...

For the last couple of years, I have been working on my own titles for programs on NPR. "All Things Considered" is "Some Things Considered." "Fresh Air" is "Stale Air." You get my drift. I make up these pet names because, although I really like the intellectual and cultural swath of NPR, it is decidedly Liberal if not out and out Leftist. Since most of the people who listen to NPR are of those ideological leanings, there is a general lack of understanding of conservatism, and particularly the Christian faith. Which has finally lead me to create what I consider a good explanation of what N.P.R. stands for in my interpretive lexicon. Not Particularly Relevant . God is not particularly relevant. This piece on NPR about Lucretius is more par for the course in how NPR sees all things religious, particularly Christendom. According to NPR, we believers live in the backwaters of society, in the biblical bayou, where guns and Bibles run as high waters an...

As the protest on Wall Street and elsewhere continue, I wonder where all of this is going to wind up. Protests are not the answer. Productivity is. Although I don't agree with all of the points of this manifesto from the protesters, this one is certainly a reality: "They (corporations) have influenced the courts to have the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility." Historically, the rise of the corporation did much to undergird the rise of Western countries prosperity. It divorced capital used to start and build businesses from personal assets and property. When individuals and groups were freed from that danger, the risks of enterprise, then the liabilities became more manageable. But, like anything else under the sun, there is always a dark shadow. The abuses of the legal impersonality status of corporations for personal gain, demonstrates that man is always going to be greedy if money is his god. The problem is not the structure, it is t...

I decided to spend Columbus Day painting the townhouse. I had delusions that I could get all or most of the job done today. Nope, it is going to be a Trilogy. That is OK...when I got a painter's big for $ 2100 in labor for the job I decided to come out of retirement like Brett Favre. That means I saved $ 700 dollars for just today alone. That makes the pain in painting considerably less. I purchased a painting stick at Lowe's that had good online reviews. It was supposed to make the job two to three times quicker. Yeah, right. All I can say is the it made the job harder and messier and now it is retired. Such positive reviewers are just gadget happy. Since I have painted a lot, I know if a tool helps or hurts. The painting stick just didn't cut it. Painting has been very good to me in that it helped me escape the endless monetary battles between my mom and dad, who were divorced, to see who was going to help pay what of my college tuition. I progressively got free of tha...