Burning bibles...

The truth can be difficult to find out and this story is a prime example of that. Earlier this month Al Jazeera took a video clip of American soldiers in Bagram stated to have been recorded almost a year ago by some sources, and used it to present what their viewpoint, which was that US troops urged to share faith in Afghanistan. Though if you watch the video clip it's clear that Sgt. James Watts states that the bibles were sent to him from his church back home.

Now this story is in the news again because it's been confirmed that the bibles were destroyed. A more recent article on Al Jazeera reports also that the Bibles were burned:

The US army in Afghanistan has burned Bibles printed in local languages, a US colonel in Afghanistan has said, amid concerns they could have been used to try to convert Afghans.

"My understanding is that the [military] leadership confiscated these Bibles so that they could not be distributed around Afghanistan," Colonel Greg Julian told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

"It was their best judgement at the time, that the best way to deal with it, was to destroy them and I understand that they were burnt."

It's also pointed out by a few media sources that this was not an official military action but was related to one soldier, Sgt. Watts, who was not aware that he could not hand out the Bibles. Fox news as one example.

The controversy doesn't end there though, now there some claiming Mikey Weinstein demanded the chaplain in the video be court-martialed (which I haven't found beyond him suggesting something similar 2006) and those who have created petitions claiming that the rights of the religious are being attacked by domestic enemies of religious liberty.

This isn't about our soldiers not having the right to worship God while they are in the military, it isn't about our country stopping them from having access to religious material. It's about respecting the laws in other countries, even if you don't agree with them, it is against the law in Afghanistan to try to convert Muslims to another faith. As pointed out during the case of Abdul Rahman:

Afghanistan's 2004 constitution states that "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam" (Article 3) thus affirming that apostasy from Islam is punishable by death. On the other hand, the constitution's preamble affirms that the people of Afghanistan will respect the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which in Article 18 guarantees the freedom to change one's religion.

Non-Muslim Afghans who have never been Muslims have a measure of freedom in that they are permitted to "exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of the law" (Article 2). This applies to Afghan Hindus, Sikhs and the one remaining member of Afghanistan's Jewish community. But it does not apply to Afghan Christians (or other non-Muslims) who have chosen to convert from Islam.

Making it appear that the US military sanctions these laws to be broken is wrong, but it's also just as wrong to use what happened as a way to further a personal agenda here in the US and there are some on both sides of this issue not acting very different when it comes to skewing what happened and a lack of honesty.

Governing is different from campaigning

Perhaps it's because I've become more cynical each year that I cover politics both nationally and locally, but one of the issues I kept pointing out during this past presidential election was that the promises being made, that people were basing their reasoning for voting on were not going to happen. This doesn't necessarily mean that I think that John McCain would have been a better president, I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that we as a nation have allowed hype and false promises to exist because we keep buying it...

Now we are entering the end of the honeymoon period with President Obama and some more to the right are taking issue with him on Gitmo and some more on the left are taking issue with his recent decision to not support the Justice Department criminally prosecuting at least one Bush administration official for torture, as a token gesture.

Though I have to say, it's rather stupid to have a meeting supposedly "off the record" when it's clear more than a few sources talked about what happened that was supposed to be "private" -- another lesson learned for today's time -- very little is private.

What bothered me most wasn't that Obama has changed his position from what he campaigned on when it comes to any of these issues, I expected it. This part of the Newsweek article bothered me:

At another point, Obama surprised some of those present by suggesting that his aides had received poll results showing that the American people were still behind him on national security and the war on terror. Obama told the group that the poll showed "50 percent believe Obama is doing more to protect security than Bush had," one source present said. Only 25 percent of those polled thought Bush had done more to protect security, according to the figures cited by Obama, the source added.

Asked about the poll, White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said the White House does not conduct polls. Pressed on where the figures the president cited came from, LaBolt said the White House does not normally comment on what takes place in private meetings.

You can't govern by polls, especially since most polls are junk. That demonstrates he's still more concerned with how people view him than he should be, the campaign is over...Being President of a nation such as ours where people are so quick to want to believe when it comes to campaigning yet also so quick to throw stones when you are elected is a challenge...

Calorie burning conflicting answers...

A certain friend who shall remain nameless and I were joking around about how sex was a great way to burn calories. Ever the curious sort, I sought out information as to exactly how many were burned to determine if it was true that the best fat burner could actually be sex...

A problem then happened, it appears it's not agreed upon how many calories having sex burns. There are sites that state 34 calories per hour which seriously doesn't seem right though their site done in humor was entertaining. Then there are sites that claim you burn 150 calories per half an hour.

