 | More Republican Distractions |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Wednesday, Dec 6, 2006, 1:04 PM · 72 words · 
Perhaps this is another example of the Bush administration trying to distract attention away from Iraq: On the same day that the Iraq Study Group is releasing its uber-hyped report advising a withdrawal from Iraq by 2008, CNN is spamming the news that Vice President Cheney's lesbian daughter is pregnant. Oh, those tricksy Republicans.
| On Free Will |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Wednesday, Nov 29, 2006, 1:33 PM · 658 words · 3 comments ·
Scott Adams (the Dilbert guy) has a thing about free will. He visits the topic often on his blog, and this post of his is supposed to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that free will does not exist.
| A Dissertation On The State Of Iraq |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Tuesday, Nov 21, 2006, 1:34 PM · 1,582 words · 1 comment ·
It's almost impossible to imagine a satisfying result in Iraq anymore.
said,
I think you've done a fine job of considering the mess of Iraq.
Vince
| Freedom Is On The March... Away From Virginia |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006, 1:59 PM · 98 words · 2 comments ·
In the harsh light of the morning after the political and media orgy known as Midterm Elections, we can now see that 57% of Virginia voters supported changing the constitution to make second class citizens out of unmarried couples. One has to wonder how many of those voters actually thought they were voting to prevent gay marriage. Idiots. (At least I can take some small comfort in knowing that only 51% of the voters in my county are ignorant neanderthals.)
said,
Good job Virginia
Vince
said,
"Good" is a relative term.
| The Big Game |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Tuesday, Nov 7, 2006, 10:36 AM · 133 words ·
For people who enjoy the "game" of politics, today is like the Super Bowl. Pundits have spent months hyping the game, analyzing every possible matchup, and making learned predictions, and the coaches have drawn up elaborate plans and strategies for victory. Today the fans are packed into the stadium and everyone else is glued to their televisions. It's finally time to let the players take the field to decide the outcome of the game. (Sadly, if we carry this metaphor to its logical conclusion, we must also surmise that most of the players probably missed practice and skipped the team meetings, and indeed may not even know how to play football.)
| Last Stand In Somalia |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Friday, Nov 3, 2006, 11:21 AM · 153 words ·
While everyone here is busy making nasty political ads, Bill Roggio reports that Somalia is about to fall completely into the hands of the bad guys: The Somalia Showdown.
| The Three Amendment Proposals |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Thursday, Nov 2, 2006, 12:02 PM · 110 words · 1 comment ·
Last week, I came across this: Did you know there is more than one ballot amendment? To my surprise, I didn't know there was more than the minority-hating amendment on the ballot. There's actually 3 amendments.
said,
Yeah, here in Missouri you also tend to hear about certain amendments more than others.
Vince
| Kerry's Unfortunate Misstatement |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Thursday, Nov 2, 2006, 9:18 AM · 371 words · 4 comments ·
This is old news now (or should be, at least), but I couldn't post yesterday.
said,
With no disresepct for your grandfather when he was "one of our boys serving overseas" in WWI,I suggest it is past time for you to consider updating your language a wee bit.
How 'bout something like "our fine young men and women serving their country...."
Somehow,terminology like "boys and girls" just doesn't cut it for soldiers in combat gear. I know....some of your readers will get all rabid and scream about "word police" and "political correctness." I just happen to believe that words are important, whether spoken or written. Perhaps those who don't believe words are important should refrain from using them.
said,
> "I suggest it is past time for you to consider updating your language a wee bit."
Normally I would agree with you, but I was purposefully invoking a more antiquated speaking style on that sentence to amplify the effect of the sarcasm, because that's the kind of language you'd expect to hear from a conservative old-timer who might actually fall for the twisted logic I was mocking. :p
said,
Ok , I'll let you off the hook THIS time...
said,
And that's an apology?? In my world, an apology in when a person says they are sorry for what they have done, not for other people's actions.
Vince
| Allen's Stalker |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Wednesday, Nov 1, 2006, 9:46 AM · 143 words · 1 comment ·
I hate to complain when awkward situations come up for George Allen, but this security incident has all the markings of a setup. I mean, a left-wing blogger, inspired by Michael Moore's stalker movie Roger and Me, tries to ask Allen an awkward question (by shouting at him) right in front of the press? Come on. You don't have to read much of the guy's blog to know he was obviously trying to bait Allen into looking bad in front of the cameras. That ain't democracy folks.
said,
Surely Allen could have responded that is uncalled for in freezing accents and turned away.
