FRENCH ApPEASser's find appeasement does not work

Well I'll be...would you believe that even though the French government did not take a hard line stance against Islamic extremist, that did not protect them from being targeted for terrorist attacks? Golly, I thought they believed that if you give the terrorist what they want, then they won't bother you ever again. Seems they were wrong. Hmmmm...interesting.

Government Impedes Good Samaritan

So, your good friend or family member from Florida calls and says that Hurricane Charley has damaged his house and he can't get any one to come do repair work right now. He asks if you will come give him a hand with the repairs and you agree to do it because friends take care of each other.

No one in his right mind would think that there is anything wrong with this scenario, after all, that is what friends and family are for. This is just the what happened in the case of Anthony Howell, who flew to Florida to assist his buddy repair his home. However, because Mr. Howell is a contractor in New York, he has broken Florida law by assisting his friend. He has become a felon. See, Florida has a law that say "only contractors licensed by the state may engage in roof repair."

This is outrageous. Howell gives up a week of paying work to help an old friend...and he becomes a criminal. This clearly shows government growing out-of-control. I have a general theory that all laws should be self-evident (i.e., any reasonable person should know whether they are breaking a particular law whether or not they have read every law on the books). No reasonable person would see anything wrong with helping a friend out. Secondly, this law denies the owner of the house the freedom to choose who to use and how and when to get his house fixed. I don't see any reason for government to be able to tell the owner of the house who he may or may not pay with his money to fix his house. Government has no discernible interest in the transaction. Finally, I am not a big fan of government licensing individuals or private corporations. Licensing should be handled by a private regulatory agency for each industry is recognized at a national level. There should be no law forcing private individuals to only receive services from licensed individuals. If I want to go to a non-licensed doctor, it is not the government's business. (Of course, if the doctor claims to be licensed and is not, then he has acted fraudently and the government should get involved).

Many of us only vote at the national level. However, I think we must at our state and local levels vote for people who wish to get government out of our lives. The current two-party system at the national level effectively block change at that level. However, a ground swell at local and state level will bleed over to the national level in time.

The Wife doesn't Understand Blogging

My wife doesn't understand why I blog. She is of the opinion that nobody other than my family reads this and no one cares what my opinion is. While I have to concede her point, I still feel inexplainably drawn to express that opinion. Sure, I get about 5 or 6 visits a week from people who find my site when it is in the return of a search they are doing. I have been tempted to start a compile and maintain a list of which search terms bring people to the site...but I am too lazy to get it started.

I blog as a hobby. It is a stress reliever at times. The sad fact is that no one in power really cares about my opinion and I have very little sway in the world. However, when I express myself on my blog, then I am at least proffering my ideas to world. If the world wants to ignore them, the world can just go on being wrong.

She also doesn't like the look of my blog entries. I am reworking my header and my creating a new design, but am planning on keeping my entries the way the are. She likes the header I currently have but not my current entry format. She says they are too plain. Oh well. I don't know when the new design will be done..since I don't have a lot of time to work on it...but hopefully you will like it.

Vietnam Vent

I am sick and tired of all this Vietnam war coverage in the election of our Presidential canidate. For crying out load it was over 30 years ago. I was born in '73 and Vietnam is nothing but pages in a history book to me. Can we get over what these two guys did 30 years ago and focus on what they actually plan to do next year? Is that too much to ask?

OK, we get it, Mr. Kerry, you served for four months on a "swift boat" in Vietnam. Can you tell me, though, how spending four months on a boat thirty five years ago is a better qualificaiton than spending the last three years destroying terrorist training camps, breaking up terror cells in the US and abroad, uncovering a multinational nuclear proliferation ring, forcing belligerent North Korea to the bargaining table, cowing Libya into giving up its WMD programs and terrorist support, and winning two wars against terrorist-supporting Islamofascist dictatorships in the process.

