While I am relaxing and getting some well needed mental floss I see that the Chicago machine goes to Washington has resorted to outright strongarm tactics to try and get their doomed healthcare plan to pass. While they accuse the Republicans of being partisan out of one side of their mouth the other side is telling their own part members that if they vote against this bill the President won’t campaign for them! I think there’s a pot calling and it appears to be for the kettle in the White House. Wow Political Correctness has really run amok. I almost didn’t use that phrase because it might be considered racist. If it is: So be it. But I digress. So the White House is applying typical Chicago politics to try and get on-the-fence members of their party to sacrifice their careers while public opinion of the bill, the methods, and the whole of the White House dips lower and lower. While I don’t approve of this so-called health care reform, or any other at the federal level, I am highly amused at the process. At this point they are using tactics that might even go against SCOTUS rulings and be enough off the farm that the whole bill gets struck down without ever going into effect. The Democrats are throwing people under the bus on an almost daily basis and Pelosi’s suicide squad likely won’t even gather enough votes to pass this. We’ll have to wait and see but at least the circus is amusing. And, hey, the nation gets to see how they do it in Chicago.

The more I learn about church politics, not churches being political but politics internal to churches, in restoration movement churches the more I am convinced we have failed to restore anything. We don’t operate anything like the first church much less like a family. When a church board is all businessmen and they run the church like a business the only thing I can think about is Christ’s reaction to moneychangers in the temple. The church members are not customers of the church and if we treat them like such we practice not charity, longsuffering, or any other good quality mentioned in the New Testament. That venerable rabbi we claim to follow would have been appalled at the modern church especially at Western church with our seeker-friendly branches, our complete and utter lack of unity, our backbiting, and so much more then we top off the slap in the face to everything Christ taught by having businesses masquerading as churches. As time passes I become more and more disillusioned with the whole of Protestant churches and look toward the East and Orthodoxy. I am not there yet. I remain unconvinced on the one single verse necessary for me to convert. Who knows, an epiphany could be just around the corner.

Well that’s what was on my mind this morning along with Austin traffic sucking almost as bad a Houston and the former’s drives being worse in the rain that the latter with a few sprinklings of excitement while poring over the artist directory for #sxsw.

So if you are in Austin drop me a note and we’ll hook up. I may even let you buy me a drink or a taco. Remember to follow the whole 9b crew through our Austin adventures. You can find us here:

Me:
Twitter
Foursquare
(I don’t bother with facebook much so I am not linking my profile here)

AutopsyIV:
Twitter
Facebook

Kasey Anderson:
Twitter

And of course whatever we manage to actually post to ninebullets.net.

Be sure and hit up our party tomorrow night as well!

Furthermore this unprecedented use of the reconciliation process will open it up to further abuse by sides of the corrupt political spectrum. This cannot and will not be a good thing. It will embolden both parties to use the process in ways that it was never intended to be used whenever partisanship rears its head and they want to bully the other side.

Right now the Democrats are crying about the filibuster process but they seem to forget that it was a Democrat that changed the rules to make it a procedural thing that is quiet and bloodless. Prior to the 1970′s a filibuster required continuous speeches on the floor of the Senate and then Mike Mansfield (D-MT) led a charge to change the rules and make the filibuster a quiet little paper blockade and at the same time changed the cloture requirements from 2/3 to the current 3/5. So the procedural hurdle that the Democrats can’t overcome is one that they put into place. By my count they have enough votes in the Senate to meet the 2/3 requirement that they changed. Now they want to use reconciliation, a tool both parties have used incorrectly in the past, in a manner that it has never been used and possibly in a manner that is not entirely legal.

So if you agree with nationalized health care you should still oppose this process that the President appears to be ready to order his lackeys to follow because it will open up any legislation passed to even more lawsuits beyond the already present problems. It will open the floodgates for either side to shove legislation through that couldn’t have been passed any other way. It will make mockery of the Senate rules and a further mockery of our Senators actually representing us. None of these things is healthy for the country regardless of how you feel about the law they are trying to slide through this back door. This process almost insures that if the legislation makes it through it will be brought before SCOTUS even faster than before and very likely struck down for violating the process necessary to pass laws in this country. It will sign the political death warrant of most of the people involved and power will change hands in a head spinning manner.

