Blatant Bias

Teddy Ruxpin was my Elmo

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:51:09 GMT

Teddy Ruxpin was my Elmo

For the past two weeks, my newspaper as run columns about the new T.M.X. Elmo. In summary one said parents are indulging their kids too much and the other said we should blame capitalism instead of the parents. After reading these two opinions, I decided to tell you all a story.

Picture it. Derby, Conn. 1986. I was 6-year-old only child, who lived in a modest, middle-class house. Teddy Ruxpin was the hottest thing on the store shelves.

I wanted one more than anything else in the world. When I asked my father if he would buy me one, he flat out refused. He said he wasn’t going to buy me a $60 toy because I was either going to forget about it in three months or break it.

As you can imagine my little heart was broken. For probably the first time in my life, I wasn’t getting what I wanted when I wanted it. It was unheard of.

But then he came to me with a deal. He would pay for half if I could get the money for the other half.

For a child, $30 might as well have been a million. But I saved my allowance and scrapped together all the spare change I could find. I think there probably was some birthday money involved, too. It’s hard to remember all the details — I was only 6 after all.

Finally, I did get the $30 and the day I bought my Teddy is a day I can remember with absolutely clarity.

I had all my money (most of it in assorted change) in my little purse and my parents and I headed off to the store. We went to the toy aisle and I picked out the one I wanted and carried it all the way to the checkout all by myself,

I was so proud of myself that I didn’t even notice how pissed the cashier must have been that we were paying for a $60 with $30 worth of $1 bills and change.

I didn’t realize it until much later, but my father wasn’t denying me the toy to be mean or because he didn’t love me. He was trying to teach me a lesson about the value of a dollar. And it obviously worked — I still remember this event 20 years later.

Oh and for the record, I didn’t forget about my Teddy Ruxpin in three months and the thing broke years later when my little cousin inherited it. Really is amazing how you respect something so much more when you pay for it yourself.

But the fact of the matter is it’s not about Teddy Ruxpin or Elmo. It’s about setting a precedent. Because kids today have a sense of entitlement that far surpasses even children of the ’80s.

Because today it’s Elmo. Tomorrow it’s PlayStation3, The next day it’s a car. And then before you know it, that kid is the jackass in your office who feels like he should have the highest salary even though all he does is sit around and slack off.

So even though I am not a parent, I am going to offer some advice anyway. Your kid wants a T. M.X. Elmo, tell him that you’ll go in for half. He might not appreciate it today or tomorrow, but ask him in 20 years. I’ll bet you $30 he’ll remember the lesson and be a better person because of it.

Haven't lost that fearful feeling

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:57:31 GMT

Haven't lost that fearful feeling

Instead of being woken up by a ringing telephone, I was woken by heartburn.
Instead of watching a plane smash into the World Trade Center, I saw people milling around an airport.

Even though the scenes and circumstances were different, the feeling was the same. That wave of fear. The feeling of “oh no, not again.”

This morning at 4:45 a.m., I was awoken by a burning in my throat and I couldn’t fall back asleep. So I turned on CNN since everything else at that hour is some infomercial. On the screen I saw “TERRORIST PLOT FOILED” in big black letters. I rubbed my eyes and turned up the volume. I thought maybe I was dreaming. But no. I wasn’t.

My heart, which was already burning, jumped up into my throat. My half-asleep brain, which was trying to make sense of the whole situation, did a quick calculation.

One month and one day until the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11. That thought almost made me throw up.

Suddenly it was Sept. 11 again. I was standing in front of my television watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center. I remembered the emotion welling up in my chest. I remembered the disbelief of what I was seeing. I remembered the first tear that rolled down my cheek as I watched in horror. I remembered the fear that gripped me for the rest of the day. “Our country is under attack.”

The more I watched the coverage from the UK, the more the burning was replaced by uneasiness. That uneasiness turned to fear. That it was happening all over again. It wasn’t the same kind of fear that I felt on 9/11, but it was definitely fear.

Of course this time, we weren’t under attack. But I couldn’t help feeling that it’s only a matter of time before we are attacked again. It’s only a matter of time before the terrorists outsmart us.

But then again, I was half-asleep when I was thinking this. The mind is probably more fearful at 5 a.m. after only three hours of sleep.

