Apparently, our router somehow went on the fritz a couple days ago, so they had to reset it... and ta da! It works!
So, as I waited patiently for my broken router to be returned to me yesterday, I hear the doorbell ring. I jump up in anticipation and open the door... to a Japanese couple? Handing out... "Draw Close to Jehovah"...
Good God. I'm living in JAPAN and I have JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES at my door. What kind of warped dimension am I in right now?
So I listen to their little spiel and take the book. She said she'll check back in a few weeks so we can discuss the 'points'... HA.
I flipped through it for amusement and pretty much laughed my ass off. One page drew my interest in particular. It has a picture of a full moon (obviously quite central to the Wiccan faith) with the caption "The moon is called a faithful witness, but only intelligent living creatures can truly reflect Jehovah's loyalty." Hmmm... I just don't understand why this isn't considered a cult. They have all these pictures of white men in business suits with briefcases talking to the 'downtrodden'... and they're all old, children, or some stereotypyical 'ethnicity'.
If they do come back, I'm going to give them Scott Cunningham's "The Truth About Witchcraft" and ask them to read IT since I read their little publication. It's a wonderful little (and I do mean little... 56 pages and only 7" tall) book I picked up at Peace of Mind a couple years back for like 50 cents. I wonder what they'll say. I'm not normally pro proselytization, but they came to my door. It's only right that I reciprocate, right?
Edit: Yes, I still respect everyone's right to any faith. Don't go attacking me for mine.
So, as I waited patiently for my broken router to be returned to me yesterday, I hear the doorbell ring. I jump up in anticipation and open the door... to a Japanese couple? Handing out... "Draw Close to Jehovah"...
Good God. I'm living in JAPAN and I have JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES at my door. What kind of warped dimension am I in right now?
So I listen to their little spiel and take the book. She said she'll check back in a few weeks so we can discuss the 'points'... HA.
I flipped through it for amusement and pretty much laughed my ass off. One page drew my interest in particular. It has a picture of a full moon (obviously quite central to the Wiccan faith) with the caption "The moon is called a faithful witness, but only intelligent living creatures can truly reflect Jehovah's loyalty." Hmmm... I just don't understand why this isn't considered a cult. They have all these pictures of white men in business suits with briefcases talking to the 'downtrodden'... and they're all old, children, or some stereotypyical 'ethnicity'.
If they do come back, I'm going to give them Scott Cunningham's "The Truth About Witchcraft" and ask them to read IT since I read their little publication. It's a wonderful little (and I do mean little... 56 pages and only 7" tall) book I picked up at Peace of Mind a couple years back for like 50 cents. I wonder what they'll say. I'm not normally pro proselytization, but they came to my door. It's only right that I reciprocate, right?
Edit: Yes, I still respect everyone's right to any faith. Don't go attacking me for mine.
My husband and I celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend... in the spirit of old married couples everywhere, we did nothing crazy. We had a few cocktails at home, enjoyed each other's company, and played board games and WoW... there are no losers in WoW. Just good, old-fashioned killing monsters followed by the traditional celebration of ale and drunken dueling. I lost at Backgammon (and took it very poorly 
), but I kicked his ass all over the place in Scrabble and, after all, THAT takes actual skill... 
I'd like to draw attention to my brilliant use of "Abjure" in the lower left-hand corner. You know nerding out is hot! 
), but I kicked his ass all over the place in Scrabble and, after all, THAT takes actual skill... I'd like to draw attention to my brilliant use of "Abjure" in the lower left-hand corner. You know nerding out is hot! As a response to my State of the Union blog (which I also posted on MySpace), a website was posted. View it here. Just because I am a conservative does not mean I am not open to differing opinions and friendly debate. I greatly encourage all people to get all the facts and decide for themselves what they believe. Here is my response to this site, also posted on MySpace:
"I applaud you for actually caring about the State of the Union at all, especially since you take the time to figure out what was over-stated fact. Still, the majority of what he said IS fact. Yes, according to that website you posted, there are manipulations of statistics, but are you implying that Bush is the only one to ever do so? The only president to ever do so? As an educated American, I read statistics with a reasonable margin of error as well as a bias in the favor of the user of said statistics.
There is no mention in that article of the fact that Bush's presidency had been one of war. How is the United States military to fight a war without additional spending? This has happened historically in all war-times, not just under President Bush.
