Currently Watching: The Confederate States of America

Recently found this "mockumentary" on Netflix and had to check it out. Just came in the mail today.

Here is the blurb that came on the DVD sleeve:

"What would the United States look like if the South had won the Civil War, slavery was still legal and liberals had fled to Canada?......it would resemble the vision put forth in this provactative mockumentary, set in a modern-day Confederate States of America..."

Secular Nation

While reading a book recently, I found a reference to an interesting document called the Northwest Ordinance.

This document was written and unanimously passed by the Congress of the Confederation of the United States. It was a precursor to the United States Constitution.

In this document I found this interesting quote:

"Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

I also found it interesting when I read that General George Washington used to require the troops he commanded to attend religious services during the War of Independence.

But our founding fathers were actually trying to create a secular nation. Riiiiight.

Currently Reading: The 10 Big Lies About America

TITLE: The 10 Big Lies About America: Combating Destructive Distortions About Our Nation

AUTHOR: Michael Medved

PUBLISHER: Crown Forum

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2008

Young Patriot!

Remember When?

I'm Back

That is right!

Much to the dismay of readers everywhere....

I am back!

More Thoughts About Immigration

There is something about illegal immigrants that the American public must be made to understand.

They are criminals!

They are in this country illegally. Illegally. Which by definition means that they are breaking the law.

Yes, I get it and I understand that they are poor. They are unfortunate. They have it rough in their country . But those are problems that their OWN country need to find resolution for. We have our own problems here in our own country that need to be resolved. If you have ever been to the downtown area of a major metropolitan area you will noticed that we have our own poor people.

Instead, we are paying for the health and wealth of another country's citizens. Not our own.

And the idea that we need illegal immigrants to stick around to do the jobs that American citizens will not do is a bunch of baloney. Have you seen the unemployment rate lately in this country? People need work and they don't care what they have to do to get it. Problem is, that can't get hired because an illegal immigrant has already taken their job.

Have you ever seen the movie Swing Vote? Go and watch it and remember this term: Insourcing. That is the act of allowing illegals into our country to work for your company because they will take less money than the average American worker.

No work is below us. The problem is that too many Americans have gotten lazy. They have gotten lazy because of too many government entitlement programs.

They have this idea that they are entitled to get something for nothing. It started in the 1930s and has gotten progressively worse ever since.

Back to the point. Illegal immigrants are criminals. Pure and simple. They are no different from the armed robber or the car jacker or the arson or the drug dealer. Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. It hurts our economy. It hurts our workers.

But the solution is simple. Deport them!

Find them. Catch them. Deport them. And build a fence to keep them out. It can be done. It has to be done.

What we should not do is allow them to sign up and receive government benefits such as TANF and food stamps and Medicaid. What we should not do is allow them to sponge off of the American taxpayers.

Let their own country take care of them so we can take care of our own.

I understand how some may feel. They are people. The deserve to be helped. We should do something to help them. But if we can't help ourselves how can we in good conscience help someone else?

Some will try and throw the 'Jesus would want us to take care of these people' argument out at me and they can do that all that they want but in the end it will get them nowhere. It is a fruitless argument.

Jesus did preach compassion toward others but He also taught that we should obey the laws of our country.

We can show compassion for the poor and have sympathy for illegal immigrants and their plight but we have no business trying to help them out when there are thousands, even millions that we can't help our own poor.

The plaque on the Statue of Liberty states: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." It does not say 'send me your lazy, your lacking in personal accountability, your huddled masses yearning for a free ride.'

The point is that we need to take care of our own people before we could even start to think about taking care of some other country's poverty problem by taking in their citizens.

The problem is that we don't. We just allow them to be added to the equation here in this country.

It is time for this madness to stop. We must put illegal immigration to a stop.

Now.

What Would Our Founding Fathers Think Of Us Now?

My Family

Got this picture from a Facebook application:

NOFX: DOTM

I am a little surprised that I have never done a DOTM for these guys. I have not really listened to them too much lately but a couple of days ago I started listening to their album So Long and Thanks for the Shoes which I peronsally consider their best and it inspired me to write one up for them.

