Kellogg's Korner

I was blasted this week at www.dad-blogs.com for stating my opinion and beliefs. Of course, it is because I believe it is immoral and unnatural to be gay. I have never tried to hide this fact- I have always been open with my opinions. My openness with my opinion has hurt many people’s feelings. Guess what- I have the right to state my opinion thanks to the First Amendment, and they have the right to voice theirs. Where I have an issue with this, is when these people act as if I do not have the right to an opinion because they don’t agree with me.

If you want to see the discussion thread check it out here: http://www.dad-blogs.com/the-blogs/editorials/joeprah/1048-defining-family-in-public-schools.html

First thing I am going to address here is rights-human rights. What rights do I believe people have? This is a simple answer here-in America, we have the “Bill of Rights” for those who have a hard time understanding their rights.

The First Amendment is one that I think many people do not fully understand. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This first states that we have the freedom of religion (no law respecting an establishment of religion). This says that Congress, no mention of individual state here, can not make a law stating that the people of America MUST follow a specific religion.
Second, it says that Congress, once again the federal government, can not prohibit us from freely expressing our religion (or prohibiting the free exercise thereof). There are a lot of people that think if I post a Christian sign on PUBLIC property that the government is establishing a religion. Allowing me to post a sign is not making a law, or leaving a landmark such as the Mojave Cross on a national park, is not establishing a law. Having a Christian sign displayed at a football game at a public school is not establishing any law.

I think people understand, for the most part, the freedom of speech and press; I can say and print what I want, but there are laws that say I cannot print lies (libel) or speak lies about people (slander). If what I print or say is true or just opinion based, I have the right to print or say it. If you don’t like what I have to say, get over it, read something else- I don’t really care.

The “Declaration of Independence” state that all humans are created equal and have the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Note: you have the right to pursue happiness, whether you get happiness is not guaranteed. I will not dispute any of these rights- everyone has the right to live and live any lifestyle they chose that makes them happy. If you are happy with your partner, regardless of who your partner is, that is your right to be happy. I have the right to think your relationship is not right.

I have discussed rights, now I will talk about what is right. When I am talking about right in this way, I am talking about right and wrong. Right and wrong to many people is based in moral codes. When people talk about morals there is a big divide because of the way people define morals. There are two basic ways to view morals. The first is as a Moral Realist, this is a person who believes there is a factual basis for morals. They believe there is a hard line of right and wrong and this line has no basis on any subjective condition, such as religion or background. The second is a Moral Relativist- a person who feels that morals are formed by teaching, background, and religious beliefs.

I am of the opinion that there are a few of both types of morals. A few of my Realist morals would be that is it immoral to kill and harm others with no reason. Now there are reasons that you might harm someone, as in protecting a life from another. Then there are relative morals, many of which I base on my studies of the Bible; if you don’t study the Bible as I do, your relative morals may be different. The relative moral that we were dealing with was whether being gay, in a same-sex relationship, is moral. I will start with only one book of the Bible, although there are many that I can point out. For this instance, let’s just look at the beginning. In the book of Genesis, God tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. The meaning of this has never been in doubt, and to follow this commandment for God you must be pair of with someone of the opposite sex. This alone makes homosexuality immoral in my belief.

Then next issue I had on www.dad-blogs.com was the fact that people think that I am not tolerant of others. I feel that they may be using the word without realizing the true meaning. I have copied the definition from Webster’s Dictionary here:

Tolerance:
1 : capacity to endure pain or hardship : ENDURANCE, FORTITUDE, STAMINA
2 a : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own b : the act of allowing something : TOLERATION

Take note that nowhere in the definition of tolerance does it ever say acceptance, I tolerate people being gay, but that does not mean I think that what they are doing is right. I am tolerant in the fact that I agree that they have the right to be with whom they chose. I am tolerant because I do not judge the individual as good or evil due to the fact that they chose to be gay. I will not think anything less of a person’s education, skills, abilities, or capabilities. What I am not tolerant of is when someone tries to force their beliefs and way of life on me as normal.

As for the basic concept of normal vs. abnormal, I hope I don’t have to define the two concepts. When you have to define something as “Alternative” it is not normal. A prime example is the politically correct term “Alternative-lifestyle.” The fact that homosexuals willing accept this as a PC term proves that the majority of them acknowledge that homosexuality is not normal. It is not normal in nature of animals of any type to exhibit homosexual tendencies. There have been studies on this fact, and there have been species of animals that do exhibit some homosexuality, but it is a rare occurrence in all examples. The fact is that even in the animal kingdom, homosexuality is not normal.

