That moment just before the pain begins....

I received an email from my friend,Mickey, entitled "That moment just before the pain begins....."
The email contains a series of images which show just that....that horrible instant before you feel unspeakable pain.
I've uploaded the images here.
Beware; these images are not for the squeamish.

Bob Barr.....a Real Choice.

Pope appoints Archbishop Raymond Burke to Vatican post.

I first wrote about Archbishop Raymond Burke in May when the Vatican confirmed his excommunication of the board of directors of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Corporation ( formerly, St. Stanislaus Kostka parish ) and their priest, Marek Bozek.
It's been announced that Archbishop Burke will become the prefect of the supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.The Apostolic Signatura is the administrative appellate tribunal of the Holy See and the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church (other than the Pope).
During the 2004 Presidential election, Burke announced that he would refuse Holy Communion to then Presidential candidate, John Kerry for his support of abortion.
In 2007, the Archbishop resigned as chairman of the board for the Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation because they had booked Sheryl Crow (who supports abortion and embryonic stem cell research) to perform at a benefit concert.
Burke has always received backing and support from the Vatican for his decisions so this promotion should not come as a surprise. A CNN article quotes Rev. Thomas Reese (senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University) as saying;
"Every pro-choice Catholic Democrat politician should be very nervous.He made his name in the U.S. by denying Communion to pro-choice politicians."
"If he gets that view articulated strongly in Rome, he could become the voice for having that position for the universal church."
Let's hope so. For far too long, too many U.S. politicians have continued to call themselves Catholic even though they publicly support abortion.
Pope Benedict XVI made a fine choice in promoting Archbishop Burke to this new position.
Link: http://www.stlouisreview.com/article.php?id=15623

Bob Barr on FOX News Sunday w/ Chris Wallace.

Anonymous Comments.

For several months now, I've not allowed anonymous comments on this blog. Most of the time,folks who want to leave nasty remarks don't want to identify themselves in any way so they'll hide behind a wall.

I kept this policy in order to maintain a certain level on the blog but it has limited the number of comments I receive. I'm changing the settings so, for the time being, anonymous comments will be allowed. If it turns out that I get too many comments that go beyond the limits of good taste I'll return to limiting comments to folks with blogspot accounts.

Let's see how it works out.

Update Sept. 24, 2008
I've received a few comments from "anonymous" after changing my comment policy. As I mentioned before, folks who hide behind the anonymous label are, generally, cowards who leave snotty remarks and then run away and hide.I have no intention of completely eliminating anonymous comments.....everyone can have their say - within certain limits. I did consider comment moderation, but, at least for the time being, I'll not do that. The anonymous cowards can still leave their snotty comments, but if I find those comments particularly offensive, I'll simply delete them.
This is my blog, so I am the sole judge of what is or is not an offensive comment.If you have a problem with this.....write a post on your own blog.

For an example of what can happen to anonymous comments go here: evolutionary theory......

Update: Oct.08, 2008
After a series of harassing "anonymous" comments coming from the Ga. Dept. of Education servers in Dallas, GA., I decided to enable comment moderation.
see: Comments from Georgia Dept of Education.

Update: Nov.13,2008
I'm changing settings, again, to allow anonymous comments.

Update: Jan.2,2010
Due to a recent harassing comment, I've decided to moderate comments until further notice. No anonymous comments.


Update: July 27, 2010
For more on my thoughts on anonymous comments, read Ujiosama Rides Again.


Update: April 27, 2012
According to Google Analytics, I've been getting quite a few hits.....many more than would be supposed if you go by the sparse number of comments. I'm thinking my comment policy has discouraged some from leaving comments when they drop by; I'm going to allow anyone to comment -including anonymous - to see if this helps.

Medical Tests.

Earlier this year, I was experiencing a great deal of pain in my left leg. It was diagnosed as sciatica- brought on by arthritis in my spine. Fortunately, the pain has gone away.
The doctor assures me that the pain will return.
As the sciatica subsided, a problem I have with my hands became more noticeable.
I have tingling and numbness in two of the fingers of my left hand and an area of my right hand is extremely painful.
I had two test performed on me yesterday: a nerve conduction study and an electromyography.
I'll use text from the umm.edu website to describe the tests:
"To perform nerve conduction studies, surface electrodes are first fastened to the hand and wrist. Small electric shocks are then applied to the nerves in the fingers, wrist, and forearm to measure how fast a signal travels through the nerves that control movement and sensation."
"To perform electromyography, a fine, sterile, wire electrode is inserted briefly into a muscle, and the electrical activity is displayed on a viewing screen. Electromyography can be quite painful and is less accurate than nerve conduction."
It's been observed that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm including a picture of the doctor and his assistant as they performed those tests on me.

