Media Speculates About Another Bush In The Presidency

Jeb Bush

In an election year where the GOP is looking to take back all the marbles, media speculation has begun to heat up over the question of whether or not to send yet another Bush into the U.S. Presidency. Many media outlets and pundits alike have been taking about how Jeb Bush could be the go-to guy in the 2012 election for the Republicans. An ABC quote from news writer Byron Wolf:

Charlie Rangel Generates Most Obvious Headline This Week

Click to Embiggen

As I was clicking through my Google News page looking for something to talk about, I found this gem of a headline at Washingtonpost.com: "Democrats worry Rangel's ethics trial will hurt party in midterm elections". Well I would so considering his supposed non-payment of taxes and so forth. Here's an excerpt from the article:

New Digg is Frakin' Sweet

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Just verifying my digg feed.

10 Myths About The Bush Tax Cuts

I found this interesting research piece on Heritage.org. Don't worry, they don't all defend Bush to the last man. I thought that this piece did a good job explaining the reasoning behind the deficit Bush left behind, and the reasoning behind why most people think it was because of the tax cuts that there was a deficit. This piece doesn't defend Bush, but rather shows that it wasn't the tax cuts that left the $247 billion budget deficit, rather spending increases.

3 Reasons Independence Day Is Still A Great Movie

Welcome To Earth

 I've got a lot to say about why you should bother renting or buying this and making an evening of this movie. Or a morning if you're a fat lazy slob like I know I can be.

I'll just give you three simple reasons to glue yourself to the couch for this.

Movies. Coolest Invention Evar

Courtesy The Bioscopic

Since I've been blogging, I've wanted to write about things where pure opinion matters. I don't have a ton of interests. However, movies happen to be one of my few "things". Ever since the inception(pun completely intended) of movies in the early twentieth century, they have captured the imagination of the world. Some of us take this interest to near obsession, like me. I'm so much of a junkie that I procure movies from many a source. I just can't wait for the movie I want when I want it. F.Y.E and Neflix are vendors I patronize pretty often. I recommend them, especially if you're trying to find something obscure. Best Buy has great prices sometimes for new releases. But sometimes I wish Circuit City didn't get run out of business. But I digress.

Shallow Water Drilling Permit Has Been Issued

I guess it's an oil rig.

This particular story caught my eye today. It seems that the Interior Dept. has issued a permit to drill for natural gas in a shallow water area. Here is an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:

The Interior Department has approved a permit to drill a well in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the first such clearance since new safety regulations took effect following the BP PLC spill.

Russian Spies? Now It's Cuban Spies

It sounds like the FBI has been busy the last few year in counter-intelligence.

A former State Department analyst, a privileged great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell who became a spy for Cuba, defended his decades of work for Fidel Castro before being sentenced Friday to life in prison.

Government Wants To Know How Fat You Are

It looks like the Feds are now going to force health care providers to not only monitor, but report on your body-mass index so that they can "encourcage" you to loose weight. They even put a deadline on receiving ratings from all citizens by 2014. I'm not going to rant to you about how intrusive, and illegal, this is.

Well, okay, yes I will.

Don't Forget About The Upcoming Primary Elections!

It seems that at this point of an election year people, even junkies like myself loose interest in the races for office being run; especially at the local level. Here in Salt Lake County we have two very important races being run on the republican side: The senate race between Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee and the Salt Lake County Counsel race between Richard Snelgrove and Winston Wilkinson. I believe that the candidates are very different on the issues for both races, despite the fact that all candidates are relatively very far right conservatives.

Shuttle Launch Time Lapse

This was something pretty cool. Even though you only see three minutes of video, you come to appreciate how much work is behind just the launch prep for the space shuttle. The most amazing thing about this video is that they did it on a DSLR camera! Click the picture to see it. Enjoy!

Memories From The Heat of Arizona- UPDATED LINKS

As some who are acquainted with me know I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and as such I chose to endeavor upon fulfilling two years of full-time service for the church preaching the tenets of my religion. I was sent to Tucson, Arizona. Part of my assigned area included the Gila Valley, and area north west of Tucson. The valley, settled by many of the same pioneers who followed Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley, were sent all the way to Southern Arizona to settle as part of an enormous plan to settle the west. These pioneers put down roots in the Gila Valley, and have been there since the 1850's. Much of the area is still thickly populated by active LDS members, but has since found much diversity both religously and racially.

2 Things You Should Know About Arizona's Immigration Law

After carefully reading through the Arizona law and reviewing many different sources across the web, I've found two things that you need to know about the new immigration law that passed a few weeks ago.

