Family Update

The house has sold...yesssssss!!!!!! Now I just need to sell my truck and I'll be stylin'. We are officially leaving San Angelo on the 8th of December on our new adventure and we are all stoked.

TV Commercials

Do commercials for feminine products really need to ennumerate the symptoms they treat? Honestly, does anybody who is in search of these products not know what they are seeking to treat? I know, freedom of speech and all that, but I'd like to get through my lunch without hearing the words "feminine odor and itching".

Church ordered to pay $10.9 million for funeral protest

Read this first then come back for my commentary, don't worry, I'll wait.

Man, I'm really torn about this. As a staunch supporter of free speech I am appalled by this verdict. Free speech is meaningless if it doesn't include unpopular speech. I am also against the deliberate harming of others. Non-aggression and all that. It could very easily be argued that what Phelps and Co. are doing is just as harmful as a beating. That however is a dangerous road to travel. It lead to laws that ban all offensive speech. And who gets to decide what's offensive? The government? :shudder:

I'm no doubt affected by the amount of hate I have for what Phelps is doing, but that is exactly why I feel compelled to defend it. It's very hard to stand on principle. To defend a persons right to do something that you loathe so much that it makes you physically ill is a very hard thing to do, but that is the position I find myself in.

I'll be interested to see where this case goes as it will doubtless be appealled and, as a 1st amendment case, could go far in the judicial system.

Elitism

I love to read. Magazines, novels, history, philosophy, the back of the cereal box, if it's printed, I will probably at least give it a chance to see if it grabs my attention. Recently it has come to my attention that many fellow readers are snobs. They look down on my love of some authors, presumably because those authors sell too many books. This confused me for a while, than I realized where the root of this problem lies, people are elitist. They like to think that they are better than the common man, so anything that is embraced by the common man must be held at arms length, lest these elitist be associated with the very people they are trying to set themselves apart from. Now, admittedly, this is not a bad policy for the most part, not because I wish to set myself apart from anybody, but because, generally speaking, most highly popular movies, authors, and musicians are horrendous. That being said, there are some exceptions, and just because somebody is popular does not mean that their work is without merit. If you hold this attitude it proves two things:
1. That you cannot think for yourself, you must adopt the view of those around you so that you can be one with the flock. Baaaaa.
2. That you are no better than the people who like something simply because it's popular, they just belong to a bigger flock.
It's OK to hate Brittany Spears music because it's tripe, but don't hate it just because everybody else in your circle of friends (flock) hates it. Try thinking for yourself. You might be surprised to find out that you are missing out on some very good stuff. Life is to short to do otherwise. I'm off to read my new Ludlum novel.

Quote of the Day

If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all. – Jacob Hornberger (1995)

I had a discussion today about the War on Drugs and why I'm against it. There are many reasons beyond the one mentioned in the above quote that justify my opposition to the WoD, but Hornberger likely names my most principled objection.

Couture Retires

Randy Couture has retired as the UFC Heavy Weight Champion. Citing a lack of interesting fights and perceived disrespect by UFC management Couture walks away from the sport as one of its most popular and feared fighters. I won't get into the politics of his decision since there are no end of MMA websites beating that horse's corpse into the ground as we speak, instead I will just take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to a man who inspired me like no athlete this side of Lance Armstrong has. Thank you for the memorable fights and the inspirational story. Here's wishing you great success in your post fighting career.

Boat Show & US Naval Acadamy

I went to a boat show with my friend today and.....HOLY CRAP......I've never seen such opulence in my pitiful 29 years on this earth!!!!! Some of these boats had more square footage then my house. Now granted, I don't live in the Taj Majal, but still, we're talking about some serious power yacht action here. Boats with multiple plasma screen TVs, multiple helm stations, sleeping for six, two bathrooms, cherry wood trim, need I go on? One boat I saw had a cruising range of FOUR THOUSAND MILES!!!!!! For those of you that are geographically challenged, that's enough gas to cruise from New York to London with fuel to spare. But hey, it was only $6,000,000. Unfortunately the broker wouldn't take a personal check. They made you take you shoes off before entering most of the boats, but since I didn't know that in advance, I of course didn't wear shoes that were easy to take on and off. After a few boats I learned to look around and see if I wanted to look at any of the adjacent boats to minimize the taking off and putting on off shoes. Later I came to a group of boats that did not require the doffing and donning of shoes, and I must say that it made me happy. The broker in charge of these boats told me that my shoes could do no damage that he couldn't fix in 5 minutes with his steam cleaner. I thought that was a good point and tried to get him to walk around the show with me and convince others of this, but alas he, like the other broker, would not accept a personal check either.

I also went the museum at the Naval Academy, quite cool indeed. They had some great items of significant historical value such as a flag that hung in Hitlers Chancellery, and the uniform that Nimitz wore at the Japanese surrender. I recommend it if you are in the area.

Quote of the Day

Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated. – Thomas Jefferson

Ohh that we had followed this axiom of American constitutional law. Any plain reading of that venerable document would clearly show the intended limited nature of the federal government. How many problems have been created, lives been destroyed, and rights been trampled because of our foolish ways? It's overwhelming to even contemplate.

Electoral College

I had an interesting discussion about the electoral college today. A co-worker asked me if I am for keeping or abolishing it. I am definitely for keeping it with some small modifications. I would do away with the electoral voters themselves and simply have assigned votes. I am also toying with the idea of doing away with the winner take the whole state system, and replacing it to where each congressional district's votes are counted individually, with the 2 extra votes going to the winner of the state. I believe that this would encourage a better voter turn out. For example:

California has 55 electoral votes, 1 per congressional district and one for each senator. Under my system each congressional districts votes would be counted individually. Since the vast majority of voters live in the mainly liberal cities of LA and SanFran, conservative voters in rural areas have little incentive to vote since their vote won't likely change the outcome of the state election and all of the college votes will go to one party. If each district votes separately, now their is significant incentive to vote since each voter has a much greater chance of swaying the outcome in his district than in his state. Their is still incentive for candidates to try to appeal to the whole state since the 2 extra votes are still up for grabs. So a likely scenario for California would have the Democrats receiving around 35 votes and Republicans receiving 18 with the 2 extra votes going to the Democrats for carrying the popular vote in the state.
I believe that this would result in higher voter turn out as previously stated, as well as less voter fraud since a small group of people could only corrupt the vote of a single district as opposed to a whole state. Also, there would never be a case where the vote of entire state would have to be recounted, only that of individual districts.

Quote of the Day

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul. – George Bernard Shaw

This is highly relevent right now as we are observing primary season in the presidential elections.

The first question one should ask when being promised something by a politician is "Who's gonna pay for it?" Usually the answer is you. That begs the question, if the .gov is gonna take my money just to give me something, do I really need it, since if I really needed it I would have taken my money and bought it myself.

If the proposed benefit is going to be paid for by somebody other than you, then you should ask about the moral correctness of benefitting from the labor of another.

Not exhaustive I know, but a very truncated version of my views on government programs and such.

New Blog

Hey all, this will be a place to see that which is currently going through my fairly odd mind. Drop in now and then to see what I've been up to. Topics will likely include current events, politics, religion, cars, bikes, poker, grappling, fighting, and anything else that amuses me.