Person of the Day: Eric Holder

Attorney General Holder limits civil seizure process that splits billions of dollars with local and state police. 

Today we are a better country, a less hypocritical country, a less dangerous country.
Today we reaffirm the foundational American tenet of innocent until proven guilty.

No one can be trusted with unchecked power, the power to coerce, the temptation of easy money. Not me, not you. Without checks, we walk the streets as thugs, using power and fear and the system to dehumanize citizens, to affirm that while all are created equal, not all will be treated as equals.

Today's move reaffirms our corp principles, corrects corrupt practices of the power-state against the individual, and helps ameliorate damaging perceptions (by those individuals against the power-state).

If police departments cannot fulfill their duties without stealing from citizens, then we either need to realign their duties or raise the necessary taxes to support them.

I am sure this will be twisted, will be spun; claiming that we are a weaker and a more dangerous country when police lose the legal right to steal. But protecting citizen rights is a form of courage, not a weakness. Danger is the inherent reality of a people who accept security over freedom, who give up their rights to those paternalistically wishing to keep us from harm. In contrast, we are collectively more secure when we embrace freedom over safety, when we remove the cynicism birthed in unjust search and seizures. We are secure when we no longer provide the motivation of revenge, bitterness, and fear to those who may do us harm. In destroying those our enforcement agencies believe may do us harm, we validate a dozen other's reasons to do so.

For my entire adult life, our governments (federal, state, local) have marched steadfast towards a controlled state, and we have traded perceived security for our personal freedoms. We live in a world our forefathers would barely recognize, not because of the gains of technology or other shiny objects, but by the loss of our personal freedoms and the individual responsibilities born by them.

This small but real step encourages me like very little I've seen in the public sphere of late.

tGbtg

He is, Regardless

At times, life crashes.
               faith crashes.
We go through tough times and rough patches, and crash.

And we respond. Burn through, back out, seek help, go alone.
We experiences times of destruction: internal or external, self-inflicted or happenstance.
And we respond.

Rationally, if God is not in this, not in this world, not in our world, then seek a path through. Seek diligently, desperately. Find a means to get to the other side of the crash, to a point of future peace.

Rationally, if God is in this, in this world, in our world, He, being of a nature above and beyond our own, is in some form of control, a form we don't likely understand. We are to realize, to acknowledge, that we are not in control. And it is rational to embrace (rather than struggle) against this reality.
He is [in control], regardless [of how we act].
He is, regardless. 

Battling against His grain does not bring about our intended outcomes. If God is in it, He will bring:

• the Talent,
• the Brains,
• the Connections to make it happen, whatever it may be. 

The villain of the young professional years is the lack of margin. The go, go, go... 

crashing through life, getting things done.

from Gary Bottoms, Bottoms Group, speaker at Marietta Work Matters

But in these years, older than our youth yet young enough to be molded, we are still developing who we will be in:

• Leadership
• Career
• Family
• Community

Choosing God or not-god effects our reactions to the crashes, our actions in the moments, and in the days, weeks, months that follow.
How we act affects who we are to become. We are to some very real degree the product of our prior experiences and prior actions. We are being molded by our self, whether through our self-driven efforts or through our release to God, trusting in His efforts.

He is, regardless.
And we are not.

Politicize the Truth

I will do my best not to judge here; it is not my intent.

Had I been able to extend this chart from the beginning of Bush's presidency, we would see that US average prices when he began in office was ~$1.65/gallon. Across his 8 years in office it consistently rose until its peak just before the 2008 election to ~$4.10/gallon, when crude oil fell precipitously from $147 to $37/barrel. One might remember this time as the world brinking economic collapse, Detroit at the door of the Fed seeking bailouts, and the oil industry, traded in a speculative market, reacting with a short-term collapse of crude prices.

The world didn't collapse, the 1 billion + cars continue to drive their streets, and prices rebounded. In this election year, this truth and history do not serve the Republican voter (of which I will be one). Rather, we blame the President for the world crude oil market, of which the U.S. accounts for ~22%.

