Realmscapes

2012 Election Dream Team

Just having som fun... :-)

This list may grow/change post-2010 since a some of these selections are strong gubernatorial candidates, and I would prefer them to remain in those capacities if they won. If I don't list it, then the position would remain with the incumbent I suppose:

President of the United States: Newt Gingrich
Vice-President of the United States: Sarah Palin

Secretary of State: David Petraeus
Secretary of the Treasury: Steve Forbes
Secretary of Defense: John Bolton
Attorney General: Rudolph Giuliani
Secretary of Commerce: Kay Bailey Hutchison*
Secretary of Health & Human Services: Rick Santorum**
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Oliver North
Secretary of Homeland Security: Pat Buchanan

Press Secretary: Sean Hannity
RNC Chairman: Michael Steele

*Mitt Romney is my preferred choice, but he is not interested in Cabinet positions due to bad experiences that his father had as the HUD Secretary under Nixon.
**Alan Keyes would be a strong candidate for this position as well; at the least I would like to see him as the Deputy Secretary of State or of the HHS, OR the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

The 2008 Presidential Election: How I See It

Some Notes:

- States that normally would be rock solid blue are only light blue (or even toss-ups or solid red) because I am predicting that there will be a "Hillary Effect" wreaking havoc with portions of the map (see post below this one for explanation).

- I think that the tape documenting Obama's feelings towards the coal industry that hit the news Sunday/Monday is going to cost him any chance he had in OH and WV.

- Depsite the above, there are far too many factors going on in PA for me to feel confident to call that state for McCain.

- Wisconsin has gone for the Dem candidate in the last two elections by 0.2% (2000) and 0.4% (2004). The Hillary Effect may tip the balance, but it's too much of an X-factor here to call it for McCain since Obama did win the state during the primaries (but it was close--the delegate count was 42-32).

- As it pertains to VA, no one can really tell whether the northern part of the state (now heavily Democrat since 2000, and even 2004) will be enough to offset the rest of what is otherwise a very red state.

- Iowa: I've called for Obama, but only barely. I don't know if the epicenter of the Hillary Effect (and all the other intangibles re: this election) will be strong enough to ovecome such a large lead in the polls there. I do anticipate it to be no more than 1-2% for whomever wins.

- Oregon... my gut and the trend tells me solid blue, but the numbers based on county make-up and Hillary's decent showing had me marking this one as a leaner. The sum is that it still goes for Obama, and it's the only light blue I don't agree with. But I left it just to prove my gut feeling to myself for future reference lol. 

- My home state of Maine is a weird animal the last three weeks or so. For a state that's supposedly solid blue, it doesn't act like it here in District 2 (which covers 2/3 of the state and is home to the majority of ME's college population). The bigger point is that we have thousands of "Gordon the Fisherman" voters who were none to happy with what Barack told "Joe the Plumber", and Obama's numbers have declined ever since. District 1 (Portland and Newport) will no doubt go to Obama. But District 2 is very much in play by what I can tell, and it is very much Republican north of Bangor (you could accurately call it "Little Alaska"). Plus Nader does very well in ME, as did Hillary. All told, McCain could well end up with 3 of 4 crucial Maine votes.

This is the first time I have done this with an election. It was a lot of fun, and depending on how right this map turns out to be, I will reveal a bunch of my sources. Otherwise, what's the point ;-P

No Freebies

I usually don't read media coverage of teams that just got eliminated from playoff contention, especially when my team moves on. I have mixed feelings about bothering athletes during a time they should be respectfully left alone. But I read the one covering LAofA.

The Angels and Cubs are a great life lesson. If you're as good as you tell yourselves and the media, then why aren't you celebrating. LAofA wins 100 games, the Cubs win 97; the Angels dominated the Sox 8-1 in the regular season, and the Cubs were definitely the best team in the NL.

So what. You still have to show up and play the same game you did in the regular season. The Sox have been magic in the post since 2004, and their 95 wins in the regular season is impressive given that many were done without Ortiz, Lowell, or Beckett; with Manny and Torre in Dodger Blue, you cannot underestimate LA for a second.

But above all, LAofA and the Cubbies are home because they played sloppy baseball. They played "entitlement" baseball as if their records and being the favourites were somehow good enough to punch their tickets to the World Series.

LAofA: 4 Errors, 1 dropped routine fly for 3 Sox runs forcing a 12-inning marathon, 1 botched suicide squeeze by a player with a .529 BA and 18 RBIs when a man is on 3rd with <2 outs
Chicago: 6 Runs Scored, 6 Errors, 7 Runs given up in opening innings of Games 2 & 3

You have got to show up to claim success.

Okay, Let's Try This Again...

"Among the other itches Palin ... was intended to scratch were ... the Evangelistas who have been threatening to sit this year out (then came revelations of Palin's unwed teenage daughter and her impending shotgun wedding...)..."   --CBR Blogger

Christians are NOT against people for making moral mistakes--we bleed just as everyone else.

We ARE against people passing laws saying it is okay to make moral mistakes.
We ARE against people who will appoint judges who will rule that it is okay to make moral mistakes.
And we ARE against people who serve as public servants, make moral mistakes, and are unrepentant of those mistakes.

An Observation on the McCain/Palin Press Conference

I have not heard ONE "U.S.A." chant during the Obama campaign. This press conference had two over the course of 25 minutes.

I would also note that I was not an all-out supporter of the McCain Campaign, even though he had been showing good signs of life on the Conservative radar, until this pick was announced. And there are still some issues I have with the Campaign e.g. the embracing of man-made climated change.

