Ryan Jones Thoughts and Re-Thoughts

Why Christians Shouldn't Vote for Democrats

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:35:00 +0000

Here's the deal, I hear so much about Christians and republicans primarily because of the abortion issue.

What happens if you remove pro-life and pro-choice from the equation? Should a Christian then vote for a democrat?

Democrats have been mugging US citizens far longer than they've been murdering them. Thank you FDR.

Romans 13:1-4
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

We are to submit ourselves to the US constitution, which God has put in authority over us. And to support a candidate who is rebelling against our country's authority (again the US Constitution) is then in turn rebelling against what God has instituted. Obama has said the constitution has "deep flaws" which he's saying then that what God has put in authority is flawed. He is committed to taking away our right to bear arms and he wants to mold the constitution to do what wasn't done during the civil rights movement.

Who is Barry Soetoro?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:13:00 +0000

It is really disconcerting how little we actually know about Barack Obama.

The mantra for Obama is "Change we need" - Many assume that he's referring to change in Washington and specifically George Bush. This would be a far fetched assumption since Barry hasn't really said that. He says he wants to change the United States and the World. Does it bother anyone when a US president says he wants to "Change the World"?

Also Obama went to school in Indonesia during war time. In order to attend school in Indonesia at this time you had to be a citizen. Dual citizenship was not allowed therefore if Obama actually attended school (which he says he did) then he gave up his citizenship and if that's true he is no longer a naturalized citizen.

It's unfortunate that many of his overly emotional supporters care about this.

A sickening event, I was watching CNN the other day and one of the reporters involved in this specific discussion mentioned that it was important to discuss if Obama truly is a socialist and this was scoffed at by the host who said "Our federal gov't is now a partial owner of the largest banks and 700 billion is going towards a larger federal gov't. In addition to that we already tax the rich and give to the poor, just on a smaller scale, so aren't we already socialist." So the argument goes, it doesn't matter that Obama is a socialist since we're already a socialist country. Wow... just wow.

Back to "Change", there are some youtube videos where Obama is talking about the constitution and it's "deep flaws" and "blind spot" found here on youtube. It doesn't matter if Obama thinks it's a "remarkable document" he's not allowed to have an opinion on it, honestly it is what it is you must abide by it. It worries me that he apparently thinks he's above the constitution.

Presidential Candidates on Education

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:39:00 +0000

Obama

Prepare Teachers: Obama and Biden will require all schools of education to be accredited. Obama and Biden will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively.

McCain

John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.

Bob Barr - Under his "Education Home Schooling" issues category

Parents have a duty to raise and educate their children, but without choice for alternatives to government schooling, the ability of parents to fulfill that role is severely limited. Education involves not just practical learning, but the transmission of moral values, making it even more important to return authority to parents for deciding their children’s schooling without interference from government.

Who Will Be Taxed By Obama?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:21:00 +0000

I had been thinking about the arbitrary $250,000 imaginary line drawn by Obama that separates the middle class and "wealthy". I was then curious as to who really will be the ones that get taxed.

Doctors/Physicians - 8 years in school and often times student loan debt greater than most mortgages. Then begins residency, this can last between 2 to 6 years earning maybe 32,000 to 48,000 and not to mention the insane hours worked. Well now they'll be taxed nearly 40% of their income. By the way if they're making less than they already are it's likely we may see fewer new physicians and many in the field now close their practice, especially with the increasing costs of insurance. Also, these physicians run the small businesses that you hear talked about. Many times an office with two physicians and a PA will have around 4 - 6 office employees. The Physician still needs to pay for office rent, supplies, insurance, student loans, mortgage, car payment etc. so the best option to save money is to let a few employees go or pay them less. Unemployment goes up. Thank you Obama.

CEO's - Many CEO's, especially the newer ones often have a masters degree and an expensive education. They then most likely took a nice middle class salary between 30,000 - 80,000 out of college and worked their way up for 30 years to finally get where they are. Now we should punish them, take more of their money, demotivate them and watch more companies fail. Wonderful. These are the people that shop at expensive stores and often pay full price for items. These are the people that eat out and tip the waitress and the bartender. Less money for them means less money spent, therefore less waiters, retail employees and so on. Unemployment goes up. Thank you Obama

Dentists, Chiropractors, other medical specialties - Maybe not as many years of education as a physician but sometimes close to it. These people run their own practices the same as physician and if they have less income they'll cut non fixed expenses just the same. Unemployment goes up. Thank you Obama.

