Ship of Fools

Anyone who has read this blog has probably guessed that I'm fairly conservative. Not entirely, I have my liberal leaning but I'm not going to get into that here and now. What you may not know is that my wife and I are foster parents. We've been fostering children in need for just about a year now and in that time I have become the biggest, flaming child advocate many who know me have ever met. I firmly belive that children are innocent and that influence from their environments is the leading cause of children acting out and going the wrong way.

That's why I was so enraged when I heard Alec Baldwins tyrade toward his daughter. For those of you who haven't heard it, you owe it to yourself to search out the tape online. It's only about a minute long and to me sounds like a man who has gone completly insane. In the tape Baldwin calls his daughter a pig, threatens to "straighten her out" and insults the childs mother. The whole message is, in my opinion, very threatening and if I were an 11 year old listening to my father say these things to me I would be devistated.

Baldwin appeared on The View this morning and gave the classic hang-dog apology. Not so much to his daughter, but to us, the public! I was under the impression that he was more concerned that no one would be mad at him and would continue to frequent his movies than to actually make the first step in repairing the damage to his relationship with his daughter. I wouldn't be surprised that, on the strength of that tape alone, Mr. Baldwin had his parental rights severed by the courts. It would be the least he deserved.

Posted by Cris at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From the moment that President Bush came to office the congress that served under his was known as the do-nothing congress. This last political cycle really brought the term forwards with Dems shouting it from every soap box they could stand on. It was their main political lever. They touted that the Republican controlled congress was so ineffective that they had to step in and take controll, saving America from itself. Well, the 100 day aniversery of the new Democrat controlled congress has come and gone and guess what they have accomplished. Nothing. They have spent the last 100 days drafting a bill that the President made very clear he was going to veto under its currenty language. Did that deter them? Not in the slightest. As if the President hadn't said a word they went ahead and wrote their bill exactly the way they intended at first, and sure enough the President has vowed that it will never make it across his desk. I have to wonder why the congress wasted their time and our money? Well, the obvious answer was political grandstanding. If they wrote the funding bill with a defeat clause (they call it a pullout deadline but I call it assured defeat) knowing full well that it would never get presidential approval they could blame Bush for every single death after their deadline, every lack of funding, everything. It's shameful that our American congress would do something so underhanded to our troops.

Posted by Cris at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Often it is discussed that the government is corrupt. Conservatives point fingers at the Liberals, Liberals point fingers at Conservatives, and both shout as loudly as possible "Your fault!" The reality is that both are corrupt and in mostly the same way. But this isn't new news. The problem that I see is that while our elected leaders point the finger at each other and toss blame around, nothing gets done. One party proposes a bill, the other votes it out. Was it a bad bill? Maybe, but the most likely case is that it was voted out simply because their party didn't propose it.

Anyway, the point I was going for today wasn't what I wrote above, thats just my mindless ramble. The point I was trying going to make was that exactly what is happening was predicted by Isaiah in around 750 B.C. First, before we get to the quote, let me state that I'm not going to start shoving religion down anyone's throat. I myself haven't been to church in many years. I used to go and at one point make the concious choice not to any more. That being said, I think there are some great quotes in the Bible, many of which get ignored simply because they came out of the Bible. Anyway, here's what Isaiah said:

How is the faithful city become a harlot!
it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in
it, but now murderers.
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed
with water.
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions
of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth
after rewards: they judge not the fatherless,
neither doth the cause of the widow come unto
them.
Isaiah 1:21-23

I'm sure there are several ways to interpret this, but I see it to mean this: Our country was founded on God, (faithful city) but has turned our back on Him and as such is falling apart (an harlot!) It was once great (full of judgement) but now is full of the wicked (full of murderers.)

Then he talks about rebellious princes who are the companions of thieves. They love their gifts and will act only if it comes with a reward. Sound familiar? They wont help orphins (the fatherless) and ignore the plight of widows. This is how I view our currently elected leaders. With every cry for help from their constituancy they first ask themselves "Whats in it for me and how can it help me later on." If they don't find the answer they want, nothing gets done.

Later in his teachings Isaiah talks of rebellion, maybe thats what needs to happen. Not in the pitchforks and torches sense, but in the "we're not electing you any more" sense. Maybe its time to give the Independents a chance, or the Libritarians, or any of the other "minor" parties. They can't possibly do any worse than the ship of fools currently calling the shots.

Posted by Cris at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The topic of cell phones on airplanes is once again making headlines and once again terms like "civil liberty" is being tosses around like old socks. As much as I don't like being told what I can and cannot do, I have to say that I can't blame the airline industry for standing firm on this point. Cell phones should not be allowed on airplanes, but not for the reasons that they are stating. You see, the airline industry states that interference from electronic devices (cell phones, blackberries, game boys) can cause a malfunction in the electronics of the aircraft. Many studies have been done, many by the cell phone industry, many by the airline industry, and many by independent consultants. While the results are more or less inconclusive as a whole, individually the results lean more towards that these devices don't cause enough interference to affect anything at all.

