Christmas

Christmas has become an interesting time of year for me. I guess I'm a bit grown up, because I was more excited to give my wife gifts than about what I might be getting.

My brother and sister-in-law were in from Portland Oregon and we had a blast. My aunt & uncle were down from Minnesota with their 3 kids. Its great, we played lots of Settler's of Cataan. Great game.

I held back and didn't give any presents to Katrina early, but I really wanted to.

I got a great game called Dominion. You build an empire with cards. Its easy to learn, fast to play and great fun for 2-4 people.

This Christmas was nice. I got to spend time with people I loved and I was very thankful for that. It helps me realize how truly blessed I am.

I'm so thankful for a family that loves and cares like mine.

I can't add...

Blessed are the land-mines
Stretched across the desert floor
God, bless the hands that formed them
Filled their shrapnel hearts with war
May You bless the companies
The goose that laid the golden egg
May they make a million more
Blowing off a million legs
Blessed are the black-tongued ravens
Substituting fear for reason
To hate war is to hate us
If you love peace, then you must love treason
Beat your plowshares into swords
Beat your pulpits, turn your tables
Blessed are the hand-grenades
Bless the church who rattles sabers

This house, is burning
This poison still is worming
This temple, will cave in
There's nothing here worth saving

Nail the gold up to the altar
Like Ahab taunts his crew to war
Blessed are the shareholders
Lack of faith is for the poor
Hold your wallets to the sky
A temple built to sooth yourself
Blessed is the church who tries
To help you build blessed wealth

"Blessed are the land mines"
Written by: Reese Roper
Performed by Brave Saint Saturn

The road to hell...

Will be paved with the proponents of the prosperity gospel. Yes, I'll say it. God will have more mercy on well, most anyone else.

Adventures in Computing

My wife's older laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1100, has been running slow for ages. Doing some internet research I learned those computers were notorious for overheating which lead to running slow.

To remedy this I replaced the conducting grease and bought a cooling pad. These helped keep it from overheating and shutting down, but it still ran slow.

I upgraded the ram from 640mb (yes, 640) to 1gb. This too helped some.

I stripped the computer of all but its essentials. Windows XP, plus maybe 3 gigs of other stuff was sucking up 13 gigs of HD space.

So, after copying an ubuntu liveCD and testing it, I decided that was the route to go.

Well, if only it had been that simple. I had forgotten that I experimented with ubuntu, and I installed Xubuntu. Very similar. In fact, from what I understand, the guts are the same, its just the GUI that is different with Ubuntu using GNOME and Xubuntu using XFCE.

Long story short, XFCE isn't playing well with this laptop. I wondered why a stupid Facebook game was sucking up so much memory (330mb? For farmville????) and processor power.

Well, it turns out, the GPU isn't doing anything. The CPU is running both the graphics AND the rest of the system. So, now I'm going to be on my 3rd (well, 5th if you count the times I reinstalled Xubuntu Karmic Koala) OS install in a week. BUT, this should speed up the silly games. I hope.

I'm just glad she's so patient with me.

Edit: Well, turns out the GPU IS doings its job, its just a grappy old Intel 845 chipset which essentially does nothing. I don't know why facebook makes their stupid little Farmville game so graphics intensive, but they do. So, pretty much, this computer won't go any faster for it. Looks like its time to start saving up for that netbook now!

The one good thing is, we do still have a stable laptop computer and its still handy for things like email and the like. Its a little wonky on startup, but it works. I suppose sometimes that's all you can ask.

Scientific "Concensus"

In case you haven't been following the story, the email and files of some prominent climate researchers was hacked and posted to the web. The emails contained some interesting statements, which of course as being explained away as "of course we weren't manipulating data."

See, the problem here is guys, it looks like you were. As much as scientists want to believe they've come so far, they are no different than scientists throughout the ages who "knew" something to be true.

Is pumping CO2 and toxins in the air bad? Yes. Should we try and stop doing it? Yes.

Is there a true "scientific" concensus on it? Heck no. Dissenting voices aren't heard.* Or are laughed off as quacks because there is lots of money to be had in grants if you have the hot theory.

This isn't just in climatology. This is in evolutionary study, physics, lots of different areas. Dissenting voices are quashed.

The issue to me isn't if the data was being manipulated. It is more an issue of these scientists aren't doing their work with an open mind. Because if they are not, they don't have to manipulate the data, they'll just miss the stuff that doesn't fit unconsciously.

I look forward to seeing this develop.

Also, I'm not saying its a good thing that hackers broke in and stole it...but...dang, this sure is nice and interesting!

*Helps when you put the "n't" on the end of the word so the entire post makes sense...

Its That Time of Year

Time for the "news" channels to "report" on holiday travel. Its going to be BUSY! WOW!!!!

You should plan accordingly! This is news? Honestly? Really???????

I'm sorry, to me, this is PROOF that TV news makes you stupider. Sure, even NPR does a little piece on holiday travel, but they at least aren't running the same piece every hour all day long.

I understand its cheaper to send a cameraman and a guy with a mic to the local airport to interview Jimbo about his holiday travel plans than it is to send someone to the Phillipines to report on whats going on there. But, honestly, its like this EVERY YEAR! Have you idiots not figured out its busy during the holiday season?

Bah, humbug

Mad Skillz

Or not. So, while my job's in a bit of limbo and the dealership is probably getting sold, I'm still working! YAY!

Everyone around here is rushing to do inventory, etc. and working off lots of old messed up invoices.

So, today, I got to show off my mad Paint skillz (yes, with a Z) and clean an invoice up. It was kind of fun. I scanned in the invoice, erased the lines that needed erased. Changed the total, and then erased the pen markings all over the place.

I'm not going to be asked to contribute to any amazing photoshop work anytime soon, but it looked much better than it did.

I was pretty proud of myself. I have a few computer skills left at least

Waiting

I suck at waiting. I'm an instant gratification lover. Yes, this is not a good thing I realize.

Right now I'm waiting to find out if I keep my job. Joy! Nothing like waiting to see if you keep the job currently have! Ugh.

So, I wait. And try not to worry, since it doesn't do any good. And pray. And wait and did I mention this sucks?

I'll know this week sometime.

I normally don't post things like this, but, its really on my mind right now. So, I share?

Politics from the Interwebs

If you read this, you know I hate our two party system. I've hated it long before I started to read much stuff politically on the web.

That said, here is a hilarious comic on it.

See, I can poke fun at myself.

NEVER SURRENDER!

The French are frequently made fun of for surrendering. The 20th century was not overly kind to them in war and well, lots of jokes are made at their expense.

Apparently to compensate for this, they have decided to defend their language at idiot lengths.

Here is a hilarious article on the efforts that go into keeping French "pure."

Ya know. I rip on English for being an amazing bastardization German with French, Latin and Greek roots shoved in all over. But, I like how our language just adapts as needed. We just add a word that works. We don't bother to come up with bizarre five word descriptions that aren't needed.

Thanks to Sheldon for pointing this out to me.

Nanowrimo

Nanowha? Nanowrimo. National Novel Writing Month. Yeah, writing a 150 page novel in a month. 50,000 words. 1666.66666(repeating) words per day.

I'm trying it. I'm not too far behind right now and its fun. Lots of fun. None of the constant editting and changing, just writing. After November is over, I can edit all I want. For now, its just crank out words as fast as I can.

Wish me luck. If you want to track my progress my name on there is ovid9.

StL Cardinals

I know that only 1 of the 3 of you who read my blog care about sports, but here it goes.

