The Wacky World Views of TJ Shelby

Obama and the Birthers

2011-04-27T18:57:00.004-06:00

Obama released his birth certificate today. Whew. Now hopefully these Bigfoot conspiracy theorists turned political hounds can FINALLY shut up about this and the perpetual nonsense can FINALLY stop. Uh...maybe not. As I've been trolling message boards, blogs and Facebook eagerly looking for the opportunity to drop the smug "I told you so" whenever and wherever possible, imagine my surprise to see that this issue is FAR from over.

In fact, what should have ultimately stamped out the crazy only seems to have transformed it into Crazy 2.0. I really don't know how to respond when evidence is rejected simply because it doesn't confirm your position. That's like religion. Oh wait. We are dealing with the Religious Right here. Okay now it makes a little more sense. Well maybe "makes a little more sense" is the wrong way to phrase that...

Dostoyevsky once penned: “Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic.”

See, that's what I meant by "makes a little more sense."

I frequently get accused of doing that which I call others out for, namely, pulling party line regardless of the situation. You know, like Republicans requiring a different standard of Obama (produce your Birth certificate, school records, "made in the usa" baby-binkie from his infancy, etc) than has been required of any President yet.

Although, I'll grant you that the GOP did thoroughly reject Romney for his Mormonism almost as bad as they did for Obama being a Muslim. Of course, the big difference there is that Romney actually is a Mormon...

Anyhow, to prove I'm not a party-liner, let me propose a scenario and how I would react.

Let's assume Sarah Palin wins the next election and becomes President (come on, take a hit from a bong if that's what it takes for you to take this imaginary journey with me) of the United States of America.

Let's also assume that the Democrats learn from the Republican's masterful political strategies and they embrace MSNBC as their official media propagandizing mechanism. The Dems, in conjunction with every MSNBC talk show host, begin a brutal smear campaign of President Palin, attacking her level of mental intelligence. They focus on questioning her intelligence for believing that the earth is 6,000 years old. Word leaks that a "Palin IQ Test" exists. Grass-roots organizations generate pressure for her to make public her IQ test score to prove her mental competency is above levels of those we generally consider "unaccountable for their actions."

The Palin administration ignores this based upon the idiocy of the issue at hand but these neanderthal grass-root patriotic Democrats just want answers. There is an easy solution. Just reveal the IQ test results. If there is nothing to hide why hasn't President Palin released the results? She becomes so bogged down with the insanity of the people she has been elected to govern that she finally just decides to release them. Issue over?

No, of course, not. The evil puppet-masters that are pulling her strings have obviously just had time to fake the test results to show that she shouldn't be wearing a helmet in her day-to-day activities.

I want you Birthers to know that this is EXACTLY how I think you come off to the normal people of the world. However, in the (hopefully) improbable case that this scenario actually comes to pass - Just know that I will be equally outspoken in her defense as I am with this ludicrous birther issue.

For Those Interested in Mormon History

2011-04-16T09:29:00.005-06:00

This is the 1832 account of the First Vision written in Joseph Smith's own handwriting.

Handwriting: Frederick G. Williams & Joseph Smith Jr. (the story itself is in the handwriting of Joseph Smith Jr.) recorded between summer 1832 and November 1832. Spelling is from the original.

A History of the life of Joseph Smith Jr an account of his marvilous experience and of all the mighty acts which he doeth in the name of Jesus Chist the son of the living God of whom he beareth record and also an account of the rise of the church of Christ in the eve of time according as the Lord brought forth and established by his hand [firstly] he receiving the testamony from on high secondly the ministering of Angels thirdly the reception of the holy Priesthood by the ministring of Aangels to adminster the letter of the Gospel - the Law and commandments as they were given unto him - and the ordinencs, forthly a confirmation and reception of the high Priesthood after the holy order of the son of the living God power and ordinence from on high to preach the Gospel in the administration and demonstration of the spirit the Kees of the Kingdom of God confered upon him and the continuation of the blessings of God to him &c--------

I was born in the town of Charon in the [state] Of Vermont North America on the twenty third day of December A D 1805 of goodly Parents who spared no pains to instructing me in [the] christian religion at the age of about ten years my Father Joseph Smith Siegnior moved to Palmyra Ontario County in the State of New York and being in indigent circumstances were obliged to labour hard for the Support of a large Family having nine children and as it required the exertions of all that were able to render any assistance for the Support of the Family therefore we were deprived of the bennifit of an education Suffice it to Say I was mearly instructed in reading {and} writing and the ground [rules] of Arithmatic which constuted my whole literary acquirements. At about the age of twelve years my mind became seriously imprest with regard to the all importent concerns for the wellfare of my immortal Soul which led me to Searching the Scriptures believeing as I was taught, that they contained the word of God thus applying myself to them and my intimate acquaintance with those of differant denominations led me to marvel excedingly far I discovered that [they did not {adorn}] {instead} Of adorning their profession by a holy walk and Godly conversation agreeable to what I found contained in that Sacred depository this was a grief to my Soul thus from the age of twelve years to fifteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the sittuation of the world of mankind the contentions and divions the wickeness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the {of the} minds of mankind my mind become excedingly distressed for I became convicted of my Sins and by Searching the Scriptures I found that {mand} [mankind] did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatised from the true and liveing faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament and I felt to mourn for my own Sins and for the Sins of the world for I learned in the Scriptures that God was the same yesterday to day and forever that he was no respecter to persons for he was God for I looked upon the sun the glorious luminary of the earth and also the moon rolling in their magesty through the heavens and also the Stars Shining in their courses and the earth also upon which I stood and the beast of the field and the fowls of heaven and the fish of the waters and also man walking forth upon the face of the earth in magesty and in the Strength of beauty whose power and intiligence in governing the things which are so exceding great and marvilous even in the likeness of him who created {him} [them] and when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed well hath the wise man Said {the} [it is a] fool [that] Saith in his heart there is no God my heart exclained all all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotent and omnipreasant power a being who makith Laws and decreeeth and bindeth all things in theirbounds who filleth Eternity who was and is and will be fron all Eternity to Eternity and when I considered all these things andthat [that] being Seeketh such to worship him as worship him inspirit and in truth therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy forthere was none else to whom I could go and {to} obtain mercy andthe Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in [the] attitude of calling upon the Lord [in the 16th* year of my age] a pillar of {fire} lightabove the brightness of the Sun at noon day come down fromabove and rested upon me and I was filld with the Spirit of God and the [Lord] opened the heavens upon me and I Saw the Lord and he Spake unto me Saying Joseph [my son] thy Sins are forgiven thee. go thy [way] walk in my Statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life [behold] the world lieth in sin {and} at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the Gospel and keep not [my] commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them acording to this ungodliness and to bring to pass that which [hath] been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Apostles behold and lo I come quickly as it written of me in the cloud [clothed] in the glory of my Father and my Soul was filled with love and for many days I could rejoice with great joy and the Lord was with me but could find none that would believe the hevenly vision. . . . Nevertheless I fell into transgression and sinned in many things which brought wound upon my Soul and there were many things which transpired that cannot be writen and my Fathers family have suffered many persecutions and afflictions.

*could be 15th year

Words enclosed by {} indicate deletion by cross out-- words enclosed by [] indicate insertion with ^ mark.

GOP Conservative FAIL

2011-03-08T07:32:00.006-07:00

If you haven't heard the Right consistently bemoan how the Obama administration is spending astronomical figures (which I agree, they are) then you either don't pay attention to current events or...well, I don't have an "or" for you.

My issue with these elected "conservatives" is that they are knowingly hypocritical and don't seem to care about it. I have four theories:

1. They know their constituents aren't smart enough to recognize the hypocrisy
2. Their constituents share their hypocrisy
3. They know their constituents care about being on the winning team more than holding them accountable for their hypocrisy.
4. Being 1.6% better than Democrats is the lesser of two evils (You'll understand the 1.6% by the end of this).

We have seen signs like this for the last few years decrying Obama's budget proposals:

I'm not going to turn this into a "Who-Breaks-More-Promises" because it is plain as day that both sides do. I won't even argue about the "Spend to get out of debt" methodology. I have heard how Americans are sick and tired of the Obama administration's out of control spending. I have been told "American has spoken" regarding the Republican's regaining of the House. Now this shit will end and we will get America back on track.

While there is so much to rant about what they've done so far, I promise to stay on target. Our focus will be to evaluate and discuss how they have dealt with the proposed budget. I really just don't understand why red-blooded Americans cannot see that the elected Republicans just are NOT that different when it comes to fiscal conservatism. The evidence just doesn't support their assertions.

John Boehner, Speaker of the House, and defacto Republican tanned poster boy, issued the promise to his constituents and America that (insert dramatic music here) "The American people have directed us to cut spending. We will. And there’s no limit to the amount we’re willing to cut to help get our economy moving again. Let me be very clear about this: we are going to exceed our Pledge to America. We are going to cut $100 billion in discretionary spending next week. Write it down. $100 billion in discretionary spending. And we aren’t going to stop there."

Wow. Now, while $100 billion does sound like a lot, I want you to consider something. The Obama administration's proposed budget was roughly $3.8 trillion. I'm going to write it out because it's more dramatic to see the zeroes.

$3,800,000,000,000

What is the deficit you ask? Excellent question. It was forecast at $1.5 trillion but is expected to end around $1.6 trillion.

So, with the $2,200,000,000,000 that we have as revenue/cash flow, we then spend $1,600,000,000,000 more than we have. I wish my home budget could work with that math.

Now, the Republicans ran on the premise of (rightly) pointing out the illogical nature of this methodology and promising change. Sound familiar? So they won the elections, took office and have now promised that to solve this problem, they will reduce spending by $100 billion. They promised to reduce the proposed budget by 2.6%.

Then they failed.

These fiscal conservatives decrying Obama's socialism couldn't even cut out 2.6%. They initially came in a little over $30 billion but the outrage amongst many of their own party not wanting to fail the "Tea Party Movement" base of supporters caused them to get that number up to around $60 billion. Still 40% below Boehner's "Read my Lips" promise. This Republican plan still leaves a $1.54 trillion dollar deficit.

So here is my question:

How is 1.6% less than what the Kenyan Muslim Socialist destroyer of America proposed somehow good conservative Republicanism? Or is it just good old American political hypocrisy?

Obama, DOMA and the Constitution

2011-02-27T19:49:00.005-07:00

There are so many different issues regarding the Obama Administration’s decision not to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. And to be accurate, he has only instructed that cases pertinent to Section 3 of the Act will be subverted. "...the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."

From the liberal butt-kissing support to the neo-con priestcraft, the misinformation has spread faster than wildfire. It would take volumes to address it all. I want to discuss one individual aspect, and just the one.

Does President Obama (or any past or future President) have an obligation to defend laws they believe to be unconstitutional?

On January 20th (and the 21st), President Obama recited the Presidential oath of office: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The President did NOT swear to support the Defense of Marriage Act. Even if I concede and give the former Congress the benefit of the doubt in stipulating that they upheld their Congressional oath by enacting DOMA, which between you and I, would be a lie. Nonetheless, let's hypothetically give them that benefit. The President is not oath-bound to defend or protect their decision.

This is not the first time, nor will it be the last when a President refuses to defend the constitutionality of a law or statute. His duty to uphold the Constitution supersedes his obligation to enforce federal statutes when the two come into conflict. Federal statutes are only legitimate if they are constitutional.

The Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of our government each bears an independent responsibility to analyze the constitutionality of current and proposed laws. However, the Executive and Legislative branches are Constitutionally bound to obey Judicial decisions that address a statute but if the courts have not yet ruled on the issue, nothing prevents the President or Congress from making a considered independent judgment that the statute is nonetheless unconstitutional and acting accordingly.

In his role, if the President truly believes that DOMA is unconstitutional as he says, then he is at the very least duty-bound to defer prosecutions until the courts have had their say. However, the Obama Administration has made clear their position that they believe it to be unconstitutional, thus paving the way for a show down at the Supreme Court.

So to say that President Obama's actions are unconstitutional, or un-American, well the opposite couldn't be more true than on this issue as he attempts to "protect, preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Religious Texts and Modern Law

2011-02-13T10:51:00.001-07:00

As it is no secret that I am vehemently opposed to any restrictive legislations that specifically target homosexuals, I have participated in numerous debates on the topic. One of the most obnoxious arguments has to be the appeal to the Bible as a source of defining authority. "We can't allow gays to marry because the Bible says it is a sin." Oh really?

Well if we're going to change our state constitutions to ensure a Biblically-approved legislation, let's look at some of the Biblical suggestions that we should write into our civil code.

Leviticus 20:13 says that if man lies with man it is abomination and they "shall surely be put to death..." Should we make that the law?

Leviticus 20:9 says that anyone who commits adultery should be put to death. Should we make that the law?

Deuteronomy 22:20-21 says that if a women is not a virgin on her wedding night, she's to be brought to her father's door and the men of the town are to stone her to death. Should we make that the law?

Leviticus 20:9 says that if I curse my mother or father I must be put to death. Should we make that a law?

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says that if a couple has a disobedient, stubborn, gluttonous and drunk son...they can tell the town folk to stone him to death. Should that become a law?

Exodus 35:2 says if people work on the Sabbath they are to be put to death, should we make that the law?

Leviticus 25:44-45 tells us it's okay to make slaves of our surrounding nations peoples. Sounds like an easy fix to the whole illegal immigration issue...should we make that a law?

Of course, if the slaves get unruly...Exodus 21:20-21 says that if a man beats his slave and they die, he'll probably have to be punished but if they get up after a day or two, no punishment since the slaves are his property anyway.

If the slaves are still upset after the beating they barely survived, let them read the God's mandate in 1 Peter 2:18 that tells them to submit to their masters, regardless of if they are nice or harsh.

Of course, according to 1 Timothy 2:12 no woman should be so brazen as to be correcting my wayward apostate ways. This gem also applies to woman being supervisors, managers, or CEO's in the workplace.

If you truly believe we are a Christian nation, well...Deuteronomy 12:2-3 says we should go to all non-Christian places of worship and thoroughly destroy them out of existence.

Okay...let's be honest, if you read a few verses on, it actually tells us to kill anyone who has a different religions than yours.

On that note, what laws should we create on how to deal with those unruly youths if they make the dastardly mistake of calling a religious leader a..."baldhead" (gasp!)? 2 Kings 2:23-24 says that the leaders may feed them to hungry bears.

Leviticus 19:19 tells us not to wear clothes made of two types of fabric. Though, this one probably only warrants a misdemeanor fine.

Leviticus 19:27-28 says not to cut your hair nor shave or get tattoos, should me make those laws?

Leviticus 20:27 says that Psychics (among other things) are to be stoned to death. If we make this a law, the many major downtown city economies will take a dip...well, aside from the funeral and burial industry.

Leviticus 20:18 says that if a man has sex with a woman on her period, they are both to be "cut off from their people." Should we make this a law and create little internment camps for these folks?

Leviticus 21:9 says that if a priest's daughter is a whore, she is to be burnt at the stake. Should we make this a law?

Leviticus 23:14-16 says that anyone who curses or blasphemes God, should be stoned to death by the community. I wonder if we should use tax money to create a "Town Stoning Center?"

Deuteronomy 13:5 tells us that the First Amendment needs to be revised just slightly. If anyone uses their free speech to talk against God, or convince people away from God, they need to be put to death. Should we make that a law?

I could go on and on but I think you're getting the point. Mark Twain once said, ""The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also." Before they go on writing anti-homosexual legislation, a topic Jesus of Nazareth NEVER spoke on, maybe they should focus on figuring out why their own God-approved marriages are failing half of the time...

Did Oaks Really Used to Sit on the Utah Supreme Court?

2011-02-06T08:54:00.006-07:00

I just read a disturbing article on the recent speaking engagement of Dallin H. Oaks at the Chapman University Law School. "We must never see the day when the public square is not open to religious ideas and religious persons," Elder Oaks said. Now if he would have just stopped there...I'd be okay. Well, sort of. As long as Oaks realizes that the public square is NOT like his Church in which opposing ideas are not subject to criticism. When religion is used as the motivating premise behind proposing, or establishing, legislation then the prosecution has opened the door for rebuttal questioning.

