Transformers the movie - A review

Took Samson to see the movie "Transformers" with my brother-in-laws and nephew. AWESOME AWESOME movie. This is what movies are supposed to be like. It takes the wonder from the cartoon and puts it into live action, or CG, whatever. Either way it looked great and it was funny. The comment that Shia said to that Megan Fox when she asked if he thought she was shallow, "No, I think there is more to you than meets the eye." Hilarious. Also the action and capabilities of the robots were spot on, except for Megatron not being a gun. That was a little disappointing, but would have been difficult to work into the movie. Much easier to write it in if he is a jet. It was also surprisingly fast for 2.5 hours of movie. Some people would say that the plot was thin or the connection between Sam and whatever the girl's name was, wasn't that strong, but this isn't a romantic comedy it is freaking TRANSFORMERS!!! You go to this movie to see robots tearing stuff up, turning into sweet cars and flying. In the first 5 minutes I knew I wanted the video game, just because the weapons and abilities are going to be like nothing before. I am going to wait though until I get back from FL. So wait for the game review, plus you don't want to pay $60 for that just yet. Anyway awesome movie, awesome effects, if your a "story/romance" person probably not for you, if you like crap getting blowed up and huge robot fights definitely the movie for you. I would rate this movie in the epic category, because it isn't like anything before. This is original in the way it was taken from the TV series to the big screen. Very unique for the type of content in it. Any time a helicopter turns into a giant robot and annihilates an army base that is epic. 10 out of 10.

Return of a Champion

Props to my bro returning from Afgan. However, he owes me a shot at the title. The hoops title he has held since he left the first time. 25 free throws, best of seven series I lead in all time victories like 750 to one, but the one was the last time. I don't know if will ever give me a shot at it again, probably not. I think he just wants to know that he held the title for the longest period. But we could do threes or something until you know, he wins in some fluky event and then refuses to play again. Oh well.

4 mouths and 1 ear

Yo Yo Yo, been a while since I posted. No I wasn't going to try and break my previous record, at least not intentionally. I was trying to teach my son an important lesson the other day. I told that he needs to not talk while others are talking. I said "You have 2 ears and 1 mouth which means you should listen twice as much as you talk." Instead he acts like he has 4 mouths and 1 ear. Maybe 3 1/2. Except when cartoon are on TV then he has no mouth and 0.5 ears. Oooh Ninja Turtles are on, well I better go see what he is into... Common' that was one of the reasons to have kids, remember.

American Idol Final 3 - 2007

Turns out I'm not really interested in AI enough to do a blog like Chan's. Also I wish they would quit calling Melinda Doolittle Tina Tuner, it is not Tina Turner it is Nell Carter. I'm telling you Nell Carter.

And what is the deal with the sweater vests. I mean what's next pegging your pants will come back? Well now hold on, would that really be that bad. Sofie says yes. She says she will help put together a list of fashion trends that should never come back.

Ohhh, Elliot Yamin is on. Wait a second that doesn't look anything like Elliot. Where's the funky teeth, and what is up with that hair? Looks like it is ripe for a little pony-hawk action. And is he wearing a sweater vest? Elliot, Elliot, Elliot. Coincidentally I hear that is the name of his album - "Elliot Yamin". Creative. I wonder how long it took to come up with that name. Sadly probably a while.

