Flip Flopping Politicians

Just when you thought that flip-flopping had reached its worst with John Kerry in 2004, we find that it just got ten times worse. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has changed his party from Republican to Independent.

And I thought that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was bad with his abortion stance.

I will admit, I didn't know that Michael Bloomberg was a Democrat before he was mayor in New York City. More than anything, his actions didn't really show to be any less than a liberal, but still wanted to show himself as a Republican by contributing money to the Bush campaign in 2004 and hosting the RNC.

This leads to a great deal of speculation on whether he will run for President in the upcoming election. Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, Michael Bloomberg?

The first two were legitimate third party candidates, but Michael Bloomberg is just a flip-flop. First he was a Democrat, for a long time, and then for a few years he is a Republican just so he could be the Mayor of New York and make a name for himself to try to become President of the United States. Now that's using the system.

More than ever the term "honest politician" has become an oxymoron and a lost ideal.

Proud to be from New Hampshire

When I was driving home from work today I saw a car that had a veterans license plate. Now while this is not an uncommon thing for me to see, I noticed something when I looked at it today. On the New Hampshire Veterans License Plate it has the Word "Veteran" written on the top of it centered on the plate. The next line down is a line of stars and the following line has the New Hampshire State Motto, "Live Free or Die," words written by New Hampshire native and Revolutionary War General, John Stark.

While Each branch of the military has their own mottoes and slogans, the statement "Live Free or Die" can rightly sum up the entire goal of the United States Military service. Whether you are a fan of the War on Terror or not, or any American fought war for that matter. It is time to remember what this country stands for, freedom. A generally small populous of people have gone out and fought and died for freedom, to defend freedom, so that the majority of America can think freely, speak freely, and live freely.

General John Stark ends his famous words with words more forgotten, "Death is not the worst of evils." Thank you to all who fight and die in the military for our freedom, because the loss of freedom is worse than death. That is what General John Stark fought for and believed, and thats what the military still does to this day.

Logic and Defense

Logic- root word logia from greek meaning word, reason, etc.

Apology - root word apo+logia from greek meaning defense of what one says, or literally from apo+ (from) logia (reason.)

Over the past few weeks I have seen more and more of people in their writings make claims that have no grounds. It is one of the things that is not only taught in High School, but is one of the main features of a communications writing course (I remember in my Communications 101 course, that was a key sticking point in writing the final essay). When you make a claim that something should be a certain way, then you need to back it up with grounds (reasons), this is how logic and apology work.

When St. Augustine, Paley, Plato, and Immanuel Kant make their claims that a Higher Being (God, for all intensive purposes) exists they don't just say, God exists, this is my theory. In all cases they give reasons that God must exist, and this is how people have been writing for years.

If this method is breached or unused, even for a small period of time, it lays the groundwork for logical falicies, false claims of truth (or Truth), and methodology that will be laid to waste.

Congratulations

I wanted to say congratulations to my colleague and co-blogger here at Impending Misfortune, MacLachlan, who has recently finished his undergraduate studies. May your path in life lead you to God's blessings in whatever you do, and know that you are remembered by your friends here in New York.

A Revered Day in American History

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

While I am no history buff, there are certain times when special emphasis is placed in our history. Days such as July 4th, April 4th, and September 11th have all become important dates for our society and are treated with special reverence.

Today, April 19th is one of those days that is considered to be a pivitol point in American History. It was this day 231 years ago that this country took a large step towards freedom with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Being from New England, and especially being close to the battle sites it was important to know the history of the area. I grew up watching the reenactment of the Battle at Lexington Green on television every year and I have been to Olde North Bridge where the Colonists underneath the first American flag, the Bedford Flag, fought against the oppresion of the British who came to subdue them.

While there is no national holiday given to this day, and even in New England only Massachusetts and Maine get the holiday off (Patriot Day, the Monday closest to this day), it should be more respected and revered, just as we treat any other given special day in our history.

So as a proud American, I urge people across the country to revere this day, remember it, and remember the sacrifice that our forefathers, the ones who really knew what it was like to protect freedom, throughout the entirety of our own lives as a memorial to those who came before us.

Here we go...

We are now two days away from the beginning of baseball season. As a hardcore Red Sox fan I am used to the ups and downs of a season. However, with all of that in mind, I am really worried about the Red Sox, they were very inconsistent in Spring Training and they lost once again today to the Phillies. On paper they are one of the best teams, but maybe there was one trade too many for the betterment of "the team."

I am going to stick with my guns and say that the Sox will end up in second in the AL East and not make the playoffs this year, the team is young and it will take a year for the chemistry to really begin working in the clubhouse again for the Red Sox after a huge turnover from last year.

The Worst Diplomacy on the Continent

Just as Jacques Chirac denounced England as having the worst food in the world after Finland, it can now be said that France has the worst diplomacy on the Continent. (The Iranians and the North Koreans are beating them in the global contest.)

On Friday, Chirac, along with three Ministers (Foreign, Finance, and Europe) walked out on the EU Summit in Brussels.

