I'm the last person to praise our local paper, the Courier-Journal, nor am I going to today. However, as Mr. Varadarajan points out in the Wall Street Journal today, reading the papers is important. He takes a unique look at the whole deal though.

My favorite comment: "The word idiot is derived from the Greek idiotes, means a private person who keeps himself to himself, who pays no attention to public affairs. In other words, he reads no newspapers."

Imagine this one. In this age of the victim mentality, American teenagers are feeling deprived of parental guidance in the matters of the spirit and faith.

Asked about a new survey showing a decline in the number of young Americans who believe in absolute values, Mark Yaconelli of San Francisco Theological Seminary replied, "The teens are not the problem -- the grownups are."

I will agree that it has always been the case that parents are the prime motivators and means of spreading a faith, but American teenagers do have ample opportunity to explore faith on their own. Of course, this doesn't mean a lot in and of itself either. Our media preaches moral relativism and scales of grey. I sometimes am amazed that anyone believes in right and wrong anymore.

The full story is available here.

Gary Aldrich's recent article discusses the symbolism of Ohio rifles. In his article he points out how often the left makes up insane rules and then selectivly prosecutes. Apparently a professor at OU has a civil war era rifle that no longer fires on campus. However, someone lodged a complaint and now the university is trying to get him to remove it from campus. I fail to see how this increases the safety of OU for anyone, as I'm sure the administration claims it will. . .

I've just about completed my last paper for my last class of the spring semester. Once it's finish, it will be time to celebrate.

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
-Ben Franklin

As I've decided to take a quick break from writing my last paper of the spring semester, I just need to say, it sucks. But, on a positive note, it's my last paper of the spring semester.

BTW, anyone want to help me write a grant proposal?

My dear precious lord, I just want Speed School to end. . . Thankfully, this is my last night for quite some time.

A society that puts equality - in the sense of equality of outcome - ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to acheive equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.

- Milton Friedman

Well, this is my last Sunday as a full-time engineering grad student. It's a nice feeling as I have been ready to move on for over a year. If I only I was finished with the last of the homework and papers already.

Thomas Sowell and some of his Random Thoughts.

A good and amusing read.

As the few of you that manage to stop by this site have noticed, this page has tended to focus on more political and newsworthy issues. To satiate my strange need to write, I've created a second blog off of this website. It's called Chris's Journal and will focus on more of what I'm doing personally. This includes everything from thoughts of a more personal and at home nature, to my travels, to whatever else I feel like getting off of my chest into the written word.

It's nice just to sit at home at night and relax. I've been going out just about everynight these past few weeks and it has trully become a tiring affiar. I think it's time I actually sat down and watched a movie at home, maybe have some popcorn. Or I could even do the dreaded thing of working on papers or assignments that I must complete before the Monday. Whatever I choose to do though, I really have no outside forces working on me. It's just nice.

Well, I've decided to start an online personal journal again. My random thoughts and musings along with whatever I'm doing at the moment of these pages. Hopefully you'll enjoy what I do with this page. The format should be changing soon, but keep your fingers crossed that I take the time to do it.

All I have to say is I want one. Anyone want to give me a few million dollars?

In Peter Bronson's recent account of the recent riot on Vine Street in Cincinnati, it's blatent that these individuals no longer have any respect for law and order. The city reacted very poorly in this incident. Maybe they should enforce the law when people riot.

I never thought I'd see the day that a person would be denied a job in this country for simply being a Christian. Well, that day has now come.
Daily Nebraskan - Religious beliefs present hurdles for coach's career

It's simply amazing. Thanks to John Causey for pointing this one out.

It's absolutely wonderful that the courts of this country get to decide such crucial issues as this one.

'Chicken Butt' Not Slanderous (washingtonpost.com)

At least she has to pay for the trouble she caused the radio station and their employees.

While surfing the web today I came across a simple quote on a website by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."

Now, you might ask what is so ironic about this simple quote. On face value, it is definatly a true statement. The irony lies not in the quote, but where I found. The website of People for the American Way. This group assails center-right organizations as what it deams the "Radical Right." It spent time attacking recent judicial nominees such as Judge Pickering and is currently sueing Katherine Harris on behalf of the FL chapter of the NAACP and black voters in FL. Most of my readers probably know the facts about those situations already, so I choose at this time not to go into it. But, while the goals of this organization is noble (organizes
and mobilizes Americans to fight for fairness, justice, civil rights and the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution) and they pursue it with zeal, they show no understanding themselves.

I often find it amazing how often people choose not to study history. Not so much the people that make up the common fiber of the country, but those that make up the "elites" and the leadership of this nation. Thomas Sowell points out parallels in several conflicts of the past century in this recent op-ed.

The biggest coherent group that ignores history is the pacifists. Pacifism is the surest way to war and the quickest way to end the peace. The problem is that many people believe that if you're not a pacifist, you're a war hawk. This is hardly the case. As the old saying goes, pray for peace and prepare for war.

Though I'm not Catholic, I have watched the recent scandal with great remorse and despair for the church. When fellow Christians go through a troubling time it is always heart wrenching. Recently Friar Joseph Wilson wrote a
piece for The Wanderer, a Catholic newspaper. This is a great piece on how the Catholics should react and use this to bring true growth to their church and faith.

Steven Milloy points out a lot of the flaws in the recent study released on college drinking and its effects. His response at Fox News rips apart the statistical methods that are apparent in the study. It's bad enough that the people that do this study set up some really weird definitions. Who goes to a four to five hour party and doesn't drink at least one drink per hour? A study that appears just as valid, though I'm sure many of my college friends can vouch for it, can be found here.

Thanks to InstaPundit.Com for pointing these out.