But this choice rocks.

Sweet & Sour

I hate the sauce and I'm not a big fan of the combination as a flavour on life either.

Lots of polar opposite experiences these last several weeks, hence the lack of posting. But through it is the best experience: that of being on the receiving end of God's caretaking. Family, Friends, Career--all are involved in his divine sustaining and quiet assurance of "I Am with you."

It's humbling when God interacts with you--it's supposed to be. It also helps you to really appreciate when it's your turn to be God's intrument of Joy to someone (or many someone's) in your circle.

In any case, Kas and I have been busy on our other site, which you can see for yourself by clicking on the big Grail Quest Books logo to your right (or the smaller Shadow of the Stars one).

There you will find a 10-page preview of our debut comic title, coming later this month. We've had lots of comments and nearly about 155 downloads (out of 131 unique vistors)--which isn't bad considering we only told ~25 people about the Preview (plus some promoting by two of the artists). The promotion list is much larger when Issue #1 is available in its entirety, trust me. So consider the above response just a sampling.

Barnes & Noble Search Engine

Top results for a search for "god biography" at Barnes&Noble.com
1. God: A Biography (by Jack Miles)
2. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (by Senator Barack Obama)
3. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (by Senator Barack Obama)

I don't know how books are listed on a estore search engine, but in the case of B&N I have a strong feeling it is nothing to do with best-selling statitistics or objective relevancy.

Terrorist = Criminal?

This Supreme Court ruling on terrorists now being classified as "criminals" with the same Constitutional rights as you and me is O.U.T.R.A.G.E.O.U.S.

Islamofascists are not reformable criminals. These are sane individuals who operate on the military battlefield. As long as they engage in terrorism on a field of war against the United States, they are military enemies of the United States. They are prisoners of war.

Oil

Everyone thinks that we import a large percentage (or even the majority) of our oil from the Middle East. In fact, the largest percentage of our oil comes from Canada; the second-largest importer to the U.S. is Mexico. Less than 10% of oil imports come from OPEC nations (i.e. the Middle East and Venezuela). Yet it is this tie to OPEC that is the largest influence on the current $/barrel we are paying (because they control two-thirds of the world's oil reserves).

Now: A massive new oil deposit has been discovered in North Dakota, which could supply several hundred billion barrels of oil to our nation's reserve. According to the stats, this reserve (combined with the billions of barrels oil already in our reserve), used at the current consumption rate, could easily supply this country with enough oil to last well over a decade!

The EIA is lament to allow such a usage. Fine. But if they allowed just enough barrels to replace the 10% of imports that come from the Middle East and Venezuela, then depletion of our reserves would be a non-factor for well over a century (at worst), meaning we wouldn't need OPEC's oil, thus eliminating much (if not all) of their influence of the current $100+/barrel cost they are sucking from our economy.

...Something else to throw out there. Although frequently blamed, the oil companies have nothing to do with the high cost of gas at the pump. Over half (and sometimes more in some states) of the cost is taxes that go to the federal and state governments; another majority part of that second half pays for other regulations instituted by governments. So this notion that oil companies are making millions in profit is simply a delusion. Follow the money, not the words "Big Oil" haters.

Independents

It is totally bogus that registered Independent voters are allowed to vote in party primaries. If you don't have the gonads to pick a party, then you why should you get to vote in party-specific elections?

In the case of the Republican Party: you moderates are killing genuine conservative candidates. If you want McCain or Huckabee so bad, write-em in on the second Tuesday of November.

Facebook

Been distracted with Facebook lately (mostly because of the log-jammed writer strike). A wonderful networking and community-linking (local/global/personal/cultural/religious/political/sports/gaming all at once, yet all seperate) website. The "distracting" element are the loads of quality FREE mini-games from Chess to Victory (a Risk-Civilisation hybrid) to Imperial Galaxy (an RPG "board game" of sorts)... There's also sports "pick-em" applications... If you get a profile, send me an invite!

RE: On the Subject of Reality

I posted this comment in re: to a post on Steve's weblog but the comment never registered due a glitch on his site (the quotes are from an article he quoted, and are not Steve's comments):

"The average number of Iraqis killed in 2007 per day exceeds those killed in 2006."

Well I suppose it would since X deaths measured over 365 days in 2006 would have to be lower than Y deaths over 252 days in 2007.

"And, violence in Iraq has not fallen because of the surge. Violence is way up this year."

Now there's a brilliant observation in the middle of a war. I wonder what the violence level was in 1943 compared to 1945. Should it even matter considering what the alternative was?

Being against the War on Terror is certainly the right of its advocates. But using statistics to justify a stance is weak, and dangereous. Terrorists love statistics as a weapon. And imagine if the Founding Fathers had made decisions based on statistics in 1776; or the current state of the nation if President Lincoln had heeded the promulgations of the 19th century left-wingers; or perhaps as a Christian I should pack it in because these days only a third of the world shares my beliefs.

The Problem of Blame

You'll notice that I have crossed out several lines in my last lengthy post. Life at this stage is still very much a learning experience, and I think I have learned more over these last five days than at any other point during this trying time. One very important thing that is a part of my knowledge is that my end-reasoning as to the "Why?" concerning all this was fundamentally flawed and the result of being ignorant of an demon I thought I had defeated long ago. This I will explore at some other point over the next couple of days.

