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Ageless

Posted by Steve on Friday, August 18, 2006 2:48:06 AM
We have desert landscaping in front of our house. With the recent monsoon rains, there has been a lot of weed growth. This evening, I had to go out after work and cut down the weeds.

We do have an electric trimmer, but I was still out in 100+ degree heat. After cutting the weeds in the front of the house, I was finished for the day. I still had to cut weeds in the back yard, but they would have to wait until tomorrow.

I do not remember such a tough job of cutting weeds or grass since we first moved to Arizona in 1981. In Colorado, we had used a push mower to mow our small lawn. We moved that push mower down to Arizona. It did not take me long to realize that the push mower and I were going to part company real fast. The heat and the amount of grass was too much for me.

Part of my problem today was the fact that I have been getting older. My health has not held up as well as I would have liked. Just being in the heat saps my strength. Working in the heat makes it impossible for me to successfully complete jobs I would easily complete twenty years ago.

I hate to make admissions like this. I still feel like I am twenty years old. Unfortunately, I am trapped inside a body of someone much older and in much worse shape. I need to work out more and get into better shape, but when I work 10+ hours a day I am too tired to work out. I know, if I worked out, I would have more energy. There is a catch 22 around there somewhere.
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JonBenet Ramsay

Posted by Steve on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 7:35:00 PM
Today on the news, I heard that they have captured a suspect in the almost 10 year old story of the murder of JonBenet Ramsay. That story was big 10 years ago. It did not make the City of Boulder, Colorado look very good. In looking for JonBenet, they trampled all over the crime scene. That made it difficult to find clues to the case.

Many so-called experts in police work were sure that it had to be one of the Ramsay's. They were saying that the note was in Patsey's handwriting and so forth. They were hinting strongly that the father was the guilty party. They usually did not come out and say it, but it was inferred. The Ramsay's had to leave Boulder to get some kind of a life. It must have been a terrible time for them.

Over the next few years, they would have to submit to different tests that law enforcement would require them to take. Obviously all the tests came back negative, or they would have been arrested.

Now, 10 years later, the suspect contacted Patsey. He told her things that only someone connected to the case could have known. Now he has been arrested. Too late for Patsey, she died in late June. But the rest of the family can finally say, I told you we did not do it.

When the suspect arrives in the US from Thailand, there will be a media frenzy. It almost makes me glad to know that I cannot watch live, evening TV because of my work schedule. I will get enough just through my usual news sources on the internet.

I am glad to see that justice can finally be served. It took 10 years, but maybe it was worth it in the long run. Good work for law enforcement to never give up.
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Global Warming

Posted by Steve on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:58:14 PM
Yesterday, at our faculty meetings, an English professor got up and warned us all about global warming. He had seen Al Gore's farce of a movie about the non dangers of global warming. He was so alarmed, that he felt it necessary to tell us all about it.

It is interesting to note that the hysteria came from an English professor not from any of the science faculty. All of the science faculty have a much more balanced approach to this global warming debate. Most of us do not believe that global warming is even happening. Some believe it is happening, but do not believe that it is the result of human interaction.

As I have stated before, the theory that makes the most sense to me is that the increased seismic activity under the ocean has caused fissures that have allowed magma to come into contact with ocean water. This has caused an increase in the overall global ocean temperature. The only time that this type of activity occurs is just prior to an ice age.

That would mean that in the near future, maybe even in my lifetime, an ice age may start. That would have a devastating effect on the world. It would reduce the available food and cause famine and war. None of that seems to me to be something I would like to see. I would prefer to live in a period of relative constant temperatures where things do not get too stirred up. But, we live when and where we do. We have little control over our environment.

It is the height of arrogance for people that believe in global warming to believe that humans caused it. We cannot control any aspect of the environment. How could we effectively control the entire environment, when we cannot control any part of it? It makes no sense to any person with a brain.

We will have to deal with whatever comes in the future. We cannot control the climate or the weather. Our responsibility is to be good stewards of what we have in the area where we live. Take good care of the land around us and it will take good care of us. That is the best we can do during our lifetime.
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I Told You So

Posted by Steve on Monday, August 14, 2006 4:30:53 PM
This cease fire between Israel and hezbollah is going just like I predicted. It is in its first day and already the Islamic fanatics are claiming victory. Israel is looking at their navel and wondering what hit them.

