computer issues

currently battling through some computer issues, hope to be back up and running soon!

Pic of the day

found here

"The remarkable neo-gothic Sanctuary of the Virgin in a gorge near Ipiales, close to Colombia's border with Ecuador."

Amazing picture, I'd love to see this place in person...simply stunning!

Pic of the day

Found this here


"Royal Naval College, Greenwich

by Steve Charles

The painted Hall at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, incorporating the reflection of a mirror-topped table. Single exposure (not HDR)."

One girl, one ride

One Girl One ride
This girl is 12 years old, but she has an amazing vision, she's riding across the state of Minnesota on horseback with her family and supporters to raise money to build a ranch where wounded servicemen can relax and recover, free of cost. I stumbled across this website and was simply amazed. It gave me hope for the future, that a 12 year old girl would have such an amazing idea, and act on it. So, E'leese, keep up the good work and never lose sight of your dreams, and a big Hoorah! from this prior service Marine.

Pic of the day

found this onZullo photagraphy
He's got a great collection of shots from the American southwest, very enjoyable site

Bob Barr, Libertarian for president

June 06 interview with Glenn Beck



Bob Barr for president campaign site

Bob Barr, Civil Libertarian

Pic of the day

nice sunset picture taken by my good friend Jean out in the Rochester area

Davy Crockett on government spending

thanks to Mover Mike for the following quote, to bad our modern politicians have forgotten the importance and meaning of their duty to the people:

In the early 1800’s Congress was considering a bill to appropriate tax dollars for the widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in support of this bill. It seemed that everyone in the House favored it. The Speaker of the House was just about to put the question to a vote, when Davy Crockett, famous frontiersman and then Congressman from Tennessee, rose to his feet.

“Mr. Speaker, I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity, but as members of Congress we have no right to so appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Sir, this is no debt. We cannot without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.”

There was silence on the floor of the House as Crockett took his seat. When the bill was put to a vote, instead of passing unanimously as had been expected, it received only a few votes. The next day a friend approached Crockett and asked why he spoken against a bill for such a worthy cause. In reply, Crockett related the following story:

Just a few years before, he had voted to spend $20,000.00 of public money to help the victims of a terrible fire in Georgetown. When the legislative session was over, Crockett made a trip back home to do some campaigning for his re-election. In his travels he encountered one of his constituents, a man by the name of Horatio Bunce. Mr. Bunce bluntly informed Crockett, “I voted for you the last time. I shall not vote for you again.”

Crockett, feeling he had served his constituents well, was stunned. He inquired as to what he had done to so offend Mr. Bunce. Bunce replied, “You gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. The Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions.” “I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000.00 to some sufferers by a fire. Well, Colonel, where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away public money in charity? No Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose.”

“The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution. You have violated the Constitution in what I consider to be a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the People.”

“I could not answer him,” said Crockett. “I was so fully convinced that he was right.” I said to him, “Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. If you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another nconstitutional law, I wish I may be shot.”

After finishing the story, Crockett said, “Now sir, you know why I made that speech yesterday. There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a weeks pay? There are in that House many very wealthy men, men who think nothing of spending a weeks pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of these same men made beautiful speeches upon the debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased, yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it.”

British Satire, a welcome breath of fresh air from obamaphiles

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

I don't care where on the political spectrum you call home, you must admit, thats funny stuff

Pic of the day

stumbled onto this and many other awesome pics at http://www.extremeinstability.com/ check this ite out, I doubt you will regret it!

Obama defaces Judiasm's holiest site with campaign ads?

Obama camp plasters posters at Western Wall

I'd like to say I'm shocked by his arrogance, but this is really nothing more than more of his rockstar "look at how awesome I am" attitude. Furthermore, he shows up in a yamika? Ok, I guess I can understand perhaps trying to respect where he's at, but he rather failed that attempt when his campaign plastered his face all over...when are the media and people in general going to stop fawning over how awesome this guy appears to be and dig beneath the pretty speeches about change and hope and look at who he really is?

Pic of the day

I wish I knew where this picture came from, I stumbled across it today, just a random image on image shack, it's an amazing picture

*Edit July 26 12:23* so I found out the origins of this pic, and am happy to give proper credit to the original photographer. Ironically, I found this out by stumbleing the web, same as i found the pic

"This awesome picture was taken in Bitterroot National Forest in Montana on August 6, 2000.
The photographer, John McColgan, is a fire behavior analyst from Fairbanks, Alaska. He took the picture
with a digital camera. Because he was working at the time he took the picture he cannot profit from it;
however, we feel the picture is a once-in-a-lifetime shot and should be shared."
http://www.stambaughfamily.com/bitterroot.html

*edit*

Pic of the day

TSA gone mad?

