Just Sick of It!

We have finished moving the blog to another web server in an effort to speed up the site. During this move we also updated our blogging platform (WordPress) to the latest version and changed the theme, hey a new home deserves a new look. During the move we will also be cleaning up the large amount of comment spam some of our older posts have collected and changing the system to lock comments on older topics to help keep the site clean and free of spam.

The Admin!

We will be moving this site to another web host shortly. This process should be complete in a few days and in the imterim the site may be unavialable or not have content. This will only last a short while and just check back in a day or to and it will all be ok, I promise.

The Admin!

I have an idea. Lets kick out of office everyone who voted for this bailout plan.

Democrats and republicans alike. This includes president bush. Those who voted against this plan did so based on personal principles and honor. Our leaders should not be fear mongering but inspiring. The government needs to lead by example and make it clear that no one should be surviving primarily on credit. No one should be buying things that can’t pay back within a couple years, and the technique of paying credit with credit is ridiculous. Those who voted against this plan basically said that it is more important to fall doing what is right rather than save ourselves by passing something that is wrong.

Yes this is an emergency. However, if something is put in front of congress and the senate, it will stay there until it is a plan everyone can live with. In order to pass a good plan, it takes time and patients. Manny minds that have passed the approval of their constituents must learn, debate and compromise in order for a good plan to pass. corporations and the people must know that they must be responsible with their money and business strategies otherwise they will suffer the consequences of waiting for congress to fix their mess.

There are two main sources of this disaster and neither of them is lack of government intervention and regulation. The two sources of this disaster are corporations not doing the right things with their businesses and people purchasing more than they can afford.  The consequence is that everyone must wait for congress and the senate to pass a plan to fix this mess.

Both conservatives and liberals alike have good reasons to reject this plan. We don’t hire these people to control businesses and get involved with the stock exchange with tax dollars. We hire these people to argue and debate important issues that the constitution allows them to do. I am willing to let them debate and come up with a good plan instead of freaking out of selfishness.

As for my partisan section of this post I would like to mention that if everyone who voted for this plan was kicked from office that would leave more republicans than democrates.

energy: Should we drill of shore or in Alaska and many other places in order to lower the price of oil? NO! Should we force middle eastern counties to produce more oil? NO!

Its time to think of different alternatives to gas and oil. We have been hearing the argument of energy independence for decades. Jimmy carter, a democrat, faced a similar issue and was saying everything we are saying today. I believe completely that we need to get away from oil but its up to the consumer to make the change happen. Everyone is complaining about high gas prices but more people are walking through their neighborhoods and bicycling because of it. Instead of being isolated in our cars, separated from the out side world, and passing the blame to the oil companies and the government we should get a fuel efficient car and a bike. Such a move will force the oil companies to try to get money somewhere els. Oil is bad for our health, bad for our environment, and a risk to our security. If Iran or any middle eastern country decided to stop selling us oil our whole country would be in chaos and we would be forced to invade. Take a walk out side and listen to the birds. When you run into a friend or have a short conversation with a stranger are you going to regret not being in a car. Tell me, how much road rage will you experience? I think we can force the government and the oil companies to realize the archaic days of oil are over!

abortion: When it comes to moral issues like abortion and gay marriage the government should not be able to support or ban anything. I believe it should be left up to individual communities, cities and or states in order to keep large groups of people from getting angry and creating civil unrest. In the process of determining what I think is right and wrong I tried first to find an accurate source of right and wrong. The government is not an accurate source because it can be wrong. The majority vote isn’t necessarily right either because it can be wrong. I decided to choose nature as my source to determine right from wrong, but it should be left up to individual communities, cities and or states to make sure the number of people insulted stays minimal.

social security: The fact that the government is trying to take care of my retirement is ridiculous! if they weren’t taking the eighty dollars out of my check every payday I would arrange to have one hundred dollars directly deposited into a retirement fund or put into a 401k.

education: We need more alternatives to public school. With less people in public schools there would be less issues with money and space and the class rooms would contain better face to face learning. Alternatives are of course private schools, both in class rooms and online, public schools that offer online opportunity’s where parents can help teach their kids instead of relying wholly on some teacher the parent doesn’t know, and home schooling. A combination of all these options would ease the stress on our school system as well as keeping us from relying wholly on the government to educate our children.

Updated 7/15/2008 [ED: Fixed YouTube embed's]
Updated 7/25/2008 [ED: Fixed YouTube embed's]

There has been a quite, may semi-quite, storm brewing on the Internet as of late about a tiny, no nothing island out in Alaska, called Gull Island. Gull Island, and by extension the under it and Alaska, could be the solution to lowing the price of Oil within the next few year. This has spread so much as of late that on today’s Sean Hannity show a caller mentioned it to the guest host.

