Larry King Interview with Dr. James Dobson: "KING: But there are some, some fundamentalists, who believe that if you do not believe Christ is the Savior, you will not go to heaven, right?

DOBSON: Well, I'm one of them. I do believe that.

KING: Well, then Jews won't go to heaven.

DOBSON: Well, if they don't accept, him that's true.

KING: But they don't.

DOBSON: Larry, I have only the scripture to go on. I have no authority to do anything that isn't written there. And Jesus himself said I am the way, the truth and the life. And he said that no man gets to the father, gets to God but by him. And that's what is in the scripture. So what am I going to do with that?

KING: So therefore you -- if a Jew dies not believing in Christ, he does not go to heaven?

DOBSON: Well, you asked me that question when I was here previously, and I told you the ultimate decision there is up to God, and he told us not to judge each other. I am merely reflecting what Jesus said about himself. And that's what I believe. "

Now I have to ask - what happens to Buddhists, Muslims, etc? They will be happy to know they're all going to hell, won't they? And how about some guy tossing a spear down near the Amazon, who has never even seen a book that tells him he is going to hell? To me, this attitude smacks of extreme arrogance. You can read the article by clicking the link above to hear about homosexuals,etc. This would be amusing, if it weren't for the fact that so many Americans feel this way. Wonder what happened to me?

 Well I tried to post this earlier and lost the whole thing due to some Blogger craziness.

Anybody catch the NPR telecast of the Democrats debating last night? Now that was interesting. Was nice to see somebody besides religous conservatives. I was impressed with Mosely Brown and actually little Kucenich (sp?). Brown was intelligent and Kucenich was entertaining. Alas, neither will win since America isn't ready for Black, Women Presidents (how about a black woman VP?) and Kucenich doesn't have the looks to get the public stirred up (ala Nader). Everybody was trying their best to spit out their own version of Spanish. Dean made the rest of them look rather clumsy on this issue - he spoke fluently, apparently from working one summer on a farm with Cubans. Kerry showed a good sense of humor and is still what I consider the best bet on the Democrat side to actually give Bush a run for the money. Perhaps Dean, but he is already learning that he is going to have to play more towards the middle if he hopes to get elected. Lieberman jumped on him at one point and Dean stumbled on the reply, but I don't think that gives Lieberman a one up either. My guess is that Lieberman is "old news" and the public wants someone new and exciting. It is a sign of the times when we get excited about Arnold (whom I like as a person, but is obviously not ready for politics). Gephart showed a lot of fire and thumped around a lot, but I think folks will find him too "vanilla" and too "Washington". Sharpton was missing, and though entertaining, doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell. Edwards is too much of a "boy" and his southern drawl will probably drive Northerners nuts. Of note - 2/3 of the American Public hasn't heard of any of these people - is that scary or what? It's no wonder that Republicans are elected - well educated, business types with lots of money get out and vote, along with bible crazed farmers in the "backbone" of America who have been misled into thinking GW is the next Messiah or something. I'm not sure who scares me more - the farmers or the rich businessmen. I do find it interesting that Republicans can speak about "compassionate conservatism", yet aren't any more compassionate towards the middle class and poor than a man in the moon. I find that odd for folks who claim to be "religious" - what are they all - hypocrits? I thought you were supposed to look out for your fellow man.

They all did a good job of bashing Bush - Kerry had some quite humerous remarks and Gephart called him a "miserable failure". Bet he doesn't get invited over to the White House for tea and crumpets anytime soon - although with George, guess that would be barbecue and horseshoes.

Stay tuned - it's only going to get better, especially as Iraq turns uglier (sure to happen), Palistineans and Israelis continue to beat up on each other, the environment falls apart (nice touch with that latest act to allow plants to install new equipment without having to worry about adding clean air components - who were you looking out for there GW? You're not gonna be running 7 minute miles with black lungs buddy.) The list goes on and on -

I still think everyone in this country has the right to bust their butt and earn lots of money - that's the American Dream. But not everybody is gifted intellectually or born with a silver spoon in their mouth or born with the best of health. Why give tax cut money back to the rich? So they can buy a Segway? How bout to those less fortunate? Wouldn't that be the "compassionate" thing to do? Friggin hypocrits!

