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Mama, where are you?   
04:21am 12/09/2009
 
mood: indescribable
This is probably the only time I will ever post song-lyrics in a blog.


1986-04-26  01:23:45
R-4, CHERNOBYL NPP, UKRAINE, SOVIET UNION





There was no way they could have known that morning,
That they awoke upon a fateful day.
The killer wind came down without a warning.
And no one had the chance to get away.
The firemen were brave, they fought with honor.
But the blaze was more than it appeared to be.
And one by one they fell beside their comrades.
The victims of a foe they could not see.
Mama where are you?
Papa where did you go?
And where are all the children who used to play here?
Only heaven knows.
What they saw defied all explanation.
Someone said the trees were glowing red.
They say the light came from the radiation.
But maybe it's the spirits of the dead.
Mama where are you?
Papa where did you go?
And where are all the children who used to play here?
Only heaven knows.
Gone the homes the gardens and the playgrounds.
Gone the souls who made their livings here.
They say this place will always be a ghost town.
It will be for at least six-hundred years.
Mama where are you?
Papa where did you go?
And where are all the children who used to play here?
Only heaven knows.


In the later 1980's, the communist Soviet government was one experiencing the beginnings of the decline of their rule.  In every nation or state that has experimented with communism, socialism for fascism, the results are always the same.  The beginning is wonderful - the poor are fed, well cared for, everyone has a chance, there is no competition, no struggle, all is well.

Until.

They run out of producers.  They run out of people, the people unfortunate enough to have developed a work ethic and an urge to be productive and innovative; those who have become institutionalized slaves to those who would not produce, and those who were jealous of the producer's ability and ethic.

The leaders of a communist, socialist or fascist state sit at the top, and they can see the foundation of their power crumbling below them.  So, they set out to convince those broken bleeding backs and weakened, sore legs who compose the foundation that everything is fine, the system is not broken, and progress will continue to...progress.

The 1986 Chernobyl Disaster, the explosion at CNPP Reactor-4 on the morning of April 26th, was a result of this desperate blind grab at a rope that didn't exist.  In a Soviet, communist rule, where the perception of success and functionality was far more important than the reality of either, safety precautions, training, equipment, contingencies...all the factors necessary for the safe operation of a Nuclear Power Plant, were lacking.

After the explosion...civilians were evacuated far too slowly.  All too many were exposed to deadly radiation.  Citizens of the town of Pripyat who were not well informed of the dangers of radiation, stared in awe at the reactor core, the entrancing blue glow of chernekov radiation, from miles away.  They were unaware that the simple fact that they could see this, and were looking at it, meant they were being bathed in more-than lethal doses of radiation.

Many died in the initial disaster.  Many more died trying to escape.

The hasty attempt by the Soviet government to "clean-up" the results of the disaster would prove even more deadly.  Workers who had been displaced by the economic destruction of the communist regime found themselves being bussed, shovel in hand, towards the site of the disaster.  The workers were equipped only with paper masks.  They were told that these masks would protect them from any harm.

While the workers may have been protected from breathing in uncomfortable dust or burned, smelly air...they were most certainly not protected from the lethal doses of radiation.  A lethal dose of radiation is approximately 500 rontgen over 5 hours.  In some areas of the disaster site, radiation levels were 20,000 rontgen per hour.  Many received lethal doses within minutes.

Others who were not lucky enough to die on the disaster site, would experience slow and painful deaths from cancer soon after the cleanup.  Those that conceived children afterwards....well, the picture above speaks for itself.

I hope that the Chernobyl disaster serves as a lesson.  The easiest lesson to learn from this is that there are fates far worse than death.  The hard lesson to learn from this is that the facade of a society where all wants and needs are provided for, equally, for everyone...where the government controls every facet of existence, and ensures that all people are equal in every way; all of these nice and wonderful sounding things - this initial bliss can come with a staggering price. 		  
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Guests for the weekend.   
04:32pm 14/03/2009
 
There's mischief...




(...afoot!)



                                   (L-R) Roger, Sazha, Gunner.

I don't know why, but the way they pose reminds me of the covers of christian rock albums.		  
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To halt evolution.   
01:22am 28/02/2009
  Humans are soft.  Relative to other animal species, we lack many of the common physical attributes of survival in the "wild."  Sharp teeth, claws, extremely strong legs for running, excellent night vision, complex sense of smell....all attributes which wild animals have, and we do not.

The human being's evolutionary tool of survival is, and always has been, our mind.  From the time human beings began to use reason...to create fire, to shape spearhead out of stone, to trade with one another...our mind and ability to reason has been what has allowed us to survive in a harsh world. 

This has been our evolutionary advantage.

In human society, the men with the strongest minds have always survived over those with the weakest.  While physical strength still has its advantages, physical strength was never a match for Greek Fire.  Physical strength...heightened sense of smell, claws, sharp teeth, can do nothing against an arrow from a longbow, or a mini-ball from a musket.  The mind has always conquered.



But now we have warning labels.



The right, the republicans, hardline "conservatives," have always espoused "individual liberty."  An amazing feat, that they can proclaim to be the champions of the doctrine of individual liberty and freedom, and at the same time constantly attempt to legislate morality; to protect persons from themselves.

Marijuana is bad for you, liquor is bad for you, sex is bad for you, not being a christian is bad for you, (fill in the blank) is bad for you....so we will make it easy for you.  We'll make it illegal.

The left have a hand in this too.  Numerous lawsuits that they have had a tendency to behind have resulted in the legal requirement for warning labels on consumer products.

-Don't use your blow-dryer in the bathtub.
-Toy has small parts that may choke children.
-Electrocution may be painful.
-Harmful or fatal if swallowed.
-Do not set yourself on fire.

Not to mention the OSHA mandates...

-Slip-grip shoes.
-Stairways must be installed at least 30 degrees, and no more than 50
degrees, from the horizontal.
- Fire alarms - pull station locations, audible/visible alarms.
- Tornado/Earthquake/Zombie Invasion/Natural Disaster alarms.
-Proper....stuff.


So I could have provided better examples.  They're easy to find for yourself. 




But what if, by protecting people from their own stupidity...we have halted evolution? 

Think about it.  We have all these things in place to protect people from themselves; moral regulation, government funded programs...teaching people not to smoke, drink etc.  Then we have things in place to protect people from the simple features of their environment; workplace regulations, warning labels, etc.

Add to that....social welfare programs.  Yes.

Programs that feed and clothe those too stupid to realize that in order to survive...they have to work.  Earn money.  Get food.  Eat.  Shelter.  Water.  Etc.

So guilt ridden are some, the victims of weaponized guilt, that they spearhead programs for the needy...no matter what the circumstances of their neediness.


So, we have, over a great many years, created an environment where the mentally weak can survive...in some cases more successfully than the mentally strong.  Our "progressive" culture and society has progressed so far as to, out of pity, not only protect the weak minded from themselves and their environment, but to push them in front of the strong minded.

This is all a big, "What if?"   But what if?  		 
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Best explanation of how Taxes work.   
10:00pm 22/02/2009
  Bar Stool Economics
Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes
to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go
something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you
are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of
your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that
from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each
end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested
that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same
amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to
compare their savings.
'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too.  It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got'
'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down
and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between
all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a
tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.		  
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Something to think about.   
11:26pm 14/02/2009
 
mood: frustrated
My dad and I had a good discussion today.

