Open Thread

NBC drops Law and Order: Trial by Jury. WB might be dropping Summerland as well. There goes another show dealing with family values. I relate to that show and I have a friend in the cast as well. I've got an idea: Drop all the reality tv crap that is on television. It's cheap production, where we see people humiliate themselves in front of a national audience. I don't care to see someone living in the jungle for 40 days on television when the production is cheap. Pay actors and comedians who have worked their butt off forever to get on the small screen or big screen. Why do the networks always drop the good programs that have good plotlines in favor of programs that don't pay much.

I got a call from the Friends of John Kerry today asking for $110 contribution. I don't have the finances to donate. The guy lost. Get over it. He didn't win in 2004 and he won't win in 2008.

The state of Israel is 57 years old.

Mazel tov to Henry Waxman. the California congressman has asked Condi Rice to sever ties with British schools that have voted to divest from Israel.

Britain’s Association of University Teachers voted to boycott two Israeli universities last month, and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) wants schools and professors who abide by the boycott to be made ineligible for U.S. grants and exchanges.

"This boycott is the worst form of censorship," Waxman wrote Thursday to Rice. "It is a blatant assault on academic freedom that goes against everything the United States stands for."

Haifa University has threatened to sue the British teacher’s group, and Bar-Ilan University, the other school slated for boycott, has opened a Web site to build support.

It certainly is the worst form of censorship. Rice should sever ties with those schools. Divesting hurts the economy. It hurts the learning process. I could go on and say it hurts America but I don't have a big enough reputation to where I can get rid of a television program.

B'nai B'rith International has slammed the United Nations. Rightly so. The UN had it coming.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, the group issued a report card Thursday, giving the United Nations unsatisfactory marks in promoting self-determination, protecting basic human rights, and preventing genocide. The group rated the United Nations "poor" for upholding peace and security and "fair" in providing humanitarian relief.

B’nai B’rith issued the report card as it holds its second annual mission to the United Nations. Some 90 B’nai B’rith activists from four continents met with representatives from 60 countries at the United Nations on Thursday. The mission´s agenda was pushing for U.N. reform, particularly a more balanced approach to the Middle East, full withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the disarming of Lebanese-based militias, and stopping genocide in Sudan.

Johnny Damon has a 17 game hitting streak. One more tonight and he ties his own record.

Evan Bayh and Joe Lieberman have made some statements on the base closings.

The political fight over the proposed changes has already begun. Connecticut’s naval submarine base in Groton is on the Pentagon's hit list. Senator Joe Lieberman called that plan irrational and irresponsible. "It insults our history and endangers our future," he says.

Some critics say the changes are misguided in a time of war. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said they're needed to respond to 21st century challenges, abroad and at home.[...]

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh says that, on balance, today's announcement from the Pentagon on proposed base closings and realignments is good news for the state.

He says Indiana stands to gain more than 2,000 jobs because of additional work being moved to Fort Benjamin Harrison and other bases in the state. The best news is that the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center will remain open.

Bayh says he'll continue to fight for the jobs that are being cut.

This was in an email sent to me and it is very disturbing to read.

A pastor tells congregants they must resign if they don't vote for George Bush.

U.S. Air Force Academy cadets and staff are pressured to attend church services, and Jews and members of other minority faiths are subjected to derision.

More than 1,000 Ohio pastors are asked to register 400,000 new "values voters" in Ohio in an event this week with Republican politicians.

What do these recent news reports all have in common? They powerfully demonstrate a basic truth: religious liberty in America is threatened when the separation between church and state is willfully ignored.

If I haven't been reading your blog lately, it's because I no longer have the time with going to school three hours a day and working for another few hours a day.

This could be a quote of the day:
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/8/54

I am beginning to lose my patience with dial-up.

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