Long Time

It's been a very long time since my last post, and I understand from a recent Yahoo news article that blogging is plummeting. I guess I suffer from the same disease as other aspirational bloggers, I've got other things to do. That said, I'll keep hacking away. Better to try and do something, rather than give up and do nothing.

One comment on President Bush and his presidency. As a guy who voted for him, twice, and one of the more than 60 million Americans of whom the media asked, "How could so many Americans be so dumb?," I have to say that I am disappointed by how his presidency has turned out. And it wasn't Iraq. I don't think he lied about it. I think he went with the information that he had, like everyone else. It was Katrina. The incompetence around how those people in New Orleans were treated. It was the spending spending spending under his watch. Where was the fiscal responsibility that we expect from a conservative? He delivered two great judges in Alito and Roberts, but it was close. And the issues around Alberto Gonzalez, even though that was more about making sure he was tarnished and could never by nominated as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, were still embarrassing. I still like him personally, and appreciate his direct style. But I'm disappointed that we didn't see compassionate conservatism, partnering with churches, really gain momentum. Or the Republican Party effectively reach out to Hispanic voters in the way it is capable of and should have. History will no doubt have a better view of him than the current popular assessment, because they will see him in the larger context of the war between Islamic fascism and the West, but that assessment is far in the future.

Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility

The Board of Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals recently adopted a document calling for the reengagement of evangelical Christians with public policy matters. The following paragraph is from the Preamble:

Evangelical Christians in America face a historic opportunity. We make up fully one quarter of all voters in the most powerful nation in history. Never before has God given American evangelicals such an awesome opportunity to shape public policy in ways that could contribute to the well-being of the entire world. Disengagement is not an option. We must seek God’s face for biblical faithfulness and abundant wisdom to rise to this unique challenge.

7 Realities from Experiencing God

by Henry Blackaby

1. God is always at work around you.

2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.

3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.

4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways.

5. God's invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.

7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.

Writing, or What's this blog for anyway?

I decided to force myself, despite time limitations and competing priorities, to write. Often. In order to become a better writer. This blog is one way I intend to to do it. It will become immediately clear to the devoted reader that my writing needs work. And lots of it. Why write a blog, instead of a journal? For me they are probably just as confidential. The blog, however, holds the possibility that someone, sometime, just might read it, so I should put some effort into it.

I am passionate about my family, my faith, my country, and it's politics. So I intend to write about those things, because you know, Good Writers Write About What They Are Passionate About. Sometimes those things overlap, and that can be good. Other times, maybe not so good. God, after all, is not a partisan, and as Dad says, "The Republican Party is not a church." Amen to that. I'd be a little uneasy handing my tithe to Brother Delay.

It can be a little tricky to be a conservative Republican who is also a Christian. You possess competing instincts. One minute you are overcome by the potential of America, and optimistic about its people and its future. You shine up your publicity handout of President Reagan and look adoringly into his smiling Grandfather eyes. The next minute your darker angel, Edmund Burke, is whispering "TRADITION" in your ear, and reminding you that all that stands between us and barbarism is the combined good sense of the ages. "Stand Firm. For King and Country." And then of course there is the Biblical truth of original sin to make you feel really grim.

You are proud of your party because of Lincoln, but sometimes embarrassed for it on account of Trent Lott. (How could he think that, let alone say it!?) Tricky because you know that at certain critical junctures the interests of the Republican party, and your duties as a Christian, will diverge, and when that happens, well, you have to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. But I digress.

Another way I intend to practice writing is to write a letter to the editor once a week. The editorial board of the San Jose Mercury News will soon become the beneficiary of my labors. I'm sure they will be excited about that. I will post the letters that I write to them here. Which is probably the only way they will ever see the light of day. I've already posted a couple, and I will continue to do so.

Enough for now.

Letter to the Editor - Stem Cell Research HQ

of the San Jose Mercury News May 8, 2005

Dear Sirs,

I wanted to comment on your exultant front-page article trumpeting the selection of San Francisco as the stem cell research headquarters for California. This will undoubtedly prove to be an economic boon to the Bay Area. At what cost? I think that creating embryos only to kill them and extract stem cells is tantamount to killing babies. We are now in the process of harnessing some of our brightest minds and mountains of cash to an economic engine reminiscent of the antebellum South, a system that flourished on the morally evil foundation of slavery. This is a sad day for the Bay Area, not a triumphant one.

