Right Wing Lunatic

Holy Christ, if this story doesn't tear at your heart, you're going straight to hell. This little girls actions can only be described as heroic. I've noticed a lot lately that the word "Hero" has been thrown around a lot lately and it's starting to make people forget the reason why it is a significant word. Professional athletes, Protesters, Hollywood Celebrities, even Politicians have been called "hero" at some point in history. I think it's time we tone it back a bit and leave that word for people who truly deserve it.

Heroes don't do things for glory. They don't do them for gain. They even don't do it for themselves. They do the things they do because they know in their heart it would be wrong to allow another human being to suffer or die while they had the ability and fortitude to prevent it. Firemen, Police Officers, Bomb Squad Techs, even passionate Teachers and normal everyday people are often heroes.

My nephew (technically second cousin, but I call him my nephew) is currently a Fire Cadet. He's 18 and in the training program as we speak. Good God, 18??? I'm getting old. But that's another story. He has his head screwed on straight and I am quite proud of him. I even let him know the mountain of pussy he's going to get because EVERY woman I know digs a fireman. It's the "knight in shining armor" thing that gets them every time. Now, once he's through with the program, it will be his job to be a hero. He will have to run into burning buildings, help peel people out of mangled car accidents and, probably, deliver a baby or two in his lifetime. It takes a certain person to be able to see death and destruction day in and day out and continue to do it as a career.

Everyday people can be heroes as well. Personally, I've pulled children out of mangled cars that have been in accidents and flipped over several times. I have performed CPR on an elderly gentleman who later died (he had heart trouble, I got word from the paramedics that my CPR was what allowed him to live for that much longer).

What have I gotten from these events in my life? I have nightmares from time to time about the little girl I pulled from the flipped over car. I didn't think that flashbacks were real. I thought they were made up Hollywood shit. I've had them, and they are real. But despite it all, I know in my heart, that if someone needs help, I'm always going to be the first one heading towards that person.

So when you tell me that Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, or George Clooney are heroes, I'll show you my cousin, who went into the police academy to make his kids' lives better. I'll show you my second cousin, who's going to be a fireman. I'll show you my friend who helped me with the CPR. Then I'll ask you, what makes your hero a hero?

As a side note, that day my friend and I did CPR on the gentleman in the Target jewelry section, I introduced him to my wifes friend. My wife and her friend were working in Target at the time while going to college. My friend and I were covered in blood because the gentleman smacked his head on the jewelry case on his way down when he collapsed. My friend and my wifes friend are now happily married with a baby daughter.


Travis

Let me ask you something. When you go to a concert, any concert, whether it be Garth Brooks, Metallica, or Jay-Z, you pay typically big money to see these artists perform. Concert tickets can go for hundreds of dollars each for seasoned artists especially. So when Barbara Streisand does a concert, I would expect her to, you know, sing. I don't care about the political views of my favorite artists. I go to a concert to see them perform, not to hear them shove their views down my throat while I spend a couple hundred bucks per ticket.

Her last "Farewell Tour" wasn't. So she's tricked people into thinking that this new tour will be her final one. As expected, ticket prices skyrocketed. Personally, I'd be very upset if I went to her previous tour thinking that it was the final one and have her do another one. The previous tour ticket prices were outrageous. This tour is no different.

Unfortunately, her behavior at this particular concert doesn't seem to be too far off of what's going on in Hollywood these days. Just because a person is a good actor/singer/director, doesn't mean that they are all of a sudden experts in politics and "saving the world". So when I see George Clooney, Sean Penn, Barbara Streisand, hell, even Bruce Willis, spew their opinions on world matters, I cringe a bit. Typically, they will go out on any show or do any interview and spit out how George Bush is the Devil/Hitler/Child Molester all in one. What I DON'T see them doing is offering up ideas. If you don't agree with the way I run things, feel free to criticize. However, you lose credibility when you don't offer an idea on how to run things differently while still achieving the same goals. For example, everyone seems to hate the idea of the PATRIOT act. Mainly for the new powers that members of the FBI get and admittedly not using strictly for terrorism cases. Fine. If you have a better idea on how to rid the world of terrorism and those who would gladly slice your head off or slam a tanker truck into a building, or cut the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge, then please, by all means, speak up. Tell me your wonderful ideas. Don't give me the "let's get to the root of the problem by offering jobs and education crap" That's to prevent future jihadists. I'm talking about the ones who are actively planning events to kill innocent men, women and children now.

