bayushisan's Journal

There will be refrences to my Christian faith in this one. Be aware

In my lifetime I've seen the country go through many things, some good, some bad and some catastrophic. In those times I was always aware that there were people who would differ on solutions but I never thought it would get as bad as it is now.

I can't begin to understand some of the things going on lately and I'm not sure it would be healthy for me to try.

First we have last night's Hannity where Michael Moore was the subject of the first third of the show. In truth I was surprised at how Mr. Moore handled himself. Let's be honest he's been known to be on the bombastic side at times and that's not always helpful to finding solutions to things. This time, however, he came into the discussion humble and had the facts behind him. He knew the subject and all Hannity had was the talking points of blaming the poor. What he, Hannity, rather conviently forgets is that the majority of people who took those loans WERE able to pay them at first and then the recession hit and people started losing their jobs. 80% of the problem were the direct result of the banks.

Second we have the Conservative Bible Project. sigh Just speaking as a Christian man I find this entire project offensive. Using masculine pronouns in refrence to God is one thing, and I tend to favor that because that's how I was taught the Bible. These people want to remove things like the story of the adultress who was about to be stoned, they want to remove "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" depsite the fact that these things are also in the KJV Bible. It's smacks of a propoganda move and it is disgusting.

Now we have 30, count them 30, Republican Senators voting AGAINST keeping money away from contractors who try and keep women from pursuing justice in the cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment. I speak as someone who has a sister and a mother, as a Christian man and devout believer when I say that these so called "men" are nothing but Pharisees and have no business representing the people of their states. One senator from Alabama called Senator Franken's ammendment a "political attack on Haliburton." It's very hard for me to maintain a civil tone in this as their vote angers me to the point of rage. I have a suggestion for anyone running against these men. Run an ad, doesn't have to be a long one, where it says the following: Senator (insert name here) voted against protecting women from rape. Is this someone you want representing you?

I admit that I'm a Christian and that we might not always agree with one another. Infact we might have some knock down, drag out arguments about the issues; but I love my country and I hate seeing where it's going. I grew up Republican and I no longer recognize the party that used to talk about rugged individualism and personal accountability. All I hear now is "greed is good and rely on no one but yourself". It's crazy and I don't see it ending any time soon.

I no longer ascribe to any party because no singular party represents the things I believe in. I voted for President Obama, and while I might not always agree or like what he's doing you will never hear me attack him. It is my hope that we can come together and denounce the crazyness I mentioned earlier in this entry and that, no matter your religious beliefs or lack there-of, we can talk to one another and be kind to one another. After all wouldn't the state of affairs in the country be so much better if we all follwed what Jesus said was the second most important commandment? "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Current Mood: angry

For Anyone Interested
Jonathan Coulton, with Paul and Storm will be playing at the Ark in Ann Arbor on October the 8th at 8pm. I'd like to get a group of friends together to go, so if there's interest please discuss.

Current Mood: artistic

On Health Care
No one should die because they cannot afford healthcare. No one should go broke because they get sick, and no one should be tied to a job because of pre-existing condition. If you agree, please post this to your journal.

(Taken from a meme on Facebook, by way of

markbernstein and

maiac)

The Passing of Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy
Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy had died at the age of 77. This was not totally unexpected as he had been making arrangements to have a successor appointed or elected to his Sentate seat, and in that the Kennedy family was keeping his condition, and just how bad it apparently was, very close to their chest.

Ted Kennedy was definitly a polarizing man. He was unashamedly a liberal lion but he was also a well respected member of the Senate by both conservative and liberal members. He could be eloquent, bombastic and partisan but he was willing to work with people to get things done that needed to be done.

He was a man that tragedy and controversy seemed to follow yet he still moved forward. Two brothers assassinated, a brother lost to war, and so many other things that would have crushed other people yet he still moved forward. The controversies are all well known and it would untoward to make any comment about them now but we all know about them. He continued moving forward despite the questions and the rumors, and there's something to be respected there. Becayse of all this he learned the lesson of compassion and when those he knew suffered loss he was often the first to call to offer his condolences.