Obama is a one term President. He knows it. Congress knows it. The public knows it. He is trying to push his agenda, right or wrong, by any means necessary during that term. He knows that this is an election year. He knows he is leading his party to a slaughter on election day but all he cares about is his legacy and agenda. More and more Democrats are realizing this but with Pelosi doing the same thing they are afraid of being thrown under the bus at any given point. It’s not safe in Washington right now and the powers that be want to make sure they push their agenda down our throats whether we like it or not before they lose the power to do so. It is sickening to be honest. I don’t care what party is in power. This pushing of agendas through back doors and loopholes is wrong.

Call your representatives. Call your congressman. Let them know you do not support them refusing to represent their constituents. Let them know their jobs are on the line. Make your voice heard. I firmly believe that even with reconciliation that health care reform, at least this iteration, won’t make into law but this is a good time to let Washington know they are supposed to represent us and not do what they believe is best for us whether we want it or not. Let them know they are getting too big for their britches and maybe we can change something come election day. I don’t care what letter a person has by their name. If they swore to vote the will of their constituents regardless of their personal beliefs, and I believed they meant it (like that would ever happen), I wouldn’t think twice about voting for them.

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. – G.K. Chesterton

• D & D sets out to prove that “Free” works as a business model
• More Big Media Companies Just Don’t Get It (Be sure to check out my wife’s comments in the thread. You should be able to figure out who she is.)
• Ronald Reagan on Socialized Medicine
• How the Baucus Bill Will Drive Up Healthcare Costs
• The Stimulus is Working, The Stimulus is Working, The Sky is Fall…Oh Wait!
• Anti-RIAA blogger/lawyer not a “vexatious” litigant
• Repo of Freedom of Information Act Documents
• Cutting the Federal Government’s Budget

Something may jump out at me later and inspire me to commentary but for now enjoy the links above. It’s not much but at least I got something up today.

Tony’s post on torture got me thinking. It has been a long time since this topic came up in conversation and it probably won’t since it’s sensitive and inflammatory for most people. I had thought through and taken a position that torture, to a certain degree, could be justified as self-defense in the same manner as war. In my thoughts there were some lines, however hazily defined, that one shouldn’t cross. So I could support things like water-boarding or making Muslims stand around naked in the company of the opposite sex but would never support using pliers to yank our fingernails. I didn’t put much thought into any given method of torture but knew that I had a line drawn at mutilation. There may have been other lines but unless something came up that took me there I hadn’t firmly defined them. I was quite comfortable in my thought process and could argue my position convincingly. Self-defense is justifiable so all I had to do is show how torture could be self-defense. It was quite a nice position to take as it was easy to defend. This position was also one of the laziest positions I have ever taken. I did mental gymnastics to squeeze torture into the self-defense category and then stopped right there. Once it was self-defense I didn’t need to weigh it against my moral compass because I already believe self-defense is a moral act.

Then Tony posted the previously linked article which was inspired by Andrew Sullivan’s piece in The Atlantic. I read Tony’s piece and started evaluating my position and this morning read Andrew’s piece and came to some conclusions. But before I go on to my conclusions here is brief excerpt of Andrew’s article (which you should now go read in full):

…torture is not defined in law or morality by the production of blood or by any specific technique—that would simply invite governments to devise techniques other than those prohibited. Torture is defined by the imposition of “severe mental or physical pain or suffering” to the point when a human being can bear it no longer and tells his interrogators something—true or untrue—to stop what cannot be endured. That’s torture, in plain English.

and

But torture has no defense whatsoever in Christian morality. There are no circumstances in which it can be justified, let alone integrated as a formal program within a democratic government. The Catholic catechism states, “Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions… is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity.” Dignity is the critical word there. Even evil men are human and redeemable. Our faith demands that, even in legitimate punishment or interrogation, the dignity of prisoners must be respected. Our faith teaches that each of us—even Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—is made in the image of God. To violate that imago Dei by stripping and freezing him, by slamming him against a wall, or strapping him to a board to nearly drown him again and again and again, to bombard him with noise and light until he loses his mind, to reduce a human being to a mental and spiritual shell—nothing can justify this for a Christian. Nothing. To wield that power is to wield evil. And such evil is almost always committed by those who believe they are pursuing good.

