Politics

The more I watch American politics the more I ask, how much should I get involved? I am convinced now that I will never enter into politics, but think the Christian voice needs to be heard. Just not sure how to go about that the most effective way. But I did think this was a neat quote I found on Roxy's blog.

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber."

Plato

Obama

Does his minister hurt him bad in this election? How is he handling the "race" issue? What do you think of his minister, another Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton?

Politics con't

Since we had such a good amount of discussion, which has remained very civil. I thought instead of another comment I'd do another blog, so here it is...

Jason I would agree that Israel is a theocracy not a democracy and there was/is quite a difference. However, I think we need a type of safety net welfare system. Teaching economics I have done some (not alot) of research as to where our tax money goes. Here are some stats: Which may or may not be made up :)

1) Since 1950 we have spent less than half (percentage wise) on military/police/fire

2) Since 1950 we have remained the same in most other areas with two major exceptions....

3) We now spend 4 times as much (again this is percentage wise) in expenses for the poor.

4) We also now spend 4 times as much on paying off interest from the incredible amount of debt from the government. Which leads me to say:

Why trust the government to "fix" the healthcare problem??

Politics

Sorry for such a long time between blogs. Family is doing well, check Jamey's blog to read more.

Thought I'd throw out a few items to discuss for anyone that still reads my frequently updated blog.

What do you think about universal health care?

War in Iraq?

Who do you want to win election? Who do you think will win?

Please no...

Her or Obama? Obama or her? Is there really a good choice on the donkey side this year?

Political top 10

Thought this was funny.

Signs Your Presidential Candidate is Under-Qualified

10. Promises to improve foreign relations with Hawaii.

9. Runs a series of attack ads against Martin Sheen's character on "The West Wing."

8. His #1 choice to work on his cabinet is "That Bob Vila guy."

7. Outstanding record as Governor of Rhode Island nullified by the fact that no one really cares.

6. Got his degree in Political Economics by bribing Sally Struthers with a chocolate donut.

5. Anybody mentions Washington, he asks, "The state or the DC thingie?"

4. At the debates, answers every question with a snarled, "You wanna wrestle?!?"

3. Vows to put an end to the war in Pokemon and free the Pikachu refugees once and for all.

2. Says the Pledge of Allegiance as quickly as possible, then shouts, "I win!"

...and the Number 1 Sign Your Presidential Candidate Is Under-Qualified...

1. On the very first question of the debate, he says, "Regis, I want to use a LIFELINE."

Hate crime or not...

What do you think of this story by Foxnews?

The driver of the car carrying Morales struck a 3- or 4-year-old girl, apparently prompting the attack.
"The driver, for whatever reason, whether he realized he was involved in the collision or his vehicle forced a stop, got out of the car, got into a confrontation with several men and was assaulted," Piatt said.
Morales came to his aid and was fatally attacked in what police are calling a "spontaneous homicide." He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The driver was able to get back into his car and drive away. Both he and his vehicle have been located, Piatt said, but he declined to release the driver's identity because the man is a witness in an ongoing investigation.
"We could have had anywhere from two to 15 and 20 [people] who are actually involved in the assault," Piatt said. Some 2,000 to 3,000 people were gathered in the parking lot at the time.
The child was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Brackenridge Hospital.
Piatt said there is no reason to link the assault with the Juneteenth celebrations.
"There were no city-sponsored events occurring on the parking lot of Booker T. Washington, although there were some events in the immediate area — Rosewood park," he said. "Some of the crowd may have gone onto Booker T. or people just out in their apartments — celebrating, having a good time, whatever — but there's nothing to tie one to the other and nothing to indicate that this was a hate crime."

First of all I would say beating a man to death would require a lot of hate (although I know that is not what a "hate crime" refers to).

Second do you think it matters that the crowd was black (as was the girl hit by a car) and the driver hispanic? I'd say it mattered alot.

Money can't buy everything...

...or maybe it can. Paris Hilton is now out of jail after "serving" only 3 days of her sentence, which had already been reduced to 23 days. Not only is she able to drink, do drugs, and then get in a car and drive with very little punishment, now that punishment is even less.

