Ponderstorm My Brainstorm on Life & Politics

I’ve embedded a video for a very well done Israeli-made spoof remake of 1985 “We are the World” single that raised millions of dollars of aid for starving people in Ethiopia. This video spoof was produced by Hebrew-language media satire site Latma and presents the “Flotilla Choir” and their song “We Con the World.” It’s purpose is to address the biased world-coverage of recent events where Israeli soldiers (IDF) defended themselves after being attacked when they boarded a ship attempting to enforce the naval blockade of Gaza.

As of today this video has already been viewed more than 1.2 million times (learn more from report at Haaretz.com). I hope it’s viewed tens of millions of times more! (If you want to learn more about this incident and the biased international response then there’s a great op-ed piece by Charles Krauthammer entitled “Those Troublesome Jews” that I recommend reading.)

I’ve included the full text for this song below (sung to the tune of “We are the World”: Read More…

Posted under Israel, Video
2 Comments

This article is a reprint of one of mine from March 20, 2009 that I wrote for the original PonderPost blog. It is reprinted here due to the remake of PonderPost.

Everybody makes mistakes. As in life, in politics there is no exception to this axiom. However, while it is understandable that a new administration will make a few extra mistakes, some of the recent ones by Obama and Biden are being noted around the world. For example, British Telegraph.co.uk editor Toby Harnden’s “Top 10 Gaffes by Barack Obama and Joe Biden” post found its way at the top of the Drudge Report today. That means it’s being read worldwide.

In looking Harnden’s list over, most are rather serious gaffes (other than Obama mistaking a White House window for a door). Many are poor attempts at humor such as Obama’s suggestion that Nancy Reagan had seances in the White House and his Special Olympics bowling joke on the Jay Leno show last night. Perhaps it was that statement that prompted this list.

I think one of the most serious gaffes, though, occurred over the Read More…

Posted under Barack Obama, Video
No Comments

The following guest post was originally published on March 24, 2009 for PonderPost. It was written by Tim Jones and is republished here with his permission to preserve it while PonderPost is renovated.

* * * * *

The University of Notre Dame has invited President Obama to give the commencement speech at the spring graduation ceremony.  Additionally, the university will bestow an honorary doctor of laws degree upon the President.

This has the Catholic community in quite a stir, as parishioners from both sides of the discussion weigh in.  On one side, many are happy to have the President speak, including a growing Facebook group called, “We Will Be Honored to Have President Obama at Notre Dame.” On the other, you have ardent, pro-life groups that wholeheartedly oppose the President speaking at the premier Catholic university in the country.

While I try to see both sides of the coin, I believe Notre Dame has made an egregious error by inviting President Obama to give the commencement address at, if not the premier Catholic university in the US, the most well-known Catholic university.

The Catholic Church represents one of the most fervent supporters of the pro-life movement, while President Obama represents one of the most pro-abortion politicians, ever.  President Obama has gone so far as to repeatedly vote for so-called pro-choice legislation that really amounts to infanticide, in the case of refusing medical care to live babies born after botched abortions.  His current administration threatens to, at the very least, lessen the ability for Catholic hospitals to operate with the elimination of healthcare conscience rule and to increase abortions by 125,000 per year with his Freedom of Choice Act.

It would seem that Notre Dame would prefer a commencement speech given by someone that more closely represents the Church’s positions, not just with regard to abortion, but across the board.  Doesn’t the Church have enough difficulty promoting it’s staunchly pro-life position without endorsing the exact opposite activity with President Obama as the commencement speaker?

As a Catholic and pro-life advocate, I’m disappointed with the Read More…

Posted under Barack Obama
No Comments

This guest post was originally published on PonderPost on March 29, 2009 by Tim Jones. It is reprinted here with permission due to the changing mission of PonderPost.com.

I was born and grew up in the Red River valley (that’s Red River of the north) in Breckenridge and Moorhead, Minnesota. As happens every year, the Red River is flooding this valley, as the spring thaw occurs. This year, however, the river is projected to rise higher than ever recorded  (although, recent reports show it will not be as high as projected) – already above the previous record set in 1997.

I still have many friends in this area, although all of my family has since moved out of the region (one due to the fact that she lost her home in the 2006 flood). These floods can be as damaging as a hurricane is to those of us along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, only these floods occur in freezing cold weather. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers, as they fight to save their homes and families.

I do wonder, however, why you don’t hear any reports of WHY the river is cresting so high.

You see, in order to crest at record levels, the snowfall for the previous winter, as well as the depth of the freeze must also have been at record levels to produce so much water as the snow and ice melt.  This in the time of critical “man-made” global warming?  Something doesn’t seem right, here.

Maybe Al Gore has a good explanation for it.  Then again, I doubt it.

Posted under Environment
No Comments

This article of mine was originally published on PonderPost on April 18, 2009. With the coming relaunch of PonderPost, this post is being republished here so you can see if anything has changed for the better in the past year. I suggest if anything we are much worse off.

During the Presidential campaign season we heard lots of talk about change. Barack Obama told us he would deliver change and, as President, that is exactly what he is doing. Few would doubt that he’s keeping that promise.

In no particular order, let’s look at some of the changes we’ve seen so far in these first 100 days.

• Ordered the closure of Gitmo within one year (learn more).
• Allowed travel and financial transactions to communist Cuba (learn more).
• Ended harsh interrogation methods for terrorist detainees (learn more).
• Releases secret Bush Administration documents about methods for handling terrorist prisoners (learn more).
• Called for nuclear disarmament and an end to nuclear testing (learn more).
• No longer calls the war against radical Islamic terrorists a “war on terror” (learn more).
• Allows federal tax dollars to fund embryonic stem cell research (learn more).
• Reverses the Mexico City policy and lifts the ban on federal funding of foreign abortions (learn more).
• Speaks at the Catholic Georgetown University but asks them to Read More…

Posted under Barack Obama
No Comments