The Hezbollah leadership is telling everybody that they won a great victory over the great Satan, Israel. It is no matter that they got their rear ends kicked every time the two fought it out in any kind of face-to-face combat.

The next time they attack Israel in the near future, they will expect a victory. This time, they expected Israel to pull a rabbit out of the hat and give them a loss. By spinning this tie into a victory, they will now expect victories every time they fight Israel. If Israel actually defeats them next time, they will still expect to win the time after that.

There is a sports analogy that goes along with this. On Sunday evening, I watched the game between the Dodgers and the Giants. The Dodgers expected something good to happen and for them to pull out a victory. The Giants expected a loss. The Dodgers are on a hot streak right now. They and their fans expect them to pull out a victory some way some how. The Giants on the other hand, are on a losing streak. They were expecting something bad to happen to them the entire game.

Israel had been like the Dodgers confident and expecting a victory. This cease fire is not a victory. Therefore, it must be a loss. Not a victory must be a loss. Hezbollah had been like the Giants, expecting something bad to happen. When nothing bad happened to them, they felt it must be a victory. Not a loss is a victory.
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Cease Fire II

Posted by Steve on Sunday, August 13, 2006 3:48:38 AM
The more I read about the cease fire, the more I am convinced that this cease fire is an unmitigated defeat for Israel and the US. How could our leaders at the UN be so stupid? Of course, they could not be so stupid, if they were not authorized to be so stupid by their leaders. This is just a case of Bush wanting to do something to look "presidential". He thinks this will make him look like a great world leader. It makes him look stupid or a fool or worse.

This is a victory for Hezbollah and their sponsors. Iran is the biggest winner in this agreement. Their surrogate, Hezbollah, fought Israel to at worst a draw or a victory. They will sell this as a victory to their citizens and to the Islamic world. The west and Israel will be made to look weak by agreeing to this cease fire.

In a short time, when they have resupplied and retrained Hezbollah, there will be a new attack. This time, Hezbollah will not be content to capture an Israeli soldier. They will go into Israel and kill hundreds of civilians and soldiers. Israel will then have to recall their military and fight again. This time, Hezbollah will believe that they will win.

With this cease fire Israel is saying to the world that they can no longer win a war with their Arab neighbors. They are also saying that they are weak. The Arab world will delight in this admission and apply more pressure on Israel.

Next time, the only way to preserve Israel will be with American lives. If we have a democrat in the White House or a majority in congress, we will not come. That would mean an end to Israel and the slaughter of millions of people. Or, Israel will be forced to use a nuclear device to kill millions of Arabs. That war could get truly ugly.

I will probably be alive to see this take place. The person who is President in the next 8-16 years will preside over this momentus decision. If the decision is not made before the invasion, it will be too late. My grandsons and granddaughters will most likely have to fight in the war on radical Islam. I hope we in the US have the guts to see this through to the end. If not, we will either be dead or muslim.
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Cease Fire

Posted by Steve on Saturday, August 12, 2006 2:24:11 AM
This evening on the way home from an activity with my granddaughter, I heard on the radio about the cease fire unanimously approved at the UN. Secretary Rice was given a quote that said she encouraged the governments of Lebanon and Israel to respect this cease fire resolution. That to me raised a red flag. Does Hezbollah have to abide by the cease fire? They are not a government. They do not believe in the rule of law. How can you get a cease fire with a terrorist organization.

A terrorist organization will look at a cease fire as a sign of weakness. They will be celebrating the glorious victory over Israel. Suicide bombers will increase their toll on innocent civilians. Rockets will still rain down on Israel. They may be fewer than they are right now, but they will still come.

Any cease fire will be considered a chance to resupply by the terrorists. When they have been resupplied and have recovered from their wounds during the fighting, they will be back. Iran is the big winner when a cease fire is imposed  on Israel. They are now the dominant military force in that region of the world. Their proxies in Hezbollah have defeated Israel and they will celebrate.

