Not Forgotten

It has been exactly 15 years since the Oklahoma City Bombing and This morning family members and survivors gathered to remember the terrible event that transpired April 19, 1995 This is the first time I didn't go to the ceremonies with my family. Instead I went to work in hopes of forgetting about what happened some 15 years ago. Turns out that I am still deeply saddened by the whole thing and now wish that I would have been there to support my father and family. The lesson of this confession is no matter how much you my want to forget, remembrance is a foregone conclusion so be there to comfort and console those you love. Today is a day when I will be thanking God for sparing my father's life and praying for the families who lost mothers, fathers, children, or friends that day to be given strength through the Lord. We have not forgotten!!!

DIGDUG

I think all video games should be named DIGDUG. Why you might ask, cause lets face it, it doesn't get any better than DIGDUG. I mean who doesn't enjoy filling dragons and little red.....whatever with air from an air pump until they explode. Then there is the rock dropping and that is just hours of fun. You might have PACMAN Fever but DIGDUG would kick the crap out of PACMAN and then fill him with air until he exploded power pellets or not. Plus PACMAN would be distracted by Ms. PACMAN and her constant bitching about chasing ghost until three in the morning and being a bad roll model to PACMAN Jr. DIGDUG would just make her explode too cause he is that dedicated to making thing fill with air until they explode. 

The Oklahoma Lottery: Good or Bad???

The Oklahoma lottery has both pros and cons yet ultimately the benefits have outweighed the potential shortcomings.  According to the Oklahoma Lottery Commission,

“On November 2, 2004, Oklahomans overwhelmingly voted to pass the "Oklahoma Education Act". Net proceeds of all lottery games will be used to support improvements and enhancements for education purposes and programs; furthermore, net proceeds will be used to SUPPLEMENT rather than replace existing funds for education. Proceeds will benefit all levels of education from Pre-K to higher education.” (Oklahoma)

This Utopian concept of using the proceeds from the lottery to fund education sounds as if all of the schools in Oklahoma will receive new computers and hire more teachers of a higher quality.  The harsh reality is something all together different. Only thirty five percent of the money made from the lottery actually gets earmarked to fund education in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Family Policy Council says about the lottery,

“Oklahoma Family Policy Council's position is that a state lottery—in whatever form—is simply bad public policy and problematic for a number of very strong intellectual, economic, philosophical, moral and theological reasons.”(Gambling)

The fear associated with irresponsible gambling is the most common argument against the lottery in Oklahoma. After searching through the library of Gambler Anonymous, National Center for Responsible Gambling, and the Responsible Gambling Center I was unable to locate any research on the effects of the lottery as it pertains to gambling. Almost as if playing the lottery is not gambling in the eyes of the major research institutes for gambling.  If none of the major research institutes have taken the time to research and write on the subject then the matter must not be of great importance.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education says,

“ Article X, Section 41, of the Oklahoma Constitution says, the Legislature {shall not use funds from the Trust Fund to supplant or replace other state funds supporting common education, higher education and career and technology education.} The State Board of Equalization ultimately has the responsibility of determining whether or not funds are being appropriated as outlined in the constitutional amendment which created the lottery for education. The Board of Equalization is to issue findings in regard to the appropriations in February of each year.” (Education)

Oversight into the funding and appropriation of funds invested into the Oklahoma Lottery is the key factor to maintaining capital for education and it gives the voters of Oklahoma assurances that the money will be earmarked and spent to improve education.

            The people of Oklahoma vote overwhelmingly to pass the HB 1278 which the Oklahoma State Senate explains as,

“House Bill No. 1278 was approved by both houses of the Legislature in 2003. It sends to a vote of the people a proposal for a state lottery (State Question No. 705; Legislative Referendum No. 330). The proposal provides for the creation of a state entity, the Oklahoma Lottery Commission, which would operate the lottery. The measure also requires that at least 45% of the revenue from ticket sales will be returned as prizes. It requires that the net proceeds from the lottery be used for education purposes. The referendum specifically prohibits the operation of any lottery game using a video lottery machine. It also prohibits the sale or gift of lottery tickets to minors. It directs the first $500,000 of unclaimed prize money annually be transferred to the Department of Human Services for the treatment of compulsive gambling disorder. The Oklahoma Lottery Commission is authorized to issue up to $10,000,000 in bonds for start-up costs of the lottery to be repaid from future lottery revenue.” (Hobson)

The phrase the people have spoken seems fitting in this instance. If we raise five dollars for Oklahoma Education that’s five dollars we didn’t have before and furthermore people will always find a way to self-destruct if it is in their DNA so the rest of us shouldn’t have to suffer.

