Jesus was a Commie?

I ran across this piece today. It is basically debunks the claims that Jesus was a liberal Democrat. Similarly QandO is commenting on a New York Times column about the hungry needing to be fed. Bets on who should do the feeding?

The truth is of course somewhere in the middle of all this. The early church was quite communist. Note the small "c". This is communism in the sense of a group of people living on a commune. When there was need, those with the resources would sell land, etc. to meet the needs of the group. This was to be done without personal motives, but out of a pure devotion to God and the fellowship. Don't come forward with impure motives though, because you might end up like Ananias and Sapphira.

One of the fundamental tenets of Christianity is that people should help each other. That much is true. However your property is your own. It was given to you by God and that places an obligation on you to manage it according to His will. If you do not, God will likely take it from you and give to someone else. Essentially all property is on loan from God.

You may note some similarities between this and Communism (note the big "C"). In Communism, property is owned by the state and the state will decide what you need and how you should use it. Essentially property is on loan from the state.

Notice the difference? While theologically the state is allowed to act as God's greater steward along the lines of Romans, thanks to Marx the state usually denies any allegiance to the Almighty. So what we have left is idolatry plain and simple.

Plus even a God-fearing state is run by fallible humans. So what happens when the state's stewardship fails to meet with God's expectations? The answer is that God takes that control away from the state and gives it back to the people. Sounds like the Fall of the Wall to me.

Gee and we wonder why good Christians have trouble with Commies.

Health Book Editing

Its kind of fun once you start building momentum on a blog. People start emailing you with stuff saying "you have to blog about this!" Here is one such story from the LA Times that my girlfriend sent me. Registration is required unfortunately.

Long story short several members of the Texas State Board of Education are conservative Christians. This results in the following:

The board this month approved new health textbooks for high school and middle school students after publishers said they would tweak references to marriage and sexuality.

One agreed to define marriage as a "lifelong union between a husband and a wife." Another deleted words that were attacked by conservatives as "stealth" references to gay relationships; "partners," for example, was changed to "husbands and wives." A passage explaining that adolescence brings the onset of "attraction to others" became "attraction to the opposite sex."

I'm not sure if this a good thing or not. I'd like to uphold traditional values like this. For our society they are traditional. Sorry gay-rights folks. On the other hand I bet people are going to be pissed about this and there will be some backlash.

Fortunately right now its people in LA being pissed about what is happening in Texas. Don't they have their own news to report? More likely this is some sort of blue-stater attempt to make the Californians feel good about themselves because they aren't backwater hicks like those stupid Texans.

It would be nice to see a counterpoint argument to those presented by the gay rights advocates and New York based textbook groups, but there is no sign of one. I guess it would have required them to balance out the "Christians are hijacking Texas school boards" argument they want to make. Darn Christians getting elected and remaining popular (often running unopposed). Can't people tell they are evil? Stupid red staters...

A Lesson in Red and Blue

I live in a blue county. I work in a red county. Today is my thanksgiving lunch at work and I was assigned to bring a caesar salad. Now in blueville you can go to any supermarket and buy this sort of thing premade in its own (admittedly cheap) serving bowl. I know. I checked. So I brought serving utensils and planned on doing that at the supermarkets near work in redville. No such luck. The supermarkets had salad bars and salads (basically lettuce) in a bag, but no premade salads in bowls. Drat. So I bought a veggie tray instead which should fill the same basic food group.

I can think of two reasons for this. First in bluetown salad is a meal. In redville salad is like parsley, a garnish that sits on your plate to add color. Second redville tends to be further out on the supply chain, so maybe the concept just hasn't trickled down to here yet.

My co-workers have since informed me that similar salad is sold in bags around work. I was tasked to run out and getting a few more things before the lunch today and I saw neither hide nor hair (seed nor stem?) of such a thing. Oh well.

Range Report: Limbsaver

I put a Limbsaver recoil pad on my Mossberg 590 last weekend to replace the stock rubber pad. The Pachmyer Decellerator is the ruler of the recoil pad roost, but the Limbsaver has been getting good reviews and, more importantly, it was $10 cheaper. Good (some consider better) and cheaper was too much for me to shrug off.

It went on like a charm. Take the old screws out and the old pad off, new pad went right on with the old screws. The only tool required was a philips (phillips?) head screwdriver.

I didn't get to shoot it until today. So far so good. Deer slugs still kick. Ouchie. On the other hand the bird shot I was also firing was pretty mild in comparison. Granted I fired the slugs first so the bird shot is going to feel mild in comparison anyway. Still I'm happy with my purchase.

What is really going to kill the recoil is improvement in my shotgun technique and that is just going to take time and shells.

Dumbass Local Talk Show

My blogroll says good-bye to Flynn & Larrimore. I read this post on their blog this morning. In it the criticize the News Journal's Beth Miller for using the word "prisoner" to describe the insurgent shot in Fallujah the other day. Steve Larrimore basically calls her a liberal shill and concludes with this paragraph:

You may think that I am over reacting to this, but the subtle leftist propaganda in the NJ annoys me and the right gives the press too much "benefit of the doubt". It encourages the next step to forging documents.

No Steve, we're saying that you're over reacting because YOU ARE. Beth Miller is actually one of the few conservatives on the News Journal staff. She goes to my church and we have run into each other several times outside of the church as well, like at the Fair Hill Highland Games (Beth loves bagpipes). I've even met her mother. Did I mention Beth has taught several classes at my church about media bias? Well she has and they were quite well attended too.

I especially love the parting straw man. Yes using what may be a technically accurate word like "prisoner" is just a hop, skip, and jump from accepting forged documents from a known political partisan with a grudge against the president.

Whoops. Nice going, way to shoot your fellow conservative in the foot. Next time you decide to criticize someone for shoddy reporting why don't you do some legwork first? Why don't you pick on the Pope for being a bad Christian next? He has other people reading his sermons for him these days after all.

See I can do parting strawmen too.

UPDATE: Steve Larrimore has asked me to re-edit this to clarify that it was his posting and does not reflect Mike Flynn's opinion on the subject. I think I've done that and I apologize to Mike Flynn for inadvertently tarring him with my brush. If I missed a plural somewhere please let me know in the comments and I'll fix it.

I will freely admit the use of the word "prisoner" here is pretty contentious. He was certainly not a prisoner in the "searched and processed into custody" sense of, say, a prison inmate. On the other hand if he was wounded and had surrendered to the Marines, what word would you use to describe him?

Sorry folks, but we really are getting into semantics here. At some point you are trying to inflict your connotations of "prisoner" on me. Its especially bothersome because I know folks who work in the criminal justice system. The idea that, say, a prison inmate is incapable of being a threat to a guard is foolishness. The only place where "prisoner" is equated to "helpless non-combatant" is in your head. You are over reacting.

I talked to Beth about this stuff briefly after church. When I mentioned an story she wrote made someone mad, she started talking about a completely different piece. I had to point her toward the autopsy story. People being mad about that one was news to her. She said she has had people on both sides of the political aisle mad at her lately. It sounded like she considers that a good sign objectivity-wise. I tend to concur with her.

Have I mentioned that Beth was sent to Iraq on assignment for the News Journal a while back? Well she was. It was probably a year ago now. Not sure what she covered specifically because I prefer not to give the New Journal any of my money. While I don't share Steve's opinion of Beth, I do basically share his opinion of the New Journal as a whole. It is a rag. I may buy a few copies soon, but that's only because I need kindling for my fireplace as the weather gets colder.

FINAL UPDATE: The reporter who shot the footage has a blog. Here is his post on the subject telling the whole story. Long story short, the "insurgent" had been wounded and presumably taken prisoner during earlier operations at the mosque. There is very little likelihood that the "insurgent" was capable of doing anything other than slowly bleeding to death.

Hat tip to QandO for the Kevin Sites story.

The Passion

Messy Christian just saw the Passion of the Christ. For those who call the movie anti-semitic, I'd like to point out this reaction as more typical:

I always know that He's doing this for me, and I feel so unworthy of this sacrifice.

Similarly I thought this part was spot on:

What scenes that really grabbed me was the scene of Jesus as carpenter, creating a "high table". I've always wondered how Jesus was like as a carpenter! And the affection He showed His mother was something, prompting me to ask myself, Why does it surprise me? I guess I've always had a limited view of Jesus. I've always seen him as teacher, God etc, but forgot that He was a son, that he was a carpenter, that he laughed and cried

The very human parts of the story were what really grabbed me, especially when you are seeing Jesus through the eyes of Mary, his mother. I think as Christians, a lot of us get so caught up in Christ's divinity that we forget about his humanity. Part of the reason Christ's story is so amazing is that Jesus is also so human. I'm going to have to go through the Gospels again soon, especially the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke) since they really bring this out.