What were our diplomats thinking? Do they have any idea what terrorists are? Do they care about Israeli citizens that will die because of this cease fire? The answers are: the diplomats were thinking they had to do something. They have no idea that terrorists do not think like they do. They do not care about Israeli citizens. These answers are my opinion of what they must have been thinking/.

I am more concerned about innocent Israeli citizens than I am about Hezbollah terrorists. I do care about innocent Lebanese citizens, but there is nothing that can be done when cowards hide behind women and children. Something in me also questions just how innocent are those women that are hiding the terrorists. Did they support the terrorists or not? If not, they were innocent civilians. If they did support the terrorists, they were not innocent bystanders. Children are always innocent bystanders. This includes the children of terrorists. Take them away from the terrorists and train them that killing innocent people is wrong and no more terrorists.

In an article by Barry Farber, he makes the point that if the Palestanians disarm, there is peace in the region. If Israel disarms, there is no more Israel. We need to keep this uppermost in our minds when looking at the conflict. Unfortunately, diplomats only see themselves and their status. When war breaks out, they must do something. That is why they are almost always wrong. Dennis Prager had it right in his article about world opinion.

The cease fire is a disaster. Israel should ignore it. They will not, because they need/want world opinion on their side. That is sad. They will sacrifice civilians in the court of world opinion and gain nothing.
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Content of Character

Posted by Steve on Thursday, August 10, 2006 3:03:34 AM
Martin Luther King said that he wanted a society where people were judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. In our society today, we have not entirely reached that ideal and probably will never completely reach it. But, we are much closer to that ideal than "Civil Rights" leaders will ever admit.

In my personal life, I have tried to live Martin Luther King's ideal. I believe that I have reached a point where it can be said that my life and my family are an example of exactly that point.

My wife and I had three boys of our own. When she could not have another child, we looked into adopting. Our first adopted child came to us through an agency. She was Native American and it took quite a few years to finalize that adoption. We went through a lot of hoops to achieve the goal. That included going back to the Tribal Court and having the birth mother affirm that she wished that we adopt our daughter.

Our second adopted child came to us through an attorney. He had a client that was going to have a child and was looking for someone to adopt. We were looking to adopt and we managed to meet. This daughter is hispanic.

Our third adopted child came to us through a doctor. We had contacted local OB/GYN's and this one responded that he had a patient that wanted to put her child up for adoption. We met the birth mother before the birth. After the birth, my wife went to the hospital and saw our son. She talked to the birth mother and they agreed on a first name. This son is black. The birth mother wanted contact with him when he turned 18. He went to visit her shortly after turning 18. We are still in contact with her.

Our fourth adopted child came to us through a friend. They were hosting a girl who was pregnant and wanted them to adopt her child. After the baby was born, I told the father that if anything happened and they could not adopt the girl, we would like to be considered. Well, about a month later, the mother got sick and died. The court would not let the man adopt by himself. He called us and we came and got her and adopted her. This girl is white.

What does all this mean? It shows that I have a commitment to the ideal of a colorless society. What group could I discriminate against? My brother's wife is from asia. All groups are covered. This also shows in my children. They have friends that are from every racial group. They do not let color determine who will be a friend.  How many other families can truly say they live the ideal?

The race lords are wrong. It is possible to live in a color blind society. To a great extent we do that in the US today. It is only when we come across the artificial barriers to that ideal that we have problems. The biggest is affirmative action. Affirmative action laws degrade the group they supposedly help. All students from the group benefited by affirmative action are considered below the minimum level for the college. They are treated that way and many prove the people right by performing badly.

I would never want to benefit from affirmative action. Affirmative action says that I am part of a group that cannot meet the standards of a particular college. I am an individual. I am not necessarily part of a group. Judge me by what I do. Do not judge me by what my race does. Affirmative action judges me by my race. It is wrong.
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Lack of Credibility

Posted by Steve on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 2:18:50 AM
In looking at many pictures coming out of Lebanon, there seems to be a disturbing trend, you cannot trust them. They are either being doctored or staged. At least many of them are being staged.

