There has been a lot of talk recently about our involvement in the war in the Middle East and which of our candidates would be best in handling it. Yesterday the media launched news that the American voters actually prefer John McCain over Barack Obama on this issue, stating that he has more experience than Obama because of time served in the military. The question the pollsters should be asking is, ‘Which candidate will be best at pouring our earnings and our troops into a foreign nation?’ It’s basically the same question with only the semantics being changed.

At the start of this year citizen support for ending the war and bringing our family members home from the Middle East was overwhelming. In fact, McCain’s Achilles’ heel grew from his unabated support for the war, and his plans to occupy Iraq for “maybe a hundred years.” John McCain believes America’s troops belong in Iraq because of what he calls a “generally accepted policy of America’s multilateralism.” By “generally” he could only mean by those who believe we have a right to invade sovereign nations, and forcibly change their government to one that will act as we say. Multilateralism comes best by way of diplomacy, not by bombs and subversion. The plan to occupy Iraq for as long as we say is a unilateral decision. Iraq’s newly birthed version of a parliament has already expressed their want for our troops to leave, as they feel our presence is only bringing out more sympathizers to the opposition, as more of the innocent civilians are harmed or killed there. We know the insurgency is mostly made up of Iraqi citizens and not members of terrorist cells, and with every stray bullet we fire, and with every accidental bombing of a neighborhood, we create more ‘freedom fighters’ against McCain’s ‘multilateralism’. At the start of this year we Americans had to suddenly change focus.

It was realized that with all our leaders’ focus being poured into the health and welfare of foreign nations, there was mold and mildew growing on the walls in our own home, though it wasn’t recognized until it was too late. Now we find ourselves stuck in the bathroom with rubber gloves pulled up to our elbows and wearing masks to keep from inhaling the stench the Bush Administration is leaving behind. Our housing market may repair itself, but only if the job market booms again, and with McCain’s idea that NAFTA and CAFTA are great because it allows for our corporations to leave our country, providing less jobs for Americans, it appears we may surpass our record of over one million homes on the foreclosure list in no time. Our dollar has tanked in the world economy, falling below the Canadian Loonie, and we are borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from China to continue paying for the Iraqi occupation. It was reported that a good portion of that money went to paying off Muqtada al Sadr for a ceasefire. Our children are watching their education funding flushed, and over a million of them are without any health insurance. Without touching on our energy or environmental issues, it is already obvious that John McCain has an idea but no way to see it through to fruition.

Now is a time for our media moguls to invest in the nation which grants them the freedom to do the job they love most. Instead of lobbing loaded questions, and influencing our populous to vote for more anti-patriotic policies, they need to realize that the Bush Administration stunk up the bathroom so much that it may just take one hundred years before we can breathe again. We need to close it down and have it sterilized before we should let McCain sit in there, since his plan is to stink it up for another hundred years. Instead of asking which candidate loves our flag the most, maybe the question the pollsters should ask is which candidate’s policies will best help America.

By Brian A. Burns

It appears James Dobson is telling all Christians that the Old Testament, the book in which his views of our universe’s origin is shown, is nothing more than outdated gibberish that can be tossed aside. He and Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Dobson’s ‘Focus on the Family’, accused Barack Obama of distorting the message of Jesus, as Obama, in a 2006 speech to a Christian group, used references from the Old Testament which Dobson considers no longer apply since the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament trump the old. “I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology,” Dobson said. Although, we have to wonder whose view is truly distorted, Obama’s or Dobson’s.

If the Bible is to be taken seriously Christians must view it as “the infallible word of God.” If they consider it as being written by humans, and may be edited at will, then we can easily chalk it up as nothing more than a book of ancient folklore with some moral homilies that fail to rival Aesop’s Fables, and do away with the entire thing. By ignoring certain passages that are stated as originating from their god’s own voice, which in essence is ignoring their god, then one can easily ignore the entire book. Most Christians would agree that they cannot simply ignore their god. After all, Jesus was the human incarnation of their god. To ignore their god would be to ignore Jesus, and I’m sure James Dobson would have a problem with that.

One portion of the Old Testament brought up by Obama in his speech, something the truly faithful must consider, is taken from Leviticus, where the Judeo-Christian god claims that slavery is perfectly acceptable. In Leviticus 25:44 the Judeo-Christian god states, “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.” 25:45 - “You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.” These are the words from James Dobson’s god, but he doesn’t want to admit it. Instead, he wants to do away with it, and seemingly the rest of the Old Testament which is the foundation for the religion he so vehemently defends as being ‘truth’.