I love the Cardinals. They have been my favorite baseball team since I was little. I've been a fan. I was18 during the summer of 1998 and a bit niave about performance enhancing drugs.

Since then I've learned lots. Including the fact that Mark McGwire, among scores if not hundreds of other pro's cheated by using steroids.

The Cardinals have now hired him to be their hitting coach. Yes, you read that right.

I believe Tony Larussa made it a requirement that McGwire be brought on board to stay another year as manager. I wish they hadn't done it.

Tony, you're a great manager. You've done some amazing things with pile of crap teams. Thanks, and goodbye.

That's what I wish they would've said.

Instead, we keep around a surly enabling manager and bring on board a cheater to coach our hitters. Great.

I'm not saying I won't cheer for them next year, but I will make sure I pay far more attention to the White Sox than I did this year! *Please Sox, don't be bad....*

And we gave them MFN status

Posty day (slow at work)

Thanks to my dad for this link. Economically we are pretty screwed as a nation.

Chinese refuses to even attempt to play fair on the world stage, and honestly, why should they? They have no self-interest in doing so. Dictato-capitalism the the route to go!

And, they own so much of our debt, I'm not sure what we can do about it either..... oi

I said this months ago...

Wow, maybe I should go into finance, or at least being an "expert" on it. I was saying what this article suggests earlier this year. (Horn-tooting found here....)

The system is broken. Why are we going to continue to let people make tons of money losing other people's money?

They want teachers to get paid on performance when they don't control the product coming in? Well, then I think investment bankers, paper pushers and the like should get the same thing. Not paid on how many millions they move, but how much they actually make!

Also, its finally being admitted that the "recovery" is only in the financial sector and the business world. Companies had bloated payrolls and have trimmed down. The issue is, people on the street need jobs. We're having a 2-tiered recovery. The rich get back to getting richer, the rest of us hold on and hope.

Blame it on...

Sinfest, possibly the greatest webcomic ever, (and in my humble opinion (IMHO) the 2nd greatest comic ever) has another great one.

Its never MY fault. Ever. Always somebody elses...

Comic

Inspiration for Atlantis?

Thought this was cool, figured I'd share. Plato might not have had the story correct, but its sounding like some of the "myths" might not be all that far off. Cool!

Another healthcare thought...

One of the concerns of healthcare reform is that the government will have too much of a say in who get's medical care.

Yeah, because the current system of letting corporations driven by profit deciding is working so well....

I'm not saying the government will have a good plan, its just the current system isn't tenable either...

OMG! Football!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!

Yes, I am poking a bit of fun at myself. And yes, its that time of year again. So, here's my opinions on the Bears so far and their prospects.

They're 3-1. That's good. They have a QB who is good. That's good. They have recievers who are actually catching the ball. Very good. They have a good special teams and the D-line is getting at least a little bit of pressure. (Very little, but I'll take what I can get.)

What concerns me. Our offensive line is bad. Just plain bad. Cutler is going to get KILLED by Jared Allen when the Vikings and Bears play. The defense is very meh. Not horrible, but not good either.

Our secondary is mediocre and our D-line REALLY needs to do more. Like I said, they are ok. But ok usually means a 1st round playoff exit.

Also, the Vikings are a better team. Brett Favre may be old, but he has an arm still. And he's being smarter with his passes than he has been. He's not forcing stupid passes. He has an amazing O-line who keeps him safe and breakage free. Oh, and that Adrian Peterson guy is pretty good too.

Their defense is solid and with Jared Allen on the end and the Williams fatboys in the middle, that is tough to get through.

I think they Vikings have a chance to go all the way this year, which would make my dad quite happy.

Plutocracy FTW!

So, just my 2 pennies about the whole healthcare thing. For reform, against reform, doesn't matter.

If health insurance is mandated (or you can pay a fine to not have it) and there is no public option we have just admitted that powerful lobbies own the country.

Just think carefully here. Everyone MUST have health insurance, but your options are completely controlled by a cabal of companies out for profit.

Don't buy into the "everyone has to have car insurance" bit. You don't HAVE to own a car. You are a living person, so, umm, you kind of have to exist. Or, if you cease existing, it doesn't matter anymore anyway.

If we are going to force everyone to buy health insurance then we need to also insure (haha) that affordable, useful options are out there.

Cut rate health insurance won't work like cut rate auto insurance. Heck, cut rate auto insurance doesn't really "work" if you do have a wreck, but it does keep you legal to drive.

So, just remember folks, no matter your views, if our Congress mandates health insurance for all without a viable alternative to private insurance or some sort of regulatory board with TEETH, well, let the nightmare begin.

Getting Older

Well, I normally don't post a ton about my life. I'm a private person and well, I'd rather rant and rave.

This week has been rough. I have a grandpa in the hospital with a mild hematoma. He's 92 and well, the prospect of brain surgery isn't pleasant and the prospect of him living with the current issues isn't pleasant either.

My wife's grandmother went into the hospital after the cliche "I've fallen and can't get up." Sadly, it wasn't funny at all. She was dizzy, had been having headaches, and her heart rate was mid 40s.

The ER she was at almost released her! Thankfully she couldn't stand and my wife and her cousin (both granddaughters) were there to say, um, admit her.

Well, today (3-4 days later) she'd had a CT scan, NO MRI (until tonight) and things hadn't gotten better. In fact they got much worse. Her eye was drooping, her arm and leg hurting.

Finally the do an MRI and she's had a stroke in her medulla oblongata. This would explain the low heart rate, the labored breathing. She's conscious, but now the next step (what is the next step?) Has to be taken.

I'm upset with the hospital, as is my wife, because they didn't seem NEARLY as concerned by the abnormally low heart rate as we were. SOMETHING had to be causing it!

I suspect she had a mini-stroke the first day and a full on one today. That's only what I think. I have no proof of that. My wife is going to lodge a complaint about the ER treatment as they were going to release a 76(?) year old woman with a 45bpm heartrate!

Also, my mom gets to go in for a biopsy monday. YAY! *with as much sarcasm as can be* I'm thankful the doc noticed something and while he says its most likely nothing at all to be worried about, checking is good.

So, please, lots of prayer for the extended Schurter/Maddox families as its been a bad couple weeks medically.

Movies: A Mini Rant

I think about movies too much. This is strange, since I don't watch all that many movies, and most of the ones I do are silly fun action movies, but really I do.

I suppose I do because I expect certain things out of different sorts of movies. Action movies I just want fun entertainment. Sci-fi/fantasy, coherent plot and a decent story.

Drama, well, I don't watch much drama and here's why: Real life has enough drama for me!

What brings on this hatred (not really) of all things dramatic? Well, Katrina rented Revolutionary Road last night. It was critically acclaimed which I'm starting to decide is a real strike against a movie being watchable.

The premise is this. Leonardo Decaprio and Kate Winslet are married with 2 young kids in the suburbs in the 1950s. They hate their lives as Leo works as an ad-man for Knox Business Machines (IBM) and Kate is a housewife who is in community theater.

The movie starts with a huge fight between them and it really goes down from there. Its a litany of 1950s stereotypes, questioning of life, bad behavior and just painful things to watch on screen.
A list of the issues "dealt with (brought up I should say): Consumeristic life in the suburbs, the pointlessness of many corporate jobs, the housewife's lament, the having more kids to prove you wanted the first, abortion, greed, dreams of a different life.

The movie doesn't so much deal with these issues as chronicle them. The life of Leo and Kate is miserable, unhappy, and all too common in America of the 1950s or today.