Unfortunately, Oaks did not just stop there. "The religious community must united to be sure we are not coerced or deterred into silence by the kinds of intimidation or threatening rhetoric that are being experienced." Really? Religious people are being forced into silence by intimidation and threatening rhetoric? Mr Oaks...your Church has led the charge in multiple states to create Constitutional amendments defining marriage as between "one man and one woman." 30 of the 50 states have created "separate but equal" legislation. And your whining over alleged "threatening rhetoric?"

Elder Oaks cited a number of religiously diverse examples and leaders in highlighting his four points on preserving religious freedom:

1. Religious teachings and religious organizations are valuable and important to a free society, thus "deserving of their special legal protection."
**My thoughts: Prove it. Prove that religious teachings and religious organization are important to a free society. I think morality exists outside of established tax-free corporations run by religious officers. We'd do fine without them.

2. Religious freedom "undergirds the origin and existence of this country and is the dominating civil liberty."
**My thoughts: I absolutely agree but not if the reader assumes Oaks is saying that the United States was established as a Christian nation. I agree that one of the foremost reasons this country was established was to promote freedom, including the freedom of religion. However, the phrase "the dominating civil liberty" is a bit extreme considering it was the religious text of the early Christian founders that allowed slavery to exist for as long as it did. The phrase is also somewhat ironic coming from an "apostle" whose Church didn't promise the opportunity for exaltation to black members until 1978.

3. The constitutional guarantee of free exercise of religion "is weakening in its effects and in public esteem."
**My thoughts: Bullshit. I'd really like to hear how the opportunity for religious worship is suffering. Public esteem in religion is suffering because people are using their noodles. Public esteem in the constitutional rights of the free exercise of religion are not suffering, public esteem in the constitutional rights of tax-exempt status of religious organizations that use their influence to suppress constitutional rights of legal citizens is suffering.

4. Such a weakening can be attributed "to the ascendancy of moral relativism."
**My thoughts: "Meta-ethical relativism is the meta-ethical position that the truth or falsity of moral judgments is not objective. Justifications for moral judgments are not universal, but are instead relative to the traditions, convictions, or practices of an individual or a group of people. The meta-ethical relativist might say "It's moral to me, because I believe it is." Hypocrisy again. It applies to others but not to me.

Oaks continues: "Religious individuals should insist on their constitutional right and duty to exercise their religion, to vote their consciences on public issues and to participate in elections and debates." Mr Oaks, individuals do have a constitutional right to exercise their religion. There is NO CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY to exercise a religion. Individuals are allowed to vote their consciences on public issues and participate in elections and debates. However, there is NO CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION that says religious thought must win those elections and debates, nor is your voicing your conscience in public forums protected from scrutiny.

"All who believe in that fundamental should unite more effectively to preserve and strengthen the freedom to advocate and practice our religious beliefs, whatever they are," he said. "We must walk together for a ways on the same path in order to secure our freedom to pursue our separate ways when that is necessary according to our own beliefs." **Great, do it. That is a Constitutional right. Maybe the former Utah Supreme Court justice is learning after all...eyeroll.

"I speak for a broader principle, nonpartisan and, in its own focused objective, ecumenical," he said. **Well, ecumenical unless you're someone that God tells us to legislate against...

Okay, you ready, because here is where I really get pissed at someone who either knows better or cheated his way onto the state Supreme Court.

"Along with many others, I see a serious threat to the freedom of religion in the current assertion of a 'civil right' of homosexuals to be free from religious preaching against their relationships. Religious leaders of various denominations affirm and preach that sexual relations should only occur between a man and a woman joined together in marriage. One would think that the preaching of such a doctrinal belief would be protected by the constitutional guarantee of the free exercise of religion, to say nothing of the guarantee of free speech. However, we are beginning to see worldwide indications that this may not be so."

As a private religious organization, you have EVERY Constitutional right to continue your religious preaching against homosexual relationships. Why can't you just be honest and say that your feelings are hurt because of the backlash that church is receiving and that your PR department is working round the clock to try and save your asses.

Let's go a step further and say that your real concern is regarding your tax-exempt status as a religious organization. However, the crux behind that is the apparent inability of the LDS Church to accurately disclose to the IRS how much was actually donated to the YES on 8 cause. Well, I think your third submission might be close.

Oaks also took exception to the suggestion by President Barack Obama's head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that a "sexual-orientation liberty" could become such a right that it should prevail over a competing "religious-belief liberty."

"Such a radical assertion should not escape analysis," Elder Oaks said, because it condemns the notion of a centuries-old fundamental right of freedom of religion to becoming recast as a simple "liberty" ranked among many other liberties. It also would create sexual orientation as a fundamental right called "sexual liberty" and to the conclusion that religious expressions can be overridden by a fundamental right to "sexual liberty."

Hmmm....what is Oaks really saying? Okay, as a Church with tax-exempt status, a private organization, it is legal to discriminate any which way a bigot chooses. However, the for-profit corporations owned by the Church do not have such luxuries...hence, all of the for-profit corporations owned and operated by the Church (if same-sex couples can similar rights), would be forced to treat gays as equals under Constitutional protection. Can you imagine Deseret News had to offer domestic partner benefits?

"All of this shows an alarming trajectory of events pointing toward constraining the freedom of religious speech by forcing it to give way to the 'rights' of those offended by such speech," Elder Oaks said. "If that happens, we will have criminal prosecution of those whose religious doctrines or speech offend those whose public influence and political power establish them as an officially protected class."

This is probably the 2nd most inflammatory load of shit in his article. Homosexuals, and free-thinkers alike, are "offended by such speech." However, it is not the offended status of those listening to your constitutionally protected hate speech that causes gays to gain rights...it is the same Constitution that you as a state Supreme Court Justice swore an oath to uphold.

"I, Dallin H. Oaks, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as (name of position) under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”

Maybe you need to work on a constitutional amendment for Judges so that it can read "...administer justice without respect to persons...except for those we disagree with religiously..." For all of the talk about protecting the Constitution, without fail the Religious Right has done more to destroy and pervert the Constitution than all of the godless liberals.

Blog Cleansing...

2011-01-23T23:39:00.001-07:00

If you've hit the one year mark since your last blog post, you've come off of my "Blogs That I Follow" listing. No offense and nothing personal...I've just given up on you.

How Can Americans Lose Weight? Onion News Exclusive...

2011-01-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

Is There Hope For The US Deficit?

2011-01-17T02:13:00.001-07:00

My Favorite Songs of 2010

2011-01-03T11:57:00.014-07:00

TOP SONGS OF 2010 (The first five were my absolute faves of the year, followed by some great tunes that came out this past year):

California Gurls - Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg

F*ck You - Cee Lo

King of Anything - Sara Bareilles

Not Afraid - Eminem

Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) - Shakira featuring Freshlyground

"Airplanes" - B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams

"Animal" - Neon Trees

"Billionaire" - Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars

"Break Your Heart" - Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris

"Dyamite" - Taio Cruz

"Grenade" - Bruno Mars

"Just A Dream" - Nelly

"Just the Way You Are" - Bruno Mars

"Little Lion Man" - Mumford and Sons

"Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem featuring Rihanna

"Magic" - B.o.B. featuring Rivers Cuomo

"Misery" - Maroon 5

"Need You Now" - Lady Antebellum

"Nothin' On You" - B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars

"Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry

"The Only Exception" - Paramore

"What's My Name?" - Rihanna featuring Drake

Going Guerilla guest post

2010-12-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

I just did another guest post over at Going Guerilla.

Check it out!

Separation of Church and State?

2010-12-29T13:33:00.002-07:00

This is a taken from a Huffington Post article posted today. I just found it interesting and figured some of you would too.

The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) team put our heads together and came up with the following top religion and politics research findings in 2010. These issues are sure to follow us into the new year. Let us know in the comment stream what you would add to the list.

1. Nearly half (47 percent) of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement also identify with the Christian right.

2. Pew found that nearly 1-in-5 (18 percent) Americans wrongly believe President Obama is a Muslim, and PRRI found a majority (51 percent) say his religious beliefs are different from their own.

3. Fifty-seven percent of Americans are opposed to allowing NY Muslims to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from ground zero, but 76 percent say they would support Muslims building a mosque in their local community if they followed the same regulations as other religious groups.

4. Americans are about five times more likely to give an "F" (24 percent) than an "A" (5 percent) to churches for their handling of homosexuality. Two-thirds see connections between messages coming from America's churches and higher rates of suicide among gay and lesbian youth.

5. Forty-five percent of Americans say the values of Islam are at odds with American values and way of life, while a plurality (49 percent) disagree.

6. If another vote similar to Proposition 8 were held now, a majority (51 percent) of Californians say they would vote to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

7. At least 7-in-10 Americans say that protecting the dignity of every person (82 percent), keeping families together (80 percent), and the Golden Rule are important values that should guide immigration reform (71 percent).

8. In his new book American Grace, Robert Putnam found that between one-third and one-half of all American marriages are interfaith marriages, and roughly one-third of Americans have switched religions at some point in their lives.

9. Despite high levels of religiosity, Pew found on average that Americans only answered about half of 32 questions correctly on their Religious Knowledge Survey.

10. The 2010 congressional election revealed relatively stable voting patterns by religion compared to past elections. GOP candidates held an advantage among white Christians, while Democratic candidates held an advantage among minority Christians and the unaffiliated.

And 11 for 2011. Nearly 6-in-10 Americans affirm American exceptionalism, that God has granted America a special role in human history. Those affirming this view are more likely to support military interventions and to say torture is sometimes justified.

Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., CEO and Founder of Public Religion Research Institute.

Books Read in 2010 and the 2011 Queue

2010-12-27T21:03:00.001-07:00

In case you weren't aware, I like to read. In fact, come join Goodreads and we can be book pals. I tend to read a lot of comic collections (103 books so far) mixed with a few non-illustrated books peppered in. Here is my non-illustrated list for 2010:

1. The Measure of a Man - Sidney Poitier
2. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide To Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book - Miguel Ruiz
3. Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis
4. Tuf Voyaging - George R.R. Martin
5. The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption - John Perkins
6. World's Most Evil Psychopaths: Horrifying True-Life Cases - John Marlowe
7. Deism: A Revolution in Religion - A Revolution in You - Bob Johnson
8. Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
9. Flin's Destiny: Cobble Cavern - Jon Erik Olsen
10. A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
11. Me Of Little Faith - Lewis Black
12. Live From Death Row - Mumia Abu-Jamal
13. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
14. Enemies & Allies - Kevin J. Anderson
15. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
16. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
17. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
18. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
19. United We Stand: How We Can Take Back Our Country - Ross Perot
20. The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling
21. The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris
22. The Darwin Conspiracy - John Darnton
23. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
24. The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values - Sam Harris
25. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
26. 1984 - George Orwell
27. Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality - Thomas Sowell
28. Speaker For The Dead - Orson Scott Card
29. The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway
30. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
31. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

I am still currently reading "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking and "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" by Douglas Adams. I may finish one, or both, of those before the year ends.

That means my average is about 2-3 novels per month (not counting comic graphic novels). Here are 28 that are in my 2011 reading queue, in alphabetical order by title but I'm going to need a few more suggestions.

A Clash of Kings - George RR Martin
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
Frankenstein series (4 books) - Dean Koontz
Gregor the Overlander - Suzanne Collins
His Dark Materials (3 books) - Phillip Pullman
Pathfinder - Orson Scott Card
Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kyosaki
The Assault on Reason - Al Gore
The End of Faith - Sam Harris
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (3 books) - Stephen R. Donaldson
The Foundation Trilogy (3 books) - Isaac Asimov
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
The Secret - Rhonda Byrne
The Stand - Stephen King
What's So Great About America - Dinesh D'Souza

So, what else should I read?

While I'm At Work, The Family Gets In The Christmas Spirit

2010-12-18T11:23:00.002-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Is There Room At The Inn...for an Agnostic?

2010-12-13T16:11:00.005-07:00

Three years ago I wrote a post called “The What and Why of Christmas.” I reread it recently and realized some of my sentiments have changed. While I’m no longer the staunch advocate for Christianity that I once was, I still believe in many of the morals involved with the movement. I’m definitely not at the level of frustration Thomas Jefferson felt to utter, “I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.” I find myself leaning more towards the words of Gandhi when he said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

I’m not quite ready to embrace Ingersoll’s snide reminder to Christians that they don’t own Christmas. To me, Christmas is inextricably connected to Christianity, especially in America. I realize that if I just go back to my original post and read quickly my summarized history of Christmas, logically I can very easily dismiss that connection. However, since the connection still exists, it obviously goes deeper than logic. What is occasionally more powerful than logic and damn near impossible to control? Ah yes, emotion.

Even though I no longer attend church, I still have a number of spiritual experiences that I hold to as faith/hope defining. They are what cause me to ascribe to agnosticism over atheism. I still do not know how to deal with them in light of the separation between church and my state of being. At least two of those experiences directly relate to Christmas. The reality is that I’m emotionally/spiritually connected to Christmas.

I still get the warm fuzzies when I hear certain Christmas songs. Don’t get too excited about that or jump to identify the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I also had them the other night watching an episode of Dexter. There is nothing quite like a homicidal psychopath exhibiting the gentle, genuine love of a father love to his step-daughter to tug at my heartstrings and cause an introspective analysis on the evolving relationship with my own daughter. I almost shed a tear. Really…

Back on point, is Christmas exclusively for Christians? Or can an optimistic agnostic (that means “I don’t know but I hope so”) celebrate in the yuletide festivities too? I’m not asking for a Christ-less Christmas. I don’t want that nor is it realistic. I live in a state that makes Santa’s robe look pink by comparison. I just don’t belong to the “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” club any longer.

Is it enough to simply hope for something more, even if I can’t define it? I think my current position is best described by Albert Einstein: “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”

Considering the evolution Christmas, and most particularly, the American celebration of Christmas, has experienced over the last few centuries, I don’t really see the need to have a defined position for now and going forward. If history teaches anything, it is that Christmas in America is not yet done evolving. John Burton Brimer once said, “America is a place where Jewish merchants sell Zen love beads to agnostics for Christmas.”

Ahhh, Consumerism. The true Scrooge of my Christmas nightmares. Bah! Humbug! Most of my Ebenezer-like attitudes of Christmas’ past have revolved around the perceived requirement of monetary gift-giving. Maybe that was because growing up, we had one pair of grandparents that clearly favored one set of grandkids over us but gave us the obligatory cash-in-a-card gift, while the other set of grandparents saw time spent with their grandkids as the Christmas present worth giving.

Anyone who knows me knows how loathe I would be to give credit to capitalism for much. ‘Cap’ has a huge ego so I try to feed into it as little as possible. So, imagine how humorous it is to me that the thing most Neo-Con Religious Right Republicans cling to as political scripture, free market capitalism, may be the very thing that they accuse liberals and their “War on Christmas” of trying to do but never accomplishing. Nothing has brought more disconnect between Christianity and Christmas than capitalism…but I digress.

Historically, Christmas has been a time of Christian reflection for me. Am I progressing towards Christ as a husband, father and man? How did I do in the previous year? In my quest for heaven, what about me stands in need improvement? Years ago, a past Mormon leader, Hugh B. Brown, once said, "For one day, at least, Christendom practices Christianity." I consider the attributes implied in Brown’s statement as humanist qualities, not specifically unique to Christianity alone. Christmas then becomes ‘for one day, at least, (when) humans practice humanity’.

Presently, Christmas stands as a reminder that when we, as fellow travelers of life, extend the familial hand of benevolence towards one another. Christmas is about an ever-evolving tradition made personal through symbols and emotion. Let us take Christmas and make it our own. If that means remembering the birth of Christ, embrace it. If it means being compassionate humans, do it. If it means simply celebrating the spirit of the season, which most religions coincide on in the basic principles of love, kindness, compassion, charity and peace for mankind, then please, if only for one time of the year, celebrate a truly wonderful tradition.

Merry Christmas from the optimistic agnostic to...whatever you are.

Why GOP hates big government...

2010-11-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Amen Cenk...

2010-11-04T00:48:00.000-06:00

Can We Have Morality Without Religion?

2010-10-16T15:52:00.001-06:00

No Legitimate Argument...

2010-10-07T07:09:00.001-06:00

Vote Republican by Roy Zimmerman

2010-10-03T11:04:00.001-06:00

A History of Rap

2010-10-02T13:51:00.001-06:00

Wanna Read Something Funny?

2010-09-29T19:31:00.002-06:00

Come read my guest post over at Going Guerilla...

The post I wrote is entitled: "Am I Overreacting? Work, Bible and Obama..."

