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My proposed contribution to the evil racket. [ Note: I am actually holding the air ]

 

Famed singer Kenny Rogers' wife gave birth to twins yesterday. At 65 years of age, that makes Kenny Rogers a father at the age of a grandpa. When the twins are age five, they will have a 70-year-old father. Does anyone else have a problem with this? Let's not kid ourselves here. We're not exactly living in the days of Moses and Sarah when old "senior in age" people were experiencing immaculate conceptions. Men are not living to be 500 years-old anymore and there comes a time when women shrivel up. I believe there's a reason for that. In an age where we have legalized genocide, I'm all for procreation. However, I debate internally about this whole issue. Is it possible to be a poor steward of one's "capabilities"? I suppose a father is better than no father, however these brief stints of fatherhood can be frustrating for many kids.

Throughout my school life, I always had young parents while of all my friendss parents were the same age as my grandparents. My mother and father were 25 and 29-years-old respectively when they conceived me. Not exactly teenage parents, but it certainly put them in the category of "young parents" in the inner circles of private school life which was usually riddled with children of second marriages. I'm not sure what it is, but rich white men (not all but some) often get divorced and re-married to young hussies half their legal age. Is that the quarter-year life crisis version of a sportscar? I will never understand what a foreign supermodel sees in Donald Trump. Could it be the power? The money? The hair? The world may never know.

In high school, I had a classmate whose father died at age 78. He was only 18 at the time. He was a product of his dad's late second marriage and he was devastated by the death. Not only was he devasted, he was also angry. His anger mostly stemmed from the fact that while yes, his father's seed brought him onto the Earth, he got stuck with a sick father who spent most of his childhood dying. It's a sticky situation. I don't believe any children are illegitimate. It does bother me that so many prominent men are starting second families they'll never be around to raise.

Thoughts? At what point should people stop having children? I suppose it'd help if men stayed with their original wives.

 

Freedom is a beautiful thing. It's also a costly thing. This weekend I was reminded of how life is but a vapor.

Since the rest of my family ditched me for other bigger and better events, I spent Sunday afternoon with friends, trying to find the best barbeque going on in town. Well, I found one (the food was good too) and also fell in love with one very cute pitbull puppy who goes by the name of "Prince". Not formerly known as, his name is just Prince. In any case, about two hours after this picture was taken, Prince was struck and killed by a vehicle.

That's a tough one for me since I'm a dog-lover. More importantly, it just reminded me how precious and short life is. Period. Call me deep. Yes, I probably am being so, but hey, God can speak through a rock so I figure why not this situation.

I honor the memory of all those who've given their lives throughout history so I can celebrate freedom today (it took me a minute, but I did bring it home). Happy Birthday America.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

 

Tobey McGuire. Is he really as vapid and blah as he appears in his interviews? If so, the potential of me seeing SpiderMan 2 this weekend is not looking so hot. Update: confirmed that he is vapid, however that characteristic was fitting for the role of Peter Parker.

Hershey Kisses with Almonds. Would it kill somebody to sell them without the wrappers? Seriously. My fingers are getting tired.

Lionel Ritchie. What happened to him? Is he even black anymore?

Iron Chef. Are you serious? No really. Please stop, before I get addicted.

And for all you waiting on part two of you know what, it's coming okay. Geez. SaturdayMonday probably. I don't even post on weekends, which should show you all how much I care about my readers. Jerks.

 

I skimmed through all the current nominationsto be certain I wasn't "repeating" (which I probably am but oh well). I was looking for the TRUE nominations and not the shameless self-promotions. There were a heck of a lot of those. One thing I've set out to NEVER do is self-promote my blog. If that means it remains in the fledgling state, so be it. I'd rather have a few faithful readers here by choice than be a linkwhore begging for hits (no offense to those of you that do...it's just not my style). If my blog should one day become popular, I want it to be the good old fashion way: Word o' mouth. Or in the net's case, "Word o' Links".