It is rather cute.

President Obama can be blamed for many things (including a now-tested lack of leadership capacity), and he has failed to develop a national energy policy just as his many predecessors did. Each of these justifies his removal from office in a short while. 

However, we would do well to be honest with ourselves and hopeful constituents and acknowledge that crude oil is a profitable industry in locations throughout the world with less regard for environmental conditions than the US Federal government (which is not the same voice as the citizens of said government). Prices have steadily risen across TIME, which happens to include the presidential terms of both Bush and Obama. They will continue to rise (relative to inflation) through our next presidential term, be that Obama or Romney, as the industrial growth rate and increases in worldwide standard of living exceeds the US inflation rate. 

There are national choices that effect this situation (that can be adjudged elsewhere), and it would be a pleasure if some form of leadership took root in Washington. But the days of $1.78/gallon are history, and would only return under dire economic circumstances that would cause more heartache than said gasoline savings would justify. 

My Mentor

After an unreasonable battle with an unreasonable illness, my mentor left this earth a few days past. His mind was willing, body weak. Distinctly successful in the world's eyes, his influence spread throughout our town, this state, and in various corners of the world. 

We each have a number of qualities, talents and strengths afforded us, which with a certain combination of work ethic and favor propel us forward. His was a special mixture, and I am grateful for his influence on me. I do believe he was my favorite leader, one of the very few my independent self purposefully sought to emulate. While I have not worked directly with him for five years, I continue to hear his voice in my mind as I approach my professional life, just as I hear my high school coach push me each time I go for a run. "Work smart not hard", he would say, which of course meant "Work smart, and hard". We aspire to the character and actions of Jesus; but it is helpful to have folks on the ground we can look up to as well.

Faith is tangible here; it was for him, his family in mourning, and for me; he was humble in the midst of life's success, inviting God's activity in his life; this helped prepare him for life's inevitable end. I trust that he has been healed in the presence of God.

I attempt to balance my appreciation and honor of him with the God who molded him, taught, shaped and inspired him. It is appropriate to admire the creation as well as the Creator.

We lost a good man

Johnny Gaskins passed away 3 days ago, the first person in my daily life to have died (all before have been on my life’s periphery).

He was suffering, and is no more. Brenda and the family were suffering, tired; and while they are in a period of distinct mourning, they may soon find God’s peace and rest.

Johnny loved God. I believe God loves him, and has brought about his eternal healing. We mourn the loss of a truly great man whom we loved and admired. We rejoice in his personal deliverance.

I’ve had very few people I have allowed to mentor me. I am so fortunate and grateful of my time with Johnny. I am a better man for his presence in my life, as a man, a believer in Jesus, and engineer, and a business leader.

leadership

It begins with Confidence and a Friendly nature. Add Willingness... and you end up in student government and a team captain. A lot of unpaid time, but rarely stressful. 'Popularity' is a nice by-product.

Then it advances... you are Organized and Committed to seeing things through. You Finish that which is laid before you, which is so uncommon that you end up with a title and more unpaid time.

Eventually you notice people are always waiting on you to make Decisions.

"I don't know any more about this than you"

"I don't know what to do"

But it doesn't matter. They wait on you anyway.

Stress arrives in full-force, and your Level-Head continues, whatever the work is. Everything is expanding, and the challenges faced regard New Territories. Confidence comes forward, and onward we go.

Who knew going into all of this how much you can be stretched? Character becomes a centroid, an exhausting reality. Character is never satisfied with itself.

Enter dark times. Bigger than me. Bigger than anything I can grasp, control, or understand. Leadership at a level previously untested is required.

It begins with a willingness to help

Then a willingness to make decisions

to finish the tasks

to search out answers in a new world

to deal with yourself and your faults

Here I am making decisions that hurt some to protect others.

Heavy

Walking forward without joy

Stretched and thin and frail

Amazed at how life just keeps coming at me..