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."