CNN Expects Gay Republican Senator to Flame Out for Good

CNN is reporting that Republican Senator Craig of Idaho is expected to flame out and resign effective September 30th.  The senator is embroiled in a controversy over both his sexuality as well as the lurid allegations by the investigating officer that sat in a restroom stall next to the soon to be former Senator.  He will probably settle down to retire (out of state) and spend some time on the links knocking around golf balls instead of picking up toilet paper on the floor in restroom stalls in the airport.

During their encounter the Senator is alleged to have spied through the crack of the stall doors multiple times, reached under the stall with his left hand, and touched the police officer with his leg before the police officer revealed his badge.

Republicans seem to be very embarrassed about this latest scandal for multiple reasons:

• They can't accept yet another homosexual politician in their midst
• They aren't happy with the revelation of yet another ReStallSexual politician in their midst (ReStallSexuals are politicians that enjoy being outed in restroom sex stings.)
• They aren't happy to lose such a strong proponent of heterosexual family values.
• They are even unhappy about losing a Senator and exposing the party to a Senate seat defeat in 2008.

Note the headline reference of Senator Craig Flaming out is a reference to a CNN quote and not my own writing.

Mortgage industry crisis driving people to look for Debt Solutions

Regardless of the state of the U.S. economy, there are usually people who make poor money management decisions due to a lack of experience in dealing with tangible money issues and possessing intangible expectations of themselves.

Once the irrational exuberance is over and the tangible reality sets in, these families become so overwhelmed with debts that the pain flows through our society like a tidal wave.

The current mortgage industry crisis has caused great pain to many families, from foreclosure to losing jobs. Beside the basic high interest home loan bill, they are also facing the possible problem of "max out" credit cards.

What does a family do when the revenue is the same, home loans are hard to get and credit card debts are mounting higher and higher? Emotional pressure becomes grand especially when the collectors are calling everyday

The best Debt Relief solution for those who possess "max out" credit cards debt could be a rapid refinance to a fixed rate mortgage, second mortgage, or as a last resort a  Credit Card Consolidation  might enable people to live to pay their bills another day.

Does it Take a Massacre to Make a Religion a Religion?

Background

There are many announcements and promotions about the new movie coming out titled September Dawn.  September Dawn is a movie that will generate a great deal of scandal similar to movies like Passion of the Christ and The Last Temptation of Christ.

The movie is about a massacre allegedly ordered by the elders of the Church of Latter Day Saints.  LDS is the acronym for the name of the church and the religion is commonly referred to as the mormon religion or mormonism.  Mitch Romney a presidential hopeful for the Republican party is a mormon and his religion has been a minor lightning rod for Republican Christian Conservatives that are typically comprised of other Christian denominations outside of mormonism.

The film chronicles a massacre of settlers traveling through Utah in the 1800's.  Mormons allegedly ordered a massacre by inspiring a type of religious fundamentalism that is often associated today with Islamic fundamentalism or Bible belt fundamentalism that would have countries and people subjected to a religious form of law as opposed to a secular law or government.

Mormons were the victims of a massacre in Southern Illinois in the 1830's.  They were massacred by Christians that were intolerant of their religion.  The massacre inspired an exodus to Utah.  The movie shows the religion coming full circle and ordering a defensive massacre of their own.

Does a Religion Become Official When it is Orders a Massacre?

Now throughout the history of man, religions have come and gone.  Without assigning blame to the religions, most religions have conflicted with each other.  These conflicts have often created conflict, warfare and massacres.

All religions seem to be subject to the potential for fundamentalism and in turn violence, warfare and massacres of the defenseless.

The Mormon religion seems to have both suffered and ordered massacres, much like almost every other older religion around the world. 

Many times people claim that newer religions are not a 'true' religion.  This accusation has been pointed at Mormonism, which claims that Jesus Christ was resurrected in the Americas to teach a tribe of Native Americans (a lost tribe of Israel) Christianity.

However, as the religion is put under the microscope, it seems that their victimization and their crimes might in part be some of the things that cement their definition as a true religion.

Does the world need such terrible events to cement a religion as a religion?

Will the world not accept Scientology as a religion until they experience a massacre or worse yet initiate a massacre.  Will that actually get them clear of labels of being a tax shelter or a cult. 

Religions have long been accused of inspiring people through fervor and fundamentalism to take intolerant positions that result in clashes and violence.

Its an ugly question, commenting on the flaws in our humanity that dates back thousands of years and probably will only be supported by repeating examples as the days and years proceed.

Back to School or Back to the Draft Boards

The Bush administration is learning and ugly lesson about going to war when you are not prepared. The lesson they are learning is that you have to utilize more human resources to fix a problem if you start something when you're not ready for it, and in human terms that means that the United States is going to have to reinstitute the draft.

I am completely opposed to the draft myself. I served in the Army voluntarily for four years, and due to the role that I served I can be called back in the military at any time up until age 60 (that's no mistake right up until the time before I retire). Regardless of my own responsibilities, I am completely opposed to a draft or involuntary requirement for any citizen of the United States to serve in the military. You can call it the draft, you call it conscription, you can call it slavery, you call it anything you want, I am opposed to it.

