Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.”
-Proverbs 17:5

Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation.

His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.

Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.

I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why.

It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand.

Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not?

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Throughout the evening, McCain chose to recite portions of his stump speech as answers to the questions he was being asked. Why? He has lived 71 years. Surely he has some thoughts on what it all means that go beyond canned answers culled from the same speech he delivers every day.

He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it.

He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.

One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.

Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?

John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.

He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.

George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.

He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

You know, its interesting the kind of reasoning and logic some people employ in their racist observations concerning this election. I had a Fox right-winger tell me that all blacks will vote for Obama just because he’s black; not because he is qualified. I said, “That’s not true at all.” In just about every presidential election I can remember around 90% of African-Americans vote for the Democrat because it is in their interest to vote for the party and candidate that supports their interest. It’s like saying people who work for Military Defense Contractors always vote for the white guy just because he’s white. No, it’s because it is in their interest to vote for the Republican candidate and his party which always supports war and the endless spending on the international killing machine we call the corporate military industrial complex.
There are many blacks who will vote for the white Republican candidate because it is in their interest to do that. They may be black oil executives, black Enron type CEO’s, black conservative Supreme Court Justices, black Fox news anchormen or black millionaire sports figures. But for around 90% of most hard working African Americans and regular white, tan, yellow, red and brown people that work for a living it is in their best interest to vote for a candidate that will represent them and their interests and that will be a Democrat. Don’t try to make African-Americans out to be racists in reverse. They are no different than white people. They usually vote their personal interest.
The fact that Obama was tops in his class at Harvard and McCain was 4th from the bottom in his class at the Naval Academy should have much more to do with how people view them than their skin color. McCain and Mitch McConnell represent all the corruption, mistakes and endless spending of the past Republican Congress. They voted with “w” over 95% of the time. Enough said. After the ignorance of leadership over the last eight years we need someone who has the intelligence to lead in a positive and enlightened way. This country can’t endure another four years of war, debt and misery. We need a leader to change our direction and one we can believe in. Obama is the man who will be to American politics what Cacius Clay / Ali was to boxing forty years ago. There will be no stopping “the Greatest leader” of this century! Bring him on!

I would like to point out some very inaccurate statements made by Steve Wilson in his letter to
the editor last week concerning my comments on handguns. His quote from the National Safety Council was actually propaganda from the National Rifle Association. The following is actually from the National Safety Council: “Keeping a handgun in the home for self-defense places a gun owner and his/her family in great jeopardy.” Residents of homes where a gun is present are five times more likely to experience a suicide and three times more likely to experience a homicide than residents of homes without guns. Additionally, a gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a member of the household, or friend, than an intruder and more children younger than 10 are killed by guns than by poison or electrocution.” Also Mr. Wilson’s comments concerning Washington D.C. crime rates from 1976 to 1991 don’t simply reflect a correlation based solely on the handgun ban. The major contributing factor causing the increase was drugs and unemployment. You notice that the rate went down when Clinton came into office and back up when “w” took over. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Mr. Wilson goes on to state that America is the 24th most violent country in the world but based on all factors such as Wars, violent crimes, violent media/TV/Movies/Video games, sports, the NRA and military weapons of mass destruction say otherwise. America’s huge military industrial complex builds and sells millions of tons of weapons to other countries around the world. We are far and away the most violent and violence supporting country in the world, hands down.
Typical of most right-wing NRA hand-gun addicts, they continuously distort the facts and misrepresent the truth. Mr. Wilson ended his tirade by supposedly quoting Thomas Jefferson. I’m sorry but Thomas Jefferson never wrote that. Cesare Beccaria wrote the quote from his Essay on Crime and Punishment. One must be very discerning and skeptical when reading comments from NRA advocates as recent letters demonstrate. My letter to the editor two weeks ago never said I was against the possession of shotguns, rifles or handguns. My issue was concerning the danger of handguns and community handgun bans. The U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the “right” to own any type of weapon to all citizens. It states the “militia’s” right to bear arms and the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently agreed with that view until the present Bush Court ignored precedent and erred.
Finally, the gun lust that many bitter NRA handgun extremists possess is very disturbing to me. It’s as though their paranoia has overtaken their logic and common sense. They accuse anyone that doesn’t acquiesce to their views to be un-American and unpatriotic. I find that very queer. My security is in Lord. Not a weapon. Until our country faces the root causes of crime we will continue to succumb to the mentality of extremists and those politicians who cling to violence and war as the answer to all our problems. God help us!

Well another one of my observations triggered Pavlov’s ( and Charleston Heston’s) dog again. All I have to do is state a simple common sense and reasonable idea and right-wingers go into Grand mal seizures with all their infantile NRA propaganda dogma. What else do you expect from the likes of rural Henderson’s die-hard gun-lust lovers. What is it about handguns that turn seemingly normal citizens into rabid hydrocephalic circus freaks on steroids? Is it that handguns give a sense of superiority or in some way make them more sexually virile? I always thought that chicks dug the good looking guy, the intelligent guy or the wealthy guy. That always worked for me. Ha! Well at least I didn’t have to pack a 357 in order to get my wife. I guess the NRA fellas need to compensate somehow for all their obvious inadequacies. Now excuse me. I’m late for my GQ cover photo and my broker tells me he’d like me to teach a class on macro economics and the statistical probability of handgun owners having an IRA large enough to purchase an accidental life insurance policy, suicides not covered of course but murder is triple indemnity. I don’t put my faith in a gun. The love of Jesus is all the blessed assurance I need in this world. You gun guys seriously need to lighten up and get a life. Now get on your knees and pray before I go mid-evil on you.

Isn't it ironic that more handgun deaths are attributed to owners committing suicide than from any other cause and that doesn't even include all the accidental handgun deaths? I listen to NRA handgun extremists claims of self protection from criminals and all the while they are the very ones they should be afraid of. Paranoia is a common malady of most right-wing gun nuts. They live in fear of some imaginary intruder or a black helicopter government agent coming into their home and yet the most dangerous villain they will ever meet is the guy they see in the mirror each morning. Handgun advocates insist they need concealed weapon laws to keep the wild-west under control but these lenient laws enacted in Kentucky certainly haven't prevented horrible acts of violence in our own community. Handguns are not the answer to our societies' thirst for blood and vengeance. Violence only begets more violence. I am an avid hunter and gun owner but handguns don't serve as a necessary requirement for reasonable sportsmen. A shotgun will serve to protect homeowners much better than a handgun and self-inflicted deaths and accidents will be next to nothing. Use some common sense. I hear so many immature handgun owners making macho comments like, "let them try that when I'm around and I will blow them away with my 357." Handguns are only good for one thing; to kill people. More handguns in the hands of irresponsible and unreasonable reactionary people are not the answer. If handguns are more available maybe we should outlaw testosterone. I doubt there have been many mass murders with knifes. Of course criminals will always have handguns but these same criminals were typically good law abiding citizens the day before they committed their crimes. They are the same citizens demanding more lenient gun laws. It's a vicious circular argument that gets you nowhere. The police see the violent results and that is why they support stronger handgun laws. Our right-wing Supreme Court strikes down handgun bans and they are the same irrational court that allows serial rapist priests and other child rapists to avoid the death penalty. Where's the logic and common sense in that? With leadership and rulings like that is it any surprise America is the most violent country on the face of the earth?