Sorry, but it’s not the end of the world as we know it

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:49:22 GMT

Sorry, but it’s not the end of the world as we know it

So here we go again. It’s a familiar story we’ve heard countless times before. Country X in the Middle East is fighting with Country Y. Destruction, carnage and chaos ensues. Classic.

Today, Israel is Country X and Hezbollah is Country Y. Well I guess Hezbollah isn’t a country, so we’ll just call it Guerrilla Group Y. The fact of the matter is, there is destruction and chaos ensuing even as you read these words.

If the destruction of Beirut and southern Lebanon weren’t enough, it seems we have another (more eternal) battle about to begin, according to “some.” And by “some,” I mean crackpot, religious fanatics.

The other day while watching CNN’s never-ending coverage about the current conflict in Lebanon, I heard one of the talking heads say something about how “some” people are calling the war between Country X and Guerrilla Group Y one of the signs of the apocalypse as revealed in the Book of Revelation.

Oh lord. Can’t you just see the “The end is NEAR!” and “REPENT NOW!” signs now?

I am not a religious person (I was raised Catholic after all), but somehow this all sounds very familiar. And since I have never actually read the Bible, I am stumped as to how this is possible.

Oh that’s right, we hear that the world is coming to an end each and every time all Hell breaks loose in the Middle East. So basically about once every two or three years.

If Middle Eastern history has taught us anything, we should know that Israel’s war in Lebanon isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last conflict in that region of the world. I say that because Israel has been caught up in one war or another for my entire 25 years on the planet. By those calculations, the end of days should have come and gone at least three times by now.

But come to think of it, conflict in the Middle East hasn’t just been going on for the past 25 years or even the past 125 years It’s been going on since the beginning of time. I would bet that even the Holy Land’s dinosaurs were killing each other off left and right. Seriously, just look at how much oil is under all that sand.

So I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the end of the world is not near. And if I’m wrong, we’ll all be dead anyway so what difference does it make.

Honestly, you would think that anyone with the tiniest bit of common sense would see that. But when religion is involved, common sense has a tendency to fly out the window.

So the following message goes out to “some” people.

The Bible is not a crystal ball and it’s not going to tell us how the world is going end. If it did, wouldn’t that just make God like that guy who tells you the ending of a movie that you have been dying to see? And don’t you think that ruining the ending of the movie we call “Existence” be the greatest sin of all?

Furthermore, it would seem to me that if Earth was God’s masterpiece, then why would he pick the predictable, John Carpenter ending?

I would hope God is more cleaver than that. Maybe the Book of Revelation is a red herring and God is planning more of an M. Night Shyamalan-type ending. Seriously, who saw the end of “The Sixth Sense” coming?
I would bet God, being the ultimate practical joker, has a much more cleaver, holy-crap-I-never-saw-that-coming finale.

Instead of famine, there would be feasts. Instead of disease, the world would be cured of all its ailments. Instead of war, there would 24/7 parties. Instead of punishment and banishment into Hell, Jesus would practice what he preached and give everyone a another chance. Because honestly, Jesus coming back to Earth with a machete in one hand and a machine gun in the other to judge and kill all the non-believers seems very out of character for a man who was supposed to be a “savior.”

In essence, it would be a celebration for putting up with all the death, destruction, famine etc. we’ve already put up with since the beginning of time.

So as Athens’ very own R.E.M. said, it might just be “the end of the world as we know it,” but I feel fine.

A question for the Catholic Church

Sat, 20 May 2006 01:48:54 GMT

A question for the Catholic Church

SPOLIERS!! If you haven’t read The Da Vinci Code beware of the spoilers in this column.

I’ve got a question for the Catholic Church. Well, I actually have several hundred questions for the Catholic Church, but I’ll just being up one today.

So, What have you been hiding?

OK. Maybe that was a bit too broad. Everyone with half a brain knows you guys are hiding a hell of a lot. Perhaps I should clarify.

What have you been hiding about Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene?

Come to think of it, that still might be too board?

Fine, I’ll come right out and say it. Where they married? Did they have a kid?

As many of you know, I’m not religious. Anyone who knows me can attest to that fact. I never have been religious. In fact, when I was younger and was forced to go to religion classes I made my mother do my homework because I couldn’t be bothered with it. I’ve never read the bible and don’t ever plan to.

