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Why the next Supreme Court Justice pick is so important Or, why we don’t want a justice who will overturn Roe v. Wade President Trump will be announcing his nomination to fill the vacancy that will be created when Justice Anthony Kennedy retires.   Justice Kennedy’s surprise announcement has generated a lot of discussion on both sides of the aisle.   Liberals are already decrying the death of Roe v. Wade (which, in my humble opinion isn’t a bad thing) and conservatives are saying they want a Justice that will overturn Roe v. Wade.   Both sides have made their positions clear: keep or destroy Roe v. Wade. As pro-life as I am, I think both sides have it wrong.   And dangerously so.   First, a little civics lesson.   Article 1, Section 1, places “all legislative powers” with Congress, the Legislative branch.   The Supreme Court cannot make “law.”   Asserting that the Supreme Court makes the “law of the land” is not only wrong but un-Constitutional.   But why do people g
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A Climate Change Advocate’s Guide to Communicating With Skeptics

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A Climate Change Advocate’s Guide to Communicating With Skeptics or  How to Approach Climate Skeptics Without Losing Your Argument I’m not really sure when or where it happened, but at some point, we lost civil discourse in our country.  President Obama said that, and I agree.  But it seems like although we have acknowledged a lack of civility, we’ve done nothing about it.  This is no more evident that in discussions about climate change.  I will admit that I’m a skeptic for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, I find it hard to believe that man, created by God, would have the power to destroy what God created on such a large scale. A conservative talk show host I used to listen to, Steve Deace ( www.stevedeace.com ), once said that to be truly able to successfully convince others to your side, you must engage in three-dimensional thinking: 1) Know why you believe what you believe, 3) Know why others believe what they believe, and 3) Know why others believe wh
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Why I’m Not Convinced Continuing DACA Protections is What’s Best for America

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Why I’m Not Convinced Continuing DACA Protections is What’s Best for America The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protection for those brought to the U.S. by their parents has been in the news quite a lot lately.  In fact, it was a pivotal point in the Democrat position during the government shutdown in January.  I won’t, and don’t mean to, imply that the shutdown was one party’s fault or the other.  In my opinion, not having a budget approved, much less a government shutdown, is a failure of both parties, not one or the other.  Getting the government running again is also not a victory for one party or the other.  But I digress.  I’m not convinced that it is in the country’s best interest to continue DACA or to provide amnesty to those in the country illegally, regardless of how they got here. Before going on, I think it’s important to point out that DACA is not law.  Any argument to the contrary is based on, at best, a misunderstanding of DACA or, at worse,
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What the recent sexual misconduct allegations should tell us Unless you’ve been living under a rock or have been in the Saskatchewan outback looking for Bigfoot, there’s no way you haven’t heard about the numerous sexual misconduct allegations and accusations that seem to have exploded over the past month.  If I remember correctly, it all started with the Harvey Weinstein allegations.  Then Judge Roy Moore.  And now Senator Al Franken.  Many of us are outraged, some skeptical.  In looking at this from strictly an outsider’s perspective, I think there are several things this situation should tell us. Men in positions of power and influence have historically taken advantage of the more vulnerable.  King David in the Bible took advantage of his position as the king of Israel to take Bathsheba, wife of one of his captains, for himself and ensured his captain died in battle to hide his transgression.  You can’t get much further back than that.  This attitude of leaders that ena
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The 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

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The 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Over the several weeks, we’ll see quite a few photos of the solar eclipse.  Most of them will be a heck of a lot better than mine (two are above – It’s a lot harder to take these types of photos than you’d think).  So, rather than post a bunch of out-of-focus photos, I thought I would describe the experience instead.  This was my first total solar eclipse and all the photos I’ve seen over the years don’t do the experience justice. I knew you needed special viewing glasses to prevent eye injury, but it never occurred to me that your camera needed protection, too.  There’s a special solar filter you need to use otherwise you can actually melt the innards of your camera.  Except during the period of totality.  It’s still hard to focus though, mainly because I was so excited and was just trying to get as many photos as possible in the short amount of time.  I was going to start a live FB session, but forgot until about halfway through. I had hear
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Some self-Actualization from time to time is sometimes a good thing

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  Some self-Actualization from time to time is sometimes a good thing Without reiterating the entire theory of hierarchy of Maslow, self-actualization is, very simply put, the highest level of self-reflection and improvement an individual can achieve. So first, I need to make a disclosure:  I’m a Christian first, conservative second, Republican third (shakily so at times).  (Liberals at this point are all going “Boooooooo!”)  What do I mean?  I try to look at the world around me with the Bible as a filter.  I also try to ensure that my reaction to the world around me is also filtered through the Bible as a filter.  This doesn't mean I'm perfect or don't make mistakes, it's just the world view I have through which I evaluate the world.  Some people might confuse #2 and #3 as the same thing, but they’re really not.  It merely means that I apply the standards of conservatism before the standards of a political party, even when said political party usually e
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WWJD

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What WOULD Jesus Do? A meme I saw on Facebook  inspired this post.  The meme (on the backdrop of a classical painting depicting Christ clearing the temple) said “If anyone asks you ‘What would Jesus do?’, remind him that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is within the realm of possibilities. One of the pressing issues in the Christian world view today is whether Christians have an obligation to, or should, vote.  My answer is YES! and YES! again!  Why?  Let’s first make a quick review of our Nation’s early history.  The Declaration of Independence lists the colonists’ grievances against actions by the King of England against the colonies.  Signatories clearly and openly acknowledged that the freedom and liberty they so fervently pursued was ordained by God.  “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the sep
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