De-center

Why I was gone for 2 months or How I became numb about the bomb....

2006-04-11T10:08:00.000-04:00

After responding to the socio-political goings on for the last year or so, I grew tired of replying, it became more of a mental exercise, and a futile one at that...I, the individual, was not going to exact any change via my words...I can/could only live my life to the ideals I set for myself...my grandiose ideas of being some type of catalyst was just that, grandiose, sure it feels good to the ego when like minded people agree with your viewpoint....I was going to use the myth of Sisyphus, but the more I thought about it, it did not apply, there is no boulder, there is no movement pushing it up a hill, only to come down at the apex everytime....I, as most in this forum, are just a bunch of talking heads, complaining, and not really even moving a "grain of sand" much less a boulder...maybe this is a cry for help, maybe this is another grandiose musing of my ego that I think will capture someone attention, maybe it is just stark reality...Control is just an illusion that our oligarchy allows us to have, time to time...we live in a fascist society, our government is the opium of the people...matter of fact, all governments are the opiates of the people....there isn't any "by the people, for the people", it does not exist....as long as people starve, are homeless, not clothed, given adequate healthcare...as long as we pollute our earth to make profit...we can build a bridge to nowhere, we can plan trips to Mars, we can bomb brown people, but we can't properly educate our own nation, we can't save a dying Africa...I rephrase, it is not we "can't", it is we "won't"....it is not just the US, everyone just graviates to their own country of origin, it is the world, other nations are sitting on their hands as well...I applaud the individuals that try and intentions are sincere...yes, it does affect me, but I have grown numb to the inaneness of it all...

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

2006-02-14T12:42:00.000-05:00

I saw a post at Cairo's Place about the Westminster Classic...and I went into a small rant about them never picking a classic looking dog...I was wrong...well, so far this year...

Group winners so far:
Working - Rottweiler
Terrier - BullTerrier
Toy - Pug
Non-Sporting - Dalmatian

Sporting, Hound and Herding groups are left, then the Best in Show...so maybe there is hope for them this year to pick a "classic"...

I am going to watch and pull for the Rottweiler...then the most classic dog left if he doesn't win..

Bettis and Bettis...

2006-02-07T14:51:00.000-05:00

My pup was named after Bettis...I think the resemblance and temperament are similiar...
Big, powerful, but soft and gentle face...kind...but can run you over...yes, we are Bettis' (or Betti)...

SuperBowl XL...Steelers 21 Seahawks 10

2006-02-06T13:11:00.000-05:00

Yes! It was a happy household and BigBuddhaPuppy last night...

An ugly game, with just enough big plays, and Seahawk mistakes for the Steelers to win "one for the thumb"...The "Bettis story" had its disney-esque ending...from what has been said about him, he was much deserving of it as well, a rarity...

I can remember the Steelers winning their last two SuperBowls vaguely, I was a young pup at the time...the first two SuperBowls I don't remember at all, I was a very young pup when they won those two...So 26 years after the last win, I wanted to see the Steelers win the SuperBowl where I could have a full realization of it as an adult...

For all you die-hard football fans out there, that is my hope for you, is that sometime in your adult life, that you have the same night that I did last night(not at the Steelers expense hopefully)...

Finally....congratulations to the SuperBowl XL, 2005 NFL Champions, The Pittsburgh Steelers!

Tagged with 7 questions via "the defeatists"

2006-01-31T10:46:00.000-05:00

I was tagged...so I answered the 7 questions of the defeatists!

Seven things I say
1. Y'all
2. Hiya
3. Namaste
4. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
5. George Bush doesn't like black people
6. Hell is other people
7. Pooky

Seven Books I like
1. SlaughterHouse Five
2. Tao Te Ching
3. Green Eggs and Ham
4. Brave New World
5. Die fröhliche Wissenschaft
6. The Book of Lieh-Tzu
7. Chuang Tsu - Inner Chapters

Seven movies I enjoy
1. M*A*S*H
2. Matrix
3. Clockwork Orange
4. Harold and Maude
5. This is Spinal Tap
6. Network
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Seven more books I enjoy
1. America
2. Alpha and Omega
3. What's the Matter With Kansas?
4. "Dummies" Guides'
5. "Idiots" Guides'
6. "Beginners" Guides'
7. "The History of..." Guides'

Seven things I enjoy about cities
1. Art
2. Music
3. Restaurants
4. More Liberal
5. I can leave
6. Being anonymous
7. History

Seven things I cannot do
1. Live forever
2. Understand some people
3. Give Birth
4. Jump(bad knees)
5. Read minds
6. See all of color spectrum
7. Not Care

Seven things I must do before I die
1. Travel
2. Educate myself
3. Get in shape
4. Learn an instrument
5. Forgive
6. Be truly happy
7. Finish

Hospice, assisted suicide, smoking...etc..

2006-01-30T09:36:00.000-05:00

As you might have noticed, or not noticed, I have not been blogging as of recent...Reason being, I have been waiting, watching a friend die of lung cancer in hospice care...

To start, hospice is a great idea and organization ran by fantastic people...The idea of hospice is take care of the terminally ill...let them die with dignity and no pain...

Hospice, in reality, is assisted suicide, it is a trade-off between no pain and life...morphine is given by pump at the end of an individuals life where there is no pain, the dose has to be increased more and more until the persons' breathing becomes shallow and they cease to breathe...

There are two camps of thinking about this, one is that the person will die at exactly the same time whether the drugs is given or not, and the other is that the drugs are a trade-off between a small shortening of life and pain...I don't think it really makes one bit of difference which might be actually true...I think the idea of letting a terminally ill person go, pain-free and with dignity is the only humane course of action...

The unfortunate circumstance of hospice care is that only about 18% of eligible people actually use the free service...Hospice service is provided through government and private donations to all terminally ill persons...

I watched my friend slip away with minimial pain, with dignity and grace...I said my goodbyes...I am glad they choose to go the way they did...I will miss them, but will have them always in my thoughts and memories...

Now for my soapbox, the person I speak of, was 69 years old, she died of lung cancer after being diagnosed 6 months earlier...it was quick and very painful...in the end she literally drowned...in mucus, lung tissue and cancer...I am not one for sentiment, or resolutions, or any airy-fairy nonsense...I am a realist...and I saw what smoking did to this precious woman...if you smoke...quit...it is an ugly way to die...the old adage "you have to die someway", well, yes, you do, but this is not the way to die...drowning on your own cancer while being pumped with morphine to feel no pain until you die...

SuperBowl XL

2006-01-26T15:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I am a happier Steelers fan this week...no, well, "wait until next year", or "it is only a game" cliches for me this week...

So now, can the Steelers not break my heart this year? 1-4 in Championship gmes(before this year), and 0-1 in SuperBowl in a 10 year span...so 5 years in 10, woulda, coulda, shoulda...

I dislike the SuperBowl format that the game is two weeks instead of one week from the Championship game...it interrupts whatever flow either team had going into the game...and I simply dislike waiting two weeks...especially this year...

http://www.steelertribute.com/PLAYOFF.HTM
http://media3.steelers.com/

Steelers

2006-01-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

I am a happy person this morning after the Steelers victory yesterday at the RCA Dome against the Colts...A side note, I am glad I have TiVo because to wait and go through commericals and those inane halftime show would just drive me crazy...

The Steelers are the first team since the inception of this current wildcard system in 1990 to be a sixth seed and make the Championship game...

Championship games in the last 10 years have not been kind to the Steelers, including losses to the Patriots twice at home...the Steelers have been the Red Sox and Cubs all rolled up in one for these years...Being a Red Sox fan as well, maybe there is a glimmer of hope for the Steelers...

I try not to get too excited about the win because the idea of high expectations goes with lowest lows for a fan...

I will be tuned to my TiVo next Sunday with my 34 jersey with my surname on it, sitting in my favorite recliner, rooting for "my" Steelers and talking to the TV like a crazy man...

If the Steelers win, I will be a little happier than this week, and then repeat the same process for SuperBowl XL ...

If the Steelers lose, I will be a little more sadder than if it was this week, I will put up my 34 jersey, and take a shot of Herradura from my Steelers shot glass, a end of the year of tradition...

GO STEELERS!

Meet My Pups(Fun with Photoshop)

2006-01-10T14:10:00.000-05:00

Bettis, 7 year old, male rottie, from whom I take my nom de plume, BigBuddhaPuppy...he looks like one when he is sitting...Bettis is true to himself, laid back, but will not stand down if need be...

Brajin is a 14 year old shar-pei female...she has that attitude with cuddliness...she doesn't care about ownership just like a true anarchist...and she loves to mosh with Bettis on a daily basis...

Sarge is a 9 year old shar-pei male...a troublemaker, rebel rouser, but his intentions are good and just...since Bettis is the leader, he wants to give the power back to all the dogs...

Religion attacked (part 2852 in .....)

2006-01-09T12:05:00.000-05:00

"Dawkins, who makes no effort to disguise his atheism and contempt for religion, focuses on the Bible, too."

Why does a person have to make "an effort" to disguise their atheism or "contempt" for anything?
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48252

"Among the faithful, many are agnostics"

Then they aren't Agnostic then...the priest goes on to say that disagreements equate to Agnosticism...
http://www.chieftain.com/life/1136624688/6

"I. Is Judge Jones an activist judge?

II. Did Judge Jones read the evidence submitted to him in the Dover trial?

III. Did Judge Jones accurately describe the content and early versions of the ID textbook Of Pandas and People?"

The Center for Science and Culture with not one activist bone in their bodies...

http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/01/dover_in_review_an_analysis_of_1.html

"Theism among professors throughout this land is rare, but agnosticism and atheism are common, and I know one reason why -- the academic blacklisting of any who show Christian belief outside of an hour on Sunday morning."

His suggestion to keep your college donations away from those insidious institutions...

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/marvinolasky/2006/01/06/181228.html

The Gang of Four

2006-01-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

Question via The Disgruntled Chemist via Thesaurus Rex
The Gang of Four

Four jobs you've had in your life: Supermarket Manager, Materials Manager, Army, Auditor

Four movies you could watch over and over: The Seventh Seal, The Matrix, M*A*S*H,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Four places you've lived:North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire

Four TV shows you love to watch: Scrubs, The Office(both versions), Simpsons, Family Guy
Four Places You've Been on Vacation: Charlottesville, VA, Myrtle Beach, SC, Boston, MA, Atlanta, GA

Four Websites You Visit Daily: Google, My Blog, My Bank, My Fantasy Football

Four of Your Favorite Foods: Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Gardenburger products...

Four places you'd rather be: At lottery commission with winning powerball ticket, Ireland, Japan, India

Resolutions

2006-01-03T10:42:00.000-05:00

Resolution time has come once again, as the new year comes about and sets an arbitrary guideline for our society to make some declarations we might or might not keep...

So here goes my attempts this year...

1) Meditate
2) Eat Well
3) Take more time for family
4) Take some courses
5) Look at new vocations
6) Learn something new
7) Laugh more
8) Be in a place that I don't think about resolutions next year

Meme

2005-12-23T13:46:00.000-05:00

Meme, via Thesaurus Rex. Five facts about me:

1. I have a thing about touching public doorhandles, so I push doors with elbows, or put my hand in my jacket to open doors...
2. I am a Steelers, Red Sox and Wake Forest fan...
3. I am from North Carolina, but live in New Hampshire now...
4. I rub my goatee, beard or whatever facial hair I have at the time too much...
5. There is nothing better than playing with my dogs...

"Om" for the Holidays

2005-12-22T09:15:00.000-05:00

Merry/Happy Solstice Day!

