Observation. I was in a discussion about political subjects with a young college student who had experienced years of college professor indoctrination. As usual in this type of discussion, the student brought up the argument that there is no right or wrong, that nothing is absolute. My question was, “Are you absolutely sure about that?” .

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Observation. Christianity especially in reference to homosexually, is criticized for its belief that one should love the sinner but hate the sin. Critics say this shows that Christians actually hate homosexuals. Yet, these same critics say that they love and support the troops, while they also think that what the troops are doing in Iraq is illegal and morally wrong. Why are Christians wrong in their love/hate belief on homosexuality while critics are right in their love/hate belief on the Iraq war?

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Observation. The people obviously do not want us there as evidenced by their demonstrations and riots. The land is control by rival groups that had warred with each other for decades. Innocent people have been killed by these warring factions and our actions have also lead to innocent deaths. During our interrogations of prisoners, we have been accused of using methods that some consider torture and we are accused of holding people in prison without just cause. The prisons are deplorable and most of the prisoners are from minority groups that have been economically oppressed. Murder, theft, and drug use are rampant. The courts and officials are corrupt and do not care for the citizens. The elections are a sham. We are not appreciated by most of the residents and they attack us on the streets as we seek to protect them. The rich elite few take what they want and neglect the needs of the many. Since we have been there, people from adjoining countries have crossed the borders and joined in the fight against us. Our sons and daughters have been wounded and killed while protecting the people and they are not appreciated for their sacrifices.

I want to join the call for withdrawal. We should pull our police officers out of Los Angeles, California and let them fend for themselves. .

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Observation. The outcry in the media is that the country has been divided by the Iraq War. There are two main political parties and the country has been divided at about 50% Democrat and 50% Republican for decades. The Democrats find nothing good with anything Republican and vice versa. The country was not divided by the war, the war is just another example of an already divided country. If it were not the war, the media would find something else upon which to blame the divide.

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Observation. The American Flag was ordered to flown at half-staff to commemorate the death of Rosa Parks and she was honored by lying in state at the United States Capital. Rosa Parks has been portrayed as a poor, tired seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama who simply refused to obey the law that required blacks to give their bus seats to whites.

Observation. Posted on the fence of the tennis courts at Hanes Park, a city park in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a list of rules pertaining to playing tennis on the courts. One of the items on a list of prohibited actions is:

“Saying or doing anything that may be considered offensive by anyone in any way.”

It may be difficult to believe, but there must be people who think this is a reasonable, fair, and enforceable rule. Even harder to believe is that there are groups of people in the United States that think this should be a national public policy.

My first comment to the officials would be "Your making this statement and the posting of this sign is offensive to me. What are you going to do to correct your offensive behavior?"

(8/15/07) Additional Information

I received this complaint about one of the Points to Ponder that appear on the homepage. The point said, "If blind people wear sunglasses why don't deaf people wear ear muffs?" The complaint was

"My child is deaf in one ear and I find this comment HIGHLY OFFENSIVE since the principles and values TKD is suppose to embody and teach regardless of race, creed, religion, gender, or age. You should be ashamed and should shutdown your website as you have brought dishonor to yourselves and to the sport."

I thought this complaint illustrated the point of this Observation. The point was meant to point out one of the seemingly inconsistent things one sees in life; the sort of questions that young children ask their parents. It did not make fun of the bind or the deaf or put them down in anyway, and yet, the reader found the sentence so offensive that he or she thought I should be ashamed for the dishonor the sentence brought upon myself and Taekwondo, and that a web site that performs a free service to martial artists should be shut down so that martial artists around the world would be deprived of information that not only helps them in their martial art training but also helps prevent them from being duped and cheated by unscrupulous martial art instructors. All this because this one person felt offended by an innocuous sentence.

I’m old, bald, wear glasses, and also have a hearing problem, so, if I were so inclined, I could easily find something said or written everyday that could be remotely construed as offensive to me. I hope this reader's child is not blond. If so the reader will be constantly offended by blond jokes. Every day, I even hear or read derogatory statements about Taekwondo, the martial art to which I have devoted most of my life. If anything, Taekwondo has taught me not to sweat the small stuff and to concentrate my energy on the bigger problems in life.

Observation. You have a good feeling about yourself when you do a good deed, but remember— no good deed goes unpunished. After doing a good deed, savor the moment, for it will probably only last for a moment, before you will be cursed, abused, accused, or at the least— you good deed will be forgotten. Usually, when a good deed done for someone, it shows the person you are compassionate and caring, and thus, will probably be susceptible to being swindled, duped, or defrauded out of giving more assistance. If you do a good deed, forget receiving any recognition; just do the deed and get away quickly before you are identified. Then you will only remember the good feeling that comes from doing the good deed, instead of having to deal with consequences of doing a good deed and living to regret ever doing the good deed.

