Month: September 2011

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Political Shopping around

I’m just not getting over it. I’m truly disgusted with the Republican party, I’ve always been able to find some common ground and feel that in general they represented me. Over the past 10 years or so I’ve found myself far less represented.

The Florida Presidential debate served one purpose. It catalyzed my dis-satisfaction with the GOP.

For the first time in 30 years I’m shopping around for a new political party. I never actually “Shopped” before.

I registered to vote one day at a mall with my Mom. At the time I think I wanted to register as an Independent but then my Mom pointed out that as an Independent I wouldn’t be able to vote in presidential primaries. That made no sense to me, I also couldn’t see why anyone would register with a party that limited their voting ability.

I asked Mom what party Dad was. She said Republican and so I registered as a Republican. It was as simple as that. As things turned out, it was a choice that I was comfortable with until now.

As I’ve been shopping around I’ve been reading about the various parties by visiting their web sites.

While I feel I have little in common with the Democratic party I still checked out their web site. It just confirmed my feelings.  Within the first couple of paragraphs in their “About Us” page, they come across demonizing the wealthy. That’s Ironic since the leaders of the democratic party are in fact a damn sight wealthier than me (I’m after all, an evil wealthy Republican). As I read more about the party I really couldn’t get past the fact that it’s leaders today don’t compare to the formidable leadership of the partys past. So no, the democratic party is not for me.

I checked out the Tea Party they’re not  officially a party, but I’ve been accused by certain people of being a tea party sympathizer so I thought I’d check ’em out. Their web site is interesting since they’re pretty equally displeased with both the Democratic and the Republican parties. They point out a Failure in leadership on the part of both parties. This actually mirrors something I’ve been saying for years. But I’m not a Tea Party person… YET!

As I thought about it, I realized that I’d never really paid much attention to the “branding” the Republican party gives itself. When I went to the site I expected to see something about the party history, goals, core values, etc. You know, something to help a new voter decide if the party is for them. That’s not at all what I found. Sadly the party web site appears a bit amateurish and provides no information for a new voter. Instead the site looks more like a fear mongering site. It’s not until you look under the “Issues” section that you find information about the party position. I think I understand why so many friends looked at me like I had two heads when they found out I was a Republican.

I found this Quiz which says I’m a centrist with Libertarian leanings.

I thought “Hey the internet quiz may be right” so I went to the Libertarian party site. This party seems to fit my beliefs better than anything thus far. I have always been about personal responsibility, and minimal government. The question is if I register Libertarian do I give up any voting privileges?

The Green party caught my attention. But while I’m all for eco-responsibility, and grass roots community based politics. I’m still a capitalist pig, which seems a bit incompatible with the greens. However, if they present a candidate that I believe in, I’ll vote for them.

The Independent party… WOW! Not for me! I think my beliefs and these folks are completely at odds. That is the beauty of our system though. Everyone can have a say and be represented by people of like minds.

There are 53 political parties listed as active in the United States (Thank you Wikipedia). Many of these parties I’m not interested in.

I’ve never even heard of a large percentage of them. My thinking is, if I’ve never heard of them then it’s unlikely they will field a candidate either for president or for local offices that I’m interested in.

I was surprised to find a Nazi party and Socialist party active in the U.S. Who’d have thought these parties would exist in 21st century America? Well, political freedom is one of the things that our country was founded on…

At this point, pending further investigation about voting in primaries I think I’m going to be registering as Libertarian.

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Another year almost gone

And what an interesting year it’s been.

Career

Well my career is sort of in the dumper but perhaps this is an opportunity to choose a different path, something that I enjoy more.

Personal

Have made several discoveries about myself.  

I need more friends. I’m actually kinda lonely and am tired of acquaintances that pass through my life all too quickly. 

During the year I’ve begun to come to grips with elements of my personality that I’ve always been uncomfortable with. So from that standpoint I’m in a better head space than I was.

Goals

I need to dedicate more time to my hobbies and things that interest me. Part of that is to make sure that I have the time to dedicate. 

I’ve pissed away too much of my life in Southern California sitting on freeways. It’s really hard to pursue anything in the way of personal enrichment if you’re sitting in traffic. The next job is going to be something that is close to home… OR HOME will be close to the job. If that means being in another city, state, or whatever I think I’m ready for that. It could be said that one reason I’ve got so few friends is because I’m just not available. That’s one of the things that is on the top of the list of things I want to change.  

