Dan Lipka Web Log

This Blog has been moved

2009-06-03T09:57:00.003-04:00

I am moving my blog to WordPress because I am sick of all the blogger jibber-jabber. Well, overall, Blogger worked pretty good, but not great and per the suggestion of my brother I shall try something new.

Go Here Now
http://dan.kokopop.com/

Blog Templates

2009-05-27T17:01:00.002-04:00

Why do all the easy, free blog templates have these wide margins on each side. It just makes things hard to read. Making matters worse, the HTML is pretty complicated for a simple design (probably because blogs are now required to DO much more than just provide a space to write something). Anyway, I'm sure I'll change this one when I have time to find something I like better. Last time I changed, I forgot to add my google analytics to the code, so I don't even know if my readership has swelled into the thousands (or at least more than 2).

In other news, I'm sick. I'm pretty sure it's the flu, although not of the swine variety. My whole body aches and my head in congested, but no fever or coughing. Everyone seems to be sick.

The Onion

2009-05-22T14:29:00.004-04:00

Watch the videos on the Onion's.

Hilarious.

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/pre_game_coin_toss_makes

Guantánamo Bay and Gun Control

2009-05-21T13:08:00.002-04:00

Just a quick thought on the two recent Congressional debates. The first is that they are stalling the closure of Guantanamo Bay because they don't know what to do with the current prisoners. Apparently no one wants them in their town. I'm pretty sure they are going to into a prison and not some work release program. Why would anyone care if there were terrorists in their local supermax prison. They aren't any more dangerous than the other serial killers or domestic terrorists housed there. Or why not just build a new prison just for them, which would be fine since they have a different set of rights (although I think that is not the best use of tax payers money). I live with 20 miles of two major prisons (Riker's Island and Sing Sing) and I couldn't care less. People don't escape. This whole thing looks bad for Obama who couldn't get a single Congressman to take these people (in exchange for good will and some extra funding).

The other thing is the latest Credit Card legislation. This bill is designed to protect consumers from being abused by Credit Card companies. However, the Republicans included a law allowing concealed guns into national parks. What? How is this legal? Now, I don't have is the gun law is good or bad, but I know it has nothing to do with credit cards. If Obama had some marbles he would veto the bill and insist that Congress sends him two different bills, one for each subject.

The Plauge of the 20th Century

2009-05-21T13:05:00.003-04:00

Samaritrophia: A hysterical indifference to the troubles of those less fortunate than oneself

Samaritrophia is the suppression of an overactive conscience by the rest of the mind. "You must all take instructions from me!" the conscience shrieks, in effect, to all the other mental processes. The other processes try it for a while, note that the conscience is unappeased, that it continues to shriek, and they note, too, that the outside world has not been even microscopically improved by the unselfish acts the conscience has demanded.

They rebel at last. They pitch the tyrannous conscience down an oubliette, weld shut the manhole cover of that dark dungeon. They can hear the conscience no more. In the sweet silence, the mental processes look about for a new leader, and the leader most prompt to appear whenever the conscience is stilled, Enlightened Self-interest, does appear. Enlightened Self-interest gives them a flag, which they adore on sight. It is essentially the black and white Jolly Roger, with these words written beneath the skull and crossbones, 'The hell with you, Jack, I've got mine!"

- Kurt Vonnegut, God bless you, Mr. Rosewater

Poor Euclid

2009-05-07T15:12:00.002-04:00

I am currently reading “Is God a Mathematician” by Mario Livio, a book that my brother sent me over the holidays. First, I need to say that 98% of the book has absolutely nothing to do with god or religion in any way. There is about 5% that has to do with philosophy, but it is basically a straight forward history of mathematics. I would bet that the name of the book and subsequent references to God where added after the book was already written. It was a marketing ploy through and through.

I just finished the section on non-Euclidian geometry and it was just silly. Let me explain, for thousands of years, geometry was the basis for much of math and logic. Euclidian geometry is the math we all learn in school. By stating several undeniable “truths” or axioms, people are able to extrapolate more complex concept and truths. These truths were used as the basis for all other mathematical adventures. They include things like: if you have a triangle the sum of all the angles inside the triangle is 180. You can make any triangle you want and it will always match that truth. Another one is: the shortest distance between two points in a straight line. Seems simple, right? Than along came some smart-ass mathematician who said, “well, what if reality only existed on the surface of sphere.” Under this premise, Euclidian geometry falls apart. Triangles will have more than 180 degrees and the quickest way between two points in a curve. People have dedicated their careers to what the math would look like on such a circular reality. In fact, people just kept creating new ways that reality could be shaped and researched the math in their new world. This includes realities shaped like saddles, cones, lines, ellipses, and countless other shapes or functions.

Now there is some utility in concepts like this. A plane travelling from New York to Paris cannot travel in a straight line because that would mean it would have to go through the crust of the earth. The plane has to calculate the best possible curve to reach its destination. However, the curve is still not the shortest way, it is just the shortest way that we can realistically travel. The true shortest path is through the earth’s crust. Non-Euclidian geometry may be useful, but how can anyone consider it a way of describing a reality beyond the arbitrary rules it creates for itself.

Non-Euclidian also allows Mathematicians to do things like calculate the rules of geometry with more than three dimensions. So a cube would have length, width, height, and something else. What would be the math if this meta-physical fourth physical dimension (not time) existed. So they create this alternate reality and an alternate math and claim that the truths that exist in that world are true mathematical truths (which conflict with Euclidian geometry).

(Side note: It is this ridiculous logic that allowed physicists to add extra dimensions into their calculations in order to have their theories fit their observations. This is at the core of M-theory, which I do not even consider a scientific theory since it is based on evidence that can never be proven or disproven.)

Anyway, I am thinking about creating Lipka-Geometry. I will calculate a new math based on the concept of a reality that only exists on the surface of my face. What will a triangle look like? What is the shortest distance between my left ear and my right eyebrow? Uggg, poor Euclid.

Arlen Specter (R or D)

2009-04-29T17:33:00.003-04:00

What, what, what? Arlen Specter , the 30 year US Senator from Pennsylvania was a middle-republican his entire life, but this morning he dropped the GOP and wants to be a Democrat. I despise political parties and believe they have a tremendous negative effect on progress and democracy. I believe that once elected everyone should be forced to be an independent and not have any political affiliation. And I don’t care if he changes his party, but what is important is whether he changes his politics. It would have been more appropriate if he just become an independent. However, Specter has no interest in fairness, democracy, his constituency, or anything else except for his own ability to get re-elected. He stated, with all honesty, that the only reason he is doing this is because he feared losing the next republican primary. I don’t know why he didn’t learn from Lieberman than he could have run as a Republican and if he lost than run again as an independent.

I believe Specter would vote for anything to preserve his seat in the Senate and that is the very worst that a democracy can become. The democrats could say “Senator Specter was elected to represent the interests of Pennsylvania and of the United States. We hope that he does that regardless of any political party. However, let us be clear that the Democratic Party stands for the people it represents and all elected Democrat officials are public servants and will always put the best interest of the people above themselves. Senator Specter does not seem to value these beliefs and although we welcome his support, there are no seats for people who only care about re-election in our party.” Of course, I give the Democrats too much credit; most of them would do the same thing to save themselves.

How could a US Senator say that this was only about re-elected? It would be so easy to just say “The Republicans are too far to the right and like the new Democrats. They rock and I want to be part of this great, new winning team. “

The more important thing is that this gives the Democrats a potential filibuster proof majority in the Senate. They only need one more seat, which should (eventually) go to Al Franken, the actor/democrat from Minnesota. That race is being contested and will be going to court in June. Now the Republicans may live and die by that race and they have all the incentives in the world to delay the outcome for as long as possible. And unlike Al Gore (who gave up the Presidency because he thought it was best for the country), the Republicans won’t go down so easy. And just thinking about Al Gore conceding make me throw up in my mouth.

This could change the entire landscape of Congress. The democrats could pass healthcare reform and anything else they wanted. This could be two years are tremendously risky and potentially helpful legislation. And the New York Times online put the story on the cover all morning and now the entire story somehow disappeared. The Jets trading up for Mark Sanchez was a bigger story, but alas, that is another story for another time.

Born to be a Politician

2009-04-06T17:08:00.006-04:00

"What we require is that those who take office should not be lovers of rule. Otherwise there will be a contest with rival lovers. What others, then, will you compel to undertake the guardianship of the city than those who have the most intelligence of the principals that are the means of good government and who possess distinctions of another kind of and a life that is preferable to political life?" - Plato

Plato explained that our political leaders must first be trained and educated before they ever have the opportunity to be corrupted. That is that our young students should be taught the beauty and usefulness of math, science, history, philosophy, and the arts. The brightest should be chosen to further study economics, governments, law, and diplomacy. The best of those should be chosen to participate in the public sector (even at a young age) to get real exposure to the realities of effective and ineffective governance. The most talented and capable of these young adults will continue their studies and eventually become the politicians of the next generation. Politicians will have a context to understand their role and the experience to do it well. They will be chosen for their abilities and not their actual desire or love of politics.

This goes directly against the current method in which politicians rise to power. Today, those people who are the most power hungry, who desire to rule, who will do anything to get to the top; well those are the ones who end up running our government. And should we expect anything different from a system that encourages the very worst people to be most capable of achieving the most powerful positions in government.

Our “leaders” are not the best and the brightest, they are not our shining light. Some are very dedicated and capable, but almost all of them love to “rule” and do not love to be effective public servant. Here is a portion of the powerful politicians (US Senators, US Congressmen, Governors, and Mayors of large cities) who have been indicted in the past 15 years. Sadly, I couldn’t find a complete and if anything has one, please let me know.

Rick Renzi
William Jefferson
Mark D. Siljanderl

Tom Delay
Ted Stevens
John Doolittle
James Traficanta
Michael Meyers
Rick Renzi

Dan Rostenkowski

Rod Blagojevich

Brian Krolicki

Eliot Spitzer

Don Siegelman

Marion Barry

Joe Bruno

Scooter Libby

Larry Craig

Bob Ney

Tom Delay

William Janklow

James Traficant

Gold

2009-04-06T17:00:00.002-04:00

The US Department of the Treasury has 11 Billion dollars in gold. What is this for? Are we just showing off? Shouldn't we sell this instead of borrowing money from other countries or raising taxes? I know it's not that much money compared to the rest our spending, but its something. It's not enough money to be an emergency fund, so why bother having it at all. Plus, what is the cost to house and protect our precious gold. I think we are only a decade away from achieving the alchemist dream and turning lead into gold, making our stash worthless. Start selling now and give the money to homeless veterans, abused children, cancer research, malaria nets, new road construction, or cheaper Yankee tickets.

Justice or Karma

2009-04-01T15:16:00.000-04:00

Ted Stevens, the crazy, former US Senator from Alaska was convicted of seven felony counts of ethics violations last year. Based largely on this trial, he narrowly lost his re-election bid last November. Today, the US Justice Department is dropping all charges because they “discovered a new instance of prosecutorial misconduct”. Basically, the prosecutor illegally hid evidence from the defendant.

Now, let me be clear that I despise Ted Stevens. He was a conservative who spent 40 years putting the interests of the Republican party and Alaska above the interests of the United States. Consistently he would drive tax payers’ money (money from all 50 states) to Alaska. Alaska takes twice as much federal funds as it puts in. This is the inherent problem with the US Senate; giving equal power to someone representing 350,000 people and someone who represents 18,000,000 people. And Ted Stevens abused this undemocratic system to the detriment of the other 350,000,000 people in the US.

Anyway…there are two major issues going on here. The first is that the Justice Department is just dropping the charges. If he is guilty then he NEEDS to be prosecuted. It is appalling how public officials are simple above the law. From Nixon to Elliot Spitzer, public officials just go free. These are the people who should be the most accountable to the law, the people that should be examples of justice to the rest of us. And don’t get me started on George Bush, but if he broke the law, that he needs to be help accountable too.

However, let’s say that Stevens was innocent, well then the US Justice Department just changed the election for a US Senator (one of the most powerful position in the country). Not to mention (at the time) a possible filibuster-proof majority for the Democrats in Congress. No matter how much I think the country is better off without Stevens, it is completely unethical that he lost his Senate seat. If the Justice Department was run by Democrats at the time there would be a national uproar, but I say there should be one anyway. This is the kind of crap the CIA would do; fix an election by smearing the opponent. Hell, let’s put him on trial for corruption and hide evidence that could provide his innocence.

Justice, it’s about justice, not Karma.

Legacy of Ashes: Book Review and Analysis. Grade A-

2009-03-30T14:57:00.003-04:00

Project IMPACT: Empowering Parents with Intellectual Disabilities

I just finished Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner, the history of the CIA. Let me first start by trying to explain what the CIA is actually supposed to do.

1) Gather intelligence outside the US: Until World War II, the US had no agency to gather or organization facts about governments and people outside the US. There are somewhat legal ways of doing this, such as utilizing spy satellites or by simple having people go a country and do some fieldwork. The second way is to have spies; that is to have people pretend to be someone else in order to get/steal information. The third way is to bride, blackmail, or torture people to get information.

2) To manipulate the people and leaders of foreign countries: This includes propaganda (such a fake radio or news stations or spreading rumors), sending money to political leaders, rigging elections, regime change, and supporting coups. I can see how this is related to gathering of intelligence, because you can only manipulate those in another country if you have accurate information about them.

3) To use force to complete #2. This includes assassinations, bombings, secret para-military operations, and I will also include providing the weapons and cash for others groups to do this dirty work for you (such as giving arms and money to a drug lord in order for him to overthrow the country’s communist leader). Now, it is this power which seems to be the cornerstone of all of the CIA’s problems. The CIA’s concentration on these missions led to an almost complete failure to achieve any of the goals listed above.

The CIA has failed horrible in its mission to protect the United States or the interests of the United State. During the entire cold war, they failed to understand even the basic elements of the Soviet Union, never placing a high level spy anywhere in Russia (on the other hand, the Soviets infiltrated the very highest levels of US intelligence). Time and time again the CIA positively made a judgment (based on their analysis) only to see the exact opposite happen. For example, one day they wrote that there is no chance that the Soviets would invade Afghanistan, only to see 180,000 troops attack less than a week later. They lied to Presidents and Congress to cover up their mistakes and to increase their budget. After each failure, congressional panels or presidential review teams would go over the operations of the CIA and every single time they would conclude that the CIA was not only failing to achieve its missions, but that is was incapable of doing so. Those reports were followed by a demand for change, which would and could never happen. The foundation of the CIA would never allow it to change and it never did.

One of the biggest atrocities of the CIA was its policy during that cold war to oppose any socialist-leaning leader anywhere in the world. And the easiest way to do this was to support right-wing military groups. With direct CIA cash and weapons, dozens of military coups took place, leading to some of the most horrible dictatorships in history. The Shah of Iran, "Papa Doc" Duvalier (Haiti), Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic), Castelo Branco (Brazil), General Suharto (Indonesia), Robert Mobutu (Congo), just to make a few. Their goal was only to stop the Soviet Union even if it meant the destruction of democracies and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of foreigners.

To give the CIA some credit, these actions did cause financial havoc in the Soviet Union. Of course the CIA didn’t know this as they thought the Soviets were getting stronger all the time.

By the 1970s the CIA had failed so many times that the President no longer trusted anything they said. The conundrum was that Presidents often wanted to see change in other countries and there was no other agency that had any authority to conduct such missions. So the CIA (unable to complete any of its tasks effectively) continued to be asked to achieve extremely complicated and often impossible goals. They were sent to overthrow Cuba, they failed. They were sent into Loas and Cambodia during the Vietnam War to stop the supple of arms and supplies to North Vietnam. They failed. Over and over again, they failed to achieve their goals, based on two main factors, 1) the inability to gather or analyze intelligence and 2) the use of horrible tactics based on that intelligence.

The CIA was a disaster, both internally and in its missions. They missed 9/11, they were wrong about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they just have been imploding over the past 40 years. Yet, they still refuse to recruit American with families from other countries, although those people have the linguistic and cultural knowledge that they so desperately needs.

Well, back to the actual book. It was very well written and captures your attention from the very first page. It is a non-stop exploit of the CIA done in a reasonable accurate way. I say reasonable because the author (who is former Pulitzer-prize winning journalist) seems to have a certain hate for the CIA. I’m sure this is based on the real experiences he uncovered, but still I wonder if we gave fair treatment to the few CIA successes that there were. Additionally, a significant amount of information is still classified (although I believe if there was anything positive in there, it would have been made available).

This book makes me sad and ashamed of our government. Presidents had the power to change or stop this, but they didn’t (in fact every President used the CIA to conduct illegal missions). Congress had the power of oversight and continuously failed to understand, change, or hold the CIA accountability for anything. We assassinated democratically elected leaders, gave weapons to terrorists, and tortured innocent people. We did this in the name of national interest, but the ends did not justify the means.

FYI, here are two little things I learned. The CIA tried to assassinate Castro at least three times (once handing a sniper rifle to the wood-be assassin and another time giving an assassin poison pills to drop in Castro’s coffee). One of the assassins was captured by Castro and spilled his guts. Lee Harvey Oswald had been in contact with the Cuba government on a regular basis. If you were Castro and you knew Kennedy kept trying to kill you, what would you do? Ohhh, the CIA did not tell the Warren Commission (or anybody else) about their failed attempts to kill Castro or their knowledge of Oswald.

During the Clinton years, everyone knew Osama Bin Laden was a threat. The CIA was trying to find and kill him. Several times they said they had him and Clinton ordered air strikes only to later find out that they just bombed civilians (and the Bin Laden was long gone). After being wrong a few times, Clinton refused any more attacks unless the evidence was overwhelming. Since the CIA was basically guessing all the time, Clinton passed on dozens of possible opportunities.

National Energy Day OFF

2009-03-03T11:40:00.003-05:00

I propose to have a National Energy Day Off on Monday, June 22, 2009 (the second day of summer. On this new federal holiday, there will no work, no driving, no computers, no electricity, no air conditioning, etc. (exceptions below). On this day, one of the longest days of sunshine during the whole year, people will walk and play like the old days. All offices will be closed and their computers, lights, and electric signs will be shut off (they should actually shut them off on the Friday evening beforehand). Don’t drive anywhere, don’t listen to the radio; just relax. Maybe help for kid open a lemonade stand for people walking by. And at night, we can safely use candles instead of lights (we had a black out the day and it was just fine with candles).

We could save 19.6 million barrels of oil and 10,454,795 Megawatts of energy in just one day. We could raise awareness about the issues of the environment and of energy use. We could do something as a true community for the betterment of the world.

