Mariner's Blog

Busy Summer, Volunteering

2010-09-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I spend a lot of time volunteering at a public charter school. I really like the job they do over there, and the founder, Raymond Wilder, is a class act. I personally believe that there is nothing more valuable than a good primary education to help one compete in today's world. With all the cutbacks in school funding, now is the time to help directly if you can.

You can learn more about the school at: http://wpacs.org/

I help them with IT planning and implementation as well as training for their in-house IT support staff. With the help of their in-house IT Specialist Tyrone DuBose' (pronounced like the French "DuBois") and Mark Callier who helped them through the E-Rate process, we were able to accomplish a mountain of work over the summer.

A short list of accomplishments:

Installed a new Dell Server (Domain Controller/File Server) that we received through the e-rate program, replacing an underpowered, aged and failing one.
Virtualized their internal Zimbra email/groupware instance to free up rack space and retire the ancient Pentium III server that housed it before.
Installed 4 PoE wireless access points with a combination of e-rate and donated equipment.
Installed new gigabit core and access switches obtained through e-rate.
Untangled a rat's nest of cables and re-cabled with new, reliable cabling.
Installed a new WatchGuard Unified Threat Management appliance to improve security and allow better remote access.
Installed an (open-source) web-based trouble ticketing and inventory control system to help them better track their assets and work, authenticating directly from the Zimbra LDAP, moving closer to Single Sign-On.
Installed a 100-Slot LTO3 robotic tape library to protect all their data. I was able to secure the donation of this equipment that was being retired from UCLA. We managed to get it de-racked, transported and re-racked without even knocking it out of alignment! (if you've ever dealt with one of these - that in itself is amazing). Thanks to Renee for lending us her Cadillac to ensure a smooth ride for it.
Upgraded their Internet access from a single T1 to 3 bonded T1s. A high-speed fiber circuit is on the way.
Launched a new, shorter domain name and a spankin' new website to go along with it.
Provided access to a donated, network copy of the Oxford English Dictionary to every PC in the school.
Installed a UPS to protect from the sometimes near-daily power outages in this neighborhood.

But we're not done yet! We still have a lot of things we'd like to do. If you or someone you know can help out with any of these items, please contact me.

We could certainly use a 1- or 2-U server with decent-sized memory and internal storage that is compatible with VMWare ESXi. Why ESXi? Because it's free, of course! I'd like to distribute the load a little bit. The new server is great, but we have it doing nearly EVERYTHING.
I'd like to add a network version of Encyclopedia Brittanica to the OED on every desktop. Their library is small and understocked, and access to this kind of data would really improve the kids' research ability. Anyone have an inside line on licensing?
Retired, but still relatively recent PCs and Monitors. Tyrone is doing Yeoman's work on making the most of the desktop PCs and monitors that we have. We've bought some used flat-panel monitors at an equipment liquidator, and we're on track to get rid of all the CRTs in the organization. This cuts way back on space, heat and power consumption, allowing us to be "greener" and save money on A/C costs. It's amazing how much heat a lab full of CRTs gives off.
Licensing for educational software in general: if it's appropriate to a K-8 Audience, they'll make use of it.
Cisco Catalyst switch linking equipment. We have some donated switches, but we don't have any stack cables/GBICs, etc to go with them. We could further improve their performance if we could get our hands on some.
Another WatchGuard firewall so we can establish a more reliable VPN between the Kindergarten and main campuses.
Help! I've officially used all my furlough days and don't have as much time to take off to implement these changes as fall comes around. If you're an IT ninja, and want to help, we'd appreciate it.

All donations are tax deductible, and that will come with a sincere "Thank You" from both the school and from me.

The Power of Prayer Challenge

2010-09-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

In several discussions with various theists, the vast majority of them claim that the power of prayer is real and they really, really believe it.

