Things That Have Crossed My Mind Lately

Random Thought #1:
Senator Barack Obama gave a speech yesterday. Jon Stewart on the Daily Show pretty much nailed it when he said something like: “A historical day. Tuesday, 11 a.m. Eastern daylight time, a prominent politician talked to the American people about race as if we’re adults.”

There are several video clips HERE that are worth watching.

Random Thought #2
I want one of these wind turbines to put on my house. I’m grumpy that I have three minutes to look at their web site and I can’t find any prices. I want three, actually — two to power my house and one on my garage to power my (as yet mythical) plug-in hybrid car. In fact, why don’t hybrid cars come with wind turbines — kind of a package deal. You buy the car and some guy comes and installs a wind turbine on your garage.

Random Thought #3
Try as I might, I just don’t have time for that FacePlace or FaceBook or whatever it’s called. I set up a little page in there because someone told me it was a neat thing to do. I suppose it is, but I get requests all the time to log in to MyFace or FaceSpace or whatever it’s called because “so-and-so poked you” or “so-and-so wrote on your wall.” It’s all fun stuff, really it is, but I just don’t have time for it. I’m too busy ranting about being busy.

Random Thought #4
Why do people bring things to a print shop they don’t want printed? Example — I got an e-mail today saying, “Here’s a photo for the newsletter. Ignore the other five attached photos, and the three small animated GIF’s attached to my e-mail. All you need is PCD847312.” Five minutes later, “Please ignore my last message. Use PCD847313 instead, and ignore PDC8747311 and PDC8747317, which are also attached to this message.”

Why not just send me THE ONE PHOTO YOU WANT ME TO USE? No. Instead send me 42 nearly identical photos with nearly identical file names, then holler at me when I get the wrong one in your newsletter and demand that we only charge you half price.

Another customer sent me six identical files with different file names. I called to ask if they really wanted us to print 575,000 (or whatever) copies of all six files. “Oh, no. They’re all the same. I just thought you’d like extra copies in case one didn’t work.” They came THIS close to having their order multiplied by six, and of course they’d reject the other 2,875,000 copies (in full color of course) and would refuse to pay for them, at which point my boss would turn red and I’d get hollered at.

Random Thought #5
Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday at the age of 90. He’s the one that wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey and about a zillion other science fiction books, but more importantly he’s the one that conceptualized how a satellite in geosynchronous orbit might be used as a communication device. (That’s when you place an object in an orbit such that it falls around the earth at the same rate the earth rotates, thus appearing motionless in the sky — perfect if you want to point a satellite dish at it.) Please note that he had this all figured out on paper in 1945 — twelve years before the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth. It was the 1960s before Clarke’s computations were proven and the first telecommunication satellite was launched in what is now known as a “Clarke Orbit.”

Not only was he a well-known science-fiction writer and theoretical physicist, but he served in the Royal Air Force in World War II, had degrees in math and physics, ran his own scuba school in Sri Lanka, and was active in underwater exploration.

The world needs more thinkers like Clarke.

Random Thought #6
Why does beer taste better in a bar than at home?

Random Thought #7
When the drought hits, will anyone remember that it was Carter that put solar panels on the White House and Reagan that took them back off? Will anyone remember that Clinton warned of the impending oil and environment crisis and that Bush did nothing? Does anyone remember that the United States Government had a massive surplus at the end of the Clinton era, and that prosperity ruled the land? Does anyone know how much money $3 trillion really is — that’s how much the War in Iraq has cost us. Our government has, in the last seven years, spent our money so fast it makes my head spin. And now it’s time to pay the piper — us taxpayers owe a LOT of money for what our government has been doing, and the bill will come due. Whomever wins the next election is, unfortunately, going to get blamed for a lot of stuff our current administration is doing — AND we still have terrorists to catch… And our bridges are falling due to lack of funding. And the homeless and poverty rates are too high. And our educational system is faltering. And our health care system is losing ground. And it’s too expensive to get treatment. And, and, and…

There are a lot of problems to be fixed.

Elk, Eagles and Garbage

It was an interesting day. After work Dagmar and I tootled ten miles north to a park we frequent. We like to go look at the elk. We like to think the elk like to look at us, too, but they’re probably just bored. As we were playing with the elk I happened to look over my shoulder to see a bald eagle soaring overhead. I got lots of blurry pictures. (If you want to see them a bit larger, you can go HERE.)

