On the Content of Her Character

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Republicans in Congress apparently decided not to put up too much of a fuss over Obama's first judicial nominee on the basis of her race. Never mind the completely rational reasons for opposing her, let's just quit now. Sotomayor has been overturned by the US Supreme Court at least eight times. She has no more clear view on the law than I do despite her JD and her years of experience. She did not fight her way from poverty to achievemet; her parents did that when they immigrated here.

I oppose Sotomayor on the auspices that she is incompetant, incorrect, and incorrigible. It has nothing to do with her race. I oppose he with the same vehement defiance with which I oppose Schumer, Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy, and scores of others.

She shows no respect for the oath she took or the stewardship she carries. Her rulings demonstrate a complete lack of fidelity to the constitution. Her conduct desmonstrates how much she despises a big swath of the population...on the auspices of her race and genitalia she can be a better judge than I. The vast majority of Americans are not racists, but she is, and she hates you if you aren't exactly what she is. Like all mass Movements, she wants you to hate the borgeoise, which is nothing more than whatever Marxists hate.

In 2006, when I went to take the CBP examination in Las Vegas, I met a man from Peru. He spoke to me during the break between sections of the test. He wondered aloud at all the people who come to this nation and denigrate our laws and defy our traditions. After seeing so many from neighboring cultures blatantly disregard the law, he left construction to pursue a life in law enforcement. I have a great deal of respect for him and hope he is succeeding.

I worry however that my friend will face opposition from people like Sotomayor. Two CBP agents served time for shooting but not killing a known narcotics trafficker. What will she do, his culture and heritage notwithstanding? It's not about race. It's about predominant philosophical ideology, and hers is quite frankly racist, bigoted, and socialist-radical-envirostatist, making her an enemy of the Constitution.

As for members of the Senate who have promised not to oppose her, shame on you. Stop cowtowing to the white guilt that says we cannot oppose someone of another race. Dr. King would roll over in his grave. This is not about race; it is about substance. Her character is not of the sort that we want on the Supreme Court. Se cannot, she will not keep fidelity to its precepts and principles; the content of her court work clearly delineates that as fact.

If I am going to be damned, I might as well be damned for what I am. If we're going to lose, let us lose on principle. The battle cannot be won if you quit before it starts. Don't give up until you have no other choice. If you're going to hold what I say against me, then you sure as shooting better hold what she says against her.

Starting Fresh

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When I got divorced, I thought my life was over. So many things associated with and ancilliary to that event combined to corrupt my reason and sap my strength. It has taken me some time to leave my past in the past and just carry forth the lessons it taught me into my present. A lot longer than I like to admit.

When his laboratory burned down, a sixty-seven-year-old Thomas Edison reacted by saying,

"Thank goodness all our mistakes were burned up. Now we can start again fresh".

When as a result of these circumstances I put the Reno metropolitan area in my rear view mirror and moved without a job or prospects to Las Vegas, I really did start fresh. Nobody really knew to what I'd been up previously, and I was free to start myself over again in a new location. It's actually the theme of my life growing up military, that whenever I made what felt like an irreconcilable mistake, I knew that in a few years I would move away and get a fresh start. For some reason growing up, I never let my past baggage come along, but now that I am older I have.

In his book Alone but not Lonely, Brandt talks about this phenomenon. As we grow up and get cynical, realizing the start realities of the real world, some things that we ought not carry with us become attached. Fortunately for me, last summer I met a friend who has helped me remember some things which should not have been forgotten and leave in the past some things I ought not to have brought with me.

A few weeks ago, several men whom I respect sat me down and told me that in spite of my past I had weathered the storms well. Maybe I'm not as happy as I ought to be on the outside, but I really do have a wonderful life. In fact, only one thing in my life is not as I wish it were. How many people do you know who can honestly say that? It really is a wonderful life.

I thank God for the chance to start fresh. Yes, it was painful, but I was given a second chance. This morning I met a man who just recovered from open heart surgery following a heart attack. Due to a congenital defect, he's suffered all his life and not known, but the right people were there at the right time to give him his second chance, and it resonates in his actions. Chris inspires me. Now, to put it into action...