Personally, I think both Kerry's and Bush's Vietnam service are irrelevant in the context of this Presidential election. Sure, I'm grateful that he and more than three million Americans (including my father) served in that war to hold back the evil of communism from South Vietnam. However, this election is to decide who should lead the nation through the troubling and dangerous four years ahead. We are fighting a War on Terror. This is the single most important issue that the candidates must address. The messages of the candidates need to be recent and provide relevant experience in ensuring we win this war. This war will not be won by commanders of war boats on a river. Nor will it be won by National Guard fighter pilots in Alabama. This is not a conventional war and will not be won in conventional ways. Speak to us, candidates about how you will fight this unique war.

John Kerry is hiding behind his Vietnam experience to avoid talking about the nineteen years he spent in the Senate voting against defending America, and the media is aiding and abetting him. The more we allow Vietnam to dominate the election discussions, the less we will be able to find out what a vote for Kerry would mean for our future.

Ultrasound Shows...

no gallstones!!!! Praise God. I don't think I could have had to follow the advice to not pick up my baby girl following surgery.

Dr.'s Orders: Go on 100% gluten free diet. We will recheck bilirubin levels in 3 months. Appointment set.

I am a Celiac

Well, the results came in and I indeed have celiac disease (gluten-intolerant). I am a little bummed. It is kind of depressing thinking about how my diet and my life has to change. I am a pastry king and love to eat all sorts of wheat based products. At the same time, I am conflicted. There is really no reason to be depressed because this is a very controllable disease. Just by staying away from the products that contain gluten (wheat, rye, barely and their derivatives) then I can control how I feel. In the big scheme of things, it could be a lot worse. I do not have cancer and I am not dying, so why be depressed.

The wife tells me it is OK to feel a little down because of the big change that is going to be taking place in my life. Of course, then I think about the big change that will be going on in her life and that bums me out. I don't want to burden her and the family with my diet.

I am still going to get an ultrasound tomorrow. Although I think it will show up negative for gall stones. I think the effects of the celiac disease are causing my problems, not gall stones. I also have a consultation set up with a dietician for the 31st of August. Erin and I will go and learn how to change my diet to become gluten free.

I must say, that, though I am sad about not getting to eat cakes, pies, waffles, french toast, pancakes, pastries, and the assortment of other delicious wheat-based products, I am looking forward to feeling good and healthy.

My Doctor Visit

I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday. It was just a 6-month check up on my thyroid. While I was there I mentioned my brother's allergy to gluten and asked if I could get the blood test. I've been having an episode of IBS this past week and thought it might be related.

The doctor called me yesterday with partial results of the blood work.

1. My thyroid is still off. I am to take 1/2 a pill now and she will check it again in 3 months.
2. The gluten test is not back yet.
3. The panel indicated elevated levels of bilirubin. This is a characteristic of gallstones so she wants me to go get a ultrasound.

Can you believe it? Gallstones in a 30 year-old, underweight, Caucasian male. I don't even come close to fitting the profile. Oh well, we'll see what the ultrasound says. The doctor's nurse will call me on Monday to set up the appointment.

Developing...

Mihaela 6 month Check Up

Mihaela had her six-month check up and immunizations yesterday. She is 27.5 inches long/tall (95-97 percentile), 20 lbs 11 oz (off the chart), with a head circumference of 43.2 cm (75 percentile). This makes her a healthy baby.

The doctor also gave us some instructions:

Sleeping
Mihaela has been waking up around 3:00 AM for a middle-of-the-night feeding. The doctor instructed us to not get up and feed her anymore. We are to let her wake up and then let her put herself back to sleep. She is not really hungry then, just experiencing a normal part of the sleep cycle. So we turned off the monitors and let her wake up last night. I never heard her, though Erin did. She never cried...just cooed and babbled.