About Time

Lovin this:

NEW YORK — On the heels of her obscene comments at a recent media event, an infamous feud with Donald Trump and countless politically sensitive remarks, Rosie O'Donnell is leaving "The View" at the end of her first season on the show.
ABC said Wednesday it was unable to agree on a contract with the opinionated host, and she'll leave the show in June.
O'Donnell said in a statement that "my needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me."
"This has been an amazing experience," she said, "and one I wouldn't have traded for the world."
O'Donnell has helped raise the ratings for the daytime chat show invented by Barbara Walters. But her outspokenness has caused almost constant controversy, including her nasty name-calling feud with Trump.
Earlier Wednesday, rumors swirled that O'Donnell's bawdy humor while emceeing the Matrix Awards on Monday would result in her leaving "The View."
O'Donnell's antics occurred Monday in front of 2,000 people at an event feting New York's most accomplished women in media at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom.

Reverse Discrimination

What do you think of this article http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267383,00.html

Give me a break!!

This man is an idiot. But did he deserve all he the trouble he has come in to...no!!! What in the world happened to free speech. The man said something that was awful and should have been punished. But to fire the man for a radio show that has had much worse come out of it is not right. Here is the story http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news;_ylt=ApBjultA1lGrUiLOyI5Ufco5nYcB?slug=ap-imusprotests&prov=ap&type=lgns if you want the full scope.

I may have a different perspective on this because I have seen racisim...ON BOTH SIDES. I grew up in Florida and played on a football team where I was called "cracker" by the team I was on and "n*#*@ lover" by the teams we played against. I have used awful words to describe people of color that I am not proud of. I am definitely not saying he should be completely let off the hook for what he said. But the punishment for this is worse than when he goes off about everything else.

To live in a culture where it is great to call out "upright, narrow minded christians" and be forced into rehab for calling someone a "fag" is not a place I want to be. Sure it is wrong to say "faggot" to refer to a homosexual or "n###" to refer to a person of color. And our country will make sure that is dealt with, but what about people that make fun of other areas. What about the use of the word "cracker". If that were as bad we'd be arresting Chris Rock as we speak. Or what about rap videos that call black women much worse than "nappy headed ho's". What about people calling out the president as an idiot, or racist man?

Is it just me or is anyone else tired of all the political correctness??

Media Bias

This picture was on the front of the USA Today Newspaper. What is ironic is that if the picture were to have been taken about 5 seconds later, the little girl would probably be asking the American soldiers for some candy or food. The obvious intent would be to show that our military is over there terrorizing little children. I would hope that even those opposed to our presence would know that our military men are over there protecting the innocent and that it is the enemy that is setting bombs to blow up civilians, use children as protection, and kill all in their path. Unfortunately, I know that is not the case as many are now finding ways of making our military the one that "forced" the terrorists to act the way the do now. Hopefully, pictures like these will not be used much more.

Random thought about Iraq

I am a firm believer in the military. I was raised a military brat, and would not trade it for anything. Along the way I have come to many of my own conlusions about people that do not support the military.

That is where I am a little confused about the issue of not supporting our troops. I know there are many that do not support the war on terror (or war in Iraq). And I understand that they have that right and duty to speak out against the war. What I always get upset with is statements against our troops. Comaring them to Nazi's, etc...

While I feel you have the right to question the war, I feel we should always support our men that are risking their lives for our country.

I also feel that too often we are much to open with our views against the war. That is why I feel America will have a hard time in any upcoming wars in the future, because we will always have those opposed. Giving an open mic to all those opposed gives those we are fighting hope. Setting solid dates allows them to know how long they must last. I would be for taking the news out of wars altogether. While awful things happen in the war, we often lose sight of the objective.

Here is an exerpt from the Heat's Pat Riley. Not really a noted politician but I feel one that hits home a good point.

In discussing the Heat's decision to honor U.S. soldiers at home games, team coach and president Pat Riley offered pointed views today when asked about the situation in Iraq.

''My personal opinion,'' Riley said, is ``what's going on in our country right now is not going to stop until the election because the Democrats, or the other side, or the nay-sayers simply are going to drive it right into the ground and become so negative with what the administration is doing until there's an election to make their point. That won't help anybody.

``That's not going to help the political process. It definitely doesn't help the soldiers because there is such a division over here. My concern is about them. . . .

Important Issues in the upcoming presidential election

With the elections in the news already it has caused me to think about what are the issues that make me (or anyone) want to vote for a candidate. I have listed several issues. I will tell and rank what I feel is most important. Tell me what you feel is most important.

Issues

1) Morals: I know this is probably the hardest to judge. What are the morals you are looking for, who really believes in what they say, who will follow through with promises. To me this is an issue that is the most important, but is also the most debated about which candidate is the "most moral".