            Governor Brad Henry says in the forward of our textbook,

“The pioneers who took part in the first land run of 1889 were drawn to the prospect of simple things: some property and a home in a land that seemed as vast and limitless as the magnificent skies that stretched along its horizon. From such unbridled hope and optimism emerged Oklahoma.” (Henry)

Like the pioneers of the land run we as Oklahomans are drawn to the gas station with prospect of simple things: give the cashier a dollar and in return they will hand you not a simple ticket or piece of paper but your dreams. Sure there are both pros and cons to the Oklahoma Lottery but supplementing school funds with thirty-five percent of the proceeds from the lottery and a chance at your dreams. To date the Oklahoma Lottery has contributed 232 Million dollars to Oklahoma’s educational system and I think that tells the whole story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work Cited:

 

"Oklahoma Lottery Commission Beneficiary." Oklahoma Lottery Commission. Oklahoma Lottery Commission.

     23 Nov. 2008 .

 

"Gambling." Oklahoma Family Policy Council. Oklahoma Family Policy Council. 23 Nov. 2008

     .

 

Oklahoma State Department of Education. 24 Nov. 2008

     default.html>.

 

Oklahoma State Senate. Legislative Brief June 2004. By Cal Hobson. 24 Nov. 2008

     .

 

Sharp, Brett, and Christopher L Markwood. Oklahoma Government & Politics An Introduction. 1998. 4th

     ed. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 2007.

MIPT Internship

July 2, 2008 I start my internship at the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT). I am not sure exactly what I will be doing at this point but I am very excited to take part and hopefully do my part to prevent terrorism. The MIPT overlooks the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and was started shortly after that horrendous disaster took place.

Save Darfur

I have posted a link to Save Darfur. Which takes you to my Darfur group. I hope you will join and help put a stop to the violence and genocide in the Sudan. once I have enough members I would like to start a letter writing campaign and lobby congress.

The Captive Primate Safety Act

What has congress done about the high price of gas in the last few weeks? Well it turns out that they passed the Captive Primate Safety Act which makes it illegal to transport monkeys across state lines. As Rep. Michelle Bachmann said , and I paraphrase, hundreds of people got in airplanes and came from all corners of the country to make it illegal to transport monkeys across state lines while we pay $4.00 a gallon for gas. If you have a problem with that you should write your congress person and tell them that it is absolutely unacceptable. Don't know who to write our how to get it to them. go to http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ and enter your address and they will tell you who your representatives are and how to contact them.

