stupid is as stupid does – Page 64

October 27, 2006October 26, 2006

Fair Tax/OTA

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The Fair tax blogburst was delayed this week due to issues beyond twc’s control… and a couple within twc’s control. So be it. Folks, do take note of any congresscritter placement this year especially as regards this issue (and illegal immigration). The fair Tax bill could go a long way toward ameliorating many of our woes, all by its lonesome. 😉 Think on these words from Jonathan of Publius Rendezvous:

With this heated election approaching faster than one could imagine, we thought it would be a time to throw the FT BB into the debates to see where each of our respective candidates reside in these matters.

We have grown fast and have expanded further than Terry and I anticipated in such a short time, which should prove to be interesting as we will hopefully see. Since we have members of numerous states, and numerous districts of the House of Representatives, let us see where the incumbents and their challengers reside when it comes to the Fair Tax.

This is where Terry and I ask for a small Homework assignment, but Terry and I will be participating, as well…..

What we shall do is send a letter to each of the respective campaigns for the district you reside asking them how they feel in regards to the Fair Tax. It can be something as simple as an e-mail, and you can tell them that the Fair Tax BlogBurst will be curious to see their answers….that way, when we hear back from them, we can all report for our readers where these individual candidates stand. We have provided a form letter below, so feel free to borrow this letter and use it/modify it for your convenience. Readers of the FT BB, we encourage you to do the very same and send either Terry or I an e-mail and let us know what they have to say.

This should prove interesting, and should prove to be informative for voters, as well.

Continue reading “Fair Tax/OTA”

October 26, 2006

Stop the ACLUâ€”PERA Uodate

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU:

Liberals always act shocked and astonished that conservatives believe that an organization claiming to be the guardian of religious liberty is actually is actually America’s number one religious censor. They will spout off token cases where the ACLU veered from its normal path of hostility toward Christian religious expression to defend free speech. They have a handful of cases they try to convince us with. However, the ACLU’s history can easily be looked at and the cases against religious expression far outweigh these token cases. If the ACLU were consistent in its positions on religious liberty despite the religion their defense on the issue would be much easier. However, many cases point out that it isn’t religion in general the ACLU fight, but the Christian religion in particular.

When the Tangipahoa Parish School Board in Louisiana opened its board meetings with a prayer like they had for 30 years the ACLU sued. After the ACLU won that case and the School Board ignored the court ruling, Louisiana ACLU chief Joe Cook called for them to be jailed and compared them to terrorists. Mr. Cook is currently leading an attack on plan for a Katrina memorial paid for with private funds to be erected on private land simply because it is in the shape of a cross and might offend some sensitive passerby. When valedictorian of Foothill High, Brittany McComb, decided to share her faith voluntarily at her graduation cermony the ACLU said it was the right call to pull the plug. And of course we are all familiar with the ACLU’s crusade to eliminate the Mt. Soledad war memorial because it is a cross that might offend some atheist.

It has become a tradition for the ACLU to attack Christian nativity scenes every Christmas. They has already started early this year. We have all witnessed the ACLU’s hatred of Ten Commandment displays across the nation. The ACLU sue city counsil after city counsil over praying in Jesus name. They don’t sue to stop all prayer, but in every case the target has been Christian prayer. They even fought for the right of a Wiccan to pray at a counsil meeting. Many times it doesn’t even take a lawsuit. They just type up a threatening letter and that does the trick.

If the ACLU were consistent to oppose all religions in its seperation of church and state quest it would be one thing, but in all too many cases it is Christianity that is targeted while other religions get a pass. The cases of double standards are numerous. A few blatant examples are how the ACLU fought to revoke the tax exempt status of the Catholic Church while fighting for a tax exemption for Wiccans and how they fight against any Christianity being exposed to school children yet are found absent when Islamic indoctrination is going on. In fact they were involved in creating the rules to allow such indoctrination to take place.

