Truth is easy to defend

I'm not sure who this woman is, but I'd sure love to thank her for fighting the good fight in an impossible situation. It's hard to debate against Islam extremism when you're talking AT an Imam.

Basting in Capitalism

It's the day after Christmas, hope all went well for your holiday. I'm sitting in a sea of consumer glut (not a bad thing, since capitalism is my personal favorite), there are new electronic devices everywhere. We went out of our way to try and limit the amount of gifts this year, but in return we bought better gifts. Almost every toy the kids got for the holiday plug into the computer. It's amazing to think of the difference in the toys I got when I was their age, and the things they get. Both kids got an ipod (one a shuffle, and the other a "recycled" nano 1G). Both got digital cameras made for kids. Both got video games or video game systems. Beats the pants off a Stretch Armstrong or a fire engine with "real working lights". It's almost enough to make you a tad jealous, but then I remember, I'm the Dad now. I get to play with their toys after I send them to bed. I know my parents did it too...so it's pretty cool to be the grown up.

Sometimes a solution is so obvious it screams to be heard

There's one easy way to solve all the potential problems in this article.
Make public officials take their oath on a copy of the United States Constitution.  That's the document they should be governing from anyway.

It was almost like church

I went to the University of Virginia today and saw Richard Dawkins speak. It was an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. I found Prof. Dawkins to be highly entertaining, modest, and most surprisingly willing to entertain a broad range of (intelligent) points of view. It was nice to see a very diverse group people there. There were obvious faculty and staff, there were Young Republicans, and atheists, and socialists, and then there were those who; like me, weren't "in a club". Everyone was greeted and welcomed in the same exact way, and I personally appreciated that.


I won't go into the discussion points, as that's several new posts within themselves. I didn't agree with everything Dawkins said, but I do respect the man and his opinion. I will also point out that I could have listened to him read excerpts from his book for hours. So much so that I hope he releases an audio version of his latest work (with him narrating), so I can pick it up. That's significant, as I hate books on CD.

Some of the day's magic may have been in listening to him speak in the Dome of the rotunda on the campus of UVA. I love the campus and could have roamed the Academical village for longer than I did. It was almost like church for me being there. All the things I hold dear are represented by the institution. Democracy, reason, higher education, and the belief that a secular government is the only moral and correct decision. All those values are embodied in that very building, and in it's creator. At the risk of sounding like an even bigger cheeseball, it was inspiring.

Anyway, I recommend you catch Prof. Dawkins if you have the chance. He's a staunch atheist, so if that offends you, stay away. He is also; however, a man of science and a brilliant one.

Virginia is for slingers

I live in the great commonwealth of Virginia. Home to one of the ugliest Senate races in all the land. I've been watching the candidates closely, and the mud came out very early. The Democratic candidate James Webb took full advantage of a large mistake by the Republican incumbent George Allen. He called one of Webb's staffers (who is a Virginian by birth) Macaca and welcomed him to our great state and country. Ouch.

Of course this scandal was over a month ago and now holds very little in the way of political influence. First Allen attacks Webb's tenure as a senior officer and some of the opinions he held at the time about women in the military. Webb thought that women were only trying to gain access to the military academies to "meet husbands". Chauvinistic and narrow minded to be sure, but this was twenty years ago when the military was still quite the boy's club (it might still be, who knows). So that didn't really cause the uproar Allen had hoped for. Then Allen desperate to dig something up on Webb, uncovers some "immoral" writings from James Webb. These writings were fictional novels based on war and overseas deployments Mr. Webb had experienced. Granted there are some very questionable passages (things like a father greeting his son with a little "genitals in the mouth" action, or women chopping fruit with their pelvic muscles, you know....Bedtime stories for the kids.). I wonder though, is a twisted sense of artistic expression enough to label the guy "immoral"? Does it make him a bad candidate for Senate? Maybe, but personally I couldn't care less.