Pirates of Penzance - Hale Centre Theatre

2010-09-26T09:12:00.003-06:00

Here's where Nicole and I spent a few hours yesterday.

Our next play will be in November. The Drowsy Chaperone.

1st Amendment Rights

2010-09-17T19:20:00.002-06:00

Freedom of speech does not mean one's speech is free from criticism or consequences.

Criticism: Not on the basis of one's right so say what they wish but on the basis that what was said can be countered or proven false with logic and reason.

Consequences: When a company or organization supports a candidate or legislation, they run the risk of gaining or losing customers who can exercise their rights as consumers to support or boycott them for their public positions.

For those who then cry foul for either of these two reasons, I mockingly laugh at your perceived suffering.

May We Never Forget

2010-09-11T15:44:00.001-06:00

Obameter: Accountability

2010-09-07T06:30:00.000-06:00

from PolitiFact.com via STFU, Conservatives:

Chris Hitchens Article on Free Exercise of Religion

2010-09-06T13:54:00.003-06:00

(thanks to Chris, Jake and Ryan for all sending me this link on the same day...lol)

"Free Exercise of Religion? No, Thanks."

The taming and domestication of religious faith is one of the unceasing chores of civilization.

By Christopher Hitchens

Posted Monday, Sept. 6, 2010, at 11:39 AM ET

A recent blizzard of liberal columns has framed the debate over American Islam as if it were no more than the most recent stage in the glorious history of our religious tolerance. This phrasing of the question has the (presumably intentional) effect of marginalizing doubts and of lumping any doubters with the anti-Catholic Know-Nothings, the anti-Semites, and other bigots and shellbacks. So I pause to take part in a thought experiment, and to ask myself: Am I in favor of the untrammeled "free exercise of religion"?

No, I am not. Take an example close at hand, the absurdly named Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More usually known as the Mormon church, it can boast Glenn Beck as one of its recruits. He has recently won much cheap publicity for scheduling a rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington. But on the day on which the original rally occurred in 1963, the Mormon church had not yet gotten around to recognizing black people as fully human or as eligible for full membership. (Its leadership subsequently underwent a "revelation" allowing a change on this point, but not until after the passage of the Civil Rights Act.) This opportunism closely shadowed an earlier adjustment of Mormon dogma, abandoning its historic and violent attachment to polygamy. Without that doctrinal change, the state of Utah was firmly told that it could not be part of the Union. More recently, Gov. Mitt Romney had to assure voters that he did not regard the prophet, or head of the Mormon church, as having ultimate moral and spiritual authority on all matters. Nothing, he swore, could override the U.S. Constitution. Thus, to the extent that we view latter-day saints as acceptable, and agree to overlook their other quaint and weird beliefs, it is to the extent that we have decidedly limited them in the free exercise of their religion.

One could cite some other examples, such as those Christian sects that disapprove of the practice of medicine. Their adult members are generally allowed to die while uttering religious incantations and waving away the physician, but, in many states, if they apply this faith to their children—a crucial element in the "free exercise" of religion—they can be taken straight to court. Not only that, they can find themselves subject to general disapproval and condemnation.

It was probably the latter consideration that helped impel the majority of American Orthodox Jews to give up the practice of metzitzah b'peh, a radical form of male circumcision that is topped off, if you will forgive the expression, by the sucking of the infant's penis by the rabbi or mohel so as to remove any remaining blood or debris. A few tiny sects still cling to this disgusting ritual, which in New York a few years ago led to a small but deadly outbreak of herpes among recently circumcised babies. On that occasion, despite calls for a ban on the practice from many Jewish doctors, the vastly overrated Mayor Michael Bloomberg chose an election year to say that such "free exercise" should not be interfered with.

We talk now as if it was ridiculous ever to suspect Roman Catholics of anything but the highest motives, yet by the time John F. Kennedy was breaking the unspoken taboo on the election of a Catholic as president, the Vatican had just begun to consider making public atonement for centuries of Jew-hatred and a more recent sympathy for fascism. Even today, many lay Catholics are appalled at the Vatican's protection of men who are sought for questioning in one of the gravest of all crimes: the organized rape of children. It is generally agreed that the church's behavior and autonomy need to be modified to take account both of American law and American moral outrage. So much for the naive invocation of "free exercise."

One could easily go on. The Church of Scientology, the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, and the Ku Klux Klan are all faith-based organizations and are all entitled to the protections of the First Amendment. But they are also all subject to a complex of statutes governing tax-exemption, fraud, racism, and violence, to the point where "free exercise" in the third case has—by means of federal law enforcement and stern public disapproval—been reduced to a vestige of its former self.

Now to Islam. It is, first, a religion that makes very large claims for itself, purporting to be the last and final word of God and expressing an ambition to become the world's only religion. Some of its adherents follow or advocate the practice of plural marriage, forced marriage, female circumcision, compulsory veiling of women, and censorship of non-Muslim magazines and media. Islam's teachings generally exhibit suspicion of the very idea of church-state separation. Other teachings, depending on context, can be held to exhibit a very strong dislike of other religions, as well as of heretical forms of Islam. Muslims in America, including members of the armed forces, have already been found willing to respond to orders issued by foreign terrorist organizations. Most disturbingly, no authority within the faith appears to have the power to rule decisively that such practices, or such teachings, or such actions, are definitely and utterly in conflict with the precepts of the religion itself.

Reactions from even "moderate" Muslims to criticism are not uniformly reassuring. "Some of what people are saying in this mosque controversy is very similar to what German media was saying about Jews in the 1920s and 1930s," Imam Abdullah Antepli, Muslim chaplain at Duke University, told the New York Times. Yes, we all recall the Jewish suicide bombers of that period, as we recall the Jewish yells for holy war, the Jewish demands for the veiling of women and the stoning of homosexuals, and the Jewish burning of newspapers that published cartoons they did not like. What is needed from the supporters of this very confident faith is more self-criticism and less self-pity and self-righteousness.

Those who wish that there would be no mosques in America have already lost the argument: Globalization, no less than the promise of American liberty, mandates that the United States will have a Muslim population of some size. The only question, then, is what kind, or rather kinds, of Islam it will follow. There's an excellent chance of a healthy pluralist outcome, but it's very unlikely that this can happen unless, as with their predecessors on these shores, Muslims are compelled to abandon certain presumptions that are exclusive to themselves. The taming and domestication of religion is one of the unceasing chores of civilization. Those who pretend that we can skip this stage in the present case are deluding themselves and asking for trouble not just in the future but in the immediate present.

Pat Condell vs The Amazing Atheist

2010-09-05T22:36:00.002-06:00

The Reason I Am Right Is Because You Are Wrong

2010-09-04T15:27:00.001-06:00

When you argue that my logic is flawed for believing in a spontaneous universal creation by stating your belief in the creation necessitating a Creator, why can you not see that your argument is the SAME as mine. You just believe that God created the universe.

What you fail to admit is that a spontaneous creation was needed to create your Creator.

Temperance Movement

2010-09-02T18:37:00.003-06:00

If you were a man and had to go home to one of these women, wouldn't you just stay at the bar and have another drink?

Poetry from Oscar Wilde

2010-08-31T19:37:00.001-06:00

We Are Made One with What We Touch and See

We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each springimpassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.

With beat of systole and of diastole
One grand great life throbs through earth's giant heart,
And mighty waves of single Being roll
From nerveless germ to man, for we are part
Of every rock and bird and beast and hill,
One with the things that prey on us, and one with what we kill

One sacrament are consecrate, the earth
Not we alone hath passions hymeneal,
The yellow buttercups that shake for mirth
At daybreak know a pleasure not less real
Than we do, when in some freshblossoming wood
We draw the spring into our hearts, and feel that life is good

Is the light vanished from our golden sun,
Or is this daedalfashioned earth less fair,
That we are nature's heritors, and one
With every pulse of life that beats the air?
Rather new suns across the sky shall pass,
New splendour come unto the flower, new glory to the grass.

And we two lovers shall not sit afar,
Critics of nature, but the joyous sea
Shall be our raiment, and the bearded star
Shoot arrows at our pleasure! We shall be
Part of the mighty universal whole,
And through all Aeons mix and mingle with the Kosmic Soul!.

We shall be notes in that great Symphony
Whose cadence circles through the rhythmic spheres,
And all the live World's throbbing heart shall be
One with our heart, the stealthy creeping years
Have lost their terrors now, we shall not die,
The Universe itself shall be our Immortality!.

Oscar Wilde

Poetry from Oscar Wilde

2010-08-31T19:37:00.000-06:00

Chris Matthews: I Have a Nightmare

2010-08-29T11:07:00.000-06:00

47 Years Ago Today

2010-08-28T13:59:00.000-06:00

TIME article: "How the Stimulus Is Changing America"

2010-08-27T06:00:00.001-06:00

This was a fantastic article from Time.com that explains what is happening with stimulus, the agenda President Obama is pushing through with the Recovery Act and how it is, and will continue, to change America. It is long but well worth the read.

How the Stimulus Is Changing America

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — President Obama's $787 billion stimulus — has been marketed as a jobs bill, and that's how it's been judged. The White House says it has saved or created about 3 million jobs, helping avoid a depression and end a recession. Republicans mock it as a Big Government boondoggle that has failed to prevent rampant unemployment despite a massive expansion of the deficit. Liberals complain that it wasn't massive enough.

It's an interesting debate. Politically, it's awkward to argue that things would have been even worse without the stimulus, even though that's what most nonpartisan economists believe. But the battle over the Recovery Act's short-term rescue has obscured its more enduring mission: a long-term push to change the country. It was about jobs, sure, but also about fighting oil addiction and global warming, transforming health care and education, and building a competitive 21st century economy. Some Republicans have called it an under-the-radar scramble to advance Obama's agenda — and they've got a point.

Yes, the stimulus has cut taxes for 95% of working Americans, bailed out every state, hustled record amounts of unemployment benefits and other aid to struggling families and funded more than 100,000 projects to upgrade roads, subways, schools, airports, military bases and much more. But in the words of Vice President Joe Biden, Obama's effusive Recovery Act point man, "Now the fun stuff starts!" The "fun stuff," about one-sixth of the total cost, is an all-out effort to exploit the crisis to make green energy, green building and green transportation real; launch green manufacturing industries; computerize a pen-and-paper health system; promote data-driven school reforms; and ramp up the research of the future. "This is a chance to do something big, man!" Biden said during a 90-minute interview with TIME.

For starters, the Recovery Act is the most ambitious energy legislation in history, converting the Energy Department into the world's largest venture-capital fund. It's pouring $90 billion into clean energy, including unprecedented investments in a smart grid; energy efficiency; electric cars; renewable power from the sun, wind and earth; cleaner coal; advanced biofuels; and factories to manufacture green stuff in the U.S. The act will also triple the number of smart electric meters in our homes, quadruple the number of hybrids in the federal auto fleet and finance far-out energy research through a new government incubator modeled after the Pentagon agency that fathered the Internet.

The only stimulus energy program that's gotten much attention so far — chiefly because it got off to a slow start — is a $5 billion effort to weatherize homes. But the Recovery Act's line items represent the first steps to a low-carbon economy. "It will leverage a very different energy future," says Kristin Mayes, the Republican chair of Arizona's utility commission. "It really moves us toward a tipping point."

The stimulus is also stocked with nonenergy game changers, like a tenfold increase in funding to expand access to broadband and an effort to sequence more than 2,300 complete human genomes — when only 34 were sequenced with all previous aid. There's $8 billion for a high-speed passenger rail network, the boldest federal transportation initiative since the interstate highways. There's $4.35 billion in Race to the Top grants to promote accountability in public schools, perhaps the most significant federal education initiative ever — it's already prompted 35 states and the District of Columbia to adopt reforms to qualify for the cash. There's $20 billion to move health records into the digital age, which should reduce redundant tests, dangerous drug interactions and errors caused by doctors with chicken-scratch handwriting. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calls that initiative the foundation for Obama's health care reform and "maybe the single biggest component in improving quality and lowering costs."

Any of those programs would have been a revolution in its own right. "We've seen more reform in the last year than we've seen in decades, and we haven't spent a dime yet," says Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "It's staggering how the Recovery Act is driving change."

That was the point. Critics have complained that while the New Deal left behind iconic monuments — courthouses, parks, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Grand Coulee Dam — this New New Deal will leave a mundane legacy of sewage plants, repaved roads, bus repairs and caulked windows. In fact, it will create new icons too: solar arrays, zero-energy border stations, an eco-friendly Coast Guard headquarters, an "advanced synchrotron light source" in a New York lab. But its main legacy will be change. The stimulus passed just a month after Obama's inauguration, but it may be his signature effort to reshape America — as well as its government.

"Let's Just Go Build It!"
After Obama's election, Depression scholar Christina Romer delivered a freak-out briefing to his transition team, warning that to avoid a 1930s-style collapse, Washington needed to pump at least $800 billion into the frozen economy — and fast. "We were in a tailspin," recalls Romer, who is about to step down as chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. "I was completely sympathetic to the idea that we shouldn't just dig ditches and fill them in. But saving the economy had to be paramount." Obama's economists argued for tax cuts and income transfers to get cash circulating quickly, emergency aid to states to prevent layoffs of cops and teachers and off-the-shelf highway projects to put people to work. They wanted a textbook Keynesian response to an economy in cardiac arrest: adding money to existing programs via existing formulas or handing it to governors, seniors and first-time home buyers. They weren't keen to reinvent the wheel.

But Obama and Biden also saw a golden opportunity to address priorities; they emphasized shovel-worthy as well as shovel-ready. Biden recalls brainstorming with Obama about an all-in push for a smarter electrical grid that would reduce blackouts, promote renewables and give families more control over their energy diet: "We said, 'God, wouldn't it be wonderful? Why don't we invest $100 billion? Let's just go build it!' "

It wasn't that easy. Utilities control the grid, and new wires create thorny not-in-my-backyard zoning issues; there wasn't $100 billion worth of remotely shovel-ready grid projects. It's hard to transform on a timeline, and some congressional Democrats were less interested in transforming government than growing it. For instance, after securing $100 billion for traditional education programs, House Appropriations Committee chairman Dave Obey tried to stop any of it from going to Race to the Top, which is unpopular with teachers' unions.

Ultimately, even Obama's speed focused economists agreed that stimulus spending shouldn't dry up in 2010. And some Democrats were serious about investing wisely, not just spending more. So House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted on $17 billion for research. House Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller fought to save Race to the Top. And while the grid didn't get a $100 billion reinvention, it did get $11 billion after decades of neglect, which could shape trillions of dollars in future utility investments.

It takes time to set up new programs, but now money is flowing to deliver high-speed Internet to rural areas, spread successful quit-smoking programs and design the first high-speed rail link from Tampa to Orlando. And deep in the Energy Department's basement — in a room dubbed the dungeon — a former McKinsey & Co. partner named Matt Rogers has created a government version of Silicon Valley's Sand Hill Road, blasting billions of dollars into clean-energy projects through a slew of oversubscribed grant programs. "The idea is to transform the entire energy sector," Rogers says. "What's exciting is the way it fits all together."

"They Won't All Succeed"
The green industrial revolution begins with gee-whiz companies like A123 Systems of Watertown, Mass. Founded in 2001 by MIT nanotechnology geeks who landed a $100,000 federal grant, A123 grew into a global player in the lithium-ion battery market, with 1,800 employees and five factories in China. It has won $249 million to build two plants in Michigan, where it will help supply the first generation of mass-market electric cars. At least four of A123's suppliers received stimulus money too. The Administration is also financing three of the world's first electric-car plants, including a $529 million loan to help Fisker Automotive reopen a shuttered General Motors factory in Delaware (Biden's home state) to build sedans powered by A123 batteries. Another A123 customer, Navistar, got cash to build electric trucks in Indiana. And since electric vehicles need juice, the stimulus will also boost the number of U.S. battery-charging stations by 3,200%.

"Without government, there's no way we would've done this in the U.S.," A123 chief technology officer Bart Riley told TIME. "But now you're going to see the industry reach critical mass here."

