Finding Jesus, One Criminal Act at a Time

- Daniel

Dog-murdering hero Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcon quarterback, last month after his plea bargain, announced his conversion to Christianity. "I found Jesus and turned my life over to God. I think that's the right thing to do as of now."

It seems like the tradition in the South is to claim personal reformation in the form of Christianity to exempt yourself from further responsibility. Vick gets to join a list of other criminal converts this year, including Ashley Miller and Heather Johnston, who, back in March robbed a bank in Acworth, Georgia. Seen on security cameras laughing and chatting as they pulled off their heist, they were dubbed the "Barbie Bandits" by some news outlets. A few days after they were caught, they claimed to have found Christ. Of course this penitent life-changing event didn't occur until after they got their nails done, topped off with an old-fashioned car chase with police officers.

I suppose if hiding behind Jesus gets you less jail time, it's only natural to go that route. But the whole thing about Christianity is it demands reconciliation. And that may require facing jail time for violations of society's laws, no matter how good of an athlete you are or how much you love Jesus.

In his attempt to prove to the world his change of heart, this week, Vick failed his drug test.

Too bad Jesus doesn't condone marijuana use. The judge is going to throw the book at him, and this time it won't be the Bible.

GM sheds retiree costs, UAW gets job commitments and GM employees get time to play Halo 3

- cgedge

I had a hard time believing the GM strike this week would last very long. Of course it would effect the economy, and sure the labor union wants to ensure jobs for its members and the ability to add new members to its union. But GM was looking to be more competitive in the global economy, and how can they do that with the growing cost of retiree heath care? Thankfully the two groups were able to come to an agreement in a matter of days. However I think that’s just a cover for the real story--employees just wanted to play Halo 3.

Now I know the initial reaction is to think that GM employees would be bigger fans of Grand Theft Auto. Who wouldn’t think that? Most people who have been victims of auto theft end up having to purchase a new car and there is always the chance that the car could be a GM.

However, GM employees could’ve picked any weekend to have this strike. Why now? Do they expect me to believe it’s just a coincidence that the strike took place during the release of Halo 3? The 25^th of September was a big day for gamers, with many stores staying open for the midnight release. GM employees didn’t start the strike until the 24^th, which left them plenty of time to wait in line to pick up the new game. The workers continued the strike on Tuesday. Who wants to go to work when you’ve just spent the previous night playing videogames? No one in their right mind wants to camp out in front of a store just so they can go to work the next day. Why wait? Gamers make time to play and the strike made the perfect cover. Not only did they get time off to play, they didn’t have to call in sick the next day—like other people I know.

Here’s the thing, we all knew GM and the UAW would work things out. What we didn’t plan on was the ingenuity of the GM employees to have their union call for a strike during the release of Halo 3. Any gamer can make time to play but it takes a truly diehard group of fans to plan and execute a strike as a cover up to mask their gaming addiction.

The Moderate Mind

Today is the official launch of my blog. It is intended to be political, although right now is tending more towards the satirical.

In this age of extreme American partisan news, I've started to grow weary of the division in the political line. I hope to express ideas from a moderate point of view, as well as express ideas from any side of the political spectrum without delving into the trite extremisms of our political parties.

If there is a difference of opinion, I'm hoping it can be expressed without the venomous taint so often accompanying the "debate forums" on CNN, Fox News etc.

While I'm fumbling around with this idea, I'm hoping that eventually I can reach that point.

Also, today, I have an article written by my sister, which I'm very excited about. Anyway, for the two or three readers out there, enjoy.