President or Jelly Donut ?....You Decide.

The world was a very different place 45 years ago. The US and USSR were in the midst of a "cold war" and tensions were high.
Germany had been divided, as had the city of Berlin.The Eastern portion of the city was under Soviet control and the Russians had built the infamous Berlin wall to prevent the citizens from the East escaping to the West.

45 years ago today,President John Kennedy made his now famous speech in which he claimed solidarity with the people of Berlin. Not a German speaker, Kennedy had asked a professional to translate the phrase "I am a Berliner". The resulting phrase appears in his speech as;

"Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner!' "

Over the years, critics of Kennedy have opined that the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner' was grammatically incorrect and that Kennedy had actually said, in German, "I am a jelly donut!".
A wikipedia article discusses the claim and says that Kennedy's phrase was perfectly acceptable German and he was not a jelly donut, after all.

Thankfully, Kennedy hadn't given the same speech in other German cities. It would have been more difficult to explain away the words "I am a Frankfurter" or "I am a Hamburger".

Firefox 3 review.

I've been using Firefox 3 for about a week now and my review of it can be summed up as "ho-hum".
It's not that I have major problems with the new browser....it's just that I feel like the whole thing has been over-rated. It's not the "greatest thing since sliced bread" as I'd been lead to believe.It's a little faster than Firefox 2, but with the relatively large amount of ram I have on this PC, the older version wasn't all that slow.
In the past week the browser has "crashed" four or five times when I closed it (at least that's what the error message says).
Yesterday and today, after using the browser earlier in the day, I could not reopen it without rebooting my PC.
I'm told that it's more secure than the previous version, but that's not something I'm going to really notice.
So, I mean, it's OK.....but spectacular? Naw, don't think so.

Sorry,Carlin Wasn't Funny.

In a piece for edmontonsun.com, writer,Michael Rechtshaffen observes,
"If you drove past The Laugh Factory on Sunset Blvd. yesterday, you'd see "GEORGE CARLIN REST IN PEACE. MAKE GOD LAUGH" on the marquee, while flowers covered his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."
That seems an ironic obit for an atheist.Besides, it would be difficult for Carlin to make God laugh.....Carlin wasn't funny.
Carlin is most famous for his Seven Words You Can't Say On T.V. routine. It was shocking at the time, but only boring today and certainly not a laugh riot.
Otherwise, he came across as pessimistic, sarcastic and bitter.
Carlin wasn't funny.

A 2nd Pearl Harbor?

Before Cathy and I met, I hadn’t given much thought to karaoke. Being subjected to people singing songs you didn’t particular care for (and off-key, to boot) was something that one would only come across in certain bars or restaurants on certain days. It was easy enough to avoid; I did not know a single individual who would even consider owning a karaoke machine. Now, it appears that nearly everyone I know owns one.

It was not until I married a Filipina that I came to know how prevalent karaoke is in the Filipino community. My wife is very sociable and we’ll find ourselves at a “get together” at least twice a month and after the food is eaten the men head off to one area while the women make their way to the room where the hostess has the karaoke equipment set up.

They can spend hours on end, singing and laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Not one of them can carry a tune in a bucket, but, that doesn’t seem to matter one bit.
Now, I learn that a Japanese toy maker will be manufacturing a portable, personal, hand -held karaoke machine. According to a Reuters story;

“The "Hi-kara" karaoke machine, by Takara Tomy, is a 7-cm (nearly 3-inch) cube which weighs less than a pound and works like a real machine.
Once the singer selects a song, which can be downloaded off the Internet or from special music cartridges, the lyrics come up on a 2.4-inch display. The machine also has headphones and speakers attached.
"Hi-kara" will go on sale in October for about $100, with song cartridges costing about $40 each.”

So, the question is, will this device make my life a living Hell ? Will I now be forced to listen to karaoke everywhere….at any time and any place? I’m optimistic that scenario won’t happen. To the Filipinas we know, karaoke is as much a social event as anything else….there isn’t much private karaoke going on. Thankfully, the Hi-kara won’t catch on here because it isn’t group oriented.

