Helping In The opposite Direction

California - Death penalty issue to linger - sacbee.com - Whenever I see TV coverage of anti-death penalty folks they always have signs saying the death penalty is racist. This is a great case where these folks actually are helping the other side. Most people are for the death penalty and calling them racist will not help the anti-death penalty cause. Good!

Broken Masterpieces Looks Horrible On Netscape

Based on a couple of alerts from some commenters I loaded this blog into Netscape. It looked HORRIBLE. Looks like this blogger has some extra work to do. I appreciate any comments about the appearance of the site, especially if it doesn't look like it is working correctly.

Giving the Benefit of the Doubt

My Way News - Clinton Adviser Probed in Terror Memos

I'm going to believe Sandy Berger, unless proven otherwise. People make mistakes and it doesn't seem intentional unlike this:

Former CIA Director John Deutch was pardoned by Clinton just hours before Clinton left office in 2001 for taking home classified information and keeping it on unsecured computers at his home during his time at the CIA and Pentagon. Deutch was about to enter into a plea agreement for a misdemeanor charge of mishandling government secrets when the pardon was granted.

Ali at the All-Star Game

CBS.SportsLine.com - MLB Ali captivates All-Star crowd

I'm a big fan of Muhammad Ali, the boxer but don't think he deserves the self-made title of "The Greatest". That's as bad as Michael Jackson calling himself the "King of Pop". I also am not a big fan of his activities in the 60's. He was associated with Black Muslims and even in an interview with Reader's Digest seems to be so wrapped up in race (see here). I just don't really think he's worthy of awe other than for his athletic prowness. He did stand up for his beliefs (I think he was just plain wrong) but at least he didn't run to Canada. There are many more people that I am in awe of than Mr. Ali. Any man who's heros include Elijah Muhammad (a leader of the Nation of Islam) is not worthy of praise as a man.

Blogger Quiz

1. Which political party do you typically agree with? Republican

2. Which political party do you typically vote for? Republican

3. List the last five presidents that you voted for? 43, Dole, 41, 41, Reagan

4. Which party do you think is smarter about the economy? Republicans in idealogy but I just wished they'd practice what they preach, especially on spending.

5. Which party do you think is smarter about domestic affairs? Republican

6. Do you think we should keep our troops in Iraq or pull them out? Get them out as soon as Iraq can handle themselves without the Islamic Fundies and terrorists taking over.

7. Who, or what country, do you think is most responsible for 9/11? Al Qaeda and the nations that harbored them.

8. Do you think we will find weapons of mass destruction in iraq? We've found small amounts already. We'll find more or we'll find some type of paper trail to Syria or Iran

9. Yes or no, should the u.s. legalize marijuana? No

10. Do you think the republicans stole the last presidental election? No

11. Do you think bill clinton should have been impeached because of what he did with monica lewinski? He should have been impeached because of his lying under oath but should have resigned because of his affair with that woman, Miss Lewinski

12. Do you think hillary clinton would make a good president? Heck no

13. Name a current democrat who would make a great president: Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh

14. Name a current republican who would make a great president: Other than 43, Arnold (if he could run)

15. Do you think that women should have the right to have an abortion? No

16. What religion are you? Christian

17. Have you read the Bible all the way through? Yes

18. What's your favorite book? Other than the Bible, Christ Before The Manger by Ron Rhodes

19. Who is your favorite band? Switchfoot

20. Who do you think you'll vote for president in the next election? W

21. What website did you see this on first? QandO

Idiot on Parade

Tip to Drudge.

WFTV.com - News - Pastor Creates Furor With Sign Blaming Jews For Crucifixion

I urge all people of faith in the area, especially Christians to confront Pastor Maurice Gordon. This kind of junk cannot stand.

Comments about comments

I appreciate the comments that have been made on this blog, whether they are positive, neutral or negative, but if you don't include a valid email address (at least one I can translate) then I will ban your IP address and delete your comment. If you are going to take a shot at me, keep it civil and include an email address. I do this for many reasons but getting cheap shots is not a reason to do it. Thanks.

