Friday, November 07, 2003
THE REAL OC #5
The Real OC Issue 5
Welcome back everyone. It has been a while but The Real OC is back with some more hard hitting editorials for everyone. Coming to you from Tucson I have been following with interest the events going on in Southern California as well as around the nation. This issue, I will be discussing my thoughts on certain issues, there will also be an Only In Orange County, a quote of the week and song of the week.
My Thoughts: Dr. James Dobson
Earlier this week I received an e-mail entitled fwd: CBS. With interest I opened it to see what it was about. It was a message from Dr. James Dobson, the self proclaimed expert on how all families should behave and function. This time he was informing America about a conspiracy by atheists to take Touched By An Angel off the air and take God completely off the airwaves. And my duty as a Christian was to add my name to the list and send it on to as many people as I knew. I was not sure whether I should be mad, or break out in hysterical laughter. After all this Dr. Dobson is at it again, trying to take his holier than thou message to the American people. Perhaps the people behind cancelling Touched By An Angel should be charged under the Patriot Act. Since it is his buddy, John Ashcroft who is the one who enforces the Patriot Act, I am sure he should have no problem there.
SARCASM ON
I remember when I first heard Dr. Dobson in a video shown to me at church youth group in the early nineties. He discussed the horrors of having sex too young, of not having a proper nuclear family, and how the country was going to shit now that Bill Clinton was president. After the Clinton years ended, Dobson celebrated, calling Bush's election, a return of honor and principle to the White House. Yes thats the spirit, lets have a presidency with millions losing their jobs, with starting wars with other countries on false pretences as long as they sit and thump their Bible. Thats the American I always dreamed of.
Which brings me to my next point, the fact that Dobson has the time to circulate all these crusades against television. Being a once practicing Catholic, I have read all four gospels and never once do I recall Jesus telling his disciples to follow self-righteous crusades and ignore the needy. Which makes me wonder, why doesn't he use the time and effort to help those who truly are in need. To reach out to people suffering in Third World Nations, to reach out to single mothers here struggling to raise their children. Oh no wait, that would involve handouts and they would never learn personal responsibility if we actually give them the tools they need to survive. The way to go is to give more tax cuts to the highest brackets of people in Third World Countries and here at home. Then these starving people and these single mothers will be so inspired they will want to go out and make themselves rich so they can have the same benefits as the upper bracket. Wow, Dr. Dobson really embodies the spirit of Christ.
In a 1987 speech he made a very startling conclusion. He had discerned the origin of the Gay Rights Movement, of the Sexual Freedom movement, of the Wiccan and neo-pagan movement. It all goes back to one woman refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Thats right, he stated that "If Rosa Parks had just gotten up and moved to the back, all these groups such as gays, fornicators, wiccans and pagans would not have followed the blacks lead in demanding Civil Rights. The nerve of Rosa Parks, refusing to get up and go to the back of the bus, I cannot believe the audacity of that woman. Maybe Dr. Dobson needs to invent a time machine and send the "Governator" since they are such good buddies, to terminate Parks when she is only a teenager, thus averting the judgement day on December 1st, 1955 when morality fell apart with one meek lady who only wanted to rest after a hard days work.
Did you also know that Dr. Dobson is not only a sex, AIDS, homosexual and Civil Rights expert, he is also an expert at judging who is patriotic as well. He did a great job in discerning the patriotic from the unpatriotic in the year 2000 during the Republican presidential primary. As many may remember, a war of words erupted between the Christian Right and Senator John McCain during his run for President. At one point, McCain referred to the Christian Right as an "organization of evil." Thats where Dr. Dobson comes in. Seeing the John McCain ruthlessly attacking the very religion this nation was founded on, he had no choice but to expose to the American people McCain's unamericanism. Thank you Dr. Dobson for informing us about this threat to the American people. Sure he only lost six years of his life in a North Vietnamese prison while fighting for this country. Nevermind the fact that he was tortured by his captors while Dr. Dobson was comfortably at home preaching to everyone about how being Christian is being American. The nerve of John McCain to not find some way to escape and come and help Dobson spread that message. I understand why Dobson saw the need to expose this man. The country is now a better place because of this.