Schilling

Curt Schilling is a class act. King of Fools has another reason why. When asked this question by Tom Arnold:

You get one choice. George Bush gets re-elected President or Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in '86 years, what are you going to choose?

Schilling answered:

George Bush.

Through the curse of my birth I was born in the suburbs of Philly, which demands that I be a Phillies fan despite them being possibly the worst team in the history of major league baseball. For several years Schilling was the only bright spot on the Phillies roster and their sole contribution to the All Star Game. Thanks for that.

Schilling is also a big Role-Playing Game fan. He has single-handedly written checks that kept some game companies afloat. Six figure checks. He did this because enjoys their games and plays them on the road with likeminded teammates. Class act.

Target Bans Salvation Army

You know those bell ringers with their red kettles that mark the holiday season? Target is having none of it. Hugh Hewitt has been reporting on this here, here, here, and here.

Certain parts of the blogosphere are abuzz. I'd just like to point out that I have, to date, spent one hour ringing a Salvation Army bell during the Christmas season. It was two years ago at a Target on Route 202 in Wilmington, Delaware. I had the kettle at the southern entrance to the store (they were running two kettles, one at each entrance). It was cold, windy, and frankly miserable outside, but the folks at Target were very nice and even offered me a complimentary hot chocolate which I declined.

My guess is that this is the work of some corporate idiot who thought it would be a good idea. Chances are they gave no thought towards the long yuletide tradition they were breaking with. Oops. While I can sympathize with Target, I may still be shopping at Kohls and Walmart this year.

Hat tip to In the Agora

UPDATE: Ambra Nykol is playing devils advocate and taking Target's side.

Learning to Shoot

Instapundit is linking to this slate article by a DC reporter learning to shoot. Kim du Toit has a similar post about a 14 year old girl who loves to dear hunt with her dad. Bet her father ends up carrying the deer and cleaning it.

Since I already own guns, my girlfriend is going to learn to shoot. Its not a choice because she needs to know some things for her own safety. I'm hoping she does well enough that she likes it, but not so well enough that she can consistently outshoot me.

Tradition!

Ambra Nykol is writing about tradition and the breakdown of authority figures. Basically my analysis comes down to Proverbs 1:

Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.

Its so important Solomon repeats himself in Proverbs 6:

My son, keep your father's commands
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
Bind them upon your heart forever;
fasten them around your neck.
When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life...

The '60s was a time when parents teaching was forsaken. Now we have reaped the benefits. The baby boomers, by and large, forsake eternity to live by the moment. They have taught their children nothing because they foolishly discarded the wisdom of their own parents.

We are on exceptionally dangerous ground my friends. As one of my co-workers has often said "traditions are solutions for problems we have forgotten."

Oh and when I hear the word "tradition" I start humming the tune from Fiddler on the Roof as well. Now its stuck in my head. Thanks Ambra.

Presbyterians

Turns out Glenn Reynolds aka Instapundit is a PCUSA presbyterian. He also has issues with the growing anti-semitism of the PCUSA church that I mention here.

Long story short I was once PCA presbyterian. I agree with most of their doctrine and practical theology. I have since diverged a bit to the point that I am no longer a 5 point Calvinist. Thats why I'm not in the League of Reformed Bloggers for instance.

I ended up going Baptist because of church governance. In the presbyterian system, the denomination has strong control. For instance in a Presbyterian church, the pastor is employed by the presbytery not by the church itself. I'm guessing that this is so the presbytery can get rid of a pastor who breaks with doctrine whether his actual church wants it or not. I can appreciate that even though some people may think it is high-handed. Basically they can cast out a pastor, but try to keep the church.

The problem in my case was that the presbytery really didn't know what was going on in the church. About a third of the church membership and leadership started having serious concerns about our senior pastor. However 33% of a congregational vote is not enough to alert the presbytery to a problem (that requires a simple majority). Now when the church membership started plummeting, then the presbytery noticed. At that point it was too late to do anything other than damage control. When the ship has sunk, changing its captain isn't going to do a damn thing.

Anyway I went from there to a Baptist church. We don't have that problem since baptist denominations tend to be looser affiliations of doctrinally similar churches. Less than a year into going to my current church, they started having problems. Things were simply brought up openly during services and the pastor handled it well. While some people did leave the church, the numbers were small and they left as friends. I can't say that this was just because the pastor reported directly to his congregation, but it certainly didn't hurt.

Homosexuality and the Sins of Sodom

There is an interesting side conversation going on in this La Shawn Barber post. More specifically this comment.

The gist of Gary Volin's comment is the following:

1. The sin of Sodom was inhospitality, not homosexuality. Furthermore the use of the terms "sodomy" and "sodomite" in some translations, like King James, are actually English colloquialisms from greek and hebrew words that have nothing to do with Sodom.
2. Old Testament law does not forbid homosexual sex in general, but idoltrous gay sex in specific. This is the male shrine prostitution and the like mentioned in the Mosaic Law.
3. The few places that really do talk about forbidding gay sex are out of date because of the New Covenant relaxation of prohibitions. Our modern understanding of homosexuality also means the earlier moral principles often don't apply. Being gay is like keeping kosher.

Being gay is not like keeping kosher. The parts of the bible which are most explicit about homosexuality, like Leviticus 18:22, nestle it among incest, rape, bestiality, adultery, and child sacrifice. The idea that this is equivalent to eating pork is obviously fallacious.

Furthermore exception is made for gentiles in the New Testament. Many of the Jewish ceremonial laws don't have to be followed by non-Jews. However both Christ and Paul make it clear that the torah does not disappear because of the new covenant. A thorough reading of Romans tells us that carrying on in sin is not an option. We are not to continue sinning so that we can make greater use of God's graciousness.

Gary does have a point about homosexuality taking too prominent a role in the Sodom story. His comment about hospitality is not completely correct however. The truth is that Sodom (and Jebesh Gibeah in Judges 20) were destroyed for unrepentant wickness, immorality, and depravity of many types. Ezekial 16 says: “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.”

Throughout the bible, both in the story of Sodom and later in the similar story of Judges 19 through 21, homosexuality is mentioned but also accompanying other sins like murder or rape. I think it is Romans 1 which really shows us what homosexuality is:

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator... Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.

Homosexuality is not just a sin. It is also a symptom of a deeper and more significant moral and spiritual decline.

That said I don't think being gay is some sort of unforgivable sin. Nor do I think it is any more significant than the current epidemic of straight sexual promiscuity. The bible doesn't like that either. The truth is that they are both shades of the same symptom. Two sides of the same coin.

Our reaction should not be to explain them away as right and proper and continue sinning. Our reaction should be to read God's word, accept the Spirit's conviction, and repent of our sins.

The Religious Left

La Shawn Barber is writing about attempts being made by the left to appear more religious. Incidentally thats what we are talking about here appearing more religious. We aren't talking about being more religious, only dressing up their previous arguments in the proper pseudo-christian rhetorical tone. Its a bad idea so I hope they do it.

One thing the left needs to realize is that fundamentally, it isn't about what you say. Its about what you do and how that is a reflection of who you are. John Kerry was a Massachusetts Liberal and wishy washy Christian. Trying to run him as an enlightened moderate and a devout Catholic didn't work. He isn't so don't bother.

In contrast Bush is man with deep conservative religious convictions and foreign policy, but a fairly moderate view of the role of government in society. This is obvious to anyone who has been paying attention over the last few years and it is how he ran his campaign. He won oddly enough.

The Democrats seem to believe that the reds are ignorant feebs who will follow anyone who parrots the right tone. This has been exemplified by their entire southern campaign strategy since Dukakis. Put the Northern Liberal on a campaign platform that looks like the set of Hee-Haw and the votes will follow. It doesn't work. People are smarter than that.

Or to couch my rhetoric in Christian tones, I have read the Book of James. James says that faith without works is dead. How could it say this if salvation is by faith alone? It says this because if you actually have faith (instead of just saying you do) it will show up in your actions. If you lack the faith to act on your convictions, then you have no faith at all. To quote a different verse "you can judge a tree by its fruit." Folks we can look at your deeds and judge your faith by them. This is why no white Christian has any spiritual respect for Jesse Jackson. I'll listen to him politic and might respect him as a minority leader, but I couldn't give a good goddamn about his theology and I won't pay a cent to his "ministry".

What the Democrats need to do is actually run candidates that exemplify those values. I haven't seen them put someone forward yet, but I will concede that it is possible.

Fallujah

QandO has two very good posts on Fallujah. The first is on the evolving tactics that are being used. The second is about the now infamous marine shooting.