So Barbara, we don't need your political enlightenment. We can think for ourselves and form our own opinions. That's what America is all about. Remember Barbara, just because you're able to reach millions of people, doesn't mean you know jack shit and have the right to tell us how to think. So stand up there, sing, and entertain people that paid upwards of $750 per ticket to see you. You have the right to say what you want, but you don't have the right to an audience.

I run a right slanted political blog. My opinions are just that, opinions. There's plenty of people who hate every word I say and would disagree with my beliefs. But that's why we live in the greatest country in the world. We have the freedom to say "I don't agree".

Travis

There's very few politicians that I truly hate. Dianne Feinstein is one of them. She is almost
the exact opposite of the majority of my beliefs. For example, I'm a law abiding citizen who owns a Colt AR-15 rifle. This is a serious weapon. I have several 30 round clips for it and it cost me almost $900. Now, I'm not going to debate with some idiot on why I "need" a weapon like this. It has nothing to do with "need". The Constitution says I have the right to bear arms, and I exercise that right. You may not exercise that right, but don't infringe on my rights. Dianne Feinstein pushed for the Assault Weapons Ban in 1993 and was successful in having it passed as federal law. Apparantly, she didn't read the part in the Constitution that says "Shall not be infringed". According to her own website, there's conflicting data on wether or not this ban actually helped prevent crime. This was the entire reason that she and other Democrats said the ban was for. Now, if that is the case, and the ban shows conflicting data on if it did or did not reduce crime, why is she trying to push for this law to be reinstated? Well, according to another part of her website, crimes involving assault weapons went down during this time. The problem is, is that she's misleading the public with the data.

The only thing this ban did was raise the price of existing weapons and accessories for those weapons. I could have easily gotten this weapon, brand new, for less then $700. However, brand new, it would have run me almost $1,200. Well, thanks Dianne. Your idiocy cost me about $500. And you aren't even my representative.

When you ban certain types of weapons, the immediately become more expensive. For example, during the 1920's and 30's when Prohibition was in place, a shot of whiskey shot up in price significantly. Well if the price of a weapon goes from $700 to $1,200 in my case, do you honestly think that a criminal is going to spend the extra money to get the same weapon?? Do you think that the guy who is going to rob someone or kill someone would spend extra money on a more rare weapon to do it crime? No, of course not, he's going to grab a simple hand gun that allows him to get his job done and be done with it.

The other reason I truly hate this woman, she purports to be tough on crime. Well what politician isn't. :) When she was mayor of San Francisco in the mid 1980's , Richards "The Night Stalker" Ramirez was going around throughout California killing random people. Well during the investigation, Dianne decided it was a good idea to tell the public details about the crimes that only investigators knew. For example, what kind of shoes Richard was wearing. Well, just like any criminal, the minute he found out about this, he admittedly dumped everything he was wearing and his shoes over the Golden Gate bridge. The items were never found. Because of this, Dianne may very well have prevented Richard from getting caught earlier, thus saving innocent lives. Then from time to time, she has the nerve to critisize investigators on other cases throughout the years. Personally, I'd raise hell itself if I found out she did that and the person investigators were trying to find ended up hurting or killing one of my loved ones. Remember Dianne, it is better to be quiet and have people think you're a fool, then to open your mouth and confirm it.