Which brings me to my point. Why would I want to watch a movie about this? I know people who's lives are like this. This isn't raising my awareness to anything. This isn't making me "deal with" or "confront" any issues.

Its merely a sad depressing tale of two people who's lives didn't turn out as they wanted and who don't seem to really want to work on themselves.

The movie might end great. About 90 minutes into it give or take Katrina hated it enough to give up as well. Or she just wanted to shut my sarcastic comments up. Either way.

Avoid this piece of trash at all costs. Unless you like reveling in other people's misery.

edit- Thinking about this a bit more, I'm not sure the movie was even well made. Its set in the period very well. But, the flashbacks are few, far between and seem sort of an after thought. It, I dunno. Just avoid it.

"Big" Government

So, my brother has an interesting post on cutting government spending. Its interesting, and here's some of my thoughts on it.

Going off of the Havoc Pennington post, I suppose I'm more in the "cut government by 10-20%." I like the general ideals of libertarianism, but since I view man as naturally flawed, not naturally good (and very distinct from naturally evil) I can never truly support libertarians because I don't trust people enough.

I don't trust the government much either, but they tend to slow things down enough that nothing totally insane happens that often.

It would seem that 21% of the budget going to Defense/War on Terror is high, I personally would much rather see that at 10-15% with no Iraq war, but you can't turn back the clock.

But, as my dad points out, that's only about 1/3 of what is going to programs that only suck more money out of the system. That is the underlying problem of socialist styled programs. France is going broke over its healthcare/welfare/retirement system. Sarkozy has all but said that they can't afford to keep doing things the way they have been.

The problem with entitlement systems or government funded programs is as people live longer and longer, you get more people getting payed out and fewer paying in. It also doesn't help that Congress can't help but raid the "surplus" for things like Social Security as extra spending money. That it hasn't been legislated illegal is only proof of how completely screwed our government is.

Case in point. Listening to NPR the other day it was a story on how the SEC missed the AIG mess. Well, the SEC along with the Commodities watchdog have overlapping duties. But, they don't/didn't communicate well so AIG just played them off against each other. They were interveiwing an excongressman who said he tried to combine them, but the Agriculture committee chairman didn't want to give up the power (and money) from the position.

Why do I share this story? Because the system is broken. Since both parties get elected mainly to stay elected (and attempt to push through what their lobbyists pay them for) real change isn't going to happen.

Our political system, and many of the rulings on "free speech" pertaining to politics almost insures that any plans the government comes up with will eventually end up broken, bloated, and pandering to the rich and or corporately connected.

Don't get me wrong. We spend far too much money in this country as citizens and government. We're going broke. This isn't just our leaders fault.

What IS their fault is they are too interested in getting reelected and/or getting cushy high paying lobbying jobs down the line to do what is right, not what is politically convient or expedient.

The statement both sides want to spend 105% is true. And its going to bankrupt us and slowly push us to 2nd nation status.

Rein in your morons

I like guns. They are fun to shoot. I believe they are something most people should legally be able to have. I think that the laws governing them should be logical (wouldn't that be nice?).

However, if you're pro-gun, maybe in the NRA, or just really like your guns, I have a suggestion. Attempt to rein in the morons on your side. Really. Please?

It might be legal to carry around assault rifles in plain view in Arizona. That doesn't mean it should be done (or legal, but that's a different discussion). If you value the right to bear arms, please, work hard to get idiots like these to STOP BEING MORONS!

The people who did this (and who incidentally were doing it as a radio stunt for what they believe) were merely a distraction. And a bad one at that. Its stupid, even if legal, to carry around heavy weaponry in plain view at a crowded event.

Especially one that will be highly politically charged anyway. Its not exercising your rights. Its a show of force.

Like I said, I like guns. But that doesn't mean I want to see heavy weaponry just carried around by anyone with a permit. Especially at an event where there are lots of people present. At a machine gun shoot, go for it.

So, what I'm saying is this. If the moron fringe (please tell me its a fringe) of the pro-gun movement keep this up, you're going to see the opposite effect happen as moderates like me on gun control get pissed off and start to vote more and more rights away.

Call it exercising your rights, I call it intimidation. And that always backfires. It really does. I would be intimidated by someone walking around at a large public gathering with an AR-15. That sounds like something that happens in Iraq, not the USA.

Can't we love our guns and not be stupid about it?

(Oh, and if you REALLY want to be scared, read the guy's quotes. It'll also point out why I don't care much for Jefferson. Oh, and here is a bit more about Mr. Creepy)

Yes, actually, I believe it is.

Sitting here at work, getting a nice little break from the phones for once, I'm watching two nice bigscreen flat panel TVs.

One is showing the Cardinals beating up on the Reds. The other someone has put on Fox"News" and talking heads are talking.

I can't hear what's going on, but Robert Gibbs was talking to the media and the little "info bar" was telling me what he was talking about. The gist was, "Townhalls are not indicative of how people feel."

I'm guessing this is due to the shameful behavoir of many people at townhall meetings who have decided (and have been encouraged by the Republicans) to disrupt them by shouting, yelling, filibustering and not discussing anything.

And sadly, I feel this is completely how much of America is right now.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not harkening back to the halcyon days of yor when bipartisanship meant you might beat your opposition with your cane in a session of Congress. Its not like media feeding into people's fears and predujices is new.

What is new, is how you can totally isolate yourself to people who agree with you. You never have to listen to those who disagree, except on talk shows where they are invariably shouted down. You never have to engage in a discussion about issues, so people only know how to shout about them.

The 2 party system promotes this as the party in power doesn't really want to work with the other party anymore than to get bills passed.

Partisanship is not new. But it is getting uglier. It saddens me that townhall meetings in 2009 are no more civil than many probably were in 1809. This doesn't surprise me, but it does make me sad.

Cash for Clunkers

Alright, I have lots of issues with this program. I'll try and be brief.

This is not a stimulus. It is merely getting people to buy the car NOW they would've bought in a few months or a year. This is not "rejuvenating" the industry, it is spiking sales which will then slump back to "meh."

Jobs aren't really being created by this as car manufacturers are not going to ramp up production to meet demand as they understand demand is spiking, not actually going up.

This is also a tax on the poor. Sure, 4500 for your junker is nice, but if you have no credit or can still only afford a car that costs 6000, how does this help you? Oh, and it'll drive up the price of used cars and quite possibly the prices on keeping old cars running, especially if they blow an engine. So, the poor are not benefiting from this at all.

Also, the environmental impact is negligible at best. Sure, you're taking fuel inefficient cars off the road. And moving them to junk yards. Yes, many parts of them will be recycled, but there will still be rusting blocks of iron. AND, its replacing them on the road with cars that still pollute.

Yes, they pollute yes, which is good. But, its not like there will be less cars on the road, because THAT is truly a zero emission car. The one that isn't there.

I guess I'm just frustrated by the waste and the bait and switch that seems to be going on.

I guess I don't get it.

Been awhile since I took (or had) the time to post here. Anyway...

In this article here, its talking about a bill allowing for shareholders to have more of a say in executive compensation and golden parachutes.

The Democrats are for this, the Republicans against.

The Republicans are saying this is yet another example of the government sticking their nose where it doesn't belong.

This quote from the article summed up the Republican response:
"Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), in a comment echoed by fellow Republicans, assailed the measure as "unprecedented government intervention in the free enterprise system."

I attempted to read the bill (there is a link in the article) but, from the way my poor brain understands it, it doesn't look like the government is doing any more than giving the shareholders a bit of say in what companies do.

