New American

Tucson Town Hall - Finally!!

2009-09-02T21:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a video link to coverage of last night's town hall meeting with our Representative. I need to post a longer piece about my impressions, but that will have to wait until later this week.

Been Busy Protesting

2009-08-24T21:49:00.004-07:00

Hurray! We called, we emailed, we congregated, we touted, we gave interviews and did all those other things that a right-wing mob does nowadays. And low and behold, our Congresswoman that had previously stated that she won't hold any town hall meetings in District 8 caved on the day of our big protest in front of her office. Three town hall meetings are scheduled next week. The only oddity is the requirement to RSVP with full name, address and phone number. Sure there is limited seating, but that would be easily helped by a name list or a first come, first served procedure at the door. I sent in my name, omitted address or phone number. She has those on file, since I have called on previous occasions and provided her with that information. I also omitted that I'll be bringing a pitch fork. Nah, just kidding! I certainly hope that signs will be provided at the Tucson event so I don't have to bring my own again ...

Guns, Guns, Guns

2009-07-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

Great Cartoons

2009-06-18T10:42:00.014-07:00

I got these in an email from a family member. I am not sure who the original source is, but they are great!

Awesome Commercial!

2009-06-17T21:53:00.003-07:00

Found this through Instapundit...

Lack Of Posts

2009-06-17T17:42:00.003-07:00

So, I discovered Facebook and two months later ... I have to say, it is very convenient to be able to post from my iPhone. Yes, blogger allows some sort of mobile blogging but it's just not as easy. However, because of it's fast pace, Facebook can be pretty annoying too. Most people on there have a memory that lasts about 4 hours and even that is generous. I can't imagine how much worse it must be to Twitter! Now ask yourselves, are sites like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter accommodating or exacerbating the ADD-like behavior of our society? It is true that in today's mobile age, families are spread all around the country or in our family's case around the world creating a need for communication. But there are phones, email and webcams to meet that need. Maybe it's the phenomenon that I often site as the cause for much that is changing this society. Instant gratification. You want to tell your mom, your best friend and your co-worker that you woke up with a headache and you want to do that right now before the headache goes away. But calling them might lead to lengthy conversations and if you email them, they might think you want them to respond. So you log onto Facebook and tell your 134 "friends" that you have a headache: Instant gratification minus the pressure to interact. And in a couple of hours no one will remember you ever complained about a headache. It's like having 134 drive-by friendships. But maybe it's the invention that causes people to become more superficial. There is so much information posted by all your friends in any given day that you end up glancing over half of them and commenting only on those that stick out. Now you don't have to worry about setting up a date to grab a coffee with your ex-co-worker because you just found him on Facebook and you caught up in a lovely 10-minute chat. The information overload on Facebook forces you to have a hundred little online friendships without ever truly connecting with your friends anymore. The term "friends" on Facebook or MySpace is misleading. Twitter calls them followers and that's much closer to the true relationship between people in such online communities.

Don't get me wrong, I just logged off my Facebook site where I had a splendid time looking at my cousin's pictures and giving my friend baby advice. It is very convenient but nevertheless not all it's "cracked up" to be.

HP6 Trailer

2009-04-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

I can't wait for July 17!

How Is Olberman Still On The Air?

2009-04-18T22:10:00.001-07:00

Spewing half-truths and bringing on an actress as the expert...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Tucson Tax Day Tea Party

2009-04-16T10:47:00.004-07:00

I have been a little short on time for posting long pieces. Hopefully, I'll be able to write more soon but here is a short wrap-up of our protest yesterday.

Apparently there were around 4,000 people in attendance which is an amazingly large crowd for as liberal of a city as Tucson. The mood of the crowd ranged from cheerful people, happy to see that they are not alone with their concerns, over cynics wondering if anyone is really going to care that we protest here, to genuine anger aimed at POTUS, Congress and local governments. And yes, there were also some kooks. One sign likened Obama and Acorn with the Nazi SS. One guy walked around the crowd handing out pamphlets decrying tax money spent on illegal wars. Another person tried to convince people that federal income taxes are unconstitutional. But these people didn't really stand out and were largely ignored by everyone.

I witnessed one camera crew interviewing people in the crowd. If I'm not much mistaken, they were from Channel 4 (our local NBC affiliate). The reporter asked a woman very leading questions, like "So, you're not here to protest the president, right?" Another guy told us later that he was interviewed by them too and he thought he had really good responses to their weird questions. Not sure if any of them made it on the evening news. A woman at the Arizona Group at Smart Girl Politics said that the local news stations had about one minute of coverage each. That figures!

All in all, it was a very well-conducted event. This time we actually had microphones and speakers. The Tea Party got great coverage on all three local talk radio stations even before it officially began. So I was able to listen to people arriving as I was hitting the road to drive downtown. The event kicked off with a prayer by a local pastor, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the National Anthem. Jadi Norris, a local band, provided live music, mostly country and whenever they weren't playing a d.j. took over. The music added to the great atmosphere. There were several speakers and I didn't catch everyone's names. We heard from Frank Antenori (state senator), John Justice (local talk radio icon), Tom Jenney (Americans for Prosperity), a guy from the Goldwater Institute, a representative of the Libertarian Party and more people that I'm forgetting now. I liked that they all urged the crowd to continue their political activism. Things like "this is only the first step" covered the tune of most speakers. The protest organizers also got up on the stage a few times for various announcements and rally cries, including giving out McCain's, Kyl's and Gifford's phone numbers urging people to call their offices and renew the invitation to join this Tea Party. Several people in my vicinity got out their cell phones and started calling. All lines were busy. Go figure!

Last night I made the mistake of turning on MSNBC, which I never do, to see if and how they were covering the nationwide protests. It was shameful and I had to turn it off after half an hour. Since these Tea Parties were happening in hundreds of cities and most were able to gather very large crowds, MSNBC couldn't ignore them completely. Instead they opted to bash the movement. Here are some of the things they reported: Somewhere a group of protester got the "wrong" permit to do a symbolic tea dumping. Somewhere else only a dozen protesters showed up. In Texas the "fringe" groups joined the protests and governor Perry is a whack job. Then the reporter felt the need to talk about the true meaning of "tea bagging" in its sexual connotation and how the protesters don't seem to get what it means. He kept calling them tea baggers. Then they reported that Neil Cavuto lied about the number of people that showed up in Sacramento when he was to quote him "taking a guess" on stage (turns out his guess was actually right). Then they ripped FoxNews for their partisan way of covering the protests when they supposedly hardly covered the huge anti-war protests during the Bush administration. Funny thing, MSNBC seemed to get the numbers for those protests right. They proceeded to accused Fox of fabricating news. The reporter started reading out the cities where Tea Parties were taking place and somehow only came up with about forty. Well, I guess it would have filled most of the report if he had attempted to read out all the names of all places. And then they talked some more about tea bagging. All this within the half hour that I watched. Just unbelievable!

After yesterday, I am very hopeful that this movement will continue. I agree with the sentiment that this is only the beginning.

Tea Party Manifesto

2009-04-01T09:00:00.002-07:00

I agree with Will Collier who says that the message promoted at the Tax Day protests needs to be clear and substantive.

Schedule For Tucson Tea Party Has Changed

2009-03-31T22:33:00.003-07:00

It seems that the April 15, Tax Day Tea Party in Tucson will actually be at Presidio Park at 9 am. I am still finding conflicting information and will try to get to the bottom of this. This website is one that I have referenced before. I will post more later.

Update: There is also a blogspot site for the Tucson event. And the Facebook group is here.

Not driving American

2009-03-31T21:46:00.003-07:00

This story at the Politico reveals that the majority of White House staffers drives foreign cars. Well, I guess that will change now that the government own GM and Chrysler...

Maragaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood's Racist Founder

2009-03-24T21:28:00.001-07:00

FYI: The Smithsonian exhibit in question (Women of Our Time: Twentieth Century Photographs) was open October 2008 through January 2009. The video is nevertheless worth watching as it gives an insight into the origin of Planned Parenthood.

Musical Genius

2009-03-22T15:38:00.002-07:00

Racism at Planned Parenthood

2009-03-22T09:37:00.005-07:00

Since I just made a comment here as to the fact that Planned Parenthood targets the black population of America, I figured I'd post a video illustrating that even today this group is willing to accept donations specifically intended for the abortion of black babies. I wasn't able to embed the video here. The link will take you directly to YouTube. I also found this article touching on the same subject.

Tax Day Tea Party Schedules

2009-03-20T22:08:00.002-07:00

There will be nationwide protests on April 15. This website has information on planned protest in your area. If you plan on attending a Tea Party in your community, make sure you RSVP and get your email address added to the organizer's mailing list. This is the only way to make sure you get the most up-to-date information. Also, most event organizers have set up Facebook websites. So if you are on Facebook, that might be a good way to get information as well.

The Tea Party in Phoenix will be from 5:30 to 7 pm at the State Capitol, on the Senate Lawn. The Tucson protest will be from 10 am to 3 pm in downtown Tucson, in front of the Joel D. Valdez library. There are Facebook websites for both events Phoenix and Tucson.

Planned Parenthood Exposed Update

2009-03-20T21:59:00.002-07:00

There is a new video on the Mona Lisa Project website. This one was filmed in Phoenix. The Planned Parenthood worker actually lies to the girls and tells them that the 27-year old boyfriend would only be in trouble if the pregnant girl was 13 or younger. State law is clear about the fact that sex with a minor 15 or younger is a felony and has to be reported to law enforcement. You would think by now those Planned Parenthood staffers would have caught on to the fact that they might be scrutinized for their actions. But they aren't even trying to keep the pretense of legality. Hopefully that stupidity will be their downfall. Where are the lawsuits? I know these videos are staged by girls that aren't actual minors. But judging by the way these staffers counsel the girls to lie and cover up felonies, there are have got to be actual cases that could be brought to court. No?

Planned Parenthood Exposed

2009-03-08T12:01:00.003-07:00

In one of my comments I had mentioned hidden camera reports about the ongoings at Planned Parenthood abortion clinics.