2005-12-21T11:48:00.000-05:00

http://www.candlegrove.com/solstice.html
Ancient Origins: Solstice

http://www.candlegrove.com/sacaea.html
Happy Sacaea....Merry Saturnalia

http://www.candlegrove.com/yule.html
Yuletide Greetings!

Just visit Candlegrove, they have many interesting tidbits on the "holiday" season...

http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm
Holiday traditions from around the world, modern and ancient...

My take on the whole holiday idea is that it is time for us to spend with our family and friends(and worship whatever comes with our beliefs)...So Happy....Merry....Seasons....whatever you want it to be...I could get a damn what anyone else is saying at Wal-Mart or the White House or Pat "The Zealot" Robertson, we have a choice in this country, so to all those that are fighting on the "War on Christmas"...Shut the fuck up, and have a Happy Holidays...

This Week In Zealotry

2005-12-20T14:40:00.000-05:00

http://www.midiaindependente.org/pt/blue/2005/12/341184.shtml
Jews, secularists, pagans hate Christmas...

http://www.ocala.com
Frances Devore is tired of being offered Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, even the agnostic, atheist, and pagan should do no less...

http://www.israpundit.com/archives/2005/12/o_come_all_ye_f.php
"Peter Watson, the author of a new book called Ideas: a History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud(New York Times) asked to name ‘the single worst idea in history’. ‘Without question, ethical monotheism. The idea of one true god. The idea that our life and ethical conduct on Earth determines how we will go into the next world. This has been responsible for most of the wars and bigotry in history."

This is the gentlemen's reply to Peter Watson

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4508
Ayn Rand mag talks about Intelligent Design....

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/122005/12162005/153328
It's not the Jews, it's the multinationalists and the sourpusses secularists...

http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2005/12/16/opinion/doug.html
News flash: Christmas is for Christians. Please stop attacking the poor Christians!

Bible literacy bill for Alabama draws fire from state school board
They can't agree on which way to teach the Bible is best...

http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/15ram.htm
"Religion is not opium, it's cyanide"

http://www.americanchronicle.com
Atheists Are Superstitious For Doubting The Creation Of The Universe By Intelligent Being

http://www.lse.co.uk
Parents in UK boycott school concert because it has Eid and Diwali themes in Holiday/Christmas concert...

Court: No 'intelligent design' in classroom

2005-12-20T11:18:00.000-05:00

CNN-HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- "Intelligent design" cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.

God's wrath is coming down on Pennsylvania now...damnit, and right when the Steelers are making their push for the playoffs too...Remember what happened to Dover, Pa and the Philadelphia Eagles last time something like this happened...Damn you, activist judges...and your common sense...God can see "tiny font"?...Damnit, damnit, damnit...Oh woe is me, to be an atheist and a Steelers fan...

BigBuddhaPuppy's Address to the President

2005-12-19T11:59:00.000-05:00

Good evening. Three days ago, in large numbers, Iraqis went to the polls to choose their own leaders -- a landmark day in the history of liberty. In the coming weeks, the ballots will be counted, a new government formed, and a people who suffered in tyranny for so long will become full members of the free world.

Good afternoon. Iraqis went to the polls to choose the leaders that will follow US rule. The ballots will be counted, a new government might be formed, and if it is, it will be a Shiite theocratic government, so tyranny will still be in Iraq, sorry women, Sunnis, Christians, Jews, etc.

This election will not mean the end of violence. But it is the beginning of something new: constitutional democracy at the heart of the Middle East. And this vote -- 6,000 miles away, in a vital region of the world -- means that America has an ally of growing strength in the fight against terror.

You are right, the US withdrawing from the region will mean the end of the violence against the US military. While most appreciate the US from getting rid of Saddam, they want us out now.

All who had a part in this achievement -- Iraqis, and Americans and our coalition partners -- can be proud. Yet our work is not done. There is more testing and sacrifice before us. I know many Americans have questions about the cost and direction of this war. So tonight I want to talk to you about how far we have come in Iraq, and the path that lies ahead.

Let the "spinning" begin.

From this office, nearly three years ago, I announced the start of military operations in Iraq. Our coalition confronted a regime that defied United Nations Security Council resolutions, violated a cease-fire agreement, sponsored terrorism, and possessed, we believed, weapons of mass destruction. After the swift fall of Baghdad, we found mass graves filled by a dictator; we found some capacity to restart programs to produce weapons of mass destruction, but we did not find those weapons.

Before the swift fall of Baghad, you were looking for WMD's, all other rationale wasn't even approached.

It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of U.N. weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As your President, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. Yet it was right to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
The United States was more than happy to supply Saddam with these weapons in the 80's. Just ask your father.

He was given an ultimatum -- and he made his choice for war. And the result of that war was to rid a -- the world of a murderous dictator who menaced his people, invaded his neighbors, and declared America to be his enemy. Saddam Hussein, captured and jailed, is still the same raging tyrant -- only now without a throne. His power to harm a single man, woman, or child is gone forever. And the world is better for it.

Question? How can someone give up something they do not have? Yes, Saddam Hussein is a tyrant, but you simply lied to achieve your goals of taking Iraq. That is the reason the coalition of the willing was not numerous, and most of the world sat it out and watched the United States with distain.

Since the removal of Saddam, this war, like other wars in our history, has been difficult. The mission of American troops in urban raids and desert patrols, fighting Saddam loyalists and foreign terrorists, has brought danger and suffering and loss. This loss has caused sorrow for our whole nation -- and it has led some to ask if we are creating more problems than we're solving.

This is not like other war in our history, this one was unprovoked one by the United States. The loss of American life as well as Iraqi life have brought sorrow to our nation. Your coverup and lies have brought shame to our nation.

That is an important question, and the answer depends on your view of the war on terror. If you think the terrorists would become peaceful if only America would stop provoking them, then it might make sense to leave them alone.

The answer was go to Afghanistan, not Iraq. Other answers are stop providing them funds through our addiction to oil. Stop hand-holding with the Saudis. Yes, Mr. Bush, leave them alone unless they are a real threat not a manufactured threat.

This is not the threat I see. I see a global terrorist movement that exploits Islam in the service of radical political aims -- a vision in which books are burned, and women are oppressed, and all dissent is crushed. Terrorist operatives conduct their campaign of murder with a set of declared and specific goals -- to de-moralize free nations, to drive us out of the Middle East, to spread an empire of fear across that region, and to wage a perpetual war against America and our friends. These terrorists view the world as a giant battlefield -- and they seek to attack us wherever they can. This has attracted al Qaeda to Iraq, where they are attempting to frighten and intimidate America into a policy of retreat.
I see a threat within our own country, it is the neo-cons that exploits Christianity in the service of radical corporate aims -- a vision in which books are banned, and people are oppressed, and all dissent is imprisoned. Terrorism could have better controlled through multi-nation policing instead of a holy crusade to Baghdad. Al Qaeda and other terrorists are coming to Iraq because they want us out of the Middle East.

The terrorists do not merely object to American actions in Iraq and elsewhere, they object to our deepest values and our way of life. And if we were not fighting them in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Southeast Asia, and in other places, the terrorists would not be peaceful citizens, they would be on the offense, and headed our way.

They want us out of their countries. We are not nation builders, remember? I have no problems with helping out countries that actually want our help.

September the 11th, 2001 required us to take every emerging threat to our country seriously, and it shattered the illusion that terrorists attack us only after we provoke them. On that day, we were not in Iraq, we were not in Afghanistan, but the terrorists attacked us anyway -- and killed nearly 3,000 men, women, and children in our own country. My conviction comes down to this: We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them. And we will defeat the terrorists by capturing and killing them abroad, removing their safe havens, and strengthening new allies like Iraq and Afghanistan in the fight we share.

So lets go get Al Queda, Bin Laden, not invade Iraq. Let work with the world to police the terrorist cells out of existence.

The work in Iraq has been especially difficult -- more difficult than we expected. Reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi security forces started more slowly than we hoped. We continue to see violence and suffering, caused by an enemy that is determined and brutal, unconstrained by conscience or the rules of war.
No parades of Iraqi throwing roses at our feet---no oil money to pay for reconstruction? Why should they follow the "conscience" or "rules of war" when our country hasn't done either? Stop torturing prisoners, give due process to detainees. We are a nation of conscience, and laws, we need to provide the "right" example to the world. What we have done lately is unacceptable.

Some look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude that the war is lost, and not worth another dime or another day. I don't believe that. Our military commanders do not believe that. Our troops in the field, who bear the burden and make the sacrifice, do not believe that America has lost. And not even the terrorists believe it. We know from their own communications that they feel a tightening noose, and fear the rise of a democratic Iraq.
You frankly aren't saying anything in the last paragraph but palatudes of nothingness...

The terrorists will continue to have the coward's power to plant roadside bombs and recruit suicide bombers. And you will continue to see the grim results on the evening news. This proves that the war is difficult -- it doesn't mean that we are losing. Behind the images of chaos that terrorists create for the cameras, we are making steady gains with a clear objective in view.

The clear objective is to leave their country. Give them weapons, and military support and leave. Period.

America, our coalition, and Iraqi leaders are working toward the same goal -- a democratic Iraq that can defend itself, that will never again be a safe haven for terrorists, and that will serve as a model of freedom for the Middle East.

The model looks like an extension of the country next to it, Iran. Theocratic government run by Shiia...

We have put in place a strategy to achieve this goal -- a strategy I've been discussing in detail over the last few weeks. This plan has three critical elements.

First, our coalition will remain on the offense -- finding and clearing out the enemy, transferring control of more territory to Iraqi units, and building up the Iraqi security forces so they can increasingly lead the fight. At this time last year, there were only a handful of Iraqi army and police battalions ready for combat. Now, there are more than 125 Iraqi combat battalions fighting the enemy, more than 50 are taking the lead, and we have transferred more than a dozen military bases to Iraqi control.

So you have had a plan for the last few weeks? Or you decided a few weeks ago to let us know you had a plan? It takes 13 weeks here to train a soldier, how long should it take in Iraq?

Second, we're helping the Iraqi government establish the institutions of a unified and lasting democracy, in which all of Iraq's people are included and represented. Here also, the news is encouraging. Three days ago, more than 10 million Iraqis went to the polls -- including many Sunni Iraqis who had boycotted national elections last January. Iraqis of every background are recognizing that democracy is the future of the country they love -- and they want their voices heard. One Iraqi, after dipping his finger in the purple ink as he cast his ballot, stuck his finger in the air and said: "This is a thorn in the eyes of the terrorists." Another voter was asked, "Are you Sunni or Shia?" And he responded, "I am Iraqi."

Establish institutions of a lasting theocracy in which mostly Shiia will be included and represented. That is a nice story about the man, now if you can get the other 10 million Iraqis to believe that fairy tale.

Third, after a number of setbacks, our coalition is moving forward with a reconstruction plan to revive Iraq's economy and infrastructure -- and to give Iraqis confidence that a free life will be a better life. Today in Iraq, seven in 10 Iraqis say their lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve even more in the year ahead. Despite the violence, Iraqis are optimistic -- and that optimism is justified.

The Iraqi confidence is that we will leave soon and they can rebuild their nation without interference.

In all three aspects of our strategy -- security, democracy, and reconstruction -- we have learned from our experiences, and fixed what has not worked. We will continue to listen to honest criticism, and make every change that will help us complete the mission. Yet there is a difference between honest critics who recognize what is wrong, and defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right.

Is it you who decides the difference between "honest critics" and "defeatists"?

Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts. For every scene of destruction in Iraq, there are more scenes of rebuilding and hope. For every life lost, there are countless more lives reclaimed. And for every terrorist working to stop freedom in Iraq, there are many more Iraqis and Americans working to defeat them. My fellow citizens: Not only can we win the war in Iraq, we are winning the war in Iraq.