So in case you are having trouble finding out about this little island that could let me give you a little history and information that I have collected. Gull Island is located about five miles off shore from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska’s northern slope.

Gull Island, although close, is not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or ANWR which you can see the border of it does not cover the Prudhoe Bay area and is a few miles north east of the ANWR area boundary, which is also clearly visible on the official ANWR site.

In the 1970’s Lindsay Williams a Chaplain for the Alyeska Pipeline Company witnessed ARCO drill, test, analyze and then cap a huge oil find on Gull Island. It’s been said that Gull Island has enough oil to pump 2 million barrels of oil a day for 200 years. We import about 10 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2007, so using 1970 era figures and technology we have solved 1/5th of our foreign oil dependence on an already drilled and currently capped well.

But that was 1970 and technology has gotten at least a little bit better since then. Keeping that in mind I believe that 2 million is a entry level figure and should at least double with current technology and methods. If we start drilling now we will see our prices start dropping soon, but it won’t be by a lot. By freeing our oil companies to build new we will be sending a message to the futures markets and futures prices will drop.

If we leave our local oil and Gull Island to just sit there we could end up paying a lot more and oil will reach $170 a barrel easy. If you don’t believe me King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia today mentioned in a speech that we should all get used to current prices and prepare for even higher rates.

But there is no problem right? We could all be switching to other cars, and all those people that can’t afford an electric car or a hybrid should just walk or take the bus, because that’s how you move a family with kids around, the bus. But let is not live off of our land here in America who is without a doubt the most resource rich country in the world from oil to natural gas.

So let the debate rage on. Let’s keep pushing our country toward a depression by raising the cost of transportation and goods to a level where the low-middle and lower class of our society cannot eat or get around. Somehow I should be more worried about a few anamials and micro-organisms in Alaska then my next door neighbor, yea that makes sense.

Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested, — “But these impulses may be from below, not from above.” I replied, “They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil’s child, I will live then from the Devil.” No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. ( Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I take this as one of the most important things Emerson ever wrote. This quote from one of my favorite writers forces me to look more deeply at the topic of homosexuality. If you asked me of my opinion on gay marriage, I know you would not like my answer. It would seem as though I am dancing around or avoiding the question. However, thats not the case at all. I never claim to know what is right or wrong until the result is made apparent. I can only do the best i can to do all my homework, weigh the pros and cons, determine an adequate source of right and wrong, and then make my decision. Why I am against gay marriage and any other kind of acceptance or support, I want to leave for responding to comments I receive. I will not respect an opinion that has less thought behind it than mine. I have thoroughly looked at this issue from every angle I could. I am not bound by anything but the integrity of my own mind and am willing to change my mind if proven wrong. I pride myself on my open mindedness and fairness, but not if it goes against reason. After the research, the reading, the writing. Looking up the history of homosexuality and its movement, talking with with them and listening to them on T.V., it still remains a decision indefensible through reason. Homosexuality has lasted the test of time. However, the real test doesn’t begin until the whole world is watching. To go along with Ralph Waldo Emerson here, gays are doing the right thing by coming out into the open. They will need to have debate in public, write books, and march down the street. After humanity has thought deeply on the subject, read their books, listened to their debates and observed their character, then, and only then, will the outcome become apparent.

Government is all about drawing lines and creating rules and laws to keep society safe, stable and prosperous. Of course these lines and rules don’t match perfectly with nature, because we, as human beings, don’t know everything, or know if we know anything at all. As we learn when writing the research paper, its not about your decision, but how you came to that decision. I consider the most destructive force in humanity to be compulsive and emotional decisions without sufficient thought. The best argument I have heard from a gay so far is that they feel it in their hearts to be who they are. That is not a good enough reason for me to encourage or support their preference. In the end, The coin will have to be thrown into the pool of humanity and we will have to await the result.

First it was the poor landless white males who demanded there right to vote and participate, than it was the blacks demanding that the line, the rules of discrimination, be removed for their rights. Women were next, than Asians and other minorities, and now gays. What ever the out come turns out to be, who will it be next? The polygamist’s right to several wives? Other peoples beliefs that 14 year olds can be wedded off by their families? Who is to determine these people’s rights and freedoms? I’m telling you, that they will toss their coin into the pool of humanity and humanity will decide. My final answer is that, like Ralph said, everyone needs to be true to themselves no mater what . What is right will be what remains in the end. Where and whenever the end lies.

Recently the California Supreme Court lifted the ban on gay marriage in California. So as soon as this summer gay and lesbian couples will be able to marry. Queue the end of the world music because according to some right wing bible thumping crazies out there this is the beginning of the end.