You know the drill, you go to the airport, check in, get your ticket, drop off your luggage, tell them that yes indeed you packed it all yourself, no you don't have any weapons...you go through security, yes, your bag has been in your possession the entire time, no some random stranger didn't ask you to carry it through for them, take your shoes, belt, etc off, walk through the metal detector, and hope to high heaven you don't have a penny in your pocket you missed.

We've all heard the TSA stories that make us wonder just exactly where they get these "agents" from?
The latest to make you just scratch your head and go "huh!?" TSA Agents Forced Woman To Remove Nipple Rings, Pulled Pants Off Disabled Man


Really? I'd have trouble believing this, but, I've seen and heard these insanities before. A friend of mine I was flying with a few months back nearly had his electronic toothbrush confiscated because "a metallic cylinder" appeared in the handle. My friend attempted to explain that the toothbrush, being electronic, contains a battery. After much hassle and a supervisor, they determined that it was indeed, a toothbrush...I could go on and on, but heres the point I'm getting to:

At what point have we overreacted? At what point do we decide that maybe, just maybe, a 71 year old man in a wheel chair is most likely not a terrorist, and perhaps the real threat to our safety and security is an overconfident undertrained nutjob on a power trip? ("At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.

"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.") Are we really better off? I mean I certainly feel better knowing that nipple rings, wheelchairs, toothbrushes, and old mens underwear are being closely scrutinized by knowing individuals capable of asserting their power by throwing a temper tantrum if their authority is questioned...yep, we are certainly much safer and freer now thanks to these brave men and women who got fired from McDonalds...

Dark Knight

So I just got back from seeing Dark Knight in theatres, awesome movie, well worth watching, was a bit intense at times, but had some funny moments to. Heath Ledger (RIP) did an excellent job playing the joker, and the others also did excellent. It did have some incredibly sad moments, I won't spoil them for any who have yet to see it...but, yea, overall well worth watching, you'll laugh, you'll flinch, you may even get misty eyed here and there, and this is easily one of those movies you'll walk out of the theatre glad you came

Pic of Day(ish)

So I've decided to do the whole pic of the day thing, enjoy!







found this pic from Bin's Corner

Dobson's political shift

So, it seems Dobson has flip flopped rethought his position on John McCain: Dobson shifts

This is a big 180 from his statement in February that if McCain is the GOP nominee against Obama (or the other possibility at the time, Clinton) he would "not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life"

Now, here's where I take issue, besides the complete change despite any apparent change from McCain. Both times, Dobson implies, in the latest statement outright states, that besides the Democrats and Republicans, there are no alternatives. I realize third parties are a bit of a long shot, but I've been saying since I was old enough to be into politics that third parties are a long shot not because people don't agree with, or want to vote for a parties candidate more than a so called "major" candidate, but because they don't want to "waste their vote".

I am a registered Republican, I have been since I was old enough to vote, but only for local politics. Nationally, I have never voted major party, not for president, not for senate, the national GOP has become no better than the democrats. Do I waste my vote? Some would say yes, but let me ask you this:

Should you vote on the basis of fearing "the alternative" or agreeing with what you vote for? The "lesser of two evils" argument has grown old to me, as far as I see it, you're still voting for an "evil"

Dobson willfully adds to the political ignorance of the American public, and to the impression that all of the conservative "religious right" are a fickle, fearful bunch blindly following the GOP to protect them from the boogeyman. I don't like Obama at all, but I also dislike McCain. So, logically, being a sane person, I will pick a choice I do like, rather than hiding my head under the blankets and hoping that the monsters don't get me, as Dobson is apparently doing

First post

yep, but there will be more! here basically where I see this blog going, I'm into a bit of everything, I'm a linux geek, all three of my computers run on linux (2 desktops, Debian, 1 laptop, Ubuntu) I'm currently running a small organic dairy farm with my dad, I'm obsessed with politics and history, as well as mythology and religion/theology. I've got this and that going on, who knows what the future holds. I'm thinking for blog constants we'll go with a pic/website/news story of the week, on say..Friday? sure..friday, and a thought for the week on...oh let's say Sunday, and intersperse that with my in between hamster musings as the hamster deems to do so. for the moment, go on and leave any ideas you might have, nifty ideas you may have, food for the hamster, etc etc...I'll be back shortly