And now for the first and third thoughts!

First Thought:

I'll bet nobody remembered, but I forgot to do the weekly video like I promised to start doing last week. Yeah, I forgot until Saturday, but I have a great defense: I was working on attending a Sarah Palin rally that was taking place about an hour away from my house. I went to wait in line for tickets on Wednesday and subsequently forgot about doing a video. Yes, I did manage to go to the rally on Friday and I got lots of photos and got my own video of her talking, but the footage was taken with a home video camera, without a tripod, zoomed in all the way, so it's very shaky and I probably won't get around to digitizing it any time soon, but I have managed to download all kinds of local TV news clips and will be posting those sometime soon, including one particular snippet that shows yours truely in line at about 11am. Attending the rally was probably the single most exciting thing I've done... Seeing as how I don't get out very often. I'm working on a post, but something like this takes a while.

Third Thought:

So! I know of people, lots of people, who claim to be "independents". They may be registered Republicans or Democrats or true Independents, but they all adhere to one idea: They don't vote for parties, they vote for people. Alright, I respect that. All these people claim they don't vote for parties, but then, suddenly, this "early voting" phenomenon hits the masses and the parties encourage people to vote early to "beat the crowd". What's worse is that people buy into this. Nobody's exempt from this, okay? I want this to be perfectly clear. Democrats and Republicans both push for people to vote early and I will say the same thing to both side, whether they're voting for Obama or McCain: DON'T VOTE EARLY. Do not vote three weeks ahead of Election Day for the sake of convenience. Why? For this one simple yet vital reason: It ain't over 'til it's over. Period. The media lies out the wazoo for their chosen one, the polls all show only what they want to show. You KNOW how it is. Anyone who thinks the mainstream media and the polls are unbiased this year is simply a moron. If you're a moron on purpose, I'm disgusted with you. If you're a moron because you're not paying attention, I'm ashamed of you. Get in the game and look at what's happening. As things come down to a wire, more and more sensational articles are released, commercials get tougher, campaigns fight harder and lots and lots and lots of stuff comes out. It ain't over until it's over. It's a fact that polls are designed to sway early voters one way or the other, but in an effort to save face and prove that they're "accurate", the closer it gets to election day, the more accurate the polls will be so they can point back and say "look how awesome we were."

Fact is this, folks: If you truely voted for the person over the party, you would wait until Election Day to cast your vote, period. You would wait and see what comes out in these final days. I mean, hey! It's started to leak out that Obama has not actually presented a legal US Birth Certificate. The fact that his campaign keeps trying to avoid the accusation instead of actually showing everyone that Obama is a Constituationally legal candidate tells me that something's up. There's a lawsuit in Pennsylvania against him that's trying to get to the bottom of this. You don't hear about this in the media, but it's happening, nevertheless. Absolutely anything could come out about either candidate in the next couple of weeks and it could radically change the way you would vote. The fact that you vote early means simply one thing: You don't actually care about the person, you only care about the letter following their name. By voting early, you tell everyone that you don't give a crap about what could come up in the following weeks. You tell everyone that no matter what happens, you will always vote for that R or that D. Which is, in itself, entirely understandable. I mean, I don't make any bones about it that I'm a Republican and I think that the Republican party stands for the most of what I believe in and I'm far more likely to vote Republican than Democrat. But I would also not vote early. Don't get it confused with Absentee voting, either... This is Early Voting.

Like I said, strictly voting for parties isn't the problem here. It could be a problem, but that's not what I'm pointing out. I'm pointing out the fact that I know so many people who say to my face that they don't care about the parties... They care about the person running. But then they go and vote early without waiting for the campaigning to be over. That proves to me that they looked me in the face and lied. You would never vote this early unless you resigned yourself to the good ol' idea that "no matter what happens, I'm voting for this party". Absolutely anything about come out about any candidate as long as campaigns are still running, but you voted early because you don't care about that. I won't mention names, but rest assured there is more than one name, and if you want to put your own name to it, then fine, but I will neither confirm nor deny any name in conjunction to this post. I know you all know who you are and I'm very disappointed.

