Friday, February 16, 2007

Entrance, Stage Left. . .

It seems that Political Pistachio is suffering from an invasion from the left. My response is, welcome to my site, and thanks for defending me Mudkitty. To you new leftwing commenters, you are welcome to comment, but remember this is a conservative site, and the rights of my conservative readers will come first. Also, any direct attacks against Christianity will not be tolerated, nor will be profanity or downright mean attacks of a personal nature against everyone. I do enjoy well thought out comments, even if misguided by the idea of new age enlightenment and liberalism. I try to keep this site honest and fair and on the high road, but because I am a busy guy (again, thanks Mudkitty for letting Tom know how busy I get) sometimes my retractions or comments to the commenters is not immediate.

For information purposes, I am a military veteran, a conservative Christian, and a heavy equipment operator with wild hours. I don't tend to bite off more than I can chew, but I do tend to spread myself thin sometimes. And yes, Tom, I've had a few surgeries at the VA hospital. Your job is irony abound, indeed.

Regarding George Carlin, rather than a retraction, I offer an explanation. I received it in my e-mail, met the words with approval, and posted it because I had been gone from home since the early morning and it was a quick post before I went to bed. As you regular readers know, I do my best to post everyday. But, I don't want to simply be a news service, so opinion is offered in every post. It really doesn't matter, I suppose, or maybe it does to some, that there are sites that say that Carlin did not say those things, but the words are still wonderful, and I am glad I posted it, though maybe George's photo ought to be removed. Maybe it was Ted Nugent that said those words. Sounds like something he would say. Perhaps.

Regarding the Death Penalty and Tom's fascinating comments regarding Christianity, I've heard your type of argument before, and can understand how you came to such a conclusion. I was once blind, as well, but now I see. Anyhow, my opinion regarding the death penalty is not based on my Christianity, although I am sure I could find a way to use the Bible to support my argument. My opinion regarding the Death Penalty is purely personal, and involves moments in my life I don't relate to strangers. We all have our crosses to bear, and that is one of mine.

Regarding the Bank of America post, I am surprised nobody claimed me to be a racist. Good for you, my liberal commenters. Those who have read my site for a while knows that my wife was born in Mexico, and is currently in the middle of applying for citizenship to the United States. She grew up in the states and considers herself an American. That is a different story altogether. She has problems with illegals, considering all that she's gone through to play by the rules. With all of the hoops she's had to jump through, its a slap in the face when a criminal that illegally crossed (illegal equals criminal in my book - or does breaking the law in your opinion not mean that someone is a criminal?) the border gets a free pass.

Israel. I don't assume that all liberals are anti-Israel, but I do think that liberals don't have Israel's best interest in mind when they defend the Muslim nations that are not secretive about their desire to eliminate the small nation from the face of the earth. I don't desire the elimination of anybody, including the Muslim nations, but I do desire that the radicals that wish for the destruction of Israel and Christianity be stopped. Otherwise, the result could be something far worse than what the United States suffered on September 11, 2001.

And finally, back to my wife, she has agreed to do the radio show with me. What radio show? Well, Wide Awakes Radio has run into some serious problems with their stream, so I am going to have to have my show through BlogTalk Radio (the same service that MyPoint Radio uses/see sidebar on left for link). I will stick with the Saturday schedule, but will have morning shows when I can so that my European readers may listen, since 5pm Pacific time is 1 am in London and 2 am in Brussels.

I'll keep you posted on the Radio Show.

Oh, and one more message to the liberal invasion of Political Pistachio: I am firm on my belief system, and I don't compromise. You are entitled to your opinion, but if you don't like mine enough that you get to the point that you can't behave, read a different blog - break my rules and I will delete your comments. I believe in allowing the freedom to express your opinion, but remember, this is still my blog and as fair as I try to be, even I have my limits. Don't cross those limits, and we will be fine.

Blessings,

Douglas V. Gibbs

14 comments:

Proletariat said...