In closing, my statements that homosexuality is not normal is based not only on my beliefs, but backed up by scientific fact. For my comments of homosexuality being immoral, that is my opinion based on my personal moral values, which I do share with many others. The statement made by others that I am not “tolerant” of homosexuals is libel in this case, because I DO tolerate them, whether I think their lifestyle is right or wrong. I acknowledge the fact that they have the right to be gay, I just feel that it is not right or moral.

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[fatherhood_fridays]

It has come to about that time in life that we need to have “The Talk” with our oldest daughter. Until now we have not really had any sex talks with our children. Not that we have gone out of our way to protect them from it, it just has not come up. I do not think my parents ever gave me the talk.

With young girls it is much more important to have the talk earlier than with boys. There are thing girls have to deal with that boys never will, unless you count the running out to the store for “Supplies” when they get married. With girls starting their menstrual cycle as early as 9 -12 years old, we don’t want it to come as a surprise to her. I could not imagine what our little Drama Queen will do if she suddenly starts bleeding “down there” whit no idea what is going on. Of course I am going to let Terfer talk to her about the woman things, because I have no clue what she will be gating through. Thank God Terfer is here or I would be going insane about this topic.

The part I am more worried about is the one I will be taking part in, Sex. We are a Christian family and would like to pass on our family values to our children, and that opens a hole can of worms I just got flamed for on www.dad-blogs.com, relationship that are “More than just Friends.” Of course we want her to wait until she finds the person she loves, but let’s face it, that most likely won’t happen in this day and age. It scars me to think about that when she is only eight years old, but it is a fact of life.

With children being exposed to sex in music and movies at the rate they are these days, it is hard to avid the fact the children are curios. With the most popular music out right now being Hip-Hop, they are exposed to lyrics that are less than wholesome in many public areas. And we want to be sure they understand that a relationship is more than what they might hear in that kind of environment.

There is also the tween and teen “falling in love” we have to look forward to in the next few years, and I would like to let her know what a good relation ship is before she winds up in a bad relationship cycles. We also want her to know that we are here for her, no matter what happens, and so many things could happen, both good and bad.

Anyone got any interesting Ideas on how to approach the subject?

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I am one of those people, once I start reading a series of books I am compelled to finish it. This may also go along with the review I started with the first Twilight book. So I picked up and read New Moon, the second book in the Twilight Saga, and the next come to the big screen. It is once again, a decent young adult book. Once you get into the story it might capture you for the long run.

The story starts where the first book left off, no time gap, and no missing back story. I liked that fact, but it would have driven me insane if I had to wait that year between books during the original printing. It would be as bad for me as it is waiting for the now third book in the Inheritance Cycle.

For the next few moths Bella and Edward are inseparable, until an incident on her birthday. After almost getting killed by Edward’s family, he decides they should leave. He tells her that he is no longer in love with her, and she needs to move on with her life. Then came the 4 most annoying pages I have seen in a book, they just list the months as they pass, one month per page.

This illustrates one of the key complaints that most parents have about the books. It shows how obsessed Bella is with Edward. Se basically spends the next four months in a depressive state, separating herself from the world. It does not tell you everything her father did to try and help her until much later in the book. When I was first reading the next few chapters, I was thinking “Where is her father for all this?” But I felt better when I got to the part in the book that explained those four months, and what happened during them.

The next few chapters are spent with her slowly rejoining the world of the living, mostly by doing what is call Stupid and Dangerous things, to include riding a motorcycle. I myself have nothing against motorcycles; if my 18 year old Daughter wanted to have a motorcycle I might work with her on getting one and learning to ride it. I would rather her come to me with that then go to a friend. Besides, she is 18 and can do what she wants anyway. Sure, we can all have the “While your in MY house”, but will it really stop them?

Bella discovered that an adrenaline rush would cause a delusion of Edward’s voice. From that point on she spends the main story trying everything she could think of to get that rush. She started hanging out with Jacob Black, the boy who told her what Edward was, getting him to fix a motorcycle and teach her to ride it. She slowly starts to fall in love with him. Not the same as with Edward, but is anything ever the same as your first love.

As she begins to accept this love, Jacob becomes distant, and begins to avoid her. She starts to fall as she did when Edward left her. The story spends a lot of time exaggerating the emotional swings of most teenagers. Bella has what you might call and addictive personality, she becomes attached to things and people to the point that she feels as if she can’t live with out them. This Speaks to the fact that she is coming from a broken home and never really had any security in her life up to this point. This is an aspect that I like about the story, but may be one that is putting off many of the other parents.

