Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 7, 2009

And we reach another Tuesday night. I apologize for not being around much this week. Or at least I offer a minimalist apology. I don’t have the access to be able to get in here much. Even if I was Bill Gates and wanted to spend the money to be on here constantly, I simply don’t have the time with my travels. Mrs. Weapon and I hiked about ten miles yesterday into the Alaskan wilderness. We were back out this morning around 7:00 and took to the Yukon. Quite a trip thus far. I will paste in a picture from this evening as we were leaving this particular area. In about 7 hours, we will be hitting Tracy’s Arm Fjord. We will be out wildlife hunting. The area is chock full of Grizzly Bears, Bald Eagles, and Moose. Looking forward to seeing some of each (although not too close to the Bears). But what’s on everyone’s mind in terms of current events?

Operating With No Net

Greetings to all from the Pacific Ocean. As I write this I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska. I decided I had to go up and have a talk with Sarah about this whole “resigning” business. This has left me with very few options for writing unfortunately. I was finally able to get some semblance of news this afternoon and included in it was a clip from an interview with the Vice President on the new State Broadcasting Channel (ABC). I was just listening waiting for the obligatory “We need a Second Bailout” when he was discussing the economy. Instead he dropped a line that, in my opinion, epitomizes today’s political moves and the idiots that make them.

Making Nationalized Health Care MANDATORY…

I wanted to write tonight but I have found that perparing for my trip after a long day of work is proving more time consuming that I had intended. So rather than leaving you all with nothing, I decided that I would post the article that I was planning to write about this evening. Starting to see bills like this pop up really bothers me and worries me at the same time. It seems that the Senate has decided that not only will Congress plan on making national health care a reality, they will also work to make it a punishable crime to decide that you don’t want coverage at all. As I said, little time this evening so this is the article exactly as it appeared. I will try to find time while traveling tomorrow to jump in and add my thoughts.

How Do We Stop Legislative Madness?

I was watching Glenn Beck’s (Yes I know some of you have issue with him, but he is entertaining) video about the cap and trade legislation this evening and he was railing against the pork that was put into the bill at the last minute. And this got me steaming again on this topic and I decided that I wanted to discus the subject with everyone and figure out how we can begin to curb this practice in the US Congress. We have discussed the idea before, but we need to really start figuring out how we can stop it. The common practice has become to add pork to legislation in order to get people to vote for a bill that they would otherwise not vote for. And it is ridiculous and, in my opinion, criminal. And the fact that members of Congress simply smile and tell us that this is just part of doing business in Washington pisses me off to no end. Is this the Hope and Change that everyone voted for? Because it seems like it is nothing but more of the same with a dose of HGH…

Tuesday Night Open Mic for Jun 30, 2009

Another Tuesday night Open Mic. We have had some interesting discussions already this week. Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor seemed to be a topic that got some people fired up and the ABC infomercial seemed to be a hot topic for everyone. But there are plenty of other topics out there that we have not yet touched on this week. So we will do the open mic thing, but I also wanted to let all of you know how the next couple of weeks are going to play out here at Stand Up For America. I know that many of you are eager to get back to the “Building a Foundation” series, and I promise that we are soon going to be getting back to that. The past couple of weeks have seen us covering some topics with each of you having the ability to apply what we discussed earlier in the series. And there will be some more of that coming soon.

Sotomayor Reversed Again…

The news seemed to be dominated today with the ruling from the Supreme Court in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano. This case, which originated in New Haven Connecticut, pitted a group of firefighters from New Haven against the city in the city’s decision to throw out the results of the promotion examination because of the lack of black firefighters who took the test that were able to gain the necessary score. The Supreme Court’s decision overturned the decision of the lower courts, including Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Republican lawmakers are pouncing on this decision as proof that she is an activist judge on the bench and not fit to become a member of the highest Court in the land.