Since embedded videos take up so much space, I will link directly to YouTube. This first video is about a year old. Lila Rose is a UCLA student that went to a California Planned Parenthood clinic. Then there is the Mona Lisa Project website that has by now posted three videos, the last of which was shot in Tucson! I guess Lila Rose is part of that project, too. It is one thing to counsel young girls on abortion and explain consequences and options to them. It is absolutely dispicable to coach these girls to lie about their age or their boyfriends' age and telling them which clinics will not report statutory rape. These people promote illegal abortions. They push underage girls that are in distress to kill their unborn babies without giving them information on teenage-parenthood services or adoption procedures.

I am one hundred percent pro-life and think abortion should be illegal, because it is murder. Even if you don't think a fetus is a living person, you should be very concerned about the actions of organizations like Planned Parenthood. If their people have to go out of their way to convince girls and women to get abortions, it should make you think twice. Why do these women have doubts? Why do they go to such consultations? I tell you why, because deep down inside they know it is wrong and they are looking for affirmation to do something they shouldn't do.

The Pledge of Allegiance Explained

2009-03-06T08:44:00.002-07:00

Red Skelton explains the Pledge of Allegiance. I wasn't aware that the words "under god" had been added this recently. So, if we took those words out, would we just be going back to the original version? It would definitely shut up those critics that want to quit reciting the pledge entirely. Any thoughts?

YOPP!

2009-03-05T08:52:00.002-07:00

Watch the video below of a 12-year old's speech on abortion. More background to the girl's decision to give this speech at her school can be found here.

A Letter To My Representative

2009-03-04T09:31:00.002-07:00

Below is a long letter that I just sent to my House Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D):

Dear Ms. Giffords,

I am sending you this in response to a letter I received from you yesterday which addressed your position on H.R. 1 - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The letter included your editorial from the Arizona Republic. Please be assured that I greatly appreciate your efforts at keeping me as a constituent updated and trying to convince me of the validity of your vote in Congress, however, I have to object to your justification of voting for H.R. 1.

I called your office the day before the vote and spoke to one of your aides. She told me that since the final draft of the bill had not been published yet, you had not decided on a Yes or No vote. I doubt that you spent that night reading all 1500-some pages of this monstrous bill. Therefore I have to assume that by the time I called you had already decided to vote along the party line and directed your staff to not make that decision public before the day of the vote. I tried to read the whole bill as soon as it became public and was not able to finish it before the day of the vote. Even if you managed to read every single page before you cast your disastrous vote, you should have been aware that the average taxpayer would not have the time to examine this bill appropriately. Just based on this lack of transparency and public notification you should have voted "No". It makes me wary of your statement that "This bill includes an [sic] historic level of transparency, oversight and accountability". The manner in which this bill was rushed through Congress would make anyone suspicious of your intentions. The "urgency of the situation" does not justify passing legislation of such enormity and such wide reaching impact without allowing public scrutiny. Of course we now know that at least 60% of the "stimulus money" will not be spent until next year, and that voids the argument that this is an emergency bill.

Also, what exactly do you mean when you say "create or save 70,000 jobs over two years"? How can you claim to save a job when you can never know for sure if the job would have been lost in the first place? Furthermore, how do college credits, unemployment insurance and modernizing schools stimulate our economy now? The same goes for those investments in renewable energy you touted in your editorial. As you said yourself, those merely "represent a forward-thinking down payment on our future". This proves that you did not have your eyes on measures that would immediately boost our economy (like permanent tax cuts and lowering corporate tax rates) but were rather following the same agenda you have been promoting since you first ran for office in 2006 (before the economic downturn). You are using this critical situation to further your political career and that is wrong in so many ways. If you want to pass legislation to promote energy research, do so in a separate bill!

With all this talk about sustainability on your side of the aisle - be it in the context of renewable energy, global warming or urban development - you sure seem to favor an unsustainable fiscal policy. Your support of this bill shows your willingness to reward bad business practices and investment decisions by mortgaging our children's and grandchildren's future, and all in the hope of delaying an inevitable collapse of businesses and banks. With one stroke of a pen, this Congress and the Obama administration have mired this country in the greatest debt it has EVER seen. This debt will be passed on to my children and yours, and you don't seem to be the slightest bit concerned about that.

The spirit of this bill is that to get us out of a crisis that was caused by reckless spending and bad lending we need to borrow and spend even more. That is non-sensical. A more conservative (not in the political sense) and sensible approach would be to decrease spending, save money and pay off debts. Like I said before, far-reaching, permanent tax cuts as well as lowering the corporate tax rate, which is the second highest of all western nations, to 20% would be an excellent first step. The second step should be to cut federal, state and local government spending. I understand that sacrifices have to be made to ensure a speedy recovery, but creating over a trillion dollars in additional debt is just plain stupid.

In your editorial you also touted the stimulus package as a bill that passed in the House and Senate by a clear majority. If you mean to say that a clear majority of Democrat representatives and senators voted for this bill, then you are correct. You fail to mention that in the House not a single Republican voted for the bill and eleven Democrats had the guts to dissent. The circumstances of the Senate vote were quite similar. Even though no Democrats opposed the bill, all but three Republican senators did. You surely do not mean to say that this was a clear-cut, let alone bipartisan, decision. The passing of this bill displayed the "gotcha" mentality of a Congress run by Democrats. Your party along with the Obama administration did not have the best interests of all Americans in mind. All you could see was that you are now in the majority and can finally start expanding the federal government's reach, as you have wanted to do for so long. This so-called stimulus bill is nothing but a power play by the Democrat party and will make even more Americans dependent on government programs. You are leading this country down the path to socialism, and as an immigrant from a country that has seen socialism fail, let me tell you it is a bad path to choose.

Ms. Giffords, I commend you if you have gotten this far in my letter. I want to urge you to reconsider your vote and help reverse some of the damage done by this so-called stimulus bill. Please consider proposals to repeal the spending portions of this legislation and work on expanding substantial tax cuts for ALL Americans. The 2010 elections will hinge on the position our representatives take in this matter. A movement has been started by the taxpayers of this country to challenge you and your fellow Congressmen and women to more fiscal responsibility. As a sign that I too am joining this movement called the New American Tea Party, I have enclosed a tea bag with this letter. This is not meant as an insult but as a symbolic statement. The Boston Tea Party was initiated by colonists outraged about the overreach of power by the British Crown. This Congress is displaying a similar irresponsibility and unwillingness to listen to the people and will eventually have to answer to some serious questions.

Best regards,

...

YouTube Video of Arizona Tea Party

2009-03-02T17:25:00.001-07:00

Tom Jenney speaks to the crowd.

El Rushbo at CPAC

2009-03-02T14:20:00.003-07:00

Rush Limbaugh's CPAC speech (or as he calls it, his "Address to the Nation") is linked in full at C-SPAN. Watch and learn!

More Protest Pictures

2009-03-01T08:55:00.009-07:00

I love seeing pictures from protests around the country pop up all over the internet. Here are a couple more of the ones I took.

Report From The Tempe Tea Party

2009-02-27T16:30:00.017-07:00

We had a great time in Tempe yesterday. There were about 100 people or so. Three state senators from Phoenix (Harper, Pearce and Vershoor) addressed the crowd after an introduction by Tom Jenney the head of the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity. A couple of other people spoke also. One was apparently the director of the CAP (Central Arizona Project, which manages and maintains Arizona's largest water canal). I didn't catch her name as I was in the back of the crowd but she had some very revealing insight on spending practices at CAP. Another speaker was a stay-at-home mom that runs a town hall blog and was urging people to pay more attention to local issues and start their own blogs if there wasn't one for their community yet. I guess, I should check what forums there are for my town.

As part of the Tea Party, Mr. Jenney asked everyone to send tea bags to the White House. We will send one for each member of our family. I'm putting them in the mail today. If you couldn't make it up to Tempe but would like to participate in the tea bag mailing. The address to send them to is The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.

I spotted three "reporters", one was from KFYI (the AM talk radio station in Phoenix), another one from the Phoenix Examiner and the third one I'm not sure. By the time we were heading back home KFYI was already reporting about the protest, sound bites, interviews and all. Later that night I found this story at the Examiner.

All in all, we had a great time at our first protest. The weather was perfect and people seemed to be genuinely upset. I had some very interesting discussions. There are a lot of people out there that want to get rid of McCain as our senator by replacing him with a conservative Republican in the next primary. I agree with that sentiment. I disagreed with a woman that supports soldiers who refuse to follow orders because they disagree with the new president. Action like that undermines the moral in our military. As much as you might dislike your Commander in Chief, you made a commitment and should follow through on that. I know enough people that want to quit the military as soon as their commitment time is up. That is a more sensible course of action in my opinion. Then I also ran into a guy that voted for Obama because he thinks McCain would lead us further down the path of what he called "crony capitalism". Upon a remark of his how socialism might be better than what we have going on right now, I gave him a piece of my mind. We ended up having a pretty good discussion but couldn't reach an agreement about where this country should or will be headed.

Below are a couple of pictures I took. There weren't too many "clever" signs so I didn't take too many pictures.

Ready For The Tea Party!

2009-02-26T16:02:00.004-07:00

I found out all the details about the protest up in Phoenix. It's all right here. Just need to finish making our signs tonight. I'll post pictures and/or more links after we get back home.

Phoenix Tea Party

2009-02-25T08:10:00.002-07:00

I'm confused! I found this facebook website and this twitter site that seem to be organizing protests at the same time and same location in Phoenix. Hardly anyone has RSVP'ed "yes". Now I'm wondering if this is for real. If anyone has suggestions as to how to find out more about the actual demonstration, PLEASE let me know!

What is a "twitter" anyways??

Pittsburgh Tea Party This Friday!

2009-02-24T12:51:00.004-07:00

For all of you up there in the cold this link has a call for a tax protest in Pittsburgh. Pack up your kids and join the crowd! If you need some inspirations for signs click here.

Here is a schedule for a whole lot more tea parties.

UPDATE: I found yet another website that has even more events listed. There's also a link to the Phoenix "Chicago" Tea Party. I'm trying to organize a group to go to Phoenix with us.

Quote of the Day

2009-02-22T08:59:00.003-07:00

During the founding days of our republic there was a sentiment that "democracy" is not necessarily a good thing. Hence the term "mob rule". I love this quote by Samuel Adams (one of my heroes):

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.

