I don't understand the controversy about Paul Wolfowitz. Seems to me that if you have an affair with somebody and then use your power to get them a high paying job, you cannot be trusted.
I don't understand why the Bush administration is standing behind him.
I find it pretty crazy that our government is offering massive subsidies for burning food.
A Culinary and Cultural Staple in Crisis - washingtonpost.com
Now not only do the poor have to pay higher prices at the pump because the rich choose to consume massive amounts of gas driving around in Hummers, but now they are going to have to pay higher prices at the supermarket as well.
I managed to avoid the topic of politics on fingertoe.com for this entire election cycle.
Some of you probably think I am apathetic.
I am just sick of the whining. Perhaps if we let the whiners run the show for a while a real leader will emerge who can actually unite the country. Probably not, but it is worth a try.
Note to politicians. Regulations do not prevent terrorism..
I think it is funny how the politicians are making a big stink about the Cory Lidle crash in New York, saying that a terrorist could load up an aircraft with biological weapons and crash simularly. Some are calling for that area to be closed to general aviation traffic.
This is pretty silly in my mind. It is a very busy corridor, but pilots have flown safely there for years. It is not like a suicide terrorist is going to look at his sectional and be detered from flying in there. There isn't anything that Air Traffic control could do to retaliate against a trespassing aircraft except for report it to the FAA. I doubt a suicidal terrorist is going to mind getting written up.
Basically the law abiding are inconvienienced, and the only benefit in exchange is that the politicians get to pretend like they are doing something to fight terrorism.
If somebody famous crashes thier car on the interstate highway, are we going to close that down too?
Ethanol's rise prompts worries of a corn crunch | csmonitor.com
Looks like the new Ethanol craze could have some pretty nasty effects on the price of all of our food over the next few years. Most ethanol is made from Corn. 20% of this years Corn Crop will be converted into ethanol. This figure is expected to double over the next few years. As a result the price of Corn is increasing pretty significantly. Unfortunately Corn is also pretty vital to raising healthy Beef, Chicken or Pork. So as Corn prices go up, so do meat prices. Also as corn prices go up, more farmland is going to be shifted from producing less profitable crops to make more corn. this shift will increase the cost of other crops.
I am not really opposed to ethanol per se. I think all of the recent mandates and subsidies however are one of the biggest scams in a long time. It doesn't burn much cleaner than Gasoline. It provides less power per gallon. You have to burn about 75 energy units of gasoline in order to produce 100 energy units of corn ethanol. Even if all of the farmland in production where converted to growing corn for Ethanol, we couldn't come close to powering our fleets. The Ethanol reformulations that have been mandated are a contributor to the higher gasoline prices that we have been seeing.
I think we have been hoodwinked..
Ted Harvey Invited a Gianna Jessen to Sing the Star Spangled banner before the Colorado House of Represenatives. Ms. Jessen suffers with cerebral palsy, and her story is an inspiring tale of perseverence. After she finished singing, Mr Harvey told her tale, and she recieved a standing ovation from the House.
Then he explained "The Rest of the Story" -- that her condition was caused by a botched Planned parenthood abortion. The chamber went silent. Half of the House was enraged beyond words. They where preparing to debate a resolution celebrating Planned Parenthood's anniversary in their area.
Mr. Harvey's account is definately worth reading: Ted Harvey, not Paul Harvey
HT: @ Large
One of my posts on Thinking Christians got flamebaited yesterday with an off topic comment regarding Christian support of the Iraq war. The church did not support this war. The vast majority of the denominations that took a stand on the war where against it.
The GULLY | Invisible Opposition to Bush's WarIt's not just the firebrands that have been erased. In this most Christian administration, short shrift has been given to the Christian leaders that have questioned a preemptive strike against Iraq. Bush critics include the leadership of the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Church in America, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Christian Church, and the United Church of Christ. The National Council of Churches, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have also asked whether even a "regime change" in the name of democracy will not do more harm than good.
Like most Christians, I trusted the president to do his job. I know that he had a lot more information than I did. I also trust Congress to examine the evidence, and make sure that the war is being conducted for a reason and in a manner that is in line with our values. That vote passed 296-133 in the house, and 77-23 in the Senate. I wouldn't call that a close vote.
In hindsight, the liberals go and blame the church for the war, when in truth the church stood firmly against it long before the democratic party did.
Purity is not welcome?
Looks like San Francisco is begining to realize that they did their city no favors by opposing a prayer convention of Junior high and High school students in thier city:
Intolerant CityAssemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, was quoted telling counterprotesters Friday that the gathering Christians were "loud, they're obnoxious, they're disgusting and they should get out of San Francisco." On Monday, however, Leno struck a more reasoned tone, acknowledging that his rally cry was "not one of my prouder moments." He said the youth group was "welcome in San Francisco," even though he does worry that its religious rhetoric could "under a cloak of love" feed a "fearful world's appetite for hate."
The city supervisors passed a resolution condemning the convention. Checking Battle Cry's website, it appears that they are trying to encourage kids to stay off drugs, alcohol, and sex. Apparently the leaders in San Francisco find this offensive.
Not only did this create a huge wave of publicity for the organization. It also removed any doubt from validity of their message. This culture is opposed to our youth staying pure, and will fight to corrupt them in every avenue available: Television, Music, Internet, Advertizing, and now apparently City board resolutions.
I think that Battlecry's approach is very good. They are encouraging youth trust in God's promises and remain pure. They fight this battle one heart at a time. They also work to train these kids to become leaders in their community, loving other kids, and setting a pure example.
Thanks to Junglepop for the heads up.
Comment Contest: New City slogan for San Francisco?
Much excitement and legislation is circulating regarding increasing Ethanol consumption in the US.
Carbon cloud over a green fuel | csmonitor.com
I am beginning to believe that we have all been had. There is quite a bit of controversy about it in the academic circles, but there is hardly any in the political circles. Farmers get to grow federally subsidized corn, and sell it to factories that have markets guaranteed for them by state regulations. Now it is beginning to look like Coal mines are going to get a chunk of the revenue.
The automaker's lobby has been bought off by the ability to count dual fuel vehicles as higher MPG vehicles than they really are. This allows the automakers to sell more low economy vehicles, and still remain under their regulated Corporate MPG limit.
If Ethanol where really an economically viable option, would a 51-71 cent per gallon subsidy really be necessary? That is the current government subsidy. (Through a fuel tax exemption).
There is still a lot of debate about how efficient Ethanol is to produce. The most recent studies indicate that it is efficient enough to be economical, but not efficient enough to be revolutionary. Previous studies indicated that you actually had to burn more energy in the production process than you received in the end product.
The other issue is a shortage farmland. It would take an enormous amount of farmland to create enough corn fuel our cars. Much more than is currently in production now. Brazil is the largest producer in Ethanol in the world, and they are plowing down Rainforests to make room for more farmland.
Anyway, there are lots of special interests who stand to profit from ethanol. I am not sure that there is a point however. It is not a solution for the energy shortage, and it is not very green, if it is green at all.
The way to solve the energy problem is pretty simple: Burn less fuel.
"When Would Jesus Bolt?" by Amy Sullivan
I have been saying for quite a while that the Media has overblown the Evangelical church's relationship with the right. I believe that the Christian Right is bound to the GOP based on one or two non-negotiable issues. Once those issues are resolved or settled, all bets are off as far as who they will vote for.
There is a lot in the Republican platform that doesn't have much appeal from a Biblical worldview. There is quite a bit in the Democratic platform that does. I think most Christians would be significantly more liberal than the GOP, but they are not willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent unborn babies to aid the liberal social causes.
Political victory can cost you. Satisfied constituents are less committed constituents. Odd but true.
Bush faces split with key allies over UAE port deal - Yahoo! News
The government should not be able to squash transactions in the capital markets on a whim. Dubai Ports World is a reputable company that operates ports successfully throughout the world. They have agreed to conform with US laws. Their personnel will have to go through the same immigration and security screenings that the current British ownership does. I doubt there will actually be much change at all as this is a merger.
The main reason for this firestorm of opposition is racism. We don't like the color of the skin and the country of origin of the applicant. It is egregious in my opinion. We allow European and Asian, and Chinese interests to buy all kinds of commercial ventures in this country. China is our biggest military rival on the planet. UAE is a longtime ally.
From the State Department website:
U.S.-U.A.E. RELATIONS
The United States has enjoyed friendly relations with the U.A.E. since 1971. Private commercial ties, especially in petroleum, have developed into friendly government-to-government ties which include security assistance. The breadth, depth, and quality of U.S.-U.A.E. relations increased dramatically as a result of the U.S.-led coalition's campaign to end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. In 2002, the U.S. and the U.A.E. launched a strategic partnership dialogue covering virtually every aspect of the relationship. The U.A.E. has been a key partner in the war on terror after September 11, 2001. The United States was the third country to establish formal diplomatic relations with the U.A.E. and has had an ambassador resident in the U.A.E. since 1974.
That is the way I see it.
Governor Gregoire gets some points in my book. (For the first time ever)
KREM.com | News for Spokane, Washington | KREM Top StoriesWashington's Lottery will not continue earlier plans to market itself to young adults after an order from Gov. Chris Gregoire, officials said.
