Replies to Comments

Dear Readers,

Sometimes when I read comments that you write here on Telemoonfa Time, I want to reply to them, but then I get distracted by yummy food in the fridge or my 1-year-old daughter crawling over the keyboard. So I'd like to devote this post to replying to some old comments on various posts.

First, s. asked on my last post, Stop Recycling,

is this a serious post or are you being sarcastic? i can't tell.....

Response: It's a serious post, but sometimes I got carried away. I am concerned that kids these days have replaced traditional Christian concepts of morality with new, not-so-Christian concepts of morality. I feel that there is a God-shaped vacuum in people's hearts, and they need to fill it with God, or perhaps with extreme enviornmentalism. People inherently want a sense of right and wrong, and I think that being green can satisfy that urge. But I got carried away when I was writing the post. I never buy six-packs of soda with those little plastic rings, and I never throw away paper on purpose, but I also don't recycle. And when I taught school, I got rid of my little blue recylcing can, and when students asked me, "Where do I recycle this paper?" I would just say, "Throw it away. We don't recycle in my classroom." Ha ha ha. And I still don't recycle.

Here's a comment from the Boid on Jeff Smith lost :(

"You have a lot to learn about politics, son." This reminds me of a line from an old movie: "Forget about it Jake, it's Chinatown." I live outside Arizona and haven't paid attention to this race, but I think Anonymous is right, Telemoonfa does have a lot to learn about politics. One thing to learn (if he hasn't already) is that the odds are astronomically stacked against the contender in a party primary. The party ALWAYS* supports the incumbent. Another thing to learn is that political parties are about the perpetuation of the party moreso than the advancement of good government. Both major parties are this way.

*there are very few exceptions to this. The Boid

Response: Yeah, there are few exceptions to this, but there have been a handful of exciting upsets in Republican primaries this year. Rand Paul in Kentucky, Sharron Angle in Nevada, Marco Rubio in Florida, Mike Lee in Utah, and my new favorite politician, Christine O'donnell in Delaware. I'm optimistic that the country is moving in the right direction, politically. And even though Jeff Smith lost, there are still plenty of good candidates who need our help. Here in Arizona, I hope my friends in Flagstaff and Payson will support Dr. Paul Gosar. Down in Tucson, I hope my family and friends will vote for Jesse Kelly, and also in the Tucson area, I hope the folks down there will support Ruth McLung. I'm very optimistic about how these fresh conservative politicians can undo a lot of the damage being done by Obama and the Washington establishment. And I'm very optimistic that in 2012, Obama will be voted out and replaced by a Republican. I'm hoping Mitt Romney will run and win, and then the country will be so much better.

On my recent post Dawes, Bethcabforcutie wrote

i love dawes! I have their album, but i didn't pay for it ;-) I don't like the radio much either. I only really listen to classic rock or oldies stations and even they play the same old generic songs. Good thing we have ipods!!!

Response: I love Dawes too! They're incredibly awesome. And I love my iPod! Glad to see you're still reading my blog. I imagine you don't comment on my political posts because you're a very liberal liberal living in the liberal Flagstaff going to the liberalest University in the State! That's fine though. Well, it's not fine, really. You should be conservative. Everyone should be conservative! And I'm confident that one of these days you'll see the light. Just keep reading this blog and conservative stuff. Let conservative stuff seep into your brain. Before you know it, you'll be waving a "Don't tread on me" flag and shouting portions of the Declaration of Independence at City Council meetings. Ha ha ha. Have you figured out what you want to be when you grow up yet?

On my post, My Sample Ballot for the August 2010 primary, anonymous wrote:

1st of all, I'm not tan. I'm Chickasaw. It's genetic. Secondly, I do like to have fun with metaphors and analogies. Next, I'm surprised that someone would be impressed by a man who has planned on running for two years and still believes "Stop funding of illegals" is a single piece of legislation, and campaigns off of platitudes without details. Lastly, my kids are sooooooo cute, and I've got one more coming in Dec. Boooyah! Smith is taller. Which he cleverly accentuates by having his shirt unbuttoned to just slightly above his navel.