What people will sacrifice on the altar of convenience. Which leads me to a related point. In addition to the whole early voting fiasco, I'm also incredibly disappointed with anyone who supports Obama for one simple reason: His stance on abortion. People will all the time throw out "OH! But there are more than just one issue to think about!" Yeah, I agree with you there, but there are some issues where a candidate with good character, principles and morals can be correct on and the very same character, principles and morals will naturally apply the best decisions on other issues. Case in point: Abortion. If you would have asked me last year what I thought about abortion, I would have said "I don't know, I don't think about it." If you would have asked me earlier this year, I would have said "No abortion except in cases of rape and incest." If you ask me what I think about abortion now? "No, no, N-O, NO, period!" There are so many things to disagree with Obama on, but his stance on abortion is the first and final straw when he's voted so many times to stop health care for babies born after a failed abortion. That's about as evil and disgusting as it gets. (Plus, he lied about it during the third debate, but nobody cared.) He constantly shows his disdain for innocent life under any circumstances and people always jump on the bandwagon when people go for the full ban on abortion and scream WHAT ABOUT RAPE AND INCEST YOU HEARTLESS MALE! Well, let me first assure you that my own mom (who is, in fact, a woman) agrees completely with me and instilled in me these ideas, so it's not that I'm a man and can't understand, it's the fact that I honor all human life.

Second, I want to say that I'm against abortion even in those two cases, which will also most likely merit me a glorified entry on Fundies Say The Darndest Things. If you look at it that way, you're going to annihilate an innocent life due to the actions of one of their parents, plain and simple. "Oh, your father was a criminal so we're going to suck your brains out." I agree that rape and incest are the two most evil and revolting things anyone could ever do but I don't think the solution should be another evil and revolting thing, do you? Yes, the woman has been the victim of an evil crime, but, then again, so has the baby. The baby is entirely innocent of anything the criminal has done, but you're going to END ITS LIFE and slap the criminal in prison for a month and then let him out on parole or bail. Yeah, that's the perfect way to deal with the situation. Man, get your head screwed on straight. The baby is innocent. I can totally understand if you don't want it and if I were in that position (of course, as the husband of a wife who was, God forbid, a victim) I probably wouldn't want the kid around as a constant reminder, either. But you know... Adoption is an option. Seriously. For crying out loud, people, if you change your mind and don't want the baby, or you were the victim of such a horrible crime, you have no right to end the baby's life! You should be treating the woman and baby with utmost care and compassion and put that criminal slimeball on Death Row without bail, and I'm dead serious. Death penalty for these low lifes who think they can get away with crap like this. Nobody ever has the right to end an innocent life... We have everything backwards. Kill the innocent and think we can rehabilitate the guilty scum. Absolutely revolting.

Which leads me back to Obama. How can anyone in their right mind support a guy who supports the offing of innocent children? Even after they've been born? I'm sorry, but that's just demonic. That's disgusting. That's downright sick. None of these words convey my feelings very accurately... I'm apalled at what Obama thinks just on this one issue, and I'm apalled at people who vote for this guy because of it. As I said, people with the capacity to make such an abominable decision on this issue have the character, principles and morals (or lack thereof) to be wrong on just about every single other issue out there. If someone can be so shameless in professing the support of this tripe, they're going to be wrong on just about everything else. It's in their person... It's their whole approach to life in general. And then there are the people who overlook this because Obama is going to promise them what? Cheaper health care? How utterly selfish and distasteful. Yes, there are other issues, but there are none more important than the Constitutional right of life, which expands to all humans, embryo or adult.

By the way, may I point out to you that your own VP Candidate Joe "Gaffe Machine" Biden says that he believes that life begins at conception... That moment where cells start to divide? But he's willing to overlook this little detail and still support abortion. You don't even need a conservative blog to tell you this, it's on the Democrat pride and joy The New York Times itself. That's right, folks. Joe Biden thinks life begins at conception, but is willing to forsake his belief and support abortion... He, by his own admittance, agrees that abortion of any kind is murder, plain and simple, but he'll overlook that just for you and your precious altar of convenience. How absolutely loathesome. What's more? Nobody cares!

Oh, but they DO care that someone who honors all life to the extent that they want to ban abortion. That's right, I'm talking about John McCain and Sarah Palin. For some bizzare reason, people are ghastly afraid of someone who honors ALL life, but are embracing Barack Obama and Joe Biden who are so much the opposite that they'll let babies die after they've been born simply because the parents don't want them. And all you early voting non-partisan people voted for Obama/Biden. I think very, very poorly of that decision and you have a lot to explain... Except there isn't anything you can say to convince me that what you did was in anyone's best interest. You pretty much just tossed yourself in a hole and buried yourself as far as I'm concerned. All because you blindly voted for a party that supports this vulgar behavior.