Now the best is yet to come. He has touted himself as being a "medical doctor." Now lets analyze his education. He has a Doctorate in Psychology, last time I checked Psychology was not a medical field, it is, in fact, a Humanity. Someone needs to break the news to him, a PSYCHIATRIST is an MD, a PSYCHOLOGIST is not. Of course maybe a "higher authority" told him he was a medical doctor. Who are we to question his idea of the Will of God.
SARCASM OFF
I think you all get the point, this guy is a total idiot. So if you get this silly e-mail titled Fwd:CBS, delete it, or reply to the person who sent this to you with this message or something telling them what bullshit they are reading. And to those who for some reason feel their life is more complete with the word God being said on TV, there is a new show called Joan of Arcadia, it is on CBS on Friday's at 8PM, 7PM Central. Or you can watch some good wholesome family televsion on the PAX network, check local listing for the channel.
My Thoughts: The Ban on a Life Saving Surgery AKA Partial Birth Abortion
As many have probably heard, Bush signed into law a ban on a medical procedure falsely named "Partial Birth Abortion." To be honest with you, when I first heard about this procedure, I was for this ban. I thought it was barbaric and cruel and there seemed to be no excuse for it. But the person who first informed me about this procedure turned out to be a Right Wing Nutcase. To debunk the first myth about partial birth abortion, not any woman can go and get one if they are in late term. No ethical doctor will perform the procedure on a woman who come in and claims she wants one because she no longer wants to carry the baby. The second myth, Partial Birth Abortion is not the medically correct term, the medically correct term is Suction and Extraction.
Now to get to the facts. 90% of all Suction and Extraction abortions are performed because the life or health of the mother is at stake. There is no provision in the law providing for this. The other 9% is performed if the baby is found to have some dibilitating disease that will not allow it to live outside the womb. The last fact, this procedure is very rarely perfomed, and mainly for the two reasons I just mentioned. Of course Bush is using this as a platform to overturn Roe Vs. Wade and to create a divide between those who have common sense and listen to reason and those who do not.
One argument that I thought was so rediculous was that we should see the pictures of the procedure, it is horrifying. Well so is an apendectomy or heart surgery. Ever wacth E.R.? Some of the stuff going on in that operating room is not exactly the most pleasant sight to look at.
Yesterday was a tragic day for modern medicine. But it looks like our Checks and Balances system still works with the courts stepping in to practice their right to Judicial Review. Good for them, at least they can use it before John Ashcroft that power away from them.
Website of the Week
Check this out, very interesting.
http://www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html
Only In Orange County
Although I am in Tucson working on the John Kerry Presidential campaign I have been keeping an eye on the adventures out there in Orange County. Reading the Register online and keeping with the theme of this Real OC, I have found an interesting set of letter to the editor regarding a controversy over some kids at Fountain Valley High School expressing their Christian faith in a school picture. Of course we all know they were out to rile things up to try and say they are being discriminated against because they are Christian. Of course Orange County being the way it is, the Register had a flood of letters come in. Ironic that these are the same people who write letters about eradicating Islam, and converting the Jews to Christianity. These people so get on my nerves. But either way, it just won't be Orange County without the ranting and raving of the Right Wing Wackos. Here are the letters.
The old Soviet Union had religious freedom just like Fountain Valley High School ["No blessing for Jesus shirt lineup," Front Page, Nov. 5]: All you needed was government permission to worship; otherwise, keep your religion out of sight and behind closed doors.
Similarly, Fountain Valley schools know how to keep the exercise of religion in its place. The problem is that the U.S. Constitution wasn't intended to stifle religion. It expressly instructed Congress that it cannot pass laws "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion.