Travis

I have always had a hunch that Saddam either moved weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) or destroyed them before we got there. There's evidence that the weapons were moved. Here, Here, and Here. What bothers me is that these allegations seem to have been swept under the carpet. If it can be proved that Saddam had WMDs, it would be a major coup for the Bush administration and the Republican party at large. Besides WMDs, it's not like Saddam; gassed his own people, supported and financed terrorism, plotted terrorist attacks against American targets, or fired upon our fighter jets enforcing the UN's no fly zone that was agreed upon after the first Gulf War, or even had Bill Clinton saying he was a threat.

What I think might happen is that over the next few months up to two years, if President Bush can prove, without a doubt, that Saddam had WMDs, it would be over for the Democratic party. There would be no way that they could backtrack with all the statements that they've made over the past few years about how we're invading a country that didn't do anything wrong, or how they weren't a threat.

While I don't agree with everything that President Bush says or does, I must say that it's extremely refreshing to see a politician say "that's enough" and actually carry through with a promise to actually do something about an ongoing problem. I believe that if we truly want to find WMDs we need to send in CIA ops to each of these countries and find out what happened. I find it VERY difficult to believe that just about every intelligence agency, including foreign ones, were all completely wrong. If you want to know the truth, offer to take the death penalty off the table for Saddam. Let him know that if he's found guilty of the crimes he's accused of and sentenced to death, we'll turn him loose on the very people he brutalized for all those years. It's a very scary thing to be lynch mobbed to death. It's a long, slow, painful way to die. Saddam has said in the past that he would rather be in custody of Americans then his own people. If you offer that, I think he can be pursuaded to tell the truth on what happened to the weapons.

Travis

Well it looks like my earlier assessment of Represenative Foley might have come across too harshly. I'm the first one to admit when I am wrong, as does appear the case here. Granted I didn't come out and say it, but I thought that the page involved was 16 years old at the time of the instant messages, which made me think that Foley was a pedophile. Turns out, the page was 18 years old.

Now many of you might think; what do 2 years really mean? It means everything. It means the difference between two consenting adults having a conversation and a crime being commited. Now, the conversation was inappropriate and it did warrant Foley's resignation, but if the page was 18 at the time of the instant messages, there's nothing else to be said about the matter. Regardless of if the man is gay, which I could care less about, it all boils down to an inappropriate conversation that cost a man his job.

Call me an asshole, but I have got to applaud the Iranian's for this. Iran has opened up their nuclear plants up to tourists. They know that neither us, or the Israelis will bomb the plant if there are known to be civillians there. However, it does raise the question; Why do they open up the plants for tourists, but not to inspectors. Especially if the plant is for "peaceful purposes"? I would imagine that if we had a nuclear power plant and say, the Canadians were worried about it and wanted to take a look, we wouldn't have a problem. It's a simple mechanism. If you want us to look like idiots, and what Iranian cleric wouldn't, why don't you open up your facilities to UN inspectors and show that there truly isn't anything there?

Something like that would have been a major coup for the Iranians. They could have opened up their facilities and said "See! The Americans can't find WMD's in Iraq, and they can't find a military nuclear program in Iran. They are all idiots." This would have given them a lot of leeway on the international stage. Instead, they turned them away, taking away any credibility that they might have. It makes China and Russia have to squirm a little more to keep the Iranian government off of the UN Security Councils radar. Sometimes you have to wonder if people in power actually start to believe their own bullshit and think that they are invincible.

Time is running out for Iran. The Israelis have already said they would go it alone if need be to stop Iran's nuclear program. They already have set precident with Osirak. Iran has ties to terrorist organizations. There have been dead Iranian soldiers found during the latest Hezbollah/Israeli war. There is much to be worried about when it comes to Iran and nuclear capabilities. Iran has had multiple chances to avoid conflict and is painting itself into a corner that even its most fierce allies won't be able to help them out of.