Much is New For Me These Days

For those few who may read my blog, you have noticed that it's been pert near a full week since my last post. That is due in full to gaining new employment. I got a job as a Certified Nurse Assistant with a company called CareGiver Support Network.

Space Shuttle Inches Closer To Extinction

It's been big news in recent months that the President wants to take the Space program in a new direction. Because of that, the Shuttle program has found itself on the chopping block. But I find myself digressing from my main subject, and that is that the Space Shuttle Atlantis is making it's very last scheduled flight into space tomorrow afternoon. I've gone through and found some links to follow about the history of the shuttle Atlantis and some spotting times when you can find the shuttle and the ISS(international space station) in the sky.

Most Americans Think That English Should Be Official Language- UPDATE BELOW!

After searching the web for some interesting news for you, I came across a great new Rasmussen Poll, stating that 89% of Americans now think that English should be the United States official language. They also report that 10 % believe that it would be bigotry to allow that to be that case, whereas the rest rejected that idea.

3 Pieces of News That Will Interest Any Utahn

1. Recent political activity, especially here in Utah, has been making national attention. Lot of questions have been flying around the internet about the recent convention failure of Bob Bennett to win his party's nomination. Questions like "Are the tea-partiers this strong?" and "The convention system in Utah disenfranchises regular voters. Why does Utah still use it?" I've already given my answer here. Here is an excerpt from one of the more popular articles on the subject published in USAToday.com:

Utah Political Memes

Today has been a big day for Utah politics, no matter which way you lean, if you lean at all. The State Delegates decided to oust Sen. Bob Bennett from office, and sent Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee into a primary to take place on June 22nd. But of course, if you're reading this you most likely know the convention results. What I want to address are a couple of political memes that I've been seeing crop up in most discussions about politics here in Utah.

More Paint.net Fun

More playing around with paint.net. Like my last post, it's been a great alternative to photoshop. Let me know what you think as you come accross some of this stuff. I may even make some of it into t-shirts.

Paint.net

So today I've gotten myself interested in Paint.net, a powerful and free alternative to Photoshop. I've just been playing around with it, trying to get the hang of it. I really don't have a knack for graphic design or art, but for my own purposes, I think I've done okay. Here is a sampling:

Salt Lake County Republican Nominating Convention

In my own normal fashion, it has taken a couple of days to gather my thoughts on the subject. No doubt many of you who found my post dug up all the stuff Deseret News and the SL Trib and were disappointed by the lack of thorough reporting. As a county delegate who attended, I can report on at least those portions I was part of.

Most Americans Now Believe Scientists Disagree About Climate Change

I was pleasantly surprised to learn this in a new Rasmussen Poll today. I'm among those that not only question whether all scientist believe global warming is true, but that it's more farce than anything else. How do you explain the worst winter most Americans have seen in a long time? Give the poll a read. Well worth it.

Photo is courtesy angryconservative.com.

Utah State Elections- 2010; County Counsel At Large Race

As I've mentioned in one of my recent posts, I'm now a County Delegate for the Republican party in Salt Lake County, Utah. My job is to help select who will go on the ballot against the Democratic counterparts in the general election. To do this, all of the county delegates will meet in convention and vote. Whoever gets 60% of the vote will move to the general election in November, while those races that are closer than a 60-40 split go to a primary before the general election.

Now that thats out of the way, I can get down to what information I have for you today. First off, I will be covering the elections in the state of Utah all the way to the end, but from a slightly different angle, that of a delegate. Even though there are those who could attend certain meetings to see candidates with me, many will not have face to face contact with any candidate running for office regardless, let alone even know who is who. My goal here is to shed some light on the county-wide elections for the most part, all the way to November. I will also be covering state-wide elections so far as I can gather reliable information from those that I know are State Delegates, in order to try to paint a better picture of the candidates in those races.

In this last week, I've been somewhat busy, and so have neglected to post. Fear not. This post is not "shot from the hip" as it were. In between my personal and professional responsibilities, I've been devoting much of my time to researching and meeting with various candidates for county-wide and offices.

I would like to share some positive experiences with you from the past week or so.

The County Counsel At Large seat B is up for grabs. I've had the opportunity to have face to face conversations with Richard Snelgrove and Winston Wilkinson. Both are admirable and upstanding gentlemen.