I was watching the Democratic Convention the night that Ted gave his speach for then candidate Obama. It was powerful and empassioned and it was reminiscient of the kind of speach that President Kennedy gave. He seemed to be genuinely happy to pass the torch on to the succeeding generations, almost like he was preparing for his death even then.

I didn't always agree with Ted's political beliefs, and still don't on a number of issues; but I always respected the man and after listening to those who knew him I think that respect is well deserved.

Rest in peace Senator Kennedy and God bless and comfort your family.

That's all for now

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Mental Health.....
This is going to be a difficult one for me to write.

I am one of the mentally ill. It has only dawned on me recently just how bad I can get with the level of panic attacks and anxiety attacks I have, and I have them often. I used to be able to just gloss over admitting anything by saying it just a chemical imbalance but I can't do that anymore.

While I do, in fact, have a chemical imbalance I have no idea just what kind of imbalance it is. I'm prone to depression, anger (though that can come too close to rage for my comfort), panic and anxiety attacks. All that combined with the physical problems I have make it difficult at times. It's probably much worse than I let on, even to myself.

Next Friday I start going for counseling at a place called The Guidence Center. Since I can't afford health care and I don't have Medicaid this is my option and it's the one that my SSI lawyers want me to take.

It's not going to be easy and I don't think I'll ever be able to work like I want to, and believe me I HATE not being able to work, but I hope that it will help me not freak out or shake so much.

We'll have to wait and see I suppose.

That's all for now

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Current Mood: depressed

Maybe They Don't Come Home

The words that title this entry were spoken yesterday morning on Fox & Friends by Dick Morris in refrence to the two female reporters being returned to the United States with the help of former President Bill Clinton. The original entry about this is at my diary at the Daily Kos. I'm posting a revised entry here in the intrest of letting more people know what's going on and in the hopes that people will write Fox News and demand that Dick Morris no longer be used as a commentator. I had avoided talking about this yesterday, prior to my original diary entry because I didn't have the words. Obviously I found them and it is my hope that my outrage was conveyed in a civil manner. Here then is the remainder of what I wrote.

In the intrest of providing "context" here's the video.

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908050009

"Maybe they don't come home. Maybe they go to North Korea and face the consequences."

Those are your words Dick, not mine. You said them about two women who very likely kidnapped by a foreign government because they were investigating human trafficking between North Korea and China. More importantly you said it about two women who have families and loved ones with no response from the hosts of that flotsam that calls itself a news program.

You said it in total disrespect to the many people who have gone to North Korea and never came home. How many service men and women went to Korea during the war out of service to their country and never came home? How many women have been kidnapped from other countries and sold into sexual slavery by slave traders who base out of North Korea with the cooperation and blessings of the government? How may sisters, daughters and mothers have been through there Dick with no hope of ever seeing their homes and their loved ones again?

Of course you're not the only person making these comments Dick, you're just the only one who used the words "Maybe they don't come home." If it was your wife, or your daughter Dick I rather doubt you'd feel that way. Of course it's someone else's mother, sisters and daughters so it's ok. You, Hannity, Beck and every person who has made comments about "rewarding bad behaviour" or some other smear attack about these girls coming home are reprehensible human beings. You make it worse by using the preface "Everyone's happy these girls are home; but.." That but qualifier is very telling.

One day people like you, Dick, are going to wake up and realize that the people have turned against you. It might be slow in coming but everyone who has a daughter who's been kidnapped while on vacation; every sister that never came home from a concert or a party or some outing, every mother that vanishes without trace and is never found will ALL reflect back on you. People like myself will make sure of it. We will remember and we will remind others of your words so callously spoken about someone else's children.

"Maybe they don't come home."

That's all for now

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

Current Mood: angry

Tax the Poor.....
Today on MSNBC Donny Deutsch said that the best way to pay for health care reform would be to put a 10% tax on "unhealthy" food. He said that this tax would be the best business solution.

Donny Deutsch is a man of wealth. That kind of tax won't affect him in the least.

The people it will affect are the poor and the middle class. Not that Donny seems to care about that in the least. He wants to force you to stop eating the things you enjoy because you're obviously too stupid to do it yourselves. He refereneced the sin tax on cigarettes, which I also disagree with by the way, since it seemingly makes people quit smoking when they raise it. Donny here's a thought, what happens when everyone stops and you're not getting that tax money? Have you even thought about that? I think not.

