Vacation....What Vacation?

I've been on vacation this week. Nine days off from work .... squeezing in the two weekends off between the five day vacation.

You might think, with this much time off, I would have spent a little bit of this time writing. Not so. Cathy and I closed on a new house this week and there's a lot to do before we can move in. It looks as if we'll be here for a couple of weeks while the contractor works on repairing the sheet rock and replacing the laminate and vinyl flooring and carpet.

Cathy and I hope we can start on the painting before I go back to work Monday. There's no way we can get it all done this weekend but, getting the kitchen finished will be a plus.

I have a long list of things that need to be done today.....there's no rest for the weary.

This little post will have to do for today.

Energy Secretary wants to paint the world white.

President Obama's Energy Secretary, Professor Steven Chu said roofs throughout the world should be painted white to reflect the sun's rays back into space and, thereby, reduce global warming. Professor Chu has also said that roads and pavement should be made from light colored concrete rather than black asphalt for the same reason.

I'm sure it won't be long before environmental wackos, such as the members of Earth First, will put forth the idea that we must all wear white clothing to be green.

From what I understand, the uniform pictured here was once standard clothing for Democrats. I'm sure quite a few of Democrat voters may still have one or two sets put away in the closet.

We all know Margaret Sanger was a fan of the klan, so maybe Planned Parenthood could put their resources behind this.

links:
Obama's green guru calls for white roofs
Professor Steven Chu: paint the world white to fight global warming

More of the Same.

Let's take a quote from Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, as reported in a NY Times article [A Judge’s View of Judging Is on the Record ] transpose a few choice words and see how well it comes across:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman white male with the richness of her his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male Latina woman who hasn’t lived that life,”

Some change..........

The Latest in Fashion?

According to the Lincoln Journal Star:

A man who robbed a north Lincoln Kwik Shop on Monday morning brought a disguise — he was wearing a Bud Light box on his head.

The man had a green rag wrapped around his hand, implying he had a weapon, when he entered the store at 4400 Cornhusker Highway around 4:30 a.m. He made off with nine packs of Newport cigarettes, valued at nearly $50, police Capt. Bob Kawamoto said.

While I was unable to find a photo of the thief and his Bud Light box mask, I have located quite a few photos of folks wearing an assortment of beer boxes on their heads. I've made a collage of said photos for my readers' enjoyment.

Kinsley defends Prejean.....sort of.

Just when I thought the issue of the "Miss California, Carrie Prejean's same sex marriage question and answer controversy" was old news, Michael Kinlsey weights in on the subject in a column for The Washington Post [A Crown of Thorns for Miss California?].

Kinsley defends Prejean.....sort of.

In his view, Prejean is a bigot - guilty of an innocent, mindless bigotry that shouldn't ruin someone's life - but, a bigot none the less.
Kinsley believes same sex marriage will be accepted through out the country, because......" the arguments for it are so reasonable and appealing to so many people across the political spectrum". To Kinsley, Prejean is not "an intolerable bigot" because she's just "a bit slow to wrap her head" around what he sees as "reasonable and appealing arguments".

He may have presented these "reasonable and appealing arguments" somewhere before, but he fails to do so in this column, so I'm unconvinced.

Same sex marriage would not be an issue today were it not for one thing ...... Government's decision, years ago, to take over the Church's role in determining what is and what isn't a "legitimate" marriage.

The State doesn't have any need to be involved in the question of marriage in any way what-so-ever. Marriage is a religious act. Marriage is an agreement between two people (or more in the case of polygamy) before God, wherein the participants pledge to join together - in theory - for ever and always.

There are some who claim that marriage must be recognized before the State in order to secure property rights and child support should the parties involved later decide to divorce. Child custody and financial support issues are handled now before the law when the dispute is between couples who share parenthood yet never married. It's the same with division of property. It's not necessary for the partners be married for the State to settle disagreements. There are already laws in place to take case of the civil issues.

Let the State remove itself completely from any involvement with marriage and let the matter be what it is......an issue left up to the Church (or Churches).
If you and your beloved - for example - wish to be married in the Catholic Church, it should be handled by the Catholic Church. If you and your betrothed are Muslim and wish to have a polygamist marriage, then it should be strictly a Muslim matter.
If you want a same sex marriage and the Catholic, or Baptist or Islamic Churches don't allow it but the Episcopal Church does, so be it.
Leave it up to the religious community to allow or disallow marriage as it sees fit.

