Quick Hits of the Week

• Joseph Sangl has popped out a list of five things you should know when you’re considering a student loan. I’d like to add three more things to consider, and I’m sure Mr. Sangl won’t mind.

1. Make sure that you’ve done every reasonable thing in your power to not get one. The economic bubble in education loans is huge, and you don’t want to be a part of that statistic if at all possible. You can attend college without going into debt. I did. As Sangl writes, you should consider community college for the first couple of years, and look to less well known schools as money saving alternatives.
2. Don’t allow anyone to cosign a loan for you. Go read Proverbs 17:18, and then stop anyone who’s trying to do something stupid to “help” you. Remember that if you can’t repay the loan, they’ll have to. If you spend time now to think about how that will make you feel then, it should stop you from ever saying yes.
3. Your total amount in loans should not be more than the entry level salary in the field you are studying. Here’s a wake-up call: If you don’t roughly know what that number is, then you shouldn’t be going into that field (let alone borrowing money to go into that field). Do some research and know what kind of careers (and salaries) you could have with the degree you’re after. Do not let your children go into their education blind, or else they might come out of it poor.

• Last week, there was a lot of hulabaloo when the President finally spoke about his unsurprising (and hardly unparalleled) support for homosexual marriage. I happen to agree that homosexuals need equal treatment under the law, which you might find strange considering I’m a Christian, and I do consider homosexuality a sin. (Of course, so is pre-marital sex, adultery, and pornography, and none of those are illegal.) If you’re looking for information on how a real follower of Christ should respond to homosexuality, I couldn’t recommend a better starting place than this collection of articles and videos about how to respond to the debate as a Christian by my pastor (and friend) Josh Reich. Some very thought provoking stuff behind that link, though, so don’t click if you’re afraid to be challenged.

• “…a careful review of the available data shows that during the past two years, an average of almost one terrorist a day was killed in a workplace mishap involving high explosives.” A career field in need of professional licensing, if ever there was one.

• A month ago, I mentioned that you should get better acquainted with the practice of civil asset forfeiture. Here is an excellent example of what I was referring to. George Reby, a man who had the audacity of carrying cash for a large purchase, had his money confiscated by a Tennessee police officer because, and I quote the officer involved, “he couldn’t prove it was legitimate.” In hindsight, I suspect that Reby would agree that he made two mistakes. First, he had no reason to answer the officer’s question regarding the amount of money he was carrying – in fact he had the right not to. Second, he shouldn’t have consented to a search without a warrant – because you should never consent to a search without a warrant.

• Finally, this is an amazing photo collection of a man’s journey to build his very own gypsy wagon (also known as a vardo). The functionality and detail packed into such a small wagon is amazing and totally worth a look. Very impressive.