It was best said that Christianity is the ‘delicatessen-religion’ because modern Christians tend to ignore the words from their god that they don’t approve of while happily accepting the rest as ‘truth’. And if their god was timeless, as they like to believe, then it would have known that slavery is immoral and an abhorrent injustice to humanity 2000 years ago as it is today. Without the Old Testament there is no New Testament, for without the tales of the coming of a messiah there’s no Jesus the messiah, but only Jesus the human. Without the Old Testament there is no Moses, and without him they are without their Ten Commandments. Without the Old Testament there is no Christian god.

But how can a person be truly devout when their God says one thing but then sends himself down as a human to say the opposite? Is a Christian supposed to follow the words of their god as the spirit, or their god as Jesus? When the god said, “…an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” which was later stricken by Jesus who commanded that his followers turn the other cheek, it told all that their god as a spirit was fallible, and his word ephemeral. The message rings even louder today as all of what was written then comes from a time of socially-third-world cultures, whose ideas of morality pale in comparison to those of modern times. The god as Jesus was a great man, I’m sure. He said that we should treat others in the way we would like others to treat us, but only in a much different Farsi tongue. It’s unfortunate that James Dobson cannot live up to this lesson, as he has influenced thousands to vote for a Republican backed war time and time again.

So it appears that Barack Obama has it more accurately than James Dobson. In light of Obama’s question which sparked Dobson’s gas, “Which sect’s version of Christianity should be taught in our schools?” it is best answered with ‘none’. With over 33,000 different sects of Christians across the globe it is apparent that there are many unknowingly confused people. If the religion had any merit there would not be so many divisions. There would be uniformity because people would understand the expectations of their god. If it had a god backing it, it would have come down centuries ago to straighten things out for his followers. It would’ve told them exactly what portion of its words they could ignore, and what they needed to follow. While it was here, I’m sure it would’ve stopped the Inquisitions, the Crusades, Hernando Cortez, Adolph Hitler (yes, he too was a Christian), and made a special visit to send George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to the gallows. While it was here it would’ve turned the tides of compassionless behavior, and rooted it deeply into those who speak out in its name, and crushed those who beat them down. I’m sure most Christians in Darfur and along the Sahel are wondering where their god is right now. I would suggest asking James Dobson, but it appears as if he has distorted the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology.

Ralph Nader announced yesterday that he’ll be filing petitions for nomination, again drilling the spike into the hearts of the presidential candidates looking to grab up every vote they can. The long time Green Party candidate has jumped onboard the Independent train this time around, hoping a more moderate stance may work to bring in the votes he could never yield in past elections. Considered the thorn in the hoof of the Democrats’ donkey, Nader’s past campaigns have snatched up presidential votes the Democratic nominee would ordinarilly get from the left-leaning Green Party constituents.

The move is indeed a wise one for Nader who has been fighting to expand the party playing field for decades. The number of registered Independents has grown rapidly over the past 8 years, as the American populace has become more politically involved, and the voters have grown disgusted with the Republican and Democrat parties and their inability to lead our country toward a positive light. With the current disdain many Republicans feel toward John McCain, along with the Democrats and their inability to spark change, and many on the left who are long-time Nader supporters, there’s a good chance he can provide a tremendous setback for both McCain and Barack Obama.

Could he, however, provide the flame to ignite the bomb U.S. politics is sitting on at the moment? With the current ‘W’orthless Administration on their way out, the scene is ripe for an upwelling of change, and many politically active citizens have grown disheartened with only having two major parties in which to support. Could he take the lead in the fastest growing party and legitimize it to when we’ll see Independent candidates take a multitude of congressional seats? One thing is for sure, Democrats are happy to see him jump to a party where he’ll be stealing from the Republicans as much he will steal from their own.

By Brian A. Burns

John Freshwater’s heinous act of branding a cross on the arm of his middle-school student in Mount Vernon, Ohio should not be very shocking to us. Though it brought much media attention, as “shock stories” tend to do, the thought of an uncompassionate Christian willfully harming others seems to be all too common these days. From the child molestation problems in the Catholic church, to the war in Iraq - brought to you by the likes of the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, and all of those “holier than thou” that continue supporting the slaughtering of innocent civilians by voting for their favorite Republican war-monger. Those who consider themselves “compassionate Christians” are often the most violent offenders of human rights. They enact laws against the freedom to choose how we want to live, and die. They uphold the law that forces a person to suffer a tortuous death until their affliction consumes them, without having the option of shutting off the device and being left to die in peace. With that said, we can take the news of John Freshwater as just another drop in the bucket. Although, from the very same occurrance in Mount Vernon, Ohio, we were given the gift of insight to the true intentions of those who fear science - those who simply write off our entire universe as an “intelligent design”.