The reason? Expansion of the EU? The War in Iraq? Afghanistan? The Nuclear Crises of Iran and North Korea?

NO.

They left because a French National, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, lobbyist for UNICE, fluent in both English and French, decided to deliver his presentation to the Summit in English, rather than French. Chirac soon interrupted M. Seillière, griping about why Seillière was speaking English.

Seillière responded, rather smartly I must say, “I’m going to speak in English because that is the language of business.” The guy does have a point. President Chirac, who is fluent in English, stormed out with his ministers, much to the consternation of the other 24 European Leaders at the summit. The official line is, "They all mysteriously needed to use the bathroom simultaneously for the duration of M. Seillière's presentation." If it didn't work for George Bush when it was a legitmate "calling." It's not going to now. Although I can imagine a few very profane suppositions as to what those 4 frogs were up to while "out of the office," I'll leave that to you the readers.

It is now official that Jacques Chirac is the Frenchman that gives Frenchman a bad name. He's knows English, but is too arrogant to deign to speak it to other Anglophones. This is the guy that forced Bush to use a translator for the entirety of a state dinner and once asked Tony Blair, who's fluent in French, to be his interpreter.

Is it any wonder why they're the retarded stepchild of Europe?

As Shannon Love puts it, "Can you imagine if Bush did this?"

A Step Forward for Boston

Even though I am not a Catholic, when I see that Archbishop Sean O'Malley has been elevated to Cardinal. It points to a new era for the Boston Diocese. When Cardinal Law was basically forced to step down from his position in the Diocese due to the sexual abuse scandal, the Greater Boston Diocese took a downfall. I remember in New Hampshire, our Bishop, Bishop John McCormack took a blow when he was asked to resign and many of the churches within his realm went under huge scrutiny for nearly everything that happened. With this in mind, Boston's Catholic community nearly went bankrupt due to large settlements that were handed out to hundreds of people who were abused by the clergy.

Since the settlements and court cases have slowed down in the past few years Archbishop O'Malley has rebuilt the Boston Diocese to being once again one of the premiere diocese in the United States (Boston has the third largest population of Catholics in their diocese behind Los Angeles and Chicago if I remember correctly). So today Archbishop Sean O'Malley was given the signs of a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church with his red garb and a golden ring signifying his ties to the church. So today the whole Greater Boston Area should rejoice because it is once again being recognized for its importance in the world once again by the Catholic Church after scandal nearly ruined it.

This is why I Love New Hampshire

Jay Tea at WizBang really amazes me when he writes about New Hampshire. Being from the state myself, I try to be proud in the heritage that is held. So when the Governor (whom I really do not like) tries to change a time-held heritage of the state motto. While it may seem good to the unknowing person really doesn't hold up well for the state as a whole. True, sometimes it is good to change to something that goes away from the past just because the past is old. However, that stated, no one would go around trying to change the words to the National Anthem to the latest pop song "just because." Clearly, the Governor of New Hampshire was out of line when he tried to get these signs to fly in a state that doesn't follow the same grain as the rest of the area.

Why Can't the USA Stand Up to the World in Sports?

After seeing that the USA lost to Mexico in the World Baseball Classic I started to ask myself the question of how come every time the United States goes into International events they play poorly. For example, in the Winter Olympics at Turino the US Hockey Team couldn't even make it past the first round, the US National Basketball Team only could muster up a bronze medal from the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and the US Baseball team didn't even qualify.

So the question stands now, why can't the United States stand up to the rest of the world in International play? My theory is this: even though the United States is considered the premeire place to play nearly every sports (except for Soccer) we do not have national pride in one sport. Look, for example, at Finland -- The 2006 Winter Olympic Champions in Hockey. In Finland most of the people who are into sports are into hockey, not basketball or soccer. The same can be said about the Dominican Republic concerning baseball. In our great attempt to be the best in every sport, as Americans we have lost our pride in everything when we go up to play on the international level. Our pride gets in our way and the best players no longer come out to play when called upon to prove the United States' claim to international dominance.

Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 2:9

I was looking through some devotionals today and I came across this as I was looking for a verse to ponder:

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9

As this is the Lenten season of the church year we tend to prepare ourselves for the most holy and solemn part of the year as Christians it is very easy to just focus on what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross. However, Paul when writing to the Corintheans gives them one command: Love God. For a Lenten ideal we should take our time to remember that while God gave himself for us as a gift we should give to him as he commanded us to do so. If we love God, then our reward will be in heaven as he promised us.

The Most Exciting Time of the Sports Year

March is here. For me, Major League Baseball and the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament highlight this month for me.

After a long winter, spring training has finally begun with high hopes for every team. For the Boston Red Sox, my favorite team, it marks the beginning of a new era and the end of another. It was only two years ago that the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years and now, from that 25 man roster, no more than 10 players are left from that team. Significant loses include the quiet yet useful Bill Mueller, "Cowboy Up" Kevin Millar, and of course the Idiot himself -- Johnny Damon. But with acquisitions such as Mike Lowell and Mark Loretta as well as the beefing up of the 'pen gives the Red Sox a great new hope for this season.