Eating
We are to start trying to give her a cup, the ones with handles on the side that are NOT spill proof. She has started to grab and hold her bottle so this should not be a problem. We are also told that we could start her on mashed, unseasoned table food. She suggested buying some of those messy cookies to give to Mihaela to eat while at the dinner table with us. This will start training her to eat when we are eating. In a couple months (after she is 8 months old) we can introduce egg yolks as well as orange juice, tomatoes, corn, and dairy products. We are to stay away from egg whites until she is a year.

Motor Skill Development
The doctor was not worried about Mihaela's lack of rolling over. She said that because of Mihaela's size, it takes more work and may take longer for her to learn that skill. The doctor was very encouraged by how well Mihaela sits up, reaches for things, and plays now. We were instructed to make it a point to have Mihaela spend more time on her stomach so that she can start crawling. Mihaela hates being on her stomach. We will see how this works out.

She goes back to the doctor in November for a 9 month evaluation. The doctor does want us to get her in October for her first flu shot. They will then give her a booster flu shot at her November appointment.

WWJCF?

Religious leaders met to discuss Who Would Jesus Vote For? The "religious leaders" consisted of about 250 moderate to left-leaning clergy and lay leaders. This, of course, means it wasn't a serious discussion, but a chance for like minds to commiserate together.

I have personally questioned how any Christian could vote for today's breed of Democrats. While Jesus was concerned about meeting people's physical needs, he would never have forcefully taken from one person to meet the needs of the poor, hungry, and forgotten. We can show this very clearly by simple logic.

In the beginning God created mankind and breathed life into him. God gives each individual life and then allows each individual to choose how that life is spent on this earth; that is, God made each person responsible for his own destiny. These axioms are the basis for which each person has the right to life and the right to liberty. Because these were given to an individual by God, no other individual may use force to deprive another individual of his life or his liberty. Since this system was conceived by God and since Jesus is God incarnate (i.e., he has the same traits, philosophy and character of God the Father), then Jesus' philosophy of government must as a priority protect individuals' rights to life and liberty.

Since the modern Democrat is more of a socialist than a liberal, we need to understand the nature of socialism to see if that philosophy matches the philosophy of Christ to determine if he would vote Democrat. In two recent editorials, Walter Williams explores the morality of socialism and determines that socialism is evil. He does a much more eloquent job than I could do, so please read that and this follow-up editorial. I would just conclude that the Holy and Blameless Lamb would never vote for (and thus endorse) a candidates who would employ evil.

Does that mean, then, that Jesus would let people starve, live in their cars, and be denied basic medical care. Of course not! Jesus fully believed and practiced taking care of our fellow man. However, those acts of charity were always voluntary. If one looks at how God's law to the Israelites took care of the socially down-trodden, you will not see forced charity (that is actually an oxymoron). Instead, the people were instructed to give a tithe to the priests and to leave the corners of their fields for the poor. However, there was no criminal punishment for not doing this. Also, a farmer could decide for himself how big of corner to leave.

I think that charity is the responsibility of an individual. Now, granted, the ability to pool resources to a central location for charity does allow for a greater number of people to be helped. That is what churches are for. I believe that many churches have abdicated their responsibility to provide charity to their local community to the government. That is not how it should be. God had gifted His sons and daughters with the skills, abilities, and gifts they need to change their community. When we allow government to meet the needs that we were purposed for, we are doing a great injustice to those in need and to ourselves. Government must give without discrimination. Churches, though, can place requirements on charity that allow them to address the spiritual issues that cause a person to be in need. Voluntary communism (which is the example of the churches in Acts where each gave everything he had and all shared alike) is noble and God-like. Forcing people to share breaks an individuals right to life and self-determination, and therefore, falls outside of God's plan for mankind.

Fine, so Jesus would probably not vote for John Kerry on social and economical issue. What about the War on Terror? Many Christians wrongly assume that Jesus was Jesus a pacifist and would not vote for a guy who believes that war is sometimes necessary. The Ecclesiastes writer says "there is a time for peace and time for a war," God commanded the Israelites to go to war to claim the territory that He decreed to them, and the crucifixion was the Atom Bomb of the Spiritual War. We can conclude that war is not incompatible with the nature of God, and thus, not incompatable with the nature of Jesus. Jesus didn't mind resorting to violence to free the oppressed and remind the leadership to not use their positions for personal gain. It is my belief that the War on Terror is a spiritual battle that is bleeding over into the physical realm; so Jesus would vote for the candidate best able to lead that charge.