Job Well Done

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For several weeks now, I've been watching this particular man on the way to work. He's holding a sign for the Casa Grande Apartment complex advertising that they're renting. I have never seen a man who deserves his money as much as this man.

He exemplifies excitement. You've seen sign "twirlers" before. I usually notice them because they're not doing their job- talking on a cell phone, sitting down, leaning in the shade, or otherwise obfuscating that for which they are supposed to be advertising. Since I don't buy much and hate advertising, I am not usually one to look at their signs anyway. When I go out shopping, I usually know what I want prior to arrival at the store. This man is ALWAYS swinging his sign, standing up, and on task. The one time I saw him "slacking" was when he was taking a drink of water, and I see this man on the way to work every day M-F.

He demonstrates dedication. No matter the weather, no matter the temperature, and despite the probably dismal prospects, he's out there working. I don't know how he can do it every day when we're already reaching 100F during the day. While other people in this country sit at home and bewail having lost their jobs or complain about unrealistic demands placed on them by employers, spouses, or whomever, this man stands at the corner of a busy street in the heat advertising a deal that can't be beat. Astounding.

He tolerates the untolerable. From fumes to heat to the searing sun, this man is what every postal employee is not. He's the kind of person who would have run the original Marathon. Although I like physical labor, enjoy the outdoors, and don't mind working hard, you would have to pay me a pretty penny normally to get me to do what this man does. I suppose if the pay were high enough or if I lost my job I might because I have done so before, but not in the summertime in Las Vegas. I don't know how he does it.

He deserves a raise. If I could hire men like him to work for me all the time I would because I would know I was getting my money's worth.

Nothing Wrong; Not Enough Right

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I gave a presentation Saturday afternoon to which the only comment succinctly given distilled down into the words "Nothing wrong; Not enough right". These words hurt me a great deal as they reverberated around in my head all weekend long coupled with a slieu of other disheartening information of late. Over the past several years, despite great strides to the contrary, I find myself returning to a mindset where I am self-conscious, self-criticizing, and self-doubting.

Oddly enough, I still feel and believe through it all that my life mantras remain true. What should be will be when the time is right. That I want today to be the right time doesn't mean what I want isn't going to be. God has never let me down, even if sometimes he forces me to wait longer than I want for what I know I deserve. As I pondered the events yesterday, a familiar quote returned to mind that I'd like to share:

It may be that you are not doing anything wrong. It may be that you have not done the right things long enough. Remember, you cannot force spiritual things. --Boyd K Packer

A while back I wrote about patience. About how much it might hurt you to rush right things. Well, I did the best I could in these circumstances to act according to the dictates of my conscience and my Creator, and although the results don't meet expectations, I can rest assured knowing that I did what I was supposed to do. The trouble is that now I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to do. Here's an interesting poem that comforts me a bit:

With thoughtless and impatient hands

We tangle up the plans

The Lord hath wrought.

And when we cry in pain He saith,

‘Be quiet, man, while I untie the knot.’

(Anonymous)

Trouble with doubt is that we stop being who we really are. When what is constitutes the antithesis of our will and we feel frustrated, we give into our lesser selves. For my own part, I know I get real defensive and throw up walls to protect myself. My guarded self belies my true nature. Acquaintences of bygone years tell me that they were "glad" they were "forced" to get to know me because they never would have done so electively. I proved to be fun and convivial, not intimidating and dour. The former is my true self, the one my family knows; the latter is what I put on to face an uncertain world filled with danger, deceipt and deception.

I often ponder the problem of how to make right a world where evil brings rewards and virtue none at all. The trick I just now learned this weekend is that I can't do that and I should not try. I can influence MY world, the small sphere of influence in which I move and breath and have my being. As long as I try to do all and be all to everyone, I will never do enough right.

My calling in life is not really to save the larger world. It consists in the little things. I am trying to put on a happier face, share a few more kind words, and do a few more kind deeds, and in my own small way change the world. If everyone I help pays it forward, the amalgamation of small things will be enough, and that's right by me.

