If this works...

Some really good suggestions were received from my post yesterday which means that you people are actually reading this. Amazing!

So per one suggestion I am sending this from my phone. Apparently Blogger has this feature already enabled, so if this works I may be able to rant much more often. Lucky you.

It is what it is

I am a terrible blogger. But you knew that and yet here you are reading it anyway. Get a life freak… :-)

But seriously folks, I don’t do this enough. As those of you that know me know, I like to rant about things. Most of the time I will throw facts in to support my position, but they really are just rants. But as I get older I find that I just don’t care much anymore. I guess that is not unexpected but I find it disappointing. I hope it is just maturity and the realization that there are truly important things to care about and everything else is just crap you need to deal with.

So, what to do about blogging? I wish there were a chip I could embed in my brain that was hooked to a device that would just record my every thought. Because mostly what I do today is react to the current situation and move on. These situations, other than work shit, rarely happen while I’m near a computer and I fail to jot down my thoughts on the situation. Then either because I’m too old to remember or I just don’t care enough, I never write them down when I do get back to the computer.

Well, it is what it is.

I haven’t ranted in a while so I’m over due. This fact is aided by the fact that I was upgraded on my flight back from Sacramento and have had a few malt whiskies. Anyone that knows me knows how philosophical I get when I drink scotch. So here I am with my scotch somewhere near the Four Corners catching up with my email and RSS feeds and I read this…

http://krmb.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/rld-book-edia/

Now most of you are (or should be) subscribed to the KRUMB and know how much I enjoy it. I mean absolutely no disrespect to Kyle for what follows.

Sometimes a duck is just a duck. The above entry makes a fantastic symbolic statement on knowledge and the loss of it by a mass media world. I agree with Kyle in his acieration that it is sad to see a book filled with such knowledge destroyed because of that symbolic statement. But that is all it is, symbolic. The true sad fact is that whoever felt the need to dump the books couldn’t be bothered with taking them to the local library and donating them, but I don’t think it is a loss of knowledge.

In fact (and here goes the rant) I think we are smarter and more knowledgeable than we have ever been. I can’t tell you the last time I picked up an Encyclopedia. Today I just double click my CTRL button and Google Desktop is there at my fingertips ready to open the world to my request. I am not sad by that nor should anyone else. I know that there are those out there (including my lovely wife) that think that there is a lost art in reading books and writing letters but I don’t. To my credit, I have been trying. I have even joined a book club, but to be honest, I don’t really see the point. I will admit that it makes me read things that I would not normally read, but I’m beginning to discover there is a reason I only read the things that interest me… the rest of the world I boring. OK, so that is a bit of an overstatement, but still, I have tons of crap I want to read and here I am spending time reading crap someone else selects. I will probably continue if for no other reason than I might find something new I like, which I desperately need. I suppose all things have a purpose and book clubs are no exception.
Geeze… didn’t expect the rant to go that direction. I hope the book club folks don’t subscribe.

Back to the photo and loss of knowledge. Again, I think it is fantastic photo and I’m sure if Kyle had connections he would probably get a NEA grant to expand on the dirty book photo art form, but really I think thy guy was just too lazy or stupid to actually take the books to a library or school. Sad, but somewhat innocent of the charges of destroying knowledge. Let’s face it, the WWW offers a thousand times the knowledge the World Book every did and could. What is truly sad is the countries that sill restrict the internet. If Kyle could capture that in a photo, he would win the Pulitzer.PPPPP

Atheism, Agnosticism, Religion, and Scott Adams

A friend of mine sent me Scott Adams recent blog on Atheism and asked how it fit into my theocratic arguments. The basic premise of the post is that since you can not be 100% certain of anything isn’t it better to believe in God just in case there is one because not doing so will damn you to Hell for all eternity. It also says that if you are 100% certain that there is no God then you yourself must be God because to have that kind of knowledge you must possess God like knowledge of the universe.