Sincerely,

Letter to the Editor - Social Security Reform

of the San Jose Mercury News May 3, 2005

Dear Sirs,

I am 34 years old, married, with two kids. My wife and I have no illusions about the solvency of Social Security in the future. Along with virtually all of our friends, we expect it to be either bankrupt or so severely under-funded that we will not be able to rely on it for support in any meaningful way. It seems the height of irresponsibility not to address this problem. Why in the world do politicians resist giving younger workers the choice of where to invest a percentage of our retirement money? The most maddening part of the this whole business is that in 30 years these irresponsible politicians will be long gone and my wife and I will still be here holding the bag.

Sincerely,

Good to Great - Jim Collins

Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't

Eleven Good to Great Companies

1. Abbot
2. Fannie Mae
3. Kimberly-Clark
4. Nucor
5. Pitney Bowes
6. Wells Fargo
7. Circuit City
8. Gillette
9. Kroger
10. Philip Morris
11. Walgreens

How Did They Do it?

1. Disciplined People
a) Level 5 Leadership: extreme humility with intense will 1) Set up successors for success 2) Compellingly modest 3) Unwavering resolve
b) First Who...Then What 1) Easier to adapt to changing world with great people 2) No motivation or management problems with great people 3) Wrong people will never create a great company, ever 4) When in doubt, don't hire 5) Act immediately when you need to make a people change 6) Put the best people on the biggest ops, not the biggest problems

2. Disciplined Thoughts
a) Confront the Brutal Facts
b) Let the Truth Be Heard 1) Lead with questions, not answers 2) Engage in dialogue & debate, not coercion 3) Conduct autopsies without blame 4) Build red flag mechanisms that turn info into info that can't be ignored
c) The Hedgehog Concept 1) Foxes see pursue many ends and see the world as complex. Hedgehogs simplify a complex world into single unifying idea that guides everything. Hedgehogs always beat foxes. 2) Three Circles of the Hedgehog Concept i) What can you be best in the world at? ii) What are you deeply passionate about? iii) What drives your economic engine?

3. Disciplined Action
a) A Culture of Discipline. Build a culture full of self-disciplined people who take disciplined action fanatically consistent with the Three Circles of the Hedgehog Concept. Action Steps: 1) Build a culture around the idea of freedom and responsibility, within a framework 2) Fill your culture with self-disciplined people who are willing to go to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities 3) Don't confuse a culture of discipline with a tyrannical disciplinarian 4) Adhere with great consistency to the Hedgehog Concept, exercising an almost religious focus on the intersection of the three circles.
b) Technology Acceleration 1) Find the right technologies 2) Don't overreact to new technology

4. Buildup and Breakthrough
a) The Flywheel and The Doom Loop 1) The Flywheel Effect. Starts slow, then over time momentum builds, and it rotates with increasing ease. Tremendous power exists in the fact of continued improvement and the delivery of results. 2) The Doom Loop. Frequently launching new programs. Then stopping, changing direction, lurching back and forth.

First Things First - Stephen Covey

We all have four basic needs: Live, Love, Learn, and leave a Legacy

We can categorize our daily activities into four different quadrants:

Four Quadrants -
1) Urgent & Important: Crisis, Pressing Problems
2) Not Urgent, but Important: Preparation, Prevention, Planning, Relationship building, Re-creation
3) Urgent, but Unimportant: Interruptions, some calls/mail/meetings
4) Not Urgent & Unimportant: Busywork, Time wasters, "Escape" Activities

How to Stay in Quadrant 2 -
1) Connect with your mission
2) Identify your roles
3) Select your goals by role
What is the most important thing you can do this week to have the greatest constructive impact?
4) Create a weekly framework
5) Exercise integrity in the moment
Preview the day; Prioritize; Distinguish time sensitive activities from others
6) Evaluate
Organize, act, evaluate - repeat

Tolkien Riddle

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel,
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

Sons are a Heritage from the Lord

Proverbs 127:3-5 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Love Never Fails

1 Corinthians 13:4-8(b), 13

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails ... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Shelter of the Most High

Psalm 91:1-2 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Worldview Questions

Four questions for analyzing any worldview:

1) Where do we come from?

2) What's wrong with the world?

3) How do we fix it?

4) Based on our answers to these questions, how should we then live our lives?

The Wisdom of Crowds - by James Surowiecki

Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant.

Key attributes include:

1) Diversity of ideas
2) Independent thought
3) decentralization
4) aggregation of inputs

Examples: Markets, where price is the decision. Democratic elections, where election result is the decision.

Question: How do you determine the value of the outcome of an election?