Okay, so I've always considered myself pretty liberal, but there are some things that continue to bother me, maybe it's because of my age. One of them is how obsessed we've become about safety and harm to children, and I'm not talking about anything extreme. As a child I rode a bicycle, climbed on things, fell off of things, and often just hurt myself in the process of playing. I did this in a mostly unsupervised environment, and also in a very small town, so I do understand that small-town life 50 years ago doesn't necessarily compare compare to big town life today. When I would come home with a busted up knee or scraped whatever, my parents would say something along the lines of 'get over it' and provide bandages and some hydrogen peroxide of course. Iodine was the big big bad thing in those days.. They never insisted that I add elbow, knee, wrist or head pads or anything else to prevent me from ever experiencing any pain at all.  Neither myself or any of my friends ever died from any of these apparently very dangerous activities. I also never won a trophy for simply showing up for an event.
I'm a big believer in having positive self-esteem, but I also believe that you have to fall down a few times along the way and scuff a knee or something in order to gain that self-esteem. If you tell a child to not touch the stove because it's hot, he won't necessarily understand that concept, until unfortunately he finally touches the stove. For me it wasn't the stove, it was electrical outlets. I was always fascinated by all things electrical and I tried to fix things around the house. That meant that sooner or later I got shocked more than once. I learned pretty quickly how to ask my father to turn off the breaker before I tried to fix anything around the house. He never realized that sometimes I actually broke things around the house just so I could try to fix them. That's a story for another day.
I guess my point is, we all have to make mistakes in order to learn how to not make mistakes. Beyond that when we prevent our children from experiencing anything, we might be preventing them from learning anything.
But that's just my two cents.

Paul Begala: It’s Time to Defund Kentucky - The Daily Beast

This is an awesome article! A fantastic example of the massive hypocrisy that is the modern GOP.

Paul Begala: It’s Time to Defund Kentucky - The Daily Beast

Could Sex Offender Sink Tim Pawlenty? - The Daily Beast

Could Sex Offender Sink Tim Pawlenty? - The Daily Beast

There goes the "Tough on Crime" campaign ads....

BBC News - Jury convicts Tom DeLay in money laundering case

BBC News - Jury convicts Tom DeLay in money laundering case

Yee haw!!

Who would've thought that a jury in Texas would be able to see through all of the maneuvering and do the right thing. It'll be interesting to see how the sentencing phase goes...

Bristol Palin Lost Dancing with the Stars: Her Family's New Drama - The Daily Beast

Bristol Palin Lost Dancing with the Stars: Her Family's New Drama - The Daily Beast

Ugh.

There are, apparently, a large number of people who would actually like to see this group of whackos in the White House as our First Family. As if we didn't get into enough trouble when we elected the 'folksy' fella from Texas!

I'm a pretty smart guy. When it comes time to elect somebody I really do my best to support the smartest person available! It's an almost impossible job, leading a country as complex as ours. Can somebody please explain to me why a significant number of people really want this half-crazed soccer mom to be President!

Part of me wants to see her win the GOP nomination if only to bear witness to the most comical election in US history. It would seem the very best way to keep Obama in office. But what if she won?

Ugh.

Pro Life? Or is Pro Birth More Appropriate?

I can't believe I'm making my first blog post about such a crazy subject.  Any who know me however, will believe this and not even at an eye.

Whatever!  My name is Dave.  I'm 40-odd and live in the DFW area.   I'm a lefty living in the Land of Bush so I don't run into a wide range of diverging opinions about things like this.  

As a man I feel like I shouldn't even have a toe in the debate.  After all, I'll never have to wrestle with the turmoil a woman must go through. I'll go so far as to say that its a poor form of birth control.  But condoms break, the pill is only 99% effective, etc.  So clearly that makes me Pro Choice.  But I can't help noticing a few things that have always confused me:

• Why are the vast majority of Pro-Life activists I see really old, really male or both?  I mean, they're in no real danger of becoming pregnant, so what's the problem?   
• How can a country that supposedly separates Church and State justify legislating reproductive rights in any way whatsoever?  I mean, it seems to me that a good lawyer could challenge any abortion legislation on First Amendment grounds.  Then challenge the Court itself for the same thing... 
• Say we make it illegal again.  Who goes to jail?  Doctor, Mother or both?
• And here's the biggest question I have which, by the way, I've never heard any Lifer address:  What do we do with all the kids?!??  It seems like most of the debate ends as soon as the little rug-rat gasps its first breath.  Its like the assumption is made that these un-wanted children will be joyfully embraced by their parents and live a long happy life behind the picket fence.  Uh, no.  Many if not most will end up in the System.  That System that most of these same people want to gut even more than they already are.  Adoption?  Sure, at least for a few.  You know, the ones that aren't addicted or premature or not quite the right color.  Where do the rest go?? And who pays for it, you conservatives?? 

OK, maybe that was a touch on the controversial side for a first post.  Future posts may be political, or musical, or comedical.  Hope you follow along!

Dave