I can't really add much to the first article. My knowledge of the tactics of urban warfare go something like this:

1. Try to avoid it.
2. Seal off the area so it doesn't turn into a meat grinder like the Russian front in WWII.
3. Stay out of the streets because that's where the enemy can shoot you best. If necessary use explosives to knock down walls to facilitate this.
4. Don't hug the walls. They may provide cover and make you feel safe, but they are also bullet and fragment traps because of ricochets and reduce your freedom of movement.

As for the marine shooting, well its quite possible he did the right thing. Fallujah's streets are apparently heavily booby-trapped. Nobody wants to the be the booby that gets caught in the trap.

Hopefully due process will be followed and he will be exonerated if that is the case. Marine Colonel Jeff Cooper once said that the good thing about military courts is that they tend to care more about finding out what happened instead of placing blame. Hopefully that means the marine won't spend the rest of his life in prison for a split second decision when his life was in mortal danger.

UPDATE: Several people are writing about how the Geneva Conventions were being violated by the marine. This is incorrect. Firstly it is against the conventions to occupy a mosque, so they don't apply to this specific case. Secondly, the conventions don't protect non-uniformed insurgents like those in Iraq anyway. Russia made sure this was the case before they signed the conventions. The Volokh Conspiracy has further analysis.

The Kinsey Report

There is evidentally a movie coming out Alfred Kinsey. My girlfriend mentioned it when we were talking on the phone sunday. I wanted to link to this post on Evangelical Outpost for my own reference.

Garrison Keillor

Keillor is lifelong Democrat and host of the downhomey Prairie Home Companion radio show. His comments after the last election have caught some flak recently. Here is a GetReligion post. The Volokh Conspiracy is commenting here and here. Instapundit as well.

Suffice it to say that Keillor probably shouldn't have make jokes about disenfranchising evangelical Christians. Eugene Volokh (not christian last time I checked) found the joke distasteful because "I suspect that much of Keillor's audience does dislike born-again Christians, and that a considerable chunk even holds them in contempt."

The problem with this is that Keillor actually has a significant evangelical audience. My parents used to listen to him regularly. He plays old timey gospel music. He does a lot of clean humor. Much of his act is like a small town observational comedy. He is pretty big in the Red states who want something that speaks to them, but doesn't border on the profane as much as, say, the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Do you honestly think the urbanites of New England listen to a show called Prairie Home Companion?

So hopefully for Keillor, those christians did think it was funny because if they didn't he's lost a big market segment for his show.

Basic Shotgun Form

I encountered a couple people this weekend who had never shot a shotgun before and had no idea how to do it properly. Here is a little primer. If you're right handed this should make sense for you. If you are left handed then reverse everything. You backwards brained folks should be used to doing that.

Lets start with the feet and work up. You should have a basic idea which way you need to be facing. Great, now put your left foot forward pointed in that direction. Your right foot should be back about shoulder's length away from it. You should have good stability using this stance, if you don't you may need to adjust the position of your feet a little.

Pick up the gun and put it to your shoulder. MAKE SURE IT ISN'T LOADED. I'll tell you more on the "mount" in a bit, right now you just need the weight of the gun to get your balance right. At this point some people will have a tendency to put the gun out front and lean back onto their right foot to balance the gun's weight. Don't. You want to put most of your weight on your forward left foot and lean towards where you are shooting. When you fire the gun it will push you back onto your right foot. This way you can use the big muscles in your legs to help absorb recoil instead of using your weaker upper body muscles. You can also ride the recoil a bit with your upper body and that will make it hurt less.

Ok? Now lets move up. Your waist is for twisting left and right to track your target (since most shotgun games involving moving targets).

Now lift your right arm up so it is parallel to the ground. If you feel your shoulder, you will notice a little divit between your chest muscles and your shoulder muscles. That is the pocket or cup. That is where the butt of the shotgun goes. Lift the butt of the gun up to your shoulder and put it there. Your right arm is out because this will keep the pocket nice and deep. As you get better you can lower that arm, but trust me you want it out to start with. If you lower your arm now, the gun will probably jump out of the pocket under recoil and beat its way down your arm. That will hurt like heck so keep your arm up for Christ sakes.

Now pick up the shotgun. MAKE SURE IT ISN'T LOADED. Your right hand goes on the stock by the trigger. Your left goes on the forestock under the barrel(s). Put the butt in the cup so you get as much contact as possible between the butt of the gun and your shoulder. This will spread the impact out and it will hurt less. Hopefully the butt pad on the gun is a good shape to fit the contours of your shoulder.

Now let me say a few things about shotgun fit. Its a personal thing and a lot of what you are going to read next will vary with fit. Chances are you aren't using your own gun if you are reading this, so you basically have to take what you can get. If you buy your own gun you want a stock that is the right angle/length/shape for you. If your gun doesn't fit you will have a much tougher time with it. Recoil will hurt more and accuracy will suffer. Keep reading and I will bring up fit a bit more. Keep in mind if you want a really good fit, most hunting shops have professionals that do that sort of thing.

Now your right arm holds the gun into the pocket. Your left arm pulls the gun back into the pocket more and also controls how you swing the gun. On a pump shotgun pulling back on the forearm will also have the advantage of helping you pump faster after each shot. How hard should you be holding/pulling? A wise man once said you should be holding the shotgun like a injured bird, you don't want to hurt it but you don't want it to get away either. That sounds good to me.

Now if the stock is the right length and angle (called pull and drop in the gun world), your right cheek will be against the stock and you will be looking down the barrel of the gun. Most shotguns have bead sights, so there is probably a little aiming bead at the end of the barrel. If the stock is too long/tall/etc you will be looking at the back of the gun. Conversely if the stock is too short you will be looking down the barrel from too high up. If it fits you shouldn't really see the top of the shotgun or the barrels at all, only the sights where they stick up. Raise or lower your head to try to get the right sight picture.

If you can't get this sight picture no matter how hard you try, find a different gun. Production stocks are a little long for most people, although they fit me fine because I'm a little taller than average. In general its better for a stock to be too short than too long. Kids and women might be better off with a youth (also called "bantam") stock.

Now, as I said before, your cheek needs to be against the stock. Some people try to avoid this because they think it might hurt. It shouldn't even if the fit isn't the greatest. This cheek position is called the cheek weld. With bead sights your eyeball is the rear sight, the cheek weld locks your eye into position with the gun. If the stock "fits" then your eyeball should naturally be in the right place. If not you will have to move your head and chances are that it will be easier to lose to proper sight picture. Sorry people shooting loaners.

Now point and shoot. Many a shotgunner has told me that you don't aim a shotgun, you point it. You are firing a cloud of shot remember. With a pump make sure you pull the fore-end all the way back and push it all the way forward for best reliability. Leading a target is something you have to get a feel for with experiece but hopefully you will be starting on easy, slow, close targets. Enjoy shotgunning, it can be very satisfying once you start popping clays.

That's about it. I taught somebody these basics during my shooting expedition this weekend and he went on a hot streak and almost beat me. I wish he could have returned the favor and taught me some stuff. ;)

Engineering Philosophy

I was reading a post on Eric Raymond's blog today that struck me as particularly insightful. It goes like this:

Past that my father, also born in LA, and well educated by even by blue standards, was an engineer. Engineers think in a very specific way. The requirements of the profession forces them to divide the whole universe into "works" and "does not work." This habit of thought definitely rubbed off on me. The problem with the blue types is that the post-modernist fantasy world they seem to live in does not even recognize that there are categories defined as "works" and "does not work."

Yup. I'm an engineer and that basically sums up my outlook pretty well. I am more than willing to recognize that There's More Than One Way To Do It (TMTOWTDI) However just because the set of possible solutions is large does not mean you are necessarily within it.

I think part of my problem with the current incarnation of liberalism has a lot to do this. Its one thing to disagree with someone on moral grounds. It is another to say that you live in a completely different reality than I do. Post-modernists and other Relativists often follow the second course and I'm sorry but I can't buy it.

Abortion and the SPCA

Matthew Yglesias is typing about abortion. He states the following:

One is that if you believe, as I do, that a fetus does not have the moral standing of a person then it really is, just as current law states, an unjustifiable invasion of a woman's privacy to say that the state will regulate the manner in which she handles matters pertaining to the contents of her body.

Now this may surprise some of you, but I agree with him that a fetus shouldn't have the same legal standing as an infant. I think biblically and morally the life of the mother is much more important that the life of the unborn child. There are many longstanding legal and religious traditions that support this (like Jewish Law).

However the second half of his screed does not actually follow from the first. In fact the rest is just a typical slippery-slope over-reaction and Yglesias knows it. He even acknowledges "The logic of the anti-Roe view is either that there's no right to privacy, or else that for some reason the right to privacy does not extend to this particular matter."

If the fetus is not human is it bereft of all rights? No, it is certainly not. We're the fetus even of the same legal standing as a cat, I submit to you that many abortions would be considered illegal in this country. Just because a puppy is not a person does not prevent us from having cruelty to animals laws.