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The Republican Candidates SUCK!!!!

I’ve written about them in the past and here I am writing about them again. Much as I try to ignore them, they keep making their slimy way into my consciousness.

Rick Santorum needs to drop out of the race. He’s already demonstrated amply that he is not presidential material. He may be married and the father of 7 children, however anyone that is as hung up on Gay anything gives me pause.

I can’t count the number of rabid homophobes that ultimately end up in a bathhouse, ass in the air begging o be fucked by the biggest cocks in the place. Given that he’s Catholic… well I do wonder if he’s damaged goods thanks to a bad priest.

I’m honestly confused as to why so called “Gay” issues are so important in the republican camp.

We as a country have much bigger fish to fry and the candidates would do well to stop harping on the gay issue. Something like HALF of our country doesn’t care about DADT, Same sex marriage, or the gay issues the Republicans are beating to death.

What the people seem to be concerned about are things like the economy, Jobs, foreign policy, and the national debt. These are things that Republican candidates should be speaking about.

DADT was a bad law. It created yet another “Less Than” situation. It told our troops essentially “Yeah you’re good enough to die for your country but not good enough to be yourself in your country.” or to put it more bluntly “Yes, you can fight and die for freedom but you, faggot boy will never have freedom and we will always hate you.”

Isn’t is a better idea to have everyone who’s willing to lay down their lives for this country INVESTED in the belief that Freedom applies to all equally?

After all that IS what we’re taught in school. Or are we willing to say that the public education system is nothing more than a propaganda machine, and that the Freedom our founding fathers supposedly built this country on was reserved only for “God Fearing” Christians? Oh! Wait… uhh yeah it was.

The Republican candidates response to Stephen Hills legitimate question was beyond rude and demonstrates why so many people (including, most likely me) are leaving the Republican party.

When I got up the morning after the debate, I was for the first time in my life, ashamed to be a Republican. There is no defense I can offer for the candidates behavior, or for that matter the people in the crowd. Shame on the Republicans in Florida…

That man is a soldier and he’s fighting to protect your freedoms even though obviously he’ll never enjoy those Freedoms in Florida.

Yes! All the people of Florida were just painted in an even more negative light because you were rude on national television. I really hope you’re all proud of yourselves, don’t forget to bring your Crayolas to the voting place, the whole country knows you can’t handle pushing a stylus through a piece of paper.

Stephen Hills question was a legitimate question for all the gay folks serving in the military.

Since he’s now out of the closet, if DADT is reinstated does that mean he’s looking at a dishonorable discharge if a Republican president is elected?

If he’s near re-enlistment, a hostile President would have an impact on whether he continues his military career or moves back into civilian life.

The question remains unanswered. And it will remain unanswered because the genie is out of the bottle. There is no way you can have a subset of gay people that outed themselves when DADT was repealed stay in service if DADT is re-instated.

Since those that outed themselves while DADT wasn’t in force didn’t break any laws, they can’t be discharged. In fact discharging them would be illegal and I’m sure would be challenged in court.

So how the hell are you going to keep track of who is legal (outed while DADT wasn’t in force) and who isn’t (entered military after a new DADT policy)? Perhaps pink triangles would work. Oh wait… that’s been done.

The only choice is to discharge every self identified gay person.

Problem is, that’s not in the militarys best interest. Too many gay people hold speciality positions. These positions are hard to fill and require lots of training. Does it make any kind of sense to cripple the military effectiveness just so you can reinstate a bad law?

Rick Santorum may think so, but I’m pretty sure the Joint Chiefs would tell him otherwise.

That’s really the bottom line.

The Republican party is out of touch with what is relevant in the average persons life. A large percentage of the American people are not in fact driven by puritanical beliefs.

Most of us are people of faith, but not rabidly so. We just want to have jobs, contribute to society, raise our families, have a minimum of crime, pay our mortgages, and in general be left the hell alone.

You know… that whole Freedom and justice for all… Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness thing.

The first Presidential candidate that starts running on those basic principals equally applied to everyone will win in a landslide.

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Purging Movies & Horny as hell!