This is what this new movement called "American Tea Party" is all about. Democracy has failed us because there are too many uninformed or uninterested people out there, just as there are too many politicians that have caught on to that and are basing there whole political career on misinformation and half-truths. Conservatives need to quit being the silent majority and become loud, not obnoxiously loud, just loud enough to catch everyone's attention. Anybody up for organizing a tea party in Tucson? I am still upset that I missed the protest in Mesa. But I'll go up to the Phoenix area too If anyone hears about an event, let me know.

More Protests

2009-02-21T07:42:00.002-07:00

Michelle Malkin linked to this piece at Investor's Business Daily about tax protests around the country. I am hoping that this will pick up steam and turn into a grass roots movement. I am not in a good position to organize a protest myself but I will keep my eyes and ears open if anything is going down in Tucson in the near future.

Almost Breaking the Sound Barrier

2009-02-20T15:34:00.003-07:00

Look at him go!!!

Tax Protest in Mesa

2009-02-20T10:03:00.002-07:00

Here are some pictures of the protest in honor of Obama visiting Phoenix. Wish I could have been there...

Conservative Movies Continued

2009-02-16T12:10:00.005-07:00

Here is the complete list of The 25 Best Conservative Movies. I am very pleased to see that "The Lives of Others" tops the list. That is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Having grown up in East Germany while those things were going on I am often disappointed with movies that don't quite manage to capture the true conditions that people had to endure. This movie is a definite MUST SEE.

And, Big Deal, as you pointed out, "300" made the list also. Good call on that one! I like the movie too.

The description provided in the list of "Forrest Gump" as a conservative movie doesn't give it justice in my opinion. Charlotte Hays didn't manage to adequately point out how this movie portrays the destructive nature of the 1960's hippies' and drug movement. "Forrest Gump" stands for so many of the values that make America great. Forrest is an unlikely hero because of his low IQ. His retardation however does not prevent him from knowing right from wrong, bravery from cowardice, I would venture to say. Sometimes people should just quit pretending everything in life is so complex. Moral decisions should be simple, they should be divided into right and wrong, not shades of gray. Forrest's character portrays this fact very well.

A couple of the movies on the final top 10 are new to me too. I haven't seen "Metropolitan", "Juno" and "Blast from the Past". I heard that "Juno" is a great movie with a fairly conservative take on teenage pregnancy.

And one last nugget: The folks at HuffPo, not surprisingly, have not much good to say about this list of conservative movies, thus proving that the NRO writers were dead on. In trying to point out how predictable conservatives are they display the liberal stereotypes we have come to connect with the Huffington Post and their followers. Good job, guys!

Measles Vaccine Not to Blame for Autism

2009-02-12T10:04:00.002-07:00

Like our pediatrician said, if we spent as many resources and as much time on researching the actual causes of autism as we are on trying to prove a link between vaccinations and autism, we would be much closer to obtain real results.

Here is the story from FOX News.

Patriotic Assimilation: Count Me In!

2009-02-12T09:46:00.002-07:00

A piece from NRO on "Americanization First" by John Fonte.

I'll post more on it later. Just thought I'd throw it out there for you all to ponder.

Conservative Movies

2009-02-11T15:36:00.009-07:00

I have been following The Corner guys at NRO counting down The Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years. It started with "Gran Torino" at #25 and now it's down to "Ghostbusters" at #10. Now I'm not a big movie-goer and not having grown up in America, I haven't even heard of some of these movies. But the ones I have seen that have thus far made the list I really like, though I think "Team America" should have ranked higher than just #24...

Here is the list as far as they have gotten:

#10 Ghostbusters
#11 Lord of the Rings
#12 The Dark Knight
#13 Braveheart
#14 A Simple Plan
#15 Red Dawn
#16 Master and Commander
#17 The Chronicles of Narnia
#18 The Edge
#19 We Were Soldiers
#20 Gattaca
#21 Heartbreak Ridge
#22 Brazil
#23 United 93
#24 Team America
#25 Gran Torino

The ones I haven't seen and/or heard of before are "Gran Torino", "United 93", "Brazil", "Heartbreak Ridge", "Gattaca", "We Were Soldiers", "The Edge", "Red Dawn" and "A Simple Plan". Sounds to me like a list of movies to rent next time I'm at Blockbuster and don't know which movie to get. Any recommendations about which one to watch first?

Now I've been thinking about which movies I would expect to see in the top 10 of conservative films. Here is what I have thought of so far, and bear in mind that my cinematic experience is limited to the few years I've been living in the States. I think "Rambo" should definitely make it. This is one guy standing up against a bunch of bad guys. He's not waiting for a handout and he certainly doesn't mind using necessary force. The latest Rambo movie (I lost count which number in the sequel it is) started off a little sketchy. You know, the whole idea of the missionary workers not "believing" in guns. But in the end, when no government/military is willing to come rescue them, it's Rambo with his guns and explosives that bails them out. And how about putting "Gladiator" in the top 10? A movie about honor, family and a portrayal of the corruption of total power. Sure, it also treats slavery as a necessary evil. But that is really just historical fact, not an excuse.

Let's see which other movies make it on to the list. Apparently the results are based on surveys that were conducted by several major blog websites.

Obama is a Socialist

2009-02-10T15:50:00.002-07:00

And I'm not the only one that thinks so. Pam Meister at Pajamas Media writes "Welcome to the Great American Handout."

Has Obama read Keynes?

2009-02-10T09:14:00.005-07:00

It sure seems like it:

"If the Treasury were to fill old bottles with bank notes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coal mines which are then filled to the surface with town rubbish and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again, . . . there need be no more unemployment and with the help of the repercussions, the real income of the community would probably become a good deal larger than it is." (Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money)

But I don't think he really understands what economists now and then said about the unpredictability of a market economy and their doubts about government stimuli actually having any effect. I found this very insightful, though long, piece by James K. Glassman that Instapundit linked to on his blog. Glassman gives a very good summary of the history of government stimulus and why we can't really say what type of stimulus will work today because we don't have any precedence of one ever working.

From my understanding of economic theory, I think Obama would be better off to read Friedrich von Hayek who said, "To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm. " (Nobel Prize Lecture, December 11, 1974)

Continuing Disaster UPDATE

2009-02-05T21:25:00.002-07:00

Here is Michelle Malkin's take on the issue of "politics of fear".

Time to baby-proof the house

2009-02-05T16:20:00.003-07:00

Look who's posing!

2009-02-05T15:52:00.003-07:00

C.S. Lewis

2009-02-03T14:08:00.001-07:00

And here is another quote Levin used in that same radio broadcast. This one is from C.S. Lewis and just like the previous Lincoln quote it rings so very true today.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Abraham Lincoln

2009-02-03T14:03:00.002-07:00

The other day on the radio Mark Levin quoted the 16th president and I really liked the quote. I am still catching up on U.S. history. But it seems like Abraham Lincoln was quite a smart man. Since I don't have much time today to write more, I will just leave you with the quote to ponder.

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."

"Continuing Disaster"

2009-02-01T22:25:00.003-07:00

When my child falls down on his face he looks at me for a reaction. If I make a big fuss about it and look scared for him, he instantly starts crying because either he really hurt himself or he figures he is supposed to be scared and hurt. If, on the other hand (and this is my usual reaction), I put on a smile and laugh at the silly expression he made when he fell, he will do one of two things. He either laughs at the silliness of the situation and continues playing because he really just startled himself but isn't truly hurt. Or he starts crying because he actually did hurt himself, which then tells me that I need to examine him closer and maybe tend to a bump or scrape.

This is exactly what is happening with The Anointed One and the way he is talking down our economy. Everybody, here and abroad, is looking to the leader of this country for feedback and guidance because we fell and bumped our heads. Instead of giving us hope and reassurance, he confirms our worst fears by acting just as scared as the next guy. His calling the current economy a "continuing disaster" makes Joe Sixpack think that he is actually hurting and must therefore cry and ask to be coddled by the nanny state. And The One even has the audacity to admit that he is talking like this to create a sense of urgency and to get people to accept the Democrats insane stimulus policies.

I do think that there is always a psychological component to a crisis. The way people perceive the severity of a situation, like a down economy, influences how they act. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the so-called experts are running around like Chicken Little, screaming that the sky is falling, people believe them. They start hording money, buying less and investing little. This in turn has the very real effect of depressing commerce. If we had leaders with even an ounce of brain matter, we would hear clear reports with no talk of disaster. We would hear real solutions instead of being clobbered over the head with a porkulus bill that mortgages our children's future. If we are in a crisis, let's get serious about fixing things. Enough with the pandering and politicking! This is not about getting your pet project approved and taking money home to your constituents. People, not government, are driving this country and this economy. Wouldn't it make sense to give those people back the means to lift themselves and thereby the whole nation out of this mess? This does not only require cutting taxes drastically but also creating a positive outlook and lifting people's spirits. Psychology matters if you ask me!

The Silver Lining

2009-01-28T21:14:00.002-07:00

The vote today was just as disappointing as most of us had expected. The disastrous stimulus bill passed the House by 244 to 188 votes. One of the details of the bill that I just heard is that it includes over $300 million for combating STD's as well as $650 million to help switch everyone's TV's from analog to digital. What that has to do with economic stimulus beats me...

But I promised a silver lining in the headline, and here it comes. ALL House Republicans voted against this crock of a bill. This positive showing of unity is encouraging and one can only hope that it will be repeated when the bill reaches the Senate.

Let's not forget the 11 Democrats that voted against party line. A reader on Instapundit suggested to send Thank You notes to those Dems that voted No. I think that is a good idea. Unfortunately my district representative is not among those brave dissenters. If yours is, you might want to think about sending him/her a note of encouragement. Here is the list: Allen Boyd, D-Fla., Bobby Bright, D-Ala., Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., Parker Griffith, D-Ala., Paul Kanjorski, D-Penn., Frank M. Kratovil, D-Md., Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, John E. Peterson, D-Penn., Heath Shuler, D-N.C., and Gene Taylor, D-Miss.