I spent most of the day chainsawing timber...trees and limbs that had fallen during the ice storm.  I've got a pretty sizable timber pile stacked up...girthy and taller than a man.  It will make a good bonfire when the first few weeks of summer dry the ground and woods out.  I haven't had a good bonfire in quite awhile.

I sold my truck today.  Granted, for $750 less than I had it listed for (and $750 less than I think it's worth,) but it's sold.  I've payed off my debts to my dad, so I intend to use the rest to pay off one of my bills...probably my computer...and get started on an apartment (deposit, laundry detergent, etc. etc.)

While we were driving into town, to find a notary to notarize the title for the truck, my dad and I somehow got on the subject of taxes.

He remarked that the house he is living in now, he and mom...and I (temporarily)...he owns it.  I knew he had lived here awhile back, I guess after he'd come back from Vietnam and then moved back from California, so 70's maybe.  When I go into the attic to find something I've stowed away, I can see the roof of the house that my dad had lived in many years ago...before he and my mom had moved to Alabama to have my sister, and then moved back to have me, in the home I grew up in...on Bellview. 

After I went off to college, mom and dad split up.  Mom went to Frankfort, and dad moved into the house next-door to this one.  When this house went up for sale...and some other things happened...mom and dad got back together and bought this house. 

It is payed off.  They own it...the bought it straight cash, I guess.  The house, the property, dad owns it.

So to speak...

In the car, on the way back from the notary, he mentioned how ridiculous it is that, although he owns this house and this property, he still has to pay property taxes to the government.

If he doesn't pay the property taxes, on the property that he supposedly owns, the government will prosecute him.  This property and this house will be up for auction on the courthouse steps.



So what does that mean?  Even though my dad has payed in full for this house and property, he still has to pay the government for the right to own it.  If he does not, then he, we, are not allowed to live here.  So in all reality, the government owns it.

Dad owns this house and property at the mercy of the government.  Whats to stop them from arbitrarily taking it away?

I think people miss the fundamental problem with taxes.  America has always been the home of utopian ideals; our own Atlantis.  The free country.  Liberty.  Where you are free to enjoy the spoils of your labor.  Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But we take for granted the fact that, all of these rights that are supposedly "god given" or naturally born to us...we have to buy.  We pay for them.

Is that right?

I don't own anything.  No matter what I purchase from another man, in full, I don't own it.  If I have something, I have it at the governments mercy.  If I don't pay my taxes, my possessions are forfeit?

I have no problem with paying for things like roads, police, military, the courts...but where are my dollars going?  Look at the stimulus.  Why do I have to pitch a large part of my income into the pot to fund a monorail system between vegas and disneyland, in order to keep my car?

Does that make sense?

Of course.  Welcome to the United States of Stupid.		  
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The dark figure.   
11:10pm 10/02/2009
  During college, I focused most of my studies on the subject of crime theory, leading to my degree in Criminal Justice.

In crime theory, there is a pervasive issue known as the Dark Figure. The dark figure represents all the crime that occurs, but is not reported, due to, for example, failure of victims to report, inefficient research procedures, etc.

There is another dark figure, even more impossible to quantify than the first; crime that does not occur.

Expanding criminal justice to include all protective disciplines, for example: loss prevention, security, asset protection, executive protection, etc. - we can include more illustrative examples.

Proactive policies more often result in the presence of the darker figure. For example, an asset protection coordinator who employs generally proactive policies - such as highly visible security measures, preventative measures, etc. - will generally have greater success in protecting assets.

However, if that person were to employ more reactive procedures, focusing more on apprehending thieves, or taking reports on loss or shrink that has already occurred, he would have much more to report to those who hold his employ.

So, although proactive strategies are generally much more successful in the protective arena - preventing crimes before they happen, preventing loss before it happens, actively protecting assets - these strategies leave the persons employing them with nothing to report...nothing to quantify, nothing to put in charts or graphs, nothing to show that they are doing their job.

As a person who works in a related field, it can be frustrating. You find yourself having to find ways to justify your existence to superiors who, in many cases, do not understand the strategies you employ. How can you report to them the thefts that did not occur this quarter? Or the loss that was prevented?


I think we can consider the government...federal and otherwise, as a larger protective entity. That's the way it was designed, anyway, to protect your rights...to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And thinking of it that way, I wonder if people in the political arena, specifically active government officials, don't suffer from this same symptom. I wonder if they don't feel a need to justify their existence with quantity....figures, charts, graphs, etc...to show they they are doing something and that there is a need for their existence.

Some time ago, "people," (not sure what people) were saying that we had a "do nothing," congress. To me, this was a good sign. A proper government would not be proactive. The founding fathers already took the proactive steps, to lay the foundation for a governing body that could act to REACT to threats to its citizens' rights, lives, well being, etc. So, if our congress was doing "nothing," they were properly doing their job; waiting and staying vigilant for threats.



I think, at least in part, that this gross misunderstanding of the role of government is what lead to our near-trillion dollar bailout fiasco. If there are no threats to the rights of citizens (or more accurately, if the government is the source of said threats) how is a government official to show his constituency that there is a bonafide need for his position?

How else, but by creating a problem, and solving it?

Not unlike how a loss prevention agent, concerned about his job, might ask a friend to steal and hide some product so that he can "recover" it.

Or a concerned police officer might call in a bomb threat, just to give him and his co workers a chance to show the mayor that they're good for something.


I think what we have here is a case of firefighters starting fires. And we're all getting hosed.		  
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We need a plumber.   
12:12pm 08/02/2009
 
mood: worried
First, we need to understand how value is created.

This is the difference between "getting" money and "making" money.  America was built on the notion of making money, and creating value. 

A fundamental example of this is a simple rocking chair, the kind you might find sitting for sale in front of the Cracker Barrel, or at a roadside general store on U.S. 60, surrounded by other antiques and trinkets.

A small oak tree has little monetary value in and of itself.  A man chops it down, saws up the lumber, and brings it into his workshop.  Through his labor, he has increased the value of the wood by a small percent, as the lumber is now raw material that can be made into any number of things.  The man can sell the lumber as it is, or keep it to create something himself....in this case he keeps it.

The man, using his skills and the sweat of his brow, cuts and shapes and sands the lumber.  He glues and nails pieces together, polishes, stains, and over a period of time and effort transforms the raw material into something useful:  A rocking chair.

Like a chemical reaction, the man has placed two ingredients into a glass beaker on a bunsen burner;  1:  The raw material.  2:  His skill.  His effort serves as fuel for the flame.  The flame heats the two ingredients, combining them to create something altogether new.

He has created value, where before there was none or little.  This is what built America. 

Grains are grown and harvested to create cereals and breads, and sold for profit.  Raw materials are combined with skill and science and ingenuity to create automobiles, and are sold for profit.  Raw skill, knowledge and effort are combined and provided as a service; landscaping, consulting, building, sales, etc. - and this service is sold for profit.  These profits are used to buy more services or products.

Now we understand value, and how value is traded amongst people.



From the time congress changed immigration policies around the 1970's, the population growth of this country has more than doubled over the growth, including the baby-boom generation, caused by births.  That means that if immigration policy was not changed around the 1970's, our population would have grown half as much as it has. 



Immigration by the Numbers - Part 1


Population growth, in and of itself, is not necessarily an issue of concern, especially because, in our case, the immigrants causing the growth are generally skilled laborers or, in some cases, professionals.  (In the case of Shelby County, Louisville, many other parts of Kentucky, California, and other places, a great many are members of brutal and dangerous Latino gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha and the Latin Kings.  This may be an exception.. :)

As skilled laborers, workers, and professionals, they can create value, as illustrated previously, and, perpetuating the simple aforementioned formula, sustain the growth that has made America the richest and most successful nation in the world to date. 