Defeatism = Partisan. Partisan = Democrat. I thought I would sum it up quicker for you.

It is also important for every American to understand the consequences of pulling out of Iraq before our work is done. We would abandon our Iraqi friends and signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word. We would undermine the morale of our troops by betraying the cause for which they have sacrificed. We would cause the tyrants in the Middle East to laugh at our failed resolve, and tighten their repressive grip. We would hand Iraq over to enemies who have pledged to attack us and the global terrorist movement would be emboldened and more dangerous than ever before. To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor, and I will not allow it.

America can not be trusted to keep its word. Our administration has all ready proven this. We are handing over Iraq to the "enemies"...Iraq is going to become a greater suburb of Iran under Shia rule. That is what happens when a president/country goes willy-nilly into war without a plan.

We're approaching a new year, and there are certain things all Americans can expect to see. We will see more sacrifice -- from our military, their families, and the Iraqi people. We will see a concerted effort to improve Iraqi police forces and fight corruption. We will see the Iraqi military gaining strength and confidence, and the democratic process moving forward. As these achievements come, it should require fewer American troops to accomplish our mission. I will make decisions on troop levels based on the progress we see on the ground and the advice of our military leaders -- not based on artificial timetables set by politicians in Washington. Our forces in Iraq are on the road to victory -- and that is the road that will take them home.

How about natural timetables, instead of artifical ones? For example, it will take this long to train this many Iraqi troops and arm them, then we leave. An answer probably would be more forthcoming if it was a positive one, this administration all ready knows that it is going to take much longer than they would like to admit to gain control of Iraqi oil fields, excuse me, I mean to set the wheels of democracy in motion.

In the months ahead, all Americans will have a part in the success of this war. Members of Congress will need to provide resources for our military. Our men and women in uniform, who have done so much already, will continue their brave and urgent work. And tonight, I ask all of you listening to carefully consider the stakes of this war, to realize how far we have come and the good we are doing, and to have patience in this difficult, noble, and necessary cause.

Can we have part in all aspects of the war? Can you share all the information with us? Considering what is at stake, I hope you do not start World War III.

I also want to speak to those of you who did not support my decision to send troops to Iraq: I have heard your disagreement, and I know how deeply it is felt. Yet now there are only two options before our country -- victory or defeat. And the need for victory is larger than any president or political party, because the security of our people is in the balance. I don't expect you to support everything I do, but tonight I have a request: Do not give in to despair, and do not give up on this fight for freedom.

Can I paraphrase? I heard your disagreement, but I don't care, I am going to do what I want to do.

Americans can expect some things of me, as well. My most solemn responsibility is to protect our nation, and that requires me to make some tough decisions. I see the consequences of those decisions when I meet wounded servicemen and women who cannot leave their hospital beds, but summon the strength to look me in the eye and say they would do it all over again. I see the consequences when I talk to parents who miss a child so much -- but tell me he loved being a soldier, he believed in his mission, and, Mr. President, finish the job.

Some things, like what praytell? Protect? Not such a good job, sending troops to a falsified war. Tough decisions? Not tough when you don't consider what anybody else wants. How about when you talk to the parents that say why did you send my child to a falsified war to be killed or made a handicap? He believed in his mission, but it was a lie. Why did you lie, Mr. President? How do you answer that parent, Mr. President?

I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss -- and not one of those decisions has been taken lightly. I know this war is controversial -- yet being your President requires doing what I believe is right and accepting the consequences. And I have never been more certain that America's actions in Iraq are essential to the security of our citizens, and will lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren.

I hope one day you will have to accept those responsibilities, but more and likely you will be building a library somewhere in Texas in the future and campaigning for your cronies in the future still in the dark about the harm your lies have caused the United States as well as the world. Iraq is not essential for our security, taking out Al Queda and Bin Laden were/are. Hopefully another president will be able to fix the mess you made of our country and lay the foundation of peace for our children, our grandchildren as well as the world's children and grandchildren.

Next week, Americans will gather to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. Many families will be praying for loved ones spending this season far from home -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other dangerous places. Our nation joins in those prayers. We pray for the safety and strength of our troops. We trust, with them, in a love that conquers all fear, in a light that reaches the darkest corners of the Earth. And we remember the words of the Christmas carol, written during the Civil War: "God is not dead, nor [does] He sleep; the Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on Earth, goodwill to men."

Thank you, and good night.

Many families will be praying you come to your senses, but probably for naught. My wish is for a speedy ending of this war in Iraq, and no more peoples being killed.

I leave you with another Civil War quote from Samuel Clemens: The War Prayer:
"O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it..."

The Forbes Fictional 15 Richest Characters

2005-12-15T12:21:00.000-05:00

For the whole story click on link below...a comment was on Scrooge McDuck recently, WhattheH said... "As an avid fan of Scrooge McDuck, it's about time someone took the initiative, so I wouldn't have to go deeply in debt to satisfy the avarious demands of my progeny" ...I can see why you are a fan, he is number six on Forbes' list...I, myself am a Monty Burns fan, because he is "ex-cell-ent"...

The Forbes Fictional 15

Rank	Name	Net Worth ($mil)	Age	Residence	Source
1	Claus, Santa	∞	1,651	North Pole	Toys, Candy
2	Warbucks, Oliver "Daddy"	$27.3 bil	52	New York, N.Y.	Defense Industries
3	Rich, Richie	$17 bil	10	Richville, U.S.A.	Inheritance, Conglomerates
4	Luthor, Lex	$10.1 bil	36	Metropolis, U.S.A.	Defense, Software, Real Estate
5	Burns, Charles Montgomery	$8.4 bil	104	Springfield, U.S.A.	Energy
6	McDuck, Scrooge	$8.2 bil	80	Duckburg, U.S.A.	Mining
7	Clampett, Jed	$6.6 bil	51	Beverly Hills, Calif.	Oil & Gas, Banking
8	Wayne, Bruce	$6.5 bil	32	Gotham City, U.S.A	Inheritance; Defense
9	Howell, Thurston III	$5.7 bil	60	Private Island, Pacific Ocean	Howell Industries
10	Wonka, Willy	$2.3 bil	57	Kent, England	Candy
11	Bach, Arthur	$2 bil	50	New York, N.Y.	Inheritance
12	Scrooge, Ebenezer	$1.7 bil	63	London, England	Banking, Investments
13	Croft, Lara	$1 bil	37	Wimbledon, England	Inheritance, Antiques
14	De Vil, Cruella	$1 bil	65	London, England	Inheritance
15	Malfoy, Lucius	$900 mil	51	Wiltshire, England	Inheritance

Student Wins Right To Wear Anti-Bush Shirt To School

2005-12-15T12:08:00.000-05:00

Student Wins Right To Wear Anti-Bush Shirt To School

LANSDALE, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania student is off the hook after the American Civil Liberties Union defended his right to wear a political T-shirt to school. Chris Schiano's T-shirt said "International Terrorist" and had a picture of President George W. Bush. A security guard at his high school north of Philadelphia told him to take it off. He refused. Schiano said he's well versed in the First Amendment. He said he "knew right off they had no legal footing to stand on." The principal said after hearing from the ACLU, school officials realized that the shirt, while potentially offensive, didn't violate the school's dress code. It had no references to sex, drugs, ethnic intimidation or explicit language. Schiano said he's now wearing the shirt to school and no one's given him a hard time.

I am glad to see that there are some thinking youth in America today...Here is where you can buy your own George W. Bush International Terrorist shirt

Activist Judge Cancels Christmas

2005-12-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

Activist Judge Cancels Christmas according to The Onion

O'Reilly, Gibson, and the rest of the repubs warned us...

We're number six, we're number six...

2005-12-14T08:59:00.000-05:00

"China, Cuba, Eritrea and Ethiopia Lead in Jailing Journalists
By VOA News 13 December 2005

A journalism watchdog group says China currently has more imprisoned journalists than any other country, but the United States is also on the organization's list of abusers.

A new report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says China, Cuba, Eritrea and Ethiopia account for two-thirds of the 125 imprisoned editors, writers and photojournalists around the world as of December first.

Fifth on the list was the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, followed at number six by the United States, which has moved up on the list due to journalists it is holding in Iraq and at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Tied for sixth place is Burma.

The number of journalists held by the United States rose from one last year to five this year.

The committee's Executive Director Ann Cooper said she is particularly troubled that the list of the worst abusers now includes Ethiopia and the United States."

China, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, United States, Burma...with the passing of the Patriot Act, I am sure we can move up on this list...

Stanley "Tookie'' Williams

2005-12-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

"Gang Founder Stanley Williams Executed in California (Update3)

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Stanley "Tookie'' Williams, a former gang leader and convicted murderer whose anti-crime advocacy from prison garnered praise, was executed by lethal injection after last-minute appeals were rejected...."

I don't have a problem with the someone being put to death for crimes they have committed...my problem lies with the legal system that administers the death penalty...a number of death penalty cases have been overturned because of faulty DNA or testimony...death penalty cases cost more than life imprisonments...my point is that system that delivers the death penalty is broken and until it can be fixed the death penalty should not be administered...

Do good works pardon a multiple murders? I think the person that commits multiple murders then turns their life towards doing good works should not look for pardon for those past transgressions....(in the late Johnnie Cochran prose) If you do the crime, you have to do the time....

Michael Moriarty at his best

2005-12-13T12:03:00.000-05:00

Some more idiotic rantings by Michael Moriarty...below is just a sample of his ramblings...

My very own long march
By Michael Moriarty
web posted December 12, 2005
"Clinton believes he can eventually put that God on his knees before the "Slick Willy" throne and have that Red Dragon begging for a taste of the Emperor's cigar. Stalin said, "Gratitude is for dogs," and Mao pointed out that the Chinese eat dogs. How the American Emperor thinks that a racial supremacist like Mao, who treated his own troops like dogs, would want to demote himself to the rank of Private before a self-proclaimed five-star General like Clinton, who never served in combat and built his whole Harlem army on the proven certainty of immediate gratification for all their needs, bodily and otherwise – why Clinton believes in the possibility of that ever happening is because he's known no other response from anyone (with the exception of Whitewater Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr). Even Newt Gingrich began telling us how charming Clinton was with his "winning" style. With smug insouciance, Emperor Clinton puffs on his cigar with the boys and plots his own expropriation of mainland China."

Out of the Gene Pool

2005-12-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

Please click on picture above for full hiliarity...

Yep, we like our presents...

We also like time with our family, and some of the traditions that goes with the "holidays", we just don't do the "god" thing...

Blog-diot of the Week

2005-12-12T12:56:00.000-05:00

Being curious on how my moniker "BigBuddhaPuppy" shows up on Google, I did a search this morning and I came up with an email response from May 25th, 2005 by Michael Moriarty, which he decided not to send to me but it was posted on http://www.enterstageright.com

So being in the holiday spirit, I thought I would reply to Michael Moriarty's personal attack on me...that seems to be par for the course when people don't have any substantive response.
Here is the article I responded to...
The following I am blue, Mr. Moriarty is red...

By Michael Moriarty
web posted May 16, 2005

Right-minded ideology could do without the hyperbole of a certain Michael Moriatry. Atheists can't but half love and on the way if they love somewhat to being Christian? Socialism equates to Clinton which equates to Democrats...then "internationalism"...then "Napolean-ism"..Communism...Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Tito, ...back to "Democratic Party's great black hope -- Illinois Senator Barack Obama"? The connections are idiotic.