Read The Stimulus Bill UPDATE

2009-01-27T20:27:00.002-07:00

The bill is being proposed in Congress tomorrow and as far as I understand it, they are voting on it right then. When I talked to Giffords' aide (Dorietta) earlier, she told me that the Congresswoman has not decided yet how she will vote. You have to be kidding me! It seems to me that this decision is of such importance that Giffords' should KNOW a day ahead of the vote what she is going to do.

Read The Stimulus Bill

2009-01-27T08:04:00.003-07:00

This website provides the complete text of the stimulus bill to be proposed in Congress. I am on page 3 of 1588 ... There is also a spreadsheet that summarizes how the money is going to be distributed. It looks as though there are no actual tax cuts in this proposal. Almost all items are proposed new spending or so-called tax credits which do not equate to actual cuts.

As soon as I find the time to read more - even stay-at-home moms have to get off the computer occasionally ;-) - I plan on calling my representative again.

www.readthestimulus.org

Servitude

2009-01-22T09:26:00.003-07:00

Check out this creepy video that David Bernstein at the Volokh Conspiracy has found. You would think in times like these there would be worthier causes to which to pledge your servitude...

UPDATE: Life, the most worthy cause to pledge to.

Quote Of The Day

2009-01-16T19:39:00.002-07:00

Rush Limbaugh said the following on today's show:

"I got a request here from a major American print publication asking for 400 words on my hope for the Obama presidency. I don't need 400 words. I need four: I hope he fails. Everybody thinks that's outrageous to say. What's unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Were the liberals out there hoping Bush succeeded or were they out there trying to destroy him? Liberalism is our problem. It's what has gotten us dangerously close to the precipice. Why do I want more of it?"

This reflects exactly what I have been feeling since the election. Why do we have to wish Obama the best when the other side only wished ill upon Bush?

Need a Laugh?

2009-01-16T09:23:00.003-07:00

Pro-Gaza demonstration in Ramallah canceled for a lack of protesters

2009-01-16T09:12:00.004-07:00

According to this article which I found linked at WADIblog support for Hamas and the Palestinian "plight" in Gaza is dwindling in places like the West Bank.

Maybe they should move these demonstrations to a more Hamas-friendly place, like San Francisco, New York or Berlin...

UPDATE: Guess what! They opted for Melbourne and Paris.

Oh, oh! Here comes another "strongly worded" U.N. resolution

2009-01-14T18:13:00.004-07:00

Canada votes alone for Israel. Mark Steyn (at "The Corner") linked to this story giving props to the Canadian government which is showing a principled position of support for Israel. The U.S. is not part of the U.N. Human Rights Council and was therefor not part of this vote.

Not that it really matters what kind of garbage comes out of that obsolete institution called the United Nations. But it is nevertheless nice to see that Canada for once stands with us in our support for Israel to defend itself.

All we can hope for

2009-01-12T15:26:00.006-07:00

NYT reporter warns of one-term Obama. I guess, right now that would be what I would call the best-case scenario. But coming from the New York Times this assessment should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Like I said before, Obama's supporters are preparing to be disappointed because they know very well (and knew before the election) that there is no way he can keep all his campaign promises. My take on this is that the main stream media is trying to prepare everyone now so that it won't seem all that bad when Obama fails. The idea is, if you lower your expectations, you won't be nearly as disappointed.

There is one more thing that strikes me in this story. They mention at the very end that Obama (unlike Bush) has not yet sat down for an interview with the NYT. Huh, do you think this could be some sort of payback?

Anyways, in order for Obama to be up-seated in four years, the Republican party would have to come up with a viable candidate. The only thing is that I don't see the GOP doing anything productive in the near future. The party is full of RINO's and career politicians that have moved the Republican party so far to the left that it is hardly distinguishable from the Democrats anymore. Last year's election was proof that there really aren't any true alternatives to the liberal forces that are hijacking this country. The GOP tried to put up a Democrat against a bigger Democrat. If imitating your oponent won't work, maybe it's time to offer a clear alternative. I would like to see Republicans once more viewing themselves as Conservatives first. Once they embrace the lesson's of Reagan and return to the values of our founding fathers, we might actually see a viable candidate emerge on the national scene. Is there enough time to make that change and beat Obama in 2012? I sure hope so!

Who's the boss?

2009-01-12T14:51:00.002-07:00

Representatives

2009-01-11T12:15:00.009-07:00

The other day I called my representative Gabrielle Giffords to let her know what I thought about Congress squandering away our tax dollars by passing useless "stimulus packages". The conversation with one of her aides actually went quite well. We talked for a good 15 minutes. He told me that Miss Giffords had not decided yet how she is going to vote on the bailout bill currently under works by Obama and his minions. When I asked what some of the things are that she is going to look at to make her final decision once she sees the actual bill, he said that they would focus on provisions to help people that are in danger of losing their homes and on ways to make alternative energy sources like solar power more affordable. He also hit the usual talking points of illegal immigration and supporting our military which he admitted are not very likely to be mentioned in the bailout bill. I told him that I didn't think people that default on paying their debt (i.e. mortgages) should be rewarded with my tax money. I also didn't think it would be very smart to include new programs for alternative energy in a bill that is supposed to save money. New government programs, I said, should be put on the back burner until we are out of this recession and even then I don't think we should use tax payer money to fund an industry that is not yet profitable. We should wait until the alternative energy market can support itself and until then use the resources we have (like oil, gas and coal) efficiently. Then I told him what I expected from a bailout bill, which is cut government spending by getting rid of programs like the biofuel/ethanol subsidies, quit bailing out private companies that are failing in the free market (this is when he told me that Ms. Giffords voted against the automobile bailout), cut taxes permanently and not just for certain income groups, and lower the corporate tax rates to make it easier for businesses to flourish. Giffords' aide (I believe his name was Gabe or maybe Dave...) seemed to be taking notes and told me that her staff compiles monthly briefs summarizing calls from constituents. I asked him to please make sure that my suggestions get to her before Congress votes on any more bailouts. And he assured me he would. All in all I was pretty satisfied with the phone call. If I manage to stay on top of some of the things that are being proposed in the House and the Senate, I plan on making more phone calls like this one.

I have spent the last hour compiling contact information for various House representatives that might be helpful for some of you that are reading this to make similar phone calls. I looked up most of these congressional representatives here. So, if you don't see your zip code in the list below, you might need to go to this website to find the phone number for your guy/gal. Here's what I found:

Zip Code >>> Representative >>> Phone Number

15317 >>> Tim Murphy (R) >>> 412-344-5583
16057, 16154 >>> Kathy Dahlkemper (D) >>> 724-662-3222
16063 >>> Jason Altmire (D) >>> 724-378-0928
20754 >>> Steny Hoyer (D) >>> 301-843-1577
43964 >>> Charles Willson (D) >>> 330-532-3740
72231 >>> Vic Snyder (D) >>> 501-324-5941
77840 to 77845 >>> Chet Edwards (D) >>> 979-691-8797
82009 >>> Cynthia Lummis (R) >>> 307-261-6595
85202 >>> Harry Mitchell (D) >>> 480-946-2411
85234 >>> Jeff Flake (R) >>> 480-833-0092
85706, 85730, 85741, 85743 >>> Gabrielle Giffords (D) >>> 520-881-3588

Gaza

2009-01-08T11:24:00.002-07:00

Just a quick link to an interesting take on the current revival of the conflict in Gaza.

Choosing Death Over Life by Murdock at the NRO.

--

Happy New Year

2009-01-08T10:51:00.005-07:00

Hope you all survived the holidays alright.

2009 should be an interesting year for all of us considering the current state of our economy and the upcoming inauguration of a new president. Seems like everything hinges on Obama not keeping his campaign promises for our country to make it through this crisis. The "change" he promises is not the change we need. Increasing government spending to get us out of a mess that was created by government overreach in the first place is ludicrous. How can people even consider voting to give those thugs one more penny? We need more (permanent) tax cuts with less government spending. Did you see some of the things that were part of the bailout bill? A Woodstock museum? A Lobster Institute? Wooden arrows? The Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Services? And we are seriously considering upping the new bailout to over a trillion dollars. You have got to be kidding me!

Time to call our representatives! For those of you living in Tucson, Giffords' number is (520) 881-3588. If you want to call her D.C. office call (202) 225-2542. Spread the word! And here is a short link to some of the items to be added to the bailout currently discussed in Congress.

UPDATE: "stimulus"... is a new euphemism for printing more money. Great article on how to truly stimulate the U.S. economy.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I just got off the phone with "Gabe" at Giffords' office here in Tucson. He actually listened to me and seemed to be taking notes too. I am encouraged by the fact that Ms. Giffords actually voted against the bailout of the "Big Three" automobile companies and has not yet decided how to vote on the new bailout program. Folks, start making those calls!

"A Date Which Will Live In Infamy"

2008-12-07T11:07:00.002-07:00

Unity

2008-11-20T08:26:00.005-07:00

It has been more than too weeks since the election catastrophe struck America. I am still trying to understand what happened and what our next step should be. I absolutely disagree with people like John McCain and Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) who as the outcome of the election became clear called for unity and support for the president-elect. In fact, The Misanthropic Humanist has an excellent point when he says that attitudes like that are what lost McCain the presidency to begin with. McCain was in it to be liked, Obama was in it to win.

And what exactly warrants this call to unity and respect? It's not like the other side united behind Bush when he was elected TWICE, let alone respected him. This piece I found on Pajamas Media addresses this frustration of mine. Apparently, if one candidate wins 51% of the votes he doesn't have a mandate from the people, but if another wins 53% it's a landslide and people overwhelmingly voted for "change" (whatever that means...).

We got change, alright. I honestly feel like the rest of the world elected our next president for us. At least judging by how the foreign media was invested in this election and how they celebrated Obama's victory. Even on relatively conservative German blogs like Die Achse des Guten (The Axis of Good) you find almost exclusively positive reactions to this "historic election", although they do find time to voice some doubts about whether Obama can really deliver on his promises and what happens if, god forbid, the new president asks Germany to increase their contributions to boots on the ground in Afghanistan. So even his supporters abroad are already setting themselves up for a disappointment. After all, as a cartoonist on another German website (Darvins Illustrierte) put it: Americans didn't vote for change, after all they elected yet another American. It is amazing how cynical the rest of the world talks about us ...

