Crazy Is as Crazy Does

Two Bloggers whom I greatly respect and even consider friends both have posted their reactions to Pat Robertson's comments regarding Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Normally I agree with Vulture Six and Darth Apathy, but this time I must beg to differ. and while I believe that the Maximum Leader makes some good points regarding freedom of speech, press coverage, and double standards, I'm not as convinced as he that this proves Robertson's stupidity.

Despite being a "Mindless Christian Conservative", I don't watch Robertson daily -- or even on a regular basis. I do watch his show occasionally, and TFR enjoys it a bit more than me, more for the inspirational sections than anything else. And by no means do I agree with much of what Robertson says -- from a theological perspective or from a political. I don't even agree with him on this issue.

And while I think this is a bad idea and that Christians are going to catch flak for this comment, I don't think that a political pundit represents himself as a Christian advocating assassination of one individual for strategic reasons is quite the same as a group of Mullahs advocating Jihad simply because the targets are dirty infidels who don't worship the right god.

Furthermore, I have a question for Scott. Let's agree for the moment that it would be wrong for the United States government to assassinate Chavez simply because we don't like his politics or his foreign policy towards the US. Let's agree that even though he's openly hostile and hateful towards the US, it would be political and diplomatic suicide to assassinate him even if he openly declares himself our enemy. I'll grant you, and even agree with you, that it would be stupid, arrogant, and probably illegal right now to even consider Robertson's advice.

My question is, if it became apparent that Venezuela were actively supporting terrorist groups like Al Quaeda, if it was provable, say (for the sake of argument) to a degree even admissable in a court of law that he was providing aid and comfort to enemies of the United States and actively encouragin them or even supplying them with the resources needed to carry out terrorist attacks on the United States or its citizens, if that were the case, then how would assassinating him be any different than bombing the Presidential Palace in Baghdad in attempt to kill Saddam Hussein?

Child Sacrifices

Thanks for the Memory to Jaybird, cross-posting at Head West, Turn Right.

A couple of weeks ago, Jay commented on his Blog and on the joint Blog at Head West, Turn Right on Oregon's lack of an online Sex Offender database, and the travails of a bill to institute one. As a parent, I was understandably upset. I've gone through the hoops currently required to get a printed list of local sex offenders MAILED to me. For my little town of Springfield, that list is 11 pages long!!!!! You can imagine how thrilled that makes me, and how eager I am to have a more reliable and informative resource for helping me protect my child. But before I posted and ranted on it here, I emailed my local state rep. To give credit where credit is due, my local rep, a staunchly liberal Democrat, not only supported the bill, she AUTHORED it. That placated me a bit, but I was still disturbed that this bill almost died of neglect.

Well, now Jaybird has information on "who might have been behind efforts to kill this bill and why, as well as a companion bill to increase sentences for rape of children. I'm not a resident of the Portland area, so I don't know much about the political machinations that go on there, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the allegations, but I know his source, Lars Larson, and while he's definitely partisan, he also know what he's talking about, and has a lot of ins into Oregon political circles, so I am inclined to believe him. If what he's saying is true, I'm incensed. These are measures that are needed to protect children against predators who would rob them of their innocence, their chilhood, their joy, even their lives. To sacrifice them for political gain, or to appease a powerful supporter, is completely indefensible. If this is true, I can't imagine why anyone, conservative or liberal, other than those who directly benefit from this Machiavellian ploy, would support her.

Update:

Jaybird was gracious enough to drop by and comment, and pointed out he had sources other than Larson: Bill O'Reilly, yeah, that Bill O'Reilly, is the journalist/commentator most responsible for breaking this wide open. For months O'Reilly has been on a jihad against politicians who he considers to be light on the issue, and he's systematically going through it state by state and seeing where each state stans on Jessica's law. when he got to Oregon, he discovered Kate Brown. Lars Larson picked the ball up from there. That was made clear in Jaybird's post on his blog, and was my oversight.

Now THAT'S Florida Sunshine!

The other night, The Feared Redhead asked me to fix her an adult beverage. Now, while we are social drinkers, we are not heavy or extremely frequent drinkers, so while there's usually something in the house from which to craft such beverages, there's seldom a large selection from which to choose. Furthermore, given the weather, she required something light and refreshing as well as... relaxing. With these parameters in mind, I set to my task. We had in the refrigerator a pitcher of a blend of orange and ruby red grapefruit juices. This seemed ideally suited to the mission, and with that as a starting point, I created the following:

Electric Screwdriver
1 oz. vodka
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
3 oz. orange juice
2 oz. ruby red grapefruit juice
1 cup ice

Combine all ingredients in shaker, shake well, serve over ice in an Old Fashioned. Garnish with a lime wedge.