Wilkinson has beat himself a very difficult campaign path. He has set up between twenty and thirty small-scale meetings with county delegates in various parts of the county. This is a large effort for a constituency relatively small at this point because it's only county delegates he is campaigning to at this point. These meetings take place as more of a discussion than a meeting with a speaker. Wilkinson has given the delegates a chance to share ideas with him, have frank discussion about possible solutions to problems and so forth. More to the point though, Wilkinson has shown a record of listening to all sides of a problem, something of an asset in a county counsel seat. I had a great time at his meeting, and enjoyed getting to know him.

Richard Snelgrove is also working hard at gaining votes. Snelgrove has gone in a somewhat opposite direction with his campaign, though equally difficult to handle. In one of his meetings that I attended, he gathered as many delegates as he could together at a movie theater, where The Blind Side was shown for us. That was a great treat. Most who attended had the chance to speak with Snelgrove personaly. In the theater, Snelgrove spoke and answered questions. And all around enjoyable experience. It is also noteworthy to state that he funded this event out of his own pocket.

I'm going to say, however, that at this point, I am favoring Wilkinson. I liked the chance to have a smaller group and more face to face discussion. I am glad to say that more of my questions were answered better, and more clearly by Wilkinson than Snelgrove(I asked the same questions). The question that I asked was,"To use an example as a preface, look at all the construction and road work in the county. Much is done by the cities themselves, many county projects are in progress, and even more state road work has lots of road torn up. They all have their own planning and building schedule, and coordination between them all seems non existent. This is only one symptom of the same problem, and that is intergovernmental communication. What do you plan to do to reign it all in?" A long winded and tough question. Snelgrove had his campaign points, and stuck to them. Meme's like "fiscal responsibility" and "trimming the fat" followed by "I don't know yet, but I'll look into it" satisfied me. They were very honest answers. However, Wilkinson gave me something better to work with. He said that he has actually met with a majority of mayors in the valley to discuss the importance of a strong working relationship, including meetings and reports to and with one another. He then said that it was a crucial responsibility of the county counsel to have those relationships with the cities. I thought that was far and away a better answer.

I have another meeting tomorrow, this time with all of the Republican candidates running for county-wide office. I'll get a post up tomorrow night, but not this long winded, I hope.

Fully Sick Rapper does it again

This guy, who I've posted about before, has just come out with another great video. Now keep in mind, all this stuff he does is done within the confines of hospital quarantine due to an antibiotic-resistant form of TB. He does some cool stuff. Let him know what you think. Just click the video while its in progress and it takes you to his Youtube page.

New Rasmussen Poll Shows People Don't know What They're Talking About

Yes, I did say that. The people at large tend to have a pack mentality. I'll admit that it's always tempting to follow the crowd. Now let me explain what I mean.

This new poll says that 48% of voters feel closer to the Tea Party than to Obama, while only 44% say that they feel closer to Obama than the Tea Party. It show pretty much an even split, if you count the usual margin of error. I kept reading the poll as it went through the related questions it asked. It got down to comparing the Tea Party to teachers. Lots of teachers belong to teachers unions. The poll mentioned that the most voters favor Tea Party over unions, while they favor Teachers over Tea Party. I found it a little confusing. A lot of what people may say about usual teachers in our nation is hearsay, it seems a little off balance for people to seeming favor and dislike the same things. At least teachers and unions go together in my mind. They get together to protest that they aren't getting paid enough, they need better benefits and so on, and many places have unions. I'd believe teachers more if what I heard out of them was insight on how to improve the education system. And harping on raises is not the end all, be all, of public schooling fixes.

People believe teachers more because that's what society says we should do. That's all there is to it.

LDS General Conference FTW!

General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a bi-annual affair, something that most Latter Day Saints look forward to from the time the most recent one ends. I find this true for myself as an active Latter Day Saint(LDS).

Many people find us "mormons" to be strange. I saw a short film produced by a couple of LDS guys that proved the point. Some people they talked to confused us with the Amish. Most of the misconceptions are not true. I've heard some crazy idea's about us; no, we don't have horns, and no, true mormons don't have multiple wives.

What I want to mention today, however, is something that most people can find some common ground with. That is our General Conference. Most other religions can find some similarities with us in the fact that every religion comes together to listen to their leaders. People come from all over the world to witness conference. I have some friends who brought people they knew from Fiji all the to Utah for conference. So there is another similarity. We feel it paramount to give heed to those we know are men of God, even if that means traveling long distances.

