Alternate TNG

Alright,I admit it.This blog can get pretty damn boring.I am long winded and I tend to over think things...but here is the rub.I love Star Trek.I would not call myself a Trekker or anything,but I sure do like all of the Star Trek Universe.I thought of an alternate universe version of Star Trek The Next Generation where all the main characters are black....or reversed...wouldn't that be cool.Of course I am thinking that Michael Jordan would make the perfect Jean-Luc.Number One would be Sinbad.Terrence Howard would be Data.Hulk Hogan would be Worf.Deanna Troi would be Parminder K.Nagra(from E.R.). Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher would be Halley Berry.And of course Jordi would be still played by LeVar Burton.

So what do you think,close,or no cigar?Spike lee would be Q.

Ella Font and Don Key Talk

Ella:"Why can't they,at least,speak English-This is America,you know."
Don:"You mean this administration?."
Ella:"What?"
Don:"Well,how can we ask immigrants to speak English if our president doesn't speak it properly?"
Ella:"Ha ha.Very funny.At least he means what he says."
Don:"Not if he doesn't say what he means.He demands higher education standards,but can't put two sentences together.Shouldn't someone promoting education at least try to speak proper English?"
Ella:"I am talking about 'illegal immigrants demanding the right to speak Spanish.'This is America,damn it.They should speak the language of the land.
Don,:"Why?Since when has America demanded everyone speak English...y'all?"
Ella:"You're an idiot.I can't believe you are putting down half of our country.The southern dialect is English:American English.Any American anywhere can understand the southern drawl."
Don:"See,you are making my point for me.We should be free to speak any way we want to in this country.'
Ella:"You 'liberals' make me sick.You twist every little thing to suit your own purposes.But the point is,in The United States of America we speak English.We always have,and we always will.There should be a law that English should be the only official American language.You want to live here,you should speak English in public."
Don:"For someone against burning the flag,and for protecting our gun rights,you sure are spouting some very anti-American rhetoric.I would laugh at you for making a mountain out of a molehill,for taking the peoples minds off the more serious issues of the day,except that you are talking about banning freedom of speech."
Ella:"Whaaaat?Are you crazy?Almost every other country in the world has official languages.Why shouldn't America?How can you be making this a freedom of speech issue?You just don't love America.You want to see it fall."
Don:"Don't give me that crap.Everytime you see you are starting to loose an argument you throw out that I am not American enough.What ever happened to,"I disagree with what you say,but I will defined -to the death-your right to say it.'Huh?In America we demand free speech."
Ella:"Please-who are the Dixie Chicks or Bruce Springsteen to tell me what to think?They are just using their position to manipulate the public.Who are they to tell me,huh?They are just singers.What the hell do they know?"
Don;"I think I am seeing a pattern,here.You want to shut up as many people as possible.You are so power hungry and self righteous that you think no one has a right of free speech but you."
Ella:"That is not true.It is just that you should expect to pay the price for using your free speech."
Don:So how then is it free speech if people with the opposing view will do what ever it takes to shut you up instead of letting you talk?"
Ella:"SMACK!!!" "Shut up,you commie!"
Don:"Point taken."

Ashes Of The Repubican Dream

What has happened to the Repubican party?

Nice opening,huh?

First off,right out of the bag,I am a die hard Democrat-always have been-always will be.

But,what has happened to the Repubicans?I mean,they have become caricatures of themselves.It is if the are now Repubicans in name only.

You see,I believe in the two party system.Hell,even throw in a third or forth party once in a while.But,I like the two party system.

I am a Democrat because I am for the small guy,the oppressed,the overworked,the underpaid.Basically,I am Democrat because I am blue collar,and the Repubicans always seemed to benefit the rich.Hell,I have nothing against the rich,I am just not one of them.So,while we may butt heads,we can both agree that we both are both truly American.

And I have learned under the two party system that the other party does have it's admired strengths.The Repubicans biggest strength in my eyes is that they are strong Constitution guys.I began to believe in the strength and power of The Constitution mainly because of them.While my own party was trying to make an amendment or two to the Constitution,the values of The Repubican always shouted out against such actions.

