APOLOGIES DEMANDED

Christopher J. Arndt fights a never ending battle for truth and justice...


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Monday, July 13, 2009

back from Indianapolis for the Young Republican National Convention

I passed out cards, created a business plan/model in four days with a partner, networked, flirted with attractive women, acted along with the rest of Team Renewal to defeat Team Next Level, helped my friend Stuart Foster become Midwest Vice Chair and had a lot of fun.

I will give a full report at a later date.

The only reason this post is off-topic is because I am a topic of the article.

One does hope those young college students I met at the Rock Bottom will actually follow through and visit this site and await a reading list.

I know Derek Moss would want them to.

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back from Indianapolis for the Young Republican National Convention

I passed out cards, created a business plan/model in four days with a partner, networked, flirted with attractive women, acted along with the rest of Team Renewal to defeat Team Next Level, helped my friend Stuart Foster become Midwest Vice Chair and had a lot of fun.

I will give a full report at a later date.

The only reason this post is off-topic is because I am a topic of the article.

One does hope those young college students I met at the Rock Bottom will actually follow through and visit this site and await a reading list.

I know Derek Moss would want them to.

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Saturday, July 04, 2009

4th of July



purported actress Rachael Leigh Cook

more: rachael-leigh-cook-64

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Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Tweet Aggregator



a good Tweet Aggregator is Tweetdeck, comes highly recommended

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a visit from NASA

Thank you Shamus Young
Apologies Demanded
By Referrals > Visit Detail
Visit 91,077
[<<] [>>]
Domain Name nasa.gov ? (U.S. Government)
IP Address 128.157.160.# (National Aeronautics and Space Association)
ISP National Aeronautics and Space Association
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Alabama
City : Huntsville
Lat/Long : 34.6325, -86.6527 (Map)
Language English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System Microsoft WinXP
Browser Firefox
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.11) Gecko/2009060215 Firefox/3.0.11
Javascript version 1.5
Monitor
Resolution : 1440 x 900
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit Jul 1 2009 4:20:18 pm
Last Page View Jul 1 2009 4:26:10 pm
Visit Length 5 minutes 52 seconds
Page Views 2
Referring URL
http://www.shamusyou...ntysidedtale/?p=3799
Visit Entry Page http://apologiesdema...eing-mainstream.html
Visit Exit Page http://apologiesdemanded.blogspot.com/
Out Click
Time Zone UTC-6:00
Visitor's Time Jul 1 2009 3:20:18 pm
Visit Number 91,077
Makes me wish all that stuff I have on space rockets for today was not in draft mode.m

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Michigan Dept of Corrections releases sex offenders by mistake

State Representative Rick Jones (Republican, Grand Ledge) released the following on his Facebook page in the past 70 minutes. I promise no updates as the situation continues. As usual I blame the Democrats.

Rick Jones Today I discovered that the Michigan Department of Corrections has released 44 inmates from prison who are sex offenders. And they released them by MISTAKE.


Rick Jones
Rick Jones
I have made sure everyone in the state will know about it by tomorrow so that the releases will STOP. I also have personally called the director and demanded that they stop.


Rick Jones MDOC had 2 psychologists rating sex offenders for recidivism rates. They made a mistake with over 200 prison inmates. Now they are saying that 55 were released by MISTAKE. The Sheriff Departments are picking them up for the State.


Michael DeRyder
Michael DeRyder
That wouldn't fly in Eaton County. The title of Sheriff in Eaton county has had some impeccable individuals hold that post! =)

Rick Jones
Rick Jones
One of the inmates was picked up in Charlotte



Rick Jones MDOC told me that 44 sex offenders had been released from prison by mistake. Then they told the Detroit Free Press 55. Now we have reports that they are admitting to 62! There is NO excuse for releasing a sex offender by mistake.

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will the rule of three come in threes?

Rule of Three no. 1 - Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson

Rule of Three no. 2 - Billy Mays, Fred Travalena, Karl Malden


I expect three more famous people dead for a total of nine by July 12th

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Canada Day

Happy Canada Day

Since this is Canada's version of our Independence Day, I point to an old article excoriating the other North American anglo-descendant country.

