Enemies and Evil Do'ers

There was once an EVIL EMPIRE known as the Soviet Union. They had ten thousand nuclear warheads pointed at us. They paraded them around Moscow. Their leaders talked about how they were going to bury us etc. And yet we talked to them, had a phone line between our President and their leader. In the 45 years of cold war between the US and the USSR we never really stopped talking. And we saved each others lives. There were plenty of people on both sides that would have liked us to slug it out in a big horrible, earth-ending, war. But calmer, more adult, minds won out and though we bitched at each other and spied on each other, and faught violent proxy wars in little counties like Vietnam and Afgahnistan (USSR War not our new one) we did not go to war directly with each other. And so you and I are still alive and the earth is not a dead rock.

So when Bin Laden goes out and asks for a truce or to negotiate we should not simply say that he is the bad guy and we don't talk to bad guys. That is a childish response, not the response of a Super Power. The US is too big to muck around in the simplminded world of good vs evil. There are usually a multitude of ways to skin a cat. Some ways require talking. Even if that talking is to the very cat needing to be skinned. This takes skill, leadership, commitment to life, commitment to American greatness, and the ability to actually believe that we are worth fighting for.

I remember the God given opportunity that Bush and Iran passed up when both leaders were in Rome for the funeral for Pope John Paul II. Sometimes the initiative must be siezed when the opportunity presents itself. By asking for a meeting with Bin Laden we would put him on the defensive. IF he shows up he knows he could be killed. If he says no then he appears foolish or cowardly. By continuously allowing Bin Laden or his lueitenent to speak about truces, and meetings, we give them too much power. I would wish to force them to put up or shut up. I would say that in our world people talk to each other not shoot at each other. And If Bin Laden wishes to talk we can talk.

Oh crap...Hamas won an election

Well what did everyone think was going to happen? Look what happened in 1776 when a pissed off population of British subjects voted their conscience. Why is it people think that elections lead only to happy times for all? If a country is filled with people who are poor, under employed, crowded, assaulted, and preached to be hate-mongers, they probably will not for for a peace-nick. The French revolution should be the standard warning to anyone trying to get a democracy out of a tyranny or anarchy. America worked becasue the actaul government after 1776 was little different than the previous one. Accept there was no king or parliment on the other side of the atlantic. With France, the king got his head chopped off along with thousands of other royals and anyone else who got in the way of "liberty". It didn't end until the dictatorship of Napolean.

In the longrun there will be peace and Isrearl and Palestine will exist side by side. But it isn't going to be in my lifetime.

Poll Crunch For January!!!!

Does the Nation like the job ol' W is doing?

Approve 41%
Disapprove 53%
Duh I dunno 6%

So is he doing a good job? I mean just because the naiton thinks he stinks that doesn't acutally mean he is doing a bad job. However whether we look at foreign or domestic policy he looks pretty pathetic. In the time it took FDR to destroy Japan and Germany, W has yet to stabilize Afgahnistan to say nothing of the FUBAR that is Iraq. The number of jihadists in the world is on the rise, Osama Bin Laden is still at large, our civil liberties are under attack, our nations image is in the toilet, and while out economy is "expanding" it is little comfort to the 30,000 people the lost their high-wage jobs at GM or the 30,000 that are losing their jobs at Ford. The healthcare crisis is only getting worse. Chinese investment bankers are taking turns driving the world economy as well as funing the US government. Bush, to me, looks weak and disconnected to the reality of the world and his nation. I think he is not going to be remembered as a good President.

Forgiveness and punishment

There is nothing that test your faith as a Christian more than being faced with a great wrong and then wrestling with forgivenss. The Christian soul wishes to forgive almost at once while the intellect says "What are you nuts? Eye for an Eye!" The Christian approach is the only approach that leads to lasting peace. However the desire for punishment of the offender is strong too. I harken back to Calvery when Christ was hanging on that cross and the two men were haning with him. The one man tells Jesus that if He is the son of God then why doesn't he get down off the cross. The other man says that Jesus is an inocent man while both of the men are being crucified as they deserve. Then he asks Jesus to remember him. Jesus of course tells him that he will be with Jesus in Paradise. However at no time does Jesus get the dude off his cross. He lets the man hang there and die along with him. So I guess the moral is just because you get forgiven your sin, and will be with Jesus in Paradise, doesn't mean you get out of your earthly punishment, whatever that happens to be.

The other great thing about forgivness of sin is that as a Christian I can help redeem a mans soul by that act. God alone redeems souls but forgiving my neighbor I redeem myself. That is a pretty powerful position to be in. Conversely to withold forgivness for those who wrong me is a blight on my soul and I would not wish to meet God and answer for why I could not forgive another's transgressions. We set ourselves up for getting punished in the hearafter if we try to hold onto the sins of those who wrong us. We become the sin eater taking on the punishment we wish to levy on them. I would certainly rather leave eternal punishment to God and not tell the divine whom He should punish and whom He should not.

For the aetheist I would argue that Christain forgivness is the only true path of healing since to not forgive is to keep the wound alive thus propetuating and transfering the wrongs of others from generation to generation. Punishment is another matter. Punishment for a wrong comitted is appropriate in this life. Proper punishment preserves the order of systems. Without it the order breaks down and people feel as though they can get away with anything.

Confusing idiocy from Michael "Weiner" Savage

MS loves to extoll the virtues of the insipid fear monger Joeseph McCarthy and the knucklewalking bafoons that followed him. Currently MS is trying, in his typically mentally retarded way, to link the current furor over wire tapping with red bating in the 50's. What a load of shite. MS should just admit that he is a f'ing NAZI and be done with it.

Review of Dead Like Me

I highly recomend this two year Show Time series, now available on DVD. if you want lots of gore, and excitment you can forget it. This is a comedy drama with good writing, good characters, and high style. In a nut shell this is the story of the mundane, and not so mundane, life of a dead girl who has to spend some time being a grim reaper. The main character is not out of central casting, does not do the typical teenage crap that makes you want to puke everytime you see a teen on TV. Ellen Muth is superb as are the rest of the cast members. Check it out.

Review of King Kong

Remaking King Kong is the hight of Hollywood vainglory. The original is
a great film that despite its age stands up on its own. This film,
while technically brilliant, has a script that is no better than the
1976 version, and in some ways is worse. It is a very beautiful, long,
disappointment. Not only is the script poor the acting is also
lackluster with the notable exceptions of Naomi Watts and the ape. The
island natives are valueless imps with no back story at all to tell us
why they do what they do. They come accross as nothing but a plot contrivance to get us into
the jungle and face to face with Kong. Interestingly the wall scenes in
this film look puny and confusing compared to either the original or
the 76 remake. If Jackson wanted to remake a film from that era that
desperately needs to be remade he should have picked Metropolis.

Gets a 6 out of 10