2) Abortion: I have heard over and over that this issue cannot be changed through legislation. And to a point I would agree, my issue is not wanting abortion laws to become more progressive.

3) Protection/Global issues: I am pro-military and in support of opposing terror. I am not a fan of how this war was run, but think we must have a force in other nations to protect our interests and protect our people. To me that is goal number 1 of the government, to protect it's citizens.

4) Economy: How does the candidate deal with Social Security/Retirement? What about Medical insurance? Is he in favor of leaving the people to handle their own money, or will he/she try to control the economy? What about the welfare system?

5) Sanctity of marriage: I think this is a very important issue, but it is more in the hands of the church to get out the message that homosexulity is wrong, not the government. I am in favor of keeping "marriage" privelages to only heterosexual couples though.

6) Charisma: I think it is very important that our next president be a person of charisma.

7) Enviromental issues: Not real high on my list, but I do think we ought to do what we can, although I am not convinced of actual global warming, as there are diffent sources with different information.

8) Experience: Another issue that does not really matter to me. If they have it good. But at the level of running for the Presidency all the candidates have enough.

What did I leave off? What are your more important issues?

Completely not mine

These are two of the guys blogs that I love to check out talking about Al Gore.

The first is Justin's blog about Gore.

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research checks into his utility bills.

Here’s some highlights:

- U.S. average yearly household electricity consumption — 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year

- Al Gore’s yearly energy consumption — nearly 221,000 kWh

- Al Gore’s Natural Gas bill per month — an average of 1,080 dollars PER MONTH!

Yep, that’s right global warming alarmist, and former Vice President Al Gore uses 2 times the national yearly average kWh’s per month.

Great job by Justin.

The next is Jason Kearny's blog about Gore.

Al Gore couldn't get elected president, but now he has what even George W. Bush does not have: an Oscar. He won for the film An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary about global warming. In his acceptance speech, he called on all Americans to wake up and heed the call to change. Here is a portion of his acceptance speech: "People all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue; it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act. That's a renewable resource -- let's renew it. " In the film, one of the ways he says the average person can help deal with global warming is to cut back on their household energy usage.Gore should have no problem finding a place to put his Oscar. He has plenty of room in his 10,000 square foot, 20 room mansion with eight bathrooms, in the exclusive Belle Meade neighborhood in Nashville.

For the complete version of Jason's blog use the link above.

Great job guys. Hope you don't mind me posting it here. This has been something that bothered me ever since it came out. I don't remember Gore doing much about this when he had power. In fact several of the years he points out as the worst in global warming were years he was the vice president.

UN or Peace Corps

I am not sure how I feel about the UN. Somedays they seem to be a great organization (although few and far between) and somedays they seem to be like a parent telling children to stop, but with no real punishment if they continue to do what they want to do.

Iran now is testing the UN to see if it will step up and enforce it's policies or continue to wait on the good ole' US to bail them out again. Try this link to see a little more about the situation. Iran is now testing and building up nuclear weapons.

The UN has always bothered me as they have no real threat to stop anything. And then they are able to sit back and critic those who actually go in and try to stop people from doing evil.

Bottom 10 Presidents

This is my look at the 10 worst presidents in our history. A couple of things to remember:
1) I did not include the sitting President: I personally would not include him anyway, but even if I was not in favor it is too early to make a judgement on an acting president.
2) This is my opinion: There may be (probably is) man on this list you disagree with, that is okay in the "comments" section feel free to tell me why.

Here we go:

10) George Bush (first): While he may have had some success in the Gulf War, he will be forever remembered for his "No New Taxes" speech that did not come true. Getting taken to the woodshed in this re-election by Clinton did not help either.

9) Clinton: I know many will be upset, but I am going strictly on morals, and the fact that he is only the second man ever to be impeached.

8) Carter: Peanut farmer from Georgia was not a great president. Not getting hostages released from Iran for over a year hurt his legacy, as they were only freed right before Reagan was coming in.

7) Pierce: Kansas-Nebraska Act really got him in hot water (as it should). Not even re-nominated by party in the next election.

6) Harrison: Dies after 1-month after giving longest Inauguration Speech ever in frigid temperatures. Who knows what would have happened if he would have lived.

5)Tyler: Former Vice President who is never elected to presidency struggled. Impeachment attempt on his office really hurts his legacy.

