Go visit this site, just to see how easy it is to manipulate words and meanings to create an image of someone that simply is not accurate.
http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/. I wanted to punch through a window after reading this last night. Obama's folks have set up some nice Dobson vs. Obama comments into simple columns that make you think that they actually have relevance to each other. Here is my favorite:
JAMES DOBSON: Claim #5
“I'd just like to ask your viewers if they've heard a single comment made by the three Presidential candidates on any occasion that even mentioned the well-being of this most basic, social institution (family)” (CNN).
BARACK OBAMA SAYS:
“Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation… But if we are honest with ourselves, we'll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing – missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it” (Father’s Day Speech, Apostolic Church).
First off, let's look at the timing of the statements. Dobson's comments came when there were still 3 candidates left in the race, so this statement was made prior to June 7, 2008, when Hillary withdrew from the race. Obama's comments came at a minimum 8 days later, on June 15, 2008, when he was speaking to a Father's Day crowd at a Chicago church. So what does that prove about Dobson's statements in the past? Its easy to throw up a statement after the fact and claim that has been his position the entire time!! But what do I know. Obama's only been doing this the whole campaign.
Now let's analyze what Obama said. He claims the foundation of families are weaker because of missing fathers. But how do his policies reflect that statement? He doesn't believe in empowering families, he believes in empowering government. More social programs, more taxing, more government powers to wield, creating even more of a nanny state than we already have now. He is enabling family and individual dependence on government rather than self-reliance. And if our government can solve all ills, why would anyone, fathers included, want to take any responsibility for their actions? Hell, the government can fix it, I don't have to. He is not enabling family development, he is disabling it.
You can argue that these social programs and his other "change" mechanisms will provide relief to those in need, but sometimes the struggle is what makes us the best that we can become. Its a father's duty, not the federal govt's, to provide for their families, and fathers and husbands need to feel the urgency in that. I am embarassed for Obama and his crew that they think that they can throw statements up like the one above and we will all just believe because we are supposed to. This man is a manipulator of our ill-informed society that believes everything it hears.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Oil and Gas and the mania
As gas prices hover around $4/gallon, this is all anyone is talking about. News updates every 15 minutes on the radio, commercials on tv, news events, and the like. Everyone is railing on the oil companies and their "excessive" profits. And to be honest, I am tired of it. Tired of the bill I pay every time I fill up, and tired of the constant whining of everyone about the prices. The media feeds us that we can't get by like this, and that oil companies are the enemy here, so we should just put a new tax on them. Let's look at that option.
Oil companies on average gain about a 9% profit margin, which is average for any Fortune 500 company. They make more money, but they are spending more money to make it. And don't forget that many, many pension and 401k plans are heavily invested in these companies. These 401k's represent Middle America, guys like me and you that are not ultra-rich CEO's. So the company has a fiduciary duty to shareholders to earn a solid profit and keep the stock price stable and growing. So if we cause "Big Oil" ( I hate that term) to fail, then we are hurting not just the oil companies, but all of us with our funds invested across these companies. But Obama and Hillary keep pontificating about how bad they are.
Our biggest problems are not the oil companies, they lie in the fact that our entire economic delivery is based on a product that we have to import from other countries. We have to become energy independent, with both oil and new technologies. We need to drill for more domestically, and we have the technology to do this efficiently without destroying vast amounts of our environment. And for the record, I don't care if we cause the destruction of one species. Our planet is in a state of constant chaos, not equilibrium, and our impact on that is not measurable, but that is an argument for another post.
Oil companies on average gain about a 9% profit margin, which is average for any Fortune 500 company. They make more money, but they are spending more money to make it. And don't forget that many, many pension and 401k plans are heavily invested in these companies. These 401k's represent Middle America, guys like me and you that are not ultra-rich CEO's. So the company has a fiduciary duty to shareholders to earn a solid profit and keep the stock price stable and growing. So if we cause "Big Oil" ( I hate that term) to fail, then we are hurting not just the oil companies, but all of us with our funds invested across these companies. But Obama and Hillary keep pontificating about how bad they are.
Our biggest problems are not the oil companies, they lie in the fact that our entire economic delivery is based on a product that we have to import from other countries. We have to become energy independent, with both oil and new technologies. We need to drill for more domestically, and we have the technology to do this efficiently without destroying vast amounts of our environment. And for the record, I don't care if we cause the destruction of one species. Our planet is in a state of constant chaos, not equilibrium, and our impact on that is not measurable, but that is an argument for another post.