If I own stock in company X. And the CEO is getting paid 1 million, AND another 10 million in options AND has a golden parachute where he gets another 10 million if he's fired, of COURSE I would want a say in that. CEOs have long made sure boards were stocked with friends that vote on insane pay packages.

I don't see how giving the people that technically "own" the company a say in what the CEO and other executives make, is a bad thing. OR is excessive government meddling.

But, that's just me.

EDIT:

After a bit more reading, yes, it looks like regulators can say that "incentive-based pay" is too much or too risky. I SUPPOSE, this could lead the the government stepping in too often. I doubt it though. These incentive based things were a joke because the people got payed no matter what!

"My division helped sink the company, but I still got a 6 figure bonus!" That's not "incentive-based" that's gambling based, only without any of the risk.

You go to Harvard, you get an MBA from their business school. Now, instead of making 200k with 1 million in bonuses, you'll make 200k with 200k in bonuses. The American dream is truly and indeed dead. Unfettered greed has been reigned in. A moment of silence please.

Musings on the GOP

Disclosure: I am not overly high on the GOP right now. I'm not on the Democratic party either. But the GOP has been receiving most of my ire lately.

So, in the past week, two prominent members of the GOP have come out admitting to affairs. John Ensign of Nevada and Mark Sanford of S. Carolina have both admitted to being unfaithful.

Why is this a big deal? Well, the issue is that the GOP, and John Ensign for certain, champion "morality." Apparently being "moral" means not being a homosexual. Oh wait, what about Senator Larry Craig? Oh, yes, he isn't homosexual, he merely has a "wide stance."

See, politicians are human. They have failings. But when a party attempts to make one of its platforms as being the party of "conventional morality" this becomes a problem.

Also, in the case of Governor Sanford, he lied to his aids, his security team, and didn't transfer executive control of the state as he headed off to Argentina to break off an affair. He and his wife are apparently pretty much separated and she knew about it.

Still, it was a terribly irresponsible thing to do since his state would've been in chaos if something had happened to him.

Look, I'm not saying people need to be perfect. I'm not saying this is something that is only the problem of the GOP. (John Edwards, Bill Clinton anyone?)

I'm merely saying, if you want to attempt to champion a "moral America" then you'd better live your life that way. I'm not saying perfect. But, its pretty easy NOT to have an affair. Really. It is. Just don't.

So it begins

BRIC is coming! Brazil, Russia, India, and China have formed a bloc to "challenge" the US's superpower status.

No no, they aren't warming up the tanks and arming the missles. This is about economic and diplomatic clout. Lots of it is posturing and bluffing. But, they also have some points.

The US has used up much of its power to tell the world what to do in the last 8 years. Heck, the last 12 as I'm not going to let Clinton off the hook.

Our brilliant plan of spend spend spend spend spend all while borrowing from China (they don't LIKE us people, they like our MONEY!) is going to come back to bite us in the butt.

Americans don't seem to realize the rest of the world blames us for the current economic crisis. Was it all our fault? Oh heck no! European banks were up to their eyeballs in it. But, it did start with our housing bubble and low credit.

Just keep this in mind people: The US has been mortgaging its world power status to buy shiny things. We are a paper tiger, or quickly becoming one. Until we clean up our own house more, well, don't expect to be the biggest kid in the school yard all the time anymore.

I will never claim its fair

Chrysler pulled the plug on almost 800 dealers last week. This was announced about a month ago, but it was finalized last week.

I'm not going to say its fair. It was harsh, sometimes arbitrary, and pretty awful.

I work in parts and our business has gone up about two fold since two other dealers in the area shut down. Its good for us, but I'm not happy about how its happened.

However, it has happened, and let me answer the question that none of the personal interest stories are answering. They are all asking it, but none are answering it.

Why? How is this saving Chrysler money?

Because with less dealers Chrysler doesn't have to make as many cars. Chrysler has been making too many cars for years now and had to sell too many at a loss to clean out last year's inventory. The offered incentives were always so much. Here, let me illustrate it.

Say, for simplicities sake lets say there are 100 dealers. We'll simplify an average of where each dealer sells 1 car a month. 12 cars a year = 1200 cars.

The problem is, many dealers weren't selling 1 car a month. Sure, you had some selling 5, 10 cars a month. But you had a lot selling 1 car every 2 or 3 months. However, Chrysler still had to make cars based on the average (to show a profit) sales of 1 car a month. So, all these extra vehicles are sitting around collecting dust until a dealer needs them.

Also, not every vehicle is as profitable. Trucks/SUVs are WAY more profitable than cars. So if a dealer is selling 1/month most months, but its a car every time rather than a truck, that's honestly not helping Chrysler that much right now.

This is a simplified illustration, but this is WHY Chrysler is doing it. Also, too many dealerships means your dealers are competing with each other to sell the same product. Chrysler doesn't want 2 dealers trying to sell 1 person a car. They want 1 dealer to sell them that car. There are only X amount of people out there that are going to buy a Chrysler. Many areas were completely over saturated with dealerships who competed against other Chrysler dealers as much as they did against other manufacturers.

Like I said, this isn't a good situation. Its sad, and the fallout is bad. However, don't believe for a second all the sob stories where some poor guy is asking "I buy cars from them how is it saving them money?" It is. Trust me.

Oh, and I recently saw a figure where they showed the average wage at dealerships is between 45-55k a year. Just remember, those are national averages and wages in the big cities are WAY different than those elsewhere. I bet we maybe have 1/3 of our people at more than 45k a year.

Ah well. I just felt compelled to write this as "news" outlets are failing us again.

This is love?

Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country who would perform late-term abortions was shot and killed over the weekend at the church he attends. Yes, you read all of that correctly.

Abortion is horrible. It is. You can't get around it. It takes a life and far more often then the abortion on demand crowd wants to admit it severely effects the life of the mother. That said, I'm not for 100% bans. Just making it really really really difficult to get one.

However, the words said by the anti-abortion wackjob Randall Terry here show that there is a reason why sensible talk on abortion never gets anywhere.

Now, don't get me wrong, groups like NOW and NARAL are so misguided and single-minded on this you can't negotiate with them.

But, thankfully, they don't make the laws. And when anti-abortion groups like Terry's allow people like him to take a frontal stance, well, that's a problem.

His statements are ludicrous. A recent Gallup poll found Americans are "pro-life" than "pro-choice." So his statements on the the anti-abortion movement are flawed. Why? Because they only look at his extreme end of the movement.

I can be "pro-life" yet I don't make that my only criteria in choosing elected officials. To me, pro-life also means I am against the death penalty as it is a flawed system.

I digress. Getting back to some of the statements Mr. Terry makes. Mr. Terry has lost his "war" on abortion (my term) because he is fighting a war. Jesus didn't wage wars. Wars have a winner and a loser. Following Christ is a different model. Its not an earthly "us against them" battle.

Its a battle against the evil forces and powers that afflict this world, powers of which things like Dr. Tiller and abortion are only symptoms. Honestly, I fear for Mr. Terry's soul as much as Dr. Tiller's because Mr. Terry seems so full of hatred on this issue.

Murder is never ok. Its simply not. I understand it isn't a long logical step from some of Bonhoeffer's ideas to this. But it is a step. And a massive one.

While Terry clearly stated that he does not condone the act, he made it sound like it was justified. That is scary. And wrong. When we say things like that, Christ weeps.

"Amateur" Sports

Ok, I will try to keep this non-frothy and non-screechy. However, the farce that is amateur athletics in the US is a problem that won't go away on its own.

