It's been quiet around these parts for more than a month now and I felt the need to write an article about what I've been doing all this time. Other than real life, which I won't ever go into here... I've been visiting Newsvine a lot in order to get my news. I haven't even bothered going to CNN lately. Newsvine has been pretty good with keeping everything up to date. They have AP news articles, which I consider the real news, and then there's the other significant portion of the site... the editorials.

That part is a mixed bag, as some of my friends will tell you. On one hand, it's really interesting to see what other people feel about what's going on around us in the world today, but then on the other, some of the views are just so ridiculous I can't help but become irate over some of the articles written, or some of the seeds (links to other sites) posted there. They just show a complete lack of intelligence, a deep-routed bias against the United States and its people, or just an overt attempt to start a flamewar. One such seed comes to mind that was posted recently discussed how George W. Bush's grandfather sold stuff to the Nazis. Granted, I hate the Nazis, Neo-Nazis, or anything else Nazi-like; and I'm no fan of George W. Bush either -- but I think that at this point, that's just like scrapping the bottom of the barrel for reasons to hate the guy. And besides, if we're going to criticize President Bush for having family ties that worked with the Nazis, just about all of the western half of continental Europe is in the same boat, not to mention Sweden. And heck, the Germans were the Nazis. Oops...

Newsvine's most vocal members are more liberal than anything else, and it shows heavily in their posting. I've taken to picking off certain points in their arguments solely because I don't have the time or interest to write an incredibly long dissertation explaining why I feel they're wrong, and how I came to that conclusion. It seems to have done me well, as I'm rated around 85% on the site. Granted there are people on there with tons more articles and seeds than I have, but I'm fine with that. All I do is defend what I think is right, and point out when I think someone has stepped over the line with their arguments.

I'd like to think that the articles will become more balanced with time, but usually it's the more vocal members of either side of the political spectrum who do the most talking... and what they're saying scares the heck out of me.

For a nation in a neverending "war" on terrorism and terrorists, I think it's important that we look to ourselves and our history for some answers regarding the actions our current government administration is handling our affairs overseas and here at home. We're fighting a war, as President Bush has put it; even though it wasn't declared by Congress, nor is there any real, tangible, enemy that we're fighting against. Why has this happened? I'm thinking because few people take interest in the news and take an active part in our government.

Many don't even know how our government is set up or run. Let's take a quick quiz... See how many of these questions you can answer correctly:

• How many amendments are there in the Bill of Rights?
• How many Senators are there in Congress?
• How many Senators represent each state?
• What freedoms does the first amendment guarantee us?
• How many branches of the government are there?
• Name them.

• Ten Amendments in the Bill of Rights
• 100 Senators in Congress
• Two Senators each
• Freedom of Speech, the Press, Religion, Peaceful Protests, and Grievances against the government.
• Three branches
• Executive, Legislative and Judicial

All is quiet around these parts, besides the abundant hits I've been getting from people looking up information about the caricature fiasco going on in the Middle East these days. Of course, it wouldn't be the Middle East if someone wasn't complaining about something , would it? Anyways, I've been busy working on a new project, something I just found some focus on today. I'll be able to show it off to the general public within the next couple days, once I actually have something up on the site worth mentioning elsewhere.

I'll still be working on PrezKennedy.org a lot, but I'd like to get something else going now that I've made this site a success (in my eyes anyways). I just feel as though it's time I branched out a little bit and work on something something new. Writing about world news and crazy stuff going on around us is pretty exciting, but some days I just don't feel like doing it... so this will be what I'll work on when I don't feel like writing about President Bush's latest faux pas against our civil rights, Dick Cheney's latest gunshot victim, or the latest outrage coming from the Muslim world.

I know, it's quite a shocker for me to be working on something else with all of that going on, but I think this new idea will interesting to try out.

Many prominent Muslims seem like they're unable to handle jokes made at their religion's expense... like somehow, they expect it to be sacred to the rest of the world, even if we aren't practicing it. Basically the opposite of how they treat other religions in their own countries. It's a little ridiculous when a newspaper posts some caricatures done of the Muslim world, and then they have to hire security guards to protect the building from would-be Muslim terrorists, murderers and the like just because of a few pictures from artists that are exercising their right to free speech in Denmark. Sure, Christians get worked up over things like this, but I don't recall them ever threatening to blow up a newspaper or threatening to kill its reporters/artists in at least... the past three-hundred years or so.