The Recovery Act's clean-energy push is designed not only to reduce our old economy dependence on fossil fuels that broil the planet, blacken the Gulf and strengthen foreign petro-thugs but also to avoid replacing it with a new economy that is just as dependent on foreign countries for technology and manufacturing. Last year, exactly two U.S. factories made advanced batteries for electric vehicles. The stimulus will create 30 new ones, expanding U.S. production capacity from 1% of the global market to 20%, supporting half a million plug-ins and hybrids. The idea is as old as land-grant colleges: to use tax dollars as an engine of innovation. It rejects free-market purism but also the old industrial-policy approach of dumping cash into a few favored firms. Instead, the Recovery Act floods the zone, targeting a variety of energy problems and providing seed money for firms with a variety of potential solutions. The winners must attract private capital to match public dollars — A123 held an IPO to raise the required cash — and after competing for grants, they still must compete in the marketplace. "They won't all succeed," Rogers says. "But some will, and they'll change the world."

The investments extend all along the food chain. A brave new world of electric cars powered by coal plants could be dirtier than the oil-soaked status quo, so the stimulus includes an unheard-of $3.4 billion for clean-coal projects aiming to sequester or reuse carbon. There are also lucrative loan guarantees for constructing the first American nuclear plants in three decades. And after the credit crunch froze financing for green energy, stimulus cash has fueled a comeback, putting the U.S. on track to exceed Obama's goal of doubling renewable power by 2012. The wind industry added a record 10,000 megawatts in 2009. The stimulus is also supporting the nation's largest photovoltaic solar plant, in Florida, and what will be the world's two largest solar thermal plants, in Arizona and California, plus thousands of solar installations on homes and buildings.

The stimulus is helping scores of manufacturers of wind turbines and solar products expand as well, but today's grid can only handle so much wind and solar. A key problem is connecting remote wind farms to population centers, so there are billions of dollars for new transmission lines. Then there is the need to find storage capacity for when it isn't windy or sunny outside. The current grid is like a phone system without voice mail, a just-in-time network where power is wasted if it doesn't reach a user the moment it's generated. That's why the Recovery Act is funding dozens of smart-grid approaches. For instance, A123 is providing truckloads of batteries for a grid-storage project in California and recycled electric-car batteries for a similar effort in Detroit. "If we can show the utilities this stuff works," says Riley, "it will take off on its own."

Today, grid-scale storage, solar energy and many other green technologies are too costly to compete without subsidies. That's why the stimulus launched the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a blue-sky fund inspired by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the incubator for GPS and the M-16 rifle as well as the Internet. Located in an office building a block from the rest of the Energy Department, ARPA-E will finance energy research too risky for private funders, focusing on speculative technologies that might dramatically cut the cost of, say, carbon capture — or not. "We're taking chances, because that's how you put a man on the moon," says director Arun Majumdar, a materials scientist from the University of California, Berkeley. "Our idea is it's O.K. to fail. You think America's pioneers never failed?"

ARPA-E is funding the new pioneers — mad scientists and engineers with ideas for wind turbines based on jet engines, bacteria to convert carbon dioxide into gasoline, and tiny molten-metal batteries to provide cheap high-voltage storage. That last idea is the brainchild of MIT's Donald Sadoway, who already has a prototype fuel cell the size of a shot glass. The stimulus will help him create a kind of reverse aluminum smelter to make prototypes the size of a hockey puck and a pizza box. The ultimate goal is a commercial scale battery the size of a tractor trailer that could power an entire neighborhood. "We need radical breakthroughs, so we need radical experiments," Sadoway says. "These projects send chills down the spine of the carbon world. If a few of them work, [Venezuela's Hugo] Chávez and [Iran's Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad are out of power."

Then again, the easiest way to blow up the energy world would be to stop wasting so much. That's the final link in the chain, a full-throttle push to make energy efficiency a national norm. The Recovery Act is weatherizing 250,000 homes this year. It gave homeowners rebates for energy-efficient appliances, much as the Cash for Clunkers program subsidized fuel-efficient cars. It's retrofitting juice-sucking server farms, factories and power plants; financing research into superefficient lighting, windows and machinery; and funneling billions into state and local efficiency efforts.

It will also retrofit 3 in 4 federal buildings. The U.S. government is the nation's largest energy consumer, so this will save big money while boosting demand for geothermal heat pumps, LED lighting and other energy-saving products. "We're so huge, we make markets," says Bob Peck, the General Services Administration's public-buildings commissioner. GSA's 93-year-old headquarters, now featuring clunky window air conditioners and wires duct-taped to ceilings, will get energy optimized heating, cooling and lighting systems, glass facades with solar membranes and a green roof; the makeover should cut its energy use 55%. It might even beta-test stimulus-funded windows that harvest sunlight. "We'll be the proving ground for innovation in the building industry," Peck says. "It all starts with renovating the government."

The New Venture Capitalists
The stimulus really is starting to change Washington — and not just the buildings. Every contract and lobbying contact is posted at Recovery.gov, with quarterly data detailing where the money went. A Recovery Board was created to scrutinize every dollar, with help from every major agency's independent watchdog. And Biden has promised state and local officials answers to all stimulus questions within 24 hours. It's a test-drive for a new approach to government: more transparent, more focused on results than compliance, not just bigger but better. Biden himself always saw the Recovery Act as a test — not only of the new Administration but of federal spending itself. He knew high-profile screwups could be fatal, stoking antigovernment anger about bureaucrats and two-car funerals. So he spends hours checking in, buttering up and banging heads to keep the stimulus on track, harassing Cabinet secretaries, governors and mayors about unspent broadband funds, weatherization delays and fishy projects. He has blocked some 260 skate parks, picnic tables and highway beautifications that flunked his what-would-your-mom-think test. "Imagine they could have proved we wasted a billion dollars," Biden says. "Gone, man. Gone!"

So far, despite furor over cash it supposedly funneled to contraception (deleted from the bill) and phantom congressional districts (simply typos), the earmark-free Recovery Act has produced surprisingly few scandals. Prosecutors are investigating a few fraud allegations, and critics have found some goofy expenditures, like $51,500 for water-safety-mascot costumes or a $50,000 arts grant to a kinky-film house. But those are minor warts, given that unprecedented scrutiny. Biden knows it's early — "I ain't saying mission accomplished!" — but he calls waste and fraud "the dogs that haven't barked."

The Recovery Act's deeper reform has been its focus on intense competition for grants instead of everybody-wins formulas, forcing public officials to consider not only whether applicants have submitted the required traffic studies and small-business hiring plans but also whether their projects make sense. Already staffed by top technologists from MIT, Duke and Intel, ARPA-E recruited 4,500 outside experts to winnow 3,700 applications down to 37 first-round grants. "We've taken the best and brightest from the tech world and created a venture fund — except we're looking for returns for the country," Majumdar says. These change agents didn't uproot their lives to fill out forms in triplicate and shovel money by formula. They want to reinvent the economy, not just stimulate it. Sadoway, the MIT battery scientist, is tired of reporting how many jobs he's created in his lab: "If this works, I'll create a million jobs!"

Obama has spent most of his first term trying to clean up messes — in the Gulf of Mexico, Iraq and Afghanistan, on Wall Street and Main Street — but the details in the stimulus plan are his real down payment on change. The question is which changes will last. Will electric cars disappear after the subsidies disappear? Will advanced battery factories migrate back to China? Will bullet trains ever get built? The President wants to extend transformative programs like ARPA-E. But would they be substitutes for the status quo or just additions to tack onto the deficit? And would they survive a Republican Congress?

Polls suggest the actual contents of the Recovery Act are popular. But the idea of the stimulus itself remains toxic — and probably will as long as the recovery remains tepid. "Today, it's judged by jobs," Rogers says of the act. "But in 10 years, it'll be judged by whether it transformed our economy."

The Recovery Act's Four Investment Goals
1. Lower solar power's cost 50% by 2015, to put it on par with the retail cost of power from the existing grid

2. Cut the cost of batteries for electric vehicles 50% by 2013 and eventually reduce the sticker price of an electric car to match that of its gasoline-powered counterpart

3. Double the U.S.'s renewable-energy-generation capacity (wind, solar and geothermal) as well as its renewable-manufacturing capacity, by 2012

4. Lower the cost of sequencing an individual human genome to $1,000, enabling scientists to map 50 genomes for the same price as mapping just one today

By the Numbers
3,000
Number of homes supplied by a stimulus-supported photovoltaic power plant in Arcadia, Fla.
$20 BILLION
Amount Washington is investing in health-information technology like electronic health records
$4 BILLION
Amount being spent to make the power supply more reliable and efficient
18 MILLION
Number of new smart meters, which help control energy costs, that will be in use by 2013
30
Number of electric-vehicle-battery factories that will be online by 2012, vs. two in 2009

Source: The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy Through Innovation (August 2010)

How Far Away is Far Enough?

2010-08-25T05:57:00.002-06:00

Rocky Balboa on Life

2010-08-15T14:39:00.000-06:00

Gay marriage and Polygamy

2010-08-14T11:43:00.002-06:00

Saw this link on another blog. If you can't read it, just click on it and it will take you to a larger version.

Going Guerilla guest post

2010-08-11T16:18:00.002-06:00

Check out the guest post I just wrote at Going Guerilla...

Maybe Chaffetz Isn't a Donkey?

2010-08-01T09:25:00.005-06:00

I saw this clip posted over at Urban Koda's website and was amazed. Since arriving in Utah, I have seen a neighboring freshman Congressman Jason Chaffetz make blunder after blunder.

That being said, he actually went on the Rachel Maddow show and explained his position on a recent vote against another $33 billion in war funding, while denying less than a half of that for other domestic measures, like teachers, low income college student loans, or summer job programs. Not only did Chaffetz vote NO but he he went against the party caucus. And it was not a close split either like it was with the Democrats (148-102). 160 other Republicans voted YES, while only 12 (including Chaffetz) voted NO.

Have I been wrong about Jason Chaffetz? Maybe, maybe not. This logical approach to government is a step in the right direction though.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Hey Dexter Fans...

2010-07-26T08:56:00.002-06:00

Dexter - Season 5 Trailer (debuted at San Diego Comic-Con)

David Harvey on Capitalism

2010-07-24T16:37:00.003-06:00

Arizona Immigration: Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime

2010-07-18T08:37:00.003-06:00

This is a masterful article from the Phoenix New Times entitled: "Blood's Thicker Than Water: As Thousands Die in the Arizona Desert as a Result of U.S. Border Policy, an Army of Activists Intervenes" by Stephen Lemons. If you want to see another side to the Arizona Immigration debate, I have reposted the entire article below.

Gene Lefebvre remembers the day in late August 2008 when 20 to 25 Border Patrol agents, half of them on horseback, raided the Arivaca, Arizona campsite of No More Deaths, a group dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance to migrants in the desert.

"They said they had tracked 10 migrants into our camp," says Lefebvre, a retired Presbyterian minister who helped co-found the organization in 2004. "There weren't 10 migrants, and there weren't the tracks."

No More Deaths did have a couple of migrants in the camp's medical tent, but there was nothing unusual about that. Migrants often showed up at the camp seeking first aid or water or food, sometimes getting directed there by local ranchers. The Border Patrol was and is aware of how NMD operates.

But though the migrants were later taken into custody, the Border Patrol seemed to be about something else that day: intimidation.

Lefebvre, in his 70s, was detained as the Border Patrol searched the five-acre site, called Byrd Camp, which is about an hour and a half southwest of Tucson. The site is named in honor of Arizona children's book author Byrd Baylor, who allows the hundreds of volunteers who come to the location each year to use her property as a base for their patrols, in which they leave water and food along the migrant trails that snake throughout the area.

After questioning those present, including a touring group of seminarians, the federal gendarmes thought they had their gotcha moment when they uncovered an old bale of marijuana in a nearby wash.

"It had weevils in it and was moldy," says Lefebvre, clearly relishing the recollection. "Some of the others started laughing when the Border Patrol said, 'Well, you've been using this, haven't you?'

"In the first place, we don't do [marijuana]," Lefebvre says with a chuckle. "In the second, this is old, moldy, yucky stuff. We have higher class than [to smoke] that."

There were storm clouds on the horizon that day; it looked as if a monsoon were about to break bad and turn the wash into raging torrent, preventing the feds from crossing back over. The clouds and the efforts of NMD's attorney, Margo Cowan, contacted by phone, encouraged the agents to leave.

But before they could beat an embarrassing retreat, they had words with John Fife, a tall, lean retired pastor who'd overseen Tucson's Southside Presbyterian Church for 35 years before his retirement in 2005. The church acts as NMD's headquarters.

Also one of No More Deaths' co-founders, Fife — who along with Lefebvre helped lead the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s — is not a man who suffers fools gladly.

"I said [to the Border Patrol supervisor], 'What is it you guys think you're doing?'" Fife says. "The supervisor says, 'You have to turn in everyone you run into who's an illegal out here.'

Fife shot back, "You better check with your chief because everyone of your sector chiefs has said that we are not required to contact you at all if we're giving food and water and medical aid to migrants."

The supervisor rode off in a huff. The next day, NMD fired off a letter of complaint to the Border Patrol and to the U.S. Attorney. Fife says the letter was never acknowledged.

The Border Patrol's 2008 raid was not an isolated incident. Since No More Deaths established itself as a presence in Tucson's vibrant social-justice community, it has butted heads with federal authorities annoyed by its work to put water in the desert and assert the human rights of the more than half a million people who cross illegally from Mexico into the United States each year.

NMD volunteers have been ticketed for littering by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers working the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, and they've had their water poured out and their water bottles slashed by Border Patrol agents. They've been convicted in federal court by the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office, and in one case, two were arrested for transporting migrants, though the charges were ultimately dismissed.

Yet NMD is just one part of a vast resistance in southern Arizona that places human life and dignity above the dictates of American border policy. Think of NMD as the spear of a non-violent army that includes Samaritan patrols, advocacy groups (such as Derechos Humanos), water distributors (such as Humane Borders), and individuals working on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

The reaction of federal, local, and tribal authorities attempting to control the Arizona-Mexico border is not always hostile to groups who put out water and engage in other activities seen as pro-migrant. NMD leaders say many of their contacts with the Border Patrol, for instance, have been professional and often cordial.

Nevertheless, Fife, NMD's elder statesman, described the group's encounters with the Border Patrol, the federal government's heaviest presence in the desert, as "low-intensity conflict."

"It's a constant little push [and] push back out there," he says. "It depends on the agents, and on the circumstance."

They're also known for getting arrested, ticketed, and convicted. And like conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War, they're generally proud and unapologetic, convinced of the rightness of their mission.

Part of it seems borne of the lefty enclave of Tucson itself, an über-crunchy college town where on any given night there's a vigil or a meeting for a group involved in the fight against U.S. border policy.

Consider it the metaphysical opposite of Maricopa County. In Tucson, the political stars are the likes of firebrand activist and Pima County legal defender Isabel Garcia or liberal Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva instead of far-right tribunes such as Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas or Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

As if further proof were needed: In the center of Tucson's downtown is not a statue to some obscure European explorer, but a 14-foot bronze sculpture of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa on horseback.

The Reverend John Fife is another of the town's icons, a man who's been dubbed Tucson's "most beloved felon." That's because Fife's the legendary co-founder of the Sanctuary Movement, which gave refuge to asylum-seekers from right-wing Central American states — such as El Salvador and Guatemala — empowered by U.S. foreign policy.

At the height of the movement, Southside Presbyterian, where Fife was pastor, was its epicenter, giving shelter to thousands of families and individuals fleeing Central American civil wars and death squads.

Then, as now, the federal government did not look kindly on Fife's activism. His church was infiltrated by the feds, and he — along with several other Sanctuary Movement activists — was tried and convicted for harboring, for aiding and abetting, and for conspiracy.

Fife received five years' probation, but the movement he helped spawn continued, more vocal than ever, and it turned into a black eye for the Reagan Administration. Years later, the U.S. government was forced to change its policy toward refugees from Central America.

In 2003, Fife and other local religious leaders and activists sought a way to address the escalating humanitarian crisis on the Arizona-Mexico border. As a result, NMD was founded in 2004. That year, the first official NMD desert excursion from Byrd Camp took place.

NMD was, in effect, a citizen response to U.S. border policy and the death and misery that policy has engendered.

In the mid-'90s, the federal government started walling off the border near San Diego and beefing up enforcement in El Paso. Later, urban border areas throughout Arizona, including cities such as Nogales, Yuma, and Douglas got their stretches of walls or fencing. Like a vise, border policy began squeezing mass migration into the arid, remote, and treacherous desert of southern Arizona.

The idea was that the desert formed a natural barrier to migrants, that its rugged terrain would dissuade crossers. The Border Patrol referred to the strategy as "prevention through deterrence." Critics called the policy "deterrence through death."