The PROBLEM is this:  In 1980, immigrants sent approximately $2 billion dollars, via remittances offered by banks or western union etc., to their home nations.  In 2006, immigrants sent approximately $45 BILLION DOLLARS to their home nations.

This money, this value, was not used to purchase an item of equal or greater value from the immigrants home nation, which was not brought into this nation to replace the value lost by the transfer of money.

This money, this value, was not allowed to continue to circulate within this nations borders, as every person who lays his or her hands on those bills of legal tender might use them to purchase a product or service created by the skill and labor of another person in this country.


For all intents and purposes, this money, this value, was destroyed.  45 BILLION DOLLARS.  We may never see it again.  If money is intended to have value, which it is, then we can replace the notes of legal tender with the rocking chair, created by the skilled man.  This rocking chair, instead of being sold for profit, is sent across the border into a foreign nation.  It is not sold to someone in that nation, in exchange for compensation; it is given, in exchange for nothing.

The value that the man created, through the combination of the raw materials, his effort and skill, is GONE.




So, we have an, at least, $45 BILLION DOLLAR leak in our plumbing.  For all the value that we create or trade, that constantly circulates through the pipes, $45 billion dollars leaks out somewhere along the way. 

These remittances, the sending of money and value across borders for no return in value, is not being discouraged.  In fact, it is encouraged, both by our government and the government of the immigrants' home nations.  Mexican authorities, in 2004, distributed more than 1 million copies of an illustrated handbook that gives migrants illegally crossing the U.S. border tips to do so safely, and to avoid border patrols (in the guise of simply providing "safety tips.")  The Mexican government encourages both legal and illegal immigration, because they know and understand that they now depend on these remittances to sustain the GDP of their own country.

Our own government allows this to happen, because some of us feel strongly that, as such a powerful and wealthy nation, we have an obligation to show our concern for the 3rd world. 

The second part of the video linked above illustrates, in a rather clever way, the futility of that notion.



All things considered, we need a plumber.  We need someone to fix the leaks.  Eventually, our ability as Americans - the ability that has allowed this country to grow and flourish as it has - to create value where before there was none, will fail to keep pace with the loss of value due to the leak. 

As our population continues to grow, our gross domestic product will cease to grow.  Then it will begin to shrink...there will be no money left for infrastructure; schools, bridges, emergency services, hospitals, etc.  When our population continues to grow as our GDP continues to shrink, that's the beginning of the end.		  
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I don't...I mean...did anyone complain about the 80's - early 90's?   
01:01am 18/01/2009
 
mood: amused

This is Ronald Reagan's inaugural speech, delivered January 20th, 1981.  One might objectively analyze and compare our nation's current economic state with that of the 80's and 90's (currently-decline....80's / 90's-MASSIVE growth) and one might think...who's paradigm was better? 

Ronald Reagan...hardline fiscal conservative...hardline political conservative...leave the government out of your shit.

Or...George W. Bush, along with a Congress full of lunatic leftist Democrats...shoving the governments heavy hand into the private sector at each and every turn...pushing too far this way and that...and eventually, by overregulation (or...shit...regulation in the first place) causing the "crisis" we see today.

If for some reason you decide to watch big O's inaugural speech...read this first.

Note that the nation was on the verge of a similar crisis at the time that this speech was delivered.

 

Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.

Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.

The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed- income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding--we are going to begin to act, beginning today.

The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we, as Americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.

From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people," this breed called Americans.

Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this "new beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America at peace with itself and the world.

So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work-work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, loomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will all on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew; our faith and our hope.

We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter--and they are on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life.

I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.

We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self- sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?

Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow--measured in inches and feet, not miles--but we will progress. Is it time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles, there will be no compromise.

On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."

Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.

And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.

To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for or own sovereignty is not for sale.

As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it--now or ever.

Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.

I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.

And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.

Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.

Under one such marker lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.

We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."

The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.

  
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Look what Dad's bringing home....   
11:28pm 15/01/2009
 
mood: giddy

  
     Read 1 - Post
 
I just found out...   
08:26pm 15/01/2009
  I'm gaining a Brother!

...in law!!		  
     Read 1 - Post
 
Gaza   
10:04pm 10/01/2009
  Israel is and has been constantly bombed by rockets from Gaza, from Hamas, long before this war ever started.  In order to stop the bombings, Israel had to act.  The mobile rocket launchers are often hidden in schools, hospitals, etc...because the Hamas are not completely stupid.  No...let me rephrase that.  They are completely stupid, but they are also evil.  They know that when Israel strikes these rocket launchers from the air, collateral damage will result...civilian deaths, children etc.  They know that this will deal a blow to Israel in the form of condemnation by the world community...which it has.

You are standing in a room with no doors, windows or exits.  A man is holding a child to his chest with his left arm.  In his right hand is a pistol, and he is firing at you.  What would you do? 

What if that same man is firing his pistol at your wife, your own children and your loved ones?  Your best friend?  What would you do?

It is much easier to cover your ears, close your eyes and sing your favorite prayer to your favorite god as loudly as possible than it is to realize that such situations sometimes do happen...and not just to action stars in movies and on T.V., but to people like you and I. 

Palestinians are enraged.  Their children are dying, their wives, their loved ones, at the hands of the Israelis.  They are enraged because they feel that it is unjust; that their children and their wives and their best friends may not have meant any harm to Israel, and yet they are dying.

Riot control.  A special interest group is planning a demonstration in a public area.  They do the smart thing, and communicate with local law enforcement and emergency services personnel beforehand.  Local law enforcement tells them this:  You are responsible for the actions of the members of your group.  We absolutely respect your right to demonstrate as granted by the Constitution; however, if any of the members of your group begin starting fires, flipping cars, looting, breaking windows or otherwise becoming a threat to public safety, your demonstration will be shut down.  So I will reiterate, you are responsible for the actions of the members of your group.

If the Palestinians are angry, because their children and wives and best friends are dying...they should not be angry at Israel.  They should be angry at Hamas.  Members of the Hamas hate Jews, simply because they are Jews, and not Muslims.  The Hamas attack Israel...most often hitting schools and hospitals where no reasonable target exists, and retreat to the safety of the backs of their own civilians.

So to those Palestinians that pray for peace.  Those that are enraged.  Bring peace to your country by casting out the Hamas.  Don't let them hide their weapons with your children...don't let them hide among you, don't let them claim to be your voice if they are not.  If you condemn the attacks on your country, on Muslims...but do not condemn the attacks on Jews, Christians, Americans etc. by Muslims....where does that put you? 

To the Muslims that pray for peace.  If you claim that Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Mujahideen and other Muslim terrorist organizations do not represent your views, why then....why, when a cartoon appears in some obscure newspaper making parody of your prophet Mohammed, are you out in the streets, in every country where you live, shouting and carrying signs and beating drums and yelling, "Allah hu akbar!" in protest....but, when men and women die in suicide bombings and terrorist attacks carried out by those who claim to represent you...why do you sit by and watch?  Where does that put you?  What does that make you?

To many, I'm sure, it makes you the enemy.		  
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Dear Microsoft....   
01:13pm 04/01/2009
  Dear Microsoft...

I know what your thinking....don't be shy.  You've denied it so much in the past, but I know the truth.