He was presented with a study that showed that 600,000 people living in the south side of Chicago don't have a local grocery store. They have to shop at convienence stores because that's what is there. He didn't care about that. Nope. All that mattered was his tax the poor and the middle class idea.

There are a lot of people out there who can't afford to drive ten miles to a grocery store. They have to shop with what's there and to want to tax the heck out of them is one of the meanest things I've ever heard.

Hey Donny here's a thought, just something I'd like to toss out there for you. How about you use some of that wealth and open some resteraunts and grocery stores in those neighborhoods. That would give people jobs and actually help them get some better self esteem. It would also provide them the opportunity to buy better foods, provided you priced them so that they could.

Another thought might be to do something with a hydroponic garden and help people grow their own food, which would also help them build up their self esteem. It would help them be self sufficient.

You could have said that; but nope, your idea was tax the poor.

You fail.

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Current Mood: annoyed

No More

I've had it with not being able to get the help I need and I'm tired of fighting for scraps. It's not fair and it's not right and the people who scream against things like food programs for children and Medicaid need to listen up because I'm only going to say this once.

A little over two years ago I alsmost died, three times in four days to be precise. I had gone to the emergency room after months of an illness that just wouldn't go away. I was passing out and my heart was thundering most of the time, I know I should have gone the first time passed out but I didn't, and don't, have health insurance.

Entering the hospital the doctors checked my blood and found that my hemoglobin count was 2.6; for those that don't know the average for someone my height and age is betwen 12-16. The doctors didn't know why I was even able to move, much less why I was still breathing. I spent the next four days getting seven units of blood. I also was given two endoscopies during that time, during which I'm told I stopped breathing both times. The second time I'm told it took them 40 minuts to get me breathing normally again. For the record we still don't know what caused my anemia in the first place. All in all this added up to a $20,000+ hospital bill. I hadn't been working for several years, not by choice mind you, and was denied Medicaid for reasons I still don't know.

After this I was told by the doctor I was seeing at the time (he didn't charge me to his credit. He actually acted like he cared) told me that he didn't want me working any more. The combination of asthma, anemia and a chemical imbalance I've had since birth add up to a very dangerous combination. Stress makes me violently ill and always has and I have a long history of bronchial and upper respiratory infections that sometimes have kept me sick for two weeks or more.

Now I was raised to believe that a man is supposed to work. I hated the news that my doctor gave me more than anything, but it's something I had to deal with. Because of what my doctor told me I applied for SSI and food stamps and I can tell you that anyone who says that said process is one of the most humiliating experiences you'll ever endure. Any politicians who talks trash against those programs should try applying and see how much fun it is before they open their mouths.

I've been denied SSI in the initial application and in the two appeals since. I'm going to appeal a third time, this time hopefully with a lawyer. It's ridiculous that getting help is so hard and it's ridiculous that there are idiots like Hannity and his ilk who talk against people who need help. People who abuse and game the system, and let's be honest there are people who are that dishonest, need to be punished but let's fix the bullcrap people have to go through just to get a little help.

That's all for now

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Current Mood: angry
Current Music: none at the moment

Setting the Record Straight

It's no secret that I'm a Christian. Every view that I have is filtered through that lense and I make no apologies for it. This entry is designed to take certain parties to task and set the record straight about where politicians get it wrong.
There's been much debate about things like health care, "welfare", and pretty much every issue, political and otherwise, that's come down the pike. Within this debate there are a lot of my fellow Christians who insert themselves into the discussion by adhering to one party or the other. The problem that arises with this is that no singular politcal party gets all the answers right.

One of the big issues that seems to come up is the issue of the poor and what can, and should, be done to help them. Well, if you call yourself a Christian and are against any measures to help the poor, then you're missing some crucial information. Back in ancient Israel it was a matter of law that when grain was harvested a portion had to be left for the poor. This was on top of the ten percent tithe that people were also required to give. The community was expected to take care of one another and to care for the sick, the widows and the orphans. It wasn't just something that the Temple priests taught, it wasn't just expected culturally, it was something that was required by law.