Now, onto my nominations. I get bored very easily and thus it takes a lot for a blog to really draw me in. "A lot" generally translates to "personality". Dry, stale, content is just like everybody else. I am diametrically opposed to about 50% of the blogs I read, but you probably won't hear about any of them here. I try to only link things of interest to readers. I think everyone on my blogroll is deserving, but these are a few of the blogs that keep me on my toes:

Booker Rising: Awesome news-type blog for moderates/conservatives with a focus on counteracting defeatism in the black community. Maintains a good balanace of positive and negative which I like. He also manages to snag some of the most interestingly obscure daily news.

Rosenblog: Props to fellow Seattleite, and freelance writer Matt Rosenberg. He often writes about the twisted politics in Seattle but he doesn't leave non-Seattle residents out. He writes in such a way that brings you into his world. I was first hipped to him via a commentary he wrote on Bill Cosby in the National Review. Good stuff.

EvangelicalOutpost: I don't always agree with what Joe writes but that's not what I look for in a weblog. He gives incisive commentary with a Conservative Christian worldview. He pushes out way too many good essays at a time. Makes me wonder if he's really that smart.

Avery Tooley: I love this guy. Again, we don't always agree, but he has an underhanded way of making you think twice. He's admittedly a music buff so he spends about 50% of his time on that, but he's been writing more and his writing style is very conversational which I like.

Hot Abercrombie Chick: Yeah okay, bad choice of name. But the chick behind the blog is Amanda Doerty, a sophmore philosphy major. She doesn't post as regularly as I think she should, but when she does they are very thoughtful philospical arguments. Better to read when you have some time to think.

 

Juliette pointed out to me a strange resemblence. Yes I realize they are far from each other on the evil spectrum, but these photos are good for a laugh.

 

Thursday, during an appearance at the PUSH/Rainbow Coalition's annual conference, Bill Cosby once again released fire. This time he fought the accusations that he's been airing the black community's dirty laundry,

"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other n------ as they're walking up and down the street."

So far the articles I've read are far more bold about the facts than last time around with Cos' speech at the Brown v. Board gala. Almost too bold. Although they've all noted the fact that Cosby's words were interspersed and sometimes interrupted with applause, "Amens" and "uh-huhs" from onlookers, I'm not feeling the headlines: "Cosby Has More Harsh Words For Black Community", "Cosby Slams Poor Blacks, "Cosby Attacks", or "Bill Cosby went off on another tirade against the black community". I think we need to be careful here. Nothing about what Cosby is saying is against the black community. He's addressing a mindset that can be held by anyone. Cosby has referred to his words as a "Call to Action". I realize that "Bill Cosby Mobilizes Black Community" does not make for as good a headline, but this is where the media agitates me. They cast unnecessary tension onto situations.

Interestingly enough, the last time around Cosby admitted that his entire speech was off the cuff and inspired by the moment as writer Cheryl V. Jackson reports,

"...when he looked at the 80-something-year-old players in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision who were seated in the balcony...He then started talking about how he felt that, for some black Americans, education had taken a back seat to achieving glory on the sports field."

Indeed Sambo on the playing field has long plagued the black community. According to Cosby, the games we need to focus on winning take place in the mind,

"Our victory was not in how many white men were knocked out in the ring...Our victory was not in how many touchdowns we ran. It is about our minds, the use of our minds and education."

This time, the focus of his admonition was definitely personal responsibility,

"For me there is a time...when we have to turn the mirror around, because for me it is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat, it keeps you frozen in your hole you're sitting in."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

The month following Cosby's last speech has been filled with amazing transformations of the hearts of many in the black community. While many were at first outraged, it seems more are now coming out of the woodwork in support of Cosby; including Jesse Jackson. This time around, prior to Cos delivering his speech, he'd already earned the support of a captive audience. People held cardboard signs that read, "Bill Cosby, You Don't Need to Apologize". Mine would've read, "Bill Cosby, You Don't Need to Clarify". I must admit, I'm half-way shocked to hear Jesse Jackson coming alongside and defending Cosby. I mean, what's in it for him?