My point? Has anyone heard anything about platforms above all this nonsense? Nope. No one knows what they're voting for or against. Interestingly, the Democrats may have ruined their best chance to take back the Senate by coming out of the gate slinging mud instead of focusing on the policy changes they'd implement. They leaned on the change for changes sake and that's a flimsy platform at best. That doesn't give near enough credit to the voters. We WANT to know where you stand on the issues that matter. Although it's fun from a gossip standpoint, we don't care about all the seedier crap. We know your opponent is a slimeball. He/She is a politician. As long as the activity isn't criminal and they aren't molesters/abusers, we don't care that much. Look at Clinton. America LOVED him.

Although I am very conservative, I also don't believe in voting according to ANY party lines. I am making my choice based on a few key things we are facing in this state.

One...An amendment to the state constitution "protecting" or "limiting" the definition of marriage as one man and one woman.
You can guess which side is for and against this measure.

Two...The war in Iraq. Who's going to side with the current administration and who's going to "fix" the problems.

Three..Taxes. Who's going to cut them, or raise them.

There are major problems with both sides. I agree with both sides on different subjects. I wish there were a candidate who was a true conservative and not a neo-con and a bleeding heart big government liberal. Although I suspect that Webb is a lot more conservative than he'll let on during the run up to the polls. That's unfortunate, because a moderate liberal is a lot more likely to win in this state than a way left liberal.

My biggest gripe with the Republican platform is the whole "Gay marriage ban" as it's become known. I don't see the point of legislating who someone loves. As long as they don't interfere with my day to day freedom, you can love/marry/screw whoever the hell you want. Republicans always want to legislate morality, which is impossible and goes far beyond the limits of where a government should be in my life. It actually starts to border on fascist.

My biggest gripe with the Democratic platform is the fact that they want to turn us into a collectivist state. NO THANK YOU. Keep your tax and spend ass away from my world. More government is not the answer. Government cannot fix all your problems. If you think it can, please move to Cuba, Venezuela, DPRK, or China immediately. They're great places to lose weight, and live a good simple life with no chance of becoming a materialistic person.

My biggest gripe with the Libertarian platform is that no one knows what it is. There has to be some big money/big special interest lobbyists that are Libertarians or Constitutionalists. PLEASE STEP UP AND GIVE US A REAL CHOICE IN THIS COUNTRY.

I still don't know how my vote is going down on Tuesday, but I do know that I'll be voting against the Gay marriage amendment. I will not stand idly by and let the government push a Christian agenda on me without some sort of protest.

I'm Brik D and I approved this message.

Germany's McHale's Navy

This cracked me up. There's so many possible captions it boggles the mind.

Fascism on the rise

Cheney's SS are Dicks too

While I find the article interesting and the arrest of this man an affront to all things American, I'm not surprised. I wish I were shocked. The Patriot Act at it's only logical conclusion. Also, what interested me more than the article though was the comments that were left by the readers.

It amazes me how any political discussion always turns to the topic of
religion. Why? My theory is that because religion, like politics,
concerns a set of rules that people think they should live by.

First off, let me just say, there is no way I can, or should ever consider
trying to, dictate someone's personal morality to them. If it follows the one rule
that it doesn't infringe on my freedom, do what you feel is right. People
should live the best way they know how. Maybe the rules they pick are the
best for them. Just don't preach tome about how I should live my life.
That's where both religion and politics fail miserably. The only
difference between the two is that religion is a personal matter and should
be left as that (thank you President Jefferson). Politics involves
creating laws that everyone must live by and because of that needs to be a
matter of public record and scrutiny. Political issues like this need to
be exposed, debated, and hashed over again and again and again. We should
exercise our freedoms, lest we lose them. People should also STFU about
religion, plain and simple. Unfortunately, people will continue to argue
about who's right and who's wrong out of two very human emotions: arrogance and fear.

Roll Tape...

I have a hobby that doesn't involve worrying about the state of politics in any way shape or form. I enjoy editing films (and making music, but that's a different story.). Of course with no one beating my door down to edit their footage (which is what you'd call "good"), it means I have to shoot footage as well.