Until next time....

 I think Mars passing too close to Earth has messed with my life. My health insurance goes up another 16%, after increases of 20% and 20% the previous 2 years. My new tires on my car won't balance correctly, no matter what I do. My brakes are shot after 10,000 miles. My VCR up and craps yesterday out of the clear blue. My Internet connection only works partly on one of my phone lines now and the phone guys don't give a hoot. Did I say I had herpes? (now Mars will have to get a bit closer before that happens!). Oh, and did I tell you that my arm actually did fall off after the spider and bee stings? Or how about my cat scratching me on my nose and now I have a zit there? I can't wait till the next guest shows up at the Inn - I'm gonna kick 'em down the stairs, I'm so happy! Post your woes here in the comments line - misery loves company. Actually, i won't give a crap about your complaints (Sarah will agree to that), but you will feel better for bitchin' just the same. :)

 Say Ahhh (and Watch the Monitor)

Some cool stuff coming to your nearby dentist! (well for some of you probably - for those of us in the boonies, it's still the string and the doorknob!)

 New Message Emerges in Treating Diabetes

So you got diabetes and have been worrying about your glucose readings? Well this report would indicate that you'd better be checking your blood pressure as that may be even a greater threat of giving you a heart attack if you have diabetes. I'm lucky - my blood pressure is around 100/60. (yea! - I finally have something positive going for me! Of course when they give me anesthetic for things like colonscopies and it goes to 60/40, that is not particularly good!). Do you know what your blood pressure is? If it's more than 130/80, you 'd better be figuring out with your endocrinologist how you're gonna lower it. Just another alert from the obsessed one.

Studies show that cardiovascular disease, set off mainly by hypertension, is the leading cause of death among people with diabetes, and two of every three diabetes-related deaths are caused by heart disease or stroke.

 Snap Decisions: Travel Photo Contest 2003 (washingtonpost.com)

Click on the link above to enjoy some travel photo contest winners. Just goes to show you that being observant is the key to interesting photos - often of the most commonplace things (once you're at the page, click on the "Enter Gallery" link to see all the pictures).

 A Bountiful Stock Of Generosity (washingtonpost.com)

For those cynics amongst you, who can't believe a rich person is worth a flip. Just goes to show you the dangers of generalizing. Now if I could just get to know this guy......

 Word of the day:

The word Bible comes from the Greek biblos, ''book.'' Of Semitic origin, the word was derived from exporting papyrus through the ancient Phoenician port of Byblos, now known as Jubayl, Lebanon.

The BUGS are after me! Got stung by a bee 3x yesterday and then this morning, a spider bit me twice in the same damn place the bee bit me! Think the spider was lurking in the towel I use, so that after my shower, he was ready to chomp and chomp he did. Now I have a nice hot swollen arm in 2 places - will follow up here to let you know when it falls off! I'm donning the bubble suit today!

Have you signed up on the Do Not Call List? If you don't want telemarketers bugging you at home, make sure you click on that link and sign up now. Time is fast running out.

If by chance you're in need of a nice small laser printer, the Samsung ML1710 is available for sale with a $70 rebate through 8/31/2003. You can get it for $100 (after the rebate) and free shipping at Office Depot. This is quite the bargain if you need a laser printer. Just thought I'd pass that along. And you can save an additional 2% if you go through Ebates.com to reach the Office Depot site ( you do use Ebates, don't you? - free money - I've gotten back $200 already).

Fistfuls of Dollars"Still, even the government of a superpower can't simultaneously offer tax cuts equal to 15 percent of revenue, provide all its retirees with prescription drugs and single-handedly take on the world's evildoers — single-handedly because we've alienated our allies. In fact, given the size of our budget deficit, it's not clear that we can afford to do even one of these things. Someday, when the grown-ups are back in charge, they'll have quite a mess to clean up. "

Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it? Democrats unite! :)

And You thought Living in the Burbs was better than Downtown,huh? Well, maybe not, according to this article. It should also come as no surprise that Europe has this figured out much better than we do, something our European guests often comment on when they come to America. What do you think about this?

Been holding off on buying a digital camera because they're too expensive? Well Gateway has jumped in now and is selling a 4mp, 3x optical zoom camera for $199. Unbelievable. If you don't have a digital camera, that would surely tempt me.