"Danish Imam Raed Hlayhel was the first to react. 'This type of democracy is worthless for Muslims,' he fumed. 'Muslims will never accept this kind of humiliation. The article has insulted every Muslim in the world. We demand an apology!'" The only apology I'd give him is "Sorry that you feel that way." Next we have five-thousand or so Muslims marching in the streets of Denmark protesting the caricatures, and then we have Muslim leaders from non-democratic countries like Egypt trying to get in the frey, for some reason believing that they'll have the power to influence a nation that is 85% Lutheran. Last but not least, the most respected authority in the Sunni Muslim world, Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, declared that the cartoons had "trespassed all limits of objective criticism into insults and contempt of the religious beliefs of more than one billion Muslims around the world, including thousands in Denmark. Al-Azhar intends to protest these anti-Prophet cartoons with the UN?s concerned committees and human rights groups around the world." Yeah, all that for a picture that looks like the on the right.

I honestly believe the people who do this want to take over the world and smite anyone who disagrees with their beliefs. We're all taught to tolerate people who are different in a democratic society, otherwise it won't work. On the other hand, it seems like most of the Muslim world is built on intolerance, and then they throw a hissy-fit when they get pushed around. Sure, they aren't all bad, but it doesn't seem like the good ones are doing much, if anything to keep the bad ones in check. And the bad ones, well, they're assaulting our freedoms from two angles, politics and terrorism.

I'd just like to be the one to say to the "most respected authority in the Sunni Muslim world" and any other Muslims offended when someone in another part of the world uses their freedom of speech, get the hell over yourselves. Thanks.

If you'd like to read some more on this check out "Thou Shalt Not Draw" posted on FrontPageMag.com.

Edit: It seems as though some gunmen in the Palestinian territories surrounded the EU Commission in Gaza. You pretty much know the deal: they make threats, wave the guns around, look like idiots... then catch the bus home to get ready for work. It's also a little ironic that pictures of a Muslim guy with a bomb for a turban, has got Muslims up in arms threatening violence, the very thing the picture is symbolizing! It seems these caricatures have really got them all stirred up, and it's getting worse. Now Muslims in Pakistan are chanting "Death to Denmark", "Death to Germany", "Death to France", etc. I just have to wonder, do these people do anything but protest and complain? Do they have a day job, or do they get alloted 180 days each year for protesting against the Western infidels?

As for insulting a billion-plus Muslims, at least the western world doesn't do it their way... stifle, jail, or execute people of different religions. So, we have the Muslims complaining about pictures (while in the background they're jailing Christians and others, making them pay extra taxes, or killing them) or we have the Western way, drawing pictures making fun of their religion. Really, which is worse?

The politicians on Capitol Hill have been keeping their underlings busy lately. Not with work, but instead, filling Wikipedia up with sanctioned biographies from the Senators and Representatives themselves. Oftentimes these Congressional staffers will simply remove what had been written prior to their interference, and write completely new articles putting a spin on their particular "boss's" perceived image. Of course it doesn't stop there, they also go and smear their opposition on Wikipedia too! No wonder these people get paid the big bucks; they sit around all day writing propaganda for everyone to "consume". Why, they'll even spoon feed it to us too!

I'm not entirely surprised by all of this. When I visited Washington D.C. last year and sat in on the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, they were bickering worse than high-school kids. These days most of the politicians in Washington put more effort into supporting big industry and whatever party they're affiliated with than they do the constituents that voted them into office. And now they're wasting government time trying to polish their image on an open encyclopedia. Do these people not have enough to do at work?

Seriously though, if they want someone dedicated to spinning their story and spamming it all over Wikipedia, they should hire me. I could do it a lot more covertly than they've been doing, and they wouldn't be in the pickle of having the entire Congressional IP address-space banned from editing on Wikipedia with longer lasting solutions on the horizon. Congratulations on that one.

I have to say one thing, I've definitely lost a lot of faith in our government over the past five years. Between President Bush and Congress, it's no wonder we're dealing with the problems we have now. They're too busy wasting their time on stuff that doesn't matter, like Wikipedia!