It was during the heat of the Mount Vernon moment; when the vans congregated and the reporters and their crews raced like rats to the cheese. The cheese they came across was the friend of the ’science teacher’, Dave Daubenmire. Daubenmire was intelligent enough to understand that it was wrong for Freshwater to burn a cross on to his student’s arm. But he muttered his support for the other heinous act Freshwater was committing - teaching his science class that the Judeo-Christian God is the reason for our universe, and that science cannot be trusted. Daubenmire told us all what ID supporters have been trying to tell us all along, “I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district.” In fact, Freshwater was doing just that - using his job as a science teacher to teach against science.

The reason so many citizens, religious and non-religious, are up in arms against teaching Intelligent Design in the science classes of our public schools is due to the fact that there is no science in the belief of gods. The study of omnipotent beings would fall under the social studies category where it is already taught as mythology. The study of Intelligent Design could be taught as “Flash, and it was there!” and it would be the shortest and most hollow of all courses, but with great reading from the origins of fiction. Of course, many religious folks would be offended at their views of their universe being cast aside as mythology, but so too are the scientists who devote their lives to their work which is then mangled and fed to our children as being false simply because some of us don’t want to believe in the facts of science.

John Freshwater was being paid with our tax dollars to teach our children the updated information coming from our community of scientists and researchers. He was not being paid to teach “the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district”. Classes in values are being taught at the local church, mosque, synagogue, and temple - or better yet, values are taught at home. And it is most important to note that in the case of Evangelical Christians there are quite a few ‘values’ that are being completely overlooked. Two of which are Honesty and Integrity.

There is no honesty behind teaching children that the Earth is 10,000 years old, that carbon dating is inaccurate, and the factual information coming from evolutionists is false. And there certainly is no integrity behind stealing the information and tagging it with “God was here.” The more evolutionists learn by way of testing the more Christians steal by way of fear and prejudice. They take all that is given and sum it up with two words - intelligent design, and sadly enough, they’re the only side in the battle who feel the need to place finality on the beliefs of our origins. Evolutionists aren’t telling the public that there isn’t a god as much they are telling us what their observations and experiments prove. If their findings further negate the presence of a god then it should only be seen as a byproduct of the hypothesis as opposed to it being the intentions behind the experiment. Evolutionists aren’t looking to disprove gods, but only to discover where everything ultimately came from.

Babu Ranganathan, a Christian writer from Bob Jones University, is one of the people so angry at the hypotheses of scientific experimentation that he’s gone to war against reality and factual information, only to retain the selfish belief that his god can be the only answer. He took the belief that life on Mars might’ve originated there after being blasted into outer space from Earth being impacted by comets, and turned that to mean that the Judeo-Christian god is responsible. An obvious question would be, “Why wouldn’t God just form life on Mars, as opposed to relying on blasting it there from Earth?” But the science behind the belief was never intended to prove a god’s existence or inexistence. It was only noted from Kenneth Nealson of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, “We think there’s about 7 million tons of Earth soil sitting on Mars.” This news was sweet-music to Mr. Ranganathan, as now he had a biblical answer for the day scientists possibly announce the discovery of Martian microbes.

The textbook for Biological studies at Bob Jones University is titled Biology for Christian Schools. It is truly not a resource on biological studies for the simple fact that on the first page it is quoted, “If [scientific] conclusions contradict the Word of God, the conclusions are wrong, no matter how many scientific facts may appear to back them.” It also states, “Christians must disregard [scientific hypotheses or theories] that contradict the Bible.” Instead the book is only a guide on how to turn a blind eye to progressive mentality, and factual information.

So the next time you hear one of our politicians wondering why there’s an absence of scientifically minded indivduals graduating from our nation’s high schools, you can blame those who openly steal the subject and drape it in vestments. As the 9/11 hijackers snuck into our flight-schools to learn how to use our jets against us, so too the John Freshwaters and Babu Ranganathans have invaded the realm of science only to hijack facts and wage war against the education of our children.

It wasn’t a very good week for religion. First we were introduced to pseudo-science teachers who brand their students with crucifixes, and now we have proof of the existence of the ’selfish’ gene. Initially introduced to us in 1976 by the famed biologist and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins, the idea of a ’selfish’ gene was one in which our genes carry an independent drive to survive and carry on into future generations.

