Quote of the Week

"Sometimes I can't remember really important things.... yet, somehow, I can remember all the times I've gone pee in the past six months."

-my 18-year-old brother

So I read today on CNN and FoxNews that the Iraq War has cost the United States less, in its 7 or 8 years, than the recent stimulus bill that was passed. The Iraq war has show results. The government has kept us safe through fighting it, which, last I checked, is its job.

The stimulus bill has done nothing of the sort, save raise taxes and drive us further into debt. Sounds productive, huh? A strong federal government was not what the founding fathers had in mind, and said bill has certainly not been in line with their way of thinking. We've seen a 25%increase of government with this and other recently-passed bills.

And it's all done against the voice of the majority of the people. A democrat/progressive/liberal I engaged in a debate (if you can call it that; he just attacked people the whole time) put their view rather succinctly:

"D*** the Republicans! Full Speed ahead!"

I figured that's how it was...now my worst fears have been confirmed.

Quote of the Week

"Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes not divine but demonic."

-Pope Benedict

sources: picture- http://www.getreligion.org/?p=3424

quote: Glenn Beck, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,600150,00.html

Opinions

I have been relatively quiet about the mosque at Ground Zero. I will continue to remain that way, after I state my opinion here. I think that it's well within the rights of the Muslim people to build it wherever they want. This is, after all, America, and all who are citizens and corporations established in this country have the right to life, liberty, and property. However, I do not think it is wise, given the sensitive feelings of the people who lost loved ones there. I could go on for a while about this, but that's not the intent of this blog.

A close friend of mine was talking to some people who's opinion differed from hers, on this very subject. She agrees with me, and when she put her views forward, she was immediately called a bigot, a racist, etc. She was accosted; she was upset.

I have found this to be a pervading attitude amongst liberals, that if you don't agree with them, then you are a bigot, a hater, you are close-minded, etc. Well- perhaps they are right, when it comes to being close-minded. Morality has become a relative term, but those of us who choose true conservatism believe that you don't back down on your morals. If someone believes in their being a pacifist, great, you can. If someone belives abortion is wrong, fantastic. If someone doesn't like guns, then don't buy any.

What we don't like is when your views are forced down our throats, and we are forced to either pay into it even if we don't participate, when you advocate our property and/or rights being taken away, or when you tell us to "come together" on an issue that we believe to be morally wrong or economically unwise, or when we are forced to live around something that we feel is morally degrading, wrong, or simply uncomfortable.

I feel that the Muslim mosque is uncomfortable for many, because many of our people were killed under the false pretenses of that religion. So it is thus unwise to upset so many Americans who feel so strongly about it. I'm just saying.

PS- I don't want to be so open-minded that my brains fall out.

Quote of the Week

"Right now... [Glenn Beck is] a ticking time bomb for the progressive movement in this country."

-Robert Ringer, "Glenn Beck's Departure from Fox News, Part 2"

Today's Educational System

I work as a tutor at the LDS Business College during the school year, where I am currently studying business management. I chose to attend said school because I heard that it was excellent school. When I got there, and began tutoring my second semester, I was blown away by the great abundance miseducation that is beginning to plague our society.

Something I have observed is that people are becoming more and more concerned with doing only the bare minimum, and "passing that test", rather than becoming truly educated. So as we move through the next couple of paragraphs, please take note of each experience and the trouble that our society is headed for if this pattern continues.

• I tutor english. I have usually 4 to 6 appointments any given day. Foreign students aside, most of these individuals don't know how to write. I don't blame them- they want to do their best, or they wouldn't be coming to me for help. I blame it on the teachers, who don't take time to teach the kids in middle and high school great literature. I blame it on focusing on pushing an agenda, rather than teaching what a great paper is composed of. When these kids come to college, and all of the sudden they're expected be able to argue, to theorize and speculate, and to show patterns, they can't. Many can't even define what a paragraph is, let alone keep the basic grammatical structure taught to me in grade school.

• I also tutor Information Technology 102, which is a basic introductory course. This course is a prime example of teaching to the test. Most of these kids' lives, they're taught to conform to the basics. In all other aspects of college education, they're taught to learn, and to grow, and expand knowledge in their own areas of preference. In this course, they're taught to all conform, and basically bow to the mighty test, not to learn computer skills.

It's really annoying. I just wish there was something I could do about it.

Silencers

So I was reading today about silencers for guns and the cases for and against them. I haven't really formulated an opinion yet, but I at least found a rather hilarious quote on a blog:

"You can’t fix stupid, and you can’t legislate away its ill effects."