Over the weekend, Little Green Footballs discovered a photo that had been edited to make it look like the Israeli Air Force had caused greater damage to Beirut than they really did. This was a photo from Reuters news service. Reuters immediately fired the photographer and later removed all of his photos from their service. But many of his photos are still in circulation by newsgroups that have purchased their photos from Reuters.

The interesting thing about this photographer is that he seems to have been everywhere. Whenever there were important photos to be taken in Lebanon, he was there. The Beirut photo was doctored to make it look worse. The photos from Qana were staged. When people looked at the date and time stamps on the photos, they appeared out of sequence. The same people were wearing different clothes in sequential pictures. Obviously the photographer was working with Hezbollah to put out photos that make Israel look bad.

I saw a video where the "dead" person fell off the stretcher. The "dead" person climbed back on the stretcher and the funeral went on. The person was not dead. I saw another photo of bodies from an Israeli raid. Some of them are sitting up without support. That would indicate that the person being photographed as "dead" is alive. How many other "dead" bodies in the photo are really alive, but are willing to lay down when photographed.

I saw another video of a Palestanian running up to a hole in the wall and shooting at Israeli soldiers. Others in the video were ducking for cover. The video showed the location of this supposed action. It was on the other side of a building from the Israeli soldiers. The Palestanian people in the picture were in no danger. The man firing at the soldiers was firing into an empty building.

Other video's show people being shot. An ambulance instantly comes into the scene. People grab the individual, even by the part of the body where they were shot, and put them into the ambulance. All of this is acted out directly in front of the Israeli position. If they are afraid of being shot, why is it being acted out there. The individual with the shot leg does not react in pain when people grab him by that leg to take him to the ambulance. Something is not right.

All of this adds up to the fact that you cannot believe any facts that come out of Lebanon, if they are being put out by the Lebanese government or Hezbollah. The Israeli information, so far, has not been tainted by any allegation of inaccuracy. But, they can be fooled by Hezbollah stage plays put on for their cameras.

It just shows the world that one side is trying to do things by the book. The other side is ignoring the book and putting on a stage play for the benefit of world opinion. Even when the figures get reduced to believeable numbers, the damage has been done. The Muslim world believes the inflated lies put out by Hezbollah, showing them the later truth does no good.

Israel needs to be able to finish the job they started. They need to root out and destroy Hezbollah. Anything less is a victory for Hezbollah and a defeat for Israel. We as a free people should support Israel.
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Genetics

Posted by Steve on Monday, August 07, 2006 3:52:19 PM
Genetics plays such a large part of our lives and we know so little about it. Scientists have succeeded in mapping the entire human genome. That means we know all of the letters that make up us. We do not know what it means.

First, you may need a little background information to understand this discussion. There are four bases used in DNA. These same four bases are used in the DNA of all life on earth. They are: A - Adenine, T - Thymine, C - Cytosine, G - Guanine. We know the letter sequence that makes up the entire human DNA pool. Some of the genes we do know. We know that certain genes are on chromosome 1, some on chromosome 2 and so forth. We do not know what all the genes are on all the chromosomes.

But in knowing all the genes, we would still only know half of the available information. The genes we know all occur on one side of the two sided DNA. We have no idea what the other side is for. Nature does nothing in a vacuum. The other side must mean something.

One theory for the other side is that it works on our personality. It determines if we are a sprinter or a distance runner. It determines if we attack things or hang back. Or at least, that is what the theory says. I watched a TV show on this a couple of years ago. The British Army is using the DNA data to group soldiers. They are finding it helps in designing training programs to work to a soldier's strengths.

To me, this idea is too simple. There must be some reason for having the second side of the DNA. The reason has to be something that enables life to exsist and succeed. The theory of personality may have some validity, but it just does not seem to answer all the questions. The biggest is what does that have to do with succeeding at life.

Also with genetics, we inherit a tendency to get certain diseases. If your parents have had cancer and your grandparents had cancer, you will probably get cancer. A friend of ours has cancer and will probably die from it. She seems to have DNA most similar to her mother's, as her mother also has cancer. Nobody else in her family has the same genetic makeup as she does. She is a good person. It is a shame to see a good person like her have to struggle with a disease like cancer. It would be better spent on a person who contributed nothing to society. But, I suppose somebody loves that person too.

