Neal Boortz: The dumbing down of America

What an editorial by Neal Boortz. Here is the core paragraph of his opinion where he states that most American's are too stupid to handle liberty:

"Let's cut to the chase. I've come to the reluctant but inescapable conclusion that about 50% of the adults in this country are simply too ignorant and functionally incompetent to be living in a free society. They have enthusiastically abandoned their sovereignty to the lure of the welfare state. They are, in fact, afraid to be free. They have no working concept of the responsibilities of individuals who would live free of government tyranny or mob rule. Their ignorance renders them incapable of coping with the responsibilities of liberty. These are people who cannot exist at anything other than a basic level without someone else stepping forward to take care of them. They're adult children. They need to and deserve to live in a dictatorship, hopefully, for their sake, benevolent. "

A good read!!!

WorldNetDaily: Sustainable oil??

Hmmm....looks like what we were taught about oil being made from dead dinosaurs might not be true. Instead, oil appears to be able to be created by the Earth...making oil a renewable energy source. Now, of course, if our consumption outstrips the Earth's production ability, then we could run out of oil...but it doesn't look like we are as close to seeing the end of "The Age of Oil" as enviro-whackos would have us believe.

DNA Study Finds Chihuahuas Are Indeed Rats

Gotta love DNA. It frees people from prison. It propels the ratings of the Jerry Springer show. And now, it proves that Chihuahuas aren't dogs.


Note:This "story" comes from a Satire News Site.

Mihaela Pictures

I've uploaded a batch of pictures of Mihaela to the protected site. If you need access or forgot the password, let me know via e-mail and I will send it to you privately.

David Limbaugh on Why we must stay the course

David Limbaugh, brother of Rush, lays out the logical reasons we must stay the course in Iraq. A good read!

Thomas Sowell knockin' it out o' the park

In his editorial this week, Tomas Sowell socks it to the media by pointing out thier degeneracy. He really takes off about mid-way through the editorial where he repeats some of the same thoughts that I have had, but expresses them much more elequotantly than I ever could. YOU ROCK, Dr. Sowell!!!

Anyway, a quote

Along with this degeneracy has come a tragic irresponsibility by people who simply refuse to realize that we are currently engaged in World War III

I tend to think we are in World War IV...World War III being the Cold War. But he does clearly articulate the predicament we are in when he says, "This war may last longer than both the other World Wars put together and has more potential to end with our destruction as a nation." He is dead on: we can not afford to lose WWIV.

Another quote that reiterates what I was trying to say last night.

Another sign of irresponsibility and degeneracy is the unbelievably cheap level of public discourse over political issues. It is inevitable that we will disagree over policies and laws. But it is not inevitable that this disagreement will take place at the cheap level of attributing sheer stupidity to a man who has flown jet planes that most of his critics seem unlikely to master.

He then answers critics who think "this is the most corrupt administration ever" with this great piece of verbal bantor:

Cabinet members who have sacrificed millions of dollars to serve their country are blithely accused of getting us into a war for the sake of money. The whole country is accused of going into Iraq for the sake of oil, when we pulled out of Kuwait when we could have had all of their oil more than a decade ago.

THese are important to remember because "in a war for survival, with the prospect of nuclear weapons ending up in terrorist hands" it is extremely short-sighted and immature to let petty politics, personality conflicts, and philosophical nuances "undermine the national unity needed for strong decisive actions that may become our only hope."

Bush haters

There seems to be a portion of our citizenary who posses a strong hate for President Bush. I must confess that I don't understand the depth of thier feelings. First, I think it is very immature to base your political decisions on emotions. It is a part of human nature to let your emotions override and/or blur perspective on facts. Anyway, with that in mind, maybe that is why I have such a hard time listening and reading the vile, hate-filled speech of the people who post on democraticunderground.com (really a bunch of socialist) and other sites that I visit to try and understand those whose philosophy's I don't agree with.

I consider myself an independent-thinker (suprise, suprise...everyone thinks that they are an independent thinker) with libertarian leanings. I have never voted for a candidate for president from the major parties. I have voted for candidates of all leanings in local and state elections (except socialist/greens...they are just the athema of everything America is and I can't put them into any office).