The four page letter to President Bush from Mr. Sullivan shed a new light on things for me. The stance on torture from a Christian perspective can, in my opinion, be only that it is always wrong. I don’t want that to be the case. My brain wants to think that anything that saves the lives of American soldiers can be justified. I am not comfortable with this position but that’s the amazing thing about right and wrong and that is that right doesn’t always feel good. A quick look at scripture shows up not only what Mr. Sullivan pointed out, we are all made in the image of God, but furthermore that our response to terrorists should be the same as our response to anyone who wrongs us: But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. (Luke 6:27-31 NASB) and Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. (Luke 6:36-37 NASB). I could post more but I think those two verses alone show what our response should be personally and what sort of government response we can support, as Christians, in relation to any situation or even any attack on our country.

I am ashamed to admit my previously held position on torture. Maybe I could rationalize that some of the methods Mr. Sullivan takes Pres. Bush to task for are not actually torture, in fact some have been found not be under the Geneva Convention, but that would simply be rationalization. The methods used were not merciful, they were not doing good to those that hate us, and certainly were not loving our enemies. I can no longer, in good conscience hold my previous position that torture is a means of self-defense used during war time. I am not sure where I will draw the lines this time but I can say, with certainty that my previous position is untenable in the face of own core moral and values and thus has been kicked to curb. What can be justified in light of the scripture posted above I do not know. I do know that the acts committed by our soldiers and listed Mr. Sullivan’s article, for the most part, are indefensible. To be honest I might could see sleep deprivation as a humane method of extracting information but that may be my own desire to have some method, any method, of extracting information from our enemies. It may take a while for me to form a new concrete position on this issue and I probably won’t post about when I do since those things kind of happen in the background and I likely won’t notice but the process has begun.

I think the one thing that Mr. Sullivan and I disagree on is that the current administration should pursue legal action against those involved. I do not condone the acts and am honestly sickened by some of them but I do not believe that going after those who were not directly involved, and the military did that, with these things so far in the past is in the best interest of our country. I take the stand that these things happened and should never happen again. Those directly involved were taken to task over their actions and at some point the pursuit of retribution has to stop. Bush will never authorize anything like this again as he doesn’t have the power. We have no proof how much he knew, though it is obvious he knew some of the atrocities were going on, and at this point we hold these actions and decisions to be derided as incompetent, disgusting, and never to be repeated. We follow the same principals Mr. Sullivan espouses on the treatment of prisoners and we forgive Pres. Bush and the rest who were not directly involved and let this go down in history as a moment of shame for our government and military. Putting the men in governmental position in jail for these acts serves no purpose at this time and wouldn’t act as a preventative measure for any governmental official in the future. It would simply do nothing from those perspective but worse yet it would offer absolution to those who might have had a hand in these acts. They could serve their time and walk away feeling like that had paid for their crimes. We should simply forgive them publicly and without reservation and let God decide on a just reward for their actions.

I had a couple of other issues I wanted to address but this has become one of my longer posts and so those other issues will have to wait for other posts. I hope these political/moral/religious posts give all three of my readers things to think about and I really hope I challenge your views at times. I am not the best writer in the world but if I make the three of you think then all of my drivel here is worth it. And yeah I know this is a day late but it took longer than a day to get it all sorted into a coherent train of thought. Thanks for your patience.

I seem to have lost around 90% of the regular blogs I used to read. Better yet they seem to have lost me. What I mean is that they have gone so far off the deep end since President Obama was elected I can’t stomach them any longer. About half of them are birthers, a bunch of others are pretty much hate filled racists at this point, and some of the others are simply doomsayers. I don’t have time for that lot any more. I have much better things to do with myself than follow around soft headed morons as a cheerleader. So my daily reads are now pretty much technology sites and few folks who haven’t had the koo-aid in the past year or so. I do miss being part of the conservative blogosphere like I was back in the minion days but I think I miss talking to people more than I miss the blog part of it. I am not welcome in many places I used to comment, and by not welcome I simply mean derided and ridiculed, so I don’t go there. It seems like reasonable thought has fled the general public and if you aren’t polarized to either extreme then niether side wants to hear your ideas or thoughts. That’s pretty sad actually but it’s also commentary on the current state of things. I am not sure what that commentary says but I am pretty sure it’s not good.