The Yau-man takes one on Network TV - right up the ying yang

Sunday 5/13/2007, a date that will live in... oh wait it wasn't quite that bad. It was the first time on network TV that a black man violated a Chinese man. If you know not of that which I speak I am referring to the Survivor season finale. Yau-man had made one of the greatest single moves in the game of survivor when he offered the car reward to "Dreamz" in exchange for immunity at the final four if "Dreamz" won the immunity challenge. It was a great move for several reasons. One - Yau already had one hidden immunity idol, which he played at the very next tribal council, and it paid off since the tribe would have voted him out 4 to 2. Second - It kind of sets the stage for the vote at 5, because Yau has declared his allegiance to "Dreamz", so he is not voting for "Dreamz" if Yau wins immunity, which he did. So Yau has the final four he wants and a 50% chance at immunity, plus if "Dreamz" lives up to his end of the deal he becomes the one voted off at the final four. Brilliant. Except for the fact that "Dreamz" is the greediest, most deceptive, dishonest person to ever play the game and after he won immunity he didn't give to Yau, but instead voted Yau out. So in the final 3 it was "Dreamz", Earl, and Casandra. "Dreamz" had already screwed over 3 people in the jury, plus the newest jury member Yau, plus Stacy hated him, and I don't think Boo, Lisi or Rocky liked him. That leaves Michelle who never had the extreme displeasure of being on a tribe with him. Needless to say "Dreamz" got Zero votes in the finals. Which he should have realized he had absolutely no chance to win and the only purpose his greed served was to make himself look extremely bad and at the same time screw one of the best players ever, out of 1 million dollars. The other thing that makes me mad is that the whole time he was saying how he "couldn't wait to win immunity and give it to Yau," because he "wanted his son to see him keep his word and do the right thing". Except he didn't. So now his offspring will never have to live up to their word? What a dumb ass. I hope "Dreamz" gets how he gave in the "real world" because I don't buy his "it's just a game excuse". For one this is not just a game. It takes six weeks of your life, you're completely exiled from the rest of the civilized world, you have no communication with your family, and no food. Yeah, eventually it will be over, but it isn't like playing monopoly or cards against some friends at your house one evening. This is a significant part of someone's life and you should respect that going in. If someone is a better player than you and you give them your word for a brand new truck, then you should at least keep your word. I would never trust "Dreamz" in any capacity in the real world given what he did during the "game". If he can justify not respecting Yau's sacrifice and ability in the "game" imagine what "Dreamz" could do in real life. More like a nightmare if you ask me. Probably if you ask Yau too.

Barnyard Review

This isn't a real review, I was just mad that they made the boy bovines have udders! I mean I had to do a little research on the web just to make sure that it wasn't possible, but I found it in like 15 minutes. (I wasted about 10 minutes on Wikipedia). No male bovines do not have udders, they have other equipment. Sure I saw the previews, but I knew the premise was the cows were funny, so I thought the boy cow was just wearing it as a joke. Except the udder NEVER came off, and his dad had an udder. The whole time I was like 'why even draw the udder on the cow', just don't draw anything or do some research. I mean it only took me 15 minutes to figure out that little tid bit, if I were to spend millions on a major motion picture I think I would at least know what looks right. But you know what...maybe they did. Maybe, just maybe they did some research and found out that udders = funny and funny *1.05 = Profit. Of course, mo' udder mo' money. That is exactly what my web site is lacking - UDDERS. Just imagine the possibilities I plop a few more udders up there and people start clicking the ads like crazy. Alright well, I'll get to work on the udder's you go ahead and click the old ads. Thanks.

Self-Un-Aggrandizement

It turns out I will not be able to do the fill in stuff for Prof Chan. Sorry I will be taking in some local theater that evening with Sofie and Peach. Yes, local theatre. Something with large fluffy creatures from you know, Sesame Street.

What she's little she likes that stuff, maybe I'll do my own final 3 analysis though since I promised to sub.

A List of People Tony Stewart Owes!!

1. Kurt Busch
2. Jimmie J.
3. Juan Pablo Montoya *Note-On the lists of many drivers (i.e. Scott Pruitt, Bobby Labonte, pretty much at least one new driver every race).
4. David Gilliland
5. Bill France - Deceased June 4, 2007, probably don't need to pay him back now.
6. Sofie - Trust me.
7. Kyle Busch - for wrecking Jr. when Tony spun out at Texas, I think, and then people got mad at Tony. Tony didn't wreck Jr., they like each other. But NOT LIKE THAT SOFIE.
8. Ryan Newman - repaid during Darlington Busch race 5/11/07
9. Dave Blaney, Ricky Rudd, and whoever it was that tried to pull of that 3 wide pass with less than 20 laps to go at Richmond, because Tony got caught up in their junk.
10. Sterlin Marlin - for causing above incident.
11. Maybe not Ricky Rudd, but definitely Blaney, he should have gotten 4 tires instead of 2.
12.Denny Hamlin - I am sort of reluctant to put this up since they are teammates, but he needs to learn to get out of the way.
That should do for now, I will update as needed or as folks are re-paid!!