I don’t subscribe to Adams' blog, but if these are the types of topics he discusses then I will start. First let me just say that his argument is silly. He is attempting to apply scientific proof logic to a theological problem. “You can’t prove God does not exist therefor he might” is no more valid an argument than “Show me proof there is a God and then I will believe.” Perhaps that is who Mr. Adams is attempting to reach with his post.

But that is not why I write today, today my friend asked how it fits in my theocratic arguments. I think he is referring to my proclamation that there are no agnostics only athiests and people who believe in different “gods”. I don’t think I have written about this in the past so I will attempt to explain. I came to my conclusion by attempting to figure out why people claim to be agnostic. I did so while trying to figure out my own beliefs and thought that I might possible be “agnostic”. First I think it is important to know that I am basing this off of conversations I have had with numerous self proclaimed agnostics using their definitions of agnosticism. I know the Oxford/Webster’s/Wikipedia definition of the word so please don’t send them to me.

“I can’t find any proof God exists so I’m not sure there is a god”

To me this is a compelling argument but one that is easily taken apart in most of our lives. Every one of us believes in something that we can not prove. I believe I am a good father and my son will be prepared for what life throws at him. I believe I am a good husband because my wife tells me I am. I believe that I am secure in my employment because I work hard and my bosses seem pleased. I believe my car will start tomorrow because it started today. I can offer no scientific proof of any of these things but I believe them.

“I believe in some kind of higher power, but I don’t think it is God”

Then what is it? Figure that out; see if there is a group of people like you that think that way; build you a church and call it a religion. Poof, you’re not agnostic. Seriously, I think this is the category most people who have a problem with modern organized religion fall into. They believe that something unexplainable has influence in the universe, just not your god.

“I just don’t know much about religion”

You are just lazy. Go out a learn something. This is important stuff. You can’t go through life not interested in the way things came to be and the way things are going to be for the rest of eternity. If you do, then you are doomed to either be blissfully happy but stupid, or you are going to be miserable. Regardless, you are not agnostic you are uninformed.

“I believe in a god, but not Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhist, etc”

OK, fine… but you believe in a god. Therefore you have defined it in your belief system and therefore know about a god. You’re not agnostic.

There are of course variations of each of these categories, but for the most part this is what I have observed. I would love to hear others but I think I can shoot them down.

Oh, and you’re right. I did not address the “I’m sure there is not a god or higher power or a flying spaghetti monster” argument. You’re right… they are atheist. For more on that see Scott Adams.

May God/Alah/FSM/Zeus/nobody bless you.

Something Special In The Air

I know I have written about this in the past, but this whole travel thing needs to be reworked. As you know I work for an airline so my customers, who are as demanding as all customers, expect you to be wherever at the drop of a hat. Take today for instance, I went to Los Angles for a 45 minute meeting. I was up at 04:30 this morning to catch a 06:45 flight. A 45 minute meeting then back to the airport for the flight home that gets me in at 19:00. Now I could have stayed overnight, but to be honest I just can’t stand the thought of another hotel bed not to mention another night away from the family. “But Terrill, don’t you get upgraded?” Yes, when pigs fly. To be fair, I have been lucky with the over seas trips and have been upgraded most of the time, but domestically… no f*&#ing way. Even though I travel enough to be triple platinum gold sapphire diamond, I don’t get miles so back with the working class I go. But the worse thing about it is that my company expects me to save seats for the paying passengers so they don’t allow me to book my flight more than 7 days in advance and then even then I can only book in a class that is just above the class they allow virgin flyers and convicted felons to book in. So even though I may know I absolutely have to be somewhere 3 months in advanced, I never know if I can actually get a flight. If, at the last second, a seat does not materialize that is likely in the middle of the last row or actually in the john I then am expected to beg the president of Cargo to grant me a seat if and only if he deems my trip worthy. That is a bit unfair to my Pres, because he is a great guy, but really should I have to bother an officer of a Fortune 100 company for a seat on a plane that we own? As much traveling as I do I should have my name tattooed on a first class seat.

