CJ's Bullhorn

Thu, 04 Mar 2004 19:33:22 GMT

I'm Enlisting

[also posted to my LiveJournal account]

I’m enlisting in the war. No, it’s not what you think. It’s not that war, this is a war I believe in. This is a war that effects every American directly and personally. It’s not about oil, it’s about survival. It’s all about important issues like equal rights, religious freedom, protecting the environment, and keeping our jobs. It’s about working with the rest of the world, not against it.

It’s all about removing the thorn of BushCo from America’s side.

Already it is proving to be an interesting year. The gay marriage movement is gaining a surprising amount of steam. Just when some of us were fearing a backlash from the “big gay summer of 2003”, things just keep on changing for the better. Even though we’re told that the economy is improving, most of us are not seeing it. We’re informed politely that this is a “jobless recovery”, and that we should be glad, as we watch jobs disappear to overseas locations. Our environment continues to be raped and polluted by industrial giants, and our government does nothing to stop them (and often encourages it by relaxing standards and providing tax breaks).

Can Kerry defeat BushCo? Of course he can. While I’m disappointed that Dean didn’t do better, at this point, the Democrats could nominate Spongebob and I’d vote for him. The well being of our nation is at stake here. It’s promising that BushCo’s first campaign ads show prominantly the destruction of 9/11, something he promised he would not do. It’s just another reminder of the lying that has become so ingrained in this administration. I have faith that Americans will finally realize that BushCo’s entire term has been nothing but a strung-together series of lies. He took the events of 9/11 and instead of reaching out to the world in a time of need, he squandered this chance to unite the world against terrorism and instead used it as a personal excuse to attack Iraq again (never mind that Iraq was not connected to the events of 9/11).

I have already made a commitment to donate as much time and money as I can to rid our great nation of this traitor and charlatan. This is a pivotal election year: the future of our country is truly at stake. Please do all you can to help get America back on track.

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 19:55:37 GMT

CJ's Bullhorn Moving to LiveJournal?

I am tossing around the idea of moving this blog to LiveJournal. I just feel like I'm paying way too much for what I get here. The comment system hardly works, the client is painful (it just cleared out this post again because apparently I started typing too soon again, grrrr) and any sense of community here is pretty weak.

Going into the blog world, I didn't know what I was looking for, I only knew that I wanted to try it. Now I recognize a few aspects that I hate about the process, and it just seems that LiveJournal addresses many of those aspects. Plus, it was built on open source, which I think is pretty cool.

I have bought LiveJournal for 3 months ($5), to try it out, and I'm liking it a lot already. I can post from home effortlessly, too. And by e-mail and phone(?) too. One major thing missing at LiveJournal is the "blogrolling" concept, but there may be an equivalent I haven't discovered yet. Another missing aspect is the "referers" concept, but again I might not have discovered that feature yet.

What think you? Has anyone used LiveJournal and found it to be lacking? My LiveJournal page is here: http://www.livejournal.com/~mtnkodiak.

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 23:26:31 GMT

Score Another One for the Good Guys

For a while now, Wal-Mart has been trying to build one of their monstrosities 'over' an existing lake in nearby Arvada, CO. The city of Arvada was ready to just roll over on this (including juicy tax incentives for the retail giant) in the name of the almightly dollar. Somehow they were led to believe that Wal-Mart would actually bring money into their town. But through the work of local residents and media, they were blocked. Arvada city government was trying to condemn the lake so that Wal-Mart could easily move in over the land. A grassroots movement coined "Save the Lake" took hold, and as a result, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that "cities cannot declare a blighted urban renewal area cured, then condemn the land without holding a hearing to determine if the property has deteriorated".

Note that this is not necessarily over, but an attorney for Arvada's urban renewal authority indicates that they are inclined to accept the findings of the supreme court.

Go away Wal-Mart! Find another flock of sheep to prey on.

This was gleaned from the very informative Rocky Mountain Progressive Network blog. Lots more info there.