I have graduated past the Windows movie maker stage, but I feel I may have reached my very limited potential. I hope that's because of pedestrian equipment and no training whatsoever. I'm in a bit of a conundrum. To get to the "next level" of my hobby, it's going to take a rather substantial investment. The camera that I'd like to have is almost $2,000 on it's own. Let's be honest, the camera I'd REALLY like to have is probably about $5,000 with all its HD and cinematic featurey goodness. Then the editing computer/software will total over $3500.00 if I get the good stuff. The question is, is it worth spending that much money on a hobby? Is there any potential for it to ever pay itself back? Does that even matter?

On the one hand it fills a creative need. I enjoy it, and I feel like I'm accomplishing something when I finish a project. Of course, I can continue with my current setup and still get fairly quality home movies. Which honestly, is the reason I started messing around with editing. It's not like I don't have kids to think about and all the ways they can find to spend my money. I guess I could take the medium route and take a class and play it by ear from there. I don't know...I just wanted to write it out to help me reason this out. So if you've read this far...you must be bored.

Why did I hit "Publish"? Cause I'm a narcissist. Bweeeeeeeeee!

Al Franken may have hit a nugget of truth.

I accidentally caught some of Rush Lumbago's (Yeah I know it's spelled that way) radio program for the first time in at least 5 years on the way home from work yesterday, and man...is that guy a sheep for the neo-cons or what?

Normally I don't care, he has as much right as anyone to his opinion, and the opportunity to express it. What puts me off is the arrogant, self righteous manner about which he dismisses all other viewpoints. Case in point, he makes it a point to mock Senator McCain anytime he mentions his name, and insists that McCain is a bully. Why does he do this? McCain had the unmitigated gall to disagree with the President on the "coercive questioning" (or torture, whatever helps you sleep at night) issue. How dare you Senator!?!!? You're supposed to be in the same party! FALL IN LINE AND PRAISE THE MACHINE.

McCain, apparently, is supposed to tow the company line and never ever ever ever EVER supposed to actually go with what he believes. He thought for himself. Nope. Can't do that in the GOP. Typical "Republican party stance is absolutely right, and all Democrats (regardless of what they say) are individually wrong" fare from this overly medicated, popcorn peddling, regurgitator of spin.

ferchrissakes, can I get some real choices in my political process?

Ahh, Fall is in trhe air...

I'm happy it's football season. This one goes out to my Stepdad, a Clowns fan.

The US is not a military regime.

I was taking part in a discussion about miltary regimes and thier advantages and disadvantages when someone used the opportunity to state the following:

"Is the US a military dictatorship? Yes, to a certain extent. The current administration has complete control over the military. This has never happen[sic] in the history of this country."

Now, I don't agree with this administration on many things, but when someone talks about one of the most enduring democracies on the planet, I get a little defensive. Plus, this person was just plain wrong, and thier comment came from left field. So here's my reply: "The current setup of power has been in place as long as their has been a Constitution. The President has always had the right to veto Congress, and has always been Commander in Chief. While I may disagree with the current administration's penchant for limiting our civil liberties (which is unprecedented in this country),this President has no more power over the military than any other. What he does have is a Secretary of Defense with his finger on the trigger at all times."

See how I still get my digs?? Does anybody agree with this person? If you do, can you please present a slightly stronger argument for this position?

Libertarian Patriotic Promotion

Cheesy music aside, this advertisement sums up why I believe in the Libertarian Party. Pay specal attention to President Lincoln's quote in this piece cause it's happening. For those of you not in the US, the ideals are still true. Personal liberty should not be limited as long as the individual doesn't use force or fraud as a means to an end; therefore limiting someone else's freedom.

Beatboxen Bush

Okay, maybe this is old, but it's new to me, and I find it damn funny. Hey we all got hidden talents huh?