Let me introduce myself, Doug.

I consider myself a Populist, not a member of the Right or Left, so I hope you weren't referring to me as a "new" Left wing reader.

Now, I'm sure you'd like to know just what I mean when I say "Populist". Well, I'm Pro-Life, for example. I believe abortion is immoral unless, of course, the life of the mother is at risk. In cases of rape, the chances of the victim getting pregnant by the rapist -- according to research -- is nil. But, the morning after pill is acceptable in such circumstances.

I do not support Gay Marriage; I do, however, support Civil Unions.

I do not like President Bush, and I'm staunchly opposed to the War in Iraq. But I do support the War in Afghanistan, the country that should have been our focus from the very beginning.

I am a Christian -- although not as conservative of a Christian as you -- that has a deep enough faith to know that you cannot use the Bible to justify the death penalty. But that's another debate.

I believe the ACLU was once a great organization that did, in fact, protect the Bill of Rights. Now I believe them to be nothing more than an arm of the Left, just as I believe the ACLJ to be nothing more than an arm of the Christian Right.

I support Israel but I'm not cold to the decent Palestinians who've been oppressed for many years.

I'm against Illegal Immigration, but I do support Amnesty for those already here.

Flag burning is an asinine and disrespectful thing to do, but it should not be, in my opinion, made illegal. This is, after all, America.

I do not support the "Ten Commandments" being displayed on or in government buildings, however, I have absolutely no problem with a Crucifix erected at a Veteran memorial.

I believe churches should receive block grants from the government in order to help the needy, but it should be strictly regulated. If churches are not discriminating against non-Christians and are using the grants for helping the needy and no other reason, I don't see how it violates the First Amendment.

I support VOLUNTARY Prayer in school, not organized. Regardless of what the Christian Right thinks, this is not, in any way, a nation founded on, or influenced by, the Christian faith. (See Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11.)

Public schools are ridiculous. School Vouchers are the way to go, in my opinion.

I believe the greatest president during the second-half of the 20th Century is either Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton. I'm sure you will disagree with Clinton being added to the mix, but then I would only advise you to compare the two presidencies -- closely.

To be a little more personal: I have a B.S.N. (Bachelors in Nursing), and currently working on an M.S.N.. I'm also a writer that's been published in various different periodicals but, like you, have been unsuccessful with novel publishing. Perhaps in the future we will have better luck.

In conclusion I will only say that I like your blog and will, if welcome, be reading and commenting regularly; more of my beliefs, and perhaps more of myself, will be revealed in doing so.

God bless.

Proletariat

Anonymous said...

DG - any invasion from the left, I assure you comes from Americans. Also, I think it's a kick and a half that Mrs. Pistachio is going to be on your show. She is one level headed woman. Lord knows where you'd be without her.

Anonymous said...

-'any invasion from the left, I assure you comes from Americans.'

I don't know aout that MK, I have been bloging for quite some time and have experienced MANY Canadian left invasions.
I doubt the validity of your assurances.

FTGF!

Tisha! said...

Hi Doug, I look forward to your show!

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

Tisha, I just hope you can listen because it will be so late in Brussels when I am on - I'll try to poke in a morning show when I can which I am sure is better for you and Kris in London and Dan in Paris (wow, how cool, three Euro readers) since that time for me in the morning is the afternoon for your folks out there across the pond. Proletariat_Manifesto, I assure you that I normally welcome comments from all directions, but I get frustrated when leftwing commenting increases to the point that my longtime readers feel uneasy about commenting. However, as Mudkitty will profess, I am sure, I try to be as fair as possible. Your view points are fascinating - some of them I am confused with regarding your Christianity claim, but that is what makes America great, a variety of points of views. As for understanding the Bible, I spent time preparing to become a minister for a while, so I assure you that I understand it more than most - but since a left temporal fracture I suffered in 1985 my memory is not as such that I can pull things from the filing cabinets of my brain so quickly or accurately, so diving into scripture to find things rather than remembering tends to be my best method for theological discussions. However, I am sure my Christianity affects my belief system in total, but when I reach a political opinion it is not because I decided that's what scripture says. I have a very interesting history in life, and all of my opinions are derived from that journey. It just so happens that those opinions turn out to agree with the Christian Right most of the time. Thanks Mudkitty for the kind words about Virginia. She loved your comment about her so much that I printed it for her. Yes, she is level headed, and no, I don't know where I would be without her. After 22+ years of marriage, I could not imagine what life would be without her. Daniel, thanks for the visit, looks like I need to update the link to your site. Blessings, Doug.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for updating my link Gibbs.
Keep up the graet work, while keeping the trolls at bay.
FTGF!

