“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

Perhaps this quotation explains a few things. By now everyone is familiar with the charges of “flip-flopping” that were hurled at Sen. Kerry during the 2004 election season. We are told that Barrack Obama is the candidate of “change”, although it appears to me that by “change” he really means “change my position as the winds may blow”. Even John McCain has changed his positions on a few things here and there. I know that I certainly have.

As we go through life, we learn, we are exposed to new idea, and if we are at all interested in growth we change our opinions as new information is presented to us. This isn’t a bad thing at all. The problem though comes when we change our positions for mere expediency, as it appears to me to be the case with Mr. Obama, or when we don’t hold to any principles at all and so are blown about on the breezes of popular fashion.

One of our contributers has elected to leave and has requested all of his posts be deleted. 

I pointed out my reluctance to do so as he has written some good things, and he responded:

Which I still have and can repost. I don't want to be around people who merit nothing more than swearing in the eyes of any reasonable, civilized person.

Obviously I disagree.  While the blog has been quiet lately, I still find the people who contribute to be of the highest caliber in ideas and in behavior.  The fact that you disagree with their politics should not warrant cursing and derision.

In truth Possum was frustrating in his extremism, but I valued that diversity.  I hope some other left winger offers to step in for balance.

Good luck Possum.

OK, I may be narrow minded, but this bothers me.  I overheard this today on The Commentators.

Here in Washington, like other states, we have the state standards of graduation.  One of those is the controversial WASL, which has been under a lot of heat for being an assessment test that assesses nothing.

According to the Seattle Times, there is a total failure rate of around 5-10 percent, so presumable those kids did not graduate, or rather they did not meet the requirements for graduation.

In some schools, notably Federal Way, many of those students were allowed to attend the graduation ceremony and walk with their class anyway.

In other words, they were presented as graduates, when in fact they had not graduated.

Is this kindness or fraud?

Grads: WASL daunted some, motivated others

Some school districts allowed some students to participate in graduation ceremonies even if they hadn't passed the WASL.

“Follow the money.”

That sounds like good advice when you want to know who’s behind a campaign or initiative doesn’t it? That’s part of the reason behind some of our campaign finance laws. Knowing who’s funding a campaign is important… if you assume that all money is corrupt… and if the campaign is for a person rather than an idea.

I’m not so sure that the same applies to initiatives. After all, most initiatives are about ideas, not people. Take for example, Washington’s initiative 1000, the so-called “right to die” initiative. The initiative’s supporters call it the “Washington State Death with Dignity Initiative”. The initiative’s opponents refer to it as “the assisted suicide initiative”.

Are you ready for this one?

Tell me please, where does every single penny that the "big oil" companies receive come from?

No, I’m not asking where is it minted. I’m asking where do the "big oil" companies get their money?

Are they stealing it? Do they hold a gun to your head when you go to the gas pump and tell you to fork over the cash? Or do you buy their product of your own free will like I do?

Does the government simply print money and walk up to the "big oil" company executives and say "here, have some cash"?

Isn’t it ultimately true that every single penny that "big oil" receives comes from the consumer?

Isn’t it ultimately true that every single penny that "big oil" spends on anything comes from the consumer?

Just a taking a few moments to dispel any rumours of my demise, defection or defenestration.

I've been under the weather again, maxed out in my day job and all that, but here lately, most of my energy has been getting ready for my daughter's High School Graduation.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board.  It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.  ~Walter Scott

Yes, tomorrow afternoon my youngest child Kayla, whose writing has been showcased here, will graduate.

It's is a huge moment for her, no doubt, but it is also a signal of a change in my life as well.  We, as parents, devote a lot of time and energy into our children's lives, and the end of High School is one of the significant way points.

What happens when you take farmland that is producing crops that are brought to market to feed your nation’s people away from the farmers that own it by force, murdering those farmers if they don’t comply with your desire to seize their land? Do crops grow without the seed being sown? Do crops thrive without fertilization? Do crops produce food when they are choked with weeds or burned to the ground? When you seize farmland from working farmers and give the land to men and women who know nothing of farming and who refuse to do the work required to nurture the crops what will the land produce for you to bring to market?

One of the news items on Orbusmax was this:

State GOP: No automatic citizenship for kids born in U.S. to illegal immigrants

The state Republican Party adopted a platform Saturday that includes a provision aimed at opposing automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.

This is not a new idea…

The state party approved a similar platform plank at its 2006 convention that proved controversial. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizes citizenship for all persons born in the United States.

"Immigration is an issue that a lot of our party activists feel strongly about," state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said. "And it's certainly a very defensible position. It's not at all something that's based on race concerns. It's a matter of what is citizenship going to be based on."