That being said, religion fascinates me. Or should I say, reading or watching things that poke holes in the church’s stories fascinates me.

Which brings me to today’s topic. The Da Vinci Code.

Much has been written about this book and now-released motion picture. Ever since Dan Brown’s book became and international best seller in 2003 there has been a myriad of books refuting the “claims” Brown makes. Now, the Vatican wants people to boycott the movie and not believe anything the book claims. There have been protests around the world. They are practically calling for the crucifixions of Dan Brown and Ron Howard.

Don’t believe me?

(I love this one … such a nice image of Jesus there. I had no idea they had such good cameras in ancient Jerusalem.)

And to think, all of this is over a novel.

Yes my friends, A WORK OF FICTION.

After I started thinking about this uproar, I decided to play the devil advocate.

If the Vatican isn’t hiding anything, why is it so up in arms about a novel/movie? Could they actually be hiding something? Did Brown hit the nail on the head when he wrote that Jesus Christ was not only getting some from Mary Magdalene, but married her and had a child?

I mean think about it, every time they get huffy about something, it’s because they are hiding something. For example:

1. First thing that comes to mind is what the Church branded Galileo a heretic and placed him under house arrest. All because he said the Sun was the center of the universe and not the Earth. Crazy idea huh? What a whack job that Galileo was … oh wait.

2. Something a little more modern. How about the sex abuse scandal from just a few years back. The Church denied, denied, denied that priests were molesting children. Well I think we all remember what happened there.

So, will they ever tell us the real truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene? My guess is no. Well, unless there is a real life Robert Langdon out there.

Bush want us to pray for good weather

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 02:15:37 GMT

Bush want us to pray for good weather

Apparently our president has turned into a valley girl.

Like, seriously, you guys. He, like, totally has. Just listen to him.

During his response to the Senate’s call to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency he said the following:

“The lessons of Katrina are important,” Bush said. “We’ve learned a lot here at the federal level. We’re much more ready this time than we were the last time.”

Ok. So that is your run-of-the-mill politician quote. Nothing more or less than you’d expect from anybody in Washington. But then he followed up with this little zinger …

“Let’s, first of all, pray there’s no hurricanes,” Bush said. “That would be, like, step one.”

What? Pray there are no hurricanes? Why don’t we just pray there are no earthquakes while we’re at it? Oh and no snow this winter either. Because weather is something that is totally controllable by PRAYING.

I swear I can almost Bush smacking on gum and twirling his hair while saying that.

And I can almost hear the prayer …

“Dear Poseidon , please spare us from any more hurricanes. We’ll be good. I, like, totally promise. You should totally go pick on some other country … ooooh like France. Yeah, they’ve never had a hurricane.”

Now I know for a man who proclaims to be a Christian, praying to the Greek gods is kind of strange. But who else is he going to pray to? Poseidon totally controls all the weather.

Now, if our leader would actually start reading the newspaper then he’d at least know that scientists are saying hurricanes are going to be stronger and more common for at least another decade.

But that would mean he’d have to believe that global warming is real.

Quite a pickle if you ask me.

When conservatives lose their memories

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 00:02:22 GMT

When conservatives lose their memories

Has anyone ever read Tony Snow? I know I never did until we started running him in The Athens Banner-Herald. And I only read him because they pay me to. But that is beside the point.

In his column about the sale of U.S. ports to an Arab company he writes the following:

“The problem with such an approach to the world is not that its advocates are racists — it’s that they’re afraid. Fear has become the defining characteristic of a new strain of American nativism that sees the world as a hive of imminent threats and the United States as a large, lumbering, disabled beast, ripe for a good stinging.”

Well Mr. Snow, I must ask you. “Why are Americans ‘afraid’ outsiders?“ Could it possibly be from the fact that outsiders did in fact attack our country? Could it be that two of those people who attacked our country did live in the United Arab Emirates?

Could it be that for the past four and a half years, the Bush administration has made us fearful of outsiders? Could it be that after four and a half years of “The terrorists are coming! The terrorists are coming!” rhetoric has made us a tad scared. Could it be that the endless speeches from all the Bush cronies that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons and they were probably pointed right at us ready to fire, has made us a little nervous? Could it be that every time Bush is in trouble, he invokes images of Sept. 11?