Here I just want to briefly note that my belief that this temporary separation was the result of some evil or transgression was absolutely wrong. The Devil very cleverly got me to believe that our debt problem was a direct result of our (forgiven) transgression of deciding to live together for the last year or so of our engagement (a BIIIIIG Christian no-no, regardless how noble the reason). But the truth? I had my debt problem a good year before I even met Kas. The only maddening thing that choosing to live in that condo did to my debt issue is that the money we spent on rent, oil, and related bills during that year+ could have gone towards paying off debt instead. But the debt itself already existed and I was already having to use some creativity to keep up as it was.

Anyway, the main truth is that Kas and I are tired of our debt problem, and Kas is tired of languishing in the retail industry. So, with my support, she opted the military route (as a Guardsman) in the hopes of solving both--at the least getting on the path to solve both. And sure enough our finances have stabilized over these last weeks and even look to be (dare I say) hopeful in the forthcoming ones; and once Kas has finished her training she will be able to take start taking advantage of the GI Bill, meaning she can get her B.A. (she currently only has an A.A.).

That's the problem with blame--it's just a conveniency for self-pity, self-persecution, laziness, irresponsibility, and children.

Love, Unconditional

"I haven't felt guilt since the Twelfth Century."

Fans of Highlander: The Series will always chuckle at this line uttered by the amiable Immortal, Methos to the show's hero, Duncan MacLeod, when Duncan tries to get Methos to do him a favour. As unfair as this guiltlessness might have been to Duncan's plight, Methos is correct to suppress guilt--it is a feeling that is terrible in its nature, often disguised as one's Conscience, and one of the Enemy's most potent allies on his quest to destroy the human soul.

But there are times when God allows us to be stung by Guilt--to feel his poisoned blade slice across our minds. For me it has been more than just a poison, closer to a blade tip broken inside. Each time I speak with my wife about her experiences in basic training its poison flows anew. Each time she tells me of her aching body.. each time she tells me of things she has seen.. things she had to do... mocking she had to endure... For all this alone am I grateful that she is graduated and done with that place.

But then God asks me: Sound familiar? Two thousand years ago the aching body of my son, Jesus, was dragging his cross to his fate... in those days he saw the hurt of his people and their sin-filled souls... it pained to know what he would have to do to save them, and you... and mocking? Your wife was mocked and yelled at for a period of weeks, but for Me the mocking has never ceased. Still, I am here from all of them that mock me or love me.

The Bible says that God makes all things good, even the bad things--including the Enemy and all his allies. Perhaps nothing could illustrate this better than one who is intermittently assaulted by Guilt. There are several enemies with which I have to do battle these last six weeks: Impatience, Anxiety, Deception...and Guilt is another. Anxiety and Deception I have mastered (or nearly). Impatience is a game of willpower and faith that I know I can win. However Guilt is a sneaky foe, and he most often comes when I have spoken with my wife on the phone or when I am watching a picture of her in my hands or when I am thinking of time where she has goven my hand a squeeze of encouragement Guilt takes these precious things and tries to dishonour her strength and courage; within the realm of the Christian heart we are reminded of our sins, forgiven or unforgiven, and the pain they have caused God and those we love the most. And in both cases, the heart is left broken.

There is no cure for the poison of Guilt's blade save one: Unconditional Love. No one can reason Unconditional Love. Not that of my wife for me, or of God for all of us. I know there are things that I did or didn't do that led to the path of her choosing to endure the challenges of hell that is basic military training. Perhaps there were things on her side to--BUT that's the part that crushes me every time because I cannot reason what needed fixing in my wife that God would put her through BMT; I cannot fathom that my wife would need to endure what she has based on what needed to be fixed within me. But that's where God asks for patience, and more importantly acceptance in His wisdom. From the human standpoint, Unconditional Love is the hardest of all things to accept...because it is unconditional, Acceptance is all you can do!

I have been given the great priveledge of being one of those chosen to experience Unconditional Love twice. The first being Christ on the cross (by the Word of God), and again--live and in person--through my wife. It is overwhelming to accept something like Unconditional Love when I don't believe myself worthy of either let alone both...and especially on this, my First Wedding Anniversary--one of two days in a human being's lfe where Unconditional Love is to be celebrated. Acceptance has been a difficult bastion to scale these last years for me, and of course God provides a rope instead of a ladder with which to overcome the towering fortification. But on the other side of Acceptance are the landscapes of Joy and the waters of Peace.

God and my wife have given me their most precious gift and thus also invitations to walk in Joy and Peace with them in my life. Who could possibly refuse such invitations by one so Almighty and Good, and the other so beautiful and kind? Yet the Enemy lingers at the foot of the wall, shooting his arrows and causing me to pause, for the Enemy has no greater hatred than of Unconditional Love (save God Himself). Thus I would do well to accept these gifts of God and my wife, that I might honour them with my life and learn to give them that for which they do not insist of me yet I know they would love to possess.. and of course that which is the hardest for me to give...

But therein lies the swerve on the Enemy. Through the merciless attacks of Anxiety I have learned to scale the walls of Acceptance when I come upon them. And thus I shall do so again, even with Guilt on my heels. Thus I will throw away reason and knowledge and simply accept the Unconditional Love offered by God and my wife. And in addition to my Unconditional Love (which I have already given when I came to Love them), they will also receive fully that which they should have long-possessed by now: my Trust. And my Servanthood.

My dearest Love, Godspeed the day when I can put these words to application.
And Happy Anniversary.