A bit of backstory, Derrick Rose, the Bull's star, and ex-Memphis star and ex-Simeon High star, is the center of a minor controversy as it looks like someone took the SAT for him. Oh, and someone doctored a number of Ds on his high school report card to Cs.

Now, for Derrick, this doesn't matter. He's in the NBA making millions. He doesn't NEED an education, he just needs to be smart with his money. However, very VERY VERY few athletes go pro in their sport. The NCAA tells you this ad nauseum in their horrific ad campaign because what they neglect to tell you is that female basketball player, or that water polo player's scholarship is underwritten by the money brought in by some poor basketball player or football player.

Since most athletes won't go pro in their sport, they need to stop getting special treatment from a young age. I can't even tell you how many high school athletes grades are fudged or allowed special treatment to help out their high school teams.

It gets worse in college. The NCAA would like you to believe that these kids are getting an education. Right....cause you have SO much time to go to class and rigorously study during a college basketball or football season. Its well known that coaches will steer kids into "sport friendly" majors that don't require many labs or difficult classes in season.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there aren't very talented smart kids in the two money making college sports. There are. I am saying programs are built on kids that generally are NOT that type. They are the "throw-away" player. They are in college to play their sport and help the school and coach make money.

Basketball and football make this worse by having no real minor league system. Basketball seriously needs a league where kids can go right after high school to find out if they might have what it takes to play pro ball. If they WANT to go to college, they can, but the joke that is "at least 1 year of college ball" needs to go away for good. It does nobody any good at all.

Football is trickier, but it too needs a system that doesn't rely on educational institutions to give it players. Kids need a third option to find out if they could be pro material or not.

Also, this means fans of "amateur" sports need to stop being insane. High school sports are pretty darn meaningless. Oh, sure, they can make you feel good, but why are kids in high school? To LEARN! This, not football (yeah, that 5'7 160lb running back is going to go a long ways....) or basketball or any sport should be the focus.

And at the college level, think carefully about the school you are rooting for. Is your school building its reputation on the backs of poor kids who aren't getting and education and are quite possibly destroying their bodies for life? The answer is pretty much yes.

Since there is literally hundreds of millions if not billions at stake here, it won't change. But please, feel guilty. You know you should.

Memorial Day

Just wanted to say a "I'm sorry for your loss." to all the families out there that have lost a son or daughter in a war.

Memorial day is a day to recognize those sacrifices. No matter how I may feel about the conflict or the reasons behind them, the pain felt by those families at the loss of loved ones who were doing what their country asked is not something to trifle with.

So, in a weird way, thanks I guess.

Fighting fire with....

So, Liberty University, founded by the late Jerry Falwell and run by his son, just cancelled their Democratic Party club. Here is a nice little story on it.

That's fine. They are a private institution and can do what they wish. However, if this is the route Christian schools are going to head, then please, don't complain when Christian programs get cut at other universities.

Do I think its wrong that univerisities frequently discriminate against Christians? Yes! Is the answer discriminating against a group at their school? No.

I really find disturbing that the reasons cited are because the group's parent Party stands against the school's "moral principles."

This bothers me because they still have a Republican Party Club. Now, I'm sure they mean the moral principles of abortion is wrong and gay marriage is wrong and that's fine.

However, the Republican leadership in this country lead us into 2 wars that have killed probably over 200,000 people combined (a conservative estimate if you ask me). Helped to foster immense amounts of greed which helped lead the current economic crisis.

Oh, and constantly ignored or put off the poor and down-trodden in favor the the wealthy and privileged.

I don't really see how those are sound moral principles either.

Its Liberty's choice, I merely think it is a pretty darn poor one.

Whew!

Well, we made the cut. What cut? Chrysler's cut.

Chrysler closed 789 dealerships today. We weren't one of them though one of our sister stores is and two stores in our area.

I have bittersweet feelings on this. I'm happy that I'll continue to have a job. I'm happy that I'll actually have more to do as this will increase our wholesale calls by a lot! (I hope.)

However, lots of people are going to be out of jobs. There will be large swatches of realestate that USED to be car dealerships up for sale. And, well, mass closings are never a happy thing even if they are necessary.

So, my prayers are will those that are facing job losses during this tough time. And I thank the lord that I still have a job and will hopefully get to use my talents a bit more.

Bankruptcy

Chrysler is in bankruptcy! OH NOES!

Ahem, now that the panic is over let me say something. Every, and I mean EVERY article I have read on this has gone out of its way to say that while the bankruptcy is supposed to last 60 days, the bankruptcy of the airlines or of parts manufacturer Delphi have drug on for years.

Ok, that's nice. And almost completely irrelevant in the context of 90% of the articles written. Comparing previous corporate bankruptcy filings to the current Chrysler one isn't really something you can do.

This is essentially a government imposed filing so that various issues can be cleared up and the merger with Fiat can go through.

Now, I'm not saying the filing won't last longer than 60 days. It probably will. I'm just tired of EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE working in how long other, completely different, bankruptcies have lasted.

Stop already. Please.

Texting

I have decided I hate it. The two rock stations in my area both allow text-in requests. This had led to legions of idiots texting the same some request to both stations.

At least 1 to 2 times a day I will hear the same song on each station either at the same time or within 10 minutes of each other. Also, at least 3-4 times a day I hear the same band playing on both stations within minutes of each other or overlapping.

This is going to happen on occasion no matter what. Stations play popular artists and song til the song/artist is DEAD! However, I have noticed a MASSIVE spike in this with the advent of email/text requests.

I hate it. I don't even LISTEN to the rock stations that much. That's what drives me insane!

So yes, is this a petty rant? Sure. But geesh people, just because you have the technology to annoy everyone else, please, don't. Because I want to feed you that stupid phone.

Curiouser & Curiouser

WotC is obviously owned by a large corporation. Only a large corporation could do something as monumentally dumb as this and expect it to work. It has worked SO successfully for the MPAA & the RIAA....oh wait. No, its been an abysmal failure.

This is usually the route companies go when they are losing market share.

WotC also released this other press release today as well.

I am struggling to grasp the rationale for this. You take a product and remove the only avenue to legally acquire it. Then you also start to sue people who illegally made it available.

I'm not an advocate of piracy. I'm really not. But this is a failed model. I don't understand what WotC seems to think they have to gain. All this will do is INCREASE piracy as people who are upset stop buying and pirate, and others who might not have bought, but wouldn't necessarily pirate either, pirate in defiance of the corporate behemoth.

It will be interesting to see this play out in the coming months.

Let the intarw3b flames fly!

Well, maybe nobody cares. I care on principle alone. I got an email from Paizo, that wonderful RPG publishing company letting me (and all their other customers) know that WotC had told them they could no longer sell WotC pdfs.

Ok, no biggie. I can't believe too many people bought them as they cost the same price as the hardbound books. I never understood that.

Paizo was also informing their customers that after Noon, TODAY, a day after informing Paizo of this, you can't even continue to download the pdfs you had bought. (Usually when you buy a pdf you get 5 or 10 downloads of it.)

Nice notice WotC. I never bought one of your pdfs because they were a ripoff. Now I may never again buy any of your products because you are acting like the cold soulless corporation you are, instead of a company trying to make money off a hobby. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money, I don't expect a service provided for free. There is something wrong with blatant greed, and that's totally what this is.

So, light the torches of forum flames and set fire to the intarwebz!

Fundie-Cats

Warning: If you are a highly conservative Christian or intolerant of people who satire said group, you probably don't want to read the comic or this post. Thanks.