So I end with this illustration. A woman has a puppy. For whatever reason, she does not feel she can properly take care of the dog. Perhaps she has fallen on hard times and doesn't have the money. Perhaps prior commitments prohibit her from properly taking care of it. She then has two choices:

1. She can find someone, either an agency or individual, to care for the puppy.
2. She can take it to the vet and have the puppy put to sleep.

Which do you think is the right choice? Good. Now draw the proper parallels considering that most abortions have nothing to do with the health of the baby or the mother and everything to do with this sort of haphazard convenience.

Differences between Men and Women

This Baldo comic sums up relationships and the differences between men and women nicely.

Heart Troubles

Instapundit has mentioned portable automatic defibrillators. My church has one and I was shown it the last time I did an usher rotation. So far I don't believe we have had to use it.

In other heart problem news, Hardees now has a double thickburger out. 1400 calories and over 100 grams of fat. That will show those veins you mean business.

UPDATE: If you want to cleverly bash Hardess, might I suggest calling them Heartdisease. Say it real fast and you'll see what I mean.

Range Report: Shooting Clays

I got together on a Boys Night Out (day out?) with my brother and some of his friends. We went up to the State Game Lands by French Creek State Park and shot there. That is why I didn't do any posting on saturday, I was either driving or away from civilization in the back woods of Pennsylvania.

My brother and one of his friends both brought mechanical clay throwers which gave us the needed consistency for starting shooters. We set the throwers up on the firing line (and marked where you were supposed to stand with one of the bright orange clays). Shooters had two shots at each "bird". This is something like trap shooting, only the ranges are all wrong.

My 590 worked ok and I was happy. My mossberg has a fairly short barrel at only 20 inches. It also has a cylinder bore choke, the most open choke. This means that my long range accuracy suffers (because of the short barrel) and my gun doesn't hit as hard out there either (because of the choke). My shotgun is a short range anti-personnel riot gun, not a long range sporting arm.

My brother was shooting his Saiga and wasn't doing well. His gun is even less "sporting" than mine in every respect. It is semi-automatic which is nice, but it jammed on him a couple of times which made his day even less fun.

I countered the weaknesses of my gun by trying to hit my birds early. Once they got far enough out a hit would be sheer luck. When I started shooting, I was guestimating where I thought the clay would go. So I mounted and aimed my gun at that patch of sky and yelled pull. The problem was I'd still have to move it over to the clay, then change direction, and then shoot it. It took too much time and frankly involved a lot of fine motor skills.

So instead I just aimed the gun at the ground about ten yards in front of me and yelled pull. I brought the gun up to the clay and fired as things lined up. Turns out that even though my gun started farther away, this technique worked a lot better. I was hitting earlier and better (clays shattering into powder instead of chipping bits off). By the end of the day, one of the other shooters was admiring my technique so I was happy. Unfortunately I didn't figure all this out until halfway through the competition section of the day so I finished in the middle of the pack. Oh well, I learned something and that is what matters to me.

National Ammo Day

Support your right to keep and bear arms, buy ammo!

Arafat and Religion

This GetReligion piece is commenting on the plight of Christians in the Holy Land

One good thing about Arafat was that, although Muslim, he did a lot to hold the Palestinian people together religiously. What do I mean? Well about a third of the Palestinians are Christians, usually some flavor of Orthodox. When you live a block from where Jesus was born, it kind of makes sense doesn't it?

Anyway it wasn't uncommon to see Arafat going to Christmas Eve Mass at Bethlehem even though he's Muslim. He put out the effort to recognize and accommodate the Christian minority. Depending on what you think of him, maybe he just stole from everyone equally. The point is that a new militant Muslim leader for the Palestinian people may not do that, to the detriment of Christian natives in the Holy Land.

Not that it matters for long anyway. Palestinian Christians are a shrinking group anyway. Some are converting to Islam, but many are just getting the hell out of the country. I had a friend in college named Adel who was from Bethlehem. Yes, The Bethlehem. He basically thought that things going on in Palestine were crazy and it was time to get out. This was before 9-11 mind you. His family does auto body work in Delaware and he got an engineering degree with me from U of Delaware.

EA Games

Evidentally, EA Games is a behemoth in the video gaming industry. They also treat their employees like crap. See this story from an EA software engineers spouse and this one from an actual software engineer.

While long hours immediately prior to release are understood in the game industry are the norm, working people to death prior to that is unusual and unhealthy. Plus EA is requiring employees to work long hours without compensation, which has provoked employees into suing their employer for compensation.

There are several ways this could end:

• More lawsuits. Employees start experiencing health difficulties from the long hours and stress. They sue the company for damages. Employees, like Joe Straitiff above, start suing over false termination and take the company for a mint.
• EAs workers start leaving en masse. EA will miss deadlines and likely experience a business meltdown.
• EA workers will unionize and demand that EA change its practices.
• EAs management will wisen the hell up and start managing their people better proactively.

The end result in any case is that EA can't hope to keep this sort of thing up for long.

I doubt EA management reads this blog, but if you do... get a clue.

Hat tip to Penny Arcade.

Team America

My brother and I went to see Team America: World Police a while ago. Evidentally the troops fighting in fallujah have too. Read the second to last paragraph.

For those that don't know, the theme goes something like "America! Fuck Yeah!" More profanity follows that and I don't remember the all the specifics. Suffice it to say that the Army or Marines advancing to that theme music fills me with mirth.

I can't wait to hear the liberals complaining now, "The Army is dropping F-bombs on Iraq! Its for the children! The children!"

FOPs

I was annoyed this morning by a call from the Fraternal Order of Police. I agree to a small donation, because I'm a nice guy. If anyone else calls me at home on Sunday morning when I'm late for church, they're out of luck.

Movie Reviews

Because of the long Veteran's day weekend, I rented a few movies from Blockbuster to pass the time. I went with The Girl Next Door and Dawn of the Dead.

Dawn of the Dead

Ooooh Zombies! That can run! Sometimes they catch people and, if bitten, those people become zombies too. Unless they get completely eaten of course. Yada yada Shoot them in the head to kill them.

There is some character stuff in there too but that's basically the movie. They don't explain where the zombies come from. The plot is basically that people hide out in a mall from zombies, start to go stir crazy, try to leave, and carnage ensues. There isn't a conclusion really, the people just get out of the mall. If you want to see zombies attack, zombies getting shot in the head, and people getting eaten/turned into zombies, this is the movie for you.

My rental copy had some trouble playing in the PS2, but I think its because the rental got beat up. Your mileage may vary.

The Girl Next Door

This is a lot like Risky Business (with Tom Cruise) only with pornstars instead of prostitutes. Some parts are very derivative from that movie, but others are original. For instance the limo scene after the prom reminded me of the infamous train montage in Risky Business. The beginning and ending are quite good, but the middle is pretty slow. Its an ok movie for a rental, but I wouldn't bother buying it.

From the Unratedness of the video I honestly expected more soft-core stuff. Frankly the nudity is pretty mild (compared to say American Pie) and the language wasn't especially obscene (just a few Fuck!s).

Question Authority?

One of the central tenets of the left is to question authority and the establishment. Unfortunately most people in college today were raised in institutions run by the left. The left is the establishment they are questioning. Here is one hippy and how his reaction to authority lead him to Bush. Hat tip: David Kopel at the Volokh Conspiracy

Student Protests

Izzy showed me this yesterday as I was leaving work. Lots of folks on college campuses protesting Bush and protesting their local branch of the College Republicans. Those horrible collegiate Republican fascists, baby eaters all! I must say I went to a couple CR events during my undergrad days. I met Mike Castle, my congressman, that way. I also found out that baby tastes like chicken.

I often wonder how they get so many people to turn out to these sorts of things. Then I recall how much free time I had in college. I also looked at some of the pictures on the article. They basically features fairly attractive women getting all hot and bothered and a bunch of "activist" men enjoying the view. Hell if they had free pizza or some nice baby cooked up buffalo style, I'd even be there in a heartbeat. Chicks! Pizza! Too bad there are laws against coercing people to vote that way.

Remind me of an Erv Homer story from when he was a student in the '60s. To paraphrase: "I went lots of protests at college. I didn't really know what I was protesting most of the time, but the girls there were Free Love so that was good enough for me."

Recycling

Sorry I have today off because of Veterans Day so I haven't done much blogging. My day has been a mix of playing video games and doing work. So far I've clean a whole lot, did laundry, ran the dishwasher, and dropped an old computer monitor off to be recycled.

For those of you who don't know computer monitors contain a whole lot of stuff you probably shouldn't just dump in a landfill. The CRT especially contains a good deal of heavy metals that are used as shielding to prevent outside electromagnetic fields from playing tricks with your picture. Chances are your state has facilities to recycle these materials instead of just throwing them out. If you live in Delaware, follow this link for more information. If you don't try looking it up on Google.