Enough for this rant. I’m sure there are those of you out there that think I am way off base and would love to travel like I do. To you, I wish you never have the need to think otherwise.

Geeks Who Drink

I first heard about this group while listening to Coverville. It is an apparently local phenomenon in Denver where, as the names suggests, geeks get together to drink. But it seems to be centered around trivia. It seems to be a great idea that I would love to get started in the DFW area despite my inadequacies in all things trivial. But good news, I am currently sitting at the Irish Snug near downtown Denver. It was a pleasant surprise being that it was literarily right across the street and tonight they host the gang. So I was graciously paired up with a couple of guys who were short a crew and I did my best to help out. They were not easy questions. But as I write this it is only half over, so here’s hope.

More later.

Hang on Snoopy...

In the spirit of the Krumb (http://krmb.wordpress.com/feed/) I took this photo on my way to Fort Worth. I traveled about 45 miles with speeds in excess of 75 mph and this little guy managed to hold on the entire way. It was fascinating seeing him position himself behind the mirror for the least wind resistance. But what was truly interesting is when I made several stops (including a long one to get gas) he never left the window. I half expected, and was disappointed when it wasn’t there for my trip home.

Philosophy, Science, and Religion

Question about Science, Philosophy (Oliver Leaman responds): There's an article in The New Yorker this week (Feb. 12) about two philosophers-turned-scientists who, in the course of their studies, developed a strong distaste for the philosophical way of things (one of them bashes Thomas Nagel's bat thought-experiment as an incompetent way to approach the mind-body problem).

Is it true, as the article asserts, that philosophy is continually ceding its territory to the sciences (philosophy of the mind may be rendered obsolete by neuroscience), so that less and less is left to philosophers over time? Could science make philosophy obsolete?

Response from Oliver Leaman on February 15, 2007

I don't think so, although this is often claimed. The links between philosophy and science are complex and easy to get wrong. Philosophers are not looking for answers to problems in the same way that scientists are, although the difference is quite subtle. With the mind-body problem, whatever scientific developments on this occur, the issue of how to best characterize the relationship remains a conceptual problem, and no scientific discovery would force the philosopher's hand to come down on one approach or another.

________________________________________________________________________

This was from AskPhilosophers.org and I found it to be an intriguing. What is the relationship between philosophy and science? Is there one. Mr. Leaman indicates that there is but that it is complex. I’m not sure I agree. Although the definition of philosophy is itself a great philosophical question, most would agree that it involves reasoning, debate, and critical thought but rarely can produce physical evidence to support its arguments. I think most would agree that science involves both theory and physical evidence to support or prove the theory, not just the theory.

Now to be fair, Mr. Leaman did not call philosophy a science, only stating that there is a relationship between the two. This would, it seems, suggest that philosophy sort of takes care of the things that can not be proven by science. A great example would be the fact that the human animal kills for enjoyment. Science can’t (not yet anyway) offer evidence as to why we do that but philosophy can certainly offer theories on the subject. So if philosophy does take care of the nonscientific realm of the universe the how is it different than religion? I know this too is a great philosophical debate but I fail to see the difference. To say that philosophy isn’t religion because it does not have a supreme being controlling the universe doesn’t cut it in my eyes. It only shows that philosophy fails to make the next leap and explain the unexplainable with a god. Perhaps that is the definition of religion, philosophy with an answer. Even if it can’t be proven.

Summer Gas

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2374

A good article that anyone concerned about gas prices, pollutions, global warming, or corn…. Yes corn should read.

Mr. Anonymous Sticks it to Terrill

There was an anonymous comment on my "Perry Sticks it to Young Girls" entry. Boy am I sorry I didn’t see this comment earlier. Apparently I need to check my own blog more often.

