Long time coming...

Official El Salvador apology for Oscar Romero's murder

It's about time. Too bad the Texas State Board of Education is making sure that children in that state (and possibly others due to the size of Texas's buying power in the textbook market) may never learn about Archbishop Romero, his pleas for peace and charity, or his murder by a right wing death squad.

It's amazing ...how our revisionist history marches onward with no regards for the truth and no chance for reconciliation and an ability to learn from history to avoid past mistakes. In my mind, being truthful about our past and learning from it is much more constructive than white-washing inconvenient parts so that we can feel all warm and fuzzy inside when we sing the national anthem at baseball games and wear our flag pins.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6922748.html

Look no further than the comments section of the above editorial from a Houston newspaper to understand what some people want for this country. How comes theocracy is bad when other countries do it?

Guns don't kill people...

Supreme Court to address limits of gun control

I'm sure the ruling of this case will cause a commotion on one side or the other, but we really need to look at the core of the issue and not just say "oh, guns are bad, lets ban them". If it was impossible for criminals to get guns, then yeah, those who propose banning possession of a handgun in the home of a law-abiding citizen might have some argument. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in.

Whether we like it or not, the right to gun ownership serves as a deterrence to criminals who otherwise would know that they are most likely the only one that has a weapon. Needless to say this leaves them feeling like they have the upper hand. Now some would say, well, you can still have a shotgun in your house. True, but sleeping with one of those under your pillow doesn't help you catch some ZZZs. I kid!

What I can't understand is why both sides can't come together to intelligently regulate firearms in this country. It's already a pain to buy a handgun (at least in Maryland), so let's just make sure that those with violent criminal backgrounds or mental conditions can't purchase or possess them. Let's also make it easy enough to track the weapons and the penalties high enough for illegally transferring them that no rational person who doesn't want to spend 5-10 in the clink will give it to someone who might commit a crime.

The "guns are great! guns are bad!" screaming matches miss the point. Guns are a tool. How are they are used is what is good or bad. Let's focus on that.

Everybody's Working For the Weekend (and if they are rich)

Rich people still have jobs, poor people don't

Is this a surprise to anyone? I mean, with the amount of "free marketism" in the labor categories that these lower income groups usually represent, and a lot of those jobs being shipped elsewhere, is anyone really surprised? Meanwhile, there is still plenty of protectionism exhibited in "white collar" jobs in this country, which would partially explain such a low unemployment rate within the higher income brackets.

(See: http://www.conservativenannystate.org/cns.html#2)

Between this and increasing wealth gap, is it OK to call it class warfare (when the rich folks and the govt they control do it)?

The Eikenberry Cables

U.S. Envoy’s Cables Show Worries on Afghan Plans

Being that Eikenberry is a "retired Army lieutenant general who once was the top American commander in Afghanistan", it's hard to argue he doesn't understand the military aspect of the Afghanistan war, yet these cables show how strongly he was against a troop buildup because of how it would increase the dependence of t...he Karzai regime on the U.S. and would lead to a never-ending role for the U.S. in Afghanistan.

We need an honest debate in this country about our role in Afghanistan before we bankrupt the country and lose even more of our soldiers. Leave the "we gotta fight them there" rhetoric at the door.

The Wrong Side of History

Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen supports right of gays to serve in military

So Mullen and Gates are for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Colin Powell is on board for a review. But McCain, the majority of his fellow Republicans, and a few conservative Democrats think they know better than the highest ranking member of our armed forces. Talk about hypocrisy. Does anyone remember when Obama was weighing the troop increase in Afghanistan and the Republicans wouldn't stop bashing him for "second guessing" McChrystal?

People need to realize that opponents of equal rights will always come up with excuses as to why now is "not the time". It happened in the civil rights movement during the 60's, and it's happening now in regards to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and gay marriage. If history has taught us anything, it is that people don't give up the fight for equal rights, and eventually, the day will come when they get them. I wish people would take a hard look at which side of history they want to be on.

What the hell is wrong with that guy?

Is what most people probably think when they see you riding a motorcycle in the high 20's with 30 mph winds. I guess it comes with the territory when you buy a new motorcycle 2 days before Christmas in the North East. You don't exactly want to put it in a garage until it gets nice enough to ride comfortably.So after coming close to freezing a few times, but still not being smart enough to store the new motorcycle for the winter, I decided I needed to invest in some cold weather riding gear. However I wasn't trying to pay the arm and leg they want for the off-the-shelf heated jackets for sale out there ($150+). After searching the internets, I found some good resources for making an existing jacket into a heated jacket and decided to give it a shot.

This is the result. All in all, it probably cost me roughly $15-$20 for the wires and connectors needed to add the heat, and probably about 2 hours to thread the wire through the jacket.

I just took it for a test ride, and it does the trick. It feels like you're wrapped in a heated blanket. Absolutely beautiful. Next up... running some wire and adding some heated glove liners. Then I'm in business...




For anyone interested in trying to make one themselves... here's some resources I found helpful. All you really need is a crimping tool, maybe a voltmeter to test the resistance of the wire, some shrink tubing/soldering iron, and a larger needle to thread the wire. I just wired mine up with wire nuts and some electrical tape before finalizing the connections so I could make sure it worked and didn't need to be altered.

http://home.mebtel.net/~rbutterfield/Heat.html
http://www.hastie.org.uk/heatedjacket.html

...and another

Is it unpatriotic to have this little confidence in your country?