There is no doubt that the ACLU are overzealous in their quest to secularize America and erase its Christian heritage. The good news is that there are organizations out there fighting them, and people standing up to protest against them. Currently they are attacking Lakeview Elementary School for promotion of a Prayer at the Flagpole event, a National Day of Prayer event, the activities of a â€œPraying Parentsâ€ group, teacher-led voluntary classroom prayers, and a Christian theme and overtly religious songs at a Christmas program. The school is not denying these charges but asserting that Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu students have â€œa constitutional right to pray or to read their scriptures at school as well. They did not cave in to the ACLU’s threats but gathered a group of over 600 people to protest the ACLU in a prayer vigil.

The prayer rally, organized by two Mt. Juliet commissioners, drew hundreds, with about 200 stuck in a 1.5-mile traffic jam. The event, which also attracted some local politicians and pastors, took place outside the school recently named in a lawsuit for alleged constitutional violations.

It is encouraging to see people standing up to the ACLU in defense of their rights that they feel are being threatened. However, this will not stop the ACLU from proceeding with its attacks. On the other hand it will ultimately be the power of the people and their desire for freedom that will have to put a stop to the ACLU’s attempts to criminalize Christian free speech through the courts. One effective way to assert this power is to get out and vote for people that oppose the ACLU’s anti-Christian agenda.

Everytime the ACLU wins a case against these small schools and local governments they are awarded massive money in attorney’s fees through your tax dollars. Often this is used to threaten these cash strapped schools and local governments to surrender before the case even goes before a court. There is current legislation, the Public Expression of Religion Act, that seeks to put a stop to this extortion. It has already passed the House and will be up for vote soon in the Senate. It is very unlikely it will pass if liberals take control. Put an end to this abuse. Get out and vote for people you know will support this much needed legislation. Cut the ACLU off from the government teat.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.

October 25, 2006

Iraq Ramblings/OTA Wednesday

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See Chaotic Synaptic Activity’s crosspost here for more detailed analysis of some of the presenting problems/opportunities of the Iraq War, and then… and then there are my lil semi-incoherent ramblings…

It seems to me that the Iraq War presents us with a set of unique advantages we did NOT have in Vietnam :

The tribal, religious and cultural divides (Advantage? Yes, but only if someone in the feddle gummint with real influence has both the brains and the balls to take advantage of these factors)
A growing awareness of the lies of the Mass Media Podpeoples’ Hivemind culture among more and more Americans
The simple fact that a partitioned Iraq would create more problems for Islamic terrorists while at the same time going a long way toward providing a potential for some sort of peaceful resolution to the area… at least for the Kurds (leaving aside for the moment the problem of Turkey–a real but handleable problem for the Kurds, who, after all are still Saracens at heart. *heh*).

The problem with these factors is that there is literally no one in the feddle gummint who is in a position to use them AND has the simple intellectual horsepower to recognize them AND the balls to take advantage of them and run with them.

Paul Bremmer set the stage for a very real potential for American failure by disbanding the Iraqi Army (90%+ of whom were not rabid Baathists), ignoring (insulting) tribal leaders and playing proconsul. Of course, the fact that he did so with the full knowledge and support of the Bush administration compounded his sins.

But all we need is for one voice in the feddle gummint–one voice with real influence–to stand up and call the emperor’s butt-naked behind what it is. Could you say steamroll? I think public opinion could really burgeon in favor of a partitioned Iraq if all the facts were clearly explained.

“OK, kids. Since you can’t play nicely together, go to your separate rooms. No soup for you.”

Then, if they wanna keep on fighting, they can play Kilkenny Cats until the cows come home and it’s not be a threat to us.

“We tried to help, but these folks are just too backward and savage for a civilized solution.”

October 25, 2006

“The Truth is Out There”

Until this last weekend, I was pretty much stumped as to how, in this age of access to incredible amounts of information, without even laving your home or office, a significant number of people in this country could continually claim the US Government was behind the 9/11 attacks.