The Voice of God (and the Wide-awake Nothing)

I am as guilty as anyone of accusing God unfairly, and making Him into something He is not. I have never accused Him of not listening or not being around--in fact quite the opposite. Because I know He always listens and is omnipresent, that is where I have accused Him most harshly. Ask my wife how many times over the last years I have stated that God is unjust because He listens but never speaks to me, is omnipresent but never does anything to help my situation.. or provide oppurtunity so I can help me help my situation--I don't expect God to clap his hands and fix my (or anyone else's) predicaments.

One of my favourite songs out there is from the Spider-Man 2 movie soundtrack called "Ordinary" (by Train). There is a part in the beginning of the song that goes:

And when the world is on its knees with me it's fine
And when I come to the rescue I get nothing but left behind
Everybody seems to be getting what they need; where's mine?

That last line I would especially sing because I knew God was always listening, but I wouldn't always hear the first line (duh--afterall I would be admitting there that I'm fine when things are going my way) and the second line I should be ashamed of because traditionally I scorn songs that are full of "whiny bitchin" (FFF's "Superman" is a song I loathe for instance--always have). But it was how I felt (and the song in general isn't whiny at all, was my excuse).

The point is, I was struggling with ever-worsening anxiety issues due to...well everything my fool head could come up with. You see I never quite got over my childhood hypochondria, I have been dealing with a very bad debt problem for about six years that has tag teamed with severe unemployment, and the one person that always made these kinds of things all better--my grandmother--is no longer around, PLUS I am always fighting my "Pre-Reformed Martin Luther" complex (someone with this complex believes that God is out to punish them for past transgressions regardless of the assurance of God's forgiveness through repentance and Christ's Death and Resurrection)... ALL a good recipe for disaster.

And so the best place I could direct my frustration and pain is the same place most humans vent these things: Up. And so I did, often and frequently. Little did I know that God had had enough of my crap.

Fast-forward to May 5th & 6th. My wife has been gone to Texas (for almost two weeks now) for her three-month basic training and I am an emotional wreck. But on that weekend I became aware of something: dead silence; the kind of silence you will hear in the vacuum of space. I don't remember a lot about that weekend--even the days that book-end that weekend all run together in my mind. But I know that I touched insanity. I know that I was in that Valley of Death spoken of in Psalm 23. I know that I experienced what Han Solo described as "a big wide-awake nothing" (when he was "frozen" in the carbonite block). For on those days I came to know what life is like where God is silent. And I came to realise in that Silence that the path to those days was of my own making; and I came to realise that God's Voice has always been omnipresent, and most especially in these last five years...

I met Kas in the Summer of 2002. She went to Germany for several weeks. And when she came back I found myself seeking her out. I didn't know why then, but God did. You see, it was just as things in my life were heading into the Valley mentioned earlier. So Kas has been with me through the worst of it. And although I got better for a little while, I still wasn't making much progress and I was still not getting (accepting is probably more accurate) that God was talking and trying to help me through Kas's love and understanding and soft touch of her hands. Letting Kas help me was the "easy way". And when that didn't work (he gave me a solid four years, and then some) He set me on the path that led right through the heart of the Valley of Death.

Now in that part of the Valley there are two paths: you can Die or you can Live. Being a Christian, there is really only one choice since Life is not something we can take from ourselves. And even though you choose to Live, you still want to Die. But God doesn't let you. Evenso--EVEN then--God is still there. You still have this knowledge but you have to really humble yourself--to reconnect your knowledge (your brain) with your acceptance (your heart)--in order to feel Him. And when you do it is like that ray of unexpected sunlight through the grey clouds.

I found His presence on those darkest of days. It came in the form of a memory of an event that had happened not a week before. On that particular Saturday (April 28th) I had just entered what I now know to have been the gates to that dark Valley. It was the first day that I realised that Kas was going to be gone for quite awhile, that I was going to be alone, and that each day was probably going to drag like molassess. The despair I felt on that day was nothing like I was going to feel in the coming days and weeks but it was bad enough ..kinda like after you have recovered from the flu and you think back to that first day you realised that you were going to have what you thought was going to be just a nasty cold. Anyway, on that day I remember wishing that I could hear Kas's voice, if only for a moment.

The phone rang...and there she was. She was there for barely a minute because (unbeknownst to me at the time) she was at the end of a week of hell of her own and a minute was all she had; the phone call was simply so that she could give me her address. But even through the misery I was ignorant of she still managed to squeeze in an "I'm alright" and an "I love you"...and then she was gone.

(At the time of this writing) Kas doesn't know that story, but in that moment God showed His infinite mercy and love. For in that phone call He gave me my own phial of light, like the Light of Elendil that Galadriel gave Frodo before the Fellowship left Lothlorien--a Light to use when all other light ceases to exist on the journey. And on that following weekend, when the Valley of Death choked all other light, I remembered that one minute phone call. I reached for that memory and the Phial of Light was activated. And there was God, standing there, Hand outstretched--He hadn't abandoned me or my wife in this Choking Void; that even though we had still far to travel in that Valley of Thorns and Crags, even though we were separated and could not help each other directly, yet somehow He was with both of us in That Desolate Place.

It doesn't matter that very little sentiment was said in that all-too-brief phone call. It will remain in my heart as the day that I realised that the beautiful voice of my wife is the same calm "low whisper" heard by Elijah.

The Voice of God.

The Pit of Faithlessness

Rush made an interesting comment (late last week I think). He noted how agencies like the FDA come out with all these health warnings because man is looking to prolong its life. (At the same time is the theology of man-made global warming which ironically both falls in line with this objective of limited immortality and also hates it--for the longer man lives, the more time he has to pollute, right? Another debate for another day.)