So we thought that was way cool and went home. As we walked from the car to the house Dagmar started picking up some soggy garbage that was laying in our yard. After she’d gathered a handful she went to dump it in the garbage. “How odd,” she said when she came back around front. “Ve have dat green garbage can ve never use — the top had blown open, so I vent to close it und there’s a purse in it.”

How odd indeed.

So I called the police and they sent a nice policewoman over who very patiently went through the garbage… Turns out the purse had been stolen somewhere across town last November. The thief probably dumped it in our “spare” garbage can months ago, where it’s patiently sat waiting for someone to notice it… The policelady was really nice. I hope they find the thief, though the odds are pretty slim they will.

What we oughta do…

This being an election year and all, a lot of people are talking about what ought to be done to fix the problems and myriad woes that face our fair country. I have some ideas of my own.

1. Either regulate or ban insurance, one or the other.

I don’t know why they call it “insurance” when it really isn’t. They should call it “excuses.” There should oughta be a law that in order to call what you’re selling “insurance,” you must actually insure something — not just take people’s money in exchange for a buttload of excuses buried in fine print. That’s always bugged me, but my main problem with insurance in America is the level of control they have over people’s lives, and the stranglehold they have on our government. Insurance companies are, to a large degree, ruining the financial fabric of the United States.

Here’s an example of what I’m babbling about… People around here often have two jobs — one for the income and one to pay for health insurance. Health insurance can easily run $800 a month, provided you’ve never been sick. So you pay that money (for me, that would be two week’s take-home pay) to the insurance company every month for years…

Then you get sick. You go to the doctor with a pain in your side. What’s the first thing they do? Make you comfortable? Ask you what’s wrong? No. The first thing they do, before they even ask for your name, is to ask about your insurance. Once you get the paperwork filled out you finally get to take your pain to the doctor. After examining you, the doctor decides the best thing to do is to operate and take what’s paining you out.

Great! You get to be fixed — the pain will be gone! But wait… First the doctor has to call a person in a cubicle thousands of miles away to ask permission to do the procedure. The insurance companies, you see, tell the doctors what they can and can’t do. If the nameless insurance agent in Atlanta tells your doctor that your symptoms do, indeed, warrant a procedure, the insurance company will then tell the hospital how long you can stay in their care and what kinds of drugs you can take.

So we expect our doctors to be highly trained, well educated people with the best judgment available — and we pay them a ton of money for their skill — only to have an insurance agent with a high-school diploma telling the doctor what to do.

This should oughta be illegal.

Try this on for size — a new law I just made up myself. If you pay the insurance company, they must, by law, COVER YOU — no matter what the doctor prescribes or does. It is the doctor, after all, who has the medical training — why not let him decide what’s best for the patient? If you pay the insurance company for medical insurance, the insurance company has to insure you. No pussy-footing around.

“But the insurance companies will lose money if they have to pay for everyone’s medical bills.” No. They can save money by firing half their staff — the half that they pay now to come up with excuses why they aren’t responsible for paying.

Let’s take this a bit further. Let’s make it illegal for insurance companies to wiggle. Let’s give them one page to explain their policy in plain English. The rule is that your average junior-high student should be able to understand the contract and it must fit on one page (with the type set at 12-point so you can read it easily). If you buy insurance for your motorcycle, the insurance company must then insure your motorcycle — no matter what happens to it. If the neighbor’s kid whangs it with a baseball bat, you’re insured. If the tornado hits your garage, you’re covered. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Okay, now just a little bit further. Let’s make it illegal for the insurance companies to make more than a certain amount of profit. The thought of someone living in pain because the insurance companies won’t cover them, or have already taken all their money, while the CEO of that same insurance company makes $12 million a year — well, that makes me sick.

Let’s outlaw, as much as we can, corporate greed in the insurance companies. These should be compassionate corporations, not greedy, bloated money mills.

Think of how nice it would be if you could go to the doctor and be secure in the knowledge that you’ll be treated. Or that if you’re in an auto accident your insurance company will actually cover the cost of repairing your car. Think of how it would be if half your income didn’t go towards corporate greed.

Our health-care system isn’t broken, but it’s really, really sick. Its arteries are clogged with the accumulated crud of the bloated insurance industry. If we don’t watch out, it’s going to die of its own greed.

2. Election reform.

This is getting to the point of stupidity. We, as the United States of America, bastion of freedom, defenders of democracy, cannot hold a fair election. It’s getting ridiculous.