Dobson v. Obama, Round One
Ok, so its been a few weeks. Lots of things keeping me from putting pen to paper, so to speak. But this topic just gets me fired up.
So there is a little feud brewing between James Dobson and Barack Obama, and it seems that Dr. Dobson has been highly critical of Obama's view of Christianity, or should I say spirituality. Obama claims to be a man of faith, and I am not in a position to judge that. But I do have a problem with his desire to translate spiritual issues into a "universal language." Does he really believe that he can heal the divide between religions that have been waging war on each other for milleniums? I don't think so. All I think he is doing is pandering to as many voters as possible, especially those who think Christians are fundamendalists and backwards. I am not a theological expert, so I am in no position to preach from a soap box here. I just have no confidence that Obama is honest in his "preachings." When it comes down to it, there is very little common ground between religions. We can choose to live in peace and harmony when able to, but we essentially have severe differences that one man cannot mend. And this universal language he is preaching is synonymous with appeasement, which history shows has a very low success rate, regardless of the topic.
So there is a little feud brewing between James Dobson and Barack Obama, and it seems that Dr. Dobson has been highly critical of Obama's view of Christianity, or should I say spirituality. Obama claims to be a man of faith, and I am not in a position to judge that. But I do have a problem with his desire to translate spiritual issues into a "universal language." Does he really believe that he can heal the divide between religions that have been waging war on each other for milleniums? I don't think so. All I think he is doing is pandering to as many voters as possible, especially those who think Christians are fundamendalists and backwards. I am not a theological expert, so I am in no position to preach from a soap box here. I just have no confidence that Obama is honest in his "preachings." When it comes down to it, there is very little common ground between religions. We can choose to live in peace and harmony when able to, but we essentially have severe differences that one man cannot mend. And this universal language he is preaching is synonymous with appeasement, which history shows has a very low success rate, regardless of the topic.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Ye ask and ye shall receive
One of my loyal readers wants some Braves road woes talk, and I am happy to oblige. They suck on the road. End of story, sort of. They are 7-18 on the road this year, near the bottom of the league in that category. Everyone except Chipper stops hitting on the road. The real issue is that they have lost 17 straight 1-run games away from the Ted, which tells me that two things... bullpen has been unsteady and clutch, late inning hitting has been non-existent.
Good news though. The Braves decided to go with the all-navy hats yesterday with the grey unis, something I have been hoping for all year, and it paid off with an 8-1 win. They better have the same look going tonight vs. the Reds in Cincy. And does anyone else love the navy blue jerseys as much as I do? I wish they didn't get beat every time they wear them, b/c Bobby will probably hang those up for good if they can't bust a win out in 'em sometime soon.
And these days, no Braves post can go without a Chipper update. After 54 games (50 for him), he is hitting .420. Not a typo folks. The 36 year old is crushing. A couple of interesting items when you dig into his stats. (If you are interested, espn.com has a great stats page full of drillable statlines with a huge array of ways to sort and filter. And I just gave away the fact that I am a geek with no life) Chipper is hitting about .430 from the right side, .415 from the left. Unbelievable consistency from both sides. He leads the NL in walks for the month of May, but is not even in the top 25 for the year, which means pitchers are just now starting to pitch around him... fools I tell you! In addition to his walks, he ranks in the bottom 20 of all qualifying hitters (3.1 AB/game) in strikeouts, with a lowly 18. Unreal. And since this time last year, he has hit a cool .378, obviously best in the major leagues. Any MVP talk that starts developing this summer had better include alot of Chipper talk. Without him, these Braves are 8 games under .500 at best.
Good news though. The Braves decided to go with the all-navy hats yesterday with the grey unis, something I have been hoping for all year, and it paid off with an 8-1 win. They better have the same look going tonight vs. the Reds in Cincy. And does anyone else love the navy blue jerseys as much as I do? I wish they didn't get beat every time they wear them, b/c Bobby will probably hang those up for good if they can't bust a win out in 'em sometime soon.