Nintendo and Sony have their hands in it.  Nintendo first....first with the Game Boy, then with the Game Boy Color...then the SP, and now the DS.

In the meantime there was the Sega Game Gear....which did well for its part.  The Nokia N-Gage was...well...funny. 

Sony has the PSP.  I can browse the web, use Skype, play my mp3s and videos (as long as they're converted into the correct format,) listen to internet radio, and play a decent variety of games.  If I feel like hacking my firmware, illegitimizing my system in the eyes of Sony, I can do much more.  Run third-party shells, different GUI's, play games such as Doom, Quake, Halo....(of course, at the risk of no longer being able to play games online, or certain games which require the most recent and proper firmware.)

...I can even run Windows Vista.

That's right.  I can run YOUR operating system, your pride and glory, on this little machine.  It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it's there. 

I've got my PSP mounted in my car.  I use it and an FM tuner to play MP3's while I'm on the road....pretty visualizations, shifting colors and patterns light up the VW's dark interior at night, moving in sync to the music.

I've got a Garmin GPS in there too, handy piece of equipment that it is.  Hungry, search for food, follow the directions.   Need power steering fluid?  Nearest Autozone...there...turn right here.

Soon enough the PSP will have GPS capability as well. 

So where are you, Microsoft?  Sony has gone through three generations of PSP's, adding at each step something a bit more useful, more entertaining.  You're obviously no stranger to hardware; you changed the course of console gaming with the XBOX, creating for all intents and purposes a cookie-cutter-PC.  Everyone that has one has a gaming system with the same specs..same hardware, which makes it incredibly easy for game developers to design games around this structure.  You bridged that craggy, forlorn crevace separating the two worlds of PC's and Consoles.  The citizens of those nations, peasants and lords alike, crossed the bridge and greeted each other with great merriment and jubilation.

There was a festival.   They drank mead.

You know your shit.  Sony has been doing everything with the PSP that you should have done years ago.

Give me a portable entertainment system, Microsoft.  Not an iPhone, not a Zune (lol)....give me a super-portable computer.  Call it the Gizmo, "Giz" for short.  (Yeah, sounds like jizz, but think about the marketing possibilities...."Did you get your Giz yet?  I've got mine in my hands all the time.  I love my Giz!  My girlfriend is always playing with my Giz, she can't get enough.")

Give me dual analog controls...stick with what you know.  Dual left and right triggers, ABXY, same control layout as the classic XBOX controller.  When a gamer picks this up, it will already feel familiar; he knows where all the buttons are, so you've absolutely eliminated the first learning curve inherit in all new gaming systems.

Give me a screen only slightly bigger than the PSP's.  Give me a touchscreen, as accurate if not more accurate than the iPhone.  Or, give me a trackball, like the one on a Blackberry. 

Give me an operating system, a new version of Windows, designed completely around the structure of this device.  Call it Windows Giz, or whatever.  Give me the same functionality as Windows...but designed around a cookie-cutter structure.  Think about it...you're designing this version of Windows to work on ONE platform...you don't have to think about compatibility between different computers and different hardware, so surely you can make this one more efficient and more reliable than all the rest.  Make it easy to navigate on the small screen...touch screen functionality if neccessary.  But, make it familiar as well.

Give me at least two USB 2.0 ports.  Full size ports, so I don't have to mess with finding the right cable to go from my Giz to my PC.  You can make it fit.  Give me the ability to hook up whatever mouse or keyboard or whatever USB peripheral I want to the system.   Flash drive?  Sure.  USB desktop fan?  Whatever.  Webcam?  Alright.  And, of course, give me drivers support for these peripherals.  Let me install from my PC...put the driver disk in the PC, Giz is hooked up via USB, drivers are installed.  You'll need to be sure Windows Giz syncs up sufficiently with Vista or whatever...seamlessly.  Oh yeah, while you're at it you can sync it with the Xbox360 as well...why not.

Give me everything the PSP has, and more.  Wifi, instant messenging, an intuitive web-browser with a touch-screen keyboard (or if I like I can hook one up via USB.)  GPS?  Sure.  MP3's, Videos, documents, BLUETOOTH...give me a laptop that fits in my pocket.

Oh, yeah back to the hardware.  Video-out would be nice.  Component or composite or whatever....PSP has that.

Give me an extensive library of great games.  It doesn't have to be as big as the PSP's library...half those games suck anyway.  Give me quality before quantity.  FPS, RPG, RTS....hell MMORPG, why not. 


But most of all...and listen carefully Microsoft, because this is what's going to sell your system...

...give me freedom.

The freedom to do whatever I want with the hardware that I have lawfully and legitimately purchased.  Watch video in any format, using whatever video codec I want and whatever media player I choose to install?  Sure...but more than that.  Give me an operating system that allows me to install, or at least attempt to install, whatever software I choose, using my PC as a link.  I want to play Unreal Tournament G.O.T.Y while I'm on the crapper;  hook the Giz up to the PC via USB 2.0, put the UT99 disc in the PC's drive, prompt me to install it on the PC or the Giz.  Install.  Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.  If it doesn't, give me the freedom to figure out why and fix it.  I'll post my fix on some forums, for others to try.  Let me tweak it.  Nervous?  Look at what happened when Sierra and Valve left the hood open, just enough, so that some curious and persistant gamer (dangerous combination there) could get a peek inside, at the engine; that someone made Counter-Strike, and Valve made a dick-ton of money off of it. 

Think about it.  If I want to do all kinds of crazy things with your hardware, with your Giz, I'm gonna have to buy one first.  If I fuck it up while I'm tweaking it, exploring it's capabilities beyond the box, I'll have to buy another one. 

It's win win, Microsoft.  You know we want it, we know you can do it. 


Oh yeah, make it pretty too.  I like blue.		  
     Post
 
This temple, it tilts.   
11:53pm 24/12/2008
  I should have run Monday.

That was my plan, anyway.  I skipped a few days last week, and had intended to get back on the regular schedule of MWF this week, even despite Christmas.  It's funny how, when you start getting into a routine schedule of exercise, one deviation from such can bring about quite a bit of guilt.  It ends up being like a drug....like smoking, maybe.  This monday, due to a set of unique circumstances, I was unable to run.  Due to other circumstances out of my control, I was unable to run Tuesday...either.

On Monday, I had to finish some Christmas shopping.  I searched far and wide for that particular microfiber blanket that my mother wanted, but to no avail.  I checked on the status of my special gift for my parents...the rock, apparently "soapstone," that I had plucked out of the dry lake bed.  About 3.5' high by nearly as much wide, I hoped to have it engraved with our family name by Christmas, to be used as an address marker.  (You set it out by your mailbox.)  My intent has been to create a family heirloom, as we have nothing else of the sort to carry on the Hurtt name.  Why not have it chiseled in stone?

I can't get ahold of the stonecutter on the 22nd.

On the 23rd,  I call, they tell me it will be ready later in the day and that they will call me.  They never call me, they don't answer the phones.  Extremely stressful day at work, atop the guilt of skipping a day of running, I decide to try to get to the track on this day, despite the slick roads.  Now...theres a bit of a tricky piece of road right before I get to my house.  Basically, you go down a steep hill, then up a steep hill, and then down a small hill and you're at the house.

(I got sleepy and passed out here.  Now it's Christmas morning.)

