What a moronic statement for Newt Gingrich to make. More on that later….

I know I shouldn’t be since it is the norm nowadays, but I am still dumbfounded by the level of insanity of people regarding a variety of issues. One that blows my mind is regarding the building of an Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque about two blocks from where the World Trade Center was destroyed (you know, on September 11, 2001 or as some like to call it, 9/11). All of this supposed outrage about how insensitive it would be to build such a thing so close to the ground of the former WTC buildings. All of this fear-mongering about how such a building will destroy the fabric of religion in the United States and how the Muslims are going to takeover our country if this building is erected.

When I ask how someone for facts to substantiate these claims, I, of course, get none. All I get is a parroting of talk radio or opinion shows (e.g., Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity) in my ear.

According to polls, which I take with a grain of salt, I am in the minority opinion here …. which, if true, baffles me to no end.

But, I am here to enlighten with some facts and rational reasoning; not hyperbole. I know that is a novel concept to many people, but, please, I ask you to indulge me.

• A lone Mosque is not being built. It is an Islamic cultural center, of which contains a Mosque.
• There are 1 billion Muslims in the world, give or take. Or approximately 1/6 of the world’s population.
• There are 6-10 million Muslim in the United States, many of whom are citizens. Or approximately 2% of the U.S. population.
• Let’s for sake of argument say that 1 million Muslims around the world hate our country and want the United States to be destroyed. That would account for 0.1% of the entire Muslim population. Obviously, that number is probably much less, but I needed to make a point there.
• The 19 hijackers were not practicing the preachings of the true Islamic faith.
• True believers in the Islamic faith were killed in the World Trade Center.
• True believers in the Islamic faith were amongst the first responders to the WTC and Pentagon scene after the disaster. Some of those have chronic health problems now because they were trying to save Americans (yes, even Christian Americans).
• There is a Mosque in the Pentagon. There has been for a while. Should that be removed now? Where is the faux outrage about that? I mean it too was struck, and that Mosque is INSIDE the ground zero of the Pentagon, not two blocks away.
• So-called Christians kill in the name of Jesus Christ.

So, I have laid out some pretty hard facts here. Let’s analyze.

According to the anti-cultural center people, building this cultural center at the proposed location is insensitive. So, by that count, it means that building a Christian church where Scott Roeder killed George Tiller would be insensitive; in fact, I guess we need to tear that church down since the murder occurred in a church. What about in Oklahoma City? Should any Christian Church be torn down or never erected near the Murrah building because of Timothy McVeigh.

My point is that those 19 hijackers no more represent true Islam than Roeder or McVeigh represent true Christianity. Let’s say 1000 people were behind the WTC and Pentagon attacks; that would represent 0.0001% of all Muslims in the world. That is hardly a representative sample of Muslims and the faith of Islam.

Now back to Newt Gingrich and comparing the Islamic Center to Nazi swastikas. It is clear he is playing on the ignorance and fears of his followers. So he gets them all riled and stoked up. Let me clear something up, Newt. The Nazis were 100% fanatic and intolerant. Every single one of them. It wasn’t as if 10% of those who considered themselves Nazis wanted to cleanse the earth of non-Aryan people and the other 90% were inclusive and tolerant. Contrast that with the Islamic Center. 99.9% of Muslims are peace loving and try to follow the good teachings of their faith. But we, as the media hungry people we are, decide to focus on that 0.1% (on the high side), and that, in turn, makes Islam a horrible religion not to be tolerated at a place where tragedy occurs. That is wrong.

Let’s just lay it out all on the table. It is clear that those that brought down the WTC and Pentagon were not practicing true Islam just as Tim McVeigh, Scott Roeder or Eric Rudolph were not practicing true Christianity. The crux of this issue is prejudice against Muslims and the Islamic religion hidden by a cloak of wishy-washiness around “have the right, but it is insensitive to do so”. Like I said in my last post about illegal immigration, just be honest. It is more respectable.

Here is what I think should happen. Build a multi-religious, multi-cultural center at the WTC site. Why are we stopping at just Islam? Build a Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, etc. site where we can celebrate the diversity that is all religions and maybe try to learn all the good things about these religions. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea? Actually trying to learn something instead of making all of your decisions based on radio and television sound bites.