So, to that end I propose the following "Power of Prayer Challenges"

Challenge 1: Prayer effecting the physical world:

Each party places $10,000 with a neutral third-party observer. The challenge will be to move 1 standard ton (2,000 lbs.) of bricks across a typical city street.

I will agree to use only natural, scientific methods - most likely a wheelbarrow.

The other side will agree to only use supernatural methods and may not physically interact with the bricks. You may bring as many people as you like to pray with you. Heck, you can even bring the Pope if you can talk him in to it.

The winner will be the person whose bricks arrive at the destination first.

Challenge 2: Prayer effecting physical healing

Each party will place the $10,000 as above. The challenge will be to cure syphillis.

Both parties agree to be intentionally infected with syphillis. Once we both become symptomatic, the challenge begins.

I will agree not to pray for healing (or have anyone pray for me) and be treated only with natural, scientific methods.

The other party will agree to use only prayer as a treatment for this disease.

The winner will be determined by the first person to break their pact, either me praying or the other person accepting medical treatment. If neither of us breaks the pact, the first one to be cured of the disease will be the winner.

So... any takers?

Bible Stories with Jeff Vol 2 - Joshua 6

2010-08-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today I bring to you the story of Josua at Jericho. We've all heard the story related to us in Sunday School.

Full Text (KJV)
Full Text (NIV)

An example of how this story is related to children is here in this script.

The Backstory: After Moses died, God picked a new man to lead the Israelites, and set him to conquering Canaan. This man was Joshua, the son of his aid, Nun. Joshua was to become a fierce and legendary warrior, but he had not proven himself yet. The first city that they were to be "given" was Jericho. They had dispatched a couple of spies into the city in advance, and they had taken shelter in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. Rahab had hidden them and then helped them escape, and in exchange for her treason the spies had promised her they would spare her family.

The Israelites had laid siege to Jericho, and the city walls had been closed. So God told Joshua to march the Ark of the Covenant around the city, with an armed guard, and priests leading the way, blowing ram's horns. He told him to do it once each day for six days, then on the seventh he was to march around seven times, have the priests blow a long blast, and tell the Israelites to shout. When the Israelites shouted, the walls of the city were to come tumbling down.

Joshua did as the Lord had told him for six days. That night, he reminded everyone that anyone in Rahab's house were to be spared, and that they would know it by the scarlet cord hung in the window. On the morning of the seventh day, Joshua did as he was told. The horns sounded, the people hollered and the walls collapsed.

Now, Joshua was a brave, righteous and noble leader... Why else would people name thousands of children every year after this guy, right? So he did what any righteous Israelite would have done, he ordered the slaughter of every living thing in the town (Except Rahab and her family of course). Everything. Men, women, old people, babies, even the fucking livestock. Then he ordered the city burned to the ground. He collected all the treasure that was left and put it into the the Treasury (of course!)

Rahab decided that she'd rather be on the winning team, so she decided to join the Israelites, hopefully having a lot of time to think about her treason.

Joshua ends the story by cursing anyone that would attempt to rebuild the city, under pain of losing their children.

Nice guy... such a Mensch, being willing do do ANYTHING, including killing babies.

There are two morals to this story:

When Israelite spies come to your town, treat 'em well.
It's OK to commit genocide, if God tells you to do it.

Bible stories with Jeff Vol 1 - Genesis 19

2010-08-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Bible stories with Jeff.

I've found that a lot of people know the overviews of these stories, but when they were told them, they were missing a few details. Details that are astonishingly cruel or immoral and most of us would never consider righteous or good or moral. I'll relate the story and let YOU decide. I'll link two versions: KJV and NIV, for your convenience.

Today I'm going to highlight an old and beloved bible story: The story of Lot in Genesis 19.

Full Text (KJV)

Full Text (NIV)

So the story goes that there are two angels that are going to visit Sodom to see if any righteous people live there. Earlier, in Chapter 18, it was decided that if just 10 righteous people could be found in Sodom, it would not be destroyed.