Us Democrats wanted to ban certain types of guns.The Repubicans,pushed,perhaps,even lead,by The NRA,were always soundly against such anti-Constitution measures.They yelled that if we started watering down our rights,soon we would have no Constitution left to fight for.I hate to say it,but I agreed with them whole heartedly.If thousands of handgun deaths was the price for our freedom-then,WoW,Our Constitution and the rights that went with it,was worth the sacrifice...even if someday it was my own sacrifice.

This stance by The Repubicans made me more proud of America and our beautiful meaningful Constitution.I may have hated the Repubicans position on allot of things,but I had to admit,they were right on about The Constitution and what would happen if we ever started trying to water it down.

Now,I am amazed how this so called new breed of Repubicans are trying to wring The Constitution dry.Gay marriage amendments!Anti-flag burning amendments.Amendments to let non-native born Americans run for president.Anti-immigration amendments!What the HELL is wrong with these people?Are they trying to destroy us from within?These are the very people that should be pissed off about all these frivolous amendments.My God,they should be fighting mad about these kind of shenanigans!

So I ask,What has happened to The Repubican party?

Against the War >Against Our Troops???

The Republicans are again questioning the loyalty of anyone who is against the war.They are saying that those that are against this mission of freedom are,therefore,against our brave troops.I ask,how can the Republican's claim that they are for our troops?Let's see,putting them in harm's way for false and/or bullshit reasons/using national guard units for well over a year when most thought that they would only be doing a weekend a month and two weeks a year/inadequate protection,uniforms and training/lying and covering up how some have been killed/extending their service/not always adequately taking care of the injured or the soldiers familes.It looks more to me like the Republicans don't give a shit about the troops at all .I do believe that our troops do love our country.Being the brave soldiers that they are they follow orders without thought of consequence.The chain works up from private to general to general to president.The president is elected by the voters of America.Ultimately,then,it is our responsibility as good citizens to vote for the leaders that will lead our faithful troops with honor,and never put them in harms way unnecessarily-for both their good and the welfare of America's best interests.How,then,do you best support our troops:Vote the bastards out of office.

Well,I'm working again.And,yep,taking a job I could have taken two months ago.Working for a buzz outfit.Bucket baby.Asplundh equipment.Shit.The guys a good guy.Knows his stuff.I am just not used to using the three separate hand controls,instead of the Davey/old school Highranger single control.And,in a bucket,I have to trim out to in instead of inside to out.Well,I have done that plenty times before...it's just giving him what he wants.

It just seems like a big step backwards.I won't be making much more then unemployment,but people will be off Robyn's back..and,I will be working again.

I guess,once I get the mindset that this is what is best for the family and this is what I will probably be doing the rest of my life,I'll be able to live with it.What a choice-between doing something I love or doing something for the people I love.Andrew the martyr.

I'm just tired.It's been along week.I hate bucket work-always have.And hate polesaws instead of pruners,and those tiny little hand saws instead of my speed saw.This old dog is just going to have to learn a few new tricks.God,he doesn't even pick up(let alone stack)my brush.Wow,I 'am' already a bucket baby.

...On The Seventh Day

A major point of contention between Bible literalist and scientists is the age of the Earth.Most scientist place the Earth's age at around Four and a half billion years old.Most Bible scholars place the age at around six thousands years.

Scientists base their time line on the radiometric dating of rocks.

Bibliophiles base their own time line on the six days that the book of Genesis says it took God to create Earth,and then adding the lifetime years from Adam until the present.

Hmmm...4.6 billion vs 6,000 years.That is quite a DIFFERENCE.How can we reconcile these two numbers.You can't.If you are a hard core scientist or hard core Bible literalists-neither the twain shall meet.

But,just for fun,lets take a liberal tweak at these numbers.Lets see just how close we can get them...

First,the scientist's number can be can be legitimately reduced to 3.6 billion years because,to this point,this is the date of the oldest rock ever found that has so far been tested.Just for the shits and giggles,lets subtract the date down to a more reasonable 3 billion years....say for,ah,testing error.

O-K,that seems like a number we can work with.

