Why is it that radical legislation is preceded with pleas and warnings that we have to act before it's too late? For example, our American Congress's profligate spending earlier this year to "save" our economy in the nick of time. (We're still waiting for a sign of salvation.) The power-brokers write bills hundreds even more than a thousand pages thick, with fine print and all sorts of additions and caveats and regulatory sleights of hand, bills that legislators do not even read let alone understand before they vote on them. But without delay!--This must be done and there is no time to debate or read the bills--you must "trust us" with this mission or we die!

Well, there are times when there is no time to lose, as when firemen show up in a haze of smoke to show you the way out of a burning building "Now". You have to trust them to get you down or lead you through the house to safety. But we have some level of confidence in them because they, after all, have a track record we know about. (Congress has a track record, too.)

God the Savior doesn't operate in haste. He's been very patient with the human race. God took a long time preparing a people, instilling in them a sense of what the real dangers are, slowly teaching and revealing a pattern of death and life, sin and holiness, then writ large at the right time in the Person of His Son. The legislation of sin overturned in the Cross is not hard for average Joe's to understand--one of them signed on while Jesus was still on the Cross. He gives us time, sometimes a full lifetime of many years to figure it all out and vote, finally, Yea, on the Fix of the Cross and the Resurrection. To be sure, Today is the Day of Salvation, and it is the acceptable hour. Best to act now. But tomorrow and tomorrow, as long as you are around, the invitation stands. It has no expiration date earlier than your own.

As to the fear of global warming, we should accept it in a way, but not Al Gore's global warming but The Global Warming: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" What does that mean? Well, I trust Him on that one, and that's the one to worry about, and Kyoto won't be able to touch it.

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Seems like it’s all about manufacturing a crisis so that the legislation can be “crammed” through without good, deliberate review and debate. It’s all about getting stuff passed in the darkness vs. shining the light of truth on each page.

[1] Posted by B. Hunter on 11-02-2009 at 01:24 PM • top

Whither healthcare reform. Most interesting stat to me, buried on page a14 but still dutifully reported in the NYT: “As respondents reported greater familiarity with the Healthcare Reform Bills, support fell quickly.”

So you see, as people learned what the “jig” was, they wanted no part of it. If reform was really good for America, then the more they learned, the more support they would garner. In fact it’s just the opposite.

Dangerous times. “So this is how Democracy dies, to thunderous applause.”

KTF!...mrb

[2] Posted by Mike Bertaut on 11-02-2009 at 02:41 PM • top

My parents, may they rest in peace, taught me not to trust any salesperson who pressured me to make a purchase on the ground of “this is a limited time offer!” or who said that if I got up from the negotiating table that the offer would be withdrawn.

I think the same message applies equally well to legislation, especially when its text runs into the dozens (hundreds?) of pages and when no one, including the legislators, has read it through. The concepts that humanity has caused all global warming or that global warming, whatever its cause, is irreversible, has yet to be proven under an unbiased regimen of hypothesis, competent use of statistics, and examination of all evidence.

And to anyone who might wish to attack me as a profligate waster of kilowatts/fossil fuels/dynes/kilocalories/whatever, my family sweats in our home in the southern summer, wears warm sweaters and uses extra blankets in (what passes for) our winter, buys local food in season, uses cloth grocery bags, drives fuel-efficient vehicles only as necessary (bus service being virtually non-existent), and wishes that Congress would encourage nuclear power plant development (if the French can do it, why can’t we?) We take our responsiblity given to us by God in Genesis 1:28 very seriously.

[3] Posted by sophy0075 on 11-02-2009 at 03:29 PM • top

If you have not yet visited ICECAP lately or have never been there, do visit now.

[4] Posted by iceworm on 11-02-2009 at 04:02 PM • top

First a disclaimer: I am not a climate scientist.

There is a basic issue involved in what appears to be a warming cycle over most of the planet. I apologize for using arcane words but I can’t find any other way to express my thoughts here. There are basically two major classifications or groups of variables which influence global climate cycles: endogenous, meaning factors/variables internal to the natural climate system and exogenous, meaning factors/variables external to the natural climate system. Most, if not all, climate cycles are influenced by elements of both.

It is my belief that we have little credible evidence upon which to assess the relative importance of the endogenous and exogenous variables driving the current apparent warming cycle. Al Gore and many scientists, some quite credible, posit that man’s actions, exogenous variables, are a major factor, probably the determining factor in the current apparent warming cycle and we must take drastic action, without regard to the cost and impact on mankind, to ameliorate the impact of the warming cycle. Other scientists, some quite credible, posit that man’s actions are a minor factor and that endogenous, natural factors are driving the current warming cycle and drastic, costly human action is not warranted and is indeed foolish.

