BIG BEN
FLY SAAB
BELGIUM
CADENCE
GREEN JERSEY
FEED ZONE
BORN FROM JETS
BREAKAWAY
AIR CRAFTED
GRADIENT
SPRINT
MARSEILLE
POWER
ECHELON
PYRENEES
PERFORMANCE
CHAIN RING
CERVELO
YELLOW JERSEY
TIME TRIAL
PARIS

Amidst all of the controversy in the sport of cycling… it’s still pretty darn cool to see the races and the skill and strength and stamina involved. Keep watching… see who wins.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Hopefully the Congress will pull there heads our of their asses and try to support our troops and our country too… Speaking of that, write to your Congressmen and Representatives and let them know that we, the American people, want our troops to confront the evil that exits in the world where it is right now…. not here in the streets of America… It’s been here before, and it’s coming again if we’re not going to take care of it while we have the chance.

Powered by ScribeFire.

This kind of injustice is what breeds contempt towards authority and puts unwarranted fear into our children… isn’t there enough to be afraid of in the world? Should our children have to fear the people they are supposed to be able to trust?

Do what you can, and never, never, never give in.

powered by performancing firefox

I had never met one of our elected officials in such an intimate setting before, and I thought it was a good way to get a feel for his views and personality. There were about 40 people there or so, which is a pretty sad statement considering the state of affairs that our country is in. There are plenty of people to bitch and moan, but very few to actually offer suggestions and constructive input, and even if you didn’t have anything to say, you could learn an awful lot by listening.

Senator Grassley seemed like a good guy, an older farmer from Iowa that had his head on his shoulders straight (he made sense), knows how to play the political game, and needs a new suit. There were many subjects that the crowd wanted to discuss, from why doesn’t Medicare – Medicaide pay for a specific vaccine to immigration reform, and the Senator took it all in stride. Sometimes admitting to not really wanting to discuss issues but at least listening to what the people in the crowd had to say, acknowledging their concerns, and graciously moving on.

There were a few people that voiced concerns that were just not based in reality, and some with some over simplified views. One that particularly sticks in my mind was a clergy member from the local community that was upset about the way the United States treats it’s immigrant workers (read: illegal aliens). As well intentioned as this person was, his view of the situation was based from his heart and the touchy / feely emotional side of the story without even realizing the global impact of his wishes for reform. A few of his statements were correct; nearly everyone in the United States is the descendant of an immigrant (I met my now deceased Great Grandparents that came from Germany and Prussia through Ellis Island), no one wants to pull families apart, no one wants to cause the starvation of families in Mexico or here in the United States. That being said, no one wants to be blown up by a nuclear, chemical or biological bomb that has been snuck across the southern border (or a regular bomb for that matter). No one wants to have their identity stolen and used as a way for an illegal alien to gain the benefits of citizenship and employment while desecrating our good credit and name. No one wants to (I shouldn’t say ‘no one’, obviously there are a some) live in a Marxist society where the haves support the have nots and we’re all on a level ground with the redistribution of wealth and capital from those that earn and work for it to those who just expect it and do nothing towards it… that’s not capitalism, that’s not democracy, and that’s not the United States… at least yet. To be honest with you (who ever you are), I’ve all but given up with this kind of do-gooder, heart-felt, savior of the world type of opinionated person… but I haven’t given up on the good sense of the American spirit and the honest people that make up the silent majority of our nation. The time is here, to not be silent anymore. Educate yourself with facts, not propaganda and individual heart felt stories. Write your representatives (both at the State level and the Federal) and explain to them your concerns and desires to keep this the greatest nation in the world. A question to you… do you lock your car doors when you go somewhere? Do you lock your house? Why? Because you want to regulate who gets into your car and your house… doesn’t it make sense to lock the borders of the country so that we could know who (and how many) we let in? Of course it does.

Mostly what I’m advocating you to do, is to educate yourself from all angles and form an opinion for yourself.  Pay attention to multiple news sources, not just one (…especially not one of the big 3 or 4 (ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR)).  Start paying attention to Fox news and to multiple web sites (Drudge report and some of the links that I have here, are a good start).
Much more on this subject later…

Fight the good fight.

Other then that I’ve got the Windblows XP-Pro box re-installed and humming along fine. It was running before, but I was bored… and it was time… the hard drive was getting bloated and I needed to get rid of some junk.

On a completely different note; I’m really sick and tired of the hypocrisy and the bureaucratic bullshit that our government is consistently wallowing in.

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” Sir Winston S. Churchill
Now I know that we live in the best and freest nation in the world, and I don’t want to live somewhere else, or I would… but, some of these people in Washington are not at all in touch with the realities of the world that we live in now.

Let me get this out of the way first: Whatever your feelings about the battles that are being fought right now, support our troops. AnySoldier.com is one of the few places that I have found and supported that I believe in.

That being said, if we don’t follow through with our commitment to stamp out the hatred and the oppression towards freedom and democracy in the world, we will discover that 09-11-01 was but a very small sample of what is to come to the shores of America. I am not an expert, but I have read enough to know that what Al-Qaeda and radical Islam have been saying will come to be if we don’t stand up and do something about it.

