Save the Planet – Stop Eating Meat!

I am not a scientist. I do not understand all of the theories being promoted by the Al Gore crowd. That’s alright; I’m certain that Al Gore doesn’t understand all of the theories of global warming that he espouses. My buddies at Doses of Reality have recently posted a good article on this topic. You can read it here.

Like I said, I’m ignorant of most of the “scientific” implications of global warming, but the studies by a group of Japanese scientists have produced some interesting data. Did you know that the environmental impact of a single purchase of beef is equal to driving a car non-stop for three hours? Follow this link to read a brief article on the study. What follows is part of the story…

That means that 2.2lb of beef is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions which have the same effect as the carbon dioxide released by an ordinary car travelling at 50 miles per hour for 155 miles, a journey lasting three hours. The amount of energy consumed would light a 100-watt bulb for 20 days.

I guess if I’m in the mood for steak I’ll have to drive less, or go about in the dark for a few days. Of course, the Vegetarian Society’s Su Taylor has an idea…

Everybody is trying to come up with different ways to reduce carbon footprints, but one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat.

Not likely.

Take a Bite Out of Vick

How smart do the San Diego Chargers look now? They had the opportunity  to draft Vick, but traded down and took LaDanian Tomlinson instead. LT is the most dominant RB the NFL has seen in some time. Vick is the most electric talent the NFL has ever seen, but he also has become adept at creating bad publicity.

• Flipping off fans
• Refusing to surrender a suspicious water bottle to Miami airport security
• Settling a civil suit brought by a woman who claimed she was infected by Vick with genital herpes

So much for the “Vick experience” (the name of a popular Nike commercial – which you probably won’t see during any NFL games this year). When you add all of the above to his not so impressive on field record, then you have all the evidence that you need to see that the Chargers made a great move. No one is criticising them now.

Vick is also a dog-hater. That is how I refer to any human being who would involve himself in dog-fighting. Breeding and causing dogs to fight one another is not a sport. It is a sick pasttime. I am no PETA-person, but the deliberate mistreatment of animals, especially dogs, should be punished.

There is so much information floating around about Vick’s indictment, it would be impossible (and useless) for to link them all. I will provide this link to an article written by ESPN.com’s Wayne Drehs. Here is a snippet from the column:

On Wednesday morning, the sports shoe and apparel company [Nike], along with Falcons CEO Arthur Blank and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, received a joint letter from hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton and PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk, condemning Vick’s alleged involvement in the dogfighting ring and asking all parties involved to distance themselves from Vick.

 You know you’re in trouble if you are a black athlete and a hip-hop mogul, Rev. Sharpton, and PETA are petitioning for your punishment!

The NFL has some serious image issues. The Commissioner has put the hammer on “Pacman” Jones and Chris Henry. Michael VIck, however, is not a CB or a number three WR. He is the face of the Atlanta Falcons. He is one of the most hyped players in the League. How will Roger Goddell treat Vick? I guarantee this, every NFL player is watching to see if there exists a double-standard in the NFL.

Earn $1 Million

Think it is impossible to save $1 million over your lifetime? It may not be as difficult as you think. It all depends on how attached you are to your TV. In an article for TheStreet.com Jeffrey Strain, siting recent studies, suggests:

A recent study found that it would take $1 million for someone to be willing to give up TV for the rest of their lives…If you decided to give up TV and invested the money you saved, you would get that $1 million — and probably a lot more.

Strain’s article lists the costs of owning and watching TV – the price of the unit, the price of the stand/cabinet on which the unit sits, the cable bill, etc. I found the most interesting entry in his list to be the commercials. You may be thinking, “Wait a-minute…how do commercials cost me anything?” Here is Strain’s answer:

Commercials are there to get you to buy products — and they are effective. Economist Juliet Schor estimated [1999] that for every hour of TV a person watches each week, he or she will increase his or her annual spending by about $200

The average U.S. household has at least one TV set turned on for about seven hours a day. For argument’s sake let’s allow that the TV is not being watched for all 49 hours, but at least half of that time – 24.5 hours – is not a stretch. Although, it may be a stretch on your finances.

So what does this all add up to? Say you’re 25 years old and you initially spend $2,000 for your TV, DVD player, entertainment cabinet and gaming system after getting your first job. Add in monthly costs of $100 for cable, $10 for electricity use, $20 for renting movies, $25 for buying games and $20 for an occasional pay-per-view event, and you’re looking at $175 a month. Add in another $525 a month extra you spend due to the influence of commercials if you are the average person, and you are costing yourself $700 a month watching TV…If you instead invested this money and received a return of 8% compounded annually over 45 years until you’re 70 years old, you would have more than $3.7 million in your account.

Who knew?