cary said...

Well stated, Mr. Gibbs.

I look forward to many long and interesting discussions!

Anonymous said...

I'm always impressed by long, happy marriages.

Tom said...

Interesting post.. I particularly like this part;

the rights of my conservative readers will come first.

Umm.. is there a blogger bill of rights someplace? See.. cause it's a blog.. with words.. that people can type and other's can read, so it a little strange where somebody else has more "right" to type words than others.

In any case, it's all good. I can write without using "vulgarities" although I find it impossible to be offended by a word, regardless the number of letters that words contains. I can point out the inconsistency and "misguided" (a word you used) nature of religion without "attacking" it. And for the record, I find all religions to be dangerous, not just Islam. I hope linking to scholarly studies that prove that is not an "attack".

I hope your experience at the VA has been a good one so far. I do hope you focus some of your attention on the way the Republican Congress has been working to cut funding, and this President in particular more interested in "energy subsidies" than taking care of our troops.

I hope you all read this from yesterday's WaPo, and instead of weak attacks against "liberals" try and start doing something that can actually help our servicemen and women.

Truly, and this is something I just don't get. Why does it seem like it always has to be a "liberal" vs. "conservative" war? Liberalism always wins out in the long run anyway (Europe, Canada, etc.) so I'm not really all that bothered with the so called "culture war". That war is over.

I'm just perplexed why the right can fight the small battles, the BofA thing comes to mind, while totally ignoring the horrible conditions of our vets? Is the only reason you ignore it because it's caused by your political leaders? That's an honest question.

If it had been Clinton that sent these soldiers off to war, and then left them to rot in a broken DoD and VA system, you'd come unglued. You'd march on Washington. Because Bush and the (formerly) Republican Congress has done this, there is not a peep.

That's simply unbelievable and why I have such a great disdain for the political hacks on the right.

Tom said...

While I'm at it.. and though I almost never link to another blog instead of the source news stories, you might just have a peek at one post that I think is important (you may not, of course).

here.

Granted, it's a liberal blog, but what they did is quoted and linked to 9 recent reports from Fox News, to the Columbus Dispatch that reveals what our returning soldiers are going through, and what the current administration is NOT doing to help - but rather further the problem.

But dang.. we don't want to know about it, do we? We're more concerned about illegal Mexicans getting bank accounts.

Tom said...

More from the Army Times;

Even the Army is claiming that the DoD is intentionally trying to classify soldiers so they do not have to treat them.

Soldiers go to VA to try for more benefits, but the department had a staggering 400,000-case backup on new claims in fiscal 2006, according to VA.

And my project was cancelled by the, then, Republican congress. The project was designed to identify soldiers who had commercial insurce through their spouses and then bill that insurance to collect revenue. That would have enabled the VA to hire more staff, buy more equipment.. treat more soldiers quicker.

Ultimately Bush is responsible for this catastrophic lack of leadership. Hopefully this will be a campaign issue for the '08 elections.. a very very big one.

Tom said...

And I'll conclude my rant with this.

The Bush administration plans to cut funding for veterans’ health care two years from now — even as wounded troops returning from Iraq could overwhelm the system.