Here's one...TV...Anti-Christian...Law And Order...Michael Moriatry...New York Stage Play...Homosexual Agenda...Liberal...East Coast Bias...Hollywood...Michael Moriatry... We must stop Michael Moriatry in his anti-christian, Hollywood, liberal, socialist, un-American homosexual agenda!
All the Best, Big BuddhaPuppy

I recently received my first hate letter from a self-proclaimed homophobe. His e-mail announces "Big Buddha" but, for now, let's just call him Big Bubba.

First, I find this idiotic response to my satirical email to your article from over 7 months ago via Google, it would be more fitting if you could have responded to me as well as your readers. My name is *****, but as many do on the internet we use nicknames...

He writes: "We must stop Michael Moriatry (sic) in his anti-christian, Hollywood, liberal, socialist, un-American homosexual agenda!"

I did write that, it was an example how far hyperbole espoused in your article could go and often unfortunately does go...

"Puppy" is also in his title and self-image, so to speak. Well, puppies don't use words like "hyperbole"…. so, who is hyperbolizing who here? Had he used the word "sarcasm," I might have fallen for the role-playing, but since theater is my profession and homosexuality almost its middle name, I think we've got theater games going on here. By the way, I wish he'd spell my name right, but red-necked Buddhists can't spell on purpose. It's kind of a Zen thing.

BigBuddhaPuppy is just a nickname, actually it is what one of my pups looks like when sitting, like a "big buddha puppy"....my self-image has nothing to do with it, another overreach on your part, just as the idea of me being "red-necked"...but when a person has nothing of note to say they just attack, please try some substance next time...

Maybe he's Janet Reno in drag. There's a free speech issue here and we all know how she felt about the First Amendment and television -- or at least I know from first-hand experience. I saw her in action behind closed doors in that Washington boardroom in 1993.

Janet Reno in drag...funny...

I don't mind the sexual labels. If you're an actor, the "lavender brush" is often applied. Yet in Big Bubba's context, hyperbole is a euphemism for lying. Gee, Bubba, I bet you wrestle alligators too.

Do you have any substantive to say?

So we either have an honest-to-god red-necked caveman who's demanding I resign from the human race, or a liberal agent provocateur posing as a right-wing hatemonger to besmirch the conservative movement. Bubba has enough of a lexicon to toss "hyperbole" on the page while, at the same time, deliberately misspelling my name. Now, someone from this milieu would likely be unfamiliar with the word and pronounce it "hyperbowl", figuring it was some kind of "Bowl-a-Rama" club. So I smell a liberal "mole" in his hole.

Not red necked cavemen...not a liberal agent provocateur...a person who responded to your inane hyperbole and faulty connections within your article...Can you say anything substantive? I am still waiting?

If I "must be stopped," then I guess I pose a threat of some kind. Like Ronald Reagan, I was once a liberal. But as we all know, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. That I know the enemy as well as President Reagan did, and have tracked it to its lair (the French Revolution) means I pose a real threat to Liberals, so Bubba's homophobia could very well be a cover used to divide his conservative enemies into Christian fundamentalists and fully equipped conservative soldiers.

Conspiracy theory now? Again, my email was satirical example on how shoddy your reasoning was...

Regular readers of Enter Stage Right, like Steve Farrell, author of Dark Rose -- a classic Christian novel (an inspirational story about the redemption of four tortured souls), were particularly appreciative of what Bubba calls my hyperbole. If Bubba also reads ESR regularly, then there's more than enough Christian sacrilege for him to pick on.

Pick on? No, to point out faulty arguments, yes.

So why did he pick me me? And if I must be stopped, how does bubba propose to do that? His e-mail was forwarded to me, so ESR read the letter as well. Bubba understands all the connections I made in my recent editorial and they're not rumbling his homophobia. They're hitting home at the depth of the socialist disease we're battling. He knows they go to the heart of what he might be paid to defend.

Pick on? No, again, to point out your faulty logic...
Happy Holidays, BigBuddhaPuppy(*****)

War on Religion

2005-12-12T09:25:00.000-05:00

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635167968,00.html
Those horrible atheists don't want crosses on public lands to show Utah Highway Patrol that died on duty...one said they were tired of atheism, atheists should move to another country and to "go to hell"...

Pictured is Sarge, the Shar-pei...an atheist...be careful Sarge or you will be on
Bill O'Reilly's enemy list...everyone knows that you are a communist being from China...Why do you hate Christmas, Sarge?...

Actually Sarge loves the holiday season, he is very festive, just keep him out of the egg nog...

Will "legal Grinches" steal Christmas?
"Don't let the legal "Grinches" steal your Christmas. Residents in at least one town are encouraging everyone in their community to place nativity scenes in their yards as part of their Christmas decorations." Okay, that is wonderful, enjoy...

"School music teachers are intending to include Christmas carols in their holiday concerts. Some schools will even return to calling this favorite winter holiday by its real name -- Christmas! If we are going to preserve our rights, then we must practice them." State shouldn't sponsor religion...

Society of Open-Minded Atheist and Agnostics at Kansas University
This is the site that Paul Mirecki posted on before the Christians got payback...

Holiday Season also has Christmas Trees
"House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who will flip the switch to light the 65-foot Engelman Spruce tree, has written a letter to the Architect of the Capitol recommending the ceremony be called a Christmas tree lighting."

Denny...Denny Hastert...(a tribute to Boston Legal)

Religious intolerance in Kansas

Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is a regular columnist for Townhall.com.

Mike is in the running of blog-diot of the week...

I decided to write Mike S. Adams an email in the stylings he wrote to Paul Mirecki:

"I think your Q & A with someone that doesn't have time to share with an insignificant "reporter" as yourself is not very responsible of you. I do have the time, so can you answer some questions for me?

Q: Can you prove God exists?

Q: Is it true that the "S" in Mike S. Adams stands for "Socialist"?

Q: Why did you hit Paul Mirecki with a metal object?

Q: Can you confirm or deny that you are an idiot?

Q: Are you a card carrying member of the communist party?

Q: Why do you hate Jesus?

I hope you can take the time to answer my questions...
All the Best, Happy Holidays, BBP"

All about X-mas

2005-12-09T13:18:00.000-05:00

Enter Christmas in the WayBack Machine

Mr. Peabody and his pet boy Sherman explain the origins of X-mas...

Thanks to sgo of The Liberal Avenger....

John Lennon

2005-12-09T13:02:00.000-05:00

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

The Jewish Grinch Who Stole X-mas?

2005-12-08T10:33:00.000-05:00

The Jewish grinch who stole Christmas
A Jewish man confesses that Jews are in cahoots with atheist, agnostics and liberals to steal Christmas away. In addition, people dislike Bush because he is religious not because of his policies...

What X-mas Song Are You?

2005-12-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

You Are "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow"

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Forget a new iPod or laptop...
What you want Christmas morning is a winter wonderland.

What Christmas Carol Are You?

Thanks to Liberal Common Sense

Defending the Faith

2005-12-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

Popes says rel igious liberty under threat...
"In some places it is denied for religious and ideological reasons. Other times, even if it is recognised on paper, it is hindered by political powers or else, in a more subtle fashion, by the predominant culture of agnosticism or relativism."
...the Church had to reject "a dictatorship of relativism" that denied the existence of absolute truths.

Agnosticism
...alertness and preparedness be given to the far more dangerous and destructive spiritual illnesses and moral aberrations that threaten us just as much as the bird flu.
capable of knowing the infinite, of knowing absolute truths, and of knowing and loving God....Agnosticism is clearly against the nature of man...

University kills anti-ID course
...Paul Mirecki, the head of the Religious Studies Department at Kansas University, had proposed a course titled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies."
...Despite his position as head of the Religious Studies Department, Mirecki had made it clear just how little he valued the Christians in his midst. For instance, when one SOMA communicant complained of being approached by a person giving out Bibles, Mirecki sympathized, "Yeah, I was offered one and asked the guy why he wanted the 'dark ages' to return. He just smiled at me with that inane look of the 'convinced.'"
"The Evil Dr. P.," as Mirecki identified himself on the SOMA site, valued the world's Roman Catholics even less. When a student described the ailing Pope John Paul II as a "a corpse in a funny hat wearing a dress," Mirecki responded, "I love it! I refer to him as J2P2 (John Paul II), like the Star Wars robot R2D2." The SOMA crowd was equally harsh on conservative Jews, especially the sort who "sacrifice red heifers."

To sum up: having/making a choice is bad for the Church...agnosticism is worse than the bird flu and against the nature of man...Kansas University Religious Studies Head attacked for not espousing religious viewpoints...

Blog-diot of the Week

2005-11-30T16:56:00.000-05:00

http://nicedoggie.net/2005/index.php/?p=1234
It is very easy why Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler gets my first "Blog-diot of the Week" award.

Congratulations, you are an idiot.

November 29, 2005

Don’t Piss off G-d

Filed under: Blogs and Blogging, Religion of Piss

(Heavily ~~inspired by~~ stolen from Imperial Rebbe Laurence)

Remember when the Turbaned Tumblefucks of Tehran promised to wipe Israel off the map?

I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” [Gen. 12:3]

Guess who just had 5 villages wiped out by a quake?

G-d : 1
Turbans : 0

Posted by Emperor Darth Misha I @ 12:43 pm |

Moonbats & Wingnuts

2005-11-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

My comments on Mixter's Mix about "moonbats"/"wingnuts"...

I clicked on blogs listed in wikipedia as representing left/right side of political spectrum...what I read was some far-out tripe...I don't know if they believe the scat they publish or if they do it for viewership...but what a bunch of scat...

God fearin', gun totin', hatin' gays, hatin' foreigners, hatin 'all other religions(excluding christianity)...where is this "compassionate" conservativism so bally-hoo'ed in the early 90's? What happened to smaller government and balanced budgets? The republican party has been taken over by neo-cons, religious right and the NRA...

As for the left side of the argument...it is mostly about bitchin' and complainin' about what the republicans are doing...what about ideas, social movements that the democratic party used to be built on? Most elected democrats are doing everything they can not be labeled as a democrat, liberal, or progressive...the party needs to get past their identity crisis...I think the adage DINO(Democrat in Name Only) applies just as RINO does to the republicans...

My hope for the future is that this medium might evolve to help our political process get beyond its current state of inertia and not dissolve into a hodge-podge meaningless I saw today...

Evil, Inc.

2005-11-29T13:08:00.000-05:00

These are some of the materials I put with my halloween costume this year, all of this just seems to fit lately...I handed out business cards as well as a business flyer....click on below pictures for larger, readable versions...

Nerd Test

2005-11-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Debsweb for Nerd Test...

Absurdity

2005-11-28T11:15:00.000-05:00

Atheism and Religion

2005-11-28T10:02:00.000-05:00

There Is No God by Penn Jillette...A short essay on "this I believe" on NPR...Penn and Teller also have a series on Showtime about the metaphysical called "Bullshit!"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

Podcaster Reggie Finley, Sr., host of The Infidel Guy podcast, and his family will be featured on the ABC television show Wife Swap....he gets coupled with a deeply religious woman...*crossing fingers* maybe someone gets converted...
http://www.podcastingnews.com

If I pray hard enough I will not be shot, and I can justify the killing of others...
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3256255

An idiots plea to have what is all ready hers...Be careful the secularists are coming to take away your religion!
http://www.theconservativevoice.com

Peer pressure at the Air Force Academy... Promoting religion within the ranks
http://www.daily-times.com

An atheists comments..."Atheist, Not Satanist"
http://www.thevarsity.ca

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving...

...but not in the pilgrim tradition...not in the Victorian tradition...but in the modern sense...family and friends getting together for 1 of 2 days in a year(the second being X-mas) and sharing a meal, laughter, memories, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and football..it is a day of family traditions...

So "Happy Family & Friends Day"...hopefully that is something to be "thankful" for...