Estimates of the migrant death toll on the U.S.-Mexico border over the past 15 years range from about 3,800 to more than 5,600. (The Tucson group Derechos Humanos counts more than 1,900 human remains recovered in the Arizona desert over the past 10 years.) But most experts and activists believe many more have succumbed to the inhospitable elements and terrain.

In 2000, Humane Borders responded to the crisis with a network of 55-gallon water drums at stationary locations. In 2002, Fife helped start the Samaritan Patrol, now known simply as the Samaritans, or "the Sams." The Samaritans patrol daily with medics and Spanish-speakers, looking for those left behind in the desert by human smugglers not willing to wait for the sick, injured, or straggling.

Fife says No More Deaths was initially a coalition of existing organizations, with the singular goal of assertively providing humanitarian aid.

"The coalition was designed to push the envelope," Fife says, "to be more aggressive in establishing the right to provide aid and medical care out there.

"Then, in '05, when Daniel and Shanti were arrested by the Border Patrol, it scared some of the [members]," he said. "The coalition began to pull apart, so we said, 'Okay, No More Deaths needs to separate.'"

Daniel and Shanti are Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz, two college-age NMD volunteers. They became famous in the immigrant-rights community in 2005, when on patrol in Arivaca, they encountered three men in very bad physical shape.

It was July, and it had been more than 100 degrees every day for at least a month. Strauss later told Democracy Now host Amy Goodman that 78 migrants had died the week they encountered the men, who had been in the desert for four days, two without food and water.

"One had been vomiting, said he couldn't keep anything down," Strauss told the lefty Webcaster, whose online show is a must-watch for liberals. "He also reported finding blood in his stool over the past day, which is a very dangerous sign of internal problems and failure . . . All of them had blisters on their feet that kept them from walking."

Strauss and Sellz determined to get the men to a hospital in Tucson. On their way, the Border Patrol arrested them on charges of transporting and conspiring to transport illegal aliens. Their case became a cause célèbre in Tucson, where yard signs sprang up with the motto "Humanitarian Aid Is Never a Crime."

From around the world, postcards poured in to then-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton's office demanding that he countermand the order to prosecute. Though the pair were indicted and faced up to 15 years in prison, they refused a plea deal. In 2006, a federal judge dismissed the charges, finding that there was no intention on their part to violate the law.

In 2007, the two young activists received the Oscar Romero Award, named for the Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador, assassinated in 1980 on the orders of right-wing death-squad leader Roberto D'Aubisson. The award, given by Houston's Rothko Chapel, came with a monetary prize of $5,000 to each recipient. The pair donated half of the money to No More Deaths.

The Sellz-Strauss incident modified NMD's protocol. Only in the most dire, life-threatening circumstances would migrants be taken by car from the location where they are encountered, and only then after it is determined that an ambulance or the Border Patrol cannot make it in time to help. Balancing the protocol is a policy of giving migrants the option of refusing be evacuated or turned over to authorities, up until the point that they no longer are physically able to decide for themselves.

Still, hostile encounters between the Border Patrol and NMD members continue. NMD volunteers are threatened with arrest, and in one incident in December 2009, a Border Patrol agent verbally abused NMD volunteers as he emptied their jugs of water in front of them. Several NMD volunteers interviewed for this story accused the Border Patrol of slashing water bottles — though they admit there could be other culprits, such as ranchers, hunters, or even other federal agents.

For this story, the Border Patrol declined to answer questions related to No More Deaths or to the humanitarian crisis in the desert.

The Border Patrol is not the only federal agency with which No More Deaths has crossed swords: There is also the U.S. Department of the Interior, in the guise of Fish and Wildlife Service officials operating on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, a 118,000-acre stretch near Byrd Camp.

The refuge is home to such endangered species as masked bobwhite quail, and the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl. Hunting of non-endangered species is allowed on 90 percent of the refuge, and the area is a favorite destination for bird-watchers and campers.

BANWR is also a major corridor for migrants. About 20,000 traversed it in 2009, according to Jose Viramontes, a Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman. About two migrant bodies a year are discovered in the refuge, Viramontes says.

For years, NMD volunteers have been leaving jugs of water on some of the refuge's 1,300 miles of migrant trails. Although Humane Borders operates three stationary sites on BANWR with two 55-gallon drums of water each — and Fish and Wildlife insists it plans to allow more sites — NMD argues that such stationary facilities aren't sufficient because the migrant trails shift. Also, some accuse the Border Patrol of staking out these sites, in hopes of nabbing their own endangered quarry.

The work NMD volunteers do on BANWR is similar to what they do in the desert surrounding Byrd Camp. They four-wheel-drive and hike to remote areas, follow the migrant trails, leave plastic gallon jugs of water at locations where they anticipate migrants will find them, pick up empties, and return.

Dan Millis was on such a trek in BANWR on February 22, 2008, with three other NMD volunteers, when a Fish and Wildlife officer admonished them for placing water jugs in the wild and ticketed Millis for "littering."

Rather than pay the $175 fine, Millis, with the help of Tucson attorney William Walker, challenged the ticket in federal court, risking a $5,000 fine and six months in prison.

Walker contested the charge by arguing that leaving out full, sealed water jugs to save lives is not littering, that the plastic containers only become litter once opened and discarded. On the stand, Millis argued that he and his group picked up more trash than they left. When he was cited, there were five crates of litter in the back of the truck he was driving.

The U.S. Attorney's Office countered that Millis would need a permit to leave such water on the refuge and cited a garbage problem — including cars abandoned by smugglers — on BANWR.

(Fish and Wildlife spokesman Viramontes estimates that more than 50 tons of trash is left on the refuge annually. With that much trash, some activists wonder why BANWR's managers are so concerned about a few water bottles.)

The decision by U.S. Magistrate Bernardo Velasco was a Pyrrhic victory for the government. Velasco found Millis guilty but gave him a suspended sentence. Nonetheless, Millis has appealed the verdict, and the matter is scheduled to be argued before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on March 2.

The Samaritans found themselves in a similar situation with federal authorities when Kathryn Ferguson, a Sams volunteer, was ticketed in early 2008 by a plainclothes Bureau of Land Management officer. During a confrontation in Arivaca, the officer shoved Ferguson, then handcuffed and cited her for "creating a nuisance." The U.S. Attorney at the time, Diane Humetewa, declined to prosecute.

Despite the incidents, No More Deaths volunteers continued leaving water jugs on BANWR in defiance of Fish and Wildlife's ticketing policy. In June 2009, a federal jury convicted NMD activist Walt Staton of a misdemeanor littering charge. Magistrate Jennifer Guerin sentenced Staton to 300 hours of community service and a year of probation.

A seminary student at the Claremont School of Theology in California, Staton briefly toyed with defying the community-service order, writing to the judge, "When a government fails to respect and protect human rights — or, worse, is itself a violator — it is the responsibility of citizens to act in defense of those rights."

Guerin threatened Staton with 25 days in custody, and Staton ultimately backed down, accepting the community service while appealing his conviction.

In July 2009, 13 humanitarians from NMD, Humane Borders, the Samaritans, the Catholic Church, and other organizations defied the BANWR ban by placing water on the refuge in full view of Fish and Wildlife officers. Their water was promptly confiscated, and they were all cited. Those ticketed included John Fife and Gene Lefebvre.

The day after the 13 were ticketed, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar contacted NMD, requesting that a delegation come to D.C. for a meeting. It included Lefebvre, who said he was impressed with Salazar.

"[Salazar] said he had compassion for the migrants who were dying in the desert and respect for the work we're doing, but that we would have to obey the law," Lefebvre says.

"After that, we got an invitation to meet with the [Fish and Wildlife] people in BANWR and their bosses from Albuquerque. So, obviously, the secretary arranged that."

Lefebvre says NMD is offering to partner with the agency to help it remove trash from the refuge. Recently, the Department of the Interior's regional director wrote to NMD attorney Margo Cowan expressing the department's "commitment to find a solution serving both parties."

A meeting between the two sides took place February 18 in Tucson, but no announcement has been made regarding an agreement. Officially, NMD has ceased leaving water on BANWR, but some of the group's activists continue to do so.

Though Walt Staton's flirt with imprisonment and the ticketing of the 13 activists have been the focus of recent media reports regarding the issue of leaving water for desert pilgrims, it's Millis' experience that offers a potent moral metaphor for NMD's work.

That's because two days before he was ticketed on BANWR, he discovered the body of Josseline Hernandez, a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador.

Josseline went missing two weeks earlier. She was on her way to California with her 10-year-old brother when she became sick and could no longer move with a group of migrants. She urged her little brother to go with the others, telling him she was the big sister and would be okay.

A missing-persons alert was sent by Derechos Humanos, an advocacy group that keeps stats on migrant deaths in the Border Patrol's deadly Tucson sector. Josseline's mother in Los Angeles had spoken with Derechos Humanos, sharing information about Josseline's situation from her brother, who had made it safely to L.A.

Some NMD members were actively looking for Josseline, but Millis was on another mission. He was seeking a shortcut to a spot where he wanted to drop off a supply bin full of food, a spot where he knew migrants were likely to find the provisions.

In a rocky canyon, wet from recent winter downpours, Millis and three other NMD volunteers found the girl. She was dead, her face unrecognizable but her body still intact.

"She had taken her shoes off," Millis says. "I saw her shoes first. They were bright green, so you couldn't miss them. Her feet were, like, in a puddle. There had been rain, so there was a little bit of water flowing through the canyon.

"She probably had some horrible blisters [on her feet], like everyone has when they come across. We know she fell behind. She had been sick, and she was vomiting [according to her brother], and she had taken her jacket off . . . and placed it on the rock next to her."

Pima County sheriff's deputies were called. When they turned over the body, they could see the word "Hollywood" on her sweat pants, one of the identifiers Derechos Humanos had used in its alert. The official cause of death was exposure to the elements.

Deeply affected by the discovery, Millis was further motivated to leave water in the desert. He was angered when the Fish and Wildlife Service stopped him a couple of days later to ticket him for littering on BANWR.

"To go out and try to do something about [deaths like Josseline's] made me feel better," Millis says. "To be accosted by authorities of the federal government, the same government that's making these stupid laws and pushing people out here in the first place, was too much for me."

Like many activists, Millis blames the feds for creating a situation that's caused migrants from Mexico to go through the remotest of desert, where bodies might never be found. Ironically, the former schoolteacher and convicted litterer now works for the Sierra Club, which also opposes the walls and other barriers erected along the 370-mile Arizona-Mexico border.

Josseline Hernandez has become the unofficial patron saint of No More Deaths. Religious groups and reporters often make pilgrimages to the canyon where a shrine to Josseline has been erected.

Prayer cards bearing the image of the slender young girl in a candle-filled church are sometimes given out. And her tale inspired Tucson Weekly reporter Margaret Regan's new book, The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona-Mexico Borderlands.

Josseline's is one of many stories that help fuel No More Deaths. Another is that of Lucresia Dominguez, a mother of two who was abandoned by her coyote guides when she fell ill. Her 15-year-old son stayed behind with her but eventually left her side to seek help, wandering lost in the desert until he was found by the Border Patrol and repatriated back to Mexico.

NMD joined Dominguez's father, Cesareo, in a search for the missing woman's body, guided only by the recollections of his grandson, barred from re-entering the United States for lack of a visa. Before he found her body, Dominguez's dad discovered three more migrant corpses in the desert.

At a service for his daughter in Tucson, the distraught father praised No More Deaths volunteers.

"I thank God," he told a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, "that . . . I found all these people who helped me and never left me, not even for a minute."

His daughter's story became the stuff of legend. It was retold as part of the independent film 7 Soles, which wove together several such accounts for a drama about duplicitous coyotes guiding a group of migrants toward a Phoenix drop-house. Screenings of the film in Phoenix and Tucson raised money for the organization.

Each NMD volunteer has his or her own personal cache of tragic experiences.

Laura Ilardo, a high school social worker who leads Phoenix's NMD chapter, still shivers at the thought of a "rape tree" she saw while on patrol in Arivaca. The tree was hung with a woman's garments, left as trophies, and the woman's backpack was spilled out onto the earth. It is a common enough sight in southern Arizona, where it is believed that most women who cross are sexually assaulted by their coyote guides.

Another time, in 2005, Ilardo came across a pregnant woman guided by two men. The woman had a bad sprain, and the men had stayed to help her walk as the rest of their party went ahead. Ilardo was raised Catholic but does not consider herself a practicing member of the faith. Still, the encounter with the woman had religious echoes for her.

"It definitely felt like the birth story of Jesus," llardo says. "It brought that home for me, though she didn't have [a donkey], obviously. They were just walking."

Because of strict NMD rules, she and other volunteers did not transport the woman (because her injuries were not life threatening), so they guided her to Byrd Camp. Because her helpers were not ill, they did not enter the camp; only the pregnant woman was allowed in.

Her sprain was treated, and she was given her options: She could turn herself over to the Border Patrol or she could continue on after she had rested and the swelling had gone down.

The woman chose to keep walking.

Because of the citations NMD humanitarians are battling in federal court, No More Deaths' activities hark back to the civil disobedience practiced in the 1960s by anti-war activists.

NMD humanitarians prefer the term "civil initiative," a concept devised in the 1980s by John Fife's fellow Sanctuary Movement leader, Jim Corbett. The principle is discussed at length in NMD's resource book, handed out to all prospective NMD volunteers.

The handbook defines civil initiative as "the right and responsibility of civil organizations to protect and directly assist victims of human rights violations when the government is the violator."

In other words, as the definition contends, "Humanitarian aid is never a crime." No More Deaths members do not regard leaving water in the desert as an offense, any more than they regard any of the migrant-friendly activities they engage in as criminal.

NMD's civil initiative is a call to action, one that draws volunteers from all over the United States, Canada, and Europe to participate in the group's efforts to assist migrants crossing the desert or assist those who have already crossed, been captured, and deported.

More than 3,000 people have volunteered with the organization since 2004. Every summer, peak season for volunteers, NMD averages about 200 participants.

Ilardo's Phoenix chapter organizes massive water drives, called aguatóns, during summer months and collects trucks full of socks, much needed by migrants. Last year, Ilardo says Phoenix NMD gathered 10,000 gallons of water for desert distribution.

Additionally, NMD offers a sort of alternative spring break for college students.

The group anticipates more than 170 volunteers during this year's spring break. Not all will pitch their tents on the grounds of the ramshackle Byrd Camp and hike for miles in treacherous, albeit beautiful, environs. Some will spend time in Mexico at an aid station in Nogales, Sonora. The station is at the Mariposa port of entry, on the west side of the Mexican border town.

It is at this aid station that migrants, just dumped by Department of Homeland Security or privately contracted Wackenhut buses and made to walk into Mexico, can be cared for by NMD volunteers with medical training, as well as by Red Cross volunteers and Nogales locals.

This year's spring-breakers aside, veteran NMD volunteers make regular treks to the aid station — little more than a large tent augmented by a couple of trailers and surrounded by a new chain-link fence. The fence is to keep out so-called polleros, or "chicken wranglers," as coyotes are popularly referred to in these parts.

Tucson nurse Sarah Roberts, a longtime NMD volunteer who also participates in Samaritan patrols, visits the aid station every Wednesday. There she treats the massive foot blisters the migrants suffer, in addition to a variety of other ailments, such as sprained ankles, broken bones, lacerations from falling, and dehydration.

"In the hot weather, we see a lot of dehydration," she says. "And muscle cramps from being out in the desert heat with not enough water, not enough electrolytes."

That the migrants still have these complaints — after being held by the Border Patrol for a short duration or after going through federal court in Tucson (as a small percentage do, under a program called Operation Streamline) — is a sore point for activists like Roberts.

As a result, Roberts and other No More Deaths volunteers catalogued tales of migrant abuse and mistreatment at the hands of the Border Patrol in a 2008 report called Crossing the Line.

Available at www.nomoredeaths.org, the report calls for the humane treatment and care of migrants in short-term detention. The data comes from the Mariposa aid station, as well as from other migrant aid stations NMD partners with in the Sonora towns of Agua Prieta and Naco.

In Nogales, Sonora, the aid station is a model of cooperation between NMD and other aid groups, including Sonoran state agencies such as the International Migrant Affairs Directorate, known by the Spanish acronym DGAMI.

