Back like Jack & Breaking Faith

As recent entries indicate, I’m back after a short hiatus. This summer has been an eye opener and a rejuvenator. I was losing my desire to speak or write because I didn’t have much I really wanted to say. I felt I hadn’t really read enough or thought enough about certain issues, but all that has changed.

As recent entries indicate, I’m back after a short hiatus. This summer has been an eye opener and a rejuvenator. I was losing my desire to speak or write because I didn’t have much I really wanted to say. I felt I hadn’t really read enough or thought enough about certain issues, but all that has changed.
I’ve become much more impassioned, mostly because of Bush and his neo-con antics. For most of Bush’s presidency, it was about disagreeing with the Republican agenda, but now it’s much more personal. I don’t just disagree with his ideology, I think the the man is wrong.
A recent conversation with a good friend highlighted this for me. He is a staunch Republican whose opinion I respect because he is extremely intelligent and a good person. We talked about Iraq and he gave me a persuasive, reasoned rationale for regime change in Iraq. None of his argument had anything to do with WMD or any subterfuge to execute the American agenda in support of those interests.
I thought to myself, “Why didn’t Bush say this to the American people?” The answer came in short order: too complex and strategic. Gathering the political will would be difficult, but at least it would be based on truth. So the administration’s solution was one of political expediency: to layer a false, surface agenda (the so called “immediate threat”) on top of what I view was the real agenda in Iraq: the neo-con agenda. When spelled out, this agenda doesn’t garner much public support because of its blind ideological support for moneyed power to the exclusion of just about everything else. Hence, the lies, half-truths, and the constantly changing reasons for going into Iraq from the Administration. (See transcript and video of Rumsfeld on Face the Nation getting caught in a lie.)
And this is where Bush broke faith with America. You simply do not lie, dissemble, or distort facts to move a people. You make a persuasive, truthful case like my friend did. This is where I was done with Bush as a person who doesn’t have the integrity to take the hard road, as all great leaders have. That may not make him a bad person, but it does make him a weak one. Too weak for his Office and these trying times.

Weapon of Choice

My Apple – PowerBook G4 15-inch laptop is my weapon of choice for computing for one simple reason: it gets out of my way and let’s me accomplish what I want to do. Unlike the Windoze machines I use or have used in the past, descriptions like “plug-n-play” and “it just works” actually apply.

My Apple – PowerBook G4 15-inch laptop is my weapon of choice for computing for one simple reason: it gets out of my way and let’s me accomplish what I want to do. Unlike the Windoze machines I use or have used in the past, descriptions like “plug-n-play” and “it just works” actually apply.
The best part is how it takes care of the mundane stuff for me while allowing me to concentrate on details I care about. If I want Apache to launch, I can do it in as little as 4 clicks of my mouse. Now, that’s easy computing! I have the option dig into the Unix minutae to configure the web server and have done so when necessary. This is power of the platform: I’m not forced to use “wizards” that always seem to complicate rather than simplify or edit text files and memorize countless options.
Apple is that company that makes “Insanely Great” products, which is great for us users. Unfortunately, for Apple as a business this is not the standard by which profitability is guaranteed. In the business world, he who markets best gets to laugh…period.
These days, it’s still a matter of ideology. There are people who will run Windows no matter what pain they must endure and there are people who think that Apple will save the world. The more pragmatic of us, simply use the the tool that best suits our needs and tastes…in that order.

Why the GOP is SOL with Me

In the article, FactCheck.org Radio Ads Accuse Kerry Of Not Helping Blacks, I got a good strong dose of why I think supporting the GOP is misguided at best, at least in this election.