The lottery, which reports $13.7 million in annual sales to 18- to 20-year-olds, said in its 2005-2007 business plan that it planned to advertise to that age group.
I absolutely despise the lottery's "It's good to play" campaign. This is a humongous lie, and a fraud that the state is peddling on its citizens.
We have 2 or three generations now that have their hopes tied up on the miracle windfall. No longer to we dream of serving our fellow citizens to gain a living. No longer do we dream of creating new valuable products. Those are unglamorous dreams, discouraged by every one of the state's lottery ads.
Most people who play the lottery lose. They give up their heard earned money, and get nothing in exchange except for a covetous heart, and false hope.
The state should be in the business of creating and encouraging hard work and success. Instead, they are in the business of creating as many losers as possible.
The lottery is basically a tax on those without hope.
Gregoire is doing the right thing. She needs to go much, much further.
Enough Cheney shotgun jokes already, but wait..
I bet the liberals will be changing their tune about Justice Scalia hunting with Cheney.
Counting down the minutes until I hear from the liberals why the mine accident is President Bush's fault.
Also counting down the minutes until Pat Robertson or somebody in his camp explains why God is angry at the West Virginia folks.
Should we open a office poll on when these events happen?
Townhall.com :: Columns :: Thin green line is bad science by Debra Saunders
"Consensus science isn't science" --William M. Gray Colorado State University professor of atmospheric science
I love watching the science shows that describe the history of a scientific fact.. Almost all of them started with a single voice being ridiculed by the scientific community.
Those who are considered crazy now are often seen as brilliant in 30-60 years.
An interesting debate is emerging regarding the churches in China.
Luis Palau's Chinese church registration comments correct, or misguided?
I have heard from some missionaries and bible study leaders that some of the registered churches in China are quite effective.
Some leaders such as Luis Palau are encouraging churches to register with the government, so that the persecution is reduced, and they can preach the Gospel more effectively.
The Voice of the Martyrs argue that registering the church puts the communist party in front of Jesus Christ. The party has veto power over who leads worship services, can regulate who can come, and when, and "discourage" certain biblical teachings.
Earlier this month, I Blogged about Christian entanglement with politics in this country. It seems to me that many of the issues are the same, but the stakes are much higher over there.
It is hard to second guess those who are living through persecution for their faith over there, but I think it would be more couragous to preach the gospel to a large crowd, with the government censors listening, then to be persecuted for breaking a law about meeting secretly.
Even if you are unable to preach the entire bible, so long as you are able to open somebody's heart to the Savior, the Holy Spirit, can grow their knowlege and relationship with God.
I think submiting to an unjust government is always a challenge.
What do you guys think?
IR // News // Anti-abortion group seeks aerial advertising over Honolulu
This is quite an interesting debate. I think that the content of the advertizing is a free speech issue, and should be irrelevant to the discussion. You should either be able to fly a banner, or you shouldn't no matter what the message.
Should a local government have a right to regulate the appearance of aircraft that fly overhead?
Would it be acceptable for the state to regulate the bumper stickers on the car that you drive through their state? Should an airplane be any different?
Certainly a curious topic.
I wonder if the true reason for all of the negative reaction within the conservative camp to the Harriet Miers nomination is because they fear having a judiciary system that is on their side.
It doesn't make much sense for the GOP to oppose an Evangelical Christian pro-business nominee. I am totally cynical regarding their motives. Even if she is only moderately qualified, she is by all accounts going to vote on their side on most issues.
How many votes have the Republican Party earned this year because of the gay marriage issue? How many votes do they retain each year because of Roe vs. Wade? If the courts where to settle these issues, those voters would no longer be trapped voting for the Republican Party. I would argue that the Evangelical Christian movement is actually middle-right, not far right. Once the life issues are no longer in contention, other issues like poverty, health care, and environmental stewardship could be voting issues for evangelical Christians, and many of them would vote for more liberal candidates.
Having the judiciary consistently irking the middle-left will be a huge boost for the Democratic Party.
I think that many politicians in the GOP are pretty insincere in their pro-life convictions. They talk the talk to get the votes. It is very odd, how many GOP Senators are very negative regarding Miers' nomination while the Democrats are taking a wait and see approach.
KRT Wire | 10/03/2005 | Miers possesses qualities important to Bush: loyalty, trustworthinessFollowing Bush's election as governor, Miers accepted a part-time appointment as chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission, which had been beset by corruption charges.
During her five years on the commission, sales fell and the commission fired two lottery directors. But The Dallas Morning News editorialized that Miers deserved high marks for restoring integrity to the commission.
Isn't removing corruption from the Lottery kinda like removing crime from the Mafia?
Overall, I figure that Bush is picking somebody who he trusts to be a conservative on the court. He knows this person, and his judgement is probably correct.
It is interesting to see all of the hostility toward her, particularly from the right. I suspect that this is a sign that president Bush has squandered a lot of his credibility. Evangelical Christians supported him on the war in Iraq, basically because we trusted his judgement. It turns out that his judgement was incorrect, and now that trust is gone.
The right now has a "Trust but verify" relationship with the president.
World stunned as US struggles with Katrina - Yahoo! News
"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka."Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."
I suscpect that the stories of evil are being reported, while the stories of good are not. Can anyone point me to the stories of people taking care of one another?
We take so much for granted in this country. The tragedy in New Orleans goes to show us that without our infrastructure we are no different than a third world country. Actually, we are quite a bit worse in many ways.
The foundation of our civilization can be destroyed in a few hours.
I pray for the recovery of these poor folks. I also pray that we find a firmer foundation to base our civilization on.
They want to build a light rail system through my neighborhood. The sales pitch is pretty good. Probably too good to be true.
My neighborhood is a block or so away from the Appleway Avenue simulation. That simulation shows the neighborhood as it is today. Appleway runs right along the back of University city, A nearly abandoned shopping mall. They show a simulation of the effect that mass transit is going to have on University city.
I am suspecting that there is similar propaganda out there for the Appleway-Sprague couplet. They converted Sprague avenue to a one way street a few years ago, and installed Appleway Avenue. The couplet does make it easier to get around the valley, but it certainly has not lead to an economic boom.
I don't necessarily oppose the light rail, or transit. I just think that we should be realistic about it. The mass transit system will be really good for downtown Spokane. It will likely increase the property value in the immediate vicinity of the rail system. (Hey that is me) It will not impact the aesthetic properties of the neighborhood however. I don't believe that property owners are going to be inclined to put in a massive park in the middle of their property.
Trains don't make trees magically appear on the side of every road. Take a look at the Napa simulation, and it is obvious that that is what they are inferring.
I wonder if William Rehnquist is sick of having the paprazzi follow him around like he is a 21 year old hearthrob movie star?
My hometown has some interesting characters.
Tri-City Herald: WeirdSPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - When Rachel Dunham took out a restraining order against her boyfriend, she didn't expect to be marrying him a short time later. So instead of honeymooning in Mexico, Rodney Tomsha sits in the Spokane County Jail, accused of violating the order by getting within two blocks of Dunham.
In an obvious publicity stunt, Freestar Media has petitioned to have Supreme Court Justice David Souter's home condemed to make room for their "Lost Liberty Hotel"
Freestar Media, LLCOn Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.
Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.
The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."
I wonder how high fuel prices have to be in order in order for transportation costs to offset the benefit of using cheap labor.
It sees that this could be an economic disaster. If fuel prices go up, and we are shipping most all of our real goods from the other side of the world, prices are going to have to go up to compensate.
I don't think we have the industrial infrastructure here in the states to produce all of good we are buying from overseas.
Supply will go down drastically, causing some nasty inflation problems.
That threshold Transportation/Labor cost threashold is important. I wonder where it is.
Chinese dragon awakens - Special Report - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
U.S. defense and intelligence officials say all the signs point in one troubling direction: Beijing then will be forced to go to war with the United States, which has vowed to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack.
Our country has never really abandoned our reliance on slavery for economic advantage. We just keep moving our slave labor further and further off-shore. Looks like the Chinese have us exactly where they want us. If we stopped buying stuff from China, our store shelves would quickly be quite empty.
If we don't stop buying China's goods,we will be subsidizing the expansion of their tyrany over even more people.
Is this real?
Forsake The Troops! Official Website
The website claims that the webmaster was killed for the opinions expressed on his website. A Google News search returns nothing.
Apparently this Michael Crook guy found a digital camera belonging to a military person at a NFL game and decided to hold it for ransom. There are pleanty of media refereneces to that incident. He then registered some inflamatory domain names to further his infamy. You would think that the media would notice if he was murdered.
Update: Finally a link on Google news. The Marine Times are backing my hoax theory for now: Marine Corps Times - News - More News
Update 2: Mr Crook's blog (not worthy of a link) confirms that he is indeed a liar.
I think they should have to package the Spokesman Review in Brown paper or something. The last few days they have been discussing the Mayor's masturbation habits on the front page.
Bill Clinton got away with having an adultorous affair in his office. The media didn't think that there was anything wrong with that, but the idea of the mayor having computer fantasy sex in his office is abhorant.