So here I sit, halfway through the last day before the weekend, surrounded by PHP books and a regex book, posting here in an attempt to pull back and not get forest-for-the-trees syndrome. I am not inspired and I don’t have any exceptional ideas but I do have a bunch of words that may have made sense in the order I spat them out from my fingers to the keyboard and eventually to your screen. I need to look into planning my weekend so it’s not like last weekend but other than that I think I am about done.

Have a great weekend everyone!

via New York Daily News

Gov. Paterson’s proposal to tax soda in New York fizzled, but President Obama believes it may be time to pop a similar sin tax on the nation.

…
“It’s an idea that we should be exploring,” the president said. “There’s no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda. And every study that’s been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda consumption and obesity as just about anything else.”

And therein lies the rub. Soda consumption is “as high” as “just about”. Those are carefully chosen terms my dear friends. They are chosen to give the impression that soda consumption is a major factor in causin obesity when in reality soda is ONLY “as high” a cause as “just about” anything else. Skimming this article you would easily conlcude that Obama believes that soda consumption is a major factor when, in reality, I don’t think he’s that stupid. He has merely found something that he thinks he can get away with taxing by linking it to obesity and getting the public to agree that obesity is a bad thing. And then more new taxes.

Obama acknowledged that the idea could lead to charges that Uncle Sam is trying to dictate personal diets, but he hinted the trade-off may be worth it.

“Look, people’s attitude is that they don’t necessarily want Big Brother telling them what to eat or drink, and I understand that,” Obama said.

“It is true, though, that if you wanted to make a big impact on people’s health in this country, reducing things like soda consumption would be helpful.”

The truth is, President Obama, that we know you want to dictate personal diets. You have handed tobacco over to the FDA, increased the taxes on bulk cigarette tobacco over 500%, increased the taxes on pre-manufactured cigarettes and now you are going after soft drinks. You will go after fast food next if this tax is allowed. I wouldn’t be shocked to see a tax proposed on fast food dollar menus in the name of public health and the so-called health care reform you are trying to shove down our throats. But let me be clear on this: We won’t stand for it. You may get these taxes through while you still have your precious majority but you will find, come the mid-term elections, that you are suddenly a lame duck and we will elect a President that will overturn these outrageous measures you are trying to force through. We will not stand by and watch you use the tax code to socially engineer this country. Mark my words.

Meanwhile Consumer Freedom notes:

The CCF points to a number of studies showing that these kinds of taxes do nothing to address the problem of obesity, as well as new Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) polling data showing that soda taxes are opposed by two-thirds of Americans.
Americans who were polled were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Carbonated soft drinks should carry extra taxes in order to discourage their consumption.” 65% disagreed, while only 28% agreed.

…

In a previously released report titled “Why Soda Bans Don’t Fight Childhood Obesity,” CCF cites a wide array of peer-reviewed health, exercise, and nutrition research that disputes the widely held notion that soda is a cause of obesity, and instead shows that physical inactivity is the single largest contributor to obesity among children.

I guess that inactivity being the leading cause of childhood obesity is one of the things covered by “just about” in President Obama’s statement.

Furthermore Mr. President: Figuring out how to make us skinnier is NOT your job. Figuring out how we should eat is NOT your job. Telling us how to eat healthier using the tax code to punish us for not eating as you desire us to is borderline criminal. Please refer to the tenth amendment to figure out what your job actually entails. And get the hell out of my kitchen, my lunchbox, my kids’ lunchboxes, and my soda machines. I’ll get fat if I want to and if I want to I’ll get healthy and it won’t have any damn thing to do with you.

Some tasteless bastards are using 9/11 imagery to induce fear on other subjects:

World Wildlife Fund Reaches a New Low via AdFreak

Just in time for the anniversary of 9/11 comes this tasteless, nightmarish print ad for the World Wildlife Fund, showing dozens of planes headed for lower Manhattan.