The Justice department is trying to earn back it's name

As anyone who knows me might have expected, I was delighted that a judge (who was appointed by Carter, hmmmm) ordered an immediate stop to the wiretapping program that allowed the government to tap into someone phone line without a warrant. Under this program no warrant had to be obtained before or after the tap was put in place. It was ruled, rightly so, as unconstitutional.

Of course, the Bush administration reacted immediately. "We're going to do everything we can do in the courts to allow this program to continue," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a Washington news conference. Well duh.

Liberty is dying. Every move to resuscitate it is met with the resistance of a bureaucratic brick wall. Big Brother is coming for you whether you deserve it or not. Apparently, we're all terrorists now.

A Thousand Words?

Yeah, so I saw this and thought it spot on. Not really funny though. It might be if it wasn't true:

I hate a game of cowboys and Indians

Dear President Bush II

Stop mindlessly supporting whatever Israel does. When they're wrong, hey they're wrong. Three kidnapped SOLDIERS is not a reason to start a regional conflict that could easily knock the small semblance of democracy that has taken root right outta the box.

This is also an opportunity to accomplish two goals. Show some International diplomacy AND create an inkling of goodwill in the middle east. Lebanon isn't an enemy......yet. Nothing else has brought crude prices down, maybe some good old fashioned morality will. They're already burning the US flag in Lebanon and Palestine imagine what they're planning in places where we've been nothing but the cocky aggressors.

I'm fairly certain this won't be read, much less answered. But I must try. I should've written someone who can actually interpret the Constitution and believes that civil liberties means more than taking away all our freedoms with a smile on their face. Dammit. Oh well, I'll still be here wishing for a Libertarian with a chance.

Cordially,
Common Sense

I love a parade....

Dear Israelis,
Get the fuck out of Lebanon. Two words. Over reaction. Seriously.

Regards,
Common Sense

Hello?

It's been awhile. I've been keeping up with the stuff and this is how I feel about it all:

Happy Fourth of July to all Americans. To anyone out there who looks at this and isn't an American, good day to you too.

For those non-American citizens (or residents), please remember that this is the day we celebrate the beauty of independence and the liberty that should be available to all people. Please forget that the Bush Reic...er...Administration is doing it's level best to take our freedoms and make them their bitch (prison style) for not only America, but a few other places too.

On the "Maybe the GOP isn't completely brainwashed" front, the Senate denied a "flag desecration" law. It was SCARY close. It only failed by one vote. Listen, I want no part in burning the flag of this or any other country. What I do want is the freedom to do it. If it's not infringing on the rights of others (i.e. limiting their freedom, putting them in harms way, intimidating, or otherwise harassing) then I don't care what you do with a piece of fabric. If only the government would reevaluate their actual role and get rid of the god complex.

With that said North Korea needs to be dealt with NOW. Iraq wasn't necessary and in the mad rush to secure oil fields (good job there BTW, the price of crude has gone up 600% since Bush took office) N. Korea and Iran have become nuclear countries. All this while violating every treaty and agreement they ever signed. Wasn't this one of the big rallying cries when trying to convince the Senate that Iraq was a priority? Well, this is a little more serious than shooting a couple of tracers at our planes. Now N. Korea is actually trying to intimidate with the threat of nuclear war. That is the first time I've heard anything worthy of a "preemptive strike". But we can't. Because we're bogged down in the middle of the desert.

It seems the committed have gotten the keys to the asylum.

Enjoy the fireworks and barbecues folks. Oh, and as we start to gear up for the next big elections, remember that there are more than two political parties in this country. Let's start exploring them all. Maybe someone has a better way to do it.

Why I hate the Patriot Act, the two party system, and Nazis

I lifted this article from shoutwire.com. I very accidentally came across this while cruising around the web looking for funny video clips. Yes, I was very bored.

Article

This article, while going to extremes in some cases to make a point, does get the message across as to why the Patriot Act is the worst thing to happen to the United States since, well I can't think of anything worse than this. Americans are willingly giving up their liberty. That's unprecedented. It's not supposed to happen. It's downright un-American.