As they came to the city gate, they happened upon Lot, a good and righteous man. Lot somehow recognized them as angels and being the nice guy that he was, he invited them to stay at his place. They said that they wanted to just sleep out on the street like hobos, but Lot was insistent, and convinced them to come in anyway. Now seeing that Sodom was a bit like West Hollywood, only a bit more forceful, the entire male population of the city showed up to welcome them to town, that is - gang rape them.

Now here's the kicker: Lot wants to protect the angels from a vicious cornholing, so he has a flash of inspiration... He decides to offer his two virgin daughters to the mob to be raped in their place!

Wow! That IS one righteous dude.

So, anyway the angels tell Lot to get his kids and all his stuff and get out of town, and don't look back because there's going to be some serious smitin' goin' on in the morning. So he packs up and heads for the hills. Lot's wife, being a total crybaby, peeks over her shoulder to see the train wreck that her town was becoming. God in his infinite love decides to make an example of her by turning her into a pillar of salt.

After they've trekked up into the mountains, they find a cave and set up camp. Lot's daughters fear that the three of them are the last people left on earth, so they do what any good girls would do in that situation: Get dad drunk and ride him like a rented pony. Nothing like a little incest for the only family righteous enough to be spared from destruction.

The chapter ends by telling us that entire populations of people are the offspring of Lot and his own daughters.

The moral of this story? If an angry mob shows up at your door to gang rape your guests, always be sure to hand over your virgin daughters. It's the only righteous thing to do.

A Quick Thought

2010-04-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

It was not the search for atheism that led me to be an atheist, but rather the search for truth that lead to that conclusion.

I guess I'm a racist now...

2010-04-09T11:28:00.001-07:00

OK, so I've had some discussions around racism lately. Those of you who know me probably know that I strive toward the ideal of a completely colorblind society. I live my life and conduct myself in this fashion. One of my common sayings is: "Your race makes no more difference to me than the color of your shirt."

In one of these discussions, someone posted this little nugget:

Being blind to racial differences IS racism. Not overt, hateful racism, but racism nonetheless. When people claim to want to live in a "colorblind" society where race doesn't matter, then everyone would essentially have to be the same. Cultural niches would cease to exist (hip hop culture, cinco de mayo, etc), because the majority does not participate or enjoy these things.

In short, if you want to live in a color-blind society, then some cultural norm has to be established. Inevitably, this norm will be set by the majority culture, thus phasing out the minority cultures. Hence, racism.

So, let me get this straight... I'm so non-racist that I've gone all the way back around and become racist again? Like a car's odometer that's exceeded its mechanical limits?

Is this true? Do people really believe that?

If I say race makes a difference, then I'm racist. If I say it doesn't make a difference, it's racist. What. The. Eff?

I'm still trying to wrap my head around that.

The "God Box"

2010-02-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this post for a while. The concept and the points have been rolling around in my head for several months and now I'll attempt to put it in some kind of coherent posting. This comes from several discussions I've had with both friends and strangers over the course of a few years.

When considering why people believe in god, or why people "need" religion, invariably one explanation jumps out at me: Fear of the unknown.

The human mind is an inquisitive entity. We innately want to know and understand all that we see and experience. However, in the vastness of the universe, and even the limited area of our own little corner of it, there are many things that currently have no explanation. This gap of knowledge can be a disconcerting experience, therefore the person must find a way to deal with the uncertainty caused by lack of knowledge.

This is where religion comes in. Religion offers a pre-packaged, magical "box" in which to store all of the things that make us uncomfortable. Anything that you cannot wrap your mind around or come up with a logical explanation for can be easily filed into this "God Box". It is much easier to soothe yourself if you know that some magical being did it, or has it planned for you already.

Where did the universe come from?
How did life begin?
Why are we here?
What is the purpose of life?
What happens when I die?
Why do bad things happen to good people?

