2008-09-05

Idiot of the Day

A man was arrested for carrying an AK-47, a bunch of ammo, and even a grenade in the vicinity of the US Capitol.  How was he caught?

He asked a cop for directions.

2008-09-03

Sarah Palin, Jews, and Jesus

The news never seems to be positive with regards to Sarah Palin.  Yesterday, it was reported that she attended an anti-Jewish sermon by the founder of Jews for Jesus, an oxymoron of a religion.  

Some evangelicals embrace Jewish people, but I suspect they have an underlying motive.  To them, a Jewish person would be the ultimate convert.

Some history: the first Christians were all former Jews, as was Jesus (though I don't think he renounced the religion, just turned into a new one).  The conversion started around this time, AD 025, and eventually Christians gained in numbers.  To someone like the founder of Jews for Jesus, or for Sarah Palin and I suspect most evangelicals, there job will not be done until all of "God's People" are converted to Christianity.  To them, J4J is a good stepping stone in what they feel is the "right" direction.

But it doesn't stop there.  Lots of religions (albeit not Judaism) actively convert people.  David Brickner, the founder of J4J, went a step further by saying that terrorist attacks against Israel is because they have not accepted Jesus and the attacks are God's "judgment of unbelief."

If I were Jewish, I'd stay the hell away from Sarah Palin and look to someone like Joe Biden instead.



2008-09-02

Don Lafontaine Dies

The voice behind countless movie trailers passed away today.


Palin and Bush Agree: we work for God

While addressing a graduating class, Sarah Palin said that our troops must only go places on a "task that is from God."

Invoking religion when contemplating war is a very dangerous idea. 

Ron Paul's Rally

Apparently he sold over 10,000 tickets.  I'm actually glad this is on the front page of CNN.

Hopefully Ron Paul will hold many more rallies in the years to come.

2008-09-01

Palin's Abstinence Only Stance

Sarah Palin is a proponent of abstinence only education, which means that kids in middle and high schools will not be taught about birth control.  

I guess her daughter went to those programs: 17 year old Bristol Palin is 5 months pregnant and plans to have the baby and marry the father.  While the VP pick obviously doesn't have control over her daughter's actions, she probably should have taught her how to put on a rubber.

So how is a new mother and new grandmother supposed to take on a fulltime campaign and potentially be #2 in line for the presidency?  

McCain's pick is looking worse by the day.

Add to that this clip by republican Joe Scarborough when he emphatically said "this will not work."

2008-08-31

The GOP's War on Intelligence

With the choice of Sarah Palin for VP, McCain has once again led the republicans down the road of the lowest common denominator.  Some have remarked that Palin is as experienced as Obama.  Not so.  Obama's experience includes things like being the president of the Harvard Law Review, community organizing in a city with a population greater than Alaska, and many years in legislatures.  Palin was the mayor of a town of 7,000 people before being elected the governor.

McCain is not a smart man either.  Mitt Romney is a smart man.  Ron Paul is a smart man.  The republicans could have gone with someone who had above average intelligence, but with  the choice of McCain and his choice of Palin, its going to be another Bush Whitehouse, without the shrewd, evil intelligence of a Dick Cheney.

So now we get John McCain who is an intellectual lightweight, and Sarah Palin, who has basically declared an all-out "war on science" whether it be teaching creationism in a public school or banning stem cell research.  Our allies, of course, think we are a joke for this.  In Israel, which is an ally and a pretty religious/conservative the only people who still believe the nonsense of creation are the Muslim countries that surround it and occasionally show up to a conference.  

The bible should not be used for guiding social policy any more than Stephen King's The Stand should be used for disaster preparedness.  

We need a president who is actually smart.  Bill Clinton was a smart guy.  Al Gore would have been a smart president too.  When you have leaders who are hostile to the flow of information, you run many risks.  Your world standing suffers a blow, children in school do not have a good role model to look up to, and many dangerous decisions can be made from a failure to understand the facts.