Of course, we will have to use some energy and gasoline. If it is really hot, the elderly and the young can use air conditioners. We can keep our refrigerators plugged in and people with emergency equipment can still use them. People will still have to drive to work at hospitals and police or fire stations. But let us try and limit what remains open to most critical. This will not be like Christmas Eve, when some things are closed, but there are still dozens of restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets, and shops still open. All of those will be closed on the Energy Day Off.

Since this should be a federal holiday, why don’t make it a federal contest. The states with the biggest drop offs in the percent of energy they use will get cash block grants for renewable energy projects.

This is something that would actually be easy to do. Find me one person that is against this and I will remind them they will also get the day off from work, which is nice too.

Land of Confusion

2009-02-26T17:24:00.003-05:00

Academy of Finance & Enterprise

I wasn’t as interested in Barack Obama’s national speech as much as Bobby Jindal’s response on behalf on the Republicans. In case you don’t know, Jindal is 37 years old and is already the Governor of Louisiana (the youngest governor in the country). He is definitely one of the brilliant people; he went to Brown University, graduating with honors in biology and public policy. Although he was accepted by Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, he chose to pursue a political career at Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. He was Louisiana’s Secretary of Heath at 25 years old, than was the youngest-ever president of the University of Louisiana System. He went off to work for the Bush administration, than became a Congressman, than Governor. On a personal note, his real name is Piyush and his family came here from India when his mother was pregnant. And this is nothing personal, but he looks one of Ronald Reagan puppet, who dressed up like Superman from the Phil Collin video for Land of Confusion.

So now, the Republican Party of old white guys has a black leader of their national committee (Michael Steele) and young Indian as their spokesperson. And don’t say that the Republics aren’t all white. In the past 80 years, there have been exactly three Black, Republican Congressman (including both the House and Senate). On the other side, the Democrats have 36 Black Congressman in the House as this very moment. I know diversifying is a good thing, but who are they kidding, 95% of African Americans voted for Obama and it wasn’t because he is Black, it is because the Republicans have never cared about the actually helping the African-American community (in my opinion).

Anyway, back to Jindal…I had heard that he was the next great thing. A republican Bill Clinton (super-smart on policy, but also very charismatic). Everything looked good, that is until he spoke. What a terrible speech. I know he wants to get his name out there, but he spent about a ¼ of the speech talking about himself. Honestly, nobody cares about you, tell us about the state of the country. He looked very uncomfortable and over-prepared, it was very high-school. And the content was just as terrible. This was the jist of what he said, “Americans can do anything. Obama is right out the situation, but wrong about the solution. Americans are better than great. Our solution is tax breaks and not the kind of tax breaks that failed with Bush, but some new kind of magical tax breaks. Did I mention how great you are and how you can do anything. And the only thing that stops you from being a superstar if government, yes the same government I am part of somehow. PS, American can do anything.” No joke, he said “American can do anything” as least five times. The fact is that Republicans had eight years to try and see if tax cuts help everyone or just the rich. They proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that Republican policies only helped the super rich, not even the middle class, but only the very wealthy. How can they keep trying to say that tax breaks are a good idea, it just blows my mind. And the republicans can’t even go back to family values and religious tactics as George Bush was their poster boy for that too. They can’t be strong on the military since they are viewed as completely incompetent in that area. The only option left is be “not a republican”, and I guess that is Bobby Jindal. He is the “new” Republican, but the problem was the he combined the inexperience of someone new with the same ideas that have failed in the past.

Is the CIA reading this?

2009-01-26T15:16:00.001-05:00

Recently, I finished listening to the Pulitzer wining book, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Díaz. Normally, I think reading a book is more enjoyable than a book on tape, but I don’t think this was the case for this book. There was a good amount of Spanish slang that was used and without the context of the person’s voice, I don’t think I could have understood what they were talking about. Anyway, the book was an astounding work of literature; every sentence was beautiful and impactful. It was not written in any type of stream of consciousness, it seems that each word was carefully analyzed and constructed. This made for great reading (well, listening); however, the plot was just average. In reminds me of “The World According to Garp”, in that the writing was great, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

The real reason I wanted to post was not actually about Oscar Wao, but about the CIA. It seems like every time I read about the recent foreign policy of the United State, the CIA is playing a prominent and often unimaginable immoral role. In Oscar Wao, they talk pretty extensively about the history of the Dominic Republic, especially the torturous reign of General Trujillo. Because Trujillo was anti-Cuban and anti-communist, the CIA’s supported him for decades until Trujillo order the assignation of Venezuela's president Rómulo Betancourt. After that, the CIA worked with Trujillo opposition leaders to have El Jefe (Trujillo) shot to death. It seems that the CIA is everywhere, often doing horrible things (sometimes achieving goals in the national interest of the US, other times they just created more problems).

As thus, my next book (real book, not tape) is “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA” by Tim Weiner. I just started it and I am already completely entrenched in the story. Hopefully the book will justify some of the actions of CIA because it would just be too depressing if it doesn’t.

How to Download the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama

2009-01-20T16:29:00.004-05:00

At my school, we were trying to play the live inauguration of President Obama this morning, unfortunately, the streaming videos were skippy and almost unwatchable. For the kids, their attention and focus was lost and thus a moment to connect with a historic event was also lost. I thought that after it was over, the video would be all over the internet, available for download within minutes. To my amazement, there was nothing available, nothing of poor quality, nothing at all. Why is this, who would stop us from sharing or downloading this video. Surely, our free media would post it for the people to listen to, but no, there was nothing. Although I'm sure I will get in trouble for this, I found a way of accessing a high quality network copy of the video. Go to...

http://ht.cdn.turner.com/cnn/big/politics/2009/01/20/sot.obama.inauguration.duty.cnn_576x324_dl.flv

Save the file to your desktop. Windows Media Player cannot play with file type, but other media players can. I highly suggest VLC Media Player (www.videolan.org/vlc/) which I have used for a few years. Or you can use SUPER Video Encorder (www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) to convert this video to .avi or whatever you want.

Good Luck to you and good luck to our next president

Predictions – Part I: Technology and Science

2009-01-06T16:21:00.002-05:00

At the end of 2004, I made some predictions about the upcoming year and I thought it was time to try again. I predict the following for 2009…

Getting Online: Google finally reveals a 10 year plan to provide free wireless internet service to every city in the US. From a business perspective, the financial benefits of having a captive online audience (Google would be the required homepage and search engine) are going to quickly exceed the costs of building a wireless network. Personally, I think this is something the government should do as access to the internet increases commerce, education, and equality.

Energy: This is more of a hope, but 2009 could start the beginning of a new age of energy production. I don’t expect too much this year, but if the United States whole-heartily invests in the research, production, and implementation of natural sources of energy (solar, winds, tidal, etc), it would fundamentally change the underlying economics and planning for both emerging and growing areas. Furthermore, this technology must be a gift to the world, given freely for all to use. I guess I will have to wait a few decades to see if this is the moment when it all started to change. I hope the oil producing countries see the writing on the wall and diversify before its too late.

Space: Once again, we will learn nothing useful from our exploration of deep space. Although it is truly interesting, it just won’t prove to have a more holistic value back here on earth (again).

Technology: Cell phones will become more expensive than laptops. Speaking of, why can’t laptops come with a wireless mouse embedding in the casing (kinda like that Bluetooth headset built into the phone). Also, why don’t laptops have the option to have Ooma built in (free phone service). It could link to your wireless connection and even have a bluetooth headset build in (right next to the mouse).

Entertainment: The beginning of the DVR revolution. In a few years your DVR will allow you to access any show that was on, on any channel, within the last month. Currently, the biggest Tivo DVR can record 1,350 hours of regular tv. That is enough to record everything your ten favorite channels, 20 hours a day, for seven day. This uses a 1 terabyte hard drive. Increase that 10 terabytes and can record 20 channels, 24 hours a day, for an entire month. Everything will always be “on-demand”.

Is This Your Ballot

2008-12-22T14:51:00.003-05:00

As an avid reader of this blog, you are well aware of the close Senate race in Minnesota. 2,500,000 people voted and as they tally the ballots it looks to be within 100 votes. State judges have already verified all of the regular votes and are now going through the "questionable" ballots. These are ones where the voter did not clearly and correctly indicate their preference. Luckily (and very fairly) the judges and the law, can say a vote counts if the "intent" was clear. In an amazing quirk of transparency, you can actually view all of the questionable ballots online (you can even click on them to see the exact reason why they are in question). This is wonderful and I wonder what would happen if it came down to one vote and one ballot which was in question. What if that was your ballot and you just slipped while writing and didn't make a clear mark. What if you knew that was your ballot, would they let you state your intent? It would only work if somehow you could prove it was your ballot; maybe it was a tiny rural voting and you were the only one who votes, but that is quite unlikely. Anyway, check out the website. http://senaterecount.startribune.com/ballots/index.php?review_date=2008-12-19&index=8

New Year

2008-12-16T13:37:00.003-05:00

This mostly a re-post of something I wrote two years ago, but I think about is this time of year... Why is December 31 the end of the “year”? Well, first what is a year; on earth it is the time is takes to complete one full orbit around the sun, more specifically 365 Days, 5 Hours, 48 Minutes, 46 Seconds. In order to keep track of how many times we go around the sun, it is convenient to keep track of each orbit by designating one day as the officially beginning and end of the year. But why December 31st, that date has no astrological significance at all (it does have cultural significance; some say it celebrates Jesus’ briss, actually many European countries used to start their new year on Christmas, while others start their new year on Easter). And Christmas was most likely modified to fall near the winter solstice (also known as Yule; it celebration the shortest day of the year). But we most recognize that the solstice (and all seasons for that matter) has nothing to do with the closeness to the sun, it has to do with the tilt of the earth. Think about the orbit of the earth around the sun, it goes in an ellipse, not a circle, so logically you would think that the summers and winters would happen twice a year, not once (click here or see below). However, summer and winter are dictated by whether or not a particular hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, so even though, right now, New York is several million miles closer to the sun then during July, it is colder now because we are tilted away from the sun. I believe that the New Year should have a direct significance to the obit of the earth, either the day the earth is closest (aka the perihelion) or farthest (aka aphelion) from the sun. If we were to create a New Year’s date for other planets this would surely be the most reasonable, so why not for us. Randomly I choose to celebrate the earth’s aphelion as the indicator a new year, which for 2008 happens to be January 4th at 3:00pm. And until I get better information I deem this year to be 4,404,000,008. Enjoy

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US Auto Industry - Should it say or should it go now?

2008-12-12T10:53:00.000-05:00

Whether it is throwing money away or not, I don’t understand how Congress is not authorizing cash or loans for GM, Ford, and Chrysler. From a political point of view, I see it as a no-lose situation. If the car companies recover then they are heroes and if they don’t recover nobody will remember the money and they can always blame the car companies for being inefficient. As for President Bush, this is a last chance to have something positive on his resume. If he authorizes a bailout and the companies recover, then he can always say that he single-handily saved the US auto industry (which might actual be true). And if he authorizes the money and it ends up just be wasted than he would still be the second worst President ever. Imagine adding the destruction of the US auto industry to his record of having the largest attack on US soil under his watch, not catching those behind the attach, destroying our international credibility, royally screwing up a war (after lying about the reason to have the war in the first place), ramping up of debt to ridiculous levels, having the housing market and stock market crash, have the entre financial system crack down, drastically increased unemployment, and a recession.

As for the auto industry, you are the ones to blame for the problems you are in. Actually, I blame the stock market as well. One reason I hate the stock market is that companies are too concerned about short-term goals and profit and don’t invest in long-term stability and growth. Why invest in higher efficiency cars when they won’t be ready for ten years, well that was already 10 years ago and it may be too late now.

As a tax payer, I have no problem helping the auto industry, assuming that they can be forced to try to be self-sustainable. Also, they have to break up how many brands they each have. GM needs to break off from Cadillac, Chevy, Saab, and Saturn, while Ford needs to splinter off Volvo and Jaguar. This way the very worst smaller companies can be allowed to fail without bringing down the whole system.

However, I want that money to come from military spending. We can’t afford ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines, laser defense systems, and stealth fighter right now. We have to prioritize.

More Hours in the Day

2008-12-08T16:44:00.001-05:00

If I was to rank the technological advancements that have made my life easier, number 1 on the list might be DVR. There have been many things that have added to my efficiency, effectiveness, or enjoyment, but nothing has made my life easier. DVR (or Tivo) actually seems to give me more hours in the day. For example, I was watching the Giants game yesterday and I paused the game in the first quarter, than did 20 minutes of housework, went back to the TV and put the game back on. After skipping the commercials for a bit, I was back to live TV. I gained 20 of time that I would never have had. For every hour of TV I watch on DVR, I gain 15-20 of free time. I gain even more time if it is a sporting event (it saves the most time for baseball, which more than half ½ of the game is commercials or waiting for the next pitch. Sure I might miss some commentary, but that is only a minor loss. And eventually, advertisers will start replacing commercials with product placements, but I don’t care about the either. It is possible that the cable companies and networks will demand that DVR won’t allow someone to skip commercials. This could happen and it would suck, but I think it would only be temporary. As computers and TVs get twisted together, you will be able to record your shows through other internet/computer-based services.

All of this is great, and I haven’t even mentioned the convenience of watching a show whenever you want, always having Molly’s show ready to go, or allowing Lindy to pause a movie so I give my mostly irrelevant (but irresistible clever) comments.

Tails! You are a US Senator.

2008-12-04T11:50:00.009-05:00

The Senate race in Minnesota has still not been decided. There were millions of votes casts and it is coming down to a few hundred. Reports are coming from all over that ballots have been lost, destroyed, miscounted, or are invalid. Some people wrote notes on the ballot making them invalid according to state statutes. There is a law on the books that says if the overall vote is a tie than they actually flip a coin. Imagine, the representation of millions of people would rest on a random heads or tails. I think this would be the perfect time to have a re-vote. New people could register and everyone votes again. It’s called democracy and if people really believed their vote counted than they might actually get out to the polls. We are spending hundreds of billions to bail out the banks, but we can't find a few million to restore a basic democratic principal. I say, let them vote! Again! Although this is a big deal, it would be a huge national story if a Democratic victory in Minnesota would give them a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Right now, the Democrats have 58 seats, but 60 in the key number, not 59. Too bad, I wish that there was more attention given towards how voting actual matters.

Costco

2008-12-04T11:50:00.001-05:00

Molly and I went to Costco the other day to get some basic supplies. Lindy has a Costco membership, but had taken the card with her to work. She thought that if I went to the customer service, they would give me something so I can shop, but alas, that was not the case. I was denied the ability to spend my money because I was not the actual member. Why is this? Why are these bulk warehouse stores the only ones to have memberships? Isn’t there a market for bulk items by themselves? If Costco charges 2% more, they would still have great prices for people willing to purchase bulk items. Wouldn’t that 2% cover everyone’s membership and just imagine how many more people would shop there. Walmart has proven that if you have enough customers you will make a huge overall profit, even if you are only making a tiny profit on each item. Furthermore, Costco doesn’t have a trial or test membership. Why not offer people a test drive and then they can see the benefits for themselves. If Lindy never had a membership, I never would have gone there in my lifetime (since I wasn’t going to pay $50 for something unknown). Sam’s Club also requires a membership. Either there is a market out there for a bulk, warehouse style store that doesn’t require a membership or the idea of a membership store should expand to other areas.

Political Dream Team or Playing it Safe

2008-11-24T13:22:00.002-05:00

Barack Obama says he wants to change the politics of this country, but now I hear that he is going to nominate Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. I am not a Hillary Clinton supporter for many reasons, but most importantly I just don’t like the idea of family legacies in government. Although I believe Hillary is a good Senator and a very competent person, she represents the political ideology of the Bill Clinton Administration. There is nothing wrong with this and I believe Bill Clinton was an excellent President and his ideas were progressive, although still within the tight framework of the currently political structure. Bill Clinton did not bring significant positive change to the system, his impact was felt in particularly program areas. How can Barack Obama make fundamental change if he is represented by the more much conservative (conservative within the progressive genre) Hillary Clinton all around the world. Furthermore, the Clintons presence will detract from Barack’s ability to become the clear leader of this country. I respect that he surrounds himself with very smart and independent people, but he must be the single, focused representation of a government in transition. Hilary Clinton may represent experience and talents, but she doesn’t represent “hope”.

Or am I looking at this all wrong. Maybe Obama is just trying to create a Political Dream Team. Was he just putting the best of the best into every conceivable position? Hillary Clinton is one of the most popular politicians in the country, why not put her in one of the most powerful positions? But the idea of a dream team doesn’t always work. For years, the US put together a basketball Dream Team to dominate the Olympics. This worked for a while, but as the other countries became more talented and began to utilize a more balanced “team” approach, the started to get the best of the US Dream Team. Sometimes having the right role players, where everyone knows what to do and doesn’t have ambitions of their own (besides the success of the team) is the best way to go.

the LAST dragon

2008-11-18T16:46:00.003-05:00

Nooooooooooooo! They are remaking Berry Gordy's the Last Dragon. The greatest action, adventure, love, kung-fu, coming of age, drama of the last 100 years. This movie is perfect in every way. Re-releasing the original is a great idea; expose a new generation to the awesome power of The Last Dragon.

Samuel L. Jackson will be playing Sho'nuff, and although he is a huge Hollywood action star, you just can't replace the original. How can we stop this? Did they wait until Julius Carry III passed away before the starting production because they knew that he would never allow this to happen. How can we stop this?

I call upon Taimak, Vanity, and all those from the real Last Dragon to join me in a crusade to stop this travesty. Together we will get to the final level, we will find the secrets to the golden glow, and our minds, body and souls shall become one.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081030/film_nm/us_jackson

Banking Bailout - How much is $700,000,000,000

2008-11-18T11:53:00.002-05:00

Big numbers are hard for people to process. 700 billion can start to sound like 300 billion, or 900 million for that matter. It becomes like sand grains or moon strands, magically big, past the point of counting; an amount you sit with a nephew and contemplate in wonder.

- It is one third of the total amount of money received by the federal government in 2007, including social security, income tax, corporate tax, and all other receipts.

- It is nine times the amount spent on education in 2007.

- It is 35 times the amount spent on all foreign aid in most years.

- It is $140 billion more than has been spent on the Iraq war since the invasion.

- It is $120 billion more than that spent on social security benefits.

- It is 7,000 times bigger than the Sierra club’s yearly budget.

- Its over twice the amount of all money given to all charitable organizations in the United States in any given year.

- It is more than $100 for every person in the world.

Ohhh, and don’t forget where this money is coming from. We are either borrowing it from other countries through government bonds (China is stockpiling these bonds) or we are just printing money, which will lead to inflation.