I like to recycle. I know I'm a right winger, but I'm also cheap and I think our society should still be concerned with the amount of waste we generate. God gave us this land to use it and tame it, but not to screw it up. Good stewardship is good stewardship.

Military Travels

Will Collier has a piece on how travelers are not always tourists.

People like to assume that the Red Staters are neanderthals who have never left their home towns. The problem with this is that most of the red states have deep military traditions. So many citizens are military men, women, or families that have lived abroad for years at a stretch. Compare that to some New Yorkers who haven't left Manhattan in years. The point here isn't that Red is wise and Blue is stupid. The point is that it is foolish to prejudge others with labels like Red or Blue.

Gun Safety

Kim du Toit has a little advice for gun owners with kids. Its pretty good. He mentions that properly trained, your kids can be perfectly safe around guns provided they don't have friends over at which point their little brains can go out the window.

One thing he doesn't mention, but is significant, is that you really shouldn't leave them unattended. If you are leaving the house, lock up everything you aren't taking with you trained kids or no. If you don't have those guns in custody you don't know what could happen. You could come home to find that junior brought a friend over. You could come home to find that a burglar has acquired the means to kill you from your very house. Why chance it?

Here Pretty Polly

In a similar spirit to Who's in the White House, I present Monty Python's The Dead Arafat Sketch.

UPDATE: It appears Arafat has actually died. Let us pray that this results in a new Palestinian Leader who wants a better future for his people without resorting to the sword to get it.

Who's in the White House?

In the spirit of purely partisan gloating, go here.

College Student Organizations

The Volokh Conspiracy is running a couple of posts about rules of Student Organization conduct at U of Tulsa's College of Law. Here is an excerpt:

student groups that "undertake[] to question the legitimacy of another student organization or deliberately question[] the programs of another student organiz[a]tion" will lose their funding from the student government (funding that I assume comes from the school), and "[i]nstitutionally, . . . may jeopardize their recognition as a legitimate law school organization."

Evidentally this is aimed at stifling partisan political divides at Tulsa Law. I hope its not aimed at shutting the Christians up.

I say that because I was the Treasurer of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of Delaware for three years. Including staff salaries (2 full-time and 1 part-time) our organization probably had an operating budget getting close six figures. We received something in the mid two figures from the university. Thats right our grand funding from the university might have paid for some of our yearly copying costs. The only reason we bothered to stay an official Student Organization was that it gave us easier access to school facilities like rooms and offices. So both their threats would carry little weight with the church set.

Good Answers to Bad Questions

Somehow we got onto the topic of answering questions and I brought up the topic of the Mu answer. I mentioned this example which comes straight from the Jargon File:

The correct answer to the classic trick question “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”. Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer “yes” is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but “no” is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually “mu”, a Japanese word alleged to mean “Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect ssumptions”.

This use of Mu is not technically correct outside of hacker speak as Mu technically means "empty" or "nothing". At the time I said english had no translation, but now I realize that Null probably fits. Yes I realize that the concept of Null has many meanings, but so does Mu in the original Japanese. Both literally indicate not one or zero, but empty or void.

We think that if the concept gets around, it may one day result in political debates sounds like "Mu! Mu!" while the other person waves his hand and says "Bah! Bah!". Barnyard politics indeed.

Religious Polarization

Matthew Yglesias is commenting on the correlation between increasing religious involvement in politics and dropping rates of church attendance. Here is a quote:

America used to be so religious, that it didn't make any sense to make an issue out of religion for campaign purposes. But religiosity has been dropping to the point where there's the sort of roughly-even divide at which it makes sense to mobilize observance (or non-observance) for political purposes.

I think the study basically gets two things wrong because they seem to completely miss the polarization of the American church along conservative and liberal lines. I wrote about that a bit here. The good thing is that the two parts balance out.

The first thing is that they place a lot of importance on the drop in church attendance and then talk about the right wing political Christians. The problem here is that the right wing Christians, by and large, are not seeing a drop in church attendance. It is the left side of the church that is dying out not the right.

The second thing that makes up for it is that they miss the drop in ideological consensus between the political branches of the church. Before the two sides split during the 1960s, there was a lot of consensus within the church over fundamentals like the divinity of Christ. With the split the two sides have moved apart ideologically. See the whole problem with homosexuality in the Episcopalian church for an example of that. So even if the church population wasn't dropping, half of the country still wouldn't be believing what the other half does.

In the end I think that its the decline of Christian ideology that is bothering Christians. I think that church attendance is a bad metric, but their thesis is still fairly sound.

UPDATE: Some people are interpretting this as "the religious culture of America is dying and these are its death throws". Evangelicals like Jeff the Baptist are fighting a lost cause. Nope. What is happening is that the religious culture of the left is dying. This is a well recorded fact. The right is still going fairly strong and, as these articles point out, are getting fired up. So don't wait up for the religious right to be bred out of political discourse.

Good Food

Messy Christian took a day off to do several things including eat sushi with her sister.

Amybear and I are big sushi fans. We both got into it my senior year in college. My neighbor in the dorms made his own sushi. He cooked the rice and rolled his own maki. It was yummy as long has you had the sense to avoid his more questionable creations and made sure he was using fresh meat. Incidentally, if you can't get over the raw fish part, sushi is technically vinegared rice not raw fish. So there is cooked sushi (mostly shellfish) and vegetable sushi.

Since then Amybear and I have tried a bunch of places and even resorted to making our own. Its not that hard to make amateur sushi and you can buy a simple kit that will serve you well (and contain instructions) at most online cooking retailers. As I said, make sure your meat is fresh. Farm raised salmon never enters fresh water so its a very good choice, if a bit fatty. (Humans are fresh water creatures, so the salt water fish means that we're immune to most of their micro-organisms.) Get to know when the local supermarkets get their fish deliveries and work your cooking schedule around it. Your local asian grocery or, in cosmopolitan areas, even your supermarket will have the necessary other foodstuffs like nori and wasabi.

To continue my trend of endorsing local Delaware businesses: Try Grand East Buffet at the corner of Foulk and Naamans in Wilmington. Its in the same shopping center as the ACME. It has become my and Amybear's favorite restaurant. Grand East has decent (although admittedly not spectacular) sushi, its all-you-can-eat and included with the regular buffet. I paid $10 for a good sushi/chinese lunch yesterday. Thats half what you might pay at other places. My parents are even starting to eat sushi there. This is a major accomplishment considering my parents, they won't eat any sushi I make.

Range Report: FN Hipower

I took my hipower to the range for the first time since I had the trigger job done. It was wonderful, the trigger broke like glass at a perfect weight. My brother was somewhat envious and called it money well spent.

Bad news was that the trigger was great but I was pretty consistently shooting to the right. For those who don't shoot handguns that usually means I'm using too much trigger finger and "pulling" the shot. I was doing it repeatably which made me think the sights were a little off. Unfortunately my brother shot dead on with it and the other gun we were shooting was pulling right for me as well. Darn it! I have nobody to blame but myself. I hate it when that happens. I want someone to blame.

Oh by the way, I had my trigger work done by Cayley Carson at Newcastle Gunsmithing. If anyone is in Delaware and wants his email address or phone number, drop me a line. I don't think he'd appreciate me posting it without asking. My email is on the profile page.

Incredibles

I just saw it this afternoon with a bunch of people from church. It is an excellent movie. Action, comedy, sentiment. Its a tour de force. Go see it. If Amybear hasn't seen it by the time I see her next, I'll be more than happy to see it again. Oh and the Star Wars teaser was ok. I'd like to go on the record saying that National Treasure looks really stupid.

UPDATE: Given this some more thought. The movie is really really good. I gave serious consideration to picking up City of Heroes or just digging out a copy of Champions or GURPS Supers. Ok ok just kidding no movie is good enough to make me want to play GURPS.

Regionalism

I've been reading Matthew Yglesias more lately. He's a Democrat, but doesn't seem to follow the usual Democratic folly. That doesn't mean he's always right mind you. Take this quote from here:

Kevin's assertion that "the South is lost to the Democratic party," however, seems off-base. Most notably, Florida certainly isn't lost to the Democratic Party.

I'd just like to point out that Florida is not a Southern state. Oh its pretty far south, but culturally Florida is like Texas, a rule unto itself.

Here is another bit from further on in the same post:

One consequence of Bush's victory-through-regional-polarization should be that Democrats don't need to put up with Republican governors in California, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, etc.

Yes because it is not like the Democrats are at fault for contributing to the polarization of American. No that is something Bush created despite the fact that the vote in 2000, before he was elected, was similar to 2004. In any case, the truth is that the party that becomes dominant is going to be one that broadens its base and overcomes the current pigeonholed status both parties are suffering from. I think the Republicans are doing a much better job of this currently and the election backs this up. But its just currently.