My Take on Pay for Performance Healthcare

Pay for Performance Healthcare
Lisa was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome. According to Dr. Shiel, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS),
…is a condition that features a group of typical symptoms, including pain (often "burning" type), tenderness, and swelling of an extremity associated with varying degrees of sweating, warmth and/or coolness, flushing, discoloration, and shiny skin. (Shiel)
Her physician told Lisa that there was no cure for RSDS and she would just have to deal with the pain. Lisa lost the ability to run and play with her children and she became bedridden. Lisa finally decided to get another opinion and it turns out she had been misdiagnosed with RSDS when in fact she had only twisted her ankle and it was pinching a few nerves in her foot. Lisa went to a chiropractor and in a few weeks she was back to running and playing with her children. What happened to Lisa is an all to common event that happens when physicians spend as little time with a patient as they can and often they make an incorrect diagnosis. Misdiagnosis is a correctable problem but not with our current system of healthcare. Every year one hundred thousand people are misdiagnosed because of the current healthcare system the government has in place. (Swisher) We need a system the rewards a physician for taking the time with a patient to make the correct diagnosis and that system is Pay for Performance Health Care. Pay for Performance Healthcare would not only improve the level of care given to its recipients but it would also save us money. There would be fewer malpractice suits against physicians and hospitals and this would increase the profits of the healthcare industry, one could surmise that the savings would be passed on to the patients. Pay for Performance Healthcare pays a physician based on the level of service they provide their patients and not how many of them they can see in a day. We should do everything in our power to provide the best level of healthcare possible to all of our citizens and Pay for Performance is the answer. Pay for Performance Healthcare is vastly superior to any current system available in the United States and should be implemented as quickly as possible.
Pay for Performance Healthcare rewards physicians for taking the time with a patient required to make a correct diagnosis. According to the publication of the 1999 Institute of Medicine's report,
…more people die every year in a hospital the result of various medical mistakes made, than die from car accidents, breast cancer, AIDS, and airplane crashes combined. The estimate that as many as 100,000 patients dying each year the result of healthcare accidents (that number may be as high as 200,000 per year according to more recent studies)…(Swisher)
Pay for Performance Healthcare will decrease the number of medical mistakes through the bonus structure given to physicians and hospitals for good patient care. The Pay for Performance Healthcare System according to Harvard researchers has “…shifted from a focus on processes of care to one that emphasizes patient outcomes, cost efficiency and use of information technology.” (Rosenthal) and that is exactly what this country’s healthcare system needs. The benefit of a healthcare system that rewards physicians and hospitals for the level of care given and the eventual outcome of their patients are almost immeasurable. Focusing on the patient’s needs, as opposed to, the amount of money a physician or hospital can make by seeing more patients is the solution for those hundred of thousands of medical mistakes made every year by physicians and hospitals.
The implementation of the Pay for Performance Healthcare system would result in fewer malpractice suits against physicians and hospitals and this would increase the profits of the healthcare industry. Malpractice insurance is the largest cost a healthcare provider incurs. According to David Weber “It can cost an ob-gyn in South Florida $209,000 a year to insure for delivery of babies.” (Weber) Eliminating the majority of malpractice suits would in turn lessen the cost of malpractice insurance to healthcare providers increasing profits. Greater profits for the healthcare industry could result in a reduction of healthcare premiums and a level of competition amongst healthcare providers the likes of which this country has never seen. Competition drives price in the healthcare the same way it does in any other industry. The greater the competition the lower the price and the lower the price the more money the public saves.
Pay for Performance Healthcare will institute a computerized information and file sharing system saving physicians time and potentially saving the lives of their patients. Under the current system if a physician wants a patient’s medical history they have two choices. Either they ask the patient to fill out a medical history form that gives them limited information or the patient has to sign a medical release form and send it to every physician that patient has every visited and wait for the information. The Pay for Performance Healthcare system would put a stop to these archaic practices by sharing the patient’s information at the touch of a button. The file and information-sharing program would give the physician a patient’s entire medical history via a secure database. Having that type of information quickly at hand would prevent accidental death by giving a critically ill patient medication they may be allergic to. According to Michael E Weiss