List of Atheists and Agnostics

2005-11-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

The idea for this list came from
Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness

Full lists on Wikipedia and CelebAtheists
The best list I have seen is Famous Dead Nontheists...

Charles Darwin, (1809-1882) "my judgment often fluctuates...In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally (and more and more as I grow older), but not always, that an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind."
Thomas Henry Huxley, (1825-1895)
Robert Ingersoll, (1833 - 1899)
Bertrand Russell, (1872-1970)
Carl Sagan, (1934-1996)
Ingmar Bergman (1918-)
George Carlin (1937-)
Michael Newdow -
Peter Singer (1946-)
Warren Allen Smith
James D. Watson (1929- )
Douglas Adams (1951-2001)
Albert Camus (1913-1960)
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)
David Hume (1711-1776)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) "God is dead".
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994)
Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) -
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990)
Francois Marie Arouet "Voltaire" (1694-1778)
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"Many a long dispute among divines may be thus abridged: It is so; It is not so. It is so; it is not so."
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind and monopolize power and profit."
James Madison (1751-1836)
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution."
"In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people."
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Lincoln in a letter to Judge J.S. Wakefield, after the death of Willie Lincoln: "My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them."
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) "No man who ever lived knows any more about the hereafter ... than you and I; and all religion ... is simply evolved out of chicanery, fear, greed, imagination and poetry."
Samuel Clemens (1835-1910)
"O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it . . ."
Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
"Religion is all bunk." "I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."
Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959)
"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature."
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
"You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. . . . Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat's meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough."
George Orwell (1903-1950)
John Chancellor (1927-1996)
Jack Thomas wrote in the Boston Globe, ...asked Chancellor whether he feared death to which he replied "not as much as I would have thought..." Thomas then asked what he thought would happen to him after death. Chancellor replied "I've been an agnostic for as long as I can remember... so I don't know where we go. But if it turns out that the lights are just turned off and nothing happens, well, that's OK."
John Lennon (1940-1980) Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for , No religion too
Frank Zappa (1940-1993) "Who you jivin' with that cosmic debris?""Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be.""If you want to get together in any exclusive situation and have people love you, fine -- but to hang all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud-Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you've been bad or good -- and CARES about any of it -- to hang it all on that, folks, is the chimpanzee part of the brain working.
Barry White (1944-2003) Referring to religion, Barry told Reuters in 1999 interview, "I don't like stories, things I can't prove."

More Polls - Political/World View

2005-11-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

You scored as Democrat. <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'>

Democrat

92%

Anarchism

83%

Green

58%

Socialist

58%

Communism

50%

Fascism

17%

Nazi

Republican

What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In?
created with QuizFarm.com

I agree with all of this, except the 8% Nazi part...
*confused look* The BigBuddhaPuppy is a
Rottweiler...German, yes...not a Nazi...
so a big *thbbbbbbppppppttttt* to that...

You scored as Materialist.
Materialism stresses the essence of fundamental particles.
Everything that exists is purely physical matter and there
is no special force that holds life together. You believe that
anything can be explained by breaking it up into its pieces.
i.e. the big picture can be understood by its smaller elements.

Materialist

88%

Existentialist

81%

Postmodernist

69%

Modernist

56%

Romanticist

56%

Cultural Creative

38%

Fundamentalist

31%

Idealist

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

Never been called a Fundamentalist before..
.and I don't even have a bible to thump either...

I made this drivers' license to go with my
halloween costume this year...

I think I might be an existentialist

2005-11-22T12:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Shakespeare's Sister

You scored as Existentialism.
Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism:
You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world,
he is responsible for everything he does.
It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.

--Jean-Paul Sartre

It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.

--Blaise Pascal

More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...

Existentialism

95%

Hedonism

75%

Utilitarianism

65%

Justice (Fairness)

50%

Nihilism

50%

Strong Egoism

40%

Kantianism

35%

Apathy

10%

Divine Command

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
created with QuizFarm.com

Don't Feed Your Dogs Greenies!

2005-11-21T12:47:00.000-05:00

http://www.thewmurchannel.com/family/5373540/detail.html

They are natural, but not totally digestable, only 85% according to company's spokesperson...Greenies have lead to blockages in dogs intestines...

Religion

2005-11-21T10:57:00.000-05:00

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/religion/story/
Anne Rice scared and depressed comes back to religion...no more gay vampires...

http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read.html?id=5388

That damn "atheist" is at it again...

http://www.stnews.org/Commentary-2422.htm

"Is atheism dying?"...Nope, it is just waking up from a nap...thanks religious right...

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1559799

Hide your children! He is an atheist!

http://www.therant.us/staff/hagin/11182005.htm

This idiotic ranting proves there isn't a god...

http://www.theranger.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/11/17/437d1f603da1a

Another man scared by near death experience, writes book about...

Bill O'Reilly, please for X-mas...

2005-11-17T12:45:00.000-05:00

I saw this enemies list via Daily Pepper, and Club Lefty I thought I have to write this man an email, I need to be on this list, Santa would obviously reward me with tons of X-mas goodies...

Can you please put me on your enemies list? It would make X-mas so much brighter. I don't consider myself a liberal or a conservative. I am a strong social liberal, but a fiscal conservative, so I would say I am anti-GW on both accounts. So add me to that list, and I will not remember you in my prayers, as in that I don't pray. I am an atheist too.

Here's my list to get on your enemies list:

1) Against Iraq War
2) Pro-Choice
3) Atheist
4) Pro-Gay Marriage/Unions/etc.
5) Pro-Union
6) For Balanced Budget
7) Anti-GW
8) For separation of church and state
9) For Stem Cell research
10) Anti Intelligent Design(Creationism)

So how about it? Put me on that list? If that isn't enough please feel free to go to my blog at
http://bigbuddhapuppy.blogspot.com/

All the Best,
BigBuddhaPuppy

I must talk about Kurt Vonnegut today....

2005-11-16T14:03:00.000-05:00

I am driving around doing errands this morning, and a discussion on Diane Rehm show is about Slaughterhouse Five, I was able to stand Diane's slow delivery to listen to the discussion about Slaughterhouse Five...

Then I ran across a quote from Kurt Vonnegut on Blue Girl...

I surmise that it is the day for reflection on Kurt Vonnegut

I was introduced to Vonnegut in high school, even though I had to get signed permission from my parents to read Slaughterhouse Five...I forged the signature, not that my parents would not have signed, but I thought that why should they decide what I read?...I hope Kurt would have been proud

Soon after I had to read everything he had written...the satire, irony, and absurdity of his writings struck a chord with me...his books helped spark a relentless questioning of everything on my part...and that has made the world a much sadder and better place for me...I want to thank Kurt Vonnegut for enhancing my life...

Welcome to the Monkey House, all about Kurt and many links...

I can remember joining this page that was a tribute and a manifestation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick, I actually started my own family, Shar-pei, as families do sometimes, they fade away with time...The premise of the book is that if everyone was related then our society would be better off, so everyone get a middle name, ie...Chipmunk...then a number...ie 17...via these monikers then you would be related to a network of people through out the country...

This is my shar-pei family in the picture above...

What Middle Earth race do you belong to?

2005-11-15T13:13:00.000-05:00

Dwarvish

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

*shrugs shoulders* I never knew..

Thanks ye be Shakespeare's Sister

Evolution/ID....Science vs. Religion

2005-11-15T12:07:00.000-05:00

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05318/606357.stm

An activist professor trying to promote religion as science...I think this professor needs a refresher course in the sciences...

http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=1817

Archeology proves biblical history accurate....I think the phrase speaks volumes for itself...

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=550

Atheists in Russia don't want God in the national anthem...so atheists are attacked with religious zeal...

What are you listening to?

2005-11-14T16:59:00.000-05:00

This is what I am carrying around in my MP3 player at the moment

Echo and the Bunnymen
Tom Jones
Prince
Kanye West
A Tribe Called Quest
Foo Fighters
Carole King
Beatles
Thelonious Monk
Gorillaz
Steely Dan
Jamie Cullum
Cat Stevens

Damn that terrorist sympathizer!

2005-11-14T08:30:00.000-05:00

Damn that terrorist sympathizer! Damn that terrorist sympathizer! Damn that terrorist sympathizer!

A hopeful Google Bomb for Bill O'Reilly, just in time for X-mas...

Thanks to skippy the bush kangaroo

Fair and Balanced Partisanship

2005-11-11T12:53:00.000-05:00

FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. Nov. 8-9, 2005. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all registered voters). LV = likely voters
.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the job George W. Bush is doing as president?"
.
		Approve	Disap- prove	Unsure
		%	%	%	.
	ALL registered voters	36	53	11
	Democrats	10	84	6
	Republicans	72	18	10
	Independents	26	58	16

I don 't what this "red/blue state partisan split" they keep talking about....

Bushie is doing a heckuva job...

2005-11-11T12:21:00.000-05:00

PollingReport.com

	PRESIDENT BUSH – Overall Job Rating in recent news media/nonpartisan national polls

	See also: Complete trend	Survey	Approve	Disap- prove	Unsure	Approve minus
		Dates	%	%	%	Disapprove
	FOX/Opinion Dynamics RV	11/8-9/05	36	53	11	-17
	AP-Ipsos *	11/7-9/05	37	61		-24
	NBC/Wall Street Journal	11/4-7/05	38	57	5	-19
	Pew	11/3-6/05	36	55	9	-19
	ABC/Washington Post	10/30 - 11/2/05	39	60	1	-21
	CBS	10/30 - 11/1/05	35	57	8	-22
	CNN/USA Today/Gallup	10/28-30/05	41	56	3	-15
	WNBC/Marist RV	10/12-13 & 17/05	41	53	6	-12
	Diageo/Hotline RV	10/12-16/05	40	57	2	-17
	Newsweek	9/29-30/05	40	53	7	-13
	Time	9/7-8/05	42	52	6	-10

Belief-O-Matic

2005-11-09T14:05:00.000-05:00

My Rankings:
1. Secular Humanism  (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism  (96%)
3. Liberal Quakers  (93%)
4. Theravada Buddhism  (90%)
5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (79%)
6. Neo-Pagan  (76%)
7. Taoism  (73%)
8. Mahayana Buddhism  (64%)
9. New Age  (63%)
10. Nontheist  (63%)
11. Orthodox Quaker  (59%)
12. Reform Judaism  (50%)
13. Jainism  (49%)
14. Bahá'í Faith  (47%)
15. Sikhism  (44%)
16. Christian Science(Church of Christ, Scientist)(41%)
17. New Thought  (41%)
18. Scientology  (41%)
19. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints(Mormons)(37%)
21. Jehovah's Witness  (28%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist  (27%)
23. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant(25%)
24. Eastern Orthodox  (14%)
25. Islam  (14%)
26. Orthodox Judaism  (14%)
27. Roman Catholic  (14%)

Evolution...adaptation...natural selection

2005-11-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

I came across an article by Stephen Jay Gould on the subject of Evolution I found very interesting... http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_fact-and-theory.html

Following are some excerpts from the article:

"...The rise of creationism is politics, pure and simple; it represents one issue (and by no means the major concern) of the resurgent evangelical right. Arguments that seemed kooky just a decade ago have reentered the mainstream....basic attack of modern creationists falls apart on two general counts before we even reach the supposed factual details of their assault against evolution. First, they play upon a vernacular misunderstanding of the word "theory" to convey the false impression that we evolutionists are covering up the rotten core of our edifice. Second, they misuse a popular philosophy of science to argue that they are behaving scientifically in attacking evolution. Yet the same philosophy demonstrates that their own belief is not science, and that "scientific creationism" is a meaningless and self-contradictory phrase, an example of what Orwell called "newspeak."...