Several of his commenters are pointing out that to overcome their regional problems, Democrats should start bringing more candidates forward from the West. They are of course missing the true regionalism of both parties. It has nothing to do with east, west, etc. It has everything to do with the urban/suburban/rural divide. Remember this post? Look at the map and notice the cities are blue and the suburbs/country is red. Democrats are still going to have trouble no matter where their candidate is from.

Insulting Libertarians

Randy Barnett at the Volokh Conspiracy is typing about Republicans insulting Libertarians. He has some good points. Randy points out that the winning party in a two party system is often the one that can hold together the most diverse coalition without fragmenting. One big problem is that he, by and large, misses a bigger point. It goes like this:

I believe that libertarians were in both camps this time around. Of those who did not vote Libertarian, anti-war libertarians ... supported Kerry. Those libertarians who support the administration's strategy for fighting the war ... voted Bush.

So the libertarian vote was split. He goes on to write:

It ill-behooves one constituent of a winning coalition to gratuitously insult another member.

Do these two statements jive? If the libertarian constituency was split are they really members of the coalition at all? Keep in mind half of them voted for the other guy. If I vote Bush and my (hypothetical) wife votes Kerry, can you call us a Republican couple? No you can't.

Thats why if the libertarians really want to have strong political influence, they are going to have to finally take sides and really join one of the two coalition parties. Then they will have a reason for complaint. Until then you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Video Game Piracy

Amybear sent me this link. Essentially video game piracy has really been on the rise as of late. Several very popular games were hacked and released on the internet before they made it to retail. GTA was still sold out everywhere I went, so its unlikely the bottom line at Rock Star is to blame.

I seem to recall Penny Arcade (see The Funnies section on the sidebar) talking about the sheer number of games coming out lately. Frankly everybody and their third cousin is coming out with a game right now in order make the Christmas market. The game industry has not, as of yet, figured out that while Christmas is big you also face the stiffest competition then as well. People can only afford so much. So GTA, Halo 2, and Half-Life 2 are going to corner their market segments and lots of smaller games will never see any play and will disappear into obscurity. On the other hand if they came out over the summer they might get crazy amounts of play.

So what? Well because people can only afford so much that tends to add to demands for piracy. I want those games, I want them now, I can't afford them, oh look the internet...

When I was younger and had no money, piracy was an option. Now my view is more like this:

Many consumers, meanwhile, said they'd never consider pirated versions. Not only would it spoil the surprise, gamers tend to be devoted followers of game creators.

I have no problem giving people my good money for a game that I enjoy playing. I have the money to spend and $50 is not a lot when you consider that I will be playing GTA:San Andreas for months. Its much more cost effective than a 2 hour movie. Even though I now have a DVD burner sitting on my home computer, I have no desire whatsoever to pirate a game. If I see a game I want but don't want to pay the exorbitant release price for, I wait until I can get it used or Greatest Hits. Not hard.

Blame Canada

Canadians are preparing for the liberal onslaught. HT: Donald Sensing

Vote by County

I have this up on the wall of my cube at work and everyone keeps staring at it. So here is the chart on pdf. You can play Name the Blue Urban Center later.

Demographics

Connie Du Toit is writing about red america. She covers the culture and ethnic makeup of her town in Texas here. Similarly her thoughts about thinking conservatives are here.

In the second essay she talks about conservative thought. She points out that the vast majority of the people in this country are conservatives of some type or other. Similarly we all have areas where we would like to be "progressive." I think this is really at the heart of the great political divide in this country.

The "liberals" are are also conservatives. They want to conserve the New Deal policies of the welfare system for instance. They want to conserve the environment. The right are conservatives too of course. We want to conserve American industry. We want to conserve traditional American moral values.

Similarly we both want progress in some areas. The right wants progress that applies free market mechanics to traditionally expensive government policies in order to boost efficiency and reduce waste. The left wants progress in social areas like racial equity. They also want government be in the business of actively helping people.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get everyone into a room and talk? Without the craziness so we could work out a way that everyone is happy? Yeah but I doubt it will ever happen.

International Election Results

Iranian Students are happy for Bush's election. The mullahs are worried. Good.

I don't think the US Army will be marching down the streets of Tehran anytime soon even though Bush has been re-elected. Nor should we since it is far better for a nation to reform itself from within. Iran may be on that course. A lot of Iranians have realized that while their nation may be called a democracy, true power is actually wielded by the unelected oligarchy of the Islamic priesthood. Iran is a young country because of the lingering effects of the Iran-Iraq War. The young people are starting to get serious about these things and the presence of a democratic Iraq with a Shiite majority is bound to be a motivator.

My prayers will be with you Iranians.

Election Prayers Answered

I prayed Daryl Cobranchi's prayer. While it wasn't quite over last night we have a clear winner today and I'll take it. For that I'd like to take the time to thank to Lord God properly. We have President who won both the popular vote and the electoral college. Thanks.

Oh and thanks for the election going to my guy while I'm at it. You the God.

Holy Crap!

Have you looked at the stock market lately? I thought the election jitters might have been keeping the economy down. Turns out I was right.

HT: IMAO

UPDATE: Some people are saying that this is the market's endorsement of Bush. I think that this is far more indicative that the market knows where we are going. I think if Kerry had been elected people would be making similar investments (although different in specifics) with a similar effect on the market as a whole.

The Youth Vote

Izzy, my co-worker, made a very good point a moment ago. I know that I absentee voted back when I was in college and graduate school. So did Izzy. I know that is how Amybear voted this year. I didn't see an actual polling place until I finished my Masters and got a real job.

Exit polling will never show much of a voter turnout for the "youth" vote. Many/most voters between 18 and 22 are in college. They are far away from their voting district and lack transportation so they file absentee. Exit polling will under-represent them consistently because of this. The truth is their votes may not be counted for weeks. Because a ballot is not identified with an individual, no one will know the actual voter turnout for their age group.

Bush Unleashed?

Democrats are worried about the next Bush term. Very reasonable considering your political differences. The problem here is how they want to react (comments from this post):

It is time, and past time that we dismantled the DNC, tossed out its tired, failed leadership, and built a better party. For the past four years, John Kerry, and every other "Democrat" in the House and Senate gave GWB a free ride, it cost them in the mid terms, and it has now cost them again. Terry McAuliffe must be fired, and never given a job with the Democratic party again. His policy of "be moderate, right leaning Democrats, try to act more Republican" is an obvious failure.

Or

I'm a veteran of the anti-war protests of the '60s. I can't believe what I'm reading here. What we need is people marching in the streets. We need a read left in this country again. We need to be visible, not skulk away.

If the national Democratic "leaders" aren't fighting for us, we need to replace them. Lets get more Obamas in there and get rid of the dinosaurs who have sold out and won't fight back against Bush.

We must organize and we must take back the media the same way the right wingers did. I remember when there were lots of liberal talk shows and real left-wingers commenting on TV.

Most of all, we need to organize and march in the streets if necessary. I can't believe after all that has been done to damage our economy and our democracy in the past four years that the cities are burning like they did in 1968.

Folks this isn't going to work! You've been doing this for four years and Bush has been gaining votes in both the House and Senate every election! Connect the damn dots! The whole point of the Senate Democrats has been obstructionism. Stop Bush as much as possible. Except people vote Democrat because they a government that works for them. Obstructionism works for no one other than perhaps the small government folks that prefer gridlock and how it forces non-government solutions. You aren't trying to help them and furthermore by your own pro-government principles you aren't trying to help the people are you?

Furthermore if it is all you offer then the Republicans will very rationally stop listening to you. Most normal folks will gradually stop listening to you too. People like calm, polite discourse. Emotion yes, but not zealotry and hysteria. Calm the hell down! "Lets turn this into 1968 all over again!" Remember who won in '68? Nixon. Do you think it was a coincidence? Who got elected in '72? Nixon again. Do you want that to happen again? Somebody has to be the voice of sanity and reason and you can't do that without being reasonable first. Dropping into the looney bin won't help you.

What you need to do is work with Repubs at some level. Advance your own agenda to balance the budget and reduce the deficit other than just Tax More and Cut Defense in Wartime. Which of their policies don't suck? They have to have some you know. Hell Teddy Kennedy wrote a lot of Bush's education bill. Work on those. Bush didn't have the balls for veto in his first term, he probably won't in his second.