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Christmas in July

I hate this stupid trick gimmick to sell crap and hold sales in the middle of the summer. From a commercial standpoint it makes sense, because apparently "just because" or our nation's Independence Day does not quite work.



For me I will simply use it as an excuse for a Star Wars pun comic.

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Al Franken definitively and legally defeats Norm Coleman

FNC Alert BREAKING NEWS 6/30/2009 2:12 PM
MINNESOTA COURT CLEARS WAY FOR AL FRANKEN TO FILL VACANT SENATE SEAT


FNC Alert BREAKING NEWS 6/30/2009 4:24 PM
NORM COLEMAN CONCEDES MINNESOTA SENATE RACE TO AL FRANKEN


That the people of Minnesota voted for that ex-funny comedian to represent them as their US Senator does not change the basic essential nature of the United States Senate when it comes to voting blocs or resulting politics.

On the other hand, if Conservatives did seek to eventually establish a majority within the US Senate, or even allow politically Conservative Minnesotans to be adequately represented from the state to that particular federal legislative house, then it would have been a better assertion and protection of candidate principle if Senator Coleman had fought a better campaign up until November 2008. I am certain people are asserting that the Democrats stole this election but given the make-up of the Senate now I cannot say that I care. If I was to dictate expenditures for a Conservative majority voting bloc in the Senate then this matters.

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some Facebook "Favorite" Quotations

Some quotes located on Facebook, but accurate as I understand them.
"If you have not accomplished every single thing then you have not accomplished anything." -- Red Whitaker

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares about more than his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -- John Stuart Mill

"The heart of man is deceitful without cure, who can understand it" -- Jeremiah 17:9

"There is a right and wrong in the Universe, and the distinction is not hard to make"

"I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming, terrified, like his passengers."

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” -- 1 Samuel 16:7

"Everywhere, unthinking mobs of 'independent thinkers' wield tired cliches like cudgels, pummeling those who dare question 'enlightened' dogma. If 'violence never solved anything,' cops wouldn't have guns and slaves may never have been freed. If it's better that 10 guilty men go free to spare one innocent, why not free 100 or 1,000,000? Cliches begin arguments, they don't settle them." -- Jonah Goldberg

"Sometimes it is better to be known for one's enemies!"

"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

"There is no try."

"Writing about politics is usually miserable, pointless, and time-consuming. It would be just as productive for me to sit by the road, giving the finger to people with the wrong bumperstickers." -- Shamus Young

"Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends!"
The above were copied from mine and I did not find them on Facebook, but source them from a variety of other places. For example, Jonah Goldberg's quote about cliches was created for a coffee cup series that Starbucks created for conversation pieces. Most of them I leave for others to guess where I got them, especially as I thought that attributing the phrases/quotes/statements on Facebook itself would rob from their own dignity, standing, and distract from their respective crucial truths. Creating context in the "Favorite Quotations" section on Facebook is tempting but never demanded nor really useful given the audience. I have no need to avoid those burdens on my own venue here.

The following are taken from Joe Townsend, whose politics mirror mine in many ways, but his assertions and choice of time use is often wiser e.g. he speaks less so people take him more seriously.
"Those guys are so liberal with that call they must be in the socialist party" - Mickey Redmond commenting on an icing call during the Red Wings and Panthers game, 11/14/08

