March 4th

I hear many people fed up with presidential choices or just plain tired of the race at hand. A lot of people saying that their vote won't count in the primary race. I want to encourage you to look at the other issues on the ballot and see if you are motivated. District only measures have relatively small amounts of voters and so your vote counts a great deal. So for my district, I have the following:

Texas U.S. Congress District 3

• Sam Johnson - The 77 year old Republican incumbent of 20 years.
• Wayne Avellanet - A 46 year old Republican businessman opposed to the war in Iraq
• Harry Pierce - A 71 year old retired Republican pilot.
• Tom Daley - A 44 year old Retired Democrat businessman who wants to go back to the economic times of Bill Clinton
• Ronald E Minkow - A retired teacher and defense contractor running for the Democrats who wants the people to have their say.
• Christopher Claytor - A 38 year old tech guy from the military whose Libertarian party wants the government out of our business.

If you can't find someone in that list you like, good luck...

For the presidential race, there are still 10 Republicans on the ballot, even though it is all sown up. The Democrats have 6 on their ballot.

There is a Senate seat up for grabs...

• John Cornyn - the Republican Senate Incumbent
• Larry Kilgore - a Republican candidate who wants Texas to become its own country.
• Gene Kelly - and 82 year old retired Air Force Democrat
• Rhett Smith - seems be a 58 year old Democrat who is very anti Bush/Cheney
• Ray McMurrey - is a Democrat school teacher who wants to give power back to the people
• Rick Noriega - A Democrat congressman from Houston who has served in Afghanistan and other areas of the military.

There are also resolutions on the ballot:

• There is a resolution to say that we should enforce immigration laws.
• A resolution for requiring photo ID when voting.
• A resolution to limit state government spending increases to be indexed with inflation.

Note, I could only find these resolutions on the Republican ballot.

Hopefully there is something in that list that you care about that will motivate you to show up and participate!

Page 123

Since Philip tagged me...

Here's the deal:

Look on page 123 of a book.
Find the first 5 sentences
Post the next 3 sentences
Tag 5 people

So I picked up the book Foundation by Isaac Asimov above my desk.

But Nyak hunting was still the royal sport and a good eye with the needle gun still the first requirement of Anacreon's kings. Lepold I, King of Anacreon and - as was invariably, but untruthfully added - Lord of the Outer Dominions, though not yet sixteen had already proved his skill many times over. He had brought down his first Nyak when scarcely thirteen; had brought down his tenth the week after his accession to the throne; and was returning now from his forty-sixth.

I hope you are as enlightened as I am.

Here are the people I can tag...

Brian
Mark
Ted

Thoughts on the Super Bowl

• ETrade baby wins the commercial race. I liked several. The ones that come to mind are the parade balloons going after the Coke, the What is Love head bounce commercial from Diet Pepsi Max, the Tide to Go shirt that talked, and the Coke Frist/Carville commercial. Bridgestone came close with their tires commercial. If they had run over Richard Simmons I would have put it in the top tier. Doritos dropped the ball. I remember them for their bad commercials...
  
  
• I was blown away by the arms that the two quarterbacks have. In the 4th quarter they both accurately launched 70 yard throws. Amazing to see.
  
  
• I swore up and down that the game was over when Eli got buried by linemen. I actually stood up to get my coat and take off from the party during that play. Totally blew me away that he pulled out a Romo on that one.
  
  
• Tom Petty was really really good. And during the long drawn out 3rd quarter, we were all saying that we wished his set was longer.
  
  
• We pulled a its not delivery, its Digiorno and it was great. We didn't have to wait for the overworked pizza guy. Combine that with chewy Chips Ahoy and I was set!
  
  
• I don't know if you caught this moment, but we did. Peyton Manning jumps up and pumps his fists after his brother throws the game winner. A woman, I presume his wife, jumps up and down next to him and tries to hug or high five or whatever and he totally snubs her. She tries a couple times and he never even turns. That was a little awkward.
  
  
• The morning show guys that I listen to for comedy on WBAP said to that they need to put Archie Manning out to pasture because they could get Barbaro like stud fees...
  
  
• I don't buy the whole Belichick snub with 1 second left thing. Brady held my respect after the game with his classy interview. What a game.

The Chronicles of Narnia Pt. 1

I just finished reading the entire Narnia series over the past month and I enjoyed the series immensely. I would definitely have to recommend the series to anyone. I am going to review several aspects of the series and therefore split my posts up on the topic. I read over 1500 pages in one month, so it had to be good.

This series was written over a period of many years by C. S. Lewis. This series is undoubtedly written for children and Lewis was inspired by one. A young girl named Lucy actually stayed with the professor during the air raids of World War II. The imagination of this girl and Lewis's desire for a good story got this series going. Now you have to be wondering why on earth a grown man would read such a story. It all started back in 4th grade when a teacher sparked an interest in me. I read them over 15 years ago and enjoyed them thoroughly. I forgot many of the details and upon hearing a second movie was coming out, I decided to reread the series.


They carry a Christian theme throughout that has been the cause of some controversy. And given the knowledge of Lewis's other books, this is quite and obvious idea. There are many other themes though that may trouble strict traditional Christians. Many themes from various mythologies are incorporated on top of the Christian base. I will expand more on these themes in a subsequent blog.

There are 2 suggested orders to read the books, the order of publication or the fictional chronology. I prefer the following chronological order:

• The Magician's Nephew
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• The Horse and His Boy
• Prince Caspian
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Silver Chair
• The Last Battle

For my money, The Horse and His Boy was the most enjoyable read while The Silver Chair was the most tedious.

Ode to Fred

I am sad to see that Fred Thompson has dropped out of the race before my local primary. He had a lot to offer that I don't hear or see from other candidates. Just like him, I can't endorse anyone else right now. But here is a quote from a recent speech he made that shows what we are losing in this race.

That means remembering the fundamental, conservative principles that have unified us for over two centuries.

What are those principles?

-First, the role of the federal government is limited to the powers given to it in the Constitution
-Second, a dollar belongs in the pocket of the person who earns it, unless the government has a compelling reason why it can use it better
-Third, we don't spend money we don't have, or borrow money that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back
-And the best way to avoid war is to be stronger than our enemies. But if we’re caught in a fight, we need to win it because not doing so makes us much more likely to be attacked in the future
-Also the federal judiciary is supposed to decide cases, not set social policy -- and bad social policy at that
-And the bigger the government gets, the less competent it is to run our lives.

I hope that we can find a candidate who will stand up for these principles.