According to MSNBC using their handy dandy calorie burning calculator that's online you burn more calories cleaning house 105 than having sex, 35 per half an hour. Now that was a bummer. So, I'm going for this calculator because it says for my weight? It's 153 calories per half an hour, which is more than housework which is 105 per half an hour...

:-)

Things you notice when you buy a house...

Well, it's completely official, we got the deed for our house so we are now officially homeowners. With the exception of making payments on some past due taxes, at this point we own the house free and clear which will probably not stay that way for long since the house does need some semi-major renovations before we can actually move into it. We are going to do as much of the work that we can do as possible to keep down the costs, but as we were there cleaning today, I started noticing all of the things we are going to need, like door hardware almost all of the doors and the hardware are gone. We have two closet doors and two bathroom doors, all of the bedrooms are missing doors, we need a new front door and we need a new back door. We did discover upon the recommendation of some friends our local Habitat for Humanity store, which has a huge number of doors, some of which are brand new, some have come from homes that were salvaged. Which means it's a matter of measurements and then searching...

I think I'll leave this one up to Jon Stewart...

Did Pelosi know? Is Goss Lying? Is the CIA lying? WHO LIED?????

Who knows anymore...but there is this:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Waffle House
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

President Obama at the Press Correspondents Dinner

He is funny...Part one and part two for those of you wanting to see more than the few clips that the traditional media is showing.

When media gets it wrong...

As a blogger when I get something wrong, I update the post or notate what I was wrong about in the comments depending on the impact of what I was wrong about has on the story. Unfortunately our media isn't like that, when it comes to something that ends up on print or on video, they will do retractions or corrections but I've noticed a disturbing trend where newspapers, especially our local Blade, will report something incorrectly online and rather than point out a correction? Just make the part of the article that was wrong "disappear".

Yesterday this happened when they incorrectly reported a man had been shot and killed, rather than admit an error, they changed the headline and made no mention of the incorrect reporting. Some of our local television media has done the same thing when it comes to items being reported incorrectly, they just make the stories go "poof" with no acknowledgment that there was an error.

Which can create interesting scenarios on the internet when a blog writes about the incorrect information or someone comments citing the incorrect information and then others argue with them about it not being stated that way. How many people routinely screen shot media reports knowing that a story could be later changed?

I personally think it's not that hard to admit when information was incorrect or a story was updated later to include information that it did not previously contain...That to me would demonstrate wanting to earn the trust of the readers and would demonstrate credibility....

House dream may include security system...

We are in the process of finalizing details on owning a home that needs some renovation before it's going to be ready for us to move into. One of the discussions we've had is related to a Home Security Surveillance System since we (and the dogs) won't be living there and there will be construction materials as well as new items installed that could go a day or two without someone being there since we are planning on doing as much of the work as possible by ourselves.

The house sat vacant for about two years, and while we luckily did not experience any of the pipes being stolen since the house had been converted to pvc, there are signs that someone was living in the house illegally not that long ago. This makes the issue of Home Security a valid concern. Some of the windows of our new home have been broken, but thankfully those who did "visit" the house did not destroy it as the house next door experienced. It had copper piping, and apparently a few more visitors bent on destruction.

I never really worried that much about Home Security Systems in the past. We've always had dogs and while they are of course not a total deterrent, some of our neighbors who have had break ins did not have dogs. Of course before we can worry about a security system, we have to put in new windows, but? We'll get there, and I'm sure considering the adventures we had in fixing up the home we are currently renting before we moved in that this will be an adventure too.

:-)

News guy was suing over lack of sex gets more coverage than...

Irony...the headlines just about everywhere, including CNN stating, Sex-starved Kenyan sues over boycott but few of the same media sources reporting this lawsuit bothered to report about the boycott nor did they use the same type of "gotcha" mentality in their article titles.

Nor did they bother to point out what was some of the controversy over the groups asking for the boycott and as pointed out, this is something that women have done in the past:

Sex boycott is not an entirely new concept, having been used by European and North American women opposed to war in Iraq in 2003.

Thousands of actresses all over the world took part in a reading of the ancient Greek play, Lysistrata, as part of a protest against the war as they refrained from sex.

The play, written by Aristophanes in 415 BC, features Greek women who, fed up with their warmongering husbands, go on a sex strike in a bid to end the endless conflicts.

Eventually, the menfolk succumb and agree to a truce.

Last December, hundreds of Italian women pledged to go without sex unless their men promised to refrain from setting off dangerous illegal fireworks.

It was also reported but of course at not the same level as this potential lawsuit, that muslim women groups were not in support of the sex boycott.

