Forty-Seven Years Ago Today (Repost)

Little did he know that seconds later he would be entering eternity.

Forty-seven years ago today, JFK was assassinated in Dallas by a lone gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald.   Sorry, I don't buy the conspiracy theory nonsense (Click here: Riddleblog - The Latest Post - Oswald Did It, Acting Alone . ..).

I'll never forget it. This was one of the most formative events of my childhood. I was at school (it was a Friday morning) and our principal rushed into the classroom, whispered something to the teacher, who then visibly gasped while fighting back tears. That's something an elementary-age school kid never forgets.

Once the clunky old TV monitor was set-up in front of the classroom, we watched the "live" news on NBC.  In those days, "live news" amounted to all the network anchors chain-smoking on camera while they "reported" the latest news coming in by telephone from reporters in the field.  There were no satellite hook-ups, and no real "live" news coverage except that reported via telephone.  News stories, like this one, were shot on film, taken to the nearest TV station and then broadcast.  When it became clear that this was a national tragedy, and there were fears that this may have been some sort of first strike by the USSR (or even Cuba), we were all sent home.

My family were conservative, Orange County republicans, and staunch evangelical Protestants. My dad (who had been an FBI agent during WWII) disliked JFK immensely. JFK was a papist, his father (Joe Kennedy) "was a crook," and JFK was getting us into a war (the first American "advisers" were on their way to Vietnam--including one of my dad's best friends who had been in the OSS and was in this new organization called the CIA). 

But that Friday evening, November 22, 1963, my dad was grief stricken. "JFK was our president," he said.  "This was an attack upon America."  I'll never forget it.

In a great irony, JFK, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley, all died the same day--Friday, November 22, 1963.

"You Play Ball Like a Girl" Revisited

I love it when politicians get their self-inflicted come-uppins . . .

Yet Another Reason to Hate Flying

According to a recent news story, budget airlines are experimenting with so-called "saddle seating" so they can pack more people into an airplane (Click Here).

You sit at an angle, you support yourself with your legs, and you get a whopping 23 inches of leg room--down from the "roomy" 30 inches of most coach seating.

I'm sure hoping this doesn't catch on!

I'm not afraid of flying, but I hate it.  It is a giant hassle (getting in and out of the airport, all the security issues, etc.), and now it often takes me a couple of days to recover.

I knew I hit middle-age when the airline seat, the softness or hardness of the hotel bed, along with the pillow I slept on, had as much to do with the success of the trip as anything else.  It is hard to speak or do business when your neck is out of whack or your back hurts.

I hate being packed into a small and uncomfortable seat.  I hate being told that you can't get up and move around the plane like the good old days.  I remember dressing up to fly, eating real food on plates with silverware.  Everybody watched the movie. 

Remember the lounge upstairs in the second level of the 747?  You could hang out there, chat and even play pong.  Now that was the way to fly!

No wonder TV evangelists, celebrities, politicians and athletes buy their own jets.  Sure beats saddle seating!

You Gotta Love the Bureaucrats

Here's part of the flow chart for our new ObamaCare.

I can just see it now. 

• Bureaucrat A tries to figure out from Bureaucrat B if I am eligible for care.
• Bureaucrat B contacts Bureaucrat C for approval. 
• Bureaucrat C must check with Bureaucrats D-F, but Bureaucrat E is on vacation.
• Bureaucrat B contacts the supervisor (Bureaucrat G) and asks what to do. 
• Bureaucrat G tells Bureaucrat C to wait for E to return.
• Meanwhile, I contact A, to learn the outcome. 
• A directs me to customer service Bureaucrat H.
• H tells me to contact appeals Bureaucrat I to expedite the matter. 
• Bureaucrat I tells me to go back to B.
• B tries again to contact C, but now C is out on pet bereavement leave. 
• Meanwhile E has returned and contacts C, who has lost the paperwork.
• C contacts B (but B is now on vacation)
• Upon return, B contacts A.
• A calls me to inform me that I must contact appeals panel (bureaucrats J-M)
• C finds the paperwork, but sees the appeal is underway and files it away . . . somewhere.

I could go on and on.  You get the point. 

I guess my baldness treatments will have to wait.

I'm Flattered That My Vote Matters So Much

I feel special.  In the last few days, I've gotten "personal" calls from . . .

Mitt Romney

Newt Gingrich

Dick Cheney

Former California governor Pete Wilson

Meg Witman from Ebay (running for governor)

Congressman Tom McClintock

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayer's association

Three former state assemblymen

Two local mayors

Three former police chiefs

As well as some "concerned" woman's group

I am so very flattered that these important people would take time out of their busy schedules to call me because they care about me so much and want me to know that my vote counts. 

If they saw my completed ballot and realized that any political candidate who interrupts my day with a robo-call is far less likely to get my vote, I wonder if they'd call back during the next election cycle . . .

Update on Friday, June 4, 2010 at 11:18AM by Kim Riddlebarger

Former governor Wilson felt so bad that he missed me, he called back.  How nice of him.

The National Debt -- A Staggering Figure

As of today (April 8), this is the national debt.  I can't even fathom the number.  It amounts to $41,524.26 per person.  The latter number (41K) I can fathom.  This is your share and mine . . . as of today.   Remember, the meter is still running.  The politicians are still spending.