The Whine of the Dixie Chicks

As I'm flipping through the channels while on the exercise bike I came across a new interview with the Dixie Chicks. Two things they said were just silly. First they said that they were disappointed in President Bush's response to a question by Tom Brokaw about the Chicks. Bush said that freedom of speech is a two way street and that people have a right not to buy their records. The Chicks said they thought he should have made some grand freedom of speech statement. We'll guess what Chicks, freedom comes with responsibility. You can say whatever you want but there can be ramifications. NOW, I DO NOT SUPPORT ANY VIOLENT REACTIONS TO SPEECH, JUST TO BE CLEAR. What I'm saying is that I agree with President Bush. I don't boycott artists or my record collection would be quite sparse. I can separate the music from the politics (sometimes). At the same time, I do support the rights of others to not buy certain music because of political issues.

The other thing they said was that they were right. OK, that means they believe we shouldn't have gone into Iraq. I don't think the people of Iraq or a majority of Americans I agree with them. Of course, the Chicks probably only have yes people around them and only hang with other liberal elites. Of course, in their own world they are correct. If all you did was watch Jennings, Brokaw and Rather and read Franken and Moore of course you'd think that you (the anti-Iraq war person) were correct.

Sorry Chicks, wrong again.

Sleeping with Michael Jackson

This article on Fox News sums asks the basic question, why the heck would anyone let there kid stay with Michael Jackson knowing his history? What has happened to/with Jackson saddens me, but these parents who knowingly let their kids hang out with this "man" are negligent. Michael is just one messed up dude. Isn't it obvious? I guess not to some parents.

Roger L. Simon on Kobe

I am not going to blog much on Kobe Bryant but my opinion is perfectly reflected by Roger L. Simon.

Grocery Workers On Strike/Locked Out

Here is Southern California there is a big strike/lockout of the union employees at 3 major grocery stores. It seems they are striking over having to pay for some of their health insurance costs. Um, quick note to you grocery store workers, most of us have been paying for some of our health insurance costs for years. Striking in a shaky economy is just a bad idea. Maybe instead of paying your union dues you could easily cover your health insurance costs.

CD Prices at a Christian Bookstore

It is very sad when a Christian bookstore charges almost $17 for most of their CDs. Yes, I understand all the overhead issues but maybe they should get rid of all the fluff and sell books. I refuse to pay more than required just because a business is Christian. I go for price and quality, pure and simple.

Some evangelical leaders just don't get it

First off, I'm a Christian evangelical so I'm smacking my own. I've been seeing some articles about some of the conservative evangelicals who are talking about not supporting Bush in 2004. Every time I read this it ticks me off. I respect a lot of these folks for their faith and works of faith they perform but they need to back off on the politics. Just because George W. Bush doesn't agree 100% on some issues they are going to try and influence folks to not vote for him? So they'd rather let John Kerry (see below) win who won't agree with ANYTHING they believe in become President. Who do they want to fight the war on terror? Who do they want appointing Secretary of Defense? Haven't they learned the lessons of 1992?

Thoughts on Liberal/Progressive Leadership in this Country

A liberal/progressive friend of mine brought up some issues that set my mind off on some thoughts and tangents about the Democratic leadership in this country. Here it goes.....

When did the term "progressives" become the normal word? That's just a cleaner word than liberal which the radicals from the 60's destroyed. I liked and respected the old liberals like JFK, Truman, FDR. Seems the new progressives (Jesse Jackson, Richard Gephardt, Howard Dean, Hillary, Dennis Kucinich, Babs Boxer & Striesand, Ted Kennedy, Susan Sarandon) are more socialist than anything and seem to like to blame America first for all the problems in the world and there is nothing that a government program (i.e. spending) can't fix.

Conservatives believe differently about many issues but some of the goals are the same. The big difference is the method. The environment....believe it or not conservatives want clean water, air, lower pollution. The progressive method is to add more and more regulations to companies. In California, companies are always tempted to move because of overregulation. Some regulation is good but the progressives in this state have gone to far for too long. If you want to clean up things there needs to be a balance between laws and incentives. That's the conservative approach.

Progressives want to maintain the forests and so do conservatives. What has happened though is the progressives have made it impossible to clean out some of the forest so when there is a fire it spreads like crazy. Conservatives want to thin out areas and make fire lines so it won't spread too much. Both have great end goals but I thing the conservative way works better.

Now, progressives will howl about the Alaskan Arctic Preserve and how we can't drill for oil there. First, how many of them actually have gone there? How many of them realize that the people of Alaska want drilling there? How many of them realize that it's only a very small part where the drilling would occur? From the left there is no balance, the caribou reign supreme so no drilling. Doesn't matter that very little of the millions of acres would be touched and it could reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Heck, the area is frozen over more than half the time. Technology has made the drilling process very clean and unobtrusive.

