Random weekend thoughts...

Funny pictures are worth a thousand funny words. (now to the more serious stuff)

The War on Terror in Iraq is imminently win-able, and the primary obstacle to winning would be our own lack of resolve. We must not surrender.

A core challenge in the liberal vs. conservative debate is that it's essentially an emotional, short-term-based, feeling-oriented (liberal) argument vs. a logical, reason-based, consequence-focused (conservative) one. (A good example here)

Women and men are not created equal. Same-sex couples/parents should not be endorsed by society as equivalent to married men and women.

The Left wants Socialism, with an equal lower-class status for all. Understand that.

Conservatism needs leadership from strategic visionaries. Newt Gingrich is that. It also needs leadership from operational tacticians. Rudy Guiliani may be that guy.

It's not flip-flopping if you don't have a history of belief changes for political expediency.

The Republican Party is circling the drain. If internal, reform-oriented leadership can't pull it out, conservatives will need to find a new home before Hillary seeks a second term in 2012.

Blogging break...

This blog has been a great vent for me on political, cultural and global issues, among numerous other topics over the last 3 months. The original purpose of this venture was to share some thoughts with family and friends who might not have otherwise understood my interests and positions or even known them to begin with.

I have found it difficult at times to effectively discuss many of the topics I've posted about, and this format provides a fantastic outlet...especially for those of us who aren't as quick on our feet verbally as we'd like to be. It's also became a lot more fun than I ever thought. I've really enjoyed the creative aspect of setting up the site and trying to make each post visually interesting...not to mention all the great poking around and reading needed to motivate a posting.

Hopefully this break will be temporary. I am hooked on (and frustrated with) the current political scene and feel strongly that core conservative & Christian principles are vital to our country's prosperity and freedom. I continue to have a great interest in what I think are extremely important long-term issues like abortion, education, religious freedom (not freedom from religion), the war against Islamic terrorism, and the poisonous cultural effects of moral relativism and political correctness. I'm sure I'll ramp back up again, but it's time for a break.

Having said that, what I'd really like to do is find a number of other generally like-minded folks out there who would be interested in posting here! If you like the format and direction of this site and want to blog here, send me an e-mail. I'd love to make CBT a group effort!

Subscribe over to the left if you want to get an e-mail when this blog wakes up again!

Cheers.

P.S. I've made close to 300 posts in just over 3 1/2 months since I started. Here are a few:

Fear-mongering and climate change: Al's big lie...

Condi discusses Iran with Matt Lauer... What's not to love about Condi!

Sowell's random thoughts & my random links...

While U.S. politicians pander hysterically, China digs for oil...

Know a CEO who is rude to people he/she perceives to be in subordinate roles?

Why take responsibility or look for solutions when you can obfuscate, blame others and play a sypathetic media with overt political opportunism?

The British Sunday Times uncovers the "new woman"...

These amazing photos by Jan von Holleben will make you smile...

As if the obviously-perverted "man with the yellow hat" and "curious" George weren't enough...

Katie Cronkite: Good Night, and Good Pluck...

A "race card" play for the true connoisseur...

Be a man, for God's sake... (you mean that's ok?)

Muammar Gadhafi: "Libya is the only real democracy in the world"...Charlie Sheen probably agrees

Gregory (and NBC) called to task by Laura Ingraham on the Today show this morning...follow up on O'Reilly

This performance by Chris Bliss is one of the coolest things I've ever seen...

The Discovery of Noah's Ark? That would change everything...

A mathematician's approach to the origins of life...

The Natural Law...and Moral Absolutes

The Democratic Plantation... and the Victims of the Political Elite

TV, Role Models, Morality...are we looking in the right place?

The U.S. and the Roman Empire...

Sharpton's a homo, pass it on...humor!

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Sowell's random thoughts & my random links...

Thomas Sowell releases his latest Random thoughts on the passing scene: (browse previous "random thoughts" here)

One of the few encouraging signs in the current political scene is that Senator John McCain finished behind several other candidates in a Republican straw poll for Presidential candidates. Apparently his self-centered opportunism has not gone unnoticed, despite the good press he has gotten by pandering to the media.

Bill O'Reilly had a good Talking Points Memo yesterday on Protesting in America:

The pro-amnesty people largely believe the USA has a moral obligation to accept millions of poor people as citizens. The reasoning varies. Hardcore Democrats like Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy see future votes. Cardinal Mahoney sees future parishioners and wants a more compassionate approach toward the poor in general. And some activists believe it is America's fault that there's poverty in Mexico and other countries.

