$112 billion for single parents

A recent study indicates that American taxpayers spend $112 billion a year on assistance to single parents and divorces.  Wow! That’s a lot of money.  Should we eliminate assistance for single mothers?  No, that would be seriously stupid.  But the assistance needs to be much better managed.  Some responsibility needs to go along with it.

The single parents need to show that they are trying to do something with their lives.  That they are taking care of their families properly.  Perhaps that their children are actually improving in school, etc.  I know this is a complicated issue, but it seems that the politicians won’t touch it with a ten foot poll because of the fear of seeming uncompassionate.

It’s time for this country (as a society) to accept responsibility.

Two-faced baby

Two-faced babyThis gives being two-faced a new meaning.  All joking aside, the baby is healthy and doing well.  She is being worshiped as a reincarnated Hindu goddess, Durga.  Read the full story from CNN to find out more.

“She drinks milk from her two mouths and opens and shuts all the four eyes at one time,” her father said.

The picture is a little freaky, but the dimple is cute ;)

Ode on Hillary in Bosnia

A humorous poem by Orson Scott Card (I got a kick out of it):

Ode on Hillary in Bosnia

by Orson Scott Card

“We landed under sniper fire!
We ran for cover, terrified!
The bullets flew around my head!
I thought for sure that I was dead!”

Read more »

The Fear Epidemic

Fear is the root of all evilFear is destroying our lives. There are some that say that money is the root of all evil.  If that is true, fear plays a close second fiddle. It’s crushing our society, our children and our families. It’s one of the most debilitating problems in the 21st century.

There are many who would argue that drugs, sexuality, crime, abortion and many other issues are more destructive to our society.  However, there is nothing more socially acceptable, yet so destructive as fear.  This isn’t the fear generated from horror shows, but fear of the unknown and the possibility of tragedy.

Let’s take a quick quiz.

Read more »

Card supports….

Orson Scott Card (who, if you count the number of blog postings I have on an individual, one might assume is my hero) has published an article indicating his support for Barack Obama… in the Democratic nomination.

Ok, so he doesn’t really say that he supports Obama.  However, he very much defends Obama’s handling of the recent “scandal” with Reverand Wright.  Card made a very poignant argument for how Obama separated himself from Wright’s comments, but not the person.

Do you want as President the kind of person who would deny and abandon his closest friends in order to win that political office?

Very well said, Mr. Card.

Further down the article, he analyzes the senior theses of both Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.  A very interesting read with solid insight into who these two ladies are.  One a former First Lady.  The other hoping to be the next First Lady.

I highly recommend reading the article.

April Fool's Day roundup

Google + Virgin = VirgleIt’s kind of become tradition in the technology industry to put out a fake announcement on April 1 of some cool experimental technology that will revolutionize the industry and is usually completely implausible.  Google always leads the way.  Today is no exception as they have already started pouring in.

And there are so many more that I am unaware of.  It seems everyone is doing some type of April Fool’s joke in the tech community.

Google has been the king of these pranks.  A few past Google announcements from April 1:

  • Google TISP: Google Wireless Broadband through the sewer system. TISP = Toilet Internet Service Provider. (my favorite)
  • Gmail Paper: Order your emails printed and shipped to you by Google
  • Gmail Custom Time: Customize the time you send an email

Checkout a list of all Goolge’s Hoaxes.

Proud moment

Modern MarvelsExcept from today’s chat with my wife:

11:07:13 AM Emily: lol…Halie was just watching Modern Marvels and she wouldn’t let me change the channel

11:07:29 AM Emily: they were showing how corn is made

I almost shed a tear of joy… sniff, sniff.

That’s my girl!

Obama – why do I like this guy?

Why do I like Barack Obama even though I disagree with most of what he proposes?  His speech on race was amazing.

If I use logic, then there is no way I would vote for this guy.  I disagree with most of his policies.   I especially don’t know if I could vote for someone who supports abortion or who wants to pull out of Iraq within the first year of his term.  But I truly think he has the ability to heal the nation.  He has a way of bringing people together. But he doesn’t support most of the causes that I support.  His healthcare proposal isn’t quite what I want.  Nor are his policies on economics and taxes.

But when I listen to him speak, I have urges to vote for him.  I’ve decided it’s mass hypnosis. ;)

The real question is, can John McCain heal the nation just as well as Barack Obama?

Conversing with me

A friend of mine recently posted a blog entry entitled “Conversating” that listed several questions/topics one could discuss with someone else in order to get to know them better.  Seeing as I like to make your life miserable in the 21st century, I decided that I would answer those questions so you could all get to know me better.  ;)

Read more »

iPhone scriptures (and more)

I’ve reviewed the iPhone in the past and although I love the device, it has it’s problems and I have my pet peeves.  One of the cons I mentioned in my review was a lack of third-party applictions.  And although I am waiting with baited breath for the iPhone SDK (promised by end of February), which will bring third-party apps, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the online applications inspired by the iPhone.

Within the first few days oh having my iPhone, I went looking for the scriptures online.  But not just the scriptures. I wanted something that was optimized for the iPhone so I wasn’t waiting for several minutes in Church for a verse to load.  I found a decent application at MountainMighty.com ScripturesApp.com.  This little site provides not only a the scriptures formatted for the iPhone, but handy tools like bookmarks, community bookmarks and searching.  Just recently though, they outdid themselves by adding the current Elder’s Quorum and Relief Society lesson manual as well as the words to the hymns.  I’ve been wanting the hymns for a while and although the manual is available on lds.org it’s much more bulky and hard to navigate.  So thank you Chuck!

Read more »