I was perusing fark.com tonight and ran across this gem.  The authors take a little dramatic license with their editorials, but the facts presented are basically correct.

UPDATE: Don’t bother clicking on the video below…it’s been taken down.  They probably got some type of copyright violation notice since they used the Peabody and Sherman characters.  Basically, it showed them using their “way-back” machine to examine the history of the U.S meddling in the affairs of the middle east.  It went back to the U.S helping to get the Shah into power in Iran, talked about the U.S. providing weapons to Saddam Hussein to fight Iran and on and on and on.  And they did it in a funny way.  I think people forget, or are not aware, that some of the issues we now face in the region are rooted in these events from the past.  The things the U.S does for short term benefit usually have some type of “blowback” or unforeseen consequences that bite us later, but it seems we never really learn that lesson.

Kind of makes you glad you live in a democracy that is trying to spread democracy around the world.

Since the election, I haven’t had the desire to do much posting on the site.  It’s not like there aren’t plenty of things to talk about, it’s just that since the election, they all seem kind of trivial.

• Cheney indicted in Texas – This could be very interesting, but I have a feeling it won’t go anywhere.  If we can’t get Tom Delay on anything, how can we expect to get Darth Cheney.
• Layoffs at Focus on the Family – As much as I want to say something about this, it’s never fun for anyone to lose their job, especially now, so I’ll leave it alone.
• Nova presents “The Bible’s Buried Secrets” – I’ve Tivo’d this, but haven’t watched it all yet.  It’s a 2 hour discussion trying to line up the stories in the bible with what archeologists have discovered about the ancient world.
• California Prop 8 – This was a shock, but the way I view it is this.  The number of people who voted to allow gay marriage is up from the last time it was on the ballot.  It’s only a matter of time before it will be allowed.  There were other anti-gay issues on ballots around the country and they all passed.  Sad.
• Cynthia Dunbar (Texas SBOE member) on the Obama victory – This woman is nuts.  By the way, the site she posted on has now taken it down and she is trying to “explain” her comments.

So you see, there are no lack of stories to talk about, it’s just that I haven’t really had the motivation to put together anything substantive on any of them.  There’s even been a few Church signs recently that really need a going over.

Call it blogger’s block, or whatever, but until I get past this, links are about the best you’ll get for a while.

We’ve all seen the bumper sticker that says, “If you’re not appalled, you haven’t been paying attention”. Well, this is a movie for those who haven’t been paying attention.  Taxi to the Dark Side won the Oscar this year for Best Documentary Feature and if after seeing it, you aren’t appalled at what our government and this country are doing, then you’ve forgotten the principles this country should be fighting to preserve.

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This is a link to an article from back in May of this year where Obama said that if he were elected President, one of the first things he wanted to do was review all the laws and executive orders passed by the Bush administration to verify they are constitutional.  Those that aren’t would be overturned.  I had posted about it when it first came out here.

Here’s the quote from that article.

“I would call my attorney general in and review every single executive order issued by George Bush and overturn those laws or executive decisions that I feel violate the constitution.”

I’m not sure this is amongst his top priorities given the issues with the economy, but it would still be a great thing to do and it appears that it might already be going on as part of the transition team efforts.  A recent article here states:

“Other teams are looking at every executive order President Bush signed and are preparing recommendations.”

Nice.

The incumbents, not in the national elections, but here for the Texas State Board of Education.  Not a single incumbent up for election on the SBOE lost their seat.  In fact, most won by very comfortable if not huge margins.  The only relatively close races were in District 2 where Berlanga won with 57% of the vote and District 7 where Bradley won with 53%.

So the Texas SBOE stays teetered on the brink of disaster and our schools along with them.  Maybe I should be happy that no seats were lost in this election, but it would have been nice to see some gains for the side of reason.

The results at the time of posting are shown below:

• Mary Helen Berlanga (D – 57%) vs. Peter H. Johnston (R – 43%), District 2, Corpus Christi
• Mavis Knight (D – 75%) vs. Cindy Werner (R – 25%), District 13, Dallas
• Particia Hardy (R – 84%) vs. Bruce Beckman (L – 16%), District 11, Fort Worth
• Terri Leo (R – 79%) vs. Mary Ann Bryan (L – 21%), District 6, Spring
• Gail Lowe (R – 65%) vs. Edra Bogle (D – 31%) vs. John Shuey (L – 4%), District 14, Lampassas
• David Bradley (R – 53%) vs. Laura Ewing (D – 44%) vs. Richard Johnson (L – 3%), District 7, Beaumont
• Barbara Cargill (R – 86%) vs. Kim Stroman (L – 14%) vs Linda Ellis (write-in – 1%), District 8, The Woodlands

For the most recent results, check this link and scroll down to the bottom 7 races.

With the election rapidly approaching, there are a few races I’ll be watching that I can’t even vote for.  They are the 7 contests for seats on the Texas State Board of Education.  I’ve listed them below starting with who is the incumbent followed by their challengers.  I’ve highlighted who I’m hoping Texans will elect to help insure our curriculum standards are not undermined by personal political agendas.

• Mary Helen Berlanga (D) vs. Peter H. Johnston (R), District 2, Corpus Christi
• Mavis Knight (D) vs. Cindy Werner (R), District 13, Dallas
• Particia Hardy (R) vs. Bruce Beckman (L), District 11, Fort Worth
• Terri Leo (R) vs. Mary Ann Bryan (L), District 6, Spring
• Gail Lowe (R) vs. Edra Bogle (D) vs. John Shuey (L), District 14, Lampassas
• David Bradley (R) vs. Laura Ewing (D) vs. Richard Johnson (L), District 7, Beaumont
• Barbara Cargill (R) vs. Kim Stroman (L) vs Linda Ellis (write-in), District 8, The Woodlands

The results of these races could tip the balance of power on the Texas SBOE toward reason or toward superstition.  I’m not sure how much coverage these races will get on the news, but I’ll post the results late Tuesday night.