Once she discovers that Jacob is a werewolf, their relationship picks up better than before. But she finds herself forcibly separated from him while he protects her. During this time, to get one of her delusions, she jumps off a cliff into the ocean, almost killing herself. This is one point here I would hope that my children have better sense that do what they see others doing. She is saved by Jacob, but Allis, Edward’s sister, had a vision of Bella dieing, and rushes to try and save her.

Over all, entire book flows rather slowly, not one I can see being made into a movie as is. I have a feeling that there will be many of the same story flow modifications to the movie as there were for Twilight. I am looking forward to seeing this once it comes out on DVD; I never go to the movies any more. I am also looking forward to reading the next book in the saga, but I can’t bring myself to pay $8 when I got the other two for $5 each. I will have to keep my eye out for the $5 printing while I am shopping over the next few weeks.

Until then, I am reading the Hardy Boys, thinking about reading them as bedtime stories to the girls.

Check out the other Twilight posts I have:
Twilight – is it appropriate for young Ladies?

For more of what dads with daughters have to say about Twilight check these links:

The Bloggers:

Ron Mattocks of Clark Kent’s Lunchbox — “Twilight” For Girls? Dad Bloggers Share Their Thoughts

Justin Howefitz of Howefitz blog – Twilight: One Father’s Ramblings On A Phenomenon

Ciara of Ciara’s Ramblings and What not –Is it safe? Twilight and Teens

Joe Schatz of Joeprah — A Dad of Daughters on the Twilight Phenomenon

National Fatherhood Examiner (still Joe Schatz) — Dad and Mom Bloggers react to “New Moon” & “Twilight” series

So, what are your thoughts? Has the book been brought up as an issue in your house? How about the movie? Is there any reason to censor this book from kids, or do you think it is appropriate for most kids?

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Our country started out its life by liberating itself from England on July 4, 1776. Our forefathers fought for our freedom. The freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom to pursue happiness they way we wanted it. These things many of us take for granted today.

Our soldiers have fought and risked their lives over the Centuries to maintain these freedoms. Our nation has been through two World Wars, and many other military actions through out the world to try and spread our way of living free. We are looked upon as bullies and unwelcome by many nations because of our beliefs, But we American Soldiers continue to fight for our nations values.

This past week we were all taken by surprise when one of our own soldiers open fired at Ft. Hood, TX. He killed thirteen fellow soldiers and wounded twenty-nine more. Some still believe he may be innocent of these crimes. I don not have all the facts, I just know what I have read in the papers and seen on the news.

I believe that he had his reasons for the massacre he inflicted on our troops, though I don’t defend his actions. Our nation is founded on freedom, but even freedom comes at a price. When he joined the Army, he chose and vowed to follow the orders of those appointed over him. He swore and oath to defend the nation from enemies both foreign and Domestic, to defend the constitution and our laws. In the end, we found him to be one of those enemies.

These days Oaths and promises are taken lightly, nothing is done on your word any more. We have transformed form the strongest nation in the world, to one that can not even trust its own defenders. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has dealt a wound deeper than some may ever know. His actions have struck right at the hart of our military, our peace keepers. From this day forth, many soldiers will hold a question about the loyalty of their comrades who share the faith and religion of this man.

The soldiers, police officers, and fire fighter, risk their lives every day to try and maintain our freedom. There are enemies of our nation and our way of life, people who are willing to kill us just because we are Americans. These people walk our streets as citizens, waiting for the right time to strike at our people. We have seen their tactics, and their disregard for human life. We know what they are capable of. Yet when we capture them, we treat them better than they would even think of treating a captive.

We need to thank those who put their lives in harms way for our freedom. Stop and think about what they have done for our nation, for your freedom. Ask yourself if you would be willing to do the same for them. The Veterans of our nation are what has made America sand strong for so many years. With out our soldiers our nation would not have lived long enough for our citizens to dislike their own freedom.

Thank them, for when they are gone, who will you blame when there is no more America?

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About two weeks ago Joeprah stated a small group of fathers from dad blogs. This group was going to review the book/movie “Twilight” and determine whether or not we thought it was a book we would mind if out daughters. My wife and I have seen the trailers for the movie. I thought it would be a decent movie, but we never went out of our way to see it. When this group started to get together I thought, “Why not, I did just finish my other book.” This was also an opportunity to start using my new Library and Movies plugins for the site.