Still, to be on the safe side, I won’t be mentioning the Reuters’ article to my wife.

Bob Barr's Youtube Campaign.

Here's a recent email to me from Bob Barr's campaign:

Dear Friend,
Can you take 30 seconds to help me out?
As the eCampaign Manager for Bob Barr's campaign, I'm one of the guys who stays up all hours of the night, Diet Coke in hand, developing and delivering content to the web.

Since Bob first announced his exploratory committee, we've been producing videos and content for many different "Web 2.0" uses but I'm most proud of the work that we've put into our YouTube page.

Several times a week, we are posting new videos and clips of Bob's media appearances.
These videos are posted not just to inform supporters of Bob's latest media hits, but to persuade others.
That's where you come in! Click the new feature on the front page to take you to our Official Youtube Channel. Check back often by scrolling down & clicking the YouTube Icon in the Social Networking section. Once there, do a few things for me each time you visit:

* We keep our videos short and to the point so always watch the latest clips.
*On your first visit to Bob's YouTube channel, be sure to click the "Subscribe" button. This is really important as the more subscribers we have, the more people we can reach as our ranking improves. Also, by subscribing you'll be informed when we post new videos.
*Leave comments (be sure to register with YouTube first - don't worry, it's free). Keep it positive and supportive as that will do wonders for persuading others.
*"Rate and Favorite" each video. Five stars are always appreciated!
*Most importantly, share our campaign videos with your friends and family by clicking "send video" and e-mail it out to as many people you can reach.

Right now, our video team is working on an INCREDIBLE video that will be ready at the end of next week - another reason to subscribe. We also regularly have the latest media clips from the campaign posted not too long after they are aired.

That's why it's important to me that you visit the campaign YouTube page often to view and, more importantly - share - our videos with others.

Please visit our YouTube channel today and let me know what you think by rating our videos and subscribing.
Thanks for everything and look for more videos coming soon!
In Liberty,

Martin Avila
eCampaign Manager
Bob Barr 2008

What's wrong with Habeas Corpus?

The reaction is mixed on the recent Supreme Court decision, Boumediene vs. Bush whereby the Court affirms that the detainees at the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba have the right of habeas corpus and cannot be detained indefinitely, without being charged.
A recent article in catholicnews.com writes that the decision “is a hopeful sign that upholds American values for anyone accused of even the most heinous offenses.”
Libertarian Presidential candidate, Bob Barr writes , “The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the importance of the ancient writ of habeas corpus, one of the bedrock guarantees of American liberty,” and challenges John McCain, who called the decision “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country” to a debate on the issue.
Rush Limbaugh is upset that the ruling means that, should he be captured, Osama bin Laden will be presumed innocent and will face a trial in the Federal courts.
I don’t really understand what McCain or Limbaugh would want as an alternative. If bin Laden is not entitled to a trial then what do they propose instead? Surely, they’re not saying we should just execute him without a trial. Even Timothy McVeigh was given his day in court.

I did my part,as usual.

The official results aren't in yet. As I write this, the numbers are still being evaluated by the Guinness World Records folks. As you can see by the map,the total downloads on Download Day (at the time of this screen shot) are more than 11 million.
Mozilla says it'll be a few more days before the final results are in.
I did my part to help set the record and was awarded with a certificate.You can get one for yourself by going to http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/certificate_form

The Infinite Monkey Theorem.

The Infinite Monkey Theorem says, more or less, that given an infinite amount of time and a typewriter (or PC keyboard) a monkey could ,by randomly hitting keys, produce the entire works of William Shakespeare.
Variations of the theory have been around for centuries; today it’s used, mostly, to show that random chance can produce life, given enough time.
You can find mathematical equations which supporters of the theorem use to prove it, while an equal number of critics will have mathematical equations to prove the theory incorrect.
The formulas are pretty much over my head…..I don’t know if it works or if it doesn’t.
But, I do know that a 2 ½ year old boy can accidentally press the keys of a cell phone in just the right sequence to download a game onto said cell phone and thereby increase his parents’ cell phone bill by $12.75 a month. Need I say more?

D is for Download Day.