In a study involving the reproductive behavior of honey bees, University of Western Ontario biology professor Graham Thompson, with help from the University of Sydney’s Peter Oxley, has discovered the location in which a genome harbors the ’selfish’ gene. As somewhat of an extension to the Honey Bee Genome Project of 2006, Thompson noticed the ’selfish’ behavior of the worker bee’s genetics as all of the females are sterile. This led him to the discovery which has been considered a key element in the process of evolution.

This new stamp of evolutionary proof not only adds to the resoundings of Charles Darwin’s works, but as Thompson says, “…provides a validation for a huge body of socio-biology.”

By Brian A. Burns

Back in 1999 John McCain lambasted the special interest groups who tried to secure offshore drilling contracts, saying he swore he would “…never lose sight of the fundamental principle that federal land management decisions affecting local communities must be made in cooperation with the Americans who call those communities home.” Now, with his proposal to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling, it appears he’d rather forego the health concerns of U.S. citizens so he could sell our environment for votes and campaign dollars. Meanwhile, the pots have shifted on McCain’s stovetop and our need for a new source of sustainable energy has been pushed to the back burner.

Even with George W. Bush admitting that offshore drilling would take years to produce any noticeable effect, John McCain’s plan to cure our energy crisis is to go ahead and drill. If we were to wait what most experts say would be close to 5 years for a price cut at the gas pumps, during which time we will still be relying on oil as our primary fuel source, we could be in serious trouble. When we consider the steady increase in population, which will undoubtedly have a large impact on reserves, and the rate at which our oil supply declines, it is easy to see why focusing on drilling offshore is coming only from the eyes of the profiteers. There is only so much oil we can reap from the Earth, and the gas companies have no intention of lowering their prices, but are increasing them instead on a day by day basis.

While it’s obvious that something as simple as the rebirth of the electric car would take a long time to overrun gas powered vehicles as our primary source of transportation, it is stupid to think we should run serious health risks by potentially poisoning our shorelines and nature preserves. The people are screaming for an alternative energy resource, and we want it yesterday. But with billions invested in their production equipment, and billions returned in profits the oil-giants refuse to change their focus, and will do anything they can to continue squashing alternatives to their cash-cattle until they have run completely dry.

With the same reluctance the Republicans have shown toward caring about the health and welfare of the American population, they are now scrambling to secure their personal investments before their time in absolute power runs out. Being nothing more than the Corporatist Party of kick-backs and cronyism, the non-conservative neo-Republicans have only ever cared about their foreign policy. Through 8 years Bush and his staff focused very little on domestic issues, to the point where he even turned a blind eye to the situation in New Orleans directly after Hurricane Katrina left bodies floating in the streets and women being raped at the Superdome. He had nothing to say when Dick Cheney ordered workers, who fought to restore power to hospitals, to divert their attention to restoring the oil supply from a downed pipeline that runs through Mississippi.

Republicans have a knack for losing focus on the American priority - whatever it may be at the time. In Iraq they sent the troops in without ever securing the border, then came back saying, “Hindsight is 20/20.” They repeated the adage after warnings from our climatologists told of the devastation that would befall New Orleans if and when a category 5 hurricane hit. “Hindsight is 20/20,” was repeated after the Iraqi population formed an insurgency, and even again when they realized that Bush Senior and his predecessor were responsible for arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mostly they tried passing the buck, but the beneath-the-breath-mumblings of ‘Hindsight is 20/20′ was heard after we found out that a week prior to 9/11 Condoleezza Rice was given a warning of imminent attack from Osama Bin Laden. From Kim Jong Il and “Bring it on!”, to Saddam Hussein and “They’ll greet us a liberators,” the Bush Administration seems to have less hindsight than a bat.

John McCain is following in Bush’s footsteps to where one could swear he stole the president’s cowboy boots. While Barack Obama speaks of a progressive America with a progressive energy policy, John McCain is stuck in the mud trying to score points for his cronies, while overlooking the potential disaster of an oil spill along our coastlines, and the serious health issues that would accompany such a catastrophe. John McCain would gladly risk the lives of Americans to build oil platforms off our coasts for what he believes would produce enough to alleviate the headache we currently face at the pump. It sure would be a sad day if our coasts turned black with crude muck and we had to watch our food and water supplies turn to poison only to hear John McCain speak half-brained about hindsight being 20/20. And in 5 years from now, when the gas prices are at $9.80 a gallon, just when we would begin to feel the effect of having lifted the offshore drilling ban, I would imagine that we won’t find much headache relief in the price cut from $9.80 to $9.50 per gallon. So, to John McCain, thanks but no thanks. I’d rather we spend our tax dollars on contracts that will go directly toward finding a truly sustainable energy source.