Patriot Act is such an ironic name.

Ah yes indeed it's fun time.

Go here:

http://partialthoughts.ning.com/

Ning is kind of like MySpace for people with IQs. The app is ugly and underdeveloped yes, but I'm tired and it's late. I swore one day I would write a book of all the totally out of context ending of conversations or sentences I hear everyday that makes me snort a little. This is the closest that dream may ever come. If you haven't noticed, I write for crap.

Add to the fun. You know you want to.

The propaganda machine must be broken

Here is a story that actually puts the US military in a  favorable light. A US naval vessel noticed an Iranian shop adrift and altered course to rescue those Iranian sailors.  Turns out they had been adrift for 10 days and were in dire straits.

This is the kinda of thing that should be getting more press.  I found it
buried deep on the local rag's website.  You'd think the US government
would want this story spread around like a low-fat butter substitute.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=100416&ran=151336

The insurgency is dying

The "insurgents" have now turned to attacking fellow Muslims in Iraq. It's more proof that the extremists have no idea what or why they're fighting, they are fighting because it's all they know. What good does it do to destroy the icons of the religion you claim to be so true to? The good news is that the insurgency is indeed turning on it's own and that can only mean that they can no longer claim it's about flushing out the infidels.

The bad news is that some people in the country somehow still thought of this as an opportunity to chant anti-American/Israeli slogans and burn the American flag. This was, in all likelihood a Sunni Muslim attack against a Shiite Muslim mosque. "When in Basra" I guess. It's easy to hate an entire country when you were born and programmed to be brainwashed, effortless to use logic and reason to think for yourself.

The ironic thing is that American (And other coalition) soldiers are there dying every single day to make sure they are afforded the right to chant "Death to America" anytime they want to. It's a twisted world we live in sometimes.

My dogma can beat up your dogma!

This was a response to another blog. The post was about the first homosexual Episcopalian bishop admitting to being an alocoholic. The post went from a peice about a drunk bishop into a propaganda peice for why the ultra-conservative catholics have the inside road on all that is right and just. Oh, and they're better than you too. Oh and God hates fags.

That article and the responses can be found by clicking the title of this post. Let me preface this by saying I truly do respect the person who wrote the article. She is steadfast in her opinion and she writes well. I really just wanted to post my thoughts here as well:

Hello, I'm brand new to this blog, and while I consider myself conservative I must also say that the Ultra-Conservative, Christian stance of self righteousness is an affront to actual morality.

Morality and religion cannot be assumed to be the same thing. There are plenty of people who use religon as a veil to mask immoral lives. If you rely on any ancient poorly translated text to live every small detail of your life, then you really shouldn't "cast the first stone" at anyone.

The Bible is a wonderful reference for a framework of morality, but let us not forget that the people who translated the works into the current version had their own agenda. The Catholics (as it was the only brand of Christianity for a long, long time) used the dogma of the church as a tool to keep the uneducated masses in line. It worked. It's documented that some words that were translated from Aramaic to Hebrew to Greek to Old English and to modern English, etc. have had several meanings and the translators went with the "best fit". To this day, the Nicene Creed continues to be "re-translated" to fit the language of the day. While it may not change the meaning, it does change the words. What will those words mean to the human race in 1000 years? What if a new language is developed in that time and this one dies?

Morality at the end of the day is in how you treat another human being. Can you really look at yourself in the mirror and feel good about the way you treated your fellow man. Hate mongering and basking in the glow of another's failure is not moral behavior.

Oh, and has it ever occured to those who accept the explaination that the Catholic priests who abused children were all "gay priests", that the church has labeled them as such to promote a further atmosphere of discrimination against homosexuals. This also served a second purpose of redirecting blame away from themselves for covering those same "gay preists" butts for decades? Plus, anything to satisfy the tithing congregations. The bottom line is Catholics are no better (or worse) than any other group from which you take a large enough sample.