Jets - This is their (other) year

2008-11-18T09:48:00.003-05:00

The Jets are an amazing 7-3 and in first place in the AFC east. Over the past six years, the Jets have had a winning season (and made the playoffs) every other year. On some basic level this makes sense. All NFL teams have a salary cap and thus the talent level is pretty consistent. If a team has a good season, the following year their schedule with be tougher, likewise if they are horrible, they will play other bad teams the next season. So is it fair to say the Jets are just good against poor teams? Yes, but who cares.

The Jets invested heavily in winning this year, signing a series of veteran stars, of which almost all of them have worked out. Farve, although past his prime, is still a significant upgrade over Pennington. Fanica and Woody, also over the hill, are still a huge upgrades and has steadied the offensive line. Calvin Pace has been excellent and Kris Jenkins is a dominant force on defense, actually helping to stop the run for the first time in my lifetime. 1st round draft choice Vernon Goldston was a complete bust, but Dustin Keller has been decent. Late round pick Dwight Lowery has only been average, but still an upgrade over what they had. Combined with young stars, like Darrelle Revis and Kerry Rhodes, the team is vastly more taltented than they were last year. Still, they have huge weaknesses at CB and Safety, which better passing teams will attack (see Denver week 13).

Anyway, although they are in first place today, the playoffs are definately not a lock. In reality, the Jets have only have a one game lead over Miami, New England, Baltimore, and Indy. Buffalo and San Diego are still in the mix, but basically three of those first five teams will make the playoffs. And if the Jets lose to 10-0 Tennesee this week, they might drop out of being one of those top three. After that their schedule gets easier, but I think it will come down to last week or two.

No matter what, the signing of Farve and everyone else was a great move. Even if the Jets don't make the playoffs, it will still have been an interesting season. Even if the veterans breakdown next year and the Jets suck again, I won't worry beucause the year after will be a good one again.

Got Any Change?

2008-11-13T13:48:00.005-05:00

The question for President Obama becomes, “is change possible?”. Sure he can modify the tax rate, but is he going to raise taxes enough to make them compare at least equally with other countries (as a percent of our GDP, the US taxes a tremendously small amount compared to almost every other first world country). Maybe than we could make health care, college, and employment training free for everyone. The US spends 50% of its discretionary money on the military, but only 6% on Health and Human Services, 5% on Education, 2% on the Department of Energy, 2% on the Department of Justice, and 1% on the EPA. We spend 10 times as much on the military (not even including the wars) than on education. We spend 10X more money on the military than China does. Is that going to change? Are we going to mandate environmental changes now? Can these types of changes ever be implemented, even with a democratic majority in both houses of Congress. We know Obama says he wants change, but is it even possible. I say that he won’t even try. There is too much pressure on him and he will be conservative in choosing what he wants to focus on. This is not the change that people want, but it will still be an improvement and progress, but not true change.

http://thinkorthwim.com/2007/04/29/tax-rates-by-country/

Ohhhh-Bama

2008-11-04T16:07:00.006-05:00

In early December of last year I officially endorsed Barack Obama. I don't want to take full credit (perhaps just 95%) for the fact that at that exact moment his campaign turned around and he started his earnest pursuit of the Presidency. For various reasons, my blog was shut down until this time (was it because I was secretly running Obama's campaign, or was I negotiating Brett Favre's path to Jets, or perhaps I was just job hunting.)

Anyway, election night is upon us. Go Vote. I am driving all the back to Connecticut to vote (see upcoming posts for why I am no longer living in the Nutmeg State.

Although it is a little late in the day, please comment with your predictions as to the final outcome. The person who is closest will win amazing prizes.

My final tally: Obama - 330, McCain - 208.

(fyi, when I restarted the blog, there were errors with my template and I had to change it now the fonts are all messed up, I will change this soon. Thanks.)

14-0

2007-12-14T15:14:00.001-05:00

The Jets are the biggest underdog in the history of the NFL. They are playing the undefeated Patriots, in New England, and are 24 point underdogs. Some say the Patriots will run up the score again the Jets because the Jets caught them cheating and told the league (costing the Pats a bunch of cash and a first round draft pick). Tom Brady and Randy Moss are in line to set records and the Jets, well, they are tied for the second worst record in the league with only three wins (and two of those wins have come against the 0-13 dolphins).

Do you remember in the football movie "The Best of Times", when Robin Williams and Kurt Russell were playing that other fancy-pants, overconfident team that had superior talent, and the good guys were getting their ass kicked and than a force great than man decided to change everything. It may have been rain in the that movie, but this Sunday at 1:00pm, I predict the worst storm in 100 years to crash down on Gillette Stadium. Hot hail, tornadoes, blizzards. Real wrath-of-God-type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! Volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

Well, all of that may need to happen, but in the end, when the sun finally creeps out from behind that unexpected solar eclipse, and the players wipe off the remnants from an exploded marshmallow man; at the moment the universe will come into perfect harmony as the game clock ticks its final tock and the scoreboard in all its electrically glory proclaims to the world a simple set of numbers, 14-0. And no, it will not be the Patriots record; it will be the final score. Jets 14, Patriots 0.

Almost There

2007-12-14T14:52:00.000-05:00

23 and a half months down, two weeks to go. I am so very close to finishing my project at work, but the stress has been overwhelming. I have been working non-stop for over a year and it is all coming together (and sometimes apart) in these final moments. We are set to publish a 211 pages data book by the end of the year. The learning curve has been a cliff, but it might actually get done. I can't wait for this to be over to I can actually reflect on what I have done.

Barack Obama

2007-12-06T12:49:00.000-05:00

In a move that will rock that nation, I am officially endorsing Barack Obama for President. Although only 40% of an ideal President, I believe he is still the best candidate. Below is a breakdown of the different attributes that have lead to my support of his candidacy.

Philosophy – This is one of his strongest attributes. He recognizes that there are problems that need to be solved right away, specifically regarding poverty, energy, corruption. He is a populist who is in touch with local communities (although his public relations department does not highlight this at all.)

Intelligence – His PR people are awful. I think their strategy is “the less you know about him, the less you can attack”. But I didn’t even know he was a lawyer, or that he went to Harvard Law school. Furthermore, I didn’t know he took his fancy law degree and decided not to pursue the big money, but instead focus on civil rights law. He is uber-smart, but it is very hard to tell.

Integrity – On the one hand he spent his life fighting the good fight, on the other hand, his campaign so far has almost completely ignored that fight. I don’t know who the real Barack is; he might be a champion of the people or he might be an unqualified politicians with no confidence. My decision to support him came to taking the chance that the former might be true. With every other candidate, especially Hillary, you know exactly what you are getting and it is not progress.

Results – Obama’s political career so far is a weakpoint. He hasn’t actually accomplished much of anything, although I’m guessing he is doing this on purpose (see above; if you don’t do anything, they can’t attack you).

War – He still doesn’t have a plan. He doesn’t have the guts to take a stance (but neither does any of democrat, except Biden).

Personality – Ok, I get it, he has a big smile, great, not what? Yes optimism is good, but it’s not enough (just ask John Edwards). He needs to show a serious side, but that means taking a stand on something.

Experience - Hmmm, ok he has no executive, military, or real political expereince. Ouch.

Intangibles - If you look at his entire life (which is very interesting) you will see a person who has endured struggles, lived overseas, and achieved success. To me, this is what support Barack is all about. He is different than the others, or at least he started off differently. He could be a radical progressive who has learned that you have to “play the game” in order to get to a position of power. Of course, a true leader and progressive would refuse to do that, instead they would choose to always believe in themselves regardless of consequence. And in doing that, one become a leader. But Barack isn’t doing that and therefore can’t resonate to the public what he would be like as President.

After I wrote all this, I did on those online tests were you say you think on certain issues and they say who matches up to your preferences. Barack was my top match at 73%, followed by Biden and Kucinich. Ron Paul was my top Republican at a 44% match.

Read more about Barack Obama’s life at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Getting Bigger

2007-11-29T11:02:00.000-05:00

One of the great pleasures of Molly’s life is the knowing that she is going to be able to do more. She lets everyone know that she is getting bigger every day. And with this inevitable bigness, will come the abilities to ride a bike, know all the words to all the songs, read, touch the ceiling, fly, do flips, carry her own things, cook foods, have gum, and so much more. She knows that she is getting bigger and these future happinesses are just out there waiting for her and it brings her almost constant joy. The other night I thought she was asleep when she cried out for me. She wasn’t upset, but just felt the need to tell me that she could already jump because she has to feet, but she doesn’t know how to hop yet. And that she will know how to hop when she gets a little bit bigger. And she was so happy saying this, in the special way that her voice goes up higher and higher as goes gets to the end.

It’s it too bad that this type of positive anticipation doesn’t last forever. I am not going to learn anything new or be able to achieve more things just by my continued existence. Perhaps that is another reason why it is so hard to be a teenager. I guess there a few things to look forward to in those years (like driving), but I don’t think it brings the same joy to get older as opposed to getting bigger.

To all: Sorry about making the blog non-public. Hopefully it won’t last too long and I should at least write more often.

Blood and Diamonds

2007-11-06T17:49:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I watched Blood Diamond, and although it was entertaining (in a way) and very well acted, I believe it was actually a disservice to the atrocities associated with blood diamonds, child soldiers, and civil wars in Africa. And the reason I believe this is the same reason that I believe Schindler’s List was a disservice to the holocaust. My perspective starts with the belief that most people do not have a deep understanding of what really happened, from a realistic, historical perspective. Therefore, these movies have the opportunity to provide a valuable and educational message. Both movies show a somewhat feel-good story within the context of horrible events happening all around. In Blood Diamond, the story is almost completely made up, but impossible (particularly the part about finding his son). Both movies show the very, very rare exceptions their respective situations. I believe that someone unfamiliar with the actual history of the events might think that these events (large-scare protection of Jews, or a father regaining his son after he was made a child soldier) were somewhat common (which they certainly were not). In both genocides the cases of people committing brutal crimes outweighs those who tried to help by an overwhelming and very depressing number. Furthermore, Blood Diamond goes out of its way to make itself entertaining (adding in a love story and a Hollywood plot), which might make people think the entire movie was just more Hollywood exaggerations. The situations involving blood diamonds, civil wars, and child soldiers should be understood as a few of the most pressing issues in the global community. The real stories are worse than either movie portrayed. Perhaps the real stories are so horrible as to make them unwatchable by the general public. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that didn’t happen (and aren’t still happening).

Imagination

2007-09-27T14:30:00.000-04:00

Can you teach someone to be creative? Often, creative abilities are usually thought of as skills that people just seem to have naturally. However, the more time I spent with Molly the more I think creativity is a skill, like math, reading, athletics, or anything else (of course people might have some positive or negative genetic predisposition to learning any skill). In school, there are specific classes on auditory creativity (music) and visual creativity (art), but there are no classes that focus on mental creativity. As parents throughout the country complain when music and art classes are closed, they should be equally upset that mental creativity classes don’t exist at all.

Although people might think that creativity isn’t something you can teach, everyday Molly is proving that theory wrong. Of course, all kids are creativity, but Lindy and I have actively tried to help Molly explore her creative instincts. Molly, like most children, loves storied, but more than books, Molly loves “imagination stories”, which are made up on the spot. I used to tell Molly imagination stories before she could talk and now we tell them together. Sometimes, I tell the whole story and I stretch my imaginative skills as an example of what she can do. Other times, she will tell almost the entire story. And when she gets stuck I might ask “did the people in the story go somewhere?” And I can see her thinking hard, pushing her brain to find the best possible answer. It is like a body builder who knows that last rep is the hardest, but it will help the most. I imagine her little brain straining to create that new idea and when she does it will stay with her and be a building block for the next idea.

Last night, at dinner, she invented a game called “Sam-I-am”, based on Green Eggs and Ham, in which she would be Sam-I-am, and ask me if I wanted a taco with a mouse or on a house or on a boat or with a goat. As impressed as I was that she remembered the book well enough to repeat what Sam-I-am said, I was overwhelmed with pride when she asked “Would you eat your taco with…your soda?” She stepped outside what was in her memory and tapped into something new. And I could tell she wanted to think of more things that weren’t in the book (which she did). She was proud of herself too, which makes immersion in any skill possible.

Creativity is not only good for telling stories and playing games, but it is a core component of some of the most useful skills that people, families, and societies need. Creativity is the basis of problem solving, inventiveness, philosophy, architecture, research, and most of the skills that can effectively contribute to progress.

Inspiration

2007-09-13T10:52:00.000-04:00

My father is a pessimist, and old fashion pessimist. When talking about almost anyone in his life there is almost nobody that seemed to have inspired him. However, (besides sports heroes) there are only a few exceptions, well there are really two; two brothers. When my father talks about John and Robert Kennedy (especially Robert) his face lights up, he smiles, and his eyes look 30 years younger. There haven’t been any public figures in my entire life that has ever made me feel that sense of inspiration, brought on by their personal confidence, intellect, and convictions, that Robert Kennedy apparently brought to entire generation. A true leader, whose own convictions are those of the people, and who had the ability to convey his ideas and see them thought. No public figure I know meets that simple standard. I recognize that the media has played a role in forcing public figures to be especially conservative with their thoughts and their policies. The media’s intense search and focus on any negative, no matter how trivial, had forced public figures to only say something approved of already. I hope that this is the case for people our most current set of Presidential Candidates, as it would be too sad to think that they actually only believe in the genetic, safe, solutions that they show on debates and in their lives. Sadly, I can only hope that they really have good ideas, meant to promote progress, but are scared to share them. Since I have no first experience with a moral, realistic, progressive leader who transcends the pubic and just stated by they believe; and I am left with just hidden hopes. Even Bill Clinton, who I thought was an exceptional President, does not inspire me. As an Executive of our government he was more than I could have hoped for, but as a leader, he was just ordinary. Maybe it isn’t time yet, maybe those special people come only once in a generation, and I will wait for the person that I can talk to Molly about with the same delight that my father talks about those two departed brothers.

Jets and Cars

2007-09-10T13:50:00.001-04:00

I am a Jets Fan. The Jets had a great season last year. The Jets will have another great season this year. Two of those sentences are true, the other is sadly all wrong. Last year the Jets had one of the easiest schedules in the history of the NFL and beating only one team with a winning record all season. In 2007, it they play a much harder schedule, and their team is only slightly improved. I’m realistically predicting 6-10, and optimistically going with 8-8. They can only go so far with no offensive line, no defensive line, only one cornerback and one safety, and no tight end. A few weeks ago I thought that since this season was most likely not going to lead to a playoff game, why not trade their injury-prone QB (to a team like Atlanta) to a first or second round draft pick. Give the backup a chance, and build for the future. Of course, they would never do something like that, because professional sports executives are terrified of making bold moved because their job is at risk if it backfires (if they do nothing, they can blame others for the teams failures). Anyway, it has been one game, and already the Jets QB, Chad Pennington, has gone down with mild injury. Too late for trade now.

In other news, I need to get a new car. I am looking for a safe, reliable, 4-door, commuter car. I would like to spend under $20,000 and was thinking of a low-end Honda Civic. The American cars a cheaper and offer better financing, but how do they compare in reality to the foreign cars. Any helpful hints, suggestions, or ideas?

Life, the universe, and everything

2007-09-05T15:35:00.000-04:00

I was watching a show on life, the universe, and everything and several scientists said that finding life on other planets would be the greatest discovery in the history of man. Unless that life is intelligent to the point of being able to communicate with us, I couldn’t disagree more with these scientists. I see very little practical, metaphysical, religious, or scientific significance to finding random life on other planets. What are we going to learn? So we are not “alone” in the universe, so what? This will not disprove any part of any religious theory in any way. It will have no impact on life on this planet. And although it is an interested topic, why should we (as a nation) be spending money to explore something simple for the sake of exploration. Sure, I wouldn’t mind so much if there was nothing better to spend the money on, but as long as real problems like lack of clean drinking water, genocide, and poverty (on the global scale) exist maybe we would should focus our practical, metaphysical, religious, or scientific resources on fixing those. I love science, but public finds should reflect the needs of the public.

Stoned

2007-08-24T10:53:00.000-04:00

Last week Lindy, Molly, and I, along with my father, step-mother, and sister, were going to San Francisco to spent time with my brother, his wife and their three boys. The day before I was to leave on my vacation to the west coast I was going to write a blog about how I expected the trip to be just as stressful and relaxing. Traveling across the country with a toddler, family bickering, miscommunications, bad planning, and many other things seem to contribute to the stress of the “family vacation”. I didn’t finish the blog because I a family member might have read it and I wanted to seem as positive as possible. Well, here is a recap of the week (as a full description would take too long).

Day 1: We get to the airport at 1:00pm, expected to fly standby on a US Air flight at 3:30. We can fly free on US Air or very cheaply on another airline, always standby. Since it was a weekday afternoon we didn’t expect the planes to be packed. Well, they were. The 3:30 flight was full, the 4:00 was full. US Airways in running out of flight for the day and we decide to go from LaGuardia to JFK and try and get on a direct flight with another airline. Yada, Yada, Yada, it is now around 1:00am (12 hours since we got to the airport) and the very last flight to any San Francisco area airport is two hours delayed (a JetBlue flight). We only need one open seat, as Lindy can sit on a flight attendant jump seat, and Molly can stay on my lap. However, if there are two seats open another family has priority. Eventually, we luck out and we get the only remaining open seat. Five hours later, I haven’t slept a minute, and the plane is less than an hour away. I wake Molly up (so she might sleep later). She clamored for entertainment and the bottle of milk in the seat pocket. 30 minutes later, she throws up all (and I mean all) over me. Nice, happy, neverending puke. However, she feels ok, and is mostly concerned that he hands (and my pants, and shirt) and dirty. Since we are in the final approach we cannot get up to clean off or get paper towels. The milk must have gone bad, or so I had thought. Either way, it wasn’t too bad, I took off all my clothes in the plane and replaced with Lindy’s large scarf thing around my waist. Off to a good start.

Day 2: The nicest day of the trip. We went to the Exploratorium and had a nice dinner. Hooray.

Day 3: The following is the order in which people threw up, starting in the afternoon, ending around 6:00am the following morning. Ethan and Jared first threw up at the same time, although in different places. Followed by Ethan, Jared, Jared, Ethan, Ethan, Ethan, Jared…Mathew (around midnight), Glen, Katie, than me.

Day 4: Status: Ethan’s body feels “confused” and he doesn’t want to eat. Jared thinks he is ok, but then feels awful. Glen and I both feel completely drained and if the blood was removed from our bodies. Katie feels ok, but tired. Lindy takes care of everyone in the morning, than leaves with molly, to meet my dad, step-mother, and sister at a local fair. At night, I decide to meet Lindy at the fair to spend some time with her, but that was a big mistake as I end up to sick to keep up with them.

