Score the Debate

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Chain E-Mail

Message just received from a former colleague via e-mail:

“I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL! I was asked to send this on if I agree or delete if I don’t. What do you think about this? It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having “In God! We Trust” on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don’t we just tell the 14% to Sit Down and BE QUIET!!! If you agree, pass this on, if not delete. I AGREE!!!!”



I know that the intentions of the sender of this e-mail are fairly innoucuos. However, the message itself, passed along from one God-fearing soul to another, sounds like an excuse for mob rule. A Democracy that does not protect minority rights is tyranny. More to the point, ‘God’ is not understood by everyone in the same way. In fact, ‘God’ has become a catch-all concept that has become virtually meaningless. The whole subject is meaningless anyway. Swearing allegiance to the flag is about as useful an activity as catching a cold. Money spends the same way whether or not it declares that we trust in God or Alan Greenspan.

Quote of the Day II

“If ever an administration, in a reelection season properly dominated by a single issue of the administration’s choosing, has earned an electoral rebuke, it is this one. And if ever there has been a challenger who, together with his party, seemed perfectly designed to dissuade the electorate from administering such a rebuke, it is this one.”

–George Will (read the whole column here)

Quote of the Day

“There’s never been a publicly subsidized stadium anywhere in the United States that had the effect of increasing employment and economic growth in the city in which it was built.”

–Stanford University economist Roger Noll

Eisenhower Ditches the GOP After 50 Years

Something is wrong with you if you have staunch allies deserting you left and right. Here’s the latest.

Silly Conspiracy Theory of the Day

Isn’t it strange how the Senators (or whatever the team will be called) are returning to Washington D.C., a city constructed by Masons (not the brick layers, but the ‘occult’ type) after 33 years. The number 33 just happens to be a very significant number to them occult types. Even stranger is that the Senators moved, in 1971, to Texas, the home of our current President. And still strangers is that Montreal, from where the team is coming, has a strong presence of Chinese Free Masons, which are not affiliated with international free masonry. The connection there (such that it is) happens to be that our current President’s father was instrumental in advancing Nixon’s efforts in opening China to the outside word. These efforts were begun in 1971. When Bush went over to China he was initially supposed to stay for a two-year appointment. He asked to come back after a year and upon his return he was made head of the CIA. Also, don’t forget Bush’s famous speech when he announced to a joint session of Congress, regarding the Iraq crisis, that “Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective — a new world order.” That speech (found here) was given on September 11, 1990. Eleven is also a very important number to the Mason. The Twin Towers were hit 11 years later and enbodied, themselves very number eleven. [Play Twilight Zone theme music here.]

But keep that theme music running, because here’s an important side note to all this: Pierre L’Enfant, the man who laid the plans for D.C., designed those plans in 1791. If you’ll notice 1791 is an anagram of 1971 (or vica versa).



Read more about the illustrious career of George Herbert Walker Bush here.

Read more about the design elements of Washington D.C. here.

Read more about those design elements and the Masons here.

Read more about the silliness about the number 33 here.

Our Glorious Democracy

Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell is attempting to disallow voter registration forms not printed on a specific weight of paper, which means many forms printed from the internet or photocopied may be thrown out. Check out the story here.

Quote of the Day

“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger.”

–Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief. This quote was spoken privately to Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist, and recounted in Gilbert’s Nuremberg Diary.

It’s Easy Being Cheesy When You’re Made Of Cheese

The President is a big, fat, phony liar and manipulates the truth for his own political gains. Find out all about it here.

Kerry Undermining Our Key Allies?

Check it out here.

In Fear of Republicans

The reason that so many Republicans are trying to tie John Kerry with the ‘terrorists’ is clear. After he is elected President and they get their pals in Saudi Arabia to dish out another attack against the U.S. they can say – ‘see, we told you so’.

Another Letter ‘of the Day’

Here’s another letter from the RTD’s ‘Letters to the Editor’ section that I find noteworthy:



Editor, Times-Dispatch: As America recoils from the brutality of the murders of children in Beslan, I wonder that there is no equal outcry against the brutality of the murders of countless more children in America. I am speaking of the heinous practice of partial-birth abortion.