The general lack of knowledge of the immunochemistry of drug metabolism and immunoreactive metabolites also greatly hampers the ability to accurately use diagnostic tests to evaluate allergic drug reactions. Except for penicillin( n4, n5) and, to a lesser degree, anticonvulsant medications( n6) and sulfonamides,( n7) understanding of immunoreactive metabolites and the immunochemistry of medications is limited. (Weiss)
Instituting a large-scale series of networks and databases would also provide much-needed jobs to American workers. New jobs mean lower unemployment, which translates into money savings for the government. The United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics claims the unemployment rate in the U.S. is 4.8%. That roughly translates to seven million people being unemployed. Many of those people are over forty-five a have a background in the field of technology. The United States government pays for the healthcare of a large percentage of the unemployed by way of welfare and other government programs. Pay for Performance Healthcare being implemented could potentially put large numbers of those unemployed people to work. If unemployment numbers lower so will the number of people the government will need to provide healthcare to. Every dollar the United States government can save in one place can be used somewhere else. The Pay for Performance Healthcare system could ensure that this generation of working adults and their children both has social security benefits.
Many private practices would argue that Pay for Performance Healthcare is an unobtainable healthcare system. They would suggest the cost of implementation of such a large system of healthcare would simply force many private practices out of business or at the very least force them not to accept government subsidized health care. All private practices would have to buy computers and the network software to use the system and it would be too costly. Others would say the Pay for Performance Healthcare system would be a violation of our right to privacy and that our personal medical information would be at risk. Private practicing physicians claim the cost of hiring an Information Technology department to its staff would be too costly. Some claim that the Pay for Performance Healthcare system is just ineffective. Finally many in the government health care industry claim there would be no benefit to provide incentives to physicians for a higher level of healthcare.
Pay for Performance Healthcare is a large system and would require all practices to have up to date computer systems, networking ability, and software to be part of the system but ninety nine percent of practices already have computers and networking capabilities. The only cost would be for software and that’s only if the government doesn’t supply it to all practices accepting Medicare and Medicaid free of charge. The government would absorb the majority of the cost for implementation of the Pay for Performance Healthcare system. It would simply replace the healthcare system already in place. The money all practicing physicians would save in malpractice suits and malpractice insurance would certainly pay for any initial out of pocket expense they may have incurred as a result. The privacy issue is already an issue and that won’t change. If somebody with malicious intent wants to get your personal medical information they can do it right now. Pay for Performance Healthcare will only make it more accessible to trained medical physicians that could make a more educated decision about how to proceed with a patients best interest in mind by giving them the latest and most up to date medical information about the patient they are treating. Most practices already have either an onsite Information Technology staff at their practice or they have an outside Information Technology company on call so that won’t change because of the Pay for Performance Healthcare system. Those who say that Pay for Performance Healthcare is an ineffective healthcare system should take a look at what is already in place and explain how it is a better system than the proposed Pay for Performance Healthcare system. Finally there are numerous reasons why the government should give physicians an incentive to provide a higher level of healthcare to the American people but if for no other reason it will cost the government less money in the long run by giving the voters a cleaner bill of health and Pay for Performance Healthcare will increase the likelihood of detecting deadly and debilitating diseases when they are still treatable.
Pay for Performance would give more money to physicians, reduce the number of malpractice lawsuits and the cost of malpractice insurance, provide physicians with current and up to date information about their patients more quickly, provide more Americans with jobs by instituting the system initially, and provide the patient with better overall healthcare at a smaller price to the government. That is what Pay for Performance Healthcare is all about. There is not a better system available in the United States or in any other country in the world. The United States of America has the best healthcare professionals in the world but the worst healthcare system and Pay for Performance Healthcare could change that if it were given a chance. Essentially Pay for Performance Healthcare is the best system of healthcare the United States government has ever had. It is being tested in certain markets in California to see just how successful it will be and so far everything looks great. Anyone unwilling to give a chance to a healthcare system with the potential to save one hundred thousand lives a year because of the initial cost of implementation is only looking out for their own best interest and has no place in subsidized government healthcare. Pay for Performance Healthcare saves lives and money and that is the only thing that matters.