If he had offered job and internships to attractive ladies, I don't think people would be raising such a stink. I think he should resign, but It would be nice if the media had the same determination to expose corruption in all politicians.
Spokane politics has been quite nutty for years. I thought it was finally on the mend until I turned on the news today.
Jim West :: A Spokesman-Review Investigative Report
Apparently the Mayor offered an city internship to a young man that he met on the chat boards at gay.com.
Turns out that this 18 year old high school student was actually a private investigator who was hired by the local newspaper who's parent company just settled a multi-million dollar lawsuit with the city.
The paper also reported that 2 convicted felons claim to have been molested by Mayor west back in the 1970's when he was a Sheriff's Deputy and a Boy Scout leader.
I had a very uneasy feeling last time I watched Mayor West speak. He was supporting settlement of the Riverpark Square fiasco and he likened the deal to a divorce. He then went on to discuss the "Blessing of a Divorce". Nothing angers me more than seeing those two words in the same sentence. For the former Senate majority leader (Republican) to throw out language like that was disheartening. His was using one of the devil's most powerful lies to move his agenda forward.
If it is true that Mayor West was giving out jobs (or unpaid internships for that matter) because of his own sexual interests, he should resign immediately. From the transcripts of the chats that the Spokesman had, that appears to be the case. The mayor didn't know this kid well enough to realize he was imaginary, and he was recommending him for a position.
It is quite a waste. Mayor West has been an effective leader for the city. It is a bad idea to follow the leader with a broken compass however.
Yahoo! News - Arch-Conservative German Elected Pope
It only took a few hours before the media turned on the new pope.
I commented earlier on how the media seemed to be campaigning for a liberal pope. Now they are stunned, that somebody was elected who actually believes what the Church teaches.
Go figure. I think it will be a long time before there is a liberal Episcopalian pope. It is impressive how the failure of fantasy suddently becomes news.
Confused Cops Swarm Woman After Birth
Sounds like an episode on a bad TV Sitcom.
Eyewitness News - Student suspended for taking photos of principal smoking at school
If a picture is worth a thousand words—then one Central High School student has proof, in photos, showing his principal is breaking the rules!But....guess who's in trouble?
Sometimes you do things that you can't take back. Once you are caught, nothing you do will repair your integrity. The harder you fight, the worse you will look.
Apparently a youngster survived 3 abortion attempts and is alive and healthy 3 years later.
Clarke reveals that paediatricians often intervene to save babies who have survived abortions.
He writes: “Late abortion raises serious practical, ethical and professional concerns. The dilemma of being telephoned about an infant born showing signs of life following termination of pregnancy is one that many paediatricians have faced. If viable, and resuscitated, those infants who survive may suffer significant illness.”
Apparently a couple of teenagers where successfully sued for delivering cookies to their neighbor's door. The neighbor was scared by their knocking and had to go to the hospital.
DenverPost.com - LOCAL NEWSThe families had offered to pay Young's medical bills if she would agree to indemnify the families against future claims.
Young wouldn't sign the agreement. She said the families' apologies rang false and weren't delivered in person. The matter went to court.
I don't blame them for not delivering the apologies in person. Last time they knocked it cost them 900 bucks...
Now that prostitution is legal in Germany, if a woman turns down a prostitution job, she loses her unemployment benefits.
Telegraph | News | 'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'"Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centres to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do."
The problem as I see it is that when the goverment removes the sanction of something becoming immoral, is magically becomes moral. This woman is being treated like she is an unemployment fraud case because she is not willing to participate in a "moral" profession.
Those Blue Iraqi thumbs are a pretty beautiful sight.
The Iraqi's apparently love democracy as much as we do. They had at least the proportion of their population vote then we do here in America. And we didn't have anyone shooting at us or blowing us up.
It is now their country. They earned it with their courage. More courage will be needed to clean up the mess over there. Now that Iraqis can fight for Iraqi government appointed by Iraqi ballots, I suspect that the terrorists better turn tail and run. Iraq is taking their country back.
To all of those pessimists here in the US who said that democracy wouldn't work over there, you should repent. Your racism is being exposed for what it really is.
WRAL.com - News - Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke
This may not be a bad idea. I don't think it is a good idea to fire your employees for smoking at home, but I do think it is reasonable to make them pay for their own health insurance.
I think that if you choose to do something detrimintal to yourself, you shouldn't expect everyone else to pay the bill to fix you up.
USATODAY.com - 'Rolling Stone' reverses, will accept Bible ad
"We have addressed the internal miscommunications that led to the previous misstatement of company policy and apologize for any confusion it may have caused," Lisa Dallos, spokeswoman for Wenner Media, Rolling Stone's parent company, said Monday. She declined to elaborate.
Interesting that they have a spokeswoman issue the apology, when they had a General Manager articulate the rejection. They are doing the right thing though, so I won't give them too much flack.
The University of Oregon is doubling up its efforts to be the most liberal place in the US. Now they have ruled that University employees can't express support of our troops.
First time I have linked to a blogger for posting a dead link... Cute...
Matt Margolis - Blog » daschle.senate.gov could not be found.
I have the coolest bug in my yahoo. It has been happening all year, and I don't know why.
The Boise State- Louisville game is listed like this:
vs. 0 3:30
Louisville 0 ET
As an Idaho Vandal fan, I have been quite pleased not to have my yahoo page defaced with reports of Boise State winning all year.. It sure is a weird bug... I don't think I will report it though.
When I was going to school at Idaho, I believe we where working on a 13 game winning streak over BSU.. I am pretty certain they are in the process of returning the favor now..
Yahoo! Sports - NFL - Gambling revenue proposed in financing for new Colts stadium
Doesn't it seem like this gambling stuff is becoming a big Ponzi scheme? It really spread like a Pyrmid scheme. It started with Nevada, and New Jersey, then it spread to State Sponsored Lotteries, then it spread to Indian Reservations, Then to Indian casinos just outside of town, then to card rooms in your neighborhood. Now it is trying to spread into Video poker machines in ever gas station and supermarket...
Each layer has the state skimming some off the top, and paying the rest back to the gamers. As the States become more and more dependant on that revenue to build their schools and stadiums, eventually the gamblers will run out of money, and the whole scheme will collapse.
If you fund your society by making people lose money, eventually you will become a society of losers.
"Responsible Gambling" is as oxymoronic. It is like "Responsible Bull-riding" or "Responsible Base-jumping" If you engage in high risk activities, you will get hurt. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. Yes, you can be very lucky, but it is not likely.. Especially if they are building Schools and Sports stadiums with your losings..
Here is an excelent article discussing how technology is finally giving the governed power over the goverment.
Until recently, one-party or no-party governments had a standing list of answers for people with a different notion: a) we don't care what you think; b) shut up; c) we kill you. There's no sure cure for c, but Plans a and b are becoming obsolete. Once impervious political authorities must now face the possibility of having their information monopoly hammered by an array of mostly American-engineered technology--smart cell phones, communication satellites, e-mail, Web logs (or "blogs") and a seemingly endless stream of information-sharing programs whose arcane names (RSS, Atom) hide their great power. The mass-market power of the older media--radio, TV, print--is also being integrated with the precision targeting of new technologies.
Time will tell!
I have long said that it was only a matter of time before the "Wall of Separation" crowd attempted to repeal the Declaration of Independence because of it's religous content.
According to this Reuters News Article it is starting to happen.
It is only a matter of time before we become British subjects again. ;-)
It looks like this Vioxx mess is going to offer us a taste of truth.
Yahoo! News - Expert Warns Against 5 FDA-Approved Drugs
I would argue that "Safe Drugs" are probably as safe as "Safe Sex". That is better than nothing, but not really all that safe at all.. Abstainence is the only real way to be safe. You may get a few moments of pleasure (or pain relief), but one time can sometimes cause a lifetime of disease, addiction or psychological trauma.
Human beings are a pretty amazing piece of machinery. We may think we know how one works, but really we have only theories. There are millions of parts interacting together to make a Human being. It is difficult to know what any substance is going to do to the perfomance of the millions of parts.
Pain generally serves a purpose. I think it is dangerous to eliminate pain by taking a pill. Half of the people on the steet are constantly medicated. If something is really going wrong, will they even notice? Or will they just pop another pill?
I suspect that our economy is growing like mad. Every person I chat with is extraordinarily busy at work right now.
It will take the economists a while to notice...
the evangelical outpost: Zogby's Crystal Ball:
Values Voters and Moral Relativism
From a James Zogby study in January:
But the differences between the two groups are not only found in their voting patterns but in their views as well. "Red State" voters, for example, tend to believe that moral values are "absolute" while "Blue State" voters were more inclined to accept "a live and let-live" moral philosophy.
I think now is the time for Moral Relativism to stand trial. I believe it is a fad that will soon die. Hopefully we don't have to witness the results of a society that fully buys into this "nothing is absolutely wrong" mentality.
Radical Congruency » What Will Replace Evangelicalism?
Much of what is broken is evangelicalism's reputation with non-Christians, especially those on the other side of the political aisle from the Christian Right. Just as the US has alienated other nations by invading Iraq as part of the "war on terror", the Christian Right has alienated much of the American public in the quest to see God's will done "on earth as it is in heaven."