I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather for the past couple of days. This morning I woke up and just felt like crap. So instead of working out, I’ve spent the morning going through the porn collection

A lot of the porn in my household is on my server.

I noticed the other day that the server was down to 1.2 TB. This isn’t a bad thing it’s just a notification that it’s time to dump some of the movies that I don’t watch all that much or time to buy another server.

It’s more economical to purge movies then it is to buy another 8TB of storage. So here I sit sampling all the movies out there. It’s time consuming exercise but it’s a lot of fun too. The only problem with doing his is that I get horny as hell. But feeling like I do I’m just really not wanting to get all wild and nasty, at least not by myself.

On the other hand if someone would like to sample my collection with me and help make decisions about keeping the best of the best and trashing the rest… Well I suppose I’d welcome the help.

Who knows? It might even help me feel a bit better.

Any Takers?

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Well I woke up this morning…

Time to as Linkin Park says “let it go”

I’ve been a bit depressed over the past few months.  Gee could you tell?

Too many things to deal with and too much chaos and noise in my head.

I’m done with mourning the loss of yet another job. I think this is likely to be the new “Norm” for me and my so called “career”. As such, it really doesn’t fucking matter what I do so long as I make enough money to pay the bills.

Computers and computer stuff is easy. The problem is that I’ve been in a backwater of technology for about 4 “real” years. That loosely translates to 6 or 8 years in the “real” technology world, so there are some things that I’m behind on.

Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t be an issue, in these economic times… well I’m righteously fucked. And not in a good way!

This leaves me trying to piece together something that allows me to make a living from what I know and what I can learn quickly.

I’m still working on a book albeit slowly… I have no idea how much income something like that will generate, on the other hand it shouldn’t be that big a deal to handle publishing and distribution as an purely electronic affair. However, that’s in the longer term.

In the near term what?

After a conversation with a friend, I’m thinking I’d be better off checking into something computer related even if it’s only a contract position and not likely to last very long.

I used to think I was going to have a real career, and that I’d retire someday with a nice 401K and have time to travel and enjoy myself. The new reality is that I’ll be lucky if I’m not pushing a shopping cart and eating cat food.

I’m just going to accept that. There will be no corporate pension, no long term job, little if any security, and that’s just the way it is.

Since virtually all large companies now are centralized in their control, even if I had a fancy title like CTO I’d still have to ask permission to do my job from some other asshole. Either on another continent or in another city who has no fucking clue about what is actually happening at the site I’m responsible for. So I have no desire to enter into the management track for most companies. Why bother? Tons of responsibility, and NO AUTHORITY to act on those responsibilities.

Been there, Done that got the t-shirt and I’m not interested in repeating it. Unfortunately, the middle management or even upper management tracks are what you’re supposed to be screwing over your coworkers for.

Someone like me that knows the way those positions work is perceived as “Not a good worker or not ambitious” regardless of the quality of work they consistently turn out. After all if you’re not bending someone over a desk and ramming your cock hard, fast, and dry, up the poor bastards ass in a bid for promotion… you’re not working!

I’m so done with that philosophy. Taking short contracts, can fund explorations into careers that I might actually enjoy for the remainder of my working life.

So what are those careers or potential careers?

I’m continuously drawn to the hobbies that I think I like…

Why the uncertainty?

Well I really enjoy SCUBA. I’ve been diving in Hawaii, Florida, and Bonaire. I enjoyed everything about diving in those places.  Do I enjoy it enough to do it for a living? Would I like being a Dive Master or an Instructor? That, I don’t know. It bears investigation and I’m fortunate to have an acquaintance who I might be able to work something out with.

I also enjoy Photography and have been told I’ve got some skill at that. On the other hand, Several of the online stock photo sites HATED and rejected all of the 25 or so photos that everyone else absolutely loved. The other stock photo sites I’ve checked into have such restrictive licensing rules that if I submitted photos to them… I’d never be able to even give a photo away. I don’t want to lock myself in that way.

I need to add a significant amount of work to my rather small portfolio. That takes time and a bit of money.

Either of these options could be funded by contracts.

So It’s time to get off my ass, get over the feeling of failure and make sure that everything I do from here on out is with a view to my “retirement” career.

Stay tuned…

It should be an interesting ride.