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." - H.L. Mencken
"Freedom is not empowerment. Empowerment is what the Serbs have in Bosnia. Anybody can grab a gun and be empowered. It's not entitlement. An entitlement is what people on welfare get, and how free are they? It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights -- the "right" to education, the "right" to health care, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery -- hay and a barn for human cattle." - P.J. O'Rourke
One of the consequences of such notions as "entitlements" is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.
-Thomas Sowell
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
-C.S. Lewis
The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive
-Thomas Sowell
"Compassion is no substitute for justice."
"...There's no such thing as a good gun. There's no such thing as a bad gun. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guys..."
"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."
- President Thomas Jefferson
"All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government."
- President Ronald Reagan
"[Taxes pay for] everything! Policemen, trees, sunshine. And let's not forget the folks who just don't feel like workin', God bless 'em!"
- Ned Flanders
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."
- President Thomas Jefferson
Nowhere at present is there such a measureless loathing of their country by educated people as in America
-Eric Hoffer
A ruling intelligentsia, whether in Europe, Asia or Africa, treats the masses as raw material to be experimented on, processed, and wasted at will
-Eric Hoffer
...mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent...
-Adam Smith
There is no safety for honest men but by believing all possible evil of evil men.
-Edmund Burke
Thomas Sowell purportedly is often attributed for that CS Lewis quote as he quotes CS Lewis those words. Mr. Townsend does not repeat that error. (Joe Townsend supported Senator Fred Thompson's bid for US President, as did I).

I feel the temptation to wipe the quotes clean from my page and simply replace them with CS Lewis's, likely with the fullest context I have quickly available.

The following is from Lindsey Michele Houser's Facebook page.
" Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action."

-The Bible, 1 John 3:18 NRSV
I will not assert the context or raise dispute based on context but the message as taken straightforward is a fair summary of a Christian's mission and could perhaps be taken as an indictment of certain folk. It certainly denies the notion of "love" as an emotion. I cannot tell what version of the Bible it is from. Three versions of that same verse can be found here.

The following is from my friend and fellow former activist Dennis Bentley.
"If we lose this war, history will record with the greatest astonishment, that those who had the most to lose, did the least to prevent it from happening."
-Ronald Reagan

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
- Henry Ford

“I don’t care what mindless puppet they put on the throne of England so long as I control the money.”
-Nathan Rothschild

"When you boys come home and see an anti war protester walk up to him and shake his hand and be very polite, and then turn to his girlfriend and wink, because she knows she is dating a pussy."
-General Tommy Franks

“I look at Governor Romney, Mayor Giuliani, my good friend John McCain. Governor Romney joined with Bill Clinton for the 1994 gun ban when I was fighting that. Mayor Giuliani stood with them at the White House on that. Governor Romney has passed what I consider to be a major step towards socialism with respect to his mandated health care bill. John McCain is standing strong with Ted Kennedy on this Kennedy-McCain-Bush border enforcement bill. I think the guy who has got the most influence right here with these three gentlemen is Ted Kennedy. And I think we need to move away from the Kennedy-wing of the Republican Party.”
-Representative Duncan Hunter, Presidential Candidate 2008, at the NH Debate

“There is an old saying which I learned from the coach at Ohio State (Woody Hayes) and that was, 'when people start saying a lot of nice things about you, look out!'”
-Bo Schembechler commenting on his upset over the 1969 Buckeyes
Duncan Hunter's turn of phrase regarding Governor Mitt Romney, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Senator John McCain (who unfortunately ended up as the Republican Presidential candidate for 2008) has the ring of truth. While he may be speaking broadly his assessment of the three men is more-or-less accurate. The former Governor of Massachusetts and the former Mayor of New York are both products and reflections of the political culture of their respective former constituencies. New York City is a Sanctuary City; Mayor Giuliani is a member of the New York Liberal Party; Massachusetts elected and continues to elect John Kerry as their Junior Senator and has elected Ted Kennedy to his post in the US Senate continuously even after the lake incident. I rant because Mitt Romney attempted a run to the left of Ted Kennedy on issues. Senator McCain simply is independent in his American Progressive beliefs. Never mind the details and contexts right now.

It is fitting that Dennis Bentley supported Duncan Hunter for US President in 2008, right until the bitter end.

This is the only time, with General Franks' quote, that I knowledgeably print or reprint a certain level of profanity or vulgarity on this weblog.

Only with proper opportunity will a follow-up to all of this occur.