I say all of this to show that I don't think I am being partisan or idealogicol when I say I think people need to rein in their feelings for Bush because he is the best person for the job. Yes, he has screwed up (who hasn't). He has not been a great on domestic issues. THere have been flubs in the War on Terror (although, to be intellectually honest here...there are always flubs in war...you lose some battles...make some bad plans...NO ONE would get it perfect everytime). It is also childish to think that America can just pull out of Iraq. Whether you agree or disagree with the Iraq battleground for the War on Terror, you must concede that we have to finish what we started. Quitting because it is getting hard is what adolescents do. Adults complete the work. That is maturity.

I think that people who spew hateful rhetoric about Bush do themselves a disservice because they contamitate their message. It is hard to take someone seriously when thier view is so clearly influenced by thier passions because you can't trust thier analysis or thier position to be fair.

A lot of people think that Bush has taken away thier liberties through Ashcroft and the the Patriot Act. However, I haven't really seen any expansion in government authority in the Patriot Act. I definately haven't heard of any American citizen being prosecuted under the powers of the Patriot Act.

I also hear alot of people say that Bush has the most corrupt adminsitration in history. Once again, where is the proof? And, compared to Harding? I've not heard of him selling a night at the Lincoln Bedroom for campaign donation. What has the administration done that is corrupt? Of course, on some level all politicians are corrupt. They do extend benefits to their friends. But show me an egregious instance of this kind of behaviour by Bush.

Then, you hear he is stupid. I've never understood this one. I am smart and I mispronounce words all the time. It is easy to find errors when someone does as much speaking as he does. SUre it is funny and makes great late-night joke material. But there was a time when seperated mishaps and joke material from serious political discussion.

Anyway, those are few of my gripes. Not that it will change anything...but at least I feel better after Rambling about it....

Turn my stomach

The major story in the news right now is the beheading of Nick Berg, an American civilian looking for a job trying to improve the Iraqi communications infrastructure. I have not seen the video footage floating around the internet, nor do I want to. Micahel Medved played just the audio from the video and I vomitted in my trash can.

I could hear Nick Berg screaming all the way through the procedure, right up until the time the knife went through his windpipe, I suppose. All the time, these "peace-loving" Muslims are yelling "god is great." Suddenly the pictures of what happened in the Abu Ghraib prison doesn't seem to be quite so horrific. Sure, those prisoners were humiliated (and that is NOT how American soldiers should act)...but in the big scheme of things, we can call the "No blood, no foul" rule and be done with it. Yes, those soldiers should be court-martialed and imprisoned for thier actions. However, the victims of abuse at the hands of U.S. soldiers will be compensated by United States taxpayers. Nick Berg will be buried ... in two pieces.

This was a terrorist attack. It was an attack by Islamic terrorists, only this time it took five men to kill one American. One American civilian, or 3000 ... it's terrorism all the same.

Will this finally convince Americans that we are in the midst of a war? It's a World War. A war being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, on Manhattan Island and the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. It's a war being fought in former Soviet republics; a war is being fought on the island of Bali and in the Philippines. This is World War IV* -- a war against fundamentalist Islamic Jihadists and terrorists. These are the people we are fighting. They are vicious, relentless animals who will not stop killing innocent Americans and who will not abandon their dream of a world dominated by Islam until they are utterly and completely destroyed. These are people without a conscious who believe that the way to redeem their honor is to brutally slaughter innocent human beings, and this they do in the name of their god.

This vicious murder of an American civilian should serve to reignite the American resolve to destroy, not to appease, but to destroy the Islamic Jihadists. We should know by now that playing nice won't work. While we try to bring to justice the people responsible for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the Islamic fanatics cut the head off of an innocent, American civilian in order to "redeem" their manhood. They're not men, they're bugs ... and they need to be squashed.

The retaliation for this vicious act must be firm! It must be swift! It must have a violent finality! These inhuman Muslims must learn that these actions against Americans will not go unanswered ... and the answer will be thier lives.

*Note: *WW III was also known as the Cold War, which, by the way we won.