I suppose, the only ones who might object to this idea would be the atheists who have no church in which to marry. Their not having a God before whom they can pledge their love does throw a monkey wrench into this. Any self respecting atheist should, I imagine, find being married before the State as objectionable as being married in a church.
All is not lost for the atheist, however. There's always the Atheist Wedding Ceremony.

Immigration and Naturalization.

Today's topic, boys and girls, is immigration and naturalization.

Immigration is one of those subjects which many Americans believe they know a lot about, when, truth be told, they know absolutely squat. The number of myths, urban legends.....whatever you want to call them....that surround the immigration issue would be enough to cause me to pull my hair out - if I had any.

Let's look at some of those beliefs that I hear most frequently;

The reason all those foreigners own those convenient stores is because the government gives them all interest free business loans....which they don't have to pay back.

I wish this were true. If such interest free - non repayable loans were available, my wife and the dozens of other Filipinas we know would be taking advantage of them.
The reason you see so many immigrants owning certain businesses is because of their strong family and ethnic loyalties. It's an example of folks sticking together and helping out friends and relatives.

They don't pay taxes......the government lets them live here five years without having to pay any taxes. I wish I could do that.

I wish I could too. When my wife received her first paycheck in America, her reaction was the same as everyone else when they first start working ....... "What is FICA?"
The government is not going to miss any opportunity to get someone's hard earned money.

If someone from another country comes here and marries an American, they automatically become U.S. citizens.

That might have been true years ago, but it's certainly not true now. My wife, like all other immigrants has to apply for citizenship and it costs money. Lots of money.
There's the visa process getting her into the country. The government loves paper work and money.
After that, there's the "change of status" application. More money, more paper work.
Two years after the "change of status", there's the green card application. More money, more paper work.
Three years after the green card comes the application for citizenship. More money, more paper work. And a test.

I don't have a problem with immigrants having to learn about the country; most of the questions concern civics and that's something we all need to know. I think that everyone who wants to register to vote should take the same test. Being born here shouldn't exempt you from knowing something about how the government works.

Some of the questions on the test don't concern civics, of course. That would make too much sense for something the government is involved with. I've copied and pasted question number 87 below. I'm not at all sure why it's necessary for anyone to know the answer in order to be a "good citizen".

87. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.
[USCIS Officers will be supplied with a list of federally recognized American Indian tribes.]
▪ Cherokee
▪ Navajo
▪ Sioux
▪ Chippewa
▪ Choctaw
▪ Pueblo
▪ Apache
▪ Iroquois
▪ Creek
▪ Blackfeet
▪ Seminole
▪ Cheyenne
▪ Arawak
▪ Shawnee
▪ Mohegan
▪ Huron
▪ Oneida
▪ Lakota
▪ Crow
▪ Teton
▪ Hopi
▪ Inuit

Archbishop Chaput gets final word.

Denver's Archbishop Chaput gets the final word on Notre Dame & Barack Obama.
Well worth taking the time to read:
Archbishop Chaput comments on Notre Dame & Commencement address by Pres. Obama.

Comments.

Checking my email this morning, I found a notice that someone calling himself "Roy" had left a comment on my last post [Taking a Break].

Roy is the blogger behind abrideforthepope.blogspot.com which we first learned about from a post on LarryD's blog [Acts of the Apostasy: Dumbest Blog...EVAH!! ].

After reading the comment Roy left, I went back to his blog and read his latest post.....he simply pasted the comments Dimbulb and I left on Larry's blog (with a pasted comment from Larry as well).

If you go to Roy's pathetic attempt at blogging, you'll see that he does not allow comments. Too bad. Not allowing comments in any form shows Roy to be a true coward.

On the off chance that Roy makes his way back here, I refer him to my comment policy:
"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."

Unlike Roy, I will allow him to comment here....unless he becomes offensive.

Oh, by the way......when Roy discovered my comment on LarryD's blog, he followed my blogger profile and came across this blog. I'm sure, being the "Progressive" that he is, had he gone to one of my other blogs - D'offus of the Big-Doofus - he'd really be upset with me.

Taking a Break.

Even though there are a number of subjects I'd like to write about, I haven't really been able to do much writing for a few days.
Rather than drift along, I'm going to stop trying to write for a few days and catch up a bit on my reading.

Paul Wizikowski's FairTax Video.

Oklahoma-based FairTax grassroots activist Paul Wizikowski and his Fair Tax Youtube video.

Obama Biblical Poll Redux.

In a D'offus of the Big-Doofus post from January, 22nd [Which Biblical Character is Most Like Obama?] I wrote of a cnsnews.com story where it was reported that boxing promoter Don King said Barack Obama was similar to the Biblical character of Joshua and Martin Luther King Jr. was like Moses.