Now if a person was able bodied and just chose not to work rather than just being in hard straights, then that person wasn't helped. Hence the verse "If a man DOES not work, he should not eat." Men, i.e. husbands and fathers, were expected to take care of their families. Again this was something that the community enforced, and while there were very likely people who tried to game the system those people were ostracized. The poor recieved help but the lazy did not. (As we all know there is an important difference between the two)

As a people we have to realize that we aren't just responsible for ourselves, we are also responsible for our brothers and sisters. We have to help those who need it, while also making sure that those who try to abuse the system and are just using it to get off easy are punished for hurting the poor over all.

We also have to realize that there will always be the poor and the sick among us. Christ, Himself, said as much. There are millions of people who are sick, not through their choices, but from outside influences or by chance of birth. Those who make no differentiation between those people and those who are genuinely guilty of making nothing but bad health choices, (i.e. eating nothing but fast food and then complaining over the heart attacks they've had) are in the wrong here. We can have rugged individualism AND a sense of community. It's been done before, just look at the Bible, the ancient Isrealites seemed to pull it off.

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Banned from Argo

An Open Letter to America 2
My fellow Americans

On Monday night April 26th Bill O'Reilly crossed the line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZ8nwJCh60

At 3:15 you'll see what I'm talking about. He showed two people being murdered on national television and then went on a rant about how evil the terrorists were who murdered the man and woman in the video. He then went on to derisively state "only Army interrogation for them".

Really.

Bill, you've made the claim for years that you're a moral traditionalist. That you represent what the regular American thinks. Well this past Monday you outed yourself as a moral relativist. You don't believe in tradtional morals, you believe in morality of convience. It's ok to torture people if we think they have information, and if they don't "mistakes happen in war." The kind of morality you espouse makes justification for the torture of prisoners of war because it's more expediant to do that than it is to do things right. The kind of "morality" you endorse is hypocrisy at its worst. You claim that people on the left are all hate mongers and crazies, yet you go on to relentlessly attack anyone who dares to question you or call you the times you're wrong. You attack people all the time and then use the petulant excuse of "they started it."

Bill you're a hypocrite and a liar and worse than those you're an apologist for torture and a propogandist.

You go out of your way to try and destroy GE and conversely the NBC networks, thus costing thousands of people their jobs; but those people don't matter to you. They don't worship at the alter of Bill O'Reilly so they don't matter.

You and people like you dodge every attempt at a legitmate discussion of the torture of our prisoners in the war on terror. "It was effective" you proclaim, or "you want to prosecute someone for having a different opinion", or "do you want the terrorists to win". You don't have a counter to the point that waterboarding is torture and has been since the Spanish Inquisition, nor can you counter the point that we've prosecuted people for the crime of waterboarding so you attack your detractors instead of actually having the conversation.

In showing the video in which two innocent people were murdered and then decrying the use of the army interrogation manual and calling for more torture ("enhanced interrogation" if you want the euphemism) you tried to commit emotional blackmail and that makes you the worst kind of propogandist. The willing one.

I call on you my fellow Americans to make it known that this kind of thing will not be tolerated. We all have freedom of speech but freedom of speech means taking accountability for when you say something outrageous. Bill O'Reilly should be held accountable for what he's said and the black hearted manipulation he attempted with his airing of such a disgusting video. Speak out and let your voice be heard.

My name is John and I am a Christian by belief and an American by birth, of Southern blood and tired of seeing what's happening to our country.

Current Mood: angry

What They Don't Understand

Lately Republican pundits and talking heads have been trying to frame the debate about torture by couching it in terms that are meant to manipulate people. They've used terminology like "tough but controversial decisions" or the classic "enhanced interrogation". People like Bill O'Reilly have gone so far as to say "mistakes happen in war, and just last night he had a guest on that said torture techniques had to stay on the table "for people we knew had the information we wanted."

Bill, himself, has been a long time apologist for the torture of the prisoners of war that we have. He's repeatedly decried any attempt to get to the truth about the matter as being an attempt to "embarass America". Despite the fact that we got more good intel by using the techniques specified in the Army Interrogation Manual, he believes that the ends justify the means.