All deep, complex and sometimes troubling things to think about. The quickest way to make sense of these things is to attribute them to "God". File them in the box. The problem with this approach is that by placing these items in the box, you actually stop looking for the REAL answers. The "God Box" is safe and comforting, but like a child's pacifier it is a false comfort... a hollow and empty substitute for actual knowledge.

It's scary to step outside this box, but it's also one of the most liberating experiences of a lifetime. Just like Neo choosing which pill to take, it takes a great measure of intestinal fortitude, and the rush is worth the risk.

The hardest thing to do is to admit to yourself that mankind does not have an answer to everything... and that's OK. Just because we do not CURRENTLY know the answer does not mean that we WILL NEVER know it. Truth and knowledge are things to be persued, but not possessed. If anyone claims to have the full and final truth, that person is most definitely lying and should be immediately dismissed.

It's OK not to know something, but is is most definitely NOT OK to make up the answer (as religion does). To make up answers is to give up on the quest for knowledge, to languish in stagnation, to stop the growth and progress of mankind.

Reality is a strange and wonderful place, it needs no supernatural additions to be interesting. I am happy to live in the real world, free of delusions and ancient superstitions. It makes me a happier and more rounded person. It provides a clear and unparalleled view of the world.

Please throw away your "God Box", and join us here in the real world. We'll be happy to have you.

Muslim Propaganda Videos

2010-02-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

I'm mad as hell this morning. I watched a Muslim propaganda video of a Chechen woman being slowly beheaded with a pocket knife while her boyfriend was forced to watch.

I pride myself in being tolerant of others' beliefs even when I consider them silly or superstitious. The more time goes by though, the more I'm convinced that Islam is nothing more than a cancer that afflicts humanity as a whole. Some will say that the majority of Muslims are peaceful, loving people... and I know a few myself that I consider to be very nice. HOWEVER, I am no longer willing to listen when people make excuses for Islam. The belief system is the problem, and I no longer believe you can separate the violence and hatred from Islam and still have it be Islam. Islam without violence is like sugar-free sugar.

Muslims, you need to clean your own house. Until YOU take steps to rid your ranks of this subhuman filth, I will always be wary of you and your motives. Until you publicly and privately disavow all association with this social cancer, you will always be viewed with skepticism and distrust by the rest of society.

Committing horrible, torturous murder is a forfeiture of your right to tolerance and acceptance. For those individuals directly involved, it is a forfeiture of your right to live amongst the rest of us and to consume valuable air and space. Enough is enough. All people of all faiths (or lack thereof) need to band together against this common enemy that values death more than everyone else values life.

Here is a link to the video. I must warn you in the strongest of terms about watching it. It is incredibly graphic and WILL illicit a reaction. Any human being with any shred of decency will be completely outraged.

"Universal Health Care" Rant.

2010-01-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

For starters, if you have an entitlement mentality you might want to click away. I'm fed up with being taxed to the teeth for other people's benefit.

Robert Heinlein once wrote that taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed. Every day I find this to be more true and it is irritating me like a grain of sand in my eye.

Yes. I am in the top 10% of wage earners. Democrats, socialists and other ne'er-do-wells think that I should "pay my fair share" (this is government-speak for more than the huge portion I already pay) so that those who earn less can have health care, too. I think this is flat bullshit. While I do earn a decent living, NO ONE is entitled to the sweat of my brow. They are entitled to the sweat of THEIR OWN brow.

I have the same public high school education that they do. I had no privileged college frat-boy experience, I had no college experience at all. I had no fat trust fund.

They were not there with me when I left home at 18 with 20 bucks in my pocket to join the military. They were nowhere to be found on all those 4-5 month patrols in Alaska, Mexico, Panama, Haiti or anywhere else. They were absent when I left the military and took a job working phone support for peanuts. I didn't see them at my desk when I was working 12-hour days while studying for certification exams. They didn't help me pack for all those interstate moves I made because I found a better job in a far away city. They didn't console my wife when she complained that I worked too much. They didn't give me money when times were tough.

