May God bless you..with discomfort

From a Franciscan Benediction I happened to stumble across:

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. "

I'll let you chew on that for a bit, I know I certainly am...kinda makes you go "wow"

Who is Sarah Palin?

It's the question everyone is still trying to answer, who is this dark horse McCain picked for his VP? I watched her speech at the GOP convention, and my immediate reaction was "Can I vote for her without McCain?" So, I've decided to do some digging about, and found plenty of this and that, some of it reliable, some of it nothing more than small town rumors.

The Basic Facts:

Wasilla, Alaska City Counsil, 1992-96
Mayor of Wasilla, 96-2002
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner, 2003-06
Governor of Alaska, 06-present

Her Record:

Staunchly Pro-Life

believes “marriage should only be between a man and a woman.”

Lifetime member of the NRA, supports gun safety programs for "Alaska's youth"

"Bridge to Nowhere" initially supported the idea, now against it

more info on where she stands, no reason for me to reinvent the wheel:
ontheissues.org


Controversy:
One of the biggest questions surrounding Palin is the abuse of power investigation. It seems that Palin's sisters ex husband is a moron and, also went through a rather nasty divorce and custody battle with Palin's sister. Now, the scandal here isn't over the stupidity of the trooper in question, seems everyone, including himself, agrees he's a bit of an idiot. No, the scandal here is whether Palin and friends pressured then Public Safety Commissioner Monegan to fire the state trooper in question. Monegan refused, and was canned himself, hence the investigation

Getting Real About Palin


Theres a few others, her 17 year old daughter being pregnant for instance, that I frankly don't understand why they are at all a public issue, sure I guess if you wanted to you could take from it arguments over abortion and sex ed, but only if you're a dirtbag who doesn't mind using a teenager for political hay, so other than that opinionated statement, I'm going to leave the family "scandal" alone, if you want to delve into that one, theres always Google...

Now, since lots have been asking me, what do I think?

I think that, on the surface, I like Palin, she gave an excellent speech at the convention, she comes off as a small town/rural person, hardcore conservative. I like that. But, she supports John McCain, I don't like that. I'm still not voting for McCain, her speech swayed me a little, but I'm still gonna be a good political cynic and vote 3rd party. The abuse of power allegations also give me pause, I've seen enough of that from Bush-Cheney.

She seems all to eager to toss about how she told congress "thanks but no thanks" on the bridge to nowhere, but doesnt mention that she was one of the ones who pushed for it, and then when she realized it wasn't politically feasable, decided to oppose it, but kept the money for other things, boy, thats just stellar, She's looking more and more like a run of the mill GOPper

She has no, repeat no foriegn policy experience at all, but she seems to be parroting McCain's stance on Iraq and Iran, now, I will admit, things are looking alot better in Iraq, but I would argue thats due mostly in part to the Iraqi government finally growing a pair than anything else, and if we would just stop poking Iran with a stick everynow and then...well, the only thing the Iranian people hate more than thier current government is US, so, if we'd just ignore them, they would literally go away, we need to stop meddling in the affairs of other countries, not threaten more countries

The last thing that worries me is her strong stance on abortion and gay marriage. Some of you are scratching your heads and going "wha-?" If she can keep her views out of federal policy, great, but if she decides to champion any sort of federal legislation regarding either, she's in violation of the 10th amendment, and gets added to the list of politicians who think the constitution is just a piece of paper

So, to sum up my thoughts, of the 4 figures on the "main" national stage, I dislike her the least, and if McCain wasn't on the ticket, I might even consider voting for her, with 1 or 2 strong reservations, but there are some questions that need to be answered, and McCain is on the ticket, so, although she made my mind go "hmmm" she hasn't changed it, the Republicans are still not getting my vote this election

