Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Faith of our Fathers

Check out this link to National Review Online written by Michael Novak. It is a great response to the secularists of today.

Please share this with friends

I got this story at Michelle Malkin.com. She is a conservative blogger. Please check this out and share this story with your friends.

My thoughts on the World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is a wonderful and terrible thing. Used responsibly and it is a research tool that is unparalleled in the annals of history. Used deviously and it has enabled child predators unprecedented access into the homes of unsuspecting families. The internet has enabled scientists and ordinary citizens to access data and study obscure texts, whether in a lab at a large prestigious university or in a cabin in the Alaska wilds. The scope of the material is mind-boggling as well. By using one of the plethora of search engines, anyone can type in a word, or series of words and instantly have available tens, hundreds and thousands of texts referencing the word or words. There is also a dark side to the internet. According to Family Safe Media, surveys have shown that the major purveyors of internet porn are children age 12-17. All of the internet filters are non-affective against sites that are not considered porn sites. These include several of the photo sharing sites. These sites are at the mercy of their users to correctly identify offensive photos and other content. Parents must take a very active role in monitoring their children’s internet usage. I think that some of the content on sites like Myspace and others is going to come back and haunt some of these kids in the future. Content posted to these sites can be downloaded and stored forever. What happens when ten or fifteen years down the road and one of these kids wants to apply for a job or run for office. His or her prospective boss can perform a search and voila, there is Johnny or Susie on camera in a very provocative pose or worse. I will admit, I have done some pretty ignorant things in my past, but thankfully none that I know were captured on film. Young people today are acting in the moment and are not realizing the consequences of their actions. My advice; have fun, but be responsible and be prepared to answer serious questions about any content you post to a web site. The last comment I will make regarding the internet concerns child predators. Recently, there have been several television shows, in which journalists, in conjunction with local law enforcement purport to be children on the internet. These law enforcement officials enter chat sessions and invite predators to a house where the journalists and law enforcement are located. When the predator shows up, he (all of the creeps I have seen have been male) is confronted by the journalist, who has a copy of the chat sessions. These predators have come up with every excuse imaginable as to why they were in the house. The kid seemed lonely, I thought they were older, are some of those used. After watching one of these shows I saw the crucial role the internet played in granting access to these predators. Without the anonymity of the internet, these guys would not have the unfettered access to children. So, even if these guys had the urges to molest children, they previously had no way to meet them. Via the internet a man in town A, can meet a child in town B several miles away and arrange a meeting. The child’s parents are unaware of the contact and the child is left unprotected. The man can then go to town B where he is unknown and commit his crime and return home, leaving the devastated victim to deal with the damage. I strongly believe that without the internet, a majority of these crimes would not be committed. I am not suggesting that we do away with the internet. That would be impossible. I am simply suggesting that parents take precautions with the internet just as they would any other potentially dangerous thing in their home. You would no sooner let your child drink poison as you would knowingly let a predator into your home. The internet is a great and wonderful tool as long as it is harnessed and monitored effectively.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Fishing Friday


I think when I grow up, I want to be a fishing guide. Whenever I take someone fishing I get as big a kick watching them catch fish as I do catching fish myself. The latest victim, er friend I took fishing was my friend Matt. Matt was my platoon leader when I was stationed in Colorado. In fact he is the one who took the picture of the big rainbow trout featured earlier. Well, we loaded up the boat and headed out to the bay. This was my first trip in my boat out into the main part of the Chesapeake Bay. I had taken the boat into some of the larger rivers, but never out in the really big sections. It is a fifteen foot wooden skiff with a fifteen horsepower Honda outboard. Its not exactly a yacht. Well, Matt, me and my dog Gus headed out to see what we could find. I wanted to head up toward the Kent Narrows to fish a breakwater wall, so we started in that direction. We stopped when we saw some breaking fish. Rockfish (striped bass) will chase baitfish in the fall and when this happens you can see the water boil as the baitfish clears the water with the rockfish close behind. We cast some jerkbaits into the boiling water and I was rewarded with a small (15") fish. The melee was over too quickly and so we once more began our way north. When we reached the breakwater, Matt began to cast his lure up against the wall and retrieve slowly. He caught and released two smaller fish. He then hooked up with a nice keeper. A rockfish has to be at least 18" to keep. This fish (pictured) was around 19". He caught another keeper and a couple of throwbacks. I hooked another one, but wasn't able to land it. We had wanted to fly-fish, but I was unable to locate the flybox with my striper flies. Oh well, it was a good day anyway. The ramp was about 9.5 miles from where we were fishing and the tide was coming in so it took us about an hour to get back to the truck. Matt, Gus and I had a great time.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

More Fishing Friday

Yes, I know it is not Friday yet. I have to be out of town tomorrow and will not be able to post. Now, on to the story. My wife and I took some friends to Assateague Island, MD this past Saturday. My stepson joined us as well. I had been reading some on-line fishing reports and knew that the bluefish were hitting on finger mullet rigs. I made sure to stop at the shop next to the beach to load up on fresh finger mullet. The day was rather chilly and the wind blew non-stop the entire day. It would have been a great day to have a kite on the beach. We also picked up some firewood for a fire on the beach. My stepson had purchased some live eels to try and catch some of the large striped bass migrating down the coast. He rigged up and began the wait and see that is surf fishing. After about fifteen minutes, he checked his bait only to find out that something had bitten off the tail of his eel. We both figured it was a bluefish. Not long after this, I got a bite on one of the finger mullet rigs. I set the hook and soon had my prize. My first blue of the day. When I went to put the fish in the cooler, he spit out the eel tail. Greedy little bugger was gorging. The fishing stayed pretty constant on the mullet rigs and I caught about a dozen keepers. My friend Dale only managed to hook and land one little blue. I didn't feel too bad though as he caught this 17 pound drum back in April and I got nary a bite. Somedays you get the bear, and somedays the bear gets you. All in all it was a great day with good friends and a lovely fire on the beach.