inherently different

Archive for June, 2007

Like the last two elections before, the Republicans are hoping that common sense is in short supply when Americans stoll into the voting booth in 2008. They are hoping that enough democrats waste their votes on candidates such as Ron Paul, that the republicans can again steal another election. Back in 2000 and 2004, a large group of people voted their “conscience” rather than for the good of the country and consequently we find ourselves 7 years into possibly the most disheartening presidency in history.

Had no one voted for the third party candidate (Nader) , and instead voted for the most viable candidate that best exhibited a preponderance of their beliefs, we wouldn’t be knee deep in an unpopular war with a country that will NEVER be a democracy no matter how many locals we brainwash. The region has been at war with its neighbors and itself for well over 2000 years and nothing short of a well placed nuclear strike will change the ideological perspective of these people.

Nader’s lame duck run at the oval office has now twice usurped enough votes in the last two presidential elections to allow the Republican/Christian fanatics to gain control of the presidency. As such we have seen our rights trampled, democracy stained, and worse yet, our country divided along economic, social and moral lines.

Hopefully this time around the people who insist on wasting their votes on candidates that have absolutely no chance of leading this country will do us all a favor and take a few math classes to better understand odds.

Now, I really don’t care who you vote for and while the whole, “Who are you to tell me who to vote for?” song and dance really won’t do much to convince me you aren’t a complete idiot if you choose to vote you “conscience.” What I do care about is making sure that the next president truly does represent the majority of the American people, not just the ones who carry bank statements in one hand that are as thick as the bibles they carry in their other hand.

Anyone who has even the slightest opinion of what is happening in the middle east should watch this.

The maui film festival recently ended, but not before I had a chance to take yet another in a long line of pictures of sunsets.

During the festival this year, we saw two relatively interesting films. The first was I Could Never Be Your Woman and the second was
La Môme, or as it is known in the US, La Vie En Rose.

I Could Never… is a May/December romance chick flick featuring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd and La Mome is the life story of France’s most infamous export, Edith Piaf. Neither was as good as one would hope, but neither was horrible.

On another note, I just realized that I have been blogging in one form or another for near 7 years… that has to be some kind of record for me… in fact, this is the longest relationship of my life.

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I am starting to collect a list of my favorite posts. On the menu in the top right of this page is a link to the best of me. Perhaps you remember something I have written that you found funny, interesting, or worth highlighting. Let me know and I will include it.

I have also updated the sidebar music player to play a more diverse collection of music. I am still uploading files so bear with me.

Our society lost its way in the late 80s. We started to deify celebrity to such an extent, we began to lose focus about truly important issues. Around the same time white apologists began a campaign to “right the wrongs” of their culture by calling attention to the many injustices whites held over blacks. The media ate it up.

Today, you would be hard pressed to find a story about crimes committed by blacks against whites that gets as much airplay as a crime committed by whites against blacks. Perhaps it is the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction, perhaps it is over compensation, but one thing remains clear… it is a danger to our justice system.

In my opinion, the whold Duke Lacrosse rape debacle had its foundations in this attitude of whites trying to punish themselves for 200 years of black oppression. Nifong, the DA in the case in Durham, was disbarred today in an effort to wipe the mud from the faces of the North Carolina justice system, but that probably won’t be enough in the long run.

Another case that probably won’t get much airplay by the main stream media is that of Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian, a young couple that was tortured, raped and murdered by a gang of African Americans in Tennessee. It is sad how little media attention this case is getting, but I am not surprised. To call attention to it would be to verify what many people know, but refuse to say out loud. Crimes by blacks against whites is common so it doesn’t deserve the media attention of cases involving whites assaulting blacks.

The link above will give you some insight into what happened (or allegedly happened if we are being pc).

I am sure some of you will find this insulting, but people are not only lazy, but they are oftentimes stupid. Stupid because so many people are not willing to exert a little energy to verify things before they go off half-cocked into the world. Someone whom they value/appreciate says, “This is happening,” and rather than saying to themselves, “Hmmm…I wonder if this is true,” they immediately invest themselves wholeheartedly into promoting this idea, using second hand information and doctored data. I have the highest disdain for anyone who spits out rhetorical statistics but can’t back those statistics up with hard data from a reputable source (FYI: Al Gore is NOT a reputable source).

Whenever I meet anyone under the age of 30, I can be pretty sure that they will believe things passionately, but not know why. I find this especially so because they are part of a generation that has their needs met immediately: microwave popcorn, downloadable music and movies, mobile phones, etc. Everything about their existence is on the fast track. I find this sad and you should too… They have grown up without ever suffering the indignity of patience.

Can you blame them when someone gives them something to believe in whole cloth without having to actually research the validity of the cause? It is this that has made environmentalism (and the global warming panic) the cause de jour of young people (and complete idiots of a certain age) the world over.

Ok, now that I set the table, let’s eat.

I DO NOT dispute that the world has gotten warmer over the last 100 years. In fact, the average temperature of Earth has risen six-tenths of one degree since 1904. Sea levels are estimated to have risen 10 to 20 centimeters in the same time frame. Scary? Only if you are a snail and can’t make it to higher ground in 100 years.

What I do dispute though is what these facts mean. I also dispute whether or not mankind has had anything to do with it. Much of what the mainstream media and alternative educational leaders say about climate change would lead you to believe that we are in imminent danger of burning up in a flash of monstrous heat. That being said, it might be surprising to discover that we’re living in a period that geologists call The Great Ice Age, a period that spans the last 2.6 million years.

These ice ages have ocurred numerous times throughout human history, and inhuman history counting the millions of years before organisms crawled from the primordial ooze and onto dry land. Understand that 2.6 million years for the Earth is like a blink of an eye for you and me, but it is significant to you and I because it is the period of time that scientists and climatologists can study accurately (well as accurately as we can given technology).

The term Ice Age is actually a misnomer. During a period labeled as such, the planet is not constantly encased in a block of ice, but instead constantly fluctuating between periods of warming and cooling. These climatic episodes are called glacial (cooling) and interglacial (warming) periods. We are currently living through an interglacial period, with the last glacial period ending some 18,000 years ago. But 20,000 years ago, the world did not resemble the hospitable planet we call home. A good portion of the Northern hemisphere was a solid block of ice. North America and much of Northern Europe slept under almost 2 miles of ice. Huge icebergs commuted between parts unknown and Portugal and global sea levels were 328 feet lower than they are today.
100,000 years ago things were different yet again. This period was the last warm interglacial period. Elephants, rhinos, hippos, and cave lions called southern England home.

If you simply looked at the historical record in reference to climate change, you would see 49 cold-warm swings in The Great Ice Age. But of course, you kids today don’t like reading anything longer than the fortune in a fortune cookie. To truly understand the changes the world is going through, and adequately place blame, you would have to read quite a bit and explore information sources that are actually prepared by real scientists who study climate change. That is of course too much trouble. It is so much easier listening to an ex-vice president that couldn’t convince 51% of the voters to elect him to a higher office than it is to actually do some research and form an educated opinion.

So go ahead and preach about global warming and how humans are ruining the planet. I will continue to engage you in debate and make you feel like a moron. I don’t mind, it just gets old rubbing people’s faces in the excrement of their beliefs all the time.