New law I just made up — all elections, all ballots, all polling places will be run the same way everywhere in the United States, and all elections shall be monitored and witnessed by the United Nations. Let’s pick one method and stick with it — no hanging chads in Florida whilst people in Iowa struggle to draw circles and arrows in one county while the neighboring county has some pushbutton device while California has touch-screens.

Let’s pick one method, and let’s realize that no method will be perfect. If it were me, I’d go with touch screens with receipts and hard copies.

Again, my law of “it’s gotta be written in plain English” applies. No legalese allowed.

Voting in my world shall take place over a two-day period starting at 6 a.m. Friday morning and continuing on to 10 p.m. Saturday night. That should be enough time for just about everyone to get to the polls regardless of what shift they work, will eliminate the long lines, and will lessen the factor weather will have on turnout. The press shall have full coverage and full access to every polling site, but they will not be allowed to report anything until after the last polls close in Hawaii Saturday night.

Some people are emotionally bound to the caucus rather than a straight primary, but I really think that the primaries should be held over a two-day period just as described above — none of this six-month-long primary with states jostling for position… If you want to have a town-meeting style caucus, that’s fine — do that to elect the sheriff if you want, but not in national elections.

The electoral college shall hereby be disbanded. Lets go with the popular vote, dammit. One person, one vote. Simple? Thought so.

National elections have identical rules in every state. That’s another new law I just made up. A candidate from ANY party should be allowed on the ballot nationwide if he meets certain non-monetary requirements — say, 50,000 signatures. When a candidate meets the requirements to get on the ballot, the government hands him, oh, $25 million to use for his campaign. This money can be used ONLY for the campaign, and candidates are not allowed to take any other money for their campaign from any source whatsoever. In other words, all candidates start on equal footing, no matter what their party, no matter who their parents were, no matter what. They all have the same financial resources to mount their campaign. May the person who handles it the best win. No person, organization or corporation can simply “buy” a candidate.

Elected officials shall be paid the median income for their constituency, and will get the same benefits. If we have to live on peanuts, so do they. If we only get one weeks vacation after working with the company for two years, that’s what they get. Fair’s fair, ain’t it?

Oh well. It’s my dream world.

Illin’

I’m on day three of a Ny-Quil haze. Whatever this is, don’t catch it. I’m finally approaching coherence. I’m at least close enough to rational thought to poke at it with a long stick, anyway…

Don’t Worry, There ARE No Consequences

Have you guys noticed that there are a TON of commercials on TV these days offering to let you pay your credit card debt “for pennies on the dollar,” or telling you that you don’t really need to pay that $20,000 in back taxes you owe? Doesn’t that strike you as being, well, wrong?

I understand credit card debt. I’ve been fighting it my entire adult life. I can’t get out from under it. I think credit cards are evil incarnate. In fact, if we could only get out from under our credit card debt, I’m sure life would be peachy indeed! But as soon as we get within spittin’ distance of getting them paid off, the car breaks, someone has to go to the hospital, the water heater blows up… something happens. We’ve paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars a month to the credit card companies for years, and are no closer to getting them paid off than we were seven years ago.

Boy, I’d sure love it if someone made it a law that they can’t charge more than eight percent interest. That would truly turn my life around! But that ain’t gonna happen.

Push comes to shove, I used the credit cards knowing what I was getting into. I needed the funds, and was desperate enough to use credit. Am I happy to pay them? No, I’m not — I think the amount of interest they charge is criminal. But, like I said, I went into this with my eyes open. I signed on the dotted line. It would be immoral of me to break the contract now.

This is the point where my natural Libertarianism comes into conflict with my innate sense that “someone should oughta do something.”

On the one hand, if people overborrow, they should be held responsible to pay their debts (as I’m attempting to do). On the other hand, shouldn’t there be a mechanism in place to limit corporate greed — someone to tell the credit card companies, “you’ve bled Joe Schmoe dry, he can’t pay what he owes — quit offering him more credit”?

It’s a quandry, see?

Normally I’d be in favor of saying, “Well, if Joe Schmoe borrowed too much money, that’s his own problem. He knew the consequences borrowing, now he must pay those consequences.” But it’s starting to affect ME, and that changes things.

Sidebar — a few years back a guy I know bragged to me that he never paid property taxes. He was pretty smug about it, and was awfully surprised when I started hollering at him. “So you think I should pay YOUR way?” I yelled. “My taxes have gone up yearly, and I pay them because I like driving on paved roads and having my poop piped away, but I don’t want to have to pay for YOUR sorry situation! If you don’t pay your taxes, it’s like you’re stealing from ME. Either pay your taxes or quit using the roads, the sewers, the emergency services and the schools.”

