Sunday, February 5, 2017

A Super Bowl in my Hometown Gets Papal Approval

                                                             +AJPM+


THE CATHOLIC HTOWNER:



Sunday, January 22, 2017

What You Never Knew About Roe Vs Wade

                                                           +AJPM+


THE CATHOLIC HTOWNER:


I want everyone to listen to this video very closely and keep in mind two things:

1. This is Jane Roe from Roe vs Wade.

2. Jane Roe DOES NOT AGREE with Roe vs Wade.





Saturday, January 21, 2017

#Trump45

                                                            +AJPM+


THE CATHOLIC HTOWNER:




Monday, January 16, 2017

The Top 10 Dumbest Things Obama Has Ever Said

                                                         +AJPM+


THE CATHOLIC HTOWNER:


Yeah, it seems cliche to point out a politician saying dumb things, but consider this for a moment:

how come when a president like George W Bush and Donald Trump say something stupid, the media can't report it fast enough, but when Obama says something obviously stupid, the media either pretend he never said it or try to cover it up?

In fact, having looked at the supposedly stupid quotes from Trump (and yes, I said supposedly), I've concluded the quotes are all out of context and don't have much if any sources behind them.

The quotes on this list, on the other hand, do have solid sources proving Obama said it and that's not the only criteria I've decided to place on my choices:

-The quotes could not have stemmed from an issue where the facts were not well known at the time of the quote. However, if the evidence later proved he was wrong and he didn't issue an apology, then the quote is fair game.
-It can't be covering something Obama would not know anything about at the time, but the quote will go higher on the list if it's something Obama should have known even if he weren't president.
-There must be either video or transcript evidence proving Obama said it, which is why along with the quote I will include where he said it.

Before we get to the list, I do want to bring up two honorable mentions:

Honorable Mention #1:"Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go."

This one is not on the list because this was said at a campaign rally in 2008, so he wasn't president yet. However, I do remember the media going on about how smart Obama is yet he can't get the amount of US states right?
And before anyone mentions this in the comments, US territories don't count as states and even if they did, that still doesn't bring the total to 58.

Honorable Mention #2: "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Again, this is not on the list because he wasn't president when he said it but this does offer a window into how Obama viewed the economy. This was spoken to Joe the Plumber (remember him?) when Joe asked Obama about whether his tax policies will hurt small business. Not only did this not answer the question, it showed just how much contempt Obama had (and most likely still has)

10. "I believe the Cambridge police acted stupidly."

Remember this one from early in his administration? This all started when a black college professor was wrongly arrested by the local police because they believed he was breaking into a house; it later turned out it was his own house, he misplaced his keys and he trying to find a different way to get in.

So if the police got the facts wrong, why is it on a list of Obama mistakes? While an interior investigation did show the police in the end reached an incorrect conclusion, the study further concluded they worked well within their authority and did not act in an idiotic manner.

9. "You didn't build that."

This was spoken by Obama during a re-election event in Roanoke, VA. While he did say this while president, it's not any higher because he didn't originate the phrase. That dishonor belongs to Elizabeth Warren, who sowed the seeds for the phrase when defending the notion the rich should pay more in taxes. Why? In her own words:

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear.[...] You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police-forces and fire-forces that the rest of us paid for.[...] part of the underlying social contract is, you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

In fact, let's look at Obama's quote in its entirety:
If you've got a business – you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

There are several ways this notion makes no sense, from ignoring the fact we don't know whose taxes actually go to pay for the road, the publicly used road is better maintained if run by private companies and charities (such as Adopt-a-Highway) or the fact this IN NO WAY proves why the rich should pay more in taxes.

8.  'There have been no terrorist attacks on Americans since I've become president."

This was said during his farewell address (he was still president when he said it, so it's fair game) and it took no time at all for people to point out how misleading the statement is. In fact, I didn't put it much higher on the list only because some of the examples being used by other outlets are still being investigated as of this post, but he should have known better in light of now disclosed information about the cases.