Travis

I'm going to go a little off topic here for a minute, I just need to vent. What the hell is wrong with some of the laziest motherfucking people I've come across lately? Without really giving away much about myself personally, I'm an Network Administrator for a company. What that means is that I am responsible for the computers and servers within my company. When I found that a library's ip address was ping scanning me, I did a nice courtesy call to the library's Network Administrator and let them know that someone was coming into their system and doing a ping scan. That in of itself isn't truly hacking, but it can be the start of hacking if used improperly.

What do I get for my courtesy? "There's nothing I can do to help you". The absolute first words out of this guys mouth. Now he claims that the library doesn't keep log files on their servers because of privacy concerns. Fair enough. But I offered to give him time/date/ip address of the incident to help him find people who are screwing around doing things on his network. He fell silent. He told me he didn't have the money in the budget to do anything. I told him that he could ban my ip address so that anyone coming into the library, would automatically be denied at their server instead of mine. His response was "Well then I would have to ban ip addresses all over the place" Well no shit. If you have multiple routers, you will have to ban my ip address in all of those places.

It just bothers me that the lack of help that I got from this guy and I got the feeling that he was in over his head when it came down to my suggestions on how to remedy this problem. No problem, I've been known to not know about certain things from time to time. Being in IT, you're always learning new things. There's always something you don't know. But the difference between a good IT guy and a crappy one isn't so much as what you know, it's what you do when you don't know and having the pride in craftsmanship to do something about it when a problem arises and not just a simple "I can't help you". My grandfather would never just throw up his arms and say "I can't do it". He'd find out a way to get whatever needed to be done, done. And I'm the same way.

Travis

Why is it every time I see a politician in trouble when it comes to scandals, they seem to be the ones who are on ironic commitees that are trying to rid the world of the evils that they are themselves are into?

Example, I love porn. There, I said it. I love LOTS of porn. I like women. ADULT women. I'm not into boys, men, little girls, goats, cats, or anything other then adult women. I don't mind being hooked up to a lie detector and asked my sexual preferences. My wife is a wonderful lover. We've been together for almost 10 years now. Good God I'm getting old. :) But that's another story. Why is it that politicians feel that they can't come out and say "I like beautiful women with a great little ass". They always seem to be saying some bullshit line like "I love my wife and I'll get through " Especially when you know that once he gets home, his wife lets him have it with both barrels.

There isn't a woman alive that would simply say nothing when her husband is caught cheating with another woman/man/goat, etc. Which is mainly why I don't really care for Hillary Clinton. I expect an intelligent woman (I say intelligent because she's a lawyer and that takes dedication and intelligence regardless of what you think of lawyers.) to go in front of a press conference and say "This is bullshit. I didn't know my husband was getting blown from the chubby chick down the hallway. I'm gonna cut his prick off tonight and put it on the mantle". She didn't. She just sat there and said nothing. I imagine if she wanted to say something that it must have been agonizing for her to just sit there and take it for the whole world to see. Even mafia members know that you can screw around, but you NEVER let your wife get humiliated because of it. It's just a bad idea all around.

I think I'd be more inclined to vote for a guy who came out and said "I like to go to the strip clubs once in a while for a drink and see naked girls with my friends" then someone who gives me a bullshit line like "I tried Marijuana, but I didn't inhale". At least the first guy admits something we all know; He's a guy with real thoughts and vices. My vices? I swear a lot. I love women. I like porn and strippers. I like to gamble in Vegas from time to time. Maybe someday when I run for office, I'll use those as my campaign slogan. "Vote for me; I like strippers"

Travis

# posted by Travis @ 10:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post   

I wonder if a typical Muslim looks at people like this like a typical Christian looks at Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Fatwa issued against the Pope.