Golly, this is quite the diatribe. I could go on and on about how I think Christ would vote on certain issues and why. I think this post has the greatest chance of sparking controversy. There will be some disagreement with this post and so, I encourage you to use my comments feature to let me know where you disagree and why. I have had comments enabled since June 22 (just shy of two months) without a single real comment. I guess my stunning intellect leaves you all trembling in your shoes.

Great Quote

Orson Scott Card, the science fiction fantasy author, offers these insightful thoughts:

Orson's Observation: For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert.

Card's Corollary: There is no subject on which anybody knows everything.

New Tool in My Tech Toolbox

We had a problem on Friday. It was first noticed on Thursday. I check the Administrator account's e-mail and on Thursday I was denied access due to log-in problems. I thought nothing of it, figuring the Network Admin had changed the password (we change the Admin password monthly) and hadn't notified me yet.

On Friday morning when I still couldn't access e-mail for the Administrators account, I asked Jeff if he had changed the password. He said he hadn't and tried to login as the Administrator to one of our servers and couldn't. It appeared as if the Administrator password had been changed, but none of us had changed it. My first thought is "Uh-Oh, we've been hacked."

We have three servers. One is a file server and anti-virus server. One is the Web-server and the third one is Exchange server and domian controller. The file server and the web server both had been logged off, while the Exchange server still had the Adminsitrator logged in to it. We attempted to login to the file server with no avail. We tried to use our accounts (we are both in the Domain Admins group) and had been denied Log-on Local rights.

So, we attempted to reset the Administrator's password on the file server using the Linux Boot disk trick. This is a trick we have used in times past when we inheritied some Windows 2000 workstations that no one knew Administrator passwords for. We have also used the trick a time or two to assist people with their home XP machines who had forgotten thier admin password. We reset the local Admin password but still were denied log on access because the account didn't have Log-on local rights.

Well, we had never logged off the Exchange server. We had tried to get to Active Directory to reset the password, but the server denied us access to AD. We couldn't change any of the policies to allow log-on local rights. We were in a condundrum. We called some really, really smart people and they said it sounded like a hack to them and pointed us to this great free tool. Its called xScan and is from a company called xFocus and you point the utility to an IP address and scans it for vulnerabilities. It found quite a number of ports open that we didn't realize weren't shut down. It pointed out some user accounts using unsafe password. It was a very thourough diagnostic of areas needing attention. This is a tool I have added to my CD of network utilities. I will use it anytime I am doing a consulting job to perform a security audit.

Anyway, while we found vulnerabilities, we did not find any evidence of being hacked. No backdoors were open. No viruses were found. No spyware was lurking in memory. In other words, we could find nothing wrong... So, we coughed up the $245 and called Microsoft support.

The long and short of it is that a secure channel used by Windows to verify account logins had become corrupted. We had to use some command-line tools, NLTEST and NETDOM to reset the channel and reset the password. This worked and we were back on, logged-in, and had all the appropriate rights. The Microsoft dude couldn't provide an explaination of what happened to cause the problem, but he was able to fix it.

Anyway, Jeff and I spent an extra 2 and 1/2 hours at work on Friday getting the mess straightened out and will now have to spend some time patching holes and repairing vulnerabilities. It does appear like we weren't hacked, but we see some oppertunities to better our defenses anyway.

Respect Liberals

I had lunch today with three liberal co-workers, Bob(my boss), Gay (his wife and Director of Health Programs), and Jeff (Network Admin). It was a great lunch at the Thai place and Bob picked up the check. Anyway, we had the mandatory discussion about work and then the conversation turned political.