A quick review is in order. I had commented on Governor Perry using executive powers to force girls to be vaccinated for the human papilloma virus (HPV) before entering school. As most of you know, HPV is most commonly contracted through sexual contact. But read the full article if you want to know more. The comment that was left was…

“But have you studied the information on vaccine injuries to children? Adults too for that matter. Merck is considered one of the biggest culprits in the contamination of its vaccines. Please inform yourself before you support such a drastic approach to dealing with a potential problem for some girls.”
Posted by Anonymous | April 25, 2007 12:56 PM

First, the author apparently does not know me well because if he did he would know that I do research my subjects before I comment. (Quick side note - I suspect the author is a woman but I am using the literary “he”). On the rare occasion that I comment on a subject with out thinking it through, which includes doing a little research, I will always inform the audience that I “don’t know much about the subject, but on the surface…”

Admittedly his reason for disagreeing with the policy did not make it my originally list, but there is a reason for that. To withhold a vaccination from a child due to safety concerns about the vaccine itself is asinine. I am assuming that the author has never taken any medicine of any kind for the same reason. No aspirin, cold pills, polio vaccine, smallpox… etc. Now before the rest of you go off on me too, I realize that caution is needed for new vaccines, but the HPV vaccine has been tested extensively and has been used effectively for years. Unfortunately it does not protect for all forms of Cervical Cancer, but it does for some very common ones.

So not to go on a rant… (I know, I know), the answer to your question Mr. Anonymous, if that is your real name, is yes, I have considered it and I think I will keep taking medicine despite the risks and my child will be vaccinated (once it is approved in the States for boys). (Huh? Do some research.)

Off again

Once again I am off on another trip. This time it is a three country world wind tour. I fly to Frankfurt (hopefully in the front of the bus). I will get there and do my customary 2 hour nap, get up find a pub, or in this case a bier garden, have dinner and be back in bed by 8 pm. Get up really early and run around on the ramp at FRA airport. Then I fly on Iberia (my first time) on Monday to Madrid. Spend the night there and wake up early and run around the ramp at MAD and meet with Correos (Spanish Post). Then on BA to Heathrow and do the same thing there, but for two days.

Glamorous huh?

It's Official

Febuary 19, 2007

Its official, I hate to travel. At lease I hate to travel the way I have been traveling… on business. This hatred has manifested itself over the last couple of months but really took off in the last couple of weeks when I have been traveling at least one day each week. It feels kind of silly writing this right now since I have sitting in first class on my way to Miami, but even getting upgraded doesn’t make the time I spend away from my family worth it. I miss my wife and my son terribly. I know many of you are wondering what kind of nonsense I am speaking and wish you had the opportunity to travel. I did too, but as they say, be careful what you wish for.

I’m sure things will be different once things settle down a bit at work, but I have no idea where that will be. It would also be different if my family could travel with me. In summer that may be possible but since my son is in school and my lovely wife must stay at home with him that will have to wait. But even in summer it might not be worth it because I generally only travel no more than three days at a time and mostly just overnight. So it usually would not be worth the hassle. So for now I will just stare out the window at the puffy white clouds and think of the smiles of my wife and son until I can see them in earnest soon.

Perry Sticks it to Young Girls

Rick Perry, Texas Governor, and staunch conservative shocked most folks when he signed an executive order forcing Texas girls to be vaccinated for the human papillomavirus (HPV) before entering the sixth grade. HPV is the sexually transmitted virus that is the leading cause of cervical cancer. Initial reaction has been controversial at best. Criticism is coming for the religious sector stating that giving the vaccine to girls will tell them that it is O.K. to have unprotected sex. People who just hate Perry point out that the maker of the vaccine, Merck, was a contributor to Perry’s campaign. Parent rights advocates point out that the state is removing their right to decided how to medically care for their children.

I want to go on record saying I didn’t vote for Perry and I don’t usually like his policies and unless this is your first time reading you know that I am not exactly a liberal either. All this aside I somewhat agree with Perry but I have a few qualifications (you knew I would). But let me address the critics first.