Coming home, I lost traction for a bit going down, but regained it and made it to the house.  Expecting the temperatures to warm and the ice to melt, I got dressed and headed to the track.  Even though I was going <1 mph down the hill, I lost traction and began to slide, gaining speed.  I managed to veer away from the ravine on the left, into Mrs. Weitzel's yard on the right.  Got out of there, gave up on running for the day, and turned around in Mrs. Weitzel's driveway.  Going back up the hill I had just slid down proved more difficult; I had to try to rock the car back and forth, staying in 1st gear, to try to gain any kind of traction.  About 3/4 the way up the hill, I begin sliding backwards, and gaining speed.  

There's no feeling quite as helpless as sliding down a hill backwards in your car, with no steering or braking control.  I nearly bailed out, for fear I'd go off into the ravine, but in the end I was able to stay on the road.  I was sliding so fast that I actually went about halfway UP the opposite hill, before I slid down into the middle of the U.  I caught my breath, and tried to make it up again, finally succeeding in getting back to the house after about 25 minutes.  

Well it finally warmed up, which brought quite a lot of rain yesterday morning.  The once bone-dry lake bed behind the house is now host to a muddy creek with a very fast current, going towards the main body.  The sound of the moving water startled me a bit when I went outside last night; I looked for a burst pipe or water main before I thought of the creek.

I finally ran yesterday evening, knowing that if I didn't I'd feel like crap all through Christmas day.  This was the first time I'd run in daylight in what seems like several months.  The air was perfect...not too warm or too cool, although the wind was a little strong.  After I finished my 2 miles, I stretched out and caught up to my breath.  I stared at the sky for a short while, and realized just how long it had been since I had stopped to just...look up.  I thought of how this town has changed so much, mostly for the worse, since I was young.  The sky seems to be a comforting constant; it's just the same as it was 10 or 15 years ago.  I'll have to make a point to look up there more often.		  
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This should be interesting.   
06:23pm 21/12/2008
 
mood: accomplished


MSPaint is completely underrated. 

 
     Post
 
The end tree.   
06:17pm 21/12/2008
 
mood: hopeful

The end tree.



Next to a graveyard, just south of the shopping center in Shelbyville where McDonald's and Paradise Liquors are located, is the end tree.

It's been there as long as I can remember. Growing up, I rarely saw it. Before KY-55 was joined with KY-53 at US-60, my parents would never have need to drive that way to take me to school, or to Roses to shop for toys. We would always take Cropper rd. to school, or just go through town to get to the west side. The occasional trip to McDonalds, however, would bring us there.

Long before I could see the tree, I would see the hordes of buzzards alight over the roof of the shopping center. If we happened to be headed towards I-64, for a rare trip to Louisville to see a movie, we would pass the tree. Crossing the bridge just past the fish market, you could see the tree on your right.

Dead amongst living. In the spring, all the trees around it were in full bloom. Vibrant green leaves danced in the late-march wind, seemingly attempting to conceal the vestige of death hidden within the grove. The sharp contrast between the green of the living trees and the ghostly-white grey of the end tree was, however, perfectly evident. It couldn't be missed.

The freshly-picked flowers gracing the headstones in the nearby graveyard offered and even more stark contrast. Living amongst dead.

If, somehow, you managed to miss the tree, you most certainly would not fail to notice the buzzards. By the tens and twenties, they circled the tree constantly in the early evening hours, cawing at their comrades, thrice their number, perched on the end tree's brittle dead branches.

I don't know why the buzzards favor that place. There doesn't seem to be any plentiful source of food for them nearby, like a grain mill or a....dead rodent depository. But every evening, without fail, they roost...standing vigilant watch over the dead in the graveyard. While fifty or sixty stand at lookout in the tree, twenty or thirty patrol the air above. I haven't stayed to watch long enough to see if they work in shifts.

The strange thing is, even though it has been here for at least 20 years, nobody in Shelbyville seems to talk about it. It's impossible to miss, yet nobody mentions it. It seems like it would be the perfect subject for an article in the Sentinel-News...possibly producing something much more engrossing than anything I've ever read in there (I'm already sick of hearing about the water commission.) It's almost as if it's too morbid a subject for a newspaper article, or even barber-shop banter.

I have seen this all my life, and I have never heard any other person, friend or family, make mention of it. I almost feel as if I'm the only person who can see it, and that makes it all the more eerie.

I wish I could have taken a better picture of it, but the private-property sign stopped me short (I'm square, I know.) The best way I could describe it, the feeling of looking at it, is as the polar opposite of the beginning tree. This is the image you see, in movies and music-videos and the like, most often following some kind of apocalypse or war or what-have you. It's the tiny sapling sprouting too-quickly from the scorched soil...first stem, then a few tiny leaves. The video most often ends, leaving you with the promise that this sapling will grow into a tall, proud Oak.

If that sapling symbolizes the beginning, then this symbolizes the end.

The End tree
  
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Just be good for goodness' sake.   
08:12pm 11/11/2008
 
mood: amused

'Why Believe in a God? Just be Good' Ads Set to Run Next Week On D.C. Buses


Ads proclaiming, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.

American Family Association President Tim Wildmon:
"How do we define 'good' if we don't believe in God? God in his word, the Bible, tells us what's good and bad and right and wrong. If we are each ourselves defining what's good, it's going to be a crazy world."


Thank you kindly, sir, for illustrating to succinctly the intellectual bankruptcy that plagues your beliefs.

Let's deconstruct:

1: "How do we define 'good' if we don't believe in God? God in his word, the Bible, tells us what's good and bad and right and wrong."
     -So, in order to obtain and secure eternal salvation, you must prostrate yourself before god...and above all else...surrender your capacity for reason.  This is the prevalent belief among the religious that is so, so damaging; that man is unable to determine, on his own, the difference between good and evil.  That man is born, NOT as an infant with an open mind..and armed with the most powerful survival tool of the human animal: his mind.....but instead as a retarded lump of flesh and bone, unfortunately charged with a life, who will never survive unless TOLD what is right and wrong..what is good and evil...by someone or some thing.  

This is the first and last beginning and end to the religious man's capacity for knowledge.  This is how he sells his own capacity for reason and logic to the lowest bidder.  He finds comfort in not having to use his mind....comfort in the ability to simply look to his book for solutions, and to find out how he should think or feel. 

Don't even mention the fact that some people, because of their choice to live in this way and follow blindly the words of one prophet or another...choose to slaughter people in the hundreds of thousands in the name of their god.  Well...they are simply worshipping the wrong God.

Oh.  Ok.



2:  "If we are each ourselves defining what's good, it's going to be a crazy world."
     -And here's your Original Sin.  Not only is a child born retarded, useless and completely defenseless....but also evil.  Without GOD to tell us what is right and wrong...and without the fear of hellfire and want of heaven to steer us away from evil, it will always consume us. 

Take not of those last few words:  it will consume us.  

In a thinking man's world, there are far fewer accidents than mistakes.  1 to 100...if that.  To distract yourself with text messaging or changing CD's and crash into a telephone pole, then call it an "accident," is self-deceit.  To make love to a girl, with or without protection, and end up with a child and call it an "accident," is self deceit.  (I know very few men who have tripped over an inanimate object and fallen into a woman's vagina...although I'm sure it has happened at least once.)

It is easier to call such things and more "accidents," than, "mistakes," because a mistake invokes a lack of personal responsibility.  To admit that you made a mistake is to admit that, although you were in control of your own fate, you made an error in judgment resulting in negative consequences.  You were not responsible to your own self.