This story inspired me to put a poll on the blog asking my readers reader to decide which Biblical character is really most like Obama.




The choices (and the percentage each choice received) were:

Adam 0%
Eve 5%
the Serpent 23%
Moses 13%
the anti-christ 28%
the jaw bone of an ass (the clear winner) 47%

You'll note, the totals add up to 116%. Anyone having a problem with that can take it up with blogspot.

So why, you might ask, am I bringing this up now?

lifesitenews.com is reporting that the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has published an article titled "The Biblical Matrix of Obama's Rhetoric; the New Frontier and the Promised Land,". The writer, Lucia Annunziata, does a Don King and likewise compares Obama to Joshua and King to Moses.

With this latest update, I've decided to re-do the poll and put it on this blog rather than at the Big Doofus...this blog gets many more hits and maybe the results will be different.
The poll closes on June 20th.

Note: using different browsers allows you to vote more than once.

May 13, 2009.

My Favorite Pope.

From a variety of sources we hear of "a growing chorus of Israeli critics who accused the German-born Benedict XVI of failing to express enough remorse for the Holocaust".

Rather than finding fault with what the Pope has said, his critics now spend their time criticizing what he failed to say. His address at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial can be found here.
Moments after he spoke there, Yad Vashem's top two officials criticized him for failing to use the words "Nazis" or "murder" in his speech.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi rightly told reporters in Jerusalem, "He can't mention everything every time he speaks."

The Roman Catholic Church did not bring about the Holocaust; Pope Benedict need not apologize for the Church in this regard. (In the years immediately following the Second World War, Jews, world leaders and large media outlets such as The New York Times and The Palestine Post praised Pope Pius XII for his courageous efforts and calls for peace.)(source)

Of course, his critics bring up the charge that he was in the Hitler Youth and German army. His critics fail to mention that he was forced into the Hitler Youth or that he deserted when he was drafted into the German army.
As Catholic League president Bill Donohue points out,
"Günter Grass and Jürgen Habermas, two German intellectuals loved by the pope’s critics, were also forced to join the Hitler Youth. But because they are left-wing icons, no one implies they are anti-Semitic."

We know the world loves Barack Obama as he bends over and grabs the ankles and apologizes for everything except the wrongs he has committed.
Fortunately, the Pope is not Barack Obama and Obama is not the Pope.

Alan Keyes' Arrest at Notre Dame.

Alan Keyes was arrested recently for protesting former Catholic University, Notre Dame's invitation to Barack Obama to speak at the Notre Dame commencement on May 17, 2009.

I know that the police officers involved had no other choice; former Catholic University Notre Dame doesn't allow non-student protests. Keyes and the 20 or so other protesters were arrested for trespassing. I'm not quite sure why the police felt the need to handcuff Dr. Keyes (or the other protesters, for that matter).

Note to Neal Boortz: [Neal Boortz....an Ignorant, Cowardly Bully.]
If you look closely, you'll see women among the protesters. So much for your view that anti-abortion protesters are just men who want to control women's reproductive systems.

Schwarzenegger Welcomes Marijuana Debate.

California Governor - and husband of Maria Shriver - Arnold Schwarzenegger said he welcomes a public debate on proposals to legalize and tax marijuana.

When asked about the idea of treating pot like alcohol, Schwarzenegger said,
"No, I don't think it's time for that, but I think it's time for a debate."

Why not?

From my Libertarian point of view, I don't see much difference between the legalization of marijuana, tobacco or alcohol. I don't use tobacco......only an idiot would; I wouldn't smoke marijuana either but, for the life of me, I can't see how the government can make the use of one a crime but not the other.

Tobacco and alcohol are hardly health foods, yet adults can use either if they like. All three substances have the potential for abuse. Go to an AA meeting and you'll see a cloud of cigarette smoke hovering overhead.

I don't have a problem with Joe Six-pack, sitting in his living room, watching T.V. and smoking a cigarette while he drinks his brewski. As long as he stays at home, minding his own business, I don't have a problem with him having a joint as well.

Heck, he can even have a cholesterol laden cheeseburger too.

Comment on "Monday Madness V".

In today's installment of LarryD's actsoftheapostasy [ Monday Madness V] - we learn about a cage fighting couple from St.Louis, MO - Adame and Lori Dunnavant.

LarryD posted a news video of the couple.....I won't do that, but I will post a picture of the two.

I can't help but notice that Lori looks like her given name might have been different when, huh, "she" was born. I think she changed more than her last name when she married Adame ....nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Finally, I had no choice but to create a new label for this post - "weird stuff that defies description".