Looking to Holland

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Contrary to popular belief, much of America's early financing came from Holland and not from France. While the French provided the initial assistance during the revolution, John Adams spent a great deal of time securing the backing of the Dutch on loans and securities for the fledgling nation. Now, we seem to be looking at Holland not for the things that made her prosperous but for the idyllic scenes that bring tourists to her shores.

While we busy ourselves setting up windmills to power our nation, the President offers nuclear material to the United Arab Emirates. In taking ourselves back to the stone age in pursuing worthless flights of energetic fancy, we are helping other nations become our superiors. I don't see how it makes any sense for us to help Dubai build a nuclear reactor while we refuse to do in kind. If nuclear energy is bad, it is bad everywhere, not ok just because the reactor is located in a part of the world most Americans couldn't identify on a globe, if Americans could even recognize a globe.

Ad Populum Ad Infinitum

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Every time Obama speaks, it revolves around him. Every time Obama acts it's orchestrated to serve him. He tells us to sacrifice but he won't send any money to his relatives scattered around the globe. He tells us not to aspire while he swims in pelf.

For such a young man, he has very much to say about himself. In jest, I told a friend that I would entitle my biography iDoug as a play on iMac, iPods, and iLife. However, I am not nearly as brazenly hubris to suspect that at 30 I've amassed enough experince or expertise so as to entitle me to the presidency of this great nation. No man in his right mind wants to be the president of this country.

Yet, everything is about obama. He squeezes in a personal anecdote from his own life at every speaking engagement, as if his life represents in 46 years everything about everyone who ever lived in this great land. All that from a man who barely spent any of his life in America, rarely talks about good memories in this country, and never says anything good about the nation that elected him president.

His dronal accolytes drool over him anyway. He says it; they believe it; that settles it. They cannot be turned by logic or reason. They are swayed by the snake oil he sells, and he can't get enough of their adolations.

In 20 years, Obama will be irrelevant. If the Federal Republic dies, he will be swept aside by the secret combinations that put him in office. If the Federal Republic survives, we will begin to erase every last vestige of his legacy from our Inspired Constitution until it is free from the stain of socialism he has allowed to set in that shroud. People will little note nor long remember that he almost destroyed America. They will thank God he did not succeed.

McCain Knows Torture

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Today the Congress is once again all a twitter about waterboarding and torture, forgetting salient points:

our own marines are waterboarded as part of training

waterboarding produced information that saved American lives

only two terrorists have been waterboarded according to records

in order to torture, you must intend to torture

I find it highly odd that John McCain remains silent on this subject. I just read the speech Reagan gave where he mentioned McCain by name in recognition of his long imprisonment. During the campaign, they mocked McCain for not using a computer or dressing himself. He cannot do those things resultant from physical damage done under the hands of devious demons in Vietnam. I suspect that given the choice McCain would have rather been waterboarded.

My Own Household

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Obama told ASU graduates that we should work for other's interests, but working in your own self interest helps others.

I've found someone to be successful for--my own children.

So, let them say what they will. I am working for the children...my own.

How Can Someone Who is Always Wrong Still Have People Think He's Right?

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Wrong on torture

Wrong on the war in Iraq

Wrong on terrorists

Wrong on the auto bailout

Wrong on the bank bailout

Wrong on the stimulous package

Wrong on keeping nuclear material from our enemies

Wrong on how to create new energy

Wrong on how to end poverty

Wrong on how to stop drug use

Wrong on pollution

Wrong on taxes

Wrong on national healthcare

In every major issue, the President, the Speaker, and the Majority Leader have been on the wrong side.

Let's do something right. Turn the American people loose. Stop talking about more government and higher taxes in the midst of an economic curfuffle. People creat money. People create wealth. People created government.

Cash For Clunkers

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The administration proposed the Cash for Clunkers Act which will probably pass into law soon. Since I'm nearing what I expect to be the end of useful life for my dearly beloved Saturn, I am now looking for its successor. What kind of a car would I trade mine in for?