Abortion

A woman had just been told that she had terminal cancer, so she decided to pray. She asked God to send a cure for her cancer. God replied he did, but it was aborted.

Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and other have greatness thrust upon them.

How would you like some greatness thrust up on you?

Self-Aggrandizement

Check it out, I have decided that since prof Chan is going to be off celebratin' his honeymoon (I assume with his wife) next week, I will fill in here on my blog. So check back next Wednesday or so (sorry I got a job) and I will grade the idols.

Oh happy day.

An awesome draft and some weak Drafting

Greetings. (voice over loud speaker, David Gilliland please turn your license into the nearest NASCAR official, then exit the track and never come back. Thanks.) Just can't get enough of those slightly less talented drivers who finally get a chance to run near the front with the talented drivers at the restrictor plate tracks and then run out of talent at the end of the race and wreck someone who had a legit shot to win it. And for those Jimmy fans remember what happened last year when Jr. and Jimmy got wrecked by Brian Vickers at ... where was that track... oh yeah Talladega. Look I know Smoke has taken a beating over the wrestling comment, but common if Dale Earnhardt was still around he would be saying the same stuff and people would be eating it up. Tony Stewart is not unstraight either Sofie, so quit saying that him Jr. are "buddies". Anyway on to some good news.

How 'bout them Brownies. Two picks in the first round Top 5 quality and oh yeah I can't wait 'til Oct. 14, when we play the Dolphins. They apparently felt they could pass on Quinn at 9 and take Ginn. Hey hope that works out for ya. They also got the CB they wanted even though he has some off field issues, but they should get at least one good year out of him before he "Pacman's" it his second year. So this is going to be the year, or else. Probably 9-7, depending on the development of Quinn if he plays or not, but coming out of Charlie Weiss' system to Romeo's should be about as easy a transition as any ever could be. I look for them to make the playoffs, but lose in the first round. Sorry. Surprise of the season - they will beat Baltimore Twice!!! Next year will probably hurt a little, because of the draft pick we gave up this year, but there is a ton of time to make up for that. I really like what they did going after linemen this off season, and drafting Joe Thomas will keep that guard they got from Cincinnati at the guard position. Now all that is left is to win some games. Go Browns!

Oh man, does that Doolittle on American Idol sound like Nell Carter. They keep comparing her to Tina Turner, but its Nell definitely Nell.

VFTW Screwing

Vote For The Worst what have you done? Dumb Dumb Dumb. I like the site, I do. I started keeping up with it during the Carrie Underwood season. For those who aren't familiar VFTW is the group that tries to pick the "worst" contestant on American Idol and drums up as much support as they can for them. It is kind of funny when you know about it and other people don't and they are like," Why is that sucky person still on the show, they couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." Ahh why indeed. But that is the funny thing about VFTW. They can get someone into the top 6 from the top 12, but that is about it. Unless they blow it somehow... like by going on David Letterman and bragging about. It is like watching someone's head grow larger and larger until their body collapses under the enormous weight. "Hey we are screwing American Idol, look at us." Now I know it sounds like a good idea to go after the publicity and maybe drum up a little business for the old web site in the process (you know have some people click on the old ads, nothing wrong with that), but wait until you actually accomplish something. See the thing that bothers me about VFTW is that they think they pick the winner in the end, but that is only after their real guy was eliminated six weeks earlier. Once the first choice is eliminated in kind of makes the site irrelevant, although professor Chan's weekly deal on grading the idols is always a good read. See if you take the top 5 plus the 12th place person in the top six there is a good bit of difference between talent level. But once that 12th place person is finally eliminated, your just picking between who America thought was the real top 5. If you follow AI and VFTW you know that once the lesser talent is gone VFTW just kind of leeches on to the next lowest person, which still goes pretty quick, then someone else and so on and so on. Until you get to a legit final two between Bo and Carrie and then you pick the "worst" out of those two. Common, they are too talented at that point to say VFTW had any real influence on the show. It's like saying that a Ferrari is worse than that Lamborghini, yeah maybe so but it is still a hell of lot better than a Prius. Anyway, when VFTW came out saying how it would be great if Sanjaya won on David Letterman, it rubbed people the wrong way. He had a good shot of making it far on that show maybe top 4, but ultimately they screwed him and themselves. You see when you have this inside joke that people don't know about and then you let everyone in, the joke is over. VFTW operated on the premise that they were screwing AI, but you can't just throw that in peoples faces. That is like telling everyone you are trying to fix the World Series, peoples is gonna get mad at you. That is precisely what happened here, people got mad at VFTW and then they started there own little inside joke to screw VFTW and pretty much vote off whoever VFTW was supporting. So even though Sanjaya had never been in the bottom 3 and Phil Stacey had been for like the last 6 weeks, old Sanjaya went home. There were so many more votes than there ever had been so it was pretty obvious that they really struck a nerve. But hey look on the bright side, maybe it will work next year because more people will be in on the "joke". Either that or there will be another website called www.screwVFTW.com and they will try to get people to vote for anyone, but who VFTW does and that site will work until you know, someone from that site goes on Letterman and starts the whole cycle over.