But something that is desperately needed in this day and age is reliable counsel. We receive counsel and ideas from all sides these days. We have the internet, TV with thousands of channels and so much music that we don't know what to do with it. We need someone we know we can rely on. That someone is God. I know that many people don't think that the idea of God is needed these days, with all this technology and so called "new science". For me and nearly 14 million other Latter Day Saints, we feel that God is a reality. And so do some few billion other Christians, Catholics, Jews and Muslims.

General Conference, more than anything else, is a time when we Latter Day Saints can receive counsel that comes directly from God, given to us by men he has chosen to lead us, men he has chosen as prophets and apostles. Knowing that these men are what we believe them to be, we can rely on them to help us through these tough and perilous times. It is counsel for our day. They help us to understand the scriptures. For these reasons and many others, we look forward every six months to General Conference.

Mormon.org

Utah Precinct Caucus in Reflection

I've had about a week and a half to look back and reflect on the event of my precinct caucus meeting here in Utah. I've been to other caucus meetings and they were short and productive. These meetings were quiet and orderly. Well, except for my first one, but that's another story for another day. The whole point here is that the way these meetings were conducted have traditionally been a very good showing for the so called "grass-roots" politics here in Utah.

This latest meeting can also be called orderly. Especially if you hadn't been to one before. Now I need to step back for a minute to explain a few things.

The way a precinct caucus meeting for the Salt Lake County, Utah Republican party go as follows; The meeting is called to order, the party platform is read as quickly as possible(however, questions have been welcome to clarify particular points), and then voting. The way voting takes place is supposed to be similar to the way an actual legislative session takes place, which is conducted by the "Roberts Rules of Order". You don't make movements with this form, because movements are for the toilet. You make motions. If there is a question, you call Point of Order before taking the floor, and so on. It's a little more lax than how I make it sound, but the Robets Rules of Order is there so that there can be no disputes concerning the way an election is held.

When voting, the precinct chairman is presiding. There are precinct offices; chair, vice-chair, treasurer and secretary. Other offices, the ones that everyone concern themselves with, are those of state delegate and county delegate. This year the office of state delegate here in Utah is especially important because of the big United States Senate seat that is up for grabs. One thing that I know for sure is that the incumbent, Sen. Bob Bennett, R, Utah, will loose his seat. The only thing I don't know for sure is if he'll loose it in convention or a forced primary.

Now to the business I undertook in the first place.

Our latest precinct caucus was an entirely different undertaking this year. Instead of holding them in homes, the county party decided to gather whole legislative districts together in school auditoriums for the reading of the party platform. This decision presented a huge logistical problem. Normally the democrats in Utah will do it this way and never have a problem because there aren't many democrats here. Couple that with voter outrage with incumbents and you have a lot of people who want and have a right and duty to be involved.

On the evening of March 23, 2010, my parents and I made our way to the caucus site. We were surprised to see more cars in the lot than we thought there would be. Then we remembered how heated these senate races would be. When we walked around the building to the door, we were even more surprised to see that the line to get in was out the door. There were campaign signs all along the walkway up to the doors and then inside, too. Once we got inside we learned why the lines were so long to get in. All the many precincts in our legislative district were being signed in all at once at tables just inside the door. This may not have been as big of a problem as it was, but most of the people there hadn't ever been to caucus meeting, and so didn't know their precinct number. That, and we had tons of people show up late. With all of this confusion, getting people signed in and verified as Republican took longer than it should have.

The meeting was supposed to start at seven that evening. I was in my seat ten minutes early. At 7:15, they said it would be another ten to fifteen minutes. Well, a half hour later, we finally got started. There was a flag ceremony(never had that before, but it was refreshing to have one), and we finally got around to reading the party platform. Suffice it to say that this reading was different than any others I've been privy to participate in. It was like the freakin' State of the Union address. I was wondering if the people knew that we were here to vote, not listen to a speech. Finally, after over an hour from when we were supposed to start, we separated to our precincts, some in the auditorium and others in the cafeteria, and got to work.

This didn't take very long at all. Most of our precinct, at least the regulars, knew how this business took place, and we got the real work done in less than half an hour. I was lucky(or unlucky) enough to be elected as a county delegate from my precinct. I've done this job before, and it seemed that my neighbors were glad to send me to the convention. I was only 18 the first time I did this, so now that I'm four years more mature, I really hope that I will enjoy the experience at the county convention as much I did before.

I hope those of you who want to be more involved in your local government will feel the urge to do so and take the plunge. There is no other person who will take the advantage for you. Despite my latest experience, I doubt it will be as much of an organizational nightmare as it was that night ever again. I love the opportunity to work with my neighbors to ensure a safe and enjoyable community, and this is a great way to do it.