Work Cited
"Health Care for All". Massachusetts. website. Stories of Harm: Health Quality Videos. March 12 2008. .
"U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics". 2008. Unemployment Statistics. (Febuary 2008): United States Government. March 12 2008.
Charters, Lynda. "P4p: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea?
Ophthalmologist Must Participate in the Development of Quality-of-Care Standards." Ophthalmologist Times October 1, 2007 2007: 88-89.
Karen N. Swisher, MS, JD. "Developing a Proactive Executive Fellowship in Patient Safety". website. Danger! Are Hospitals Hazardous to your Health. Feburary 13 2008. .
Scott Endsley MD, MSc, et al. "Getting Rewards for Your Results: Pay-for-Performance Programs". 2004. website. (march 2004). Feburary 13 2008. .
Weiss, Michael E. "Recognizing Drug Allergy." Postgraduate Medicine 117.5 (2005): 32-39.
William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR. "Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (Rsds)". 2008. website. Medical information website. March 12 2008. .

Condemnation of the United States Financial Infrastructure

I’m sure if you have been on the south side of Oklahoma City in the last few years you have noticed all of the signs are written in Spanish. If not maybe you’ve been to an ATM or called any number of businesses and got the old press one for English and two for Spanish. It doesn’t seem to most of us to be a problem but most of us are not seeing this for what it truly is. Every time an illegal alien makes it into this country the economy suffers for it. They are provided with free health care and government assistance programs that are supposed to help Americans. If an illegal immigrant gets pregnant while here, and then gives birth in a hospital, their child is a natural born American citizen. This means the parent or parents of the child are allowed to stay in America as well. The problem is in most cases they can’t afford to pay for the hospital stay or any of the after-care involved. So the taxpayers foot the bill either through some form of welfare or the hospital absorbs the cost and passes it on to the rest of us through higher prices. Illegal immigration, if left unchecked, will cause a huge strain on the United States financial infrastructure.
How much do illegal aliens cost U.S. taxpayers? “$11 billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. $2.2 billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. $2.5 billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. $12 billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! The total K-12 school expenditure for illegal immigrants costs the states nearly $12 billion annually, and when the children born here to illegal aliens are added, the cost more than doubles to $28.6 billion. $3 million dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. 30% percent of all federal prison inmates are illegal aliens convicted of a felony AFTER entering the country illegally. The cost of incarceration of illegal aliens in state prisons has also risen rapidly $90 billion dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers. $200 billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that is two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the U.S. During the year of 2005, there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern border, and as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from terrorist countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine and marijuana, crossed into the U. S. from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report: The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION (tax free dollars) in remittances back to their countries of origin. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: nearly one million sex crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in the United States". Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens.” (Salley, Jack)
Numerous employers in the United States are in favor of illegal immigration because the illegal immigrants are willing to work for much less pay than an American citizen. Those employers say that the immigrant is taking a job that American workers do not want and that the immigrant workforce is vital to earn profit in a competitive market. If these employers were forced to replace the immigrant workforce with higher paid American workers than prices would reflect so and the consumer wouldn’t purchase their products. This would put many smaller companies out of business. The Catholic church supports illegal immigration and believes they have a right to be here. “They have sanctuary churches where they put basement — illegals in basements, and they feed them and they shelter them and they help them to get jobs and evade authorities.” (O’Reilly, Bill)
The last time I looked, unemployment at its highest in years and the Catholic church just wants to fill the seats and the collection plates of the church. There are plenty of empty seats in the churches of Mexico and plenty of plates to pass around. The employers in the United States that want to hire immigrant workers do it for only one reason, profit. If they can pay an illegal one-third of what they would have to pay an American citizen to do the same job and not have to pay benefits then they make more money. It is as simple as that.

The growing problem of illegal immigration has to be stopped and our borders must be secured soon or this will only get worse. If we spent the estimated $230 billion dollars it would cost to send all of the illegal immigrants home then increased border security, the United States government would save enough money to rid us of all the national debt in only a few years. Then that money could be put to good use in taking care of our own citizens. We could end poverty in the United States or re-fund social security. We could make college free to all of the American citizens that wanted to seek a higher education. We could even wipe out a large portion of the country’s poverty. I feel for the illegal immigrants in our country that just want a better life for themselves and their families but for me it is not worth risking our children’s financial future for their financial future.















Bibliography


Salley, Jack. "Financial Burden That Illegal Immigration Has on American Taxpayers". 2007. (October 20, 2007). .

News, Fox. "The Catholic Church Gets Political on Illegal Immigration". 2006. The O'Reilly Factor. March 08 2007. .

BMI Fact or Fiction?

If you haven't been living under a rock for the last 10 years you've probably heard of the Body Mass Index or BMI. Your BMI is a formula used by the health industry to determine you ideal weight. It is based off of your height, weight, and gender. If you are below 18.5 than you are under weight 18.5 to 24.9 is normal 25 to 29.9 overweight and 30 or above is considered obesity. The problem with BMI is a man that is 5'8" would need to weigh no more than 163 pounds to be in the normal category. Do we need a better system for measuring obesity? I believe we do. Health insurance companies use the BMI to determine if a person qualifies for coverage as do life insurance companies. The real problem is that the BMI doesn't take into account muscle mass. If you are a weight lifter with 22 inch biceps you will be considered overweight. I think it is time to revise a decades old system to fit the modern world.