Sinfest is one of my favorite comics. I love his sense of humor, and sadly I can so often relate to his characters. Contrary to the title, the comic isn't a tribute to excess, though the characters often indulge in it. It is more a commentary on life and the struggles of indulgence and guilt and indulgence again. Oh, and sometimes cute cats and dogs.

This one had me rolling as it took one of my favorite cartoons as a kid (having rewatched a couple episodes I don't know why. The voice acting is horrid and the plot nonsensical) Thundercats and made it Fundie-cats! Fundamentalists ho! Smite that evil! My friend mentioned it reminded him of the "Christian" video games that were out there when we were kids. On of my favorites was Joshua where you could get ram's horn trumpets to call down the "Wrath of God."

Its interesting how far I've come from those days. Violence in God's name or against evil isn't any better than evil violence. (Sadly sometimes it is a last resort.) Merely putting "Christian" on something doesn't make it Godly. And Sinfest is hilarious even though it occasionally skewers the faith I hold dear. Well, more the people who hold to that faith....

FYI: Dumber

Ok, this shouldn't be a news flash, but if you watch more than 30 minutes of cable tv views, you are dumber for it. Any of them. You become dumber the more you watch.

How do I know this? How can I make such a claim? I'm standing in one of my customer's waiting rooms as they get me a check, and one of those stations is on. They were running a poll where the question was "Would the world be a safer place without nuclear weapons."

Yes, that is exactly what the question was. So then their viewers were calling/emailing in and proving what numbskulls they had become.

But honestly, how can you call yourself a "news outlet" and post a question like that. There is no opinion. Yes, unequivocally YES the world would be safer without nuclear weapons. Pay no mind to the idiots who don't respond to the actual question. It would be.

Ask a real question if you must such as "Will nuclear weapons ever go away." Or "Should the US get rid of all its nukes no matter what." Those are questions where actual debate could occur.

Not what was up there. I was appalled. Though it merely reinforces what I have been assuming for about 7 years now. Cable news will make you stupid. No matter who you watch.

Living What I Know

So, here I am, reading about radical love, hearing about reconciliation, and being driven nuts by incompetent/uncaring people at work.

So, here's my rant:

I am decent at my job. I want to do a good job. I try at my job. I try to own up to and correct my mistakes. I try and work hard.

I do not always succeed on all those things every day as I would like. Overall though, I put in a decent effort and care about my work.

I have this crazy idea everybody should be like this. They should care about doing it right for doing it's right sake. They should want to do what is best for the customer and the company. They should actually care that if they DON'T do their job right it makes other people's lives more difficult. They should tell the truth when they make a mistake or don't know an answer.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Simply put, they don't.

Drives me nuts, and honestly, it is frequently hard for me to stand these people much less show radical love towards them.

Crap, so then its a fail for me that way too. Curses!

I do realize no matter what I do, there will be people that don't care. But wow, I do pray that God allows me to do this paralegal thing, because its gotta be better than this. Right?

Radical Love

Our pastor, Eric, was preaching on reconciliation between believers in church. It was interesting as he was preaching from Matt 18:15-22 where it is instructing on how to deal with fellow believers who sin against you.

It says how if even when you take a member before the church they still refuse to see their sin, then you are to treat them as a pagan and a tax collector.

Now, lots of churches interpret this as you are to shun them and kick them out of the church.

However, as Pastor Eric pointed out (and I was writing on my notepad right before he said it) Jesus hung out with pagans and tax collectors! What we are called to do is show RADICAL LOVE! That love that holds no grudges, doesn't count wrongs, and forgives and forgives and loves. (Now, this doesn't mean you put yourself at stupid risk. You wouldn't say, let a drug addict have open access to your money, that's just dumb.)

It ties in with the book I mentioned in my last post, on how living the kingdom of God is all about showing crazy radical love the world doesn't understand! Heck, most CHRISTIANS don't understand it! Its why we are looked upon as being so hateful and hypocritical! We don't love the very ones we are called to show Christ's love too. Namely, those that don't know him! (And each other of course!)

Now, this is something I struggle with. It really is. But, I figure since I at least realize it is a struggle for me, that's a step ahead of the curve. Right?

Power Over/Power Under

Reading a good book right now called "The Myth of Christian Nation" by Dr. Gregory Boyd. The premise is how pursuit of political power, on both sides, right and left though it was written in response to the massive evangelical outpouring to electing Bush for the 2nd time, is destroying the Church in America.

Its a good read so far. He has focused much of his discussion on what Jesus preached, the Kingdom of God. Jesus focused an imense amount of his ministry on the Kingdom of God and what it is like living the kingdom life. It is a life built out of humility and love.

When Christians begin to believe that temporal political power is necessary to forward God's kingdom, they have lost sight of the Kingdom of God. God's kingdom is not one of "power over" but of "power under." We live under the political system, and when we get focused on a competition, that we must "win" to see God's work go forward, we aren't living the Kingdom life. We aren't living a life of love as Jesus lived.

Boyd is not saying Christians should abstain from the political process though he understands if you do. He is saying that the massive amount of faith the Church is putting on people to fix things instead of God to change hearts and lives is disturbing.

I look forward to getting farther along in this engrossing book.

Honesty with Deficits

I feel posty today I guess.

I was having an interesting discussion with my dad the other day on such things as the budget deficit, the bailout, etc. He was pointing out how with the deficits we will be running, added to the debt we have, there is pretty much no hope of ever getting the country out of debt.

I pretty much agree. But I might have a more fatalistic view then some people. Currently the talk is of how this debt will bankrupt our children and grandchildren. HAH! I laugh at you! I'm 29 and I fully expect to never see a penny of what I pay in social security. I just don't. I'm not planning for a future that relies on it. I just don't expect it to be there.

That is why I am not overly concerned with the massive deficits Obama's budget will be running. He's honest about it. He says we have to spend now to get out of this crisis. He might be wrong, but at least he is being honest that its going to cost a lot now.

A problem I have is the Republicans have now reared up and are whining about how much this is all going to cost. Now, I'm pretty sure they had the majority Congress AND the Presidency for 6 of the previous 8 years. During that time a modest surplus was squandered into the largest deficits we had seen until now.

Now, don't think I'm letting the Democrats off the hook because the previous 2 years they did nothing to stem the flow besides whine. And boy did they whine.

So, I guess what I'm saying is this: I believe we as a nation have been financially screwed for about the last 5 years. Do I hope to be proved wrong? Yes. But at least I'm expecting the worst to come.

And at least Obama is saying he's going to spend like a drunk sailor to "fix" this mess.

Illogical Theology

I'm sure some would argue all theology is illogical, and some things of the Christian faith are paradoxes and mysteries. Its part of what keeps God, God, and us, us.

Now, on the way to work today I heard an NPR piece dealing with the Quiverfull Movement. It was an interesting piece on a group that lives by the idea that God in his sovereignty knows when a family has enough kids. So, things like birth control are not only not used, but there are articles on the site detailing all the various issues with birth control.

Ok, all this is fine and dandy. It doesn't really bother me much even if I don't necessarily feel the same way.

Then it gets to the kicker. Interviewing a woman who had I believe 6 children of her own and 35 grandchildren she got into the rather disturbing part of the (bad) theology going along with this otherwise fairly innocuous movement.

She said the idea is to have large families to raise up as Christian's to reclaim the nation for God. Because if Christian's don't procreate and do this eventually "Biblical Christianity" (interesting term in itself) will be washed away. She pointed to Islam and how many Islamic families are larger than Western counterparts.

