Thoughts from Mike Huckabee in Spirit Lake, IA

While I was on my way to Minnesota and the Mall of America (Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was really good eatin' too!), I took a minor detour over to Spirit Lake, IA to listen to former Arkansas governor (and 2008 Iowa caucus winner) Mike Huckabee, who is now the sixth 2016 presidential candidate I've got to meet.
While I was a bit late and did not get to hear all of his talk and Q&A session at a retirement community, I did get to hear him re-iterate his support for traditional values and his strategy for dealing with ISIS, which includes expanded bombing and building a coalition for a ground war to topple the budding caliphate.
On a personal level, I found him to be a very nice guy. I told him my dad's family was from Greene County, AR and he told about how that his son attended Arkansas State in Jonesboro (which borders Greene County) so he could partake of Greene County's duck-hunting options. While I am undecided on who I am supporting for president, Huckabee's geniality was refreshing on a cold and snowy Friday in northwest Iowa.

Thoughts from Rick Santorum in Sioux Center, IA

As I have said on more than one occasion, one of the perks of living close to Iowa during caucus season is getting a chance to see the presidential candidates up close. 

After a two-month layoff, I had the chance to go back to Iowa Wednesday night and listen to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speak at a house in Sioux Center. It was officially described as a house party, but it also had a lot of town hall elements to it as well. Sen. Santorum spoke for roughly two hours and then visited with the roughly 40 people who attended.

Among the topics that he spoke on were:

• National security and radical Islam -- National security has been a common theme among the GOP candidates that I've heard and for good reason. Not only have recent attacks by followers of ISIS and the continued menace of Iran made people in America worry, but national security might be the GOP's strongest issue come Nov. 8, 2016. Santorum said that the way to defeat ISIS is to take their land (thus depriving them of their caliphate) and that Iran must not be allowed to get their hands on a nuclear weapon. Santorum's comments on national security overlapped with his comments on radical Islam, where the senator elaborated on the dangers that radical Islam poses to the world while displaying his knowledge on the topic.
• Immigration -- Santorum is known for his anti-amnesty views on immigration and spoke about them them Wednesday. He said that those who are here illegally "need to leave" and proposed using E-verify to combat illegal immigration, saying that cutting off the financial incentive to come here illegally would go a long way toward solving the problem. He also said that amnesty is not fair to those who came here legally and followed the rules.
• Other issues -- Santorum also reiterated his pro-life stance on abortion and choking up while speaking about his daughter, Bella, who was born with Edwards syndrome. He also highlighted his views on marriage, mentioning that he had proposed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman in the wake of a 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down anti-sodomy laws in Texas. Additionally, Santorum proposed a 20 percent flat tax to replace the current income tax system.

A few outtakes from Sioux Center:

• After the event, Sen. Santorum and one of the attendees engaged in a discussion about immigration. While the attendee and Santorum disagreed on the issue, the discussion remained civil.
• Santorum brought up an interesting point on the immigration issue. He said that the biggest opponents of amnesty were immigrants who had came here legally and went through all of the legal processes that they were supposed to. Along those lines, Santorum and Sen. Ted Cruz -- two of the strongest amnesty opponents in the presidential race -- both had fathers who were immigrants and came here legally.
• One concern that Santorum expressed about a nuclear Iran was the prospect of the Iranians using a nuclear explosion to create an electormagnetic pulse (EMP) that could potentially devastate the United States' electrical power grid. On an aside, the Soviet Union used a similar tactic to conquer the United States and win the Cold War in the 1987 ABC miniseries Amerika.

Here a few photos from Wednesday. Jacob Hall took the one of me with the senator.

Meeting the presidential candidates, Round One

One of the benefits of living in northeastern Nebraska is living relatively close to Iowa and the chance to see many presidential candidates up close. As a result, I have taken advantage of that opportunity each of the last two Fridays and made the trip across the Missouri River to such places as Atlantic, Council Bluffs and Orange City, Iowa to listen to and meet-and-greet with five of the Republican candidates. Here are my thoughts on each of them.

Ted Cruz

Texas Senator Ted Cruz was the first candidate I went to listen to on Oct. 23 in Atlantic and Council Bluffs. Sen. Cruz has earned a reputation for his outspoken conservatism and is considered to be part of the rogues gallery by many liberals.