Tell us about your experience from your Utah precinct caucus in the comments.

How To Not Buy An Expensive HDMI Cable

Do you remember that time when you were in Best Buy or RadioShack, and you were needing to get an HDMI cable because your XBox 360 only came with a component cable? Do you remember how much it cost you? Yep, me too. To be blunt, if you spent more than 15-20 bucks on the thing, you got ripped off. You just need to shop around a bit, and most likely buy on the internet. The guys over at the Mint.com blog advocate spending no more than $10 on an HDMI cable. Take a look at the graphic they put together. It won't lead you astray.

Off Shore Drilling? Surprise!

Indeed this announcement was a surprise to me to learn that Obama has decided to lift a 20 or so year ban on off-shore drilling and exploration. My immediate thoughts were something like, "What's his angle" or "what does he expect to weasel out of the Republicans now?". My reaction turned out to be similar to other bloggers, who did not know what to make of this new "revelation" from the White House. Some may say that I'm paranoid, and sometimes I feel that way, but somehow everything Obama is doing comes back to amassing more government control.

It was no surprise, however to hear that there were many bleeding-hearts for Obama, singing his praises as a "fix-it man". And all of this coming as news of drilling restrictions being lifted. My answer to those people: No single politician since the beginning of human kind has ever kept the best interests of his constituency in mind all of the time. Obama's decision to allow drilling and exploration off-shore has more to do with things that are either not reported or information that is hard to find.

It's all political, no matter how you spin something. Obama has his and his party's interests at heart on this one. We just need to wait and see where this goes.

Governer's Race In Utah Escalates

In a recent article on KSL.com, it's been reported that the challenger in the states gubernatorial race, Peter Corroon is catching up to Gov. Herbert in raising campaign money. The article reports that Coroon has raised $736,000 in donations.

Here's my gripe with all of this.  '"I think it is important to have a company name and occupation, as well, so citizens know where the money is coming from, so they can be comfortable that big money isn't taking over our political system," Corroon says.'

Now, go back and look at the first cited article and you can see considerably large donations given to Corroon from activist groups that take a stance totally outside of that most Utahns hold. We are a conservative, family values state, and I don't think that based on what we continue to find out about Peter Corroon, we know that he has been a great SLC county mayor, but to run the state I believe that someone not only needs to be fiscally responsible, but also support traditional social values and morals as well.

Geek/Nerd/Dork/Dweeb Venn Diagram

I found this at Nerdist.com. This is a great way to differentiate Geeks/Nerds/Dorks/Dweebs. I'd say that I fall somewhere in the geek-nerd boarder. I'm not totally socially inept, though some may say that I am. Find out where you fit.

What A Suprise! Most American Oppose The New Health Care Bill

In a recent Rasmussen poll, it was found that "54% of the nation's likely voters still favor repealing the new(health care) law". This doesn't come as any shock to me. Most thinking people see that this bill will only send us deeper in the debt spiral that we are already in. 


I really found this next piece of the Rasmussen article amusing. In the very same poll cited here, it was found that repeal of the new bill is favored by a whopping 59% of unaffiliated voters. These people are generally seen as the moderates, who lean left for the most part. This finding should tell us something. It tells us that this is nation that does not want the new healthcare bill. 


Enjoy the graphic above.

Big test tomorrow

Yep. Tomorrow I take the skills portion of my CNA licencing test. The problem is that when I scheduled it, the only time within the next three weeks that was open was tomorrow. So naturally, I took it. After that, the feeling of pressure set in. In the healthcare field if you make one simple little mistake, that could harm your patient. So naturally they make their tests just like real life. If I miss something in the skill portion then that's it. Total failure. So I'm just hoping that I don't screw up. Here's a picture that mirrors the post subject. I think it will provide some entertainment for everybody.

My Love For Starwars Knows No Bounds

While perusing my most frequented sites, I came across this brilliant work of photoshop genious. For my fellow Fanboys, enjoy.

HBO's 'The Pacific' is real deal for veterans of World War II

Just read through this article written by a WW II vet who has just seen the first installment of the new HBO mini-series "The Pacific". The author, Bill Gallo, shared a lot of great insight into the mind of a young man fighting a war and doing all he can to keep his friends alive. It's a great little piece.

'Twas a fairly okay week.

Yes, in spite of having very little to do outside of getting a place for my bro to live ready, it was an okay week. How do I mean that?

