Now I Don't Want to Get Off On a Rant Here

"Future generations will probably look back years from now and wonder why [the BP Gulf oil spill] didn’t galvanize the nation into changing course.  The saddest lesson of all from this disaster so far is the one we didn’t learn."

From a USAToday editorial

Conservative radio host Rusty Humphries asked Sarah Palin whether she planned to “make the [Obama] birth certificate an issue” if she runs for president in 2012.  “I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue,” Palin replied.

Whereas Colorado Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck has once again talked himself into some trouble, this time by calling certain tea-party activists “dumbasses” for questioning the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate.

And finally, FactCheck.org has now “seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate.  We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship.  Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false.  We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as ‘supporting documents’ to this article.  Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.”

A conservative friend sent me this email:

Fellow Conservative,

Wednesday, a federal judge in California gave us a valuable reminder of how out of control our judiciary really is, and how the political class in our country is out of touch with the American people.

Ninth Circuit Judge Vaughn Walker took it upon himself to overturn the will of the voters of California and redefine marriage to include homosexuality – and mandate that government recognize gay marriage.

I believe we should not discriminate against people for their sexual orientation or any other reason.  But I also believe that activist judges should not overturn the will of the people, regardless of how intolerant those people are.

So two wrongs make a … wrong.

How to resolve this conflict?  Remove one of the last bastions of religion in government: marriage.  Marriage should reside exclusively in the church, where each religion can define what constitutes a proper marriage.  Whereas government should manage civil unions, which should be available to any two consenting adults.

Coal is so 1814.  We are relying on 200-year-old technology (coal) and 120-year-old technology (oil) to drive our 21st century economy.  These resources are dirty to produce, dirty to consume, increasingly expensive, often supplied by countries that want us dead, and limited to only a few decades of supply remaining. 

Read my entire article at Earth-Save.

There is considerable debate about whether it can rain oil.  Some oil industry officials claim it’s impossible because oil cannot bond to water, and therefore oil cannot be carried high up into the atmosphere to eventually fall as rain. 

But a report by the beleaguered and now-renamed MMS says that up to 75% of light crude oil can evaporate.  If oil can evaporate, then perhaps it can be carried up into the cloud as vapor, condense, and fall with water as rain.

It’s also been noted that oil which has been treated with certain chemical dispersants changes properties so that it does bond to water.  In which case, it seems possible that dispersant-treated oil could eventually fall as rain.

Regardless, this video and many others on YouTube claim to show it raining oil.  We may find out for sure with a new tropical storm building in the Gulf of Mexico.

You can never underestimate the intelligence of the American people.  You can safely bet that citizens know more American Idol finalists than Supreme Court justices.

The respected Pew Research Center has created a news quiz that tests our knowledge of current events.  There are no tricks – just a simple test with 12 quick questions that will take you only a minute to finish:

Pew Research Quiz

The results are shocking.  It’s a bit scary to realize how little our citizens know about what’s going on in our world today.  Some demographics:

• Republicans, on average, answer one more question correctly than Democrats.
• Older people fare much better on most questions than do young people.
• Men do better than women.
• Only 42% of respondents answered at least half the questions correctly.

Turns out that FoxNews is fair and balanced after all: almost half of its audience is homophobic.

TMZ is reporting that the 1999 Academy of Country Music “New Artist of the Year” has come out of the closet.  Country star Chely Wright, who scored a huge hit in 1999 with the song, “Single White Female,” formally announced on the Today show and in People magazine that she is a lesbian.

As TMZ says: “This is a big deal in the country world.  Chely is rolling the dice on her career … it’s unclear how traditionally-conservative country fans will react.”

Apparently her conservative fans reacted with intolerance and bigotry.  FoxNews included this poll with its article on Wright:

And true to the FoxNews motto of “Fair & Balanced,” nearly half the respondents demonstrated that oh-so-unattractive aspect of most religions: intolerance.

A Republican friend is ranting about Congress and its all-time low 11% approval rating.  His disgust with Congress is especially high after its passing of the landmark health care reform bill.  Here are my thoughts:

No doubt Congress has sucked the past decade. Pelosi/Reid have been especially inept, barely able to accomplish anything, even with a super-majority in Congress.

But in my opinion, Obama and Congress did accomplish the most important single act by our federal government so far this century.  America has finally shown that we are not only a nation of raw power but also compassion.

(more…)

If you believe that the media is “fair & balanced,” then I have some swampland in Florida I’d like to sell you. 

Ever since the Big 3 TV networks lost their grip on the evening news and gave way to the 24-hour cable and Internet news cycle, the amount of objective news in the mainstream media has decreased dramatically to make way for a new brand of “infotainment.” 

News is now a profit center, and the best way to make money in today’s crowded information marketplace is to take a point of view and sensationalize.  So instead of Walter Cronkite saying “That’s the way it is,” we now have Glenn Beck calling President Obama “a racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people.”

Just to demonstrate this point, I captured the front page of four major mainstream news websites and two political websites on the day that Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  A polarizing event like this allows us to instantly see the organization’s bias.  Note that I had to erase identifying information from two of the screen captures, but otherwise these images are untouched.

See the images >>

South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” during President Obama’s health care speech to Congress on Wednesday.  Wilson’s outburst came when Obama denied that his proposed health care legislation would provide free health coverage to illegal immigrants. (read more)

Now was Wilson truly calling the President a liar, or was it just one of those colloquialisms, meaning “get out of here!” or “that’s crazy”?

Wilson’s House Web site crashed Wednesday night after his national heckler debut.  He also took a beating on Twitter for breaching protocol.  House of Representatives rules expressly prohibit lawmakers from calling the president a “liar” or accusing him of “lying.”  Apparently there must also be a law in there somewhere that prohibits balancing the budget.

Wilson exercised his First Amendment rights by talking up during Obama’s speech.  Our country was built on the foundation of being able to make an ass of oneself.  Obama opponents may cheer Wilson’s fourth-grade stunt, but it shows a terrible lack of respect.  Could you imagine what would’ve happened if someone in Congress had stood up when Bush was chanting “weapons of mass destruction” and called Bush a liar?  Hmm, on second thought, maybe Wilson is really on to something here.