The easiest and most effective way of avoiding personal responsibility, and the resultant guilt of making mistakes, is to subvert your ability to think, and surrender it to the preacher.  Let him tell you what to think, WHEN to think, when NOT to think, and how to think it.  Let him tell you what to do and how to do it.  Let him tell you that your observations, your judgment mean nothing, pail in comparison to the power of the holy word.  Let him tell you, when you crash your car into that telephone pole, or get your prom date pregnant, that, "The lord works in mysterious ways."  Let him also tell you this when you ask why your merciful God has brought plague and famine and pestilence and natural disasters and untold deaths to untold millions.

So if you forsake the word of god, evil will consume you.  You will always make evil choices in favor of evil ends, without the word of god to steer you towards good.  In fact, you are BORN evil...an evil little devil-child drowning in after-birth, until god saves you. 

You are unable to survive on the power of your own mind and body alone.  In fact, both are worthless...because it is not this life that matters, but the next. 

Well...if that is the case, let yourselves die.  No no, I won't stand in your way.  I won't stop you.  You can stop asking, I really won't.  Run quickly to your god, and leave the rest of us here to live this life in the best manner possible.  Leave us to pursue our happiness by the only means that have ever been possible; by making choices that favor good instead of evil.  Our morals, although very similar to yours in nature and meaning, do not have some holy word or divine inspiration to support them.  No, they have something much...much more powerful.

Our minds.
  
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A walk on the lake bed.   
07:42pm 25/10/2008
 
mood: awake
The lack of rain over the summer has all but dried up Guist Creek Lake.  The main body is still wet, near the dam, so theres still quite a bit of lake there.  But this lake is marked by it's many channels and inlets.  Although it is really a man-made lake (I think....) it has a number of streams, channels, cricks and inlets coming off of it, that feed even more creeks and streams flowing throughout Shelby County.  One of which, Indian Creek, flowed through the farm I grew up on.  It brought us a diminutive pond, which was home to the frogs and toads that sounded throughout the night.  

Those inlets and outlets, streams and creeks that were fed by the lake are dried up.  The channel that ran behind this house, that floated our dock and allowed us to launch into the main lake, has dried up. 

But, we make the best of natures folly. 





That's a deer trail.  They either come down to drink then turn back towards my side, or they cross over north towards the field.



The ground here is pitted with deer tracks.




A curious piece of driftwood.






A small pond towards the eastern end of the lake bed.  This was full of frogs.




Catfish houses.  I'll have to remember to fish this should the lake ever fill up again.




Rear view of the house, from the lake.



The picture doesn't really show how big this hoofmark was.  Probably came from a really big deer, but it almost seemed more like an elk or moose.  The depth is what caught my attention more than the width.  The soil here was fairly firm....not soft or muddy.  The depth of the hoofmark would lead me to believe that whatever made it was very heavy....heavier than a normal sized deer, be it buck or doe.  There's no moose or elk in Kentucky (I don't think....) so it would have had to have been just a very, very big buck.  I'll be watching for him.



Further on is the main body of the lake.



Feathers are probably from a hawk.  Interesting how they settled within the cracks here.



Like a desert.






I think this birdhouse was placed here by KY F&W.  It remains unused, maybe by a few rare sparrows every now and then, but regardless it's a visual blight on the lake (even when there's water in it.)  I considered removing it.



I marked the locations of these logs and branches on a map.  Hopefully, if the lake fills again, I can come back here and fish.



It was nice to have some time away from TV...news, politics, etcetera.  It's all been making me more and more angry, every day.  I realized yesterday that I both hated, and envied the ignorant at the same time.  I wish I didn't care about the things that were happening, but I know that at some point it can and will affect me.  More importantly, I know that it all means more than the immediate effect.  Big things are happening.  Big changes are coming.  

An hour or so of simplicity a day makes things a lot more clear.

  
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United States of America: New Employee Orientation Handbook - Revised Draft 9/20/2008   
02:06pm 20/09/2008
 
mood: nauseated
From:
Mrs. Nan__ Pelo__
Office of Workforce Development
Peoples State of America


To:
Democratic Party Headquarters
ATTN: (Future) President Bar___ Ob___
461 Park Avenue South, New York NY 10016

9/20/2008

Mr. Ob___

What an eventful couple of weeks we have had!  We here at the office are simply thrilled that the first few acquisitions seem to be going very smoothly!  Who would have thought that we would be so close to achieving our goal only two years after first convening the High Council for Progressive Social Reform (hehe, high council...that gets me every time B!)  

Moving on, myself, Mr. and Mrs. Clin___, Mr. Kenne__, Reverend Jack___ and Mr. XX have been hard at work on the New Employee Orientation Handbook, under the helpful guidance of Mr. Puti_, Mr. Ahmadinej__, Mr. K.J.I., and Mr. Jinta_ and the nice people from the Peoples Republic of China.  We've also had the assistance of several advertising consultants from some of the recently acquired corporations, and I think you'll find that this draft of the handbook has a much, much more pleasant tone than the earlier drafts.  Some of the terminology and nomenclature we've previously made a practice of using has been either scrapped or toned down.

As an aside, Mr. O, you may notice that some of the new terminology is not entirely....for lack of a less objective term..."accurate."  With respect, sir, keep in mind that this handbook is to be read by the general public.  We here at the office have always made an attempt to tailor the text of this handbook to the ignorant mind of the general public.  (Plus, comrade, your recent speeches have been more effective than anyone could have anticipated; we've got them so scared right now, I think they'll believe just about anything!  Your skills of oratory are simply unmatched!)

Attached is the revised introduction.  For your convenience, comrade, I've marked the revisions and changes we've made since the last draft.  We here at the office look forward to your input, and as always we appreciate your guidance and honor your wisdom. 

Humbled in your presence..

Mrs. Nan__ Pelo__
Peoples State of America
"From each according to ability, to each according to need..."


ATTACHMENT 01
Peoples_State_Of_America_New_Employee_Handbook_Introduction_V.1.8993.doc



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
OFFICE OF CIVILIAN LABOR  
LABORER INDOCTRINATION HANDBOOK
THE PEOPLES STATE OF AMERICA
OFFICE OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
NEW EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION HANDBOOK


Section 1:  Introduction

Greetings, and congratulations!  We are so glad that you have been forced to chosen to join the workforce of the United States Government Peoples State of America!  We here in the Peoples Governing Body value and respect each and every indentured laborer civilian employee.  We know that your career working for this nation Peoples State will be a fruitful one, and far more enjoyable than working for greedy private industry!              (? maybe better not to remind them of private industry/ownership at all.  please advise - N.P.)

The Peoples Governing Body has a progressive, and growing workforce.  The recent addition of over 301 million men, women and children new employees to the workforce represents a more than 16,722% increase over the former roster of a meager 1.8 million employees....in just several weeks!  As you can see, we are entirely and selflessly committed to CHANGE.

As a new indentured laborer employee of the Federal Government people  (omitted paragraph explaining who "the people" are....will include once we come to consensus on that one - N.P.)  you will find you are now a part of an innovative, dynamic and progressive workplace.  We here in the Peoples Governing Body are staunch proponents of "outside the box thinking."  Here are just a few examples of our progressive and innovative ideas:

1: Compensation:  Your first observation may be our progressive employee compensation system.  Our goal is to uphold the values summarized by our new national mantra:  From each according to faculty, to each according to want  From each according to ability, to each according to need.  (Good call on this one Mr. O! - N.P.)  We have scrapped the ancient and barbaric concept of hard work selfish acts and choices being the only path to prosperity and happiness.  While the former regime was more concerned with allowing selfish and greedy persons to pursue their own wealth, we have progressed beyond these outdated ideas, and operate with the purpose of fulfilling your needs.