Also just last night he threatened President Obama should he try to prosecute those people who broke the law in regards to torturing the "detainees". His exact words escape me at the moment but I believe that it intimated that the Presidents term in office would be a disaster should he go through with any prosecutions. Now O'Reilly's nothing more than a bully. He'll use the "do what I say, OR ELSE" tactic that every other bully tries, and I hope he fails at this.

Anyway the fundamental problem with the punditry and other torture apologists is that they frame their argument in the context of the torture being successful in garnering the right intel. Since others have been too timid to say this I'll step up and say it.

Whether or not the torture was successful is absolutely irrelevant. The only question is whether or not the law was broken. If the law was broken, as I believe it was, then those responsible MUST be held accountable. No one is above the law. If they can't see that then they're just propoganda machines and should be ignored for the liars that they are.

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Martini Lounge Music

On Israel
There's been much in the news lately about Israel. Specificly about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the typical whys about the reasons they fight and hate one another. The purpose behind this particular blog is to try to explain my particular take on it.

When reading the following keep in mind that I am a Christian and my point of view is based on that and my understanding of history through that context.

To really understand the conflict at it's core you have to go back in time several thousand years, back to Isaac and Ishmael. Even back then the two sons of Abraham weren't friendly with one another, and the Bible makes it fairly clear that the aggressor was Ishmael. Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, were sent away God did promise to make Ishmael's descendents many though Ishmael's descendents would not be God's chosen people.

You also have to understand that over the course of history no group of people have been as oppressed as the Jewish people. They've been enslaved several times, genocide has been attempted against them multiple times, they've been driven from their homeland and still they remain and still they endure. This history has also taught them about how to react, and that lesson was hammered home in the years leading up to and through World War 2.

The Holocaust was one of the most evil acts in human history. Millions of Jews were butchered in the Nazi death camps and that's left an indellible impression on the Jewish people. Now when someone says that their goal is to wipe them out they take it very seriously and they react accordingly. The words "Never again" have very special meaning to the Jewish people and rightfully so.

You must also look back to May 14, 1948. This was the day that Israel became a nation again, and the very next day they were attacked by Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Over the years there have been a number of wars and conflicts involving Israel and most, if not all, have been acts of self defense on the part of Israel. Quite simplly Israel will not allow any nation or people to try and take away their right to exist and God will not allow that to happen either.

Looking at it now you have to understand that, with the exception of a six month "truce", Hamas has fired rockets into Israel every day since 2005. Repeatedly they've been warned to stop. Repeatedly they've broken any treaty and again and again Israel is pressured to give up more in the name of a peace that won't last. As it stands there is a blood hatred here. As I've shown it's thousands of years old and it's not going anywhere soon. To be sure it will be gone one day, but that's another blog.

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and amen

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Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: itunes

My dog, my friend....may he rest in peace and may I see him again on the other side
On this day, Wednesday November 19th of 2008, my family made the painful decision to put our dog, Chance, to sleep. He's been sick for a long time, we think it might be a form of cancer or other chemotherapy treatable disease. He's 13 years old and he's been my best friend since we got him.

My mom is being hit the hardest by this, at least in so far as I don't really let out my feelings save here. I'm terriblly saddened and heartbroken over this turn of events, but I have to maintain a degree of stoicism about it because someone has to be strong for the rest of the family. My dad's being hit pretty hard as well but we all agree that we'd rather do this than see him suffer.

He just doesn't have any energy anymore. He doesn't play, he's not gaining weight and he has a palpable air of sorrow in his eyes, almost as if he knows how sick he is. I hate seeing him like this and I want to scream to the heavens that it's not fair. It's not fair I have to lose my friend. It's not fair that he's sick and can't play anymore. It's not freaking fair that I had to be the one to make the initial calls about it and have that guilt on my already heavily burdened soul. It's not fair that I have to go through this in the middle of a ton of other crap that's already driving me out of my mind. It's not fair. It's just not fair but I don't see anything else that I can do and that kills me more than anything else. Beacuse I think there should be something I could do other than this; but there's not and I hate it beyond mere words can say.