Isaiah 10:1 gives a universal warning: “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees . . . .” For those who are interested, Psalm 58:1-2 speaks to those who practice partial-birth abortion and to those who remain silent.

How can the judges who have ruled unconstitutional the prohibition of partial-birth abortion silence their consciences? It is past time for a change in the law. Rebecca P. Wellford. richmond.



Oh, Rebecca. Did you think we wouldn’t look up your reference to Psalm 58:1-2? Who do you take us for? Uneducated cretins? Here’s what the New American Standard Bible says for the passage you cite: “1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? 2 No, in heart you work unrighteousness; On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.”



I don’t see partial-birth abortion anywhere in this passage. I guess if that’s all you think about, everything starts seeming like it’s talking about partial-birth abortion. I was reading ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ by Dr. Suess the other day and I’m sure that there are passages there that could easily be used to decry the current practices of the FDA concerning food labeling. But, see, I’m obsessed with food labelling so I see it all there plain as day.

Letter of the Day

Today’s RTD contains this interesting letter that I’m sharing with you now:



Editor, Times-Dispatch: The article, “North Side ‘Gunbattle’ Kills Three,” quotes Richmond Police Chief Andre Parker as saying, “We continue to be outgunned on the streets of Richmond.” He should be ashamed of himself.

If the statement is true, then it is his fault. The federal assault-weapons ban that was passed 10 years ago does not apply to police departments. A police department can purchase and use any type of firearm necessary for law enforcement. It is Parker’s responsibility to see that his department is equipped with the firearms needed to give his officers every advantage when firearms are necessary to enforce the law.

If the statement is not true, then Parker should be ashamed of himself for lying to support his contention that the assault-weapons ban should have been extended.



Parker is further quoted as saying, “Without an extension of the ban, the outcome will be much the same as we found in Richmond last night.” The article reported that three people were shot to death. That happened after the ban had been in effect for 10 years. The ban did not prevent the shootings, and an extension of the ban would not have prevented comparable homicides in Richmond in the future.

This letter might seem negative, but I am not anti-police. I support the police, the same as I support the Constitution, including the Second Amendment. No one appreciates good law enforcement more than I. Charles Light. meherrin.



Au contraire Mr. Light. I am sure that there are a few citizens who have much more appreciation for law enforcement than yourself. For example, some people I’m making up named Joe Stanley of Midlothian, Faulk Bowles of Short Pump, and Lourdes Orteggio of Hanover all have a much greater fondness for law enforcement than you. So, if I were you, Mr. Light, I would step up your appreciation. While I agree with your letter overall, I think you have a long way to go before you catch up to the likes of Stanley, Bowles, and Orteggio (made up examples for sure, but worthy of mention nonetheless).

Quote of the Day

“Our media and our politicians ill-serve us all when they state that we need a single person, any person, to save this nation. The insult to the people of this nation is especially egregious when the Bush administration tells us that we cannot survive if we switch administrations in the middle of a “war” it says is going to last decades or centuries.

How foolish we are to accept such scare tactics. And how destructive it is for us to believe for one minute that this nation of 290 million people is dependent on one President, one governor, or one mayor to save us from terrorists. The fact is that we have a lot of ingenuity and leadership potential in this country, and there’s nothing so hot about any person who becomes President. Sure, we want to respect the office and the person who occupies it, but it is totally un-American to engage in the idolatry that the Bush administration and its associated media are foisting on us.



We are a nation born in revolution and with a healthy disrespect for those who appoint themselves to rule over us. In a nation that purports to be a beacon of democracy, we should have more respect for ourselves.”

–Robin Crane, from today’s RTD Letters to the Editor

The Terror That Is Cat Stevens

I agree with the government on this one. Even when he was ‘one of us’ and not one of those Islamic folk (those ‘others’), his songs were shlocky and terribly saccharin. Leave him in London where he can do no harm to us Ameericans.