And that concludes my showertime speculation.

Haven't had one of these in a while... I think it's time for another SHOWERTIME SPECULATION! To be honest, though, this is my second thought, but it got to be soooo long that I decided to compile it into a single post, with my first and third thoughts in a following post!

Second Thought:

To change the subject entirely, I've been thinking lately about end of the world. It's not something I obsess over a whole lot like a lot of other Christians seem to do, but I just wanted to pitch something out there for all you folks that feed off the sheer fundamentalist conservatism of people like me. Basically this: The Rapture. For those who don't know what that is, exactly, the Book of Revelation in The Bible is dedicated to a vision had by someone named John which is basically a giant prophecy of the end of the world. One of the key things in the book is the "Rapture", during which all true Christians are divinely taken off the planet so that Satan may use the remaining days to work his final evils to take as many humans as possible with him to eternal damnation. (Remember folks, Satan was already crushed and defeated when Jesus died and rose from the dead. The only thing left for Satan to do is take everyone else out with him... He's running one giant suicide bombing.) Without getting too much into it, the only thing holding God back from letting the world fall one final time is the fact that there are good Christians still here. But at some point, enough is going to be enough and He will take us all away and effectively remove the barrier stopping the final fall of mankind.

Okay, now... That was only the background to my thought. See, I'm not what people have started to call "Rapture-Ready". I don't go looking around for it and waking up each day expecting it to happen and I don't obsess over it day in and day out. Sure, it's something I realize will happen sooner or later and maybe not even in my lifetime (though I seriously doubt that) but I don't go around every corner in life expecting it to happen. I've seen people who do that and, to be honest, it irritates me. There are people like my Great-Grandma who were passively ready for the Rapture, which was always comforting somehow, but then there are people who just talk about it constantly and somehow seem to be actively looking for it. I dunno... I don't get it. But I realize this: Revelation says that the Rapture will happen when everyone least expects it. With the state of the world right now, everyone seems to be expecting it. To me, that just seems to scream "not going to happen yet". It'll happen in a time of peace and prosperity when nobody expects it. To get political for a monent, everyone thinks that Obama is going to usher in a new low to the country and everything's going to come apart at the seams and it will be a prime time for a Rapture. While I do think Obama is going to utterly destroy the fabric of this country if he's elected, I don't think it's going to be a time "primed for Rapture", because if he does become President, the last thing to happen is peace and prosperity. We're talking Second Great Depression if he gets in office... Not exactly a peaceful and prosperous time.

That being said, I do sometimes wonder what might happen after a Rapture. Think about it! The single most motivating event to sway people to accept government control is what? A catastrophe. After the Rapture, Satan will work overtime to hurtle the world toward its final demise. Revelation talks of a single, massive, one world government that will be corrupt at its core with the Anti-Christ at its helm, performing feats of wonder to convince the world that he actually is God. In the current state of affairs on this fair planet, a one-world government is not something that will ever happen. Some countries seem to be primed for it, but places like Russia and the United States and China just don't currently seem to be the type of countries to give up their power and submit to a global government. Not yet, anyway. There'll be what the Bible calls a "3 day fire war" (which, back then, I'm sure John didn't know what the heck he was seeing, but we all agree today that he witnessed a nuclear war). Of course, that's after the Rapture. The Rapture seems to be the catalyst for all these things to happen in a rapid chain of events. By referring to the history of our country, we can see that a catastrophic event is all that's needed to spur people to panic and to embrace something that might not be the best course of action. And that leads me to my thought:

What will happen the split second AFTER the Rapture? What will the planet do when millions upon millions of humans vanish in an instant. Think Left Behind series... Normal people doing normal jobs. People cooking, driving cars, flying jets. Poof! Gone! Instant panic. This wouldn't be isolated to a single area, it would be the entire planet. Mass, global panic. But there's going to be an explanation... I can't imagine what that explanation might be, so I enjoy trying to come up with examples. The top of my list, however cliche, since I can honestly think of nothing else, is "alien abduction", "attempt at population control", or "those dumb Christians organized this to freak us all out". It sounds insane, but, seriously, how many people do actually believe in sentient life outside our solar system? Would it really be so far-fetched to think that'd be an explanation for mass disappearances? With the cavalier attitude taken toward human life and the climate of this planet, would it really be so far-fetched to think officials might try to cover it up by saying they chose the least fittest to survive in an effort to save the planet? With the cynic nature of humans today, would it be so crazy to insinuate they'd think we all disappeared voluntarily? Who knows! There might never be an official adopted explanation and it might all be left up to the individual to come to terms with. But! I have a NEW idea for why people may vanish!