While Sen. Cruz is very very conservative, I also found him to be a dynamic speaker and he made some very good points when he spoke. He spoke often of his conservative record, his support of the Second Amendment and his opposition to the recent Iran deal. He also touched on what I think is one of the biggest issues of the next election: whoever wins the next presidential election could go a long way in shaping what the Supreme Court will look like deep into the century. With several 5-4 decisions on recent pivotal cases, the next president could have a major effect on how those decisions turn out in the future.

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Carly Fiorina

I had a chance to listen to Fiorina speak Friday night at the Northwest Iowa GOP Rally in Orange City, Iowa. She talked a lot about her background and how she went from being an administrative assistant to being the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. She said that she is Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare and expressed her dissatisfaction with President Obama's foreign policy. She was quieter spoken than I expected, but also had a quiet forcefulness to her voice. 

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Marco Rubio

Florida Senator Marco Rubio also was in Orange City on Friday night. Rubio, at 44, is the youngest Republican candidate in the race, and with his slogan of a "new American century," could serve as a stark contrast to the Democratic nominee should he get the GOP nomination. Rubio could be the toughest out in this race. He is young and conservative (and I think conservative enough to appeal to the "base"), but he is not so conservative to frighten large blocs of voters. 

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Rick Santorum

I'll be honest – Rick Santorum surprised me. The former Pennsylvania senator is known as one of the more conservative GOP candidates and has a strong appeal among religious conservatives. When he spoke Friday night in Orange City, he not only touched on his conservative record (especially on pro-life issues), but he also spoke often of his faith and delivered perhaps my favorite quote of the evening: "God speaks in whispers. To hear Him, you've got to get real close." I can definitely see why he won the Iowa caucuses in 2012.

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Chris Christie 

I got to hear New Jersey Governor Chris Christie twice on Friday – once at a town hall meeting in Council Bluffs and later that evening in Orange City. If you know me well enough, you might know that I've been a big fan (figuratively and literally) of Governor Christie for a while. On one hand, he is known for his plain-spokeness – you can ask a few of the hecklers that have went toe to toe with him about that – but he also has developed a well-earned reputation for his mix of solid conservative views, yet with an ability to work with the Democrats. While many in the GOP consider that a weakness today, I see it as a strength – for that is what made Ronald Reagan great when he was president. Christie spoke of his pro-life views (while adding that he does believe in exceptions for rape, incest and health) and also spoke of his strong views on how he would handle Iran and Russia. He also expressed his support for police officers while saying that bad cops need to be dealt with.

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A few quick takeaways: 1) I've not heard any of the candidates that I've heard so far -- even Cruz or Santorum -- mention same-sex marriage. 2) Christie and Santorum said a lot about being pro-life. The others not as much, not even Cruz. 3) All of the candidates have been very critical of President Obama's deal with Iran and have said that they would do something to scrap it and/or change it if they win the election next November.

 

In conclusion, I will say that the last two Fridays have been extremely interesting. I hope in the next few weeks to listen to other candidates and meet-and-greet with them as well. When I do, look to this blog to see my take on them.

Review of Chicago XXXVI: Now

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a pretty die-hard fan of the band Chicago. However, we have not seen much new music from the celebrated “rock band with horns” since 1991 – just two albums of new material entering this year (not including compilations, Christmas albums and a big-band themed project in the mid-1990s).

Needless to say, Chicago XXXVI: Now (also known as “NOW” Chicago XXXVI) has been much anticipated by fans of the veteran rock band. And the 36th album in the band's official catalog does not disappoint.

Fans who have wanted to hear more of the band's legendary horn section will be very happy with XXXVI. The album kicks off with the title cut – co-written by vocalist and bassist Jason Scheff, it features a sound and a horn chart that are throwbacks to the band's popular mid-70s sound. From there, the album segues into “More Will Be Revealed,” a Robert Lamm track that blends a contemporary sound and the band's signature horns into an enjoyable sound.

Indeed, those two songs give a nice preview of what Chicago XXXVI: Now is like. Songs like “America,” Love Lives On” and “Free At Last” could have fit on any of Chicago's albums in the mid-1970s, while other songs like “Nice Girl” and “Crazy Happy” lean in a more contemporary directions. Other songs like “America” and “Naked In the Garden of Allah” hearken back to the band's political songs from its early days. And the horns play a big part in all of them.

Indeed, Chicago XXXVI: Now is a great blend of the band's trademark sound combined with a nice side of 2014. The end result is one of the band's best albums since since the mid-1980s.