Gun Control

Well, it was pretty much inevitable that once a shooting like this happens people start calling for more gun control. Take a minute and listen while I explain how this doesn't make any sense. Number one - in this instance at Virginia Tech the shooter knew what he was going to do months in advance and there was no time restriction on not getting weapons that was going to stop him. He completely followed the law in Virginia and obtained the guns legally, which took 5 weeks to accomplish. That should be more than enough time for any impulse killing to pass, but since he stuck with it you know this is what he had in mind from the beginning. Number two - he had no intention to live past that morning, and I believe that, whether he had killed himself or the police had. When someone has already committed to killing themselves it doesn't matter what the punishment is for carrying weapons onto a campus. Think about it, he has no intention of living until Tuesday, let alone graduation, so what good is the threat of expulsion - ABSOLUTELY ZERO. The only way this crime could have been stopped is if one of the students or teachers in the buildings he attacked had a gun of their own and could have returned fire. Gun laws mean nothing to criminals. Think about it, who is going to break a gun law? - Someone who doesn't want to get expelled from school or fired from their job, NO. The people who break the laws are the ones that would break any laws because they either don't care about the repercussions or they are not expecting to live to see them. The current laws - like keeping guns 1000 ft. from schools, and having to wait certain periods before getting a firearm - are (I believe) intended to keep people from doing something rash or completely on impulse, that under normal circumstances they would never do and after having a reasonable amount of time to think about it would come to their senses. The laws also allow someone who really really wants a gun to still get one. If you are just going along thinking "gosh, I think I would like to own a gun." and you do the research and find the gun you want, you'll jump through the necessary hoops to get it. Or if you are premeditating murder for months or years you will also be able to wait. The problem with gun laws are that the more areas you "protect" by not allowing "law abiding" people to have guns, the easier it will be for criminals to kill in those areas because they don't have to fear that anyone will fight back while they are attacking.

Now the solution. What needs to happen is teachers, professors or the deans of the individual colleges within a university have to be given the ability to carry concealed weapons on campus. If you don't want to allow any students then that is fine, but I would almost make it mandatory for at least one administration personnel in each building on campus be required to carry a weapon. This also needs to be done in the most secretive of manners, so that if some crazed gunman decides to attack the school he will have no idea which rooms to avoid. Call it the Virginia Tech exemption and then pray that we have already witnessed the worst school shooting in American History.