Travis

Ok, this article is gonna piss me off. Link. Basically, if you don't want to RTFA, a congressman from Texas wants to rethink the 14th amendment making anyone born here an automatic citizen. Regardless of if the congressman is a Republican, I am extremely hesitant to touch the Constitution. Children born in the USA are citizens, automatically, without question. Now, if the parents are illegal immigrants, then the child may go with the parents back to their home country and apply for citizenship legally, or the child can be put into foster care to be raised as an American citizen. Sure, there are costs involved with such an undertaking, but the child born here, even if illegally, is still an American citizen.

There's probably some people out there who are going to tell me that if the child is in foster care, then they have a higher probability of becoming criminals or some such nonsense. That will be a decision that the child makes when they grow up and become adults. There are plenty of people out there who were adopted or raised in foster care that grew up to be productive members of society.

There's also going to be plenty of people who email me and say "How can you be against immigration?" I'm not. I'm against illegal immigration. If you want to come to my country, go through the proper channels, and become a citizen, I welcome you with open arms. Come to my country, I'll gladly show you all the wonderful things about my country. How you can prosper and provide a better life for you and your family if you work hard and keep your nose clean. For example, I had the pleasure of working with a young Indian woman named Anurada. At least I hope I'm spelling her name correctly, it's been a long time since I've worked with her at my previous job. She was bright, witty, and went through the proper channels on getting citizenship. Her and I shared stories about our respective countries and she was a joy to be around. Her husband was equally pleasant and wanted nothing more then to make a better life for himself and his wife.

What it basically boils down to is, leave the Constitution as is. It was written 230 years ago and has gotten us this far without problems and has allowed countless people to live and flourish. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Travis

Ok, for my first real post. For those of you who don't know, the attacks of September 11th, struck a deep chord with me that angers me to the bone. It seems like everytime there's evidence that something could have been done to prevent it, someone is either too chicken shit to do anything about it (Clinton) or the threat is too vague to point to know exactly what's going on. There are many Democrats that say "There were plenty of warning signs there, but it's all Bush's fault that the attacks happened" What I'd like to know is, where in all of this mountain of evidence, and there's plenty, does it say "On September 11th, 2001, 19 people will hijack commercial aircraft and slam them into buildings" Sure, there's evidence that something was going to happen, and that something involved airliners. Everyone involved thought this was a run of the mill hijacking. The hijackers said they had a bomb on board and they were returning to the airport. Pretty standard stuff in the world of hijackings. When the first plane struck the World Trade Center, then people started to realize the true nature of what was happening.


Personally, I want to know what the airport screeners think. I've seen the security footage of the hijackers going through the metal detectors and being waved on. The one that bothers me the most is one where the hijacker has set off the metal detector, but the screener doesn't bother to wand the guy properly and sends him on his way. What does this man think today? Does he have nightmares that his lack of duty caused the deaths of hundreds of people? I say hundreds because he didn't screen all 19 people. Sure, razorblades were not on the list of things that were banned at the time, but if he had any kind of concience, it would certainly haunt him for the rest of his life.

I think people need to put into perspective on what George W. Bush did in the following weeks and months of the attacks. I also think that they need to understand that those in Afghanistan got off extremely lightly. Personally, if I were president, I would have given the ultimatum; "You have 24 hours to hand over Osama Bin Laden, or I am going to drop a very large nuclear weapon on one of your cities. I will continue to drop nuclear weapons on your cities until he is either handed over, or your country is a parking lot full of radioactivity for the next 10,000 years." This in of itself would have given the Taliban more then enough reason to hand over Bin Laden. We have the largest and most powerful military on the face of the earth, and sometimes people need to be reminded that an attack on an office building in the middle of the day is significantly worse then an attack on a naval destroyer while in port. Had we dropped any nuclear weapons that day or threatened to, it would have made terrorists think twice before trying something like that again. That is something you want to do in a fight. Bloody up thier nose brutally in round 1 so they don't want to come back for round 2.

Travis

This really isn't my first post. I just want to test things out to make sure they work. It probably won't and will go up in flames, but at least I can say I tried. :)