Illuminatea

Despite the fact that I'm now counting the hours until the election is officially over -- election season has been *so long* and so incredibly divisive from all angles -- I'm aware of the fact (and even somewhat excited by the fact) that no matter how it turns out, it'll be one for the history books. The hope, of course, is that it's one for the ...

I wrote up a posting yesterday for my work blog about the recently proposed SAFETY Act, a lovely bit of proposed legislation from some Republican Representatives who basically are handing the Attorney General's office an open license on the Internet. Rather than duplicate it here, I'll just link you. And lest you think this is a sad, ...

I admit it: I don't trust our political system. And from reading around the blogosphere, I'm not the only one. And somehow, Winston Churchill's old mantra doesn't help anymore; I can't make the boogeyman go away by endlessly repeating, ''Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.'' That's like ...

The Club for Growth is asking bloggers to track the pork brought home by all 435 House Representatives. ''Self,'' I said to myself, ''this is a worthy cause.'' I nodded sagely and considered that it has been a while since I've done any real political blogging. So, here's the deal: they want at least one blog in each of the 435 districts of the ...

With a week left until we fly away for the holidays, Steph is beginning the final process of ramping up for travel: finding and cleaning the luggage, making checklists, and all the other steps that she needs to be sure that she feels we're ready to leave the house. Since this is the first time we'll be flying as a family (first time on a plane ...

Love your Enemies End the OccupationRelease the Peacemakers

If you haven't yet heard about the brewing conflict between the IRS and the congregation of All Saints Church in Pasadena, California, go now to this article by Robert Freedland and read. Since Bush has been such a staunch supporter of Christian churches, I expect him to immediately call off the IRS any day now. Oddly enough, I just got back ...

You get pissed off about sex in video games because of the children. You get pissed off about homosexuality because of the children. You get pissed off about all sorts of things because of the children. And yet you support a war, and the leadership which is waging it, in which our troops are encouraged to use incendiary weapons in urban areas ...

I still remember a time in politics, back when I was a lad, when the conservatives were the people who thought that you created the fewest number of laws you could get away with and the liberals were the ones who thought that if something was a good idea it needed to be enshrined in law. Sounds like the opening of a science fiction story, ...

Remember back to the Gonzales nomination? Well, at the time, a bunch of bloggers -- around 500 or so -- put up a banner on their site protesting the Gonzales nomination. I was one of those bloggers. After the dust had cleared, a bunch of the bloggers started talking via email and decided to keep a loose affiliation together -- the Indie ...

Not much time -- less than 48 hours -- to fight the latest incursion of the Broadcast Flag. What's the problem? (quoted from the EFF website) The Broadcast Flag was Hollywood's plan to point its remote control at your digital TV. The courts struck down the original FCC proposal. The lobbyists have turned to Congress. House Commerce Committee ...

John Kerry may have exposed the identity of an undercover CIA agent during open testimony in Congress. Ace of Spades says ''This will be the first and last time you ever hear about this. If it can't be used against Bush, then revealing the name of a covert CIA agent just doesn't matter.'' I'd like to think he's wrong, but I don't have much faith ...

Neither Stephanie nor I are pretty when we cry. If you're drawing a blank on why the above line makes sense in a post titled ''It's My Party,'' you've obviously never seen the movie of the same name starring Eric Roberts and Gregory Harrison. This movie is not everyone's cup of tea -- the story is about Nick (Eric Roberts), has just been ...

If I'd had any doubts about whether the right thing happened in the Terri Schiavo case, they are rapidly disintegrating. Teresa Nielsen Hayden recently posted a fragment from the Guardian Ad Litem's report in which it comes to the light that the parents admit they would not have honored Terri's stated wishes to not be kept alive even had they been ...

It was a good weekend. Between a wedding, church, and a long-overdue visit from one set of the kids' godparents (who decided to take our family out to the theaters to see The Pacifier), got lots of non-computer stuff done for the first time in many, many weekends. I didn't even read my blogs, let alone post to mine. Without further ado, a ...

[Editor: This post was originally posted last night, but for some reason wasn't reliably showing up in the outgoing feeds. Those of you who have already seen it, I apologize to both of you.] Pat Sajak, known to many as the host of TV's The Wheel of Fortune, has a blog. It's a damn fine one, too. He recently wrote a very good piece on why he no ...

Steph has started indulging in a nice habit, now that I'm getting my home office more mucked out; she'll drag her chair into my office, along with some craft project such as knitting, and sit with me while I'm working. We may not talk much depending on how hard I'm concentrating, but she provides a comforting presence. Today I was ...

knowledgeababble adj. 1: having extensive information or understanding coupled with the inability to refrain from impulsive disclosure of one's expertise and opinion, resulting in a flood of words and a drought of wisdom; ''Alan Keyes is a knowledgeababble commentator.'' See also shut up you damn fool. What the hell is Alan Keyes thinking? ...

I have been really busy lately, in a good way. Lots of productive stuff getting done, but it's taking all my time. I mean, you know I'm too busy when I don't have time to rant on my blog and write up my next People Whose Asses I Need to Kick post. Just because it's wrong, I'd like to share this thought and link with you. I'm sure you're familiar ...

I cannot believe the idiocy with which our governments equip themselves these days: http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614

Thanks to PNH of Electrolite fame and Wil Wheaton, I learned about the list of blogs and bloggers taking a public stance against the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States. The original kick-off is here and the overflow list is here. Count me in. This one is a no-brainer.

It seems the American Family Association is upset with FCC Chairman Michael Powell, according to the e-mail I received from them last night. They've set up a lovely website for you to register your displeasure with a few clicks and contribute to what they hope is an overwhelming volume of e-mail in protest. I did in fact make use of their site, ...

(Blog note: I've switched skins. I ditched the other one because a) it used a dark background, which looks dramatic until you have to read text on it and b) it behaved badly under Mozilla/Firefox.) I have a few blogs I read on a daily basis. While many of them are technical and work-related, there are many that aren't. For example: Wil ...