No one handed me this job, with its accompanying health care. I earned it. Now they have their hand in my pocket, to give the fruits of my labor to those with every opportunity I had, but just chose to make less of it. That is the antithesis of The American Dream. The American Dream is the freedom to SUCCEED OR FAIL, without government interference. The government should not penalize hard work and success and encourage mediocrity. They are only there to ensure that we all have an equal opportunity, not to guarantee equal results.

I am sick to death of hearing our elected leaders and others bloviate about how I need to tighten my belt and pay more. If I give to charity, it should be MY choice, not taken by force and re-distributed. Keep your hand out of my pocket.

If you need more money, or health care, or whatever - do what I did: Work longer, work smarter, work harder. Take risks. Move if you have to. Do it for yourself. Quit expecting everything to be given to you.

Losing my Religion, or how I never really had it to lose.

2009-12-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

I've had a number of discussions with friends and strangers about religion. Some were friendly and cordial, others were not. One of the things that I am often asked is how I "lost my faith", or what my process was in becoming a "strong atheist". I know that for a believer it is hard to comprehend how someone could just stop believing. Well, it's not really hard when you never really were all that much of a believer in the first place. If you had asked me I would have self-identified as a Christian, but to me it was more of a cultural thing than truly believing every word in the book.

When I was very young, I suppose I believed that God existed in much the same way I believed the wood-burning stove in my grandparents' living room was hot. The older, wiser people in my life had told me that it was hot, and I had no reason to doubt them. I would attend church services and Sunday School with my family at the First Baptist Church just like most everyone else did. I was taught all of the typical stories but even at this age (around 4 or 5 years old) I really did not think of them as acutal, real events... in my mind they were akin to mother goose tales and the like - I mean, no one could really live for days in the belly of a whale, right? It just didn't make sense, even to a 5 year-old.

My parents divorced when I was 4 years old or so, and the following few years were pretty tough on my mother and I, emotionally and financially, of course. When Christmas rolled around, there just wasn't enough extra for the big batch of gifts that I had received in previous years, so instead of leaving me wondering why Santa had forsaken me, my Grandmother sat me down and explained the reality of where the gifts came from at Christmas. I can't say that I was terribly surprised or hurt by the realization. This did, however start my little mind wondering how much other stuff that I had been told was, in fact, fairy tales as well.

I remember one day deciding that I would try praying and see what happened. Of course I had been told that praying for money or anything selfish would not be answered, so I picked the most altruistic thing my little mind could think of. I prayed that my mother and father would find happiness, and get back together within a year. I prayed and prayed and prayed... with every fiber of my being... every night for a month. Of course, nothing of the sort happened. My parents stayed divorced and I started to see the world for what it really was.

Around this time, my mother and I were living in Oklahoma. Being she was a single mother, I spent a lot of time with babysitters. One family in particular that I spent a lot of time with was the Briscow family. The Briscows were Pentecostal, and while I really didn't know what that meant, I knew that Mrs. Briscow dressed a little strangely and Mr. Briscow was a quiet and extremely clean-cut guy. One weekend, I was staying with them on a Sunday and I accompanied them to church. What I saw there shocked and frightened me. This particular congregation were practitioners of "shouting". During the service they would be giving a sermon, or singing a hymn and people (mainly women) would run shrieking to the front of the church and writhe on the floor... muttering aimlessly or what can only be described as having a moaning orgasm in front of the altar. I was horrified. I mentioned nothing of it, but I never wanted to return to that church.

I will spare you the chore of reading how, err... "unusual" my childhood was after this. I'm not one to complain or use it as an excuse for anything, so I guess in this case it is irrelevant.

So, from this age up until my early teens, I was pretty much static in my beliefs. You could probably consider me a Deist, bordering on agnostic. While I thought that god MIGHT exist, I had never seen any indication that he did, or even if he did, I had no reason to believe he cared one iota about what happened in the world. He certainly was not listening to any prayers that I had sent, nor did I ever hear of anyone else's prayers being answered.

