Saturday, October 21, 2006

Conservatives rebelling against the Republicans?

Well, there's a lot of stupidity going on among the conservative part of our population who want to punish the Republican party for it's ineffectiveness in the Mark Foley scandal. Seems many of them are not planning to go to the polls and vote in the November elections because they don't want to vote for anyone who would look the other way from this kind of scandal.

Unfortunately, not voting only assures that people who don't agree with them will be elected to public office. Getting the dems elected doesn't help the Conservative Christian movement with such things as abortion, gay marriage, etc.

Think about it.

Friday, October 20, 2006

The Auto Dealer Scam

I'm sure you're asking "which one?", because there are so many. The one I'm referring to is the ads that say something like, "No negotiation required. Our cars are already marked to their lowest possible price, so you don't have to negotiate." Give me a break! Whose interest does that serve? Sure, there are people for whom negotiation is so painful that it's worth it for them to pay thousands more for a car than what they should. Auto dealers get away with murder on this one. The only way to get a fair deal on a car at most dealerships, is to be able to negotiate. The first and only dealership I've ever been to that had this policy (Willey Honda of Bountiful, Utah) , I walked away from once I offered them something on the car I was interested in and the salesman said, "Oh no, this car is already marked at it's lowest price." Yeah sure. It was $2500 more than the Kelley Blue Book said it should be, but it was the "lowest price". So I left. A day or two later, after I'd made a deal with a private owner on another car, the guy called me back and said that maybe they could negotiate some. Too late!!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Book Learning

I'm the kind of guy who reads numerous books at a time. For example, right now I'm reading The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam by Robert Spencer, America: The Last Best Hope by William J. Bennett, The Fast Food Diet by Stephen Sinatra, M.D and James Punkre, Restoring the Ancient Church: Joseph Smith and Early Christianity by Barry Robert Bickmore, and last but not least, The Constitution in Exile by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano.

Wow, the blogger interface wouldn't let me shut off the underlining for that last one. Let me just make a few comments on the above books, or some of them at least. Judge Napolitano's book is a great treatise on the historical abandonment of the Constitutional principles espoused by the Founders. I find it appalling that America as a nation has drifted that far from the original intent of those who drafted the Constitution.
On the other hand, his bitterness toward Abraham Lincoln is a bit much. Bennett's book takes a much more even-handed approach to Lincoln. I think it’s more fair. The book is well-written, researched, and highly readable.
Robert Spencer’s book evaluates the disparities between what the “religion of peace” claims, and what their actual texts say. Interesting to say the least.
The Bickmore book examines the claim by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that Christ’s original church was removed from the earth through apostasy, shortly after the apostle’s deaths. I’m only partially through this one, as with the others, but already Bickmore’s claims have a lot of credence.
The Fast Food Diet is a book for those who must eat on the road, and how to eat more healthily.