Mine is paid off, fully depreciated, and not on a loan. The measely amount they'd give me towards a new car would not offset the huge increase in costs I would incur by buying a more fuel efficient vehicle because so few of them exceed the fuel economy of my Saturn SL1. What's more, I don't want to own any of those cars. I don't like Japanese automobiles, and I certainly don't want to pay the amount necessary to buy one of those, even with the incentives from Obama.

If I had my way, I'd have GM simply rebuild me the car I already have with the engine it currently contains and do that in lieu of buying a hybrid. A friend of my father owns a hybrid and lucked out on escaping some costs. The console, the batteries, the periodic maintenance, all of those cost astronomical amounts to fix. What's more, you can't really work on some of that stuff yourself or you void warranty etc. I looked at the engine of a friend's parents' hybrid and I don't even know where to start in fixing it. Plus, you've got extra crap in there because a hybrid has a regular engine, albeit smaller, plus the electrical components.

I find it highly ironic that those kinds of cars barely beat me in mileage. They often have smaller engines, which in and of itself could account for that differential. Remember the Geo Metro and Chevy Aspire. Without the electric engine, would those cars even beat a Saturn? Even more embarassing, my mom's Chevy Malibu gets 36mpg highway and it has a 6 cylinder engine. I don't know about you, but I'll trade 10% economy for that kind of power and comfort.

Sometimes I Amaze Even Myself

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When I decide to do something, that usually ends it. Some of my father's coworkers tried to joust with me verbally last Saturday as I helped one of them move to a new home. They learned that when I put my mind to something, nobody had better get in the way. I learned long ago that you haven't failed until you stop trying, and that if I keep trying to do what I know I should then eventually things fall into place where they need to be.

It's no secret that I do this. I've spoken at length in previous posts about my dedication to physical activity. Some of my old HS friends marvel at my dedication to get up at 5:30AM to read the scriptures and then exercise. Some of my family groans at my refusal to shave off my beard. My mother worries about my car.

Yesterday I surprised myself. Those who know me well know that for the past few weeks I've been dealing with a very disheartening and disappointing situation over which I have very little control. Although I enlisted the Lord's help in resolving it, it has not resolved itself the way I hoped, leaving me a tad dejected. Then, several people in rapid succession challenged me to try to be happy. Yesterday, I decided that I was going to try every day to make it a happy day and not let circumstances dictate my destiny, and yesterday was a happy day.

The illustrious legislature here handed down a 4.5% paycut to all state employees, of which I am one. What they intend to do is furlough us one day per month without pay to cut salaries and avoid layoffs. When I went to see my boss, I surprised myself by seeing in that a silver lining: what this actually means is that I get 24 more days over the next two years where I don't have to come to work and for which I don't have to take leave. Furthermore, my boss sees no problem letting me bank them up and use them when I see fit, meaning I don't have to tap into my leave at all for the next two years perhaps! Plus, I may get my annual pay raise in October, putting me right back up to my original pay as of right now after three months of reduced pay, almost all of which come during our flexible summer work schedule which will save me about $25 in gas per month not driving every day or driving in traffic. Life is good.

Much of what we cling to depends on our point of view. I'm not normally known for my cheery disposition or my optimistic outlook. I found it much more convenient to expect the worst; that way I was never disappointed and sometimes positively surprised. However, it doesn't make me look happy, let alone actually be it.

Then, on the way home, I told myself it didn't feel that bad, even though it was 96F. I guess I've finally acclimated to Vegas after two years. I know that this present state is a gift of God- who really does want me to be happy. So, like I said yesterday I will see to those things over which I have control and let the rest sort out themselves. For today I choose happy thoughts, and today is going to be a good day!

