GERALDO should just...

...get back inside Al Capone's vault and lock the door. Says there's no way the GOP will get the Hispanic vote, they're gonna go for the Dems 'cause of the illegal immigration issue. OK, let's explain this one again. Geraldo & co. bring up a chair and get a cup of coffee, class is now in session.

The difference between rights and privileges

(be quiet there in the back) "OK, so you've broken some law, a law, you didn't kill anyone or rob a bank, but you've committed a crime nevertheless, so what are we to do about it? The illegal alien has broken the LAW, violated our immigration policy and there are a myriad political views on the best way to handle this but if we allow you to stay and in effect we have (even conservatives like Sean Hannity) because we haven't deported you yet, then this is what is known as a privilege but you really have no absolute right to be here. Shakespeare said sometimes justice needs to be tempered by mercy but that's for us to decide, you cannot arrogantly demand a right for yourself that doesn't exist...OK, this is just a short class to get us started, to lay the proper legal bedrock for a sensible discussion of this controversial topic. We'll continue this at 9 sharp tomorrow morning so have a good day."

GERALDO (whispering): "This teacher sounds like a gran pendejo."

"WHAT?!?, you know I took a little Latin in the high school. If you can't control yourself..."

Karma and the Christian faith

Daniel Ruwe's excellent blog about religion got me thinking about faith in general. Pope Benedict said once about mainly the Eastern religions, I believe this was when he was still a cardinal, that the Christian faith is naturally and far superior to these systems based on good and bad karma. You see if I'm a Christian and have wronged somebody else or they have wronged me we can simply ask for each other's forgiveness and move on with our lives, we don't have to get stuck in that karmic rut. Beth and I once had this debate, maybe it started at some forum, I forget, but it was about forgiving and forgetting. My position, simply forgive and forget, her position you can forgive someone without forgetting. I think I understand her point better, it's like if a husband strays and his wife forgives him she will always remember the fact, the original act, if she had moral "amnesia" about it all this would hardly keep him in line. At any rate no karma to deal with, ain't that a bargain?

Some thoughts on the Sean Bell case

I've given the background to this tragic case many times in my blogging and it's easy enough to google. I was never into the whole bachelor party scene but that's just me. Re strip joints there are upscale ones and seedy ones, I'm not advertising for them but you do have men who go to these places not to relax and have a good time, they get some watered-down whiskey under their belts and before you know it there's a stabbing on the sidewalk. Happened once outside a place in Yonkers here and another incident in a "gentlemen's club" in Mt. Vernon once. Now the one Sean Bell and his friends went to on that fateful night was known for rampant drugs, guns and prostitution and the four officers in Queens who are about to go on trial for taking Mr. Bell's life were there because of the type of place it was. Moral of the story and as insensitive as this may sound Sean Bell was not in a good place, wrong place at the wrong time, and I'm sure the young woman whom he was going to marry that day knows this in her heart of hearts. I'm also more than a little tired of all the cop-bashing out there and personally have grown more pro-cop over the years, I most often give them the benefit of the doubt in these complicated cases. We'll see what happens but this case bothered me from Day One.

The speech Rudy never gave

I still say that there is almost a poetic requirement that the Mayor of 9/11 be the One to continue and eventually win the War on Terror but most people don't seem to agree with this script, Life need not be that artistic I guess but Rudy's big mistake was this. He courted his party's conservative base way too late in the game, if you're going to woo you have to get your application in early otherwise you're transparent, maybe a bit frenzied and not at all sincere. He should have laid the groundwork a year or two ago with a major speech or two soley on the Life Issues as in, "Upon further reflection I've come to the conclusion that the abortion issue lends itself best to some kind of legislative solution which Roe vs. Wade pre-empted. How can the Supreme Court, any Supreme Court, act like a bunch of OB-GYNs and dictate to the nation as a whole that aborting the fetus is legal up to the 3rd month or the 6th or even up until birth? You can even have some choicers who believe early abortions are ok but who are against some of the later mid-term ones still allowed by the Court. The late Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion in Roe, endlessly complicated the issue and for this reason I've adjusted my earlier pro-choice views. Federalism is the best way of dealing with this contentious and highly emotional issue."

If he had done this early enough some of us might even have gotten a faint whiff of sincerity in the man, we all reserve the right to change or modify or calibrate our views over time and it would have showed that he gave further thought to the issue. It's just a hunch but I think most conservatives would more than gladly put up with a true pro-choice federalist in office.

Are you a...