Plumbers - Yes, there are many small plumbing companies making around or more than 250,000 and yes they'll cut fixed expenses, use cheaper products and be less readily available. Therefore construction costs will go up, therefore home prices and commercial development prices will go up. More expensive construction and less construction means less construction jobs and also means less plumbers. So maybe Joe the plumber won't be taxed more, but he'll be looking for that welfare check since he could get laid off. Unemployment goes up. Thank you Obama.

Lets be conservative and say that those who make over 250,000 a year are responsible, individually for 2 jobs (an average between small businesses with 10 or more employees and executives who just spend a lot on retail and food). Estimates also put the total population making over 250,000 at 3-4%, we'll use 3% of total population 300,000,000 is 9,000,000 which multiplied by 2 is 18,000,000. Which means that 18million jobs are potentially at stake, not that they'll all lose their jobs or even that they'll all make less but there is some danger. The bureau of labor statistics estimates the total workforce to be 159,000,000 therefore 11% of us should be concerned.

To conclude, Obama is not just taxing 5% of americans, he's also playing with 11% of the total workforce. Say 1 in 8 of those people he affected actually lose their job because of Obama's tax plan. Thank you Obama for 7.5 to 8% unemployment, conservatively speaking.

How did we get in this mess? Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:10:00 +0000

The New York Times has become very useful these days.
I saw a link to this video on Drudgereport this morning and wondered what role did Barney Frank play. Warning, lots of incoherent yelling.

Good work Bill O'Reilly.
Some quotes from this New York Times article in 2003 regarding oversight needed for Fannie Freddie.

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Here's my favorite part.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Again that phrase... affordable housing. I've heard affordable housing called, "putting people into homes they can't afford." Seems like the best definition out there.

How did we get in this mess?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:06:00 +0000

I'm not sure if this is funny or sickening.

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending 9/30/99

Here are some highlights...

The action... will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.

Imagine if someone said that today. Also, how do you "encourage" banks to do something? You fine them if they don't. Therefore it was financially expedient to make bad loans.

Fannie Mae has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate

The Clinton Administration, that must be a misprint, I'm sure Bush was at work in to ruin people's dreams long before he was in office.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Must not be fun to be Franklin Raines these days. Read the rest of the article for some right on predictions.

Google Throwback

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:05:00 +0000

This is just too much fun. For it's 10th anniversary google put up their 2001 index and their previous logo and layout.
http://www.google.com/search2001.html

It's amazing how much has changed since 2001. A search for "George Bush Sucks" in 2001 yielded 15,500 results whereas a search now has 1,090,000. Just a shame.

CEO Pay 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:59:00 +0000

If this congress sets a precedent of dictating someone's pay, including CEO's, that is dangerous ground they're walking on and stepping into something much deeper than they realize. Imagine if congress determines that they have the right to legislate payroll for any company that accepts gov't handouts, not a big deal because all you have to do is not take the handout and then you can pay your employees (including the CEO) whatever you want. Well that's a great first step into a socialistic society because then what happens is the continued increase of the government's role in private business and eventually in order to compete you must accept the handouts and therefore have your payroll dictated by congress. It's a vicious cycle really, but a dangerous one.

Regarding the "700 Billion Bailout"
First of all, it's not a bailout and it's not "giving" money to "the people who got us in this mess". What this plan does is allow banks to sell assets for far less than what they paid and take a major lose but to also get rid of these assets that are bogging down their financial statements. Currently there is not a market to sell these mortgage backed securities other than a firesale market. Therefore banks must value these assets at the firesale prices which in turn destroys their financial positions, at least on paper. If a buyer is created (the feds) then they can in an open and free market offer to buy these assets at non-firesale prices yet still at a discounted rate. This will do three things, first it will "put the taxpayers on the hook", second it will place a true market value on these assets and allow financial companies to reasonably value them and third banks and other lending institutions will be free to lend under new conservative guidelines which will allow businesses to expand and borrow money.

