Is this just a conincidence?

I've noticed that since the release of profit figures for the big oil companies during the time of Katrina and Rita, the price of gas in my area has dropped from around $2.75/gallon to almost $2.50/gallon, and this in the span of about a week. Is this in response to the possibility of a public backlash against profiting from a major disaster, or just from refinery activity reaching normal levels again after the hurricanes?

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: oil company profits, gas prices

Highway Robbery

Okay, I've been seeing ads on Adult Swim for the website Gametap. Apparently, they are offering the opportunity for users to a multitude of classic video games available for play online. This seems like a not-so-bad idea, if it weren't for the fact that they want you to pay $14.95 a month.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: Gametap

An explanation

I owe you, the reader, an apology. Due to a busy schedule of work and school (praying I graduate this semester), I have not been updating as regularly or as often as I should. I hope that as I work through some of the current projects, I will be able to post more, both more the enjoyment of you, the reader, and myself through my writing. Until then, please pardon my absence.

-the Progressive Conservative

I'm in Baton Rouge with the AUMB for the LSU game. We just witnessed a march against the use of Confederate flags in LSU colors. I'll post photos when I get back.

Is this really how you intend to win believers?

While I was not a witness to this, several friends and classmates have been telling me about a "preacher" who was on the Concourse here at Auburn University on Tuesday. This is not uuusual, as the concourse is regularly used as a public forum for many different groups trying to get their message out in one way or another. But this instance is one I have to bring into question.

The supposed "preacher" was apparently spewing condemnations at passing students. The gems that were passed along to me seemed to all end with "you're going to hell." I have a very particular disgust for such attempts at evangelism, because of the inherent flaw that dooms them to failure. Christ did not come to earth to condemn us; it says that plain as day in the Scriptures:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
-John 3:17 (KJV)

This is one of my favorite verses, more so than the one preceding it, because Christianity is for all who seek salvation. It has a "come as you are" approach, literally; you need not clean up your act, because the point is for you to offer yourself as you are and let God turn you into the person He wants you to be.

But then someone comes in the name of God to bring the message to people, and neglects this central principle. Instead, they preach condemnation. That make work some places, but not on a college campus, the students are too smart, they know that is not true Christianity.

Something reported to me about this "preacher"'s visit that concerns me: In order to be on the Concourse like this, one must apply for a permit, which is almost always granted, but the University knew this individual's presence would be inflamatory, and so had police officers present to maintain order. One of my classmates witnessed these officers tell someone who tried to reply to the condemning speech that they could not. Apparently, the officers were there to ensure the "preacher" would get is "free speech that is guaranteed by the First Amendment, and anyone who wants to talk back needs to go to Foy Union and get a permit."

I cannot believe this. It has to be a joke. Maybe these officers had actually studied the First Amendment to the degree I have, but every citizen of this great country should know that is exactly the situation the First Amendment was made to prevent. Now I understand the motivation of these officers, because the atmosphere around a concourse speaker like the "preacher" tends to be particularly charged, and the last thing the police want is to see a speaker beaten down by students, even if they probably deserved it. Still, the students had every right to speak their minds to this misguided individual. Thankfully, the majority of Auburn students know that true Christianity is not about yelling at passing students. Still, no one should have the right to point at girls walking by that they are whores and had sex the night before solely based off of the fact they are wearing shorts.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: evangelism, college ministry,
[tagname], condemnation, Christ's love

Wilma update

After first being catagorized as a hurricane around midnight Tuesday morning with sustained winds of 75 mph, Hurricane Wilma is now a cat5, with sustained winds of 175 mph, gusts of 215 mph, and pressure of 884 mb. If this pressure reading is correct, it is the lowest pressure ever from an Atlantic hurricane. Right now, Wilma is projected to cros Florida sometime over the weekend.

Links:
Weather.com
Intellicast
AccuWeather
National Hurricane Center

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: Wilma, hurricane

Outlook not that good for Ol' Roy

Hattip goes to a Bama Blog on this one.

Bill Barrow (former Auburn Plainsman editor) over at the Mobile Register reported Sunday on a Register-University of South Alabama poll. Among the voters polled, Riley holds a strong lead over both Democrat contenders, Lucy Baxley and Don Siegelman, in head-to-head match-ups. Former State Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore comes in fourth out of the four candidates.

"Riley is the strongest candidate, no question about that," said USA political scientist Keith Nicholls, who directed the polling. "With his lead over Moore from the last poll and leads over both Siegelman and Baxley in this poll, he's in a very good position."

Let's hope the good sense the people of Alabama are showing so far holds up through November 2006.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: Alabama, Bob Riley, Lucy Baxley, Don Siegelman, Roy Moore

Heads up

Looks like we have the 21st named storm of the season, and it's looking to enter the gulf as a hurricane.



-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: Gulf Coast, hurricane, Wilma

When will be rid of the evil on the BoT?