In the end it all boils down to the same sinful desires and ends: Control, Pride, Vanity--and Control is what I mean to speak of today. To the unbelieving world, if man can control what he puts into his body then he can also control how long that body will survive, or such is the logic. Which tells me that these people are afraid of death. And why: because it may just be that Christians are right and there really is a God above. And acknowledging the existance of God is the great inner human struggle. For as long as there is God there must be accountability and there cannot be man-made greatness.

At the end of the first season of Highlander, it is revealed that there is a group of mortal men intent on eliminating the Immortals from the Earth. These men refuse to allow for there to be one single Immortal left in the end to rule over mankind. "It's about power," the main villain screams at Duncan's desperate inquiry. "There is nothing greater than the Power of Man!" he adds. That script was written in 1993, but the mantra is the same old one throughout the ages. Christ tells us to be like Him, but replacing Him is not what he means.

I cannot figure out why we cannot see that the more we strive for control, the worse things get for us. It doesn't matter whether it is one country versus another or the invisible war inside of our minds. I suffer from a debilitating problem of control. Unfortunately I was not fully aware of it until my wife left for three months. All of a sudden I am in an apartment all by myself without her physical presence in a city that is still very new to me. I have always believed myself strong enough to need as few people in my life as possible in terms of companionship. These last weeks I have reaped the bitter fruit of this sentiment that I cultivated for so many years. What makes it worse is my cretive mind.

Normally a blessing to anyone, the creative mind can be the worst enemy of someone who tries to control the environment around him. As that mind creates new and more terrible scenarios of destruction or calamity, the world surrounding that mind becomes smaller and smaller, until not even God can fit in the small space. And then the day comes when that mind realises it is living in a vacuum--the silence is deafening, maddening on some days. There is a weight on the mind that was never apparent until that moment. And when that realisation comes it is devastating. You can go to a doctor with symptoms of "panic attacks" and "social anxiety" but there is little they can do. The mind is ailing. You cannot operate on the mind. Sure there are medicines to control chemicals and functions of the brain, but those medicines are ineffective against the real problem: the absence of faith in something beyond one's self. For a Christian in this predicament--a Christian who consoled countless others with the assurance that there is a power greater than all of us controlling everything--the days are dark and filled with the bitterness of the irony of his new existance.

As someone who has filled the last several years with increasing accusations to God for being silent on problems while clearly talking to others about theres, I should have seen this pit coming. When I spoke that God was silent I had no idea what I was talking about until these last several days; the lack of God's voice is a terrible experience and you never want to invoke or accuse God to experience it.

In The Left Hand of God Bogart's character makes a statement in the movie: "When you dive into a pit easy, there is nothing to do but to crawl out hard." The pit I should have seen coming I dove into thinking it would protect me from whatever it was I could not control. So here I am making the hard crawl out on my belly with my only real hope being to strengthen a faith that I regretfully--even if unwittingly--weakened. Faith is the seed of the Christian life and while I was busy trying to exhibit control over my environment I should have been sewing the seeds of Faith to replenish the crops I was using as my daily food and for charity.

International Inspiration

American libs love to point outside our borders as sources of inspiration to our political leaders--heck our political leaders e.g. John Kerry (and even our Supreme Court!) lately have taken the initiative on their own. Generally I don't agree with the practice, but in the spirit of trying it out I would like to point the Dems to our Australian friends, specifically their Prime Minister.

Even Iran can be used as a source of motivational inspiration.

And if Sarkozy wins the French PM-ship I may find myself doing it again.

Self Control not Gun Control

My friend, HMTKSteve, linked to a comment left by a liberal in my "Blaming" post in a post he made about gun control on a message board.

There are few issues in the world political landscape as nonsensical and telling as "gun control". Not only is it a lesson in secular society's unwillingness to hold itself accountable to anything, but the whole notion that violence in society will magically stop because guns are regulated (or banned) is completely devoid of logic.

Violent people intent on killing will kill.

Destroy guns and they'll find a sword. Destroy swords and they'll find a knife. Destroy all hand blades and they'll find a broken glass bottle. Check the weapons list for 9/11: commercial jet liners, radical Muslim ideology, pocket knives, box cutters, and pepper spray. Nope--no guns used and still nearly 3000 dead. Want to stop violence? Make people accountable for their actions. Perhaps try and teach them that they are part of something much bigger (i.e. the World) than their own personal selves--or even better still the concept of God.

Alone Time

My apologies for the gap in posts. The gaps may continue for a bit as I adjust to life alone for three months. The wife is off to basic training and school for the Air National Guard unit here in Bangor (the 101st Air Refueling Wing to be specific).

I am very proud of my wife for the decision she made. Had I not a bum knee and an issue with mornings and breakfast I would have been in the Air National Guard myself long time by now. Anyway, I hope to get back into the swing of things here on the blog, but the next days (weeks?) are going to be full of adjusting and taking care of things. I certainly should be able to manage at least a post every week (beyond my Quotes). Afterall, there are a bunch of exciting creative projects that I am working on and am eager to talk about as they progress to the completion stage.

I Have Been Nominated

Perusing my  stats I saw that I have been nominated for four categories in the Blogger's Choice Awards. Pretty cool! I think the nomination in the Sports Category may be a bit of a stretch, unless you count the wrestling posts; the Political category would have been a more accurate nomination.

Ah well, I nominated a half-dozen blogs that I frequent the most so if you get a chance register, nominate your own favourites, and vote for them, yours.. and mine :-D

April Fools

So what is amusing about this screenshot I took of The Weather Channel's website home page?