Here is what's wrong with the "put the taxpayers on the hook" idea. These ARE OUR MORTGAGES. If you default on your own you make us all responsible, therefore we need to fight to keep our homes and guess what the feds will actually MAKE money through this program. Shouldn't we be on the hook for keeping our own homes as it is? Don't get me wrong I don't advocate that we should all be responsible for eachother's home retention, but believe me, the banks have already taken a major loss. Also the only way we'll be "on the hook" for $700 billion is if we all default on our homes and their value is $0.

The bottom line is this plan seems to be the best that I've heard and if people stop presenting issues with it and instead present better options then maybe that will change. But so far I've only heard complaints and no other real solutions. Even economists can't provide a better solution, they'd rather just complain about this one.

One last random thought. As I've mentioned these assets will never be worth $0 therefore the true cost isn't $700billion. In fact what I would like to see is an estimate of the actual cost, estimated losses, cost to hire the traders, cost to perform the oversight, cost to hire the REO managers, cost to actually foreclose, cost to maintain the foreclosed homes and so on. I wouldn't be surprised if the real cost ends up being far less than $700billion.

CEO pay and the Gov't Bailout

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:12:00 +0000

I've recently heard suggestions that the CEO's of any company that takes advantage of the new bailout should have their salaries limited. There are several problems with this, first many of these CEOs salaries are stock based and with the way their stock has gone a mandatory pay amount for them could possibly be a pay increase. Also, if you have 30 years experience and worked your way up to CEO, you're probably a fairly smart individual, why not go get another job? If you want someone to stick around and risk their career trying to save a failing bank they better get paid and paid on incentive.

Also Paul Shippy pointed out this, President Bush proposed to have a new agency to oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Just one quote from that article

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

I recently heard someone say this "affordable housing is for people who can't afford to own a home" It's stuff like that which got us in this problem to begin with.

Market Crisis, is there a solution?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:19:00 +0000

It's been a while, and I have a little free time on my hands as we're awaiting the birth of my son, we're on an induction list at the hospital and we're supposed to get in yesterday at 4:30 but now we're being told that we'll get in by Monday.

On a totally separate note I've ready some crazy stuff today that is very disturbing and I must share.

I've been following the credit crisis very closely since last year when the subprime loans started blowing up and mortgage lenders started closing their doors. Some put the numbers at around 280+ http://ml-implode.com - I work in the industry and I'm very familiar with what's happened, mostly from what I've read and heard. First of all subprime loans are NOT evil or bad. Many people who sold these loans gave them to people who genuinely wanted to own a home and could probably afford it at the time. Also just because someone forecloses on a home, that doesn't necessarily mean they can not afford the home.

Ok, so to my reason for posting... The democratic controlled congress is adjourning while we're in the middle of, for lack of a better phrase, a financial hellstorm. So what does Harry Reid say?

"...no one knows what to do"

Maybe the reason he doesn't know what to do is because he believes, like his colleague Joe Biden, that paying taxes is a patriotic duty specifically the wealthy paying taxes. I'm lost for words...

Here's what the government can do to save our financial markets and more so our economy. LESS. This is an absurd thought. If we cut back on our federal spending dramatically, or just roll out John McCain's plan to cut 800billion in spending that would be a nice start. At the same time make the Bush tax cuts permanent, this will allow corporations to appropriately plan for the future and also encourage investment without fear of insane capital gains tax. Also if you want to pump money into the economy try this, cut the corporate tax rate to the levels where it's at overseas. Currently it ends up around 35% depending on the brackets not including state corporate tax. Compare to Germany 29%, Cuba 30%, China 25%, UK 28%, etc.

If we stop pumping fake money into the economy, stop bailing out important companies and stop wasting money on programs that aren't working we'll strengthen the dollar, companies will invest, businesses will hire and people will spend more. It's seriously that simple and I honestly believe that with the tax cuts set to expire this is preventing many businesses from investing and growing and therefore bringing the economy to a standstill.