The Large Hadron Collider! Yep! Sounds crazy (crazier than the Rapture itself?), but it could be just as plausible as anything else. Think of it! A giant particle accelerator designed to recreate the Big Bang. Nobody knows what will happen, and some has even postulated that it'll destroy the fabric of reality or at the very least create tiny black holes that rip the planet apart. The sky's the limit for something like this, really. But, to be honest, I don't care. I don't think anything will happen... We might learn something, but come on. This is science in the realm of trying to prove that God doesn't exist. Do you really think something positive will come from it? It reeks of RMS Titanic: "God Himself cannot sink this ship." "Oops, we hit an iceberg in that one-chance-in-a-million way that would actually sink the ship." But it gives me a new idea to add to my list of Rapture explanations, granted it'll only apply until that moment when they actually activate it, but that really would be the ultimate explanation. "3, 2, 1... LHC ACTIVATE!" Millions of people vanish. "Oops." Yep, it's crazy, and I'll probably get stuck up on Fundies Say The Darndest Things again, but oh well. The fact is, there's going to have to be an explanation for the Rapture.

Now, as a side thought, since the LHC was my main thought, I've always wondered how people will react to everyone vanishing. I mean, to me, if millions of people disappeared, I know I'm going to think "OH MY GOSH I GOT LEFT BEHIND" and I'll know for a fact that Christianity was right all along. It's not like a bunch of people vanishing is going to make me go "Hmm, now why did that happen." I'm going to know exactly what happened. (Of course, I pray I don't get left behind!) Which always begs the question: What are non-Christians going to think? The ones who don't know about the whole Rapture thing are going to be absolutely clueless, but what about people who have Christian friends and they are at least vaguely aware of the Rapture idea? I have lots of friends who are either not Christians or have fallen away and are no longer interested in being a Christian and it grieves me to no end that there's a very good chance that when all is said and done, I'll never see them again. These are people who know I'm a Christian and I've talked to them about it and it's become clear to both of us that they aren't in a state of mind to accept Christian ideas and I'm never going to forsake them, so we just accept the differences. The best thing I can do right now is try to live a good Christian life as an example to them... Granted, I do very poorly, so I'm not sure how much of a positive example I am. But at this point, it seems to me that no ground is going to be made unless there's some sort of proof for them. My friends are very intelligent and scientifically minded, and those are the hardest to convince that there is an Intelligent Design to the universe. At this point, they need proof. They're already acutely aware of what Christianity promises, but that's not enough for them.

So I always wonder... What if their Christian friends one day aren't able to be found? What if my friends someday hear about the countless missing people and I'm part of those they never hear from again? Would they then be able to make the connection and have the proof they need to take that final step? It'll be so vastly more difficult to be a Christian in those final days, but it will be entirely possible. The Rapture is the opened flood-gates to end of times, and a final warning call that people need to wake up. But like in the days of Noah and the Great Flood, the citizens of the Earth had years upon years to change their ways. They saw Noah diligently building his giant ship and they all mocked him... Until they all died. There are going to be some people who go through the Rapture and still not make the connection, whether because they're uninformed of what just happened, or because they willingly turn. I can't help but wonder how many people I know will go through the Rapture and go "FINALLY! Those dastardly conservatives are out of our way!" or go "Ohh maaan, he was right all along." At this point, I think a Rapture or something huge like that is the only way to shake my non-Christian friends hard enough to really think about it. But, you know, by then, it'll be too late for me to be there. But, like I said, they're all smart people... I'm sure they'll be able to find a Bible.

And then there'll always be those Christians who were only Christians in name and got left behind. There'll be people who study Christianity, but aren't actually Christians... I'm sure there'll be learned people who can help start up new churches in those final days, but man, will it be so vastly more difficult to be a Christian in the final days. Americans have it so easy, compared to what will happen and what is happening elsewhere. But I'll be cheering you on from where ever I'll be after I'm taken away!

(How's that for a showertime speculation?)