On the peace front, most of those demonstrators believe the USA is a flawed country - and so is Israel - and it's our fault there's terrorism in the world.

The politicians continue the taxpayer rip-off / pork-fest with a $500M earmark for "disruption costs" from Katrina going to the huge $30,000M (revenue last year) defense contractor Northrop Grumman when NG is already in litigation with it's insurance company for money to cover the very same costs.

Robert Novak covers some good news though, with "signal victories" coming from both the House and the Senate last week. Sen. Tom Coburn is leading the crusade against earmarks.

After the vote, Coburn could be seen on the floor animatedly lecturing a silent Cochran. It can be guessed he was promising to hold the Senate's feet to the fire on one earmark after another. Coburn this coming week will propose removing from the bill $500 million to be paid Northrop Grumman for lost income caused by Hurricane Katrina. The outcome will indicate whether last Thursday's events on Capitol Hill truly point to new congressional concern about using taxpayer money.

Robert McHenry comments on if calling a tail a leg means that a donkey has 5 legs...or if it simply indicates that the tail (or "Nuestro Himno") has been mislabelled:

There can be no "Spanish version" of the national anthem or any other alternate version, unless Congress says so. Congress may conceivably say so, but if I were you I'd expect a solution to Social Security and, for that matter, war with Alpha Centauri before that happens. Until then, try to imagine what Abraham Lincoln would say:

"If you call "Nuestro Himno" a version of the national anthem, how many versions are there?"

Unless you're a talk show host or a careless journalist or a politician snatching at yet another diverting issue or you just plain enjoy being irked, you'll join Abe in answering "One. Calling "Nuestro Himno" a Spanish version of the anthem doesn't make it one."

Cal Thomas wonders where is the leadership amidst Republican ineptness?

How could a party go from a visionary like Ronald Reagan who changed the world, not to mention restoring American optimism, to the tunnel vision of his illegitimate offspring who seem to care less about change than perpetuating themselves in office? They aren't even doing a good job of that as the fall election results may show, unless somebody or something quickly lights a fire under them. Never has the derogatory phrase, "Republican in name only," applied to so many who have done so little for so few.

Rebecca Hagelin talks about the failure of today's journalists to get past the hype, fear and panic-riddled headlines. John Stossel digs for the truth though:

But many reporters, fed a steady diet of alarm by environmentalists, hear "radiation" and automatically link it with a laundry list of horrors, from Three-Mile Island to nuclear bombs. According to Stossel:

"They don't worry much about bacteria because bacteria is natural. But radiation is natural too. We are exposed to natural radiation every minute of our lives: cosmic radiation from space, radiation from the ground, and radiation from radon in the air we breathe. Every year, the average U.S. citizen is exposed to natural radiation equal to about 360 dental X-rays."

Dennis Prager talks about the dangers of rewriting our history:

The totalitarian temptation is not confined to Nazis and communists; it can rear its head in any society and gradually destroy it. And as the Soviet dissident joke notes, one quick way to identify totalitarian threats to liberty is to identify those who falsify the historical record on behalf of their cause...

...Those who want a fully secular America don't care about what the Left is doing to America's Christian history. And those who loathe cigarettes don't care about what the anti-smoking zealots (again, usually folks on the Left) are doing to photos and films. But, as Shakespeare said about a rose, totalitarian behavior by any other name smells the same -- and that is a lot worse and a lot more dangerous than even cigarette smoke.

Edward L. Daley says American Citizens Know How To Protest Too!

...As condescending leftists like California Senate Majority Leader, Gloria Romero, champion the cause of illegal aliens, and supporters of the movement continue to insult those of us who actually understand the concepts of right and wrong by calling us racists and xenophobes, conservative talk radio hosts and political columnists are hammering home the truth of the matter to their audiences.

The illegal alien situation, which was once seen by many as an unpleasant, yet largely uncorrectable problem, is now being taken very seriously by the majority of U.S. citizens, who no longer believe that stopping the flow of illegals into this country is such an insurmountable task. Tens of millions of Americans have finally had enough of their elected officials' indifference to the alien invasion of our country, and they plan to punish those politicians in November unless radical changes are made to our border policies.

In the meantime, companies that chose to shut down production on May the 1st, or that have a history of exploiting illegal workers for profit, are being added to lists circulating throughout cyberspace, and those businesses will soon become the targets of extended boycotts by American consumers who are unwilling to forgive them for helping to fuel the fire of the most vile socio-political movement in recent U.S. history.

I can't wait for Tony Snow to get started!

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