I don't see what the objection is to his description of the No Child Left Behind Act. If a president is held responsible for all the negative things to happen suring his time in office, does he not also get to take credit for the good? More liberal hypocrisy...
Note: I don't really mean this as a personal attack on you, per se, more as a response to the website's various points."
I have left it unedited, so I'm sure you fine, intelligent readers can figure out that I'm talking to the initial poster of the website... on a related note, I don't even know this person (she's a friend of a friend apparently), so I was taken aback that she felt the need to reply to my blog... glad I finally found subject matter to pique such curiosity. ^_^
"I applaud you for actually caring about the State of the Union at all, especially since you take the time to figure out what was over-stated fact. Still, the majority of what he said IS fact. Yes, according to that website you posted, there are manipulations of statistics, but are you implying that Bush is the only one to ever do so? The only president to ever do so? As an educated American, I read statistics with a reasonable margin of error as well as a bias in the favor of the user of said statistics.
There is no mention in that article of the fact that Bush's presidency had been one of war. How is the United States military to fight a war without additional spending? This has happened historically in all war-times, not just under President Bush.
I don't see what the objection is to his description of the No Child Left Behind Act. If a president is held responsible for all the negative things to happen suring his time in office, does he not also get to take credit for the good? More liberal hypocrisy...
Note: I don't really mean this as a personal attack on you, per se, more as a response to the website's various points."
I have left it unedited, so I'm sure you fine, intelligent readers can figure out that I'm talking to the initial poster of the website... on a related note, I don't even know this person (she's a friend of a friend apparently), so I was taken aback that she felt the need to reply to my blog... glad I finally found subject matter to pique such curiosity. ^_^
THE STATE OF THE UNION
These are merely quotes taken from the speech given by the President. To see it in its entirety, go here.
"Our citizens don't care which side of the aisle we sit on, as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when work needs to be done."
I hope that we all remember this as we move forward into the next two years. Bush is still the President. The Democrats have the majority in Congress. If anything is going to be accomplished, EVERYone is going to have to compromise.
"We're now in the 41st month of uninterrupted job growth... this economy is on the move and our job is to keep it that way. Not with more government, but with more enterprise."
I never seem to hear the good statistics... hmmm, could be because of the horribly liberal media. ^_^
"We must balance the federal budget. We can do so without raising taxes (huge cheer from crowd). We set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009 and we met that goal three years ahead of schedule."
Again, Bush has done GOOD? You never would have thought...
"Over 90 percent of earmarks never make it to the floor of the House and Senate -- they are dropped into committee reports that are not even part of the bill that arrives on my desk. You didn't vote them into law. I didn't sign them into law. Yet, they're treated as if they have the force of law. The time has come to end this practice. So let us work together to reform the budget process, expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress, and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half by the end of this session."
Hell yes. This issue has been painted as the "Republican" menace. As if the national debt were created by our terrible, evil big business plans.
"In all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors."
Hear hear! And how will we address this? Read on!
"And so tonight, I propose two new initiatives to help more Americans afford their own insurance. First, I propose a standard tax deduction for health insurance that will be like the standard tax deduction for dependents. Families with health insurance will pay no income on payroll tax -- or payroll taxes on $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $7,500 of their income. With this reform, more than 100 million men, women, and children who are now covered by employer-provided insurance will benefit from lower tax bills. At the same time, this reform will level the playing field for those who do not get health insurance through their job. For Americans who now purchase health insurance on their own, this proposal would mean a substantial tax savings -- $4,500 for a family of four making $60,000 a year. And for the millions of other Americans who have no health insurance at all, this deduction would help put a basic private health insurance plan within their reach. Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making health care affordable for more Americans."
You can't see it, but I'm doing a happy dance.
"We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity and without amnesty."
NO AMNESTY. If you came here "illegally", that's still breaking the law and no, you are not going to miraculously get citizenship overnight. Yes, we know you're a part of our economy. That's why we have legal routes to guest worker programs. Again, that's LEGAL routes.
"Tonight, I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years."
But I thought the Republicans hated the environment? Heh.