As I mentioned, the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament is also a great feature of the month of March. This week, while I have been home for Spring Break I have watched more basketball than the whole past year combined. I prepare myself for the the joys of the underdogs defeating the higher ranked teams with guesses on my bracket on who will be the champion of all of Division I basketball.

March is a great month, especially for sports fans like myself. And I welcome all to enjoy what is sure to be an exciting month (even if it is a few days late).

The Wonders of Bad Science and the MSM

Seeing as Drudge had to link to a South African site about what one would assume is a major event. I mean how often does the Sahara get a blizzard. But, that might distract from the sensationalism of "CLIMATE CHANGE." The only blizzards that get good press are CGI and 'caused' by global warming.

Anybody Have the 3-Day Forecast for Pandæmonium?

The Wall Street Journal this morning threw my whole weltanschauung into question and made me curious as to whether Hell had frozen over.

I wondered this because the mayor of the French town of Saint-Genis-Pouilly has actually gone and forced me to respect him, while at the same time demonstrating (perhaps) the best way to deal with these Little shepherd Boy cries of "blasphemy." He brought out the riot police, and quadrouple dog-dared them to have their riot. I did like how he described the mood as "quasi-insurrectional." I'm guessing that's putting it lightly.

Unfortunately, I'm dealing the hardcopy, I know, how antiquated, however the article is available online, but I'm not registered, and right now I'm caught up in a self-declared moratorium on registration. Still, a site search of the phrase "Blame it on Voltaire." Ought to bring it up. Also, if somebody who is registered gets the link, I'll be sure to update with it.

The article is published in the increasing wake of the Mohammed Cartoons controversy regarding an event late last year. Last December the town of Saint-Genis-Pouilly put on a performance of Voltaire's Fanaticism, or Mahomet (/PBUH) the Prophet. The 265-year old play is meant to mock all religious fanatics and all religious intolerance. Though, because of its central figure, adherents of the "Religion of Peace" are up in arms. It's no wonder that Voltaire pisses Islamists off, he's the atheistic poster-boy for Secular Europe. If Islamists can silence Voltaire and his proponents, they are one step closer to Eurabia.

The fact that Fanaticism's main theme is how religion can be used to mask and propel political ambitions couldn't have these Muslims on edge. It's that it "insults the prophet." Somehow I'm convinced that anything could be spun as insulting to the prophet. Centuries-old satire insults the prophet. Contemporary caricature insults the prophet. Not tipping the Pizza Guy insults the prophet. See, that's multitasking, you can issue a fatwa and ensure the goodwill (and timely delivery) of countless delivery "people," of course it's hard to deliver food in a burqa.

The article brings up how the "King of Doublethink," coined by my campus's Islamic scholar, Tariq Ramadan, opposed the performance of Fanaticism in 1994, for the 300th birthday of Voltaire. The current co-opponent, Mr. Hafid Ouardiri, operates under the same school of thought, he gone from chanting, "It is forbidden to forbid," to espousing the necessity of forbidding. We should be lenient on Mr. Ouardiri though, because, apparently, Voltaire is responsible for the colonization of his native Algeria and other Muslim countries, NOT the entirety of social-political thought of the 19th Century.

The entire article is pretty good, especially the segment on his life for historical context, however there were several portions where my iron-meter (eye-ron'-met-er) nearly broke. It committed ritual suicide after this:

Mr. Arkhrouf found a copy of the play on the Internet and started shaking with rage as he read the portrayal of Muhammad as a fanatic.

After weeks of journalists of screen, paper, and light using their diction for, seemingly, no other purpose then to piss me off, this was a breath of fresh air.

Still, the article does have another shining example of how Islamists maintain possibly the most distorted worldview, ever. It quotes Al-Qaeda #2 al-Zawahri stating that "in the West," "no one dares to harm Jews . . . nor even to insult homosexuals." First off, kudos to the translator for the use of 'nor.' Nobody really does anymore, and it's nice to see it being used. Second, Ayman, buddy, pal, it is true that nowadays nobody really goes out of their way to harm Jews. Christ, it's been ages since the last good synagogue fire. However, the reason is about 60 years ago Germany "harmed" enough Jews to meet the quota for the whole of Western Christendom. Ever. Besides, since then, Muslims have cornered the market in Jew-harming. As for insulting homosexuals, I don't believe I could even begin to count the number of gay jokes I've told, let alone heard, in my lifetime (middle school, high school, Brokeback). BUT I'M ONLY ONE MAN! However, let's get at the heart of your problem, Ayman, with how we treat homosexuals versus how you treat them. We (America, the West, Great Aunt Sue, etc.) insult homosexuals with words, you and yours, on the other hand, insult them with fist-sized stones.

See, that's the crux of the matter, the problem with Muslims is for some reason they're never taught that while "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words (cartoons, satire, the demagogue on the corner) will never hurt me."

Cross-Posted for the betterment of all at Wizbang Bomb Squad.