a new beginning

It's only been a couple of years now since I was "downsized" better known as fired. I miss working but don't miss working at the company I was at. I'm in much better shape financially than others in my situation; I don't have any debt and my wife's still working for a few more years so we have insurance.
My biggest problem is finding something to do with my time. I've volunteered a little but that was less than 10 hours a week.
It works out well with my wife and that I'm off when she's off during the week. It makes it easier to take off and see grand kids too.

5 Things...

I was asked to post 5 things you don't know about me. So, in no particular order...

1. Not once, but twice I've been at the site of an armed robbery and had a gun held to my head. One of the times they used duct tape and taped my hands behind my back and my feet together and threw a mattress on top of me. Nobody got shot either time.

2. I and a couple of others hitchhiked from Iowa to California. We headed south and picked up Route 66 (before the interstate was around) and took it to Southern California. Then up Route 1 (and/or 101) up to Berkley. After a few weeks a couple of us headed back on I-40 (I think I-40, it's been a long time and I don't have a map handy & I'm too lazy to mapquest it right now). We got put in jail in Colorado for hitchhiking. We spent one night there and decided it was pretty boring so we decided to pay the fine and take a bus out of town. So, CSI, my prints are on file...

3. As I've seen in other's posts, I too play some guitar. I haven't had lessons, but I had a room mate at some point that showed me a 3 chord blues progression and how to play a 9th. I can even fake a little lead on my Fender Mustang. I got it for $100, but from what I've been able to find online it could be worth up to $5000. It's pre-Japan made anyway. Go figure. I'm missing the tremolo arm though, so let me know if you have one.

4. I sold out and went digital with my photography. It was either that or build a new dark room and get a new enlarger. Instead I bought a Sony f828 with a Zeiss 28 to 200 zoom and photoshop. You can see some stuff I've shot here and here .

5. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus was/is a radical anti-establishment Man/God. He's not "for" any nation but the Kingdom of God...but maybe you knew that one...

e-books?

There has been a lot of talk about e-books replacing conventional printed and bound books; what percentage of replacement depends on who you listen to. I recently talked to one of my daughters who teaches college Literature and English about this. Her thoughts weren't so much whether e-books would have much impact on printed books, but more important, would the kids she's teaching even bother to read at all. She's still in her late 20's, but sees the incoming freshman college students with little interest in media they can't sit and watch. They'd rather go see Pride and Prejudice (if they had to) than read the book. They view reading as just too much work taking too much time.
And writing? I have to admit I was a little surprised when she told me she had writing assignments handed in where students used "2" for the word to, or "4" for the word for. I can text message from my cell, but it's scary to think these could be our future leaders. They could even end up president without being literate...
Anyway, let's hope parents take some responsibility with their children and start from birth (or before) reading to their kids. There's just too much magic and wonder out there that they won't find on their Envy or the next mulitpurpose gadget.

Freedom to show your real self...

We may not have the right to privacy anymore with the current administration, but so far we have freedom of speech; much to the chagrin of the current Bush regime.
Of course that can work against them if anyone with the power of rational thought would stop and think about what they hear from the far right.

Consider the response of a drug addict right wing radio personality after the airing of an ad featuring Michael J. Fox.

In case you don't know, Michael suffers from Parkinson's Disease. One of the visible symptoms is a lack of motor control of muscles. In an ad where he speaks about stem cell research (another topic for another time), he is filmed from the waist up. His upper torso sways and his hands and arms move of their own accord; not under his conscious control. I've seen other interviews with him, and the severity of the uncontrollable movements vary. That's part of the disease; sometimes those suffering from it can look unaffected by it, sometimes the uncontrollable movements are extreme.

What was Mr. Drug Addicts response to the ad? Nothing reasoned, nothing about the issue that Michael brought up; instead there is video of him flopping his arms around and swaying in his chair and accusing Michael of "acting" the symptoms of the severity of his illness.

I admit to feeling some anger at the Drug Addicts unfeeling, ignorant blathering; but it's hard not to pity him and those that unthinkingly hang on his every word. Such a hollow hate filled shell of a person (can't bring myself to call him a man).

I'll bet he was a school yard bully too...

Amend this...

An election year...so the Prez drags out his theme that he hopes stirs up the conservative voters so he won't lose the support of the House and Senate. He wants a Constitutional amendment.
Surprisingly this is something I half way agree with him on.
Never mind that he's blatantly violated Amendment IV of the constitution with his illegal wiretapping:
"Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

He wants to maintain the sanctity of marriage. I totally agree. His intent is to stir up religious conservatives to vote for "conservative" Republicans by supposedly referencing Christian values. Jesus did speak to the issue of marriage and its sanctity. In Matthew 5:31 ff He states that "anyone who divorces his wife, except for unfaithfulness, causes her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries a woman so divorced commits adultery". And again in chapter 19 of Matthew He states, "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery". And to further emphasize His teaching He says in Luke 16:18 "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery".

So if Bush is serious about protecting the institution of marriage, let him argue for a Constitutional amendment to criminalize divorce. Fifty percent of marriages now end in divorce, both in the secular world and the Christian church.

So if Bush really is a Christian who wants to protect the institution of marriage, let him propose an amendment to the Constitution that makes divorce a crime. Let's see what support he has from the right on that.