Welcome to my blog. You never really know what to expect to find here. Some days, I might think I'm funny. Other days, I'm a little more serious. Sometimes, I'm just sharing a friend with you. Stick around and see what comes up next.
Don't be fooled by Mitt Romney's "innocent" looks. There's some "fight" in that man, especially over his investments. During the Florida debates when Newt Gingrich tried to raise doubts about investments by Mitt Romney, as shared on CNN.com, the ex-governor gave Gingrich a verbal spanking in front of millions—and Gingrich took it. File:Mitt Romney 2007 profile portrait.jpg Photo credit: Steve Jurvetson
During the video, the look in Romney's eyes is unmistakable. He was offended and unwilling to take any more of Gingrich's mud-slinging. The tone in his voice demonstrated he wasn't giving memorized lines provided by a speech-writer. He spoke from his gut, and—by golly—the audience liked it. It was a joy to watch someone neuter the Newt in front of so many.
Accentuating Gingrich's faults, as demonstrated in the South Carolina debates when Newt Gingrich exposed himself as a candidate above questioning, is easy. He seems to believe himself above questions which journalists and Americans want to ask. What Mitt Romney did, though, was even better. He showed himself as willing to face off with a little man who believes himself better than the same questions every other candidate has ever endured. Mitt Romney showed the nation he's willing to fight back.
COMMENTARY | To my better Christian friends, what would you think of living in a world filled with others threatening your life for standing by your beliefs? Do you feel those people who would do so should be proud of behaving so evilly? I'd guess not. Would you defend yourself or any other believer thusly attacked? Of course you would.
That's why I'm proud to say Jessica Ahlquist is a friend of mine. In a recent report on TheBlaze.com, she and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have filed a complaint* against a florist for refusing to deliver flowers sent to her by one of her fans. In their defense, they claimed to need police protection for delivering flowers. That police protection wouldn't be from the actions of Ahlquist but from the religious extremists who threaten her, as revealed on the blog for...Go here for the rest.
(*The original version says "lawsuit," which is inaccurate.)
COMMENTARY | Since the discovery of progenitor cells, aka stem cells in 1978, scientists the world over have been abuzz over the possibility to treat a wide range of diseases and medical conditions. The promise of treating not only genetic diseases, but hopefully one day, the restoration of missing limbs and damaged organs is one step closer to reality.
South Korean government officials have approved the sale of a new stem cell drug named “Cartistem,” which re-grows cartilage in the knee for patients with degenerative arthritis and is injected during surgery. Oh, the joys and wonders of science. This certainly comes as good news for anyone who has ever lived with osteoarthitis – a debilitatingly painful joint disease.
Thus far, investors have committed a total of approximately 23.7 million dollars into the project and the possibilities of return for investors far out-weigh any risks. With an estimated 21 million people living with osteoarthritis in the US alone, the market certainly exists and is hopeful for any scientific advances which show promise.
South Korea's Medipost – along with other drug manufacturers - is hoping for a worldwide license to market the new drug, meanwhile, clinical trials have been ongoing in the US for the past year. Americans are expected to be able to access Cartistem by 2015.
Many of the religious and/or ethical concerns over the use of human stem cells have been addressed. With the discovery of pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells are no longer necessary to develop any of the 220 different tissue types in the human body. Pluripotent stem cells are those which have been taken from an adult human's own body and treated in such a way as to make them embronic-like in their flexibility.
But even with these latest developments in mind, there still remains a debate over the ethics of the possibility of human cloning. But so far, scientists and researchers are not so much looking to clone entire humans, but rather, individual organs and body parts. For the patient waiting for a heart transplant, to simply have a copy made of their own could make all the difference.
After shooting down the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have created more jobs and lessened our dependence upon OPEC for our oil, Obama's first re-election campaign ad brags about the effectiveness of his energy policies. *Author scratches head.*
Yeah. That piece made me do a double-take too.
I especially loved how he bragged on – wait for it – Solyndra! For those who don't pay much attention, they're a solar energy development firm in Arizona whom after having received millions in guaranteed loans from the Obama Administration conveniently went into bankruptcy.