Now I’m glad people out there believe in something and I actually like the fact that we reference god in our society’s, in the pledge and on our money. We should all realize that the word god and it’s meaning can be a placeholder for whatever you believe in. So I’m not a hard nosed atheist and I don’t’ specifically follow a single religion. This allows me to view both sides of the argument without any bias, so make me as your outside observer in this arena.

What I’ve been looking for is the reason why gays and lesbians should not marry. Some say it signals the beginning of the end, other point to it as more proof of the moral decay of our society and other say that it violates gods will. Gays and lesbians are already living together, raising kids and are productive members of the democrat party, and well maybe society as well. So if they are doing all those things why can’t they get married? If it makes them happy, who are you to stand in the way of that?

Do I necessarily approve with gays and lesbians, no I do no. From a purely biological level it is not something that I can justify, but what does that matter? Why would somthing I believe in effect someone who doesn’t believe in it? What gives me the right to force my opinion or beliefs on other people.

I understand that as a people, a society and a govement that we need to control behavior and activities that could harm oneself and others, for example taking drugs, drunk driving, etc. But gay marriage, no matter how you frame the argument, in itself is not a dangerous activity.

So let Tim and Tom, Jane and Jan and every other gay and lesbian couple get married. It’s not something I want to join in, but I know I don’t have the right to force my beliefs on them.

Why am I seeing this pastor in the politics section and how can Barack Obama ever have attended the sermons of this radical and conceded preacher? This post is a little late because a wind storm caused us to loose power but Let me begin by dissecting some of the comments Wright made at the national press club. “Louis Farcon is not my enemy; He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he did not make me this color”. Now I would like to hear this pastor give a condescending answer to me like he did the other questioners because I did listen to the whole thing and this is exactly where he stopped his sentence. He then backed up, put his hands in the air and listened to the people applaud. My question, although I already know the answer, is who did put him in chains? After reading his biography, I know he was never enslaved himself. Last time I checked this government he disrespects so blatantly is the same one that, because of our system, allowed for blacks to be freed, allowed women their rights, helped save the world from the Germans and the Japaneses during wold war 1 and 2, and is currently giving the Iraqis the chance to have a democracy of their own. Slavery is in the past! I thought we were talking about today’s world in which Mr. Wright has more money and comfort and influence than myself! This Pastor obviously chooses to be divisive and bitter instead of realistic!

I would like to highlight this situation not only because Rev. Write is a whantobe politician, but as an example that religion and politics will always overlap as well.  When asked about his patriotism Rev. Wright basically said that it was the government he is angry at and not America as a whole. According to Wrights own words he said to Barack Obama “if your elected November the 5th I’m coming after you”.  Rev Wright is trying to influence our political system and he has no right to do so because he is not an elected representative.  It is common sense that anyone with a crowd of listeners before them is going to try to make a difference. Rev. Wright can preach all he wants, but he would never be elected as a politician because of his angry and divisive beliefs. Rev. Wright has only one vote just like the rest of us; and thank God for that!

Now as for the church and state  issue, liberals where livid when they noticed how republicans cuddled up to to a couple radically conservative preachers and screamed the church and state issue. This is the separation of church and state argument all over again, but this time its not coming from a conservative white preacher. Church and state will always overlap because our government is not necessarily bared by religious rules; yet, pastors and all religious people are trying to make a good world to live in, just as the government is. Therefore, these two institutions will sometimes come off as allies and sometimes as competitors. Nobody wants the government to be religious and nobody(of sound mind) wants their pastor preaching politics instead of the bible. Rev. Wright spoke about him being a pastor and Barack being a politician but also suggested that it is somehow his job to preach politics in his church. Part of what it means to be an American is that it is the job of every American to be somewhat of a politician. We all should have our own opinions and debate among ourselves about policies that are in our best interests. We should talk to our representatives and hold demonstrations when necessary. Where the difference lies in this case is that politicians are elected by the people and therefore have more power than any pastor. Politicians are given power by the people, not the pastors. If Rev. Wright wants to run for public office I’m all for it! especially since I know he’ll be less successful!

Rev. Wright is an angry, radical, conceded and divisive preacher who Barack Obama should have avoided if he wanted to become president of the united states of America. Although I always believed John Mccain would be better for America, I was very interested in Barack Obama because of the symbolism, his non typical nature, and the possibility of him defeating an entrenched, powerful , and typical politician like Hillary, but this connection, for twenty years, to a radical preacher should diminish his chances. If he is willing to choose a radical paster to wed him and his wife and baptize his children, than he might be willing to choose radical directions for America as well; that’s commonsense.