It will always be too soon for this

For some reason these bastards think that invoking the imagery of the horrors inflicted on New York, and the whole United States by proxy, is a good way to get people to listen to their message. I can’t even see their message past the red curtain of blood that descended when I saw this image. It only gets better because this atrocity of an advertisement, this slap in the face to everyone who died on 9/11 and their families, won a damn award. I cannot fathom who would come up with this imagery and think it’s a good idea much less the wastes of skin who would give it an award! I am a peaceful man for the most part but I can honestly say I would do the jail time for the assault that would occur should I ever meet anyone involved in this piece of filth. There are no words to describe just how angry this makes me and even fewer to describe just how little attention something like this gets from the MSM.

And to the World Wildlife Fund: You will never see a single penny of my money unless it is to put your organization out of business. Nor will my children attend any event even remotely related to your so-called charity. You have no right to place your message on the graves of those who died on 9/11 and you are frankly sick for having done so. I will see to it that anything I can do to insure your receive no money from my friends, family, and co-workers is done. I will stand by this even if it means not going to the zoo with my children. You disgust me and I will play no part in helping you create more advertisements like the one above. I know you don’t care about a single family but I will tell everyone I can think of and urge them to do the same. I have scraped things off of the bottom of my boots that are worth than you.

Moving on…

Busted For Slapping Stranger’s Crying Child via The Smoking Gun

SEPTEMBER 2–Meet Roger Stephens. The Georgia man, 61, was shopping Monday morning at a Walmart in Stone Mountain when he crossed paths with Sonya Matthews and her two-year-old daughter Paige. The child was crying, which apparently greatly perturbed Matthews. “If you don’t shut that baby up I will shut her up for you,” Stephens warned Matthews, according to a Gwinnett County Police Department report. Moments later, Stephens acted on his threat, slapping Paige “across the face approximately four or five times.”

Mr. Stephens is lucky it wasn’t one of my children crying in Walmart. The threat of “I will shut her up for you” is enough for me to cause someone to cease to breathe. No-one, and I mean no-one, will ever lay hands on my child like that. While Mr. Stephens is being charged with a felony in GA there is still a little girl who was slapped by a stranger. Here in Texas he wouldn’t be charged with anything his estate would be charged for a burial plot. Thank your lucky stars Mr. Stephens that you weren’t anywhere near the Lone Star State when you did this. You wouldn’t have lived for the police to arrest you.

Where in the world does someone get off thinking they have any right at all to slap the child of a stranger? What kind of person thinks that it is alright? Luckily the little girl in question sustained nothing more than mild redness to face. Our prayers will be with her and her family because there are bound to wounds that can’t be seen. As for Mr. Stephens our prayers will be simply that he receives justice and nothing less.

And for the final piece…

I normally don’t quote World Net Daily because they are, for the most part, completely and totally out of touch with reality. The publication is the right wing news version of Star and The National Inquirer to be completely frank. But this piece cites official sources from the state in question. I am too lazy to go find someone else commenting on it so I’ll make do with the WND piece.

You’d Get Shot Dead In Texas Trying This via World Net Daily

A “pandemic response bill” currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance.

If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.

Even their scary list of things this bill allows actually matches up with the bill:

As stated in the bill, upon declaration by the governor that an emergency exists that is considered detrimental to public health or upon declaration of a state of emergency, a local public health authority, with approval of the commissioner, may exercise the following authorities (emphasis added):

• to require the owner or occupier of premises to permit entry into and investigation of the premises;

• to close, direct, and compel the evacuation of, or to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated any building or facility, and to allow the reopening of the building or facility when the danger has ended;

• to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated, or to destroy any material;

• to restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons;

• to require a health care facility to provide services or the use of its facility, or to transfer the management and supervision of the health care facility to the department or to a local public health authority;

• to control ingress to and egress from any stricken or threatened public area, and the movement of persons and materials within the area;

• to adopt and enforce measures to provide for the safe disposal of infectious waste and human remains, provided that religious, cultural, family, and individual beliefs of the deceased person shall be followed to the extent possible when disposing of human remains, whenever that may be done without endangering the public health;