One other note, It's unfortunate when German writers are saying that American Capitalism has come to an end. With the nationalization of AIG and continued Government bailouts I'm starting to wonder who will bail our the national treasury? I guess the answer is us right? Well not just us, our children too.

They try and they will

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 22:31:00 +0000

Often journalists and professors and I'm sure many other people in professions in the public arena make statements that are said with so much authority and unnoticeably false logic that people accept these statements as truth. Give a statement like this as an example written by Joe Klein...

Sadly, his speech also marked the end of an era: the last moments before American public life was overwhelmed by marketing professionals, consultants and pollsters who, with the flaccid acquiescence of the politicians, have robbed public life of much of its romance and vigor.

Klein starts the article out with an appeal to emotion referring back to a speech Kennedy gave the day Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. Kennedy was in the middle of his run to receive the democratic nomination for president. It's amazing what kind of statements are often made with out any real proof given.

I wasn't alive during this time but I do remember hearing and reading about the famous debates between Kennedy and Nixon and about Kennedy wearing makeup and how most people believe that it wasn't the content of the debate that swung the voters towards Kennedy but it was his charisma and looks. Kennedy wasn't the last of the "good ole' politicians" he was the first to use the marketing campaign.

Big Rabbit or Small Guy?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 06:42:00 +0000

I saw this picture on the Drudge Report and I just had to think that...

Either this is a big rabbit, or that guy is a midget.

CNN Bias again

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 15:16:00 +0000

Headline
"Bonds Sink on Jobless claims"

CNN Money has taken a good thing and made a headline out of it that sounds bad. Even when we have less people making jobless claims it is still not good enough because this causes "Bonds to Sink" which isn't necessarily a horrible thing. Not until the 5th paragraph do we get the truth

New claims for jobless aid unexpectedly fell 5,000 last week and longer-term unemployment slid to its lowest level in more than five years, according to the Labor Department.

Isn't it a good thing when less people are claiming jobless benefits? You couldn't tell by the headline, or really even by the article. It's sad when media outlets want a bad economy so much they have to deceive.

Democracy or Free Market

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:06:00 +0000

As President Bush talks about the war in Iraq and bringing democracy to the middle east on the anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, headlines read "Afghan citizen prosecuted for switching to Christianity from Islam." Is democracy really what countries like China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba need? Russia has had a democracy and they're beginning to vote themselves right back into communism (which as we all know has failed them once before), also Venezuela has voted themselves into a dictatorship.

I believe what these troubled countries need is to refocus, the people need quality of life. I don't believe that it's democracy that makes the USA the best country in the world, it's the free market. For example look at the lack of protestors of the Iraq war over the weekend. People care, just not that much, they're more concerned with their jobs and families, making enough money to pay their mortgage, or starting a business, or buying a new car... consumerism and greed (Adam Smith) is what makes America great. If we can help Iraqis become more concerned about starting their new business or buying a new car or going out to dinner or making more money or saving their money then there is a good chance that less citizens will blow themselves up and instead spend their time doing other things.

The whole idea of retirement is foreign to most people in these third world countries, retirement comes from a level of greed and ability which third world countries lack. Why is it that third world countries are filled with war? And what makes a country "third world." I believe it is the inability to start businesses, own real estate and all the things involved in free markets not the ability to vote.

There is much less uprising in China lately because their citizens spend more time making money to better themselves or doing other things that their new freedom allows.

Let's not forget though, complete freedom is still bondage without Christ.

Ex-CNN anchor has gone crazy!?

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 17:30:00 +0000

I saw this headline today

EX-CNN ANCHOR BROWN: "THE NEWS IN THIS COUNTRY IS A BUSINESS"

I am honestly shocked yet not surprised that an ex-CNN anchor believed the news wasn't a business previously. This must by why CNN's ratings are falling and also why they are more concerned about reporting their ideology than the news. The fact that "News in this country is a business" is the very reason why FoxNews is fair and balanced. If the news wasn't a business we wouldn't have the drudge report, fox news or many of the bloggers out there that report the things that go hidden or uncovered (i.e. monica lewinsky, and Dan Rather's fake memo).

