America the beautiful

Pete has made an excellent and maybe somewhat over-looked point. America, with all its faults, is still the greatest country in the world and I'm still proud to call it mine. We have privileges and rights other countries fear and envy. Russia is in the news again for being everything that America is not. Thank God for that! I think we all wish America would return to the original ideals that founded it and maybe someday it will be completely unrecognizable. For the time being bring on the compliments and criticism allowed by our great constitution.

Song of the week

Here is a new song. It is a cover by the New Frontiers. It isn't sophisticated technically or lyrically but it has something appealing about it. Hope you like.

NewFrontiers- Look...

Damage control

They say you should never discuss religion or politics amongst friends, however I think we're all friendly enough to avoid being butt-hurt.

First, I think Obama will be a good leader some day if he completely changes every view he holds. He lives in an anti-white, anti-capitalist "Utopia" that is frankly...dangerous. Can you really believe that the pastor he had been relying on for guidance and truth suddenly fell off the deep end and started preaching America the white devil for the first time in 20years? Sounds a little familiar...like something that comes out of extremist mosques all over the world. He actually has a Che Guevara flag in one of his campaign offices...a revolutionary??? Try another mass murdering communist.

Ryan, the "Hitler vs Stalin" comparison is hardly applicable and all though I don't think Ron Paul is completely wack (although I'll NEVER respect a man that believes 9/11 was our fault...we can get into a "man is responsible for his own actions"/"terrorists simply want to terrorize and send the world back into the 7th century where fear rules") I know he will not win the election. Do you really think that economically and socially the country will be in the same place regardless of who gets elected? I tend to agree that the president has relatively little power compared with congress and the judicial system. McCain actually hit it on the head when he said that one of the greatest weapons of the U.S. president is the bully pulpit and I believe he will stand up and say what needs to be said to leaders around the world while Obama will studder along with no conviction. The rest may be up for grabs.

As a side note, the U.S. is not a welfare state. Not yet anyway, and you had better hope that the socialism that is preached by liberal democrats (like Obama) never comes to be. I have seen some of the real evil that sneaks in with all the government control over every aspect of society. Ryan, I hope you're wrong about America being lost...but I wouldn't bet on it.

McCain

Last night we watched the McCain v Obama interview at Saddleback. I was a little worried before watching it that I would be even more skeptical about McCain but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Obama looked like a lost puppy about to be run over by a freight train every time he was asked a question. To be honest I'm not sure he completely answered any question that was posed to him relying on his rhetoric to get him through the interview. I mean, when asked who is one of the three wisest people he knows that he would rely heavily on in his administration, Obama actually said his grandmother...seriously. McCain on the other hand had answers so fast that Rick Warren didn't have time to complete the question on many occasions. I particularly liked McCain's stand on taxes, drilling for oil and greater school choice. McCain also has a little something called a sense of humor (see the bear DNA joke...really funny!) I did find a sound bite that should convince you to vote for McCain if all those other reasons fail. See below.

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U.S.A.

This may be the most amazing swim in Olympic history. What makes it better is that the anchor swimmer for France guaranteed they would "smash" the Americans. I don't know if you've seen this (I don't know how you could have missed it by now), but just in case.

...more Germany

More from our latest expedition to Germany. These are just some various sites we saw and some pictures from inside a couple of the castles that we were able to tour. As most of you know we ended our trip in Mainz which just happened to be holding a beer festival. I mean, what's a visit to Germany without a beer festival??...am I right? Hopefully you are getting excited about seeing Germany because you might just be able to twist our arms to go back.