One of the first parts of the pre-employment process will be the Ability and Need testing battery:  The Ability Test will help us get a general idea of your vocational aptitude, and how we can best use you make disposition of your abilities.  Supplementing the results of the Ability Test, an extensive personal background investigation will summarize your prior personal and professional life.  The results of both will determine your placement in the Peoples Workforce.

The Need Test will determine your level of compensation.  This is a simple, two page exam comprised of subjective essay and open-response questions.  Your completed test will be scored by a panel of five Need Adjucators, who will then place you in the innovative Need Scale.  The Need Test is also supplemented by an extensive background investigation.  Your score will be comprised of a combination of the results from both the test and the background investigation.  Special Score-Bonuses will be awarded for some personal factors such as the following:  3 (three) or more illegitimate children, lack of education or work experience, diagnosis of MDD (Motivation Deficiency Disorder), any relation to persons living or dead who were once victims of slavery (note: any relation to persons living or dead who were once slave-owners will result in a 5-10 need-point penalty), qualification for "disenfranchised" status (based on factors such as race, sex, creed, sexual orientation, nationality or religious beliefs), former ownership of or employment by a failed business venture, addiction to recreational use of certain substances (including but not limited to: alcohol, barbiturates, methamphetamine, psychoactive drugs mind-enhancing substances, heroin, etc.), and more.

For the complete listing of Need Score Bonuses and qualifications, refer to pages 17 through 313 of your handbook.                   


2:  Health Benefits:  The Peoples Workforce offers a progressive health-benefits package to all employees.  One of the features we encourage all employees to take advantage of is the Civilian Re-Education Employee Psychological Health program.  The Psychological Health program is dedicated to the fast and methodical diagnosis and treatment of certain psychological conditions that may impede your ability to work for your Government fellow man.  Employees experiencing such dangerous symptoms as personal satisfaction, pride, motivation, feelings of self-worth, etc. are encouraged to report to the combined Psychological Health and Anti-Individualism Learning centre (P.H.A.I.L.) for summary indoctrination re-education psychological treatment and rehabilitation. 

Employees who do not respond immediately to treatment will be allotted a minimum twelve-week Psychological Health Vacation period, in which time they will attend an internment camp a number of psychological health seminars.  The vacation period will continue until such time as the Psychological Health Board determines that employees have fully recovered from their psychological conditions.  

3:  Housing and Relocation:  The Peoples Governing Body of the Peoples State of America wants your working experience to be as comfortable as possible.  The Peoples Governing Body will provide you with housing, bedding, linens, running water, clothing, and all the amenities you need.  Special considerations will be given based on employee's Need scores.  The Peoples Governing Body discourages any attempts to acquire extra amenities by any undocumented means.  Remember, the Peoples Governing Body is here to provide for you, and we know what's best for you!  

4:  Child Daycare:  The Peoples Governing Body is glad to provide child-care for parents during both working and non-working hours.  We want to be sure that our indentured laborers employees are not distracted by such trivial burdens as parenting and childcare.  Our trained Child-Care Specialists will take excellent care of your children, and provide a comfortable and educational environment for your children to learn about such things as sexual orientation, cultural diversity, and national history (2008 - present.)  Parents are allowed (limited) supervised visiting hours in between educational sessions.

Remember, it takes a village to raise a child!



These are just a few examples of the progressive an innovative concepts driving the new Peoples Workforce.  Your New Employee Orientation Handbook contains all the information you will need to get started in your new and fruitful career.

Upon receiving your New Employee Orientation Handbook, you will have two (2) weeks to prepare for New Employee Orientation, which will be held at one of thirteen Peoples State of America Orientation Centers across the nation.  If for some reason you are unable to attend New Employee Orientation, or you fail to communicate your receipt of the New Employee Orientation Handbook to your local Community Organizer (C.O.), don't worry, we'll come find you! we'll provide transportation!

God Bless America  "From Each According to Ability, To Each According to Need."


(Let us know what you think!  -N.P.)






Boy I can't wait to start my new job!

 



  
     Post
 
Atlantis   
09:57pm 06/09/2008
 
mood: determined
This will be my only political writing on the 2008 presidential election, providing nothing silly happens.

As a nation, we have reached a crossroads.  The relevance of this presidential election is unmatched, relative to those of the recent past.  The differences between parties are continuously becoming more and more polarized. 

It is unfortunate that American politics rest upon the two party system...those two parties being the Democrats and the Republicans.  It takes money...too much money...to run a political campaign.  Therefore our choices are limited...but this is the reality with which we must cope.

Standing before this crossroads, we have two roads to take:  The road of Life, and the road of Death.

Fear empowers those that take the road of Death.  Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of death itself.  The common reaction to the sight of something fearful, something horrifying, is to run away, or close ones eyes, or both.  That is what the members and supporters of the modern Democratic party are; frightened people running with their eyes closed.  They fear reality...they fear working towards success because of the possibility of failure.  They fear allowing citizens the right of choice, for the possibility that they might make the wrong choices.  They are jealous of those who are successful, because at the first sign of failure they whimper away with their tails between their legs. 

They wish for one thing, and one thing only....that Death...zero...null...failure...would become the collective moral standard.  The lowest man, the poorest pauper, to them is the greatest man...for some reason.  Since they are afraid of failure, since they believe that success is not possible for them for whatever reason (disenfranchisement, race, etc.) they strive to bring all people to their level of failure, of death, of null. 

How do they do this?  By first, declaring that the lie of original sin is truth; every man is born evil, a sinner, and must beg for forgiveness from someone or some thing.  If every man is born evil, than no matter how hard you strive to be so, you will never be good.  

Second, they impose guilt upon those more successful than themselves.  They say, "How dare you...be more successful than I, be more wealthy than I, be more happy than I....you are a sinner just like me, you are as lowly as me...your wealth should be my wealth, it is UNFAIR that you have wealth when I do not."

Third, they devalue money.  They declare that money is the root of all evil...only an empty standard of trade for buying cigarettes and lottery tickets and booze.  They fail to recognize the value of money that comes from  work....that the money in your wallet is a product of your effort and productivity.  Instead of MAKING money, the choose simply to GET money, by the easiest means necessary; welfare, social security, unemployment, other social programs, etc....or just simple theft and/or burglary. 

All the time, they shield themselves from reality.  Those that march in the streets, breaking windows, overturning cars, throwing debris at police...they call themselves protesters, yet when any one of them is asked what they are protesting and why...none but a select few have an answer.  They march and chant and beat drums, often wearing masks...yet acting surprised when the police use tear gas...only because it seems appropriate.  They don't seek the logic behind their actions....how breaking a window or setting some innocent mans car ablaze is supposed to bring support to their cause.  This is the mob mentality, a collective consciousness, that is exceedingly dangerous because it does not know it's own purpose.  Like a blood-drunk bull crashing through a market with no purpose or design.    

This mob mentality flourishes within the Democratic party.  As it becomes easier to live off the government....to live without working, to take money from those that do work because...well...you need it more....more and more people will seek that lifestyle, and more and more of those people will vote for politicians that will not threaten that lifestyle.  They slight the fact that, eventually, they will run out of people who will work to feed their hungry mouths.  Again, they shield their eyes from the ghastly reality.