It’s like that with debt now. It used to be that I was paying a zillion percent interest simply to keep the bankers and credit card people in caviar. The problem is that now there are so many people taking advantage of the “Oh, don’t worry about your debt, we’ll help you get out of it” commercials that the bankers and credit card people have to charge the honest borrowers even more interest to maintain their rich and fabulous lifestyle, and that really bothers me.

Why do I have to pay my taxes and credit card bills while the other guy doesn’t? That’s the factor that throws the law of consequences into the rubbish bin — the fact that some people pay no consequences whilst the rest of us have to shoulder our burden AND theirs.

The guy who defaults on his credit card debt, who skirts taxes, who files frivolous lawsuits, who cheats his insurance company, who shoplifts… That guy is stealing from YOU — you’re paying for his actions.

Are there legitimate reasons for ducking debt? Well sure there are. There are legitimate tax breaks, legitimate lawsuits, legitimate insurance claims… I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the people who defraud the system. As a society, we need to tell these people to PAY UP. I can’t afford to carry them any more.

The Decentralization of Computers

Where do you think this is going? What is the general trend? Where should you invest your money?

When I first started mucking about with computers in the mid-80’s, there were two distinct kinds of machines: mainframes and PC’s. The PC’s (or Microcomputers, to be more exact), however, were different than what we think of today — they had no memory.

No memory at all.

They had two big floppy drives, you see. You carried the entire operating system with you on one floppy disk, and you kept your data on another floppy. In order to turn the computer on, you had to insert the OS disk and boot it up that way. (Keep in mind that the 5.25″ floppy disks held a whopping 720k. Yes, the entire operating system took less than 500k at the time.) Needless to say, the Microcomputers were rather limited. So we mostly used the mainframe.

The difference between a PC or a Microcomputer and a mainframe is simple — PC’s and Micros were self-contained, while a mainframe was one big computer in a central location with numerous “terminals” that people use to input data. In other words, twenty people could be sitting in twenty different locations using twenty different terminals (which were nothing more than keyboards and screens hooked to a modem) using the same computer at the same time.

This worked well. The college I attended had students who worked at the Computer Center, maintaining the mainframe and doing all the “dirty work” — debugging, coding, keeping the computer running, etc. But after a few years, PC’s started to be affordable. Real PC’s with hard drives and memory, just like we have today. People flocked to the PC’s because you could actually BUY one, and never have to wait in line to use a mainframe terminal again.

So, from about 1988 or 1990 to the recent past, PC’s have ruled the computing landscape. Instead of companies buying one big powerful mainframe, they’d buy 100 cheap PC’s and network them together. This has worked relatively well, but…

The trend I’m seeing now is a slow migration back towards the mainframe way of working.

It’s easy enough to buy a PC today; they’re cheaper than ever. The problem is that in the last 20 years the complexity of the software has gone through the roof. The applications and programs we use now are so incredibly complicated that no one really understands them any more. (If you don’t believe me, try reinstalling your printer sometime. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don’t, and no one can ever tell you why.) And, of course, the price of the software has gone up exponentially. Adobe’s Creative Suite is $1,799.00. If you should happen to want their “Master” edition, that’s $2,499.00. MicroSoft Office can run you up to nearly $700.

Is there an alternative? Sure! Use online software. Now that the Internet has reached a certain level of maturation we can reliably connect to software at a remote source without having to buy or download anything ourselves.

Google is a prime example. Instead of buying MicroSoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel, you can use Google’s online software for free. It’s a bit slower, as one might expect, but the benefits are myriad. Not only do I not have to pay for the software, but they maintain the upgrades and security, and they even keep copies of my documents on their servers — I can access my documents from any computer that has Internet access. It’s a thing of beauty!

Personally, I think this is the wave of the future — or at least a significant ripple. I can imagine a certain segment of the population who would be happy to have a relatively cheap PC or laptop with minimal capabilities and hardly any localized software, but has a fast Internet connection. Instead of keeping (say) your photos on your own hard drive, you’d use your computer as a throughput device — bring your photos in from your camera to your computer, then upload the “keepers” directly to Picasa or Fliker without keeping a copy on your machine at all. Let the pros handle the backup problems. If you need to type a letter, log into your Google account (much like we used to log into the mainframe), and access your library of documents as well as have the capability to create a new file. Same with speadsheets. Heck, I’m using an online word processor to write this blog.