How can the actions of a statistically zero sample of people can make our country turn against an entire religion? The folks building this center say it is for education and peace. Why can’t we just believe that and be proud that we aren’t letting a small group of assholes (i.e. the few that were behind the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon) dictate our commitment to the First Amendment and the celebration that is the melting pot of the United States? Instead, though, we have decided to make presuming the worst the norm. Sad.

It is always harder to take a position of tolerance. That is a fact. And any support for this Islamic Cultural Center being built is not being insensitive. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The sensitivity lies in the understanding that those who do not tolerate our religious freedoms would love nothing more than for religious intolerance to stop this Islamic Cultural Center from being built. And if that happens, those folks will celebrate another victory over the United States.

P.S. Oh yeah, to all those supposed folks who clamor about how our Constitution is being trampled by this President and his administration — this Islamic Center is all covered by the First Amendment, whether insensitive or not.

There is this incessant uproar about illegal immigration. I don’t claim to understand the nuances of the entire issue; I don’t claim to know how to solve the problem (assuming there is such a problem and it hasn’t been politically overblown). What I do know is that the discussion leaves out a very important historical point.

First, let me see if I understand the plan:

1. Find and deport all those that are here “illegally”.

2. Build a 2000 mile guarded wall that will be futile to keep anyone out.

That pretty much sums it up.

Let’s disregard the fact for just a second that a majority of those that cross the border are here looking for work to better themselves and their families. Let’s disregard the fact for another second that they are taking jobs that many of us Americans don’t want to touch with a 10 foot pole (Check this out: Take Our Jobs). Let’s disregard the fact that the employers of illegal immigrants should be the ones held accountable for hiring them for under minimum wage rates. Let’s disregard the gigantic cost of controlling immigration via the two steps above, thus putting our children in even more debt (what happened to fiscal responsibility?). Let’s disregard all that. Let’s focus on double standards and hypocrisy.

I seem to recall a time in the 17th century where this boat called the Mayflower carrying English IMMIGRANTS (i.e., the pilgrims) came to America looking for a better life for them and their families (in this case it was less about jobs and more about escaping persecution). I could swear that there was no border patrol by the Native American Indians asking for papers. The pilgrims just marched onto this land and started settling. And then as time went on more settlers joined in the fun, eventually just driving the Native American Indians out (either by killing them or putting them on reservations).

So, no one has been able to successfully explain to me why one one hand it was ok for English settlers (of which many of us Americans are descendants) to come to a foreign land, rape it from its current inhabitants (the Indians) and start a whole new life AND on the other hand it is not ok for those across the border in Mexico to come over here….not to rape and steal our land, but rather to find work and a better life.

I think it is a mentality of “Who cares about the past and what our ancestors did to claim America as their own; we “own” America now; so damn it, kick ‘em out!”

Most everyone here in America are descendants from folks from another land, many of whom waltzed onto this land called America and just claimed it for themselves. No citizenship test. No border guard. Nothing. We just came and conquered. Pretty much the opposite of what those crossing the border want to do today; no conquering, just working.

So, please, prove that I am wrong. Provide an explanation here. Or, better yet, be man or woman enough to stop hiding behind some “using all our resources, committing all of the nation’s crimes, etc.” rationale. Admit that we are operating under a hypocritical, double standard, and that is just the way it is; I would respect that explanation a lot more.

Wow! Really? I am honored. While I should probably jump at the chance to take a job offer, one that I didn’t apply for mind you, I should probably think about this for a minute. Let’s see….

1. It is from a hotmail account. Not really all that professional, Paulette.
2. The Subject is “Application ID2C586 1″. Not really an attention grabbing or relevant subject line.
3. The To: is to “trayc.foutz@gmail.com”. Not my email address. That’s weird that I got it. Was I BCC’d on my own job offer?
4. I am addressed as “Candidate”. I would think if you were going to offer me a job paying me (hopefully) a boat load of money, you would at least know my name.
5. Keller Investment Services — um, who are they?
6. Oh, they want me to be a “partner” to “invest” in “mutually beneficial opportunities”. I see. In other words, they WANT MY MONEY! Hey, what kind of job is this?
7. My strong background and experience? So a technologist like myself is the right type of person to be an Advisor Assistant, huh?
7. Application Process? I thought I already had the job. What is this a big tease? And who is this “tim.ki.bauer@gmx.com” person anyway?
8. Sarah Walter? I thought your name was Paulette Villafane? Very confusing. Or she is having an identity crisis.

