Religion and Politics

Two great tastes that taste great together!

Or, for the sarcastically challenged... WTF?!









I've got nothing. It is total insanity. The only person I'll vote for must profess to be not religious or at least not mention their religion and agrees to sit on their hands for four years.

What if people are stupid?

Lately I've been questioning my political views to some extent. I believe that the government should stay out of my business. I believe that people need to learn to take care of themselves again and stop expecting Uncle Sam to protect them.

I can't find the quote but it seems like someone famous once said something about the fact that some people lack the ability to reason and thus you have the need for a government.

I was complaining to my mother a while back because she sent me one of those chain emails about Obama being a Muslim and out to do us all in because he's been trained since he was a wee little tike.

Then, I was out with one of my friends and was telling him about this email from my mother and he couldn't believe how people could be so stupid! -- he's a big Obama fan.

So, I was telling him that if I had my way, I'd vote for Ron Paul. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Yeah, but did you hear about him? He's a racist who published that newspaper."

What is this world coming to? Are people really this stupid? Do we believe everything we read? Even if people do things in their past, they are allowed to change. Why do we let random media stories sway are opinions so drastically?

I've always been a "walk a mile in his shoes" kind of person. When I see someone getting a bad rap by the media I always wish I could talk to them so I could have my own opinions. We are promised innocence until proven guilty, but I don't think the founding fathers knew about the power of Television -- not to mention the Internet.

Why we love to hate Microsoft

I am a geek.

I discovered computers when I was 11 and never looked back. In 1993 I built my first Intel computer running Win 3.1.

2 years later I installed Win 95 as soon as it was available.

I've installed Linux. I discovered Unix in 1992 at my first job out of college. I think it was SCO.

Personally, I like Linux a lot better than Windows. I like the flexibility it provides. The first thing I install on my new Window's machines is Cygwin so I can get my bash shell going on.

So, earlier this year I built a new PC. E8400 Dual Core Intel processor, 4 gigs of RAM, etc. It is the bomb. I installed Windows Vista. I bought a DirectX 10 compatible Video card.

I do this because everyone I know uses Windows. And everyone I know also knows I am a geek. I have to know all about Windows so that I can answer all of their questions. It's just easier. People expect it.

MAC's make me feel stupid. I know nothing about them. I've heard that they are based on a flavor of Unix but that's about it. I've never owned one and I've never successfully solved anyone's MAC problem. Maybe they don't have problems.

How did Microsoft get to where they are? Was it Bill Gates? Was he in the right place at the right time or is he a marketing computer geek nerd genius? He was born October 28th. That makes him a Scorpio. I'd say he's probably a marketing genius and lies a lot. I know all about Astrology.

Memorial Day

Our military is the best in the world. I don't always agree with the Commander In Chief, but I love our military. You've got 18 year olds out there putting themselves in harm's way for people they don't even know. They are old enough to die because someone told them to, but they are not old enough to drink. They are members of the best team in the world. This Rahr's for you.

Quit whining about gas prices

From 2002 to 2004 I spent a lot of time in Germany. Back then the exchange rate was about $1.25 per Euro. I think today it's more like $1.50 per Euro.

Every time I put gas in my rental car it cost me around 50 Euro or about $60. I drove small cars. I figure they held around 12 gallons of gas. Everything over there is in liters of course.

Long story short. I'm nowhere close to that yet. The most I've spent to fill up my little Caliber has been about $43. So, we haven't caught up yet to where Europe was 5 years ago. But, we whine louder.

For the curious, the most expensive gas in the world is about $18.62 per gallon. I think the current price in Germany is about $8.65 per gallon. If you are really hard up, you can move to Argentina. It's 12 cents per gallon there.

It amazes me that the great USA can decide in 1960 to put a man on the moon and be there by 1969, but we are still dependent upon foreign oil. There is something not quite right about that.

What did FLDS do wrong in Eldorado?

Today, I think out loud.

I've just read an article about that crazy FLDS compound in Eldorado. 400+ kids removed from their parents.

Did Texas overreact?

As far as politics go I lean way towards Libertarian. I believe that if you are not hurting anyone, then you should be left alone. Drugs should be legalized. If I want to do drugs all day then I should be allowed to as long as no one else gets hurt. As soon as my actions hurt someone else then it's a crime.

Having said that, I also believe that religions brainwash folks. There are probably a rare few that don't, but the majority do. If I raise a child and from the time the child is born I teach them about a supreme being that will send them to Hell for an eternity of suffering if they don't do his wishes. Then, I am committing a crime. I am hurting that child. You are brainwashing a child by saying something is factual when it's not.

If I raise a child to believe that murder is okay and it's important to kill people and get away with it. Then I should be locked up. That's not right. It's brainwashing.

Raising a kid to be a Christian is different to some degree. Normal Christian doctrine doesn't involve hurting anyone. But these folks crossed the line. They've raised their little girls to believe it's okay to be married to old men and pregnant when they are 13. They've raised their little boys to believe it's okay to have more than one wife and that their wives should do what they say no matter what. It's part of God's plan. They have to do it or they'll burn in Hell forever. It's hard to get my mind around it.

Today, several (30 or so I think) mothers of these children won in a trial versus Texas saying that it was illegal for Texas to take away their children. I believe that they are right. The way Texas law enforcement handled this whole charade was and still is a mess.

I also believe that the parents at FLDS are wrong. But how can you criminalize brainwashing? At what point does it become brainwashing?

Kids are getting into trouble all the time and I reckon 99% of the time it can be traced back to bad parenting. If your parents do crack then their children will do it also. Children take after their parents.

Morally and logically it offends me. Any kind of brainwashing is offensive and this FLDS stuff has brainwashing written all over it. Go read "The Door to December" sometime. Somehow we have to let all children be free to choose.

The Prognosis of House

As a rule, I don't watch TV. However, TV is not what it used to be. I also don't read the paper. I get my news from the Internet and I only read the news I'm interested in.

But, with the advent of DVR and different TV recording devices there are a couple of shows that I record and then watch when I have nothing better to do. "Bones" is one. "House" is the other.

Last night I had nothing better to do so I watched the season finale of House. On one hand it was disappointing. It had to have been the worst episode of House ever. I hated it. I patiently watched to the end of the episode waiting for it to become good and it never did.

On the other hand it was good because when the next season starts I'll be saving myself an hour per week where I can do something more entertaining. In one hour House went from my favorite TV show to one that sucks. Bones was good.