Response: Wow! I love it when real live politicians comment on my blog! I've had Bryan Martyn comment, Richard Grayson comment, maybe some other ones, and now this one is Matt Byers! Byers recently ran against Steve Smith in the Republican primary for State Senator from Legislative District 23. Matt, I'm sorry I called you tan when that's your ethnicitiy. Gosh, I'm embarassed. Look, I respect the heck out of you for being conservative and for running for office. Thanks for coming to the Meet and Greet in Apache Junction and taking the time to talk to me and my wife. I really respect your efforts, especially because you were not getting paid to campaign, and it probably cost you a lot of time, effort and money to run for office. I don't know if I could ever do it. Maybe you should run for some other political office someday. But I did vote for Steve Smith and I support him now. I hope you can be a good fellow Republican and endorse Steve Smith now. You know he'll be better than the Democratic incumbent Rebecca Rios!

contract hell wrote on my Northstar Alarm Chronicles post

NoRTH STAR ALARM IS HORRIBLE DO NOT CHOOSE THEM, THEY WILL LIE TO YOU ANYWAY THEY CAN TO WRAP YOU UP IN THEIR 5 YEAR + CONTRACT, THEY HAVE A "C" RATING WITH THE BBB, READ ALL THE COMMENTS ABOUT NORTHSTAR ALARM!!!!!!!!! I AM PAYING FOR AN ALARM SYSTEM THAT DOES NOT WORK AND STUCK IN A CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER 4 YEARS - WILL HAVE SPENT $3000 WHEN ALL SAID AND DONE. MY GOAL IS TO POST THIS ON EVERY MESSAGE BOARD I CAN FOR EVERY DAY THAT I AM IN THIS CONTRACT HOPEFULLY 4 YEARS WORTH OF COMMENTS WILL SAVE SOMEONE FROM USING THIS SERVICE. HOPE THIS CATCHES SOME GOOGLE TAGS: NORTHSTAR ALARM FRAUD NORTHSTAR ALARM LIE NORTHSTAR ALARM BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE (SPENT 40 MINUTES ON THE PHONE WAITING FOR A REP TO TELL ME HE COULDN'T HELP ME) NORTHSTAR ALARM LIARS NORTHSTAR ALARM SCAM YOU COULDNT SELL ALARMS WITH NORTHSTAR BECAUSE OF ALL THE BAD COMMENTS THEY GET ON THE INTERNET - BEST OF LUCK TO YOU IN THE FUTURE AWAY FROM THEM

Response: I'm sorry to hear about your experiences with Northstar Alarm. What makes me feel bad is the idea that I could have been the one who got you to sign the contract in the first place. But maybe you should move on emotionally. Your contract with Northstar Alarm seems to be really upsetting you every day. I don't think it's healthy to hang on to anger like that. On another note, there were some other comments on that post that bothered me. It reminded me that I've failed at a lot of things in my life- selling alarm systems, making money at writing, teaching... I'd rather not think about my brief stint with Northstar Alarm Services anymore. I like my job now, and I like my house and family and church now, so that's good.

On my Is Computer = I More Stupider? post, an anonymous commenter wrote,

With or without computers, Arizona morons are, by nature, stupid.

Response: I get a few comments that just say I'm stupid. These comments are probably from liberals who don't feel like debating the issues, but they like to call me dumb and they like to make fun of conservatives. I put links up to the CATO Institute and the Goldwater Institute in my little section of "Links to Good Places on the Internet" because those Institutes do a wonderful job of explaining why small government and low taxes are better than bigger government and high taxes. I've learned a lot from reading some of their material. Those Institutes use reason, history, and research to defend their views. Although I do feel like I'm an educated conservative, I don't have to re-invent the wheel and re-explain why conservatism is better than liberalism here on Telemoonfa Time.

On my controversial post, Sex, Sterling Gray wrote,

Telemoonfa, am I a bad person because I have only read your posts about sex?

Response: Ha ha ha!

On my post Report on the Panel Meeting on San Tan Valley Incorporation, Bryan Martyn wrote,

Thanks for a great post. And good on ya for thinking about getting more involved.

Agree or disagree with the issue, we need clear thinkers as you who are willing to step up.

The incorporation issue is different to every family. Heck, every person. The beauty of the issue is that it will be determined by a vote of the people. Neither I, nor Mr. Johnson, nor a concerned Apache Junction citizen will determine your future; you will.

Keep up your writings and please feel free to contact me directly if you have questions or you'd like to learn more about how you can get involved.

Response: Wow! It's a politician writing on my blog! And he sounds like a politician! About Bryan Martyn, I'm glad that he's strong on national defense. He served in the military for 20 years, and I really respect that. I met him in person once and he was very nice. Too bad he recently voted to increase Pinal County's property taxes. Now that I'm a land-owner, I'm more concerned with property taxes. But you renters should be concerned with property taxes, too, because landlords just pass on the cost of taxation to the renters, and your rent goes up.

OK, see you later!

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa