'Mmm that you only meant well?' - Why My Good Intentions Aren't Good Enough

Jason Derulo's new song "Whatcha Say" is catchy and clearly illustrates how our good intentions don't trump reality, especially in the long run.

Often times, it's not that we can't make rational decisions; it's that we often don't have all the facts or don't want to take into account all the facts, especially the long term ramifications.

We're shortsighted.

We have a self-focused, limited vision that hinders our rational abilities above and beyond the limits on our access to information. We act for ourselves first without clearly considering how it affects God or others. And of course, this is not our intention.

Jason Derulo cheats on his girlfriend, and of course his intentions were not to hurt to his girlfriend:

I was so wrong for so long
Only tryin' to please myself (myself)
Girl, I was caught up in her lust
When I don't really want no one else

In the moment, he did not fully consider that he didn't want the long-term affects of choosing the fleeting pleasures of sin.

The chorus brings reality to the forefront: it's not enough to say that "you only meant well" because that doesn't make cheating okay.

Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmm that you only meant well?
Well of course you did
Mmmm whatcha say,
Mmmm that it's all for the best?
Of course it is

This theme reminds me of Madonna's song "4 Minutes to Save the World" with the line:

The road to hell
Is paved with good intentions

Of course, we mean well.

If you feel it
It must be real

Right?

There many reasons why "good intentions" are not good enough to maintain our relationships with God or with one another. Henry Hatlitz's One Lesson in Economics applies here, as we must learn not to look at reality as we want it to be, but how it is, which includes how the consequences of our actions affect not only on ourselves, but others. Good intentions do not change outcomes.

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups. (One Lesson in Economics)

One a larger scale, intellectual honest requires following our chosen belief system--what guides our decisions--to its logical conclusions and avoid limiting our perspective to our good intentions for desired outcomes. Bojidar Marinov from American Vision wrote an article titled "But that Doesn't Mean What It Means" with the same theme:

To say it simply, if the thing looks, swims, waddles, quacks like a duck, the disclaimer “but it doesn’t mean” doesn’t make it a hawk. It only reveals the unwillingness of those who use it to face reality and become intellectually consistent with their own beliefs.

It doesn't matter if you want ducks to be hawks.

"Mmm that you only meant well?"

It doesn't matter what your intention is. "Direction, not Intention, determines your destination," counsels Andy Stanley.

"We can't travel North towards Canada and arrive in Mexico."

That's not the reality we live in.

My first iPhone Video

Ok, so I shot this two times, and then just decided, "hey, the point isn't perfection, but learning how to get information out."

I plan to take my iPhone with me to the TEA Party on Saturday at Kiener Plaza at Noon and 3:00 p.m.

It takes a little time for YouTube to post the video after I upolad it, and I haven't quite figured out how to get the link from YouTube and then post using only my iPhone. But I'm sure I'll figure out an easy way soon. (Suggestions welcome!)

I also plan to check out video sites that might let me upload feed directly, and only have about 5 second delay, instead of 5 hour delay. But it all depends on the purpose of shooting the video, and how important it is post right away verse posting to inform the public.

NY-23 race not over; inspectors found a problem in four districts

From my inbox:

Dear Fellow Conservative,

As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway the results to Obamacare supporter Bill Owens.

I was forced to concede after receiving two pieces of grim news - - down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night - and barely won my stronghold in Oswego County.

Get every vote counted in NY-23 Election Night, the information we received was far different from what we received this week!

Rest assured, they will not succeed, and I am therefore revoking my statement of concession.

That is why I am writing you today. Recent developments leave me to wonder who is scheming behind closed doors, twisting arms and stealing elections from the voters of NY-23.

I'm sure you are as dismayed as I am to learn of the mischief that took place in Oswego and neighboring counties. We know this would not be the first time for the ACORN faithful to tamper with democracy.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

A recanvassing in the 11-county district shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026. In Oswego County, I was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, but inspectors found I actually won by 1,748 votes

Let’s force them keep this recanvassing active! Let’s give this election a chance to end differently!

Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on "chaos" in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up, and on inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. This sounds like a tactic right from the ACORN playbook.

The district's second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where I had also benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining another 700 votes. Owens led by 300 votes on the final election night tally, but after recanvassing, I'm now leading by 424 votes.

Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where my vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which the state Board of Elections distributed about 10,200.

The people of NY-23 deserve to have their ballots counted properly, but we can't let ACORN or the unions keep that from happening. They have more lawyers and more experience tampering with democracy.

State Board of Elections Communications Director John Conklin said the state sent a letter to the House Clerk last week explaining that no winner had been determined in the 23rd District.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

We need to make sure that fair elections are a reality in NY-23, just like our Founding Fathers envisioned. So long as we remain the "land of the free," we MUST ensure every vote is counted.

Help us today so we may be the first of many conservative victories during the Obama Regime.

Yours in Freedom,

Doug Hoffman


P.S. I ran a different kind of campaign, one where Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea Party and 9/12 activists rallied around. ACORN, the unions and the Democratic Party were scared, and that's why they tampered with the ballots of voters in NY-23. Will you please contribute today so we can show them that fair elections are the Will of the People? Thank you.

Comments on the Stupak Amendment

So, what's all the chatter in the "pro-life" arena about the Stupak amendment to Obama's health care transformation plan?

Basically, the Stupak amendment means that taxpayer money can't be used to pay for abortions for women who are insured through the health insurance "exchange." So, what's the problem? (besides the obvious conflict in moral values between various groups...)