When I was 13 or so, my mother (now remarried) and step-father (adopted... it's a long story) went on a religious kick. They started reading the bible on a regular basis and while we did not attend services in person, I was forced to watch Billy Graham and Rex Humbard weekly. The message was pretty consistent with Graham, but I began to notice that Rex spent the vast majority of his broadcast asking for money, and peddling ridiculous trinkets that you were supposed to perform some ritual with, (for a fee of course). I also watched a couple of other televangelists like Peter Popoff, and could not help but see them for what they really were: Money-grubbing charlatains bilking the faithful out of their hard-earned money.

I was disgusted with religion, and this was my turning point. From this point on, I never truly believed in God, or the churches after this point. In order not to offend my family though, I played along... went through the motions so as not to offend anyone. This would be the theme of my "spiritual" life for decades to follow. I particularly didn't want to hurt my grandmother. She was a quiet, worrisome type and it would have given her continual grief if I had ever let it out that I didn't believe.

All this time, I felt like I was alone. I was the only one that I knew that didn't believe in God, and I felt somehow wrong for not believing. None of it made any sense at all to me, and I couldn't understand how anyone could believe something so logically flawed. I began to look outside the environment to which I was born, to other religions to see how they held up. In my quest of self-discovery I suddenly had an epiphany: The only reason I ever identified as a Christan was because I was indoctrinated with it from birth. When I asked myself that one simple question, it all became clear to me... If I had been born in another part of the world, would I identify with that religion instead of Christianity?

The answer is "yes" of course. There is no other logical conclusion. And if this is so, and there are hundreds of religions and sects in the world, how does anyone know what is correct? The only logical answer is that NONE of them do. None of them have any concrete proof that theirs is "the one true word", but they all claim that theirs is the only one.

With the birth of the Internet, came a great awakening for me. There were others out there that believed as I did, or rather DIDN'T believe. I met dozens of people with similar stories and I benefitted from their insight. I wasn't the only one that demanded evience, and thought all religion was silly superstition. With the access to untold amounts of information came access to philosophy, rational thought, naturalism. I had "found my home" so to speak. I still kept it largely to myself in my personal life, for the reasons mentioned earlier.

With the passing of my grandmother, I had no more reason to hide it from anyone anymore. I decided that I would "come out" as an atheist, for better or worse. It is the single most liberating thing I've ever done in my life. My inner thoughts and my outward behavior are now the same. I am true to myself.

In future blog posts, I will probably detail the logical reasons why I reject religion. This one, though is just a chronicle of the process that -I- personally went through.

The Woman in the Red Beetle

2009-12-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful day today. The sun had come out and it really warmed up, so I decided to take a ride today to increase my happy. I fired up the "Dirt Ninja" and headed out to the highway.

I rode down the 10 and through the sweeping tunnel turn onto PCH. As I cleared the city traffic, I rolled it up to about 55mph through Malibu. It was nice and bright out, and the sun was behind me so the water appeared a clear, deep blue. It was a really smooth ride up into Ventura County and I stopped at Neptune's Net for a lunch of fried clams and shrimp.

After lunch I shot the breeze with a few other bikers and we compared notes on how the road conditions were on the various canyon roads. Being that I didn't have anywhere to be, I decided to take the long way home, via Mulholland Highway.

It had rained earlier in the week, and there were some rock slides and sandy spots on the road, so I was just taking it easy. As I wound through the mountains past all the zillionaire's homes and the amazing scenery I found that I was having nearly a perfect day... my "zen", so to speak. I rode Mullholland Hwy all the way to Topanga Canyon, then turned right and headed down toward the sea.

A couple of miles down Topanga, I noticed there was a woman in a red New Beetle behind me. She was following me a little too close for my comfort and I couldn't speed up because the dude in the Jeep in front of me was going quite slow. Now, for those of you who don't live in SoCal, Topanga Canyon Road is a VERY twisty and steep road. If you miss a turn or slide out, the possibility exists that you could fall hundreds of feet, and guard rails are not installed everywhere that possibility exists.