Delaware Election 2004

Democrats won in most state and county offices. Thoughts:

• Minner won thanks to the womens vote. While the men's vote was evenly split, Minner received a large response from women who turned out heavily. Minner is a mediocre governor, but I believe she understands that state employees are badly underpaid and overworked and she will fix this in her next budget. If she doesn't she will be in big trouble, the state cannot survive if the hiring freeze and lack of cost-of-living increases continue.
• Mike Castle won. Big surprise there. He had such a lead, he has been spending his campaign money stumping for Newcastle County offices for over a month.
• Too bad it didn't help. Newcastle County offices are almost universally held by Democrats again. This is despite several members of the last Democrat administration being indicted. Yeah that will teach those Democrats.
• I campaigned for Republican State Rep Candidate Jim Stockwell in District 16. He goes to my church and I've known him for years. He lost 20% to 80%. Jim lives in the city of Newcastle and his constituents are mostly African American. He's white, his opponent is black. I didn't think he was going to win after I did some campaign work for him and got a feel for his district. I hope Jim didn't sink too much of his own money into the campaign.

National Election 2004

I went to bed around 11 last night pretty sure that Bush would pull this thing off. I woke up and the election still isn't over yet, but I'm pretty sure Bush is the winner. Some thoughts:

• Kerry doesn't have the votes in Ohio to win. He would need to take an unbelievable percentage of the absentee and provisional ballots. There is no reason to believe the provisionals or absentees are going to skew heavily to either party. But he's not conceding, he's mobilizing the lawyers. As much as he talks about making all the votes count, about the only way he can win with the margin as it stands is if he gets some Republican votes thrown out somewhere. Hypocrit.
• Even so Bush has won the popular vote by a sizable margin. At least the Democrats I respect aren't flip flopping on the whole electoral college/popular vote dichotomy. Bush has won a plurality so the "selected not elected" rhetoric just isn't going to work this time around. I think a large part of this is because the red states tried to run up the score for Bush.
• Huge turnout didn't happen. It seems like the vote this year will be about what the vote in 2000 was, which isn't good considering how the country has grown.
• Turns out the Vote or Die campaign didn't work well so I hope P. Diddy has a lot of bullets. As a rule kids don't like being used or lied to. Rock the Vote playing on partisanship and Draft rumor fears was doing just that so kids stayed home as usual.
• The Democrats are organizing and blaming everyone but themselves. Typical. Its not our fault for being out of touch, its the Republican media machine. Lets ignore that the media votes heavily Democrat. Despite all the uniting America talk, the democrats really don't know how to be the minority party. They are a party of near-violent activism, not agenda molding compromise. They really need to take a page from the Reagan era congressional Republicans. If you want get your policy heard, vitriolic partisanship isn't going to get you anywhere. If you want the other party to hear Reason, you need to be reasonable. Hopefully the Democrats will realize this to the benefit of the whole country.

UPDATE: Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost has similar thoughts.

UPDATE2: Kerry conceded. I think he realized he didn't have the votes and did the right thing. My respect for him just grew a little. Oh and have you considered lack of youth turnout might be due to absentee ballots?

Voting

My polling place was within walking distance so I hoofed it there when I got home in case turnout was high and parking was difficult. My fears were unfounded I walked right in with no line to speak of. They actually had my name on their list as well, even though I moved a little over a month ago and changed my address at least a week later. Will wonders never cease? The machine was one of the new electronic jobs with LEDs behind the names and such to tell you who you voted for. It seemed to work properly. Now the waiting game begins. Hopefully it won't last a month this year.

UPDATE: If you're going to walk to your polling place, make sure you wear good shoes. Silly me has a blister on his foot now.

Waffle Fries at Chick-Fil-A

Izzy and I ate at Chick-Fil-A last night on the way to his place to play lots of GTA: San Andreas. I got nuggets with polynesian sauce and waffle fries. Izzy got a sandwich. Oh and we both bought southern-style sweet tea (sweetay!) in the middle of Maryland because "chick-a-fil" is a cool southern chain.

We noticed that waffle fries cool awfully fast, faster than standard fries. Being engineers, we developed a theory to explain this.

The waffle structure of the fry actually raises the surface area to fry volume ratio above that of standard stick fries. The typical heat transfer variable that governs this is the Biot number. We believe that because of the shape of the fry, the characteristic length of a single waffle fry is reduced below that of a typical stick fry found at a milspec burger joint (like the Burger King on base).

I've been thinking about this a little more in the past few minutes and I think that there is another effect that contributes as well. I think the characteristic fry length is smaller for the waffle fry as I said before. I also think that the waffle structure increases convective heat dissipation by changing the air flow pattern and thereby increasing the convective constant. Essentially the waffle fry is a tiny radiator.

Come to think of it Chick-Fil-A probably realizes this as well. I bet they use the waffle fry because it is quicker to cook than a standard stick fry. Unfortunately the physics work both ways and it also cools faster too.

Yeah, yeah, I'm a geek. But Izzy suggested I write this so at least I'm not alone.

Blogger Test

What kind of blogger are you? Like Messy Christian I test out as a Pundit.

You Are a Pundit Blogger! Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

Libertarian Folly

Connie du Toit has an excellent analysis on the problems with Libertarianism.

My problem with Libertarianism is that the capital "L" variants tend to have a problem with both reality and anarchy. Many are essentially neo-anarchists who want no government over the individual. Doesn't work well.

Anarchy is unstable from within, a determined attempt to seize power of unbalance the system by someone with greater than average resources results in downfall. Anarchy is unstable from without. A determined effort by a powerful outside force will overthrow the system. See the pattern? Anarchy is inherently fault intolerant. Just look at the factionalism in Libertarian community for more proof. Shatter. Fragment.

Similarly the hand-waving idea that everything will become stable in the long run is a damn lie. Folks the world is changing in small ways every day. We like it that way. It makes our lives interesting. Societies need to be able to quickly adapt to those changes without falling apart or completely reorganizing. Stability is dealing with a moving target. Anarchy doesn't do this well either because of what I mentioned above.

The Libs will respond with this: In anarcho-capitalism you have the capital owners providing the fault tolerance and stability. It is in their best interest to do so in order to encourage commerce, etc. Right, so if the capital owners are providing these things, says Connie du Toit, how are they not a de facto government?

Answer: Dammit! That's right, those capitalists are just feudal lords with some other (likely more democratic) title. Who knew large parts of the Third World were in practicing Libertarian economies? That's the problem with getting rid of government, you basically end up with something identical (and often inferior) to the state just with corporate titles. Anyone in a home-owners maintenance corporation realizes this. It can often be a very poor local government without any of that constitutional liberties business to check its power or intrusiveness. For that matter I can compare my big-government stories with most of my friends' big-corporate stories fairly easily because the names change but the song is the same.

Folks we have our current governmental system because of responses to problems. Some of the responses have been wrong (or are simply outdated) and improvements can be made, but by and large we got here for good reason. Remember the wise man that said traditions are solutions to problems we have forgotten. The same thing happens in bureaucracy.

Sunday Sacrament: 590 and USP9c

So I finally got my mossberg out to the range on sunday. My brother and I (mostly me) put about 25 rounds of birdshot and 5 rounds of deer slugs through it. It was fun. The birdshot would just rip the target to pieces. The slugs kicked like the dickens and made a big (1"ish) hole.

My brother rented a HK USP9c (stainless slide) at the range as well. It was really nice. Very little recoil, very accurate, the trigger was quite nice too. You just held the gun on target and squeezed the trigger until it broke (breaked?). Some people don't like that type of trigger, because they can't judge the breaking point well. Those people usually prefer a "glass rod" break. I find that a light trigger on the squeezy guns works well for me because it keeps me from anticipating and "pulling" the shot. The bullet went where I put it so I can't complain. It was very accurate for a 3.5" barreled gun. I hesitate to call it compact, because its still quite hefty even if it isn't a "service" size gun.

My hipower is coming back from the smith after some trigger work. Hopefully it will compare well. Even if it doesn't quite stack up, with the smith work and new grips its still cheaper than the HK and has other tangibles the HK doesn't.

Six Degrees of Separation

My local newspaper is the Wilmington News Journal. Its a rag, but on a brighter note the online version is embracing local blogs. I'd like to see some of the bigger papers take that step.

Turns out one of the folks on the local blog page goes to my church. I've also seen him post over at Kim du Toit's page. Small world.

UPDATE: Daryl's site is on homeschooling. It just occurred to me that the reason he probably links to Kim is that Kim and his wife Connie also homeschool their children. Duh. I go there for the Gratuitous Gun Pics myself.

UPDATE AGAIN: Turns out Daryl owns a Maverick 88. It is made by the same company as my Mossberg 590 (maverick is their bargain line), but a few features like the safety position and magazine tube are different. I bought mine for the same reason he did, home defense. Like Daryl I hope I never need it.