Like a gazillion other folks around the world, I pledged to download Firefox 3 on Download Day to help Firefox make a Guinness World record for most downloads in one day.
I had the email alerts so I'd know when the day would arrive. I was told the day would be June 17. OK, fine.
One problem, though.On the original email notice, there was no information as to when June 17, by their calculation, would start.Would the day begin when it became June 17 in Australia....or wherever the day first starts?
When I checked the site at 12:30 AM here, the Mozilla page had Firefox 3RC and not 3. So, I waited until the morning when I was sure their June 17 had arrived. Still, it had the 3RC version.I downloaded it, not certain if it would go towards the record or not.
Later that afternoon, I received another email alert telling me when the Firefox "June 17" would start and stop. According to the email, June 17 would end June 18 at 17:00 UTC. That's 1:00 PM where I live.That means my downloading 3RC wouldn't go towards the record, after all.
I wanted to make good on my pledge. I went back to the Mozilla page and this time, I was able to download the official Firefox 3.
I was using the 3RC to download the exe file and although the 3RC had kept most of settings and preferences from the previous version, the downloads weren't going automatically to the desktop as I had set it up before.To make a long story short, I couldn't find the file and downloaded the exe file for version 3 a second time.That was when I found the first file.
I extracted the file,installed said file and I'm now running Firefox 3.
I suppose this new browser loads a little faster but, otherwise, I haven't seen anything remarkable. Sure, I haven't been using it very long and I have yet to discover all there is about the new version.
I'm sure Mozilla will be happy with their record. When the final numbers come out, we'll need to subtract one download from the total.

The State of Marriage.

At what point did we decide that it was appropriate for the State to become involved in "marriage"?
Why did we ever give the State the authority to issue marriage licenses in the first place? Marriage is a union between a man and woman….a covenant before God and will forever remain as such.
Some might say a "legal" document helps regulate the distribution of property and establish custody of children should a divorce come about. There are already mechanisms in place to take care of that.......even now those disputes can be settled by the State when the case involves couples who never married. Childhood custody decisions can rely on DNA testing rather than a courthouse document that really doesn't prove parenthood anyway.
Some argue that married couples receive an unfair tax advantages over those individuals that are prohibited by the State from getting married. This argument would disappear if the Fair Tax were to become law.....eliminating the tax deductions of the present income tax system.
We have a situation now where nontraditional (as it applies in Western civilization) marriages are being debated;-same sex and polygamous are the issues du jour-
Different groups are demanding that their civil rights be recognized.
It’s the “equal protection under the law” argument.
The State should get out of the marriage business and put the issue back in the hands of the Churches.
If someone wants to get married he/she should present him/herself before the religious institution of her/his choice and let that be the determining factor.
The majority of churches wouldn't permit gay marriages or polygamy, but, if a person's religion allows such, then so be it. It may eventually come about that same sex marriages will be permitted in certain Anglican sects but that is a problem for the Anglican’s to solve. It’s not my concern.
My religion wouldn't recognize same sex or polygamist marriages as valid and that's all that concerns me. In the view of the Catholic Church, any “marriage” performed in a courthouse or city hall by a government official is illegitimate …..even one between heterosexuals.
The same sex marriages taking place in California may (for the time being at any rate) be legal but they will never be legitimate marriages in the sight of God.

Bob Barr on Big Government and Big Spending.

From Bob Barr's web site;[Issues]

Big Government and Big Spending — The Root of all Problems.
* Government spending at all levels is out of control. Most Americans understand the problem of “earmarks,” commonly used by pork-minded congressmen to buy votes. But while earmarks are an outrageous abuse of the taxpayer’s money, they account for a very small percentage of federal spending. Over the past decade, total government spending (state, local and federal) has increased from $2.9 trillion to an astonishing $5.1 trillion in 2008. The $3.1 trillion federal budget submitted by President Bush for next year was greater than the combined 1998 spending of the federal government, all 50 states and over 87,000 local governments.
* The federal government must take the lead in making significant cuts in spending. Focusing on earmarks risks distracting attention from the broader problem of a government wildly wasting the money of hard-working Americans. Tens of billions of dollars in corporate welfare — essentially aid to dependent corporations — should be eliminated. Largesse for middle- and upper-income Americans, particularly so-called “entitlement” programs, must be cut. Billions in so-called defense spending, which protects America’s populous, prosperous allies rather than Americans, must be eliminated.
* Cutting spending would allow America to implement real tax reform. Our goal should be to reduce both the tax burden on Americans and the intrusion in their lives resulting from IRS enforcement of the income tax. One of the best approaches would be to adopt some form of a consumption tax, like a national sales tax, replacing the Internal Revenue Service and all federal income taxes as well as payroll taxes.
* It is not enough to eliminate the income tax. We also must repeal the 16th amendment, which authorizes Congress to levy an income tax. Without doing so, there would be an ever-present danger that a future Congress would attempt to bring back the income tax on top of the Fair Tax or any other alternative to the income tax.