The 8th is Death

The Reds have had an abysmal year. It has been especially frustrating to watch Junior Griffey have a resurgent year be wasted on such a lousy team. A team, I should add, that contended for the NL Central title for most of last season. Bronson Arroyo had an All-Star year in ‘06; as did his fellow pitcher Aaron Harang even though Harang was not recognized for his excellence. (Harang was also inexplicably snubbed in this year’s All-Star game.) While Harang’s ‘06 success has been duplicated thus far in ‘07. He ranks among the top 5 NL pitchers in wins, innings pitched, and strikeouts. Arroyo, on the other hand, has been less than brilliant. Except for this evening. Tonight against the Braves Arroyo pitched a gem. He pitched seven innings of 3 hit, shut-out baseball, and only walked 2 in the process. When he left the game after seven innings the Reds were spanking Atlanta over bended knee to the tune of 6 – 0.  The game’s final score was 6-5.

“What happened?” you ask.

The 8th inning happened.

The 8th inning spells death for the Cincinnati Reds. No lead is safe. No game is considered out of reach for the opposition. It makes me tired all over just thinking about running down the disgusting stats; therefore I refuse to do it. Just take it from someone who has listened/watched more games than he cares to recount when the Reds entered the 8th with the lead and exited the 8th with their heads down low.

Veteran left-hander Mike Stanton, an off-season addition, has been in the middle of more than his share of these late inning implosions. He was on the mound this evening when the Braves produced a four run 8th to draw the score to a snug 6-4. The funny thing was listening to Thom Brenneman and Cris Welsh falling over themselves with praise for Stanton’s pitching career, which began in Atlanta in 1989. After listing his many accomplishments and his  sterling post season record Stanton quickly allowed the Braves back into the game. This guy has had a distinguished career, but it has not worked in Cincinnati. Whether next year will be different or not, who knows, but this year has been a disaster. Stanton was supposed to be the known quantity, the veteran presence on which this young, inexperienced bullpen could rely.

Key word being supposed.

The ‘07 Reds bullpen is awful, but the blame lies not solely at the feet of the youngsters. Mike Stanton, and Rheal Cormier before him, have floundered just as bad if not worse than the young guns.

"Heil Bush!"?

Congressman Keith Ellison represents the 5th District of Minnesota. I wonder if all the good people of Minnesota’s 5th district (which inculdes Minneapolis) are as delusional as their Congressman? Why do I refer to the diligent democrat as delusional? Because of this Toby Harnden article in today’s Telegraph. While speaking to a gathering of “Atheists for Human Rights” the Congressman likened the destruction of the 9/11 attacks to the 1933 Reichstag fire.

“It’s [the 9/11 attacks] almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that…After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”

Thus President Bush is likened to the Fuhrer. In fact, Bush is even more maniacal than Hitler because the Reichstag fire did not cause near as much damage or loss of life as did 9/11.

I’m not sure what is worse: the fact that a US Congressman would make such an asinine statement, or the fact that said asininity would be approvingly applauded.

Caption It!

Good Books

Lately I have been a little slow on my reading. I’m currently involved with more books than I’ve finished. I am the type of reader who has several books going at once. I normally have one book for a certain part of the house, and whenever I’m in that section of the house I read that book. Of course, there are some books which I always have with me, but those selections are always the books I’m using as resource material for my Bible study. Since I’m preaching through Mark’s gospel I’m reading a lot of material on that Biblical book.

But that’s not all I’ve been reading. What follows is a synopsis of the three books that I have recently finished.

Conservative pundit Mark Steyn provides some fascinating demographic data in his book America Alone. Like most political commentators, from the right or the left, Steyn is a sarcastic know-it-all. Through the sarcasm and arrogance, however, is a valid thesis. What do you have when you add to the welfare state a multiculturalism attitude and a declining birthrate? If you answered “civilization collapse” then pat yourself on the back. Europe fits the above criteria. Muslims are immigrating to Europe in droves, taking advantage of the welfare system, and cranking out babies in 2 or 3 times the number of their European counterparts. Add to those facts that Muslims who live in France are more inclined to view themselves as Muslim and not French, and then you have the potential for social upheaval.

I followed America Alone with They Just Don’t Get It by Colonel David Hunt (US Army retired). I picked this book off the Barnes & Noble shelf for two reasons. First, I wanted to hear what Washington didn’t get, in the opinion of this retired Army colonel. The second reason is a personal one, and this is the primary reasonfor my reading this selection. My first battalion C.O. in the Army was, yes, you guessed it, Colonel David Hunt. Have you seen the movie A Few Good Men? Col. Hunt was a lot like Col. Jessup, except, as far as I could tell, he wasn’t a liar. He did have Jessup’s presence. What, In Col. Hunt’s mind, do the folks of Washington not get? That they are spineless jellyfish instead of leaders. That the bureaucracy is to large and inefficient to wage must less win the War on Terror. And to win this war, or any other, you have to kill the bad guys.

By far, the best book that I have lately read is Following Christ by Joe Stowell. Christianity is not a project it is a person, and Stowell clearly yet powerfully challenges the reader to drop his net, take up his cross and follow Christ.  This is an excellent and challenging read. It’s not a self-help book. It’s not a book about increasing your self-esteem. It is a book about followership, and I highly recommend it.

Taking on Water

Senator McCain came close to winning the GOP nominatin seven years ago, and I believe he also would have beaten Al Gore; probably with a wider margin than Bush enjoyed. (That would not have been bard since Bush barely won in the first place.)