In 1820, Lord Byron wrote a poem about this subject:

When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbors;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knock'd on the head for his labours,

To do good to mankind is the chivalrous plan,
And is always as nobly requited;
Then battle for freedom wherever you can,
And, if not shot or hang'd, you'll get knighted

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Observation. Why should the public support classical music, opera, art, and such with tax money? These are things important to the "elite, upper class" but not to the middle and lower classes. These elitists think public money should be used to support a symphony orchestra for there use (since they are usually the only ones who care for it so, it does not make enough money to survive on its own), but public money should not be used for a country music band for the rest of the people. Elitists feel they know more than you about how your money should be spent..

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Observation. This is in regard to the "news story de jour," the saga of Terri Schiavo. By “"news story of the day," I am referring the news story the media has selected as the story upon which to park their satellite news trucks. People are allowed to die every day in hospitals around the United States and the world by "pulling the plug." These are family decisions made by family members after consulting with the patient's doctors. What makes the Schiavo case any different? Because it is in the news! Why is it in the news? Because the media have decided that it will be in the news.

People see and hear what they want to see and hear. People who believe in Ouija boards believe that supernatural powers are guiding the pointer. People who believe in "backward masking" hear satanic phrases in the gibberish caused by playing rock music backward. People who want to hear signs of intelligence coming from Terri, hear words in the random guttural moans that she makes. People think that because her eyes track a balloon, she is thinking. Sunflowers track the sun during the day, are they thinking about the sun?

Terri's parents make all kinds of statements that are accepted without exception by people who support the parent's side of the dispute; such their statements that Terri is fighting for her life and begging for help. Just because Terri is not dead does not mean she is fighting for her life. Is a flower wilting in the desert fighting for its life, or is just it slowing dying? A person in a permanent vegetative state does not fight to live, the person's body may resist, but the person is no longer in the body.

People say we would be arrested for starving a dog but yet we allow a person to starve. If you keep you dog chained and do not feed it, you will be arrested. If you allow your brain dead dog to die in the veterinarian's office by removing its feeding tube, you will not be arrested.

People say that the husband's pulling of the feeding tube is starving Terri to death. This means families who pull the ventilator of a loved one are suffocating the person to death. Those who pull the plug on a heart-lung machine are killing the patient. Are all these families evil murders as Terri's husband has been portrayed?

You may burn your own house to the ground and not commit any crime as long as you do not try to collect on any insurance. It would only be a crime if there was life (plants and vegetables do not count) inside the house. Burning a lifeless house is not a crime. Just because a human body is alive, it does not mean a human being is still present in the body, not matter how much a loved one may believe different. Allowing a body to die is not the same a killing a person, since no one is home in the body.

People say it is horrific the way Terri is being treated. If she had a living will that said, "If I am brain dead, pull the feeding tube, so I may die," would that make any difference to these people? Would the living will declaration make the death any more humane in their eyes? If it does not, then their outrage is not with the way Terri is being treated, but with the principle of letting a body die.

Many doctors, all the medial tests, and the consensus of medical science be dammed. If I believe something is true, then it must be true. This is attitude of many in this saga. The parent's side of the dispute says Terri is dying in agony from starvation. Medical science says this not true. Starvation and dehydration is not painful. People choose to fast. People refuse not to eat in protest. Children are staving in undeveloped countries. Are these people rolling around on the ground in agonizing pain?

People who do not have a dog in this fight, such as independent doctors and judges, say Terri is brain dead. They say the husband (not the parents of the wife) has the legal right to make decisions about his wife, and that the wishes of the wife are being carried out. People who do have a dog in the fight reject anything contrary to their position, and seize upon individual anecdotal evidence that is not supported by anyone other than those sympathetic to their cause.

Do not be influenced and led by the talking heads that saturate the media! Think! The media has to fill the time on the 24-hour news channels. They have to meet their budget (it is easier to park all the satellite trunks in one place covering one story than to have them spread around the country covering many stories). Controversy makes "good" news. Good news is that which draws viewers and thus increases revenue. A brain dead baby in Texas had its feeding tubes pulled while the Schiavo case has been in the news. This case was not covered by the media. Where is the outrage?

Politicians will side with any cause they believe will increase their chances of reelection. Organizations with an agenda will side with any cause that supports their agenda. If you are an independent thinking individual person, you will not take sides in a personal dispute that does not concern you and you will not be influenced by the media, politicians, and organizations.

Use YOUR brain and make logical, reasonable decisions. Do not rely on talking heads in the media.

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Observation. I saw a headline about the kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in Florida that occured in early 2005. The headline said the 9-year old did not deserve to be killed in this manner. The assumption from this statement is that if she DID NOT deserve to be killed in this manner, then there must be some 9-year old girls who DO deserve to be killed in this manner. I wonder who these girls are.

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