How many votes are too few to count?

In the last school election only 23 people voted from the Plainfield district.  Based on that number the Chickasaw County Auditor recommended moving to one voting precinct.  That 23 sounds like a small number and standing all by itself it sounds reasonable to justify their decision.  However the total number of people voting was an astronomical 92. Which means that 25% of the vote came from the Plainfield district.  So I guess supplying 25% of voter turnout doesn't qualify you to have a polling place.  Now I will agree that 23 is a dismal number but so is 69 from the other district, so shame on all of us for not voting better.  But it would be helpful if the school did a better job of letting the community know what is going on.  And publishing it on the website or the 700 circulation Nashua Reporter is not doing a good job of informing the community.

If you buy it for a lot of money and sell it for a little money they will come

Haven’t bloged for awhile but just had too blog.  First I stand corrected.  Ms. Franzen was correct the houses were sold at auction.  Well two of them anyway.  Two properties purchased for a grand total of $200,550 by the school district.  Two properties sold for $2750.  Yes that’s right $2750 no typo.  Two houses one bidder receives a $180,000+ tax payer subsidy I hope I get a thank you note at least.  I should be getting a kiss.  Well I guess that’s two houses we don’t have to tear down.  But who will take care of the foundations and the holes?  Should have thrown the third one in for him.

Also for the up coming purpose statement renewal vote we have one polling station at the Welcome center in Nashua Iowa.  I guess this is the process of bringing community together make it difficult for people to get to polling stations.  Maybe they will run a bus for those elderly who have trouble getting around.  Where’s a community organizer when you need one?  Or ACORN?  Is it too expensive to have more then one polling station?  We can come up with 5.5 million dollars to build a MS/Tech/Science Wing and Physical Education/Wellness/Athletic facility but not to have two polling centers?

Just remember that any general bond issue needs a 60% approval.  But they will tell you your taxes won’t increase.  Provided that the revenue doesn’t go down.  And gas doesn’t go up.  And food doesn’t go up and utilities don’t go up.  And pennies start falling from heaven.  In fact the school can afford this provided nothing changes, no cuts in funding from state. No sudden decrease in property values, (Like that could happen.  Oh wait didn’t that happen and is continuing to happen?)

Of course next on the agenda is to buy all the students iPad2’s shortly before the iPad3’s come out.

Just in case you couldn’t tell yes it is laced with sarcasm and tongue in cheek witticisms.

Midweek meditation for April 6 on Exodus 3:1-4:17

Ex 3:1-4:17

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight — why the bush does not burn up."

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

And Moses said, "Here I am."

5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

16 "Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — a land flowing with milk and honey.'

18 "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.' 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

21 "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."

Exodus 4

4:1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?"

2 Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"

"A staff," he replied.

3 The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the Lord, "is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has appeared to you."

6 Then the Lord said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

8 Then the Lord said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

10 Moses said to the Lord, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

11 The Lord said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

14 Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

NIV

In his book, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, Os Guinness reviews the theology of call and just what is involved when one is called of God.
Guinness describes the call of God as "the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do and everything we have is ... lived out as a response to his summons and service." There are two dimensions to the call of God, the first being our essential role as a disciple of Jesus, and the second being the call to function in the church and the world using the gifts God has given us. When we are faithful to these two callings, God is glorified.

Moses had an interesting life, saved by being placed in a basket on the Nile, plucked out by the Pharaoh’s daughter raised a prince in Pharaoh’s court, exiled by his own guilty conscious and now settled in a comfortable life as a shepherd far from Egypt and the worries and pressures of his people and the life of a prince.

He had many unique experiences and opportunities in his life.  He was educated, and brought up in the royal court.  He knew Pharaoh.  He was a hard worker, and knew about sheep now.  I imagine that he was pretty comfortable, settled in his life when we encounter him again in the desert having a conversation with God.

From the way the conversation is going I’m betting Moses wished he had walked right on by that burning bush.  Moses sees the bush and decides to go investigate.  When He gets closer God calls to Him and says I have job for you.  You are going to be the one to lead my people out of the hand of Pharaoh.

And I’m sure it is at this moment that Moses thinks, why couldn’t I just walk on by.  So Moses thinking very fast comes up with the excuse. “Who am I?  I’m no one I can’t go to Pharaoh he’ll say who is this yokel that is coming to demand the release of my slaves?”  Well he is only Pharaoh’s nephew is all.

But God says, “It doesn’t matter who you are it only matters that I will be with you.”

So Moses thinks fast again, “Well that’s all good and well but what if the Israelites and say you sent me and they ask, ‘What’s His name?”  Surely that will get me out of doing this task is what Moses is thinking.