"The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the world. And so long as that's the case, America is still a nation at war. In the mind of the terrorist, this war began well before September the 11th, and will not end until their radical vision is fulfilled. Take almost any principle of civilization, and their goal is the opposite. They preach with threats, instruct with bullets and bombs, and promise paradise for the murder of the innocent. Our enemies are quite explicit about their intentions. They want to overthrow moderate governments, and establish safe havens from which to plan and carry out new attacks on our country. By killing and terrorizing Americans, they want to force our country to retreat from the world and abandon the cause of liberty. They would then be free to impose their will and spread their totalitarian ideology. Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us............ In the sixth year since our nation was attacked, I wish I could report to you that the dangers had ended. They have not. And so it remains the policy of this government to use every lawful and proper tool of intelligence, diplomacy, law enforcement, and military action to do our duty, to find these enemies, and to protect the American people."
Remember this always. They haven't forgotten and neither should we. Just because they haven't succeeded in another massive strike against the U.S. recently is no reason to think that the threat is gone.
"In the last two years, we've seen the desire for liberty in the broader Middle East -- and we have been sobered by the enemy's fierce reaction. In 2005, the world watched as the citizens of Lebanon raised the banner of the Cedar Revolution, they drove out the Syrian occupiers and chose new leaders in free elections. In 2005, the people of Afghanistan defied the terrorists and elected a democratic legislature. And in 2005, the Iraqi people held three national elections, choosing a transitional government, adopting the most progressive, democratic constitution in the Arab world, and then electing a government under that constitution. Despite endless threats from the killers in their midst, nearly 12 million Iraqi citizens came out to vote in a show of hope and solidarity that we should never forget."
I'm still in awe of the media's quickness to discount all the positive reaction to the new government options the people of the Middle East been given and have taken for themselves.
"If American forces step back before Baghdad is secure, the Iraqi government would be overrun by extremists on all sides. We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country -- and in time, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict. For America, this is a nightmare scenario. For the enemy, this is the objective. Chaos is the greatest ally -- their greatest ally in this struggle. And out of chaos in Iraq would emerge an emboldened enemy with new safe havens, new recruits, new resources, and an even greater determination to harm America."
Believe it. Terrorism is not going to just 'go away' if we close our eyes and plug our ears.
"This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk.Whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field, and those on their way.......... We didn't drive al Qaeda out of their safe haven in Afghanistan only to let them set up a new safe haven in a free Iraq."
My own husband will be deployed at some point. I am behind this war and so is he. What right do the media pulpits sitting pretty in Washington have to bash it?
"The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran, and made it clear that the world will not allow the regime in Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons. With the other members of the Quartet -- the U.N., the European Union, and Russia -- we're pursuing diplomacy to help bring peace to the Holy Land, and pursuing the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security."
I hadn't heard us titled the Quartet yet... just thought it was an interesting historical point.
"A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. It would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time."
I find this infinitely intriguing. I will be interested to see how this comes about. How many civilians are willing to help win this war?
"American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger and poverty and disease -- and that is precisely what America is doing. Because you funded our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the number of people receiving life-saving drugs has grown from 50,000 to more than 800,000 in three short years."
More positive statistics. I choose to believe that the State of the Union is strong, as the President says. I choose to believe in the good of the American people. I choose to believe in our government and our purpose. I choose to stand behind our military and its actions in Iraq and elsewhere in the world. I choose hope. I choose freedom.
These are merely quotes taken from the speech given by the President. To see it in its entirety, go here.
"Our citizens don't care which side of the aisle we sit on, as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when work needs to be done."
I hope that we all remember this as we move forward into the next two years. Bush is still the President. The Democrats have the majority in Congress. If anything is going to be accomplished, EVERYone is going to have to compromise.
"We're now in the 41st month of uninterrupted job growth... this economy is on the move and our job is to keep it that way. Not with more government, but with more enterprise."
I never seem to hear the good statistics... hmmm, could be because of the horribly liberal media. ^_^
"We must balance the federal budget. We can do so without raising taxes (huge cheer from crowd). We set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009 and we met that goal three years ahead of schedule."
Again, Bush has done GOOD? You never would have thought...
"Over 90 percent of earmarks never make it to the floor of the House and Senate -- they are dropped into committee reports that are not even part of the bill that arrives on my desk. You didn't vote them into law. I didn't sign them into law. Yet, they're treated as if they have the force of law. The time has come to end this practice. So let us work together to reform the budget process, expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress, and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half by the end of this session."
Hell yes. This issue has been painted as the "Republican" menace. As if the national debt were created by our terrible, evil big business plans.
"In all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors."
Hear hear! And how will we address this? Read on!