...bang your head against the wall type of conservative? Used to listen to Sean Hannity for awhile but stopped, I understand he's for the War and all but I was worried there for awhile, he's one of those Ann Coulter type conservatives who can't seem to accept the fact that there's so many different kinds of political views out there let's just accept it and live with each other, doesn't mean you have to lose your passion though, just keep it in perspective. Take Coulter's books, of course her first one was funny, forget the title but it probably went along the lines of Liberals are Stupid and We're All Good but she's churned out like 10 books now and the formula never changes. I myself, being older in Life now, gotta watch the high blood pressure, hating is so yesterday which is why I have Laura Ingraham linked up to my blog. Passionate and conservative, highly intelligent and yet she can totally disagree with a big-time lib and yet say "but we still like them." She's the type of rightie you might accidentally catch in the Mall one day having a cup of java with Al Franken in the Food Court. Dunno, I'm just tired of banging my head against the wall my whole life. I don't want Hill as president but I'm with Beth on this one, the Sun will still rise the next day and we'll all go about our everyday lives.

Seems we're living in the Golden Age of Psychos

Well not a few months don't go by before there's another one, this time at some college in Illinois, seems some erstwhile bright and normal student hid behind a curtain onstage during a geology lecture and shot and killed five students and injured several others before taking his own life. Now whenever this happens you will duly note how the meds are to blame or, more specifically the fact that the person stopped taking his meds. Well if a pill is the only thing holding this person's life together then God help us all, he ain't living right. Vast majority of people who are mentally ill are not dangerous or violent although they can be annoying at times point being if you have a strong moral code and compass to begin with you can go bonkers but only up to a point. You may walk into a road and babble to everyone, tell everyone at work that they're conspiring to get rid of you but there are limits to your madness, the Good Lord gave you free will, if you're against killing to begin with maybe they'll just put you away in a nice home overlooking a lake somewhere for a time. Our friend Britney may do all kinds of whacked out things but she hasn't pulled a Columbine or VA Tech yet, my guess is her moral code is still there although frayed around the edges. Now I'm not against medical progress by any stretch but methinks they're pushing pills on society. You don't have to agree with me though, that's a'ight.

Fat Acceptance

I am sympathetic with the whole Fat Acceptance Movement. I don't make fat jokes and if you're in that category you don't need people constantly reminding you of your state, as if you didn't know. BUT it ain't good for your health in the long-term.

Subprime musings

Michelle Malkin has finally touched on the subprime mortgage meltdown in two recent columns and I've been asking myself why I didn't bash her in my blog the next day as your typical conservative lacking compassion. Well I considered her points carefully that oftentimes it's the would be homeowner with delusions of grandeur that's the problem here, not that there aren't any predatory lenders out there. I went back over my own situation with credit cards. Overall I have a good credit history but for a few years there I was living well beyond my means, had to have this and that and it caught up with me, maxed out and needed help paying 'em off. That's behind me now but I have made a personal decision in my life, I don't have them and I don't use them anymore, cash and checks for everything. It's all about personal responsibility and wise decision-making. I learned my lesson, will these people out of their "homes" learn theirs?

File this under what was I thinking?

You may have heard. A branch of the ACLU has come out for Sen. Larry Craig, not so much in his denial but that toilet sex is protected, as long as the door is closed, gosh, people have "a reasonable expectation of privacy." So you have the runs or the cramps or your kid ain't feelin' too well,

gotta wait buddy

there's constitutionally protected activities going on in them thar stalls, you can put a cork in it and read a newspaper, they'll probably be done in a couple minutes anyway,

must be a penumbra of a penumbra or emantion from Roe, ah the spirit of Blackmun!

Morose thoughts

Like why can't they scientifically prove once and for all time that there's life after death then we wouldn't have to worry (and for those of you who say you don't give it a second thought it's in the back of your mental attic somewhere next to the ice skates and the Flexible Flyer). Then again in some cases there may be some who would still have to worry, sorry I brought it up. BTW I'm not the least bit afraid of dead people, live people on the other hand.....

Spontaneous Human Combustion

"uh, this is z's mother. He's not coming in today, he spontaneously human combusted last night."

Why I'm not your typical conservative right-wing Republican

First off I'm registered as an Independent not as a Republican. Although my bedrock philosophy is one of conservatism in every old-fashioned sense of the term, no globaloney, I am of the mind that the retirement age should actually be lowered instead of raised, let's say 55. Not gonna happen and all you economic conservatives out there will scold me for wanting to bust the national piggy bank and they're probably right but it's an ideal, it's what I feel in my heart. You've devoted say 20 or 25 years of your life to pure hardcore work, that should be enough and have a nice life. As well I feel if you as a conservative are really serious about doing something about the illegals either deport 'em all or regularize most of them, don't just talk about building a bigger and better fence. I've already made my position known. In theory anyway I am not against the idea of labor unions although I know there are drawbacks which cons like Linda Chavez and George Will are only too happy to point out. I am not just for lowering taxes, that's easy talk, but am for eliminating the income tax entirely and replacing it with a national sales tax. I'm not a dove but I'm not a hawk either. I am a conservative with an independent mind and God bless and have a nice day.

The voters are going to vote...

