300,000 Pounds and Ducks

I sometimes listen to Radio 2 Morning on CBC in the morning commute.  It’s the most entertaining radio show I have ever heard, both musically and in prose.  The songs are pure, simple, subtle, and sincere, both musically and lyrically, not overly sugary, forced, or over-the-top as I find some American music to be.

Prose is frequently entertaining.  Yesterday, radio host Tom Allen told about a scientific study, conducted by English scientists from the prestigious University of Oxford, which cost British taxpayers 300,000 pounds.  The study aimed to ascertain whether ducks preferred water in troughs, ponds, or rain.  The study pointed out that ducks preferred rain.

Many farmers in England, as you might imagine, have a difficult time with so much British taxpayer money being appropriated for such a silly purpose.  English farmers have known, colloquially, that ducks love the rain, for hundreds of years.  They did not need 300,000 pounds to tell them this.  They are understandably frustrated.

This is a silly story which brings up some important questions which are never discussed, but which should be:

Is it just to appropriate taxpayer money for scientific research?  Where in the U.S. Constitution is such explicity justified?  Did our Founding Fathers support such spending?  Why do taxpayers not have a say in where their money goes and how it gets spent?

Steps Forward and Back

I served a mission in south Asia among Chinese people, and so I am interested in the spread of the Gospel to mainland China.

Regarding Mormonism, two recent developments are interesting.

Firstly, from this article, I see that Taiwan is down-sizing from three to two missions.  It is noteworthy that a similar event occurred roughly thirty years ago, when the Kaohsiung mission (which was actually the second created in Taiwan to my knowledge) was down-sized after the creation of the Taichung mission (the third created in Taiwan).

Secondly, there is the well-known story of Utah Governor John Huntsman being enlisted to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to China.  Huntsman, an active Mormon to my knowledge, would certainly be a friend to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should they be interested in some sort of assistance from Uncle Sam in facilitating ecclesiastical or humanitarian efforts.

Movie Review: Last Chance Harvey

I enjoyed “Last Chance Harvey.”  It’s a lightweight romantic film with some comedic elements.

The relationship is pretty virtuous: no sex and no super passionate kisses. No ridiculous compression of a healthy romantic relationship from months/years to hours.  Profanity is limited.  It’s a very lightweight PG-13 film.

It’s more of a drama about the power of human relationships than it is about romance.  Roughly thirty minutes into the film, the two main characters feel at rock bottom.  Both are incredibly lonely.  One tries to find solace in hard alcoholic beverages.  The other, in novels.  Neither of these routes result in fulfillment.  However, despite their disparate and isolated circumstances, these two forge a personal connection which results in a simple yet profound fulfillment, not crude and crass, nor transient and lustful.

In short, the film is a statement about the power of human relationships to heal, to change, to reconcile, and to bless.  At least that is how I see it through my own paleoconservative eyes.

Others may view it differently.

Movie Review: Awakenings

I recently watched a film called “Awakenings.”  I enjoyed it.

As a film, it is quite clean.  There are perhaps a half-dozen profanities and some very mild violence (milder than, say, Wall-E or Toy Story).  There is no sexual innuendo I was aware of.

The film is about a doctor who is working to rehabilitate catatonic (nearly comatose) patients who became catatonic as a result of a brain disease called encephalitis.  He tries an experimental drug which works fabulously well, for a time, and then begins to manifest unpleasant side effects.

He finds during these experiences that in addition to drugs, there are other things that can rehabilitate patients, such as music and physical human contact.  One of the main ideas of the film is that there are some things that are most important from a universal human perspective: work, play, friends, and family.  There was a wonderful emphasis on living a simple life.

I found the message uplifting and optimistic, and the film wonderfully done.

Responsibility Problems

We have a responsibility problem in this country.  It is everywhere, from the voters that voted for President Obama because he would pay their mortgage and utility bills for them (I do not recall him refuting this oft-repeated argument, by the way) to the auto bailouts to local and state governments clamoring for federal stimulus money.

I recently read this interesting and insightful statement in an article regarding record deficits and federal borrowing: “The deficits … are driven in large part by the economic crisis inherited by this administration,” budget director Peter Orszag wrote in a blog entry on Monday.

This follows the pattern: no responsibility.  The deficits are driven by government spending, pure and simple.  It may be true that such spending was seen as necessary by some.  However, to blame the economic crisis for irresponsible and reckless government spending is at least irresponsible and sounds nearly reckless.

Yesterday on the radio, I heard a story about how the Postal Service was needing to increase stamp rates (probably annually) to make up for lost revenue (over $1 billion this quarter alone).  At the end of the story, the reporter mentioned how that people who use email and make purchases online are largely to blame for this rate increase, but that such individuals will likely persist in their behavior.  Again, this sounds completely irresponsible.  Blame is shifted from who is truly responsible (the U.S. Postal Service for not providing a service whose costs are covered by individuals who will voluntarily pay) to those who are not (individuals acting freely, economizing to save money in hard times, or increase convenience in good times).

Lest you be concerned that I am pounding on democrats alone, I find that the GOP blame games which we have seen repeatedly over the years show a similar trend: the mainstream associated with both major parties shows major irresponsibility.

Contrast this with us, with you and I.  In a time of frozen credit and economic hardship, none of us can afford to make reckless personal economic decisions.  We can blame whoever we choose, but ultimately, it is our own individual responsibility to make sure that we are economically healthy.  None of us have the political clout and lobbying power to bend Washington to our will, nor should we.  Instead, we are to rely on tried and true principles of budgeting, economizing, and hopefully saving, consistent with provident living.