Well, to make a short story shorter, I decided to expand my social horizons a little. Firstly, I decided it was time I went to church where there were more people my age. I finally got around to that last Sunday, and it was a great decision on my part. Being out of the house and amongst my peers was a good way to lift mood, and it continually gets better now that I'm making new friends. Next on the list was to get out of the house and do things with other people. I would frequently do things outside of the house by myself, but I found this past week that it's also essential to socialize with others.

Now, before you all chuckle at my lack of observing the seemingly obvious things about life, I have to mention that these changes have been hard for me to make, but once made, I did realize it's importance on my life.

So here is the moral to my short story(Itemized of course). 1) Reminiscing of good times gone by is fun, but you can't do it all day every day. 2) You may feel something is the right thing to do, even though it looks difficult. Don't panic, just do it. 3) You'll come out at the other end of your journey a better person if you did what you know is right.

Any way, just a bit of rambling there. Had to get it on paper so I could organize my thoughts of recent events better. Maybe whoever reads this can find something useful as well.

YouTube - Life in Quarantine - Fully Sick Rapper.m4v

This is the coolest video in the last couple of weeks, I think. This dude from Australia is actually on quarantine for TB.

Chronic, WHAT!? Cl's of Narnia!

It's been a few years since Lazy Sunday was put together as SNL's first digital short. Chris Parnell and Andy Samber team up again to perform it on the Late Show to make this performance it's only live one.

Check it out

YouTube Never Fails To Entertain

I found some pretty funny stuff a few minutes ago. These news anchors remind of days long ago spent watching that telivangelist who someone dubbed farts to on stupidvideos.com.

Anwho, the first one is this dude who looses it on the air.

You all may have seen this one, but it's a classic.

More Lawsuits For Apple

This news totally drove me up the wall, especially when I learned the details of Apple's new lawsuit directed at HTC. Apparently, Apple claims that HTC has infringed on about 20 of of their patents. What got me about these patents is what they are protecting. Things like

"Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics"

can mean just about any touch screen device on the market now. I can't see how you can patent an idea. It's ridiculous.

Now, let's look at this from a different angle. Most of the devices implied in the suit are Android powered. Does this set off any bells for anyone? It did for me. Apple seems worried now that they don't have the corner on the touchscreen market, and now they are starting to scrape and fight dirty to get it back. This isn't the first suit Apple has filed against wireless market competitors, and it won't be the last one either.

This is one of the best YouTube Videos I've seen in a while...

OK Go just put out a new video that is just mind blowing. Well, maybe I take it a little too far, but you'll see what I mean when you watch it. It's one of those chain reaction gizmo's that they put together for a video for a new song. Anyway, here's the vid:

Republicrat or Demublican?

I found this piece written by Steve Palmer by way of Dvorak. Here's an excerpt:

 Let’s review what our democrat leaders *used* to say about the Patriot Act….

Senator Obama, 2007:

“This is legislation that puts our own Justice Department above the law. When National Security Letters are issued, they allow federal agents to conduct any search on any American, no matter how extensive or wide-ranging, without ever going before a judge to prove that the search is necessary.”

Speaker Pelosi, 2005:

“This is a massive invasion of the privacy of the American people, not just some idle threat. The Washington Post reported last month that the FBI hands out more than 30,000 national security letters per year, a reported hundred-fold increase over historic norms. How did this happen?”

Leader Reid, 2005:

“Now, what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, but not in this instance. It’s in some federal data bank. That’s what the Patriot Act is doing to the American people. And we have to make sure that big brother doesn’t take over this country.”

It all just goes to show us that even though both parties talk different games, they end up fueling the same fire. When either one gets into power, neither one sets out to fix "mistakes" of the other party. It's D.C. against the rest of the nation.

This is truly the best Tech Guy call ever. I mean, how thick can you really get these days to not understand that they can have internet all of sudden without doing a thing, and then it "disappeared" just as fast, and you want some techy trick to fix it? Unbelievable......

New Changes, New Resolve

The title to this post  is cheesy, but it's also catchy. Yes, I do have a new resolve to post, but I don't expect to earn any money this time around from ads. That idea was slightly conceided. But I am changing my paradigm as were when approaching new posts. This blog will mostly be a way for me to develop my ideas about politics, local issues to Utah, and just offbeat stuff. Maybe you'll read, maybe you won't.

Also, as you can see(those who have been here once or twice),I totally overhauled the layout of the website, and plan to post most days instead of just once a week or so. In order to show my appreciation for reading, I found some fun pics that show us how most blogging affects the world around us. Enjoy....