But let's get back to that unity thing. How about, for once, we conservatives unite and stand up for what we believe instead of reaching across the aisle and compromising our ideals? A friend of mine suggested to re-deploy the old phone tree system to make our voices heard. I'm not sure how to pull something like that off but I like the sound of it, especially considering, as my friend pointed out, how easy it is nowadays to communicate with people via the internet. I definitely plan on getting more active on the local level by emailing and calling my super liberal representative every time she needs reminding that some of her constituents do indeed care if she messes up our country by her careless voting for earmarks and tax increases, and against troop funding and civil liberties. And in the spirit of the phone tree idea, I will tell at least two friends to call or email her also.

Conservatives need to rally together and take control of this country again. Let's start by finding a presidential candidate that actually represents us! Like a Fred Thompson with a little bit more attitude...

Giggles

2008-11-10T21:34:00.001-07:00

"Abusive Criticism"

2008-11-10T11:57:00.007-07:00

A popular German commentator, Henryk Broder, has been issued a restraining order by the District Court of Cologne. He is henceforth not allowed to say that "anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist comments" are "specialties" of Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, a professed “critic of Jewish and Israeli policies and human rights violations”. Ms. Hecht-Galinski has compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians with the treatment of Jews during the Nazi regime in Germany. This comparison triggered Broder's assertion of her being anti-Semitic (this story gives some background).

The interesting fact about this case is that in Germany decisions about "abusive criticism" (Schmähkritik), which is just a fancy German term for "hate speech", are decided by courts of law as opposed to human rights tribunals (see Canada's kangaroo courts). This means that a court in Germany can censor any author for hate speech without having to resort to some obscure human rights handbook. In a sense, it is preferable to be heard by a real court when faced with accusations of hate speech. After all, the Canadian Human Rights Commission is not known for its unbiased judgement. In Germany, hate speech provisions are part of federal law and cases can be brought in front of any old court. This seems to give the defendant the advantage of being able to appeal decisions to a higher court. But it does not change the scary prospect of censorship by a government.

Calling someone an anti-Semite in Germany amounts to equating him to a Nazi. Some argue that by attaching that title to a person that does not agree with you he would be, for all intents and purposes, shut out of the debate because his arguments are made irrelevant. It is sort of like calling someone an Islamophobe and thereby saying he is unfit to participate in a fair debate about Islamic terrorism or other Muslim-related issues. Another argument brought up in that same opinion piece in the FAZ (Frankfurther Allgemeine Zeitung, as linked above) is that being called an anti-Semite implies that you don't like Jews and believe in stereotypes like "all Jews are greedy" ("Juden seien ja alle geldgierig"). So, by Broder's use of the term for Hecht-Galinski, who criticizes Israeli policies, he is therefor knowingly misrepresenting the true nature of her opinions. To argue this point one would have to assume that anti-Semitic is a term that encompasses all, not just some, negative opinions or stereotypes of Jews and/or Israel. Bahner (FAZ) also fails to mention that Hecht-Galinski calls herself not just a critic of Israeli policies but of Jewish ones as well. This clearly shows that she does not distinguish between Israel as a country and Judaism as a religion. So, when she says that there are such things as "Jewish policies and human rights violations" and talks about a "Israeli-Jewish lobby" wouldn't that fall exactly into the realm of anti-Semitic sentiment?

The Cologne court decided that Broder cannot call Ms. Hecht-Galinski an anti-Semite which is clearly censorship. The court opinion included a provision that allows Broder in the future to criticize statements as anti-Semitic if he shows proper context. So, not only can a court in Germany censor the use of a word in a specific context (labeling Hecht-Galinski) but they can also tell the author how he should use the term in other non-specified circumstances. This pretty much implies that the court is opening Broder up for future lawsuits should he dare to ever call anyone or anything anti-Semitic, because they don't specify what "proper context" means. I really hope that he will get a chance to appeal this decision.

I shudder to think freedom of speech could ever be restricted like that here in the U.S. Can you imagine Obama suing me for calling him a Socialist and the courts deciding that I was wrong to call him that because of what THEY think socialism means? I am so glad that such a scenario is unimaginable here. Yay, America! Boo, anywhere else!

Is Obama a Socialist?

2008-11-03T16:54:00.002-07:00

This article is a fairly compelling attempt to answer just that question. And the answer comes as no surprise to most of us.

I agree that the worst effect that socialism can have on a society is to lowered the drive of individuals to work harder because it does not reward people for their labor but rather expects them to WANT to share their achievements with the rest of society at no personal gain. And it seems that America is already heading down that path with government programs like Welfare and Social Security, the prevailing control of unions over large parts of our economy, as well as people's general willingness to let the government take over more and more areas of our daily lives (like education, gun control, public health care, laws about smoking in restaurants etc.). If we elect Barack Obama to be our next president, we will take one giant step closer to turning this country over to socialism.

I found the link to this article at the Christian Science Monitor.

Halloween

2008-11-01T18:06:00.001-07:00

Still undecided?

2008-10-31T12:15:00.003-07:00

Maybe this video will help you make up your mind.

This guy makes some great points. Somebody at Instapundit suggested this video should be used by the McCain/Palin campaign as a TV ad. Just add "I'm John McCain and I approve this message".

It never works? Let's try again!

2008-10-31T11:43:00.002-07:00

This is a funny observation by the Dissident Frogman.

Socialism and communism have failed every time they have been tried. And yet we are about to elect a guy to the highest office that wants to do just that. Give it one more try and by doing so run this country to the ground once and for all. The Europeans must be thrilled. Finally we are attempting to lower our public policies to their mediocre levels.

Everyone, go out and vote (against Obama)!!

Karl Rove Says

2008-10-31T10:28:00.002-07:00

Don't Let the Polls Affect Your Vote. Well, who better to trust in matters of polling and campaigns than The Architect. (Found the link at Instapundit.)

I'm listening to Limbaugh right now and he makes a similar point as Rove. If the last two elections are any indication, polls really don't matter that much for realistic predictions. But they can still depress voters. That's why Rush is urging everyone to "go vote". If you don't vote and Obama gets elected, you have no one but yourself to blame. I agree.

Maclean's vs. CIC

2008-10-29T17:35:00.012-07:00

Remember that complaint that was filed against Maclean's by the Canadian Islamic Congress in front of the Human Rights Tribunal of British Columbia and the Canadian Human Rights Commission for publishing an op-ed piece by Mark Steyn? If you don't remember the story there is some information here and here. By the way his book "America Alone" is a great read, very insightful.

Last week Steyn linked to an article that was published on a website called MuslimMatters.com. The interesting part of that article however wasn't it's content or the point the author tried to make. Far more revealing was the discussion that started to develop in the comment section.

It started off harmless enough. The author of the original post (AnonyMouse) challenged her readers to come up with ideas as to how to promote a more positive image of Islam in the West (specifically Canada and the U.S.). The discussion quickly turned into a debate about which parts of Islam should be revealed to non-Muslims and one guy (Mustaafa) brazenly stated that the discussion is futile in his opinion because all non-believers will eventually be converted, one way or the other. His statements confirmed quite clearly the image that we infidels have of Islam as an overpowering religious belief whose followers deem any means necessary to take over the world as appropriate. Well, the discussion moderators didn't really appreciate those comments. Mind you they didn't condemn Mustaafa for the ideas he was promoting. They just didn't want him to confirm the stereotype of radical Muslims. After all they were looking for a new PR strategy for Islam. After a while a couple Christians and an Atheist joined the debate. Now, I figured, it would get interesting and maybe even constructive.

Well, it turns out the author as well as her website co-hosts dislike contributions made by infidels even more. The Atheist (WhiteGuy) actually brought up some great points but was instantly dismissed and his arguments dismantled as "half-truths" or "western misconceptions" (I'm paraphrasing here). So what was the point of the article if they weren't willing to listen to their intended targets? I think AnonyMouse and the other writers on this website are part of the huge crowd of radical-Islam appologizers. In public they pretend to be open to debate, without ever condemning the radicals amongst themselves. They seem to be trapped between the reality of their believes and the desire to appear non-threatening to people outside of their world view. At no point during the discussion did any of the website's moderators condemn violence in the name of Islam. They proclaim that countries like Saudi Arabia or Iran that are currently ruled by Sharia law aren't applying Islamic rules properly and are therefore irrelevant as proof of the negativity of their religion. What other examples are there to judge Islam by?

I am not a religious person by any means. But I grew up in a society guided by Christian values. I don't feel threatened by Christians or Jews. Like any religion, they strive to convert people to their world view. But they do so by living as positive examples and by accepting people of different faiths in their midst. And whenever any of their fellow believers stray from the path that they deem appropriate (like the scandals in the Catholic Church or radical proclamations by the likes of Jeremiah Wright), they come out condemning those people and mark them as non-representative of their faith. Muslims don't do that and I think it is because the nature of their religion is radical and destructive. They know this but don't necessarily want us to be aware of it. You might consider my statements blasphemous but I have yet to see an example of Islam having a positive influence on a society.

Every religion has its radicals. What defines the religion in my opinion to a great extent is how they deal with those radicals.

Vote However You Like

2008-10-29T16:54:00.004-07:00

This video is fun. I have spent all day trying to get that tune out of my head.

I found it first linked at The Corner on National Review Online.

Losing sight of the American Dream

2008-10-24T13:24:00.004-07:00

"Perhaps these tough economic times are just what we need to humble us, ..."

This is a very true observation. I don't see what is so wrong with that white-picket-fence-and-station-wagon dream. Except maybe that in my dreams that station wagon is an F-150.

Small businesses beware

2008-10-24T12:54:00.006-07:00

Post this at your place of work, unless you already work for the government...

Via Neal Boortz' website.

Meme

2008-10-24T10:41:00.001-07:00

So, someone posted a comment on this blog inviting me to participate in a meme. I had never heard that word before and didn't know what the commenter meant. Wikipedia says the following about memes:

"A meme [...] consists of any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, gestures, practices, fashions, habits, songs, and dances. Memes propagate themselves and can move through the cultural sociosphere in a manner similar to the contagious behavior of a virus."