I disagree. I believe that the Church is healthy, and this media barrage that it is facing is silly excuse making by the democrats and the liberal media.
According to The Barna Group\, Evangelical Christians make up 7% of the population and 11% of the electorate. They voted for Bush by an 85-15 margin.
Evangelicals have tended to vote Republican anyway, so while this is a good margin, it is not surprizing. frontline: the jesus factor: evangelicals: the evangelical vote | PBS
The Democratic candidates in recent years have gotten about between 30 percent and 40 percent of the evangelical vote.
Really we should be looking elsewhere to see why Bush won. He made substantial gains in the Catholics, Substantial gains among hispanics, and modest gains among African Americans.
In the 11 states where there where gay marriage amendments on the ballot they recieved support from an overall average of 2/3rds of the voters. 2/3rds of Americans do not belong to the "Christian Right". Even assumeing that a majority of evangelicals voted for these amendments there still where a ton of non-evangelicals voting for them.
The secular left is calling these voters "Ignorant". I believe that this stratagy will work quite poorly, and will alienate them from the secular worldview and move them to seek fellowship with people who share their values. Hopefully the church will have an excelent opportunity to share Christ's love with them.
Contrary to the left's conspiracy theories, by and large the church teaches it's congregations what the Bible says. They do not tell the members who or what to vote for.
If Churches did take political stands, I feel that often they would be much different than the voting patterns of their members. The IRS bans political speech from the pulpit, so it is hard to tell.
The Church will always have (And always has had) people who hate it. This is nothing new. They may have a new reason, but if it wasn't this reason, there would be another.
Andee and I had a great time today at this marriage conference that was being held in Couer d'Alane this weekend:
FamilyLife Conferences: Weekend to Remember (R)
It was a great time, and we learned a ton.
One of the points I thought was most key, was the idea that marriage is not a 50/50 endevor. It should be 100/100. Also if you only give in porportion to what you are getting from your spouse, pretty soon, neither of you will give anything, and you will be very unhappy.
Anyway, I would highly recommend this conference to anybody who has a spouse, or is engaged. Learn God's model for marriage.
If the democrats ever want to be competive and relevant again, they will need to listen to people like this guy:
The Backseat Philosopher: To My Fellow Democrats
Dismissing everyone from the Red States as ignorant seems to be the democratic sentiment right now. We are not ignorant. We have reasons for our beliefs. Liberals will never make any progress if they are too arrogant to have a real discussion.
Via Wild Bill
I think there is a ton of disinformation going around about the Evangelicals effect on the election.
Here is an example from Sidney Blumenthal that a "less conservative" friend sent to me today:
Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | A moral dilemma
The evangelical churches became instruments of political organization. Ideology was enforced as theology, turning nonconformity into sin, and the faithful, following voter guides with biblical literalism, were shepherded to the polls as though to the rapture. White Protestants, especially in the south, especially married men, gave their souls and votes for flag and cross. The campaign was one long revival.
I have been to a lot of evangelical meetings in the last few months... At least 2 per week, and I didn't see any effort by any church to make us vote for a particular candidate. I was encouraged to vote. That is it.
What compelled Evangelicals to vote wasn't a big conspiracy by Carl Rove or threats of eternity in hell from their pastors. It was liberal activism. "Under God" being removed from the pledge of allegiance. The imminent demise of the partial birth abortion ban. Activists deciding to write their own laws and begin performing gay marriages in several places across the country. The war against Ten Commandment monuments in courthouses. All of these activities have been going on in the last 12 months, and there are a lot of evangelicals who are offended by these actions. The only thing that they can do about these issues is to vote. And vote they did.
Most denominations opposed the Iraq war. Some very strongly. But Conservative Christians Where Biggest Backers of Iraq War The churches really don't have nearly as much power over politics as they are given credit for.
I would guess that if the IRS didn't prohibit churches from taking political stands, most pastors would be more moderate than the stereotypical conservative Christian. The values would likely be the same, but the intensity would be different.
We should be looking to God for solutions, not to the President, Congress, the Courts or anybody else in this world. People like myself who become consumed by politics get separated a bit from our prayer life. We argue pridefully, and not prayerfully. We become more human, and less Christian. When a non believer hears an unprayerful argument from a Christian, often it comes across as arrogant, and intolerant. A prayerful argument tends to bring out an internal examination. A non-believer will still be attracted or repelled by a "Spirit driven" the argument, but It will be much more effective, and much more reflective of Christ's love.
Good pastors know that too much faith in political solutions becomes competition for faith in the Living God. We should vote our consciences and do what we can in this world, but remember our prayer is much more powerful than our ballot.
I think that the real underlying issue that caused religious folks to vote heavily for Bush, and non-religious folks to vote for Kerry was moral relativism. Bush is quite "Black and White" while Kerry is mostly "shades of Grey". Religious people inherently accept the fact that there is a truth. Non religious people don't; everything is relative. Bush appears insane to the moral relativists, but those who believe there is an absolute truth don't get understand what the big fuss is about, and think that the anti-Bush activists are the crazy ones..
I would argue that activism nearly always helps the incumbent. Nixon, Reagan and Clinton and now Bush 43 where all quite controversial and had people marching in the streets, declaring them Satan and the like.. Moderates are turned off by this behavior. If they don't want to join your parade, usually they run the other way. These presidents all won their elections pretty convincingly. Jimmy Carter and Bush 41, where quite a bit less controversial, and they where defeated with a yawn.
What went wrong with the Kerry Campaign? Move-on.org, George Sorros, Michael Moore. Too much activism. Kerry's proper response would be to run away.. Instead he joined the parade at least here and there. This was the same parade that moderates where running away from.
It looks like there is little doubt that the republicans did very well this cycle. Republicans Up in the Senate, Up in the house, and defeated the senate minority leader.
Bush garnered more votes than any other presidential canidate in history.
It was quite entertaining to wantch Brokaw, Rather and Jennings all try to tear into Ed Gillespie for expaining that there is no way that Kerry would win Ohio.. It was evident that the mainstream media was in denial. "Can't we wait for a day?" they asked.. We can wait, but the laws of arithmetic will not change overnight.. Math is not spin.
Watching the talking heads jabber on about electoral vote paths and the like has been entertaining and boring all at the same time..
Everyone talking about the how the states need to fall in order for Kerry to win have written off Florida to Bush... But the networks refuse to call it.. If they know Kerry can't win, why don't they call it? Chicken? I would say so..
Kerry's Discharge Is Questioned by an Ex-JAG Officer - November 1, 2004 - The New York Sun
Kerry spokesman David Wade did not reply when asked if Mr. Kerry was other than honorably discharged before he was honorably discharged.
It makes quite a bit of sense that Kerry would be dishonoroably discharged. That fact that his campaign won't say "It aint so" adds to the credence of this theory.
Kerry did venture into criticizing Bush's Texas Air National Guard record, so if it turns out that he was too busy chatting with the Vietcong and slanderingour soldiers to complete his own duty he would come accross as a first class hypocrite.
Another important quote from that story:
A member of the Harvard Law School admissions committee recalled that the real reason Mr. Kerry was not admitted was because the committee was concerned that because Mr. Kerry had received a less than honorable discharge they were not sure he could be admitted to any state bar.
President Carter pardoned the draft dodgers and upgraded the discharges on a lot of soldiers about the time that Kerry recieved the discharge papers on that he now displays on his website.
Apparently al-Jazeera only published the parts of the bin Laden tape that didn't help president Bush.
New York Post Online Edition: news
Officials said that in the 18-minute long tape — of which only six minutes were aired on the al-Jazeera Arab television network in the Middle East on Friday — bin Laden bemoans the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan and the lack of violence involved with it.On the tape, bin Laden also says his terror organization has been hurt by the U.S. military's unrelenting manhunt for him and his cohorts on the Afghan-Pakistani border.
(emphasis mine)
Don Barbieri is running an add in which he mentions his opposition to the (not yet proposed) State Income Tax. I suspect that this is a clever way of being deceptive. A Congressman doesn't have any control over how the state taxes it's citizens. They only have (a microscopic amount) control over how the federal government taxes us.
By saying he opposes the State Income tax, he gives the impression that he opposes taxes, but he never says that.
War is an imperfect science, but the Bush administration is actually doing pretty darn good all things considered. The Fourth Rail has a good disccusion about this tonight.
the fourth rail: The Politics of Failure
When we invaded Iraq, I figured we would be lucky to gain control of the country without losing 1000-1300 soldiers.. If Iraq had put up a sustained defence, I am certain we would have. We did incredibly well. It is still a war, and war is ugly. The fact that it is ugly doesn't mean that the Army or the President are failing to do their jobs.
It's not a video game, it is a war. In war, people try to kill, and sometimes they succeed.
Orson Scott Card is quite sharp.
Here's the gist of Kerry's secret plans: Whatever Bush did, Kerry would have done differently.But what I don't get is: If Bush is out of office and Kerry is in, how will Kerry know what Bush would have done so that he can do the opposite?
Kerry has carefully created himself as the "UnBush." So in the absence of Bush, will Kerry continue to exist?
I think OSC may be the inventor of the Blogsphere.... Ender's Game had a substantial plotline about Ender's teenaged siblings gaining power and influence using technology like I am using now.
