TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Politics

  • Florida gay adoption ban struck down

    Court: Florida Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional:

    Here’s something that may come as a surprise to some of my more conservative readers. I actually support gay marriage and this article about the Florida gay adoption ban being struck down is a good reason why.

    I make no bones about my stance of being pro-life because I was adopted. I would rather see a loving gay couple adopt children then have them end up in either an abortionists dumpster or end up on the street or end up being adopted by a straight couple who are just in it for the cash.

    I don’t see what the big deal about gay marriage is anyway. It’s not like straight people have done a whole lot for the alleged ‘institution’ of marriage. If marriage is such an institution straight people have burned the institution down and left a smoldering husk.

  • Is Obama the antichrist?

    Link

    Back during the 2004 election, I joked that John Kerry and John Edwards were antichrists.

    I was going to make one about Senator Obama but he doesn’t look like anyone from a horror movie.

    Since I was raised Roman Catholic I don’t believe in the end times or the Rapture so I don’t put too much stock into an antichrist. So do I think Senator Obama is the antichrist? Not in the least though. Even though he does fit that false messiah description. I don’t think Senator Obama did that on purpose but the Kool-Aid drinking sect of his supporters have.

    Remember kids, not everyone on the right is religious and not all of us that are religious are nutbags.

  • Commentary: Don’t sanitize Helms’ racist past

    Link

    So CNN correspondent Roland S. Martin has a problem with Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond because they were segregationists. I’m not big fans of them either but let’s not forget the fact that Thurmond renounced his segregationist ways later in life and had an obvious touch of jungle fever.

    But let me pose a question to progressives out there. Why do Helms and Thurmond get labeled as racists but Sen. Robert Byrd of WV gets a pass when he was in the Ku Klux Klan. You don’t join the Klan because you look good in white. Is it because he has a D next to his name? Byrd was a segregationist too yet I haven’t seen any black reporters labeling him as a racist.

  • Separated at birth

    eliot_spitzer1

    Ex-NY Governor Eliot Spitzer

    frankburns

    Major Frank Burns

  • Tin foil beret

    Oscar winner Marion Cotillard dismisses 9/11 as conspiracy:

    Oscar winner Marion Cotillard raised eyebrows around the world Saturday when it emerged that she doubted the official account of the 9/11 attacks.

    I don’t know what’s scarier. The fact that she believes the crap she’s spouted or the comments from readers in the article.

    Thanks to Florida Bill.

  • Net Neutrality solution

    Net Neutrality solution

    Both proponents and opponents of net neutrality have it all wrong.

    Proponents say we need government regulation to prevent the ISP’s from staggering traffic. Opponents say we don’t need the government regulating the internet. Well, as smug as both sides are, they’re both wrong.

    The problem is with local municipalities who allow cable and telephone companies to have a regional monopoly. Think about it. You probably only have 1 cable company and 1 local telephone company where you live. That’s not much competition in the marketplace, is it?

    The only way that’s going to stop is if enough people are vocal to their community leaders to put a stop to allowing these monopolies. Unfortunately, not enough people will even think about that until it’s too late.

  • Blogging, students, and the First Amendment

    Blogging, students, and the First Amendment

    Can Schools Punish Students for Posting Offensive Content on MySpace and Similar Sites? Often, the Answer Is No, Unless The Posting Materially Disrupts School Activities:

    This is a great article from FindLaw about blogging, students, and the First Amendment and whether or not schools can punish students for blog posts they make at home. And I’m not saying it’s a great article because I get a mention in it. 😀 I hear a lot of cries of “But..but..but it’s free speech and it’s protected by the First Amendment”. Well now, hopefully this article should clear a few things up…

    Cases Where Postings Violate the Law, or Provide Evidence of Its Violation

    These sites – though a boon to students in many ways – have also raised their share of problems. And some of the problems may also involve torts, or violations of the criminal law.

    In some instances, students engage in cyber-bullying — making critical remarks about other students or teachers. If these postings are factual, false, and damaging, they may count as defamation. The sites cannot be sued: Under a key provision of the Communications Decency Act, web intermediaries – those who merely allow others to post their own comments and photos – are not liable for defamation. But the authors can be.

    Sometimes postings may be evidence of law-violation: In photos, underage subjects may be shown in sexually provocative poses, or shown smoking or drinking, or holding firearms. For instance, a 16-year-old boy in Jefferson, Colorado was arrested after police — having seen pictures on his MySpace page in which he was holding handguns – found the weapons in his home. And in late April, police reportedly intercepted a Columbine-style plot in Kansas on the basis of a threatening email posted on MySpace.com.