As a sobering news article points out, the share of the debt per household amounts to $72,000 this year, and will rise to $170,000 per household by 2020 (Click here).

Most Christians agree that any federal mandate requiring tax-payer funding for abortion is a moral outrage.  It is pretty clear to me that making someone who is opposed to the procedure as a matter of conscience, provide insurance for someone else to have the procedure, is flat-out immoral.

But the national debt is a moral issue as well.  We are spending money we don't have, which means we'll have to either print it, or borrow it, or raises taxes to unsustainable levels, because we refuse to live within our national means.  This debt will dramatically impact the lives of our children and our children's children.

When I read through Revelation 17-18, I am reminded how similar modern  America is to ancient Rome.  Rome, if you recall, was too big to fail.  I guess Alaric didn't think that was true.  We too had better not believe that nonsense. 

We keep spending like this, it is only a matter of time.

"You Play Ball Like . . . a Girl!!!"

My Take on Congress' Performance During the Health Care Debate?

Several readers of this blog have asked me about my take on the on-going debate over health care.  My take on Congress' performance is very simple.  Where are the Martians when you need them?

Regardless of the despicable methods being used to secure passage of this monstrosity, and even on conservative CBO estimates, the bottom line is that this federal takeover of health care amounts to the creation of a new federal entitlement program which adds at least one trillion dollars to the already hemorrhaging federal deficit.  That means we are running at least a 10-12 trillion dollar deficit over the next ten years.

How long could you pay your monthly expenses with new credit cards--because all your current credit cards are maxed out and you can't even make the minimum payments?  Not long. Yet, this is what our Congress is doing on a grand scale.  We either borrow the money from countries like China or Japan, or print it and begin the inflationary cycle--the cruelest tax of all.  Add to this the fact that 40 states are running deficits and states like California are close to bankruptcy.

But then what would you expect from a generation like mine which once sang "Hope I Die Before I Get Old," and which now demands cradle to grave government services, and is all too willing to let future generations pay the tab and suffer the consequences.

Some Reflections on the Old and New Year

Well, we've come to the end of yet another year. Time to take a moment and reflect on this past year (and the next).

This has been an interesting year for me and my family. 

My oldest son graduated from college.  He's headed to the job market and grad school.  I'm very proud of him.  Lord willing, my youngest son will end the year as a junior in college.  Proud of him too.  It all makes me very thankful, but feeling much, much older.  My wife (on the other hand) must have found the fountain of youth.  When we see old friends, they tell her "you haven't changed a bit."  When they see me, they say, "you look distinguished with that bald head and grey mustache."

My niece (who tragically lost her husband a couple of years ago to sudden illness) married a Reformed Christian in a Reformed Church.  It is always wonderful to watch the mysterious providence of God in action.

I taught a course at Westminster Seminary California, and then was privileged to deliver the commencement address.  Wow.  Who'd have thunk . . .

The Yankees and the Lakers (my two favorite sports teams) both won it all in the same year.  How cool is that? 

We've endured a remarkable year of congressional tyranny and malfeasance--never seen anything like it.   Hopefully, many in the Beltway crowd will get their comeuppance this November and join the ranks of the unemployed.

Horton's systematic theology will be out next year, along with VanDrunen's book on natural law and the two kingdoms.  Much good fruit coming from that "Escondido hermeneutic" (whatever the heck that is????)

The Riddleblog continues to roll along with about the same number of hits this year as last.  But I refuse to "tweet" or establish a Facebook presence.  A blog is plenty.

We've had an up and down year at Christ Reformed.  The economy has hit some folk quite hard, and our associate pastor has left.  Then, there are always people whom you love who are dealing with grief and loss, while others deal with the consequences of sin.  But our last new members class was full, we've got four young men attending Westminster, and as God graciously enables me, the word is preached and the sacraments are administered.

Didn't get as far with my writing projects as I hoped, but Lord willing, next year I'll make some better progress.

All in all, its been an OK year as years go . . .

So, all that is left is to wish you and yours God's blessings for 2010!  May God grant you good health, and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Frame's Negative Review of Horton's Christless Christianity

John Frame--who was Michael Horton's professor (and mine) during his time at Westminster--has published a decidedly negative (and to my mind, mean-spirited and completely wide of the mark) review of Michael Horton's book Christless Christianity.

Frame's review can be found here:  http://www.frame-poythress.org/frame_articles/2009Horton.htm

Here's a reply posted today on the White Horse Inn blog:  http://www.whitehorseinn.org/archives/166.html

Michael is perfectly capable of defending himself.  He'll do that when and how he sees fit. 

But given Frame's lament about "Machen's Warrior Children," his open disdain for the law-gospel distinction, his long-standing support and defense of Norman Shepherd, his rosy assessment of contemporary American Evangelicalism, and his history of muddying Reformed theological distinctions (perspectivalism, anyone?) sadly, Frame's negative review comes as no surprise.

Update on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 01:25PM by Kim Riddlebarger

As is so often the case, Darryl Hart says it better than I ever could:   Hart's Review of "Frame's Review"

Update on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 07:06PM by Kim Riddlebarger

Scott Clark gives some historical (institutional) background to Frame's "hit piece" as Scott correctly calls it, as well setting forth a compelling case as to why John Frame is much more of an Evangelical latitudinarian, than a confessional Reformed theologian.  This is must reading.  Scott Clark on Frame