But the Lord tells Moses His name.  And so Moses has to think again real fast because what it boils down too is Moses doesn’t really want to do this.  It is a disruption to his current life, it moves him out of his comfort zone.

So Moses says, “Well what if they don’t believe me?  I mean let’s face it I tell them you appeared to me in a burning bush that didn’t burn up and spoke to me and said your name is I Am, and that I’m to demand that Pharaoh set you free…There more likely to whisper to themselves who is this crazy old shepherd.”  And I’m sure Moses is thinking surely this will get me off the hook.  The Lord will see the logic of my thinking and the error of His ways.

And God says, “What’s in your hand?”

Moses is probably thinking okay where is this going cause if he knew he would have been tossing his staff as far away as he could to try and hide it and answered nothing.

But Moses is caught off guard and answers “A staff.”

So the Lord gives Moses not one but really 3 signs to convince the people.  He turns Moses’ staff into a snake and back into a staff, he gives Moses leprosy on his hand and takes it away and then he turns the water into blood.

So Moses has to think real fast again. And what does he use as an excuse next?  “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."   Yes we have just witnessed Moses’ slow speech and tongue repeatedly as he comes up with one excuse after another why he shouldn’t be the one.  And what happens?  God lets him off the hook…

Nope not at all God reminds, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." In short all Moses has to do is repeat what God says.  

But Moses won’t relent he has one more gambit to play the honesty gambit, the whiner gambit, “Lord I don’t want to please send someone else to do it.”

And what happens?  The Lord’s anger burns against Moses and He says, “what about your brother Aaron I know he can speak well and you will tell him what to say…”

God had called Moses and all of what Moses thought where good reasons for Moses not to do what the Lord was calling him and had equipped him to do were nothing but excuses and you know what Mr. Frost says about excuses…they are just like butt’s everyone has one and they all stink.

Remember Jonah?  He didn’t want to do what the Lord wanted him to do either.

Sometimes we are asked to do things by the Lord or by the Lord’s proxies, a friend, a spouse, a pastor, most often times it is something that we aren’t entirely comfortable with, but the Lord has prompted His proxies and told them that you have what it takes, or He has told you specifically that you have what it takes to do this for Him and His glory.

But like Moses we balk.  We think fast we come up with all kinds of excuses, I’m too busy, I don’t speak so well, I don’t know about technology, I don’t relate to this generation, I’m too old, too slow, too poor.  But the truth is if you can’t say the Lord doesn’t want me to do this then chances are it’s the devil whispering in your ear because the last thing he wants is for you to feel that you have what it takes, that the Lord can and will use you.  Because a well formed tool in the hands of a master can work marvels and when the Lord calls us to do something that is exactly what we are when we yield to His will.  Well formed tools in the hands of the Master.

Some Thoughts on the School Board "Informational" snooze fest Thursday

Went to the School Board informational meeting Thursday night.  Not all that well attended for several reasons.  First poorly advertised per usual.  Second think a lot of people believe that the school board is going to do whatever they want to do regardless of what the citizen’s want or think.  Someone asked about letting the people vote on it and the gist of why they won’t do that is because letting the people decide wasn’t a good idea.  So much for representative government.

I’m not sure that all I learned is accurate or what they wanted me to learn.  The first thing I learned is that we ought to take some of the $60,000 a year in technology budget and educate our administration and school board members on using it effectively and well.  And maybe invest in some bigger screens, but of course if we spend 3.5 to 5 million on the middle school science tech wing and gym, performing arts wellness center perhaps we will get a good sized screen.

Second they sure can put on a mind numbingly boring presentation that I found somewhat more obfuscating then illuminating.  It raised more questions then it answered.

Third Plainfield will be loosing the rest of our school in probably the next 10 years the board president as much as said so.

Fourth we can afford this project provided our current funding and expenses stay the same.  For instance as long as state doesn’t cut per pupil spending or our enrollment doesn't drop too much.

I was wrong about their belief in “if we build it they will come” apparently this is for staff efficiencies so we have to spend 3.5 to 5 million dollars to make our staff more efficient and or to save money.  How much would it cost to lengthen the days 15 minutes so the teachers would have time to commute?  I guess it’s like when the wife says, “Honey look how much money I saved on all these clothes that were on sale”  and I’m like “really, I could have saved us double that amount by not buying it.”