Some say that the Stupak amendment gave cover to the pro-life Dems to vote for nationalized health care since the amendment made it "pro-life."

But, as a friend of mine said, the "Stupak Amendment didn’t go far enough," as it didn’t address end-of-life issues, rationing, protection of conscience and all the other life-aspects involved in the long 2,000 page transformation.

Moreover, some argue, why try to improve a bad bill? Why not just let it die?

So, I suppose the question is why was the amendment offered? Maybe in reaction to the fake "pro-life" amendment offered previously. If that amendment had passed, it probably would have given same glitzy appearance virtue of the Stupak amendment, but not as good.

As it stands, it's a question of whether pro-choice Dems will be able to strip the Stupak amendment, or vote for the health care transformation despite the amendment. Sen. Claire McCaskill doesn't seem to think the amendment is a deal breaker...or maybe she does.

As Phyllis Schlafly wrote in 1964: "The strategy of politics, like an iceberg, is eight-ninths under the surface."

And she wasn't saying how it should be...but merely how it is.

How to Contact Sen. Claire McCaskill

Missouri Office Locations

Cape Girardeau
555 Independence Room 1600
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63703
Phone 573-651-0964
Fax 573-334-4278

Columbia
915 E. Ash St
Columbia, Mo 65201
Phone:573-442-7130
Fax:573-442-7140

Kansas City
4141 Pennsylvania, Ste. 101
Kansas City, MO 64111
Phone 816-421-1639
Fax 816-421-2562

Springfield
324 Park Central West
Suite 101
Springfield, MO 65806
Phone 417-868-8745
Fax 417-831-1349

St. Louis
5850 A Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63112
Phone:314-367-1364
Fax: 314-361-8649

Washington D.C.

For those visiting D.C., please stop by our office at:

Office of Senator Claire McCaskill
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building, SH-717
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-6154
FAX (202) 228-6326

Stupak-Pitts Amendment Seems to be a good thing.

There is a little bit of debate as to whether the Stupak-Pitts Amendment will be strong enough to prevent the government from forcing taxpayers to pay for ending human lives.

Here's is a opinion piece by a feminist who wants taxpayers to pay for abortion. She writes about how the Stupak-Pitts amendment will ban "abortion coverage across the entire exchange, for women with both subsidized and unsubsidized coverage."

I couldn't help but click on some of the other links on the "reality check" site.

Wow.

Apparently, being a champion for life means that one is taking part in a "molester-enabling, coathanger-selling, health-shattering, woman-hating, forced-pregnancy campaign."

Wow.

The good news is that when activists who don't support human rights for pre-born believe legislation is bad, that's a good thing!

Moreover, it seems that prohibiting Obama's health care plan from covering abortions helped it pass in the House, and might keep it from passing in the Senate.

How ironic.

Preparation Is Key

From A.W. Tozer's Daily Devotional For Today:

To be entirely safe from the devil's snares the man of God must be
completely obedient to the Word of the Lord. The driver on the
highway is safe, not when he reads the signs but when he obeys them.

That Incredible Christian, 51.

November 10

Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Preparation Is Vital

Moreover David said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the
lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand
of this Philistine."
--1 Samuel 17:37

The whole Bible and all past history unite to teach that battles are
always won before the armies take the field. The critical moment for
any army is not the day it engages the foe in actual combat; it is
the day before or the month before or the year before....

Preparation is vital. The rule is, prepare or fail. Luck and bluster
will do for a while, but the law will catch up with us sooner or
later, usually sooner....

It did not take Moses long to lead the children of Israel out
through the Red Sea to deliverance and freedom; but his fittedness
to lead them out was the result of years of hard discipline. It
took David only a few minutes to dispose of Goliath; but he had
beaten the giant long before in the person of the lion and the
bear....

Preparation is vital. Let this be noted by everyone. We can seek
God today and get prepared to meet temptation tomorrow; but if we
meet the enemy without first having met God, the outcome is not
conjectural; the issue is already decided. We can only lose. The
Next Chapter After the Last, 77-79.

"Lord, quiet my heart this morning and feed me from Your Word. I
can't enter the battle of today without this vital preparation.
Help me even in the busiest of days to maintain this discipline of
preparation. Amen."

Playground or Battlefield?

A.W. Tozer:

Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Irreconcilable Hostility

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places.
--Ephesians 6:12

In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant
influence over American thinking, men and women conceived the
world to be a battleground. Our fathers believed in sin and the
devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in
God and righteousness and heaven as the other. By their very
nature, these forces were opposed to each other forever in deep,
grave, irreconcilable hostility. Humans, our fathers held, had to
choose sides-they could not be neutral. For them it must be life
or death, heaven or hell, and if they chose to come out on God's
side they could expect open war with God's enemies. The fight
would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued
here below. People looked forward to heaven as a return from the
wars, a laying down of the sword to enjoy in peace the home
prepared for them....

How different today. The fact remains the same, but the
interpretation has changed completely. People think of the world,
not as a battleground, but as a playground. We are not here to
fight; we are here to frolic. We are not in a foreign land; we
are at home. We are not getting ready to live, but we are already
living, and the best we can do is rid ourselves of our
inhibitions and our frustrations and live this life to the full.
This World: Playground or Battleground?, 4-5.

"Lord, we've lost too much by becoming friendly with the enemy.
Help me to be willing to take a stand for righteousness, to
choose clearly to be on Your side against the enemy, to pay any
price--and then to look forward to laying down my sword later in
heaven. Amen."