The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Former U.S. Lieutenant General William G. "Jerry" Boykin recently gave an interesting speech on behalf of the Family Research Council at the WallBuilders' Pro-Family Legislators Conference, where he said the following: "The Lord is a warrior and in Revelation 19 it says when he comes back, he's coming back as what? A warrior. A might warrior leading a slight army, riding a white horse with a blood-stained white robe ... I believe that blood on that robe is the blood of his enemies 'cause he's coming back as a warrior carrying a sword. And I believe now - I've checked this out - I believe that sword he'll be carrying when he comes back is an AR-15. Now I want you to think about this: where did the Second Amendment come from? ... From the Founding Fathers, it's in the Constitution. Well, yeah, I know that. But where did the whole concept come from? It came from Jesus when he said to his disciples 'now, if you don't have a sword, se...

I've recently written and updated a blog with regard to the U.S.'s ridiculous amount of military spending, which was estimated to be greater than the next 14 biggest spending countries combined as of 2010. Coincidentally enough, I just read an article which showcases that we as a nation spend way too much on defense. As the article cites, there is bipartisan support behind spending $436 million on the Army's Abrams tanks.  What are the reactions of senior Army officials? Basically, "Thanks, but no thanks." General Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, said the following in an interview on the matter with the Associated Press - "If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way." Sean Kennedy, director of research for the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste, said, "When an institution as risk averse as the Defense Department says they have enough tanks, we can probably believe them." Precisely... If the ...

Perhaps this is a very common defense mechanism, but I'll often times see or hear conservatives face criticism for their stance on a specific issue by going what I call the general positive spin (GPS) route. Let me give you an example. When confronted with their stance on universal healthcare and wanting to repeal Obamacare, I've heard conservatives say, "I believe in personal responsibility. I guess that makes me a right-wing extremist!" See what was done there? They took the claims that they lacked empathy and understanding, that they didn't care about other people's well-being, about Obamacare as a specific piece of legislation, by countering that with claiming they believe in personal responsibility, before attempting to place the other side to shame by exaggerating their general-positive-spin point and saying, "I guess that makes me a right-wing extremist!" This kind of strategy is clever on one hand, yet ridiculous on the other. It's ...

Where have gun control debates been in the past 5-10 years? Where has just that term - gun control - been in the past decade? For as many awful gun-related crimes and killings as there have been over these past ten years, it feels as if the term and potential legislation surrounding it have decided to hibernate for a decade, and only now is deciding to awaken. Whenever I get into a debate regarding gun control, it feels as if a majority of the country look at me in fear and simultaneously shout back, "It's our 2nd Amendment right! ::mumbles something:: ...militia... ::grunts:: Yeah!" What many of these people have had implanted in their brains is that ANY form of gun control would be another step toward the government talking over - that it'd be the start of tyranny. However, if you break things down with these people - don't refer to it as "gun control laws" - and specifically go through different forms of action concerning gun control, most see...

As he stated in his interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday , Republican Vice Presidential candidate and former Mr. Universe in the eyes of himself - Paul Ryan - continued to adamantly declare that the numbers in Mitt Romney's tax plan add up. He said, "...The numbers add up; we have shown that." He then attempted to elaborate, saying: "...by subjecting higher income earners' income to more taxation, remove tax shelters, lower deductions for higher income people, more of their income is subject to taxation so you can lower tax rates for everybody across the board and shelter the middle class from any kind of tax increase. There is obviously enough fiscal space to lower tax rates to 20 percent, keep these middle-class preferences. We have show how that works." They have? That'd be news to me and the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which showcased via analysis that "the Romney plan would have to raise taxes on the middle class (by elimina...

When talking to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday  (yes, it took place on Sunday and on Fox News), Paul Ryan said the following: "I think it goes without saying that there's definitely media bias. We expected media bias going into this." He then continued, saying, "As a conservative, I've long believed and long felt that there's an inherent media bias. And I think anybody with objectivity would believe that that's the case." When asked to provide specific examples of such coverage, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate and former cover model for Blind Weekly , could not provide any. Paul Ryan complaining about media bias on Fox News would be akin to a pimp complaining to his prostitute about the immorality of premarital sex. It seems as if specifics to Paul Ryan are like World Series titles to the Chicago Cubs. Although, unlike the Cubs, whom are America's lovable loser in baseball - having not won a title since 1908, Ryan's non-s...

That's right. Each and every day, I read my horoscope and that's how I plan my day. I also have a lifetime supply of fortune cookies, where I will follow their advice on a daily basis. In addition to that, I see palm readers, fortune tellers and tarot card readers to tell me what my future will be like and what I need to do on a daily basis to attain what is my fate. Okay, so none of that is true. I really wish I had come up with the idea of writing horoscopes. How easy would that be? Just give an extremely vague and general form of advice, with no clear direction whatsoever and ask people to read and believe in its wisdom. It reminds me of comedian George Carlin's old bit about the Hippy-Dippy Weatherman. He said something along the lines of, "Tonight - dark. Light in the morning, with a chance of precipitation and the temperatures will change off and on for a very long period of time." After that forecast, he could retire. A horoscope is vague much like...