Competition and money in a free market is what makes our country so successful and one of the richest in the world. Yet some despise our capitalistic market yet they refuse to look at the rest of the world and the oppressive state of the poorest countries.

The free-er a country is (especially economically) the richer it tends to be. That's a fact. This is one the important issues addressed in this great book, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. Wayne Grudem quotes several times out of this book in Business For The Glory Of God.

132 Day Dry Spell... God is Sovereign

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:57:00 +0000

Dry Spell in Phoenix continues but possibly nears end

Since the news is reporting that it's possible for us here in the valley of the sun (which used to be a good thing) to get rain tuesday or wednesday I thought we could make a list of what has happened since it last rained (oct 18th)

1. Halloween
2. I went hunting for the first time
3. Danae and I nearly planned our entire wedding during the dry spell
4. Thanksgiving
5. I bought a house and moved into it
7. We found out Tara got pregnant :)
8. Started this blog
9. Trevor turned 1
10. Olympics begun... and ended
11. Elections were held in Iraq
12. Justice Alito confirmed to the supreme court (and south dakota passes bill to ban abortion)
13. I Think Iran has developed nuclear weapons during this time
14. GM lost over 4.8 Billion (forth quarter alone)
15. Super Bowl
16. Someone got shot by the vice president
17. Emergent got hated and Tim Keller got press

What did I miss?

Some Wiki-How To-s to take note of, or laugh at

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:26:00 +0000

I love reading the Wiki-Hows, but sometimes they are out there. Here are a few that could be useful or funny.

How To Dress To Minimize A Large Stomach Bulge
How To Tame A Free Spirit
How To Make A Goldfish Live For Decades
How To Grow Spring Vegatables, Organically
How To Get Your Kids To Write Thank You Cards
How To Celebrate Michael Jordan's Birthday
How To Hook A Bowling Ball
How To Teach Your Cat To Give A Handshake
How To Peel an Onion Quickly

This one is sarcastic (I Hope)
How To Make The Bible Fit Your Viewpoint

Nigerian Muslims Kill Christians and Burn Churches

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 16:53:00 +0000

Not quite sure how this wasn't in my newspaper (maybe it was like page 20 of the entertainment section of the ever useless arizona republic). Apparently violence against the Christian community began on Saturday (estimated anywhere between 13-50 dead and possibly up to 30 churches burned) and now the press reports this Anti-Muslim riot on tuesday turns deadly. Maybe I missed something, let me know if I have.

Since when do muslim's have "protests" and christians "riot." compare these statements from the seattlePI...

Anti-Muslim riot in Nigeria turns deadly... Christian mobs rampaged through a southern Nigerian city Tuesday, burning mosques and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence

Saturday's protest over the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in Maiduguri marked the first violent demonstrations over the issue in Nigeria.

Judith Klinghoffer
A nigerian commented on her site with this...

This REFUSAL of the press to mount a HUGE OUTCRY is GETTING US KILLED. . . If they'd all come out in unison and HOWLED THEIR DISGUST, it might have quelled the riots and shamed the Muslims into ceasing this obscene behaviour. As it is, Muslims see nothing is going to happen to them for howling and they are going to up the ante. The REAL STORY IS THE PRESS REFUSAL TO COVER THIS. WHY?

Judith Klinghoffer says this

The poor Christians apparently knew what was coming and tried appeasement.

Now they realize that it was the wrong move. As their appeasement has been interpreted as weakness. Indeed, the cartoons are used to further the goal of turning Nigeria into an Islamic state.

Random Comments on Communist-Google

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 07:08:00 +0000

Comments on previous post

Anonymous said...

Hyperbole aside, there is a sense in which I appreciate google's unwillingness to divulge my search queries to anyone. You have to consider the issue of legal precedent. It's definitely an issue which can cut both ways, and shouldn't just be thrown aside.

Saturday, 18 February, 2006

Ryan J said...

I agree, I don't think law requires them (google) to share what search queries are done also I think they have a right not to share any information they chose not to. Also the NSA isn't "just anyone" these are people we trust with our national security daily, probably some of the most underappreciated people in our gov't.