Now,comes the real fudging.The"Biblical~fudging." The reason I am going to fudge with the Bible numbers the most,is because I suspect the Bible numbers of having been used the most incorrectly.I am going to attempt to show that MY interpretation of these numbers is the more accurate reflection of the true age of our planet.

First off,nowhere in the book of Genesis,does either of the two creation theories say that God created on consecutive days.But,The idea of God resting on the Sabbath,strongly makes us assume that He did.This is probably the best argument for the consecutive days theory.But it could be wrong.It could also be argued that these moments were six big moments of creation and God has yet to create a seventh momentous event.Maybe,because this is where He meant to stop.

If this is the case,my job is already done.Science and religion are,or could be in perfect agreement.And this theory does hold some water.Could Night and day be created one day and all of the oceans and dry land the next?Yes,but could all life be formed the following day?With God all things are possible,but stages of life,and different lifeforms develop at different rates-have different gestation periods.Sure God could have made all of this life appear in one day...But I ask,why?What would have been his hurry?Why couldn't life have progressed at it's normal rate-like it does today...what was to be gained?

In fact,according to Genesis,Adam was created before most of all of the rest of world.If this all happened in six days-good for Adam.The question I have to ask,however,is what was time to Adam?Adam(and Eve) did not realize their mortality until they were booted out of Eden.How would an immortal being measure time?I think that the 930 age years of Adam did not-could not-have started until his exile(and though 930 years seems like a terribly long time to you and me,it would seem a terribly short period to one whom only knew of forever before hand).

How long were Adam and Eve in The Garden of Eden,anyway?The good book doesn't really say.One million years?Two million years?A week?A month?Twice now we could get the figures to jive-if we wanted to.But let's be more exact.

Since we are having fun,let us assume that we are talking six consecutive days.But are we talking about God time or people time?Let's use God time.What is God time?The Bible gives us a few clues.There are various God time to people time ratios in the Bible.For our purposes,let's keep the math simple.I will guage our lifetimes at a medium age of,say,60 years.Let's also say that our lifetimes are not the traditional blink of the eye,but the easier to use hour.Remenber this is just for fun.

If our life is as an hour to God,a God hour would be 60 of our years.Multiply that by 24,the hours of a day,and you get 1440 mankind years for a God day.Now,let's multipy by 365.We get 525,600 of our years.Finally,if we use the traditional Biblical 6,000 years for the age of Earth,we end up with 3,153,600,000.That is just over three billion years!

WoW!

Amazingly,through either the Biblical or scientific methods we have come up with almost the exact same numbers!What are the odds?See what fun fudging numbers can be?But what does this mean?On one hand,absolutely nothing.But on the other hand,this could mean that maybe,just maybe,science and religion can find some common ground,and in this common ground stop arguing over pointless and meaningless facts and start making our world a better place to live together.That should be all of our goals.

As always,Thanks for listening.

The Evolution Of Creative Design

Way back when I was in high-school there came out a scientific report that stated that there was absolutely no proof that grandma's chicken soup ever helped get rid of the common cold.Around ten years after that,another scientific report came out claiming that chicken soup had qualities(heat, hydration, salt and the biologic activities in the soup itself)that actually helped reduce the effects of the common cold virus.

I mention this to bring up two points.First,that science,as it continues to research,will often find out that what it believes to be true at one point,will later discover,at another point,that it is totally wrong(and vise-versa).Secondly,that science is not afraid to admit that it is wrong.What is true today,may not be true tomorrow.

So,can science then be wrong about evolution?Yes,it can be.But do I think it is?No.There is just too much hard evidence to the fact that it probably is not.

Now,the dubious claims that man and ape have a common ancestor may be proven either true or false in the future.I personally believe that man and ape never touched,but if there was a split,it happened much earlier in our designs and make up.Man was never ape-ape was never going to be man.I point to the human fetus as a possible argument for my case.In it's development,the human fetus is said to mimic other less complex life forms,from fish on up.But the fact of the matter is,that the human fetus will only ever grow up to be a human being.