I read a number of right wing blogs. Why does it seem like all they care about is sending more troops to Iraq? All that will happen is that it will put more burden on the DoD, and VA, which Bush is trying to cut funding..

We truly live in an insane world.

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

Interesting comment, Tom. First, of course the rights of my conservative readers come first. My blog is my blog. It has nothing to do with a bill of rights. Don't you have a say on who you invite into your home, and who you kick out if they don't behave? I am not offended by words, it is a matter of common courtesy, and if not followed, I will kick you, or any other liberal, out of my house. It's my home (metaphor for my blog if you have trouble understanding this) and I can do as I please inside the closed doors. Ah, but isn't that opening a can of worms? Go ahead, bring on the next argument. . .anyhow, VA's facilities are frustrating, and you are correct, funding is a problem. Unlike liberals following their people blindly, I don't agree with everything the Republicans do, or that this administration has done, or has failed to do. Their lack of care for our veterans is unfortunate. It's not a liberal vs. conservative war. It is secular Marxism, or liberalism, or progressivism, that has launched a war against Christianity, against democratic freedom, against the successful of the free world (hence their push for the distribution of wealth to the lower levels), and so forth. As for the illegal Mexicans getting bank accounts, what part of "illegal" do you not understand? I have no problem with immigrants. My wife is an immigrant. She is currently jumping through a number of hoops to naturalize, paying fees, going through the process, and to just grant these criminals that come to this country illegally for their actions is a slap in her face. Is Bush guilty of a lack of leadership? Perhaps in some areas he falls short, but he's a lot better than an idiot like Gore, Kerry, Edwards, Pelosi, Clinton, and the like. No, he is not perfect, and I have my complaints about him, but at least he is willing to defend this nation, and take the war to the enemy (which has many times over sworn to destroy us), rather than wave a white flag. As for sending more troops, I actually hesitated to support the move (but you aren't a regular reader so you wouldn't know this), but after Bush's explanation in his speech over why the increase was necessary, I got on board. We do live in an insane world, and the secular Marxists/Liberals/Progressives are a large part of the reason.

Tom said...

I see.. You think there is a war against Christians going on. Okay. That's a whole 'nother debate, and naturally I disagree. The United States is a secular society, and everyone is free to practice, or not practice, whatever religion they like. But I suppose the whole "political correctness" issue has made it seem like Christianity is under attack. It's really not. We just need our public life to reflect the Constitution.

You really don't need to threaten me with a banning. I get it. I don't ban on my blog unless somebody is obviously just trolling and has no rational point to go along with their insults and "naughty" words. In a sense, everyone has rules and I certainly don't give a flying flip if I break somebody's blog rules. I'll move on. Still, I find your blog a bit more interesting then the last few so I'll stick around and play by the rules.. but don't be suprised if I push it sometimes. If you don't care for it.. by all means.. ban away. Rightwingguy did, and it was hillarious.

Oh.. and I do understand "illegal". I also understand "legal". So.. was it "illegal" for BofA to institute the new program? If not, then the discussion is rather meaningless unless it is in the context of simply opposing the program. My issue is that it's really nitpicking when there are much bigger issues to debate. But your blog.. your topics. Whatever..

Frankly, the whole immigration issue is really complex.. and I'll let you in on a little secret. I also believe in laws being laws. Illegal is illegal, and illegals should be deported. If you want to create new laws that detail exactly what services a business can extend to illegals, by all means.. give it a go.

My argument is that in the big picture, it's not a huge issue and there's really nothing you can do about it anyway. Build a wall? LOL

I live in a neighborhood in north Texas with an association. Once the grass starts growing, our lawns get mowed once a week. They're all Mexicans.. or at least look central American. I really couldn't care less if they are illegal - they do a nice job mowing my lawn. I wouldn't care if it were a white kid doing it. None of that matters to me.

Seriously.. why are Americans afraid of competing with Mexicans for jobs? I'm certainly not.