..."theory" often means "imperfect fact"—part of a hierarchy of confidence running downhill from fact to theory to hypothesis to guess. Thus creationists can (and do) argue: evolution is "only" a theory, and intense debate now rages about many aspects of the theory. If evolution is less than a fact, and scientists can't even make up their minds about the theory, then what confidence can we have in it?...

Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from apelike ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other, yet to be discovered...

...Our confidence that evolution occurred centers upon three general arguments. First, we have abundant, direct, observational evidence of evolution in action, from both the field and laboratory....The second and third arguments for evolution...rest upon inference, and evolution is no different from geology, cosmology, or human history in this respect. In principle, we cannot observe processes that operated in the past. We must infer them from results that still surround us: living and fossil organisms for evolution, documents and artifacts for human history, strata and topography for geology....

[ Stephen Jay Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory," May 1981; from Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994, pp. 253-262. ]

Vote

2005-11-08T11:42:00.000-05:00

Today is Election Day...

VOTE.

Pragmaticism 201

2005-11-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

Graduated flat tax... the more you make, the more you pay...no exemptions whatsoever, no loopholes...

No 501's, no corporate donations, all publicly financed elections, set dollar limits for all politicans...when our politicans start having to answer to the public instead of the corporations/special interests the better off we all will be...free tv time for all state/national candidates...mandatory debates...we deserve politcians that are answerable to us and only us...

On that note of being answerable, the British government has a practice that the Prime Minister has to go before the House of Commons and answer their question and it is televised...I applaud the British for this, we need to adopt that practice in our government....

National healthcare...all citizens deserve basic healthcare...being the richest nation in the world it is a disgrace that our healthcare is in the middle of the pack of industrialized countries of the world...

Imminent domain..."Amendment V

... nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation..."

When did businesses become a public entity?

Excuse me, Mr. B. B. Puppy, we are taking your property to make a Seven-11, it is for the public...

Assisted Suicide...reminds me of an old Bon Jovi song...It's my life...that and someone needs to put Bon Jovi out of their misery...make guidelines for assisted suicide, that is fine, but it is an individuals' choice when they decide to give up their life...

Balanced budget, government can not spend more than it takes in...makes them more answerable for their pork...ie..bridges to nowhere, Museums, etc...Mr. Senator, why can't you help us? Well, we needed a raise and a museum for the largest ball of aluminum foil in Boise...Most of deficit spending is being brought by the Chinese, to keep our dollar somewhat valuable where we can buy their goods...

What kind of postmodernist are you!?

2005-11-03T21:47:00.000-05:00

You are a Tortured Conceptual Artist. Your fellow postmodernists call you an anachronism, but you've never cared much about the opinions of others. After all, most of them are far too simple-minded to appreciate the nuances of your work. They talk, while you are part of a lived tradition.

808 other people got this result!
This quiz has been taken 5635 times.
14% of people had this result.

Thanks to:
http://republicofdogs.blogspot.com/2005/10/butbut-i-bake-cookies-for-godsake.html

Pragmaticism 101

2005-11-03T13:05:00.000-05:00

Abortion. Should be allowable until the pregnancy is viable outside the body...
Neo-Cons. I miss the old Conservatives, without the Christianity, without huge deficit spending...
Liberals. I miss the old Liberals, with a spine, defending civil rights.
Homosexuality. Deserve equal rights.
Guns. Guns are idiotic, they serve no purpose except for killing.
Iraq War. Illegal war, that we need to finish by arming our puppet Iraqi regime and leaving. Kurds deserve own country.
Evolution. Evolution is science. Intelligent design is theology.

Partisanship

2005-11-03T12:59:00.000-05:00

In submitting comments to other blogs, I have come across ideologies that are concreted into place with no hope of looking outside their entrenched places...

Abortion.
Neo-Cons.
Liberals.
Homosexuality.
Guns.
Iraq War.
Evolution.

I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on any of these issues besides the ones that have been "spoon-fed" to them by blind allegiance to an ideology.

Jailbird...Alito...90's flashbacks...oxymoron

2005-11-02T16:26:00.000-05:00

Scooter deserves all the jail time that the law can afford to him. Do you think the Republicans will recommend the death penalty for his treason?

My questions are: How did Scooter find out about Plame being an agent? How couldn't Cheney not know of any of Scooters' doings? Did Rove know? And if Rove knew, what about GW?

If all these scenario are provable by Fitzgerald, lets imprison and impeach 'the whole lot'.

Judge Samuel Alito was nominated this week, if put on Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade will be aborted very soon...road trips for abortions, maybe SouthWest will have special packages...

Can we have Clinton back? All he did was get a blowjob and lie about it... He was smart enough to leave the economy alone when it was going well... Keep it Simple Smarty... *sigh* I miss the 90's...

Secret closed Senate sessions to have an open discourse about the Iraq War...

Top 20 Oxymoron in reverse order http://www.oxymoronlist.com/
20. Government Organization
19. Alone Together
18. Personal Computer
17. Silent Scream
16. Living Dead
15. Same Difference
14. Taped Live
13. Plastic Glasses
12. Tight Slacks
11. Peace Force
10. Pretty Ugly
9. Head Butt
8. Working Vacation
7. Tax Return
6. Virtual Reality
5. Dodge Ram
4. Work Party
3. Jumbo Shrimp
2. Healthy Tan
1. Microsoft Works

Rosa Parks, 2000th death in Iraq, etc...

2005-10-26T12:57:00.000-04:00

The passing of Rosa Parks should have us reflect on where we were 50 odd years ago and where we are now...Look at Katrina debacle...we have made some steps forward, but as a nation we are still very much separated by race, and economics...It took a weary black woman wanting to sit down to help ignite a civil rights movement...maybe GW has started the next one...Thanks GW...

2000th US death in Iraq...milestone...no, not really...if it keeps the focus on the ongoing illegal war, then it is for the best...1 death is horrible...exception, they should have/could have assassinated Saddam 15 years ago and set up a better US puppet regime in Iraq...So a big "fuck you" goes to GHW Bush, WJ Clinton, and GW Bush...

Priceless...

2005-10-24T10:28:00.000-04:00

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Thanks to Old Fashioned Patroit for link

A Freeway in Hell

2005-10-24T09:51:00.000-04:00

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: 
Brother Hand Grenade of Courteous Debate.
Get yours.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to
the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Level Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers) Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful) Extreme
Level 3 (Gluttonous) High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) Very High
Level 7 (Violent) High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) High

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Extreme
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Second Level of Hell

You have come to a place mute of all light, where the wind
bellows as the sea does in a tempest. This is the realm where
the lustful spend eternity. Here, sinners are blown around
endlessly by the unforgiving winds of unquenchable desire as
punishment for their transgressions. The infernal hurricane
that never rests hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine,
whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. You have
betrayed reason at the behest of your appetite for pleasure, and
so here you are doomed to remain. Cleopatra and Helen of Troy
are two that share in your fate.

Sounds like Florida. Doesn't sound too bad, eternity with
Cleopatra and Helen of Troy in the dark.

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

Thanks for A Freeway in Hell for links...

Resemblance?

2005-10-21T11:14:00.000-04:00

I kept saying Alfred G. Newman...it is Alfred "E." Newman...
Tom and Alfred E., definitely related, and both absolutely MAD...

http://www.colbertnation.com/colbertnation/

2005-10-21T10:13:00.000-04:00

http://www.colbertnation.com/colbertnation/

Satire.

Litmus Test

2005-10-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

Litmus test...to hold a person up to a standard...possibly from past actions to foreshadow future actions...What do you stand for? Not a simple yes or no question. I don't have a problem with a justice that is pro-life if they are steadfast to letter of the law. Why are standards a bad thing?
Will you render judgement according to the law and not to personal ideology?I don't think we can find anyone with no opinion, but maybe we can look for individuals that do their jobs and keep their personal opinions to themselves...

Tabula Rosa justices...I found an example on Google

Amun

2005-10-20T12:49:00.000-04:00

I am Amum according to The Mythological God Test ...I had always thought, Pan or Loki...but it was not to happen...I found test via skippy the bush kangaroo post.

Amun was a mysterious God indeed. His very name basically means "what is hidden", "what is not seen", "what cannot be seen", and though even his form was said to be “unknown”, he was depicted as a man with the head of a uraeus (cobra), or a man seated on a throne and holding in one hand the sceptre, and in the other the ankh. All secrets aside, what we do know is that Amun was the Egyptian King of the Gods, not unlike his counterparts Zeus (Greek mythology) and Odin (Norse mythology). With his ruling might over the Gods, Amun soon became associated with the Pharaohs. Being responsible for the creation of the world, it is not surprising that he was also the God of fertility, reproduction, and sexual power, and thus also the God of agriculture. With the combined powers of regeneration and royalty, Amun became linked to the sun and the great God Ra, becoming known as Amun-Ra, which pretty much consolidated his status as Supreme God. In spite of Amun's political ascension, he also enjoyed popularity among the common people of Egypt, who came to call him the vizier of the poor, the protector of the weak, and an upholder of justice.

380 troops..

2005-10-19T11:10:00.000-04:00

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1227341&page=1

"The Americans are really helping us a lot," one earthquake survivor, whose family was evacuated by U.S. troops, told ABC News. "A lot of people don't understand they are really not that bad."

In the past week, the United States has delivered more than 400,000 pounds of relief supplies — more than any other country.

It isn't just a mission of mercy. It is also a concerted effort to win the hearts and minds of the Pakistanis and people across the Muslim world. Some wonder, however, if it will work."

I saw this on ABC News last night, and my reaction to it was as follows: Wow, 380 troops, that is so many to help out over 500,000 people that have not received any aid 10 days after the fact. Ridiculous, if we wanted to actually help, we could, we have several thousand troops all ready there. It is just another photo-op.

Will it work? No.

Could it have worked? Yes, we could have made an honest effort and helped out these people as well as our standing in the Muslim world.

No reply from the Christian Communication Network

2005-10-19T09:11:00.000-04:00

"You asking nothing more than to have your religion imposed upon other. You are losing this fight, primarily because it is being fought on your side by bigots."

This was my reply:

"I am asking for that government institutions that are paid for via tax dollars not be a promoter of religion. I don't want any religions imposed on anyone, just the contrary, I want people to free feel to follow their belief system.

My side is 'constitutionalist'."

Re: Re: American Daily Feedback

2005-10-19T08:54:00.000-04:00

Just about the entire legal community has endorsed her legal qualifications, across the aisle. She has 30 years of real world experience with an impeccable record according to everyone who has ever worked with, for or around her. She certainly has the proper education. So what is your real objection?

My real objection is: she is not qualified. Compare Roberts and Miers resumes. Big difference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Roberts_Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers

These alternatives do exist, we simply must insist upon them and not fall into the same ideology game employed by most people involved in the process.

How? I would suggest the process is broken via money.

This issue has nothing to do with "civil rights". The same laws and definitions that apply to me as a heterosexual, apply to every homosexual. The same requirements for obtaining a marriage license applied to members of the gay community, also apply to members of the heterosexual community. As you know, this is a financial benefits debate, not a civil rights debate. Over the years, laws, rules and programs have been designed to promote a traditional family unit, or at least, not penalize the traditional family unit. Members of the gay community seek to tap into those financial benefits, even though they were never designed for them. Since they can't do it any other way, they call it a "civil right" to have access to those programs and benefits. But reality is, I am no more "qualified" to apply for funding designed to help the black community that they are for programs designed to support the traditional family unit. I can't get a job under "affirmative action" programs because they were never designed for me. Same goes for homosexuals seeking access to funds not designed for them...