I ask you, how can you not be at least a little bit nervous (if even only on a superficial level) about an Arab country taking over six U.S. ports?

As for me, the ports deal with an Arab company, just gives me a “whatever” feeling. It’s not like security at the ports is all the great now.

So agree with it, disagree with it or shrug it off. But for Christ’s sake, make your OWN decision about it. Don’t just agree or disagree with it based on your political affiliation.

Legend of Mardi Gras

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:48:13 GMT

EDITOR’S NOTE:In honor of Mardi Gras, I am re-running a column I wrote for my college newspaper, The Gamecock. Hope you enjoy!!

Legend of Mardi Gras

Maybe Mardi Gras has its own legendary hero.

Viva la Mardi Gras!

The time has come again for all us Catholics to give up our favorite thing in the world for 40 days (or 40 nights for some people) in honor of something that has to do with the death of Jesus Christ.

No one really knows why we give up something we love for six weeks. My guess is some pope 800 years ago was pissed and decided to make Catholics around the world suffer.

Anyway, the point is it's Lent — probably the most dreaded part of the Catholic calendar year.

The one bright spot right before that horrible, dreadful six weeks is Mardi Gras.

I always wonder how things like Mardi Gras originated. How and when did this weeklong drunkfest, where there is more flashing than a Kodak convention, come into existence?

Here's my guess on how Mardi Gras came to be ...

Once upon a time, about 300 years ago, Catholics around the world were preparing for the ritual of fasting and giving up their favorite vice for the 40 days before Easter.

In a little village called New Orleans, one Catholic (who just happened to own the local saloon) was in a deep despair. He was going through last year's books and knew the time of year had come when he would be losing money. Every year, when Lent was upon them, he lost money because so many of his patrons gave up drinking for Lent.

He had to think of something to help him earn a lot of money right before Lent. If he didn't, the next six weeks would be very hard on his wife and their eight children. What could he do?

Then it hit him — a weeklong celebration where he would offer food and drink specials. He would have contests, like who could drink the most beer in five minutes, or which of his saloon's lovely wenches had the biggest breasts.

As prizes, he could give away all those beaded necklaces he got from the Indian traders last summer. And the guy who had the most beads at the end of the week would win a free night with one of the saloon girls.

He would tell people this was a "religious festival" designed for them to have some fun before Lent. The event would culminate on the day before Ash Wednesday, just hours before they had go to church and have ashes put on their foreheads.

The plan was brilliant. And if the villagers thought it was a religious festival, they would feel obligated to come. He would make buckets of money.

He placed an ad in the newspaper, put up fliers and told the town crier to tell everyone to come to the bar exactly one week before Ash Wednesday.

His festival was a hit. All the townspeople came to the festival, and there were even some out-of-towners who stopped in for a few nights.

Leave it to a Catholic to find a way to incorporate drinking and religion. Now, people from all over the world travel to New Orleans exactly seven days before Ash Wednesday. It's all thanks to one man — Mardi Grason.

Hey, he might not be Paul Bunyan, but it could be true.

The Passion of the Bowl

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:51:03 GMT

The Passion of the Bowl

There is one reason and one reason only why we — America — will lose the war on terror. The passion.

No not the Mel Gibson Jesus movie. But that feeling people who care about something so deeply they become irrational and damn near crazy.

For example:
Them

Us

And that my friends, is why we will lose the war on terror. Americans just don’t have the level of passion that people in the Muslim world do. Some newspaper cartoonist drew their prophet wearing a turban that looked like a bomb and then they go ahead and set fire to Danish and Norwegian Embassies. Now as wrong as that is, it shows that people in the Muslim world are way more dedicated to their religion and the whole war in terror than Americans ever could be.

What evidence do I have?

“South Park.”

“South Park” has been making fun of Jesus (and just about everyone else for that matter) for many, many years. Have you seen anyone going to try and burn down Matt & Trey’s houses?

No because Americans only seem to get fired up about sports and social issues. Hell the only time you see Americans burn something in effigy is when their respective teams loses (or wins) and they are that pissed off (or excited) and passionate that they feel the need to light things on fire.

You might argue that we aren’t as violent as them. I think we all know that’s not true.