The religious right’s argument that getting a shot will cause young girls to run out and have sex is the same old argument against the pill and condoms. Do I really need to go into why this is wrong? Even if you buy this argument it is not really applicable here because apparently the vaccine is most affective if taken before the subject becomes sexually active. Despite what most fathers would love to believe, some day their daughters are going to have sex.

As for Merck’s “contribution” to Perry’s campaign… it was $6,000. Not even a drop on a drop in a bucket of water. Perry’s raised hundreds of millions of dollars; I hardly think six thousand is going to make him feel obligated.

Perhaps the most compelling criticism is from parents who believe that the government isn’t very good at raising children and should leave important decisions up to them. I tend to fall in this camp but I also know that this can’t be absolute. Otherwise we would have parents keeping children home from school without bothering to educate them at home just because some yahoo who never finished the 4th grade was able to make a baby and figures “hell, I’m doing all right”.

On a less cynical note, the state has the right to protect its investment. In other words, it can require it’s citizens to perform certain tasks that will help protect them from becoming a social and financial burden to the state at some point in the future. This is the basis behind tax funded education. The problem with this is that I could not find anywhere that said that the state will pay for the vaccine. Perhaps that is to come and if so, then I’m all for it. At the minimum the state needs to assist those that can not afford to take the vaccine just as they do today on other vaccinations.

In the end, I think this is the right move. If nothing else, it will encourage more insurance companies to cover the vaccine or it will make it easier and cheaper for those that can’t get access to the vaccine to get one.

The Day the Music Died... or at least was never heard.

Time for another rant…

My MP3 player went missing last time I was in Miami. I’m sure I probably left it in the hotel room but shockingly they were unable to find it when I called. It was not a huge loss because it was only a little key drive that happened to play mp3’s. Not many features but it got the job done. But since it was gone it needed to be replaced. So after doing a lot of research and settled on the iPod. Yeah, it surprised me too. Those that know me know that I will usually go out of my way to not be main stream but just like my attitude on Microsoft there is a reason they are wildly successful. The sound is very good and the features and accessories are ample. But what pisses me off (you knew there would be something) is that with everyone trying to do the right and legal thing with music downloads is screwing the little guy. Over at the The Lucky Word I blogged about The Departures and really wanted to listen to some of their music to see if they worth a damn but the only media on their site was either streaming snippets or must be downloaded via iTues UK and not available in the US. So how is this benefiting this group? Here is a guy sitting in Fort Worth Texas wanting to listen to their music and even willing to buy a song but can’t because they have it too restricted. I’m sure it is probably not their doing. I’m sure they turned over their eBusiness to some company that said they can take them to new levels. But all it is doing is preventing someone from hearing what they want the world to hear. If it were my band I would stomp my feet and cry like a baby until someone did something about it. I would at least insist that my web site had songs in MP3 format ready for download by any and everyone so that they can get a sample of my music and I wouldn’t listen to some suit telling them how it should be done.

Arrrrghhhh.

The Lucky Word

I have always been intrigued by randomness. I know, a weird thing to be intriguing but even the debate on the mere existence of randomness is fantastic. Randomness as a concept is easy to understand and define. It is simply something that is without order. However most of us use the word random to mean things that are not really random. Example: “I just picked a color at random.” We may think we picked a color at random but most likely we have a bias towards or away from certain colors. I for one tend to avoid maroon or dark reds mainly because they are the colors of Texas A&M and OU, but I digress. Another, albeit darker, misuse of the word random is the “random killing”. We just had a very gruesome murder in Dallas in which a man can be seen on a video monitor seemingly picking a woman at random and then following her to the street and shooting her at point blank range. On the surface it seems that is was just rotten luck that the poor woman was chosen and that the man selected her at random, but in the video we see that the man watches several people pass before selecting her. This indicates to me that he was looking for a type of person to kill and therefore introduces a trace or order in his thought. Still unlucky for the poor woman but not truly random.

