To Piers, or not to Piers...

Image: Courtesy of The Sun 

 "To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them..." This famous quote opens what is arguably Bill Shakespeare's greatest play- Hamlet. Never have these words rang truer than they do today. When discussing politics, or even just the issues of the day, sometimes people just throw their arms up in despair and take what's given them. Others stand and fight even though the battles they face in life are insurmountable or seemingly so. So it seems to be increasingly with the United State's unique right to "bear arms" and the war against that right.. That discussion is more for another night though...

The Bush Trilogy

The third movie in any trilogy is always the best, right?  Well there used to be semi-defined rules, but now that most of yesteryear's trilogies have become quadrilogies, hexalogies, sextologies, septologies, and so on as the rules have changed somewhat.  Before I get any more off topic (or make up any other questionable titles for movie series), the trilogy I refer to is one that we may soon see played out by the Bush family.  The potential third Bush president I'm speaking of is Florida's own former governor John Ellis Bush (otherwise known as Jeb). 

Give me macaroni or give me death...

Some mom bloggers (and over 60,000 petitioners) have apparently deemed that Kraft must remove artificial coloring from Macaroni & Cheese because yellow #'s 5 & 6 can potentially increase the chances of getting cancer. While I do champion the push for getting foods back to a point where they're made of primarily natural substances rather than the opposite, the constant tendency of parents to blame these products for everything from migraines and hyperactivity to allergies and asthma is just getting ridiculous.  In some cases there are legitimate concerns, but forcing food producers to change their entire product lineup for what is often relatively low numbers of people that exhibit problems related to their products is ludicrous.  We don't ask Jiffy to stop producing peanut butter or dairy farmers to stop producing milk even though peanut and dairy allergies are pretty common do we?  On the issue of hyperactivity, many parents will blame anyone or anything instead of looking at their own parental failings or the fact that maybe their child really is different and just needs to be handled in a special way.  And finally, while organic and all-natural foods are, in many cases, prohibitively more costly at least there are options for those who seek to stop using processed foods.  

Chavez gone, but Castro keeps on keeping on

Yesterday saw the passing of Venezuela's controversial leader, Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias.  Not being a big fan of him personally, I hadn't originally planned on posting anything until I saw an article on the  Wall Street Journal detailing some of the tweets posted on his behalf:

The tweets ranged from the slightly heartless:

1. 
   

   Foreign Affairs Cmte@HFACrepublicans

   Chairman @RepEdRoyce: "Good riddance to this dictator." READ:1.usa.gov/103aU6R. #Chavez

   
   

   15 HOURS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

To the out of touch and, frankly, a little bit scary:

1. 
   

   Jose E. Serrano@RepJoseSerrano

   Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President.

   
   

   15 HOURS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

This is 100% not political, but for the gaming enthusiast out there Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is on sale today for $20.  Blizzard is running this sale through next week's release (3/12) of the sequel titled Heart of the Swarm.  If you haven't had a chance to play this game yet, do so now and thank me later.  There's a reason Blizzard takes over a decade to release most of their numbered sequels.

Source: (Blizzard)

Immigration & the land of opportunity

One thing that amazes me over the immigration debate, is how often conservatives come across as close-minded and racist.  I think there may be elements of truth to that in certain corners of the Republican party, but I think this characterizations points more to a successful election strategy by the Democratic party to paint them in such a light.  More than anything the concerns that conservatives have over this issue are that we have porous borders, a large number of people living here illegally, and that we have a difficult time meeting our country's financial obligations as it is these days without trying to figure out how to provide things like basic services and health care to a large undocumented population.

Birth of The Resolute Centrist...

And so I've finally decided to start my own blog.  I tried once before, but it was too broadly focused to mean much of anything.  With this blog I hope to create a forum for discussing many topics with a focus on having reasoned political conversations.  While the discussions may initially be focused on U.S. domestic politics, I very much hope to see the discourse expand outwards   My views are unashamedly conservative, but don't pretend to understand my views quite yet...