But,this is just my theory.For my purposes,I am going to just come out and say that ape and man are commonly related.I,as a Christian,have no problem with this.Why?Because The Bible tells me so.

What most people don't know is that there are two creation stories in The Bible:Both in Genesis.Most Christians throw bits and pieces of them together to form a theory in which they are most comfortable.But,it is not so easy.

In one version(I am not looking them up for you-go look yourself),after it says that God creates the Earth in pretty much the order that the evolutionists say it was created(pretty damn close-too close- for a people who thought the world was flat when they recorded the Genesis story),God says,"Let us make man(kind) in 'our' image..and God creates them 'male and female'.

Oops.I bet you didn't know that one.God as plural?Create in OUR image?Whoa.Well,it's in there,go look.

The second version has God,when the Earth was still barren,creating Adam out of the dust and breathing life into him.Next God creates 'The Garden' and Adam names all of the animals and finally,out of Adam's rib,God makes Eve.

Well,we all know what happens next.They bite into the apple and are booted out of Eden;they have Cain and Abel,Cain and Abel take wives,and so begins the human race.

Huh?But where did Cain and Able get wives?Have you not been listening?Have you not been reading your Bible?

I think that there are two creation stories in The Bible because there are two creations.The humans created in'our' image,were created last:They were the evolutionary man.It is totally possible,totally within the realm of The Bible,that it is with these human beings that the just kicked out of Eden,Adam,Eve and offspring,mate.In fact:HOW CAN IT NOT BE SO?HOW CAN IT BE OTHERWISE?With who else can Cain and Abel have mated?Give me another good answer.

If you are willing to accept this premise,then much more of Genesis and The Bible make sense.And mankind is now the product of both Adam,Eve and Evolution.Isn't this wonderful?This means that God 'DID' intercede on our behalf.We are of divine origin.

Next:Solving The Seven day Time Line.

The Answer To philosophy 101

Many moon ago,way back in college,I sat in on one of my friend's classes.The instructor took the class outside and sat us on a grassy knoll.The class...Philosophy 101.Towards the end of the class,he asked the atypical beginner class question,"If God is so powerful,can He make a rock so big,that He can not lift it?"Now,even then,I knew this question was supposed to be redundant.It was a question made to make you question,start the mental juices flowing.It was Philosophy 101 afterall.

But right when the class was breaking up.I received the answer.First,the question was bullshit.Wouldn't have God have to had created gravity first for the question to have any meaning?

Good point,I thought,but that could still be considered avoiding the question.Luckily,I was still given the answer.

To make the answer truly work 100%,I felt the terms to the question had to be totally agreed upon.So,I had to dissect the question to make sure we could agreed upon the terms(we being my second voice-my doubt-my editor-my prove it to me drive).Let's do that here.

If(is it possible)God(the creator;the supreme being or beings)is so powerful(able to do anything)can He make (make,build,create )a rock(an inanimate object)So big(large,massive,hugh,etc)That He(the creator;the supreme being or beings)can't(is unable to,or can not accomplish the said task)Lift(raise,move)it(the said inanimate object)?

Now,that we are agreed upon the terms,first off,it does not matter how big the said object is.It could be as tiny as a molecule or as large as a thousand universes.All God has to do is say the he will refuse to lift it.In this case,saying He/She won't lift it is the same as not being able to lift it.It adheres to the possibilities of the question:Object can not be lifted.

Ah,but here is the fun part,then how does God get it to move?This answer also adheres to the question:Can He make-can He Create(This is important)?Yes He can!Given that as a given,God can still make it move by giving it the possiblity of life!Then,it can move itself!

Wow!Isn't that cool!.I no longer worry if I don't have the answer to a troubling question about God.I,sometimes even think it is folly to try to stump myself and/or let myself be worried any longer.Just because I don't have the answer does not mean someone else won't someday figure it out.I guess that is faith in a nutshell.

4 Good cd's To Buy

1,Neil Young-Living With War
2The Dixie Chick-Taking The Long Way
3Mark Knopfler &Emmylou Harris-All The Road Running
4Bruce Springsteen-We Shall Overcome-The Pete Seeger Sessions