So, in the human mind randomness is not really random, but I think most of us understand that. So what about math and computers? Mathematically speaking is it possible to truly be random. Of course it is, it is just not easy to get the results. We can, however, get really darn close which for most things is perfectly fine. Take for example the practice of drawing names from a hat. Everyone throws a piece of paper into a hat with their name on it and then the host will shake up the pieces of paper and reach in and grab one. Random right? Not really, most people will either draw the first piece they touch or they will draw from the bottom, either way there is an order to the piece of paper that is chosen because of the way they are written, the size and weight of the paper and even the shape of the container. That makes some sense, but what about the computer… surly the random number generator is truly random, right? Wrong. Every computer has a build in random number generator. It is used for things like randomizing your play list or choosing the photo to display on your screen saver, but it is not really random either. It needs a “seed” in which to start. It then uses a fixed algorithm using that seed as the start to select a random number. This means that if you use the same seed you will get the same set of “random” numbers each time, hardly random.

So back to the common use of the random concept and why I’m ranting about this. I had an idea for a new blog in which I will use a “random” word and plug into Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” process and then blog about the web site that comes up. If you are not familiar with Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” it is a function that takes a word you supply and then takes you to the highest ranked site. In order to get my “random” word I am using “The Random Word Generator” to get the word. I will try to do this at least two or three times a week. Should be interesting and fun, hope you like it. Check it out at http://luckyword.blogspot.com/.

The Oldest Newspaper In Texas

Some friends of mine, Kyle and Marita Beth, have a little project going in which they each take a photo a day and publish it on their blog The Daily KRuMB.

One of MB’s (far left) latest photos was of the old Galveston News building in Galveston, Texas and it made me think of something I heard growing up on the beaches of Galveston County. That is that the Galveston Daily News (now the Galveston County Daily News) is the oldest newspaper in Texas. So I thought I would provide you with a few facts that I managed to find. Oh, and I found an old photo of the same building. Interesting how it has changed. Probably all those hurricanes.

---

• Galveston Daily News first published April 11, 1842


• Changed its name to Galveston County Daily News in 1993


• It is the oldest newspaper still in circulation in Texas


• It is the 18^th oldest newspaper still in circulation in the USA


• It is the 80^th oldest newspaper still in circulation in the world


• At the time of the first publication, Texas was an independent republic and not part of the United States


• The population of Galveston in 1842 was about 4,000 people


• In 1902 the newspaper was the first business in Texas to install a telephone


• The newspaper founded the Dallas Morning News in 1885

sources:
http://www.wan-press.org/article2823.html

http://galvestondailynews.com/history.lasso

Money to the blind and the racist

Two quick hits today

A federal district judge ruled that our paper money discriminates against the blind because they are all the same shape. He ordered the Treasury to look at ways to distinguish the bills. I’m all for making it easier, but we don’t have a good history for doing so. How may times have we tried to introduce the dollar coin only to fail because the people don’t want change (pun intended). But if the TD can figure out a way to distinguish the bills while making them harder to counterfeit but not costing a fortune to do so, I’m all in favor. While their at it they need to see if they can embed a chip that will make stupid people not spend money on stupid things. Now that would be great!

The other quick hit was that Michael Irvin apologized for joking that Tony Romo’s grandmother must have got it on with a black man for him to be that good athletically. I agree that he should apologize and I’m glad he did but then I listen to The Ticket (all “sports” stations here in DFW) and the afternoon boys go off on the world saying he shouldn’t have to apologize because he is black and can say what he wants. They recognize that this is a double standard (as if doing so takes that problem off the table) but say that it should be. I believe that is exactly what racism is, when one thing is ok or expected of one race but not another. Like it is ok for white people to drink from a water fountain but it is not ok for black people. It is NEVER ok to be racist, regardless of who is the racist. It is not ok for Irvin to be a racist any more than it is ok for Michael Richards. Now before you go off saying it was just a joke, imagine if I said in an interview on Sunday morning “Barack Obama’s granddad must have snuck into Hyde Park and got it on with a white woman because he is just too smart to be a black man.” I doubt those on the set with me would be laughing.