Bob and Jeff know that I tend to be a conservative-leaning libertarian (if you can even put a label on me). I know that Bob and Gay are very left wing (bordering on socialist, although, I think they would not see themselves that way) and Jeff tends to a left-leaning libertarian (although, he has never labeled himself). Anyway, even though I was out-numbered, the conversation was respectful, though not beneficial (I didn't change their minds and they didn't change mine). The conversation reinforced three principles that I try to hold when talking politics with liberals.

1. They care. They really do! They have a fierce fire in their belly’s. They cannot be swayed by analytical argument. They have come to realize they are enlightened. They know it is their personal duty, personal calling to help those who have not yet reached a state of liberal enlightenment. They really believe what they are saying, wholeheartedly. They HONESTLY do not understand why anybody with heart would be against them. They simply cannot comprehend someone not seeing things their way. Liberals are fanatically in love with their espoused values and ideals. You have to respect their passion.



2. They are the many. Thus, they are the powerful. They carry pride, commitment and a super secular form of righteousness as their shield! They grow and prosper completely immune to any consequences of their actions. Are they not gods? You have to respect their commitment.



3. They are bright. They are intelligent. They are the modern age intellectual heroes who easily sway the youth of today to their points of view. Every motivating story identifies a "bad guy" opposed to them (as the good guys). Every argument reaches an emotional crescendo, tears and screams for all! All of this forces one to make a simple looking decision based on "we a band held together by the love of something", this makes us good, peace loving and earth saving individuals. You must respect their rhetoric.

You must respect that power. Once you respect something, you understand it for what it is, you speak its language and it becomes something new - beatable.

BugMeNot

I've mentioned the website BugMeNot.Com, that will provide you with phony user names and passwords to get into news sites that require registration. Now they have added a registration process of their own; but only for those who are from a domain that requires mandatory registrations. Thier questions are hilarious. It's priceless. Take a look.

WorldNetDaily: Bush: 'We ought to explore' dumping IRS for sales tax

WorldNetDaily: Bush: 'We ought to explore' dumping IRS for sales tax

In a campaign forum yesterday in Niceville, Fla., President Bush spoke positively about ending the income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax.

"It's an interesting idea," Bush told an "Ask President Bush" forum, Reuters reported. "You know, I'm not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it's the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously."

Well this is at least on his radar. I would (of course) like to see more enthusiasm than just "it's an interstice idea..." That is pretty non-committal. But, small victories are still victories.

I would really encourage all Americans who are tired of the immoral income tax to join and support the Americans for Fair Taxation grassroots movement.

WorldNetDaily: Kids expelled for 'rejecting' each other?

WorldNetDaily reports that a California school district is considering a policy, under which, no group of people would be allowed to engage in any behavior that makes others "feel left out."

This is so idiotic. How do you measure "feeling left out?" I'm a timid person and there are lots of times I "feel" left out, even when around people I know are not trying to make me feel left out. It is my nature.

Secondly, what about the right to associate (or disassociate) from people. I, as an individual, have the right to hang out with whomever I want. I also have the right to not hang out with whomever I want. That does not infringe upon the rights of that other person. Actually, forcing me to hang out with someone infringes on my right.

Finally, when are we going to stop caring about how people feel. Life is tough. Get over it. You don't have any right to always be comfortable, liked or feel good. As a matter of fact, to truly develop character you have to experience some tough times. So, instead of crying to the administrator that "so-and-so makes me uncomfortable," get over yourself (you are not THAT special), buck up, and move on.

Which M.A.S.H. Character are you?

Work Haiku

waiting until deadline
colleagues do not understand
I need time to help

WorldNetDaily: Illinois dream matchup: Keyes v. Obama

WorldNetDaily: Illinois dream matchup: Keyes v. Obama: "Illinois Republicans chose Alan Keyes as their candidate today to run against heavily favored Barack Obama, the up-and-coming Democratic Party star. "

I wish I lived in Illinois now. This would be a fun race to be part of. Keyes is by far the most articulate, libertarian-leaning conservative I have ever heard. His charisma will be a match for Obama. The debates should rock!!!