Omar Pinada, a coordinator with the agency, says that though the Mexican government provides the property the aid station sits on, everything else — from the fence around it to medical aid Roberts helps with — is volunteer oriented.

"They give us sugar, coffee, cups," says Pinada of the donations brought by NMD workers to the station. "The government doesn't have the money to buy all this stuff. No More Deaths helps us, so we help them."

After Roberts cares for those at the aid station who need it, she and other volunteers (if any have come with her from Tucson) make a five-minute walk to the nearby comedor (soup kitchen) run by Jesuit priests and Catholic nuns, with the help of the Diocese of Tucson and the Archdiocese of Hermasillo, Sonora.

At the comedor, which offers two meals daily prepared from food donated by charity groups, sometimes more than 100 recently repatriated migrants at a time squeeze themselves into the metal picnic tables there and gobble down whatever stew has been whipped up for them by volunteers.

Afterward, they comb through clothing and other items brought from Tucson by Roberts and other NMD activists. Roberts tends to their medical needs as best she can, sometimes bandaging a twisted leg or a swollen knee. Sometimes offering over-the-counter medications for cold or flu-like symptoms.

During one visit, she says, she fretted over one young man's abdominal pains. She ended up giving him Pepto-Bismol but worried that it could be something worse.

"I can't really do a proper examination here," she muttered.

Despite the frustration, Roberts is driven to help, in part, by the sights she's seen while out on patrol with No More Deaths and the Samaritans. She describes an incident she encountered near the Arivaca camp — an act of charity by the father of a migrating family toward a man whose sprained ankle Roberts had just treated.

"They didn't know each other," Roberts says. "The man with the family noticed that the man with the sprained ankle needed some good shoes, and he gave him his shoes. What courage and compassion."

No More Deaths is hardly an evangelical group, but a strand of religious inspiration runs through the organization, as well as through the entire social-justice community that has arisen to address Arizona's desert mortality rate.

Though many NMD volunteers eschew the term "religious," NMD touts a list of "Faith Based Principles for Immigration Reform" on its Web site. Training sessions for new recruits often take place in Southside Presbyterian's worship hall, modeled after a Native American kiva, or ceremonial room.

On the water jugs that volunteers put in the desert, there are often religious messages in Spanish inscribed for the benefit of the migrants. On some, the three crosses from Calvary are drawn. Yet, during training sessions, Christianity is not proselytized, and no prayers are said.

Gene Lefebvre acknowledges the spiritual element and notes that among NMD's founders were pastors, Catholic leaders, and rabbis. But he stressed that NMD is open to all comers, including non-believers.

"We call it a faith-based group, a group of people of faith and conscience," Lefebvre says, "but we deliberately wanted it to be open and not draw any lines about religion or anything like that.

"Civil initiative is kind of our operating principle," he adds. "We emphasize the work to be done."

Southside Presbyterian was founded in 1906 to minister to Tucson's Tohono O'odham community. When John Fife first came to Arizona as a recent grad from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, he served his internship on the Tohono O'odham Nation, later becoming Southside's pastor.

In the past, his congregants included Mike Wilson, an O'odham tribe member and former Presbyterian lay pastor who now leaves water for migrants crossing the Tonono O'odham's Connecticut-size reservation, the second largest in the United States.

Wilson, who lives off the reservation, maintains several water stations on it. Four are named after Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He regularly leaves 10 separate gallon jugs of donated water beneath the shade of desert paloverdes, forming the shape of a cross on the ground with the containers.

Around his neck dangles a silver-and-turquoise cross, and he speaks of how he is "required" by his conscience to leave water, even though in doing so, he has earned the ire of tribal officials. Officially, Wilson is forbidden from leaving water and has been threatened with banishment from tribal lands for the activity.

He used to have two 55-gallon drums of water at each gospel-named station, but those drums were removed by tribal authorities. Now, he leaves only 10 gallons per stop every couple of weeks.

The only water drums left are on the Mexican side of the fenced border, which is lined with ominous, steel-pole vehicle barriers sunk into concrete.

Wilson's Mexican station is a few yards from the San Miguel Gate at the border, where Tohono O'odham venture over to Mexico and back to the U.S. side, under the ever-present watch of Border Patrol agents.

The border is an arbitrary one to the Tohono O'odham, whose nation was cut in half by the 1853 Gadsden Purchase, wherein the United States acquired much of what is now southern Arizona, south of the Gila River. Since the mid-'90s, the Border Patrol's presence on the reservation has become a ubiquitous "occupying army," as Wilson describes it.

Border Patrol agents on horseback, in helicopters, on dirt bikes, and in jeeps smother the reservation, often stopping tribal members to ask for documents.

They are there for a reason. U.S. border policy, which has walled off cities at or near the border, has created what researchers call a "funnel effect," the upshot being more migrants crossing into barren tribal lands.

This means more migrants dying on the Tohoho O'odham Nation because of the elements and the foreboding desert landscape. ("Tohono O'odham" means "desert people" in the O'odham language.) Wilson is well aware of the big picture, but he holds the leaders of his tribe blameworthy for their part in it.

"Within the last couple of years," he insists, "42 percent of all deaths in the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol have taken place on Nation lands. That's why I've been saying for years that the Tohono O'odham tribal government is morally responsible for contributing to migrant deaths."

Wilson is not a member of No More Deaths. A self-described "independent operator," the ex-Green Beret's work is sponsored by Humane Borders, founded by the Reverend Robin Hoover, pastor of Tucson's First Christian Church. Humane Borders is best known for its fixed desert water stations, marked by a blue flag, with massive barrels of water beneath.

According to Wilson, the 110 gallons of water in each of his stations went quickly in the deadly summer months. Now, he leaves no more than 10 gallons at a time because he doesn't know if the Border Patrol, tribal authorities, or tribe members will confiscate or harm the plastic containers.

On a recent outing, Wilson found only the caps of 10 water jugs at one station. A migrant would have drunk part of the water and taken the jug or drunk all of the water and left the entire empty container. Wilson surmised that someone emptied all the containers and confiscated them, leaving the caps on the ground. Fresh tracks from dirt bikes were nearby the site, possibly from Border Patrol motorcycles.

Back at his house, Wilson has a whole collection of slashed water bottles recovered during his excursions. He admits some of the damage may be the result of tribe members unhappy with him or with the migrants themselves.

"My battle is not with the Tohono O'odham people, but with the Tohono O'odham government," Wilson avers. "The Tohono O'odham people have a tradition of hospitality. They've always offered humanitarian aid to migrants. But 500 migrants coming across the reservation on any given day has exhausted this tradition of hospitality."

Not entirely exhausted it, of course, considering Wilson's own efforts and those of individuals such as David Garcia, an ex-member of the Tohono O'odham tribal council, who sometimes helps Wilson take water to the desert. Each agrees there are still private acts of generosity toward migrants by the Tohono O'odham people.

The two men say they've met with tribal Chairman Ned Norris Jr., who's told them that he supports what they're doing but cannot say so publicly for political reasons. Wilson and Garcia believe Norris is compromised because of the millions of dollars in federal aid the nation receives. To openly support humanitarians putting water out on the reservation would be a risky proposition for him, they claim.

Norris declined to comment on Wilson's actions or on the deaths in the desert.

Wilson insists that the tribe has the infrastructure available to provide water to migrants, as it already does for livestock on the reservation. He's also critical of many in Tucson's social-justice community who do not want to admonish the tribe because of what Wilson perceives as liberal white guilt.

On the other hand, tribal leadership is between a rock and a hard place, argues John Fife, whose links to the nation are old and myriad.

"The Border Patrol is arrogant and authoritarian and dominant in a lot of ways with that culture," he states. "The [Tohono O'odham] leadership is very critical, but they feel they can't do without them."

In reality, the Border Patrol's "occupying army" arguably controls not only tribal land, but all of southern Arizona. South of the Gila River, it is almost impossible to avoid running into Border Patrol. In places where an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer is rarely seen, the Border Patrol is the most visible law enforcement agency present.

For all intents and purposes, the agency, along with its allied federal departments, oversees the region, acting as a sort of super-, anti-migrant, anti-drug police force.

"I think the Border Patrol really would like to have everybody out of the desert so they can do their enforcement with no problem," Lefebvre says. "Everyone's sort of a nuisance to them."

And yet, as long migrants continue to die, the non-violent army that No More Deaths is a part of will continue to provide humanitarian relief. Driven by religion, members' own consciences, or a shared sense of purpose, such activists refuse to be beaten back by tickets from Fish and Wildlife, Border Patrol harassment, tribal politics, or even convictions in federal court.

Indeed, the more the federal government presses its boot heel down, the greater the response of those in No More Deaths and similar groups. The entire, pro-migrant movement was born of the suffering of migrants, activists say, and it will end only when the suffering ceases.

"Our strength comes from two things," Lefebvre says. "We have a strong community already in Tucson, and when volunteers come [from elsewhere], it's easy to create a strong community in the camps.

"But most of it comes from the migrants themselves. They're the inspiration. Their strength, their courage, their suffering. That is what feeds us."

New Family Addition

2010-07-13T12:28:00.009-06:00

Aaron Liam Shelby.

Born 7/8/10 at 6:58pm. He weighed 8 lbs 2oz and was 19 inches long.

Oh and in case you wondered what Caleb thought of the excitement...

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Ebay Fun

2010-07-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

I had a recent transaction on Ebay in which I bought some books (and got a screaming deal) but to my chagrin the books smelled of smoke when they arrived. I immediately went back to check the description to see if I had missed where they informed prospective buyers that the books were housed in a chimney but, alas, no warning. To their favor, it also did not say (as many Ebay book sellers notate) that they come from a "smoke-free house."

I checked the feedback rating for this seller and they had a 95.8% rating, which means they've had some unhappy customers before me. Well, I decided to be nice but simultaneously warn future buyers against this seller. So I left a positive feedback on both books but in the commentary sections I wrote the following:

1. "As described...but buyer beware of SERIOUS smoke smell. Unsure how to get it out."

2. "Future reference: Buyers do like to know if items come from smoke conditions."

I figured that would be the end of it. Until I received the following email:

Dear casashelby,

You posted feedback claiming the books smell like smoke. That's not possible considering I purchased the books new and they have been in my home ( An Asthmatic and NON SMOKER) since I bought them. If you are going to post feedback like this without contacting me about it first, please do not buy anything from me anymore. Thank You.

- ae******78

Say what???!!! Now I was slightly annoyed. So here was my response:

Dear ae******78,

I don't know what to tell you. I just pulled them off the shelf again. One day after delivery, I flipped open both books, and
they still smell like smoke. I left positive feedback since it technically met the posted description.

Sorry if I ratted out someone in your home as a closet smoker. Don't worry, I probably won't be purchasing any more books
from you. I don't like smokey books...

Aside from the smoke, it was a pleasant experience. I love Salvatore's books. Thanks.

- casashelby

Calling My Shot...NBA Free Agency.

2010-06-30T08:00:00.001-06:00

With July 1st only one day away, I guess I should call my shot on how I think the NBA free agency is going to play out. Such a huge free agent class, deep in superstar talent, will make for an exciting month.

LeBron James - Everyone makes a big deal about the extra $30 million he'll give up if he walks away from Cleveland because they can offer him a slightly larger per year deal and offer one extra year. Truth is - It's probably closer to $12-15 million because any deal he signs will probably have a player option after the third year. He'll opt out and sign a max deal at that point. Plus, if he decides to sign in Miami, where there is no state tax, that number becomes even closer.

If you listen to the media, depending on the day, LeBron is a guarantee to sign with the Knicks, the Bulls, the Nets or joining D-Wade in Miami with Chris Bosh tagging along. Anything besides those four, I don't believe really have any serious shot...sorry Dallas, it just won't happen.

Where does LeBron sign? Let me say this. I can't think of a single superstar who has turned down Bird-rights max deal contract option to play for a Championship. Ever. I haven't even seen a player in the NBA sign for less than max to help ensure the signing of other quality players. Ever. I've seen many proclaim it and say they will, but in the NBA, I've never seen it. That being said, LeBron will not be the first.

LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers.

Disclaimer: In case I'm wrong, you'll see him in a New Jersey Nets uniform next year and thirty years from now we'll learn about LeBron's secret Russian bank account where his salary was annually doubled by his new owner.

How about the rest of the league?

Dwayne Wade - Miami. He'll opt out and resign a max deal or he'll just sign a max extention. A few costly lawsuits and nasty divorce mean Wade's going for the money now.

Chris Bosh - Adios Toronto, hello Miami. Bosh can say he's a center-piece all he wants but somewhere deep down, he knows he needs another superstar. I think he may worry that Lebron would cut in on his stats but looking at Dwayne Wade and how Shaq still flourished with him, it seems appealing. Cleveland will try very hard for a sign and trade but will fall short.

Dirk Nowitski - Opts out of $20+ million...idiot. He's resigning for with the Mavs. No doubt.

Amar'e Stoudemire - New York Knicks. Look for him to be rejoining the coach who never yelled when he didn't play defense.

Joe Johnson - New York Knicks. The Bulls will try as I really think the Hinrich move was specifically to target Joe Johnson but NY will overpay to get him.

Carlos Boozer - Chicago Bulls. Toss up here. New Jersey really needs a power forward after trading Yi Jianlin to Washington and they might overpay to get him after losing out on the Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Stoudemire lottery. Flip side: Becoming the old vet playing side by side with Kevin Durant on a young Thunder team might be too much to pass up. Same explanation for the Bulls with Derek Rose, Joakim Noah.

David Lee - New Jersey. With Amar'e coming to the Knicks, Lee becomes expendable. Look for New Jersey to push hard though. If/when they miss out on Boozer, Lee will sign. They will see Lopez and Lee as a fierce young front wall in the Eastern Conference. If the Bulls can't get Boozer, look for them to try for Lee.

Paul Pierce - Celtics. Another $20 million opt out idiot. He'll resign with Celtics for around 6 year, $85 million.

Luis Scola - Houston. He's restricted and expect the Rockets to match any deal for him.

Rudy Gay - Miami. They will slightly overpay to ensure Memphis doesn't match the deal but a legit 3rd option will make Miami Eastern Conference favorites.

Ray Allen - Cleveland or Miami. After making $20+ million last season for the Celtics and then having only one good game in the NBA Finals, he's going to have to take a significant pay cut and maybe accept a veteran reserve role status if he wants to play on a playoff legit team.

Brendan Haywood - Miami. They need a center who can focus solely on defense.

Shaquille O'Neal - Boston. He made $20 million last year but will probably get a 2 year, $10-12 million deal. Dallas is a longshot.

Others: Tony Allen - He'll sign with Cleveland or Miami but it will be the one the "other Allen" does not sign with; Shaquille O'Neal - Boston; Luke Ridnour - Knicks; Raymond Felton - Bobcats; Marcus Camby - Knicks; Kyle Korver - Miami or Knicks; Jordan Farmar - Lakers or Knicks; Udonis Haslem - Miami

Jermaine O'Neal is available but I really have no idea who will be dumb enough to pay anything more than the veteran's minimum for him. Whoever does, he'll sign before they change their mind.

2010-2011 NBA Champion? Three-Peat Los Angeles Lakers...come on, did you really think I'd pick against them?

Harry Potter...

2010-06-28T21:11:00.000-06:00

Monday in The Office: Canada Song

2010-06-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Los Angeles Lakers - 2010 World Champions

2010-06-17T22:02:00.001-06:00

Monday in The Office: The Mentor

2010-06-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

These were webisodes that were only available online. Not as hilarious as the Subtle Sexuality webisodes but still pretty dang funny.

Part I: The Pupil

Part II: Reimbursements

Part III: Lunchtime

Part IV: BFF's?

Stephen Hawking

2010-06-12T19:42:00.003-06:00

He continues to amaze me...

Random Ipod Friday

2010-06-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

Here's another random ten songs:

Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead

Tangerine - Led Zeppelin

Troublemaker - Weezer

Wake Up - Rage Against the Machine

I Love This Bar - Toby Keith

When The Sh*t Goes Down - Cypress Hill

The Crystal Ship - The Doors

Hummer - Smashing Pumpkins

Friends in Low Places - Garth Brooks

Good Old Days - Ziggy Marley

Monday in The Office - "That'll Show Them"

2010-06-07T07:07:00.000-06:00

NBA Finals time...

