NoMoreGreed.com

As promised, I skipped Jon and Kate Plus 8 tonight.  Instead, I hopped on the treadmill, fired up the Playstation 2, and played a riveting game of “Burnout Revenge.”  (Hey, we all have our vices.  Mine is ramming computer-controlled cars off bridges.  Who needs “road rage?”)  By comparison, Burnout Revenge turned out to be a relatively mild game of bumper cars compared to what was going on over at TLC.  The news reports afterward made the story abundantly clear.

The Gosselins have filed for divorce.
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Writing over at my other Blog, the relatively more mellow “sdpearl.com“, I opined back in late March that unless Kate Gosselin pulled the plug on the couple’s show, “Jon & Kate + 8,” their marriage would soon be over.  I had no idea just how quickly the wheels would come off the the cash-laden armored car riding on the backs of their prodigious brood.  According to insiders familiar with both the show and the two adult leads, the upcoming episode, Monday June 22, will air the announcement that the two are officially headed for the big “D,” and I don’t mean “Dallas.”

What is both encouraging and telling regarding the popularity of this marital slug-fest is that this show has hemorrhaged viewers over the past month.  With a 9.8million viewer share on its May 25th episode it scored a measley 2.3million for last week’s episode.  That’s a crash in popularity rivaled only by the state of Citibank’s stock.  Nothing gives me greater glee in this nuclear disaster than the idea that such a drop-off in viewers might represent a glimmer of sanity and hope for the taste buds of the American viewer.  Perhaps the collapse of J&K+8 finally signals that we have had it with indulging the wretched refuse and by-product of human greed on parade.
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NOTE:  This has been sitting in the “Draft” bin for a long, long time.  I had forgotten it until just today.  This is the conclusion of a multi-part series begun during the presidential election cycle of 2008.  I hope you find it useful even though it is somewhat less timely.)

(This is Part III of a multi-part series on the emotionally-charged topic of abortion.  Please read “Part I:  The Journey Begins”, and “Part II: ”…But for the Grace of God…” for important background material.)
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This election cycle I avoided offering NoMoreGreed’s endorsement for any political candidates.  In elections past I have offered a slate of candidates who I felt did the best job of at least forstalling the march of greed, if not represent greedlessness in total.  The truth is, however, that every candidate these days is a study in compromise.  They are human.  So as I enter the voting booth I hold my nose at times knowing that I am not necessarily voting for the “best” candidate for a greed-free agenda as much as the “least offensive” candidate.

Today, instead of issuing endorsements, I give you a simple glimpse into the mind of a true independant.  These are the candidates I voted for.  I’ll leave it to you to figure out what it all means.  (If you’re interested in dialoging, drop me a note.)
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Talk radio is a wasteland.  There are very few people on the air today who know how to hold a civil conversation without shouting at or talking over their opponent.  Fewer still are the people who actually do their homework before conducting an interview.  Journalism has taken a back seat to persuasion, “telling” people what to believe rather than dialoging with them to come to mutual understanding.

Some are better than others when it comes to at least pretending to be objective.  Glenn Beck and Michael Smirconish are some of the better ones.
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I was rummaging through the Gallup Poll web site today and stumbled across the following, new poll.

PRINCETON, NJ — A Gallup update based on more than 21,000 interviews conducted as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking in October shows that registered voters’ religious intensity continues to be a powerful predictor of their presidential vote choice. John McCain wins overwhelmingly among non-Hispanic whites who attend church weekly, while Barack Obama dominates among whites who seldom or never attend church.

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“He really didn’t just say that, did he?”

In an election in which nothing surprises me, this was a sucker punch I didn’t see coming.

I rewound the YouTube clip and listened again.

“…and Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation because they’re gonna think their god is bigger than you if that happens…”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I went even further back and listened to the whole thing again. “Please, God, tell me I am not taking something out of context,” I prayed.

“…because there are millions of people around this world… praying to their god… whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah… that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons…

Did this guy just imply that Obama is aligned with someone other than Jesus Christ? Did this chuckhead just imply that every non-Christian religion is hoping Obama will win because Obama is not a Christian?

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Put the speaker in a pinstripe suit topped by a head covered in Brylcreem and you could imagine the following tough-guy quote coming out of the mouth of The Great Communicator back in the early 80’s.

“You have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war. You can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

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Here’s one of those things that makes you scratch your head and go, “Hmmm…”

Today I heard women interviewed about their attitudes toward Sarah Palin’s selection as the VP candidate for the Republican party.  One of them said, with obvious glee, “She’s just like one of us.  She’s got a pregnant teen and a Downs Syndrome boy.”  The fact that she decided to deliver her baby and her daughter is going to deliver hers is thrilling the Christian Right.  I agree.  I would have been disappointed if she had chosen the less-responsible alternative.
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It’s amazing how homogeneous the Republican party has become these days.  All you need to do is take a gander across the crowds at the convention.  Suits.  Ties.  Specifically, gray suits and red ties.  The women are perfectly coiffed, their dresses looking as if they are prepared to go to a dinner party at La Bec Fin.  Even the guys wearing cowboy hats or baseball caps had suits on from the neck down.  It would have been laughable if it were not so darned flabbergasting.

Contrast McCain’s convention to Obama’s.  There were some rough-edged folks on the floor of the Democratic convention.  Truckers.  Waitresses.  Union types.  Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Whites.  There were some suits, to be sure, but not nearly as many as at the Republican convention.
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