It’s just we don’t get violent about newspapers poking fun at our religious figures. We just get pissed about things like gay marriage and abortion.

As they say, six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Hamas and Saddam ... crazy bastards

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 04:43:21 GMT

Hamas and Saddam ... crazy bastards

So it’s been an interesting couple of weeks in the world of terror, huh?

First Osama offers a truce, then Hamas wins the Palestinian elections and now Saddam Hussein seems to be proving to everyone that he actually is a crazy bastard.

I’ve already offered you my opinion on Osama. I still think it’s sad when a one-hit wonder tries to make a comeback. It’s sad for everyone involved.

But onto Hamas …

Where does one even begin to examine this one? The Athens Banner-Herald ran a story in Sunday’s paper that basically said Palestinians didn’t vote for Hamas, but against Fatah. Well I don’t know about you, but that certainly sounds familiar. Who remembers the whole “Anyone but Bush” campaign the Dems waged early in 2004 election? I think I still see some bumper stickers around Athens.

So it seems that President Bush’s quest to make the entire world a democracy (whether they like it or not) has worked. Just not the way he planned. He hoped that democracy in the Middle East would breed a more moderate society not dominated by religious fanatics. Well, not so much. The Palestinians decided (pretty much as a whole) that the government they had wasn’t working and needed to send a message to the peeps in charge. Which they did. You know there is nothing like electing a bunch of terrorists to lead your government to grab the attention of the world.

How the world (and by world I mean the United States and Europe) react to this and whether they will recognize the terrorist government and what not.

If nothing else this should be a lesson for Bush. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

Now onto Saddam. The man really is proving to be quite the whack job. In a trial that started months ago and has been delayed (oh I don’t even know how many freakin’ times it’s been delayed at this point), it seems that the former dictator is going for an insanity defense or something.

At one point in the trial he screamed out “Long live Iraq! Long live Iraq!”

And then started to talk about himself in the third person

“How will the court proceed without Saddam?” the former dictator asked.

And then his half brother and former chief of intelligence, Barzan Hassan, got in on the action by challenging the court's legitimacy, calling it the "daughter of a whore."

Inner monologue: The "daughter of a whore"? You know that is so much cooler than son of a bitch … I might start using that one.

So back to Saddam, yeah the sudden outbursts in this trial were amusing at first. I’ve sure everything journalist, in every newsroom around the world had a giggle or two the first time he went a little crazy. But seriously, I think we are all getting a little sick of it. So my message to Saddam.

Why don’t you shut the fuck up and take what’s coming to you, you crazy bastard.

So in summary, Kudos to the Palestinians for sticking it to the man. Just wish you could have stuck it to the man by not electing a terrorist group. Bygones. Thumbs down to Saddam for his wacky outbursts.

And I’m sure when Osama’s next ~~album~~ video comes out there just might be a “DEATH TO BLATANT BIAS” message there somewhere … well that is if he reads LiveJournal.

Osama: The comeback tour

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 23:02:50 GMT

Osama: The comeback tour

So when I got to work today, I did what I always do. I checked my local news Web site to see what the heck has been going on during my days off. I was shocked to see an international story (gasp!) as the lead. But then I guess when Osama threatens an attack on the United States it’s the default lead.

When I got around to reading the story a little bit ago, it was the secondary headline that made my jaw drop a bit. The jaw-dropping was also immediately followed by a giggle. What was this secondary headline you might be asking yourself?

Tape warns Americans of impending attacks, offers truce

So. Hmm. Yeah. Can you see why I giggled?

The man who hates America the most, warns us of attacks in the future (“It's only a matter of time," the voice said, referring to attacks. "They are in the planning stages, and you will see them in the heart of your land as soon as the planning is complete,"). And then says, “Hey dudes. Let’s call the whole thing off.” Well maybe not in so many words — it was more like this (“We are a nation that God banned from lying and stabbing others in the back. Hence, both parties of the truce will enjoy stability and security to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed by war,”).

I don’t know about you, but it seems a bit contradictory to me.

Here is my theory. I think Osama is pissed. Not about the whole “Westerners are ruining the world,” that Muslim militants are always pissed about. I think he’s pissed that he’s not getting the media attention he thinks he so rightly deserves.