Now I personally don't feel that "inconclusive" is a strong enough argument for allowing an item that may make an airplane fall from the sky to be used while in flight. Some people do. I feel, however, that the airline industry is going about this the wrong way. If they don't want cell phones used on airplanes, they need to just step up and say, "they are our planes, we make the rules. Don't like it? Don't fly."

Fact is, cell phones are disruptive. Can you even imagine sitting in an airplane packed shoulder to shoulder with 200 people, three-quarters of which are on their phones almost non stop. I find air travel unpleasant enough (I'm tall, I don't fit well in the seats) If I had to sit next to a bunch of people and listen to their conversations for an entire flight they would have to shovel bodies out the door as soon as they land.

"But what if there is an emergency!" This seems to be a common argument. History lesson alert! The first commercial flight was made in a zeppelin in 1910, followed by the first airline flight in 1914. Jump forward in time to 1947, the invention of the cell phone (really, 1947). Though the cell phone was invented then, it didn't really take shape into what we would consider to be a cell phone until 1994 when the FCC cleared the 1900MHz band for PCS technology. So for 84 years of flight somehow people managed emergencies without the use of cell phones. Why can't we do that now?

I can see the point of the people who want to use their phones, I really can. It's an ever changing world and constant communication is sometimes a must, but its not a right. So do us all a favor, turn your phone off, sit down in your seat, eat your peanuts and enjoy your flight. If you just can't manage that, take the bus.

Posted by Cris at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Last week Hilary Clinton made headlines by raising a record breaking $26,000,000 for her campaign. This week, Barak Obama has come very close to that, raising nearly $25,000,000. What astonishes me is not that they have managed to raise that amount of money. After all both are very charismatic and have a very fanatical following. What amazes me is that every time a Republican wins any election its because the "right-wing fat cats" have bought their votes with there seemingly endless deep pockets. What does that mean if Hilary or Barak wins? Considering that they have raised more money than any other candidate in history wouldn't the same rationale they use be true for them? I'm sure they wont think so but what's good for the goose is, of course, good for the gander.

Posted by Cris at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm very goal oriented. Just getting the individual task done isn't enough for me. Until the job is done I'm not satisfied. I've also been known to be stubborn and somewhat obsessive compulsive. Take cleaning for example. I don't especially like cleaning but when I get it in my head that something is going to come clean it is GOING TO COME CLEAN. No matter what. Scrubbing just not working, lets add a cleaning agent. Still not working? Add some more. No dice? Add another. And another. And another. The problem is that in my fervor to get the job done I sometime neglect to rinse the first cleaning agent out properly...or at all. It's gotten to the point that a few times if Himmler was in my kitchen he might be saying (insert heavy German accent here) "You vight not vant to do zat" I have a long list that I have memorized of the cleaning agents that contain bleach and the ones that contain ammonia because of the numerous times I have accidently created mustard gas in the kitchen. (You laugh, ask my wife)

Case in point today. A few days ago my wife made oven baked BBQ chicken, one of my favorite things that she cooks. The problem was that BBQ sauce baked onto a metal pan forms a bond approximately one billion times stronger than the worlds strongest electro-magnet. We tried everything to get that sauce off. Soaking, soap, scrubbing. We didn't want to try steel wool because its a very expensive non-stick (yeah right) pan. Today, I had an idea, which should have been a red flag but wasn't. I thought, "If oven cleaner will take the crust off an oven, it should work on this pan too." So I found the can of industrial strength oven cleaner that is covered front and back with warnings, promptly ignored them all, and sprayed the pan. About ten minutes later I came back to find the oven cleaner foaming up nicely with a pinkish tint of dissolved BBQ sauce. Success! I got out my trusty sponge and wiped the pan clean. Good as new! "I'm a God," I thought, "my wife is going to be so damn proud of me." Then I started to realize that my hands hurt like hell. I looked down and found them to be quite red. I looked at the can of oven cleaner and in great big letters, it stated very clearly: DO NOT USE WITHOUT GLOVES. Oh damnit! Apparently whatever caustic chemical they put in that stuff that takes anything off anything also takes skin off hands. After cussing profusely in my head (baby is awake) and rinsing my hands under cold water for about ten minutes I thought I would write you all and let you know what I had learned today.

1. Oven cleaner does wonder for baked on goop on cookware
2. It is really stupid not to read the warnings on oven cleaner
3. It is even more stupid not to obey the warnings on oven cleaner
4. I will probably continue not to obey the warnings on oven cleaner, and all other cleaners for that matter
5. I'm not real bright

Posted by Cris at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)