One giant difference between Al-Qaeda elders and our leaders in Washington is that they (Al-Qaeda) mean what they say and they have the patience to wait and follow through at the right moment in time. For over 3000 years Muslims have waged war against the infidel, and will continue to do so. People are afraid to say that what is brewing is a holy war, when in fact that is exactly what it is. Now that I say this, and I’m sure that people will hear, ‘Muslims’ are evil… when in fact that is not what I am saying or mean, but when it comes down to it… kill them before they kill us… and do it on our terms, not on theirs.

More ranting on this at a later point in time… not too far in the future, be assured.

For those of you who don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, pay a lot of attention to the man behind the curtain.  The operating system is what makes a computer turn on and look pretty, or just beep at you and blink.  XP-Pro is a necessity for some of the software that I use (GPS mapping software, Dreamweaver 8, and a few others), but is inherently open and non-secure (not that I have a lot to worry about, but any compromise pisses me off).  I’ve only gotten the BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) with XP-Pro a couple of times, but that just does not need to happen.

I’ve been running GNU/Linux (Mandrake (when it was still Mandrake) & Fedora Core 3) for a few years now, and have seen it progress from a very difficult install process, to a very smooth (and easier then XP-Pro) graphical install process.  From a OS that was very difficult to run multimedia files on, to one that is relatively easy (there are still a few hurdles to jump through, but that’s due to licensing issues).  From an aesthetics point of view, Fedora Core 5 (my current install) is very nice.  I’m running FC5 on an older computer that I got for free (a 750 mhz, 768 mb ram, 30 gb hard drive), and it runs fine…  could run faster, but what do you want for free?  I use it as my primary home computer (email, browsing, image manipulation).  I also run it as a dual boot option on my laptop.  The laptop is considerably faster then the desktop (3.4 ghz, 1024 mb ram, 80 gb hard drive), so I also use linux to run some music programs that interface with our (Kerry’s) new keyboard, as well as a drum machine and sequencers…  pretty cool and fun.  Stuff you can do with XP-Pro, but it would cost a fortune for the software, with Linux, it’s free (and legal for those wondering).

I’m looking forward to giving Ubuntu a try, and I’ll keep you posted (get it, posted?) as to how it goes.

I’m doing a lot of ‘learning’ right now with WordPress, and Ubuntu and a few other projects, so keep checking back, see if things start to look better / different…  one way or another, I’ll learn a thing or two.

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.  Sir Winston S. Churchill

Memoirs of the Second World War, Winston S. Churchill, Houghton Miffln Company, Boston, 1987. An abridgement of the six volumes of The Second World War with an epilogue by the author on the postwar years written for this volume.

First In Afghanistan An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror, Gary C. Schroen, Ballantine Books, New York, 2005. This is the true story of some of the very few men that help to keep this country safe.

Through Our Enemies’ Eyes Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America, Revised Edition, Michael Scheuer, Potomac Books Inc., Washington, D.C., First edition 2002, Copyright 2006. Backed by very well documented facts and third party articles, this book puts into perspective the onslaught that the United States is headed for, 9-11-01 was just the beginning.

Beyond Fear ThinkingSensibly About Security in an Uncertain World, Bruce Schneier, Copernicus Books, New York, 2003. This guy makes a lot of sense after you take the time to listen to him. He also has a monthly news letter called the Crypto-Gram and a blog, that keeps you up to date on all sorts of security issues.

The Art of Intrusion – The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers Intruders & Deceivers, Kevin D. Mitnick & William L. Simon, Wiley Publishing Inc., Indianapolis, IN, 2005. This is a signed copy for those that are interested. This book tells of real life examples of breaches in computer security that make you think twice about trusting anyone or anything other then that barter system.

Rant Zone, Dennis Miller, HarperCollins, New York, 2001. This book is mostly a compilation of his famous Rant feature from his HBO series of shows, some of which may be outdated, but the smart attitude and the expanded vocabulary still shine through.

America A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, Jon Stewart, Karlin, Javerbaum, Warner Books, New York, 2004. A good bookto get a handle on how our Republic is supposed to work.

The Complete Joy of Home Brewing 3rd Edition, Charlie Papazian, HarperCollins, 1991. This is a great book to start the learning process towards making your own great beer. ummmmmmmmm beer.

Mountaineering The Freedom of the Hills 6th Edition, Editors: Don Graydon & Kurt Hanson, The Mountaineers, Seattle, WA, 1997. Pretty much all you need to know about getting around in the out of doors… from knots to orienteering.

Beginning Gimp From Novice to Professional, Akkana Peck, Apress, New York, 2006. Aside from online documentation, this is the best documentation that I could find. The GIMP easily compares to Adobe Photoshop on many levels… except cost. GIMP is free.

Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, Daniel Short & Garo Green, Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA, 2006. A step by step walk through of how to get started using Dreamweaver.

Sams Teach Yourself HTML & CSS in 24 Hours, Dick Oliver & Michael Morrison, Sams, 2006. Haven’t gotten too far in this one yet… but keep it as a referance.

more to come.