Ok, I have an issue here with bad theology. Aside from the misconception of Christians' needing temporal power to do God's work, a sovereign God who knows what's best for your family cannot keep worship of Him alive without our help?

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am 100% behind raising your children in a Godly manner. Just please, please, don't get sucked into the whole "God's Army" idea. This is not a contest. God does not NEED you to have 8 kids to keep the faith alive. If you believe that is His will for you is to have 8 kids, that is great. But please don't get this misguided idea that you NEED to do this because otherwise "Biblical Christianity" is going to get overwhelmed.

God works in many many ways. If He is Sovereign enough to get you lots of kids, He is sovereign enough to keep the faith alive.

Also, do not confuse living for God and working for God with gaining temporal power and passing laws. Please. Jesus never once sought political power. Political power isn't inherently bad, it is just not a way to change hearts for God.

Interesting

Here is an interesting counterpoint.

I understand what she is saying. However, desperate times call for extreme action. Part of the problem is that the companies progressed so far beyond any regulation, in many cases nothing "illegal" was done. The problems need to be fixed. And if TEMPORARY, with NON-EXTENDABLE time limits, were made that makes it easier for the government to forcibly renegotiate contracts so be it.

She has 3 main fallacies to her argument.

1. That cutting the bonuses would drive people off. Where are they going to go? Sure, maybe a few of the top people would find jobs. But right now, this is not a bull market for these positions.

2. We need people who understand this stuff to fix it. THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND IT! They understand the theory. But, theory doesn't mean crap in reality. Nobody knows how to fix this. That's why they are going to keep sinking more money in. They think if it fails, the whole system will. But, there isn't an end in sight (after over 150 billion) of the money AIG will need.

3. That this will set some sort of precedent. Well, it might. But, I look at this like surgery. Sometimes you have to remove something to save the body. That's how this economy has become. I want the goverment to have powerful, yet focused abilities, to drastically rework things. But for a limited time. 1 year, 2 years. Something like that.

Nothing longer or they will foul it up worse.

The whole issue is they shouldn't have gotten bonuses at all. They should have gotten a healthy salary as they are highly trained, but this whole "bonus" farce is laughable.

Joining the Chorus

As news has been breaking of the massive bonuses paid to employees in AIG's financial products division, the outrage has been swift and united. For those that don't know this is the division with their brilliant derivative plans that designed "products" (read: paper) that pretty much sank AIG and helped to bring about the sinking of the world-wide economy.

Yeah, it wasn't just AIG, but they and companies like them played a HUGE part in all this.

The employees in question are recieving large bonuses because 1) the only took $1 in salary this year and 2) in 2008 their contracts were changed to insure they recieved bonuses equal to 2007s. (Hmm, interesting, in 2008, things were already looking bad, why insure bonuses be paid equalling those from a "good," if false, year?)

Now, I'm sure these people make lots of money in their normal salary, in the sake of saving money, why were bonuses not scrapped and department pay capped at 100k? Sure, 100k seems like a lot, but compared to a bonus of 1million? Its nothing!

These people, though they made many stupid decisions are highly educated and 100k isn't really an unfair wage. Also, if they don't like it, in the current market, its not like they can quit easily and go make more money elsewhere.

Reading one person's comments saying "...I'd like to see government workers figure out this mess" is a bit misleading. Part of the problem is the people who designed these things don't 100% understand them. I have heard a number of people with doctorates in finance, math, and economics all saying about derivatives is that is amazingly complex math fused with complex legal documents. Nobody completely understands or knows what's going on with them.

Well, maybe that one guy, but he's on vacation.......

This entire financial crisis, well, its been evident to me for years before this, but this has driven it home. We are not a capitalistic society. Oh, sure, we use the tenets of capitalism, but its a cronyistic system now. Whether it is in business by companies CEO's being on boards of other companies and voting for insane compensation packages, or in government by, well, we all know how that works, merit has nothing to do with it far too often. Its who you know and what you can offer them.

Don't think I only believe it was the fat cats who caused this mess. WAY too many regular people did moronic things with their money. However, if big money investors had not bought the loans, well, the market wouldn't have existed.

As long as the system of rewarding those on top regardless of performance continues, well, things are not really going to get much better.

*Facepalm*

For those of you that don't spend way too much time online, that means exactly what it reads as. When you screw up, and you put your face in your palm and go "doh!" like Homer Simpson.

That's sorta what its like to live in Illinois right now. Why? Well, our (ex)governor was just impeach and removed from office. And now, the guy he appointed to Obama's Senate seat is..well, facing questions of his own about why he neglected to mention, nay, denied, contacts with Blagoevich's people before he was chosen for the Senate seat.

If Mr. Burris truly has nothing to hide (right...) he would have said it all at the hearing where he claims now he didn't have enough time to answer the question fully. I personally think saying pretty much "I had no contacts with Blagoevich's people." is sort of final when you'd then have to explain how, "Except for the ones I did have contact with. And, yeah, I was gonna be a head fundraiser for Blago."

I don't see how those jive really. Oh wait, they don't.

So, Mr. Burris, again, what an ethically minded person would have done when offered the seat is say "no thanks, sir, I've been working for you and it might look inappropriate." Simple, effective, honest.

No, instead, he drags our state into the mud, AGAIN, and is staunchly refusing to resign, or even admit wrongdoing. Just that he left somethings out. Oops!

And, Mr. Burris, I think you should have to pay for any future special elections if the state assembly votes to have those in the future. Yay, lets waste millions of dollars on special elections when the system works just fine when honest (or, at least as honest as politicians get) hold power.

What a mess.

Why?

This is possibly my favorite question. I want to know why. Sometimes this is good, sometimes its bad. But, really, at the core of things is because I love knowing how things are connected.

I'm asking Why? a lot right now as our Directing Pastor, Dr. Timothy Bias, the man who helped me so much, the man who married me, is being moved to a church in Ohio.

I knew this day might come, when he would leave, either through retirement or placement, but I had hoped it would not be so soon.

I just want to know why. And, I guess, sometimes the answer really is because. Because God is sovereign, and knows more than me. Because God can use Him there. Because God sees that it is time for someone new to lead our church and carry us further along the journey. Because because because.

Sadly, even with all the becauses, I can't be happy about this right now. I just have to trust I suppose.

The Trillion Dollar Question

Answer this, you could probably make yourself lots of money.

The economy is in trouble. Too many Americans carry too much debt they can't pay on or that the equity isn't worth the amount of the loan.

The solution to getting out of economic crises is spending money.

Americans are spent out.

How are we going to fix this? Spending is what got us into this mess. Spending beyond our means as a nation artifically ramped up the economy and prices.

So, now, that we can't spend as much, how are we supposed to kick start a sagging economy?

I think this is the question that is making economists and heads of banks wet themselves daily.

Burn it Down and Walk Away

The title is a line from one of my favorite Zao songs, 5 Year Winter, which is pretty much the best breakup song ever. Yes, ever. (Also, Zao has a new album coming out! GLEE!)



However, right now, as America heads deeper into, take your pick, 1)the worst financial crisis since the depression, 2)a bad crisis, but not as bad as the late 70s, early 80s, 3)a recession and a bad situation, but if we just hang out it will be business as usual in a couple years, I really feel it applies to more.



Now, I'm not a radical liberal commie pinko (though, at the rate I'm going....) because all that stuff doesn't work any better. But the system is broken. Not just the financial system. Not just unfettered capitalism, not just our governing system, not just the system of regulation or oversight. The entire intertwined system is broken and now is the perfect time to begin to fix it.


