Son,

I copied our chat from last evening. The purpose of this post is it let our readers better understand us. Readers: This blog really is a conversation between a father and a son. Sometimes we chat in the evenings – included in this blog is our chat from last evening. Enjoy

7:13 PM me: hey

Bryan: hey

i am writing a post

me: Did you like the Michael Moore thing?

7:14 PM ok

Bryan: yeah

apparently so did some other people

7:15 PM man, you are starting to appeal to canucks

me: I responded to the comment from the woman in Canada

Bryan: you’re going off the deep end

me: deep end of what

Bryan: communism

no

me: Don’t you like Michael Moore

Bryan: marxism maybe

well

I like him

7:16 PM but he is too polarizing sometimes

which is great for getting blog readers

not for solving problems

7:17 PM me: You can contradict me on in a post – we do not have to agree and it is probably better if we do not always agree

Bryan: I just wrote some Methodist stuff

its on there

me: I’m going to write on about Michael Moore being an important public servant

7:18 PM Bryan: man, you are some kind of liberal

do you ever get disgusted with NPR because they just don’t get it?

7:19 PM me: I am really black – but don’t tell your mom

Bryan: like, they are not liberal enough?

that explains my coarse hair

me: I think of myself as a moderate – liberal in my home town – but not nationally

7:20 PM How come I don’t care for Al Sharpton or Jessee Jackson

I think people should be held accountable

Bryan: I think I might describe you as a Marxist American Nationalist

7:21 PM me: Why am I defending myself – I am proud of my positions on issues – and I can defend my positions with reason and thoughtfulness

Bryan: and Michael Moore documentaries

me: If it works

Bryan: I like to push your buttons

me: So tell me Bryan, what is the point of government?

7:22 PM Bryan: fix the roads

(gov’t)

me: You mean the road to the hospital

7:23 PM or the road to the casino

Bryan: I think that Ideally the gov’t would be in charge of public safety and infrastructure

me: Public safety?

7:24 PM Bryan: police, fire, that kind of stuff

me: education?

Bryan: health care

yes

education

me: college?

Bryan: yeah

me: seminary?

Bryan: I am talking about ideals

no seminary

7:25 PM

me: OK – so we draw the line

It is interesting, isn’t it?

Bryan: yes

7:26 PM I think I personally draw the line at the point at which it impedes individual autonomy

me: Ok, how about this, so we finally all agree on what the role of government is – should it be at the state or federal level

Bryan: rather than empowering it

I think that there are state and federal roles

some things are beyond the scope of the state

like health care

7:27 PM me: Like distribution of cocaine

Bryan: but education is a state enterprise

right

even pot should be federal

and I think it is

me: Just interstate transportation of pot and cocaine

Bryan: no, like international traffic

7:28 PM that is the job of the federal gov’t

they oversee it so that it doesn’t interrupt our daily economic routine

me: I like the state model – I think it serves all of us well to see fifty different way to tackle problems – if some work well then other states can adopte them

7:29 PM There is a problem with economic equality – there are some really poor states – like Mississippi – they have poor education

is that fair to those children

Bryan: no

enter Karl Marx

7:30 PM me: Marx said “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

Bryan: from each according to his statehood, to each according to his party affiliation

I know

me: Marx was wrong – he was seeking utopia – and there is none

but we can surely offer health care to our citizens

7:31 PM Bryan: I think that it is achievable when tested on a small scale

thats the problem

256 million people is not a good Marxist example

that made little sense

me: 300 million

me: You must be referring to the hippie colonies of the late 1960’s

Keep it small and manageable

Bryan: check out this population ticker

http://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop

7:33 PM you can change the old date and compare what the global population was and is now

me: do they subtract one when a person dies

7:34 PM Bryan: yeah

but you have to go to the millisecond view

me: What do you suppose the green house gas by-product is of all those cremations

7:35 PM I was going to cut this out and paste it in a post and correct the spelling and publish it – but I think we are getting too silly

Bryan: you can change the stuff I said to be more profound

I won’t mind

7:36 PM me: Perhaps I will work on this – it might be interesting to show our readers how we really talk

7:37 PM Bryan: if you go to your “all mail” section in gmail you can see the chats

or maybe they are in your inbox

i don’t know

7:38 PM me: This is a worthy discussion. I think I’ll revisit it in the morning and see if it inspires me to do something with it.

We did well today

Bryan: I am interested in your thoughts about the methodist stuff

7:39 PM

me: OK7:40 PM Bryan: for the record, I know at least 3 methodists that I really like

me: How come they don’t read our blog, we would of had three more hits

7:41 PM Bryan: the three I like don’t have computers

me: Ok – So I have a few thoughts on the value of people like Michael Moore and I am going to post them

7:42 PM Bryan: great

that will get some people

we were 6 short of yesterday’s hits

me: I know, our world is falling apart

7:43 PM Bryan: I am pretty happy with it

I was telling my wife and she doesn’t care

me: She doesn’t care about what?

Bryan: she will when I am rich and she has to borrow money to eat

the 150 hits

7:44 PM I was like “you should see all the hits we have!” and she was like”mm hmm…”

and she kept reading

7:45 PM me: ‘mm hmm…’

Maybe you are just a boring person

Bryan: thats possible

but I doubt it

7:46 PM I can say that kind of stuff with a lot of zeal

me: She didn’t say ‘here, hit this,’ and give you the finger did she

7:47 PM Bryan:

she doesn’t use the finger

me: Is she one of those Methodists?

Bryan: she is a recovering southern baptist

7:48 PM its a twelve step program

7:49 PM me: I am glad you said ‘recovering’ because the latest data show that ‘once a souther baptist, always a southern baptist. You can learn to live a somewhat normal life – but it never really goes away.’

The Southern Baptists do not honor 12 step programs – they have a one step program – it is called Jesus.

7:50 PM Bryan: yeah – step two is ” realize that Pat Robertson cannot restore us to sanity

7:51 PM me: that is toooooo true.

Bryan: then its “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God and not Pat Robertson.”

me: Speaking of truth – you mentioned in one of your wacko posts that you know truth and will follow it

Bryan: ?

me: Well, something like that

7:52 PM Maybe you said you are following the truth of Jesus or something

Bryan: I think you had better quote me

I don’t remember

me: OK you said, “I know truth.” is that better

7:53 PM just kidding son

Bryan: oh

I was getting worried

me: but you did mention truth in the context of following Christianity

Bryan: Christianity, however, is not about blind faith. It is about opening your eyes and realizing that there is a Truth that you cannot deny.

7:54 PM me: There are a couple of words that are pet peeves for me – they are very important and their meaning has consequences.

can you know that truth?

7:55 PM Hey – hold up

I think it is getting late and I want to read for awhile – this is the stuff of tomorrow.

Bryan: ok

7:56 PM me: talk to you in the morning

Bryan: yeah – its a good thread though

me: good night son

Bryan: night, pap