I hate that I'm losing my friend. I hate even more that we can't get his ashes to bury because we don't have the money. I hate that he's sick and I hate that I can't make him well and able to jump and run and play again. We've had Chance for 13 years, as I've said before and he's had a good life and brought my family a lot of joy. Now it's his time to go and I don't want the times I've had with him to end. I want to cry, I want to scream and I want to cry out to God about the unfairness of it all. I want to but I won't, because in the end I'm at peace with the decision and I'm at peace with my friend passing.

Don't get me wrong I'm still in pain and I still hurt, but I'm at peace.

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and Amen

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Current Mood: sad

Economy
Secretary of the Treasury Paulson came out today and said the the 750 billion dollar bailout that would have bought toxic assests and let people stay in their homes isn't going to happen. Nope, instead the Fed is pushing that money into Financial institutions like banks, Fannie May, Freddie Mac and other loaning institutions. Hurray he said with dripping sarcasm.

Let me get this straight. It's more important to keep crooked loaners afloat than it is to keep people in their homes. It's more important to help the wealthy than it is to help keep factories and the blue collar jobs afloat.

Who knows what's going to happen next?

Maybe Microsoft will petition for some of that bailout money because they don't have the total monopoly that they wanted. We couldn't stand for them to go under after all. Hey maybe a company that made nine billion dollars instead of their projected ten billion will get some of that cash.

Certainly the people at the bottom of the barrel don't need it. Oh no.

Help the wealthy and nuts to the poor and middle class, about that I expected really.

Current Mood: pissed off

The Spirit of Charity and Giving

As many people know we lost Gary Gygax recently. His loss was especially hard for many of us, though we never met him, because there are a large number of us who found a place to belong. His game encouraged us to be heroes. We got to, in some small way, live out our fantasies and imagine worlds better than our own. The outcasts, the geeks, the nerds, and many of the people who society proper believes to be "weird" found that they weren't so alone in the world, that we had one another and that was ok. We formed a community and though we may disagree wildly we can always come together with the commone experience of being gamers.

Now gamers are, for a variety of reasons, a fairly generous group of people. We give gladdly because we recognize that we've been blessed and we know that reaching out to help others will make the world a better place. We know that we need to do this, not just because it's the right thing to do, but also because if we ever want the world to be what we see in our mind's eye then we need to work to get there. For us it's a matter of recognizing that people who have it worse than us who need help, and having been in the position where we didn't get help, we feel it a matter of course that we're going to help others.

I mention these things because this past Gen Con there was a charity auction held in honor of Gary Gygax's memory. The money was to be donated to Mr. Gygax's favorite charity The Christian Children's Fund. When said charity discovered that the donation money was, in part, connected to the sale of D&D they flattly refused the money. The auction found another sponsor in Fisher House so things sort of worked out for the best, but that's not the point.

The point is that Mr. Gygax was, himself, a Christian. He'd supported the charity for years and not a little of that money very likely came from D&D or other fantasy gaming products he was behind. I find it rather troubling that a charity that's always emphasized the vital need for money to help starving children refused money because they believed it to be somehow tainted by the heathen gamers.

Ladies and gentlemen I am a Christian myself. I've never made a secret of this and I'll talk about it openly and honestly given a chance. Speaking as a Christian I don't understand where this charity is coming from. We wanted to help and we were refused because we ran into the old stereotype of D&D is satanic. That hurts.

Now I'm not going to wish bad things upon the Christian Children's Fund but I would encourage people to write them and calmly explain how they feel about their refusal of funds. Don't curse them out, don't scream and yell; act like the better person. Show them you understand the spirit of giving and charity and be mature in your dealings. They very likely won't listen, people who hold a stereotype that closely rarely do, but we need to be the bigger people in all this. If for no other reason than to show everyone else that they're wrong about us.

That's all for now

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and amen

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Current Mood: aggravated

An Open Letter to the America People
Stop.

Please just stop.

You know who you are so there's no need for denial.

Stop the U.S.A. chants, they use those at pro-wrestling matches so it's rather disengenuous to use it at political rallies. It's become a meaningless cliche and just needs to stop,

Stop talking about Palin is so great. All she is, is an attack dog, and that means she's utterly unfit for any office. I don't doubt her intelligence but I do doubt her sincerity and I have no respect for her general attitude of mudslinging. All she has is the same speach she's given since the Republican convention.