With that said, I love the fact that I live in a place where we have the right to debate these things ad nauseam. Thanks.

Freedom of Speech? Not in Austria

This post is dedicated to Renegade Eye. Thanks for caring. Your my favorite (and pretty much only) reader.

So this story really pissed me off. Author states holocaust deaths were more from disease than extermination. He also says the Nazi's weren't as bad as advertised. He then writes books stating that Hitler probably had no idea what was happening. This pisses off people and makes this guy look like a heel. Austria (champion of democracy that they are) convicts him under a very vague law and seeks to jail him for up to ten years.

I have to ask, "Where's the crime"?

Is he a racist? Maybe, but the last time I looked, it wasn't a crime to speak your opinion. This leads me to what I'd like to fancy as logical questions...

1. Shouldn't the books published under his name be banned?
2. Should those publishers be tried and charged as well?
3. Should we start surveying our citizens and charging them when they don't bend to popular opinion?
4. Should we all get our firesuits ready for the Bradburyesque book roast that surely awaits?

I think the only immoral thing he may have done is tried to concede anything to the Austrian courts in the eleventh hour. He kind of redeemed himself with the quote, ""Of course it's a question of freedom of speech, the law is an ass." That sure made me giggle a little.

I don't agree with the guy, but he has as much right as anyone else to his opinions as long as he's not infringing on the rights of others. No matter what the Simon Wiesenthal Center says, freedom of speech should be protected even if it goes against your convictions.

Now for something completely different....

Something I've never mentioned on this blog is that I'm a huge Pittsburgh Steeler fan. I have been for nearly 25 years, and football season is the best time of the year. So, I must take the opportunity to say, Let's go Steelers. Let's get that elusive fifth Championship ring. Plus I'm happy for Bettis. He's a throwback kind of guy, and he deserves one.

That's a nice trophy, but I'm more of a fan of the tall one with the football on top.

We come in peace, unless we attack your homeland

It's about damn time Osama bin Laden (OBL) released another tape. Funny how it happened right as American Idol was starting. The man just can't stand someone else getting the spotlight. I think he might have a legitimate shot at the final 12 this year...

But seriously. He went on and on about things and then he offers a truce. Again. He also spoke directly to the American people and tried using some jedi mind trickery by turning the population against President Bush. Too late OBL, that ship sailed some time ago, people have been a tad upset with W for a while now. It's for more reasons than just the "war on terror" though.

But those comments were interesting to say the least. Think they don't speak volumes to what's really going on in Iraq and Afghanistan? Yes, coalition forces are coming under attacks from terrorists, but the evidence points to the overall success of the mission. The recent Iraqi elections were huge success by all accounts, with no real violence at or around the poll. That's pretty good for such a fledgling democracy with outside forces trying to force conditions that would allow the institution of Islamic rule. It's not going to be quick or pretty, but overall the citizens of Iraq aren't behind al-Qaida. They are physically fighting them, not necessarily side by side with coalition forces, but they are firing on terrorists and not "our guys". Don't believe me? Try this article from Christopher Hitchens. Love him or hate him, he makes sense here: It's Curtains for al-Qaida

By and large, Iraqis want all foreign influence out of their country. They want their freedom. The coalition forces should give them exactly that when it's relatively secure. However, Iraqis are well aware that getting the terrorists out is a lot more imperative than getting out the Western troops. It's also harder. The steps towards a strong independent nation are being made. Their government is making strides in the lawmaking body, as are the Iraqi courts. Ambassadors are being named and relations are being opened with neighboring Arab nations.

Make no mistake though, this doesn't absolve the western governmental leaders of their crimes against the people they were elected to protect. It just means our military leaders and soldiers are committed to successfully helping the nations who need it.

Happy New Year

The holidays are over, and the dog days of winter are about to descend on those of us in the Mid-Atlantic. Here's to a great 2006. We're almost there, only two more years of big brother, and civil liberties stomped upon.