Those pushing drastic government imposed changes to reduce certain types of emissions thought to be causing the warming cycle are, in my judgment, pursuing a hidden agenda. In my view, they want to enforce drastic change upon our life styles and manner of living. Their sense of urgency arises out of concern that they must accomplish most of their hidden agenda early in the current administration’s term before Americans wake up and vote them out of office. They reckon that by the time they have accomplished their agenda we will all be so dependent upon the government, which they control, that we will be afraid to vote them out.

Jackie, I hope I have not taken this off topic, but I think a discussion of these issues would be fun and useful.

[5] Posted by Ol' Bob on 11-02-2009 at 05:42 PM • top

Ol’ Bob, I’m with you on the hidden agenda part. If (and I do mean IF) human being have anything at all to to with the alleged global warming (which by some reports ended in the late 1990’s), it seems to me that the current massive worldwide economic downturn, plus the progressive unavailability of cheap light crude oil (the engine of many of our excesses since the early 20th century) means that making changes in our economy is an entirely moot point. Hence the hidden agenda can only be about something else. The likeliest candidate in my view, given human nature, is a massive power grab of some kind. Reports of the apparent contents of the Copenhagen Agreement “draft” are not encouraging…

[6] Posted by ears2hear on 11-02-2009 at 06:53 PM • top

Sorry: should be “human beings have anything at all to do”

[7] Posted by ears2hear on 11-02-2009 at 06:55 PM • top

I wonder why anyone is surprised that the American people (by that I mean the people of the USA; not the “Americas”) were upset when their economy was cratering and they voted for new blood to take the helm. Perhaps the crash wasn’t the fault of the Republican Party, but they were in charge when it happened, so the buck stopped there.

The Touchstone quote above says, “We’re still waiting for a sign of salvation.” But the fact is that things are getting better. Does it have anything to do with the stimulus package? Would it have happened if the Republicans stayed in control? Who knows? Things are not like back in boom days of the Clinton Administration, but they are getting better just like the stimulators said they would: slowly.

Thank God that we live in a place where you can gripe and complain about how the government is running things and not wind up imprisoned or shot.

The Lord God has taken His time all right. It has taken billions of years for His creation to get this far and it may end tonight; or it could go on for billions more years (or anything in between). I love that expression, “In the fullness of time…” The first era, the Israelite Era, ended with the destruction of the temple by the Romans. The second era, The Christian Era, began with the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (there was a little overlap there) and it will end with His return to the earth. And the third era will be the thousand-year reign. We would all do well to imitate the Apostles and assume that the end is near.

[8] Posted by RicardoCR on 11-02-2009 at 09:33 PM • top

#8 Ricardo,
I don’t know of any thoughtful conservative who thinks that the waning days of W #2’s administration were anything to rejoice over.

If anything, W ended up being “Obama light”, as I don’t see a substantive difference between the two other than on moral issues (abortion, gay rights, etc). Economically and foreign policy wise Obama is just doing more of what W did, in terms of printing/borrowing money instead of raising taxes and spending prodigous amounts of money.

[9] Posted by Capn Jack Sparrow on 11-02-2009 at 10:03 PM • top

I think if these bills are not passed before the American people have a chance to review them, they will never get away with passing them. As far as human caused global warming, the Roman warm period and Medieval Warm period are being completely ignored. Historical accounts of viticulture in England, agriculture in Greenland, reduction of glaciers in the Alps during the Medieval Warm Period indicate that period was quite a bit warmer than the current warm period was predicted to be, and that life was very good during it. The real danger to human life is global cooling, which is perhaps more likely to be in our future. I recommend following the web site wattsupwiththat run by Anthony Watts. Scientists from all over the world contribute, and very few agree with man-caused GW.

[10] Posted by ann r on 11-03-2009 at 01:05 AM • top

The answer to the question of “haste” is painfully easy to comprehend: power. Today’s politicians, on both sides, are not concerned about what is good for this country and its people, but only about the accumulation and consolidation of POWER. Controling every aspect of our lives is the ultimate goal. George Orwell had it right…he just had the wrong year. As soon as technology catches up to the idea…

...and the people around the world will be (are already) sleeping at the wheel…

Live free or die…

[11] Posted by Amazed&Graced; on 11-03-2009 at 06:34 AM • top

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