The simple truth is, they don't seek equality, they have that and it isn't what they desire. They seek special treatment for their special circumstances... Which is why this has nothing to do with civil rights.

Why shouldn't a "couple" not be entitled to same legal protections as other "couples"? Should not gay couples have family insurance? Should not gay couples have spousal rights? Should not gay couples be able to have families? Should not both individuals of a gay couple have parental rights? It is discrimination. The discrimination has many different rationales, one is financial, insurance companies, government don't want to deliver services and save dollars, another is religious reasons, homosexuality is a sin in their eyes, lastly is plain bigotry, some people are just homophobes.

Do you believe in affirmative action?

The simple truth is, they want the same rights as everyone else. Equal rights.

Re: American Daily column feedback

2005-10-18T13:22:00.000-04:00

Does Harriet Miers have qualifications that other court justices have? No.

Wrong... As a matter of fact, she does. She has one very important qualification. She has the confidence of the one man in this country charged with the responsibility of naming the next Supreme Court Justice. Other's might have his confidence too, but clearly not as much confidence. That is the one qualification she has that nobody else has...and it's a very
important qualification, since republican does not equal conservative...

She does have one then...I am still waiting on any others...

What others are necessary?

Experience, education...

"Did GW nominate her? Yes. His judgements are dubious at best."

You are entitled to your opinion. But my opinion is that GWB will be eventually written into history as a President who made many some unpopular decisions at a very difficult time, that turned out to be the right ones...Reagan is still today one of our most "popular" Presidents. But during his time in office, he was like GWB, one of our most unpopular Presidents, also accused of being a cowboy, full of false bravado and black and white vision... It wasn't until much later that people were forced to recognize his brilliance, once the fruit of his labor became visible to all...

Yep, entitled to opinions...GW Bush, Nixon, Cleveland, Hoover, Harding, Grant will be linked together as worst presidents in US History...

People liked Reagan, and you are correct they still like him, but his policies aren't the most popular...the only one that is favorable towards Reagan is "ending the cold war". No Mr. Reagan, ketchup is not a vegetable...

Actually, Reagan was called all the same names Bush has been called and accused of all the same things Bush has been accused of. It wasn't until much later that his hard-headed tough-talk policies became respected, after the fruits of his efforts were obvious to even his opponents. The same will happen to Bush as history is written...in my opinion.

We are definite violent disagreement about this one, it will be interesting to see...

"GW said they never discussed abortion. Obvious lie."

Very likely... not obvious...but very likely.

Yep, very...

GW nominated her because she is an unknown quantity. Harder to look at a record, if you don't have one.

A sure way to avoid the litmus test that isn't supposed to exist in the first place.

I said nothing of a "litmus test"...I said a record, as in being qualified to be a supreme court justice..there are better qualified individuals in America...

Don't be cute... We both know the reason behind today's search for a "record" relates to ones ability to guess what position they will take on the key issues of the day. This is by definition, a litmus test. The reason for wanting to know how Miers "feels" about abortion is to guess how she might "rule" on abortion. Yet this litmus test is not the grounds upon which we are supposed to appoint nor confirm judges to the bench.

I don't think litmus tests are necessary because judges are interpeters of the law(supposedly)...but a record on her judgement would be great going toward to see that she is the "strict constitutionalist" we both are advocating instead of a "crony"...I agree that judge appointments are politicized by both parties...

Activist judges? This phrase-ology just shows a partisan belief by persons who choose to use it. The reasoning is this, a judge that makes a decision that the forementioned agrees with, the judge ceases to be "an activist judge

Not true... not true at all. Example: An activist judge is one who makes "legal" judgments on the basis of their personal political ideologies. Like seeing a right to an abortion hidden in the IV Amendment clearing relating to criminal investigations and illegal search and seizures. Or like making a "legal" judgment regarding a "separation" clause that is written nowhere in our founding documents, even at odds with what is written in those founding documents. This is an activist judge... Forcing his or her political ideology upon the masses via judicial fiat. If I were in search of an activist judge from my side of the ideological aisle, I'd be searching for a judge with an imagination geared more to my personal liking, like a judge who would simply call for a review of these prior decisions for the sole purpose of reversing them on the grounds that there were no "legal" grounds for the decisions. As it is, I simply seek a judge who can "uphold" the
Constitution as it was written, leaving the Amendment and law making process to the legislative branch as was intended by the founders.

Uphold the constitution...I agree, I would like a "strict constitutionalist" but in today's climate it is doubtful we will find a judge that doesn't use their political ideology in their renderings...Under your idea of "activist judges", most of justices are activists, whether that be conservative or liberal...the reasoning being it has to do with who "votes" them in, or
nominates them...

When it comes to judges, there are only three ideological options. (1) A liberal leaning ideologue, as in Ginsberg (2) A conservative leaning ideologue, as in Thomas or (3) A "constitutionalist" ideologue, as in one that will rule strictly on the basis of constitutionality, as it is written, not as it might be imagined by either option (1) or (2). I prefer option (3) as it is the only one that protects ALL Americans equally.

When it comes to upholding the constitution, there are only two options. (1) Upholding the written constitution, or (2) upholding the imaginary constitution, the unwritten, the one subject to individual ideological interpretations instead of legal interpretations. I prefer option (1)...

I don't think your picks exist, so what is the alternative?

The will of the people on the abortion issue? Do you realize that polls show that a majority of Americans are pro-choice? If you make it a state issue, then still a majority of states are in favor of choice.

This statement is simply not true. However, if you believe it is true, lets put it to a nationwide referendum via the Amendment process, or pass a law legalizing abortion via the legislative branch. If you are so sure that this is the will of people, why do you seek to circumvent the voice of the people by using activist courts to pass laws you know would never pass the legislative branch or the Amendment process? Never forget, polls are meaningless except those cast by the people on a ballot day. Ask John Kerry...all polls had him winning by a landslide, but he lost by almost 4 million votes, making every poll wrong... Make it a state issue, and less than 5 states nationwide would pass legislation legalizing abortion. Lets do it! Lets let the people speak...

Either way, the abortion would remain legal...I do agree it would be close, but if it comes up to a national referendum, it would get out the moderate/liberal votes of this country like "civil union/marriage" referendums of last election did for the Christians...If goes to the states,
it would each individual state voting on if it would be legal in that individual state (Texas votes for Texas, Massachusetts votes for Massachusetts), women would have to travel for legal abortions...

Actually, I'll bet my last dollar that the same people that showed up to re-elect Bush by almost 4 million votes, would show up to block legalizing abortion. While many people claim understanding and tolerance (publicly) in front of their friends, when it comes time to step into a voting booth and pull the lever for killing more innocent unborn children, they will err on the side of moral convictions (privately). Then return to public and behave tolerant...

I'm willing to put it to a vote. Same goes for gay marriage, put it to a vote, let the people decide. I'll bet my last dollar on the outcome...will you? I'll even give you 5 to 1 odds that both would go down in flames...which is why you seek an activist judge.

I agree gay marriage would not win in a national referendum, civil unions would be closer, but probably wouldn't win as well...civil unions is a subject that most politicans will not touch, last election showed that...the popular rhetoric was "it was a state issue"...so under that guise, civil
unions will pass in some states and not in others...so it is an activist judge that says that gay marriage is an equal rights issue? Is it an activist judges that says that gay marriage isn't an equal rights issue as well?

Gay marriage has no chance at all and according to the fact that 40 some of the 50 states have already passed state laws blocking not only gay marriage, but gay unions as well, I'd say its a dead issue as well, with the exception of probably three states, CA, NY and MA, all three of which are also working to outlaw both at present, but have serious opposition.

Good for states' rights. At least the civil rights do exist in some states for gay individuals.

Be careful with the pragmatic tag-line, it has been linked with Darwin through William James."

Pragmatism was around long before Darwin, and it will be around long after
JB.... Thanks for the warning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism
Pragmatism was founded by William James(friend & contempary of Darwin), his
work was in conjunction with Darwins' findings...What existed pre-pragmatism that could be attributed/contributed to pragmatism is buddhism and the idea of karma according to James' writings...
http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/shaw2.htm

I enjoy the conservation...

No matter our differences, I always enjoy an honest respectful exchange of ideas. Be well!

JB Williams
Political Writer
www.JB-Williams.com

Regards,
(BBP)

*This correspondence is reference to below link*
http://www.americandaily.com/article/9544

A & E's Top 10/Top 100 Americans

2005-10-18T13:13:00.000-04:00

Top 10 greatest Americans

1 Ronald Reagan

2 Abraham Lincoln

3 Martin Luther King

4 George Washington

5 Benjamin Franklin

6 George W Bush

7 Bill Clinton

8 Elvis Presley

9 Oprah Winfrey

10 Franklin D Roosevelt

Reagan doesn't belong in the top 10, maybe top 50...GW Bush, Clinton belong in "bottom 100" list, if there ever was one...Elvis and Oprah don't belong in the top 100, nothing against them, but greatness is more than celebrity...

Bigotry

2005-10-18T12:33:00.000-04:00

big·ot P Pronunciation Key (bgt)
n.One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

bigot n : a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own

bigot

n. [common] A person who is religiously attached to a
particular computer, language, operating system, editor, or other
tool (see religious issues). Usually found with a specifier;
thus, `cray bigot', `ITS bigot', `APL bigot', `VMS bigot', `Berkeley
bigot'. Real bigots can be distinguished from mere partisans or
zealots by the fact that they refuse to learn alternatives even when
the march of time and/or technology is threatening to obsolete the
favored tool. It is truly said "You can tell a bigot, but you can't
tell him much." Compare weenie, Amiga Persecution Complex.

Source: Jargon File 4.2.0

Christian Communication Network

2005-10-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

You asking nothing more than to have your religion imposed upon other. You are losing this fight, primarily because it is being fought on your side by bigots.

Gary McCullough, Director
Christian Communication Network
2020 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20006

www.ChristianWireService.com

202.546.0054

----- Original Message -----

From: Big BuddhaPuppy

To: info@EarnedMedia.org

Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 11:18 AM

Subject: Neither...

Religious, or the empty placeholder of non-religious belong in our public
institutions. Christmas, Winter Solice, or any other tradition of worship
belong in our public institution paid for by taxpayer dollars...

If Christians want to see Christian traditions, go to church, celebrate in
non-taxpaid institutions.
Same applies to Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, etc...

If either side makes an issue of putting their beliefs in a tax funded
arena, then they are trying to push their beliefs upon others...simply put,
it is wrong...

Regards,

Voting...59.6% isn't 100%

2005-10-13T11:12:00.000-04:00

I recently responded to a post about 48% of Americans voting for Kerry....
It was actually 48.27% of 60.3%(1)...29.1% voted for Kerry

2004 Election Data(2)

Summary
Bush	62,041,268	50.73%
Kerry	59,028,548	48.27%
Total (all candidates)	122,293,720	Turnout rate among voting-eligible: 60.3%
Margin of Victory	3,012,720	2.46%

Actual Summary(of all voters)
Bush........................................................................62,041,268................30.6%
Kerry......................................................................59,028,548.................29.1%
Total Voted(202,808,823)................................122,293,720.................60.3%
Margin of Victory(all voters)................................3,012,720....................1.5%

Why is it that 39.7% of our citizens didn''t vote? The puzzling thing is that this election was considered one of the best since 1992 or 1960's...

One reason, our archaic voting traditions...voting on a Tuesday in November...Tuesday was for travelers, November was for farmers...Most didn't travel on Sundays, so Monday was traveling...in November, the harvesting was done...now the tradition is upheld to limit voters from getting to the polls...Why not hold it on a Saturday? or for 3 days, where it can be more accessible...