I mean come on, the man did pull off a major attack on U.S. soil. And who gets all the attention four years later? Saddam. Where are U.S. efforts concentrating the war in terror? Iraq.

Osama has got to be scratching his head, asking himself what the hell went wrong. How did he get bumped to No. 2? After such a spectacular debut no less.

And the attacks in Spain and England didn’t get nearly as much attention as the 9/11 attacks. But then again, you know what they say about sequels. They never quite live up to the original. Except The Godfather Part II, but that is a different column all together.

I think the fall from America’s No. 1 enemy has been hard on Osama. And like any has-been, he’s trying to make a comeback.

As horrible as it might sound, I truly think that the this psycho will try to attack us again. If for nothing other than spite. A good ol’ spit in the eye to the Bush Administration. A little note saying he was the real threat all along and we should have paid attention to him instead of worrying about nonexistent threats in Iraq.

CNN: The Georgia News Network

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:42:12 GMT

CNN: The Georgia News Network

Before I moved to Athens, I never realized how Georgia-centric CNN has actually become. I’m surprised it hasn’t changed its name to the Georgia News Network. GNN really isn’t that much different from CNN is it?

Sure there is plenty of national and international news, but because of CNN the following made the news.

1. The Runaway Bride: I think we all remember this. Some nut job from Duluth runs out on her wedding and pretends to be kidnapped … blah blah blah. Of course this is not only Georgia-centric, but also white-woman-kidnapped-centric.

2. Base Closures: When BRAC announced it’s closure list. Who was the first person CNN quoted? Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.

3. Courthouse shooting: Now this might have actually warranted being on national news. When Brian Nichols decided that going on a killing spree was better than going back to jail, CNN was all over it.

4. Crane boy: Again with the nut job. I don’t even really remember why, but some dude decided to flee police by shimming up a crane and hanging out there for several hours. In the newsroom, we lovingly called him “Crane boy.” Nonstop coverage on this one folks.

5. Jackson County: Recently a man fell into a water tower in Jackson County and again CNN was all over it. Now I ask you, if this had happened in Jackson, Miss., do you think it would have even been a blip on the national news?

6. Lawyer standoff: Today, not all over the news, but in Statesboro there is a standoff and a man and a woman are holding a lawyer hostage. Again I ask, if this were not in Georgia, would CNN even care? Hell it’s only a lawyer; don’t we have enough of them anyway?

I am sure there are hundreds of others that I just can’t remember right now, but these are the ones that really stand out.

Ted Turner said at the CNN 25th anniversary that he’d like to see, “maybe a little less pervert of the day," said Turner. "I mean, there's a lot of perversion around, I know that, but is it really news? "

Well, maybe he should have replaced “pervert” with “Georgia story.” But if CNN didn’t cover perverts or Georgia, what would they cover?

The boy who cried wolf

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 21:33:48 GMT

The boy who cried wolf

It can’t be happening again. I refuse to believe that it could happen again. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes and grow. So the president can’t possibly think we’d buy into it again. Or could he?

Today President Bush called Iran a “grave threat.” Haven’t I heard this somewhere before? Sounds familiar…

Since we all know that Bush doesn’t like to read the newspapers (or his daily briefings for that matter), maybe he should brush up on his fables. Particularly, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

When I saw the headline, Bush: Iran armed with a nuke poses 'grave threat.', old Aesop’s fable popped into mind. If you can’t remember the tale either, this should be helpful.

You can probably see where I am going with this. How many times did we hear Iraq had nuclear weapons (sorry, I mean weapons of mass destruction)? How many times did we hear Iraq was an imminent threat to the United States? In his pre-war speeches, Bush used the fear created by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and manipulated the American people into believing that if we didn’t invade Iraq, Saddam Hussein was going to use his nuclear weapons against us.

And in the end, what did we find? No weapons. What did we create? A Sunni insurgency we can’t seem to quell. What have we lost? At least 2,212 U.S. soldiers.

All because the president cried wolf with Iraq.

Now we are faced with the Iran question. Do we believe Bush and go running up that hill to see the nuclear warhead, or do we ignore him?

Iran might or might not have weapons, so could North Korea for that matter. But how can we believe the president when he so clearly lied to us about Iraq.

Which is why the old man in the fable was so right.

"There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, "Wolf!" Why didn't you come?"

An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.

"We'll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"