Some men as well as women were not in support of this.

Did it work? CNN is reporting it did work, but when you read other media reports? it's less clear despite the success claims.

The larger discussion that probably should take place, it's about sex and it's not about sex didn't get the kind of media attention that "Sex starved Kenyan sues" will get...

We often decry men viewing us as sexual objects, but the reality is women withholding sex as a threat creates some hypocrisy issues, to me it's a shame that is all these women felt they had going for them to use as a threat, though I also think the lawsuit is ridiculous, men are being portrayed as such weak creatures they can't go seven days without sex. It's a sad commentary on both sexes...

Protein powders and endorsements...

My son decided a few years ago that he wanted to increase his ratio of muscle to body fat and started a weight lifting program. He's been rather successful at meeting his personal goals and at one time he was using some of the different protein powders out there on the market. When he got to where he wanted to be, he quit using the products and focused on training, though I know some out there continue to use these products. One was Stemulite which recently was in the news because former all-star college and pro running back, Roger Craig signed on as an endorser of this product.

Most times it is wondered if this is something that the athlete or star really uses as a product, but it appears in the case of Roger Craig that he not only uses the products made by True Healthy Products but his children also use it, two of them are also athletes. I always recommend people take product endorsements with a grain of salt that they use as one deciding factor when looking at a product but not just buy something because of the names attached to it. I also recommend reading all of the material on a product, as in case with Stemulite, if you are allergic to mushrooms it's not advised that you use the product and you shouldn't use the product if you are on blood thinners...

Credit card rates and the government...

The next big battle involving banks and the government is related to credit card fees and other charges. I recommend this USA Today article from April that covers some of the basic points being raised by both sides.

An earlier post on the White House blog also provides additional details:

Almost half of American families currently carry a balance, and for those families the average balance was $7,300 at last check in 2007 (the median was $3,000). Meanwhile, penalty fees on credit cards are around $15 billion annually, an estimated 10 percent of total credit card industry revenues -- one-fifth of those carrying credit card debt pay an interest rate above 20 percent.

Then the Presidential address from today which also focused on credit card reform.

This doesn't have bi-partisan support, Republicans favor prosecuting predatory lenders and requiring issuers to more fully disclose agreements in language that consumers can easily understand instead of the plan currently being discussed by the President and Democrats in Congress.

Specter might have been better off to stay a Republican..

Since becoming a Democrat, Specter has lost his seniority which does accurately create a scenario where his ability to campaign is limited:

"It's kind of hard to make the argument that you should be returned to the Senate because of your clout when you're the junior most senator on every committee," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "I imagine that will be the subject of some discussion on the campaign.

It also appears he's going to face competition, not only from Republican Tom Ridge but also potentially from the Democratic Party in PA.

So, he lost all of his seniority and is not going to end up with an easier re-election path...All he's really managed to accomplish is neither side trusts him.

The buy American mantra when it comes to laptops...

There has been quite a bit of discussion related to why you should buy American when it comes to a car, yet there is very little discussion ever about buying other items made in America. Let's take computers as an example, if you are looking for laptop deals the reality is it is almost impossible to find a laptop that is made in the US or even contains a majority of parts made in the US.

In 2006 it was reported that factories in or near Shanghai make nearly 83 percent of the world’s portable computers, and that figure is expected to increase within a couple of years. It was predicted that by 2008 90% of all laptops would be made in China. When you try to google "Laptops made in US" you don't get very far, so I wasn't able to easily discover if there even are any laptops that are made in the US anymore all that you can easily find is laptop cases advertised as made in the US...

The Republican's first 100 days back in the minority

Since we touched on President Obama's first 100 days, this article about how the GOP has done the first 100 days of being back in the minority again caught my attention. I can't say I agree with all of what is written, but it's interesting to take a look at the perspective offered by Indiana's Governor, Mitch Daniels. One of the statements I found especially interesting:

NJ: What do you think is the lesson that Republicans have learned from these bad election results?

Daniels: I think it has restored us to our roots in fiscal prudence. And that has not gone out of style, would be my observation, despite the unbelievable orgy of spending that has started in Washington. I don't find very many people who think that's good policy, and many more are very worried about it....

When I have heard from people at the national level, I've said, "Listen, accept that we're going to have to spend some time in the penalty box." There are not going go be instant recoveries. The American people are going to want to know: Did you learn any lessons, and do you have some new plans for us? And that doesn't happen instantly, but it can happen within the two-year window or a four-year window.