I also found other websites that explained that a meme is a sort of evolutionary process where an idea develops over time and every time somebody picks up on it they add their own spin to it until they make the idea their own.

Now I'm not sure what the commenter wants me to imitate. Am I supposed to pick up on an idea from one of his posts on his website? I hate to once again be a spoil sport, but I really prefer to come up with my own ideas.

Here is something I have been pondering: How reliable are all these polls that are being quoted all over the radio and TV? I really wish they would give us more information about how these polls are taken. Maybe there are more Democrats that are willing to answer pollsters' questions. They tend to have a higher sense of self-importance and would therefore want to share their thoughts with anyone that will listen. This is just my own observation. I have noticed that Conservatives seem to be more guarded about their personal politics while Liberals like to reflect on their opinions when they talk to other people. I think they do this because they are looking for reassurance. It is a way for them to locate like-minded people. They aren't interested in intellectual discourse but rather want to affirm that they are part of the majority. Conservatives don't care if you agree with them.

With all those polls out there saying that Obama is winning, are we supposed to just give up and not even bother to vote? Is this all a strategy to suppress Republican voter turnout? That would mean that the Obama campaign and their supporters in the mainstream media are worried about losing if Republicans show up at the polls. Maybe we can reverse their agenda and cause a low turnout of Democrats on November 4th. After all, their victory is a sure thing. So why bother voting?

This whole media frenzy about polling numbers sure has me all worked up. When even FOX News is touting these polls, I begin to wonder if there is some substance to them after all. For now I am just going to shut off my TV, turn off the radio and hope for the best.

I better go and vote early, so that I don't feel like I have to follow the news anymore.

Last debate

2008-10-24T10:31:00.004-07:00

I did catch the last debate between McCain and Obama, just didn't manage to post about it right away. To be honest McCain achieved what I thought was impossible after the last two debates. He got me re-energized. What took him so long to take a more aggressive stand before now? Finally he called Obama out as what he truly is, a socialist that thrives on people being miserable.

I hope "We need to spread the wealth" will be this election's "I voted for the war, before I voted against it". McCain needs to continue pushing this theme. This is how he will show voters that Obama is the last thing we need in this volatile economic climate.

Anyways, kudos to McCain for finally speaking up and going on the offensive. It took him long enough. I just hope it's not too late!

Debate

2008-10-09T10:04:00.002-07:00

We are travelling right now. But I managed to catch most of the debate between McCain and Obama the other day. Well, I wouldn't necessarily have called it a debate as much as a kiss-up-to-democrat-voters event. Now that I have finally decided to vote for McCain, it is really hard to hear him talk the way he did during the debate. I forgot to count how many times he said that he has been opposing Republican proposals in the Senate, worked in a "bi-partisan" manner with Democrats like Joe Lieberman or backed "unpopular" legislation like the campaign finance reform. Is he intentionally trying to upset the base he has finally managed to pull together by putting Palin on his ticket? Does he really think he can improve his chances by trying to please Liberals while at the same time turning off Conservatives? I doubt that his gains will outweigh his losses if he keeps spouting Liberal talking points like global warming or gunshow loopholes. A lot of Conservatives are like me, teetering on the edge between wanting to vote against Obama and wanting to sit this election out because the choices are just so horrible. For now I'm still too scared of the prospect of Obama as president to stay at home on election day. But I am having growing doubts about the aftertaste that a vote for McCain will leave. Will I regret this vote for the next four years to come?

And Palin hasn't been doing much better on the campaign trail. It seems like McCain's campaign staff has managed to over-coach her to the extend that now she just sounds awkward. Palin needs to get back to her original bluntness, direct attacks and straight forward conservatism. Why does she keep touting her heroic battle against the oil companies in Alaska? Like that is her greatest accomplishment and contribution to the campaign?! She needs to get back to talking about family values, lowering taxes, the sanctity of life, drilling for our own oil anywhere we find it, preserving constitutional rights the way they were originally meant, and all those other issues that are so important to us as Conservatives.

Why do I feel like the McCain campaign doesn't believe that they can win the election by running on a conservative platform?

Believe it or not

2008-10-01T22:11:00.005-07:00

I want to believe that this girl calling Obama her "personal jesus" is just making a joke, but somehow I doubt it. Earlier I had kind of alluded that some people treat their political affiliations like a religion. This girl seems to be a prime example. If you read her whole piece you will notice that she never mentions any real-life issues that connect her with Obama. So, I guess, this is a little different from actually having political ideas and connecting them to one or the other party. This girl TRULY doesn't care what Obama stands for as long as he maintains his messianic image for her to idolize.

I found this story linked at "The Corner" on National Review Online.

Bias

2008-10-01T10:59:00.006-07:00

The other day a friend asked me for help with an essay assignment for her psychology class. The topic was "subjective perception of reality". I don't know anything about psychology but it got me thinking.

As we were talking about her assignment and what the professor might expect from her essay, I was thinking what a perfect example this election year is as to how one person perceives the same reality completely different from another.

The way I perceive things is a result of the culture that surrounds me, prejudices that I have developed because of my experiences in the past, and my intellect which I use to interpret the things I see and hear. We each experience our surroundings from our own unique perspective. This makes us automatically judgmental and biased. Knowing this, how can any news reporter, TV anchor or radio host claim that they are unbiased?! Not only do people perceive their surroundings with preconceptions (i.e. subjectively) but once they start talking or writing about that perceived reality (the so-called "news") they add another whole new layer of subjectiveness to it through their unique style of reporting. That is how you end up with Chris Matthews salivating over Obama's convention speech. Is it possible for a news network to present unbiased coverage of any given event? Even if they wanted to, their audience might not let them. I haven't watched CNN, MSNBC or any of other mainstream media networks in years. That makes me a biased viewer, I guess. So, are these news outlets just pandering to what people want to see? Or are they pushing their own agenda through their reporting and therefore attract a certain viewership? I think it started off as the latter and has by now turned into a mixture of both.

Another interesting observation, I made recently, was one of my liberal friends and her evolving relationship with Obama. She went from pretty much worshipping the ground he walks on, to defending his digressions, to denying the truth of any criticism against him, and has by now limited herself to attacking McCain and Palin. She is willing to accept and tell anyone who will listen any negative story about Obama's opponents she can lay her hands on, while denying the validity of any report that shows a fault in the candidate she is supporting. I actually found an article here that talks about a study done during the Bush/Kerry election year. It is interesting to see a study like that confirmed in real life.

I tend to do the same thing, I admit. When I hear something that seems to contradict my convictions, I instantly set out to find sources (mostly on the oh-so-reliable Internet) to prove my views on the issue. Like, when said friend used a link from Media Matters for America to prove that the article that I linked here falsely states that Obama voted against the Born Alive Act when he was in the Illinois senate, I roamed the Internet for about 30 minutes and found three stories confirming that he indeed voted "No" twice on said legislation. One report included links to the Illinois senate voting records and a transcript of Obama's argumentation against the bill on the state senate floor. But I didn't stop at that. I went out of my way to also find stories that revealed who the masterminds behind Media Matters are. Coincidently, in my research I stumbled upon the article on that study about biases that I linked to above. For me it wasn't just enough to send my friend one link to counter her argument. I had set out to also discredit her source and once and for all prove that I was right, all in the hope that she might come to her senses. The result? She now refuses to ever argue with me and my like-minded friends about politics ever again. She claims it harms our friendship.

Politics are a funny thing. People get so caught up in defending their side and identifying with one party's political line, that any effort to discredit their side is viewed as a personal attack on them and their world view. Politics seems to take the place of religion for those people. They have faith in their candidate and their party. And nothing can shake that faith. How else would you explain Christians supporting Obama after all he has said and done?!

It is a scary concept, really. People that are so invested in a political concept are one step away from fanaticism. Look at the Third Reich or look at modern-day China. There is only one truth. And that is the party line.

Think about that next time you find yourself in a political argument. I'm not asking you to accept the other side's faulty premises, because that would be hypocritical of me. What I am saying is that sometimes one can get so invested in a candidate that his or her faults move to the background to such an extend that we end up forgetting or denying them completely. We need to be able to accept criticism where it is due and then continue our arguments from there.

Update: I just saw this post at "The Corner" at NRO and it happens to touch on some of the same things I was just talking about above. There seems to be some discussion about the suitability of the moderator for tomorrow's vice-presidential debate.

Baby camouflage :-)

2008-09-05T13:01:00.003-07:00

Palin

2008-09-03T09:19:00.002-07:00

Sorry, it has been a while since my last post. There wasn't much noteworthy going on. But this Labor Day weekend has been kind of exciting.

On Friday the news about John McCain's vice presidential pick broke and finally I have become a little more excited about this election. I had been expecting somebody like Joe Lieberman but hoping for somebody like Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin. Well, he made his choice and it is one of the few of his choices I can actually support whole-heartedly.

Of course, there is always some skepticism. Is Palin too good to be true? One of the first things I heard about her was that she supported windfall profit taxes. I can't find the source again and I only heard one person mention it. Then I heard that she was a "maverick like McCain" and I thought: "oh no, more reaching-across-the-aisle kind of politics". But when I read more about why people were calling her a maverick, it was all about fighting corruption and ear marks, and chosing Democrats and Indepents to be part of her administration. I definitely support exposing corruption on either side of the political spectrum. I am not so sure about inviting the other side to govern alongside our side. But, I guess, it depends on the individual person. So I will give her the benefit of the doubt on that one. You can work with people without compromising your agenda as long as you pick people that have similar principles.

Did you hear her speech on Friday in Ohio? It was quite refreshing and did not sound scripted. The only thing we noticed as we were listening to her was that she says "nucular" instead of "nuclear". If I was a Liberal supporting Obama, I would use that as yet another sign that a McCain/Palin ticket is just more of the same... After all, Bush can't say "nuclear" either!