That isn't the point anyway, I don't have a lot of confidence in a company that would be willing to share the same information with an oppressive government that will use it to continue their fascist murderous regime where in the US it will be used to protect it's citizens from sick child pornographers. I need to be convinced that google will be consistent and after the launching of google.cn I have a suspicion that they are more willing to support oppressive gov'ts.

I guess there comes a point where we may lose some rights (if keeping a search query secret is a right, remember ask jeeves and it's "recently searched for" section), and by giving up that "right" we can protect our society from child pornography and those who distribute it along with other things. But if your "rights" are more important than those children or those affected by child pornography or those killed by terrorists' rights or our military's right to be informed then that's your opinion.(I understand I may slightly be exag(g)erating but I don't feel it's too far off the mark).

Saturday, 18 February, 2006

This appears to come down to the same issue of our privacy rights in an airport or subway or whatever. At what point do some people have to give up a few of their "rights" to protect the "rights" of others. I think we all have a tendency to call a privilege a "right". I'm reminded of a quote by Professor Alexander Tyler,

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From BONDAGE to SPIRITUAL FAITH; from SPIRITUAL FAITH to GREAT COURAGE; from GREAT COURAGE to ABUNDANCE; from ABUNDANCE to SELFISHNESS; from SELFISHNESS to COMPLACENCY; from COMPLACENCY to APATHY; from APATHY to DEPENDENCY; from DEPENDENCY back again into BONDAGE.

Most don't care.. but I do

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:52:00 +0000

Google has rejected the US attorney general's subpeona for websearch information regarding a supreme court ruling and children viewing pornography. Yahoo and MSN have complied. Read more here...

I bet it's safe to assume that google would give this information to a communist gov't probably even terrorists. But they aren't willing to cooperate with a force for good in this world. What a shame.

Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 23:06:00 +0000

Today I was looking at this and really enjoyed the photography. So I thought I would show off some pictures I've taken, only because I enjoy seeing other people's photographs.

Jerome, AZ

A street my dad grew up on in colombus ohio

A street in Jerome, AZ

Paz's footprints in Prescott, AZ

Thought this was funny

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 20:37:00 +0000

I saw this and thought it was funny...

"I thought the EU was a good idea, but now I think it sucks."

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 22:18:00 +0000

An article in the UK Telegraph attempts to describe the issues a small island is having with the EU. Read about it here.

"Thanks to a quirk of early 20th-century history, Aland's 26,000 people are essentially sovereign co-rulers of their home nation of Finland."

Citizens of this small island used to enjoy their hunting and fishing as well as their snus (a form of tobacco), but then they joined the EU and submitted themselves to a larger ruling body of laws that control from afar the laws of a land that is unfamiliar to the dictators in the making. Let this be a warning to those Americans who are Rah-Rah UN or even Rah-Rah big federal government. If you want to be like those who live in Aland and be told what to do by people you never voted for or will never meet then continue to promote a failed idea of large central government.

An EU constitution is a bad idea and thanks to Holland and liberal France it was voted down. History shows us that the larger and more powerful a government is the less freedom and religious rights available. I honestly believe that if we, as Christians, want to continue to send missionaries and plant churches in Europe we need to support free and sovereign nations and do what we can to promote freedom where we can vote and discuss with those involved.

The political war is not our war but when we have been endowed by our government to be a part of the political process I believe it is our duty, as christians, to at least care.

As one Alander put it, "I thought the EU was a good idea, but now I think it sucks."

Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:56:00 +0000

Danae and I are big dog lovers, although we may not share the same preference (she likes pugs and I think they're kinda ugly). So the otherday we were in the mall and stopped by the pet store and saw the coolest dog ever. It's a mixbreed pug and king charles cavalier spaniel. Sure that sounds odd but it was really playful, smart and cute. I'm looking for a breeder of these so we can buy one once we get married. But this seems like it may be a difficult task.

Go here to find out more about a pugalier

I can't trust my eyes anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan J) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:08:00 +0000

Source: Reuters

That is so not cool. Now the line has been crossed, poor ronald mcdonald.