The Plainsman has been covering the confusion surrounding the expiration date of Bobby Lowder's term on the Auburn University Board of Trustees. Now, to add to some of the insanity that surrounds this misguided Board, the Attorney General of the State of Alabama ahs released an opinion stating that eventhough Lowder started his second term of 12 years on the BoT in 1995, his term will not expire until 2011 because the State Senate did not confirm his appointment until 1999.

This is a clear breakdown in common sense. If you are filling a roll that is limited to a certain length of time, the time frame of that term starts when you begin serving. If his term doesn't legally start until his confirmation, than he should not have been sitting on the BoT. Either Lowder's term is up in 2007, or he served on the BoT illegally for almost four years.

What baffles me is how the Attorney General could get this so wrong. This is beyond simple legalism, which is itself dangerous, but in doing what is right. Lowder and his cohorts have only hurt Auburn University, even causing SACS to reevaluate the accreditation due to the financial ties and behavior of the BoT. The opportunity the AG Troy King was handed was the chance to finally rid Auburn of Lowder in a clean and effective manner, and without any cahnce of Lowder and his minions resisting legally.

The Auburn Trustee Improvement PAC is looking to challenge the AG's opinion, which thankfully is not legally binding. I can only hope that some reason comes back to the people who need to make this decision.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: Auburn University, Bobby Lowder, Board of Trustees

Is there a wave of terrorism that is being ignored

Three separate strings of posts on some of the blogs I watch are starting to cause concern.

Michelle Malkin has been posting on a suicide bomber at the University of Oklahoma (here, here, here, and here)

R. Dows over on the Balanced News Blog has posted a link to a report of explosives found on the campus of Ga Tech. (Malkin is as well)

And the LGF is reporting that an explosive device was found near UCLA the same day as the Ga Tech explosives. (HT: Instapundit)

I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but are we seeing a pattern here? And why is this getting no attention in the MSM? Would this not be of public concern?

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: terrorism, UCLA, Georgia Tech, University of Oklahoma

This post may also be viewed on the Balanced News Blog.

Final edition

"Change is inevitable."
- Benjamin Disraeli (from QuotationsPage.com)

In our ever changing world, change is one of the few constants, as the city of Birmingham, Alabama, saw a couple of weeks ago with the closing of one of its two main newspapers. On Friday, September 23, 2005, the Birmingham Post-Herald, put out its final issue. Formed in 1950 from a merger of the Birmingham Post and Herald, it had been the afternoon paper for the metropolitan area for several years. But the days of the afternoon paper have come and gone. In the face of competition from both print, broadcast, and internet, some operations simply just don't survive.

About a half-dozen stories have been posted on the metro section of the Post-Herald's website, including an excellent analysis of the trend of cities no longer having two major newspapers by Holly Lang (scroll down the page to see the additional articles).

While losses like this are bound to happen, it is still a sad loss. In this day of MSM short falls and corporate mergers and acquisitions, there is still a great need for a variety of voices and for local coverage. But one of those voices have been lost... at least for now.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: Birmingham Post-Herald

On Abortion and the deeper cancer

I've touched on this before, but to end my hiatus from posting here I'll address it again.

In a previous post, I brought over my article on abortion from my first blog. In it, I approached the issue as actually being two issues which formed a sort of gray area depnding on one's stance on each. Of course, I argued why abortion is wrong (of course, I'm conservative). But the issue of abortion has always troubled me not because it is a problem itself, but because it is just one of the symptoms of a deeper malignancy: lack of self-accountability.

This is not just a problem of today, like some prefer to point out. There have always been those who don't want to be told they can't do whatever they want, but today's information age such immaturity is far more visible. This is a problem that has existed for as long as humanity has been around.

Who does this relate to abortion? The better question is who is out there having sex (not for the first time) without knowing that it's biological purpose is to produce offspring? I'm not saying people shoudln't enjoy sex; we're meant to enjoy it, but you need to know the potential consequences before just leaping in, and most do. I'm not trying to say that everyone who gives in to the "passion of the moment" is stupid, but rather that our culture as a whole is forgetting the importance of forethought in our actions. If you know you want to have sex but have no desire for having children of your own, than do the smart thing: women can go on birth control, men can have vasectomies. Either option is a lot easier than having an unwanted child. But people still ignore this, and want to do everything the "easy way".

The problem with the easy way is that it is not easy at all; it only shifts the real effort to later, and also multiplies it greatly. But some many have become so short-sighted and lazy that it doesn't matter. They don't want to handle the responsibility because it is too hard; they no longer want any challenges in life.

But reality does not afford us that option, though the prosperity enjoyed in America has fooled some into believing it. I guess in that respect our prosperity has become our curse. There are activists who demand accountibility from the politicians they hate but want none for their own actions, people who want everything handed to them by others out of a sense of self-entitlement, and those who would rather deny the existence of God than face the possiblity that they actually will have to answer for their actions to an power than cannot sidestep.

Abortion is just a symptom, the real disease is in the minds of people and in their refusal to accept truth.

-the Progressive Conservative