The Blog Less Traveled

A string walks into a bar with a few friends and orders a beer. The bartender says, “I’m sorry, but we don’t serve strings here.”

The string walks away a little upset and sits down with his friends. A few minutes later he goes back to the bar and orders a beer. The bartender, looking a little exasperated, says, “I’m sorry, we don’t serve strings here.”

So the string goes back to his table. Then he gets an idea. He ties himself in a loop and messes up the top of his hair. Then he walks back up to the bar and orders a beer.

The bartender squints at him and says, “Hey, aren’t you a string?”

And the string says, “Nope, I’m a frayed knot.”

I just came across this news item in the Star-Telegram, a newspaper in Ft. Worth, Texas. Click here to read the article. I’m not a Dallas Cowboys fan, but what their quarterback did, especially with everything he had gone through that day, was a kind and unselfish gesture and makes you feel good. I wish TV stations would carry more of these stories instead of all the political ads. Go Tony!

Since the media seems to be on a feeding frenzy to belittle the GOP’s vice presidential candidate, it seems only fitting that the Democratic candidate should get a little scrutiny here. Unlike the media that many times distorts, takes out of context and outright lies at times, I will deal only in facts and give references for all my points.

Lies and Plagiarization

During his run as a presidential candidate in 1988, he stated the following when asked a question at a New Hampshire campaign stop:

1. “I graduated in the top half of my law school class” – This is false. He graduated 76th out of 85, which is approximately the bottom 10% of his class.
2. “I have three undergraduate degrees” – This is false. He has one degree with a double major. He graduated 506th out of 688, which is approximately the bottom 25% of his class.
3. “I was the only student in my class on a full academic scholarship” – This is false. He was on a partial economic needs scholarship.

You can view the video of his speech here (2 minutes). His lack of character and arrogance in demeaning the individual asking him the question is also quite revealing.

In one of his campaign speeches, he actually plagiarized a speech by Neil Kinnock, the leader at the time of the British Labour Party.

He received an “F” in one of his first-year law school classes for plagiarizing a law review article.

The citations backing up the fact that he was lying or plagiarized are located here. They are found at reference numbers 14, 67, 68 and 69 at the end of the article.

Charitable/Other

Senator Biden tries to paint himself as a person who fights and cares about the average person.  However, his tax returns over the past ten years say otherwise. The chart below lists his tax returns from 1998 through 2007. On an income ranging from $210,797 to $321,379, he’s given a grand total of $120 to $995 to charity. That’s a whopping .06% to .31% – less than 1/3 of 1% that he gives to charity. His generosity is overwhelming, wouldn’t you say? These figures are taken from his tax returns as listed on Barrack Obama’s website.

Just for comparison purposes, the IRS shows that the average taxpayer with an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) over $200,000 per year makes over $20,000 in charitable contributions. ($200,000 or more of AGI:  $20,434 average charitable deduction)

Senator Biden went to a private college prep school, as did his own children. So much for his so-called “just one of the regular folks” upbringing.

So folks, here’s your choice. You can pick someone that the Democrats and media label as inexperienced because she’s only managed a private business, been a mayor for six years, a governor for two years and attended public schools as well as all of her children. Or, you can choose an arrogant, plagiarizing, lying uncharitable person who’s never held an executive position of any consequence and one who doesn’t walk-the-walk but only talks-the-talk.

Gosh, that’s a tough one!

Like most of you, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the 9/11 attack occurred. For those of us old enough, there is one other event that we can probably remember as vividly – President Kennedy’s assassination. I remember exactly where I was in the hallway when the principal came on the intercom system and announced the tragedy. Few events in our recent history have had as unifying an effect on our country. Regardless of our political affiliation, religion or ethnic group, we were Americans first and foremost.

Unfortunately, as time passes, we lose that galvanizing effect. The immediacy and importance of the event fades into our past. Other events take over and the priority it once had is gone. However, in the case of 9/11, many of the things we now see as priorities, are a direct result of this event. The war on terror, our economy, oil prices, and the airline industry – almost everything today has been impacted.
So, what have we learned and what have we forgotten? Fighting terror and evil in this world is hard – and expensive. We can debate the path we’ve taken on how we’ve conducted the fight to this point. It’s easy to armchair quarterback the steps taken thus far. It’s been far from perfect and mistakes were made. However, I think the President made the most difficult decision imaginable with the best interests of the United States in mind. To think otherwise is just plain wrong. I think few of us would have thought that we would go this long without another terrorist attack on our land. The President should receive some of the credit for this success. Statements from sitting Congressman calling the President a liar or saying the war is lost are disgraceful. It borders on treasonous and is just encouragement for our enemy. Public discourse is fine and part of our rights as Americans. However, personal attacks and blatant lies should not be tolerated. To not hold those accountable for these actions is a failure on our part as American voters.

Right now, the TV is on and I’m watching Senator McCain and Senator Obama at the former World Trade Center site. It’s a powerful image showing America at its finest. Even with the hotly contested Presidential election in full swing, both parties can put aside their differences and can come together long enough to remember and honor the lives lost seven years ago.

Let’s not forget we’re Americans first and Democrats/Republicans second. Our country can’t afford to be divided at this time in our history. The stakes are too high.

Doctor Dave slept with one of his patients and felt guilty all day long. No matter how much he tried to forget about it, he couldn’t. The guilt and sense of betrayal was overwhelming. But every once in a while he’d hear an internal, reassuring voice that said:

“Dave, don’t worry about it. You aren’t the first doctor to sleep with one of their patients and you won’t be the last. And you’re single. Let it go…”

But invariably, the other voice would bring him back to reality:

“Dave, you’re a vet…”