The long and short of it is, your genetics determines to a great extent what happens to you in your life. So, it would be important to know your genetics and understand the interplay between all the letters that make up the genes in you. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we cannot know our DNA at this time. To know everything would probably cause more harm than it would cause good.
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Construction Update

Posted by Steve on Sunday, August 06, 2006 3:17:16 PM
My home is a disaster area. We are in the midst of a major construction upgrade of many features of our home. The roof, windows and master shower are completed. Two of the three were paid for in cash, which we are proud of. We only have one more project to go, the expansion of the living room.

When we had the window person over, we were told that the cost of replacing the windows in the living room would be almost the same as the cost to take them out and double the size of our living room. We looked at one another and it was a no brainer. The expansion is something we have wanted to do for 20 years. It took doing the windows to make us make the jump.

The project is to take out the living room windows which are on the east side of the house. We have a large covered patio attached to the house. We are using the concrete slab from the patio as the floor of our new addition. The patio will be removed and a room will be constructed at the edges of the patio area. This will effectively double the size of our living room.

The biggest problem is that we did not anticipate the addition. We purchased enough tile to cover our existing house. When we decided to put on the addition, we rushed down to our tile store to buy more of the tile we had been using. Of course, they no longer sold that particular style. We had to find one that was almost the same. Since we still had to do our room, we will save that tile and use it in the new addition. We will use the new tile in our room. We still have to use the new tile in the new addition. Our room would be only about 1/3 of the new addition. We will have to come up with some sort of pattern to complete the project.

Just thought you might want an update of the happenings in the Revie household. Brianna has lost two teeth in two days. We are hoping she does not continue that for much longer, or she will have no teeth left.
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Ozone Hole

Posted by Steve on Saturday, August 05, 2006 3:30:23 AM
One subject you do not hear about right now is the ozone hole at the south pole. Every few years people cry about the enlarging ozone hole at the south pole. They make tragic and dire predictions about what will happen when the ozone hole enlarges too much. The experts cry about the skin cancer and such that will occur.

The ozone hole has a regular cycle. For about 10 years, the ozone hole gets larger. For about 10-15 years the ozone hole reduces in size. This can be traced using the information kept on the ozone hole by the international science community.

When the ozone hole is in the increasing stage, it is all man's fault. The ozone hole will continue to increase unless we destroy the economy of the United  States. If we put the economy of the United States back to its production levels in the beginning of the country around 1800, then the ozone hole will reduce. Of course that is just nonsense. The ozone hole then reverses course and everything goes back to normal. Except, you stop hearing about the ozone hole. Then when the ozone hole is increasing in size, the environmentalists are out repeating their message.

Every environmental problem is the fault of the United States, or so says the environmental community. Other countries like China and India are OK to pollute. Their pollution levels are much higher than our levels and theirs are increasing. Our pollution levels are decreasing. Before too much time, the US will have the cleanest economy in the world. The environmental problems will still caused by us, because we have the highest standard of living.

The environmental movement is not concerned with the environment. They use that as a club to try to destroy the United States. The environmental movement is the refuge of the old communist party members. Their answer to everything is for the government to control every aspect of the economy.

It is also interesting that the Democrat party echoes the words of the environmental movement. Their goal now is for the government to control all parts of the US economy. If you listen to what they say, the answer to everything is for the government to do it. Our constitution limits what the government can do. Our legislators do not read the constitution. They believe that they can legislate any law to control anything in our economy. The left leaning courts are going along with this notion.

We need to elect people that believe in the US Constitution. We need legislators that believe in limited government. Right now, those people are in the Republican party. The Libertarian party has many good ideas, but they go too far. The Republicans are the ones with the closest ideas to the Constitution of any group. The farthest away from our Founding Fathers ideals are the Democrats. The Democrat party is closest to the old Communist party of Stalin and Mao and Castro.