• to procure, take immediate possession from any source, store, or distribute any anti-toxins, serums, vaccines, immunizing agents, antibiotics, and other pharmaceutical agents or medical supplies located within the commonwealth as may be necessary to respond to the emergency;

• to require in-state health care providers to assist in the performance of vaccination, treatment, examination, or testing of any individual as a condition of licensure, authorization, or the ability to continue to function as a health care provider in the commonwealth;

• to waive the commonwealth’s licensing requirements for health care professionals with a valid license from another state in the United States or whose professional training would otherwise qualify them for an appropriate professional license in the commonwealth;

• to allow for the dispensing of controlled substance by appropriate personnel consistent with federal statutes as necessary for the prevention or treatment of illness;

• to authorize the chief medical examiner to appoint and prescribe the duties of such emergency assistant medical examiners as may be required for the proper performance of the duties of office;

• to collect specimens and perform tests on any animal, living or deceased;

• to exercise authority under sections 95 and 96 of chapter 111;

• to care for any emerging mental health or crisis counseling needs that individuals may exhibit, with the consent of the individuals

State and local agencies responding to the public health emergency would be required to exercise their powers over transportation routes, communication devices, carriers, public utilities, fuels, food, clothing and shelter, according to the legislation.

The scariest part of this is that has passed the house in MA and is waiting for approval in the senate! Three other states have similar laws now in place allowing authorities to isolate people, imprison people, and fine people for not accepting the vaccine if they are deemed risks to public health:

• Florida
  voluntary home quarantine agreement
  quarantine to residence order
  quarantine to residence order (non-compliance)
  quarantine to facility order
  quarantine detention order
  quarantine of facility order
  building quarantine closure order
  area quarantine closure order.
• Iowa
  voluntary home confinement
  home quarantine
  home isolation
• North Carolina
  draft isolation order
• Washington
  emergency detention orders

Some of these allow for states to imprison people without bail amongst things. There are doctors worldwide who are scared the vaccine will cause more deaths than the flu and yet states here are, in essence, forcing people to be vaccinated or imprisoned. Nothing like this is on the table in Texas and with good reason. People here would resist and do so in a manner in which would not be condusive to law enforcement being effective. The states listed above are a travesty. The fact these laws exist and are making their way through state’s legislatures is sickening. I understand people being scared due to swine flu but even with a “global pandemic” the death toll is a lower percentage than the seasonal flu. This reaction from the states is scary. Here in Houston we still enforcement of certain curfews passed using emergency procedures during Ike. If you think that states and their law enforcement arms will lay down these bills and not use them after the swine flu scare is over then you are a fool.

Now is the time to check out what is being pushed through in your state. Don’t let them sneak one of these bills into law. Call your state reps, state senators, and governor and let them know how you feel. Tell them to do some actual research and not just jerk knees at media reports. Call your local media and demand coverage. Do whatever you but don’t let a bill like these pass in your state and have done nothing.

I feel icky having used WND as a source but there’s not a lot I can do about it. Sources are what they are I guess and at least I did my own research to make sure they weren’t announcing the swine flu equivalent of the bat boy. Sorry I missed the Monday Mix Tape I was sick and went home two hours into my day. I’ll get one up before the week is out, I even have a theme in mind. I know you are here for the music anyway…

I know many of the conservative sites I read will be posting on the death of Senator Kennedy in a manner that is, in essense, nothing more than burning his body in effigy. I hope that I have removed any site that would do that from my reading list but should I run across any today, or in the near future, I will cease being a reader of those sites. I hope you have all read the two links above Who The Hell Is Romeo Sid Vicious? and What Is This Place so that you are not the least bit shocked when I say this: Any comment, from anyone, that derides, insults, or attempts to tear down Senator Kennedy will not be approved if held for moderation and any comment not held for moderation will be censored upon my seeing it. I want to make it clear that I had nothing but ire for Senator Kennery’s policies and most of the causes he supported but I will not allow this website to be used as a place to impugn the dead.

I ask all of my readers to pray for the family and friends that Senator Kennedy left behind as well as the nation that is mourning the loss of one it’s longest serving senators. Regardless of how we feel about his politics he was a man who bled just like you and I and in the end died just like and I will some day. His family, friends, and nation need your support and prayers today.

