Archive for July, 2006

[insert record scratching sound here]

Monday, July 31st, 2006

Heh heh…yeah.  So I’d been wondering why I couldn’t see the Google Ads on my page, and then it struck me…

Adblock for Firefox.  I’d been bolcking the whole Google Page Ads thingy, so I couldn’t see it, even on my site.  I took that off for now so I could confirm that it works, but now all I see is a “public service” ad.  It’s great to donate to Katrina relief, and all, but does this really mean that there are no relevant ads for my site?

That’s wack.

Experimentally Incapacitated

Thursday, July 27th, 2006

So I’m expirementing with ads on my site – but feel free to ignore them.  It’s for something on which I’m working with friends, and we’ve never used AdSense before.  So my site is the guinea pig :-)

Politics 1

Wednesday, July 26th, 2006

This oughtta make Jake happy :-)

Some people say that you shouldn’t mix Religion and Politics, but while I believe strongly in the separation of Church and State (for the Church’s sake, mostly), I also agree with Mahatma Gandhi:

“Those who believe religion and politics must be separated understand neither.”

Anyway, I started my multi-part “manifesto” (thank Jake for that, not me) with a high-level overview of my religious beliefs because they define (hopefully) the rest of my ideology. I say this because I’ll attempt to back up my political statements below with religious reasoning. Like the Religion 1 post, however, I’m not explaining that in depth, since I’m not expecting this to be a completely air-tight argument, rather a statement of belief. Here goes!

I figure I’ll start with what a lot of people believe to be the “important issues.” Keep in mind that I’ll be speaking theoretically, and that I do not endorse either of the major parties in power here in America.

1. Separation of Church and State. I love this, only because our government started out separated from the church. Rather, our governments in this world have been operating separately from God for millennia, and I therefore don’t wish to risk the church falling victim to the influence of the state. I ultimately believe the church to be of higher moral and legal authority than the state, and this because I believe that generally the church derives it’s authority from God.

2. Sanctity of Life. This one is huge, and encompasses several concepts.

  • a. Abortion – I’ll just say, see Psalm 139:13-16. That sums it up for me.
    b. Euthanasia – I believe that doctor-assisted-suicide is not suicide. It’s a euphemism for murder. I don’t care if the patient is consenting – the doctor is performing the killing, this is not suicide, but homicide.
    c. The Death Penalty – This one’s tough. I’ll begin by saying I’m against it. Why am I against it? Doesn’t God call for the killing of certain peoples in the Old Testament? Sure He does, but that’s when God is the government. Though it’s not scripturally condemned, I don’t believe that any government not directly ruled by God has the moral authority to execute any level of criminal, especially considering the equally egregious crimes of the state itself, in my nation’s case…

3. Homosexuality. You know, lot’s of liberal theologians claim that the Bible doesn’t condemn homosexuality, or that it’s only the Old Testament, or that it’s only written by men, and not really God-inspired. Well, I believe that they either haven’t really read the Bible, or if they have, they’ve skipped a lot of obvious scripture. Either way, I also believe that the Bible is inspired by God, and that despite two testaments, there is one Bible breathed by a God that doesn’t change between halves of the Good Book. So in short, I believe homosexuality is unnatural and sinful.

HOWEVER…I don’t believe that homosexuality is any worse than any other sin, such as lying or killing. The implications are that I should not accept homosexuality as a valid lifestyle, but I also should not treat homosexuals any worse than any other person, least of all my really sinful self.

Wow…that about does it for Politics 1, I believe. Reading only the above, I’m likely to be branded a fundamentalist conservative…Just you wait, I haven’t even touched on War, Protectionism, the Economy, Social Justice, or Social Welfare :-)

Crazy outage

Wednesday, July 19th, 2006

Man…the sight was unreachable for a while there…obviously, it’s back up now.

Phew!

OUCH!!!

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

At my own pace indeed…sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, and no Jake, I’m not writing another piece of my “manifesto.” :-)

Anyway, I’m currently walking like a funny man.  On Monday, I pulled something in my back helping the delivery man from Lowes move boxes of sheet metal into my house – the pieces of my future shed.  That was enough to get me hobbling around already…

THEN -

Have you ever had one of your calf muscles just bunch up really tightly, involuntarily?  I don’t know if it’s a cramp or some other something, but its happened to me before like a decade ago, and MAN, it hurts like hell.  Yesterday morning that happened to me again as I was waking up, sending me into a convulsive fit.  So with the left side of my lumbar “tweaked” and my right calf sore and tense, I saunter about like a durnkard.

Hooray for me!

At my own pace

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

Despite Jake’s mad rantings, I’ll continue to post the rest of my personal ideals at my set speed :-)

I never said how quickly I’d post everything anyway…

In other, far more interesting news, I’m finally moved in to the house.  Not close to unpacked, but definitely moved in.  I still have to clean the apartment and collect the rest of my janx that I have there, but I have an entire month to do that.

I’m also happy to say that, in extra time, Italy defeated Germany yesterday in the first World Cup semi-final.  Scoring two goals in two minutes, the boys in blue soundly put down the host team.  Can’t wait to see who we’ll face in the final!