Then there is always the savings of geo thermal.  Now I’m not against geo thermal I think it is a good environmental option.  However, I just don’t believe the savings are there.  According to the EPA geo thermal energy savings are somewhere around 30%-40%.  The website I looked at said most units in residential areas pay for themselves in 5-10 years.  That may pay for the unit in 5-10 years but not the installation which can run 10,000 to 30,000 or more plus the heat pump.  Geo thermal units run about 2,500 dollars per ton of heating or 7,500 dollars for a 3 ton unit that makes total cost on low side of a residential unit $17,500 at minimum.  To pay back in 10 years it needs to save me $1750 a year.  That’s more then I pay now to heat my home.  So obviously 10 years isn’t going to cut it.  My annual heating cost is about $1350 so if it saved me all of my heating cost every year I would actually take 13 years to pay for itself at the low end.  Which isn’t bad 5.5% return on investment.  However if you remember EPA says geo thermal really only saves about 30-40% so lets say my unit saves me 40% or about $540 a year.  It now takes 32 years to recoup my investment a return of 2.25%.  T-bills are paying better rates of return.  If I’m tying up $17,500 worth of money I’d be better off with 10 year treasury bonds which closed at 3.49% today.  At that rate after 20 years I’d have $35,000 with an investment in geo thermal if I set aside my savings after 32 years I’d have $17,500.  In 8 more years with treasury bills I’d have $70,000 so how much have I really saved on that expensive geo thermal unit?

Don’t let the board or anyone else fool you.  When they talk about savings by purchasing these expensive gadgets it’s not the same as “real” savings or investing.  Besides anytime a government agency saves money most likely it is spent on something else.

Anyway what is sad to say is that I think if the school board persists in this course of action I predict our school will be gone in 15 years if we are lucky and things go according to their plan.  Unfortunately I believe the decision to remove 7-8 grade from Plainfield will actually increase our open enrollment out from the southern half of the district thereby exacerbating our declining student population and speeding up the demise of our school.

It is a catch 22.  The district really needs to explore some wild and creative outside the box ideas like maybe extending the school day so teachers can drive back and forth between Plainfield and Nashua.  Or perhaps doubling admission to sporting events and charging admission to all events like band and choir concerts.  Maybe we should take the money we are planning on spending on this building project and higher a full time football coach to develop a superstar football program that could fund our school that we could then charge $20 a ticket for admission.  Sound crazy?  Perhaps but people pay more then that to see the Hawkeye’s play.

One more thing I learned if we would just be interested in having a wellness center, which Ms. Franzen says we all need because we need to walk, then the YMCA would be willing to come in and partnership with us.  So part of the problem is that we aren’t really interested in a wellness center or the Y coming in and running some classes.  So adjust your thinking and get with the program.

Post your thoughts I love hearing them even if they disagree with me as I love open debate and free speech.  Unlike some people I think when people disagree and discuss it and listen to one another new and better ideas can often be found.

What exactly does Mr. McMichael mean by community

I'm re-posting a portion of Mr. McMichael's original letter he has not taken the opportunity to comment but it still exists should he choose to exercise it as well as anyone else who wishes to comment.

"People tend to get caught up in the specifics and not look at the big picture. The big picture is community! Our school is the heart and soul of our community and whether you want to believe it or not, extracurricular activities are a big part of community.  You attend a football game or basketball game and you gather with your friends and neighbors. You get that hometown feel. You know what I’m talking about. You go to a game, you hear the cheers of the crowd, the singing of the national anthem, the band, the students all coming together.

It is a sense of family, a sense of belonging. That is what living in a small community is about and that’s why I live here. I want that quality of life for myself, my children, and my grandchildren.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the NP middle School basketball tournament.  I will be honest the only reason I was there was because my daughter was playing, if she hadn't been playing I wouldn't have been there.  I saw Mr. McMichael there also. However, Mr. McMichael left as soon as the girls were done playing and didn't stick around for the boys tournament.  I did stay for one game because one of our youth was playing but if Mr. McMichael is so sold on the school being the heart and soul of the community, like it was 50 years ago, and that extracurricular activities are a big part of that, why did he not stay for the entire tournament?  Or where was Mr. McMichael last night at the mid-winter band, jazz band and choir concert?  Well it's probably because he's like most other people if it isn't varsity boys sports or his children aren't involved he doesn't care.

I don't think we should cut our extra curricular activities.  I think we should increase the admission to all sporting events, we should double the price of admission and double or triple all the concession stand prices.  What I object too is that I don't think tax dollars should be taken away from things that benefit all students to pay for the things that only a minority of students are interested in.  But then again I think it's time that our government got out of the business of education and let the free market take over again.

religion in public life to win a book

My beliefs about religion in public life are summed up well in the Steve Taylor song

It's A Personal Thing: “I'm devout, I'm sincere, and I'm proud to say
that it's had exactly no effect on who I am today I believe for the benefit for all mankind
in the total separation of church and mind”

Many of Steve Taylor’s songs are sarcastic but I think many, at least those who follow a more secular thought process anyway, believe that our faith should have no effect on who we are or the decisions that we make. Which has lead our society down a path to worshiping the constitution, and our government believing that it is the be all and end all arbitrator of what is right and what is wrong.

