The Soldiers

I am saddened to hear about ABC co-news anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt being seriously injured in Iraq while they were riding with the troops. What I find a real shame is the 2000 plus US soldiers who have died fighting this war not getting the same coverage. Let alone the effects surviving soldiers are going through. The impression I get from news coverage is that a celebrities life is more important than a soldiers. I know that is not true, but why can't we be as concerned about every one of these soldiers lives? How can we pay our respects to those fallen soldiers and their families?

New Politics, New Views

I've decided I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. Not an Independent or a Libertarian. I'm not affiliated with any organized religion. I'm just a human being who shares this planet with hundreds of millions other humans. I don't agree with a lot of them. I don't approve of a lot of what they do. But I'm not going to spy on them indiscriminately. I'm not going to condemn them out of hand. I'm going to try to be more accepting and understanding of others. I am still going to speak out against wrongs and crimes (and there are so many), but it needs to be based on common sense and decency, not on political or religious views. I still think George W. is a scary President. But a lot of people of every political party and religion are scary. There are many good ones as well and I will listen more to them regardless of their affiliation. It should come down to humanity.

I know this is a simplistic view. The whole world is now driven by money and power. Politicians, religions, corporations, etc. all are powered by it. I'm not very religious, but one thing I agree with; The love of money is the root of all evil (Timothy 6:10. 'For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows'). Odd for me to quote the bible, but it makes sense. Money can do a lot of good for so many if used correctly. There are so many things in life that would be better if there was no greed.

North Texas Burning

You may have heard there is a big problem here in north Texas with grass fires. There has been no rain for quite a while, it's unseasonably warm with very low humidity and the winds have been blowing. All this contributes to a bad situation. Not only are fields burning, but buildings, houses and more. There are burn bans in counties all around where I live, including my county. New Years fireworks were banned and throwing cigarette butts out the window is now an issue. I mention this because my friend Jal always got on my case when I threw butts out my car window. The phrase she used was "the world is your ashtray". No more. I started keeping a partially full water bottle in my car a couple weeks ago and I put my cigarette butts out in it. Not only will it help for the fire issue, it is also environmentally better. The world is no longer my ashtray. That's progress.

University of Texas: NCAA Football Champs!

The Texas Longhorns won the national championship!! If you didn't watch the Rose Bowl tonight, you should have. An excellent football game. The Longhorns beat the USC Trojans, the 2 time defending champions. It was a great comeback for Texas against a team that looked like they had it wrapped up.

I almost gave up on the Longhorns, but stuck in there and was rewarded with one of the best college football games I have ever watched. I rooted for Texas not only because I currently live in the state, but more importantly, I wanted USC to lose. Texas was an underdog, and I love underdogs. Great game!!

A New Year Is Upon Us

Happy 2006! Another year has come and gone. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same. My hope is all the good gets better and all the bad gets good for everyone.

The Christmas Tree is packed away and the Tree Cam is now back to a regular streaming webcam. It can be found in the links section on the right of this page. It's online when there is no login prompt.