4/16/7 - Virginia Tech Massacre

What a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families that lost someone yesterday. Where to start? This is one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog, to record my thoughts and feelings at the moment I was witnessing history. I felt sick today. Not from this story, but just light headed and extremely tired. My family has been battling the roto-virus for the last 3 weeks and I guess in finally caught up with me. Anyway it allowed my to see some of the coverage of the scene at VT. I watched the ceremony at 2 PM, the president, governor, various others offering condolences and kind words. Nothing really stand outish. The real tragedy is not knowing if part of this could have been prevented. I suppose there will be a lot of second guessing in the weeks to come and eventually there will be some "standard" set forth to deal with this kind of incident. This was by far the the worst college shooting in the history of America. The other one of note was in Texas in 1966, when an ex-marine opened up fire from a clock tower before being gunned down by police. In Virginia the situation was a little different, the gunman had two separate targets that Monday. Cho Seung Hui, was a Korean by birth and lived in the US legally since 1992. He was set to graduate next month with an English degree, but instead decided to end his life taking 32 others in the process. The second guessing starts with the administration. He went to a dorm with an ex-girlfriend or acquaintance or something and shot her and the RA. The an hour and a half later opened fire in Norris hall killing 30 others. My thoughts are that with a shooting happening in a dormitory, you lock down the dorms and cancel the classes and post armed police at the entry of each building, because you have a responsibility to keep the students SAFE first and when a shooter is running loose on campus that is not safe. Second there were reports that this guy had written plays or stories about shooting up teachers and classmates. I know there is a certain creativity that schools try to foster, but eventually you get to a point where it is no longer "creativity" and it becomes foreshadowing. People really need to take a hard look at exactly what people are telling them and err on the side of caution. To the people at VT now, it is going to be hard but you will make it through. You have to, for all of the people that won't have a chance now. Remember God won't give you more than you can handle. You can only look at the past, and you can only go forward from here.

Not So Good Reasons to Procreate

All right, let's start the list for "Not so Good Reasons to Have Kids". Sofie has graciously volunteered to give her input. Amazingly without me even asking. Note: there is some adult content, so be advised.

1. "Oooo, there's a cute maternity outfit."
Note: Pregnant women know that there is no such thing.
2. Hello tax deduction.
3. I need someone to blame, for losing/ruining all my stuff.
(i.e. remote controls, DVD players, computer screens... this part can pretty much go on and on and on...)
4. Need someone to blame gaseous releases on, if you know what I mean.
5. If your pregnant you can eat whatever you want.
Note: Sofie says,"You can but it won't come off when the baby comes."
6. Don't ever call your pregnant or post pregnant wife fat. This doesn't have anything to do with kids it is just sound advice.
Note: Sofie says,"You should never call your wife fat anyway!" Ouch. Cause watch out if you do.
7. I wish I knew more people that don't listen to anything I have to say.
8. I wish I could shop at the baby gap, cause they always seem to be having such good deals in there.
9. I have way to much free time/money to just be hoarding it all for myself.
10. To keep a man. Bad very Bad.
11. If you get pregnant we can have as much unprotected loving as we want.
Note: Yeah, until it gets weird. Plus in the 3rd trimester it can induce labor. Then you gotta cross that six week love desert cowboy.
12. Well I got the minivan. Might as well fill 'er up.
13. Dale Jr. needs another fan.
14. I've just been getting way too much sleep at night.
15. If you have kids, no one can criticize you about watching cartoons all day. Hey it's for them.
16. "I really like that name".

Well that will do for now. I'll start working on that list for reasons to have kids shortly.

Hey click on an add. Thanks.

New Remote

Ordered a new remote for my TV today. Apparently my daughter after she found out about the how the trash can works, promptly went around "cleaning" up. I mean I really can't yell at her for it, because I really can't prove it. However, it is really easy to blame kids for stuff when you can't find something. I think I'll put a list together for good reasons to have kids and not so good reasons to have kids. Stay tuned....

Also in that 2.48 year gap me and Sofie had another kid, Peach.

Motivation

Yo Yo Yo Everybody. In case you were wondering about the math it was 2.48 years between posts. That might be a record. Oh yeah, and I just signed for the old adsense from Google, so now I can set back and watch the money rollllllll in.

Any time.

Just waiting on that money to start rolling in...

Just give one of the ads the old clickty click click and I collect a little cash. Ah sweet capitalism. Go ahead, give it try. Did I mention you was my BFF. Come on just click on an add.

Are you still reading???!? Come on click the ads already, I'd do it for you. I mean I need that cash to help pay for the old Regional Income Tax my local government insist on screwing me with.