So, after much consideration and thought, I think I might have to decline this job offer (or application for job offer or whatever it is). It was a close call Paulette/Sarah, but I just don’t think we are compatible.

So what to do?

Let the Republicans filibuster? Sure. That’s an idea. Let them filibuster healthcare and Senate Democrats won’t put anything else on the agenda until they end their filibuster or the 2010 elections. If the latter, then the voters can decide whether they were happy with obstructionism or not. Obviously, this sort of “ballsy” move won’t happen.

But as Democrats with an *18* vote majority in the Senate and a commanding majority in the house, you need to start governing. Now!!

Most everyone believes the healthcare system needs reform. Well, here is what should be done:

Create small, separate bills w/ the following legislation:

1. No pre-existing conditional denial; no revoking insurance when a condition arises.
2. Guaranteed, subsidized catastrophic coverage to those out of work (i.e. taxpayer funded).
3. Cap on premiums/deductibles to avoid gouging high risk persons.
4. Ability to buy insurance from anywhere and port it to anywhere.
5. Guaranteed, subsidized twice yearly checkups and vaccinations for all Americans (i.e. taxpayer funded).

They would be simple and easy for anyone to understand. I would dare anyone, Republican or Democrat to vote against these. Because if they did, they would have to explain to their constituents why they voted against the person with diabetes who couldn’t get healthcare for insulin or the working Mom who was laid off and developed cancer and now cannot get insurance because she cannot afford it.

(The easiest thing to do would be to pass HR-676 from John Conyers which gurantees healthcare access to all. It is less than a 30 page bill. It is simple and to the point. But, obviously, for reasons that I cannot comprehend, that won’t be passed anytime soon)

Programming Classroom is the result of this effort.

Rex is well known throughout the programming community, especially in the standards world. He is also highly regarded for his live programming seminars where he teaches classes in C, C++, C# and more.

We thought it would be a great service to offer the seminars that Rex uses in his live classroom teachings to the general public in electronic format. These are the exact same materials from documentation to example source code. It is just that it is at a much lower cost than a classroom setting because it is self-paced learning. You will find seminars on C#, C++, Java, Visual Basic, and C. You will also find some freebies like sample chapters and tips.

So check out ProgrammingClassroom.com and let us know what you think. Needless to say, I am very excited while very nervous at the same time.

Hello,

I am curious. At any of your town hall meetings in August, did you once, while you were denouncing a public plan for health care, say that you will sponsor a bill to totally rescind Medicare, Social Security and Public Education? As you know, all these are government run. I imagine that you did not. You would lose a lot of your electorate if you did that. And therein lies the hypocrisy.

I don’t mind honest debate. I don’t mind disagreement. What I do mind is misinformation, misdirection, hypocrisy and outright lies when talking about an issue.

And when you encourage, or at the very least don’t denounce, ill-informed views that public healthcare will create "death panels", a pure Hitler-like take over by our government, the loss of patient/doctor privilege, etc., then there is an integrity issue. And without integrity in a debate, all is lost.

The healthcare debate has become more about fear-mongering and keeping political power. And that is sad.

I deserve better. The American people deserve better.

Sincerely,

Joel Marcey, citizen of your district.

I will post a response, if I get one.

For some reason, I got to thinking about which songs actually have made an impact on me on a personal level. They are not necessarily my favorite songs nor do I necessarily listen to them much anymore. But they are songs that actually had a noticeable impact on my life or emotions.

Here are 10 songs (well, technically 11 since one set has two songs associated with it), in no particular order of favoritism, that have made some sort of impact on me:

Just the Way You Are – Billy Joel: First song at my wedding. Nuff said, really.

Black – Pearl Jam: My favorite song off the album that made me a Pearl Jam lifer. And they still remain my favorite band ever. Just listen to the lyrics of Black sometime. Love lost.

Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana: As cliche as this song has turned out to be, this song literally brought me to a whole new level of musical appreciation. That’s really the bottom line. Defined my generation.