Had Fountain Valley government school officials required every child to wear a Jesus T-shirt in the senior photo, a case might be made that government was trying to "establish" a religion.
But permitting students to wear a Jesus T-shirt simply allows them "the free exercise" of their religious beliefs, which is the whole purpose behind all references to religion in the First Amendment.
Mark Landsbaum
Diamond Bar
The First Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The First Amendment is often used to deny the free exercise of religion but not to support it, which is also a provision of the amendment. We had a pregnant girl in our senior photo with a shirt that read, "Baby Here." No one told her to change her shirt. And no one I know thought the school was endorsing teen pregnancy. This is just another example of misguided Americans trying to send God into exile and his followers with him.
Lisa Keck
Anaheim
Quote of the Week
"It is time for the Christian Right to meet the right Christian!"
Reverand Al Sharpton
Song of the Week
I chose this song because it has meaning today. As the Right Wing preachers try to dictate what family values we should practice, their allies in Washington send their children off to die. Like in 1971, we are face with a similar situation with Iraq. There may not be a draft now, but the way the military recruits from the inner cities shows who the powers that be in the White House feel is the most expendable. Shame on the Bush regime and shame on Dobson, Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition.
INNER CITY BLUES MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER
By Marvin Gaye
Rockets, moon shots
Spend it on the have nots
Money, we make it
Fore we see it you take it
Oh, make you wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
This ain't livin', This ain't livin'
No, no baby, this ain't livin'
No, no, no
Inflation no chance
To increase finance
Bills pile up sky high
Send that boy off to die
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
Dah, dah, dah
Dah, dah, dah
Hang ups, let downs
Bad breaks, set backs
Natural fact is
I can't pay my taxes
Oh, make me wanna holler
And throw up both my hands
Yea, it makes me wanna holler
And throw up both my hands
Crime is increasing
Trigger happy policing
Panic is spreading
God know where we're heading
Oh, make me wanna holler
They don't understand
Welcome back everyone. It has been a while but The Real OC is back with some more hard hitting editorials for everyone. Coming to you from Tucson I have been following with interest the events going on in Southern California as well as around the nation. This issue, I will be discussing my thoughts on certain issues, there will also be an Only In Orange County, a quote of the week and song of the week.
My Thoughts: Dr. James Dobson
Earlier this week I received an e-mail entitled fwd: CBS. With interest I opened it to see what it was about. It was a message from Dr. James Dobson, the self proclaimed expert on how all families should behave and function. This time he was informing America about a conspiracy by atheists to take Touched By An Angel off the air and take God completely off the airwaves. And my duty as a Christian was to add my name to the list and send it on to as many people as I knew. I was not sure whether I should be mad, or break out in hysterical laughter. After all this Dr. Dobson is at it again, trying to take his holier than thou message to the American people. Perhaps the people behind cancelling Touched By An Angel should be charged under the Patriot Act. Since it is his buddy, John Ashcroft who is the one who enforces the Patriot Act, I am sure he should have no problem there.
SARCASM ON
I remember when I first heard Dr. Dobson in a video shown to me at church youth group in the early nineties. He discussed the horrors of having sex too young, of not having a proper nuclear family, and how the country was going to shit now that Bill Clinton was president. After the Clinton years ended, Dobson celebrated, calling Bush's election, a return of honor and principle to the White House. Yes thats the spirit, lets have a presidency with millions losing their jobs, with starting wars with other countries on false pretences as long as they sit and thump their Bible. Thats the American I always dreamed of.