    And sometimes postings may themselves violate the law – making criminal threats, or constituting harassment. In Costa Mesa, California, twenty students were suspended from TeWinkle Middle School for two days for participating in a MySpace group where one student allegedly threatened to kill another and made anti-Semitic remarks.

    So let this be a lesson to you that not all speech is protected under the First Amendment. And if you’re in a private school, you’re out of luck.

  • Blackface

    Blackface

    Vandals Spray Black Paint Over Faces In Confederate Monument:

    I don’t condone vandalism, but I’m sorry, this cracks me up to no end. Isn’t it like rain on your wedding day? 😆

  • Videospiel-Gewaltttigkeit

    Videospiel-Gewaltttigkeit

    Computer games train players to be violent?:

    I guess it’s not just Americans who harp on the alleged links between video games and violence. Now we have a study coming out of Germany from the “Stuff that we pulled out of our ass Department” at the University of Aachen from renowned German scientist Klaus Mathiak which says that video games are training people to be violent. Mein Gott, here we go again…

    Klaus Mathiak, of the University of Aachen, maintains he has discovered for the first time what goes on in players’ heads as a killer character lies in wait on a computer screen.

    Their brains react as if they are treating the encounter as real, says the academic.

    According to Dr Mathiak, when players know violence is coming, the cognitive parts of the brain become more active and during a fight its emotional parts shut down.

    How did Herr Doktor measure these activities?

    According to New Scientist, Dr Mathiak recruited 13 young men who played video games for two hours daily. He asked them to play the game while having their brains scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

    Dr Mathiak studied how brain activity changed during violent interactions.

    I’d be more inclined to believe him if he then dropped the subjects into an actual scenario of impending violence like Iraq or any violent big-city neighborhood, then compared findings. Most of these kids would probably crap their pants if they were in a real situation of violence.

    At least the British are thinking clearly…

    Last night, Mike McClure, director of public education at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said there were individuals who were susceptible to suggestions inherent in video games. But he added: “You would have to say it is a small minority. Most people can distinguish between them as a game and what they would be doing in reality.”

    And that small minority has something wrong with them to begin with.

    And as an added bonus, a follow-up to Rep. Chuck Schumer’s snit over the game “25 to Life”.

    According to the guys at Penny Arcade you can also play as the police. Notice that Chucky boy doesn’t mention that part.

    Instead of worrying about the games themselves, maybe scientists and politicians should worry about the parents that are letting these games into their houses for underage kids to play.

  • Video Game Violence 2005

    Video Game Violence 2005

    Violent game furor:

    Here we go again, folks. Last year, it was GTA: San Andreas. This year it’s a new game made by Eidos called “25 to Life”. This is the first I’ve heard about this game, so let me quote the article…

    “25 to Life,” allows players to attack police with an arsenal of Molotov cocktails, broken bottles and baseball bats. When weapons fail, players make strategic moves using civilians as human shields.

    The game even lets players choose gang colors and create personalized graffiti tags.

    It sounds like a GTA rip off to me. I bet the gameplay will suck. But of course, that’s not the point here. Certain lawmakers have their panties in a wad…

    “It’s the worst in a series of violent and gruesome games that lower the common denominator of decency,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is trying to block the game from hitting stores in September.

    “25 to Life” makes “other controversial games like ‘Grand Theft Auto’ look like ‘Romper Room,’” Schumer said.

    Schumer called on PlayStation manufacturer Sony and Xbox maker Microsoft to cancel their licensing agreements with Eidos. The senator also urged stores and retailers not to stock the game.

    Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, slammed “25 to Life” for its cavalier treatment of murder.

    “It’s outrageous that a company like this would try to desensitize our children,” Lynch said.

    First off, have you noticed that when a politician is usually involved in calling for the censoring of a video game, it’s usually a Democrat?

    Secondly, these are obviously people who have never held a game controller in their life, or at least not since Space Invaders or the Atari 2600.

    Not all video games are aimed towards children anymore, and haven’t been since the dawn of Mortal Kombat back in the early ’90s.

    Lastly, the bigger a deal you make out of these games, the more hype you’re giving them. You’re taking what looks like to be a mediocre game at best, and you’re potentially making it a blockbuster by trying to censor it. People always want what they can’t have.

    If this game ends up in the hands of children, it’s because of irresponsible parents, and I have yet to hear any kind of blame falling on them. Remember kids, censorship is the solution to bad parenting. Or so says the Democrats.