Luke 1613"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
WorldNetDaily: IRS: Churches can't pray for Bush victory
In this case, the government may not have passed a law prohibiting free exercise of religion, but they put out a good enough bribe to get people to compromise their beliefs.
I would like to see a flat value added tax replace our current income tax system. This would remove the IRS's power to censor churches.
I don't believe a church would be wise to endorse a specific candidate, but they should be free to discuss issues such as poverty, abortion, euthanasia, war, sexuality, and gambling without being censored
Unfortunately certain candidates choose a ton of unbiblical stances, and biblical knowledge is a powerful ad against these candidates.
Brian P. Golden is a three-term Democrat representing Boston in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He is a major in the Army Reserves and served on active duty with the U.S. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and at the Pentagon during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Guess who he is endorsing for President???
Another win for the Bloggers over mainstream media. Somehow the highly trained journaists and all of their layers of fact checking failed to notice the impossiblity of 380 tons of explosives being hauled off by a few looters.
Bottom line this operation would take the resources of AN ENTIRE COMPANY (approx. 100 men) OVER TWO WEEKS, good Intel to know exactly where the "right" explosives were hidden and a means of breaching huge steel doors and concrete of an ASP.
The Kerry campaign doesn't really care about the truth, and is shooting themselves in the foot by blaming Bush for this looting. According the NBC, when our troops arrived at this location, they found lots of weapons, but not the explosives in question. This was not looting, but a concerted efford by Saddam to hide or dispose of his weapons. It is likely that Saddam did this with other weapons as well. I would guess that the Iraqis have been moving weapons around for 12 years, and are actually quite good at it.
When the Democrats can blame Bush for losing weapons, it seems that they are happy to admit that Iraq had them. Otherwise, they say that there where no WMD in Iraq. Is the American Public really going to let them have it both ways?
Hog on Ice is chastizing Bush for Allowing Pearl Harbor to be bombed. (Sarcastically of course)
Almost every Kerry supporter I know blames Bush for at least one thing that is totaly beyond his control. I think every time I talk about the situation in the middle east with one of these people, they tell me that it is Bush's fault that we are dependant on oil. this is silly. It is not his fault that Saddam invaded Kuwait. It is not his fault that the UN inspections failed for 12 years. It is not his fault that Al Queda was not punished after bombing the Wolrd trade center in 93, Our embasies in Africa, the USS Cole.
I just returned from Redding CA... We flew into Sacremento, drove all the way up I-5 to Redding, and stayed in the Redding area for 2 whole days and drove back to the Sacremento airport.
During the entire trip I saw exactly 0 John Kerry signs. (And I looked)
I didn't think it would ever happen, but Michael Moore admitted that Bush didn't lie about something!
Stop slacking off, Moore tells nonvoters - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA
"There's a reason that they're saying Kerry is the No. 1 liberal in the Senate," said Moore. "It's because he is the No. 1 liberal in the Senate."
Yahoo! News - Americans Going to Canada for Flu Shots
I think this whole flu shot is being blown way out of porportion.
The human race endured for thousands of years before the advent of the Flu shot.
The media indicates that x number of seniors die each year from the flu. It doesn't indicate what percentage of these seniors where vaccinated however. The evidence seems to show that vaccines don't work too well on people with poor immune systems. Of course it is the people with poor immune systems who are most likely to be killed by the flu.
VACCINE RISK AWARENESS NETWORK - "Flu Shots...Do They Really Work?"
Influenza vaccine efficacy drops to 30-40% among the elderly, this group being the main "target" for flu shots. CDC attributes lack of influenza vaccine efficacy in the elderly to their "decreased immunologic response." (6, 7)Past studies of Type A (H3N2) influenza vaccine in nursing home patients yielded an average of only 27% efficacy, with four studies demonstrating vaccine efficacy at 0, 2, 8 and 9% (6). Poor vaccine efficacy can even occur when the vaccine virus is "essentially identical" to that causing the outbreak (5). For influenza B vaccine, studies range from 0% to 36% effective, averaging 21% (6).
It seems to me that much of the problem with the flu shot shortage stems from the centralized purchasing of vaccines by the goverment. Awarding these huge contracts limits the number of companies that can compete in this market, and as a result we are highly dependant on few vendors.
Check out Ashley's Story if you have not seen it. This is what a campaign ad should be.
Today I heard a Democratic negative radio spot criticizing gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi for opposing efforts to normalize trade with Cuba.
The odd thing about this is that the Cuban normalization's biggest proponent was Republican Senatorial candidate George Nethercutt. He got legislation past over the objections of the republican leadership and the republican president allowing some trade with Cuba. When Castro didn't buy, Nethercutt went down and had a chat with him and eventually Castro did begin purchasing our ag products again.
It is odd that the Democrats would highlight one of the crown jewels of Nethercutt's congressional career. Rossi's position on this is quite irrelevant really. Without the hard work of Nethercutt, there wouldn't have even been an issue to be either side of. The embargo is a federal issue, not a state issue. The Ad did a good job of laying out all of the reasons that Nethercutt's work was beneficial to Washington state.
The vice president stated no objection when Edwards, a North Carolina senator, brought up Mary Cheney during their debate last week. Edwards expressed "respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It's a wonderful thing."Cheney thanked his opponent for the "kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much."
What that leaves out is that quote was the entire statement Cheney made.. He didn't use any time to discuss the issue. He didn't want to go there. Plus, Edwards didn't try to cram words into the mouth of Mary Cheney. I would venture a guess the Kerry has never had a conversation of any depth with her. There are pleanty of other examples he could have used.
I think Kerry made to mistakes in yesterday's debate.
One was capitalizing on Cheney's Daughter's sexual orientation. If she wants to discuss this she is free to do so. For him to speculate about what she would say is inappropriate. It should be her choice. Cheney obviously was not comfortable discussing this in the VP debate. I have not seen his daughter parading in the spotlight, and I would assume that is by choice. Kerry is insensitive to take that choice away from her.
The "Marrying up more than others" comment was awkward and potentially insensitive. There are too many ways to take this, and none of them are positive.
Kerry's character is a key issue for his campaign. I agree with his mother. Integrity, integrity, integrity. I think he comes accross as an opportunist, and somebody willing to say what it takes to get elected. This is not integrity.
Bush on the other hand does what he says, and says what he does, whether people like it or not. this is integrity. Kerry would have been wise not to call attention to this issue.
Now the real fun begins. I don't think the debates are going to decide the election.
Now is prime time for dirty tricks. I think that Kerry is a distinct disadvantage in this department of the campaign. The issue is twofold. 1, everyone knows that Bush was a sinner, and 2 all of his closets have been thouroghly searched. The DWI charge in the 2000 election didn't break his campaign. I don't think character is as heavily weighted an issue on the incumbant. We already know him, and like him or hate him.
Kerry's problem as I see it is that his skeletons are not well hidden. When you go before the Senate and accuse people of systematic rape, it doesn't take a dirty trick to use that against you. The POW anti-Kerry crowd is going to now be louder than ever. They are discussing the repurcussions of actions that everyone knows the Kerry took, so there is no room to dismiss them as liars like the Swift boat vets where.
It will be interesting to see if Kerry's military records get pried out. I would suspect that he was not attending his reserve drills and stuff when he was so busy traveling the country protesting. All of the Texas Air National Guard stuff could really hurt Kerry if it turns out that he was just as guilty as Bush. The president has been wise to avoid Kerry's military record, but Kerry did make some comments that could turn out to be quite hypocritical if he didn't fullfill his service. You would think that if this dishonorable discharge story had wings, it would have flown by now, especially with the way the Vets have lined up against him. But if It doesn't have wings, why doesn't Kerry just sign the form 180 that allows his military records to be released? He must be hiding something.
This stuff is definately worth listening to.
There is no denying the things the John Kerry said in 1971 about Veitnam Vet's systematically commiting rape and murder.
The Swift boat vets could be doubted. But these guys are telling of the effects that John Kerry's actions had on them. There is no room for debate here. Kerry said what he said, and these folks hate him for it. If you listen, you will understand why.
Kerry can't dispute these allegations. We have all heard what he said in 1971. There is no way he can say these guys are politically motivated. Their anger is too real, too well placed, and to reasonable. The only way to fend off this message is to take away these patriotic American's first amendment rights to tell us what they think of John Kerry and why.
He should be ashamed of himself.
Question on Iraq....
Seems to me, that we are not out manned in Iraq. If we see a target and we want to take it out, we have every capability to get the job done. We are also very capable of defending the key installations that keep the march towards democracy on track.
Soldiers are getting killed by sneaky individuals using car bombs and the like, not by overwelming manpower.
If we send extra troops to Iraq, wouldn't that just put more targets in the feild for the enemy to strike at?
Orson Scott Card always has something interesting and compelling to say.
Sometimes a President chooses wrong. That's inevitable. Much of a President's job is guesswork, based on the best available information. But as long as we aren't electing prophets to be President, we'll end up with presidents who make human errors, and who have advisers who also make errors -- despite their best effort.
Hindsight means nothing to me. We need a vision for the future. Bad things have happened, and will continue to happen.