Oh by the way, Thank you for your support.

Imus

whoosh...cough cough. Ugh well I guess it is time to knock the dust off this sucker. Well it sure has been a while. If you're wondering I did forget my password... and login name... and well that's all.

Figured Imus might be a good subject to come back on the blog seen with. A little background. Don Imus - radio host at CBS, simulcast on MSNBC in the morning considered a bit of a "shock jock", liberal, experience ~30 years or so. On Monday or Tuesday 4/09 or 10/2007 he says the Rutgers women's basketball teams has a bunch of tattoos and they look a little rough then he drops the BOMB - "they are some nappy-headed hoes." OOPS. How can 2.5 seconds ruin 30 years of work you may ask, pow right there. It seems like every woman and or black person has jumped on the "I hate Imus" bandwagon as though he raped and shot the Rutgers basketball team. Depending on when you read this it may not seem that way, but let's recap. First CBS and MSNBC give a 2 week suspension. Not overly harsh you may say. Outrage from Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Barak Hussein (sp?) Obama, Oprah, and well pretty much everyone. (Self not excluded. Don't get mad, keep reading.) All of the big sponsors decide to pull advertising on MSNBC, so he gets fired from there. No worries still got the radio. Thursday, CBS decides to fire him. Yikes. Also 3 hours later he meets with the Rutgers team at the New Jersey governor's mansion.

(Funny thing happens on the way to mediating the meeting ... The governor is in a car accident, but he is not wearing a seat belt. Uh Oh! A $46 fine under New Jersey law, but no probs he was being driven by a STATE PATROL OFFICER. What, he didn't notice the guy next to him doesn't have a seat belt. I'm sorry but no one in the state of New Jersey should ever get a ticket for not wearing a seat belt again. can i get an amen. Anyway the governor got punished by God - broken leg, six broken ribs on each side, broken sternum ... oh yeah, Buckle up New Jersey it's the law and you will be severely hurt if you don't.)

Overall I would say Imus 'lost' this week, along with the governor of New Jersey. But there are a few things that worry about this episode.
(1) Imus has said a lot of hurtful things through out his career. At one point he called someone a boner-nosed, beanie wearing Jew boy. At another point he called for the Iranians to be nuked at a funeral. Then this latest statement. But when no one has stood up before, why wouldn't he just say whatever he wanted to without fear of repercussions. There is something special about this situation I guess. He targeted more than just one person, so it wasn't a completely singular insult, and it wasn't against some generic group of people. This was specific enough and yet general enough to garner severe attention, but the guy really should have been jumped on beforehand. ...Something here about enough rope...
(2)The backlash from every nook and cranny is very disturbing. Jesse and Al, the NAACP, women's groups and it seemed to happen even before the Rutger girls had a chance to respond. I am sure none of them were listening at the time it was said, I know I never heard of the guy before, but it seems so odd that people were willing to jump on him because of the "great insults" he hurled at the girls. -2.5 SECONDS- and he probably spent less time thinking about the comment before he made it. Something here doesn't add up, but I am not sure what it is. What would have happened if the girls said, "Imus, never heard of him. Whatever some sad little man had to say is far less significant than what we were able to accomplish this year. It doesn't bother us, because he has no influence on what we think or do and definitely not on the people that really support us. Clearly he doesn't know us." End of story. Kudos to the Rutgers' women's team for being the bigger people... but that never happened.
(3) The first amendment. I know this is "hate" speech and all, but when someone is allowed to act in a certain manner for 30 years and he gets paid to do so, it is not exactly grounds to recondition his behavior. ... something about Pavlov here... Someone on the radio said this was retribution for him ripping a congressman the previous week, maybe. But we can't let ourselves forfeit our rights, because of ... well other people? I don't know, it seems like if Imus can go because of this, then really no one is off limits, but where does it end? Will it end? Will all of the free speech on the radio be silenced because some group or person will find it offensive? Maybe. And that is really the sad thing. Probably 90% of whatever is said anywhere is useless, but the 10% that matters is only said at the encouragement of what is said in the 90%. By being free to communicate as much worthless nonsense as possible we also create ideas that further the society. And I believe that is what the 1st amendment is for. Yes people will say things you disagree with, but that is your opportunity to truly further your cause and put your ideas out there. You really can't be afraid that people will hate you and you shouldn't hate others for what they say no matter how bad it is. What if Martin Luther King Jr. had been afraid to speak? What if Abe Lincoln didn't want to talk at Gettysburg? Or Kennedy never spoke out about serving the country? All words are not great, but it can't be up to "groups" to stop ideas because you never know what could inspire greatness. Censorship can't be the way. People have to make up there own minds and in the end if you want people to really live the "right" way then you have to give them the better ideas, the better way to live so they choose what truly is right.