4) Harding: The “partying president”, actually gambled away part of white house China one time, Many friends given high positions that took government money. I cleaned up this statement by him "My *Goodness, this is a *heck of a job!" Harding said. "I have no trouble with my enemies, but my *darn friends, my *Dad-gummed friends... they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!" A man whose corrupt friends ruined his presidency.

3) Grant: Corrupt friends also hurt this former General. Smoked 20 cigars a day as well (that is just a sidenote, not why he made the list).

2) Nixon: Watergate. Enough said.

1) Johnson: Not elected to his post and not re-elected. Takes over for one of best presidents in a bad situation and makes it worse. The Radical republicans do not like how he is easy on the South and he barely escapes being thrown out of office by one vote.

Well that's my thoughts.

What a joke

I am not a fan of the Dixie Chicks. I actually really enjoyed their first album.
I am sure everyone knows most of the story about them mouthing off about GWB. I am not a fan of airing dirty laundry in foreign countries. Roxy has already beat me to the punch, but I cannot (actually I can which is sad) that they would be rewarded for doing this. Their last album is not very good musically, the sole reason they won was that the mainstream now likes to bash President Bush.

**Sidebar: Scott has a great blog on how we as Christians should not bash anyone.

Now, if they had won with an outstanding album I could live with it. I generally don't care much for any major artists personal life (although many fortunately keep it to themselves), but they won with a rant called "Not ready to make nice".

Another reason not to watch the Grammy's...

On a side not Anna Nicole Smith died this past weekend. The real story is: Why in the world is this big news?

Top 10 Presidents and Bottom 10

This is my next list inspired by this and this link, I have compiled my top 10 and bottom 10 presidents.

Top 10

10. Kennedy: Possibly the most charasmatic of all the presidents. The Cuban Missile Crisis was handled under him. Also involved with the Space Race. His assassination was one of the worst tragedies of American History.

9. Monroe: His Monroe Doctrine will forever be studied in high schools around the country. Adding huge parts of the country (Louisiana Purchase, Acquiring Florida) also made him a great president.

8. Wilson: Might be the most intelligent of any presidents. Started the League of Nations as well. Great leader.

7. Reagan: His "Reaganomics" approach to the economy was a big success. A former actor, he was able to use his charisma to a big advantage. Getting the Berlin Wall torn down also was a big success.

6. Jackson: Old Hickory was a great leader. One of the first true "dark horse" candidates to win. He also vetoed a popular plan for a national bank.

5. Theodore Roosevelt: Huge man, huge personality. Great fit for the time and place. Enviromentalists love him.

4. George Washington: The first will always be special. He started many of the traditions for the presidents that will follow. Perhaps the most important is that he left peacefully and set a trend of leaving that type of power.

3. Jefferson: Put here more for what he did before he was elected.

2. FDR: Served 4 terms as president, and would have kept going if he had lived. His fireside chats were a first and big success in America. Only thing against him...he married a cousin.

1. Abraham Lincoln: I know this is the easy pick, but really a lesser man might not have stood as firm as Lincoln. He also leaves behind a body of work in his speeches that will not be met again. There are many great stories about his character as well.


Bottom 10 to follow...

20,000 More??

20,000 more troops. Is it worth it? I am not sure. I am not in favor of what is taking place now. So the question becomes: How do we get out?

I am not sure. Do we just pull all our troops out and sit back and watch Iraq go into a full scale civil war? Do we not send anymore troops and try to slowly back out, while watching more soldiers that do not have the means get killed?

On the other side, do we send more troops and try to fix this mess? If that is the case we’ll need much more than just 20,000. But I do not see any democrats allowing more troops.


Here are just a few things President Bush said:

“Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship,"

"failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States."

Bush acknowledged mistakes in Iraq noting that U.S. forces "have done everything we have asked them to do." He said where blame lies, it rests with him, but efforts by the U.S. were in vain for two main reasons:
"There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have. Our military commanders reviewed the new Iraqi plan to ensure that it addressed these mistakes. They report that it does. They also report that this plan can work," ---Fox News


Some of the responses

“We're not going to baby sit a civil war," Sen. Barack Obama

"Tonight President Bush acknowledged what most Americans know — we are not winning in Iraq ... indeed the challenge is grave and deteriorating," Durbin said. "Twenty thousand American soldiers are too few to end this civil war in Iraq and too many American lives to risk on top of those we've already lost.", Dick Durbin Senate Majority Whip