New evidence of Saddam link to 9-11

WorldNetDaily is reporting that Czech records indicate Atta met with an Iraqi official in Prague on April 8, 2001. This is important because there are some people who think that the war in Iraq is wrong because it was unprovoked. The idea of "pre-emtive warfare" bothers thier overly sensitive sensibilities. Now, I don't have a problem with taking an enemy out first, before he gets the ability to beat you or hurt you more, as long as their imminent danger. This is the case we were in with Iraq. This information (if accepted as reported) only confirms that Iraq attacked first (through the terrorists) and our response was indeed justifiable. The war in Iraq is indeed just a theater in the War on Terror.

Bush pauses to comfort teen

This is a touching story of President Bush stopping his campaigning to comfort a teen who lost her mother in the WTC attacks. The photo shows a man of compassion who cares deeply for the people he has been called to lead. I know politics generates a lot of intense feelings among people. I read the hate-filled letters of liberals on some of thier sites (you must understand people if you are to change them) and I know that there are good people who passionately agrue their ideological differences with Bush. However, I can not see how any reasonable, humane person can deny that Bush cares deeply for people after reading this story and seeing this photo. He cares deeply enough that you can be sure that what he decides to do, he does for the best of his people. He does not look like a president here, he looks like a pastor. He is not the supreme leader of the country, but the shepherd of the hurting. He is defining compassionate-conservatism.

NIV beatst KJV

According to WND, a poll of Protestant pastors reveal Bible preferences shows that 31% of minister like the NIV best while only 23% of them perfer the KJV.

According to the same story, when asked about which version they would not recommend, the Living Bible "earned the dubious distinction of No. 1 in that category with 26 percent." The Message and the KJV were also in the top 5 with 15% each.

I find this intresting. I am a NIV guy myself. However, there is a place for each version. I see a distinction between Bible Study, Devotional Reading, and free reading. I use NIV for Bible Study and memorization because of its accuracy and my personaly familiarity with it. I perfer the Living Bible for Devotional readings because the paraphrase can get to the hear of passage really quickly, while I like to use The Message for free readings because of its ease and "novel-like" approach.

WHen preparing for a class or sermon, I use no less that eight versions when selecting scriptures to present and will use the version that best demonstrates the point I am making or is most clear for my audience. I guess any survey that asks for preferences without regard to purpose is half-thought out at best.

I'm not a Victim

Well, I was in for quite a shock when I logged into my online banking account this morning and saw that my Available Balance was - $458.72. I was expecting to see around $1,200. I immediately looked to the transactions to see what had happened and did not see anything that jumped out at me, except a $28.56 charge at Applebee's on Sunday night. Now, I knew this was wrong because order the exact same thing for take-out every Sunday night from Applebee's and it costs $15.00. I saw the $15 charge as well as the $28.56. I immediately knew why my account was $500 overdrawn...and I wasn't happy.

I called the bank and they verified a $1300 charge that had not been posted to the website...but could not tell me anything else. They did give me the phone number to the Visa CheckCard division. I called that part of the bank and the lady told me more about the transactions. It seems that the $1300 charge was posted by Air France. Someone was going on vacation on my dime. There were several other smaller charges as well. The customer service agent and I went through all the transactions from Sunday and I told her which ones were authentic and which ones were fraud. She canceled my debit card and placed a fraud alert on my account.

I then visited the Federal Trade Communications website on Identity Theft to see what other steps I needed to take. I contacted the three credit bureaus as directed and called the police to file a police report. The officer told me I needed to come in and file the report in person.

I left work early and went to the Millbrook Police Department and spoke to the police chief about my situation. He had one of his officers come out and talk to me. Upon hearing the whole story, the officer said that, according to the law, I was not a victim of identity theft, but just a stolen credit card. Since the facts seem to indicate that the card number was stolen at Applebees in Prattville, then I needed to go the Prattville Police Department to file my report.

