“Now that that [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary?” – John Kerry
Congressional Quarterly 1997, S3891.
At the time Kerry said this he was trying to cut intelligence funding by over $1 Billion spread out over the next 5 years. Funding would still have been in the process of being eliminated now at CIA and other government intelligence agencies as planes were flying into the WTC and the Pentagon about a mile and a half from where I work.
Obviously the intelligence agencies in our government weren’t working at 100% as it was…think how much further behind we’d be if Kerry had gotten his way in ‘97.
(Quote and data courtesy Indepundit)
I was reading an old internet chat with Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby and came across this quote in response to the query, “If you ran the state what would be the first thing you would change?”
First, a statue of Homer Simpson on Temple Square. Seriously, the guy has it all together. He’s an idiot hopelessly in love with his family. That’s the best anyone can hope for.
Amen! No man can have it better than that.
I know I promised some better pictures from the trip last weekend but I haven’t had a chance to get them converted and put up on the site. More phone pics have been posted below.
(secret message: the ring is on the way)
If you don’t understand the secret message above than it doesn’t apply to you and you don’t have to worry about it.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned on these pages anything about my new found love for the game of Texas Hold-em poker. Well…the Mannings are hooked. We even taught Lisa’s mom how to play which was a mistake. She took all our jellybeans.
Here are some pictures I took while playing poker in the dining car on the train back from New York.
Corryn enjoyed riding on the trains. Here she is looking back at her tired mom and dad through the seats in front of us on the Virginia Railway Express.
I love that she is so much fun. She had a great time in New York City and really enjoyed walking around the city even though it was very cold.
I think this would be fun. This guy flew over the english channel using a set of these wings. The military is planning on testing these for combat use. Cool.
Here is the perfect summation of the case for government involvement in Marriage and a defense for the idea that Marriage should retain its traditional meaning. All I can say is…I agree…and I admit that I may be wrong in some of the arguments I’ve made on this site. More later.
One argument being made in favor of same-sex marriage is that we should provide equal rights to marriage for gay people and straight people. Here is an insightful comment from Lt. Smash’s site that is such a simple answer to this argument that I’d overlooked it.
By not being able to marry, gays are not being denied any rights that I have. Listen carefully now… As a straight man, I am allowed to marry one woman. A gay man is allowed to marry one woman. As a straight man, I am not allowed to marry another man. A gay man is not allowed to marry another man. Therefore, WE ARE BOTH BEING TREATED EQUALLY UNDER THE LAW!!! It’s about individual rights.
An argument that resorts to common sense is a rarity in this debate.
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Read this. If Kerry’s track record is any indication of how he wants to run our nation’s foreign policy then we should all be concerned about the idea of him being our president. Where would we be now if all of his past votes had carried the day?
I’ve argued in the past that it would be good for everyone if the government got out of the business of legitimizing marriages. Check here for my full argument.
Here is one response from my friend Cody who disagrees. He’s an awesome friend who makes some excellent points.
So how exactly do you separate government from marriage?
After my law class, I don’t see how you do that. Marriage is law. Definitions of many crimes hang on that determination. That’s one of the first things a new institution usually does, birth/citizenship, death, and marriage claims. Without legal marriage, a woman can cheat on her husband time and time again, living a life without morals that would benefit children, and she would still probably get parental rights to those children.
It would be nice to separate the two, I can see your point, but that act of marriage is one that denotes a certain ensuing right to claim a family. I can see the problems it currently causes in the system, and I wish that gay groups would be willing to live with an equal, but different institution, it’s just that I’ve seen the opposite too, where nobody believes in marriage. That’s what scares me…not that gays will call themselves ‘married’, but that many others will begin to say, “Why marry?” Separate marriage from law, and we become like Argentina. I swear 80% of that country are ‘co-habitors’. A good portion of young men become animals under those circumstances, and women and children are left without a proper support system. That’s one small reason of many larger ones as to why I will be adopting internationally. I saw too many drunk ‘co-habitors’ sending their children to the store with the food stipend to buy alcohol. And if that child dare buy a sack of rice to stave his hunger, he would be beaten senseless upon returning home.
I believe there are probably other causes to the problems in a country like Argentina but I think that without a doubt the lack of a culture that values marriage is part of the problem.
We went to the Toys ‘R Us store on Times Square and saw this life size model of the mars probes made of legos. I liked it and took several camera phone pictures.
Really cool.
Some of the readers of this page know, either through experience as my roommates or as family members, that I snore. It is annoying and I’ve always been embarrassed about it. One roommate of mine wore ear plugs for a while…we never got to be good friends till he moved into a different room and didn’t have to deal with the snoring issue. I hate it because I know how miserable it is to try to sleep in the same room with someone who is snoring…but…well…what can I do?
It is worse when I have a cold…which is the case right now.
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I saw my first broadway show this afternoon. We wanted to go see the producers at the St. James theater.
Its a little hard to get tickets though so instead we saw Phantom of the Opera. It was excellent. Lisa’s seen it a couple times but I hadn’t. I’m glad we went. I’ve always wanted to see it.
I always had a dreams about meeting a hot chick on a train. I don’t know where they came from…but I sat by a hot chick on a train today! We are in New York City! High quality pictures will be posted when we are back home…until then you’ll all have to see crappy pictures from my phone.
I love reading blogs. Often I find myself lost in a sea of innanity but I still enjoy the journey.
Today I read this blog entry. It is a perfect example of a proper fisking (of this piece of trash in Sunday’s Washington Post)…and the comments on the entry are an extremely interesting discussion of the “tragedy of the commons”.
I love that discussions like this take place and that I have access to them. Five years ago this type of discussion only took place in academia or in obscure journals. Now I can find it easily just by checking out a few blogs…and anyone can contribute.
Sure there is a lot of crap out there…but it isn’t hard to find amazingly well thought out discussion. I love the blogosphere.