"And so tonight, I propose two new initiatives to help more Americans afford their own insurance. First, I propose a standard tax deduction for health insurance that will be like the standard tax deduction for dependents. Families with health insurance will pay no income on payroll tax -- or payroll taxes on $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $7,500 of their income. With this reform, more than 100 million men, women, and children who are now covered by employer-provided insurance will benefit from lower tax bills. At the same time, this reform will level the playing field for those who do not get health insurance through their job. For Americans who now purchase health insurance on their own, this proposal would mean a substantial tax savings -- $4,500 for a family of four making $60,000 a year. And for the millions of other Americans who have no health insurance at all, this deduction would help put a basic private health insurance plan within their reach. Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making health care affordable for more Americans."
You can't see it, but I'm doing a happy dance.
"We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity and without amnesty."
NO AMNESTY. If you came here "illegally", that's still breaking the law and no, you are not going to miraculously get citizenship overnight. Yes, we know you're a part of our economy. That's why we have legal routes to guest worker programs. Again, that's LEGAL routes.
"Tonight, I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years."
But I thought the Republicans hated the environment? Heh.
"The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the world. And so long as that's the case, America is still a nation at war. In the mind of the terrorist, this war began well before September the 11th, and will not end until their radical vision is fulfilled. Take almost any principle of civilization, and their goal is the opposite. They preach with threats, instruct with bullets and bombs, and promise paradise for the murder of the innocent. Our enemies are quite explicit about their intentions. They want to overthrow moderate governments, and establish safe havens from which to plan and carry out new attacks on our country. By killing and terrorizing Americans, they want to force our country to retreat from the world and abandon the cause of liberty. They would then be free to impose their will and spread their totalitarian ideology. Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us............ In the sixth year since our nation was attacked, I wish I could report to you that the dangers had ended. They have not. And so it remains the policy of this government to use every lawful and proper tool of intelligence, diplomacy, law enforcement, and military action to do our duty, to find these enemies, and to protect the American people."
Remember this always. They haven't forgotten and neither should we. Just because they haven't succeeded in another massive strike against the U.S. recently is no reason to think that the threat is gone.
"In the last two years, we've seen the desire for liberty in the broader Middle East -- and we have been sobered by the enemy's fierce reaction. In 2005, the world watched as the citizens of Lebanon raised the banner of the Cedar Revolution, they drove out the Syrian occupiers and chose new leaders in free elections. In 2005, the people of Afghanistan defied the terrorists and elected a democratic legislature. And in 2005, the Iraqi people held three national elections, choosing a transitional government, adopting the most progressive, democratic constitution in the Arab world, and then electing a government under that constitution. Despite endless threats from the killers in their midst, nearly 12 million Iraqi citizens came out to vote in a show of hope and solidarity that we should never forget."
I'm still in awe of the media's quickness to discount all the positive reaction to the new government options the people of the Middle East been given and have taken for themselves.
"If American forces step back before Baghdad is secure, the Iraqi government would be overrun by extremists on all sides. We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country -- and in time, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict. For America, this is a nightmare scenario. For the enemy, this is the objective. Chaos is the greatest ally -- their greatest ally in this struggle. And out of chaos in Iraq would emerge an emboldened enemy with new safe havens, new recruits, new resources, and an even greater determination to harm America."
Believe it. Terrorism is not going to just 'go away' if we close our eyes and plug our ears.
"This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk.Whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field, and those on their way.......... We didn't drive al Qaeda out of their safe haven in Afghanistan only to let them set up a new safe haven in a free Iraq."
My own husband will be deployed at some point. I am behind this war and so is he. What right do the media pulpits sitting pretty in Washington have to bash it?
"The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran, and made it clear that the world will not allow the regime in Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons. With the other members of the Quartet -- the U.N., the European Union, and Russia -- we're pursuing diplomacy to help bring peace to the Holy Land, and pursuing the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security."
I hadn't heard us titled the Quartet yet... just thought it was an interesting historical point.
"A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. It would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time."
I find this infinitely intriguing. I will be interested to see how this comes about. How many civilians are willing to help win this war?
"American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger and poverty and disease -- and that is precisely what America is doing. Because you funded our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the number of people receiving life-saving drugs has grown from 50,000 to more than 800,000 in three short years."
More positive statistics. I choose to believe that the State of the Union is strong, as the President says. I choose to believe in the good of the American people. I choose to believe in our government and our purpose. I choose to stand behind our military and its actions in Iraq and elsewhere in the world. I choose hope. I choose freedom.