7. When I meet with world leaders, what's striking -- whether it's in Europe or here in Asia.."

This is dumb not because of what he said but where he said it: Hawaii. Hawaii is part of the US, hence North America, not Asia. Saying Hawaii is in Asia is like saying Texas is in Mexico: maybe if you squint real hard, it could be true but it doesn't change the fact geographically it isn't. 

6.  "And so, I’m reminded of a passage in John’s Gospel, “let us love, not with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.”

Obama spoke this when talking at a memorial about murdered Dallas police officers. The problem is the quote is from 1 John, not John's Gospel. Second, he used the quote to show how far short words can bring about change, when the verse is actually talking about laying our lives down for our brothers and sisters.

5. "The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system."

This was spoken in July 2009 when he was promoting the Affordable Care Act (there will be much more on this later) and he was addressing various objections people brought up about the proposal. In fact, I can't tell if this is a gaffe considering the last one doesn't line up with the other three or it's a truth wedged in after three obvious lies. 

4. "At least I'll go down as a president."

 Oh, this is both stupid and hilarious twice over. He said this on his last apearance on Jimmy Kimmel before the election and it was in reference to a tweet from Trump against Obama.
Why is this hilarious twice over? In light of the election results, this now means like Obama, Trump will now be remembered as a US president.Yet even if the election went the other way, it's still stupid because one could then say, "So can Nixon. What's your point?"


3. "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

This needs a little explanation. While promoting the Affordable Care Act, various objections were raised against it, the relevant one in this case being private business could do a much better job providing better health care than the government. Clearly, Obama forgot UPS and FedEx are both private companies and have a much better reputation than the Post Office.

2. "If you like your current plan, you can keep it."

Really? Do I need to point out how stupid and a crock this quote is? If you don't think it's dumb, look at anyone who still has the same health plan and at an affordable price.


And the number one quote is....

"Unless we get on our high horse and think that this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. So it is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a simple tendency that can pervert and distort our faith."

I was torn about what to put as number one. I was going to put a video of Obama bashing the Bible, but then I found out he did that before he was president, so I couldn't use it...but I could use this quote. 

Not only is this stupid because he said this in response to critics of radical Islam, not only because he forgot the biggest critics of Jim Crow were devout Christians (like Dr Martin Luther King, hence why I post this today), not only does it ignore the biggest perpetrators of terrorism are radical Muslims, but since we now know Christians are the most persecuted group in the world...

Let's just say this article makes a better case against this than I could. 

Sunday, December 11, 2016

What War?

                                                          +AJPM+


THE CATHOLIC HTOWNER:

Before I reveal my take, I want to make one thing clear:

I don't have a moderate stand on much of anything.

Every single political identity quiz I take has me either so far to the right I'm off the chart or to the near edge with some libertarian leanings.

So yeah...I'm not in the middle on many issues.

Why do I bring this up? Because despite certain news reports or what you may assume given my quiz tests....

I don't think there is a war on Christmas in America.

Sure, there are stories in schools about religious expression being suppressed but whenever I hear that, I notice a) the school in question is never a private or parochial school and b) it's more an example of tragedy of the commons....and yes, I know department stores don't say "Merry Christmas" even though they don't have decorations associated with any holiday not named Christmas...and I know around this time last year, I posted about an email about a company internal memo I received concerning their "holiday party" and the hilarious response they gave.

In spite of these, consider these facts:

- Every single major city has a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and every one is sponsored by the city, ie the local government.

-Depending on the market, every city has at least one radio station that plays Christmas themed music 24-7. Before anyone says anything about those stations being too secular, these same markets also have at least Christian music radio station. Even a former atheist radio station got dropped in favor of Christmas music.

-Every city has a parade celebrating Christmas (two parades if you count elements from Thanksgiving parades).

-The day after Thanksgiving, all major retail stores have an event where people buy presents en masse for...you guessed it, Christmas.