Somebody Pinch Me

...Mahmoud is an overnight international hero. He has pardoned the 15 British sailors and urged the same pardon from Mr Blair. Mahmoud the Benevolent is being praised by his trusted court allies the BBC, Reuters, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC and the United States Democrat Party for his understanding and generosity. And all this just before the Christian holiday of Easter.

...The Speaker of the House is visiting Syria, the #2 terrorist funding state in that region (behind Big Daddy Iran) in an effort to trade pen pal addresses.

...The US Congress has banned the phrase "Global War on Terror" and "The Long War" from all official documents.

...UK teachers are no longer teaching the Holocaust or The Crusades in British classrooms in an effort to not offend Muslim students.

...There is an eventual ban brewing on the incandescent lightbulb. Australia was the first, California was second and now North Dakota is adopting a similar resolution. The replacement? The mercury-filled flurescent, which requires a HAZMAT visit (if broken) and a special gas guzzling, CO2 guarenteed trip to a recycling center each time one expires.

...Speaking of CO2, it is blamed as being one of the worst of the causes of global warming and all expellers of CO2 are being banned or dramatially reduced. Hm. Well that sucks for the future of the human body.

...Here in Maine, you will be fined several hundred dollars if you are caught smoking in a car while driving on a public road and a child is in the car. This law is now being vigorously debated in my former home state of Connecticut.

...To aid in the fight in man-made global warming, the Belgian government is charging 20 Euro to anyone intending to barbecue this Summer. They intend to enforce this with helicopter flybys.

...Carbon Offsets (OR indulgences for the environmentally sinful).

Learning to 'Blog'

I have been on a vacation of sorts the last several days in that I have been spending a lot of time at a lot of different blogs. I have definitely been doing more commenting than posting here. I consider this a healthy part of my growth into a good blogger. Although I seek no one's approval of my content, it is educational to see how other blogger present themselves. Some are just full of rhetoric and pessimism; I won't return to those blogs but they have still taught me important lessons. It is also cool to see other bloggers who think as I do--and I enjoy all blogs that give solid (and limited) resources for the reference of the reader.

I have a lot to learn, but much of it will come with the experience of doing it myself. That is what I learned the most.

Life Update

Posts have been few lately and that's because my wife and I have been trying to complete the comic book team that will be adapting a "prequel" story arc related to her book.

That team is now complete. We also have a new independent comic book publisher lined up and waiting to take a look at the first issue when it's complete (which should be by the end of April). Very exciting stuff! Posts may be sparse for a few more days, so why not take this oppurtunity to catch up on one of the nearly two hundred posts on this weblog--culture, religion, book and film reviews, politics.. there is something here for everyone!

Or if you like, check out one of the blogs or websites that is part of my selected list of cyberspace libraries of ideas. I especially recommend the blogs of Steve De Chellis, Spinning, The Great Lettuce Head, and thoughts from along the broken road...(for the Red Sox content).

I would also suggest these sites which I do not have in any of my blog lists (yet):

Untwisted Vortex
All kinds of good stuff in this blog ranging from culture to internet issues.

I Quote Myself
Always good for some comic relief--it's also the blog of Chuck Kallnebach, designer of the Star Wars CCG from Dagobah through to the end; also Lord of the Rings TCG, Star Trek CCG, .hack, Young Jedi, Jedi Knights, Stargate, and other

The Thomas Chronicles
A really well-written blog mixing conservative Christian thought with politics, culture, and current events

The Sacred Duty of Freedom

On the anniversary of the Iraq War, many Americans are taking this oppurtunity to decry its government for a war they believe un-just, un-necessary, un-Christian, or un-American.

I want to take this oppurtunity to acknowledge our government and its tireless supporters for understanding that justice and liberty is not a gift exclusive to the American people, or any people. It is just and right to help a nation too weak to fight its evil oppressors. Christ says that the greatest gift one can give is to lay down one's life for his friends. People who love freedom are the friends of all other freedom-loving people of which America is a part, and so many of our own have selflessly offered their lives for the cause of liberty.

And so a  praise of honour and respect needs to be given to our service men and women and their families. To those that have fought, that are fighting, and will continue the fight of freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, and especially to the families whose loved ones have given that Ultimate Sacrifice in the fight for liberty and justice in those regions:

THANK YOU

Markus on War

The concept of war has always been something I have contemplated, especially in light of my Christian faith. As always, these inner relfections tend to make their way into my writing. Right now I am working on a book about a guilt-ridden knight who lives in the twilight of th 12th century. In the part of the story I am working on now, he is the guest of an Muslim nobleman; they are discussing the roles of their respective sides in the Crusades. Markus has this to say about the Crusades, and war in general:

Markus sighed. “So yours is a message of war; the Jew’s one of identity. Christ teaches that neither will get a soul to heaven.”

“Then why fight at all if your message is one of passivity?”

“War has its uses; it tests the resolve of a man and probes for weaknesses in mind and spirit. Moreover God does not say that a Christian has no right to defend himself from an enemy that means him harm; if every Christian was passive in this manner our faith would fail to multiply and our enemies would certainly rejoice in the folly of the Christian God.”

I appreciate the thoughts of my characters.

A Husband's Proud Moment

I have just returned from a very proud moment for this American husband (and Radke, who's family has a very rich military heritage):

The witenessing of my wife taking the oath as a new member of the Maine Air National Guard. She'll be stationed not ten minutes from our home. Her one weekend a month and two weeks in the Summer will no doubt help keep our nation's home defense functioning smoothly and efficiently.