Whining about history does nothing to improve the future. What kind of leader would Bush be if he was allways spewing half empty analysis of the situation like Kerry does?
The Democrats are angry at the president for not accepting his mistakes. I don't know what good would come from pointing out your weaknesses to your enemies.
Kerry won. At least for the most part.
20/20 hindsight is a very nice asset to have on your side. The odd thing is that there is very little indication that Kerry would have done anything different if he where president. He advocated invading Iraq unilaterally if nessesary at different times in his career.
I found it contridictory that he would criticize the president for using a coalition to negotiate with N. Korea rather than going it alone with them.
The war in Iraq is not a disaster. It is a war. In wars people die. It is very impressive that we could take possession of an entire country without losing thousands of fighting men. I would challenge anyone to name a war where so much has been accomplished with so few casualties. Yes, there is still a lot remaining to be accomplished, but we are making progress.
The reason that Al Queda hates America is because we have a military presence in Saudi Arabia. The reason that we have been forced to have a military presence in Saudi Arabia is because of Saddam. Something had to give. Letting it be us would be a very bad precedent, and would endanger the stability of the entire world. We are the only country in the world that is capable of enforcing any agreement, If we don't have the resolve to hold folks like Saddam to their commitments, then there will be a whole lot more thugs like Saddam running around.
Kerry's gaff about pursuing sanctions against Iran is indicitive of one of the problems I see with the whole "Farenheit 9-11" mentality in the Democratic party. They want to blame Bush for the entire situation in the middle east. Bush was dealt a hand, and had to play a card. I don't think there has been a pretty hand dealt in the middle east since Moses. It was not Bush's fault that the situation is what it is. Al Qaeda has been bombing us for at least 11 years. We have had troops in Saudi arabia for 13 years. France Germany and Russia would never invaded Iraq unless Iraq invaded somebody else first. We don't really want to wait for that to happen. The only reason it hadn't happened is that our boys have spent 13 years putting their lives on the line. How many Russian, German or French planes have been threatened or shot at while patroling Iraq's no-fly zone lately? All the while, Al Qaeda had been becoming more and more angry and more and more militant with us precisely because we can't leave Saudi Arabia. Those who died on 9/11 dies as an indirect result of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. Saddam didn't kill them, but he created the climate that did.
The AP leaked their story about the Presidentail debate 3 hours before it took place!
Reading this story, knowing that it was written well before the event took place, is there any way that you can say that the AP is not biased?
For some reason, John Kerry removed this from his website.
:: John Kerry for President - A New Era of National Service ::
As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service.
SpinSwimming has more detailed analysis.
Since 9/11, The democrats have proposed several bills to re-institute the draft. The GOP has opposed these and prevented them from being seriously considered. John Kerry is now accusing the GOP of secretly re-instituring the draft after the election. I am afraid he has it backwards.
Can someone tell me why this is in my top stories on my.yahoo.com???
Yahoo! News - Franken Takes Radio Show on Campaign Trail
Does anyone even listen to that show?
Here is a clever blogger... Had to add this one to my New/Untested list right away!
Swimming through the Spin: These aren't the Droids I'm voting for
Well, I was critical of the republicans in our local congressional race a week or so ago, so I figure I need to be fair and Balanced.
My wife just got off the phone with someone who was a apparently Democratic Pollster. They where doing a push poll for Don Barbieri. Mr Barbieri is running a well funded campaign to take the congressional seat being vacated by George Nethercutt. (The Demcrats still call this "Tom Foley's seat.)
I hate push polls. How stupid do they really think that we are? I see that as one of the worst forms of negative campaigning. "If you knew that my opponent wanted to Burn down all of the forests of Eastern Washington, would that make you more or less likely to vote for them?" (No, this wasn't an example from this particular pollster, but it may as well have been) If you call and ask my opinion, I am doing you a favor by giving you the time to let you know what I think. When you take advantage of my generosity, It makes me dislike you.
If you are going to be using a negative campaign be bold enough to let everyone see what you are doing. If you message is true, put it in a TV ad, where everyone can judge. Doing this over the phones is a cowardly gossipy method of spreading your message. What is more, Push polls don't even have to be true.
I am planning to write down the questions from any pollster that calls me. I will post them on this Blog, for the whole world to read. I notice that this blog gets a lot of hits from people searching for information on Don Barbieri, and I have only made one post about the race.
That John Kerry's Boston accent seems to be coming back? The other day I heard him talking about Iraq, and it sounded almost identical to the accent he was using in his infamous monolog before the 1971 senate hearings. Most of the other times I have heard him speak, it was much less pronounced..
Perhaps this is just his "I am trying to sell you a whopper of a lie" voice..
The Corner on National Review Online
But I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things. -- Dan Rather
Perhaps I am a victim of Ivy league Marketing hype, but I thought if you had a Yale degree, you at least got an interview with pretty much any employer who was hiring.
I bet there where a lot of guys who got into the Texas Air National Guard without degrees from Yale.
I find it interesting how every story mentions that this guy is a "Fraternity Member" Although there is no indication that anyone in the fraternity was co-conspiring with him.
Pretty clever crime. I wonder if the victims where actually guilty.
On a side note, I have always wanted to rig my car so that when somebody reached for my windsheild wiper, the car detected the motion and turned on the Windshield washing feature.
Dick Morris's analysis of the trouble that Kerry is in seems pretty convincing: New York Post Online Edition: postopinion
The polls already have shown how Kerry's own voters break almost evenly on the issues, with half supporting the war in Iraq and half opposing it, and almost equal numbers saying we must stay the course as say we should bring the troops home.So Kerry can't use issues to hold his own in the debates: Whatever he says will antagonize some of his base. And now it's plain that he can't rely on personal popularity to hold them, since most are just voting against Bush.
Funny how the Hoax naysayers are sticking to the arguement that these Documents are real. They indicate that it was possible to create a document that matches the default word settings of today back in 1971.
The likehood that Killian actually went through all of the trouble to replicate a 2004 word document font when he was just writing a CYA memo to himself is bordering on insane.
Killian's family says that he couldn't hardly type, He never kept notes like this. The military policies forbid this kind of document.
The document matches the formating templates that the military uses today, not the templates that they used back then.
I think the most definitive website I have seen on this is JOSEPH M. NEWCOMER's
His website is complaining of being a bit overburdened from the traffic, so I will quote his conclusion here.
So we have the following two hypotheses contending for describing the memos* Attempts to recreate the memos using Microsoft Word and Times New Roman produce images so close that even taking into account the fact that the image we were able to download from the CBS site has been copied, scanned, downloaded, and reprinted, the errors between the "authentic" document and a file created by anyone using Microsoft word are virtually indistinguishable.
* The font existed in 1972; there were technologies in 1972 that could, with elaborate effort, reproduce these memos, and these technologies and the skills to use them were used by someone who, by testimony of his own family, never typed anything, in an office that for all its other documents appears to have used ordinary monospaced typewriters, and therefore this unlikely juxtaposition of technologies and location coincided just long enough to produce these four memos on 04-May-1972, 18-May-1972, 01-August-1972, and 18-August-1973.Which one do you think is true? Which one would a 13th-century philosopher think made sense? How many totally unlikely other juxtapositions are expected to be true? How could anyone believe these memos are other than incompetent forgeries?
This seems to be one of the best demonstrations of the forgery I have seen yet:
We have a substantial race for George Nethercutt's congressional seat here in Eastern Washington. It is funny to notice the media still considers it Tom Foley's seat. Democrat is a real threat to retake Foley's old district
I was pretty startled yesterday to see the RNC running ads criticizing Don Barbieri for laying off workers at a dairy that his company bought. Mr. Barbieri is trying to play himself off as being a good boss to work for who has created good jobs here in Spokane. I know various people who have worked for his company, and some love it and some see it as another dead-end hospitality job.
I believe that the reason that you buy companies is that you believe that you can run them more efficiently. If we don't allow people like Mr. Barbieri to make our companies and industries more competitive, then they will not be able to compete on a global market, and even more jobs will be lost. You can't afford to give your employees excellent benefits and adequate pay if you are subsidizing unproductive and unnecessary positions in your company.
I am sure the the RNC knows this, They believe in free enterprise. They are compromising their principles to take a potshot at a rival.
Don Barbieri is a substantial threat. He has raised over 1 million dollars for his campaign. The way to beat him however is to challenge him on his positions, which are diametrically opposed to the positions held by most eastern Washington residents. If we start pretending to be left wing liberals who know how to run businesses better than the businessmen do, then we are strengthening the position held by most in the Democratic party, and thus weakening our own position.
I seem to see a lot of speculation on how Jesus would vote. This annoys me. If Jesus where to vote, he would vote for the winner. As he has the power to direct the outcome of any election. His vote is really the only vote that matters. I think in most cases however he does not intervene, and lets us reap the consequences of our national "free will"
If where only to pray as much as we complained and politiced, perhaps we wouldn't have half of the messes that we have in our culture today.
If we where to obey the direction that He gave us, we also wouldn't have nearly the mess that we have today. I think it is quite rare today to find an obedient Christian. We all value something to the point that we put Christ in second place. Be it our money, our legalist philosophies, our lust for power, our desire for the respect of our peers., Our overindulgence in the pleasures of today... Any of these can interfere with us having the kind of relationship with Christ that overflows into our community and changes people's lives for the better.