I am not going to bash the Electoral College, we are formed as Federalist Republic, and that means we vote by state, not individuals...

Apathy is another reason, it is difficult for people to muster any choice when they don't feel like they are being represented...a two party oligarchy...

Top 100 Americans

2005-10-12T14:11:00.000-04:00

You vote on your choice of top 3 Americans, they give them 4 points, 2 points, and 1 point accordingly to vote, then tally up top 100...kinda like the bad show with Matt Lauer on A&E a few months back...

I found it interesting what we think greatness is.

These are my top 3:

1) George Washington: Man that could have been King

2) Thomas Jefferson: Author of our country

3) Thomas Paine: Pragmatic, fighting spirit of country.

Atheist bashing

2005-10-12T13:16:00.000-04:00

Atheism = value-less, no morals/ethics
Atheism = anti-Christian
Atheism = liberal socialist
Atheism = anti-American

For all non-believers about bashing...just set up Google alert for Atheism or Atheist and see it in action. Hyperbole, circular logic, and fear are weapons of these zealots.

http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en

It is definitely time to 'decenter' the idea of Atheism.

In the future I am going to look into the ideas of religion, politics and philosophy...there are some denotations with ideologies that need to be examined...

BYOB...RSVP...

2005-10-11T11:39:00.000-04:00

Congratulations GW, you are succeeding in fracturing the Republican Party. Anytime there is a chipping away of either of the two parties, it is always to my enjoyment. I have always been under the idea that we need bring more parties to the dance. To my chargin, any third party has fizzled out quickly...

Ross Perot, might have caused GHW Bush the election...Nader, might have caused Gore the election...probably not though in retrospect, GHW and Gore just disconnected from the people with arrogant elitism...

Libertarian party has been a huge disappointment, pinning down a platform from them is like asking an agnostic about god. Huh? What's a platform? We don't if a platform exists or not...

Socialist party...well, can't be viable and socialist in America...Socialism equates communism in America...

Independent party...*sigh* I remember John Anderson, and his crazy idea on gun control...Gun Control, that is just cuckoo in 1980...now, to be independent has no meaning, except you don't accept the two major parties...

Tax reform party...need more than one issue...and Republican call dibs on tax issues...

Communist party...*see Socialist party* above

Reform party...it was the Ross Perot party, and he could cry if he wants to....Jesse Ventura, well, you had a chance until you came out of the closet, people don't like their politicans quoting Marx...the party split, divided and now it is basically gone...

Green party...Ralph Nader Party...good for 1-2%...maybe even 4-5% in those liberal college towns...

I think if a third party is ever going to be viable it will have to use the Ross Perot formula(-Ross Perot)...a strong personality with lots of money and connections...

Who comes to mind? Oprah...worth billions...women like her, minorities like her, celebrities like her, she is very tv savvy obviously, religious people like her, but she isn't too religious to annoy secularists...

Anybody else come to mind?

Between the Clintons

2005-10-04T11:57:00.000-04:00


Jesse Jackson	Ted Kennedy	Hillary Clinton	Bill Clinton	Colin Powell	George Bush	Jack Kemp	Bob Dole	Ronald Reagan
0	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40

100% Liberal

100% Conservative

Between the Clintons...I wonder if I should feel violated or not?

I like Reagan, as a person, very optimistic, very strong leader...but not too compassionate, ketchup is not a vegetable, and he happen to forget a few things on the way: Contras, Weapons, and AIDS epidemic...

Bob Dole, a great deficit hawk, I dig a balanced budget...he was a mean SOB in congress, I think he scared more people than Barry Goldwater ever did...at least he lightened up after his political days, when Bob Dole takes some viagara, it makes Bob Dole a happy Bob Dole....Bob Dole...

Jack Kemp, the best Buffalo QB to elected to congress...oh..he is the only one?...well, had to give him something...okay, two things, he has nice hair...

George Bush 1.0, my personal favorite of all the Bushies, he went to war, didn't finish the job, he said no new taxes, got in recession, raised taxes, was a good diplomat, threw up on Japanese offical...not a wimp, and saved us all from Willie Horton...

Colin Powell, I like Colin Powell, but man, didn't he have a huge lapse in judgement? Taken in by GW's magnetism...I don't know if you will be able ever to escape it pull...as a political personality, Colin, we hardly knew ye...the first black man that could have been president, I wonder if some of the Republican is letting out a sigh of relief?...

Bill, Billy, Slick Willie, got to dig the Clinton...the politicans politican...he did some good things, was fortunate to be in office durning boom in stock market, or he probably would not have lasted in that second term...I am just a Bill and lonely ole Bill, sitting here on Capital Hill...you needed to teach Hillary some those tricks, or be more discrete....

Hillary...I guess are a something when you can refer to a person as one name...no one liked it when you came in Bill's first term and tried to be a legistrator...but with the constant right wing bashing, it makes me take a long hard look at you, then say, can't the Democrats find somebody, anybody? If you run against Cheney in the next election, I wish you well...

Ted Kennedy...is he gone yet? I can't gather anything for this man after forgetting about his drowning secretary...I was hoping when his fat ass was in Ethopia, they might eat him...

Jesse Jackson, an opportunist of the first degree...a racists racist...a divider of people....not worthy of the MLK legacy...

Much to Ado about ...

2005-09-30T15:02:00.000-04:00

Illustrated...

2005-09-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

I got this illustration from the site I looked at below...they ask you 30 questions, and then some general ones on abortion, gun control, death penalty, etc...

It is interesting place to see how labels work....I didn't realize Gandhi was pro-choice and pro-death penalty...I did have some idea that GW might be close to a fascist though...And Jefferson being close to anarchist, well just ask the British..."God save the Queen", here comes Thomas! Anarchy in the US of A!

So maybe the last illustration was too generalistic(happens with labels)...lets try the intro picture of the site...

Adam Sandler? I guess Happy Gilmore is libertarian leaning democrat...never would have guessed...And next to him? Martin Luther King, I bet if he was still around, he would have another dream, to not be associated with Mr. Sandler...Whoopadedooooooooooo!!!

John Kerry is a centrist? I guess flip flopping put him in the middle, or he has a very large head...

Pinochet, a fascist? Mass murder might adhere that label to person, I guess those US foreign aid dollars help to do a lot of killing...

The capitalist holy trinity, Reagan, GW, and the Don...

Jerry Falwell, Osama Bin Laden and the Pope are on the same axis...Axis of ____?

Joseph Stalin and Darth Vader...I think Death Star employees had a nice pension plan...

Gorby, Hillary and Gandhi? Who doesn't fit in this picture? Hillary, she has hair...waxen, flaxen, growing, flowing, hair, hair, hair....

I think Eleanor Roosevelt is hiding behind Hillary Clinton..I wonder if Eleanor would be for civil unions?

I surmise there are aren't any libertarians or anarchists in the world...Johnny Rotten, where are you?

Lastly, this all means nothing, but it is fun to opine....

There are socialists around here...

2005-09-30T13:02:00.000-04:00

2005-09-28T16:54:00.000-04:00

Bruce D'Gnome for President 2008

Paid for by Gnomes for President Action Committee

What is "decenter"?

2005-09-28T16:16:00.000-04:00

What is "decenter"? The idea for this blog came from a blog I read on what it meant to be a "centrist"...None of the bloggers could decide what being "center" meant.

The reason being there is no center. You can give one question to everyone and claim the center as the majority answer. One question will beget another, and another about itself. Abortion for example. Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life? Lets say for argument Pro-Life is the answer. Then the question is pro-life from conception? When is conception? Is abortion okay if medically necessary? or rape, or incest? Is 1st trimester permitted? 2nd?

The point is to illustrate the idea of "decentering"...the more dynamic life becomes the further from a political center(any center for that matter) we become...Life is not a simple yes/no question/answer. An individual can have a center because there is no reference points. Again we don't live in a vacuum by sheer numbers the center comes apart.

So what's the big deal about "decenter", it is the concept that holds promise, it is the idea of treating all questions without preconceptions that might come with them. The preconceptions are labels. Labels are the lazy way out of making choices and decisions. He is a liberal so I don't have to listen to him. She is a bible-thumper, she lives in the stone age.

The illusion of center is that idea of something being set in stone...abortion is murder or abortion is choice...these are just examples of absolutes....

This doesn't mean that we can't have opinion about subject matter, it just means that we need to deconstruct foundations of the subject before we can come to a pragmatic answer.

"Decenter" comes from wordplay on being a "centrist"...it also comes from the writings of Derrida. He wrote entensively on the idea of "deconstruction" and "decentering"...

The Hell with Political Correctness...

2005-09-27T03:32:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, while getting a tattoo of my dog on my left calf...my tattooist, John and myself started into small talk...something to keep the time going as he put ink to skin...

Small talk morphed into the history of corruption...Hitlers' Nazis bullying into controlling Austria and surrounding countries; the omnious phase of the "New World Order" coined by GHW Bush; Hugo Chavez, The Motorcycle Diaries, Iraq War, Oil, Renewable Energies, Wal-mart, socialism, capitalism...

I was a bit uneasy at first approaching any of these topics...and that is a problem I have realized that occurs in American life daily. We are conformists by nature, we want to fit in, regardless of the outcome....

The idea occured to me that our school system model could be a great place to start...our scholastic system is very outdated, it was setup to teach children to be on time, follow directions from authority figures outside the home. Why were/are these traits so important? The model is to make as many factory workers as possible...now it is service workers...as in ...can I take your order please?...Attention Wal-mart shoppers there is a two for one sale on hunting rifles...Original thinking is frowned upon in our school systems, students are taught to regurgiate a circulum that will not leave them behind. There is a connection. Federal/State governments set up guidelines to be met, if they are not met, they take away dollars. So schools will only get money if they teach what the federal/state government subscribe. And what do these governments like to taught? Science is taboo. Religion is science. World History is European history. American History is proproganda. Civics? What is civics? Is that the study of Honda?

So why is our government not helping or at best shuffling its feet at this outdated system? Simply put, it helps them. Keep us fat, dumb and happy and they can keep making money.

The older I get, the more I appreciate "1984"...it just becomes more and more prevalent everyday....

Decenter

2005-09-25T18:03:00.000-04:00

The Center, it doesn't mean anything, it is just a label. GHW Bush was a centrist, Clinton was a centrist, this according to many political observers.

GW Bush is a neo-con, and/or a conservative. How is GW actually a conservative? It isn't his actions obviously. Deficit spending, nation building are tags for the liberals. So maybe it is just a label in name. Advertisment, to put himself in with bible thumpers, Nascar dad, soccer moms.

Conservative means Christian. Conservative means America. Conservative means family values.
Liberal means atheist. Liberal means Communist. Liberal means Abortions.

I have to admit those conservatives are fantastic with the media. The conservatives have done so well that liberals find themselves leaning to the right, sometimes so much they look like one of those palm trees after Katrina.

Senator Clinton is one of those leaners, softening her stances on choice, going after the video game industry. Hillary, this isn't Kansas, you don't have to do that. Well, unless you want to be President. I can't wait to see her in a tank like Michael Dukakis. Go get yourself some terrorists, Senator!

Labels, labels, labels...new and improved conservative...compassionate conservatives...neo-cons...new and improved liberal...centrist...*sic* Republican...

We are an oligarchy...According to Webster's, oligarchy is "a government in which power is in the hands of a few." Sound familiar? It can all be traced back to the undue influence of money...I enjoy capitalism like the next person, but when economics becomes the power in a government then we as people have a problem. It would be very difficult to get undue influence of money out of our government...it controls elections, it control judical appointments, it controls the media...

It is time to put the power back in "we the people"...of course I might be labeled many things by others for saying that....*insert label*