Thursday, March 25, 2010

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?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

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.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

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)?

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

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.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

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.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

...and another


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

Hilarity in Fox News Polls


I think this might become a regular feature... the laughs are too good...

I don't know if it's the ridiculous question posed, or the even more ridiculous handful of answers you can choose. Three of the answers are clearly meant to be disparaging towards Obama, and one is just indifferent. I mean, I have a whole lot of my own qualms with Obama lately, but please Fox, please, at least try and feign balance and objectivity. You're not even trying, and it's just sad.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

What the Foxtrot?


How Would You Grade President Obama's First Year in Office?

Given that Obama has an approval rating of about 50% right now, you would think this poll would be fairly diverse. However, the results are clearly skewed toward the negative. Now although Fox's polls aren't scientific, I think one thing that can be drawn from this data set, is that consumers of Fox News are mainly from one side of the political spectrum.

The next question that follows from that is... why? If Fox News was really the most truthful, accurate, and timely news, wouldn't people from all over the political spectrum be trying to get them some Fox News? Or.... maybe it skews one way so overtly because people like having their beliefs re-affirmed. It's comforting, like a warm blanket and mug of hot cocoa on a cold, bitter day. Healthy for our nation? No, definitely not. But comforting, and you know how Americans love their convenience.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

(Please don't) sine me up

I can see us hitting the peak (or the trough, depending on how you look at it) of the never-ending sinusoid that is American politics. My guess is the next 2-6 years will have the Republicans taking back some seats, and eventually ending up with a majority in the Senate and/or the House. Then they'll take the onus back from the Democrats to do nothing and F stuff up (like the Democrats are doing now and like they did from 2000-2008), and the pendulum will eventually swing the other way.

It's a never-ending cycle of me basically never getting anything I want and a bunch of overpaid jackasses in our government consistently ruining my day and raining on the parade that I never get to have. It's Santa Claus coming down the chimney to kick you in the junk and tell you he gave your gifts to the kid down the street who always beats you up and steals your lunch money.

Does this sound like whining? Cause it is. I'm 28 years old and I seriously question whether I can survive the endless void that is American politics, where lots of crap is flung and nothing worthwhile ever gets done.

How long until the American people, or at least the ones with some sense, stand up and demand some coherency, honesty, and action from their government? How long until the majority of people in this country who lose, under both Democrats and Republicans, realize that fact and put people in power who won't use it for their own personal gain? How much larger can the wealth gap grow while bankers, traders, pharma and the insurance companies enrich themselves on our backs? How many more of our young will be sent off to die in wars we have no business being in?

Where does it end?

I want my parade damn it.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Scanners


















Obama to announce new airline safety measures

Why won't they just add full body scanners (like RapiScan or the one LG makes) to all airports? Yes, it will be a pretty big capital outlay, but it will nip this problem in the bud, and we wouldn't have to "profile" people, so that Al Qaeda can just get someone to walk through security that doesn't fit the profile.

I k...now someone seeing an electronic image of you semi-nude might make you uncomfortable, but so would being blown up at 35,000 feet. The reality is that the screeners who are looking at the images are in a different room (if the system is setup correctly), and they never even see you face to face, so it's pretty hard to get embarrassed.

I am very rarely in favor of more invasive security measures, but this is one I can live with considering the security it would give us when traveling. Hell, I'd take this over warrantless wiretaps any day.