ABC Changes Name Name to SBC…

Last Wednesday night we saw the official move by ABC to abandon their old moniker and adopt a new one. I have to admit I was a bit surprised that it was ABC that did it rather than MSNBC. The latter being so far in the liberal camp that it cannot even be considered a news source any longer. I was actually initially OK with the idea that ABC was going to give an hour long block of time to President Obama in order for him to tell America about his health care plan and why we have a crisis that only he can solve. After all, there is nothing wrong with him making his case. Where I lost my being OK with things was when they refused to allow any groups opposing Nationalized Health Care to buy advertising spots during the program or to be able to offer any sort of rebuttal or alternative ideas on the channel. It showed me that the America Broadcasting Company has officially changed into the State Broadcasting Company (SBC)….

A Response to Ray (and my other Critics)

Because of the view that I get of the comments that come into the site, I see what is posted in the order it was posted, not under whatever topic it is posted under. I know that many of you don’t always go back and read the past articles comments looking for new responses, and even if you wanted to, some of them have a long list of comments to look through. The other night I singled out Ray, stating that he “will label me a closet Republican who is serving a secret undercover agenda, possibly with the assistance of Dick Cheney and Sean Hannity”. To be fair, Ray, you have leveled claims somewhat to that effect at me, but I meant it as a joke. I did not mean it maliciously or as a jab at you, so I wanted to say that publicly and hope that you accept my apology if it offended you. But there is more for me to say here…

Friday Night Free-For-All

As I sat around this evening literally dejected over the results of the house vote on cap and tax, I was wondering to myself what this really means for you and I as we go forward in our worlds. I am going to touch on this briefly, at least offering what I think the next step will be. But in my true fashion for a Friday night where I don’t have a guest commentary ready to go, I am going to offer up something a little more substantive than I did the last time. Last time we had an open mic posted for Friday night. Tonight I am instead going to attempt to hit three separate topics, each of them quickly so that I don’t drone on forever. I will touch the bill passed today in the House, Michael Jackson and his legacy, and a strange case of the entitlement flu in the Black Democratic Caucus.

Strike While the Crisis is “Hot”

So I was perusing the news today while on my dinner break, reading about the South Carolina Governor Hoo Ha. I clicked back out to the main articles and delved into the articles about Ahmadenijad giving the US a stern verbal warning for interfering in their election process and governmental affairs (Did he even watch Obama’s press conference?). And low and behold I saw the article that would be the chosen topic for the day. The article was titled “Obama: Now Is the Time to Pass Climate Change Bill”. You guys know what I think of this whole man made global warming bullcrap. So I read the article to see what kind of bullcrap environmentalist rhetoric would be shared with us today. It turns out that this is a lot of more of the same, but we are already again seeing the terms crisis and imminent threat being throw around in regard to climate change. And I am not buying it even one little bit. Game on Mr. President.

Dual Issue Article

I was sitting here thinking about what I wanted to write about tonight and there were several issues that interested me that I was considering. The problem is that none of them were issues that were going to be enough to fill up an entire article for the night. I wanted to discuss Barney Franks and his return to the Bill O’Reilly arena this evening. It certainly interested me, especially after watching it twice. Another topic that caught my eye, especially in light of some of the health care discussions that have been happening on the site lately, was that of 50 Doctors and medical professionals indicted by the federal government for medicare fraud. Neither of these issues warranted a full article for me this evening, and I didn’t want to start researching something bigger knowing I have some long work days coming up. So I decided to do both of them…

Tuesday Night Open Mic for June 23

Wooo Hoooo. Flying through the week, we are. And a fun filled week it has shaped up to be thus far. Denouncing those who think the world should change so they don’t get their feelings hurt. Discussing the brewing issues happening in Iran right now. I saw a couple of other issues jump into those discussions so I will attempt to pull them into this thread so that they can be discussed. I appreciate everyone doing their best to keep the issues on topic within the threads and waiting to address different topics. There should be some interesting topics this week as my perusing the news out there reveals a lot of things that I have not covered. So let’s get this started….