You'd think a re-election campaign ad would perhaps, oh I don't know, talk about something he might have done right? But no, not this president. And to think, I was beginning to like President Obama. Then he rubs it in our faces just how big of suckers we all are.
Maybe his next ad will celebrate how big of a success he was at getting Guantanamo closed or how pleasant Joe Biden is. We Americans are certainly gullible to play along.
COMMENTARY | With today's resignation of Rick Perry, America breathed a collective sigh of relief that there's now not a Republican's chance at an orgy of the man becoming the next Republican nominee for the office of the presidency. Anyone who would pander so hard for the Christian vote that he would stoop to the level of doing his “Strong” ad on YouTube must seriously be in love with the idea of power.
He just about had a chance for the nomination too, until that ad came out. In a nutshell, he told America he'd inflict his personal religious beliefs on everyone else, whether we wanted to be a Christian or not. It's not that Rick Perry (or anyone) doesn't have a right to believe as he sees fit. It's that he wasn't “Strong” for what he said. He was wrong for what he said. And his poll numbers showed it from then on out.
When he decried “gays serving openly in the military,” he was disrespecting men and women who were serving at the time he said it. He was telling some of the very people who were currently fighting overseas he had no use for them.
When he accused Obama of “waging a war on religion,” he simply wasn't acknowledging the truth of the matter, in that there isn't one. All Obama's done to be accused of “waging a war on religion,” is to recognize that Christianity isn't the only religion in America. (Heck, some of us practice no religion) What Perry was really whining about was that his team wasn't so all-powerful anymore.
When Rick Perry said he “wasn't ashamed to admit he was a Christian,” millions of minds in America thought “How brave to admit he's a Christian in America.” Try that in Saudi Arabia. Now, that would've shown some balls.
When Rick Perry did his “Strong” ad on YouTube, he actually managed to get more “dislikes” (747,612 as of this blog posting) than Rebecca Black's “Friday.” He set a record for disapproval on YouTube. History will show that his message in that particular ad was the down-turning point for his campaign. I'm just glad we got to see what sort of a bigoted turd he was before he got the job. Now, on to destroying his endorsement, Newt Gingrich.
COMMENTARY | According to The Washington Post's Mention Machine, the media has only mentioned the name Ron Paul 2,821 times - but as of January 17, 2012 - his name has been invoked 266,874 times in general. Still, the headline reads as if it's Mitt Romney's big week. Right. Obviously, Romney may be the media darling, but it's Ron Paul who's the people's candidate-of-choice among the Republicans.
Anybody else also notice it was Ron Paul who received Senator Tom Davis' endorsement? In a powerfully-worded statement on SenatorTomDavis.com, he states "I'm endorsing Ron Paul because enough is enough. Despite this wave of unprecedented government spending, our unemployment rate has remained above 8 percent for the last 34 months and 146.4 million Americans - one out of every two people in this country - are now classified as poor or low-income."
Before he chose to endorse the Texas Congressman, the Senator's endorsement was "vital." Now, conveniently, it's not all that important. Is there anything the Libertarian candidate can win which doesn't immediately get downgraded to unimportant? Has there been a debate, poll or survey where Ron Paul has done well, but another candidate's horn gets tooted? No, not one. Why?
My guess is it's not a conspiracy, in any way. A "conspiracy" would imply some sort of secret plan to engage in criminal behavior. And all of this is not the criminal behavior - the criminal behavior is reserved for after a candidate wins the office. No, this is no criminal conspiracy.
From what I've surmised, the media - every website, newspaper, radio and television station in America - is no longer in the news business. They're now strictly advertising - all advertising, all the time. And while Ron Paul is popular among the voters of the U.S. because he has honesty, consistency and more than one good idea, other candidates simply bought their favor. Mitt "Waffles" Romney is in the pocket of every media outlet he can be. Nothing personal. It's just business.
It's understandable. Every business on Earth must pay their employees, bills and also earn a profit. So, saying and doing what a sponsor says is their job, like it or not. But, has Romney spent enough to guarantee he'll out-shine a candidate who makes all other politicians look bad in comparison? Or, will Ron Paul offering a good plan trump the power of the almighty dollar?