Thu, 26 Feb 2004 17:23:52 GMT

My new Jeep

I just realized that I hadn't blogged about my new Jeep Liberty Renegade. My old '91 Wrangler '4-banger' gave up the ghost in early February-- it wouldn't pass emissions (even after a tuneup + 2 bottles of isopropyl alcohol in the tank) and it leaked oil like a sieve. Even though I only had 98,000 miles on it, those miles were mostly in-town, so it was deceiving. And, I got many years out of it. But now I have a car payment again, which really blows, although with 0% interest, it's not so bad. It's blaaaaack, like my Wrangler was. [I have since removed the gaudy John Elway car dealership license plate adverts]

Tue, 24 Feb 2004 19:25:14 GMT

Mayor Daley sound bite on gay marriage

Just wanted to include this great quote from Chicago's mayor. He really nails the "Defense of Marriage" BS... Full article here. Chicago's mayor rocks!

"Marriage has been undermined by divorce, so don't tell me about marriage. You're not going to lecture me about marriage. People should look at their own life and look in their own mirror. Marriage has been undermined for a number of years if you look at the facts and figures on it. Don't blame the gay and lesbian, transgender and transsexual community. Please don't blame them for it."

-- Mayor Daley on the suggestion that gay marriage would somehow undermine the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, 2/18/2004

Tue, 24 Feb 2004 19:13:36 GMT

"In Defense of Biblical Marriage"

Isn't this what we're talking about here? Isn't BushCo trying to make US marriages adhere to biblical definitions? I acquired the following from a friend, the editor/writer is unknown to me. Seems like our president is fudging a bit here, but that's nothing new. The following is, as far as I know, accurate: I don't own a bible to verify this. One wonders if the first legalized divorce was that of an elected official. My guess would be "yes".

The Scriptures are verified with King James version - not a good one, but the fundies always use it.

In defense of Biblical Marriage

The Presidential Prayer Team is currently urging us to: "Pray for the President as he seeks wisdom on how to legally codify the definition of marriage. Pray that it will be according to Biblical principles. With any forces insisting on variant definitions of marriage, pray that God's Word and His standards will be honored by our government." This is true.

Any good religious person believes prayer should be balanced by action. So here, in support of the Prayer Team's admirable goals, is a proposed Constitutional Amendment codifying marriage entirely on biblical principles:

A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)

B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)

C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)

D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)

E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)

F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen.38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)

G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your father drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)

Mon, 23 Feb 2004 16:19:54 GMT

Anger Against Bush Growing Louder (Denver Post AP feed)

This is a good sign. From the article:

Political analysts say the intensity of the anti-Bush sentiment could translate into higher turnout by mobilizing the Democratic base. The possible pitfall for Democrats, however, is that strident anti-Bush rhetoric could turn off swing and independent voters who like Bush personally but might be convinced through reasoned argument that his policies are wrongheaded.

"Voters who like Bush personally"? I'm not even going to touch that one... Oh I can't resist... I think I could, at best, view George as a clueless and misled fellow, mostly harmless and well, pretty dull. That's if he was maybe a factory-line worker or maybe a fast food employee. But as President, I think he's an incredibly dangerous puppet!

In other political news, I participated in the moveon.org "walk in" last Thursday, by delivering a packet of petitions to Ben Nighthorse Campbell(R-Co) office. It was OK, but it seemed that I could have dome something with more impact-- a 2 minute activity merely delivering a packet to a bored secretary didn't really leave me feeling like I had any impact on anything. But as the presidential election gets nearer, I plan to be a lot more active.

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 16:49:11 GMT

More Evidence That BushCo's Losing Touch With Reality

"White House Wants More Funds For Abstinence Education" (TheDenverChannel.com)

BushCo is calling for double the current spending for abstinence-only education programs for teenagers. These programs do not even mention the existence of contraceptives. Mmmkay... Dark Ages here we come, ready or not!

I have come to the point where I will not even allow myself to envision Bush getting re-elected. I have decided to remain positive, and not to believe that re-election is an option. I think now it's the only way I can even approach the topic of US politics. Once the Dems figure out who they're sending, then I can get behind the candidate and start my pushing, pushing, pushing. It's gonna be a long slog.