And these days, no Braves post can go without a Chipper update. After 54 games (50 for him), he is hitting .420. Not a typo folks. The 36 year old is crushing. A couple of interesting items when you dig into his stats. (If you are interested, espn.com has a great stats page full of drillable statlines with a huge array of ways to sort and filter. And I just gave away the fact that I am a geek with no life) Chipper is hitting about .430 from the right side, .415 from the left. Unbelievable consistency from both sides. He leads the NL in walks for the month of May, but is not even in the top 25 for the year, which means pitchers are just now starting to pitch around him... fools I tell you! In addition to his walks, he ranks in the bottom 20 of all qualifying hitters (3.1 AB/game) in strikeouts, with a lowly 18. Unreal. And since this time last year, he has hit a cool .378, obviously best in the major leagues. Any MVP talk that starts developing this summer had better include alot of Chipper talk. Without him, these Braves are 8 games under .500 at best.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Instant Replay Anyone? Not me.
Welcome back loyal readers. I apologize for depriving so many(I mean both) of you of my rants and raves for a few weeks. With a busy work schedule and some travel mixed in, I had to put aside the soap box for a bit... But I'm back with a vengeance.
First topic of note: not the election, GW's former press secretary ripping him a new one (although I will get to that one sometime soon), or stupid stories about our needy population demanding more of my paycheck to buy cell phones and tv's. No, this post is about the new push in the sports media to bring in the dreaded, bring-the-game-to-a-snail's-pace instant replay in Major League Baseball. The all-american pasttime, the grand ole game, whatever you like to call it, has long been the bastion of tradition and americana. Aside from a few bogus updates to the game (the DH, for example), baseball has remained much the same as it was back in the late 1890's when it became part of our national culture. Players have gotten bigger, bats have got more pop, and the stadiums are now multimedia events for a family, but the rules of the game have not changed much.
We are now being bombarded with stories about the need for instant replay in the game. SI.com has a feature article right now about its imminent need to ensure the accuracy of the calls made. Sounds all swell, but that goes against the fabric of the game to me. Calls are going to be missed, as they have been for years. Calling a strike when a pitcher is throwing 99 mph is probably the most difficult task in all of sports officiating. Seeing whether or not a ball hit the chalk or just missed is right behind it. But 99.9 percent of the time, the call is correct. And when it is not, the players/teams deal with it.
The call now is for instant replays on fair/foul calls, home runs that hit/don't hit the foul pole, not necessarily for a computerized strike zone. But guess what: the New Deal in the 1930's was seen as a temporary fix to address the problems with the Great Depression, not send this nation into a feeding frenzy for billions of dollars every year in handouts, even almost 80 years later. My point being that it doesn't stop once the ball gets rolling. Replays for review will turn into replays for balls and strikes, which will turn into a digital strike zone. Heck, why don't we just get rid of umpires all together and call the whole game electronically?
Most of you probably think I am an idiot and should get with the times, much like the NFL, NBA, and other pro leagues have done. Have you watched one of these games though when the replay goes into effect? 15 minutes later, the ref in an NFL game comes back to say that the ruling on the field stands. Great. I just wasted 15 minutes of my life. Baseball is a slow enough game as it is, especially for the casual fan. And how much fun is it to watch Bobby Cox waddle out of the dugout to argue a call and get tossed? One of the great joys of life that is. What will he do now? Rip off a red stirrup from his leg and chunk it onto the field before the next pitch?
Keep the game the way it is. Missed calls have broken my heart, made me breathe a sigh of relief, and been a part of this game since day one. Let's not change that people. Just because we have the technology to be perfect doesn't mean its in the best interest to do so.
First topic of note: not the election, GW's former press secretary ripping him a new one (although I will get to that one sometime soon), or stupid stories about our needy population demanding more of my paycheck to buy cell phones and tv's. No, this post is about the new push in the sports media to bring in the dreaded, bring-the-game-to-a-snail's-pace instant replay in Major League Baseball. The all-american pasttime, the grand ole game, whatever you like to call it, has long been the bastion of tradition and americana. Aside from a few bogus updates to the game (the DH, for example), baseball has remained much the same as it was back in the late 1890's when it became part of our national culture. Players have gotten bigger, bats have got more pop, and the stadiums are now multimedia events for a family, but the rules of the game have not changed much.
We are now being bombarded with stories about the need for instant replay in the game. SI.com has a feature article right now about its imminent need to ensure the accuracy of the calls made. Sounds all swell, but that goes against the fabric of the game to me. Calls are going to be missed, as they have been for years. Calling a strike when a pitcher is throwing 99 mph is probably the most difficult task in all of sports officiating. Seeing whether or not a ball hit the chalk or just missed is right behind it. But 99.9 percent of the time, the call is correct. And when it is not, the players/teams deal with it.