Besides, there aren't any laws in America that say people can't celebrate Christmas so until that does happen, I'm not buying this "war on Christmas" nonsense.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

10 Things I Hope Will Go Away in the next Four Years

                                                           +AJPM+

THE CATHOLIC HTOWNER:

10. Obamacare

Yeah, I figured I should get the most obvious one out of the way. We all know what a disaster Obamacare has become with its skyrocking premium rates, the lies the Obama administration told about it (remember the whole "if you like your current coverage, you can keep it" thing?), the joke healthcare.org turned into, and being told it wasn't a tax..even though they changed their mind about that after the Supreme Court ruled it is a tax.

And dont try any of that "it wasn't fair people with pre-existing conditions were denied health care insurance" with me. Insurance involves risk and it wasn't fair to ask insurance companies to take on more risk, knowing full well they wouldn't be able to keep going like that. Now we have less people being able to afford insurance in an area that defies all logic if it were applied to any other type of insurance.

9. Bill Maher's/Seth McFarlaine's career

Quick disclosure: these two left-wing atheist tools have inspired me to create a whole new series for this blog. I'm not sure what to call it, but I'm learning more toward either "Profiles in Atheist Stupidity" or "How Does this Atheist Hack Still Have a Career?"

Anyway, back to the point: I can't decide whether either of these men (and I use that term very loosely) are insufferable pricks or insufferable idiots. One of them once compared retarded children to dogs; one of them claims to be for gay rights yet turns around and reduces gay people to stereotypes. Both men have said things that would have landed a conservative in hot water, yet neither one has ever apologized or explained themselves.  Both men are in charge of shows that even their strongest fans have admitted aren't as good as they used to be and wonder why it's still on the air.
Have I also mentioned neither man has ever been married but unlike other single men, there's little question as to why no one ever married them?

Here's hoping the political winds change enough where no place exists for either one of them.


8. Social justice (BUT ONLY the wacko version)

What do I mean by that? One may never know this based on protesters, but there are two versions of social justice and what you're touting will show whether you have the correct version:

If your version of social justice promotes the sanctity of life, subsidiarity, private initiative, private charities and the belief we can solve the problem ourselves, then you have the correct version of it.

But if your version goes on about structural racism, feminism, liberation theology, calls on government being the solution to all problems, acts nasty towards people who disagree with you or anything associated with a "social justice warrior"...
then you're a thief and you need to stop stealing this term from other people.

7. Man-buns

I have no idea how this trend got started, but if you're a man and want to wear your hair long, either wear a ponytail or let it flow loose (or better let cut it short). Stop wearing your hair in a way that makes your head look like a tied garbage bag.

And stop having your sons wear their hair like this too: they look even more stupid wearing their hair like that.

Speaking of kids...

6. so-called "transgendered" kids.

Let me make this as clear as I can: there is NO SUCH THING as a transgendered child. There are only delusional children that need to be set right concerning their gender. I foresee more parents telling these kids they're not old enough to make this decision themselves and informing them they will outgrow this.
Sure, this may take a good deal of fighting on the adult's part, but anything right is worth fighting for.

5. Liberalism on college campuses.

I consider myself lucky because at my alma mater, there was no liberalism anywhere on campus. The closest it came (at least from my experience) was when I had an economics professor that promoted Keynesian economics but that was about it.

But I also understand not every college student is that lucky. I hear stories every few months about colleges shamming a student for touting conservative values, exposing how much the college in question is a complete waste of money based on what little students actually learn, wacko protesters who clearly don't care about being in the wrong, and useless degrees that make the graduate ill-equipped for the working world.

Now I hear colleges are setting up "safe-spaces" for students who can't cope with life? At first, I thought that was a joke article from The Onion...but no...actual schools are building these because their campus is filled with too many pansies to function right.

Luckily, more people are having enough of this and even an Iowa lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that will prevent colleges in the future from doing this.

4. Political Correctness

I will be so glad when political correctness is gone for good. Someone once asked me what I found the most annoying about political correctness and while it did take me some time to figure it out, I finally concluded it all boils down to not saying what you really mean.

Think about it: when you say something supposedly politically incorrect, what's the main thing someone says? Isn't it almost always someone might be offended? But have you ever noticed the people claiming it never say who's actually offended?