The officers at both station were very helpful, courteous and professional. I felt very much at ease with them and really appreciated their time and knowledge. At the Prattville Police Department, the officers took my report and created a police report of the incident. I met for a few moments with the detective that will be investigating the crime. In the course of our conversation he made the comment that with the police report, the bank wouldn't hold me liable for any of the fraudulent activity (I, of course, already knew that because I had already talked to the bank) and mentioned that I was no longer a victim.

This comment struck me funny. First of all, I didn't really feel like a victim. God's provision had been evident to me from the moment I knew what had happened. Erin and I had saved $1,200 in April that I was about to move to my savings account at the credit union. I got paid on Friday and all of my "first of the month" bills were paid electronically Monday evening prior to the crook overdrafting my account. Erin had not gone to pick up her check yet, so her salary was not in the account to be used by the crook. Besides that, I knew we had a grand in the savings account for emergencies. So, while there is a little bit of hassle in all of this, no one will go hungry, all of the bills will be paid, and we will have enough money to live on until the bank reimburses my checking account. At that time, I will move all of the appropriate monies back to my savings account at the credit union. Basically, the criminal only took that money that was being saved for an emergency.

Secondly, I knew I wasn't a victim because the bank that I use has a "0 Liability Guarantee" that comes with having a Visa CheckCard. That was one of the reasons we chose this institution. Basically, because of God's grace to lead us to make some good choices, even in this possibly horrific situation, there was peace and no feelings of victimhood. I do not choose to be a victim to this act. Now, this doesn't mean I don't hope they catch the perpetrator. I will testify against him and follow his case to ensure that he is properly punished. After all, he committed a felony of Grand Theft and is a danger to society and other people. I will also, from now on, hit the ATM prior to going to any restaurant and only pay in cash. That ability for waiters and waitresses to go back and access my credit card for tipping is what probably caused this mess and I just won't let the situation arise again. This is not a problem because we usually use cash envelopes to pay for all of our expenses anyway, I just hadn't had a chance to go get the cash for the month yet. I'll make a better effort from now on.

Freedom of Association

As you may know, GOOGLE, has decided to offer a free, web-based e-mail service to certain of its users. The service is currently in BETA testing, so is not available for public use. As a Google Toolbar user (which I started using while it was still in BETA) and BLOGGER user, I have been invited to use the service. This service is very different in that, first of all, you can have up to 1GB of storage space. Yes, you read that right. A whole gig to save emails. Take that Yahoo! with your measly 6 MBs and Hotmail with your pitiful 2MBs. Also, GMail integrates Google's search technology to automatically organize and find messages. The idea is to get users away from having folders and sub-folders, and subfolders to categorize, store, and retrieve saved messages.

Of course, providing a service and storing email is not free to Google. The hardware alone has to be a substantial chunk of change. And, since nothing is really free, Google plans to use its software to "read" your emails and display relevant ads based on the content of those emails. So, that means if you get a message from your buddy asking you if you want to go hiking this weekend, you might see an ad for boots. Google believes that this kind of targeting will help them sell more ads, but it makes some privacy advocates uneasy. So, a California legislator has has threatened to write legistlation to prevent the California based company for implementing this service. After all, she says, consumers have a right privacy. Google responds that the ads are chosen by computer programs, not human beings.

Now, I have a very simple solution to this seemingly complex conundrum. What if (now hang in there with me...this might be a little shocking at first), the consumer were allowed to decide for himself if wants to use GMail with the understanding that the Google programs will read his mail and provide ads? Maybe, just maybe, some people are willing to trade-off some privacy to a company in return for a free service and storage system. Does government really need to step in and interfere with that relationship (consumer and company) or do I really not have a right to associate with anyone I want? If I don't like the deal, I won't make the deal.

Personally, I think that prohibiting such a voluntary association is out of line (If only there were something in the Bill of Rights about the freedom to associate). Let consumers decide. I am actually less scared of what Google might do with my email than I am about what government would do with my email. If only legislators would protect me from themselves....

BTW, you can send me comments to rsbowmanREMOVE@gmail.com. Remove the word REMOVE to get the correct address.

Ironic Tragedy

DEA Agent Shoots Self During Gun Safety Class For Kids. Luckily, it is just a flesh-wound, but it sure drove the point home about being careful.