Learning to enjoy life

Well, to say that the last few weeks have been easy ones is a slight understatement. However, it hasn't been miserable either. As some of you may know, I'm making a drastic change in what I thought my career would turn out to be. My many interests have revolved around history/politics and construction. Little did I know that I would end up studying to become a CNA(certified nurse assistant). I plan to go back to school probably right after getting a job as a CNA to be an RN.

So far it's been enjoyable an fulfilling working to be a CNA. Many people see it as a job where you have to deal with really nasty things, and you do, but the real fulfillment comes from knowing that I'm helping someone to a better quality of life. It's a job that needs to be done.

A lot of what I get to do now has always been shrouded in mystery for me. You may be asking what real skill does someone need to be a nurse assistant. But the coolest skill I've picked up so far is learning how to measure blood pressure. So if you want to know your blood pressure on a whim, you know who to ask!

The next coolest thing is that I get to wear scrubs. These things are ridiculously comfortable. I wear them not only in clinical's but also at home all the time. You can't ask for a better type of clothing.

But in all seriousness now, I'm really grateful for all the different tidbits of medical knowledge that I'm soaking up and can use as I go to school, as well as at home. Anyway, time to stop gushing. Other cool stuff is as follows:

• Brother Aaron comes home from LDS mission in Houston in March

That's it.

That's The Way It's Has To Be

Within the last couple of week, I believe that I have learned a lot about life. For those of you who are very literal people, I will qualify this statement by saying that you can learn everything there is to know even in one lifetime. But here are the things I did learn.

1)You should look at what you can and can't do very objectively.

This is something that I have learned to do recently.

A former employer called me up a few weeks ago and asked if I could install a satellite dish for him. The catch here for me was, I hadn't installed or even seen these dishes in about three or four years. I had been fairly capable when it was my job, so I felt confident that even though it had been a long time, I could still do it, especially since this former employer had no one else to call for this particular piece of equipment.

I get out to the job, which is between 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get to from my house (this after having a minor panic attack concerning my ability to point the dish with a meter I'm not familiar with) and get to work. The first thing I did was asses the job, and it was determined that I needed to come back with a non-penetrating roof mount, which I didn't have. So I came back the next day.

The next day I got there and got to work. It all went well until I got to the part of the install where I would point the dish. I got the meter up there and set to work, sweeping the dish back and forth, up and down, and got nothing. The meter, wasn't telling me whether or not I was getting closer or farther away from the target. I did this for 2 1/2 hours(this after about 3 hours on the install already). No joy. I promise the client I would return the next day with a better meter.

The next day came, and I was trying to help my former employer and his office figure out what meter we actually needed, and found that we couldn't get the one we needed until the next day.

By the next morning, we did have a different one, but it was only a newer model of the one I had been using. I was distressed about that for only a few minutes. I had the chance to play around with it and get to know how it functioned, and became confident that when I got it out to the job it would go one way or the other in magnificent fashion, but really hoping it would go my way and work. But when I got it out there, it didn't.

That was the punch line. Here's the moral that I drew from it.

I knew that at one point, I was really good at installing satellite dishes. Three or so years without even laying eyes on the dish in question however, made me rusty. That includes loosing the ability to strip wires and put fittings on them, knowing how wide to drill holes, knowing the troubleshooting intricacies of the modem and so forth. I had forgotten all of that, and just figured that it would come back because I needed to remember. That was not the case. I had to admit to myself that I didn't really know how to do something that I used to know. Knowing my own limitations, as well as talents, is really a value, just as much as patience is.

And if you're wondering what that picture is, it was taken coming down a Utah mountain pass on one of my many trips out to the job site.

Table Of Contents

iPad and State of The Union Adress: Which will be remembered?

I believe that neither one will really. And now you ask me why. Well, my answer may seem somewhat judgemental, as I haven't used the iPad or had a chance to hear the presidents speech. But nonetheless, I can conclude from reading about both from multiple sources that they are useless to us.

I cite first Engadget. The article of choice shows that a majority of their people who tested it found it underwhelming. There was not a whole lot of new groundbreaking technology. It seemed that it was just an expansion of the iPhone. Most of the apps that will run on it actually will be iPhone apps. I can't see why someone would need a netbook/iPhone hybrid. Just think about it. There's no point to it unless Apple can ad more features to it; like a camera w/ flash, word processing capabilities(or better than it has) and so forth. When those type of phone-laptop capabilities come together on a platform that does all very well, I'll be impressed.