The call now is for instant replays on fair/foul calls, home runs that hit/don't hit the foul pole, not necessarily for a computerized strike zone. But guess what: the New Deal in the 1930's was seen as a temporary fix to address the problems with the Great Depression, not send this nation into a feeding frenzy for billions of dollars every year in handouts, even almost 80 years later. My point being that it doesn't stop once the ball gets rolling. Replays for review will turn into replays for balls and strikes, which will turn into a digital strike zone. Heck, why don't we just get rid of umpires all together and call the whole game electronically?
Most of you probably think I am an idiot and should get with the times, much like the NFL, NBA, and other pro leagues have done. Have you watched one of these games though when the replay goes into effect? 15 minutes later, the ref in an NFL game comes back to say that the ruling on the field stands. Great. I just wasted 15 minutes of my life. Baseball is a slow enough game as it is, especially for the casual fan. And how much fun is it to watch Bobby Cox waddle out of the dugout to argue a call and get tossed? One of the great joys of life that is. What will he do now? Rip off a red stirrup from his leg and chunk it onto the field before the next pitch?
Keep the game the way it is. Missed calls have broken my heart, made me breathe a sigh of relief, and been a part of this game since day one. Let's not change that people. Just because we have the technology to be perfect doesn't mean its in the best interest to do so.
Monday, May 5, 2008
I love animals, but...
are you serious about this? Going through the AJC online this morning, and came across this gem of a story. http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2008/05/04/peta_0505.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
For those of you too busy to click the link, PETA wants the jockey of the euthanized Kentucky Derby Runner Up, Eight Belles, to be suspended and have the $400,000 prize money revoked. They say that, and I quote, the horse was 'doubtlessly injured before the finish'. Really? Was a PETA psycho actually on the horse? Or wait, maybe they can read the horse's thoughts and sensed pain in those ankles. Either way, these guys are obviously way more intelligent than us mere mortals. I can't even tell what my dog is thinking. Actually that's a lie. He is thinking how much more he likes Summer than me, but that is another story.
These PETA clowns are a disgrace. Some of their causes may be worthy, but just like with the Democrat party, they have been hijacked by fools and nutjobs. This is a horse race. Been here for longer than your stupid organization. Will be around after PETA goes the way of the garbage can, I mean recycling bin. It sucks that a horse died, but we'll all go on just the same. It was an accident, and accidents happen.
For those of you too busy to click the link, PETA wants the jockey of the euthanized Kentucky Derby Runner Up, Eight Belles, to be suspended and have the $400,000 prize money revoked. They say that, and I quote, the horse was 'doubtlessly injured before the finish'. Really? Was a PETA psycho actually on the horse? Or wait, maybe they can read the horse's thoughts and sensed pain in those ankles. Either way, these guys are obviously way more intelligent than us mere mortals. I can't even tell what my dog is thinking. Actually that's a lie. He is thinking how much more he likes Summer than me, but that is another story.
These PETA clowns are a disgrace. Some of their causes may be worthy, but just like with the Democrat party, they have been hijacked by fools and nutjobs. This is a horse race. Been here for longer than your stupid organization. Will be around after PETA goes the way of the garbage can, I mean recycling bin. It sucks that a horse died, but we'll all go on just the same. It was an accident, and accidents happen.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
NFL Draft Day!!
Does anyone else out there find it funny to see how much hoopla surrounds the NFL draft day? I was listening to Buck and Kincaid on 680 am this week and heard that they would be broadcasting live on Saturday from the Hudson Grille in ATL, 'so come on out and join us to watch the draft'... seriously? Anyone who wants to spend an entire Saturday afternoon watching a DRAFT has no life. period. Half the guys that get picked will never sniff an NFL starting job. I'm all for spending an afternoon watching actual football, but this is ridiculous. And for the record, the Hudson Grill will be packed today.
Anybody get to see Bobby Cox get tossed last night? It was his ever-growing record 136th ejection of his illustrious career. I know I am a homer for the Bravos, but I have to say Cox has to be the greatest player's manager ever in baseball. I think most of t
he guys on the team would take a bat to the head for him, b/c they know he would do the same. I love it, because the only reason he argued last nite was to keep his pitcher from getting tossed. Arguing balls and strikes from the dugout? What kind of view is that? But he kept his pitcher in the game, and the Braves came back for the victory.
he guys on the team would take a bat to the head for him, b/c they know he would do the same. I love it, because the only reason he argued last nite was to keep his pitcher from getting tossed. Arguing balls and strikes from the dugout? What kind of view is that? But he kept his pitcher in the game, and the Braves came back for the victory.
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