The Japanese Tea Garden

The Power of a Kiss

This morning my two year old son Dylan bumped his arm. he ran to daddy for comfort. I kissed his arm and he was healed. I had never thought about it before. How amazing is the healing power of a kiss. You kiss your wife in the morning or evening and it makes all the problems of your day melt away for a moment. So my advice to you is stop and kiss the ones you love. It will do you wonders.

Overwhelmed?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? This week has been so far for me and it's only half over. I think the trick is to find a way to unwind. For me it is this blog. I never would have thought I would enjoy something like this but I do. Also don't be afraid of a little prayer time. It can do wonders. Then every so often I think about Tim the Enchanter and what he used to say.

Follow only if ye be men of valour, for the entrance to this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived! Bones of full fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So, brave knights, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth.

Monty Python's quest for the Holy Grail

History is written by the winners

Have you ever thought about what that really means? It's like saying there are two sides to every story. The winner of a war is the one that writes the book to slant in its own favor. Take the english. If you read the history books you would most likely find that Scotland was inhabited by savages that fought with each other over the rule of the country and the english brought them peace and humanity. If you ask the Scottish you might get an entirely different answer. So think about that the next time you read a paper or watch CNN or Fox News. Don't just take somebody's' word for it. Take advantage of the web and decide for yourself. Don't be afraid to ask someone for their opinion or just a little help.

I want you

Let your voice be heard. Dylan wants you to vote on the poll. There are only a few days left so don't miss your chance.

Dylan also wants you to watch his newest video. It's at the bottom of the page.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball

If you know what that means then you may already be laughing to yourself as you remember when Saturday Night Live was still funny. It was a great show for 20 years or so. Even after that it had a moment or two. So what has happened to make it the crap we have today? Is there just no creativity left or has our society fallen so far as to find SNL funny? I guess I'm just getting to old to understand today's humor.

Degree of change

This morning when I was getting ready for work I grabbed a new stick of deodorant. Degree for men. When I opened it up the was a plastic top under the lid. I removed it to see the words EMBRACE CHALLENGE stamped into my deodorant. I thought to myself what an odd place to get your life goals from. Despite the oddity I thought about it for a minute. Why not embrace challenge. You really only have two choices run from it or embrace it. A person that embraced challenge may fail more often than one that doesn't but he will succeed where the other is unwilling to try. Successful people have to embrace challenge and I want to be a successful person. So if you have been the type of person that runs from a challenge for fear of failing make a change in your life today. Do it today and you may fail but then again you may be successful.


Who knew you could learn so much from your deodorant.

The Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial

These pictures were taken today as my family and I visited the memorial. I go there every year on the 19th of April but have never just taken the time to look at everything. It brings back difficult memories. That is the day I almost lost my father. God had an angel with my father that day.

The first picture is of the chairs. Each chair represents a person that died. There are 168 of them.
The second is of the reflection pool and the main gate.
The third is the survivor tree.
The fourth is my father and I standing in front of the survivor tree.
The fifth is a statue named The weeping Jesus. You may notice that his back is to the bombing memorial. It is across the street from the memorial.

Why the Democrats won't win in 2008

Now before everybody gets all upset I would like to preface this post by saying I neither agree nor condone the following I am simply stating how I view the general public.

The reason I don't feel the democrats will win the election in 2008 is simple. This country isn't ready to elect a woman or a black man. At least not one named Barack Hussein Obama. The best chance the dems have for winning this election is John Edwards. The problem is he wont be able to raise the money. Hillary can't carry the female vote and without it she can't win the election. Obama won't be able to carry enough of the white vote and will have the same result. Therefore we will have a Republican in office again in 2008.

If you can't find something wrong with this there is something wrong with you

I was reading the story that I have linked to at the end of this article and remembering how it all went down. Now I read this article. This is a problem. We are supposed to have a system of checks and balances. If we aren't allowed to for our elected officials responsible for their wrong doings then who is. I just see this a more proof that our system and our politicians are corrupt.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/03/jefferson.investigation.ap/index.html

If the link does not work then you may have to cut and paste it into the address bar of your browser.