Will this extend into the professional-level user? Maybe. I already use some online tools at work as a graphic designer, and I’ve used online design tools to create a few web sites. I doubt that anything will come along in the next month or two that will replace PhotoShop or Gimp, but I’m sure that someone, somewhere is thinking about it… It wouldn’t surprise me if there are online graphic manipulation and layout applications available on the web in the next five years.

If I had any money to invest, I’d probably look at this sector.

Them’s just my Ny-Quil-induced thoughts.

Beards

When I was a kid growing up in the last century, the only person I knew with a goatee was Bluto — the guy who made a career out of tormenting Olive Oyl and Popeye. If anyone had a beard, it was a full, untrimmed bushy beard. Goatees were for evil people like Bluto. (If I remember right, there was a brief resurgence of the goatee right about the time the original Star Trek hit syndication with the goateed Klingons, but that lasted for about six weeks and was over as most people who try to look evil just look rather more like a guy with a goatee than a Klingon.)

I didn’t see another goatee until the 1990’s.

“Bell bottoms,” I thought when I first saw one. “Goatees are popular this summer. In two years they’ll be gone. Who wants to look like Bluto, for gosh sakes?” I promptly grew my beard out “Riker” style. This isn’t because I wanted to emulate Commander Riker (to be honest, I thought his character on Star Trek was a pompous ass, though the actor, Jonathan Frakes, seems to have a good sense of humor), but rather because that’s just the way my beard grows. I mean, why fight nature? If that’s the way my beard wants to be, who am I to argue? I had a goatee for twelve minutes, and it looked kinda silly.

So, from the time I got out of the Army National Guard in 1993 until, well, now, I’ve had my beard pretty much the same.

The problem? Well, much to my consternation, my beard is telling my age. I’m going gray. *sigh*

This in itself doesn’t overly bother me; I’m at the age where it’s gonna happen. I’m just disappointed in the manner of the graying. Instead of my beard going academic salt-and-pepper, or simply gradually turning gray, it’s going gray in two streaks down my chin.

I look like I have an inverted skunk clinging to my chin.

Near as I can tell, I have several options. The first is the inverted goatee — let everything else grow, but shave my chin. The world famous professional chicken-wing eater Steakbellie pulled this look off successfully… But I don’t think I can.

Another option is to shave. I did this once a year or two ago, and my wife made me grow it back. Turns out I have a good face for beards.

The two options I’m leaning towards are — growing it out in ye olden shaggy biker beard, or grimacing and bearing it. I like the idea of having a shaggy biker beard, actually. Maybe I can grow it out enough so I can braid it. That’d be cool.

I’ve toyed around with the thought of dying it. “Just for Men,” you know. But I don’t really like that thought much… I earned the lines and the gray honestly.

Most likely, I’ll just leave it the way it is… A baby skunk dangling from my chin. It is mine, after all. Why not?

Honor

A “veteran,” whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve, is someone who, at one point in life, wrote a blank check to the United States of America, for the amount “up to and including my life.”

A friend sent me the above quote. It was in my in-box when I got back from a funeral escort for a young man killed in Iraq. Sometimes the check comes due. Everyone who has worn a military uniform is aware of that. I sometimes wonder if our government is.

Busy busy busy…

Sorry I haven’t blogged lately. I’ve just been busy. Terribly, incredibly busy.

I’m so tired…

I’ll be back soon, I promise.

Iowa Debates Anti-Smoking Law

Today the Iowa House of Representatives is set to debate the latest anti-smoking law to come across the table. The new law would ban smoking in restaurants and bars, with the exception of casinos (because, apparently, they donate a lot of money to politicians, and they’re a grand source of tax revenue) and small privately-owned bars (such as veterans clubs).

I have mixed emotions on this… I smoked for 25 years. I started my one and a half pack a day addiction in my teens and couldn’t shake it until just two and a half years ago. (In fact, that’s why I started this blog in the first place — to give me something to do in the middle of the night when the cravings hit. Here’s one of my earlier posts if you’re interested. The photos disappeared for some reason, but I’m not too worried about that.) So smoking and I have a long history…

When I was in high school I had to go to Smokers Anonymous so I could stay on the wrestling and cross-country teams. I was the only one in SA… I eventually quit sports.