In the article, FactCheck.org Radio Ads Accuse Kerry Of Not Helping Blacks, I got a good strong dose of why I think supporting the GOP is misguided at best, at least in this election.
The 527 behind the ads, the so-called People of Color United, exemplify the mudslinging that’s become so distasteful in this election cycle. I assert that both parties are definitely supporting this behavior for short term political ends. Many of the ads contain so many distortions of the truth that I can’t really say they convey the truth at all, even a slanted version of it.
The worst example of this was the ad about how Kerry failed to save a measure to extend unemployment benefits. Words can’t convey my anger at the ad itself, which drips with hypocrisy and lies by omission of key facts. How insulting is it when a party is willing to (indirectly) blame an opposing candidate for not saving a measure that they themselves killed? I will quote the FactCheck.org article for proof [bold emphasis mine]:

However, the main reason the measure failed was that most Republicans voted against it, and because Republicans raised a point of order to ensure that 60 votes, rather than a simple majority of those voting, would be needed for passage. (The vote was 40-59: 60 votes were needed to pass because the measure required a waiver of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Budget Act.) There were 39 Republicans and one Democrat voting against,  with 47 Democrats and only 12 Republicans voting in favor.

My problem here is not one of ideology (although I disagree with much of Republican ideology), it’s one of decency and integrity: simply telling the truth.

Origins of Faith

As many who know me can attest, I’ve done a fair bit of personal research into the Bible. Obviously, I have a set of opinions, presuppositions, etc. that differ with much of the received wisdom our forefathers in faith passed down. I have had many struggles with what I’ve come to believe and not to believe. Most of it has to do with the fact that much of what I was taught as a Christian is built on a set of presuppositions or faith, depending on your point of view, that when exposed to “the facts”, came crashing down. As a youngster, I believed in the divine inspiration of an author whole wrote down a message and that this was basically in chronological order from Genesis until Revelation when God basically “stopped” inspiring people. He was finished and the Book complete.

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The “Rule of Faith”

My personal Christian faith has been evolving for years now as I try to clarify the “rule of faith” by which I live. Fellow Christians often asked me, “What is your standard?” Here I give a brief discussion to answer this important question.

**UPDATE 4/12** *Fixed some typos and language errors.*

My personal Christian faith has been an evolving one over the space of years, as I try to clarify the “rule of faith” by which I live. Fellow Christians often asked me, “What is your standard?” Here I give a brief discussion to answer this important question.
All of my understanding of the Early Church Fathers stems from the role of the “primitive,” “catholic,” and “apostolic” tradition that was seen to be the “rule of faith” for orthodoxy and how it developed. It mightily influenced the Canon of the New Testament and other Christian doctrines. In fact, the central authority claim of the Roman Catholic Church that raised me is centered on an unbroken succession of apostolic authority in the church. It’s even in its creed: “…we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church…” This tradition locates genuine Christian authority in Peter and the Apostles whom Christ charged with authority in the Gospel of John.

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Copy Right

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is far more trouble than it’s worth.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is far more trouble than it’s worth. On the one hand, I can understand the entertainment industry’s desire to preserve its business model. It would be foolish to expect otherwise, but the subsequent costs to society are dire. The unintended consequences of this act are the lawsuits that threaten to turn copyright into monopoly and the infringement of personal and community rights especially fair use and free speech.

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Marriage of Convenience

Lately I’ve been in a sort of funk. What I’ve been reading in the news is distrubing and frightening. The latest round of affronts on personal freedoms have had me feeling greatly saddened about my country and the value for which I believe it stands. America is about tolerance, or so I thought

Lately I’ve been in a sort of funk. What I’ve been reading in the news is disturbing and frightening. The latest round of affronts on personal freedoms have had me feeling greatly saddened about my country and the value for which I believe it stands. America is about tolerance, or so I thought until “my” president sought an amendment to the constitution that would essentially define a group of second class citizens, much like it did to slaves by classifying them as 3/5 of a person.

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Is Jay-Z Keepin’ it Real?

Jay-Z is arguably the current King of Hip Hop music with a string of multiplatinum albums. I give much props to the brother for making it. But this success leaves me a little uneasy.

Jay-Z is arguably the current King of Hip Hop music with a string of multiplatinum albums. I give much props to the brother for making it in that shark infested business called the entertainment industry. But this success leaves me a little uneasy.
It wasn’t that long ago when I listened to Public Enemy curse the Grammy’s for ignoring rap music as a genre. Underground artists would regularly dis mainstream artists like the Fresh Prince, Young MC, etc. who were seen as sellouts because they were perceived to have sacrificed artistic truth for commercial success. It was the Jedi against the Empire.

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