A Father's Day Gift to Myself.

My son and myself are on the left side of the jpeg....my dad on the upper right and his dad on the lower right.
Happy Father's Day.

Birds of a feather....two peas in a pod.

As the recent Gallop Poll results show, Obama and McCain are in a statistical dead-heat for U.S. President. But, as we all know, the popular vote doesn't matter....it's the Electoral College votes that will be the final determination. If McCain holds on to the same states Bush carried in 2004, he'll squeeze through. One or two states will make all the difference.
It's not surprising that the two are so close....there isn't 2 cents' difference between them. Both are Big Government advocates. Both will increase taxes and expand the size of the Federal government.
Until the people decide that they've had enough and demand real changes the problem will only get worse.We desperately need to decrease the size and influence of government and cut taxes.
As long as we pick candidates like McCain and Obama, it will continue to be business as usual.

People from around the world favor Obama.

People from around the world who do not like Americans say they will like us more if we elect Obama over McCain. This according to Pew Global .org

"People around the world who have been paying attention to the American election express more confidence in Barack Obama than in John McCain to do the right thing regarding world affairs. McCain is rated lower than Obama in every country surveyed, except for the United States where his rating matches Obama's, as well as in Jordan and Pakistan where few people have confidence in either candidate.
Obama's advantage over McCain is overwhelming in the Western European countries surveyed: Fully 84% of the French who have been following the election say they have confidence in Obama to do the right thing regarding world affairs, compared with 33% who say that about McCain. The differences in ratings for Obama and McCain are about as large in Spain and Germany, and are only somewhat narrower in Great Britain."
Click on image to enlarge.

Happy Loving Day.

June 12 is Loving Day ….. the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which declared that all laws in the U.S. that banned interracial marriage were unconstitutional.
The case was named for Mildred and Richard Loving whom I wrote about in an earlier post when Mildred died. [Mildred Loving, Who Battled Ban on Mixed-Race Marriage, Dies at 68.]
Prior to this 1967 case, marriage between a "white" and a Filipina - such as ours- would have been illegal in the State of Georgia.
For more on Loving Day, there's a web site you can go to.......
http://www.lovingday.org/

Astronauts Fix Space Station Toilet.

Astronauts Fix Space Station Toilet.

Bob Barr to be on News Talk Online .

I have to be honest, until he left a comment on my blog, [Bob Barr on Glenn Beck] I hadn’t heard of Gary Baumgarten.
According to his blogspot profile ;
“Award winning journalist Gary Baumgarten hosts the News Talk Online show on Paltalk.com. He asks critical questions, and invites people from all around the world to talk directly to his newsmaker guests using Paltalk's voice over IP technology. Gary came to Paltalk as director of news and programming from CNN where he was the radio bureau chief and correspondent in New York for a decade, where he covered, among other things, the 9/11 attacks in New York and Hurricane Katrina. He was previously reporter and assistant news director at CBS all news radio station WWJ in Detroit. Prior to that he was managing editor at Detroit Radio News Service and a reporter for the Jackson (MI) Citizen-Patriot, the Detroit News and a number of weekly newspapers. Paltalk is the largest multimedia interactive program on the Internet with more than 4 million unique users. News Talk Online is also syndicated by CRN Digital Talk Radio to cable systems serving an additional 12 million households.”
Bob Barr will be Gary’s guest on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com Friday June 13.
You can find out more by going to Gary’s blog- http://garybaumgarten.blogspot.com/2008/06/libertarian-presidential-candidate-bob.html

German Dollmaker Offers Barack Obama Doll.