I joined the Army National Guard the day I turned 17. I remember taking a carton of cigarettes with me to Basic Training. They took them away from me… For the first week we were there we couldn’t smoke, so we all chewed tobacco. As soon as we earned smoking privileges we all started right back up. In an odd sociological twist, out of the 52 men in my platoon only about 15 or so smoked when we started basic training — but 49 smoked by the time we finished ten weeks later. The Army had a bad habit of giving us the occasional smoke break, only to walk past us as we stood there happily puffing away and point at two or three guys at random to go do some chore or errand. Invariably the Drill Instructors would choose people who weren’t smoking, possibly because they looked like they weren’t doing anything. So many people started smoking simply to avoid the extra duties the DIs were handing out to non-smokers. I don’t think this was a conscious thing on the sergeants’ part, but it was very much apparent. (All my Drill Sergeants smoked, by the way, as did all the officers.)

A few years later, back in Iowa, I was sorely upset when the state banned smoking in government buildings — including the armory. I was very used to having an ashtray on my desk whilst at drills.

When I was a freshman in college, I remember being bitterly disappointed when they banned smoking in the classrooms (yes, at one point a college kid could smoke in a lecture, believe it or not) just the year before. My sophomore or junior year they banned smoking in any campus building except the Student Union and individual dorms, and I used my position on the school newspaper to holler indignantly that “smokers are people too” and should be given at least a “smoking closet” or some area indoors where they could smoke without bothering others. It seemed cruel to me for the administration to make us go stand outside in the snow… And I was used to doing my homework in the library with a cigarette smoldering next to me. I took the “No Smoking” signs personally, and bristled.

Once I graduated and landed the job of my dreams here at the print shop I was happy to see that everyone had an ashtray within arm’s reach. My kinda place! But my joy was short-lived… Within six months the company had merged and moved to a different building, where I had to walk all the way to the back room (six feet from my desk) to smoke. My co-workers often complained about the smell of my cigarettes wafting through the open door into the office, but I found the necessary temerity to ignore their whining. A few years later the bosses told us we could only smoke in the break room or outside. Shortly after that they told us to go outside. I was NOT happy.

But here’s the funny part… Every time someone limited the areas where I could smoke, I complained bitterly about my rights being trampled upon, but within days I was used to the new routine and it no longer bothered me. In fact, I found that I actually enjoyed having to go outside to smoke — it forced me to get away from my desk for a few minutes, and I noticed that I didn’t smoke as much as I had previously. In 2001 or 2002, both Dagmar and I quit smoking in our own house. We voluntarily went outside to smoke… Our house stunk, to be honest, and the walls were changing color, turning from “Misty Alpine Fog” to “Dingy Tan.” I still smoked in the car, but not in the house.

In July 2005 I smoked my last cigarette. I still have urges occasionally, but the horrible physical cravings are gone. When I see photos of myself from years past it surprises me that in nearly every photo I have a cigarette… I didn’t know it was such a pervasive part of my life. I’m glad I’m done with it.

So how do I feel about the proposed ban? Well, as I said earlier, I have mixed feelings… The first thing I thought when I heard about the ban was “FINALLY I can go to a club and watch a band without having to deal with cigarettes and feeling all congested and stinky the next day! Thank God! Maybe now Dagmar and I can go to a restaurant. Boy, it’s gonna be GOOD to be able to get back out into society again!” That’s how ninety-five percent of me feels — relieved and happy at the prospect of smoke-free establishments. The other five percent feels a little guilty, like I’m turning my back on my former life, flip-flopping my morals of 20+ years ago. I took a stand for years that smokers have a right to a smoking room in every public building. Now that I no longer smoke, do I change that stand? Is that wrong? I dunno…

It would probably surprise some of our friends, but Dagmar and I sometimes stay home simply to avoid the smoke. When we make plans, the subject invariably comes up… “What do you want to do? Shall we go downtown for a beer and see a band, or shall we go out to eat?” I’ll ask. “Well,” she’ll respond, “if we go see a band it’ll be all smoky and stinky…” We don’t mind if our friends smoke outside or in another room, but it does bother us to be around cigarette smoke. It makes my lungs hurt, both Dagmar and I will have headaches and sore throats the following day, and, quite frankly, it gives me cravings. So I’d rather avoid it if possible.

I’m struggling with people’s rights and freedoms. Does your freedom to smoke trump my freedom to want clean air? After all, I’m free to stay home if I want, but smokers are also free to go outside to enjoy a cigarette.