I feel a little guilty every time I blog about politics. It is such a dirty game. In the end, George W Bush and John Kerry only have so much power. It is miniscule compared to the power of God. Putting too much emphasis on this human power is a form of idolatry.
Amazingly, the lead story on My.yahoo is " Yahoo! News - Questions Raised About Bush Guard Service
If you read the story, you will find a the following quote in the third paragraph
But the authenticity of the memos was questioned Thursday by the son of the late officer who reportedly wrote them. One of the writer's fellow officers and a document expert also said Thursday the documents appear to be forgeries.
They gloss over the real story to perpetuate the hoax.
The AP story continues to quote the late officer as if he actually authored the forged documents.
This from the wire service that hears phantom booing and reports it as real.
We should be thankful for bloggers like Powerline who are out there keeping the media accountable.
The whitehouse released these forgeries after they obtained them from CBS news. It will be interesting to find out where CBS news got them.
Hopefully this fiasco will spell the end of Dan Rather. His vendetta against to Bush family has always been outside of the realm of reality. Newsmen should hold themselves to reporting truth, not spreading slander.
It looks like the latest character assasination attempt on the president is a forgery, further undermining the Democrat's credibility. Power Line: The sixty-first minute
The Vietnam issue is a big loser for Kerry. Those who went to Veitnam are going to be perpetually angry about being called war criminals by Mr. Kerry. Those who joined the reserves, national guard, or got college deferments and the like are not going to take too kindly to having their americanism challenged because they did not go to the war. Basically an entire generation is being alienated from Mr Kerry the longer this stays in the news.
Proven forgery is going to further degrade any credibilty the democrats had left.
This was the story that they posted:
Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.
Here is a link to the audio clip.
Seems like somebody got that one pretty wrong.
The media is so hungry for the negative that inaudible the boos are more newsworthy than the overwelming majorty in the audio clip that are applauding. Apparently the media is totally deaf to compasionate conservatives. It is like we don't exist. I doubt that they intentionally made this up, as it is easy enough to disprove. The reporter probably actually percieved this booing, and had difficulty discering between his imagination and what what truely going on.
I think we have two realities that we live in. Bush is going to win because most people who hear that clip will not hear the boos. The Leftists believe that conservatives are evil at heart, but they keep pointing and the invisible, inaudible, and indiscernable evidence.
The AP to their credit did retract the story.
When Kerry demands Bush stop the Swift boat ads, Isn't he asking Bush to break the law?
MSNBC - Kerry calls on Bush to demand halt to attacks
Any formal ties between the Bush campaign and the veterans group would be against the law. Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth is organized as a non-party, independent political group under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, and coordination between a 527 group and a presidential campaign is illegal.
Or is it only illegal unless John Kerry says it is okay?
Kerry is now claiming that Bush is behind the Swift boat vets..
John O'Neill has been hounding Kerry about this stuff for 33 years. Bush did not invent him. When you say things like John Kerry said in 1971, you will make enemies. Especially if they believe you are lying. This kind of lie is not one that people are likely to forgive and forget.
I feel that campaign finance laws need to go. O'Neill has a right to free speech. There should be nothing that John Kerry can do to censor him. If he is lying, call him a liar, Refute his claims. Expose his motives. Sue him for libel. To make a law that prevents him from presenting his opinion in the political arena is the very kind of oppression that the First amendment is intended to prevent.
The Swift boat folks may very well be lying. They have plenty of motive to be angry with Kerry. I think their voice is negative, conspiratorial, and is not too credible. It will antagonize the Swing voters in the same way the Michael Moore and Howard Dean do. But they have the right to say what they have to say.
Kerry says that Bush should renounce these men's opinion. Bush was not in Vietnam. He did not see what John Kerry did or did not do there. He would be out of line calling these guys liars unless he knew that they where liars.
The problem Kerry has is that his campaign has squandered their credibility lying about trivial issues like Bunny Suits. And when they try to make a case regarding a serious issue, nobody has any reason to believe them.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Eyman's gambling initiative makes fall ballot
Looks like gaming machines may soon be commonplace in my neighborhood. "Eyman has said it's a win-win initiative - lower taxes without service cuts" I don't buy it. The state is going to still need the same amount of money. The only question is where are they going to get the money. If they collect the money using gambling, they are going to get the money from losers. The state gains a economic incentive to create more losers.
Gambling creates losers. Gambling addictions ruin lives. Resisting this temptation becomes quite a challenge when instead of having to drive to the nearest reservation, you need to walk a few extra feet in establishments that you frequent.
The 2% that they are setting aside for dealing with problem gambling shows that even the proponents admit this is a problem. I don't think you can spend any amount of money to remove greed from somebody's heart.
Under a traditional tax structure, the state collects money from winners. The state then has a incentive to create more winners.
Republicans, searching for votes, look to Amish for support
Perhaps the presidential election will be decided by 5 or 6 Amish votes in Pennsylvania.
There seems to be a lot of media focus on the Amish right now. I predict that there is going be an Amish pop culture fad. High school kids will start dressing Amish. I live in Spokane, so perhaps it is already happening in the 'real cities'
It sounds nutty, but does anyone think it can't happen?
Hopefully at least some of their values will bleed into the rest of culture. Couldn't hurt.
HP unveils its first Linux laptop - Computerworld
"This is the year that Linux overtakes the Mac on the desktop, and maybe my laptop will help accelerate that," Fink said.Industry research firm IDC in Framingham, Mass., said it believes that this has already happened. "Linux captured the No. 2 spot as desktop operating system in 2003," said IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky in a recent interview.
Now how long do you figure it will take to overtaken #1?
Apparently some people think the the free exercise clause of the first amendment does not apply to Bob Riley.
FOXNews.com - Politics - Atheist Group Challenges Alabama Governor's Bible Study
Kudos to Don Mischer for taking responsibilty for his actions. The Drudge Report has been berating him for throwing a profantiy laced tantrum about the quantity of balloons being released at the Demcoratic National Convention. CNN was kind enough to broadcast his tantrum live for the whole world to hear.
"I feel terrible about it, and I deeply apologize to anyone I might have offended," Hollywood heavy Don Mischer tells Saturday's LOS ANGELES TIMES.
Perhaps they are heeding the advice of some of us bloggers out here. I am glad that there was no conspiracy this time.
Further evidence mounts that the Kerry Campaign lies. How insane that you would squander your credibility to lie about something as silly as a photograph? Apparently the bunnysuit photos where their idea until they didn't play well, then the suddenly became a Right Wing Conspiracy Smear tactic.
Furthermore, NASA spokesman Bill Johnson said the Kerry campaign asked that the pictures be taken of the senator's unusually up-close tour of the Discovery and that processing be expedited so reporters could have them.
How would you like Kerry for a boss? He asks you to do extra work on his behalf, you go out of your way to help him out, and then for totally political reasons, he accuses you of wrongdoing.for doing excactly what he asked you to do.
Character does matter.
Appears that the Democrats don't have a monopoly on conspiracy theories:
Hopefully the GOP will have the wisdom to avoid endorsing such stuff. Even if Kerry did fake his presidential fluff peice 33 years ago, It is going to be hard to sell the non-partisan voter on the conspiracy theory.
Credibility is a pretty important asset, and it should not be wasted on this kind of stuff. Let Kerry's Vietnam comrades have their 15 minutes of fame if they want it, but I don't think the campaign should talk about this.
The Republicans must be so clever.. Drudge is reporting that they conspired leak photographs of John Kerry crawling through a tube in a clean room suit.
Kerry's camp denies knowning that these photographs where being taken. Kerry has a pretty big smile and pose in those photos, I suspect that they might be lying.
I would love to see what is really inside Karl Rove's dirty trick drawer.. (I suspect it is something much better than a Oompa Loompa suit!) Whatever it is, we will probably find out soon enough.
On a side note... I wore a suit like that for work for 22 months in the 90s. I don't think there are any photographs.
Congrats to Ricky Williams on his retirement.
Yahoo! Sports - NFL - In retirement, Williams still on the go
Many fans couldn't understand why Williams abandoned the team a week before training camp or why he gave up more than $5 million a year -- $3.6 million in salary this season plus $1.5 million in incentives -- at the peak of his career. He already has enough money, he said, and making millions more wasn't a priority for him.
How many NFL players play until they have totally worn their bodies out. How many of them play for the money and not for the love of the game?
I am glad that Ricky Williams is not one of them anymore!
Planned Parenthood is proud to offer yet another t-shirt in our new social fashion line: "I Had an Abortion" fitted T-shirts are now available. These soft and comfortable fitted tees assert a powerful message in support of women's rights.
If these sell well, I plan to begin selling parody T-Shirts with the slogan "I had a child" on them..
Must have leaked this story:
Yahoo! News - Prostitutes Join Police Converging on DNC Boston
Funny. I didn't know that prostitution was legal in Boston. If you where to read the article, you would assume that it is.
I wonder if anyone is fooled by this stuff... The Democrats have one of their leading advisors get caught 'accidentally' stuffing classified documents in his pants and socks. Now they are trying to turn it into a massive Republican conspiracy.