I have long held that the images coming out of Hollywood have had an undercurrent of an effect on many parts of society, particularly with the tend to show all adults as either stupid, ignorant, or corrupt (or any combination of those) and only children were capable of seeing the real danger, finding the real criminals, or knowing the truth. That has sent a subliminal message that anoyone of authority can’t be trusted, and, we see the results in the legal system.

Cigarette Man

This past Saturday, I was channel surfing and the last 30 minutes of “The X-Files” movie was on. I settled back on the couch and then a “BFO” (Blinding flash of the obvious) hit me. I didn’t know for how long, but I knew that series had been aroound a long time. I just looked it up: Begun in 1993, and ran through 2002. The movie was out in 1998.

The popularity of this series, which showed not just the US, but a world shadow organization, was cooperating with the aliens, and doing what ever they needed to do to keep this alliance a secret.

From Wikipedia:

The X-Files was one of the network’s first major hits, and its main characters and slogans (“The Truth Is Out There,” “Trust No One,” “Deny Everything,” “I Want to Believe”) became pop culture touchstones, simultaneously tapping into and inspiring a plethora of conspiracy theories, paranoia about the U.S. government, and belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life.

The “Generation C” types have grown up with a well done fictional series, and have failed to discern between truth and fiction.

I think this may help explain the vast numbers of our citizens who believe the Government is behind all of the GWoT, because, we all know….The truth is out there.

Originally posted at: Chaotic Synaptic Activity

October 24, 2006October 24, 2006

Random firings…

Neurons randomly connecting. Shorting. Grounding out (but not to third).

I haven’t been able to listen to the whole thing to discover just how it all comes out (I can only listen to just so much–about 30 seconds at a time–of the the over-produced, derivative crap that is contemporary “country” music), but Eric Lee Beddingfield may be onto something here. (Hint: click on the “Listen” link on song number 6.)

The joys of google: I was looking for something else, but this link looked interesting. I’m awarding the author my own PhDBS.* He deserves it more than I. The degree’s in the mail, bub.

If you want to explore a pop/contemporary genre of music, Pandora might be your cuppa tea. It’s an interesting, but extremely limited, idea. It seems to think “music” means only things written/performed in the last few years. “Classic” jazz, to it, is something about 5 years old (or less). Still, if you want to set up an internet radio station to play a wide selection of a limited number of genres with songs from recent years, it might just suit you.

Richard Dooling’s post, “Moot Court Hearing On The Petition of a Conscious Computer,” points to a piece at Ray Kurzweil’s site (with… exactly the same title–*heh*). And people used to have me convinced I was weird… I think Ray Kurzweilâ€™s got a lock on creative weirdness, now.

Oh, Dooling’s “Randon Quote” ain’t half bad, either:

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.â€”W.C. Fields

More goodies at his site.

Sharp Left Turn: My definition of bad coffee used to revolve around a high school band trip to Mexico. Some of us roomed overnight at one stop at a convent school (it was during a school break for the girls, so keep you imaginations in your pants, guys). Breakfast was… interesting. The coffe at least tasted fresh ground. I swear they’d just dug it up outa the graveyard next door. But recently, I had to revise my definition of bad coffee. I had the “opportunity” to taste a sippa coffee from the break room at my wife’s work the other day. The words “Wolverine piss” sprang readily to mind as I spat the stuff out… (Sippin’ some good stuff, now.) I’d sooner have some day old brewed by me than get within spittin’ distance of any more of that stuff from Wonder Woman’s workplace.

Let’s put this essay on the next National Adult Literacy Survey for all those subliterate pseudo-adults who can’t read a bus schedule…

There is an old conundrum in queueing theory that goes like this. A passenger arrives at a bus-stop at some arbitrary point in time. Buses arrive according to a Poisson process (i.e., completely randomly) at the bus-stop on average every 30 minutes. How long can a passenger expect to wait for the next bus?