Is a ban a good thing? Sure it is. I support it — it would make life better and easier for Dagmar and myself, and would make the state a little healthier. But a little piece of me thinks it would be okay to have a separate room for smokers… A well-ventilated room on the other side of the bar, preferably… I’m really, REALLY looking forward to being able to go out and have a beer in a smoke-free environment, and I’m a little sad that my favorite place (the Legion club in Le Mars) will be exempt from the rule. I would never tell the combat veteran sitting at the bar in a veterans’ club that he couldn’t sit and have a beer and a cigarette in peace, but I am a little sad that I’ll still have to endure cigarette smoke. (Like I said, I still get cravings when I smell a cigarette. It makes me twitchy, rude, and generally anxious and vaguely unhappy.)

I’ll leave you with two statements. The first is that I’m NOT trying to start a debate here — I don’t mean to upset anyone, I’m just sorting through my feelings on the issue. The second is that when I did smoke, I quickly readjusted to whatever laws or rules were in place, and it soon became second-nature for me to follow the rules and be content.

Bill O’Reilly Needs to Apologize

Thanks to Pixie for pointing this one out…

We have homeless Iraq War veterans right here in Sioux City, Iowa (population 80,000). I shudder to think at how many Iraq, Gulf, Vietnam and Korean War veterans are homeless nationwide.

Homelessness is an especially pervasive problem with veterans, especially those who suffer from untreated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and find it difficult to find and hold jobs. Many end up with addiction problems due to the PTSD, which compounds the issue. If we, as a nation and a society, send men and women to do difficult and harrowing things in our name, we NEED to take care of them when they come back home. Prompt treatment for depression and PTSD is the first step, and would (in my opinion) lessen the homeless problem for veterans.

Rainbows

A few days ago a friend of mine sent me a photo of a rainbow she’d seen. Rainbows are nice. (I always think of Genesis 9 and my mother when I see a rainbow.)

We don’t see many rainbows in Iowa this time of year. Right now (I just checked) the temperature is zero. The high today is forecast to be four degrees. (That’s Fahrenheit, not Celsius.) Yesterday the wind was a-howlin’ at the doors something fierce. The pictures don’t do it justice, but I took the photos so someone’s gotta look at them. Lucky you.

I had to drive to Le Mars from Sioux City to do some work for the Legion Riders yesterday, and I don’t seem to be able to drive a car more than five blocks without hanging my camera out the window for some reason. The last picture there is of Le Mars, IA, population 8,000. As you can see, there aren’t any rainbows in the photos.

Winter came early this year, and we’ve had no reprieve. There was an ice storm in November, followed by a snowstorm just a few days later. People are complaining that they still have the original ice and snow on their sidewalks; usually we get a “January thaw” where temps rise into the 40s for a day or two to melt off some of the snow and ice, but what little thaw we had this year was brief and chilly indeed. It’s hard to fathom that spring and summer exist. If I didn’t have photos of trees with leaves on them I wouldn’t believe such things are possible.

Politics

I caught myself spewing politics on a friend’s blog and realized that if political spewing should happen, it should happen here. (Spew. What a word. Spew.)

My political feelings at this point are: Gobama! Barack to the Future! Yay…

I still feel that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was the best candidate on either side of the aisle, and I hope he gets tapped for Secretary of State in the new administration, no matter who’s President. But Governor Richardson is no longer in the race, so I have to content myself in pontificating the virtues and foibles of the remaining five candidates, Senator Barack Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton, Congressman Ron Paul, former Governor Mike Huckabee, and Senator John McCain.

Senator Obama (D):
He’s the top of my list, though mostly by default. The things I like about Senator Obama are that he’s a passionate speaker, he seems to be able to truly unite people (which is something we sorely need today), and he has a good grasp on domestic affairs, the economy, and foreign policy. He’s not the best-versed in any of those categories, but neither is he the most ignorant. I like his overall message.

I hope he can survive the mud that’s sure to be slung his direction. I’ve already seen about half a zillion e-mails come through my in-box claiming that the Senator is an Islamic Fundamentalist (false), that his name rhymes with “Osama” (like that proves something about his personality or qualifications), and that he doesn’t have the experience Senator Clinton has (like his six years in the Senate were somehow shorter dog-years than Clinton’s six years in the senate).

Senator Clinton (D):
Is the nation ready for a female president? Sure! Is Senator Clinton qualified enough to be an effective leader? Sure! Would she be a good president? Probably would. But she’s entirely the wrong person this time around.