Blessings Disguised As Trials

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I was going back through some old emails because I was having a bad day and I found this. I am going to quote it in its entirety because I find it profound though a bit disjointed. Keep in mind that I understand how this person communicates and afterwards I will discuss what this person says:

I was thinking on a thing expressed on one of those power of thought things (ok from the secret dvd) that when some one gets up and something goes wrong right away they think this is going to be a bad day, and so it does.. well so I was just thinking that if you got up and something went wrong and thought, shoot this is going to be a great day! lol and even if more things went bad through out the day if you still thought the same thing and believed the same thing that it was a great day then it will be a great day and at the end of the day can be considered as such, no matter what bad thing may have or may occur through out it... lol I don't know if its a bad thing, but that has been my philosophy lately. Well that pretty much no matter what happens I want to be able to say that I had a great day. lol and then I was thinking how would I express the things that were technically not so great (in the category in normal world lol) I thought I would probably then express it as, well i've gone or going through some experiences right now. But you see all these experiences are for our growth!! and we really are able to be happy all the time, we know and specially if we believe it, that as long as we live our lives the best we can, all will work out, this experience will turn out the way it needs be, and it could be a horrible experience but if the fact that you can view it as a learning one, a good one, a happy one, or just simply as an experience well I think one really does not have to experience to much devastation or sadness more then need be. I have learned that there was many an experience that I had allowed myself feelings of sad emotions about that really were not things to feel that way towards.

The tools I learned and now often call upon are rather simple things, are for one, circle of concern and circle on influence, and the basic principle is to work with in you circle of influence, focus on the thing that you can actually do something about, and leave the circle of worry to be a very small one.

Another principle I learned in life before, but this book really challenged me to look at my self and look at my core belief. and to be confident with it as my core belief, focus, motivator in life. This book really had me dig into my my core and really have a good look at it. Like take it out and analyze it feel it in fingers take a needle to it and dissect it!! lol if you haven't gotten the picture well enough. lol well pretty much it really made me look at my core self, where is my core, how strong is it, what is it/who is it. and then how do I want it to look, how strong do I want to choose it to be, what I want it to be. !!!! It made me chose and recognize that... [I] can be confident, defiant, strong, and all because [I] do not wishy washy on the emotions sprung by others and because [my] core is Jesus Christs and his amazing teachings! I absolutely love this gospel and I am grateful for every single day that Heavenly Father gives me to experience and learn from!!!

OK, so what are the lessons I learned from this email:
1. People preach most vehemently that which they need most. This person has been ardently on my case for the last month telling me to think happy thoughts when almost exactly a year ago they had the selfsame problem.

2. There is no good or bad. There is just experience. I can't remember what I was reading recently, but it talked about how you can't really make mistakes- just learning experiences. Something to do with child raising...

3. Life becomes what you expect of it. If you expect things to go badly, sometimes they will. You help actualize that which you dread and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

4. Strenuous activity=growth. My workouts could have shown you that.

5. If you do your best, things work out the way they should. I have of late been doing the very best I know to do something I believe God wanted me to do. If He'd wanted it done better, he wouldn't have asked me. So, it turned out exactly as he knew it would.

6. Focus on the things youo control. Everything I control is under control, so I'm in pretty good shape.

7. Where you are at is a matter of perspective. You can choose who you want to be. You can do what you want. Just seize the day!

8. I too am grateful to have God in my life directing it. If you could only see my journal from the past week... He's actually getting perturbed that I keep asking him the same questions and not listening to his answers...

9. I have decided to try every day to have a happy day and not let circumstances dictate my destiny. Today was a good day.

Everything I control is under control. I was true to myself. I was honest. So things didn't turn out like I hoped. It doesn't mean they won't and it doesn't mean that something better isn't just over the horizon.

Sometimes in my prayers I ask for "blessings that are not disguised as trials", but when I see the blessings in the trials, I am grateful. God thought I could handle it, and difficult thought it may have been it proved to me again that I believe what I believe and that I am strong.

These truly are great days. Thousands and thousands of them.

In Opposition to VR Classes

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There is a great push in the world to go virtual. However, I see a great problem in the prospect that people may lose the ability to communicate with anyone in any other way. We are quickly losing our ability to interface with others of our species, and it plays out in strange ways (like giving you no recourse in job applications since a computer filters all resumes).