Good luck Keyes...you will need it.

Possible Terror Attack in Early September

Newsday is reporting that an Al-Qaida source says terrorists are planning an attack in early September, approximately 60 days before the election. There is a lot of talk about how a terrorist attack would affect the November Presidential Election.

Some people tend to think that, just like Spain, an attack will prompt people to vote in the appeaser. Others make arguments that an attack will strengthen the resolve of the American people and the will keep the person who has proven to be tough on terror.

Personally, I think it will depend on the size of the attack. I think a small attack or several small attacks where less than 20 people die in each attack will make people lean toward Kerry. These small attacks will be able to be spinned by the media and the appeasers as retaliation for our involvement in Iraq and promise that these attacks will cease when we remove ourselves from that country.

A medium size attack (20-500 people dying) will have no effect on the nation whatsoever. While the media will still try to place the "retaliation spin" on the attack, people will see this as an attempt by the terrorist to affect the election and will vote for whoever they have already chosen so that they can say their decision was not affected.

A large attack (over 500 people dying), though, will be seen as an attack on American values and Western ideas. This will incense the population and prompt rhetoric that promotes revenge and justice. Many people will come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter why they attack us, it only matters that we stop them and we stop them before they get to America. A large scale attack will provide slam dunk speeches for President Bush.

Now, some people might argue that a large scale attack will be seen as a failure of the Bush administration to protect America against terrorism and that a change of administration will fix the intelligent problems. The main problem with this thought is that it presupposes that all terrorist attacks can be prevented. However, the American people are well aware that due its secretive nature and appeal to zealots, terrorism plots are difficult to root out. Many Americans actually expect more attacks. Add onto this the fact that the administration has warned that attacks are expected this summer and have recently acted on reliable information to protect financial institutions from an attack, show an administration actively pursuing the security of America. These facts will prevent the majority of Americans from blaming the current administration.

Meanwhile, I personally pray for a safe election cycle. May the Most High God protect us from His enemy and the minions of Evil.

P.S. - Great Quote from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

"The only thing you ever know about security measures is when you didn't take enough. You never know when you took too many of them. We do what we think is appropriate."

I Should've Known it was Too Good to be True

WorldNetDaily: Bush won't bite IRS in campaign: "House Speaker Dennis Hastert says he's committed to abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, but he does not expect President Bush to make it a campaign issue. "

Well...at least with the Speaker of the House committed to an issue it will be raised to the national level of dialogue.

Drudge Reports: Republicans plan push for Elimination of IRS

Drudge is reporting that Bush and the GOP are planning to make the elimination of the IRS (and the income tax) a central plank in thier domestic platform for this election cycle. According to the rumor, Dennis Hastert, the Republican Speaker of the House, is going to push for replacing the income tax with either a national sales tax or a value-added tax. Here's hoping he goes with the National Sales Tax.

You can read all about the National Sales Tax by visiting the Americans for Fair Taxation website. I've been a propponent of this movement for about 4 years. Our current system is broken and has been "tinkered" with for too long without any real headway being made to clean-up all the loopholes. It is time for a complete revamp of our system...that means getting rid of what we currently have and just replacing it with a new system.

If this report is true, the Republicans may actually steal alot of votes away from the Libertarians. I would encourage Libertarians, Constitutionalists, and other conservative minority parties to really consider supporting the Republicans if this is thier goal.

Communion Thought

I had the communion thougt for today. Here is some text that I wrote that I spoke out of. I (of course) didn't read this word for word and added some stuff and left some stuff out when I was actually speaking. But you can at least get the gist of the message.

Court Date Notification

We recieved notification of our court date for Mihaela. We will appear before the judge on November 10 to finalize all of the adoption paperwork and make Mihaela legally our daughter.