Plain and Clear

Did you notice what the Dems were doing during the Stat of the Union whenever Preseident Bush spoke of victory in Iraq?

They sat on their hands.

So tell me again how I am supposed to believe that the libs want to win the war on the terror?

Self-Righteous Media

Rush Limbaugh brought up an interesting point on his show today: the self-righteous media.

Throughout 2006 we have heard the media condemn immoral action after immoral action--Mark Foley, Zinedine Zidane, the Duke Lacrosee players, Bill O'Reilly, Rick Santorum, George Steele, and (the latest) Terrel Owens.

And after they condemn it, they look to implicate anyone in the area. ALL Republicans are now morally bankrupt... ALL sports athletes are spoiled or raging anti-heroes... ALL college males are sexist pigs... ALL conservatives are hypocrites.

Does it even matter that in the case of Bill and the Duke boys that nothing was ever remotely proven? Notice how so many of the media targets are linked to conservatisism or the Repunlican Party?

I thought Rush had a good idea. Let's break open the backgrounds on our beloved media anchors and journalists and let's see what it takes to be as "pure as the wind-driven snow".

The Role of Science

Science is the ultimate test of Man's vanity.

Re: Chambers

Interpreting habeas corpus for an "enemy combatant" would not be necessary if "enemy combatants" were dealt with militarily as opposed to lawfully.

In a war you kill the enemy, you don't prosecute them.

The Clinton Legacy is like Victorian-Venice

Venice, Italy is a world suspended above the water--literally. The entire city is supported by hundreds of underwater supports.

Do you remember in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen how the villain plotted to destroy Venice? By destroying these supports and collapsing the entire city. It worked pretty well in the film.

The Clinton legacy is pretty close to an exact match of this representation of 1900's Venice. All it would take is the right kind of explosive to collapse the entire thing--his legacy is that fragile. And now there is a charge set: The Path to 9/11.

Perfect Freedom?

Perfect freedom does not exist in any government, but the ACLU would have that kind of freedom, even at the expense of amorality and their lives. Which is fine, but why does the irresponsible actions of these people get to decide my fate? It ultimately comes back to faith. The ACLU rejects God because they reject all authority (moral or otherwise). It doesn't matter to them that the harbinger of doom of every great civilisation is the rejection of common sense and morality.

For anyone who cares

You Are 40% Cynical

Generally you give people the benefit of the doubt. But there are exceptions. You buy into many of the things that mainstream society believes, but you're not anybody's fool.

How Cynical Are You?

(FYI: All the pics were female. This is the closest one I could find that was ambiguous. Apparently only women care how cynical they may be ;-P)

I'm actually a little surprised that I'm already at 40%... I'm just now in my late-twenties! But if I'm nobody's fool at 40%, something tells me that I'd been labeled as naive at anything under--so 40% it is.

(Both the test and the idea for the list of books on the side column are from Susan)

Thoughts on Journalism

After experiencing American media for twenty years...
seeing that non-American journalists are no better, and possibly even worse (i.e. British media, al-Jazeera)...
and then learning the root history of American journalism (which thus includes European journalism)... I have come to a conclusion:

Journalism is the profession you want if you 1) yourself have something to hide worth covering up, 2) are mentally unstable, 3) want political power minus the democratic process, 4) have a history of self-esteem (or related) issues, 5) are skilled at pushing blame, 6) love a good cock fight, cat fight (or something similar), 7) have to look up the word "integrity", 8) have been called or stood up for Benedict Arnold (or someone comparable), or 9) are tired of waiting for a publisher to discover your incredible fiction writing talents.

What are We [Christians] Afraid Of?

I just read that Thailand's film review board will be exhibiting The Da Vinci Code minus the last ten minutes (in which the film draws its very anti-Christian conclusion). Huh?!? Censorship is exactly what got the Catholic Church (and thus Christianity) into this mess to begin with! (Not to mention that art can only be accepted or rejected as a whole.)

Jesus had no secrets, just His critics (as we all do).

Show the film in its complete form! Let the masses see this theory for what it is! At best, the believers in this theory--that Jesus was a just a man with a royal Jewish bloodline and that he and Mary part of the Gnostic religion--have as much proof as we do of the Christ's resurrection.

And these are odds Christians should be happy to take any day.

To My Never-to-be-known Love

Closure from English poet, Thomas Hardy:

Not a line of her writing have I, Not a thread of her hair

Unknown love must be accepted when God provides you with the love you want and need. But unknown love always seems to linger, like a dissipating fragrance.

Immigration & Iraq

The war in Iraq serves another vital purpose: it helps to lower our immigration.

America is creating a kind of empire. An Empire of Freedom. And that Empire will do far more any United Nations building.

A Play From Emperor Nero's Book?

According to this Reuters story, it's our fault--Christianity's fault--that the country isn't paying to see such rubbish as the above. It even goes so far as to accuse us of McCarthyism! LOL!!

Hollywood just gets worse and more desperate. It buries movies and shows like Firefly and Equilibrium, and poo-poos when their chosen crown jewels are rejected. Why aren't they more like George Clooney? His politics are off the guage, but at least he seems to have spine: "...we are proud to be out-of-touch..."

So, it's our fault. Hopefully if H-wood goes up in flames anytime soon, the world will know better than to send us to the arena.

Fear or Not to Fear

God is Love, true.

But I think this World was much better off when we feared God's Wrath and hellish judgment.