Everything else I have heard about Palin over the weekend has been very encouraging. She is a true conservative. She is pro-life. She is from a small town. She hunts and fishes. She is a family person. She is a life-time member of the NRA. She supports drilling in ANWR. She declined to accept federal ear mark funding for "the bridge to nowhere". She has run her own business. She is articulate (apart from the nucular issue) and extremely personable. According to my husband, she is the "hottest vice president we have ever had" and Rush said "Who cares about all the other things? Our side is the one with the babe on the ticket." Not that I would vote for her because of her looks. But it will probably get more guys out to vote after all. The fact that she is a woman was not only a blow to the Obama campaign and Hillary but is also sure to get more women excited about this election. Oh, and one last thing that tips the scale for her. The drive-by's hate her! Can you believe the ridiculous smear hits they have already tried to put out on Palin?!

McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate was the smartest move his campaign has made to date. Obama must be kicking himself for making the conservative choice by adding "age and experience" to his ticket instead of picking a more unconventional running mate. His pick was boring and expected. Who would have thought McCain could outdo Obama in originality? With Obama you got "more of the same" while McCain managed to offer us "something we haven"t seen before".

I finally found someone to vote for in this election. The vice president is usually insignificant in a general election where we really only vote for or against our next president. But we have a Republican candidate that will most likely only be in office for one term. That makes his VP choice more important than ever. It gives us a glimpse of things to come. It gives us hope that not all conservatism is lost in the Republican party.

I am officially looking forward to vote in my first election here!

Surveys (continued)

2008-08-20T11:14:00.011-07:00

If you have not had a chance to read my last post yet, now is a good time because I will pick up where I left off last time.

The next question of the survey should interest those with a background in planning, like me. Only that most American-trained planners will not agree with my opinion on mass transit.

Question 7: Would you be willing to park your car and use mass transit - light rail, environmentally-friendly bus - if it kept a park cleaner and eased the burden of overcrowding? - Well, how could you possibly answer this question with "No", since they were diligent enough to add the little if-clause!? If you answer "No", you are saying that you want dirty and overcrowded parks. Obviously, I HAVE to check that box! Why? Well, think about it. The majority of national parks are in the middle of nowhere out west. Apart from coming up with the funds to put mass transit connections in all national parks (huh, maybe that was what question 5 was all about...), you then also have to convince people that drove all the way out to Wyoming to ditch their car and get on the bus or light rail with everyone else. Mass transit is, like the name says, for places where you need to move masses of people. Visitors don't show up in big car convoys or RV parades to those parks. They get there throughout the whole day and you would be hard pressed to get them to "wait for the next bus". And don't you love the way they are calling for "environmentally-friendly" buses? Are we talking about electric buses here? Maybe hybrids? How many people can you haul up a mountain in an electric bus? By now it has become blatantly obvious that whoever wrote this survey has either a good sense of humor or no brain. I am willing to bet on the latter...

But wait. There's more!

Question 8: The air quality in Great Smoky Mountains, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and other national parks has diminished to the point where on some days it can be dangerous for humans to breathe. Visitors may be greeted by signs advising them against hiking if they have respiratory problems! Should companies be required to clean up the air pollution they generate that affects the air inside the park boundaries? - Now I KNOW they had their 14-year old high school intern put together this survey. And the intern isn't there on an academic scholarship either ... Our country has such stringent environmental regulations that companies don't even want to do business here anymore and states like Arizona can't meet EPA air quality standards because they are desert states and have no control over the dust particles that are naturally in the air. I am actually willing to hazard a guess why they mention those two parks as examples. Ever heard of temperature inversions in the atmosphere? Well, such inversions happen whenever temperatures change rapidly, like between daytime and nighttime in the desert or between high and low elevations. Both of those parks are at high elevations and not too far from urban areas. My guess is that "bad air" gets trapped at the foot of the mountains of those parks and therefore create smog and haze. Oh, by the way, air quality is at an all-time high in the Smoky Mountains, thanks to improved air quality through new technologies for factories and cars. And when I last went to Sequoia National Park, I couldn't see any signs warning about respiratory problems. They must have taken them to get cleaned or something ...

Alright, two more questions left.

Question 9: Thirteen national park units are currently open to drilling for oil and gas, bringing oil rigs and heavy trucks into areas like Padre Island National Seashore, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and other parks which are havens for endangered species. Do you think private corporations should be entitled to extract resources from our national parks for their own profit? - Now that is just ridiculous. There are oil rigs off the coast of Padre Island that you can see at night (because of the lights). How would those rigs get on the island? And what could you possibly need heavy trucks for when you are drilling in the ocean? The other example they picked is a national park in ANWR. Big surprise! The only thing is, I went and looked and I can't find any proposals to transport heavy trucks or oil rigs through Wrangell-Elias to get to sites open for drilling. Of course, these guys want to make it sound as if the drilling for oil and gas will actually happen in the park. And to be really honest. Even if we had to build a road through the largest national park in the U.S. to get to our oil, I would say "do it". The sooner we drill for our own oil, the better. And if we find oil in a national park, we should seriously consider redesignating that park so we can drill there. Most of these huge parks were pretty much designated at random anyways before settlers had a chance to lay claim on the land. How come we constantly set aside more areas for conservation but we hardly ever open previously assigned conservation areas to development. This country is so large but somehow we manage to run out of usable land. I don't get it!

Anyways, obviously I marked "Yes" on that question. Who else should get the profits if not the companies that are doing the actual work?

The last question is really random and thus anti-climactic to the built-up excitement that the survey managed to create so far. Question 10 asks whether snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles should be allowed in national parks. I really don't have an opinion on this since I don't own any of those vehicles. I have noticed that these ATV's can be pretty destructive in high-use areas. But in how far that type of destruction would happen in parks, I can't tell. It seems to me with the remoteness and size of most of our parks that snowmobiles and ATV's can't be that big of a problem. So, I checked the box that said "Snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles should not be banned or limited".

Done.

I have really no intentions of sending my filled out survey back to the National Parks Conservation Association. It is pretty clear that their questions were meant for a certain group of people. The NPCA is not really looking for a wide range of opinions but rather angling to have their agenda confirmed.

Either way, this was another good lesson in why liberals can't be trusted and I hope you all learned something from it. In order to win an argument with NPCA type people you cannot accept their premises. That holds true for environmental issues like conservation or global warming, political issues like government control and also moral issues like abortion. If we stoop down to their level by accepting where they are coming from, we will lose the argument. Political correctness is what is wrong with today's conversations around the water cooler as well as on the floors of the House and Senate. Compromises don't work if you are talking about right and wrong. There are two choices. Pick one!

Surveys

2008-08-16T16:25:00.004-07:00

You know those pop-up windows on some websites that ask you to fill out a survey? How about store surveys, like the one Home Depot asks you to go online for on your receipt? Or those unbelievably long surveys you get in the mail that kindly ask you to take 20 minutes to "answer a few questions"?

I love filling out those surveys. Well, that was until I recently received a letter from the National Parks Conservation Association that started like this:

"You may never have another chance like this one. If you want America's National Park System to survive for your children and grandchildren to enjoy ... please complete and return the enclosed National Survey immediately."

So far, so good. I like visiting our national parks and I would kind of like my kids to enjoy them too. So, here I go. Pen poised at the ready, I diligently start answering the survey questions.

1. Have you visited a national park within the past two years? - You bet I have.
2. I value our national parks for their: (Please check all that apply.) - Oh boy, let me see. How about "Scenic Beauty" and "Other". I add Remoteness and Natural Resources on the line provided behind "Other".

Well, this is easy so far. Bring on the tough questions!

3. When you look 25 years into the future, do you think the condition of our national parks will be the same as today, better, or worse? - Huh, that's a head-scratcher. I think of improvements I have seen in parks like Grand Canyon National Park and I think of parks that have been designated in recent history for protection purposes, and I remember the beautiful pictures my in-laws took on their last trip out west. So, I choose "Better".

Question 4 asks, how important it is to me that my children and grandchildren get to experience the parks' resources. I check "Somewhat important". Don't want to seem too eager, you know.

Not too bad up to this point. But the next question catches me completely off-guard. Keep in mind, I am pretty experienced in answering surveys and during my college years, I had to learn how to set up good surveys as part of my Sociology credits.

5. Congress and the Bush administration have not been able to fund our national parks to the extend that is needed. What alternative forms of funding would you accept to protect the national parks? The options given are: A voluntary contribution via my income tax return, Special funding bill before Congress, Increased fees at the parks, and Voluntary contributions, solicited inside the parks. As you may have noticed, in contrast to question 2, there is no option to check "Other". This kind of upsets me, since I think that the parks have plenty of funds. I have been to quite a few parks and none have been in disrepair or inaccessible. So, I create my own box, label it "None" and put a check mark in it.

But that was just the beginning. The next question is even more leading:
6. Serious budget shortfalls have resulted in reductions in park staff, including national park rangers. During the busiest times of the year, some park visitors may never see a park ranger at all! How important do you think park rangers are to the experience that visitors have in national parks? - Yes, they actually used an exclamation mark to make their point! Who goes to a park to meet a park ranger? I thought we were supposed to enjoy their natural beauty. And last time we hiked at the Grand Canyon, it was actually pretty annoying to run into rangers at two separate occasions and to be questioned by each of them before we could proceed. So, even though I know what they are trying to get me to say, I check "Not Important". Just for spite.

But wait, there is more to come. The rest of the survey is even better. I'll post about the second half next time.

Reason number 5,433 ...

2008-08-14T15:25:00.006-07:00

why I could never vote for Obama. This is just disturbing. Read for yourself! Link

Start them early, right?

2008-08-13T14:41:00.001-07:00

National Pride

2008-08-10T13:19:00.014-07:00

The Olympics finally started this weekend. I love watching the competitions and cheering for our athletes.

Remember how I was talking about what it means to be an American? Part of becoming a citizen, I think, is being able to be proud of your country - its people and their accomplishments. When you see our flag next to the name of an athlete, you instantly want to root for him or her. When you hear the Star Spangled Banner played, you want to get up, place your hand over your heart and sing along. And when the Chinese mess up your anthem by skipping parts and cutting it off early, like they did the day Phelps won his first gold medal, you feel a little annoyed.