Stop giving McCain a pass on his own broken promises and his sharp turn away from the man he was in 2000 when he ran for President. He denounced the tactics people like Karl Rove used against him in that election and condemned the kind of dirty politics that cost him the Presidency in 2000. Now, however, he's thoroughly embraced those ugly tactics, all in the name of winning at any cost. So much for honor.

Stop listening to slimebags like Dick Morris. He's a strategist, that's it. He's the kind of person who believes you have to be willing to do anything to get elected, not unlike Rove really. People like Rove and Morris lack the courage to actually run for office themselves. That's why they can attack other people, in fact it's the only reason they can do so. They have to build up themselves by destroying others.

Please just stop. There's only so much more our country can take.

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and amen

End of line

Current Mood: annoyed

An Open Letter to the RNC

To whom it may concern,

My name is John, and I'm 35 years old. I've been a registered Republican since the day I could start voting and I'm speaking out to you as a concerned citizen of these United States.

I am sorely disappointed with the direction that the GOP has taken with this Presidential election. The McCain campaign has run one of the nastiest and sleaziest campaigns that I've ever seen. The constant attacks of character, especially after McCain himself said that Obama was a good man, are unconscienable. They've lied about their own health care plan and have never addressed the fact that their plan would tax health care benefits as income. Replacing those lost benefits with a credit that goes right back to the insurance companies is no benefit and it certainly won't help people who have pre-existing conditions and are unable to buy health insurance anyway.

I don't think I really need to bring up the subtle attempts at the application of terror that you've been using but I will none the less. People do not need to be afraid of an Obama Presidency, McCain himself said that very thing. Yet you surround him with people like Ann Coulter who tend to use words like terrorist, and put emphasis on Obama's middle name. Let's not kid ourselves shall we? We both know what's going on with that and it's disgraceful.

Now we have the accuations that your opponents are attacking "Joe the plumber". There are a couple problems with this line of attack on your part. The first is that McCain brought Joe into the debate. The second is that Joe himself held a press conferance outside his home where he chose to express his thoughts, such as being totally against Soical Security. Now that is his right as an American, however you don't get to complain when it comes out that the person YOU dragged into this election debate turns out to not actually be a liscensed plumber. You also don't get to complain when it comes out that said non-plumber turns out to owe $1000+ in back taxes. How is this the fault of the other side when YOU and YOUR candidate are the ones who brought him up in the first place?

More troubling still are the recent rumblings of the old accusations of American citizens , particularly those on the left, as being "Anti-American". I was deeply offended to see a congresswoman on Hardball say to the world that she wanted the media to do an indepth expose on anyone in congress who's views are "Anti-American." One of McCain's own advocates, also on MSNBC, implied that only those people who voted for McCain were "Real Virginians". It is patently offensive for you to say that because someone may not agree with the party line that they're somehow not really patriotic Americans like you. Remember "Patriotism is the last resort of the scoundrel".

Which brings me to the recent accusation by Rush Limbaugh that the only reason Gen. Colin Powell was endorsing Barak Obama was race. I'd ask that you come out and condem this line of attack but I'd be wasting my breath. Is it really that unrealistic that Gen. Powell thought through this decision carefully and methodically before coming to the conclusion he did? Of course from what I've seen so far I think your answer would be yes.

In conclusion let me say that after this election I will be registering as an indedpendant. I will vote my conscience and only my conscience.

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, "I'm not leaving the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me/"

John

Current Mood: annoyed

On the Application of Terror
Terrorist.

That word carries with it a tremendous amount of power. It means something very, very specific and it implies the threat of violence. The problem is that one doesn't need to be a terrorist to use terror, and terror can be more than implicit physcial violence.

I bring this up because people need to know the Truth and the Truth is something that matters to me.

In recent months many of you have seen the Republican party all but outright say that the Democratic nominee is a terrorist. They certainly imply it through the continued question of one Bill Ayers. It doesn't matter that the question has been repeated answered, they keep asking it to plant the seed of terror in your minds. They attempt to feed this line of thought through putting emphasis on Obama's middle name. Again trying to link him to terrorism through implication.

As I write this I just saw on Hardball with Chris Matthews that a certain congress woman of the Republican party want the press to invesitgate every liberal in the Congress and Senate to see if they're "Anti-American".