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Detroit Tigers Postgame - Detroit at Oakland 2009-06-30


Detroit Tigers Postgame Alert
June 30, 2009

Detroit 5, Oakland 3 at Oakland Coliseum
Detroit Record: (43-34)
Oakland Record: (32-44)

Winning pitcher - Armando Galarraga (5-7)
Losing pitcher - Gio Gonzalez (0-2)


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
R H E
DET 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
5 12 2
OAK 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
3 5 1


GAME LINKS:
Recap | Full Box Score | Photo Gallery | Highlights

Game Recap & Box Score »
Visit tigers.com for more information »
Standings »
Game Notes »
Video Highlights »
Photo Gallery »

Next Detroit Game: July 1, 2009 12:35 PM PT vs. Oakland Athletics

Upcoming Detroit Home Games:
vs. Kansas City Royals, July 6, 2009 07:05 PM ET Purchase Tickets
vs. Kansas City Royals, July 7, 2009 07:05 PM ET Purchase Tickets
vs. Kansas City Royals, July 8, 2009 07:05 PM ET Purchase Tickets

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

the government is closing the noose on your infant child

  • Are two of the characters from Michael Bay's Transformers 2 movie racist stereotypes in nature? The blog post/article does not answer the question very well (and perhaps raises more questions) but the comments will help.
  • I love Roadbuster and am one of the few I really do, I think. Unicron.us has a good page.
  • Here is the Twitter #hashtag sorter for #TCOT
  • NRO on the Honduran counter-coup
  • Victor Davis Hanson tracks the President lying for the American cause.
  • Why the heck is it a big deal that a Governor can vanish for a few days! A state does not really need him if it is organized properly. The government should not rely on a particular individual in just that way especially if it is proper government, that is to say, minimal government. Then again, if the behavior of Senator Ensign and Governor Sanford are replicated across the line of Republicans then we can just sit and wait for government healthcare and a massive reevaluation of the proper relationship between citizen and the government. Mark Steyn makes the same argument but backs it up and actually attacks specific viewpoints.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency is a department of the Executive Branch and operates under the command of President Obama. When the actual science as presented by an individual and his report does not fit with his narrative the fool squelches it all so he can pass the largest tax hike in American history and further squelch our liberty. So if global warming or climate change is not what the President of the United States says it is he will not allow you to know the truth, all so he can take your money and make certain elements of enterprise and energy non-viable, destroying industry and smothering prosperity under his black hand of evil darkness.

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Botcon 2004 Dan Gilvezan Panel



Dan Gilvezan played Spider-Man in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends as well as Bumblebee on the original first generation Transformers cartoon series.

I really wished and still wish that Mister Gilvezan was cast as Bumblebee in the movies and not Mark Ryan.

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Indiana has a right idea for education

Indiana passes new school choice program

Home of Friedman Foundation first new state in 2009 to be added to school choice ranks

Indiana lawmakers today approved a $2.5 million scholarship tax credit program in the home state of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. The new scholarship program was inserted into the state's budget and won approval in the late hours of the special legislative session. The bill, which passed the Senate 34-16 and the House 61-36, now goes to the governor who is anticipated to sign it in the coming days.

"The state of Indiana today joined a growing number of states that are putting the educational needs of children before partisan politics by adopting school choice programs," said Robert Enlow, President and CEO of the Friedman Foundation. "Indiana's scholarship tax credit program received support from members of both parties as well as strong support from Governor Mitch Daniels, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, and House Republican Leader Brian Bosma. We're grateful that Senate budget negotiator Luke Kenley and the other legislators held firm in budget discussions and worked so hard to provide parents with meaningful options for their children. We'd also like to acknowledge the support of the original authors of Senate Bill 528, Senators Carlin Yoder, Marlin Stutzman and Joe Zakas, Senate Education Committee Chair Teresa Lubbers, House Education Committee ranking Republican member Bob Behning, and House Ways and Means Committee ranking Republican member, Jeff Espich," Enlow said.