Americans in general have a lot more national pride than most people and that is one of the things I love about this place. Where I come from you are almost frowned upon if you show signs of patriotism. There, joining the military is not viewed as an honorable service to your country. It is hard to find your identity as a proud citizen in a place like that. I blame this in part on historical circumstances. But I also think the lack of national identity is to a great degree due to a sort of apathy or resignation that has settled in people's minds about where their country stands and the way they see its future. A lot of young educated people chose to pack up and move to places where they are being offered a better future. Which leaves the older generations back home wishing things were "the way they used to be". That part is actually the most scary. What "used to be" was an oppressive government spying on its own people, and a citizenry robbed of the right to express themselves freely, barred from traveling beyond the borders of their country and kept from enjoying the fruits of their own labor. It seems, though, as if over time these bad experiences fade away in people's minds until all that is left is a nostalgic idea of the past. This type of nostalgia can be dangerous when it wishes back times of oppression and poverty, and hinders progress in finding a national identity that most can be proud of.

What does still seem to rouse pride in any nation, however, are sports events like the Olympics. And I think that is a great thing. I am just also very glad that in the U.S. that pride extends beyond cheering for swimmers, gymnasts, archers or runners every four years. Here, it includes all facets of life and is a quality that almost every American possesses.

UPDATE: I just wanted to add a quick note to what I wrote yesterday. I am aware that I was generalizing the statements about national pride and identity. On both sides, in the country I am from originally as well as in the U.S., there are plenty of people that do not fit the stereotypical picture I was painting. One of my friends from high school is a good example of someone who has not resigned to the notion that her country is going down the dumpsters and there is nothing she can do about it. But I would not describe her as a stereotype of her fellow countrymen. At the same time, there are people here in America that do not seem to be proud of their country. On the contrary, they blame us and our government for all that is evil in the world. But again, as an outsider that moved here recently, I do see way more patriotism here than anywhere I have been before. In the U.S. kids know their national anthem and the pledge of allegiance. And they may not know much about other countries in the world but at least they are being taught what it means to be born in this country.

Big News

2008-08-04T18:40:00.018-07:00

Three days after I joined the ranks of proud Americans, yet another new American joined us. Our son was born last Tuesday. His arrival has kept me quite busy but I plan on getting back to posting real soon.

Thanks to everyone that has sent their best wishes our way over the last week. Here are some pictures of our precious baby boy.

Proud day

2008-07-25T17:41:00.009-07:00

Today, I officially became U.S. citizen.

Now it is time to register to vote and make my voice heard out there. Apart from the deep connection that I already feel to the American culture and the founding principles of the U.S., this final step in my journey gives me the opportunity to truly be a part of this country.

It was great to be part of a crowd of people that was just as proud and eager to be welcomed to the United States as citizens. Here is the oath of allegiance that we all had to swear.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Very appropriate, I thought.

In the next few days, I will write more about what I think it means to be a citizen. As I said earlier, I believe that the right to vote is one of the most important privileges and duties of any citizen. Even though this year's general election is a tough one for me to vote in, I will nevertheless do so. The next few months will be spent weighing my values and principles against those of the candidates out there. I can't seem to decide if voting for the "lesser of two evils" is a smarter decision than voting for someone that I truly trust and agree with even if that person does not have a real chance to win. Tough choice but it will have to be made come election day.

Hallo Mutti!

2008-07-21T17:08:00.002-07:00

Jetzt hast du dich ja doch mal auf meine Webseite gewagt. Wie du siehst, ist hier noch nicht viel los. Vor ein paar Tagen habe ich ein Bild von einem Sonnenuntergang veroeffentlicht. Da kannst du schon mal ausprobieren, ob du Fotos von dieser Seite herunterladen kannst.

Sorry, dass hier alles auf Englisch ist. Diese Seite ist vor allem fuer politischen Gedankenaustausch mit Freunden und Familie in den USA vorgesehen. Aber bald werden auch Babyfotos auftauchen. Die versteht man ja dann auch ohne Worte.

2008-07-19T18:01:00.002-07:00

Sunset at our house (29 June 2008)

American Solutions

2008-07-19T14:27:00.009-07:00

Today we decided to join the "Drill here, drill now" movement started by Newt Gingrich's American Solutions network. We partly did it to get the cool sticker we saw on a truck earlier today :-)

First, I went to their website to read more about what their ideas were for lowering gas prices and securing American independence from foreign oil. They talk about some of the misconceptions about how getting our own resources out of the ground can or cannot influence the global market. If you haven't spent much time researching the background of oil production in this country and oil markets in general, this website is definitely a great starting point. So, go check it out!

Then, I noticed that the website is actually fairly complex with a lot more information on all sorts of issues influencing our lives here in the U.S. When you go to their "solutions lab" you can practically find out information about anything you could think of, from religion, taxation and governance to environment, immigration and lots more. The funny thing was, when I clicked on the flag banner underneath the link to the "solutions lab", it took me not only to their issues website, but the first thing that came up was Citizenship. Which I think is pretty appropriate since I am going to become a citizen of this great country this coming Friday. I wholeheartedly agree with the premise that starts off this section of their website. Here's what it says:

"The value at the heart of citizenship and Americanization policy is exactly that: citizenship. We have to realize that the idea of citizenship as a core American value and citizenship as a legal definition must not be detached from one another. The unique virtue of American citizenship is that it is centered around the embrace of core American values and principles. For newcomers, it would include the renunciation of foreign allegiances, and for all Americans it means becoming part of our national community."

I have had so many people asking me, if I am going to retain dual citizenship. Questions like that deserve a counter question: What's the point? Sure, I could have two passports. Do you really think with our current state of airport security and scrutiny at the borders, that would be such a good idea. "Officer, which one of my passports will make the anal probe easier on me?" Besides that, if I am renouncing all foreign allegiances when I take my oath on Friday, wouldn't I be lying if, at the same time, I turn to the government of my country of origin and asked them to let me keep their citizenship also? That's at least what it feels like to me.

Then I get lectured by other immigrants about how I need to make sure my children become dual citizens, so that they have better choices later in life about where to live and where to go to school. Even though it is tempting to give my child the option of a free college education in Europe and letting him exploit the defunct socialist system there, it just does not sit right with me. I would teach my son that it is okay to take advantage of a system that neither he or I ever contributed to. Yes, I'm one of the lucky ones that got out before I had to start paying taxes.

I think, whether or not you are a naturally born or naturalized U.S. citizen, it is important to know what it means to be an American. There are core values this country was founded on and that to this day help make it the great place it is, like the idea of liberty and justice for all. You have to believe in this greatness to truly appreciate what it means to live here. If you don't think this country is the best place on earth, how would you ever be able to stand up for it and defend it? There are many external and internal threats to our way of life as we know it. I think people like Newt Gingrich are on the right track. He tries to take us back to the basics of what it means to be an American and what it takes to keep our country alive and thriving. "American Solutions" seems to be a great platform to start from. I will definitely keep going back to the website to see what people are doing to solve our nations problems and to see what I could possibly do to help.

UPDATE: I added a widget to the right-hand column of my website where anyone interested can contribute to "American Solutions". If you go directly to the website, you get a free bumper sticker for a minimum ten dollar donation. I am not sure if you get the sticker using the widget on my site.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T09:51:00.002-07:00

Let us remember on this day the sacrifice of those who have fought throughout history and to this day to give us freedom. Imagine the courage it took for our founding fathers to stand up united for an independent nation, demanding liberty and justice for all.

"We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall hang separately." (Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence)

I hope that when the time comes, Americans will remember their heritage and once again stand together against those who threaten our liberty and independence.

I say we start by disbanding the United Nations. Who is with me?

"I know not what course others may take; ...

2008-07-03T10:14:00.004-07:00

but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death." This quote from Patrick Henry was actually part of my test to become a citizen.

I am glad I didn't get the question "What is the purpose of the United Nations?" or "Who are the two major parties in the U.S.?", because I definitely would not have gotten a hundred percent on the test. After all, the guy had me swear to tell the truth!

ANYWAYS, back to the quote! It is quite amazing, when you study early American history, how existential the idea of liberty was to our founding fathers. Nowadays, Americans don't seem to have that sense of urgency when it comes to such a basic concept as liberty. Just look at how much of our personal liberty we are willing to give up in every-day life!

We think it normal that our local government tells us, how high our houses can be. Whoever said that your neighbor has a "right to a view"? Building codes first arose out of the need for fire safety in turn-of-the-century Berlin, Germany. That made sense, because it actually saved lives and made living in a densely populated city safer. You know, Germans do get something right, once in a while. Zoning codes, however, are an American brainchild. Invented to keep poor people out of affluent neighborhoods by prescribing minimum home sizes and such, they soon became a tool to separate all uses from each other (e.g. residential and commercial). Now you might say: "well, yeah, I don't want a factory next door". But that is beside the point. You could buy a property that is big enough that it would not matter what the guy next door decides to build. Or, here is a novel idea, talk to your neighbor! Real neighborhoods happen, because people care, not because the local planning authority implements its latest and greatest idea of a master-planned community. It is so easy nowadays to go down to city hall to file a complaint against your neighbor without ever having talked to him or met him. But I digress... For me it is pretty hard to understand how a people that was born out of the idea of liberty can become so complacent that it is willing to give up that liberty and let a government that can't even run its own cafeteria efficiently run everyone's life.

America became the most powerful nation on earth because its people believed that liberty was worth dying for. I am talking about liberty as the freedom of a whole people from tyranny but also liberty of individuals to pursue their hopes and dreams. That is what sets us apart from most countries in the world. That is why millions of people have left their places of birth to come here. To most immigrants the United States of America is still the land of opportunities, the land of the free. They are willing to take on great risks to live here. I don't want to generally assume that Americans don't appreciate what they have because they never had to live without it. But there seems to be a sense of complacency here and I sometimes wonder why there are so many people that can't see how great this country and the ideas it was founded on are.

Off to the range ...

Quote Of The Day

2008-07-02T16:14:00.003-07:00

From the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

As far as I am concerned, those three rights are what we should rely on as the basis of most decision in our life. When I have a debate with someone, I can draw a much stronger argument if I refer to either one of these rights. So far, I have yet to be shown the source of such rights as "the woman's right to choose", "the right to (free) health care" or "the right not to be offended".

On that last note, here are two links to stories about the most recent wave of catering to this imaginary "right not to be offended": Offensive puppy; offended hairstylist.