Day 5: Lindy wakes up with a sore throat. I’m tired by I actually feel better. The boys are feeling better. We are planning a trip somewhere. About 1:00 I feel I ting in my side, right were a cramp would be. Well, I haven’t eaten in two days and haven’t drank enough water, so I was dehydrated. Man, this is a bad cramp…ahhhhhhh! I can’t throw up, can’t go to the bathroom, can’t drank anything, and this pain is intensifying quickly. Children running everywhere, Lindy is sick, and I feel like a cherry bomb went off inside me. Lindy says it is a cramp and it will go away. Eventually, everyone but Lindy and I leave the house. I am sweating, shivering, screaming, yelping, falling downs, yelling at everything that tried to interact with me. Do I go to the hospital? What can they do if it’s just a cramp (and we don’t have a car, we would have to call an ambulance). This is the worst pain I’ve ever felt, it was like body was imploding and it lasted for four hours until my father finally returned and rushed me to the hospital. I’m going to skip the good and the bad of the hospital, but urine tests showed blood, this was a kidney stone! A theory is that when I threw up, I shook loose a 2mm calcium crystal that was stuck to the inside of my kidney. The “stone” tried to pass through my urinary tract, but the combination of my dehydration and the size of the stone, cause the stone to get stuck. We don’t know the cause, but pain lessened around 5:00pm to just unbearable and continued to ease over the next few hours (with the help of two IVs). The stone had probably passed, but then again it may just be in a good place “for now”.

Day 6: I kinda feel ok, although every few minutes I feel a slight twinge in my side, which scares the hell out of me as I feel the stone is back. But the day goes by ok. Lindy and Molly go to visit friends. Glen is at work, and my dad and I spend time with glen’s kids, playing baseball. I don’t think anything horrible happened, but 98% of my attention was on that twinge (the other 2% was the pain killers waiting in my pocket).

Day 7: It’s all over. I am going to try to get on the same plane my dad is so he can drive me home in New York. I would like to leave my car at the airport for Lindy and Molly who are going to LA for a few days to see her family. The flight has so much space that I get a ticket quickly. No delays, no weather, the airport problems, and flight goes as smooth as possible. No traffic on the way home. Besides day 2, this was the best day of the trip. And my vacation end, not a minute too soon.

For next year, I’m going to the Caymans. My family is welcome to join me there.

Addendum: From Lindy who continued on with the vacation after I headed back east...

"The next day Molly and I left for my parent's house where I assumed, wrongly, the curse would end. Luckily I only stayed a couple of days. On day one my suitcases were completely covered in ants to the point that I had to remove every single item, on day two I gashed my head open on a car door. On day three we flew home. It took about 15 hours and three flights. When we arrived our luggage was missing, molly was crying that she wanted to go on another plane and when we finally arrived at the car our battery was dead."

Choices and Consequences

2007-08-09T16:05:00.000-04:00

Me: “Molly, eat your noodles.”
Molly: “No, I don’t want to. I want to eat green beans.”

Me: “Molly, let’s go play with your crayons.”
Molly: “I don’t want do, I want to read books.”

Me: “Ok, this is the last running tackle hug”.
(Molly runs and gives me a hug, knocking me over)
Molly: “One more, want one more tackle hug please.”

I tell Molly to do something and she says no; however, she offers an alternative choice that is better or at least equal to the one I made. Do I stick with my original edict or do I give in? Should I look at the choices and reevaluate based on what is possible and what will make us all happiest, or will that lead to her always thinking she can make the decisions (or that my orders are flexible and not set in stone). Then again, if I stick to my original decision and decide to never change it, maybe she will think I am inherently unfair or that I just make bad choices. I want to be consistent, but I also want to be flexible, is that possible?

I have conversations like every day with Molly and for the most part I give in to what she wants or become come to some kind of compromise. For example, before bed, she will want to watch a show and when it is over she will want another one. And although I said it was the last one, I have the choice of either giving in, having her cry, or maybe a compromise (such as two more minutes, or even ten more seconds (which is surprisingly effective). At this point, it is easier and quicker to get her to sleep if I give her some extra comfort and avoid her melting down. But will that lead to her asking for more and more and always thinking she can bend the rules.

It seems silly to deny my daughter happiness when it is so easy to provide. However, it also seems silly that she cries if she we stop watching little bear before it is over. I think I am hoping that if we make her happy, without sacrificing my own happiness, than it is a good choice. As for the long term consequences, I am just hoping that we teach her not to ask for unreasonable things and that her meltdowns last less than ten minutes (currently they last about five minutes). Any suggestions?

Just be Yourself

2007-07-17T15:57:00.000-04:00

Losing almost always feels bad, but it usually feels even worse when you didn’t trust your instincts and tried to win doing something unnatural. I am dubbing this situation, now and forever, as pulling a “Howard Dean”. When Howard Dean ran for President, he started as the maverick who wore his feelings on his sleeve and spoke his mind. After one of the first primaries didn’t go his way, he gave an animated, inspirational, and somewhat awkward speech to his supporters; however, the media and the public saw his rant and non-presidential and a little crazy and this is where Howard Dean decided to go against his natural personality and try to highlight his professionalism and civility. This coincidentally, in my opinion, significantly contributed to him getting crushed. I have to think that Howard Dean sits up at night thinking that if he was just true to his own personality he could be President now. This failure applies to all walks of life. If I am playing tennis and I go for a weak shot, trying to be too consistent, and I miss, I am more upset that than if I went for a solid shot and missed (and I am a power player and not a consistent player). Likewise a consistent player would be more upset if he best for a winner. I was thinking about this because John McCain is doing the exact same thing that Dean did (which I have written about before), and there was a good article about it in Time Magazine.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1642900,00.html

If you can’t win by being yourself, than you’re still not going to win by being someone else.

Tennis

2007-07-11T17:15:00.002-04:00

I have been playing tennis since I was a little kid. When I first started, my uncle Kenny decided to make me a lefty. It is true that I write with my left hand, but my dominate strength hand is clearly my right hand. One of the reasons that the switch to lefty was made was that my lefty backhand (which is very similar to a righty baseball swing) was naturally great from the start. I would try to hit my backhand every shot, which was a more consistent and more powerful shot than anyone my age (or even a few years older) could produce. The downside was that my left arm was so weak that I couldn’t hit a decent forehand or serve. I was a completely one dimensional players, but it served me well as I was always a very good player. As I grew up I unsuccessfully tried many different forehands and serves; however, they all sucked. But with my backhand I was still likely to smack one right into my opponent’s gut (which helped me out as I played tennis all four years in High School). Around the time I was going to college, I began to develop a decent first serve, and I got in leagues at Albany (since they didn’t have a real team). And all this time, I was playing tennis as much as I could with my brother, who was always better than me. Even when I moved to the city, I still managed to play in a USTA league. I even started using a two-handed forehand, which I had tried and failed several times before, but this time it was working decently, not good, but decent. But a few years ago, my brother moved to California and then I got married and Molly was born. Thus most of my free time, and my most constant tennis partner, were gone. I maybe played twice over two years. About two months ago, my dad decided to give me a gift, he would pay for me to join a USTA league near his house. It was a package deal that also included a weekly clinic (which I really needed to get my timing back). The league was for players ranked 3.5, and I used to play at a very slightly higher 4.0 level, but since I hadn’t played for so long I would it was appropriate. Well, in the time that I stopped playing, there must have a shift in the earth’s polarity, or I slipped into a another dimension because I was not playing bizarro tennis. My backhand, the best part of my game since I was 5 was terrible, but my serve and forehand were good. And in the past few weeks, but serve and forehand was become even better, while my backhand is just horrible. I am actually running around my backhand to smash forehand. For weeks I was so confused by this twist, and kept thinking everything would switch back or was even hopeful my backhand would get back to normal and my forehand would stay good. However, the whole thing was very unnerving and overall I played iffy at best. Two weeks ago I played a doubles match again a team that was clearly not a good, but I was just horrible, hitting weak shots and not having any confidence. (I have always had a tendency to play down to bad opponents for up to better ones, but this was horrible, even though we won the match.) This match really bothered and I vowed never again. I went into my last match with a completely different attitude, which was “What would a solid 4.0 player to these people, he would crush them, not win, but crush them, and that I how I need to be”. No more just hitting it over soft (even it that is the best way to win against poor opponents), but I must play like they are better than me. I have to hit good shots, not just shots. It was a great match, even though my partner played horrible. I felt like I was on the wrong court and that it was a mistake and that I shouldn’t be at this level (which I proved by my play). Anyway, I hope I can maintain this attitude even when I hit a rough patch as I know it is the way towards played better, which makes the whole game much more fun. Now, if only my backhand was as good as it was when I was seven I would be there.

Ignore this image, I am using it for test purposes

The Sopranos

2007-06-26T17:28:00.000-04:00

If the entire Sopranos series was the world series...

Game 1 – It was a subway series, everyone favorite type of game, Yankees vs Mets. Well I missed the first few innings, but everyone called me, telling how great a game it was, and so I switched in on. And they were right, it was superb. Plays were executed perfectly, rivalries and personalities dominated. So what if Joe Torre came out every other inning to talk to Roger Clemens about his feeling; the game was filled in triple plays, home runs, in even Yankee outfielder, Melky Cabrera decided to switch teams in the 8^th inning, only to get hit by a Clemens pick two innings later. Yankees win 6-5.

Game 2 – Another great matchup, Pedro Martinez vs Andy Petite. Pedro is pitching a perfect game, getting some great defensive plays. I just can’t take my eyes off the TV. I relish every inning. Pedro loses the perfect game in the ninth when his wife distracts him Derrick Jeter gets a cheap bunt hit. Pedro than hits the next two batters in the head as a message to Jeter. Mets win 1-0.

Game 3 – What is going to happen? Will the Mets hit Jeter? I’m so excited. Hmm, the Yankee are wearing pink uniforms, interesting. Hmm, they spend the entire second inning having an interview with Pedro’s wife. Wait a minute, is that Clemens warming up in the bullpen, is he going to pitch again? Look over into the Mets dugout, Beltran and Green are fighting. Wait, why are they interviewing A-rod’s wife now? What happened to the fight? Ok, so far the game in is unwatchable, errors everywhere and Mets have been sold to Oprah, who wants to appeal to more women. So now Dr. Phil is on the mound talking about anger. I keep watching hoping to at least see what happened in the fight, but nothing. And what happened to Clemens? I watch every inning hoping for a glimpse or game 1 or 2, but in the end, they call the game because of rain.

Games 4, 5, and 6. – I don’t watch one inning. People keep telling how great the game is, that A-rod hit a huge home run. That Torre is going to bench Posada. But they don’t talk about they spend more time of the player’s families than the actual game. How every inning starts off great, but then they just end the inning before 3 outs, never seeing what would have happened.

Game 7 – This is going to be the last game and everyone is talking about, but I still don’t care. I’m flipping channels and I turn to game and it is in the 7^th inning. There is no score, not that the score is 0-0, but that they no longer keep score because they kept screwing it. They are now talking about how Posada has been on the Mets payroll all along. You know that the manager Joe Torre and Posada are very close, they are like an uncle and nephew. You would just think that Joe is crying when he thinks of how Posada betrayed him, and in a moment that could be baseball history, Joe quietly replaces Posada with a backup. He never comforts Posada, he never even seems sad, in fact he gets more excited when ordering a pizza. Meanwhile, on another channel, there is an NFL game (NFL = the series The Shield). They have the almost exact situation, except that you can see how the coach is agonizing over the decision, he doesn’t want to take him out, but he has to, for his family (only to later find out that the player wasn’t a traitor and that he kicked him off the team for nothing.)

So it’s the ninth inning, score ties at 5. It’s been a horrible game, but the fans before to acknowledge it, they just keep talking about the one or two decent plays. Jeter leads off with a single. They spend the next five minutes showing a Mets player in the dugout pondering which batting glove in case he gets in the game. White gloves or black glove? Wait, the player in a pitcher so nevermind. So now A-rod it up, the biggest challenge to Mets winning the game. It’s a tough at-bat, A-rod hits a bomb that is just foul. What will the Mets do? Mets’ manager Willie Randolph walks over to Yankee’s bench Coach Don Mattingly and asks how to get A-rod out. Don Mattingly, who seemed to be loyal to the Yankees, says “low a change-up low and away” with blinking an eye. Next pitch, A-rod strikes out on a changeup. At this point I just think the players are lazy and don’t care about the fans. Anyway, bases are empty…what happened to Jeter, I guess they didn’t care about telling about that either. At this point, the fans are demanding that the game end somehow, just let someone win or lose. It is looking good, the Mets have traded for and brought in former pitcher Ugueth Urbina. Urbina was in Venezuelan jail serving 14 years for attempting to kill people with a machete. Urbina pulls a machete out and yells that any Yankee who gets a hit will get his throat cut. Man, something good is going to happen. Johnny Damon is at bat and it looks like he is going to try to get a hit even if it means certain death. He comes the pitch…wait, Damon calls timeout. Ok, here comes the pitch, wait another timeout. Ok here comes the pitch…wait another time out. It looks like Damon is ready. Urbina looks ready, but tense. He is covered with sweat, and his eyes...

Lipka

2007-06-19T16:06:00.000-04:00

My whole life I thought that “Lipka” was a Polish for lemon tree. Well, that is close to true, but a random Wikipedia search (and some follow up) found that Lipka was much more.

First, Lipka is a village in Poland in wielkopolska province, near Zlotow city. It is the center of a rural commune in Zlotow County. Lipka has approximately 2,300 inhabitants.
Here is a nice map of the area. http://www.lipka.pnet.pl/mapa.gif

History:
- Between 1772-1918 year under the administration department of the Prussian seizure.
- From 1919-1945 (after the Versailles regulation) it was ruled by the Germans and was called Linde.
- In 1945, after WW2, it became part of Poland.

Furthermore, Lipka has an excellent website, http://www.lipka.pnet.pl/.

I wonder if there are others with the last name Lipka running around the village; maybe there are all named Lipka; or did my family take this name the same way the Corleone’s did. Maybe if I went back they would be made king, maybe not. But they would have my name on the local university, and the buildings throughout the village, so that has got to be worth something.

There is also Swieta Lipka is a tiny village in the north of Poland, and despite its size it is well known - as a religious centre and a pilgrimage site. In fact, it is one of the most celebrated in the country. Click on this link for images a famous and beautiful church in town http://www.ga.com.pl/lipka1.htm.

Apparently, the name Lipka is derived from the old Crimean Tatar name of Lithuania. The record of the name Lipka in Oriental sources permits us to infer an original Libķa/Lipķa, from which the Polish Lipka was formed, with possible contamination with the Polish lipka “small lime-tree”; this etymology was suggested by the Tatar author S. Tuhan-Baranowski. A less frequent Polish form, Łubka, is corroborated in Łubka/Łupka, the Crimean Tatar name of the Lipkas up to the end of the 19th century.

Which leads us directly to the “Lipka Tatars”. They followed Sunni branch of Islam and their origins can be traced back to the descendant states of the Mongol Empire of Ghengis Khan.

A quotation from a jarłyk of Khan Mechmed Gerej I to King Zygmunt I, dated 22 October 1520 reads: "Our father Mengli Geraj, Hadji Geraj, and the ancient khans entertained friendly relations with the Polish king Wladislaw and with Dawud, the Great Bey of Lipka (libkanum beyi – in Tartaric), as well as with the Polish king Casimir and with the Great Bey of Lipka. We demand from the countries of Lipka and Poland 15,000 florins. The countries of Lipka and Poland are of equal value to us, and their enemies are also ours." Furthermore, the Great Bey of Lipka was, of course, Witold [Vytautas], Grand Duke of Lithuania.

And when did the Lipkas come to the US, well according to Ancestry.com, there were around 40 Lipka families in the US in 1880, mostly in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. By 1920, there were 100 Lipka families in 22 states (including New York, Pennsylvania, and a few even got to California. Lipka mostly stayed out the “red” states, except a family in Texas and in Arkansas). Perhaps the first Lipka in the US (she was the oldest Lipka living in the US as of 1880) was Louisa Lipka was born in 1812 (married to August Lipka and had six kids)

The first record I found of my actual family was in 1930. Living in the Bronx, a newlywed couple, each only 22-years old, filled out a census form. It was my grandfather Morris, and my Grandmother Genesse, trying to live the American Dream. And from this young couple, many a Lipka were born, the family lemon tree blossomed and 23 with Lipka blood in their veins would walk the earth.

Modern times has also brought us a rock band called Lipka, and now there Lipka.com, which is a self-proclaimed cyber-office.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipka_Tatars
http://www.staypoland.com/about_swieta-lipka.htm
http://www.szlachta.org/2selim.htm
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=7&ln=Lipka&fn=&yr=1880

Ethics and the Political Party

2007-06-11T16:23:00.000-04:00

During a public policy ethics class at Columbia, we listed several unethical offspring of the democracy. Of course there were the ones you would expect, like corruption, but one you might not expect was the very existence of political parties. Political parties are, by their nature, unethical, because of they remove one’s own believes and replace it with that of the party (and the party bureaucracy). Nothing could have demonstrated this more clearly than during the republican convention when an audience member asked “what is the most important moral issue in the county?”. A few candidates answered, either citing the right to life (for all people, not just those in the womb) or the war on terror. One candidate said the most pressing moral issue was singular the protection on unborn babies. He was immediate asked if he would support Rudy Giuliani (who is the only pro-choice candidate) if he was the republican nominee. The candidate tried to side-step the answer saying the republicans won’t nominate him, but in the end he said “I will support my party’s candidate”. So he would betray the most important moral issue in the country because his party told him so. He could have said, “If there is another pro-life candidate I will vote for them, if not I’d rather Mr. Giuliani to the Democrat’s choice”. At least I would have respected his dedication to something he believes in, but political parties have instilled a vast moral corruption in our national government. The democrats are no better, not one democrat has called for impeachment. Why? Because the Democratic Party has a strangle hold on its members. And some other ethnical issues, this one is impossible to solve. Political parties have more power than any individual person. They control wealth, contacts, and the media. I can’t blame them for existed, or for people who choose to associate themselves with a political party, but I draw the metaphysical line when someone goes against their own believes because their party has a different believe.

And here is a quote that I had to look up for you so I could transcribe it exactly. Former Governor and current Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee said “I think the people of America are pretty smart. And the fact is, they know that if they have excessive taxation and a tax system that literally steps on their head, and they have a regulation system that makes it very difficult for our businesses to compete… “Literally steps on their head” LITERALLY! I am certainly not very particular when it comes to grammar, but this one really bothers. He used a word 100% wrong, in fact he should use a word that means the exact opposite of he said (i.e. metaphorically). His words literally made my head explode, literally!