Beyond the last ditch effort to retain total power in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has announced that the democratic process of electing a ruler in his country is farcical at best, and now must resort to the threat of war.

After losing the March presidential election to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe embarked on a campaign of cheating and intimidation in hoping he could manipulate the people and the voting process to equal a victory, regardless of how blatant his methods were. After numerous atrocities seen first hand by much of the interested world, Mugabe has come to understand Morgan Tsvangirai’s resilience, and has now stated that he will wage war against any party that tries to take over power from his ruling Zanu PF party.

Click here to read about one man who can care less how many eyes are studying his tyranical behavior through the proverbial microscope.

By Brian A. Burns

Either George W. Bush is purposefully lying to save face, or he is stuck in the deep recesses of his mind where information is not welcome and where the sound of his own voice is music to his ears. At the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, Bush reiterated his dream of forcing non-westernized people to be ruled by western-minded leaders for the sake of business relationships and natural resource grabbing… though not in those words, of course.

Instead, he spoke of a “broader battle — the battle of ideas,” and said that the focus of U.S. foreign policy is to “advance a more hopeful and broader vision, especially in the Middle East.” Of course, these remarks come from a man who has repeatedly lied about the wishes of the people of the Middle East as being one which salivates over the thought of living the American life-style. He believes, or wants us to believe, that the Middle Eastern people are all living wretched lives, and are depressed and yearning to break free from tyranny. He believes only the armed gangs and oppressive rulers are happy, though the word being screamed at him by way of protests, citizen-insurgencies, and homemade bombs is one loud and clear ‘Get out of our country and take your western ideals with you!’.

The amount of implications that accompany the word “broad” are no less than broad - it would be very difficult to come up with a more vague term. But as the art of being vague is indeed a valuable asset to politicians, in light of Bush’s 8 years of utter failure in every measure, it would almost seem surreal if anyone were to extract any sort of positivity from his ambiguity. The world over sees him as somewhat of an evil-minded dolt, and have adopted a very cautious ear when listening to him spout his ideals.

Bush used the “broad” word again when he spoke of our relationship with Europe in which he described it as “…the broadest and most vibrant it’s ever been.” The word “broad” here is a poor use of an adjective, and thanks to him and his policies, “vibrant” seems to be an admittance to there being a lot of heat and friction between us.

The fact stands that not many people throughout the world can truly trust much of what comes from the thought processes of George W. Bush, and rightly so. Considering nearly all of what he predicted surrounding his invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the way in which he treated already fragile relationships with many of our allies; in which he basically rejected their opinions on his foreign policies and instead adopted the “go it alone” attitude, the only thing truly “broad” that Bush is handing over to the next president in terms of foreign relations, is the broad distrust our allies have acquired over the past 8 years, and the even broader problem he created for us in the Middle East.

Seemingly underestimated of their importance in our daily lives, truck drivers across Spain, who have been striking in protest over inflated gas prices, are wreaking havoc throughout the nation. They have blocked deliveries of food and fuel and supplies in general, and today all 18 of Spain’s auto factories will be forced to shut down due to lack of fuel and parts.

The people are becoming increasingly upset as they are being forced to stockpile food, are stuck in immense traffic-jams as the strikers are blocking roadways, and are being left without any way to fuel their vehicles. Yesterday the tensions between the truckers and the strike breakers grew violent and one of the strikers was killed, while another was believed to have been set on fire.

Click here to read why the only good thing to come out of the Middle East conflict is the realization that the people on our planet need an alternative to our fuel resources .

In only four years the number of Americans who either have no health insurance or are under-insured jumped 60 percent. A report by The Commonwealth Fund showed that 42 percent of Americans cannot gain access to much needed medical care because they are either without health insurance, or their out of pocket medical expenses in proportion to their income is far too high.

The majority of insured Americans are currently being covered by employer-sponsored health plans, and the rates for family coverage within those plans raised more than 90 percent since the year 2000. Perhaps the most disturbing information came from Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. She noted, “At least 25 percent of employers terminate employment the day you become disabled.”

Click here to read why the lobbyists for the healthcare industry and those they mingle with in our government make it so difficult to live the American dream since they make it so difficult to simply “live”.