We would also like to acknowledge the role that our state and local allies in the school choice movement have played in this victory, including School Choice Indiana and their leader Fred Klipsch, as well as the Indiana Non-Public Education Association and the Indiana Catholic Conference.

"We are proud that this year's first new school choice program is located in our home state and that thousands of Hoosier families will now have real options when it comes to finding the school that best fits their child's educational needs," Enlow added.

A similar tax credit proposal passed the Senate with bi-partisan support during the regular legislative session. Governor Daniels kept the measure alive by including it in his budget proposal during the special legislative session, and the senate re-inserted the program in their special session budget proposal. Indiana is the first new state to join the school choice family so far this year.

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Government Motors



Ryan Nichols:
No company is too big to fail. I'm seriously re-thinking my life-long "buy American" pledge given the recent turn of events.
That was written June 8th, 2009 and ripped by me.

The way I hear it the very act of "saving" this company and other automotive companies, as well as other major corporations, has actually damaged these institutions to the point where they respectively are incapable of improving, innovating, growing beyond their peak.

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Saturday, June 27, 2009

a note, needing prayer

every time I am closest to final final final victory... I indulge in a long stretch of self-destructive behavior.

Like five steps forwards three steps back.

I can't take it anymore... I want five steps forward. and to finish this life phase. now.

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Iran, Michael Jackson, Pelosi-Waxman, and more broken priorities

The ignored horror in Tehran -- a Tienanmen-level even featured here.

Jonah Goldberg reflects on how the public, especially our media, has honored Michael Jackson without meaning to do so and notes that while his life may have been tragic, mourning his death is not about him.
Here was a guy so many of “us” read about in People magazine for so long. His passing, therefore, isn’t a loss in the sorrowful sense of the word, but in the selfish one. It’s a loss of an interesting subject, a creature to gossip about and to fill a few minutes on E! or Entertainment Tonight.
That reflects the bulk of our mourning in celebrity deaths. As it is, and Mr. Goldberg points out, Michael Jackson's death was a death but that in and of itelf is hardly a tragedy; "Michael Jackson’s life, not his death, was tragic. " I say broadly that every person whose time on earth ended without knowing Jesus dies a tragic death, but for Michael Jackson's place in the world, his life brought much more pain to himself and to others compared to his anticlimatic passing from this world.

John Derbyshire reflects in turn that Michael Jackson is a symbol of a point in time, much like Farrah Fawcett.

The manmade global climate impact myth is a political cudgel used to beat people, even as it is most effectively used in lies, notes Victor Davis Hanson. Barack Obama killed over 9,980 fictional people in Kansas to make this point. For this we change our lives?

In response to the fear that our mankind's behaviors are destroying the planet and altering its natural balance and behaviors in catastrophic ways, the US House of Representatives has passed a bill that will probably alter the American economy in catastrophic ways. This destruction should hit Michigan in particularly severe way, although given the state of our present economy most people will not notice. This sort of devastation could have been avoided except that eight Republicans, instead of being reasonable, decided to pass it so they could appear environmentally conscious. As a result the governments of China, Russia, Japan, India, and other countries are pursuing thier pre-set courses of action because they do not care about American environmentalist mythology and certainly are unwilling to cripple to their respective economies because some Americans suspect that doing so will save the world. So naturally speaking whatever American pollution is halted has no bearing on the effects of the pollution that other industrialized nations may generate. That is barely touching the edge of the problem.

That bill, however, does not actually exist. So much of what our Democrat partisan-controlled legislature does is legally and ethically inappropriate and a special shame goes to any Republican that endorses the behavior.

Legislative analysts and historians of both the American Left and American Right agree that the Congress exists to be deliberative body and to pass no bill as to become a new law in haste. Yet this so-called legislative process has been overrun and overriden, disregarded, on quite a regular basis these past few years, but quite nastily by these Democrats and their Republican sidekicks. Iain Murray has an idea to stop it. This would make a wonderful Constitutional Amendment! If you cannot and did not read the bill, why allow its results to change the country one way or the other.

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