The two issues that are sinking McCain’s campaign are immigration and the war in Iraq. I disagree with him on immigration, but I appreciate his leadership concerning the War on Terror. McCain is plain spoken, and that is a trait that I appreciate. I just don’t think there is anything McCain can do to salvage his bid for the GOP nomination.

I still haven’t decided on a candidate. That is mainly due to the dearth of solid options.

Bare Butts and the Peace Mom

Of all the news stories that flashed across my Google Reader today there were two which gave me a good chuckle. The first story is out of New York. Neil Rhodes pastors the nondenominational Times Square Church. The 8,000 member church meets in a building on Times Square. The same building which is scheduled to have a billboard wrapped around its exterior.

Perhaps you are thinking, “There is nothing unusual about that. After all, it’s Times Square; just one giant advertisement.”

Ah, but this is no average advertisement.  The Christian Post article states:

The proposed billboard will promote “Washlet” – a bidet toilet that cleans the posterior with water and warm air The billboard, which would run on both sides of the church’s outside, would feature several photographs of nudes with their bottoms facing outward and smiley faces painted on their buttocks.

As you might expect, Pastor Rhodes does not think that giant sized, smiley-face painted derrieres will be conducive to worship. At least not the worship of Christ. The pastor was quoted as saying:

You walk into a church building, you have naked bodies before your eyes – how are you going to close your eyes and seek God?” asked Rhodes in the New York Post. “It’s wrong as far as we’re concerned.

 I feel bad for this congregation, and I hope the billboards do not go up anywhere let alone on the exterior of a building where a church meets. Still, I cannot help but chuckle a little bit.

The second humorous news story involves everyone’s favorite activist mother – Cindy Sheehan. You may remember that Sheehan “retired” from the anti-war movement in May. Evidently her retirement was not from activism in general, just the War on Terror in particular. According to Peace Mom the “Bush regime” has hurt and misled the American people and President Bush deserves impeachment. Sheehan is threatening to run against the Speaker of the House if Pelosi fails to start the impeachment ball a-rolling. Here is what Peace Mom told the AP:

“I think all politicians should be held accountable…Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership. We hired them to bring an end to the war.”

Sheehan said she will run as an independent against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 if Pelosi does not file articles of impeachment against Bush by July 23. That’s when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting from the group’s war protest site near Bush’s Crawford ranch.

Although Sheehan has never held public office, she said she already has the name recognition and would not have to run against Pelosi in a primary.

“I would give her a run for her money,” Sheehan said.

The NixGuy perfectly sums up why this story is funny.

Democrats will either have to take her seriously, or dismiss Sheehan as a publicity-seeking self-interested rabble rouser. Which of course, is exactly what she has been all along. The Democrats liked her when she camped out in Crawford. Not so much, now.

Bare Butts & the Peace Mom

Of all the news stories that flashed across my Google Reader today there were two which gave me a good chuckle. The first story is out of New York. Neil Rhodes pastors the nondenominational Times Square Church. The 8,000 member church meets in a building on Times Square. The same building which is scheduled to have a billboard wrapped around its exterior.

Perhaps you are thinking, “There is nothing unusual about that. After all, it’s Times Square; just one giant advertisement.”

Ah, but this is no average advertisement. The Christian Post article states:

The proposed billboard will promote “Washlet” – a bidet toilet that cleans the posterior with water and warm air The billboard, which would run on both sides of the church’s outside, would feature several photographs of nudes with their bottoms facing outward and smiley faces painted on their buttocks.

As you might expect, Pastor Rhodes does not think that giant sized, smiley-face painted derrieres will be conducive to worship. At least not the worship of Christ. The pastor was quoted as saying:

You walk into a church building, you have naked bodies before your eyes – how are you going to close your eyes and seek God?” asked Rhodes in the New York Post. “It’s wrong as far as we’re concerned.

I feel bad for this congregation, and I hope the billboards do not go up anywhere let alone on the exterior of a building where a church meets. Still, I cannot help but chuckle a little bit.

The second humorous news story involves everyone’s favorite activist mother – Cindy Sheehan. You may remember that Sheehan “retired” from the anti-war movement in May. Evidently her retirement was not from activism in general, just the War on Terror in particular. According to Peace Mom the “Bush regime” has hurt and misled the American people and President Bush deserves impeachment. Sheehan is threatening to run against the Speaker of the House if Pelosi fails to start the impeachment ball a-rolling. Here is what Peace Mom told the AP:

“I think all politicians should be held accountable…Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership. We hired them to bring an end to the war.”

Sheehan said she will run as an independent against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 if Pelosi does not file articles of impeachment against Bush by July 23. That’s when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting from the group’s war protest site near Bush’s Crawford ranch.

Although Sheehan has never held public office, she said she already has the name recognition and would not have to run against Pelosi in a primary.

“I would give her a run for her money,” Sheehan said.

The NixGuy perfectly sums up why this story is funny.

Democrats will either have to take her seriously, or dismiss Sheehan as a publicity-seeking self-interested rabble rouser. Which of course, is exactly what she has been all along. The Democrats liked her when she camped out in Crawford. Not so much, now.