Some of the students at the university where I work worry, as do some faculty members. When professors go on sabbatical, they try to put as much of the course online as possible. Granted, it's tempting to never actually have to administer a quiz/test or grade it by having the computer do it for you, and I really hate that I lose 20-30 minutes at the beginning of each lab period to administer the quiz, but in a hands-on career field, how can we possibly adequately prepare students to do things at which they've never actually plied their hand?

I made it through an advanced degree without ever dissecting anything. I never took anatomy. I would never teach those things. Yet, some people are willing to trust diagnosis, treatment and their very lives to people who have essentially done nothing more than watch a reality series on surgery.

Back when I was an undergraduate, WebCT version 1 came out, and I had to buy a computer in order to complete the online portions of the class, a single class. It's not convenient, cost effective, or "fair" to demand that of students. Simply because we can do a thing does not follow that we must. Significant numbers of students still learn best by doing, and if we eliminate that option, we render them useless to the betterment of society, which is a real shame.

Too many people spend too much time in virtual worlds and forget to live in the real one. It breaks up marriages and indicates deeper problems. Some of my students confessed that they buy their boyfriends games to get free time. Is that really love, that you send them into a fake world so you can relax? It's not healthy, and I see no end to this trend.

I happen to be of the old school and believe and bank on the preconceived notion that labs will always have an in person component. That's why I teach lab- I enjoy it, and that's why I think my job is safe because most professors hate teaching lab. Their loss.

Don't let it be yours.

Just Another Flu

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Much as I hate to say it, the president did the right thing about this recent H1N1 flu hybrid strain- he ignored it and played golf. If he'd wanted to actually be a leader, he had two options- take charge or let it play out. He of course chose the latter, because the former impinged on his ability to "pursue happiness" at our expense.

In all honesty and in my semi-professional opinion, the media mandates are blowing it out of proportion. If only what 150 people worldwide caught it and only 30 of those died, why are they bouncing around the concepts of pandemic and epidemic? Unlike some a priori, "swine flu" resembles those weak strains they use to vaccinate us, so if you want to avoid a flu shot, go out and catch it.

Instead, our fearless leader proposes common sense items that we would do anytime to avoid getting sick. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, avoid common areas, stay home and rest. Who does he think he is, my mother? We all do those things. Sometimes people get sick. That's why you have an immune system. If he really cared about your well being, he might have availed himself of the opportunity to talk about behavior and lifestyle modifications that would render America healthier like adequate rest and hydration, frequent physical exertion, and portion control.

Obama has never really been a paragon of self control. In his own book, he confesses with braggadocio that he whiled away many a day dragging on weed or other narcotics. Besides, he wants a different type of control- control over YOUR life. Listen to how often they say one should never underestimate the opportunity presented by a crisis to advance a statist agenda. That's something we don't want to catch.

Disproportionate to Difficulty

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I read this morning how, despite the current state budget crisis, firemen won't take a pay cut. They do risk their lives, true, but the police do as well, and they didn't refuse flatly to take a pay cut.

Our illustrious governor wants us to take a bigger pay cut again because he refuses to raise taxes. Much as I respect that, I think the problem remains as always that if 50% of the state budget is for wages then we have too many people on the government payroll. The only workable solution I see is to cut government employees.

People in positions of risk and responsibility like to set themselves up as exceptions to the rule. Firemen claim they have hard jobs, but they know before they go out, unlike the beat cop or traffic citation, the nature of the situation into which they walk. The governor has a hard job, but his secretary doesn't warrant a $20K pay raise next year. They're not suffering. They make sure their coffers are stuffed while they ask us to sacrifice.

There are people in every echelon of every entity who are paid disporportionate to their contribution. At my last job, I performed at an average 130% of expectation yet never qualified for a bonus for mitigating reasons exigent to my control. In fact, they started staffing our shift predicated on the proposition that I was going to be able to give 130% in perpetuity, which of course I did not do. At my current job, there are people without whom we could manage. It would burden the remainder to be sure to pick up their work, but we could manage without them. As a matter of fact, do we even need a governor? What has he actually accomplished? Argh.