Bits and Pieces

I've sort of been out of action this week. There have been some topics on my mind so I'm going to do it all in one post!

"God Bless the USA"
On "American Idol" this week, contestant Kristy Lee Cook sang "God Bless the USA." The judges loved it but the next day the media and critics trashed it. Why? Because they said she sang a patriotic song full of schmaltz and flag waving lyrics and she tried to make people vote for her by singing a song about America. They found it deplorable and they ripped the song apart.
Typical liberal media - if you sing a song about America it's a horrible song, horrible lyrics and nothing more than flag waving.
I'm going to guess if she sang a Green Day song bashing President Bush or sang a Dixie Chicks song ripping on the U.S., they would have loved it.
If you made a song in this country that says the U.S. is the devil, you win a Grammy. If you write a song about America and being proud of it, you're the worst person in the world.

Forest Lake High School
This week in Forest Lake Minnesota, a military group was supposed to give a speech at the high school to social studies classes. The group consists of Iraq war veterans and they go around the country talking about their experiences and what is going on in Iraq.
Well that speech never happened because some anti-war hippies started calling the high school threatening to protest if the speech happened. The event was moved to a local Legion and high schoolers could go if they wanted, and many did.
Now the anti-war zealots are saying how this group has a political purpose and how they were going to talk about why we should stay in Iraq. The group has acknowledged that they are in favor of the war and carrying out the mission, but they said their speech in the school would not include these views and instead would just talk about their military experience and what is going on in Iraq.
What's amusing is how Democrats throw a fit over a military group coming to speak because they think it's "political" but there is no problem with teaching only evolution, allowing teachers to spout their political opinions in the classroom, requiring kids to learn sex education and how to use a condom earlier and earlier every year, teaching about global warming even though it's not a proven fact, and inserting materials in social studies text books about 9/11 showing why we have to understand why Arabs might be mad at us, i.e. what America has done "wrong." All of these are political situation yet all are allowed in the public school system.
But you try and bring some military members in to talk and they get shown the door. God forbid you let students listen to real heroes compared to watching celebrities.

Oh, and yesterday some local idiots held a protest outside a military recruiting office. You know the type - where they lock themselves up so no one can get in.
Ya, always smart to prevent people from joining the military. You wouldn't want to prevent people from signing up for a service that protects your rights to PROTEST!!!

Conservatives v. Liberals and Charity
Conservatives are always painted as rich, arrogant snobs who don't care about anyone but themselves and their pocketbooks. Liberals are portrayed as caring and sensitive and always willing to help people out. Well here's some stats from a George Will column that shoot that down:

- Liberal families' imcomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative familes;
- Conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227);
- Residents of the state that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George W. Bush;
- Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average;
- In the 10 reddest states the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states donated just 1.9 percent.
- People who reject the idea that "government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality" give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.
- Al Gore gave .2 percent of his family income, one-seventh of the average for donating households.

But the theory of the Democrats is that Gore "gave at the office." In other words he used public office to give other peoples' money to government programs.

Presidential Candidates Traveling
Sen. John McCain has come under criticism recently for taking trips overseas at taxpayer expense. Those opposed to it think he's wasting taxpayer money for his presidential campaign. Normally I would agree that excessive travel is unnecessary for politicians, however in this case I think it's somewhat justified. And not just for McCain, but for any top presidential candidate.

I'm not saying that last year every candidate should have been doing the same thing. But I think when you get down to the final two (or in this case three) candidates, it's important that they know what's going on in the world. These candidates could be working with foreign leaders in less than a year. Personally I'd like it if they knew what was going on in the world and who the other leaders are. That way they can get to working with them right away and skip all the introductions!!
McCain has done it, Hillary has done it. But Obama? Nothing. No foreign travel. Just goes along with his lack of experience in any area if you ask me.