So as many parents prepare to send there recent high school graduates off to college and as many parents prepare to send their children to high school and even junior high, the reality is that the draft is likely to come back and be reinstituted within the next two years. That means that many high school students today will be drafted out of high school to serve in the military. It also means that many college students will be drafted out of college to go serve in the military regardless of their grades.

In the past, college students that failed out of school were sometimes drafted into the military. The reality today is that the military needs smart people just as much as they need people that are having trouble in school. The same type of individual that makes a good student makes a good soldier. At the opposite end of the spectrum, many people that fail out of college need a little discipline in their lives and the military can help.

Regardless, I don't think it's right for the United States to run a draft or require anyone to serve in the military. I would whole heartedly encourage people to serve in the military voluntarily, but we are supposed to be the land of the free and nobody should be forced to do anything even if that means that as a people we choose to lose a war or lose our freedom. I'd hate to see it come to that, but that's really what freedom is all about. Having the ability to make your own choices regardless of the consequences.

So as you prepare to send your children to school this year stocking up their dorm rooms with bunk beds, posters, and cheap furniture consider, you might be sending them off to war next year or the year after that with body armor, a long shot record and duffle bags filled with desert or cold weather gear even.

If you're not paying attention to politics today and you have a problem with sending your children off to war, you better get off your butt and start paying attention and getting involved otherwise the choice will be made for you. You will lose a little bit of freedom and your children will lose a great deal of freedom at best.

Cold War Gridlock Making Resurgence - Russia sends long bombers back on patrol

 So you thought the Cold War was over, well think again.  Russian President Vladimir Putin runs country that is no longer bankrupt.  Russia is longing for its former glory and is starting to exercise its new financial might generated by oil revenues.

He is also exercising some of his newfound political power that has largely resulted due to taking a stance in opposition to the United States.  Russia is partnering with Iran, China and several other countries in Central Asia to thwart the perceived rise of the United States in the region.

As an example, Russia recently staged war games and training exercises working jointly with China, and they announced this week that they are putting bombing patrols back into the air around the world for the potential launch of cruise missiles.  So we are once again going to compete for real estate in the skies around the world.

Putin reviewed the first Russian-Chinese joint exercise on Russian soil before announcing that 20 strategic bombers had been sent far over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans—showing off Moscow's muscular new posture and its growing military ties with Beijing.

Russia sends long bombers back on patrol

The Bush administration played down these recent developments hinting at the decrepit nature of the existing Soviet military infrastructure.  The reality is howeverbut the Soviet Union has new found wealth and the United States is rapidly losing its wealth.  The mismanagement of the United States by the Bush administrationhas not only put the country at riskwith terrorists,but it is put the country at riskof financial ruinand potentially relegatingthe countrybelow the status of world powerin the same exact fashion that the United States formally defeated the USSR.

2008 Campaign Enters Hypocrite Season

The campaign for 2008 is rapidly entering the hypocrite season. I know, I know its hard to tell hypocrite season from the normal political season as there are politicians involved and all politicians are hypocrites.

Here's how you can tell that it's hypocrite season 

1. check to see if the politicians lips are moving, odds are if they're talking there about to make themselves a hypocrite
2. check to see if anyone's listening or if the politician is being videotaped, if either of those two activities are occurring there will be evidence that they are a hypocrite when they talk
3. if the politicians lips are moving and they are party to a debate there's a 99.9% chance that they will be hypocrite.  Despite their preparation for the debate the politician has to think of their feet just a little bit and odds are it will reverse a position that they've had previously.
4. Typically half the country is watching to see if a politician screws up so that they can point them out as a hypocrite, but during a primary 75 to 90% of the country is watching to see if the candidate will make themselves a hypocrite.  Even the politician's own party is looking to point out their weaknesses.

 

So it wasn't too surprising when people started calling out Hillary Clinton as a hypocrite on her recent (change) in perspective that nuclear options should or shouldn't be on the table when it involves terrorism/Iran/Pakistan etc.  She has been quick to point out that Barack is the new kid on the block, but the reality is that she was the new kid on the block just a few short years ago and therefore she has a lot of hypocrite potential.

No topic is safe from skin care products to global nuclear warfare. 

Now, Barack actually is somewhat shielded from the hypocrite season.  He has no experience and not much of a record so there is very little for him to look foolish over.  Hillary never really had that luxury even when she was a new Senator.  She burned her novice political capital to get and keep Bill elected.

With Hillary and Barack its race between the fool you know and the fool you don't know.

Conflict on Clinton’s View of Nuclear Weapons - New York Times

After Tragedy Gov Pawlenty Develops Sense of Urgency

I'm watching the news conference, taking place the afternoon after the Minneapolis bridge failure tragedy.  Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is calling for emergency inspections of bridges identified several years ago on a list of over 160,000 bridges from around the country that were identified as being in danger of failure. This bridge was initially classified as structurally deficient seventeen years ago in 1990.

He seems to be doing the right things after the fact to investigate things that happened and other bridges.  He and every single governor around the country seem to have neglected to make this a priority. 

He also seems to acknowledge that before anything substantial can be done to fix anything, the funding has to still pass through the gridlock of Congress both at a Federal and State level.  So before the massive amount of debris can be demolished and removed and before any structures can be rebuilt, politicians are going to have to get off their rear ends and get to work accomplishing results.  Spending a little less time staring at their fancy Century furniture pieces and start writing and signing effective legislation.