Personality Tests

These things always strike me as interesting so here is another one. Its a "spiritual types" test from MethodX. Hat tip to Messy Christian. My results look like this:

You are a Sage, characterized by a thinking or head spirituality. You value responsibility, logic, and order. Maybe that's why you were voted "Most Dependable" by your high school classmates. Structure and organization are important to you. What would the world be like without you? Chaos, that's what! Your favorite words include should, ought, and be prepared. What makes you feel warm and fuzzy? Like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof it's tradition! tradition! tradition!

Because you love words, written or spoken, you enjoy a good lecture, serious discussions, and theological reflection. Prayer for you usually is verbal. You thrive on activity and gatherings of people, such as study groups. Sages on retreat likely would fill every day with planned activities, leaving little time for silence or solitude.

We need Sages for your clear thinking and orderly ways. You pay attention to details that others overlook. Sages make contributions to education, publishing, and theology. You often are the ones who feel a duty to serve, give, care, and share with the rest of us.

On the other hand, sometimes you seem unfeeling, too intellectual, or dry. Can you say "dogmatic"? You may need to experience the freedom of breaking a rule or two every now and then. God's grace covers Sages too, you know!

Sounds about right to me.

Stolen Honor

You know that documentary that John Kerry's camp doesn't want you to see? The one they're suing Sinclair Broadcasting over? Right, its on the web here.

Grand Theftendo

Rockstar needs to hire this man. Grand Theft Auto 3 "ported" to standard NES. Its amazing considering one guy did it in his spare time. Granted its not 3D and its only Portland Island, but its pretty cool.

Neo-Cons and the Fracture of Conservatism

Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost is typing about the Paleo-Con/Neo-Con divide. Frankly, I don't buy it. I mean no offense to Joe. The problem is not a paleo-con vs. neo-con divide. It is a "what flavor of neo-con are we going to be" divide.

I have long thought that neo-con was a buzzword. Its a label people. It says to someone "hey you're allowed to not like this guy". I once provoked a post on GetReligion by comparing "neo-con" to "fundamentalist". Two words that few people can define, but everybody knows that they're bad when they hear them.

Is either side in the Bush/McCain split truly traditionally conservative? Traditional policy since the 60s has been much more in line with small government/big morals. This was the sort of platform the founding fathers often espoused because without strong social morality, government must fill the gaps with legislation.

In contrast to this traditional view, the Bush camp is socially conservative but fiscally liberal. The other camp (McCain/Guiliani/Cheney?) is fiscally conservative but socially liberal. Chances are neither one will work: Bush's views are too expensive and McCain's view is historically foolhardy (and has been trumpeted for years by libertarians without success).

Where did this policy come from? It came from the shuffle over to the middle antics of the Republicans as they moved towards the Big Tent in the Clinton Years. They had to leave behind some of their policies but which ones? Its still to be decided evidently.

UPDATE: Matthew Yglesias is asking what will happen to Republicans if Bush loses. The consensus is that anti-christian side will at least make a play for the limelight. I think which face the party really shows in the long run will depend on the dominant personality of the specific election though.

What RDX?

Matthew Yglesias is asking why RDX is so important. Why not use TNT to build a nuclear device?

1. You would need to use more TNT because it has a lower yield. That means even if other concerns don't come into play your device is heavier and less transportable. Thats important for a weapons system because war at some level comes down to logistics like how much can you move and where can you move it.


2. TNT is essentially the first "stable" high explosive. Nitro-glycerin came before it, but transporting nitro was extremely hazardous. Instead people like the railroads manufactured it on site. TNT was much safer in comparison. However TNT typically has an expiration date. As the compound ages it tends to separate, "sweat" out its nitroglycerin, and become less stable and predictable. It gets covered in crystalized nitro and suddenly you can set it off by dropping it. Thats bad news for a weapons system that might sit on the shelf for a while and contains nuclear material. You really don't want that nuclear tipped SCUD going off poorly on your launch pad and spraying plutonium everywhere when the main motor starts.


3. TNT is actually quite controllable and some explosives folks still like to use it for that reason. The catch is that TNT isn't shapeable like modern explosives are. The explosives used in a modern warhead are machined (no I'm not kidding) to tight tolerances like every other part in the system. You don't get a nuke that works if they aren't.

NOTE: While I work for the Army, none of this is official anything. I don't work with any of these sorts of things. I'm an engineer who likes shooting guns and watching the history channel.

Donald Sensing

He's blogging again. Thank goodness. I find him to be a great voice of reason and christian thought on the blogosphere, despite the fact that we certainly have theological differences. Read this post on Muslim theology of jihad for instance.

T-Shirts Tell the Tale

Izzy sent me this. It is an unscientific study of a guy who wore a Bush shirt in blue country and a Kerry shirt in red country and what happened. The Reds thought he was a poor misguided sap. The Blues, well read on.

The Quest for San Andreas

What lo a light shines forth from the heavens (and Rockstar Games) and Grand Theft Auto arose from the depths and walks the earth anew. San Andreas harkens to me, quickening my spirit, and lightening my step. To the neighborhood Game Shoppe to slake my GTA lust!

There what should I find but a queue of consumers. Men with years between eighteen and thirty-five. All with the same hollow composure bespeaking a need which was kin unto my own. And so a conversion was struck about our shared desire and hopes for the bounty nestled within.

But my hope was dashed. They revealed it unto me that only those who had reserved copies could except to receive them this night. I had not.

Crestfallen I departed homeward, cursing my lack of forethought, swearing to return on the morrow. And return I did, but to find more of the same. For on the morn, GTA was still held in trust for none but the lucky elect. But a promise was made that after noon would see the release to one and all. I looked forward into a future brimming with promise only to be denied again.

I entered into the Game Shoppe for the last time as the sun drifted into slumber in the far west. A dread-locked troll and a kindly appearing succubus entreated me with kind words. But upon my request the succubus pushed her horn-rimmed glasses towards her horn rimmed head and laughed. "Nay wanderer," she sneered, "our only copies are for the registered."

Denied a third and final time. But it was then that a small voice whispered in the back of my mind, "Pray remember good knight, you are a Republican."

Of course thought I, dealing with a small local shoppe was my mistake. Surely I should be true to my nature and bargain with a large faceless corporation! Their superior sales power will ensure that they have the largesse of games on release. Surely their dedication to the great and powerful dollar will ensure that they have games for one and all! And so I traveled far, over darkened highway and narrow road. My trusty steed Mazda carrying me forth, his cast iron heart pumping driving us onward.

Ever onward I pressed until I reached a corporate temple of capitalism. Its facade glimmered with yellow neon and bright glass. And so I strode forward into its belly, moving quickly to best the horde which arose behind me echoing my desires. There upon a cloth clad altar I found my quarry stacked high, GTA: San Andreas!

Ah the gods had smiled upon me for I even received a second game for price less than rental. Blessed be ye fair corporation for what you have done this day! You have transported me to a magic land full of drive-by shootings and the chronic.

Mark Twain and Christian Citizenship

Good old Sam Clemens wrote a piece on this anonymously way back in aught five. Its a good read. Here is an excerpt.

It will be conceded that every man's first duty is to God; it will also be conceded, and with strong emphasis, that a Christian's first duty is to God. It then follows, as a matter of course, that it is his duty to carry his Christian code of morals to the polls and vote them. Whenever he shall do that, he will not find himself voting for an unclean man, a dishonest man.

Here is another one:

No church organization can be found in the country that would elect men of foul character to be its shepherd, its treasurer, and superintendent of its Sunday-school. It would be revolted at the idea; it would consider such an election an insult to God. Yet every Christian congregation in the country elects foul men to public office, while quite aware that this also is an open and deliberate insult to God, who can not approve and does not approve the placing of the liberties and the well-being of His children in the hands of infamous men.

GTA: San Andreas

I wrote a bunch of stuff about GTASA coming out. Then blogger/netscape lost it twice. My feelings about the game are mixed but I haven't completed much of it at all so I'm with-holding judgement.

A few complaints: The maps are getting big enough that they have to be designed to be navigated easily. They aren't so trying to figure out where you are and where you are going is a pain. Vice City tended to have major North-South roads on the big islands you could index off of. San Andreas does not, it uses the sprawling structure of GTA3 only much larger. In some ways its the worst of both worlds. I'm sure I'll pick it up though.

Los Santos has the yellow air of LA, nice touch but its really annoying visually. I'm looking forward to getting to the other cities just to get a different color scheme.

The skill based system in the game is a mixed blessing. I haven't played the older games in a while so I'm relearning how to drive/shoot/whatever. The skill system means I have a moving target with that because Carl's capabilities are continuously changing. I dislike that immensely. On the other hand the fat/muscle/respect/sex appeal numbers are interesting. I just wish that the had unlocked the gym at the start of the game. I went looking for it before I was supposed to and it caused me all kinds of grief.

Get Fuzzy

This is a great comic strip and I read it every morning. Todays was especially funny. I'd also like to say that I don't openly endorse mocking liberals... much.