Will it be difficult? Yes, but we are facing great difficulty now as it is. Will certain people (with lots of money and power) be upset? Yes. But this must be done. We must seperate the power of goverment from the power of lobbyists/big business.


Tom Daschle is just the latest, but most prominent, person to show the problems with this. Aside from not paying his taxes, how did he think it was ethically ok to move from his job as lobbyist/consultant, some of his work which was on behalf of healthcare companies, into leading the department of HHS is strange enough. But, the fact he has made over $5million since leaving office in his job "bringing people together," code for hooking up lobbyists with current politicians, is troubling to me.


Now, Daschle is far from the only one. My own ex-congressman Bob Michel, is currently lobbying on behalf of the pharmeceutical industry. This saddens me because the pharmeceutical industry is directly responsible for a part of the rising health care costs in this nation.

Since President Obama is putting a $500k executive pay cap on companies recieving bailout money (yes, its only symbolic) this would be a perfect time to start putting in more than symbolic measures across the board. This symbiotic relationship of Congress, lobbyists, and corporations must stop. Its bad for the country. Its bad for everyone, except a small group of people who make lots of money doing it.

Gaza

I haven't been following this like I should. It seems there is now a cease-fire and Israel is pulling back.

Israel has a right to exist. They have a right to defend themselves. But what they have done in Gaza is wrong. Plain and simple. They invaded a city, killed innocents, destroyed homes, distrupted food, fuel, water, healthcare (more than they normally do) and this is not ok.

Again, Israel is surrounded by enemies, but what they did to Gaza is every bit as evil as what the terrorists do.

I pray for Israeli and Palestinian alike. I pray that God can somehow heal the rifts in that part of the world. I pray mostly that they can find some semblence of peace so that the innocents stop suffering.

Israel was wrong this time folks. They have been before, I pray they won't again. But don't believe they were in the right the way they responded. They were not. This was not "just war," this was a hammer handed beat down of a few evil men and far too many innocent bystanders.

Gran Torino

Wow. That's really the best way to sum up the latest Clint Eastwood flick. Wow.

Synopsis: Eastwood plays a Korean War vet who has never put the horrors of what he had to do there behind him. He worked at Ford for years, raised a family, but isn't close to his sons, and his wife has just died. The old neighborhood where he lives is now mostly made up of Asian immigrants, mostly Hmong.

Eastwood, is bitter, racist, and generally unlikeable. But, you still respect the man, even for all his flaws. As the movie goes along, the family next door, his wife's priest, and the struggles of everday life in the city of Detroit come together in a wonderful tale of redemption.

I won't give any spoilers I hope, but Eastwood's character is tough to watch in many ways. There is lots of cringing at the constant racist bile coming from his mouth. But, there are so many things in the story that transcend that.

I don't really know how to talk about the movie without giving away too much. It is just a wonderful redemption tale that also speaks to so many social issues being played out in cities around our fine country.

Sea Kitten is Tasty

Apparently the brilliant minds at PETA are hard at work again. Now, before I rip into them, I want to give them credit. I have long been a critic of the "animal rights" people, especially at PETA, for only caring about cute animals. PETA is taking on this issue with all their resources! Well, maybe not all, but some.


Feeling that fish have been getting a bad wrap (like sushi) and are still being eaten they have proposed to call fish "sea kittens" in hopes of brainwashing, er, changing the minds of the young and/or stupid into thinking that calling something ugly a cute name makes it less ugly. It doesn't.
I could call a mole rat a "dirt kitten" it would still be one of the ugliest creatures on earth.


But, the "sea kittens" must be saved PETA cries because Lord forbid we eat animals!


I'm all for treating animals humanely. The ASPCA is a good group overall and cruelty to animals is terrible.


However, I'm a bit puzzled by PETA's bizzare actions. I mean, I suppose they "do" things. But, mostly, I see ads, I hear people talking, I hear about "protests," and they sometimes file lawsuits. But, does PETA run animals shelters? Or pay for dogs/kitties/etc. to get spayed and neutered?

I need to do some more research I suppose (yay google) but I do wonder about them. It would be interesting to take a look at their books sometime...

Furnace Part 2

Well, we got a new furnace today! YAY!!!! Katrina says it is working fine.

Now, for the last bit of the story. Saturday we had a couple of friends over. We're sitting around playing games (Blockus is an AMAZING game) the house is warm, fun is being had. Then, later on, Katrina walks past a vent and says "Hey, I don't think its putting out warm air anymore."

No problem! I go downstairs, yes, the burners are not firing. Not a big deal, I just shut it off and wait. And wait, and wait (games continue to be played). I go down, replace the magic fuse, and nothing happened. I had run out of rez attempts. It was dead.

Fortunately the house, even an old one like ours, is slow to cool down. Still, by this morning, it was REALLY chilly in all the parts of the house not heated by our nice space heater. That's ALL but the den and the bedroom.

But thank the Lord it lasted as long as it did!

Into the Furnace!!

Its been an interesting month. About 3 or 4 weeks ago we woke up to no heat in the house. The power had gone out during the night and it was cold cold cold.

Eventually the power came back on, but still no heat! Oh, the furnace would kick on, and stay on, but it only blew out cold air. Not so pleasant!

So, we called Covenant Heating & Cooling and they came right over. He fixed a faulty gas valve that wasn't clicking open and we had heat again within 2 hours. It cost around $300. Not too bad.

Then, last week, I wake up to the furnace running, blowing cold air, again! DRAT! So, I call, explain the problem, nope, the valve is getting power, but it isn't getting the signal to kick open. A bad limiting switch. Of course it worked when the guy was there, but he didn't charge us to check it out, just to call them when we needed it fixed.

Well, 2 days later, its got fixed. And we woke up the NEXT morning to the same problem. They sent a guy out. Hmm. The switch is good, the valve is good, the thermo-coupling is good....hmm.
Well, the problem is a wire on the circuit board that someone "repaired" once upon a time by resoldering it into place. Badly. So its all corroded and not allowing the right resistance through, which means the limiting switch doesn't think it needs to close a circuit, which means the gas valve doesn't kick open.

Well, this furnace is about 60 years old and a "new" circuit board would just be silly. It would cost about 1/3 as much as a new system and we'd still have an old furnace.

The repair guy wired a 3 amp fuse into the system instead of the limiting switch, closing the circuit and allowing it to kick open the gas valve. I've had to replace the fuse 2 times now. Each morning it seems to blow the fuse, I go down, put another one in, and presto, it works!

Monday we are getting a new furnace. A nice 95% efficiency Coleman. Its getting installed for $2200 or so. Why so cheap? Because they gave us credit for all the previous repairs! They are giving us about $500 credit for the prior repairs.

Thank the Lord! I had been wanting to hold off until spring or summer to replace the furnace, but the issues we'd been having were just too much. The fuses are just a temporary fix, and I don't really like the blower running and running for hours if it blows in the middle of the night.

I highly reccommend Covenant for the Pekin area. They have been courteous, friendly, honest, and more than fair. I'll give an added update after the furnace is put in, but I've just been so thankful for how its all gone.

The best part is, we have enough money saved to pay for over half in cash. And the rest will be paid off in just a few short months! YAY!

Hydrogen

Yeah, I know its a molecule. Its also a really fun drum machine program that is free and seems pretty well supported.

I finally got the drum kits loaded in I wanted and have been fiddling around with it some. Seeing as how I have no drum skills or real talent of any sort, this could take a bit. But it is a good time messing around with something musical, even if its just a drum machine.

I'll try and get something posted eventually once I get a loop or two done.