This is a Problem

Why are the liberals in Congress trying so hard to bring back a scuttled former piece of legislation--dead for twenty years--now? Why would the liberals have such a problem with free-market demand dictating what is or isn't available--or said--over the airwaves? I think the key word there is "dictating." For all of the posturing on the left about "neocons" or "fascist tactics" of the current president, I have yet to see Pres. Bush or other conservatives attempt to force-feed opinion to the rest of America. On the contrary, I haven't heard a peep out conservatives...because they seem to understand that market forces dictate what is created for public consumption.

Let's take a look at what I mean here. Should you turn on the radio--and I have in three markets over the last month--in seemingly any market, you have a multitude of choices to listen to when it comes to talk radio/political commentary. Nevertheless, it would seem from my non-scientific study (Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St.Paul, Boise) of three markets--two of which are decidedly non-conservative, at least on paper, that the overwhelming majority of these advertiser-supported programs lean to the right. Interesting. Even in Los Angeles I didn't even know where to find Air America. In Minneapolis, the only left-leaning radio programming I could find was NPR--you know, the radio stations supported by YOUR tax dollars. Interesting.

So now the liberals, tired of only having a monopoly on the print media (a format whose readership is falling faster than a lead balloon), want to remove free-market forces from the radio waves. They want to force-feed their nonsensical viewpoints on Americans who don't want them. How do I know? Because they're not buying it when they're free to do so now.

I submit that the so-called "neocons" aren't the ones we should be worried about. Anyone who tries to force their point-of-view is. Liberals should note that this country is currently locked in a struggle to eradicate groups of people who would force-feed their ideology. They have names like "Taliban" and "Al-Qaeda."

I think we know what those two groups are all about...

Gora San Fermin!

News from Pamplona today includes the annual Goring of the Americans...er...Running of the Bulls.

Although I don't like to look at the graphic pics of humans getting a horn up the jimmy or having a horn run BETWEEN your shin bone and skin, it is nice to see the bulls can still bring it occasionally.

I did this in 1992 and let me tell you, I still get goosebumps thinking about it. It really is an amazing experience--something I'll never forget. On July 12th this year, the encierro was about six minutes long--with a bull going the wrong way, which is akin to "asking for trouble." If you read Spanish, read about it here.

And you thought YOU were famous. Check this guy out. How cool is it to be the man people think of when they think of "guys who run with the bulls in Pamplona?" I ran with this guy (and hundreds of others) in 1992. I remember seeing his picture in El Pais in 1990. This guy has a cult following--which I think is pretty impressive.

Top Ten Reasons to Watch "Le Tour" This Year

10. Where else can you watch a team totally comprised of Basques, representing Euskadi, riding in orange?
9. George Hincapie is 100 years old and still hammering.
8. Will Alexander Vinokourov be avenged for having to sit out last year's tour because too many of his teammates were doping?
7. It's anybody's tour this year.
6. Levi Leipheimer is an alliteration. And a damn good cyclist.
5. The TDF starts in England (sorry, no Chunnel stage), moves to Belgium, rolls through Spain and ends in France--for 2100 miles. Now that's a bike ride!
4. Floyd Landis didn't cheat last year. I don't care what Greg LeMond says.
3. I like names like Haimar Zubeldia...and not just 'cause he's Basque. (Well, maybe...)
2. If you have millions of sponsor dollars laying around, you can scout the Discovery Channel Team. Disco is looking for a sponsor for next year. Got cash?
1. Your alternative is baseball.

So You Think You Can Cook?

Right about now I'm feeling pretty good about my abilities in the kitchen. It could be worse, I could be Jenny Brown.

Hat tip: My Mom

Happy Birthday America!

First of all, let me say how proud I am and fortunate I feel to be American--to have been born in this free nation.

We had a great morning of community events. A pancake breakfast at the church and then a July 4th bike parade around the neighborhood.

After the parade, we were treated to a pretty cool sight: an A-10 Thunderbolt did a fly-by on its way to who knows where. There is a squadron of A-10s based in Mountain Home, about an hour out of Boise, so this was a pretty cool thing. I remember when the B-1 stealth bomber flew over our place in California on a Rose Bowl day a few years ago--that was something else. This surprise elevated the spirits of all, on a day when we were already "high" on freedom.

Just in Time for the 4th

Thanks, ACLU. Please continue to decry an artistic depiction of Jesus Christ while defending members of NAMBLA in court. "But...but...separation of church and state...but...but..." But nothing. You've laid bare your agenda: The de-Christianization of America. I won't stand for it. And while you're at it, please take me OFF your mailing list. I have no idea how I got on it, but I want OFF.

On second thought, please keep me on it. I'll bleed you financially, 42 cents at a time. HA!

Mitt and Jeff Jacoby

Jeff Jacoby is an opinion columnist for the decidedly non-conservative Boston Globe. I recently was emailed a column in which former Massachusetts governor and current presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the subject.

In it, Mr. Jacoby documents some of the recent religious bigotry that has been on display as Mr. Romney has campaigned for office. In my observation of Mr. Romney, I have seen a man who, together with his family, has been nothing but gracious to those who hate him not for the man he is, but for the faith he professes, and a man who has shown nothing but class in the face of this medieval approach to religion in America.

Mr. Jacoby offers up this little nugget from our Constitution. So ask yourself: Who, in this dialogue, is being more "un-American" in light of the Constitution? The candidate or the mudslinger?

Read what the mudslingers Mr. Jacoby refers to have to say and you be the judge:

- In Florida, televangelist Bill Keller informs his 2.4 million e-mail subscribers: "If you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!"

- Another evangelical leader, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president R. Philip Roberts, tells an international Christian conference that the Mormon claim to be the true Christian church is the "overarching and primary concern" behind evangelical opposition to Romney's candidacy.

- The Associated Press reports that a Romney trip to New Hampshire "started on a sour note" when Al Michaud, a Dover resident and self-identified liberal, shouted, "I'm one person who will not vote for a Mormon" and refused to shake Romney's hand.

- In Warren County, Iowa, the local chairman of Senator John McCain's presidential campaign reportedly tells Republican activists that the Mormon Church funds the terrorist organization Hamas and treats women the way the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

- Al Sharpton, during a debate with atheist Christopher Hitchens, gratuitously says of Romney: "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways."

- The Politico, a popular Washington e-zine, publishes an essay by veteran Democratic strategist Garry South, who says Romney should be hectored on whether he "personally believes" Mormonism's "offensive" teaching that mainstream Christianity is "an abomination."

Now go back and read that little nugget I referred to from the Constitution. Who's trying to rewrite that document? Who's trying to apply a religious test? Who needs to go back to school for a little historical remediation?