After a couple more miles, I decide to let her by. I signaled and pulled to the shoulder let her by, then continued on behind her. It was hard not to notice her antics in the car. From what I saw when she went by, she was a middle-aged blonde, but she was trying to look younger with a bobbed haircut and trendy clothes. This is not atypical in California. What WAS atypical was the metal "Praise God" plaque and her license plate "DEUT 318".

Deuteronomy... an old-testament chick. Interesting. God really lays down the law in Deuteronomy. There are a lot of things that will get you stoned in there, and not in a good way.

I also began to notice what she was doing. She was holding her own little praise-a-thon in the car. She was blaring Christian pop music and her free hand was held up in that pose that you see the people doing at the megachurches... forearm vertical, hand back at 45 degrees, palm up... receiving the love from above.

This disturbed me for a couple of reasons, but most importantly she was driving devil-may-care, one-handed down a road that has claimed many, many lives. I followed her all the way down to PCH, where we stopped at the long red light to make the left.

As we pulled up to the light, there was a homeless "veteran" in a wheelchair parked on the center divider. I say "veteran" in quotations because a goodly portion of them are not veterans, but use it as a way to get more donations. He was haggard and dirty, and had a sign asking for help.

I noticed the woman in front of me reaching for her purse in the back seat. She pulled it into the front and began furiously digging through it. "Oh, good" I thought, "She's going to be charitable". She dug and dug... and then she handed him...

A religious tract.

Yes. A tract. She could have given him anything: money... food... a half-eaten snickers... anything would have been more useful than that. I could not imagine anything more condescending that she could have done. Whether or not he was a veteran, he was obviously poor and dirty, and probably mentally ill. Her idea of "help" was a spiritual document.

As I rode home I lamented that they were both equally mentally ill, but that she was able to focus her crazy in an acceptable direction. I know many religious people, and count them amongst my friends. I am instantly wary though, of people who wear it on their sleeves. My conclusion is that she drove away thinking she had just done the biggest favor anyone ever had for him, but in actuality had slapped him in the face. Her action was to make HERSELF feel good, not to do anything at all for him.

grrr....

Labels, Labels, Labels

2009-07-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

I think I'm something of an anomaly. I have many positions that don't normally go together, but somehow they mesh in MY mind. Here is a brief summary and I promise that future articles will bear these out:

Religion:
I'm a staunch atheist. I've heard "the word", I'm just not buying it.

Politics:
This is a tough one. I guess I'm somewhat conservative and somewhat libertarian. I'll start with a bulleted list and work from there. I think each of these topics will get a much longer examination at a later date, as my reasoning for each of these positions should be posted.

I'm generally pro-life.
I'm big time pro-Second Amendment.
I'm anti-"big government".
I'm pro-"freedom of speech" (yes, even the speech I don't agree with.)
I'm anti-racism and anti-sexism.
I'm anti-socialism, communism, despotism, etc. etc.
In fact, I'm instantly suspicious of any -ism.
I think a man (or woman) is defined by their actions, not their intentions.
I'm very pro-American.
I think Thomas Jefferson was a genius (and a brave one, at that).
I think our country is going astray and is leaving our founding principles behind.
I'm pro-"freedom of religion" and "freedom FROM religion".
I believe in personal responsibility.
I believe in kindness toward all people, unless given a reason to act otherwise.
I am pro-death penalty.

Welcome and FAQ

2009-07-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to serve as a collection of my thoughts and opinions on various topics that interest me. I am not writing this for any particular audience, and to tell the truth, I couldn't care less if anyone really reads it. It is more an exercise for me, to stimulate my brain and to have a place to dump my thoughts.

Sometimes seeing them in print helps them evolve and I think that is the goal of this endeavour.