Do Small Things

"There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things." ~ Mother Teresa

How Much Are We Spending?

The government is pushing behemoth programs: trillions for socialized healthcare, trillions for cap and trade, trillions in energy taxes, and the list goes on.

Most people have no concept of how much a million, a billion, or a trillion is. If you had started spending a million dollars a day when Jesus was born, you still wouldn't have spent a trillion dollars. A trillion seconds ago was 31,688 years ago--I don't know what the world was like then. A stack of a trillion bills would reach 68,000 miles into space--one third of the way to the moon.

See a visual representation of what $1 trillion looks like, or read fun facts, or see a video about these large numbers.

The U.S. Treasury spends a million dollars every 5 seconds. A billion dollars ago was late yesterday afternoon at the Treasury. We spent another $700 billion in the bank rescue and another $800 billion in the stimulus bill. The national debt is at $10 trillion. (Look again at the visual representation I mentioned above of what $1 trillion looks like--now think of 10 times that!)

Will We Kill the Recovery?

Obama says there are signs of recovery in the economy. If that's true, then the economy is recovering independent of the enormous stimulus bills, because as of May 8, less than 8% of the spending scheduled for fiscal years 2009-10 had yet taken place.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the true cost of the stimulus bill will reach $3.27 trillion. Not only has this plunged the country deeper into bankruptcy, but if we continue to borrow and print money to spend the other 92%, it will reverse the economic recovery and put the country into hyperinflation.

Remember when the administration said we had to pass the stimulus bills immediately (without delaying even a few days for congress to read or discuss the bills) or there would be dire consequences? Hum... Contrived crises are convenient ways for politicians to get funding for their pet projects.

Mormon Channel Widget

Many listeners of the new Church radio station, the Mormon Channel, have asked about a widget that can be shared on their Facebook page or other social networking site. It is now available at radio.lds.org.

An application to listen to the channel on an iPhone has also been developed and is making its way through the Apple approval process. It should be available shortly.

Taxation and Prosperity

"I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. --George Bernard Shaw

"A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy

"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." -- James Bovard

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan

Pick your steps

Two Cows and the "-isms"

Traditional Capitalism
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell the herd and retire on the income.

Socialism
You have two cows. You give one to your neighbor.

Communism
You have two cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

Fascism
You have two cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

Nazism
You have two cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

Bureaucratism
You have two cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away.

Surrealism
You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

An American corporation
You have two cows. You sell one and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

AIG Venture Capitalism
You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder. He sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option for one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. Then the public buys your bull.

A French corporation
You have two cows. You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A Japanese corporation
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called "Cowkimon" and market it worldwide.

A German corporation
You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

An Italian corporation
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch.

A Swiss corporation
You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storage.

A Chinese corporation
You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

An Indian corporation
You have two cows. You worship them.

A British corporation
You have two cows. Both are mad.

An Iraqi corporation
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them you have none. No one believes you so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows but now you are part of Democracy.

An Australian corporation
You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few [root] beers to celebrate.

"Freedom Tower" Name Changed to Appease China

Although it's been called the "Freedom Tower" since it's early planning, the new building at Ground Zero has been renamed "One World Trade Center."

Although more than $3 billion of public money is invested in that building, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced the name change the day they announced signing a large commercial lease in the building to a Chinese company. Apparently, the Chinese are uncomfortable occupying a building named "freedom."

The building was named the Freedom Tower in the first "ground zero" master plan. Officials said at the time that the tallest, most symbolic of five planned towers at the site would demonstrate the country's triumph over terrorism. But, apparently, we're more interested in making the Chinese comfortable than we are in standing for freedom.

The building is expected to be completed in late 2013. See http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/27/no.freedom.tower/index.html

Mister Lady Knows Fashion!

New LDS Church Radio Station

The Mormon Channel, a new audio service from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, launched this morning. The Mormon Channel, found at radio.lds.org, broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week from Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

The channel features content from the vast Church archives, including classic talks and other programming. Additionally, it will have a lot of new programs and series created specifically for this new service. Many Church partner organizations, including Bonneville Communications, Deseret Book, Deseret News, and the campuses of Brigham Young University have contributed content to the new station.

Among the new programs available on Mormon Channel is Conversations, an interview program featuring leaders of the LDS Church, as well as members of the Church with intriguing stories to share. Sheri Dew and Ruth Todd will host this new series.

Additional programming for Mormon Channel includes news of the Church, interactive programming for youth, dramatic radio productions, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, interviews with Church members around the globe, stories from Church and family history, and general conference addresses.

HOW CAN I LISTEN TO THE STATION?

You can listen to the Mormon Channel live online anytime at radio.lds.org. There are also downloads and podcasts of content available at the same address. There is also an application for the iPhone, with new players for other mobile phones in development.

The station is also being rolled out as an HDRadio channel in all Bonneville radio markets, including Salt Lake City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. For more information on getting a compatible HDRadio, see hdradio.com. Additional distribution outlets, such as satellite radio, WiFi radio, and digital shortwave are also being explored.

Visit radio.lds.org and LDSMediaTalk for more information.

Enemies

The best way to get rid of an enemy is to make him your friend.

How to Use an Exercise Ball Correctly

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Out of Order?

Socialism Analogy

A SIMPLE ANALOGY from a Texas Tech University professor:

An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away; no one will try or want to succeed.

It could NOT be any simpler than that...

"Happy Mother’s Day, Mom" Video

To celebrate Mother’s Day this Sunday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has created a special video, “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! ”

We invite you to watch it, rate it, and leave comments. We also invite you to share it with your friends, family, and those of other faiths by e-mailing them the following link: www.youtube.com/mormonmessages

You might also consider posting the video to your Facebook profile or placing it on your blog.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Possible Gods and Goddesses

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

"All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities… that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Cinco de Mayo

Welcome to the Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "Fifth of May") holiday!

Many Americans think this is the Mexican Independence Day. It's not. It's not even a national holiday in Mexico. It's celebrated in the U.S. more than in Mexico. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, September 15, 1810. (And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.)

May 5th is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico. The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

While Cinco de Mayo has limited or no significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

Water and Electricity Don't Mix

I'm so glad the federal government is now running car companies. They tend to really have a knack at managing business well.

Let's see. They gave Chrysler $4 billion and fired the CEO. Then they declared bankruptcy, forgiving the $4 billion debt to the US and giving creditors 29 cents on the dollar. Now it looks like they'll give it another $8 billion, then "sell" (give) the company to the Italian firm Fiat.

I wish the government would take over more businesses.

Public Health Announcement

The Centers for Disease Control have confirmed that you cannot get swine flu from contact with pigs. So I guess this is ok.