A Great Line from Jack Ryan

When accused of judging everything on black and white:

"Not black and white--Right and Wrong."

I always had that argument in the back of head. I never agreed that life was black and white. But I never knew hw to seperate those two colors from Right and Wrong.

Thank you Jack Ryan (and Tom Clancy)!

Shoot In and Out

XENIA: You've been to Russia?
BOND: On occassion I drop in. (a wry smile) You know, shoot in and out.

Well, like my buddy, 007, I'm sgoing to be just shooting in and out here, and not because I haven't had (or don't have) anything to say. But for once I can attribute my lack of posting to an incredibly busy schedule (pehaps a sign that this creative mind is finally getting his life solidly on that track). Since my last post I've (FINALLY!) overhauled my site (updates are still in progress), started work on a major Lord of the Rings roleplaying adventure that will debut at a major gaming convention this Summer, and (the most exciting) am very close to finally realizing what I always voluntarily categorized as a dream: my own gaming store! The latter of which would also be used to promote Kas' book and artwork.

I do hope to get some more posts here in though, especially with some of the extraordinary BS coming out of "Liberal Land" lately and me actually applauding the new pope's first "policy papers"(whoa!).

The Winter Effect

Just a brief note to those who don't know me.

My psychology and Winter have never gotten along. So if it seems that I'm never posting here or at my Star Wars blog, be rest assured that I am here :-)  Chances are tho Winter as chilled by blood, and thus my energy to come here (or go there) and type.

To those that are of a Liberal political or religious mind, this will perhaps be a "vacation" of sorts ;-)  But fear not! I lurk, and I see you (and when I don't, the NSA informs me of your every move anyway). Please continue to post and speak your mind. A hot-blooded debate is just what I need to keep the Winter out of my blood.

2005: Year in Review

This was a tough year for me financially and mentally, but creatively I am one step closer to all of my goals, and personally, I am only five months from the kind of happiness that cannot be bought. Spiritually, I feel as strong as ever. So I guess 2005 gets a 3 out of 5 stars.

Here are some general thoughts about my 2005:

Favorite 2005 Movie: Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (duh ;-P)

Favorite 2005 DVD: Bret Hart: The Best There Is...

Favorite Rush-ism: (oh so many) "One of the greatest educations in this country is just listening to liberals, just watching them and then applying what they do and say to something called common sense and reason. You can't.  Very little of it is even rational." - TRLS, 12.23.05

Longest-Used Signature Quote: "Everyone thinks God is on their side. I warrant just how often God wonders who is on His." - Cromwell

Biggest (Favorite) Sports Team Disappointment: my poor Jets

Biggest Regret: waiting so long to fix my bad finances

Best New Games Played: my own created version of a sword-dueling game that I am now marketing to game publishers (card game), Medieval - Total War (video game), The War of the Ring (board game), Apples to Apples (party game)

Best Food Made: sausage burgers with seasoned fries

World Wrestling Entertainment 2005...
Favorite Wrestlers: Kurt Angle, John Cena, Chris Benoit

Most Underappreciated : JBL, Christian

Favorite WWE Champion: JBL

Best WWE Champion: Batista

Favorite Match: Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels, Iron Man Match - WrestleMania XXI

Baseball 2005...
Biggest Surprise: the Nationals

Red Sox or A's: I was pulling mostly for Boston this year, although the A's managed to impress me and I'll probably be watching them more closely than Boston next year.

Biggest Disappointment: Big Mac, my favorite baseball player ever, allowed himself to get schlacked and his legacy to get tarnished... and Damon, for pulling a fast one

Who was robbed: everyone who finished runner-up in the AL Cy Young Voting

And finally, a little word association...

sadness:Eddie Guerrero
intelligence:Kurt Angle
wealth:George Lucas
father:my own
society:burden
selfishness:corporate
drama:media
persecution:conservatives
pleasure:night
cost:living
love:writing
religion:misused
forget:food
travel:Haddon Hall
walls:enemy
state:unbalanced
fate:God
immortality:legacy
family:past
weather:Fall
memory:fond
future:Kas

The Education of Progress

So I woke up last Thursday to find that my laptop--not even a year old!--that my laptop's hard drive was corrupted. Just like that. It worked fine eight hours before.

Man lives to create a better world through Progress and Technology. But when the Technology fails, what happens. When the power goes down, we turn to Fire to provide light and warmth. When we tire of the chemicals put in our food to make it "healthier", we turn to the Earth and items labeled organic. And when our computers fail, we turn to paper and pencil.

Supposedly this is the Age of Progress (still?). It's interesting how Technology has made this world physically a smaller place. But on the level on humanity, are we not further apart?

. . .

From now on, I'll be writing and editing my stories first with pencil and paper.

Fade In

Well, looks like I'm here. I'm hoping this blog can accomplish what I eventually hope to do with my own personal website.. some day when I'm not ensnared by the Corporate Sector doing what the Corporate Sector wants me to do.

And what would I be doing if not the Corporate Sector's will? That's easy. I'd be entertaining. Through my writing.. Through my games.. Through my movies. This isn't a want or an aspiration. I will be doing these things because I am meant to. Whether I will be sucessful or not is in His hands, but I will have some kind of impact.

In about a month-and-a-half my fiancee's fantasy book (the first in a series) will be available. It is then that Writing will unfold what it has in store for me. Movies? Gaming? Contributing to a beloved licence such as Star Wars or Highlander? Who knows. Only He does and Writing. But whatever happens, when her book is published, it will be Fade In on an exciting adventure.