2010-06-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

American Fascism

2010-06-02T21:56:00.001-06:00

"The really dangerous American fascist... is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power... They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective, toward which all their deceit is directed, is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."
-- U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, quoted in the New York Times, April 9, 1944

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-31T10:35:00.003-06:00

Thank you to all who have served, do serve and will serve this great nation.

"It is during our most challenging and uncertain moments that our Nation's commitment to due process is most severely tested; and it is in those times that we must preserve our commitment at home to the principles for which we fight abroad."
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor - Hamdi v. Rumsfeld - 2004

The Changing Of the Guard at the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary in Arlington, VA.

Kevin Garnett and Sasha Vujacic: Which was worse?

2010-05-30T14:02:00.004-06:00

Props to my friend Ray for initially making this observation.

Kevin Garnett got called for a personal foul for this:

Sasha Vujacic initially got called for a technical but it was changed to a Flagrant Two:

Let's hope in the Finals, the Celtics preferential treatment doesn't continue...Just to be fair though, the League should suspend them both for the first two games of the NBA Finals.

Random Ipod Friday

2010-05-28T06:00:00.000-06:00

These are out of the playlist entitled: My Top Rated (which are my 4 and 5 star songs). I randomly select the first song, skip it and give you the next ten that play.

Goodbye to Romance - Ozzy Osbourne

Thinking About You - Norah Jones

Could You Be Loved - Ziggy, Damian and Stephen Marley

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) - James Taylor

Safe In The Arms of Love - Martina McBride

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

The River - Garth Brooks

Traveling Riverside Blues - Led Zeppelin

Mein Teil - Rammstein

Across The Universe - The Beatles

Monday in The Office: Gift Wrapped Desk

2010-05-24T06:35:00.000-06:00

Jon Stewart Compilation About Same Sex Marriage

2010-05-23T17:28:00.001-06:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

On Topic: In the News - Gay Marriage

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Arizona and Political Tacos

2010-05-20T13:33:00.004-06:00

This is an inside joke and the joke is really a book. Hopefully, those of you NOT in on the joke can still find humor in it.

GOP Taco - aka "Family Values Taco" - Not made by illegals, homos or non-Christians. Best when eaten while your mistress reads the Bible to you.

Democrat Taco - constructed by illegal immigrants after a $500 million government program was created to show them step-by-step how to make a taco. Provisions made by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to ensure funding for this came only from white middle class tax payers.

Tea Party Taco - They won't eat the taco unless you can prove it was born...er...made in the United States. Other than that they want the government out of their tacos.

Nancy Pelosi Taco - Looks pleasant from the outside, almost fake but it is filled with demonic evil, not to mention, it will cause the world's most annoying laugh.

Glenn Beck Taco - TACO - Traitor Anti-American Communist Obama. He won't eat tacos because the founding fathers never ate tacos.

Harry Reid Taco - It's really a chalupa but isn't self aware enough to realize it.

Sarah Palin Taco - "I eat tacos all the time. All kinds, all different sorts, ya know, whatever taco they put on my desk, I just eat them up. I love me a good old fashioned American taco. It's what Reagan would have eaten so it's good enough for me, aw shucks."

President Obama Taco - Served to failing industries loaded with BILLIONS of dollars...er...ingredients. Not to mention, although many have seen the certificate, including Hawaii's Attorney General, we cannot PROVE where this taco was made.

Mitt Romney Taco - "I am categorically opposed to tacos as I prepare for my 2012 Presidential run even though as governor of Massachusetts I made tacos the official state food.

Ron Paul Taco - Tacos are an unnecessary part of the food industry and should be audited and then eliminated.

FOXNews Taco - "Tacos are...MUSLIM...wonderful additions...TERRORIST...to a dinner rotation...OBAMA...for many American...OSAMA...families across this...HITLER, STALIN, MAO...great nation."

MSNBC Taco - "Taco. We have no original material, we just react to the talking heads at FOX News. Taco. Taco."

CNN Taco - "The most trusted name in Tacos."

Jon Stewart Taco - "This f***ing Taco."

I really can't wait to see this new NBC show

2010-05-19T08:02:00.002-06:00

Outsourced (it will replace Parks and Recreation on Thursday nights)

Monday in The Office: The Injury

2010-05-17T06:30:00.001-06:00

Helpful Hints for Hypocrites...

2010-05-16T12:40:00.001-06:00

Lewis Black on Glenn Beck's Tourette's

2010-05-13T08:03:00.000-06:00

Back in Black - Glenn Beck's Nazi Tourette's

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Founded on Christianity?

2010-05-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Random Thoughts on Ethics: Murder

2010-05-11T17:38:00.003-06:00

New series here. Many subsequent posts to follow. Nothing gets people's blood boiling like hypothetical debates about ethics...

Why punish attempted murder less than murder? The one who attempted to murder is guilty of the same intent as one who completed the deed but should they be punished less severely for sheer incompetence?

Monday in The Office: Idiot

2010-05-10T08:58:00.000-06:00

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T12:05:00.000-06:00

Arizona - The Grand Canyon State

2010-05-08T12:42:00.007-06:00

Since many of you already know my feelings on Arizona's new immigration law making it against the law to break the law...sigh...I thought I would look up and share some other wonderful laws about the last of the lower 48 states to join the union. A land stolen from Mexico in the US-Mexican war, or as they call it in Mexico "El Invasion Estadounidense de Mexico" or "The American Invasion of Mexico."

STATE LAWS:
* Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony.
* There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.
* Hunting camels is prohibited.
* Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.
* It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.
* When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person posseses.
* A class 2 misdemeanor occurs if one places a mark upon an American flag which is "likely to provoke physical retaliation."
* It is illegal to manufacture imitation cocaine.
* Children are not allowed to sing nursery rhymes after 8 pm.
* Elephants must have a bell around their necks to warn swans of their approach.
* You can't walk through a hotel lobby with spurs on.

COUNTY AND/OR CITY LAWS:

Glendale
* Cars may not be driven in reverse.
* You may not have more than two dildos in a house.

Globe - Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American.

Hayden - If you bother the cottontails or bullfrogs, you will be fined.

Maricopa County - No more than six girls may live in any house.

Mesa - It is illegal to smoke cigarettes within 15 feet of a public place unless you have a Class 12 liqueur license.

Mohave County - Anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it in public until it is all used up.

Nogales - An ordinance prohibits the wearing of suspenders. Women can be fined up to $500, Men up to $2000.

Prescott - No one is permitted to ride their horse up the stairs of the county court house.

Tempe - It is illegal to eat grass from any area where sheep or cows are grazing.

Tombstone - It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling.

Tucson - Women may not wear pants.

Best Songs of All Time

2010-05-04T23:41:00.007-06:00

So frequently I recommend songs to friends with the preface "This has got to be one of my top ten favorite songs of all time." I'm sure I've said that so often that I have about 100+ songs in my top ten. So, I figured I'd take a go at it. It should be noted that these are what I consider to be the ten BEST songs not my ten FAVORITE songs. Now the question remains: Can I condense the list to just ten? I'll try...

In alphabetical order:

"Comfortably Numb" - Pink Floyd

"Con Te Partiro" - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman

"Dear Mama" - 2Pac

"I Walk The Line" - Johnny Cash

"Imagine" - John Lennon

"Layla" - Derek and the Dominos (video is of a 1999 Eric Clapton concert)

"Let It Be" - The Beatles

"One" - U2

"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones

"Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin

My "bubble" songs (in alphabetical order):

"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen
"Crazy Train" - Ozzy Osbourne
"Hotel California" - The Eagles
"Johnny B. Goode" - Chuck Berry
"Light My Fire" - The Doors
"London Calling" - The Clash
"My Generation" - The Who
"Purple Haze" - Jimi Hendrix
"Redemption Song" - Bob Marley
"Tears in Heaven" - Eric Clapton

My favorite Tea Party Signs, Part IV

2010-05-01T14:45:00.005-06:00

These were provided by a friend who participated in a southern California Tea Party. Thanks for the pics Scott...

Poetry - "Nature"

2010-04-29T06:00:00.001-06:00

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As a fond mother, when the day is o'er,
Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
Half willing, half reluctant to be led,
And leave his broken playthings on the floor,
Still gazing at them through the open door,
Nor wholly reassured and comforted
By promises of others in their stead,
Which though more splendid, may not please him more;
So Nature deals with us, and takes away
Our playthings one by one, and by the hand
Leads us to rest so gently, that we go
Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,
Being too full of sleep to understand
How far the unknown transcends the what we know.

Monday in The Office: Communist Sweden

2010-04-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

Oscars Best of the 2000's, part I...Animated Feature Film

2010-04-25T06:00:00.002-06:00

This is part I of a new series I'm going to do pitting the annual Oscar winners of the 2000's against each other for a Bronze, Silver and Gold Super Oscar, or a Decade Oscar. The only qualifications are that you must be an Oscar winner. I'm going to do one for the 6 major Oscars (and today's minor one for Best Animated Feature Film).

The Nominees:

2000 - (Award first began in 2001)
2001 - Shrek
2002 - Spirited Away
2003 - Finding Nemo
2004 - The Incredibles
2005 - Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2006 - Happy Feet
2007 - Ratatouille
2008 - Wall-E
2009 - Up

Winners:

Bronze - Up

Silver - Shrek

And the winner is...

Gold - Finding Nemo

Next month will be the Best Supporting Actor award. If you haven't seen some of those movies, you have a month to see them and weigh in on your vote.

The Nominees:

2000 - BENICIO DEL TORO in "Traffic"
2001 - JIM BROADBENT in "Iris"
2002 - CHRIS COOPER in "Adaptation"
2003 - TIM ROBBINS in "Mystic River"
2004 - MORGAN FREEMAN in "Million Dollar Baby"
2005 - GEORGE CLOONEY in "Syriana"
2006 - ALAN ARKIN in "Little Miss Sunshine"
2007 - JAVIER BARDEM in "No Country for Old Men"
2008 - HEATH LEDGER in "The Dark Knight"
2009 - CHRISTOPH WALTZ in "Inglourious Basterds"

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, part VIII

2010-04-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

For any of you who are jumping on right now, if you'd like to know what I mean by "favorite" signs, read the intro to Part I of the series.

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, part VII

2010-04-23T06:00:00.002-06:00

For any of you who are jumping on right now, if you'd like to know what I mean by "favorite" signs, read the intro to Part I of the series.

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, part VI

2010-04-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, Part V

2010-04-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

For any of you who are jumping on right now, if you'd like to know what I mean by "favorite" signs, read the intro to Part I of the series.

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, Part IV

2010-04-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

To see what I mean by "favorite" or why this series continues, please read the intro to Part I of the series.

Monday in The Office: Bro's Before Ho's

2010-04-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, Part III

2010-04-18T12:47:00.010-06:00

NBA 2010 Playoffs

2010-04-15T08:41:00.003-06:00

Some initial thoughts before I get into my predictions. The Lakers turning off the heat during the last few weeks may come back to bite them in the butt. I think they looked at the schedule and knew no one in the West could catch them for the #1 seed and I think they looked across the nation to Cleveland and realized they wouldn't catch Cleveland for the #1 overall seed so they went into coasting mode. However, the Orlando Magic snuck right in under their noses and secured the #2 overall seed which means that if the Lakers make it to the NBA Finals against Cleveland or Orlando, they do not have home court advantage.

Next, the Utah Jazz. What a disappointment last night against Phoenix. A win changes the whole face of the Western Conference playoffs. If the Jazz when they would have secured the #3 seed and had home court against a Brandon Roy-less Portland Trail Blazer team. Instead, they slide to the #5 seed, lose home court and have to play a veteran Denver Nugget team who has owned them all year long. It could have been Phoenix vs Denver first round (which would have been an amazing series). Unreal.

Lastly, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Charlotte Bobcats and the Milwaukee Bucks are in the playoffs...really, they are.

Predictions:

Let me say, I don't anticipate any upsets this season. If the #5 Jazz beat the #4 Nuggets, is it really an upset anyways? Truth be told, the best upset opportunity in the 1st round in Kevin Durant single-handedly beating the Lakers. Not going to happen in a 7 game series but they may put the Lakers to the test. My biggest "shocker" is that I think the Magic will once again slap down LeBron James and the Cavs and advance to the NBA Finals.

1st Round, Eastern Conference:
#1 Cleveland Cavs vs #8 Chicago Bulls - Cavs win in 5.
#2 Orlando Magic vs #7 Charlotte Bobcats - Magic win in 4.
#3 Atlanta Hawks vs #6 Milwaukee Bucks - Hawks win in 5.
#4 Boston Celtics vs #5 Miami Heat - Celtics win in 6.

1st Round, Western Conference:
#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs #8 Oklahoma City Thunder - Lakers win in 6.
#2 Dallas Mavericks vs #7 San Antonio Spurs - Mavs win in 5.
#3 Phoenix Suns vs #6 Portland Trail Blazers - Phoenix wins in 5.
#4 Denver Nuggets vs #5 Utah Jazz - Nuggets win in 6. (Note - This is my prediction to be the best 1st round series)
-------------------------

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals:
#1 Cleveland Cavs vs #4 Boston Celtics - Cavs win in 6.
#2 Orlando Magic vs #3 Atlanta Hawks - Magic win in 6.

Western Conference Semi-Finals:
#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs #4 Denver Nuggets - Lakers win in 6.
#2 Dallas Mavericks vs #3 Phoenix Suns - Mavs win in 7.
-------------------------

Eastern Conference Finals:
#1 Cleveland Cavs vs #2 Orlando Magic - Magic win in 6.

Western Conference Finals:
#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs #3 Phoenix Suns - Lakers win in 7.
-------------------------

NBA Finals:
Orlando Magic vs Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers win in 6. You didn't really think I'd pick against the purple and gold, did you?

Obama or Jesus?

2010-04-14T08:21:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Urban Koda for this gem:

"Obama is not a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare. You’re thinking of Jesus."

More Jon Stewart Hilarity...

2010-04-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Big Bang Treaty

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Monday in The Office: Gay-Dar

2010-04-12T06:00:00.004-06:00

Watch the last new episode: Happy Hour

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, part II

2010-04-10T09:08:00.014-06:00

See the first part of this series HERE.

As signed by the 2nd President of the United States, John Adams and ratified by Congress in 1797: "“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion."

We died? Are we no longer the United States of America?

I guess Thomas Jefferson wasn't a REAL American: "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

FoxNews WAS right, this isn't just a white movement, there was a black guy there. I stand corrected. But he should correct his sign to read: "Black person against Obama."

You know when you went to the movie theatre to watch American Pie and were shocked to see a family with young kids there...that was this guy...

FEMA Concentration camps are spreading all across the nation...Obama is going to be rounding up all Republicans. Beware!

Tax, tax, tax, baby killing...WTF?

Oh...because he's black, so he's like Arnold from Different Strokes. What? Why not give him some Dy...no...mite!

Wow, way to make your point without being completely offensive. FAIL!

My Favorite Tea Party Signs...part I

2010-04-07T06:00:00.016-06:00

And by "favorite" I obviously mean "things-that-make-me-laugh-while-highlighting-idiocy."

The premise behind this series originated from a conversation I was having with a friend who said that I was unfairly throwing all Tea Party supporters into the same category as the isolated crazies that end up being the ones interviewed on television or waving their signs. I said I disagreed and added that thinking Obama was a Socialist qualified as "crazy" in my book and, hence, the rallies were filled with crazies.

Initially this was supposed to be a single post. However, due to the high volume of entries...This will be a multi-post event. Enjoy!

Don't let grandma anywhere near Tiananmen Square or else!!!

Lock and load.

Add "anti-gay" and "anti-immigrant" and you'll have the GOP campaign platform for 2012.

Obamunism: See that's a combination of Obama and Communism...which makes it twice as true.

Am I my brother's keeper? Nope.

Oh how horrid our lives have been suffering under the oppressive Dictator Obama!

Somehow I think he'd enjoy the freedom of standing in the unemployment line.

Apparently when you're 'unemployed and free' you have plenty of time to dig in dumpsters behind the Capitol Building.

Words cannot even begin to explain...

Thanks Glenn Beck...appreciate the racism.

Monday in The Office: Identity Theft

2010-04-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

This is a new weekly segment called "Monday in The Office" in which I will be posting classic and hilarious clips from one of my favorite TV shows. At the bottom I will also include a link to the previous week's episode. Enjoy.

See last week's episode

LDS Temple Marriage and Those Who Don't Attend

2010-03-29T19:21:00.002-06:00

I realize 2010 was going to be the year of no religious blog posts but...