Just because someone asks you a rude question doesn't make it right for your supporters to jump him. Can you imagine who people would have responded if Hillary Clinton's supporters jumped everyone whoever asked her a rude question?
| New Lease On Life For Hubble |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006, 12:03 PM · 147 words ·
I'm heartened to see NASA announce plans to repair the Hubble telescope. Granted, it only extends the lifetime from 2009 to 2013, but since we have shuttle flights going up there anyway and we have the capability to fix it, I don't see why we shouldn't keep it running as long as possible. (Personally, I'd place a higher priority on the telescope than the space station, but that's just me.)
| Rush And Ann On Fox |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Monday, Oct 30, 2006, 12:56 PM · 190 words ·
I saw somewhere that Rush and Ann were up in arms for being demonized over speaking up against Michael J. Fox's commercial, because (according to them) part of the liberal strategy is to use people with disabilities to advance the liberal agenda so everyone will feel sorry for them and cave in.
| On Webb's Novels |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Friday, Oct 27, 2006, 1:30 PM · 72 words ·
My opinion about Allen's people using Webb's novels against him is the same as it was when it was just some silly blogs doing it. It's borderline-fascist anti-art propaganda, but a predictable desperation smear tactic. (I'm sure if Allen wrote fiction, Webb's people would be doing it too.)
| On New Jersey |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Friday, Oct 27, 2006, 1:29 PM · 270 words · 1 comment ·
On the recent New Jersey decision: My marriage doesn't feel the slightest bit different. It's very difficult for me to wrap my mind around how people can honestly believe the Republican line that marriage is "under attack," especially from something as infrequent as gay marriage (as opposed to, say, rampant divorce). It seems like people with such beliefs would have trouble with basic motor coordination, let alone any kind of higher cognitive thoughts. I wish people would just be honest about it and say, "hey, I'm voting against gay marriage because I think gay sex is icky and I don't want to bother dealing with my prejudices."
said,
From a purely technical perspective, if the New Jersey constitution says everyone should be treated equally, then there shouldn't be any laws that exclude people from equal treatment, and any laws like that should be changed.
Guess it depends on how you treat the phrase 'treated equally'. Some people might say that homosexuals are just as free to marry someone of the opposite sex as a straight person, but no one is free to marry someone of the same sex.
Vince
| On Michael J. Fox |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Friday, Oct 27, 2006, 1:27 PM · 150 words · 1 comment ·
I've been silent lately partly because of a newfound fascination with World of Warcraft, and partly because of a complete lack of interest in writing about campaign politics, which seems to be the dominant topic in the world lately. But here's a few quick blurbs.
said,
Despite the fact that I live in Missouri, I still haven't seen the ad. Most likely because I generally avoid TV. But I know what I think about embryonic (sp?) stem cell research.
Vince
| Unusual Abortion Followup |
· Krehbiel Commentary · Friday, Oct 20, 2006, 12:46 PM · 183 words ·
Here's a followup to an incident I commented on several months ago about a woman who shot herself in the stomach to induce an abortion. Apparently the felony case against her, which could have resulted in up to 10 years in prison, was dropped because of some legal technicalities.
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Anonymous said,
Haven't you claimed to be a Christian? If so, you understand that predestination and election are words that the Bible uses. That being so, how do you deal with those Biblical concepts?
Also, God isn't unknowable. He has revealed Himself to us.
Vince
Anonymous said,
Thomas,
Free will is one of those life-wasters. You can spend years thinking about it and not come to any useful conclusion. You really would have been better off figuring out the best way to make a cup of tea.
The whole question is just silly. This morning when the alarm went off I had the choice to get out of bed or hit the snooze button. I made a choice. What does it mean to say I made a "free" choice? It really doesn't mean anything at all more than "I made a choice."
Greg
P.S. -- Would you mind very much changing the link to crowhill to say "conservative" rather than "Catholic"? I don't blog Catholic issues much any more.
Tom said,
> Haven't you claimed to be a Christian? If so, you understand that predestination and election are words that the Bible uses. That being so, how do you deal with those Biblical concepts?
Truthfully the older I get, the more I wonder if I really am a Christian. I'm actually Episcopalian, and one of the Episcopal "legs" is Reason, but the church often doesn't seem very reasonable to me.
I'm not terribly knowledgable about these subjects, in fact I had to look up what "election" even meant. :) I don't have any references to cite, but I don't think predestination and election are Anglican concepts. I think Anglicans believe anyone can be saved, which sounds contrary to the idea of election, as I understand it. So I guess that would imply that, if election is taught in the Bible, Anglicans don't necessarily follow everything in the Bible. (I personally look at it as more of a historical text than an infallibly divine artifact.)
It's an interesting question though because it's led me to the Episcopal Church's "39 articles" which I hadn't ever studied before. It's funny how the fundamental principles of one's religion don't really come up in church on Sunday very much.
> Also, God isn't unknowable. He has revealed Himself to us.
When I said "unknownable," I meant scientifically or objectively. I don't think God is knowable in the same way that, say, "it snows when it's cold" is knowable. Maybe "understandable" is a better word.