Here's a little test I do: whenever someone tells me I'm offending someone, I ask them to "present them"...in other words, show me who's offended. I've found nine times out of ten, they won't be able to produce anyone. If they can produce someone, most times I find the person is just faking being offended; in the rare event they are actually offended, I set them straight and make it very subtle but well-known that unless they can prove me wrong, I flat out won't care about them being offended.

3. Any shirt in favor of Fidel Castro and/or Che Guevara.

To be fair, this one didn't occur to me until after I heard of Castro's passing, but the more I thought about it, the more disgusting I now find both shirts.

Unless you're 100% clueless, you should know about how brutal these two men were in their lifetimes and no claims about high literacy rates or so-called cutting-edge medicine is going to change that fact.

[Sidenote: the sources for both seem to be the Cuban government, which is notorious for exaggerating and flat out lying about everything.]

Think of it like this: would you like it if you saw someone wearing a shirt promoting Hitler, what would you think?

Whatever answer you gave, that's the same reaction rational people have to these other two.

2. Feminism.

Before I get anything about this, let me make one thing clear:

If feminism is just saying women deserve the same rights and same opportunities as men and LEFT IT AT THAT...fine. BUT...

that's not what it says.

Look: I'm not going to pretend I've read any feminist philosophy but I'm also not going to pretend I've never heard feminist arguments and why none of them make any sense:

-Women make less than men because they're less likely to sacrifice family for a career and are less likely to take higher risk jobs which entail higher pay.
-When people disagree with you, there is NO NEED to think it's a personal attack against you. It's because your argument is poor and your facts dont add up.
-People didn't vote for Hillary because she's a woman; they didn't vote for her because she was a horrible candidate and any female presidential candidate not named Hillary Clinton is far more deserving of being America's first female president.

And most key:

-Abortion is NOT a reproductive right. A right by definition doesn't involve taking the rights away from another living being.

So drop all this "all men are evil and/or a potential rapists, all men are stupid, we'll be much better off once we remove institutional sexism" garbage and wake up to reality.

1. Atheism in general

Yeah, I know this is wishful thinking and several events would have to happen for atheism to finally go away, but I'm convinced once all the other events happen, atheism will have no reason to exist anymore.




Sunday, November 13, 2016

Reverse the Roles

                                                           +AJPM+

THE CATHOLIC HTOWNER:

Now that it's been almost a week since Election 2016 has been decided [and the reaction thereof], I've needed some time to articulate how I feel about the election.

After consideration, I've come to the conclusion that the best way to view this is to play a game called "Reverse the Roles." If you're not familiar with the concept, here's how it works:

Take a scenario with a given conclusion, then reverse who is affected by what and ask yourself if the conclusion is still valid. Here's some examples:

-A news report tells you a parent has been found guilty of physically abusing their child. No doubt you find this horrifying...yet reverse it and now the report says a child is physically abusing their parent. Is it any less horrifying?
I believe most people would say no: it's equally horrifying.

Let's take another example:
-A male boss tells his female subordinate that she has to start dressing in revealing clothing and start having sex with him or she's fired. Sure, we'd be outraged at this and immediately call this sexual harassment, but would you be equally outraged if it's a female boss telling her male subordinate that?


Now that we have it down, let me ask you this:

If Hilary won the election and all the Trump voters went out on the streets protesting, causing riots, and petitioning the Electoral College, what would you say? Would you call them sore losers? Would you call them childish or dismiss their actions as being so typical of their mindset?

Then why should we react any differently when Hilary supporters do it? I remember all the conservative voters who said they'd move somewhere else if Obama was elected..

OH WAIT: they DIDN'T do that because I've yet to see conservatives be that childish.

And don't even try with any excuses like "voters are racist" or "the average voter must hate women" or anything else along those lines. Once again, did you hear conservatives say "voters must secretly hate Mormons" when Romney didn't win? Of course not...

BECAUSE CONSERVATIVES AREN'T THAT STUPID!!

Jesus teaches by their fruits you will know them (Matt 7:16). What does all this say about the fruits of liberals and their fellow travelers atheists?