Buhler's rating: ***** stars out of five.

Wise as snakes?

I feel like a lack of wisdom is killing the church today. Jesus commands us to be as wise as snakes but as harmless doves (Matthew 10:16), yet we seldom do so.

We are called to be ambassadors for Christ, yet we spend much of our time acting like we are His enforcers. Instead of showing the love of Christ to an unsaved world, we often try to force church teachings on the world.

I believe the book of Genesis, but I also believe that we spend too much time fighting with the Darwinists – the way I understand the Bible, where we end up in the next world is much more important than debating how this world came into being.

We have devoted too much energy to fighting gay rights and gay marriage. Instead of showing gays and lesbians God's love, we often treat them as “sinners with 'special circumstances.'”

We worry more about prayer in school and prayer before high school football games than we do about showing the love of Christ in church – or anywhere else, for that matter.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), but are we doing things His way??

God is still God -- end of story

I got this from a friend of mine named John Tiner. This is written by a pastor friend of his named William Miller, and I was so impressed when I read it. I hope you will be too. It goes something like this:

Who says God was taken out of schools?

I have heard my whole life how God was taken out of schools. How the Christians allowed it to happen. Well this is what I say to that!

• My God is the King of Kings
• He is the great redeemer
• He is the great healer
• He is the great warrior
• He is the great creator
• He is all powerful
• He is all knowing
• He is omnipotent
• He is omnipresent
• He is the God of the universe!

And you think Man has the power to take him of of government? You think man has power to take Him out of the military? You think man has the power to take my God out of the schools? 

Think again! My God has always been and will always be! Ain't no man powerful enough to take my God out of anything not even the local bar or brothel! The problem this country has is not where God is because God is everywhere! The problem is people have not allowed Him into their hearts, and Christians are not spreading the gospel of Jesus. I believe that people saying things like taking God out of school is a lazy way for Christians to pass the buck for us not doing our part by spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The only thing that will bring true change is a change of heart! That is only done by the Blood of Jesus!

Priorities

A preacher named T.F. Tenney once said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” And what I've seen around me in recent times (especially in 2012) has done a pretty good job of convincing me that many of my fellow Christians and followers of Christ are not doing a very good job of following Bishop Tenney's idea. And I think I've finally gotten fed up enough to blog, so hold on to your hats.

I think the short version of what Bishop Tenney said is one word: priorities. And I think we need to examine ours.

• Playing the blame game does not help. Sitting around moaning about how everything has gone downhill since the Supreme Court banned prayer and Bible-reading in schools in the early 1960s is a cop-out. For one thing, all it banned was state-sponsored prayer and Bible-reading. If students want to pray silently, they can (and many probably do, come test time). And it did not ban prayer and Bible-reading in the home. Most work places do not open with prayer. Most college classes don't. And yet we hear no one complain about that. We need to take a much deeper look at what's wrong in the world instead of just fussing because we don't have teachers leading their first-hour classes in prayer.
• Quit fussing about little stuff, folks. Quit looking at people who say “Merry Xmas” and “Happy Holidays” like they're a bunch of God-haters and heathens. For one thing, I say it. Xmas is just a short way of saying Christmas, and as for saying Happy Holidays, not everybody celebrates Christmas. And where in the Bible does it command us to disrespect those who disagree with us?
• Quit making big things out of smaller things. People are dying lost without Christ in their lives every day in this country, and too many in the church are worried about whether the liberals are going to ban assault weapons. If the government does ban assault weapons, the world isn't going to end and Big Brother isn't going to drag you into Room 101. Worry about what's important, not what isn't.
• America is not New Israel. Don't get me wrong – I'm thankful for the freedom we have, especially the freedom to worship God. But I feel like the church has made a mistake by diving as hard into politics as it has. Max Lucado once said, “Love is only love if (it is) chosen.” But today, Christians are worried more about making people choose what's right than they are about letting them do it voluntarily. I think one of the biggest reasons that people, and especially younger people, are turning off to Christianity is that we're spending too much time trying to legislate morality than we are shining the light of Jesus Christ. It's like I told one of my best friends just a bit ago, “I think too many Christians are more worried about guns and gay marriage than they are (about) spreading the Gospel.”

I think James said it best more than 1,900 years ago. He simply said, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:22-27, NKJV)