...for their national security blanket, Bigger Government, like that comforter you snuggle under on a bone-chilling winter night after you've had your goblet (or two) of the good stuff. Men too which is why McCain is up there on top and Huckabee is even in the running. Don't throw me out on a cold winter night to venture out alone, that's too libertarian. I want a bubble bath that maybe you can pay for, why don't you give me a rubber too 'cause I'm too lazy to go down to Walgreen's myself speaking of which I messed up a couple months ago with my girlfriend and now she has a bun in the oven. I can't quite scrape up the $350, can you help out a guy and gal down on their luck? I want to go to the ER because I have the runs and hang around the waiting room watching a Seinfeld rerun even though somebody else just came in with a real problem but has to wait a couple hours 'cause me and my friends are here.

I don't just want my mind masturbated, I want my life masturbated as well AND you're going to foot the bill.

In the curious matter of the male fetus...

...how is this just a part of the Woman's Body if you catch my drift? just one of many many inconsistencies of the choice movement like the 24-week cutoff point many states use to proscribe later abortions, by what mysterious alchemy is the unborn child not human just 3 days before "viability"? I call this the Cinderella Paradox as in "quick, it's 11:45, abort it, the fetus turns human at midnight!" OR the common agnostic approach to abortion which is we don't know the moral and human status of the fetus but let it happen anyway. You should have to prove the fetus is not human before you can suck it into oblivion which brings up the next point. Our science in general and in particular the study of the unborn known as fetology is so far advanced (think transvaginal ultrasound) that we can no longer fall back on the agnostic position, it ain't a bovine fetus after all.

It's all just masturbation of the mind folks.

The current crop...

...of Republican presidential contenders, McCain, Romney and Huck and the lack of real influence of third parties reminds me of the playlists of radio stations today. You don't really care for it but you have no choice, the songs are bland and slightly irritating but it's what everyone is listening to so it has to be good. They keep playing it over and over, think The Fray, and so you brainwash yourself and try to get into it (McCain would be a slow waltz, think Lawrence Welk). You don't have a CD player in your car (the 3rd Party) and you realize Maroon 5 is in that other party, Fergie's over there too and as a rock-ribbed conservative you're just depressed all the time.

"Sittin' by the dock of the bay
watching all the conservatives go away,
Traveled a thousand miles from home
Just to make this third party my home."

But who would Mary Jo Kopechne have endorsed?

Teddy Kennedy backs Obama and betrays Hillary.

So when can we say we have enough laws?

The function of the Congress or any legislative body for that matter is primarily to pass laws. If they don't pump out the legislation this is, you guessed it,

a bad thing,

and so it will haunt a candidate in the next race. Legislation is all about addressing issues and showing concern for people's problems but the second question before the Board today is how many laws do we as a society actually need? Why the obsession and constant need to legislate? as well the more laws you pass the less freedoms you have, it's basic arithmetic. So when can we send our parliament of ho's home?

How the Catholic Church has changed

In the olde days, as soon as a baby was born he/she was baptized as quickly as possible, probably within a few days at most. Today there's no hurry, a recent papal theological commission has pretty much dispensed with the never official dogma of Limbo anyway and so a few months go by after the birth, various people may be asked to be the godparents and an application is finally submitted to the parish but again, there's no rush. The pastor is likely to wait until a group of people need the sacrament and do 'em all on the same day. The issue before the Board today, maybe the sacraments aren't as important as they used to be. Can we blame the usual villain, Vatican 2?

Fred Thompson - a consistent political philosopher

He may not be a pro-life purist like Judie Brown of the American Life League, always going for the touchdown, aka that Constitional Amendment, but he's not a life-choicer like Mitt Romney either. He's a federalist or a believer in states' rights. Laura Ingraham brought up the fact that he was against government intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, well he can say he was consistent in his own head anyway. I myself was more into the whole angle of Terri could swallow on her own and so the laws in all 50 states say you have to feed a person by mouth. Her feeding tube was always a side issue anyway, they could have given her saline hydration by IV and as for his misguided comments about a federal law banning abortion meaning women and possibly their Moms and Dads going to jail, this had a silver lining. It allowed pro-lifers and in particular us bloggers to clarify the issue, hey, maybe Fred knew this all along. Anyway he has my vote if he's the nominee.

Whatever happend to our beloved frontrunner?

Rudy, down there in single digits in all the primaries so far, widely considered by far the odds-on favorite hands down even months before Iowa and New Hampshire. At this point in time his only option would appear to be to pull a Joe Lieberman and run as an Independent and then return to his old party after he's won (if this is even possible).

Rudy, wha'happened?

When the Law collides with Reality

There are laws on the books in many states, or proposed legislation, to treat drivers who have gone without sleep the same as drunken drivers. Makes a certain degree of sense but then again most people commute to work in cars, are you supposed to call out sick whenever you've had a sleepless night? Insomniacs hold down jobs just like the rest of us, maybe you can get away with calling out once or twice but what do the chronics do? will your typical boss understand that you may have a medical condition and you are trying to obey the Law? will the problems of Life never cease?

stranded in civilization.