Cheeseburger in Paradise – Jimmy Buffett: First concert I ever saw with my then college girlfriend (and now my spouse). Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh.

Cornflake Girl – Tori Amos: First concert I ever saw in a concert hall with the piano as the primary instrument. Tori Amos rocks the piano and it made me a Tori Amos fan forever.

Caribbean Queen – Billy Ocean: My first EVER concert. I was about 10 years old at the county fair in Ft. Lauderdale. It was at that point I new I loved music.

To The Bone – Sex Police / Fun & Games – The Connells: These two bands really help define my college experience. The Sex Police specifically helped to define one of the greatest times I have ever had in my life.

Brass Monkey – Beastie Boys: Might have been the first *cassette tape* I owned. Remember the tail of the airplane on the cover? My middle school years were heavily influenced by this song and album from many different perspectives.

Joining You – Alanis Morissette: Just listen to the lyrics and you will understand why I put it here. I really find the story in the lyrics kinda chilling (the story might actually be true if I remember correctly). And I love the riffs. I have never grown tired of this song. Alanis is one of the most underrated musicians of my time.

Ice, Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice: The first *CD* I ever owned. Got it as a joint gift with my first portable CD player. Also the song that made me realized that I might just sometimes be ridiculed for the choice of music that I may like (as I am with Kelly Clarkson now).

Here are the before and after pictures.

Before

After

Yep. I am using Google Voice as a hub for phone communications. My Google Voice number will be a primary number for people to contact me. Depending on the person calling, Google Voice will forward to my iPhone, my home phone, my spouse’s mobile phone or any combination of the three. (With Google Voice, you can actually get so granular that you can forward to different numbers based on the person calling, have a different greeting for any person, and a different voicemail message for any person or group of people). And I can add or remove phones from the forwarding mechanism at my leisure because my Google Voice number will shield anyone who calls from the black box that is now my web of communication facilities.

Sure people will still call my iPhone directly. And I expect some people to do that as it is my primary line for business discussions, etc. But for a majority of people, calling the Google Voice number will be all that is needed.

And, as what I am seeing as a huge money saver, I have left Vonage (where I was paying $20-25/mo) and came to Ooma. I paid $199+tax at Costco for free U.S. calls for life. Ooma has premium services that you can pay for, but at this point, since I have Google Voice, I don’t see the need just yet. (Note: I had no real negative issues with Vonage. The service was actually very good for the time I had it. But, you can’t blame someone for trying to save some money).

What if Ooma goes out of business? Well, that’s the beauty of Google Voice. I can remove Ooma and add something else to the infrastructure and no one would be the wiser. People know the Google Voice number and don’t really care how (and with what device) I answer the phone on the other side. I am actually considering adding a Skype phone number to my account to see if I can forward numbers to the Skype number for the times I am away from my home and online.

Here are my assumptions about using Google Voice as a communications hub:

1. Google is not going out of business anytime soon. Thus, my Google Voice number can be my number for life.
2. Google Voice will continue to be free (or ad supported), or some reasonable charge if it comes to that.
3. Google Voice will keep my privacy just as well as the government does with respect to my phone calls

We’ll see how this all plays out; but right now I feel excited with my new setup.

Google Voice is in beta right now, but you can sign up for an invitation and these invitations are going out daily.

Well, I would say this is quasi ironic.

Check out the results of the top of this link: http://www.bing.com/search?q=att

Notice how it has a “Bing Cashback” logo at the very top result which is the AT&T Official Wireless Site.

So apparently, if you use Microsoft Bing to buy a phone at AT&T, including the Apple iPhone 3GS, you will get 35% off your purchase!

Microsoft and Apple are “partners” here. Like I said, quasi-ironic.

There is a noted stipulation that this is for new subscribers; that could be true, but I can’t verify it.

Check out these links for more info on this:

FatWallet Forums
MacRumors Forums

And as always, your mileage may vary (YMMV)

I am looking for full body support to help keep my back as pain free as possible. My sciatic nerve is really irritating me. I am willing to spend a pretty fair amount for a chair that will keep me comfortable and pain free.

Some others I am considering are:

The Kneelsit

The Mirra

The Aeron

Any recommendations?

Thanks!