A German Dollmaker, Die Puppenklinik Offermann, has created a 14-inch (36-centimeter) Barack Obama doll, complete with black suit, pale blue tie and Stars & Stripes lapel pin.
The company is selling a limited run of 999 Obama dolls online for 139 euros (US$219) each.
To purchase one for yourself, you can click here.
I'm not making this up.
I first came upon this story on a Japanese web site Mainichi Daily News. The story can also be found on Daily India and the Denver Post to name just a few.
It was easy enough finding sites that covered the story....but finding a photo wasn't so easy (click on this photo to enlarge).
I can understand why none of the stories featured a photo of the doll......it doesn't look anything like Obama and you wouldn't know it was Barack if they hadn't told you.
Honestly, the doll looks ridiculous, but then again, so do the Pope Benedict XVI and Dalai Lama dolls the company also made.

Bob Barr on Glenn Beck.

Bob Barr spent a full hour on Glenn Beck's CNN Headline News. June 6, 2008. See the video to that show (minus the TV ads) on Barr's website.
The link to that video is here.

Dylan Endorses Obama....Big Surprise, huh?

Realizing the importance of visual imagery in blogging, I usually have a photo or cartoon accompanying my post du jour. So, when I decided to give my thoughts on Bob Dylan’s recent “endorsement” of Barack Obama the first thing I did was search the Internet for a recent photo of Dylan.
Unfortunately, finding a post 1960’s photo of him isn’t as easy as you’d imagine. Type “Bob Dylan” into the Google search engine and search Images and you can see for yourself.
As cluas.com writer, Aidan Curran points out in his piece, Bob Dylan’s Dubious Legacy;
“Bob Dylan has been mythologised to a degree disproportionate to his musical accomplishments. His songs have been weighed down with interpretations and importance based on a belief that if it's Dylan singing it then it must undoubtedly be profound and poetic.”
But, it's the 60's Bob Dylan the fans want. They want the image of Dylan as a twenty-something radical and not the old fart he's become.
Sadly, the same mythological viewpoint can be said about his political opinions.
In an interview of Dylan in timesonline.co.uk there’s this;
“My time with Dylan is up and we stand in preparation for my leaving the room. As a last aside, I ask for his take on the US political situation in the run-up to November's presidential election.
“Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval,” he says. “Poverty is demoralising. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up...Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.” He offers a parting handshake. “You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future,” he notes as the door closes between us.”

Let’s look at what Dylan is reported to have said;
“Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval,” Really? I know folks are upset about the price of gas and there’s currently an economic downturn but there is no “upheaval”. There is the odd protest/demonstration , but that’s been pretty much commonplace since the 60’s.

“Poverty is demoralising. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor.” Of course, poverty hurts but if Dylan thinks there is real poverty in the US, he should travel to India or Philippines or every country in Africa. And you can’t “have the virtue of purity when they are poor”…what the hell does that mean, anyway?
“But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up...Barack Obama.” Only a fool would believe that. Obama is a talented orator but his message is from the same Democrat Liberal play-book they’ve been using for decades (they’re the only ones who can save the poor, the downtrodden, the worker, the common man. The Republicans only want help the rich and the corporations and they want your children to go hungry).
“Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change.” “Might”? What happened to “The times they are a changin’ “ ?
Does anybody really expect a baby-boomer , former protest singer rock star to support anyone other than a Democrat?
And Obama? Why didn’t he endorse him while Hillary was still in the race? He probably didn’t want to upset his fans who wanted Clinton to take the nomination.

Mr. Goody Two Shoes Smokes Cigarettes.

How did we miss this? Why did it take so long for us to hear about this?
Mr. Goody Two Shoes himself (Barack Obama) is a smoker.....or as reports say, he is chewing Nicorette to help him break the habit.
It's good that he's trying to quit. I know how difficult it can be for someone who has smoked cigarettes as long as he to give it up. I wish him luck.
But, it bothers me that this has kept a secret. In politics, image is everything and I'm sure that had a photo of him smoking appeared early in the primary races it would have harmed his chances. I don't think he would have come this far had such a photo appeared around the time of the early Oprah endorsements.
I found a photo on the Internet of Obama with a cigarette in his mouth....I have no way of knowing if it's for real or if it's been photoshopped.
For other folks' thought on Obama as tobacco user, check out these links;
Thank You For Not Smoking - By Monica Crowley .
Gibson called Obama's long-known cigarette smoking a "dirty little secret".
My Biggest Complaint About Barack Obama - He Smokes Cigarettes.



Update Link :
Still Smokin'

Blogger released on bail in Singapore.