In terms of "social justice" it comes down to philosophy and extremes. Most political progressives I see believe we should take money from the rich and give it to the poor. That's always the bottom line. It doesn't matter if the rich person has earned it. Conservatives believe that there does need to be a safety net but how big? Conservatives believe that it's up to individuals to step up to the plate and help. Of course progressive Al Gore gave a grand total of $353 dollars to charity in either 1996 or 1997. Another progressive Bill Bradley (a multi-millionaire) gave away very small amounts also in the 1990's. Of course, they love to have all these great government programs but personally, they take a pass. Many of us conservatives believe that is backwards.

Government also does not do the best of jobs with many things. Once money goes from the tax payer to the person needing help the money is less than half what it originally was. All sorts of departments take a share off of the top. The government does some things well (fight wars comes to mind) but mostly very inefficiently.

Medicare.... conservatives have always been labeled they want to cut Medicare. Not true, we want to fix something that is very broke. The "progressives" only want to just pour more money into it and give prescription drugs to everybody. Conservatives want to give prescription drugs to the needy. 91 year old Ronald Reagan does not need free drugs. So with the impasse nobody gets them.

Race.... just because somebody doesn't believe in affirmative action does not mean they are bigoted or want to not give equal opportunity or believe in social justice. Of course, progressives don't seem to see it that way. Two days before the last Presidential Election, Albert Arnold Algore Jr. was at a prayer breakfast with an African-American congregation. He said that Bush wants to appoint Supreme Court justices who would interpret the constitution with the 3/5ths clause. A total race bait. Nothing like polluting the water. When doofus's like Trent Lott make stupid race comments they are tossed. Progressive Bill Clinton went on black radio before the 1998 congressional elections and blamed conservatives for church burnings. Progressives keep voting in Robert "KKK" Byrd to his seat in the Senate and nobody on the left will investigate or even ask what he did in the KKK. I won't even get into the progressive "Reverend" Jesse Jackson. Just more poison.

After the OK City bombing Clinton sent out Carville and Begala to blame Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives for poisoning the air and giving the atmosphere for it to occur. It didn't matter that the bombers where so out "there" that they would consider Rush a liberal and didn't listen to him. Did George W. Bush go after Clinton and the left for missing out on getting Bin Ladin. They had him but passed it up. Did he blame Clinton for cutting off many of the CIA assets in the Middle East in the mid-90's? No. He rallied everybody and didn't blame anybody except the terrorists that did the murders. Just seems that all that good will is out the door because once 9/11 calmed down the left seemed to begin playing politics and tried to blame Bush for what happened. The things Hillary said are just atrocious.

From the list of progressives I listed above I haven't learned anything from them other than, in a post 9/11 world, it's not safe to vote Democrat. They are too far left. Most will cut defense just like Clinton did. Most of the "reinventing government" was in getting rid of civilian military folks (thanks Rummy for getting some of it fixed real quick and bringing back the morale). Most of them will vote against banning partial-birth abortion. Talk about extreme. I'm a center-right bleeding heart conservative. I believe in helping people but on my own, with my own free will. I'm also 100% anti-abortion, support the death penalty, want lower taxes for everybody. I believe in a very strong defense and that sometimes the best defense is an offense (like the war on terror). I also believe in a safety net but every since the leaders of our country screwed with the Social Security trust fund in 1969 it's been messed up.

Again, the progressives shout down the conservatives when they try to fix something so SS is still broke. They go down to Florida and say Republicans want to take your SS away. We just believe that it should be there for the seniors now and for my kids much later. How do we fix it? We're trying but that third rail is hot.

I believe there are many good and kind hearted liberals. They just aren't to the left enough to gain national prominence. In order to be the Democratic nominee or to be on the ticket as VP they will have to be 100% pro-choice - abortion allowed at all times including the last weeks for any reason. FYI, George W. Bush is not 100% pro-life. He does make exceptions but he was still nominated, just like Dole and his father.

The most compassionate and giving man I've ever met is to the right of me on many issues. He gives so much time and money to helping children all over the world. There are many more like him on the right. They believe that it's better to do the job themselves than to wait for the government to do it. The left does not have a monopoly on compassion at all.