Molly’s 2nd Happy Birthday

2007-05-22T14:46:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, May 18, Molly celebrated her 2^nd Happy Birthday by playing with dolphins, seeing exotic animals, enjoying magical rides, and having dinner with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, and Princess Belle. And of course, to Molly’s greatest joy, she also spent the day with her cousin Robby. It was the last night that we would spend in Disney World and the perfect columniation of a perfect family vacation. Lindy, Molly, and I, along with all of Lindy’s immediate family, spend seven days in Orlando and enjoyed subdued whirlwind of family fun. We hit all the major theme parks, including Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, the Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, and Sea World. This was really Lindy and Molly’s vacation they were filled with thrilling happiness each day, which in turn made my vacation all the better. Furthermore, there wasn’t one major problem the whole time, in fact there was only one small minor issue to even mention, which was the worst all-you-can-eat lobster buffet ever (and Lindy complained and we only have to pay half, so it really wasn’t even that bad).

My favorite part of the vacation was feeding Molly dinner at her Happy Birthday party. She really wanted pizza (which she normally doesn’t like), but when it came she loved it. Real life princesses came by every few minutes and took pictures and hugged and kissed Molly (who was shy around them, but super excited before and after they came). We had seen seals earlier in the day and Molly was pretending to be one as I stuffed pizza in her mouth. I can’t type the sound that she makes impersonating the seal, but it was a blissful honking sound. She was so happy and I was too.

Videos are available at http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=molly+lipka&num=10&so=1&start=0

Now all my single, childless friends can feel free to throw up after reading this overly perky and chick-flick-esk blog.

capitalism with a lower case c

2007-05-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

molly knows almost all of her letters, that is to say that she knows almost all of her capital letters, which led me to think about the actual use of upper and lower case letters. after careful consideration, i have decided that upper case letters should be abolished. they have almost no purpose and think of the extra time that children will now have to learn about math, humanities, or taxes. when decided between capitals and lower case letters, i thought lower case letters were quicker to write and read, therefore they won. i am also adding into that category on unnecessary grade school skills, the ability to write in script. script is just a old-school font and i see no difference between teaching a child italics or times new roman. most people who write in script have horrible penmanship (with the exception of those who went to catholic school). and while i’m at it, why do we need bowling shoes, can’t they just require non-scuff shoes? i mention this because we took molly bowling a few days a ago and she had a really nice time, but it was relatively expensive. For just one game, it was $10 for each adult (including shoes) and $5 for molly (no shoes required).

in other news, the jets had an iffy draft. They got two starters, but traded up for them and thus lost precious additional picks.

along with “the office”, i have been (once again) watching “the shield”. both shows are great, but the shield is a bit overwhelming in its intensity. I don’t watch 24, but i imagine it is similar, except the shield is much better acted, more realistic, and has nobody named kiefer.

below you can find two charts of foreign countries who own u.s. security bonds, which is how our national debt is financed. in 2000, when george bush took over, we owed roughly $1,000,000,000,000 (that 1 trillion), the top two countries were japan at 317 billion and china at 60 billion. flash forward to february of this year and debt is well over 2 trillion (that’s an increase of 1,000 billions), with japan almost doubling to 617 billion, and china increasing their holdings by 5X to 416 billion. I have been reading “the coming china wars” (which is horrible, but more on that another time), and what is clear is the china does not care about the prosperity of the u.s. and will leverage the debt in their own interest (probably at our expense). below is a quick chart showing the debt and how it will look if it continues how it is going (only four countries included, which includes a conglomeration of “oil producing countries”). sorry for the poor quality, but blogger auto-formats it. i also projected out the data using an exponential trend line (which seemed appropriate). by 2010, just three years away, china will be the largest owner of u.s treasury bonds.

http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfhhis01.txt

Perfect

2007-04-18T17:17:00.000-04:00

Since I have been relegated to the vast emptiness of suburban New England, I rarely get to see my old friends and a good portion of my family. Many of my friends have only seen Molly once and some never at all, which is a travesty. Molly, like me, isn’t perfect, but she is amazing and I feel proud of my (and Lindy’s parenting) and I wish I could show everyone her multitude of cutenesses. Molly is a really little person; she talks in sentences, can count to ten (not just memorizing the numbers, but can actually count things), her vocabulary is beyond counting, she knows colors and songs and books and has begun to use her imaginations. She orchestrates vast pretend tea-parties and keep her tiny pretend turtle (named Maple) in her hands to pet and kiss. She knows the song “Fibber Island” is funny and can pick out the song “Middle of the Street” after two notes. She runs around and explores, although she is not a climber like her cousin Matthew and does seem to want to look inside places she shouldn’t go. She plays independently if we are busy, but prefer if we read her a book or engage in a quick game of roly-poly. She has learned to share, but stands up for herself if someone tries to take her toys (often to the quick destruction of the invading toddler). She loves animals and her favorite one is an anteater. She sleep s in a toddler bed and is sleeping through the night (from 8:30pm-6:00am). She understands since and compromises, “Molly, you can’t have Daddy’s Gatorade now” I say, to which she responds, “Molly ‘ave ‘atorade in 2 minutes, bits (bits is her term for wanted just a little bit more, and she is still leaving the first letter off most words (although she can make the sounds just fine)). She can talk on the phone and tell you about her day. She runs with glee and freedom and is a never ending source of blissful happiness. She is spoiled, but why shouldn’t she be. She is a kid and should enjoy every moment.

So if you are not happy all the time, you should come visit Molly (and possible Lindy and I).

Here are some milestone a normal two-year old might have...

- Walk alone – Has been doing this for a year

- Pull toys behind her – Has been pulling a full size, old school-style, wooden radio-flyer wagon for months.

- Carry a large toy while walking – If it is less than 10 pounds she can carry it.

- Stand on the tips of her toes – Ha! Piece of cake.

- Kick a ball – Kick, Catch, throw, no problem.

- Climb onto and off furniture – Do adults beds, couches, tables, and chair count, I think so.

- Walk up and down stairs, holding onto the railing, or your hand, for support – Easily.

- Scribble spontaneously – She is an artist.

- Turn containers over to empty out the contents – Turn them over, put them back, no problem.

- Build a tower of four or more blocks – I think her record for regular blocks is 8 or 9.

Ok, how about milestones for older kids, six months older.

- Uses pronouns (e.g., I, me, you) – She know this halfway.

- Walks with smooth heel-to-toe motion - She can’t moonwalk…yet, but walking is set.

- Washes and dries own hands – She stands of a stool, asks for soap, waits for the water to be “warm”, scrubs, and rinses.

- Speaks clearly most of the time. – She needs to work on that first letter thing, but give her a few weeks.

- Jumps with both feet –She can’t jump off the ground, but watching her try is superfun.

- Opens doors – One of her friends was over who loved to open doors and Molly has never tried before. It took her 10 minutes to learn.

- Understands descriptions (e.g., big, soft) – Big, soft, tall, little, hot, cold, colors, hard, scratchy, dirty, old, she knows them all.

- Starts to recognize ABCs – She know 18 letters by sight or sound and at least one word for each one.

- Balances on one foot – No problem for Molly

- Brushes teeth with help – She only needs help to get the toothpaste on the brush and then she goes to town.

- Draws a circle – I don’t know if she can do that yet

- Puts on a T-shirt – Can’t do this.

- Names one color – Ha!, she knows blue, purple, red, green, orange, yellow, and almost black, white, and brown.

- Names one friend – “Molly want did you do at school today” I say. “Look at Aden …Play with Skyler…music with Ms. Lorraine” she says. She was playing with some empty bottles in the kitchen and said “Austin’s bottle (she left it there weeks ago)…called Austin on phone now”.

I don’t want to say that Lindy and I have raised the perfect child, but it is quite possible that we have. Well, maybe once she lets us puts pig-tails in her hair without a fight.

Lonesome No More

2007-04-12T13:52:00.000-04:00

Even though my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut, died today, I am not sad, although I do feel very empty. I have read dozens of his books and essays and even went to see him speak as part of a panel at the 92^nd Street Y. I am a writer, and Kurt Vonnegut influenced me more than any other author I have encountered. Before Vonnegut I thought the writing had rigid rules that defined all things you could possible write about and if not for Vonnegut I never would have realized how limiting that could be. I will never forget reading one of his books and it was all building towards the plots climax, which would take place at a piano bar. I was excited to see what would happen and so was Vonnegut. In fact he was so excited that simple writing was happened wasn’t good enough, he actually wrote himself into the scene, not to be involved, but just so he could be that much closer to the characters. Vonnegut expressed himself through prose and comedy and let his mind flow free onto the paper. When I write like this I write very quickly and hate edited, but Vonnegut carefully crafted every word, making it sound perfect, often struggling days on a single phrase, but in the end it was so perfect that it seemed more natural that any other writing I have seen. He was funny, ironic, poignant, personal, and brave. He fought in World War II, was captured, and survived the Dresden bombing was hiding in a meat lock labeled Slaughterhouse 5. After the war, he struggled to get his works published, but didn’t stop writing even as he worked as a car salesman to pay the bills. Eventually, his books gained mainstream popularity and more best sellers followed. Some of his books were great, while others were only average. Some were political and some were too political, but no matter what they always had a feeling of freedom and creativity in their words that made them enjoyable to read.

At one point I had read 4 or 5 Vonnegut books in a row and would have read them all, but I felt that I should save them for special occasions. After a particularly boring book or tedious book, I’ll read one. When I am very sad, I will read one. When I am desperate for inspiration I will read one. Each one is like a remaining match in my pocket as I walk though a infinitely long and dark tunnel.

Good Bye, Kurt. Thank you for everything.

Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

VISTA and other thoughts

2007-03-28T10:37:00.000-04:00

Out of pure curiosity, and because it was free, I upgraded my computer to VISTA Pro. I have a very powerful, new computer, which was made to handle all of VISTA’s memory and graphics requirements. I know that VISTA just came out and I should wait six months before I installed it, but I just wanted to see what Microsoft spent five years building. Here is my quick review: the install was easy and only took about an hour. After using it for a week, the new features seem to be mostly aesthetic. There are fades and transparencies, and new interfaces; however, I turned off most of the superfluous animations and effects because it slows the computer down (in the same way the XP did). Besides that, nothing seems better or faster, which is what I really wanted. There are a few small glitches, like the color scheme changes from the one I choose to the VISTA default when I’m in a program. A few nice things include better search (more like Copernic, which I love) and a nice little sidebar with fun gadgets. However, I have come across one major problem, which is that neither of my network printers work. I tried to update the drivers, but it crashed the printers in a never ending stream of spooler errors (which won’t let me delete the printers and start over). Also, VISTA does not have Outlook Express, which I have used for years to get my hotmail. Outlook Express is great and it allows me to keep my personal email separate from my regular outlook. There is a replacement called Live Mail Desktop, but it’s not the same and it is designed with the absolutely horrible light blue skin that Microsoft seems to be using for everything. The old colors were not a sexy, but they made the product better. These last two very inconvenient issues basically make the entire upgrade have a negative impact.

Glen, how to you shut off the warning that VISTA gives me every time I do something. Man, the Apple commercials pegged that crappy feature. If I didn't want to make that change, I wouldn't have hit the button.

I heard on BBC world news that male circumcision reduces the chances of getting HIV by 60% according to legitimate clinical studies. How come this isn’t bigger news? 40,000,000 people worldwide have HIV.

Are you telling me there isn’t one US Senator or Congressman pushing for impeachment through the public media?

Gas is almost back to $3/gallon. I expect it to keep going up over the next two years. The problems in the Middle East are going to get worse and Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are going to want more money to protect themselves from instability emitted by the Iraq civil war. The US plan to withdraw troops next year is better than the current strategy; however, it is still a bad one. Here would be my strategy in a nutshell. 1) Ban all guns, grenades, and explosives. And buy them back from the people at prices they can’t resist. You can’t have peace when everyone is pisses off AND has an AK-47 on their nightstand, 2) Start replacing troops (who are trained to kill) with police (who are trained to protect), and engineers (demand that China and India to send engineers too), 3) Make the provision of full time electricity a top priority. However, I feel the only real long-term solution may be the dissolution of Iraq into a separate Kurdish country, a Shi’ite county (which we can call mini-Iran), and a Sunni province, which the US would need to invest a lot of money in and perhaps turn it into another country like Jordan or Egypt.

I keep having very vivid dreams, which I call HD dreams. However, they are very boring. What a waste.

15,778,440 minutes and counting; turning 30

2007-03-07T13:25:00.000-05:00

This Saturday, three days from today, will mark the 30th time I have traveled around sun. In that time, the earth has travelled a swift 17,530,086,987 miles, over the course of only 10,950 days.

I am having a hard time getting a handle on this seemingly large number, this number 30. It doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t seem possible. Growing up 30 seemed to be immersed in old-age, it was an age beyond youth, it was to be said in the same sentence as 40 or 50, but never with 20 or even 25. 30 year olds shouldn’t go out to bars, or play video games, or live in little NYC apartments, but although the number doesn’t seem right, I don’t do any of those anymore. I’m married and live in a house in Connecticut. I am a father. These are things in common with 40 year-olds, but not with 20 year olds. I have reached a weird stage of life where much of my future it already set, where some of the bug questions have already been answered. But I feel that I’m not ready, that it has happened too quickly, but it hasn’t been a flash of time. My 20s have been a moderate whirlwind of adventures and change. I don’t feel that I missed out on anything, but I also don’t feel like I accomplished everything I wanted. On the one side, I want to be young and free, but on the other side, I would have liked to achieve more success in my career by age 30. Perhaps I should try my mother’s trick of staying 29 years old. If I shaved my beard, I think I would have no problem convincing people for years to come, but I’m not sure I really want that either. I think I want the grown-up successes (to go along with my grown-up responsibilities). Well, maybe it doesn’t matter what I want, I am what I am. My body aches when I attempt to exercise, it takes weeks (not hours) to recover from injuries), I’ve already done most of the things that I could be doing, I have life insurance, I am getting older. What am I “old”?

“For a piece of fruit I am very old.For a mountain I have not yet begun to live.But for a man I am just right.”

Perhaps that is right, perhaps I am just right. Besides how old can I be, I still have my hair…for now.

DMV and another reason to abolish the US Senate

2007-02-12T10:07:00.000-05:00

Last week I had to pay $140 to change my driver’s license from New York to the Sperm Whale State (Connecticut’s state animal). My first issue is that it took a combined 2 ½ hours, over two days, to do 4 minutes of actual work (and the office wasn’t very busy, it was a Thursday and Friday morning). The first line only had four people in front of me and the entire purpose was to enter your basic information into a computer and check your IDs. On that note, I needed a passport and my NY Driver’s License; why isn’t my NY License good enough as I needed my passport to get that the first time. I also needed a utility bill with my name and new address on it. That’s nice, except I would create a fake one in about 10 minutes with a scanner and Photoshop. Nevertheless, it took people on average 15 minutes just to do this and this does not include the mandatory 5-10 minute break each employee must take after each person is served. Also, they didn’t have a number system, where you get there, take a number, sit and wait. I had to wait in a line, which I didn’t because I had Molly with me, but was lucky enough that the other people in line didn’t mind (but why should they have to stand either). By the time I got through this Molly had had enough and I was told I could come back the next day. The next day I came back and after waiting a while I had to show all my information again (although they had photocopies now on file). The next person checked my computer file and found two typos, and there are only five lines of information, but at least she found them. Then I had to sit again before my picture was takes. Ohhh, I forgot I had to pay $40 for an eye test, which took 30 seconds. So I was waiting and I was watching the picture-taker guy carefully. He would take a picture (10 seconds), hit a button on a computer (4 seconds), then chat with someone for five minutes and which time the ID would be printed and he would call a name, than he would wait 10 minutes before calling the next person. He could have taken everyone’s picture in 15 minutes and printed them all out in another 15 minutes and the room would be cleared, but no it had to take 20 minutes per person. Finally, I was done and what did I get? In reality I got nothing I didn’t already have. Why does each state have different licenses? The rules for driving are basically the same and even in places where they are different it could still be noted and enforced. For example, you can’t drive in NYC until you are 18, but they don’t have a separate New York license. There are talks of a national driver’s license, but congress keeps trying to make it an anti-terrorism card as opposed to a simplified license. Although the DMV is much, much better than it used to be, it is still horrible inefficient. Some offices have better system, while others are in the stone age. For example, around 8 years ago I got driver’s license updated in Albany; I was in and out in 20 minutes and that include them taking 6 digital pictures and letting me choose which one I liked. The government monopoly over the DMV system has lead to the classical economic problems of high prices and low quality.

Should the system be privatized, well I don’t think so; I just think there should be some accountability and added systems to improve capacity. Secondly, I think that there should be a federal driver’s license, but I realize that is a long shot, instead, states that have similar regulation should form regional driver’s license. There is no reason the tri-state area should have one set of rules. How will this get done? For the first 10 years all the money that is saved will become bonuses for DMV employees and government officials. Yes, I want to bribe them, it’s for the public good. Ok, I’ve written enough. Well, one last question, if there was no US Senate or Electoral College (both of which I am very much against) would state’s consider combining their governments? How much tax payer money would be saved by dismissing an entire bureaucracy?

Mommy/Daddy

2007-02-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I taught Molly how to run from the other side of the room to me, arms open wide, and throw herself at me in a giant wave of hug. This is one of those classical Daddy things that really makes me feel good (along with her walking next to me, reaching up and grabbing my pointer finder and holding hands as we stroll along). Well, Molly played run and hug Daddy about a dozen times without tiring. Lindy wanted part of the action and so Molly would take turns running to each of us, and one time we asked who she is running to next, she said "mommy/daddy" and ran to both of us (Lindy and I were on the floor next to each other). I have become 1/2 of the single entity known as mommy/daddy (no pause in between words). If you ask Molly who she loves, she will say mommy/daddy. However, if you ask who's the best, she has rightfully modifies her answer to mommy/daddy/molly. We are all one. Resistance is futile.

Water and Dreams

2007-02-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

With words like "water" and "dream" in my google search I couldn't find anything close to what I was looking. Over the past year I have noticed that when I drink a glass of water right before I go to bed I have much more vivid, realistic dreams (And by realistic, I mean that there is some order to the people and objects and not just random colors or flashes on something I experienced). The more water I drink, the more vivid my dreams become. I even had a lucid dream, which is when I realize I'm dreaming, actively decide not to wake up, and continue to dream with Matrix-like powers with my mind. Of course, the down side is that when I have bad dreams, they are really bad, and as evidenced by my recent nightmare (see a few posts ago), the lows are just as extreme as the highs. So I am left with the daily decision to drink a glass of water before I go to bed. It's a tough call. Any advice? Do you find that drinking water (I am only affected by water and not soda or juice) changes the quality of your dreams? Do an experiment tonight, drink at least one large glass of water and try to remember if there was any difference.