Which brings me to my next point, the fact that Dobson has the time to circulate all these crusades against television. Being a once practicing Catholic, I have read all four gospels and never once do I recall Jesus telling his disciples to follow self-righteous crusades and ignore the needy. Which makes me wonder, why doesn't he use the time and effort to help those who truly are in need. To reach out to people suffering in Third World Nations, to reach out to single mothers here struggling to raise their children. Oh no wait, that would involve handouts and they would never learn personal responsibility if we actually give them the tools they need to survive. The way to go is to give more tax cuts to the highest brackets of people in Third World Countries and here at home. Then these starving people and these single mothers will be so inspired they will want to go out and make themselves rich so they can have the same benefits as the upper bracket. Wow, Dr. Dobson really embodies the spirit of Christ.
In a 1987 speech he made a very startling conclusion. He had discerned the origin of the Gay Rights Movement, of the Sexual Freedom movement, of the Wiccan and neo-pagan movement. It all goes back to one woman refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Thats right, he stated that "If Rosa Parks had just gotten up and moved to the back, all these groups such as gays, fornicators, wiccans and pagans would not have followed the blacks lead in demanding Civil Rights. The nerve of Rosa Parks, refusing to get up and go to the back of the bus, I cannot believe the audacity of that woman. Maybe Dr. Dobson needs to invent a time machine and send the "Governator" since they are such good buddies, to terminate Parks when she is only a teenager, thus averting the judgement day on December 1st, 1955 when morality fell apart with one meek lady who only wanted to rest after a hard days work.
Did you also know that Dr. Dobson is not only a sex, AIDS, homosexual and Civil Rights expert, he is also an expert at judging who is patriotic as well. He did a great job in discerning the patriotic from the unpatriotic in the year 2000 during the Republican presidential primary. As many may remember, a war of words erupted between the Christian Right and Senator John McCain during his run for President. At one point, McCain referred to the Christian Right as an "organization of evil." Thats where Dr. Dobson comes in. Seeing the John McCain ruthlessly attacking the very religion this nation was founded on, he had no choice but to expose to the American people McCain's unamericanism. Thank you Dr. Dobson for informing us about this threat to the American people. Sure he only lost six years of his life in a North Vietnamese prison while fighting for this country. Nevermind the fact that he was tortured by his captors while Dr. Dobson was comfortably at home preaching to everyone about how being Christian is being American. The nerve of John McCain to not find some way to escape and come and help Dobson spread that message. I understand why Dobson saw the need to expose this man. The country is now a better place because of this.
Now the best is yet to come. He has touted himself as being a "medical doctor." Now lets analyze his education. He has a Doctorate in Psychology, last time I checked Psychology was not a medical field, it is, in fact, a Humanity. Someone needs to break the news to him, a PSYCHIATRIST is an MD, a PSYCHOLOGIST is not. Of course maybe a "higher authority" told him he was a medical doctor. Who are we to question his idea of the Will of God.
SARCASM OFF
I think you all get the point, this guy is a total idiot. So if you get this silly e-mail titled Fwd:CBS, delete it, or reply to the person who sent this to you with this message or something telling them what bullshit they are reading. And to those who for some reason feel their life is more complete with the word God being said on TV, there is a new show called Joan of Arcadia, it is on CBS on Friday's at 8PM, 7PM Central. Or you can watch some good wholesome family televsion on the PAX network, check local listing for the channel.
My Thoughts: The Ban on a Life Saving Surgery AKA Partial Birth Abortion
As many have probably heard, Bush signed into law a ban on a medical procedure falsely named "Partial Birth Abortion." To be honest with you, when I first heard about this procedure, I was for this ban. I thought it was barbaric and cruel and there seemed to be no excuse for it. But the person who first informed me about this procedure turned out to be a Right Wing Nutcase. To debunk the first myth about partial birth abortion, not any woman can go and get one if they are in late term. No ethical doctor will perform the procedure on a woman who come in and claims she wants one because she no longer wants to carry the baby. The second myth, Partial Birth Abortion is not the medically correct term, the medically correct term is Suction and Extraction.