Gopalan Nair, the so-called singapore dissident was released on bail after four days in a jail in Singapore. He was released on 5,000 dollars bail (3,676 US) and his US passport was confiscated.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, [Blogger Arrested in Singapore for Insulting Judge] he was arrested for insulting Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean by saying, she
"was throughout prostituting herself during the entire proceedings, by being nothing more than an employee of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders".
When I read the story of his release on the breitbart.com web site I went back to his blog, http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com to see if he had written anything new. He hadn't; but, I did notice a change.
He had replaced the photo in his profile to one of Albert Einstein. I'm not sure why, but anyone interested in seeing that photo can find it on my blog.
According to the stats from Google Analytics, my blog has received a few hits from a PC in Singapore since my first posting about Nair. It would have been nice if that visitor would have left a comment.
Nair's case is being watched closely by The Committee to Protect Journalists which has this on their web site;
“Singapore’s detention of Gopalan Nair for public comments about such a highly politicized case is completely unwarranted,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz. “Freedom to criticize the judiciary is fundamental to a modern society. This case illustrates the Singapore government’s ongoing commitment to silencing opposition voices both in print and online.”

The Feastday of Saint Petroc.

Now, as they used to say on the Monty Python T.V. show, "It's time for something completely different."

While looking around for something to write about, I discovered that today, June 04, is the feast day of St. Petroc, also known as St. Petrock of Cornwall.
I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist the temptation.......

Obama's Misguided Catholic Supporters.

In his recent piece for The Catholic World Report, professor Paul Kengor rightly says of Catholics who support Barack Obama,
"Some ignore his pro-abortion voting record, others rationalize it."
Obama's voting record while in the Illinois state legislature, shows Obama to be radically pro abortion. Any hopes by these Catholic for Obama that he will be otherwise as President are living in a fantasy world.
On the web site http://www.romancatholicsforobama.com/ they attempt to rationalize their choice by using the U.S.Bishops' Statement as support;
"We hope you'll spend time reviewing all of the material housed or linked from here. But if you read just two documents, please make them the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship -- which explains why "[t]here may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate's unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other grave reasons" -- and Barack Obama's Blueprint for Change, which outlines all of Senator Obama's positions and is, we think, reflective of why he is the candidate whose views are most compatible with the Catholic outlook."
What reason can be more "grave" than abortion?
In listing, so called, Catholic endorsements for Obama, the Roman Catholics for Obama name (among others) Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.
Maybe the only true statement on the web site is the following disclaimer;
"This website is not affiliated with the campaign of Barack Obama or with the Roman Catholic Church."

Bob Barr Could Create Presidential Toss-Up.

Of course, we know Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr has no chance of winning the White House in 2008. The Libertarian Party doesn't have a wide enough base to carry a single state with Electoral College votes.
But, he will have an affect on this election and he will have an affect on the way the Republican Party leaders think.
An InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion survey shows Barr being favored by 8% of the voters in Georgia. That's enough to give an upset win in Georgia to Obama.
The question is......who will make the most disastrous President; McCain or Obama? The country ultimately loses no matter which of these two is elected. But, which one has the potential to do the most harm?
Probably McCain.
McCain is willing to cross the aisle to pick up Liberal Democrat votes while stiffing his own Party.
Obama has shown that he has very little political savvy or know-how by his tortoise-like win over Hillary Clinton. He should have dispatched her long ago. Should Obama win the election in November, he will likely not have the support that would enable him to cause as much mayhem as he might wish.
A McCain loss via Republicans defecting to the Libertarian Party would shake up the Republicans the way they need to be.
An Obama victory will bring about a Republican take over of the House in 2010 much the same way Bill Clinton's Presidency did after his first two years in office.

The results of the survey:
“If the election were held today who would you vote for President of the United States which candidate would you vote for?”
John McCain, Republican: 45%
Barack Obama, Democrat: 35%
Bob Barr, Libertarian: 8%
Undecided: 12%

Brigitte Bardot fined for anti-Muslim remarks.

In a post from April, [Brigitte Bardot on Trial] I wrote how former 1960s sex symbol and animal rights activist was on trial in France for allegedly 'inciting racial hatred' for comments on Muslims and their Eid ul-Adha festival, which involves the slaughter of sheep. Now, according to reports on breitbart.com, she has been found guilty and fined 15,000-euro (23,000 dollar).

Other reports say Bardot was also ordered to pay 1000 euro in damages to the MRAP anti-racism group, and one euro in symbolic damages to the LICRA league against racism and the Human Rights League.