Obama and the Illinois Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

I'm not going to go into deep detail here on my views on abortion, thats another blog for another time, so I'll simply say this: I'm personally and morally opposed to abortion, but I believe that constituionally it is a state issue the federal government has no place in. However, this specific bill was 1) a state bill when Obama was a state Senator and 2) a bill to ensure that aborted infants that survived the "procedure" (born alive..) recieved care rather than being tossed away, ie, being treated as humans...whether you believe life begins at conception or first breath or sometime in between, in any view, these are living, human babies, and Obama voted and argued against a bill protecting them...at the risk of blatantly showing my bias (which, for any newcomers, is unashamedly against both Obama and McCain, once again, another post for another time..) Now, I know that I often argue that I generally ignore the abortion issue on a federal level, as any action in any direction regarding abortion on a federal level is a violation of the 10th amendment, and as such, unconstitutional and illegal, this matter goes beyond that. This is not abortion, this is not an argument over whether it's a living baby or a "fetus" these are (were?) babies, that lived despite the efforts of thier mothers and abortionists, took thier first breath, only to be discarded as unwanted trash. This is a character issue, a moral issue, and a legal issue. Inarguably, no matter your stance on abortion, once a baby is born and breathing, it is alive, it is human, and to kill it is murder, neglecting and refusing proper care to the living baby is essentially the same thing, and in my mind, heartless. To oppose such a bill because it may "inconvience doctors" is utterly despicable, and is something one must consider when considering Obama as the "savior of America" sure, he charmingly promises change, but, is it change you can accept? Know who you're hiring for the next president

Why it pays to be on time

After twenty-five years in the same parish, Father O'Malley was saying his farewells at his retirement dinner. An eminent member of the congregation - a leading politician - had been asked to make a presentation and a short speech, but was late arriving. So the priest took it upon himself to fill the time, and stood up to the microphone:

"I remember the first confession I heard here twenty-five years ago and it worried me as to what sort of place I'd come to... That first confession remains the worst I've ever heard. The chap confessed that he'd stolen a TV set from a neighbor and lied to the police when questioned, successfully blaming it on a local scallywag. He said that he'd stolen money from his parents and from his employer; that he'd had affairs with several of his friends' wives; that he'd taken hard drugs, and had slept with another woman and given her a disease.

You can imagine what I thought... However I'm pleased to say that as the days passed I soon realized that this sad fellow was a frightful exception and that this parish was indeed a wonderful place full of kind and decent people..."

At this point the politician arrived and apologized for being late, and keen to take the stage, he immediately stepped up to the microphone and pulled his speech from his pocket: "I'll always remember when Father O'Malley first came to our parish," said the politician, "In fact, I'm pretty certain that I was the first person in the parish that he heard in confession....."

McCain and Wikipedia

So, apparently McCain is using the interweb now, as his campaign decided to show off thier web prowess by... directly quoting Wikipedia in a statement on the Georgia Russia blowup..I know I'm a few days behind the pitch on this one, but I can't let it go, I mean, basically this means our two "major" options for president are a guy who uses Wikipedia for information on a foriegn affair (couldn't they have been a little classier at least in choosing someone to plagerize and used..say, the CIA factbook? wouldn't that be ironic...) and a guy who doesn't even know we have 50 states...really? Isn't there at least a GED requirement for this job?

Why I rarely bother to argue on the internet..

I recently noticed that one of my earlier blogs was posted on Liberty Post and initially thought to myself "cool, lets read through the comments and see what folks had to say" to my chagrin, and sadly, complete lack of surprise, I saw in most of the comments, not much intelligent debate, mostly the tossing around of insults that most wouldn't have the balls to say to anyone's face, and frankly, complete and total disrespect for the opinions of others. No matter who you support, I may disagree with you, I may even become frustrated by your perspective, but if you've done your homework and from that arrived at your viewpoint, that alone is respectable, it's far beyond what most Americans bother to do these days. This is a classic example of why I generally get annoyed and fed up with internet "debates" as they aren't debates at all. "Sling mud and all you do is lose ground" and "arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics, even if you win, you're still retarded" come to mind. Responses like many seen on the Liberty Post are part of the reason I've become so cynical about political debate. Show me an intelligent argument, even if I disagree with it, I'll consider it ("It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Aristotle) toss around insults, and you become nothing but another troll to ignore, bringing nothing of merit to the discussion. Sadly, most discussion one encounters online has eventually devolved into nothing more than showing who can mock the other, rather than an intelligent, respectful, grownup exchange of facts that pertain to the matter at hand, proving my earlier piont to the hilt. When did political debate devolve into "My daddy can whoop your daddy"??
/rant

pic of the day

Gestapo alive and well in Maryland

Prince George's raid prompts call for probe

According to the above, police raided the mayors house because someone mailed a package of marijuina there, apparently without his or any of his family's knowledge. So the police kick in his door, shoot his dog's, and then realize they are...retarded. but, not even an "oops" or "sorry" from the county sherrif's dept, and it would seem that these sort of SS tactics are not unique, this one simply got media attention because they strongarmed a mayor. The police in the raid were apparently not in any sort of uniform, masked, etc. Now, to me, that sounds like...I dunno, breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, wrongful detainment, and a good way to get shot for trespassing. Normally I'm not a big fan of lawsuits, but I hope this guy sues the livin daylights out of all officer's involved, and out of the county sherrif. Furthermore, the Sherrif, being ultimately responsible for the actions of his department, should resign his post. These actions are simply unamerican, unconstitutional, and bring shame to law enforcement