That attitude, to me, is what's really scary.

It implies that one isn't an American if they don't fall into line with the Republican party. I don't fall into line with the RNC on their ideas, nor do I fall in line with everything the DNC says.

I am a Christian American citizen and I fear not. I will not be bludgeoned with the application of terror and I encourage you all to lift up your voices and tell people like O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, or anyone, regardless of what their politics are, that we will NOT go into that darkness.

Rember what was said in V for Vendetta.

People shouldn't be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of it's people.

That's all for now.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, may He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and amen

End of line

Current Mood: angry

Subliminal Racism
Racism is an insidious and evil thing. Sometimes it's overt and obvious; and in those cases it's easily combated. However someitmes it's not that simple. Sometimes it's so subtle that it borders on the subliminal and it's use is still just as evil as it is when you're overt about it.

I bring this up because there are several conservative pundits who are using extremely subtle racism to get their point across. Some of these people are G. Gordon Liddy, Ann Coulter, and another radio show host who's name escapes me at the moment. They're trying to somehow imply certain things about Barak Obama by the sole virtue of his name and that's not right.

G. Gordon Liddy has accused Barak Obama of not even being a citizen of the United States, claiming that there's no birth certificate when there is.

Ann Coulter, and a few others are using Barak's middle name against him by putting very subtle emphasis on it. They do this because they know that the name Hussein has a very clear association with people. It brings up a very clear image and their hope is that people will be afraid and not vote for him. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't using fear to control people the very definiftion of, oh I don't know, terrorism?

One has to wonder if they would have gone this route had they gotten their wish and had a ticket that was more to their liking. All of these people openly stated that they wouldn't accept or support a McCain ticket. Yet here they are stumping for him. They imply that the Democratic nominee is a friend of terrorists knowing how people will react to that.

I hope that people will wise up and do their own investigating. Personally I don't care if you vote for him or not. Just don't vote against Obama because you're afraid of him, because if you do then terrorism has won. Just something to consider.

May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, may He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and amen.

End of line.

Current Mood: thoughtful

On Sarah Palin

I've been paying attention to the Presidential race for a while now and I've come to some conclusions that I thought I'd share with you all.

The first among these is that Sarah Palin was chosen, not for her record as a Govenor, but for purely political purposes. There were other female Govenors that had far more experience and were more widely known and respected that McCain could have chosen. Instead he chose someone who very few outside of Alaska had even heard of. Now it is his right as the nominee to pick whoever he wants, to an extent, as his VP, but my understanding is that Joe Lieberman was his first choice. It's also my understanding that the people running his campaign convinced him to choose someone else that was more in line with the Republican base and who wouldn't cause a riot at the Republican convention. In response to this he chose a woman who he had only talked to once on the phone and had only met with personally for fifteen minutes.

Sarah Palin simplly wasn't prepared for the level of srutiny that was headed her way and it's interesting that the McCain campaign has gone out of their way to shield her in a way that would never be tolerated if she was a male VP candidate. Now it is very true that there are those in the bloggosphere and the tabloid rags who were totally out of line in regards to her family, we can all agree on that one. However to equate any questioning of her record or her qualifications to be President as an attack is just insipid pandering.

The recent interviews with Katie Couric have shown that Palin is totally out of her depth in regards to a national election. It's important to remember that Palin comes from Alaska here. Alaska is one of the largest states in the Union we're told, and this is true if one is talking about land mass. In terms of population it's one of the smallest. Their total population is half that of some major cities and, like it or not, that means that she's much more used to small town politics and that just doesn't work on a national level.

It's important for me that you understand that I don't think that Palin is a stupid person. She definitely does have charisma and moxy in spades, not unlike Joe Biden in that regard. What she doesn't have, however, is any national experience. Her answers in recent interviews have been rambling responses that don't really adress the question that she's been asked and no matter how much experience you have you can't do that any more. There are too many means by which the people can call you on it.

Let me ask this one question in closing. Would we demand from any male candidate that their opponent not be condescending in a debate, or not use sarcasm? Shouldn't she be treated like she's one of the big players since she seems to want to play the game at the biggest levels?

Current Mood: accomplished

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