Nevertheless, there is certainly a stirring in the atmosphere. Two licks in two months may be a lot for some to handle and trust me, there are plenty who still stand against the "harshness" of Cosby's words. Oh well, folks better suck it up and take heed when wisdom speaks. This is the stuff that gets me going.

 

I'm just going to come out and say it. The biggest, badest, most popular blogger in the land known as Instapundit doesn't really impress me. Good thing for him he doesn't have to. Maybe I'm just one of a different taste, but large amounts of daily links to news reels, and one sentence posts and whatnot doesn't really keep me coming back for more. Insightful commentary and opinion do.

Up for the second year in a row, is the "Underblog" Awards. Nominate 5 of your favorite quality, underrepresented weblogs that you wish others knew about. A list of 100 is compiled. I think this is a great idea. I'm going to post my nominations soon, I just have to narrow it down.

Incidentally, (hat tip: Instapundit)

 

These days everyone has their opinion on war. Those caught in an ideological utopia would that it never take place. These are some of the same people who preach peace, tolerance, and social justice. Perhaps someone should explain to them that peace is not the absence of conflict, tolerance has low standards, and justice isn't fair. Then there are those who realize that freedom isn't free, nor is the obtainment of peace a fabulously elegant process whereby people march around the city, blocking streets and chanting in rhythm. Someone please tell me the last time in history, any international conflict was solved through some well-written prose? World peace through poetry? Let's not be that naive. Even the philosophy of Mattie Stepaneck can't give this world what it needs.

We can succumb to these lofty ideas that human beings can "talk" through situations, but history tells us this just isn't so. What a privilege it is for many to enter into a courtship with the idea of peace without the historical baggage of what that's meant in this world. "World Peace" isn't just an answer in a beauty pageant. World peace should be the last thing at the bottom of our national laundry list. As long as there's wickedness on the earth, there's not going to be peace. There is a time for peace, and a time for war. War is necessary.

To say whether this war was right or wrong right now is just human opinion. Only time will gauge the answer to this question. I can only presume that some years from now, overpaid tenured historians will be analyzing and writing about the War on Iraq. Even then, many of them will still be wrong.

I don't pretend to know the historical implications of the capture of Saddam Hussein. I certainly will not gloss over his pure wickedness, his coward-like behavior, and his manipulative sorcery that held an entire nation in bondage. When I saw him on trial this morning, the first thing I thought was, "he looks sad". Foolish me. He is sad. Sad, indeed. He's only going to grow more sad as the days go by. As I listened to his words, I remembered, consciousness is sometimes terribly temporary. How soon we forget, being swayed by popular opinion and political agendas, that WMD's or not, this man is wicked. I have not a shred of compassion for the man. His fate is between he and God. Let justice be served, God be true, and every man a liar.

 

I'm a bit perturbed at my web host. Actually, fuming mad at this point. Wednesday started off like any other day. I emerged from a rather dry morning seminar on Immigration Law to find that my tiny website had gone splat. Big time. For those of you not familiar with bandwidth, it's the method by which hits to a website are allowed to take place. Apparently, mine got too many. I'm not sure which was more disappointing, the fact that my website was down, or the fact that no one was able to enjoy the splendor of my Al Sharpton photo montage (see last post). I know what some of you are thinking. This must be a grandious effort on my part to attract attention to myself. Unfortunately, I'm just not that crafty. I really did exceed my bandwidth.

I never thought I'd see the day, but it seems my readership increased a bit exponentially. Apologies for the site being down. As you can imagine, I was not too thrilled about that, but I have only myself to blame. I made the necessary adjustments and all should be well. This is starting to hit my pockets, but I'm not complaining, I don't mind an increase in viewers. I just didn't expect it this fast.

As you were soldiers.