Now to get to the facts. 90% of all Suction and Extraction abortions are performed because the life or health of the mother is at stake. There is no provision in the law providing for this. The other 9% is performed if the baby is found to have some dibilitating disease that will not allow it to live outside the womb. The last fact, this procedure is very rarely perfomed, and mainly for the two reasons I just mentioned. Of course Bush is using this as a platform to overturn Roe Vs. Wade and to create a divide between those who have common sense and listen to reason and those who do not.
One argument that I thought was so rediculous was that we should see the pictures of the procedure, it is horrifying. Well so is an apendectomy or heart surgery. Ever wacth E.R.? Some of the stuff going on in that operating room is not exactly the most pleasant sight to look at.
Yesterday was a tragic day for modern medicine. But it looks like our Checks and Balances system still works with the courts stepping in to practice their right to Judicial Review. Good for them, at least they can use it before John Ashcroft that power away from them.
Website of the Week
Check this out, very interesting.
http://www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html
Only In Orange County
Although I am in Tucson working on the John Kerry Presidential campaign I have been keeping an eye on the adventures out there in Orange County. Reading the Register online and keeping with the theme of this Real OC, I have found an interesting set of letter to the editor regarding a controversy over some kids at Fountain Valley High School expressing their Christian faith in a school picture. Of course we all know they were out to rile things up to try and say they are being discriminated against because they are Christian. Of course Orange County being the way it is, the Register had a flood of letters come in. Ironic that these are the same people who write letters about eradicating Islam, and converting the Jews to Christianity. These people so get on my nerves. But either way, it just won't be Orange County without the ranting and raving of the Right Wing Wackos. Here are the letters.
The old Soviet Union had religious freedom just like Fountain Valley High School ["No blessing for Jesus shirt lineup," Front Page, Nov. 5]: All you needed was government permission to worship; otherwise, keep your religion out of sight and behind closed doors.
Similarly, Fountain Valley schools know how to keep the exercise of religion in its place. The problem is that the U.S. Constitution wasn't intended to stifle religion. It expressly instructed Congress that it cannot pass laws "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion.
Had Fountain Valley government school officials required every child to wear a Jesus T-shirt in the senior photo, a case might be made that government was trying to "establish" a religion.
But permitting students to wear a Jesus T-shirt simply allows them "the free exercise" of their religious beliefs, which is the whole purpose behind all references to religion in the First Amendment.
Mark Landsbaum
Diamond Bar
The First Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The First Amendment is often used to deny the free exercise of religion but not to support it, which is also a provision of the amendment. We had a pregnant girl in our senior photo with a shirt that read, "Baby Here." No one told her to change her shirt. And no one I know thought the school was endorsing teen pregnancy. This is just another example of misguided Americans trying to send God into exile and his followers with him.
Lisa Keck
Anaheim
Quote of the Week
"It is time for the Christian Right to meet the right Christian!"
Reverand Al Sharpton
Song of the Week
I chose this song because it has meaning today. As the Right Wing preachers try to dictate what family values we should practice, their allies in Washington send their children off to die. Like in 1971, we are face with a similar situation with Iraq. There may not be a draft now, but the way the military recruits from the inner cities shows who the powers that be in the White House feel is the most expendable. Shame on the Bush regime and shame on Dobson, Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition.
INNER CITY BLUES MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER
By Marvin Gaye
Rockets, moon shots
Spend it on the have nots
Money, we make it
Fore we see it you take it
Oh, make you wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
This ain't livin', This ain't livin'
No, no baby, this ain't livin'
No, no, no
Inflation no chance
To increase finance
Bills pile up sky high
Send that boy off to die
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
Dah, dah, dah
Dah, dah, dah
Hang ups, let downs
Bad breaks, set backs
Natural fact is
I can't pay my taxes
Oh, make me wanna holler
And throw up both my hands
Yea, it makes me wanna holler
And throw up both my hands
Crime is increasing
Trigger happy policing
Panic is spreading
God know where we're heading
Oh, make me wanna holler
They don't understand