In November, vote Republican. Any other party is a vote for the Islamo Terrorists that want to kill us. Any other vote is a vote to weaken the United States of America. Any other vote is to put the Communist party ideas front and center in our congress. We cannot let that happen. Remember, vote Republican in November.
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Lifetime of Learning

Posted by Steve on Friday, August 04, 2006 2:56:50 AM
Tonight, my wife and I were laughing about the exciting TV that we watch in the evenings. That got me to thinking about what do I watch?

I watch four types of TV. The first is to expand what I know about science. For this, I watch the Discovery Science channel and other channels that may have a science program on. The second is to expand my knowledge of history. For this I watch the History channel and History International. I will watch other history programs. The third is for entertainment. For this, I generally watch programs that portray history or science. The fourth is news. For this, I generally watch Fox News. With the amount of driving I do and the internet, my news watching has greatly diminished. I get most of my news from the internet. I get analysis by listening to talk radio, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham and Michael Medved are the ones I listen to most. I occassionally get to listen to Dennis Prager and Rush Limbaugh.

My three favorite TV shows right now are Sharpe on BBC America, Mythbusters on Discovery Science and Eureka on the Science Fiction channel. Sharpe is set during the Napoleonic wars. The star of the show is Sean Bean. Sean Bean was Boromir during the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He is a sergeant that saves the life of the Duke of Wellington by killing three French cavalrymen. Wellington then makes him an officer. The series then follows his advancement to Major (right now) of the 95th Rifles of the South Sussex regiment. The show highlights the amount of incompetence that was in the English army during that time period. Officers would purchase a position. Advancement was generally by purchase, not by competence. Major Sharpe is the exception to that rule. He is highly competent. But, he is resented by the regular officers because he is not of the upper class.

Mythbusters is a program where two guys take myths and try to determine if they are true, false or plausable. They build various devices to test the myth and then determine if the myth is true or not. My favorite one was the story of the only person documented to have gotten pregnant without the benefit of sex. During the Civil War a lady claimed she got shot after receiving a bullet in the abdomen that had struck a soldier in the family jewels. It was written up in a medical journal of the time. The Mythbusters ran some tests and determined that the story had to be false. I use this story in my class at school.

Eureka is a new show on the SciFi channel. It is set in a small town where nobody is as they seem. Everybody works for "GD" and is trying to develop something new and different. The star is a US Marshall that got into a wreck outside of Eureka. He helped solve the problem that week and when he got back to LA, got a promotion to Eureka. He is now the Sheriff of Eureka. He has to use street smarts to solve crimes by high tech bad guys.  This appeals because of the science and because I was a Deputy Sheriff for 4 years in Jefferson County Colorado.

My TV watching may be boring, but I do get to use many of my programs as information for the classes I teach. My highly selective TV watching prevents me from watching much of the junk that is on the TV most of the time. If others did the same, they would have less complaints about TV.
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Mel Gibson - 2

Posted by Steve on Wednesday, August 02, 2006 6:24:44 PM
The liberal Jews are making a serious mistake. They are refusing to accept Mel Gibson's heartfelt appology about anti-semitic remarks he made when arrested for DUI. I am not Jewish. But, I believe that Judaism has repentance as one of its tenants.

People can change. If not, then this entire world and everything in it is not worth anything. Mel Gibson has made the first steps of repentance. He has recognized he has done something wrong. He has expressed remorse for his actions to those he has offended. He has pledged not to do it again. The only step left is to see if he actually follows through with that part.

The Jews that are refusing to accept his appology are not allowing him to complete the steps for repentance. In my book, that should put them on the hook for the sin that Mel Gibson has tried to repent of. Now, if he goes back and repeats his sin, that is another story. It is the responsibility of the person offended to accept an appology when given. Peter asked Jesus almost that exact question. Jesus answered 70 times 7. That means we have the responsibility to forgive.

It is not up to us to judge if Mel Gibson is sincere. It is up to us to forgive him his acknowledged sin. We do not have to allow him to be put in a situation where he can act on anti-semitic thoughts. That is just being smart, until we know if the repentance is true or not. But we do have the responsibility to forgive. The ADL and other liberal Jews look at this as an opportunity to get back at Mel Gibson for making "The Passion of the Christ". They objected to that movie with unfounded reasons. They just look at this as payback time.