Iran Showing Its True Colors

I admit to falling victim to a silly desire…. hope…. as the elections in Iran finally reached the day for citizens to cast ballots. I really believed there for a bit that the elections would accomplish two things. I thought they might actually remove Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from power and simultaneously show Iran to have progressed past the islamic theocracy that has gripped that nation in an iron fist of repression and kept the nation from advancing out of the middle ages. But those hopes were dashed with the returns coming in and a victor declared before the polls even closed. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected by a wide margin. My shoulders slumped just a little bit, and then I started reading all of the papers throughout the region and I realized that this election might actually be stolen, unlike the bogus claims from Algorians in 2000 (That’s right, I said it) …

The Death of Whiners and CryBabies

You know, I am a fairly blunt and straightforward guy. I tell it the way I see it. And while I do a pretty fair job, in my own humble opinion, of being a kinder and gentler USWeapon when discussing things on my blog, sometimes it is tough. You see…. I despise whining and crying and people getting their feelings hurt over something that they should not have any issue with. So while I intend to be ethical and moral in my foundations for a new way forward, I have determined that I will abandon those priciples when it comes to people’s feelings and political correctness. A USWeapon administration will abolish political correctness and move whining and being a crybaby up on the offense scale to the level of treason. Punishable by death. The American mentality shall be reinforced in Americans and the time for weakness is over.

North Korea Attempts to Gain Some Leverage

We arrive on a Friday night without a guest commentary ready to go. I know everyone is busy these days and that has led to folks not having the time to write articles for Stand Up For America. It’s OK. I am patient. Seriously though, I don’t have a commentary tonight so I am forced to subject all of you to yet another night of my rambling on and then spending the next day defending myself from claims of partisanship, ineptitude, and generally being a bad citizen. I have been following the situation with North Korea quite closely over the last several months. As a former resident of South Korea, I have a different perspective on all of this. I know I am not alone as I am sure there are others reading who have spent time in South Korea. In my opinion, the last couple of weeks have seen a dangerous increase in the rhetoric that is coming out of North Korea. I know they have always blown off at the mouth, but it feels different this time. So I am taking notice. I hope that those in the White House are noticing as well. 

When Rules are No Longer Rules

There has been a lot of huff and puff this week over the firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin. I have to admit that I am a little bothered by it myself. And I think I am justified in being so. Because to me, this is simply another example of the power in the White House being abused. I want to be clear here, I intentionally did not say Barack Obama abusing the power. He is simply the one doing it this time. There is a long history of those in power in this country feeling that the rules (even the ones that they themselves made) do not apply when they choose to not apply them. So this article may come across very anti-Obama by the time I am finished writing it, but I do not feel that this is something he alone has done. It was done by Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter…. as far back as you want to go. So I am well aware this is a systemic issue, not one that just this administration has. But I know that, regardless of that statement from me, there are going to be some folks who want to point out all that Bush did….

Differences in Sex Education Philosophy Part II

The discussion on Monday night’s part of of the sex education was lively and I felt as though there were a lot of points of view put out there but I didn’t feel as though the subject accomplished much in terms of productive discussion. I will put that on me for the way that I presented the issue, as it seemed as though I perhaps framed the issue a little too much. Not that I am not going to put my point of view out there mind you. The problem was that when it comes to the LGBT issues there are a lot of folks that simply have their mind made up because it is those issue and it kept us from getting into the part of the debate that I felt is most important…. and that is whether, or how much, we should allow sexual education topics to be taught in the classroom. 

Tuesday Night Open Mic for June 17

We come to another Open Mic day as it is already Tuesday night again! We had some interesting discussions again yesterday around the curriculum in today’s public schools and the day before on the current tactic on the left of linking psychopaths to the right in order to discredit their opinions. But today we open up the discussion board so that we can discuss all of the different topics that are out there that I have not been covering (I am, after all, just one man). I think that we will have some good topics this week. I have been watching the news boards and there are some interesting happenings in the world and in the USA. I am getting used to the open mic idea and now find that I see articles or things out there throughout the week and I make a note to add them into the open mic forum! So what topics are on the minds of my astute readers?