Time flies when you're having fun

2007-01-31T10:58:00.000-05:00

I apologize for not blobbing over the last several months, but here are the things I can remember (in no particular order)…

Now that the democrats have gained some power, why don’t they have an actual, tangible agenda.

NFL kickers are horrible underpaid. Adam Vinatieri, perhaps the best, clutch kicker of all time, in his prime is getting 2,509,000. 23 Running backs get paid more including Taylor Chester. 33 Receivers get paid more, including Reggie Williams who gets more the 6 million a year.

Molly can do anything. She can run, jump, play hide-and-seek, count to ten, knows about 15 letters, can repeat anything, can eat yogurt with a spoon, talk in sentences, star in puppet shows, tackle other children and dogs, enjoys jokes, bargains with me, puts money in a piggybank, colors, paints, spins, and a hundred other things. She is also pretty close to being able to ride a tricycle. She is also very creative for a little kid. I was doing an improvisation of this little piggy went to town, by changing it to this little piggy ate this or that. After I was done, Molly took my hand to play the game with me. I started by saying, “this little piggy ate…” and I waited as she thought of an answer. In a whisper I suggested corn, which is something she had for dinner, but she would have no part of my suggestions, she wanted to think of something completely new on her own. She thought and thought and after a minute or two, she tentatively said “ba-na-na”. Ohh, the joy in her eyes and in mine. My little girl is a creative genius.

Work is really busy. My project has three main part, research, a data book, and a database. I spend the last year doing research and am 95% done, but I had to start the other two parts in early January and now I have all three going at the same time. I work almost non-stop from the moment I get here to the moment I leave (with the exception of writing in my blog). My deadline is July and I think I am in good shape, but it is a bit overwhelming for the moment.

I don’t want Hillary to be President, I don’t the idea of family legacies in government.

We went to California for the holidays and it was really nice. I even got to fly up to see my brother and his family for the Jets game (the one in Miami which the Jets won).

Do you think if we spend the money that we spent in Iraq on find a way to utilize the power of sun, wind, and tides we would have succeeded already, or perhaps it might take another month or so. On that note we are still spending at least 1.1 billion on each stealth bomber, perhaps that money would be better spent on schools, roads, hospitals, or energy. And I don’t even mean in the US, let’s spend that money in Iraq or Afghanistan (or any other impoverished nation). We can have a bomber designed to evade the detection of the Soviet Union or give people who currently hate us one small reason not to. I think this actually defends our county better than the bomber and isn’t that the purpose of the department of “defense”. If you look at certain how certain fundamentalists groups, such as Hamas, gained local popularity and power, it is not only based on religious ideology, but directly on the fact that they were the only ones provided schools and hospitals.

Ok, enough for today, I’ll try to write more often.

Dreams

2007-01-31T10:20:00.000-05:00

Pain, Anguish, Manic Denial, and Fear. Those are the words I would use to describe the dream I had last night. It was the saddest I had ever been first within the dream and then after I woke up. I have never been an emotional person and would say that I had never experienced any real, knock-you-on-your-face grief, but the feelings the shivered through my body and soul last night were overwhelmingly horrific and sad. Without going into too much detail (even though much of the dream in still echoing in my mind with full clarity), in the dream, Molly was some kind of very small toy-like thing and I looked away and when I turned back she was broken. In fits of anger and denial, I fought through tears to try to fix her, but nothing was working. I kept trying and wailing out every moment that I failed, as others looked down on me with confused pity. They didn’t know this toy was Molly, they didn’t know “that I spent more time with her over the past year than any of you spent with anyone”, which I cried out only to realize immediately that it was true. When I woke up, I knew it was all a dream, but the feelings were still there and the sadness felt like a crushing weight all over my body. I still feel the lingering shadows of the dream many hours later, but there is now something else. Now there is empathy, now I have a small glimpse into the pain the others have felt (which much be exponentially worse) and I want to comfort them somehow. I’m not sure who I want to help or what happened, I just know that I feel terrible wrong today.

Paris – Part 2

2006-09-25T12:48:00.000-04:00

On my weekend get-a-way to Paris, our little group was walking along the outskirts of a very famous artists’ marketplace and we saw a young collage-age girl playing a musical instrument on the corner. She was a good looking white girl, dresses nicely and obviously trying to make a few Euros by playing music. A man was talking to her in a very serious voice and she looked quite distressed. Lindy’s friend, a French woman who has lived in Paris all her life said to me in a frustrated tone, “That man works for the government and is making her leave [because she doesn’t have a permit], they are such racists”. I was taken back by her racist comments as the woman and the undercover police officer were both white. She explained to me that the French police often target the respectable looking white people because “they don’t want any trouble”. That the ethnic minorities were aloud to get away with more because the police feared that if they tried to interfere there might be problems. I explained that this was somehow the opposite in the US, where police often target minorities because they perceive them a potential problems. I am still trying to figure out the sociological implications and reasoning behind the different police tactics, and it makes me wonder about other societies and how they deal with similar issues.

Paris – Part 1

2006-09-12T15:30:00.000-04:00

Lindy, Molly, and I decided to jet off to Paris for the weekend. We left Friday and came back Monday; this being one of the great benefits of being married to a Flight Attendant. I had never been to Paris and it was a rushed, but very good experience.

Part 1 – Notre Dame – Three Quick Thoughts
As we walked through one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, Notre Dame de Paris, I was amazed, awed, inspired, and curious. The stained glass was pure and bright, the details intricate and beautiful, the rooms were original and functional. Notre Dame implored many emotions, but one thing that it seemed to completely miss was joy. Nobody was smiling, nobody laughed, nobody looked happy. There was no joy in the art or in those stone walls. I noticed this half through my walk inside and at the end I mentioned it to Lindy, and as I did, I noticed the two people in front of us smiling, their faced filled with joy and love, and I thought my theory was quickly proven wrong. But they weren’t smiling at the statues, or the message of that day’s mass, or even beautiful stained glass. They were smiling at Molly. Notre Dame must have cost millions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours of work. It is a symbol of god and the church and it is managed by hundreds of artisans and staff, but it still could not provide something that a single child gives to those around them. In the end, I wonder which is really the temple of god.

Off to the side of the main Chapel of Notre Dame you can pay three Euro (two if you are a student) to view some specialty objects that the church has collected. There were Saint’s robes, old bibles, diamond encrusted crowns, and golden statues. There was one particular display that caught my attention, on one side it was a small plague of Jesus on the cross. He had no special clothes, wore no honorary garb, had no jewelry of any kind; he was without any material possession. Next to the statue was the ring of a pope with a jewel as wide as a golf ball. And I wondered how did the image of god’s messenger go from a man with no possessions to one that wore that ring.

In front of one room was a sign that asked patrons to donate money to help maintain the house of god that is Notre Dame. I saw this sign, looked up at those rose glass windows, glanced at the priceless paintings that hung on every wall, and thought of crown they displayed with hundred on diamonds in it. Then I thought of the people in Southeast Asia whose villages were destroyed in the Tsunamis a few years ago. Who really needs some money for their house, the homeless person wiped out by an act of nature or the Catholic Church (with assets over $100 billion). Of course if the Church was using all their resources to help such people that would be a different story, it made me wonder how much that Pope’s ring would fetch on ebay.

Ode to Pluto

2006-08-24T12:13:00.000-04:00

(After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. FULL STORY.)

Ode to Pluto
Once you were so big,
The hero of the Kuiper Belt.
You shared the podium equally with the giants of the solar system,
You were one of the nine great balls of dirt or gas that circle our sun.
Alas, through no fault of your own, you are vanquished,
Never to be a “planet” again, never to be a hero.
You were just too small, too squashed, too far away.
You are too cold, too lonely, too 1930s.

Poor poor Pluto, you are just some icy nothingness now,
Your once proud place in history is no more….OR
Perhaps I shall choose to have hope in you, my Pluto.
Perhaps you shall not die so quietly,
Perhaps you will fight back.
So if you can hear me, I challenge you to defy the odds once again,
Gather passing dust with the arm of your gravity,
Convince your icy brethren to live on your surface,
Regain your shape and your luster, spin faster and hotter, grow larger and larger, but do not give up because some planet-elitists tell you that you aren’t good enough, do not set silently into that dim horizon, but fight on for your rightful place among the greatest of all the balls of dirt.

You may not yet meet some definition of what you seek to be, but to me, in my heart, you will always be the ninth planet.

Team of Rivals

2006-08-15T17:45:00.000-04:00

Team of Rivals, Team of Rival, Team of Rivals; thatss all I have been reading for months. This book never wanted to end. This poly-biography was the story of the four men who campaigned for the Republican Presidential ticket in 1960. They were William Seward (the statesman from New York), Salmon P. Chase (the radical abolitionist), Edward Bates (the conservative family man), and Abe Lincoln (the unknown rail-splitter). It seems like hundreds of pages were dedicated to the men before the Republican convention and they were grueling to say the least. Since I didn’t know much about three of the four men, I couldn’t put their youth into any context. Anyway, Lincoln was chosen at the convention and ran for and won the Presidency. The name of book, Team of Rivals, was appropriate because once Lincoln was in office, he choose his cabinet members from all political backgrounds, including all three of his former advisories. The story goes on and on, through the Civil War and vast political struggles. I did learn a lot from this book, like that several southern states seceded from the Union the day Lincoln got elected (only to temporary come back into the Union before leaving once again). Perhaps the most interesting thing in the book was the detailed portrayal of Lincoln’s personality. I can say without hesitation that Abraham Lincoln was a great man. He was strong, caring, empathetic (almost to a fault), passionate, and morally resolute. He was “bound to no man” and made the choices he thought were right. But it was his empathy for those around him, his ability to truly listen and understand made him a rare leader. He empathized with his enemies in the South, not wanting to punish anyone, but only to have the union back together in peace. He was a leader, but listened wholeheartedly to those around him. He understood the nature of the common people and was famous for his ability to communicate (both written and in speeches) complex ideas in simple, yet passionate ways. Before he made his Gettysburg Address, another famous speaker spent two hours talking about the battle and what it meant. After Lincoln’s short address, the previous speaker admitted that Lincoln was able to communicate everything he said (and more) in just a few minutes. The book never seemed to end and I don’t want to write forever about it. Overall, Team of Rivals is a good book for those with a moderate interest in history (I don’t suggest it for those with no interest or serious interest in history). It was written in a straightforward, somewhat biased manner. The author tried too hard to include every little story about all the other players involved (i.e. Kate Chase, Mary Lincoln, Edwin Stanton); it just made the story lose any sense of rhythm. Overall, I give Team of Rival a B-. I just try not to think of all the other books I could have read in the time that this one festered. Now, in order to decompress, I am reading a Vonnegut book that I haven’t read yet (and there aren’t manner) called Mother Night. I should finish it very quickly, but so far it lacks the wit, creativity, and metaphysics that made Kurt Vonnegut great.

My name is Dan Lipka and I approved this ad.

2006-08-08T15:36:00.000-04:00

In the Connecticut’s Democratic Senatorial Primary, Ned Lemont is taking on incumbent Joe Lieberman. Lieberman is best known for adding nothing to Al Gore’s presidential bid and than siding with Republicans on several important issues like invading Iraq and his general support for Bush during the war. Basically, Lieberman is a true moderate, neither democrat not republican, neither standing for anything, not fighting anything. His ties to the Democratic Party are so weak that if he loses the primary, he said he would run as an independent (yes, he would run against the very person he just lost to, in hope that he take many republican votes away from the actual republican candidate). Now, I admit, I know very little about Ned Lemont, except that he is really rich, is opposed to the war, and wishes he had a different first name. So my vote goes against Lieberman because I know he and I share very little in the ways of political ideology. As a resistant of Connecticut, I think Lemont will get just as much perks and pork for the state as Joe did, so I’m not worried about that. However, it’s sad the Democrats can’t find anyone better than either of these people (the republicans can’t find anyone decent to run either). Lemont’s story reminds me John Edwards. Both gained wealth through sadist professions (Edwards was a lawyer and Lemont was Cable TV executive). Both came out of nowhere to gain Senate seats, and both have liberal philosophies, but no real policies. (Note: Edwards was an even worse VP candidate than Lieberman, but not by much). So I hope Lemont wins and I hope Lieberman fades into the sunset. But if I had to bet on the election, I think Lieberman will win. Always remember rule #2, people fear change.

Quick Middle East Update: More people are killed in Iraq each day that have been killed in the entire Israel-Lebanon conflict. I was reading a very interesting article in TIME about how horrible life is in Iraq and it also mentioned the problems of the new government the US endorses, the Iraq Unity Government (comprised of both Sunni and Shiite members). However, isn’t it hypocritically of the US to promote a “unity” government, there isn’t one democrat in the entire Cabinet. An Iraq Unity Government is probably just a dream; if the world had a 20 year plan for Iraq it might work, but if we want to get out as soon as possible, it will fail. I think Iraq (and possible the US) will eventually split into two or three sovereign states. It wouldn’t be the worst choice, besides the boundaries are completely artificial anyway.

"The eBay & PayPal have gone too far Club"

2006-08-01T12:24:00.000-04:00

For years I have happily used ebay, buying and selling hundreds of items and getting 267 feedback messages (100% positive). Over the years, Ebay bought and integrated Paypal, an online payment system, which made payments easier and more accountable. As a seller I had the choice to have a regular Paypal account (which I don’t have to pay extra, but can’t accept credit cards) or a Business account (which I have to pay a commission on all transactions, but could accept credit cards). I choose the first option and told people in my listings that I could only accept Paypal if its through a bank account and not a credit card. I did that for over a year and was happy paying ebay a commission on everything I sold and using Paypal for free. I put an item up for sale last week, and a few hours before the auction was to end, I got an email from eBay saying that it was removed because I can not say that I do accept Paypal, but not with credit cards. Now if I want to use Paypal I am forced to upgrade my account and pay commission on everything I buy or sell. Furthermore, eBay waited till my auction was almost over to screw me over even more. I would use other online payment methods (like G0@ggle check0ut, I can't even write the words becuase its banned from ebay!) but eBay refuses to make them available. Conspiracy! Collusion! Cats and Dogs living together, total anarchy!

Every few months eBay adds another feature to make their service more expensive and less useful. They realize they have a virtual monopoly for used goods and are taking advantage of their customers and sellers.

I would complain to eBay or Paypal, but of course there are no phone numbers anywhere on their websites. There is no customer service, just customer fees.

I once talked very highly of Paypal and Ebay, but now I think they have gone too far. I have started this international organization to bring together people who have been screwed over by eBay, Payment, or are just sick of their ridiculous rules and regulations.

Join the Club. Membership can be your. Members will get some kind of prize, card, secret handshake, cememonial robe, or decoder ring. You can or may not learn the meaning of life through membership, although it is likely that you will.

The 1 cent membership fee can be paid in any of the following ways…
1) Place a penny under your pillow and I will send a fairy to pick it up.
2) Dig a hole in the ground a drop penny in.
3) Throw penny into any stream, lake, pond, or fountain.
4) Attach penny to helium balloon and release into the air.
5) Make a pendant out of the penny and give it to a child.
6) Melt penny and return it a copper/zinc mine.
7) Write the word “penny” on a piece of paper and eat it.
8) Hide penny inside a couch cushion
9) Cut penny into four pieces and scatter them to the four corners of the globe.
10) Invest the penny by shorting eBay stock (i.e., bet that it will go down).

I do not accept Paypal.

eBay members of the world unite!

Freeeeeeedom!

AdSense

2006-07-27T14:07:00.000-04:00

Selling out to the man? No, I’m just testing this whole AdSense project. So excuse the silly Google ads at the top, they won’t be there forever. And if this blog is being secretly read by millions around the world, I could make 2 or 3 buck, woo-hoo.

New Cousin

2006-07-27T12:27:00.000-04:00

My Cousin Andrew and his wife Stacy had their first baby yesterday, Zoe Elizabeth - 6lbs 6oz, 18 inches long. She is my aunt Sharon’s first grandchild, which brings her slightly closer to my mom’s six grandchildren (my aunt and mom are twins). I wish them the best of heath and happiness and it got me thinking of what advice I would give to them (basically what I have learned over the past year). Here is what I got…
- Books are nice, but all kids are different.
- All kids are basically the same, so whatever you think is wrong is very common.
- Little babies can still learn good habits.
- Little babies forget or outgrow their habits every few weeks
- Children never stop teething, so don’t use it as an excuse too often.
- The first year does not go by quickly, but you will forget all about in a few years.
- The ruffles on diapers are important.
- Don’t over-medicate the kid, but some meds are priceless (like baby Zantac in Molly’s case)
- Patience is necessary to maintain sanity.
- Becoming a family is hard, very hard. Expect some problems.
- And finally, advise my boss always says whenever something bad happens, “this too shall pass”.

Global Impact

2006-07-20T11:00:00.000-04:00

I was wondering about the impact of my existence on the world. Perhaps when people think about their impact they think about making a substantial change, but I’m talking about making the tiniest of change to someone life. How many people in the world have been impacted by my existence? This includes people that have had to wait an extra two seconds because my elevator stop was before there’s. People who got to work a second later because my car was on the road. People who had to grab a different bag of chips in the supermarket because I got the one before. And to go further, what about all the secondary impacts? Was that person in the elevator meeting someone else, who now had to wait a little longer for them to get there? What about people that I affect substantially, such as my daughter. Her whole existence, and everything she impacts, can be attributed back to me. I have friends from other countries so my impact might be international. What if I was at the airport and someone missed their flight to Hong Kong because my shoes set the security alarm off. After he missed his flight did his family is Hong Kong have to change all their plans? Certainly some people, famous people, have some kind of impact on almost the entire planet, but have I? Are we all really that important? Have billions of lives been changed because of you? If so, how long did it take before a person impacts 1,000 people (I would guess less than a day of life), or 1,000,000 people, or 6,529,497,641 (current world population). Is it a year, ten years, or a lifetime. Perhaps that is really the meaning of life? Well, perhaps not, but it kept me awake the other night so I decided to share it with you.