I've read several news reports of the case and the comment which is said to be the " offense" is this;
"I've had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, (and) destroying our country by imposing their ways."

Seems quite tame as far as "racists" comments go.

Did she speak the truth? Are the estimated five million Muslims in France changing the country? I'm sure they are........that many people are bound to affect some change.

Is the change brought about in France by the Muslim immigrants for the betterment of France?
I suppose that is up to the French people to decide.

R.I.P. Bo Diddley.

Bo Diddley.....
Born December 30, 1928.
Died June 2, 2008.

Blogger Arrested in Singapore for Insulting Judge.

In his blog profile,Gopalan Nair describes himself this way:
"Determined to find the Truth. Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2005."
Nair has made a point of using his blog -http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/- to criticize former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and other officials in the Singapore government.
Nair is now a US citizen but he recently returned to Singapore where he was arrested for insulting Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean by saying, she
"was throughout prostituting herself during the entire proceedings, by being nothing more than an employee of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders".
Nair made it easy enough for Singaporean authorities to find him by publishing his phone number and location in Singapore on his blog.;
"I am Gopalan Nair. Today is May 31, 2008 at 10.40am Singapore time. I am at present in Singapore at Broadway Hotel, Room 708, 195 Serangoon Road, Singapore, 218067. The hotel telephone number is is 62924661. My local SingTel telephone number is 83764236."
"I am now within your jurisdiction... What are you going to do about it?" Nair wrote.
Here's what they did.......
Nair is charged with insulting a public servant, which on conviction carries a maximum fine of 5,000 dollars (3,660 US) or one year in prison.
This reminds me of a joke Ronald Reagan used to tell.
An American and a Soviet citizen were talking about the differences between the two countries.The American said, " I can walk into the White House and say 'The President of the United States is an idiot ! ' Can you do that? "
The Russian said "We can do the same....I can walk into the Kremlin and say ' The President of the United States is an idiot ! ' "
Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean

Godzilla Stows Away Aboard the Ark.

A few weeks back, I found myself involved in a series of email exchanges debating "Intelligent Design". Some of my thoughts on that issue appear in blog entries [His Noodly Appendage?-The Matsya Avatar and the Flood.].

The guy debating me on this was using the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) and their web site -http://www.icr.org/ - to back up his opinion. Even though this individual is Catholic, he is, unfortunately, too heavily influenced by this Fundamentalist Protestant garbage. The ICR is simply interested in proving the literal interpretation of the Book Of Genesis as "scientific" fact.

Needless to say, they dismiss evolution and the Big Bang and believe in a "young Earth" theory. To them, the age of our planet (and the universe) can be measured in thousands of years....not million or billions.

I wasn't intending to post anything else about this, until, that is, I received something in the mail from the ICR. It seems the guy I was debating took it upon himself to put me on the ICR mailing list and set me up to receive their free magazine.

I'm not happy about that.

Had I wanted to read any of their drivel I could have gone to the web site myself and requested it.....I don't appreciate someone else doing it without my permission.

Women in Today's World.

This past Friday,(May, 30) the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's decree "On the Delict of Attempted Sacred Ordination of a Woman" in which the Vatican states, quite decisively, that the ordination of woman priests is out of the question. It goes so far as to reaffirm that the offense incurs excommunication.

Of course, there will be the usual cries from liberals that the Catholic Church is a misogynist organization that only wants to hold women back.It's not likely any of these critics will actually look into the reasons behind this decision. Any explanation from the Church will fall on deaf ears.

Anyone interested in understanding the Church's position can read these two articles:
http://www.catholicherald.com/saunders/05ws/ws050804.htm
http://www.catholicherald.com/saunders/05ws/ws050811.htm

Is it merely coincidental that the day after the publication of the Vatican decree there appeared, on several news sites, the story that "Al Qaeda's exclusion of women sparks extremist debate."?
I'm waiting for the talking heads to find a comparison between Al Qaeda and the Vatican. You know, how both are trapped in a Medieval mindset. It's just a matter of time.

I'm also waiting for the feminists to lash out Al Qaeda for not allowing women to become full fledged terrorists.(I'm not holding my breathe on this one, however).

It should be noted that Hamas disagrees with Al Qaeda on this issue and happily accepts applications from women for positions as suicide bombers.