Differences in Sex Education Philosophy Part I

There was a bit of a debate on this subject in the guest commentary thread yesterday. I found that as I was reading it, I was wondering how much of what I believed about the subject was fact versus what I think I know. What better way to find out the facts than to do a little research and find out some of the truth on my own and present it to you. So I decided to do an article on this very subject. I have often been worried at the level of Sex Education being given to our children is not in line with the level should be. The results of America’s sex education programs are obviously not good, so where are we going wrong? Too much or too little sex education? Abstinence versus more comprehensive learnings? What about the seemingly earlier and earlier introduction of “alternative” lifestyle choices? Let’s take a closer look.

Blame it on the Rain… Or Rush… Or Coulter… Or…

Last week we saw yet another horrible act committed by a man that was obviously demented and mentally screwed in the head. He decided to walk into the National Holocaust Museum and begin shooting. He shot and killed a security guard before being shot himself by other guards at the site. The reaction from the main stream media has been, on several fronts, to link the killer to conservative causes and further to say that this deranged man was spurred on by conservative commentators such as Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O’Reilly. I find this “reporting” by the MSM despicable. Not only is it dishonest, and hateful, it is hypocritical. I have had just about as much of the liberal media as I can take at this point, and I have decided that I am going to continue to pound home the pieces of trash that they have become for as long as it takes.

Guest Commentary… A View on Education

We come to yet another Friday night with a guest commentary that is right in line with the discussions around public education that we have been having throughout the week. I think that education is a vitally important subject for us to be talking about. Those that we most disagree with in regard to our philosophy on freedom and liberty are the result of use of our public education system to indoctrinate our youth into the system and create a false understanding of the state and what it represents. Many of us here are finding, albeit later in life, that what we were told in school was less than 100% honest. If we are to get our country back to greatness, it begins with an in depth understanding of our public schools. Their purpose, their methods, and their failures. Only in understanding how much intent went into transforming the schools to help their cause can we start to understand how enormous the task is before us.

Continuation of Our Punishing the Wealthy Conversation

I felt that this was a really good discussion that unfolded on the open mic thread the other day so I was very interested in continuing it. Chris Devine was our antagonist for the day, and took a lot of flack for arguing his position. I appreciate his doing so as I think we are learning a lot from each other. I do ask that you all treat him with respect though. It isn’t easy facing down a whole group. During the day, someone was generous enough to send me an article that would help me to understand the left’s position a little better. I truly appreciated this person doing so, as it always helps to understand where people are coming from. As a result of reading the article that they sent, I decided that I would begin by addressing the article itself, as in my opinion, it was filled with false logic and reasoning. If this article provides any insight to the alternative viewpoint, I want to address it specifically and give those that oppose my point of view the opportunity to meet me and those who share my position on common ground, using the parts of the arguments that they themselves choose.

My Education Is Making Me Dumberer… Re-Hashed

So I spent far too long talking to some people tonight that I had neglected far too long. A good long discussion with Revolution2010, who’s current mad schedule robs us of her keen intelligent insight on this blog. And another with a good friend from school who I had missed for the last week or two. But that left me with very little time. As I write this it is already almost 4:00am. I was going to write an article tonight discussing economics, because there was some good discussion about it yesterday and I wanted to continue it. But I found that I didn’t have time to do the research I wanted to do in order to do that article. Therefore, that article will be tomorrow night’s post, and it should be good! So I have fallen back on an old article that I wrote in December. We had far fewer readers then (I think I got about 15 comments on that article. We got over 400 yesterday on open mic!). And I think that this is a good discussion that we need to re-hash and discuss. There should be far more insight into the topic now than there was then, so I look forward to that because it is a topic that I hold near and dear to my heart…. 

Tuesday Night… Open Mic Nights

Well, I was struggling with what night would become the official “open mic” night. It seems to me that Tuesday night is the perfect night for it. Middle of the week so that people are settled into the week. Two posts from me before it, and two posts after it leading up to guest commentary (which I am again running thin on!). So the idea here, just so that anyone who wasn’t part of the discussions leading up to open mic night, is that instead of throwing articles that are off topic into the discussions on other days, we save them for posting on this day. I know some of you read a lot and want to discuss a lot of different topics that I am not covering. This is the time for that. So jump in and discuss what people throw up here. And if there is an article or topic that you want to discuss, start a thread for it by replying to the main article. I look forward to the topics that you guys contribute!

