We watched to Republican convention and are watching the Democratic convention on CSpan. It was interesting how the Republicans invoked God as being in charge of our nation and that our nation was founded on that precept. Almost every speaker affirmed that belief. Today I watched the opening of the Democratic convention after commentators had observed that the Democrats had left God out of their platform for the first time in history. As they started today's program a Methodist minister offered two amendments to the platform. One accepted God and the other accepted Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. To be accepted for vote required a 2/3 majority. They got that. Then when they voted the chair asked for the vote at least three times and in my opinion half voted No but he gaveled the vote as Yeah. I was surprised that so many of the delegates objected to God in their platform.
It is interesting that the Democrats focus only on government programs as the answer to our problems. They don't mention how they will reduce the deficit or spending. They want to continue all spending and want to pay for it with tax increases. Taxes are paid by those who make a profit and we need more profit in our economy.
They are discussing the energy policies and point how how wind energy has generated 75,000 jobs. Of course the oil companies employ millions of people and are expanding where the goverment will let them drill. One speaker said Obama would support all forms of energy but failed to mention coal. We have enough coal for 200 years of electrical production but due to our fear of carbon dioxide, that provides food for plants, would cause global warming we are shutting coal use. Fortunately gas is now abundant and will provide electricity with less CO2.
Of course nuclear power generates no CO2 but the fear of radiation from a nuclear power plant drives the price way up even though we walk outside in the Sun that is a nuclear power plant and radiates the earth continually. My skin doctor insists I wear a hat outside.
Wired magazine had a great article about Amageddon scenarios that we have had since the DDT scare and how none of the warnings of starvation, cooling or heating of the planet, global warning or viral infections have come true. In every case our invention capabilities and new technologies have always saved us from the catastrophic predictions. I have always argued that we cannot predict technological innovations. But there is always someone who is predicting the end of the world including me. But I know that we will not know the day and it will be a day we least expect when Christ returns for a new earth and new life.
I am reading DECISION POINTS by George W. Bush. It is interesting to read all of the tough decisions he had to make and how he relied on his study of the Bible and advice from preachers as he made his decisions. I am up to the really hard decisions he made about sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. He suffered when any person was killed in war and wrote personal letters to each family during his time in office. President Obama has continued that tradition.
I finished the book SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA that told the story of applying modern technology to recover the gold treasure that was on a ship delivering gold from San Francisco to New York a few years after the gold rush in California. The ship had been on the bottom at 8000 feet depth for 136 years and the wood and metal parts had largely disintegrated but the inventor and engineers developed new and unusual machines that would work at that depth and recover the gold coins, dust and bars. They found that if the coins and bars were free from blemishes they are much more valuable, so they developed a method of pouring plastic on the gold and removing it without any scratches from the recovery tools. They are still carefully recovering from the wreck today. The book is largely about invention and engineering work. I appreciated Carol Walt telling me about the book. I have worked with inventors and related to the problems they had.
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