Yahoo! News - Kerry Camp Accuses White House of Berger Leak
This is another evidence of why Bush is going to win. The moderate American voters are moderate because they don't believe everything that anybody tells them. If somebody stuffs classified documents in their socks and calls it an accident, they lose a lot of credibility. Then they try to make the whole thing into their opponent's fault?
Their case: It is damages their credibility and comes at a convienient time for their opponent.
The credibility was damaged by Mr. Berger's actions, not by anything the Republicans do. Also, it is a political season, so anytime between now and the election is going to be a darn convienient time for any damaging info to come out. Leaks happen. Usually they are not a massive conspiracy. They are the actions of one individual who believes the public should know about something in the public interest. If the DOJ had put out a press release on this matter, I am not sure they would have been out of line.
The Democrats don't want us to know the truth because the truth hurts them. The "Farenheit 9-11" fans might buy this conspiracy theory, but the moderates of America is going to trust them less, and trust Bush more.
I have been engaged in a lot of debates lately by those who believe president Bush is pure evil, and created a vast conspiracy of lies to allow himself to invade Iraq. I am fairly certain that all of this talk will result in Bush's re-election.. The American moderate never does seem to buy the "This president is pure evil" arguement. Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton all faced these kind of angry propaganda, and they won their second terms quite handily.
In thinking about these issues, an interesting theory emerged in my brain, and I figured I should share it.
When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Saudi's felt that they needed to have a strong army protecting their borders. Osama Bin Laden tried to convince them to bring in his mujahedeen to protect the country, the declined and instead relied on the U.S. The US presence in Saudi Arabia is Bin Laden's primary motivation for being angry at the U.S. Frontline has a lot of details of his rise to power and his politics. He is not alone in this anger, and our presence there allows him to recuit a lot of young Saudi's to fight against us.
The critics of the war in Iraq, claimed that the policy of containment was working. They where right. For the most part however, the US and Britain where the countries doing the containing, and our required presence in Saudi Arabia was fueling the growth of Al Quida.
President Bush tends to Appease his political opponents. If you look at the Steel Teriffs, the Medicare prescriptions and various other policies enacted in his administration, they where all intended to appease the one-issue voter into not being a sure thing for his opponent. I believe this was his motus apperandi as governor of Texas as well.
The same is stratagy could be applied on a world scale. We have a one issue political leader in Osama Bin Laden. If we where to get out of Saudi Arabia, he would lose most of his leverage, and the political movement would be severely weakend. Saudi kids would no longer feel the need to boot us out of their country.
The truth is, that we really didn't want to be in Saudi Arabia either. However if we left, It would send a signal that Saddam had won. The policy of containment would cease to work if we where no longer there to draw lines in the sand and swat Saddam each time he crossed one.
If we stay, there is also a substaintal risk. Bin Laden's Political movement seeks to destablize Saudi Arabia. Our continued presence there is adding fuel to the fire. the Saudi's rulers where not going to put up with us forever. If we where forced out, and Saudi Arabia where to collapse into a civil war or the like, then our policy of containment of Saddam would also fail.
Our economy is also quite dependant on political stability in the middle east. If we where not able to buy oil from that region, our economy would quickly collapse, and we would have a pretty ugly depression here. Unlike the liberal conspiracy theorists, I do not think our interest in protecting the flow of oil is inherently evil. We are not stealing the oil. We are just protecting the rights of the people in that region to live in a stable society where the are able to work for a living and sell a much needed product.
Our continued presence there would also increase the likelyhood that al Quada would do more 9-11 style attacks against us in the future.
The first Gulf war ended with Saddam agreeing to take certain steps. He failed to keep his end of the bargin. If we where to just walk away, in the future, countries would feel that they could lie to us without fear. The contract ending the first war was null and void.
All of the reasons Bush gave for fighting the war where valid reasons. They where accepted as being truth for the last 13 years. Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Edwards, even Kennedy, spoke of Iraq's WMD programs. To say that Bush made this up is absolute hogwash. I believe that there where a lot more strategic factors that went into the decision that could not be stated because it would embolden our enemies, or weaken our allies.
In 5 years or so, Iraq could be a free and weathly nation capably of maintaining stability in the region. Other nations could see Iraq's success and also move in that direction. We will not be needed in the region anymore, and Osama will not be able to recuit kids to help him boot us out. I don't think history will judge Saddam kindly, no matter what your race or religion. Once the War is over, the people in the region will generally be glad it is over, and they will not be too eager to start another fight. Especially if our troops are not actively involved in their area.
If the policy fails, then the fanatics will continue to hate us just like they do now.
Overall, I don't know if Bush was right or wrong. God knows, and perhaps history will reveal the answer. I don't think he started this war out of 'pure evil' The Satus Quo had some pretty substantial humanitarian risks associated with it over the long term.
One of the Bloggers on my Trial list is reporting that his access to websites such as Blogspot and typepad are being blocked by the South Korean Government.
Opinion Journal has a long statistic laden article about the Roe effect. OpinionJournal - Extra
The hypothesis is the abortion kills voters, and that the aborted voters are more likely to have been liberal. As a result, the conservatives are going to gain a substantial edge in the next several years.
I find it amazing how out of control our intelectual property rights are getting in this country. It seems like our lust for money has overtaken our lust for knowledge, and we are willing to forgo the later in order to protect the interests of a few with deep pockets.
If you invest your time in solving a problem, then you should be entitled to whatever rewards the marketplace is willing to pay for your solution. Nobody should be allowed to steal your solution and sell it, or give it away. On the other hand, people who face the problem that you are trying to solve should be allowed to solve their problem on their ownwithout paying you.
The issue that we are facing today is that a lot of people are trying to solve very simple problems, but in solving their problems, they are risking getting sued by somebody who also solved the simple problem.
A 7 year old in St. Paul owns a patent on Sideways Swinging
Clearchannel recently won a patent for selling recordings of concerts immediately after completion. Much like the churches I have been attending have done for years.
Microsoft apparently now owns the rights to mouse double-clicking
Of course Amazon owns the 1-click
Washington Mutual Bank was granted a patent for their Banking approach
According to the patent's description, embodiments of the invention include the teller towers which remove the traditional barrier of a teller line and allow easier interaction between the customer service representative and the customer. Also described were the circular or oval layout of the retail banking stores, the concierge desk where customers are greeted and guided to the appropriate service area, and a kids' play area included in many of the company's stores. Further noted was the access to online banking through wamu.com and bank employees who are hired for their high sales aptitude in order to cross-sell the company's financial products.
My question is what good can come from this? Now if Wells Fargo decides to put toys or a receptionist in their branch they are risking getting sued? If I own a bank, and I want to be successful, I don't think I will be stealing WAMU's idea if I hire employees "for their high sales aptitude in order to cross-sell the company's financial products"
As long as we have problems, people are going to think of solutions. We need to take action to insure that we are allowed to do so without getting sued at every turn.
The government should be doing everything it can to ecourage problem solving. Not inhibit it. Right now, I think innovation is being stiffled by needless litigation.
Visiting Oregon frequently, The reactions in this article do no surprize me at all..
CBS 11: City Cracks Down On Naked Lawn Mowing
Thanks to Dave Barry for the link.
This is a very well presented case regarding Iraq.
It is impressive how many things we forget when we summarize our justification for war into a 30 second soundbyte.
But perhaps someday soon you can buy a happiness implant.
FDA Panel Backs Implant To Counter Depression (washingtonpost.com)
With the Reagan funeral hording the headlines, nobody seems to be noticing that banned Iraqi weapons are now begining to show up. Missile engine find stirs concern over Iraq proliferation - The Washington Times: World - June 11, 2004
The UN is finding these, not the US.
The U.N. team also discovered some processing equipment with U.N. tags — which show that it was being monitored — including heat exchangers, and a solid propellant mixer bowl to make missile fuel, he said. It also discovered "a large number of other processing equipment without tags, in very good condition."
Watch how fast Bush's critics change their criticism. Here is what the UN guy is saying:
"The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks ... thereby also rendering the task of the disarmament of Iraq and its eventual confirmation more difficult," Mr. Perricos said.
So, apparently Bush was right to believe that these weapons existed. He didn't lie to us after all. Saddam as been shipping them out for quite some time Another source: WorldTribune.com
Apparently there is quite a bit of chatter on the internet about the world coming to an end in the next month or so.. According to the latest, the earth is going to be pelted with comets over the next month or so. The world's goverments know about it, and are taking all possible precautions, but they are not telling anyone about the impending doom.
Please note that I do endorse these websites or the ideas presented. I have never read any of these sites until a friend pointed out that the world was ending. I am just posting them for your enjoyment.
Conspiracy theories are always entertaining. Seems like every couple of years we get someone telling us the end of the world is next week. One of these days someone will be right.
There is an interesting story about a cheater who is blaming his university for giving him passing grades on his plagerized papers. It is interesting to see that this trend of blaming others for our deficiencies is not localized to the United states.
This victim mentality is another offshoot of the aversion to pain that I posted about earlier. Seems that whenever anyone has pain these days they want to be compensated. Pain happens however. It is nobody's fault. It is part of being human.