In Lockdown

I just started a new gig.  Yah, yah, a lot of stuff has happened since voting day, I'll catch up on that another time.  For now, I'm more just posting to update you on something.  Like for example, the place I’m working is locked down tighter than the Iron Curtain used to be. 

Is the company bad?  No, they're great.  People are great, equipment is adequate (I've got to use a Windoze PeeCee - eww!), software tools are fine too.  But because of the industry, they are VERY strict on electronic access policy.  In fact, I can't even check my Gmail account (can you say withdrawal?), or IM with anyone.  Brutal man, totally brutal.  But it's a gig and it looks like it will be a good one - so I'll learn to adapt.  Like posting this way.  Of course, I'd love to be able to include a pic (something I've done quite a bit I think!) but I don't know that I can.  I think I'll put a pic in the email and see what happens… :-)

More to come!

Get Out and Vote! Even if it doesn't make a difference damn-it!

Hey, you can see it in the picture - that's where I am and that's what I'm doing. Exercising my constitutional right to vote. Sure, I know that living in the Commonwealth of MA that it was essentially "vote for the liberal of your choice day" (true - there were only 2 Reps and 1 Indy running for any major office). I knew that my vote was the same as spitting into the wind, yet, I still went out and did it. :-) Oh, and by the way, the Republicans in this state are so liberal they'd be considered liberal Democrats anywhere else in the union!

But, today I went out and voted. I got mad though. Why? Because there were so many people that ran unopposed! Why is that? Have we become so apathetic that we don't run either? So, we have no alternatives to the people in office and then no one comes out to vote. Seems kind of self-defeating, don't you think?

It looks like the Democrats are going to pick up around 30 seats. Actually, it's a pretty amazing number for the US to have that much turn over. I remember reading a stat once that showed that members of the Politburo in Communist USSR had more turnover than our houses of Congress. In this case that 30 seats is almost 7% of the seats available. Thinking about that - it's really pretty pathetic. We've got an unpopular war, an imperial and bullying President, issues with the budget, stem cell research and of course, abortion. With all that, we still only turn over maybe 8-9% of the total houses of Congress (including the Senate). Isn't that wrong?

Listen. I really don't give a Ding-Dong, Ho-Ho or King Don about labels. I care about getting stuff done. I'm a registered Republican, but I don't agree with a lot of the current Neo-con agenda or methodology. I think that the truth runs somewhere between a true conservative (fiscal), progressive (think 1920's progressive) and libertarian. I want fiscal restraint, I want less government pork but I want the government to help where it can and in a way that only the government of a nation this size can do. I'd love to know what you think.

Oh, if you've made it this far... I've got an offer for you. If you can prove to me that you voted, I've got a gift for you. If you like Mac stuff then you can have my book, A Mac Eye for the Windows Guy. If you'd like some great Palm software (PDA Essentials and TuCows say it's great!) then I'll give you any piece of software that you'd like. Just let me know!

The Return of the KKK

I'm sitting in my bedroom with the lights out, my wife getting ready for bed and the baby sleeping in the bassinet. I'm blogging here in the dark because something so profoundly disturbing happened this past week that I didn't want to forget to post about it, so, even though I'm exhausted, my eyes are burning and my knee hurts because of the position I have to be in so that I can type this in bed - I'm posting.

Here's what happened. A local church (Methodist) in the town where I attend church (though at a non-denominational congregation) just got a new pastor. Which was actually pretty exciting news. The guy seems really cool, has a hyphenated name, very contemporary dresser (and dresses well) and for a pastor - the most important thing - he really loves God and wants to show his love in the community.

So what's the problem? Well, it seems that the problem has to do with his being black. You know, of African American extraction. At least to this group of people that sent the threatening letter to the church anyway. And yes, they signed it the KKK.

Now, I used to live in the south, and in the south the white folk with red necks and names like Bubba are pretty openly prejudice. These crackers are still fighting the War of Northern Aggression and battling the imposition of desegregation. Thankfully there are fewer now than there were even 40 years ago - but they're still out there. Not to say that all southerner's are like this. That would be a gross injustice. But there are still enough pockets of these ignorant fools to make life potentially dangerous for someone with dark skin in the south.

However, at present, I live in the Commonwealth of MA. The cradle of liberty. The place where blood was first spilled on April 19, 1775 as we resisted the imposition of British tyranny. I live in a state that was one of the most supportive in both the War for Independence AND the Civil War. And in the civil war, and the years leading up to it, MA was a hotbed of abolitionist support.

So tell me, how the ***BLEEEEP*** did some nut job (or jobs) end up in this state sending threatening letters to a black pastor in a town that at one point was considered part of Plymouth - you know, the town the Pilgrims, those seekers of religious freedom - in a state that has been known for it's support of civil rights and it's long standing Democratic leanings?

The answer. I don't know. But I do know that I want them the devil out of MY state and the town where I worship - NOW. There is no place in this world - or any other world - for this horrific behavior, this base defilement of people that were made equal in the eyes of a loving God and redeemer. It makes me sick. It makes me mad. And I'm doing something about it - here and now and also in the community I live and worship in.

Here's my request. Make sure you do something about it where you live too. Let's not ever have anything like this ever happen again anywhere in the US - OR the world.