Basically this all comes down to how will the ideas put forth by the Democratic party work, since they do have the majority and they do have the presidency. If it works? Then even if Republicans try to recover they are going to have a hard time convincing people they can do better. If it doesn't? Then they get a free skate as far as avoiding blame and get to try to promote their message of what they'd do differently...

The Supreme Speculation begins...

Now the games begin as far as who will be considered to be appointed to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Souter, then the game aspect of what dirt can be dug on those suggested and will they make it through the congressional confirmation process. Not all have fared well in the past with a long line of those who briefly held promise. As you can see by this Washington Post piece, names are already being circulated:

Judge Sonia Sotomayor (born 1954), U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. Sotomayor was nominated to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in a deal with New York senators in 1991 and elevated to the appeals court in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. She could become the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. Conservatives have raised questions about her role in upholding a decision by the city of New Haven, Conn., to throw out a firefighter promotions test because no African Americans qualified. The case is now before the Supreme Court.

Judge Diane Wood (born 1950), U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Wood worked at the antitrust division of the Justice Department during the Clinton administration, and she was nominated to the appeals court by Clinton in 1995. She knows Obama from her days as a professor at the University of Chicago law school, where he also taught. Wood, who will turn 60 next year, is the oldest of the candidates frequently mentioned for the court, where the trend has been toward younger justices who would serve for years in the lifetime appointment.

Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw (born 1954), U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Wardlaw worked for the Clinton Justice Department transition team and was nominated by Clinton as a federal judge in 1995, then elevated to the appeals court in 1998. She is a liberal judge on the nation's most liberal appeals court, and she also had a role in a case now before the Supreme Court. She wrote the appeals court decision that said Arizona school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old middle school student who was strip-searched in an unsuccessful effort to find drugs.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan (born 1960). Kagan was confirmed by the Senate to her new job in March on a 61-31 vote and has yet to argue a case at the court. Her confirmation process was more difficult than some had predicted, as Republican senators accused her of avoiding their questions. In the background was the thought that Kagan might be Obama's first nominee to the court. She is the former dean of the Harvard Law School, worked in the Clinton administration and worked with Obama, although not closely, at the University of Chicago.

Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears (born 1955). Sears was appointed by then-governor Zell Miller in 1992 and later became the first woman elected in a contested statewide race there. In 2005, she became chief justice, and in the process, became the first African-American woman in the nation to head a state supreme court. Although her current term runs until the end of 2010, Sears has announced she will step down from the job at the end of June.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (born 1959). Granholm (D) has encountered political trouble in her state because of the collapsing economy but was seen as a rising Democratic star. Born in Canada, Granholm is a Harvard Law graduate who served as attorney general before winning election as governor in 2002. She frequently campaigned with Obama during the presidential campaign.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (born 1956). Patrick (D) worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and served as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Clinton Justice Department, 1994 before becoming a corporate lawyer. He was elected governor in 2006 and has had a rocky time in the job, but he is well-liked in the civil rights community.

Judge Ruben Castillo (born 1954), U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Castillo is a former assistant U.S. attorney for Chicago and was counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. He was nominated to the bench by Clinton in 1994.

Kathleen Sullivan (born 1955). Sullivan is a constitutional scholar and former dean of Stanford Law School who has been an active advocate for abortion rights and gay rights. She more recently has represented business interests before the court and remains director of Stanford's Constitutional Law Center.

Harold Hongju Koh (born 1954). Koh is dean of the Yale University Law School but has been nominated by Obama to be legal adviser to the State Department. He formerly worked in the Office of Legal Counsel and as an assistant secretary of state. His current nomination is under fire from conservatives who criticize his view on international law and its applicability to U.S. judicial decisions.

This is of course not a complete list, National Journal as well as other media sources out there have other names. One thing they do seem to agree on though is that Sotomayor could have problems if she is the one selected and if nothing else? Has a target on her back already...

Blogging outdoors...

We spent some of today cleaning off the back deck here with the idea of being able to use it again now that winter is over and the grilling season is almost officially here. We used the grill last weekend when it was almost 80 degrees outside. I'm envisioning blogging outside, sitting there on my nice outdoor cushions with my laptop and enjoying the weather. That way I can work on my tan and work on my blogs at the same time.

:-)

Words that make my head swim...

I realize I should and could probably do more to market my blogs, which will make some of you laugh especially related to this one since lately things have been so hectic with local politics that I'm behind here, but I know I could do more. Yet when I read terms like, conversion rate optimization it makes me think of stats and other details that are complicated. I know it's easier than it sounds but I do the same thing when I'm looking at my analytics for my blogs, I see where I can set goals and follow my conversation rate and I just say...okay, people are reading, good.

:-)