But if there is no higher law then our constitution and the laws of the land then anything can be declared right by virtue of it being declared legal. I think one of the reasons that religion is taboo in public and politics is that it forces us to acknowledge that we are not the ultimate authority on anything and that we must answer to God sooner or later.

For a review of a book I’m trying to win by blogging on this go here

Friar Tuck's Fleeting Thoughts: End of Secularism Book Review and Giveaway

Our Aveo experience

The van broke down; again, and so we had it towed into the shop Friday morning. They didn’t get it fixed so we rented a car. We didn’t want to spend the extra $4 for the weekend and went with the economy model.

When we pulled up to Hertz the only economy model was a Chevy Aveo. I said, “That’s our car and laughed.” Yolanda said, “Nooo.” I was thinking we could always upgrade. Unfortunately they where all sold out for the weekend and the Chevy Aveo was our car.

Now I thought it’s a 2011 surely Chevy has made some improvements in the small car area since the Chevette. I think they’ve gone backwards.

I read a quote I think it was from GM complaining about the small car market and basically saying American’s won’t buy small cars. But really American’s don’t buy American small cars because American car companies still have no idea how to build a small car.

Okay let me remind everyone that I have been driving small cars for as long as I have been driving. My first car was 1977 VW Rabbit, loved that car and am still a big VW fan. Overall I would say that my 1977 VW Rabbit was a better car then this 2011 Aveo.

At first sight it’s not too bad in fact it looks rather large on the outside. But I think Chevy has perfected the T.A.R.D.I.S. except haven’t figured out that it is better for the car to be bigger on the inside and smaller on the outside then big on the outside and small on the inside. It honestly looks bigger then the 1998 VW Jetta but it feels a whole lot smaller.

For the numbers the Aveo is slightly smaller then the Jetta. Its width is 66.1” campared to 66.7” for the Jetta. Wheel base is actually longer though at 97.6” vs. VW’s 97.4”And the Jetta is over all longer at 173.4” vs. Aveo’s 154.3”. In height the Aveo is 59.3” vs. the Jetta’s 56.1”. So these are cars are close to the same size. The Aveo weighs in at 2546 lbs verses the Jetta at 2590 lbs.

The Aveo with automatic transmission is rated at 27/35 the Jetta was rated at 24/31. I’ve gotten 34 on the highway in the past.

Engines: for the Jetta 2.0L I4 SOHC 8V FI Engine developing 115 h.p. and she uses every single one of them to good advantage. For the Aveo 1.6 L DOHC I4 16V developing 108 h.p. I think it has a couple of hamsters under there running on a tread mill.

I will say this at least Chevy is having Dawoo make the thing so that’s something. However, this car gets an F overall grade as a car. The wife said, “It’s a golf cart with a body.” I play golf I’ve been in nicer golf carts plus they are fun to drive. Aveo not so much.

It has no cruise control but power windows and power door locks, of a sort, and power mirrors. There two redeeming points it has plenty of head room, which you will need as the suspension seems to be tuned by the Amish for their buck boards, and an MP3 input for the stereo. You will need this as the radio cannot pick up any radio stations.

Everything about this car screams cheap. And at a base price of $12,000 I guess it is cheap except you can step into a used Jetta TDI for around that price and get about a 30% increase in fuel economy and a whole lot nicer car. The key feels cheap you can feel the door moving when you open and close the driver side window. The doors feel cheap as they open and shut with a comical clown like feel and sound. The horn fortunately is a manly sounding and one and I was quite surprised that the horn sounds so well coming from such a clown car.

The car does ride like a go-kart, bumpy as heck and unfortunately not as fun to drive. The huge A pillars create massive front blind spots.

I’m not really a GM fan but this car has convinced me that I am correct in avoiding GM products. If they can’t get one car right why should I believe they could get any car right. If this car had been built under the Government take over one might blame Washington on this fiasco of a car but alas this one is all GM’s.

The car does have great acceleration from 0-5 mph but after that I think the hamsters are over taxed. I’m still trying to figure out who the target audience is. Perhaps people who live within walking distance of work but want to say they own a car.

The other day I heard Click and Klack the car guys talking about how the Yugo was the worst car of the 20^th century. I think the worst car of the 21^st century will probably be the Chevy Aveo. Makes one long for the Geo Metro. Maybe if they come out with a convertible that will help.

I think if I was GM I wouldn't allow this to be a rental car and if I was a rental car company I would not be having this in my fleet. I have half a mind to ask for a refund from Hertz because we were way over charged to rent this thing.