The Separation of Church and Transportation

Hang onto your boarding passes and Bibles. After 30 years of distributing prayer cards to passengers with their meals Alaska Airlines has discontinued the practice. The reason is that some people “didn’t feel religion was appropriate on the plane and preferred not to receive one.”

As a marketing ploy (who says sex is the only thing that sells) Alaska Airlines placed scriptures printed on colorful photos of wispy clouds, mist ladened mountain tops and gently flowing streams on the meal trays of their passengers. The verses included such text as “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever.” Some people found this offensive. Holy Toledo! We are not talking PETA commercials here.

When airline food hardly passes for more than POW rations, these cards offered more nourishment than the tissue-thin slice of cheese with a piece of limp lettuce slapped between a jaw-tiring roll and served with three ounces of warmed Coke poured over half-melted ice cubes. Since when would you not appreciate wise and kind messages?

Yet, "after carefully considering all sides, it was agreed that eliminating the cards was the right thing to do," said Bobbie Egan, an airline spokeswoman. Implied is that placing these cards on the meal trays was the wrong, obtrusive, insulting, evangelistic thing to do. If you were insulted, made uncomfortable and preferred not to have religion mixed your transportation I must conject about your state of being. After all, it wasn’t like the flight attendants were reciting prayers and scriptures over the PA system as they pushed the beverage cart down the aisle. Nor were they setting down prayer rugs or burning incense. The prayer card was placed on the tray, for the perusal and use of the diner, similar to the evacuation card slipped in the seatback pocket for the need of those who wish to be informed in case of an emergency. Most don’t read the card preferring to deny the possibility that these vehicles do fall out of the sky. And few experienced the Miracle on the Hudson, where I can assure you a lot of praying was going on.

If you were one bothered by the prayer card you must so loathe religion that you wish to destroy it for all. Non-believers think prayer should be a private thing, unlike sexual preferences. The non-believer prefers to deny the believer of the hope, calm and peace that religion can offer. The atheist who is uncomfortable when confronted with "public" displays of faith and belief even in the most benign and subtle forms prefers to deny the believer his faith.

Why so uncomfortable? They are so bothered by something they don’t believe. If the non-believer doesn’t believe in God, why does anything to do with God bother him? God doesn’t exist. Move along with life. They can’t confront with their own atheism. I don’t believe in leprechauns, but the idea that a little bearded man dressed in a green suit sitting at the end of a rainbow with a pot of gold doesn’t scare me, offend me or consume me in such a way that I am propelled to eradicate leprechauns from the face of the earth.

Non-believers argue that they have a right not to have religious values imposed upon them. Then whose values should be imposed? Theirs? With values like “live and let live” guiding their behavior I say, "exactly", even if I prefer to have my principals and values come from a higher, more divine source. Why do those who don’t believe in God or religion oppose it with such venom? Surely, not for our benefit.

I recognize divine Providence every time I get on a plane, even as I practice two boarding superstitions. The first is, I must have something to do the next day. God won’t let me off this earth until I finish His business. The second is that I touch the outside of the plane. When I have done this the plane has never crashed. But after I take my seat, I pray. I pray for the mechanics, the pilots, the flight attendants and all the people involved in getting the plane from point A to point B without incident. I pray for the passengers. I pray for those who sent off the passengers and those who will receive them at the other end. It is pretty broad sweeping, but nothing beyond the ability of God. And if my plane goes down, I’m going to God. My belief extends to the non-believer even if he doesn’t believe.

If Alaska Airlines distributed cards that pictured war, starvation and crime and said there is no God, I would be offended. I might even decide that it was time to get off the plane. It is exactly what those who were offended by the prayer cards should have done. Taken their business elsewhere.

We are nose-diving as a society because the secular whims of the non-believer who screams separation of church and state forgetting our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. While the founders differed in their religious beliefs and practices they recognized the important role divine Providence played in this country’s creation. Now the offended non-believer is yelling separation of church and transportation and getting away with it.

I am deeply disappointed in Alaska Airlines' choice to “do the right” thing.

Since writing this I have learned that yesterday Dubai-based airline Emirates and Alaska Airlines have launched a new frequent flier partnership that will offer travelers the opportunity to accrue Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles when they fly to any of Emirates' 118 destinations worldwide, including points across Africa, India and the Middle East. Maybe this was the reason to eliminate prayer cards?

Economics 101

Here’s a simple economic example. Let’s say that anyone who wants a loaf of bread is given $100 to spend on bread. All anyone has to do to get the $100 is apply and once you get it spend it only on bread.

Now let’s pretend, I am a bread maker. I now know that bread money is available. So what do I do? I might invest in bread making equipment and hire a couple of people to help me make bread. I’d pay real good money to my new staff because I know my profits on bread will be good. Why? Hang on, I’ll tell you. Meanwhile, everything sounds good.

What will happen to the bread market? Well, if you remember your basic economics law of supply and demand it says that when demand goes up, so do prices. And when supply goes up, prices come down. Economist draw nice curved lines on their charts because there is a law of diminishing return where all things in a free market balance out, sort of.

However, in my scenario is there really a free market? I say no because anyone who wants it, can get $100 for bread. Where did this $100 come from? Why the government, of course. And not out of thin air. Yes, taxes baby.