Half the country rabidly hates Mrs. Clinton — often without really knowing why. She’s a divisive personality at a time when we need someone to bring the country back together. Whether it’s deserved or not, Billary has a reputation for pulling shady back-room deals, ruthlessly grabbing power, and generally being a bit thuggish in her ways. Republicans foam at the mouth over this, often overlooking the fact that she actually knows what she’s talking about. (And I will readily admit that I’m exactly the same way with President Bush. The man makes me apoplectic, and I really have a hard time giving his policies and ideas a fair shake.)

The nation is already split in half. The last thing we need is yet another “divider.”

Congressman Ron Paul (L — no, I. wait… R)
Of the Republican candidates, I like Congressman Paul’s stands the best, though to be honest I don’t know as much about him as I should. Unfortunately, he’s seen as a bit of a kook. Had he run as a Libertarian (which was his original party of choice) I would possibly have voted for him. Last I heard, he was more or less dropping out of the race to concentrate on his congressional primary in Texas.

Mike Huckabee (R)
I don’t like people running on moral agendas. I have my own opinions on stuff, thank you. I don’t really want a president making laws on what he thinks is best for me — I want a president making laws to keep me safe, and to provide me basic services, not preaching morality. I also think his foreign policy views are skewed, and his economic policy is flawed. Other than that, I think he’s a nice guy…

Senator McCain (R):
Senator McCain was the perfect candidate in 2000. Now, in 2008, I have my worries and doubts. I don’t often agree with his views on the economy. I’m happy that he doesn’t push his morality as much as other candidates on the Republican side have been known to do. (Please don’t legislate morality — instead make immorality unnecessary.) Senator McCain is running on his strength in foreign affairs, notably his insistence that we stay in Iraq “fifty years, a hundred years.”

This worries me.

Why are we in Iraq? We went there on the basis of faulty information (remember the weapons of mass destruction?) when, in my opinion, we should have been concentrating our forces on those who attacked us on September 11th — Al Queada and Osama bin Laden. We did invade Iraq, however, so we must needs deal with it. It seems to me that we won the war the minute we captured Iraqi leader and thug-in-chief Saddam Hussein. We’ve won. The Iraqi people are free. Let’s now get out of their way and let them get about the business of building their government — and let’s concentrate our forces on terrorism. Will terrorism flourish in Iraq if we shift our forces from Iraq to Afghanistan? Possibly. If so, we can go in again under the aegis of the war on terrorism, but for now Iraq poses no threat to the United States, while the terrorists DO pose such a threat. I posit the Iraq War is over. We won. Let’s move on. (I realize that Big Oil, Haliburton, and civilian contractors such as Blackwater are making a ton of moolah off the war, but we’re going to have to pull them off the corporate welfare teat called “Iraq” they’ve been sucking on the last seven years if we’re going to survive as a world power, lest they suck us dry.)

It seems to me that Senator McCain will force the United States to push all our assets into Iraq, ignoring other, more pressing concerns, such as terrorism abroad and poverty at home. What he’ll do as far as domestic affairs, economic concerns, etc. is a mystery — he really spends all his time talking about continuing the war.

In conclusion:
I’m pulling for Obama. I’m still sore that Richardson didn’t get noticed much in the primaries, but whaddaya gonna do?

They robbed the GIRL SCOUTS?

Thanks to Dad Anderson for pointing this news story out…

A pair of 17-year-old, apparently affluent teen girls stole $166 from a girl scout who was out selling cookies. When confronted on-camera, one girl said, “we went through all that trouble to get it [the money] and now we have to give it back — I’m pissed.” The other girl said, “I’m not sorry we did it. I’m sorry we got caught.”

What kind of society do we live in where rich teens steal from 9-year-old Girl Scouts, and later act as if they were entitled to the money in the first place? The two teens need to be taught one helluva lesson, but I’m sure Daddy will pay their way out of trouble. If I understood the video correctly, the girls did NOT get arrested. That baffles me. They stole $160+ from a Girl Scout and were not punished. Try walking into a bank and grabbing $160 and walking out — see what kind of trouble you get into.

They need to take responsibility for their actions. It’s the only way these teens will learn how to be adults. The Girl Scouts are much more mature than the crooks. If their parents won’t teach them responsibility, shouldn’t we? Isn’t that what juvenile court is for?

Grrr.

You want a hundred and sixty bucks? Go work for three days like the rest of us.