R.I.P Senator Edward Kennedy

I am not yet certain whether I would advocate a travel boycott by others of the state of Arizona; I want to learn more about Arizona’s gun laws and how they compare with those of other states. But I am shocked beyond measure by reports that earlier this week, nearly a dozen persons, including one with an assault rifle strapped about his shoulders and others with pistols in their hands or holsters, were openly congregating outside a hall at which President Obama was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

First and foremost I saw quite a lot of this footage while MSNBC was trying to paint a law abiding black man as a white supremecist and not a single person had a pistol “in their hands”. I doubt Mr. Frommer has ever been to AZ and if he has he never bothered getting out of the car. The first day I was in Phoenix I saw open carry when I stopped to buy gas and by the second week I didn’t even think about it anymore because it was just part of life there. Nevermind that these folks were following their local laws concerning the carry of firearms and they were very respectful about the whole deal. Mr. Frommer has more to say on the matter (but you knew he did, didn’t you?)

For myself, without yet suggesting that others follow me in an open boycott, I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest. I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there. And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more. And I will begin thinking about whether tourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona.

I am sure Arizona will miss you Mr. Frommer. However the threat to democrazy here is you and your ilk. People carry loaded weapons in the open all over Arizona every day and in my home state, Texas, we carry them where you can’t see them. Your scaremongering is almost amusing but it lacks the bile to really make me chuckle. You will begin thinking about tourists safeguarding themselves? I assure you that in any city in Arizona your tourists are less likely to come to harm than they are in New York or Washington D.C. but those nasty people in Arizona can carry icky guns, ON THEIR HIPS, WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM, whatever shall we do…

According to the Phoenix, Arizona, police, people with guns including assault rifles do not need permits in Arizona, but can simply carry such weapons with them, openly and brazenly, when they gather to protest a speaker at a public event. The police also acknowledge that about a dozen people carrying guns, including one with an AR-15 assault rifle, milled about outside the event at which President Obama spoke.

Oh we aren’t ready for a solution yet. Let’s use scary words some more! Texas doesn’t require a permit for an AR-15 and one can be carried openly anywhere in the state save some places restricted by laws that exist in AZ as well. We carry our pistols subtely but in the same places and the same manner as folks in AZ. You want to try and lead people to believe that this is something unique to AZ but it isn’t and it certainly isn’t just “when they gather to protest” but rather all day every day. Why should law abiding citizens be asked not to excersize their rights just because POTUS is in town. He wasn’t scared but now you have your liberal panties in a knot over a few people carrying weapons legally. I am guessing you have an opinion on what we should do…

I would feel as I do regardless of the political identity of the speaker whom these thugs attempted to intimidate. The continued tolerance of extremists carrying guns is a frightening development which strikes at the heart of the political process and endangers the ability to carry out a reasoned debate. Is there any responsible citizen of the United States who believes that people should carry guns to a public debate or speech? If Ronald Reagan were delivering a political talk in Phoenix, Arizona, would they have felt it was proper for protesters with guns to mill about outside the hall from which he would leave?

I’d appreciate hearing your comments. The question is, should we all organize a travel boycott of Arizona until this tolerance of armed intimidation is ended, probably by an act of the Arizona legislature?

Well my comments are above and below this line. I have no desire to comment over on your site you scared little man. Whether or not I feel it is proper to carry guns to a debate or speech has nothing to do with the issue and frankly neither does your opinion on the matter. These thugs, as you call them, are ordinary people who are law abiding and merely using their rights. It is called a show of strength and it is not a scary thing. I looked over your site and when the Black Panthers have shown up across the nation with AR-15s as “security” for someone they support you have said nothing. I suppose it’s alright for one side to tote out their scary looking guns but not the other. I call complete and total bullshit on your statement you wouldn’t care which party was speaking. You were silent on the Black Panthers intimidating voters and didn’t suggest that people would feel unsafe traveling there. You are a hypocrite and nothing more. You and your ilk represent what’s wrong with the world today. Be a man, take off the panties, and try firing a gun for once. It won’t be so scary once you know they work. And as for your suggestion that you arrange a travel boycott of AZ until they remove the rights of their law abiding citizens? I bet there’s more than enough NRA members that’ll detour their vacations right through AZ to make up for your panty-waisted ilk that may or may not answer your shrill cry for a boycott. Get real Mr. Frommer and stick to travel. Leave the politics to someone else.