Habits

2006-07-19T10:28:00.000-04:00

Who are we? The best answer to that question that I have heard (and believe) is that we are a collection of our habits. If you look at our past and quantify the things we do in certain situations, you are able to ascertain what we will do in the future. Our habits are who we are. However, a “habit” isn’t something tangible, it isn’t real, it is just a metaphysical idea. And because it isn’t real, it can be changed easily, meaning that we could, if we choose to, change ourselves into almost anything (or anyone to be more precise). My point is that nobody is confined to what they believe as their innate self. Some people say that certain clothes are not “them”, but what does that mean? If they wore the clothes in a consistent way (as a habit) that it would become “them”. The same goes for people who identify themselves as brave, shy, smart, scared, artistic, or just about any other verb to describe a person. Anyone can be brave if they act brave, and since there is no physical restriction on doing so then nobody should be limited, or forced, to be some other way. Even identities like intelligent or artistic can be achieved by almost anyone. Maybe some people don’t have good natural math skills, but they can read more books, learn another language, audit classes, and “become’ intelligent. Similarly people can find a way of expressing themselves artistically (although they may not be great, anyway can be good with practice). Of course, there are some identities that are not a matter a habit; some people are bluebloods, or beautiful, and associate their identity with their ethnicity, but those are somewhat rare exceptions. In the end, we “choose” to be who we are. And we can “choose” to be something else simple by changing our habits. I’m not saying I want to change, but it makes me feel better that I could. It also makes me sad that some people are disappointed in their “self” and think that they are stuck with their current habits. So the next time you see someone who you want to be, just figure out their habits and feel free to emulate them. Feel free to feel free.

American Worries Part II

2006-06-26T14:25:00.000-04:00

During times of danger, throughout the history of this country, our government has withheld certain civil rights from the people in order to protect something “greater” than an individual’s rights. On almost all of the times this has happened, it has later been looked upon as a mistake (McCarthism, Vietnam Draft, even Lincoln regretfully dismissed many rights during the early stages of the civil war). Today, there are factions around the world that pose a threat to the US and its citizens and the current administration believes it has the right to encroach on our civil rights in the name of national security. This is evident in (at least) two secret programs the government operates to track the financial and communications records of anyone in this country. Furthermore, the administration has accused the people who exposed these secret programs of treason. It makes me wonder what are the other secret programs we don’t know about. They are already (as part of the Patriot Act) collected all of our emails, but are they reading our mail, recording every voice conversation, tracking our credit cards, EZ pass, and plane trips. Are they asking the On-Star Hotline to track our every movement? They can visually track our movements from satellites in space and probably listen to our conversation in our homes. And this could all be secret (and technically legal). My issue that is most important to me is “what is the specific reasoning behind these programs?”. Do we really think that terrorists are using regular landlines to set up conference calls between fellow jihadists. Do we think they are using their Mastercards to charge AK-47s at the local gun shop?

I’ve written about this before and it’s only a matter of time before the government is exposed to spying on other politicians. That will be the end of these programs, but until than what what you say, what you buy, and what blogs you read.

Minimum Wage

2006-06-23T15:06:00.000-04:00

Congress is currently debating an increase to the federal minimum wage from its current rate of $5.15/hour. The Democrats have a reasonable argument which states that nobody, especially a family, can live on that wage (which is just over $10,000/year). The Republicans say that wages should be determined by the economic laws of supply and demand (and not by arbitrary governmental regulations). This debate has gone on for years, and I feel that the democrats have failed to ask the Republicans some simple questions that could change the debate; the questions are “Do you support lowering the rate from $5.15/hour? If not, why $5.15, that is an arbitrary number isn’t it? What makes that number good for you? Do you think it is a fair wage?” A Republican can’t say that they want to reduce the minimum wage, so they are left supporting something they oppose. Than again, but not increasing the minimum wage, it is essentially lowering it (due to inflation). If you look at inflation adjusted rates, the minimum wage is currently the lowest it has ever been. Another interesting aspect is that if you look at a map of the states with minimum wages at or below the federal level vs states with higher minimum wages, it breaks down basically along blue and red state lines. I guess this issue would be another one of the fundamental political questions that would be easily answered if poorer Americans voted in higher numbers. Maybe (in the name of democracy) there should be a tax refund for voters, but that is another story for another time

World Cup

2006-06-09T16:55:00.000-04:00

The following is part of a letter I wrote to my only friend who watches the World Cup, surprisingly he is not from the US....

Iain,

I just wanted to wish Scotland the best of luck in the world cup...hmmm, wait I don't see them there. It seems that the English won't let the scots have their own team. poor poor scots. Anyway, now that you are a US citizen are you rooting for the home team? I don't think this is the year for the US, which is a good thing, for as I have explained, I hope the US never wins the World Cup; it would just infuriate the world too much to have us win and we won't even care about it. It's just showing off, it's like it Michael Jordan winning a spelling bee, it's just not fair to the home-schooled Mormon kids who can’t get a date. (However, it is inevitable that US will win the World Cup eventually, their team is drastically improving, the young players are great, and they are one superstar (maybe Freddy Adu) from giving great young athletes a role model in soccer. Than again the US did win, maybe it would de-legitimize the whole thing and reduce the ridiculously unhealthy enthusiasm for a game (see more below))

Although I heard rumors that the US is threatening to invade any country that beats us, so that might help a little bit.

Than again, maybe the whole idea of the world cup is just a bad idea. Nationalism in all its forms is usually a bad thing, it separate people who should be coming together, it instills a sense of hate in 90% of the world, while loving only 10%. Would it be any different is all the black people played against all the white people, which sound much worse, but really it's the same. Taking sides simple because you happen to live someone is a bad idea. Would an English person ever say "hey, I don't really like the way our coach is a giant racist, and I don't like our defensive style of play; I much prefer the Italian risk-taking style and I hear they also help a lot of children's groups". No, all you'll ever hear "Go England, my dad loved England so I must, I live here so I have no choice, f@ck everyone else and if I see a French national jersey in one of my pubs I'll hooligan his arse".

For me, I’m cheering for Poland.

Permits, Lawyers, Movers, Bats, and a New House

2006-06-06T12:17:00.000-04:00

I didn’t write about the house for so long as I was afraid of jinxing the whole deal. (actually in the very back, tiny regions of the paranoid part of my brain, I thought the now previous owners of the house would read my blog and they would become even more paranoid than they had become). In the time between signing the contract and the closing (about 4 weeks) there was mind-numbing, stressful drama. The owners wouldn’t let us into the house to measure or look around. The title search revealed the there was a lack of permits on records for a number of things and the owners wouldn’t let us send inspectors over. To make the story short; in the end there was nothing wrong with the house, but we were really stressed that the owners were hiding something horrible from us. Everyday was something new that they wouldn’t let us do; it was the largest investment of my life and I felt I couldn’t do the proper research, and I wasn’t reassured by assurances from people who said that this was common. Ohhh, and I didn’t mention how the owners threatened to put the house back on the market (which would have been illegal on their part) unless we agrees to term they gave us. They gave us the terms on a Friday at 4:00pm and said we had three hours to decide yes or no. To make matters worse, my lawyer decided that it was after regular working hours and would not call me back until Monday (although my lawyer was competent, I considered this action to be completed unacceptable and the only thing that kept me from firing him was that I didn’t want to spend more money on another lawyer (who I wouldn’t be able to hire until the next Monday anyway). That weekend was horrible and a five minute call from the lawyer would have relieved enormous stress, but I guess that was too much to ask. What more could I add onto this, ahhh Molly has three teeth coming in and was sick. Anyway, the day of closing was ok and we had a week to finish packing and move. The move was really stressful; for anyone out there moving my advice is just hire a moving company, don’t worry about the price, just do it (of course you can pack and unpack the stuff but don’t move anything or get your own truck or anything like that. I know this because I didn’t the opposite, it ended up taking three days instead of one and just as much money. But we did get everything moved. So the house was mess, Molly and Lindy were sick and than I get a nasty ear infection because I wasn’t sleeping and was pushing my tremendous physical strength past the breaking point. Now we are all sick, molly is waking up twice a night, we have almost no furniture, everyone is stressed, the house is a mess, and we can’t find anything. What else could there be – ohhh, our car broke down. The only thing left was that “I've got no money! A dress code problem! And a little murder case, which in the balance holds the lives of two innocent kids. Not to mention....YOUR biological clock! My career! Your life! Our marriage! And let's see...what else can we pile on? Is there any more shit we can pile on to the top of the outcome of this [house]?! IS IT POSSIBLE?”

However, the last few days have seen some progress. I organized the entire garage, which will be our central storage depository; we got cable, internet, and phone; we order a kitchen cart/island, a desk, and bedroom furniture (the cart and desk will be there is the next day or two), we are all less sick, we can find our toothbrushes, the car got fixed, and I never have to think about the previous owners or my lawyer ever again (I hope).

Although the house is a mess, I invite everyone to come visit. It’s a nice house and one day it will be perfect (once we get furniture, unpack, paint, retile the bathrooms and few other things that we will get to). Ohh, Lindy saw bats and a fox outside our house this morning, you gotta love Connecticut.

American Worries

2006-05-21T09:10:00.000-04:00

“What does new NSA policy to collect data on every phone called in America really mean? This means that the Bush administration can look up all the phone calls that the Democratic National Convention is making; they can also monitor all the calls of the democratic (and republican) senators, congressman, and governors. Not to mention spying on his own supporters including calls by churches, NRA offices, and large donors. Simply put, President Nixon, opps I mean Bush’s policy to monitor all phone in this country is a tremendous violation of all our privacy and of general ethics. Bush will do anything including breaking the law, to promote his agenda. If this was to fight terrorism, how come there are no results? Either Bush is a failure at fighting terrorism or his agenda is about himself and not about the people. No matter what you think, be careful who you share your ideas, because the government is listening.”

Immigration

2006-05-16T11:41:00.000-04:00

George Bush spoke last night about immigration reform and a plan to protect our southern boarder from many things including terrorism. Since 9/11 Bush has used the threat of terrorism to lower taxes, start a war (against a country with little if any connection to terrorism), increase defense spending on programs that has no impact on terrorism, and to win another term as President. And now he is using it to put troops on the boarder. Which brings the question, how many terrorist have ever crossed the US/Mexico boarder? Well, there are no public records of it ever happening. The 9/11 terrorist came to the US perfectly legally. Work and educational visas are still available and the security that screens legal visas is minimal. Additional, terrorists can just buy a plane ticket and unless their name is in the government database the can walk into the country as a tourist (assuming they are not armed in the actual airport). This is just another case of the administration using our fear and guilt to move their agenda forward. If you look behind the scenes, the administration has a much different agenda. They want to propose a plan that will stop illegal immigration from Mexico by force. And the reason is that conservative Americans don’t like immigrants. They don’t want them here and they want the ones that are here to leave. So the conservatives create a plan that says that it allows illegal immigrants to become citizens, but in reality it is a way to register illegal immigrants so that they can be deported when they fail to meet unrealistic expectation. Why would an illegal immigrant voluntarily decide to register, pay taxes, pay back taxes, learn English, and wait at least 5 years for the chance to prove they should be considered for citizenship? However, is there a better solution? Should we allow illegal immigrants to work in the US, take advantage of government services, and not pay taxes? I don’t think they should be able to, but I also don’t think that just because someone happens to be born in another country should they not have certain opportunities. Americans didn’t do anything to earn our place here, we just happen to be born here. So I suggest a three-part plan. First, we should invest heavily in the Mexican infrastructure. I am a big believer that in order to have progress in a country they must have good roads, communications, transportation, and sanitation. Secondly, we should seal off the boarder in accessible areas, but make entranceways where workers can cross the boarder, register, and work. Third, businesses must be allowed to hire these people; however, state and local taxes must be taken out of their wages (why should they pay federal taxes when they are ineligible for government program). Additionally, what about the idea of the US taking over some Mexican land in order to develop it. In the history of the US, whenever we get more land it always is beneficial to us.

Immigration is a complicated issue, both politically and morally, and the Bush administration has no interest in actually helping Mexicans or Americans. But in the end, its just talk as there won’t be any immigration reform, the bills will fail miserable. Americans with Mexican or Latin blood will come out in strength to oppose any legislation and Senators in states with that demographic will not be able to support it. However, other mid-term candidates will use the failure of this legislation to rally conservative votes.

Side note: Stopping illegal drugs and human trafficking would be reason enough to put troops on the boarder. Ohhh, and the Canadian border is completely unprotected.

In non-important news, the Knicks are going to pay their head coach tens of millions of dollars to the privilege of being able to fire him. In his first year with the team, coach Larry Brown led the Knicks to one of the worst records in the NBA and now he will get paid to leave the organization. Why let him leave, can’t they demote him, or just fire him, or sue him for lack or production. I say demote him to spit bucket carrier until he quits. To makes matters worse, Isaiah Thomas (the worst GM in the history of the NBA) wants to replace Brown with himself (Isaiah is a horrible coach). Thomas hired brown, costing the team over $30 million, and after that was a disaster he gets a promotion. I used to really like the Knicks, but now I despise them. The leaders in Iraq look at the Knicks and joke about how poorly they are organized.

Molly Update

2006-05-15T17:22:00.000-04:00

My little Molly is barely a baby anymore, but everyday she seems to be having more and more fun (Note: kids are no longer babies when they can look at a littler baby and say “baby”). Molly can now walk around, usually going 5 or 6 feet before she falls on her butt, but she just gets right up and continues along. Sometimes she walks like Frankenstein, with her arms straight out and wavering from side to side. Sometime she will try to carry things from one room to the other and usually does pretty well, especially with baskets. And she loves baskets, putting things in, carrying them around, taking them out and over again. And my little Molly can even talk. The other morning I brought her into bed after she woke up a 5:00am and she looked at me and said “Dad!” and flopped into my face. Then she looked over at Lindy and said “Mom mom!” and flopped completely over onto Lindy’s face. Molly is the most happy (and goofy) right around 6:00am and 7:30pm. She just smiles all the time and laughs and plays and talks. She loves life and everything about it. She loves saying good morning to everything in the beginning of the day and good night to everything before she goes to bed. When I walk into the room, she breaks into a smiling fit and if Lindy is holding her, Molly will collapse into her arms in some kind of shy super giggle. We feed Molly anything we can think of at this point, besides nuts and sushi. She is still nursing, but drinks formula throughout the day (in a bottle in the morning and bedtime and a sippy cup during the day). Overall, she is the perfect almost toddler. She plays with toys and is exploring the world. The loves being outside, playing with flowers, looking at dogs, and interacting with other kids. She sleeps through the night (from 8:00pm to 6:00am, which is still rough on us, but a steady improvement). From the parenting side, I think she is much less stressful then in months past (however, I have plenty of other stresses to keep me on edge). My daughter Molly turns 1 year old in three days. She’s traveled all the way around the sun. It’s been a very long year, and very hard at times, but she is everything I could have hoped for (within the reality in which parents and children might exist). I love her so very much and there is nothing like hearing “dad!” and having your daughter collapse into your arms.

Gas Stations

2006-05-04T14:04:00.000-04:00

Does one gas station provide better gas than another? Or do we mostly go to a particular gas station based on price or convenience. For me, it is almost always convenience (unless there is cheaper gas within sight). However, as gas companies make record profits, and artificially increase prices, maybe we should look into these gas companies as see who they are and where they get their oil from. I'm not making any judgments, but the following information is from the Energy Information Administration, which is a proper US government agency (although maybe that no longer means that it is credible).

Time for Action

2006-05-03T11:14:00.000-04:00

It is possible that the Bush administration is doing something I agree with? I doubt it, but recently the administration has finally started to talk about the genocide in Darfur. Of course this is years too late and millions of people have been tortured and killed (while we used our resources to find WMD in Iraq). The situation in Durfar is beyond desperate and any government that has to capacity to try to help also has a moral obligation to help. Anything less than trying should be equivalent to any other human rights crime. To put it simply, if somebody saw a single family being torn apart, the women raped, the men killed, and the children forced to fight, would it be ok to just look away. What if it was your family? What if it was millions of families? This problem, this genocide, may be extremely hard to stop or even slow down. Is may be impossible, but I doubt it. However, that doesn’t matter; the United States (and any other government with the means) should feel morally compelled to try to help. We must try.

The next section is for the Chinese government (who are regular readers of this blog).

China is still not recognized as a superpower by the world, and that is a sign of disrespect by the western countries. Europe and the US think they are so great and mighty, but they are hypocrites that accuse China of human rights violations, while they oppress their own minority populations, and ignore genocides in Africa. They only care about money and oil and they still look down on China. However, China must be proud; proud and smart. Where the west has ignored a problem, you can seize an opportunity. Go into Darfur and stop the genocide; go into Africa and save millions of people. Stand up to the world and say that China is a country of the people. Stand up and proclaim your greatness. And in doing so you rightfully shame the west’s inactions. Furthermore, this will be another part of China’s long-term plan to revitalize Africa’s social and economic structure in the years to come. There are millions of consumers already in Africa and millions more as Africa develops. There is oil and natural resources in Africa. As China’s economy continues to grow, it can feed on Africa’s population and in return China can bring some peace and stability to the region. Consider this a wise moral and financial investment (and don’t worry about the cost, the United States is really paying for it all as their debt to China grows everyday). The US pays, but China can get the glory, the pride, and proudly proclaim that it is not only a superpower, but the only superpower.

65 Murray St., Norwalk, CT

2006-04-13T16:04:00.000-04:00

In the great spirit of the American dream, Lindy, Molly, and I are now home owners. Yes, we threw ourselves into a massive debt that will take 30 years to dig out of. But more importantly, we now have a home. 65 Murray St., Norwalk, Connecticut 06851 is where we can now be found. The house is 45 miles northeast of New York City, 25 miles from were I work in White Plains, 15 minutes from my Dad’s house, and 50,000,000 miles from Mars. The house is ranch style (everything on one floor) and I would say sum it up by saying that everything about it is good, not great, but good. It has all the rooms we wants (for the most part), is in good condition, near good schools, and very importantly was a very good price. The previous owners were in a rush to move back to Seattle and wanted to get the deal done quickly; and I guess we were in the right place and the right time. I will post pictures of the house on Molly website (http://molly.kokopop.com) over the next few days, and some other info on the house as well. We officially signed the contract today and we close on May 23. There is still so much do to and the entire experience has been overwhelming on every front. Lindy was a real trooper and we couldn’t have done it without her help. And although the process remains stressful, I know that it will pass and in the end we will be in a nice roomy house and life will be a little nicer from then on. I still have to deal with the specifics of the mortgage, more paperwork, fees, oil tanks, home depot, and a host of other issues, but the main search (and stress) is over. The deal is done (and I hope we made the right choice). We made some sacrifices, like being farther away from work and my aunt and sister in Rockland, but we knew we couldn’t get everything we wanted this time around. Next time, we’ll build the house from scratch in a perfect location and all will be well, but for now we have a place to call home, and I look forward to moving in.

And for anyone in the real estate business, I am pretty sure that our purchase will cause the real estate market to crash, so keep that in mind.

Why I've Been Missing

2006-04-12T11:15:00.000-04:00

Big News Coming Tomorrow. Same Blog Time, Same Blog Channel.

