Archive for the 'Politics' Category

global warming (or lack thereof)

I don’t know why global warming has become such a hot topic lately (pun not intended) but it seems everywhere you turn someone is talking about it.  The thing I don’t get is why it has become such a partisan topic.  What does being a democrat or republican have to do with your scientific beliefs on the earth’s temperature?

In any case I think that global warming is completely bunk…and even if it’s not, there’s little to nothing we can do about it.  We would probably have about as much luck in attempting to stop earthquakes from occurring.  It’s just ridiculous and a waste of time and money to research if the globe is 0.4 degrees warmer this year than it was last.

With all of this said, this is one of the most intelligent and well written articles I’ve read on the topic:  Why So Gloomy?

random ramblings.

Lots happening in middle America these days. Headed away this weekend to help out with a youth retreat. for those that don’t know, a youth retreat is a weekend for the teenagers at church & their friends to get away from “normal” life and focus on getting to know God and each other better…or at least that’s what we hope for. At first I was almost dreading the idea, but as time goes by I’m looking forward to it more and more. There are 3 other guys my age going and I’m looking forward to spending some time with them.

Jen has been gone for the past 9 days and I have to be up in about 5 hours to pick her up at the airport. I think she had a good time with her family in Washington, but I’m REALLY looking forward to her return. Besides the normal stuff like cooking…I really get lonely in this house by myself. I can’t imagine living my whole life unmarried.

Politics are on the horizon. I go through phases I think…I got so burnt out from the last Presidential election, it’s taken me almost 3 years to recover. I don’t really like any of the candidates so far. I’m hoping that Fred Thompson (yes, the actor) might consider running. I was a big Bush backer back in the day…but it seems like he is just, without going into details- wore out. My political views are changing some too…I’m starting see the world as a bigger place than I once did. I’m still a conservative for sure, but I see both sides of the coin a bit clearer than I did a few years ago.

I’ve picked up yet another hobby in the past couple months- RC cars. Ever since I was a kid I always loved anything that had a remote control. I got a little cheap RC buggy for my birthday when I was probably 10-11 and I ran that thing to death. This past Christmas I asked Jen for a “real” one, like the type you buy at a hobby shop. For lack of better gift options, she bought it for me. Unfortunately it isn’t much fun to stand outside in the cold to run the thing so I had to wait for warmer days and I just recently started playing with it regularly. It’s really a lot of fun. I told my dad it reminds me of the feeling I get when I ride my dirtbike only there’s no threat of getting hurt.

One last thing. If you haven’t heard the new Jars of Clay album, Good Monsters, stop what you’re doing and go to iTunes, Amazon, or to your local shop and pick it up. It’s just one of the best albums I’ve heard in a while. Well, I’ve been addicted to Andrew Osenga’s album The Morning for a while, but it’s a little more of a specialized taste, whereas I think just about anyone will like Good Monsters.

Anyway, that’s it for this edition. I’ve got to get some sleep so I can get up in a few hours. Leave some comments people!

hodgepodge

updates all around tonight.

life:
We open the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” tomorrow night in Chicago. It’s been a great couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to those a head of me. So far my experience with the cast and crew has been a very good one, minus a couple here and there. We definitely miss a few things about Nashville, namely our dresser and another cast member (unnamed to protect myself), but where they are missed, others fill the gaps. That’s kind of the thing about show-biz…you can’t get too attached. I’m also beginning to think more and more about the “big picture” when it comes to my life and am hoping that I can have a career that will support my family apart from jobs like this.

political:
the mid-term election finally drew to a close last night. I have to admit, I’ve fallen away from politics over the past 2 years. I think I just got burnt out during the last presidential election…maybe I’ll get back into it eventually. Anyway, I think it’s clear that the democrats won this round, but all it really proves to me is that people grow tired of politics and politicians. The democrats will come in, change a few things and a few years later the tide will turn again because the public will be tired of them and want something else. We’ll never be satisfied. With that said…whether you’re a democrat or republican, I think we can all agree that we’re happy to see the election over. NO MORE ADS! WOOOHOOO!!!

faith:
I’m happy to report that God is still at work in my life. I’m continuing to grow, even though I often stray from where I should be. I’m thankful for His grace. Jen and I went to Willow Creek for the first time last weekend and were blown away by the place. Not only is it huge, but the production side of things is just amazing. With that said, I was happy that the message wasn’t lost in all of the tech, music, and drama. The place made me want to go back…and bring friends…and that’s what it should be like. I’m learning more and more everyday what it means to be a Christian and I can only hope that my knowledge won’t go into the recesses of my brain, but rather find action in my life everyday.

loose change

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this film called “Loose Change”. I dare not call it a documentary since a documentary is defined as: based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements. I had thought about blogging after I watched it, but to be honest, I didn’t want to even dignify it with a response…it was just completely ridiculous. However, since then I’ve heard of people who have seen it and actually believe the lies, so here I am. For those of you unfamiliar with the film, basically it is a hodgepodge of conspiracy theories in regards to the government’s involvement with 9/11. Essentially it makes the case (albeit a weak one) that the US government was behind everything.

Now I could go point by point and debunk the whole thing, since practically nothing in it is based on fact, but there are plenty of other sites that do that (links at the bottom) So, I’m going to just point out the major logical flaws.

1. If it was true, the film makers would be dead. - If the US government would actually plan such a horrific event, spend billions upon billions of dollars, and kill thousands of innocent Americans don’t you think they would actually want to keep it covered up? Have you never seen the movie “Pelican Brief” or “Conspiracy Theory”? If “Loose Change” was true, I think they would probably have killed the film makers long ago (they first started on the story in 2002).

2. Nothing like 9/11 has ever happened before. The movie spends a majority of the time trying to explain the reasoning behind why the towers collapsed that day but the closest thing they could find to compare was back in 1945 when a B-25 (they lied and said it was a B-52) hit the Empire State Building. FYI- A B-25 weighs 1/10th that of a 737, goes half the speed (max), and carries 1/35th the fuel. So how does that compare exactly? There is nothing, NOTHING that compared with the impact on that day…and besides, unless you’re a structural engineer, stop pretending like you know more than the experts.

3. What did we gain? Just looking around on the internet a bit and you can read that 9/11 cost around $500 billion…that doesn’t count the war that has followed. Overall, probably closer to $1 trillion. Oh, but we did it for the oil right? Not even close…if Iraq cranks it out they might be able to export $5 billion a year, in addition to their pre-existing commitments and after they pay off the debts to other countries. So, in about 200 years we’ll break even! Even in the brightest, most optimistic outlook there is no way that the financial cost was worth it.

So those are 3 major logical points to debunk the whole thing, in addition to all of the others which are outlined in the links below.

Don’t believe everything you see.

Internet Detectives
9/11 Myths
Screw Loose Change
Wikipedia - Loose Change
Debunking 9/11