Yes, I saw it. Yes, it's awesome. Yes, you should go see it.

Review to come at a later date... What I want to draw your attention to is the fact that Russia has written an open letter that basically whines about how Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is blatantly anti-Communist and yadda-yadda. I don't know if they were talking to Steven Spielberg or Harrison Ford, but they said something along the lines of: "Don't bother coming to Russia anymore or you'll be beaten." Wow, way to support your cause, eh? I'm wondering... When did communism EVER become acceptable? Even after the Cold War? All you have to do is look to Russia and North Korea and China to see that it doesn't work. Anyway, I abstain. Fact is, though, they're whining about being made to look bad.

Yes, the communists look bad in Indiana Jones. As did the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Last Crusade... And Temple of Doom made Kali worshippers the bad guys. Boo-hoo. Hey! Guess what? The Golden Compass made Christians the bad guys and guess what everyone said? "If you don't like it, don't watch it." They would tell us to leave them alone to do their own things... You know, as if they leave us alone and we should be fair and treat them the same way. Anyway... I found this whole thing terribly amusing. Communists... Complaining that they were portrayed poorly in an American movie set in the Cold War era. Oh, what NERVE we Americans have. I guess Michelle Obama was right! We're a mean country...

Oops... I'm not supposed to talk about her, am I, Barack? My apologies.

So I'm going to make a whole new category for these types of posts... I seem to make them a lot. Just little posts that mention something in passing that really doesn't need a lot of explanation, but is meant to provoke some sort of... Thought. I thought of calling it "Food for Thought", but that's so boring and typical and I really don't think like that. I've noticed myself leaning more toward a professional presentation of things, and I think I'm getting too straightforward! Humor and personality makes things unique! So, after careful consideration, the new category is going to be dubbed "Showertime Speculation", and is based off how I personally use the shower to go through random trains of thought. They're never lengthy trains of thought, but they're sometimes pretty profound, if I do say so myself. That being said, here's the inaugural Showertime Speculation:

American Politics. Over the past several months, I've obviously developed a major interest in American politics, laws, and government in general, and I've had countless people tell me things like "politics? how can you stand to read that stuff?" and "hah! I keep away from that stuff like the plague", and I'm left sitting there wondering why in the heck they act like this? I'm going to tell you what I think of when I hear the word "politics". It's not "cockroaches in Washington" or "maniacal liberals bent on the destruction of all that's good in America", though those things certainly fall under the term. When I hear the word "politics", I think of the incredible privilege we have, as Americans, to be able to have politics in the first place! I think of how we, as Americans, believe in the right to determine our own leaders by fair representation. As such, we have a responsibility to keep ourselves informed of current events, what laws are trying to be passed and for what reasons, and to keep ourselves informed about the character and opinions of people who are offering to run for office to represent us.

Americans ARE lazy. We're the greatest country on the planet and so many citizens take it for granted. They don't seem to want to bother themselves with keeping tabs on the government and just kind of go with the flow of their peers and political parties. When I hear someone say they don't like politics or even can't be bothered to deal with it, I'm left wondering how in the heck someone could say that. I wouldn't call it a duty, because it's not required for someone to vote, but I would most certainly say it's a great responsibility as an American to BE involved in politics at some degree! You can choose not to take care of your responsibility, sure, but then that makes you... Irresponsible. (Yeah, I got creative there.)

Now, I realize that politics is considered a hobby or sometimes even a career that people just don't enjoy. I understand that... But for someone to flat out say that they keep their distance from politics as a whole? That just gives me the impression that you're too... Something... Selfish or ignorant or whatever... To be bothered with at least checking out the basic political events for yourself in order to make informed judgments about who to vote for. I can tell you right now that I think very poorly of people who can vote but decide not to, and I think far more poorly of people who vote just for the sake of voting and without any true understanding of who they're voting for. I understand that some people don't want to keep track of every little bill and law getting passed around, but I still think that it's your responsibility as an American to at least pay SOME attention to politics, especially when it comes to these presidential primaries. To have the freedoms that we do doesn't come without a price... Part of that price is that you HAVE to be involved in politics at some degree, and to be involved in politics at all, you need to be aware of what's happening around you, and that means you're going to have to get a little dirty with political news and blogs so you can at least make a small effort to understand and comprehend what's happening.

And... This really wasn't a small thought, but it's still something I came up with in the shower.