(disengage Soap Box)

The Election of 2004 pt. 2

{Note this draft was started in October 2004, but its contents are still relevent}

(Take position on top of soap box)

I really hate to do this, but to all of the Christian followers out there when John Kerry was quoting the bible didn't that just ring wrong. He could quote carefully rehersed material, but when the matter of homosexual marriage came up he seemed to abandon "his faith". Perhaps he wouldn't be able to name the exact book (1st Corinthians) or the chapter (chapter 6) or the verse (verse 9), but the bible does mention in no uncertain terms its stand on homosexuallity.
-"(9) Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders (10) nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (11) And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God"
He said we have to understand how God made each of us different and we need to be understanding of each other. NO. The Christian God would not MAKE people homosexual. That is like saying God makes people commit sin. If people aren't religious then the don't care about the religious stand on this topic which is fine. But when it is "good" for someone to use religion as a talking point in their campaign they had better know on what side their God stands, because trust me God won't flip-flop. Are there homosexuals -Yes, did God make them that way - No, why - because God allows us to face temptation. Everyone starts in basically the same position as two cells come together to begin forming what will be at our future state. Along the way we are faced with decisions that will ultimately determine our fate. Our we religious or not? Are we straight or not? We make the decisions that shape our lives with or without God's help. Be very clear though I do not think that God "hates" homosexuals, but it is up to them to reconcile with God and make nice.

Presidential Race 2004

A little incite into the battle that has become the presidential race of 2004. I have watched all three presidential debates and the VP debate and the score is pretty much 2 to 2 or maybe 2 to 1 and 1 draw. I give Kerry the advantage in the 2 regular debates (except for maybe the 3rd see below), but the town hall and VP debate to Bush and Cheney. The third debate was probably the most telling of any of the debates and anyone who thinks that John Kerry is an upstanding presidential figure must not have watched. The comment that drug one of the children of the opponent's into the debate was completely uncalled for and anyone that thinks different is entitled to their own wrong opinion. It was Dukakis-esque. The single moment that alienated a decent group of voters because of the sheer emotion attached to the statement. If you are not familiar, in the 1988 debates between Dukakis and VP Bush, Dukakis was asked if he would seek the death penalty for someone who raped and murder his wife Kitty. The short of it is he said 'no' because he has held a certain view of capital punishment and blah blah blah. The problem is, people can identify with their loved ones and when you can put a face on a certain situation it makes talking about it completely different regardless of the substance of the answer. Back to the 2004 race, Kerry put a name (well not specifically Mary Cheney, but 'VP Cheney's daughter') strongly linked to the Republicans in a answer that was completely out of line. If he wanted to put a real person in the situation who has struggled with homosexuality, then use a specific person, BUT NOT SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW. Especially not someone who is in the other camp. I know he was just trying to draw attention to hard core republicans or some independents that there was a homosexual in one of the high ranking republican families. "OH NO", the republicans are supposed to say, but then what. Not vote for the "homo" family. I think this ill-conceived plan to bring up Dick Cheney's daughter in this format is going to backfire and actually generate some amount of sympathy for the Republicans. Or at least damage the character or lack of character on John Kerry's part to an irreconcilable amount.