Mel Gibson has done his job. It is not his responsibility to appologize any more. He should follow through with the suggestions he has made to the jewish community. If they do not want to cooperate, he should just go on and do it any way. He should not hold himself up for continued ridicule by the liberal Jewish community any more.

I for one have accepted Mel Gibson's appology. I forgive him for making anti-semitic remarks. I am not condoning the remarks by forgiving Mel Gibson. I am just giving Mel Gibson the opportunity to continue the path of repentance. To not forgive him is to deny him repentance. That in my eye is a greater sin than the one that Mel Gibson blurted out to the officer that fateful night.
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Mel Gibson

Posted by Steve on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 6:50:53 PM
If Mel Gibson was a high flying left wing nut case, his outburse and apology would be immediately accepted and forgotten. Because Mel Gibson is associated with Christianity, he will not be given a pass.

An example of what I am speaking about is our favorite race-baiter, Rev. Jesse Jackson. A few years ago, he called New York City, "Hymietown", and made other anti-semitic remarks. After being called on his outburst, he made a half apology and was instantly forgiven by everyone. Except for those of us with a memory that exceeds one week, it is forgotten. What he said and did was much worse than Mel Gibson. His apology was half-hearted. Mel Gibson's apology appears to be sincere.

There are other examples of people in public life that have made comments against people of Jewish faith or Israel. If they are considered liberal, the apology, however poorly given is fully accepted. If they are considered right wing or religious or both, it doesn't matter what the person does, the apology will be considered not enough.

Senator Trent Lott went through something like that a few years ago. He praised Senator Strom Thurmond when he was retiring. Everyone jumped on him and after a series of more heartfelt apologies, he was forced to resign his position as majority leader of the senate. A short time ago, a liberal senator praised the only current member of the senate that has been a member of the KKK. Even Strom Thurmond never stooped that low. This person gave a half-hearted apology and now nobody knows who the senator even was.

This just shows the double standard that exists in the media today. A left leaning person can say or do almost anything, apologize and nobody remembers it. If a right leaning person does something much less, the person is hounded from office. This is even after the person shows true repentance for their transgression. Life is not fair.
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World Opinion

Posted by Steve on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 2:53:11 AM
Dennis Prager today talks about the lack of importance of World Opinion. He makes the point that world opinion is always against those that fight evil.

I agree with the premise that World Opinion is a guide to tell you which way to go in certain situations. Find out what the World Opinion is and follow the opposite track. That has always been my feelings. I am glad someone finally explained to me why World Opinion is always on the wrong side of the issue.

World Opinion is afraid of power. The most threatening is the way World Opinion will go. The United States is the most powerful country in the world. World Opinion is almost always against us. Why? Because we are free. By being a free country, people can see us for what we truly are, warts and all. Countries like China and North Korea have a shield preventing people from seeing them in their true colors. That is their lack of freedom. If you report on the evils of their regimes, you die.

The same can often be said of public opinion in the United States, especially on the left. Public opinion generally supports the least threatening position, until the facts are known. With public opinion, when people know the facts, they can support positions that World Opinion would be against. This is because many people have moral positions. If those moral positions are threatened, they will support them even against aggression.

The left in the United States over the last 40 years has operated much like World Opinion. They are afraid of their own shadow. If there is a power out there that might hurt them, they want to talk it to death and get to agree with them. Of course, the power (North Korea) will immediately break the agreement. But the left will count that as a major coup.

Evil needs to be confronted and destroyed. It takes time to do that. Israel is finding that out. But, Israel is also trying to fight a war like we are fighting in Iraq. They are trying to kill only Hezbollah, not civilians. If civilians get killed, they appoligize and work to have that not happen again. I have seen pictures of Hezbollah fighters with civilian clothes and in civilian areas prepared to launch missiles or fire cannons. These people, when killed, will look like civilians. Remove their weapons and then show that more civilians were killed. Israel looks bad and Hezbollah cheers, not a way to win a war. We need to start fighting to win, not fighting to appease public opinion.
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