If money for bread is readily available prices will go up and so will wages in the bread industry. Bread becomes more expensive because money is available only for bread. Want bread get $100 and buy bread. Whether it is that $1.99 loaf white bread or that $8.00 organic hand made gluten free mass of tasteless brick, the prices of these breads will go up. And go up radically because people won’t hesitate to buy bread because they have $100. So as the prices increase to $40, $50 and even $100 per loaf, I the bread maker am raking in the dough. (By the way, it is also human nature to demand today and worry about that $100 bread money phenomenon later.)

Time to worry.

Let’s turn to the State of The Union address. The President would like every poor high school graduate and every child of an illegal alien who was dragged to our borders by their parents to go to college. Anyone who wants to go should. And to do so the government provides loans, grants and subsidizes institution of higher learning.

“At a time when Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt”… wait for it, "this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.” Was this a secret? This just popped up? Smart college kids didn’t know this was going to happen? Shame on them. Remember all student loans now come from the government. Talk about bad lending practices!

“Extend the tuition tax credit we started that saves millions of middle-class families thousands of dollars. And give more young people the chance to earn their way through college by doubling the number of work-study jobs in the next five years” Sounds like bread money.

Have you ever wondered why the cost of a college education continues to rise? It’s because the government is involved in giving money out to anyone who wants to go. It’s the bread money syndrome. And it is damn similar to the government saying anyone who wants a house can get a loan. We all know what happened to the economy when that bubble burst. Now can we just imagine what will happen when the college bubble bursts? Can you say American Spring?

And the President has the audacity to say, “So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down.” The President is speaking nonsense because he doesn’t have a clue as to why the cost of a college education is outrageous. It is because government funding is involved.

But he does add: “Of course, it’s not enough for us to increase student aid. We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition. We’ll run out of money.” DUH

End of Life Discussion

Have you had this discussion yet? It is 2012. This is the year the Mayan Calendar ends. However, I’m not sure about what day this happens. I’d look it up but the world of Wikipedia ended nearly 24 hours ago so I, like a lot of other people, are winging it today. We are presently as stupid as we were before Al Gore invented the Internet. Of course, the end was predicted twice (May 21 and then Oct 21 without as much trepidation as the first time – “The Cry Wolf Syndrome” ) in 2011 so I assume “this too will pass”, a saying that is not in the Bible. You can look that up on the Blue Letter Bible site, a website that has not blacked itself out in the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) protest. They want pirates to access the Bible.

The other day I was watching Sleepless in Seattle with a friend of mine. Do you realized that movie came out 19 years ago? Meg Ryan was married to Dennis Quaid and Rosie O’Donnell hadn’t yet gone off the deep end. Life was good; life was innocent. I had a good job. There was no such thing as iAnything. Computer searches were done on data bases that had no window or graphic interfaces. This was pre-Y2K. Snail mail and in person contact were the most prevalent means of stalking. Facebook was nothing but a typo. Back then a little kid could fly alone on a plane and Amber Alerts were not issued. You could meet your arriving party at the gate and security didn’t belong to the government. You could carry to and leave a backpack at the top of the Empire State Building, after convincing an elevator guard to let you go to the observation deck when it had already closed. And from that observation deck you could see the Twin Towers standing proudly over lower Manhattan.

This brought me to wonder about the end of life and having that discussion. I don’t mean what kind of medical care would you want if you were too ill or hurt to express your wishes. Sure that is important and you should have those discussions and have supporting documents in place. But what I am talking about is the end of the way of life in America, as we currently know it. For example, what you want in end of life health care might not be what the government gives you under ObamaCare.

You just rolled your eyes. Yep, most people do. The tendency for government is to slowly chip away at the citizen’s right and just as importantly, the citizen’s responsibilities. Most of the time we talk about what government has limited. We point to the constitution to say, “See, that bill or law violates this right.” Some of us say “this God given right”, but we have allowed others to take that saying away from us because it offends people who don’t have any god. (They do, but should I lose my right to say so when they claim otherwise?)

Government also assumes the responsibility of what the citizen should be doing for himself or his neighbor. That, my friend (sounds like John McCain), makes all of us fat, dumb and lazy when we allow and expect government to tax us to pay for food stamps, housing, unemployment and other socially accepted safety nets. Add in the socially accepted “entitlement” programs (Social Security, Medicare and ObamaCare) and the burden we have yoked ourselves with is staggering.

Current and future taxpayers face an enormous burden in trying to sustain the Medicare program as it is today. If our elected officials refuse to address rapidly rising Medicare spending, then it would perforce require Americans to pay taxes at a level far exceeding anything Americans have paid before. Social Security fairs no better. Fewer and fewer workers fund today’s and future benefit distribution. Most of us think we are entitled to these funds because we paid into it. The truth is if you were to receive all you paid in the benefit it would last you about 2.5 years! So get over it. You are entitled to nothing when nothing exists.

And this is why we should engage in end of life discussions. Because it is coming to an end. Look at Sleepless in Seattle. Would you ever imagine someone saying to you in 1993, “You know those Twin Towers? They will be knocked down by two airplanes in eight years. Gone.”

I’m saying, “You know those entitlement programs? Won’t be there if we don’t buck up.”

When I was a kid my older brother had a replica of the Mayan Calendar. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I remember studying the figures wondering what they said. The Mayan’s were not predicting the end in 2012. It was just that they couldn’t see any farther into the future. Short-sightedness? Naivety? I don’t know. Wikipedia is still down. You’ll have to look it up tomorrow.

But my sister is buying a farm (not buying the farm). She plans on chopping down trees and burning wood, killing chicken, raising trout and having lots and lots of guns. I’m just saying I think she is having that end of life discussion.