Summer Sales

I am a man of strong, biased opinions. That much should be clear from my past posts. Now- I am going to say some offensive things in this post. Get ready to have your eyebrows raised, or stop reading right now. The choice is yours.

Summer sales is a scam.

Yes, I said it, loud and clear. Why? Because it's not fair to any one who partakes in it on an ordinary level, especially honest people. I have had a large number of friends do it. Those who were honest, and I mean completely and totally honest, make almost no money. Customers are fooled into believing that the salesman isn't really a sales man. The companies lies to their employees telling them they can make 20k in a summer. I had a friend who went out for a month. He was honest. He made about $2000 (maybe less).

I have had my experiences, with these companies. I would say that the worst is probably APX. I almost got talked into working for them this past summer. I worked a couple of pre-season sales with my manager and his assistant. I watched them and had them attempt to teach me deceitful practices that made me uncomfortable, and I knew that if I gave into presenting myself in such a manner, I would not be qualified to hold a temple recommend for temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They would justify it and call it "good business." I can hardly agree, since several states, including New York, Minnesota, and others have banned these companies from going door-to-door to sell their products.

I have had several close friends tell me that their companies, Pinnacle, Terminix, Orkin, etc. have encouraged similar practices. I would encourage anyone who is with these companies to take a good look at them. If you feel like you can work for them honestly, and make a lot of money, then go for it. But I know it would not have been wise for me.

Quote of the Week

“If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid.

That’s ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the h*** do I have to be paranoid about?”

-Clint Smith

Quote of the Week

"The vaunted Obama economic stimulus, at $862 billion, has failed. The "progressives" want

to double down, and were they to have their way, would have pushed for a bigger stimulus still. But the American people are in open rebellion against an economic strategy of public debt, higher taxes and unending deficits. We're not all Keynesians, it turns out. The panic that propelled Mr. Obama to the presidency has waned. There is deep concern, to be sure. But the Obama strategy has lost the consent of the governed."

-Fouad Ajami,

Opinion writer for the Wall Street Journal, "The Obsolescence of Barack Obama"

August 11, 2010. Read the full article here.

Spending and Taxing

This morning, my dad and I were listening to Glenn Beck together on the way to a doctor's appointment. This is a regular occurrence, and the conversation turned from current events, to the root thereof: the liberal agenda of heavy taxation of all people, not just the rich, as they would have you believe. It reminded me of the old addage, that the power to tax is the power to destroy.

I then observed to my dad that we are, quite literally, taxed about 50% of all our earnings. When I worked for Publix Supermarkets, a for-profit corporation, social security, federal income taxes, and such, took $5000 of my $10,000 income. I would get approximately $600 back from my tax return.

I work for a non-profit school right now, so I don't have to deal with that because my income is below the taxable bracket. But I have become more and more sour about this as time has progressed. The Book of Mormon talks about a people who had the same problem, as their own government taxed them one fifth of all they owned, and the difficulty that this caused. At the same point in time, there was another people who, through their wickedness, had come to be in bondage to their enemies, who taxed them one half of all their labors and possessions. It makes it very clear that this is not okay in the eyes of the Lord, but that through obedience to His laws, and much prayer and supplication to Him, we can get through this, as we make the effort to overcome and work our way out of such dire circumstances.

The TEA Party has caught my attention. In case you didn't know, the name is an acronym that stands for "Taxed Enough Already".

88 Days

"We have 88 days. In less than two years, we have gone from a demoralized super-minority party to a legion of effective shock troops who are on the offense and making Democrats sweat.”

–Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele today at a RNC meeting in Kansas City, Mo.

nut jobs

"I'd rather be a Right-winged nut job than a no-nuts, no-job liberal."

-Random offensive right-winged t-shirt website

How We Think

SO ... I was flipping through the channels this evening with my dad, and we came to the O'Riley Factor on FoxNews (it's no secret I love that channel). It was right at the end of the show, where Bill was showing some clips from other shows, and he showed a clip from Dave Letterman's Late Show (and this is where it gets interesting).

Dave said, in regards to O'Riley "...i think he knows what he's doing... he's found a place to make a living. He's be a weatherman if the money was right, or maybe do sports if the money was right. He's just doing this 'cuz that's where the money is. I don't think you can be as smart as he is and actually believe what he believes."

This seems to be the pervading liberal media attitude. Through conversations I've recently had with liberal friends of mine, and observing comments like this, I think that liberals don't really understand what exactly it means to be conservative.

Would you like to know? Send me a message; I'll be happy to explain it.