Why the Ron Paul movement stumbled

Whether you liked him or not, the Ron Paul campaign made a splash in the GOP primary, but why only a splash and not a tidal wave? He had a large, vocal, supportive base. He raised record amounts of campaign funding, and he had a solid message, reduce the bloated federal government, reduce federal spending, and return to the constitution. He supported gun rights, he was pro life, he opposed government spying on it's own citizens. So, what happened?

As someone who vocally supported Ron Paul, I'll give you my perspective, the 9/11 "truth" movement.
These nutjobs, yes, nutjobs, sidelined the libertarians and constitutionalists such as myself supporting Ron Paul's message of reduced federal government, reduced spending, and returning power to the people, and used the Ron Paul campaign as a bullhorn to further spout their misguided rantings. They, in turn, associated Ron Paul's campaign with their silly notions. I've watched their "truth" videos, read the articles, and am only convinced that, while perhaps mistakes were made, the greatest mistake is giving "truthers" any sort of attention.

They turned the Ron Paul campaign from a viable movement protesting an overgrown and overreaching big brother government into a CT mockery. It got to the point where anyone I attempted to talk to about Ron Paul who didn't already understand his positions immediately associated him with the tin hat crowd and wanted nothing to do with him.

Ron Paul never encouraged the "truthers" message, in fact, his position outright defied it "blowback anyone?" but they kept screaming on, refusing to cloud the issue with facts, and turned off people such as myself, their quest for "truth" in spite of facts derailed a message of actual truth, and now we are, once more, stuck with politics as usual, with a democrat and a republican who are both worthless, both advocating increased government, or voting third party.

The Ron Paul message of freedom was hijacked and sidelined by the "prison planet" extremist crowd, and I believe our nation is worse off for it.

I haven't decided yet if I'm voting for Bob Barr (L), Chuck Baldwin (C), writing in Ron Paul, or maybe I'll vote for mickey mouse, but I know this, the 9/11 "truth" movement has weakened my belief in the intelligence of the individual

my computers

So, I decided to rearrange my desk, and that started some craziness. After physically moving my desk and computers, I decided to change some things on my computers themselves. I have three computers going currently, 2 desktops and a laptop.

Desktop 1, main computer

Debian, kde. I just recently switched over to kde, I've been using enlightenment for a while, and fvwm-chrystal before that, but I decided to give it a try, so far I like it. I use this computer for general web browsing, open office, and as my media server (mpd, ushare, samba) and such



I like my desktops pretty simple, no icons, in this case an autohide taskbar, and my app and window menus on left and right click on the desktop. the background is setup with Xplanet



theres my kde taskbar, set to autohide and transparent so it only gets in my way when I want it to (usually :-D )



and some random programs, well, in this case a terminal window and sonata, one of mpd clients






Desktop 2

Debian, gnome. I don't really actively use this computer much, it is more an in the background machine, It's my main samba server, as well as serving a few other server functions.



nothing fancy, I don't even remember why I bothered to install X on this machine, but it's there and I'm to lazy to take it off, no harm done really




the laptop
just that, my laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1521 it's my other general use computer when I don't feel like sitting at my desk, and the reason I love mpd. I can have music playing on my main computer through my stereo system and easily change it from the other room on my laptop. anyways, this was a pain to get running to a point where I was happy with it, I tried debian and perhaps I was impatient, but it didn't work very well on the laptop. In a moment of temporary insanity I tried ubuntu, and hated every minute of it...finally I decided to give Mandrivia a try, I really don't even know why, I haven't touched anything not debian or debian derived in forever, but I did cut my teeth on Red Hat back in the days of RH 7.0 so I figured I'd give it a go. The install was quick, and, well, wireless didn't work right away, but it was a quick fix with ndiswrapper, and I was up and running in no time, everything just works