"The company will aim for more experienced camera buyers with its Gateway DC-M40 and Gateway DC-M50, a pair of larger cameras that deliver 4-megapixel and 5-megapixel resolutions and offer 3x optical zoom lenses at prices of $199 and $299, respectively"

Think Blogger is back to working again as are the comment lines. (see Wed - August 27 to see how to use those ).

Lots of problems with the ol' blog today. Not sure if it is Blogger, the comments line server or what. Guess it will work itself out in time.

Was watching the 2003 World Track Championships today on TV - a guy won the 50K walk (about 30 miles) with an average time of 6:38 per mile. Hell, I couldn't even RUN 1 mile in 6:38 - heck I'd be lucky to break 8 minutes probably. Some of these guys make it look easy like one of the GODS of track and field - Hicham el Guerrouj of Morrocco. He loafed in his qualifying heat for the 5000 meters - he is trying to combine this with the 1500 meters at the World Championships (he has already won the Gold Medal in the 1500) - something that has not been accomplished since Paavo Nurmi in the 1924 Olympic Games. One comment made during the telecast was that, when interviewed about the effects of running at lower altitudes vs the 8,000 foot altitudes he trains at, he suggested it was akin to having a garden hose shoved down your throat with pure oxygen being pumped in. Needless to say, that is a slight advantage over your fellow runners who train at lower altitudes.

If you're interested in the World Track Championships, they're airing on ESPN2 afternoons and then on ABC this weekend.

For a nice overview of the latest in technology gadgets check out the link to the right called Circuits. It's one of the best general technology newsletters I've seen on the Net. Gives you some good advice when buying new techno toys and covers a wide range of topics. You can even get it's newsletter delivered into your email box - bet you're drooling on that thought,huh? What can I say....

For those of you heading off to college, you might find this article on Palm Pilots (or Pocket PC's) interesting. Gee, if I would have had one of these in college, it would have enabled me to have much more free time for the serious part of college - getting hammered nightly! LOL

If you do think about purchasing a Palm and you do any traveling, then you might want to look at this one. Now this is cool - of course, it would be cooler with built-in wi-fi and a built in phone, but that would probably cost a tad more....

The blog comment line I refer to in the post below is temporarily disabled - should be back up shortly (i presume!).

(update - spoke with the guy whose server runs this comments section - due to heavy load (obviously not from comments on my site! LOL , he is in the process of moving his comments site to a new server. Hopefully will be back up soon, so you can deluge this page with comments. That was your intention, correct? Thought so.

Just a reminder - if you would like to comment on any post, simply click the link below each post which says "0 comments" (since nobody has yet commented!). It will open up a new window where you can leave a comment or ask a question. Also, if you have just come to the blog, the blog started on August 10th, but I only show 7 days at a time, so that it loads faster. If you want to start at the beginning of the blog, then you need to click on the Archives Link in the right column for whichever week you want. That will pull up all the posts since the beginning.

Wall on the Pacific Crest Trail Check out the feet on this guy at the end of the trail (pic at bottom of page). Janet and I met him briefly while hiking the trail in '95 and have written back and forth on occasion. He has just set a new record for completing all 2600 miles of the PCT in 83 days! That's 31 miles a day - good god almighty!

From a part of his journal, "Ray called around noon today from Hat Creek Resort, doing well, still lots of snow. After leaving Echo Lake Ray had three days worth of food and was headed in to a light snowstorm. He got stuck on Dick's Pass and froze his butt off that night. He ended up with four inches of snow on the tent and had to wear every stitch of clothing he had and still he spent the night shivering. He decided to skip his food resupply at Sierra City and had to stretch three days of food to five. With all the snow Ray found himself VERY lost on several occassions. With food running low he had to push on hard to Belden doing three 40+ mile days in a row. " Ray figures he consumes about 8000 calories a day. In a somewhat typical re-supply he might buy two entire boxes of Hershey's chocolate bars, 10 quarts of powdered milk, two jars of peanut butter, sardines, deviled ham, raisins, 10 milky way bars, 10 Clif bars, 20 granola bars, some Tiger bars, tang, oreo cookies, Wheat Thins and Cheezits. This would be for about three and a half days