For my regular readers, sorry guys this is really the best you are going to get out of me for a while in regards to blogging. I just don't feel like I have anything important to say right now.

Liberal Animation
Released independently in 1988.
Produced by NOFX.
Band lineup:
Fat Mike - vocals/bass; Eric Melvin - guitar; Dave Cassilas - guitar; Erik Sandlin - drums.
Tracks: 14

S&M Airlines
Released in September 1989 by Epitaph.
Produced by Brett Gurewitz.
Lineup changes:
Al Bino replaced Dave on guitar.
Tracks: 12

Ribbed
Released in March 1991 by Epitaph.
Produced by Brett Gurewitz.
Lineup changes:
Steve Kidwiller replaced Al Bino on guitar.
Tracks: 14

Maximum Rocknroll
Released in January 1992 by Mystic Records.
Produced by Doug Moody.
This album which consists of early singles and demos should not really even be considerd an official album because it was released without consent of the band.

White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean
Released in September 1992 by Epitaph.
Produced by NOFX and Donnell Cameron.
Lineup changes:
Erik Ghint replaced Erik Sandlin on drums and El Hefe replaced Steve Kidwiller on guitar.
Tracks: 13
Highlights:
"Soul Doubt" "Bob" "Straight Edge" Liza and Louise" and "Please Play This Song on the Radio"

Punk in Drublic
Released in July 1994 by Epitaph
Produced by Ryan Greene and Fat Mike
No line up changes.
Tracks: 17
Highlights:
"Linoleum" "Dont' Call Me White" and "The Brews"

I Heard They Suck Live
Live album released in August 1995 by Fat Wreck Chords.
It was recorded at the Roxy in Hollywood in January 1995.
Tracks: 19

Heavy Petting Zoo
Released in January 1996 by Epitaph.
Produced by Ryan Greene and NOFX.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 13

So Long and Thanks For All the Shoes
Released in September 1997 by Epitaph.
Produced by Fat Mike and Ryan Greene.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 16
Highlights:
"Monosyllabic Girl" "All Outta Angst" "Champs Elysses" "Dad's Bad News" "Kill Rock Stars" "The Desperations Gone" and "Quart in Session"

Pump Up the Valium
Released in June 2000 by Epitaph.
Produced by Ryan Greene and Fat Mike.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 14

45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records
Double album released in May 2002 by Fat Wreck Chords.
Various producers.
Tracks: 47 (go figure)
Consists of songs that were featured on compilation albums, singles or b-sides.

The War on Errorism
Released in May 2003 by Fat Wreck Chords.
Produced by Ryan Greene and Fat Mike.
No line up changes.
Tracks: 14

The Greatest Songs Ever Written (By Us!)
Compilation album released in November 2004 by Epitaph.
Various producers.
Tracks: 27

Wolves in Wolves Clothing
Released in April 2006 by Fat Wreck Chords.
No line up changes
Tracks: 19

They've Actually Gotten Worse Live!
Live album released in November 2007 by Fat Wreck Chords.
Tracks: 24

Coaster
Released in April 2009 by Fat Wreck Chords.
Produced by Bill Stevenson.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 12

Dogwood Videos

Dogwood is a punk rock band from California that formed in 1993. They are one of the better (and probably one of the first) punk rock bands to share their Christian faith in their lyrics.

They list as influences Bad Religion, NOFX and Lagwagon.

I first got exposed to them through some website whose name I can't remember where the concept was you typed in the name of a band that you liked and it would give you a list of Christians bands that were similar to that band. I went to the site (I wish I could remember the name of it) and typed Bad Religion and Dogwood came up.

I have seen this band twice. Once in Oklahoma City at the club that used to be the Green Door but now I think is called the Conservatory. The 2nd time up here in Washington at The Mountain Dew Float Festival in 2004.

Here are a couple of links where you can read about them:

Dogwood Wiki Article
The Dogwood MySpace page

And here are a couple of videos of them:

The song "Building a Better Me" from the 2000 album of the same name:


"Preschool Days" from the album Through Thick and Thin released in 1997.