As for today, here is but a little mini-rant. Iran is in the news about their nuclear weapons programs. The developments in Iran are overwhelmingly complicated and I worry about several major consequences. Some of things I worry about include 1) a US attack on Iran, 2) a US nuclear attack on Iran (apparently, the processing plants are so far underground that only a nuclear attack could destroy it), and 3) an Iraqi civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites spreading to neighboring countries and eventually pitting Saudi Arabia against Iran in a war over control in Iraq. Furthermore, the immediate consequences of just these things being talked about are already having an effect on my life and on that of the US economy. US oil are at $70/barell and I just see worries about the Middle East pushing oil higher and higher. Which brings an interesting question, would Iran risk being attacked by the US so they could get billions more in oil revenue. If so, this would be a good time as the US has lost all clout with the rest of the world (and the American people) over the war in Iraq. Furthermore, if Iran does proceed to work on nuclear weapons technology can the US afford to let them (as we have learned from North Korea; once a county have nukes than they don't have to listen to anyone). And finally would Israel allow Iran to built nuclear weapons (they bombed Iraq's nuclear weapons plants once, but would they use their own nuclear weapons to attack Iran's development program.) Nuclear weapons proliferation is a threat to the entire planet, and in a world in which more and more countries will want to use nuclear power plants, there will be a great temptation for nuclear weapons production from those power plants. There is no easy solution and the problem will get worse, especially when a nation decides to sell a nuclear weapon (bypassing any oversight by the world) to another country. With billions of dollars in cash, oil rich nations may be able to make countries like North Korea (or even Russia) an offer they can't refuse. As for me, well...I'm hoping the world lasts a little longer.

Two great movies

2006-03-24T11:41:00.000-05:00

Movie Review #1 – V is for Vendetta (4.7 Stars)

I don’t get a chance to go to the movies very often, but for my birthday I had Lindy get a babysitter for Molly so we could see V is for Vendetta on IMAX. I had read a Time magazine article about the movie a few months ago and thought it was very really interesting. It was written by the Wachowski Brothers (who wrote the Matrix and may or may not exist in reality. There are no pictures of them and they don’t give interviews). The movie itself was a brilliant portrayal of a neo-fascist society and how government has to potential to get way out of hand (without the people ever realizing that something is wrong). The main character wears a mask throughout the whole movie because of injuries he suffered in a fire. However, the real reason for the mask, in my opinion, had nothing to do with that. The real reason is that “V” (as he is known) can be anyman. He could be me, he could be you. We all have the power, if dedicated enough, to change society. V understands the truth of this neo-Orwellian society and has decided to fight back through “terrorism”. Terrorism is another theme of the movie, in which the idea of violence against a government, as a moral wrong, is blurred. Another theme is government control of information. At one point in the movie, someone asks “If our government committed a terrorist attack against its own people, would you really want to know if they did?”. Conspiracy theorists would say this is a specific reference to 9/11. Watch this video (click here) for some very interested information on the subject of a 9/11 cover-ups (note: I’m not vouching for the accountability of anything in the video, that is up to you to research yourself). V uses the very media system that the government controls to contact the masses and metaphorically open their eyes. And V calls for action, he calls upon the people to stand together against a government that they were used to trusting. In the end, V was never for “Vendetta”, V was for Justice!

Movie Review #2 - Shaolin Soccer (4.9 Stars)
I am finding it hard to explain how good this movie is and why it is so good. It is a magically story of a group of former Shaoilin Monks who come together to play soccer. There are ridiculous (and sometimes silly) special effects; in a very similar style to Matrix II, but not quite as clean. It is funny, original, moral, and has a great ending. Each member of the team has learned a special Shaoilin technique that gives them unique special powers. The story is also a fable, teaching lessons like; don’t cheat, see inner beauty, teamwork, personal strength, and friendship. I am lost for the right words, but to give power to my recommendation of the movie, I think I rank it just behind the quartet of the greatest movies of all-time list (the Last Dragon, Godfather, Flash Gordon, and The Princess Bride). Watch the movie, bring the kids.

Finally they are listening to me

2006-03-16T11:50:00.000-05:00

Perhaps my mind control devices are working. Or perhaps I was just right. Two front page articles on NYTimes.com this week are both talking about the growing support for two ideas that I have long been supporting.

The National Popular Vote (the organization behind the movement) and talked with one of the Directors. We agreed on almost everything and when I mentioned my idea of that states of equal size, but differing political tendencies would both agree to switch to proportional electoral voting systems, thus keeping a balance of total votes. (click here for my complete blog entry on this issue). I was pleased to know that US Senator Chuck Schumer actually proposed this very idea. Although the idea didn’t gain much support, I believe that as voter turnout continues to decline and politicians only focus on swing state, the idea will become more and more popular. I have never donated money to an organization which I was not part of, but National Popular Vote is going to get something. Please support them and my mission.

The second article was about the growing support to censure or impeach Bush. I don’t know why democrats have waited so long and why they aren’t all supporting this. Bush’s negligent policies have unnecessarily led to the deaths of Americans. Fighting a war is acceptable, but not having an effective plan of action (leading to hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries) in unacceptable. A flood may have been unforeseen, but a completely negligent and delays response to Katrina led to unnecessary additional deaths. I think this would be enough without even mentioning letting North Korea and Iran develop nuclear weapons, decreases social services, drastically increasing our national debt, and screwing up our economy as a whole. The article mentioned that the Republicans are trying to spin this by saying making it censure a rallying call for conservatives to vote. “Our President was no incompetent that the Democrats want to impeach him, come out and vote so that doesn’t happen.” I think this is a huge mistake by Republicans. Bush is so unpopular, why would they make the vote about him. However, if the mid-term elections become about voting for or against impeachment the voter turnout will be high on both sides.

Ambition

2006-03-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

I’m still reading “Team of Rivals” and it gives me some hope about the future of humanity (which I have been lacking lately). It took Americans 50 years to slowly build enough moral strength to oppose slavery (actually, I mean Americans in the North, which was only half the country). The point is that something horrible was going on and eventually the people responded (and were willing to fight for their cause). Today I can see (or hope I see) the beginning of another moral revolution. As horrible as slavery was in the 1800s, equally horrible atrocities are occurring all over the world. Most people recognize that this is true; however there are no solutions or solution-based platforms that people can support. As a pragmatist, it is unrealistic to expect a country like the United States to move rapidly towards action; however, a slow change can hopefully occur. Before the Civil War, the Whig party was similar to today’s Democratic Party and when the issue of slavery became the most important issue in the country, the Whigs were not able to respond. A new party was formed with a specific moral agenda and an anti-slavery platform. In the future, I can see a third party slowly gaining power in the US until the issues of worldwide poverty and tyranny become the foremost issue of the day. I do not believe the current Democrats are able to respond effective to a call for action, and current Republicans will be compromised by their dedication to big business, nationalism, and their reluctance to sacrifice for others. A new party, led by passionate leaders, could have the ability to decimate the Democrats and absorb their constituents. It happened once before and it may happen again.

I read about men and women who fought so passionately against slavery for decades before the public really cared and I wonder if I would have done the same thing if I was in their place. I would think that I would have (as we all do), but perhaps I am in the same situation now. Should I be preaching on street corners or starting newspapers in order to help the millions of people who are suffering every day. Perhaps I am not a leader (I never really thought I was, but always thought I could be) and my time to help will come later on. I’m not doing nothing (I keep myself educated and work in an industry that helps people), but is that enough. Are any of us doing enough? Should we feel bad?

Tomorrow is my 29th birthday and perhaps that is one reason for the self-reflection. Although I have lived a good productive life so far, it is far from anything special. I have made a mark on those around me, but I have not affects the public in any meaningful way. Alas, there is still plenty of more time and things to do. I continue to try and do my best in my small little world and perhaps I’ll get the chance (or have the will to make sure I get the chance) to have some greater influence and contribute to the world in a positive way. Then again ambition in and of itself can be dangerous. Perhaps I need to learn more before I can do more.

Hawaiian Vacation Timelog

2006-02-28T12:07:00.000-05:00

The first Lipka family vacation to Hawaii was a success. Everyone had a nice time and we got to relax a bit. Lindy and I are especially grateful to Lindy’s parents to were more then generous with their timeshare and all the time they spent looking after Molly. However, this might be the last trip we take to Hawaii as the travel was vicious. He is an estimate of the time we spent traveling.

Day One (2722 Miles Traveled, 20 hours spend in a car, airport or plane)
Start- Sleepy Hollow, NY
Leave at 4:00am
Drive to LaGuardia (28 miles)
1st flight to Charlottesville (303 miles)
2nd flight to Charlotte (226 miles)
3rd flight to Los Angeles (2120)
Drive to Irvine (45 miles)
Arrive at Lindy's Parents - 9:pmPST (12:00EST)

Day Two (2715 Miles Traveled, 14 hours spend in a car, airport or plane)
Start - Lindy's Parents
Leave at 5:00amPST (8:00amEST)
Drive to LAX (45 miles)
4th Flight to Honolulu (2559 miles)
5th Flight to Kauai (111 miles)
Arrive at hotel - 5:00pm Hawaii time (10:00pm EST)

Days Three through Seven - VACATION (Hooray)

Day Eight
Start - Hotel (2715 Miles Traveled, 11 hours spend in a car, airport or plane)
Leave at 5:00am local time (10:am EST)
6th Flight to Honolulu (111 miles)
7th Flight to Los Angeles (2559 miles)
Drive to Irvine (45 miles)
Arrive at Lindy's Parents - 6:00:pmPST (9:00pmEST)

Day Nine (2684 Miles Traveled, 15 hours spend in a car, airport or plane)
Start - Lindy's Parents
Leave at 6:00amPST (9:00amEST)
8th Flight to Charlotte (2120 miles)
9th Flight to Concord (Diverted to Richmond) (18+227=245 miles)
10th flight to LaGuardia (291 Miles)
Drive Home (28 miles)
Arrive at Home (Midnight EST)

TOTAL TRAVEL – 10,836 Miles, 60 hours spend in a car, airport or plane)

Note: Although the times are not exact, they give a pretty accurate reflection of what we went through. Also remember, we had Molly with us the whole. Although she was very good most of the time, it make things harder for Lindy and I (especially Lindy because Molly was very clingy to her Mommy on most of the flights). And to make things all the better, upon our return, Lindy had only three hours to sleep before she had to get up at 3:00am and go back to the airport to work.

Vacation

2006-02-17T16:08:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow I leave on a much needed, week-long vacation to Hawaii. I have high hopes for the week ahead and expect that all of my dreams will finally come true. Is that too much to expect?

In other news, 106 year old man, Harry Whittington, was shot in the face with an AK-47 while participating in a Scull & Crossbones ritual. The naked Whittington was being tarred and feathered when (after drinking a bottle of tequila), Dick Chaney mistaken thought that Whittington was Lewis “Scooter” Libby and decided to riddle him full of bullets. Luckily Whittington was wearing a bulletproof vest that Donald Rumsfeld had given him at a lobbying meeting last year. A drunken Cheney later told the press that “I thought it was a bird”. Cheney has left Washington to return to his home town in the center of the earth.

Reports are now saying that the gun was originally purchased by an ex-felon with no identification, except his NRA membership card. Additionally the bulletproof vest that Whittington was wearing was supposed to go to a marine in Iraq six months ago.

When President Bush was asked what he thought the whole incident, he responded that “That Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and in a post 9/11 world, we have to stop the terrorists.” When a reporter asked what that has to do with the incident Bush responded by saying that “My actions have lead to the deaths of thousands of people, why do you even care if Dick hurt some old man? We have to focus on the terrorists who I am killing. I am the real killer, of terrorists.”

Republican Duality in 1842

2006-02-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

I have always been perplexed at how the current Republic party tries to be the moral party, but also represents big businesses, the social elite, the rich, and isolationism. I may have come across the moment in time when it all came together. In the book I am reading now, Team of Rival (A biography of Lincoln and several of his cabinet members), it describes how in 1842, Salmon Chase was trying to strengthen the newly formed Liberal Party (which was the precursor to the Republican party). First, a little background: At the time, the Whig party was the moderate party of the North (similar to today’s Democrats); however, the Democrats back then were the pro-slavery party that dominated the south. Salmon Chase, along with others, were strong abolitionist (anti-slavery), and felt that the Whigs didn’t stand up enough to stop the spread of slavery into the new territories. Chase, a very religious man, left the Whig party to join the newly formed, very anti-slavery Liberal party. He tried to convert Whig party members, but they were loyal to their party. So he tried to convert democratic leaders and the way he did this was by making a compromising with them; basically to get their support for the liberal party, he changed his stances on banking, tariffs, and most economic issues (while also saying that slavery should be allowed in current slave states, but not expanded into new areas.) So the rich, elite, white, slave owning southern politicians could support a moral political party and they can keep their slaves and enact economic policies that will keep them rich and elite. Of course, things have changed since then, but it is possible (and I haven’t read that much on the subject), that it was Salmon Chase who helped shape the Republican Party’s duality (being moral conservatives, while helping the rich get richer). It’s just a theory.

Vacation

2006-02-07T15:33:00.000-05:00

In two weeks, Lindy, Molly, and I are going on a desperately needed vacation to Hawaii. I can’t remember if I ever really needed a vacation, but I think I really do need this one. And to note, besides just going away, Lindy’s parents will be there, who are excellent babysitters. Over the past couple of months, life has been rather difficult and I feel like I am on the brink of a subtle kind of madness. The stress of leaving IRC, starting a new job, raising molly, finding daycare, looking for a house, and countless other things are really adding up. Furthermore, over the past month, I have been waking up 2-4 times a night (for anywhere from 2 to 60 minutes each time) teaching molly that she doesn’t need to eat (and Lindy doesn’t need to nurse her) during the night (so that one day she can sleep through the night). As most of you know I am a big fan of sleep and the lack of it has given shaken my nerves. I find myself becoming less patient, less aware, and less focused. I hope this vacation will help to reset my faculties. If not, I will continue to push forward, making the best of what I can, and never giving in to the circumstances.

By the way, I have grown a beard (kinda). I think I like it. Below is a dramatization of what the beard may look like.

Cartoon and Perspective

2006-02-03T18:05:00.000-05:00

Recently there has been a world-wide uproar over the publication of 12 Muhammad cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September. After an extensive search I did manage to actually find the cartoons on the internet, although almost none of the newspaper articles actually show the cartoon they are talking out. Clearly these cartoons are racist, insensitive, unreasonable, inaccurate, and have no positive value in society. However, are they worth the world-wide outbursts? And it’s not like this is the only religious set of cartoons; after only a minute of searching I found cartoons that included a Jew destroying the Statue of Liberty, a Jesus with a rifle, a deformed Gandhi, and I’m sure there are many more pictures that insult other people. Now I’m not saying these pictures are good, I don’t even believe that they would be protected by free speech, but I do believe there are more important things to worry about. For example, Every year 15 million children die of hunger, over 40,000,000 people world-wide have HIV/AIDS, there are currently over 20 major international or civil wars, global warming is getting worse, the world’s only superpower spends a warped amount of money on farm subsidies and weapons, Russia has become a de facto Totalitarian country, and North Korea has the 4th biggest army in the world, nuclear weapons, and a nutcase dictator (and since the US refused to punish North Korea out of fear of a nuclear war, other countries, like Iran, are rushing to build them). So yes, I agree, the cartoons are bad, but let us have a little perspective on what bad really means. However, maybe this will show that when large groups of people are pissed about something they can get some attention, but maybe next time they will be rioting about something more critical to themselves and humanity.

Rota Virus

2006-02-02T18:04:00.000-05:00

About the only thing that stinks more then the Bush Administration is Molly’s diaper pale. And very sadly, Molly seems to have caught the Rotavirus from the kids at daycare. Rotavirus is a virus (germ) that causes severe diarrhea, usually with fever and vomiting (although Molly does not have a fever and only vomited twice, but I think that was just a bad reaction to yogurt). Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe gastroenteritis (diarrhea) in infants and young children in the United States. Worldwide, rotavirus is a major cause of childhood deaths. Rotavirus can cause children to lose body fluids very quickly and is especially dangerous for children less than two years of age. Children between 3 and 35 months of age have the highest risk for getting the infection. For Molly is means that she poops every hour, which led to a diaper rash, generally dehydration, and an overall melancholy. My little girl is sick and there isn’t anything I can do about it. L I hope she gets better soon, it’s sad when she is sad. She just doesn’t feel well, she doesn’t want to play; poor poor Molly. I would tell her to walk it off, but she can’t even walk yet.

Democracy and Hamas

2006-02-01T12:14:00.000-05:00

Pre-blog note: At its core, a democracy is a system of government in which “the people” control a government that is accountable to those people. The most common way that democracies occur is through a free voting process. Many argue that the US is not a democracy, in fact it is a republic and over the last six years I think that might be an accurate reflection of our government (but maybe more on that in another blog).

For years now, the Bush administration has been taunting the glory of democracy and the United State’s obligation to spread democracy throughout the world. However, Bush has spun the word “democracy” to mean something that it isn’t. Bush seems to believe the democracy will naturally lead to a government (free elections), economy (capitalism), constitution (individual rights, basic separation of church and state), and society similar to the US, but that simple isn’t true. All a democracy will do is lead to a government that represents the majority of the people (note: I believe that democracy is an excellent system for progress to occur, but it in no way guarantees any). In a democracy, if the people want to have a country governed directly by religious texts, then that is what they will have. If the majority of the people want to limit the rights of the minority then they can do that within the confines of a proper democracy. If the people want to destroy a neighboring country through terrorism then they will elect officials that want that as well. And that is exactly what happened in the most recent democratic elections in the Palestinian Authority. Hamas (an organization that the US specifically names as a terrorist organization; an organization who admitted to using children as suicide bombers against Israeli civilians; an organization that refused to even acknowledge the existence of Israel) has won a majority of seats on the Palestinian Legislative Council. Now does the US continue to blindly support “Democracy”? Does the US continue their plans to give the new Palestinian government money to rebuild their infrastructure? Perhaps instead of promoting democracy as a cause of freedom and peace, we should promote freedom and peace and assume that Democracy will follow. Of course, it is all spin by the Bush administration anyway, they don’t care about democracy or freedom or peace. They use the word democracy because they think it will help them to manipulate the world public into believing that their actions are just. We must see through their words and look at their action and the results of those actions. Bush claims that in Iraq we will be victorious because there will be a democracy, but what if the people decide to elect extremists into power. And if you think it is impossible for the people to “elect” a force of tyranny and deal, just realize that is has been happening for decades. In 1932, the Nazis legally and democratically won 230 out of 608 seats in the Reichstag. More recently, in 2000, Hugo Chavez was re-elected as President of Venezuela although he acts as a socialist military dictator.