Whatever is Yours… Is “Ours”

I had stated late last week that there would be an upcoming post on eminent domain, so this is where I make my stand on this subject. This issue reared its head lately in the form of the government threatening to use eminent domain in order to seize the land where Flight 93 crashed on 9/11. They are attempting to build a monument to the victims of Flight 93 and it is so important to do so that they are willing to TAKE the land if the owners of the properties in question do not agree to sell it to the US government. Now I am a patriot and all, and the “let’s roll” folks should be remembered for the decisions that they made on that plane in order to save other lives. However, I don’t see where the use of eminent domain in this case is warranted or legal. It is simply another example of where the government believes, in its heart of hearts, that whatever you possess, you only do so as long as they don’t want it.

The Argument For Action…

The other day, a couple of you offered up the thought that “the time for talk is over. The time for action is now.” I took the time to address it on a very minimal level, with the promise of dedicating a post to it tonight. So I am going to talk about what we are doing here. I am also going to discuss what other folks are doing and my thoughts on that. And most important, I am going to discuss a bit of the “doomsday” feeling that I see from some of the folks here, and why I think it is a little bit of an overreaction. There is a potential for trouble, for sure. But the political reality in America is akin to blaming Iran for acquiring a nuclear weapon instead of acknowledging that we wouldn’t have to care if we hadn’t done things to make them hate us in the first place. The problem lies in the system, not the Democrats. I will lead with the increasing feeling that doomsday is just around the corner…

No Guest Commentary… Open Mic

I have only one guest commentary piece written and ready to go. To be honest, I am simply not comfortable with it and therefore have decided not to use it at this point. It came to me from someone who does not post on this site regularly and has a fairly hostile tone. I don’t want anyone to think that I am censoring thought on this site. I normally would not choose this course of action. I consulted with several people and all agreed this was not a good post to use. It is simply too divisive and would serve no purpose for us here. If someone would like more of an explanation than that, please drop me a line. I instead have decided that I will have a second open mic night for the week. Normally this will only be one night a week, but I was unprepared. There is lots of news out there, so let’s discuss some of it. It has been jumping into the last couple of days in the discussions. I will start a few topics and let everyone go from there with any topics they might want to discuss…

Some Thoughts on Obama’s Muslim Outreach Program

I must admit that as I write this, I have a brain that has been a bit taxed this evening in some introspective thought as well as some challenging dialogue on philosophy and government. But I am bouncing back long enough to offer some thoughts on President Obama’s speech from Cairo. I have to admit that there were things that I liked and things that I did not like. I applaud that the President feels that the right thing to do is to go out and kiss and make up with the entire world. He is doing so in gripping fashion. I think it is a waste of time, and I further think that the time has come for a Democrat to man up. But I don’t imagine that is going to happen anytime soon, so let’s stick to the speech shall we?

Building a Foundation for Resurrecting America Part VI

So we begin tonight to get back into the philosophy discussions. However, tonight we offer a chance for everyone to do a little less “thinking” and a little more simple understanding. I know that many of you wonder exactly how Black Flag could have possibly ended up the way that he did. Heck, we all wonder such things. And that goes for myself and Just A Citizen, too. How did the three of us, who conspired to take you on the journey into philosophy in order to form a solid base, come to be the people that we are? Why does JAC think the way he does? Where did USW get that mentality from? All valid questions, and ones that we intend to answer…

Open Mic Comes a Bit Early

I really liked the idea of an open mic day each week. There are so many issues out there that I am not covering and that people are interested in. So I had decided that I was going to implement this idea…. in two weeks. However, as life is often not what we plan, I have found myself pre-disposed to some important things this evening and will not have the time to write. So the bad news is that I have no new article to present you all with this morning. The good news come on two fronts. The debate on yesterday’s topic seems to be raging and I would like it to continue to do so. And this allows me to do open mic night a week early, albeit without the warning that I had planned to give.