I was reading a post by a friend on Facebook who posted this link about a Catholic woman and how she dealt with her son's conversion to Mormonism and subsequent marriage in an LDS temple. It really caused me to reflect on the process and, in particular, my own experience.

LDS marriage ceremonies are conducted in LDS temples where entrance is only granted to those who are members in good standing. Over the years I have seen similar situations amongst friends and acquaintances. Typically, there are a few types of ways that have been implemented over the years to deal with the differing modern family dynamics and LDS traditions, not by the Church but by the participants themselves.

According to the 1989 General Handbook of Instruction, this is what all local Church leaders were to suggest: “Couples may arrange with their bishops to hold a special meeting for relatives and friends who do not have recommends. This meeting provides an opportunity for those who cannot go to the temple to feel involved in the marriage and to learn something of the eternal nature of the marriage covenant. The meeting may include a prayer and special music, followed by the remarks of a priesthood leader. No ceremony should be performed, and no vows should be exchanged.”

This instruction was also widespread: “Though the exchanging of rings is not part of the temple marriage ceremony, rings may appropriately be exchanged at the conclusion of the temple marriage ceremony in the room where that ceremony takes place. To avoid confusion with the marriage ceremony, it is not appropriate to exchange rings at any other time or place in the temple or on the temple grounds.

“A couple may exchange rings in locations other than at the temple. The circumstances should be consistent with the dignity of their temple marriage. The exchange should not appear to replicate any part of the marriage ceremony. For instance, there should be no exchanging of vows on that occasion” (Bulletin, 1989-4, p. 1).

This led to the ever-popular romantic ring exchange during the wedding reception conducted under the raised basketball hoops of the local Church gymnasium. Priceless.

Depending on where you lived determined the varied levels of discouragement you would receive from local ecclesiastical leaders on incorporating "worldly traditions" into your special day. Many were counseled to not to have a ring exchange on temple grounds but to have a simple exchange during the reception. Simultaneously adding the exchanging of vows were generally discouraged since the only vows that mattered were the covenants made at the temple altar. Since the church is run by local leadership, interpretations on what was acceptable would vary and there are myriad of individual stories on what their experiences entailed...all under the umbrella of inspired revelation to the local Priesthood authorities.

Over the years, friends have asked for my advice. Without going into details, most of my responses have been the same. If the groom was a member, with family members who would not be able to attend, I generally told him to 'sack up' and tell them it was his choice and this is how he has decided to get married.

However, when the groom was a member but his soon-to-be wife's family were not members and it was causing them stress, I would tell him that his spouse's happiness and sanity were his #1 priority. Even if they didn't believe in or want a ring ceremony, exchange of vows, etc, I told him he should again just 'sack up' and bite the bullet.

My friend's post today has caused me to think back to my own wedding event. I was less than a year removed from being a missionary, hence more extreme and less moderate in my views and attitude. My wife's family were generational members, no problem there. My side? My mother would be the only attending adult member. What do I tell my father or my four living grand-parents? We had "sacred not secret" talks but truth be told, I was young and selfish and didn't do much more to deal with any possible feelings of exclusion or hurt animosity.

I was the first son. I was the first male grandchild on both sides. I was the first child and grandchild to get married. I am the soon-to-be father of my fourth child. How would I feel as a father to not be able to see my only daughter get married to the man she has chosen as a spouse? My father didn't get to participate. Which is oddly ironic that he has since joined the Church while I have stepped away...

I feel regret and sorrow now. His firstborn son...and he was relegated to sit and wait. My grandparents were excluded. I clearly don't regret my marriage but looking forward, can there be changes implemented that could eliminate future regret?

Knowing that the Church is almost structurally opposed to change, they will NEVER relax the restrictions to allow non-members or "unworthy" groups to enter temples and view the ceremony, so that idea is immediately dismissed.

I propose a few compromises (not that they are keen on those either):

1. Make the temple ceremony simply an "eternal ordinance" and require members to obtain a civil marriage prior to participating in the sealing ordinance. (Admittedly, this is the route I see happening due to the Prop 8 battles. Let couples enter into a civil union for tax and government reasons, then to their churches for religious wedding ceremonies) However, this may be too progressive to implement. If that is the case...

2. Repeal the one year waiting period for those married in civil ceremonies to enter the temple for a sealing ordinance. The LDS social stigma with this route may take a few generations to weed out but then the couples that find themselves in these situations could have a wedding ceremony followed up shortly thereafter with a temple visit.

I really don't see this as much of a serious compromise for the LDS Church, especially considering how they deal with the issue globally. Due to local laws of the land, many countries impose a civil marriage requirement prior to religious marriage ceremonies. In those lands, the LDS Church waives the one year waiting term prior to the temple sealing ceremony. To my knowledge, currently only the United States, Australia, some nations of southern Africa have the one year penalty imposed upon them.

In a Church professing hundreds of thousands of annual convert baptisms, this problem will only get worse before it gets better. Here's to hoping the LDS Church can evolve and progress to a point where families of all varied religions and cultures can jointly experience and celebrate the sanctity of marriage.

Addendum: Upon further reflection, I should also add how upsetting it is now for me that my younger siblings were not able to attend or participate. They were not of appropriate age to even qualify for admission.

The Myth of the Liberal Media

2010-03-28T13:53:00.000-06:00

Poetry - "Celestial Love"

2010-03-25T05:47:00.004-06:00

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Higher far,

Upward, into the pure realm,

Over sun or star,

Over the flickering Dæmon film,

Thou must mount for love,—

Into vision which all form

In one only form dissolves;

In a region where the wheel,

On which all beings ride,

Visibly revolves;

Where the starred eternal worm

Girds the world with bound and term;

Where unlike things are like,

When good and ill,

And joy and moan,

Melt into one.

There Past, Present, Future, shoot

Triple blossoms from one root

Substances at base divided

In their summits are united,

There the holy Essence rolls,

One through separated souls,

And the sunny Aeon sleeps

Folding nature in its deeps,

And every fair and every good

Known in part or known impure

To men below,

In their archetypes endure.

The race of gods,

Or those we erring own,

Are shadows flitting up and down

In the still abodes.

The circles of that sea are laws,

Which publish and which hide the Cause.

Pray for a beam

Out of that sphere

Thee to guide and to redeem.

O what a load

Of care and toil

By lying Use bestowed,

From his shoulders falls, who sees

The true astronomy,

The period of peace!

Counsel which the ages kept,

Shall the well-born soul accept.

As the overhanging trees

Fill the lake with images,

As garment draws the garment's hem

Men their fortunes bring with them;

By right or wrong,

Lands and goods go to the strong;

Property will brutely draw

Still to the proprietor,

Silver to silver creep and wind,

And kind to kind,

Nor less the eternal poles

Of tendency distribute souls.

There need no vows to bind

Whom not each other seek but find.

They give and take no pledge or oath,

Nature is the bond of both.

No prayer persuades, no flattery fawns,

Their noble meanings are their pawns.

Plain and cold is their address,

Power have they for tenderness,

And so thoroughly is known

Each others' purpose by his own,

They can parley without meeting,

Need is none of forms of greeting,

They can well communicate

In their innermost estate;

When each the other shall avoid,

Shall each by each be most enjoyed.

Not with scarfs or perfumed gloves

Do these celebrate their loves,

Not by jewels, feasts, and savors,

Not by ribbons or by favors,

But by the sun-spark on the sea,

And the cloud-shadow on the lea,

The soothing lapse of morn to mirk,

And the cheerful round of work.

Their cords of love so public are,

They intertwine the farthest star.

The throbbing sea, the quaking earth,

Yield sympathy and signs of mirth;

Is none so high, so mean is none,

But feels and seals this union.

Even the tell Furies are appeased,

The good applaud, the lost are eased.

Love's hearts are faithful, but not fond,

Bound for the just, but not beyond;

Not glad, as the low-loving herd,

Of self in others still preferred,

But they have heartily designed

The benefit of broad mankind.

And they serve men austerely,

After their own genius, clearly,

Without a false humility;

For this is love's nobility,

Not to scatter bread and gold,

Goods and raiment bought and sold,

But to hold fast his simple sense,

And speak the speech of innocence,

And with hand, and body, and blood,

To make his bosom-counsel good:

For he that feeds men, serveth few,

He serves all, who dares be true.

New Harris Poll on American Republicans

2010-03-24T06:00:00.001-06:00

Health Care Bill - Disappointing But Still Hopeful

2010-03-22T08:22:00.006-06:00

Many of you know that I am a supporter of President Obama and the hopefullness behind his "Change You Can Believe In" campaign. However, as we near 24 hours past the historic health care bill that just passed I can't help but feel disappointed.

During his campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to make universal health care a top priority. And he did, sort of. The problem was he had this silly notion about bipartisanship and bringing the country together but ran into a Party of No roadblock.

According to some, there were plans for a universal health care system, similar to Canada, France, England, etc, which is fully comprehensive health care coverage for all citizens. Why was this not done? The Obama Administration was fearful that the GOP would accuse them of a government takeover of the health care industry and leading the country into Socialism.

So they presented this watered down bill hoping to show compromise to their political counterparts who dug in their heels and wished to get 100% of what they wanted or remain at the status quo rather than compromise. I do find it funny that the Repubs cried mightily about the excessive pages of the health care bill, as if one could transform an industry as vast and far-reaching as 1/6th of our economy with a few mere sentences.

Oh wait...that's exactly what they thought. Here is a highly confidential Republican cure all solution to health care reform. Addressed to Rupert Murdoch from the Health Care Industry:

"We the people of the Republican Party, in order to solve the health care woes of the nation, present Bill #outoftouchwithreality.
"Item 1: Open competition with state border limitations.
"Item 2: TORT reform.
"Item 3: Insert the God of Christianity into government. Have faith and pray. Also ensure that our taxes will not pay for anything contrary to our interpretation of Christian morals...except for the things that will get us crazy paid from lobbyists.
"Problem solved. You're welcome America."

But I digress, Obama pandered to this bipartisan mindset and gave up his most prime opportunity to bring the greatest nation in the world up to par with other rich, civilized nations that have all decided that health care is a right and that government has a vested interest into the health and wellbeing of it's citizenry.

I am disappointed that the entire program was not overhauled and scraped. I envisioned an Extreme Health Care Makeover that Ty Pennington would supervise and announce to America with all of the pimped out features. Maybe the day will come when any citizen can simply walk into the local urgent care facility, show their state issued identification card and receive the medical care they need without first having to fill out 15 pages of documentation to demonstrate how you intend to pay for the bill.

All of my disappointment aside, I am happy that we are moving forward as a nation on this. Regardless of how I wanted the actual campaign promise of universal health care for all citizens, I do recognize that this is a step (albeit a small baby step) in the right direction. We stand together in our responsibility towards one another. It is a positive step forward for America and makes us better human beings.

For those who enjoy half truths and propaganda, please visit HERE.
For those of you who actually care about facts, here they are:

1. Republicans: No Republicans voted for the bill
2. Democrats: 34 Democrats voted against the measure
Source: Health care reform: How House members voted – CNN.com

3. 32 Million: The estimated number of currently uninsured Americans who will receive coverage under the bill
4. $940 billion: The estimated cost of health care reform over the next 10 years
5. $143 billion: The estimated reduction in the deficit from the bill over the next 10 years
6. $53 billion: The portion of the $143 billion in deficit reduction that comes from social security payroll taxes that eventually will be paid out in the form of retirement benefits.
7. $70 billion: The portion of the $143 billion in deficit reduction that comes from premiums to be collected as part of a new government-run, long-term care program for the elderly. These premiums eventually will be paid out in the form of benefits.
8. $88,000: New health insurance subsidies would be provided to families of four making up to $88,000 annually, or 400 percent of the federal poverty level
9. Pre-existing conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
10. Age 26: Insurers would be required to provide coverage for non-dependent children up to age 26
11. Doughnut Hole: Under current law, Medicare stops covering drug costs after a plan and beneficiary have spent more than $2,830 on prescription drugs. It starts paying again after an individual’s out-of-pocket expenses exceed $4,550. Called the doughnut hole, it will be closed by 2020.
12. 40% Tax: A 40 percent tax would be imposed on insurance companies providing “Cadillac” health plans valued at more than $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. The tax would kick in starting in 2018.
13. 3.8% Medicare Tax: A 3.8% surcharge would be imposed on investment income for individuals making over $200,000 and couples making over $250,000. This tax increase is estimated to bring in $210 billion between 2013 and 2019.
14. $695 or 2.5%: The potential amount of a fine if you fail to purchase health care insurance. Starting in 2016, Individuals would be required to purchase coverage or face a fine of up to $695 or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater. The plan includes a hardship exemption for poorer Americans.
15. 50 employees: Companies with more than 50 employees would be required to pay a fee of $2,000 per worker if the company does not provide coverage and any of that company’s workers receives federal health care subsidies. The first 30 workers would be subtracted from the payment calculation.
(source: Highlights of health care compromise bill – CNN.com)

16. Abortion: In a deal with conservative Democrats, President Obama will sign an Executive Order “that will reaffirm its consistency with longstanding restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion.” The order can be rescinded by President Obama or any future president at any time, for any reason.
(sources: Obama Executive Order on Abortion Funding, What health care reform means for your small business – CNN Money, Checking the Math on Health Care – NYTimes.com)

17. 0.9%: Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) tax rate would be increased by 0.9 percent, to 2.35 percent.
18. $16 billion: The amount drug manufacturers would pay the US between 2011 and 2019.
19. $47 billion: Health insurers would pay $47 billion over the same period.
20. 2.9% excise tax: Medical device manufacturers would pay a 2.9 percent excise tax on the sale of any of their products beginning January 1, 2013.
21. Tanning Tax: Health care reform establishes a tax of 10 percent on indoor tanning services. This would raise $2.7 billion between 2010 and 2019. As far as we know, getting a tan outside is still free.
22. $132 billion: Government payments to Medicare Advantage would be reduced by $132 billion over 10 years.
(source: Health care reform bill 101: Who will pay for reform? / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com)

23. Flexible Spending Accounts: The maximum amount you can set aside pre-tax for health care costs in a flexible spending account will be reduced from $5,000 to $2,500. (source: Obamacare wins: Now the pain begins)

24. 46%: The percentage of Americans in favor of health care reform, according to a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll.
25. 45%: The percentage of Americans against the bill according to the same poll.
26. 36%: The percentage of Americans who think the bill is a “good idea,” according to the same poll.
(source: American Public Divided On Health Care Reform (POLL))

Utah Doctors and Health Reform...

2010-03-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks Chris for pointing out this great article from the Deseret News. And Scott, no videos today, but don't think my fear mongering days are over...I'm sure I'll post more in the future. Lol...

A few highlights:

Dr. Kim Bateman (Physician):
* "Health care in the U.S. doesn't fail in a clinical way but it fails by making care less and less affordable or completely inaccessible through insurance loopholes like pre-existing conditions, ever-higher deductibles, and co-pays and ever shorter lists of benefits."

* "Lack of insurance doesn't prevent someone from being sick, but lack of it is certainly making people sicker, sometimes fatally...a noticeable and increasing number of patients are coming in with untreated infections, complications from diabetes and asthmas that are the direct result of people not getting basic medical care because they don't have insurance.

Dr. Claudia Fruin, a Bountiful pediatrician and Utah chapter president of the American Academy of Pediatrics:
* "Do we want and can we afford the laid-off father of six who can no longer buy his daughter's growth hormone, the 19-year-old who ignored an infection and had to have surgery and weeks of expensive antibiotics, having 110 people lose insurance every day, the continued bankrupting of Americans unlucky enough to get seriously ill and seriously in debt, the $12,681 in annual insurance premiums for working Utah families, the 1,200 people who died because they didn't have insurance and another 1,200 by 2019 if nothing is done?"

Why Universal Health Care?

2010-03-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

Is Glenn Beck leaving Mormonism?

2010-03-16T05:00:00.002-06:00

So after listening to Glenn Beck declare that you should "run" from your religion if your church website mentions the phrases "social justice" or "economic justice", I began to think...hmmm...I wonder what's on the LDS.org website?

(Click HERE and skip down to the 12th paragraph)

Who is Glenn Beck's next target?

Republicans and Health Care

2010-03-15T09:23:00.002-06:00

This has AWESOME written all over it...

2010-03-05T18:47:00.002-07:00

Cypress Hill featuring Tom Morello: