Bush 32, Congress 18

Democrats swept into office last November stating they had a mandate for a change. They pointed to President Bush's low approval ratings and said they needed to take charge. Since they entered office Bush's approval rating is up to 32% while their own is down to 18%.

Congress promised more than they could ever have delivered and failed miserably. Now, the American people are telling them they don't have a mandate, they have the lowest approval rating in history.

And how does this bode for those presidential candidates? How can we lend any credibility to promises by Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Dodd, etc. when they have failed so miserably at the jobs they were elected to do.

Of course the Democrats point squarely to the Republicans, saying they are obstructing the Democrats. It takes two to tango. Neither side has wanted to work with the other, but it was the Democrats who stood to lose the most. Now, the Democratic leadership is figuring out how to spin what it is expected to be a positive report on Iraq into more doom and gloom.

If Congress wants its approval ratings to go up, they need to start listening to the people of America and not to the vocal minority of idiots that are holding the parties hostage.

What Did You Do To Win The Iraq War?

A group called Freedom's Watch is starting an ad campaign to convince wavering politicians not to "cut and run." The campaign has inflamed anti-war activists who claim the war is lost, we need to pull out. If the anti-war activists really want us out of Iraq, what are they doing about it, other than complaining? The simplest way to get our troops home is to win the war, so what are activists doing to win the war.

The biggest complaint seems to be "this is a war for oil." If this were true, and the point is simply to feed America's need for oil, activists should be fighting to use less oil. How much oil was do you think was wasted by Cindy Sheehan's movement. Every car that drove a supporter, every plastic cup that a protester drank from, every bottle of water used, all came from oil. If you believe we're there for oil, stop using so much of it.

If you believe that the war is not effective as a means of stopping terrorists, you should be working to secure our borders. How can we protect ourselves if we don't know who is crossing our borders?

In World War II, every American fought the war. Food and energy were rationed. Since then, American citizens have looked at wars as something that just the military fights. That simply isn't the case. If you want to stop a war, then do something to win it. Don't just whine.

Sex and the Redbook Generation

America is drowning in moral decay and the cause of it is...Redbook? Redbook Magazine, the same magazine that sat in the living room of every grandmother I knew, is contributing to the moral decay of America. This is according to the Reverend Donald Wildmon and his American Family Association. What has Redbook done? They talk about sex.

Apparently, recent articles in the magazine can corrupt our children because they talk about self-gratification and give advice on how to break off an affair. Of course one has to wonder how many children are reading Redbook, given that the average age of their reader is 44. I remember reading Redbook exactly once as a child. It was an article on how to take cardboard boxes and turn them into a city playset for action figures. If it weren't for the pictures of toys, I would never of looked at it. But now, Redbook talks about sex.

According to the AFA, not only do they talk about sex, they're the new Playgirl. Imagine that. What I want to know is if they're this offended by Redbook, which one of them picked up Playgirl to compare it to?

Immigration Activist Elvira Arellano Arrest Overdue

Elvira Arellano was arrested on Sunday. Immigration activists are protesting the arrest. What are they protesting? The fact that the law was upheld.

Elvira Arellano was deported in 1997, after moving to Washington State illegally. In 2000, she returned to the United States illegally, moved to Illinois and was arrested in 2002 for working under a false social security number. She was told to report to authorities last August. Instead, she claimed sanctuary, hiding in a storefront church in Chicago. She left the church for the first time so she could go to another church to speak out against immigration reform. After visiting three Churches, she was arrested and deported in Los Angeles before she could attend a fourth.

Javier Rodriguez, a Chicago immigration activist who worked with Arellano stated, "How dare they arrest this woman?"

How dare they? How dare they not? She broke the law twice, defied the order of the authorities, and was working to encourage others to break the law. During her arrest and deportation she was not harmed or harassed. She was picked up, her paperwork was processed, and she was handed over to Mexican officials in Tijuana.

This is exactly how these situations should be handled. No one was harmed or humiliated. It was simply a matter of the law being upheld. Arellano broke the law twice by entering illegally. She had a son, who by the benefit of being born while she was here illegally, is a U.S. citizen. She was given the option of taking him with her or allowing him to stay. She allowed him to stay.

Her rights were not violated. She broke the law. She consciously worked to evade capture. She was arrested and deported. The activists have nothing that they should
be complaining about.

Why ESPN Is Bad For Baseball

Major League Baseball has made a major mistake in its deal with ESPN. They put ESPN's ratings above their fans. Case in point: August 26, 2007 N.Y. Mets vs L.A. Dodgers.

This game, scheduled to be played in New York's Shea Stadium, has long been on the schedule as an afternoon game featuring the Mr. Met Dash. For those of you not familiar with Mets promotions, the Mr. Met Dash comes along only a few times a season. It's where kids ages 12 and under get to run the bases at Shea Stadium with Mr. Met. It's the only chance most kids ever get to be on the field at a major league ballpark (at least legally).

The Mets and Dodgers, at the time of this writing, are first place of their respective divisions. ESPN decided it would be draw better ratings for them if the game were moved to be their Sunday night game. So Major League Baseball accommodated them, moving the game from 1:10 in the afternoon to 8:05 at night, canceling the Mr. Met Dash in the progress.

Now, most kids who would have participated in the dash will have to be in bed before the game ends, robbing them of not only the chance to be on the field, but of seeing the game in its entirety. Why? So someone in Iowa in Kansas City who couldn't care less about the Mets or Dodgers can have the opportunity to watch.

Baseball ratings have been steadily dropping. Why? Disregard for its fans is a big reason. (Steroid-using players settings "records" is another.) Dismiss the kids and you lose the next generation of fans. Both of my children were looking forward to being on the field at Shea that day. Now, they won't even see the game. I'd like no one to see this game. I'd like everyone to turn off ESPN that night. Let's show them that they can't get ratings, by screwing the fans.

Correction: The information about the Dodgers standing was erroneous. The Dodgers at the time of the original post were 7.5 games out of first place, making ESPN's decision that much more confusing.