What I hope to accomplish

I'd like to take a moment to pause, and talk about what I hope people will take away from this blog. I hope people will start thinking, and not just accept as proof what they hear or read. That's one of the reasons I wrote about Mr X on November 14 (What we believe...or don't...) Some people believe what they want to believe, and nothing will change their minds. But I hope people will start using some critical thinking skills.

For instance, there are still people out there who still think Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, even though the Bush Administration has acknowledged this is not true. I have a good friend who voted for Bush in 2000. In 2004, he had a bet with his brother-in-law - If wmd's were found, the brother-in-law would vote for Bush; if not, my friend would vote for Kerry. My friend ended up voting for Kerry. In 2008 he voted for Obama, a decision he made on his own.

There are people who think Obama is a Muslim, yet, he's criticized for belonging a radical Christian church. How can he be both?

When John Kerry was running for President, someone told me (while holding a bottle of Heinz ketchup) that Teresa Heinz Kerry was shipping all of her jobs overseas. She said she knew it was true, because "I read in in an email". Seriously. That's what she said. I kept my mouth shut, but what I wished I had said was this......Teresa Heinz Kerry has nothing to do with the Heinz company. She inherited her money from her first husband, Republican Senator Henry John Heinz III, who died in a plane crash. She is Chairman of the Heinz Foundations, which distributes money to various social and environmental causes.

I previously wrote a piece on Sarah Palin. One friend told me he thought I was a little extreme in what I wrote. Another friend thought I was too nice. I think it's great to have different opinions. But I hope people will think about what they believe, and why they believe it, instead of just accepting something as truth because they read it in an email.

I want to use this blog as a way to get people to start thinking. Let me know what you think.