The other thing that will damage Kerry's "Character" is when the host Bob Schieffer asked the candidates to say basically something nice about how their wives and daughter's have helped in this campaign. Bush's response was to say how he and Laura met and how lucky he was to have her out campaigning for her and also how he appreciated his daughter work. Kerry's response was to compliment the president and first lady, then mention how he had married up (which I take as a statement of "thanks to my wife I have a lot of money to run for president"), then started talking about his mother. That's right his mother. Didn't mention his wife for the rest of the 90 seconds he could have talked. Nothing about the fact that the African-born woman was on his side as a show of world interest or how the "shove-it" comment to a reporter in her "home" US city of Pittsburgh really showed her support for the free speech part of the bill of rights. No people, if you want one good reason to not vote for John Kerry let it be his wife who John Kerry himself can not even speak positively of, for one minute. I know the first lady doesn't represent any real issues for the candidates, but is this really the person you would want as an ambassador for the USA.

A good second reason would be John Edwards. Besides being extremely inexperienced in anything political or really anything not having to do with being a trial lawyer, he would be second in command. I have to assume that he was chosen strictly on looks and what he could bring to the ticket in the form of women voters looking for someone to represent the US in some type of modeling competition for world leaders. That currently doesn't exist, so that wouldn't be a good reason to vote for him. Also he hasn't done much in the senate, like show up even. The funny thing is in the VP debate Dick Cheney said he had not met Edwards before that night, and the media stations are like, 'both of you were at a prayer breakfast once, and the when Mrs. Dole was being sworn in once', but no mention of them running into each other AT THE SENATE, WHERE HE "WORKS", FOR THE PEOPLE. The other sad point is that he couldn't even defend Cheney's comment at the time it was issued, not until his wife informed him of one of their meetings could Edwards respond at a rally after the debate. Boy, looks like those two meetings left a real impression on both men.

Bush is not with out fault either. But people seem to want to forget about the impact of 9/11 and what it did to the country. Everyone wants to focus on the war in Iraq and how it wasn't it self-defense or about going after terrorist because Afghanistan was the only country that has terrorist and they were the only ones we can hold responsibility some how for 9/11. But I can explain the war in Iraq in one word that no one in congress or the white house will admit to and that is "paranoia". Now that maybe a little too simple for most and rightly so, but the underlying idea that we went to war in Iraq was to "Prevent" another attack, which could be biological or nuclear and do much more damage than the original 9/11. If everyone in the world has the same intelligence and they all point to Iraq as having WMD then how can the president sit by and wait. If we had been struck on 9/11/03 by nuclear weapons out of Iraq, everyone would have said why didn't we act on this intelligence before we were hit, "It's like we didn't know it would happen again?" Right. By going to Iraq we ended 12 years of UN resolutions that Iraq had not complied with by not demonstrating that it destroyed it's weapons after the first Gulf War. We are setting here after 9/11 going where are the weapons and Saddam is like we don't have 'em, but there is no evidence they were destroyed either. I have to agree that I don't believe it was worth the chance to sit back on our hands and wait and 'hope' that Saddam was telling the truth. And I think that is why there hasn't been a greater backlash from the World Community because they understand this conflict in the same manner. That and some of the countries were on the take in the old "oil-for-food" program.

The economic effect of 9/11 was also huge. Not only did we lose 3,000+ contributing members of the society on 9/11, but we lost 200 floors of world changing businesses. That type loss is not replaced in one day or one year, but closer to 2 years. An economic revival has occurred in the last year or so, but it is still very fragile. One reason is the world market, which makes it difficult to increase good paying manufacturing jobs in the states, because items can be produced much more cheaply in other areas of the world. If we could have transferred the loss of the high end business on 9/11 to the lower manufacturing sector the effect would not have been as great, but due to the change in world trade capabilities that was not possible. Second a lot of the business that have been used to right the economic ship have been service sector businesses. Service businesses are nice, but not when one service serves another service which serves another service.... Eventually it all leads back to servicing the manufacturing sector when raw materials are changed into marketable goods and revenue is generated to pay the service sector. In order to keep the growth going we have to reinvest in the manufacturing sector in order to support the service sector. It is like the manufacturing sector is the legs of the table and the service sector is the food placed on the table. We can't keep placing food on the table and keep yanking the legs off and expect the whole situation to be stable. Right now we need to put legs on the table.

Well that is enough time on the soap box for tonight.