Advancing the cause

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Back to my ranting roots

Greetings from 32,000 feet over Indiana, on my way to Chicago. It’s been a while since I have been off on a rant and since the name of the blog is Delusional Rants from Inside the Beautiful Tornado (which I still need to explain) I guess it is that time to rant, delusional or not. (That was a really long sentence… I’m sure my professors would not have approved, but since they are most likely members of those in which I am about to rant, screw ‘em.)

It has been a full week since elections and we now know that the Democrats now have control of Congress. I have been wrestling with the decision if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Now before you go off thinking I have abandoned my conservative roots hear me out, or in this case read me out.

I was asked last night by a friend what I thought the voters wanted. This was a good question because for the most part I don’t believe half the idiots that have the birth right of voting in this country deserve it. It is only by the graciousness of Darwinism that most of them have no clue that there was even an election and the less than 30% turn out proves that. So those that did have a clue or was brainwashed into voting one way verses the other wanted something. Most of the talking heads on the tube that think we are too stupid to think for ourselves (and for at least 70% of us they are right) think it was a referendum on the war. Paluse (I need to check the spelling of her name, but I’m not sure she is worth it) (OK, that was a shot, but it felt good) (OK, she will be the Speaker and deserves the respect of the peoples and I should at least give her the courtesy that she does not give the President) (But I won’t ) and her gang seem to think that way too and will end up doing something stupid that will just end up loosing all the progress we have made over there and get even more of our men and women killed before we get them out. I need to go more into the war in another rant, but for now I don’t really think that is what motivated most voters. Don’t send me emails and tell me that is what motivated you, I said MOST voters, I know there are plenty of liberals out there that can only consider one issue at a time and that was the one that decided their vote.

On the other side of the dial the talking heads of the conservative radio seem to think it was a message to the Republican party saying they are too liberal right now and that the conservative base either stayed home (doubtful) or that the actual smart folks out there that vote what the believe and don’t worry about parties or labels voted for the conservative democrats. They point out that most of the freshman dems just elected are of the right side of the left. This seems plausible, but I don’t think it is a message that the Pubs are too liberal. If this were the case why on earth would they vote for anyone left of center, even if they are just barely left?

There is another friend of mine that thinks he liberal (he really isn’t, and he hates when I tell him that) that says it was a vote against incumbents. He is not the only one I have heard that from, but I don’t really think that is what it is either. As I said I think that the majority of the people that actually vote have enough intelligence to see through the argument that we should just vote people out just to freshen up the place. If you actually vote for people to represent your area and therefore your interest you want them in power as long as possible so that they gain more power in Congress, sitting or chairing the important committees, and give more stuff to your area which in turns improves your life. The only reason you would vote them out is if they stop representing your interest…

Holy crap Mr. Smith, did you catch that. People would actually vote someone out not because they are conservative or liberal, for or against one single issue, or just because they are there, but because they actually stopped or never did the things that they said they would. This is not my original idea, if it were it would not be the reason most of the smart people voted out the folks in Washington. It is however common sense and I wonder why I don’t hear many of the talking heads saying it. OK, I don’t really wonder that, they are idiots. But it is really that simple and I hope the newly elected folks realize this. You will be fired if you are hired to do a job and don’t do it. Strange… that is exactly the way it is supposed to work. Amazing.

Dog days of Business in Portland

Live from McMenamins’ Tavern in Portland Oregon it Terrill’s blog. Ok, the only reason I’m doing this is because we are at a really cool pub in Portland with wifi and Kyle, whom I just hired, was reading a blog from his wife in which she took a picture of her dogs saying they missed him. So I took a picture of him looking at his dogs missing them and I’m here to say that he too misses them. So without further adieu…