But America was once a nation that held LIFE as the only moral standard.  The written documents that gave birth to the United States declared that the church would be separate from the government, that men would be allowed to bear arms against any threat to his life or the lives of those he values, that man could be free to pursue his own happiness, that man could choose who would lead his community and country....that man could CHOOSE, and that the government would always protect man's right to choose.

Those who take the path of LIFE, accept reality.  They accept failure as a part of reality, and simply deal with it as they travel the scabrous path to success.  

They accept...WE ACCEPT...another man's success over our own.  We know that that another man's success is not a reason to give up, or to attack him in jealousy, but a reason to TRY HARDER.

We seek money, not as an empty and meaningless means to purchase temporary gratification, but as a representation of our success, our achievement, brought about by our effort and hard work.  And we use it to purchase things that we value.

We know that ourselves come first, and as such all our actions should be, naturally, dictated by our values.  We know that our choices are made in support of those values, be they family, a single loved one, country, your hometown, bread, cars, cheese...whatever.

We know that a man's life is sacred, and any threat to that man's life is evil.

We know that it is fundamentally wrong, shameful, sinister to initiate the use of physical force upon another man..in threat to his life or livelihood....and we know that there is little more honorable and righteous than to defend ones self (and therefore ones loved ones or values) from this threat...by whatever means and on whatever scale necessary.

We know that man is not born, a sinner, evil, deceitful.  We know that man is born with the potential for either greatness or wickedness, and that mans alignment thus is dependent upon his CHOICES.  

We know that the purpose, the meaning, of life, is self evident.  LIFE is the meaning of life...to pursue happiness, success, fruition, prosperity....to pursue OUR OWN values.

We recognize reality....we do not cover our eyes in the face of what we fear....we know that what is, IS.



I believe that Atlantis is not just a pile of old rocks at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean that nobody can seem to find.  I believe that Atlantis is an idea.  The idea of perfection...of a perfect society, where every man is free to pursue his own values, so long as those values do not threaten another mans livelihood.  A perfect society, where trade between persons is free, where men trade value for value, and no true sacrifices are ever made.  A perfect society, where the government exists only to protect the citizens...from both foreign and internal threats.  Where the government works for the citizens, and not the citizens for the government.  Where LIFE is held as the ultimate moral standard.

I believe that the legend of the Lost City of Atlantis comes from the realization that, as men become more and more afraid of their own reality, they lose the will to survive.  As we become more and more comfortable with shading our eyes from unyielding reality, we find ourselves further and further from Utopia.  I believe that the philosophers of old, realizing this, authored this myth...as an illustration of the tragedy of man's capricious escape from PERFECTION.

I believe that Atlantis is not yet lost....



Think carefully when you cast your vote this November.  Think about what you value...what you value.  Think about your paycheck...think about how much is taken out in taxes...think about where that goes, and where you think it should go.  Think for yourself...for your own success...think about nothing interfering...not entity or person...with your ability to succeed.  Think about a government that asks nothing from you...only that you ask something from it.  Think about America as it once was...a shining representation of success in the face of adversity....a nation that was not afraid to say that it was the greatest nation in the world.  

Think about yourself, your values, your wants, your loves.


THINK


  
     Post
 
Stigma   
10:14pm 23/08/2008
 
mood: aggravated
COLLEGE:  The movie

COLLEGE:  The definition:  "an institution of higher learning, esp. one providing a general or liberal arts education rather than technical or professional training."

I'm writing this in the light of my sister's recent failure to attain a position as recreation coordinator for Luther Luckett Prison, as well as my own (possible) failure in...something similar. 

My parents...our parents, always told us that a Bachelor's degree was a one-way ticket to success.  Beyond the obvious benefits of a higher education, having the degree told prospective employers that you were A: Prepared to be a professional, B: Able to dedicate yourself to a goal and achieve it, and C: Somewhat intelligent.   They gave us the idea that that college degree, hanging on the wall, would regularly shit money.  Not like...shitty money, but fresh-smelling green money..bills.  Legal tender.

That probably was the case in their time.  No longer.

It's not that it has become less difficult to get a degree...although to an extent it has.  During my parents' time, one had to either acquire an academic scholarship, be lucky enough to have parent's who saved enough to pay for tuition, or work one's way through college with a part time job, full time job, or maybe GI bill (in the case of my father, who fought in Vietnam to get his GI Bill.  That qualifies as work to me.)  So...not only did prospective employers see that you had completed a curriculum at an institution of higher-education, but they also saw that you might have worked your ass off to do this.

Now...you can get a scholarship just for being a minority....or being gay...or being poor....or...well anything else really.  Just so long as you're not some "cookie-cutter hard working intelligent" person.  Hell, you can even get a scholarship for playing football. 

That's the worst part.  That's where the real problems begin.  In my experience, in two separate universities, those who play sports are above the rules.  They don't have to pass classes...or for that matter attend classes.  They don't have to pay their parking citations, 'alcohol intoxication' citations....their coach(es) will bail them out of jail.   So long as they throw that ball around, they can get a degree in...whatever  (Business / Liberal Arts) without having to worry about such trivial exercises as...I don't know...studying and passing classes.



Higher education has taken on a new meaning.  No longer is college a place for learning.  No longer is college a place for hard work, dedication, self improvement.  No longer is college a place for intelligent people (instead, 'intellectual' people have infected higher-education.)  The word, "College," has become synonymous with the word, "Drunk."  Drunk as in overindulgence....and as in Drunk.  Ever since "Animal House," colleges have become known for the parties...drinking...pot...etc.

This reputation has become a stigma.  An average high-school senior's idea of what college is going to be like is, "freedom, booze, women, FUN."  What the average high-school senior doesn't realize is that you can pick only one of two choices when in college:  Have the best time of your life....or Graduate. 

This stigma has spread to the employers.  In this day, when an employer sees that you have an Associate's...Bachelor's...or even Master's degree from ____ University....all that says to them is that you know how to drink and you might have venereal disease.  The college degree has lost it's meaning, because college has lost its meaning. 

In my experiences at EKU, and UofL, I saw a great many people...friends and otherwise...enter their freshman year with the preconception that the media and popular culture have taught them to believe in.  And so....halfway through the first semester of their freshman year..they have run out of money, maxed out whatever credit cards, and already been to jail twice. 

My own freshman year at UofL was similar.  I got into some bad stuff, hung out with some bad people, and did some bad things.  I blew my scholarship, failed most of my classes, and left my second semester with a 1.75 GPA.  Coming out of this, I realized my mistake; I didn't realize I had to choose between having a great time, or graduating. 

Now I still had a great time at EKU, but I did it responsibly.  I had my priorities straight.  More and more incoming freshmen do not know how to prioritize.  More and more incoming freshmen do not know how to study, how to work, how to dedicate themselves to getting that degree.  They don't want to....the education is secondary, or even tertiary to them.  Party, sleep, party, then party some more.  Colleges don't want to fail all their students, so they have become far more lenient.  Professors don't take attendance, university police are encouraged to avoid arresting students as much as possible, class curricula are simply easier. 

So the sad thing is, the media portrayal of college....the one you see in Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, and this new movie conspicuously tited, "College," is somewhat true.  Now which is the cause and which is the effect, I can't figure out. 

I fear a collapse of higher education.  College will fail to maintain its now merely ostensible purpose of higher education, and sink into the squalor of drink and drug and sex, becoming simply a place that a particular sports team calls home; a place for youths to pay tuition to party, and eventually acquire a meaningless and inutile degree, which would (and to an extent already has) ultimately become nothing but a minimum requirement for some jobs. 

We'll see.		  
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