The next subject I have chosen is the State of the Union Adress. I will not say much about it. All I will say is that President Obama's ideas on the betterment of our country will only cost more money of us, and as a result, cost us more jobs.

Neither one will not be remembered for anything remarkable. When someone looks back on this day in ten years, it will be to remember something else.

JR Network Engineer

Way back in November, my brothers and I were tasked with getting a new computer hooked up to the network. That meant running wires. The best way was through the vents. However, it wasn't as easy as dropping a string down the vent from upstairs and then pulling it out in the basement. Someone had to go into the vent and see if they could grab it. That job fell to Ben, whom you will see in this video that we made.

Facebook Is Now Evil Like Darth Sidious

I've been saying it for a while, but not very loudly. Facebook has gone to the Dark Side of the web. Not in a Vader way where there is hope, but in a Darth Sidious way. They have gone over totally and completely to the point that they cannot return to favor in my mind.

Facebook claims that with the new "privacy" settings, Facebook will be safer and more fun. I cannot disagree with this more. It seems that they are trying to take the same tact that Myspace or some others did, allowing plain strangers to automatically see you private info. Even though you can make your privacy settings reflect how much you want to share with strangers, Facebook is just taking this issue to lightly, and, as with any large company, turn a profit with it.

If I remember correctly, the reason I chose Facebook in the first place is the fact that I could choose who could and could not see my private info. It has been great for keeping in touch with people who I otherwise would have lost contact with. But this paradigm seems to be shifting for Facebook. Not only are they bullying us into sharing private information with the world at large, they've moved into taking back the vanity URL's to sell to large companies in order to make some quick money.

I'd say that it's time to step away from Facebook and use something different. In the next week or so, expect me to be using something different for social networking.

Chrome Is The Bomb-Digity

As you can see from the picture, I struggled to figure out how to make a screenshot in windows, but I finally succeeded in doing so. Now on to the subject at hand.

One of the things I really love about Google Chrome is its ability to run extensions flawlessly. One of the must-have extensions is actually built into the browser. It's a theme chooser. All you have to do is go to the Google Theme Gallery and pick one out. Plain and simple. The browser runs like the day you downloaded it. And the great thing about this is that you can just as easily switch back to the original theme.

Utah Cities Among Those With Fastest Average Internet Connection Speeds

I don't know why people are complaining about this, but in the last few months reports of other, "less advanced", countries having faster internet on average than us super amazing Americans have crossed my desk.

Few, that was a mouthful.... moving on.

Well, in this recent article it was reported that the U.S. averages around 3.9 mbps. That really isn't anything to turn your nose up at. The only thing limiting speed is the stingy ISPs who want more money but don't deserve it because of crappy customer service. But what really caught my eye was that two Utah cities were among those with the fastest average internet connections in the U.S. That makes me proud. I even almost live in one of them. It also goes to show us all that we haven't totally been forsaken. The providers in other parts of the country just need to take a look at the top ten.

Ah Cardboard....

Cardboard is almost as amazing as duct tape. Almost. But what really puts it up there is this fan-made Star Destroyer, made up entirely of cardboard. How's that for ingenuity?

Gallup Poll Says Americans Favor Profiling As New Security Measure

I'm not going to be totally long winded with this one here. I just wanted to throw this new poll out there. Gallup says that 71% of Americans agree that profiling based on age, ethnicity and gender as a way to improve airport security. I'm glad to know that I'm not in the minority on this one. If we really want to make security in the airports effective, racial profiling is a must. All of the airliner hijacking and bombing attempts within the last 30-40 years have been attempted by one group of people: radical muslim extremists.

Slashdot Blogger Says Full Body Scanner Makes Kiddi Porn

According to a Slashdot Blogger, there is an ongoing court battle in the UK over the legality of using full body scanners. Some contend that according to a certain UK law, the scanners create child porn, because the end result is a "pseudo-image of a child".

While I'm inclined to agree with interpreting that law in the same way, I am amazed that in some places(and soon in the U.S.A.) it has to come this to get people to realize the amount of freedoms lost just in the name of security. In my previous posts, I argue that the TSA has no bearing whatsoever on what they deem a threat, and therefor have nothing in particular to look for. This is dangerous. It's just like taking a blindfolded man, giving him a gun, puingt him in the room with hundreds of good people with only one terrorist, and telling him to shoot the terrorist within the next 10 seconds.

Racial and ethnic profiling is the only way to go if we must provide such stringent security measures.