I started out reading with the preconceived notion that this book would be out of the question for young adult readers. Knowing it is basically a love and suspense story, I thought there would be the obligatory love scene, but I never did find it. The  book itself is written very PG. There is no bad language, no real adult only content, and only mild hind ( and not often) about sex.

The story is about a seven-teen year old girl from a broken home moving from Phoenix, AZ to the small town of Forks, WA to live with her father. She was doing this so that her mother could go to Florida with her new husband

She Started to school in this small town that she despised with the fear that she would not fit in and no one would like her. To her surprise she instantly made friends. During her first lunch she takes note of a group of students sitting off by themselves, and was told they were all brothers and sister. I her Biology class she meets one of them first hand. He reacts very strangely, apparently  hating her with out a word passing between them. Later she finds him trying to change his classes so that he would not have to sit by her.

Latter after he saves her  from almost being hit by a car, he continues his strange behavior toward her, avoiding her  and distancing himself as much as he could. After a few weeks he gives up on his attempts to avoid her and befriends her instead, the whole time trying to convince her that he is a very dangerous person to be near.

At a beach party she meets up with the son of a family friend, who tells her  a story about the strange family and how they are Vampires. Even after realizing the truth, she did not want to be with out him. She had fallen in love and she did not care if her was a monster.The story centers around a theme of “Love Transcends all, even natural instankt.

I would be willing to read this book to my eight year old daughter, or even let her read it herself  if she was in her teens.

In contrast the movie is almost completely different, as most book-based movie. I would not let my 8yo see them movie, but if she was in her teens I would be willing to watch it wither. If you go by what is in to movie, and never read the book, you are missing great story. They changed major key elements of the story. The movie and book share only a few pivotal scenes. If i had not read the mook first I may have liked the movie better than I did.

The movie is not a family movie night prospect, but I could see the book as a family reading book if you kids like fiction.

Check out the other Twilight posts I have:
Twilight – New Moon

For more of what dads with daughters have to say about Twilight check these links:

The Bloggers:

Ron Mattocks of Clark Kent’s Lunchbox — “Twilight” For Girls? Dad Bloggers Share Their Thoughts

Justin Howefitz of Howefitz blog – Twilight: One Father’s Ramblings On A Phenomenon

Ciara of Ciara’s Ramblings and What not –Is it safe? Twilight and Teens

Joe Schatz of Joeprah — A Dad of Daughters on the Twilight Phenomenon

National Fatherhood Examiner (still Joe Schatz) — Dad and Mom Bloggers react to “New Moon” & “Twilight” series

So, what are your thoughts? Has the book been brought up as an issue in your house? How about the movie? Is there any reason to censor this book from kids, or do you think it is appropriate for most kids?

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Well now, it has been about three weeks since my last post. Some of you may be wondering where I have been all this time. I know some of you have even missed my political banter, and Fatherhood Friday posts. I have a good excuse for not being on here for the past few weeks, I have been moving into a townhouse.

Our lease came to an end on the apartment that I rented when I first got up here to Columbus by myself, and work has been steady for the last seven months, so we figured it was time to move into something more fitting our family (Teresa, the girls, two cats, one dog, and myself), the two room apartment was getting a bit cramped. We took the time to look at a few places before we picked one. What we settled on was a nice two bedroom townhouse with a finished basement, just over 2000sf. There is a nice little fenced in patio area and a nice large space out front where the girls can play. The way this townhouse was set up, it was easy to run the satellite TV into the rooms, and we switched to DLS internet form Cable (thank god it was available here).

Whit the new home comes the thought of new furniture and getting out household goods out of storage. With the girls being in the same room, we are looking at getting them a bunk-bed. The one we found is an interesting set up. There is a staircase going up to the top bunk instead of a ladder.

As some of you may already know, I also moved to a better Web hosting service. I was getting tired of not being able to get to the site half the time. During the migration I ran into a few snags, but upgrading the WP 2.8.5 and updating a few plugins fixed most of the issues. I am still trying to work out why my “Automatic Youtube Video Poster” plugin will not post my youtube videos here.

I also added a Library and Movies section where we will start posting and reviewing Books we read and Movies we watch, with links to buy them form Amazon.com. I am also looking at modifying the plugin to do the same thing with Videogames, just to have that functionality. I might even just look into merging the two separate plugins into one system and streamlining it as much as I can. Those are all things to look forward to.

So we have had a lot going on over the past few weeks and we are sorry we fell behind on our posting, But we will be getting back into the swing of things as we get settled into our new home.

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