bob_edwards: You can’t be both: a Democrat and a Christian
me: @bob_edwards I think that statement shows a myopic view of Christianity to be perfectly honest.
bob_edwards: @romeosidvicious Is God’s Word a myopic view of morality. I think you have an argument with God, not me. He wrote the position piece, Bible
me: @bob_edwards HAHAHA now you’ve made me laugh. The Democrats, while misplaced and ill managed, show more support for charity than Repubs.
me: @bob_edwards I could make a very strong argument, in the same vein, for not being able to be a Christian and a Republican as well.
me: @bob_edwards Party affiliations dont matter one way or another to God I don’t think. Republicans are just as evil as Dems, and both are evil
me: @bob_edwards Many devout Christians are forced to choose between two parties that are evil at their core. Why pick on one party?
bob_edwards: @romeosidvicious A major plank in Democrat party is a woman’s right to choose. Take up your problem with God.
me: @bob_edwards And Republicans have gone into war, killing innocents, without Biblical justification. Which evil do you want?
me: @bob_edwards Scripture, from a Protestant standpoint, doesn’t draw a line at one sin being worse than another. So both parties are evil.
me: @romeosidvicious I don’t support the Democrats by any means, don’t get me wrong, I just see the evil in the Republican party as well.
bob_edwards: @romeosidvicious One party’s official position contains a plank supporting baby killing: Democrats.
me: @bob_edwards James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
me: @bob_edwards According to scripture both parties are just as guilty. You have made the sin of abortion worth more than other sins.
me: @bob_edwards And that position cannot be backed with scripture. It is myopic and man made. Both parties are evil according to scripture.
me: @bob_edwards We, man, don’t get to pick one sin to be worse than others regardless of how emotional that sin makes us.
bob_edwards: @romeosidvicious A woman’s choice was made the night she had unprotected sex. Can’t punish the child for the sin of the father/mother.

This was one of those moments. Why are people like this on my side religiously and politically? This myopic view, that one sin is greater than another, is hogwash. If we want to be clear on it then we are all guilty and none any less than any other. Statements like Mr. Edwards made drive wedges between Christians and widen the chasm between us and the world. You all know I do not support the right to abortion on demand and struggle with “mother’s life in danger”. This man has taken one sin and made it into a creed by which he can judge the Christianity of others. Some people do this with abortion, some with homosexuality, and still others with things like the war in Iraq, and so on and on and on. What this does is allow us to feel superior to others. It also allows us to be secure in our belief that we are saved. The problem is that scripture is damn clear that we are not superior to our fellow Christians regardless of their beliefs on any given issue and that our salvation is between us and God and to be worked out with fear and trembling. Using various sins as a barometer to gauge the “Christian-ness” of others, in my opinion, is the sin of pride from the start. I can disagree with a devout Christian on the topic of pacifism and still be brothers with that man. I can accept that someone buys the lies and believes women will die in back alleys if abortion is outlawed and is struggling with that but wholly opposes the military conflicts the US is engaged in. None of these things preclude the people I mentioned from being my Christian brethren. People that exlude other from Christianity based on a sin or two they have raised to level not in scripture.

The quote above is only the start of the conversation. Much more has transpired while I have been writing this. I won’t post any more of it, the above is just illustrating a point, but suffice it to say Mr. Edwards is not changing his mind. I firmly believe that attitudes and positions like his are more damaging to Christianity than anything the liberals have tried to do or anything done to the church by non-Christians. Here is the kicker: Mr. Edwards is also my brother in Christ and as much so as the people he would exclude from God’s kingdom. I came to the realization a long time back that I wouldn’t be shocked about who was in heaven but I might be shocked by who wasn’t. So I hope that Mr. Edwards finds the love that is supposed to shine through us to the world and comes to know the peace that is given to us. I struggle with tought issues all the time and I spend a lot of the time thinking “There but by the grace of God go I”. I am a sinner and saved only by grace. I won’t judge the salvation of others whether they agree with me or not and certainly not based on US political party affiliation.