We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Today is election day.  

This is, without doubt, the most important election that has happened in my lifetime.  I have spent the last eight years of my life watching my country slowly erode.  George W. Bush has tarnished the name of the United States of America in the world community to the point where we have to pretend to be Canadian if we travel abroad.  He has led us into a war that we don't belong in, fighting for a cause that cannot be won, and providing us no end in sight, but providing incalculable death and misery for Americans and Iraqis alike.  We have engaged in the despicable act of torturing our enemies and denying them basic human rights.  Our own civil liberties have been infringed upon in the name of security, but we are no safer than we were seven years ago.  Our economy is trashed, but I somehow doubt oil companies will see much loss of profit.  George W. Bush has been a blight on this fair nation, and I absolutely cannot wait to see him go.

Things need to change  (see what I did there?) .  We simply cannot afford another four years of having a president who does not differ with George Bush on any major decision that will affect our country.  A man whose response to the question "How will you be different from George Bush" is "well at least I'm not  inexperienced/a terrorist/a socialist/a communist/a robot sent from the future".  We cannot elect a man whose judgement has gotten bad enough that he was willing to choose Sarah Palin as a running mate.  Even if that decision came from the campaign manager he needed to be a real Maverick and say no.  It is beyond lunacy to imagine having a Vice President who believes humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs, or whose idea of foreign policy experience is the ability to see a foreign land mass.  We cannot elect a man who once garnered the respect of Republicans and Democrats alike, and threw it all away during this campaign.

So please go out and vote today.  If you've already voted, then ask everyone you talk to today if they have voted.  And when you're voting, take a minute and think of where our country is at right now.  Barack Obama will restore our name in the world community.  Barack Obama will stop the senseless death and destruction in Iraq and refocus our attention on the people who actually perpetrated 9/11.  Barack Obama will put us on a track towards renewable energy independence.  Barack Obama will provide affordable and accessible health care to those who need it most.  Barack Obama will help us restore the middle class that drives this country.

I implore you all to get out there today and do what you can to make sure that Barack Hussein Obama is the next president of the United States of America. 

Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time.

Fucking people, man.

I don't understand it.  I honestly cannot twist any of my internal logic or put myself in a place where that kind of pointless, baseless hate makes any sense.  While I'm admittedly more of a pacifist than many, I can at least understand the point of view of non-pacifists.  Actual unabashed hatred of anyone for reasons no better than skin color is beyond my comprehension.

How is it at all possible to rationalize that murdering people you don't know who have in no way wronged you or anyone you know is going to improve the world?  Who will benefit from this?  What the fuck is the point?  

It is the twenty-first century goddammit, humanity is supposed to be past this shit (and don't even get me started on the lack of flying cars).  In the age of the Internet and near instant communication it is unacceptable for people to still be so ignorant and hateful.  It seems like it should be obvious to people who preach and act out their intolerance and hate that every other person on the planet just thinks they're being a total asshat.  Seriously, just read the Youtube comments on your stupid hate speech.

Life is too short to spend it worrying about how those guys over there don't look like you, or don't believe in the same god(s) that you do, or have different politics than you.  Who cares?  What is the point?  Spending your time hating is only going to take years off of your life, and the years you do get are spent on nothing of substance.  Even if you believe in some manner of afterlife how does that excuse being a bastard during this one?  I believe the appropriate answer is that it doesn't.  Even if you had the misfortune of an upbringing that indoctrinated you with  the superiority of your race/religion why do you need to do anything more than sit at home and bask in your glow?  Go to your meetings where you can tell each other how right you are and how great it is to be you, and leave everyone else the fuck alone.

Fortunately the two fucktards in the article I linked didn't have enough brainpower to light up an ant city that just passed a series of stringent energy conservation laws, let alone succeed in their reprehensible plot, but there very probably are people who wouldn't be classified as mentally retarded who share their (lack of) morals.  In a day and age when we, as a species, have the capacity for destruction on a global scale we cannot survive with such primitive 'us' and 'them' mentalities.  We are all humans, and we are all in this together.  Fate has left us out here on this tiny chunk of rock in the middle of nowhere, and we need to learn to celebrate our similarities or we risk eliminating our entire species.  In the words of Bill Maher, "Grow up, or die".

I will leave my closing thoughts to a man much more eloquent than I (and it nicely closes off my American History X quote I opened with): 'We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.' 

-Abraham Lincoln

We are Samurai...the Keyboard Cowboys

I am a computer programmer.

Admittedly, I think most (everyone) who reads this blog knows me, and therefore already knows that particular fact about me.  However I don't necessarily know how many people are aware of just how much I actually love programming.  It isn't something that I just want to do 9-5 5 days a week for the rest of my life, but something that I do in my spare time just because I actually find it highly enjoyable.  

I have (somewhat) recently discovered Project Euler as an exciting (super nerdy) way for me to spend my time.  In addition to providing programming practice, the problems on Project Euler also require some critical thought and promote different methods of problem solving, which I actually really enjoy.  The problem solving aspect of Computer Science is one of the things that keeps me happy.

If anyone reading this is interested in getting better at programming, or wants to learn a new language and needs some practice with it, I would highly recommend giving Project Euler a look see.

I am aware that this blog will be relevant to very few (0%) of the people reading it, but I wanted to anway, so die in a hole.

Hail to the chief, if you don't, I'll have to kill you. I am the chief, so you better watch your step, you bastards.

John McCain is kind of a dick (I mean...maverick).

I will ignore (for now) the vast number of very negative ads that have already run.  Both parties are guilty of running negative ads at some time or other (although a decent number of polls would indicate McCain's was in general felt to be more negative, and non-partisan fact checkers tend to find his ads the least correct).  But John McCain's most recent use of robo-calls is crossing the line from standard negative politics to outright ass-hattery.  

This is the same shit that he condemned in 2000 when George W. Bush used it against him, and now he's even hired the same people the Geedub did to do the same fucking thing to Barack Obama.  (Irony for making Bush comparisons more valid, lulz).  And he is completely unashamed to admit to it, and even defend it.

I am mildly amused (enraged and on the verge of an aneurysm) at the way he tries to paint Obama as the negative asshole, by talking about the money Obama has spent on negative ads (which skews the facts since Obama has spent crazy amounts of funding on all kinds of ads the percentage of negativity may or may not be at record numbers), but 66% of Americans think McCain is running a mostly negative campaign compared to 33% who think that of Obama so if he is spending record amounts at negativity he fails at it.

He also continues to cry foul on the fact that Obama hasn't denounced John Lewis' claims that the McCain/Palin campaign is sowing the seeds of hatred that brings up memories of the George Wallace Rallies back in the 60's.  The FactCheck Wire has something to say about that.

John McCain began this campaign calling for honor and dignity, and has rescinded on that promise while still trying to hold Obama to those standards and bemoaning any instance where he doesn't.  Well your hypocrisy has been noted senator McCain, and I hope very much it costs you dearly come November 4th.

More on the Robo Calls:

Part I
Part II

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World.

If you owned a Television set two years ago that was a phrase you undoubtedly heard.  Probably a lot.  Probably so much you wanted to throw the TV out the window.  And if you didn't watch Heroes, you probably didn't feel compelled to start if it was going to be that annoying.  If you have never heard the phrase then you are quite likely from some other planet (and may I be the first to say I welcome our new alien overlords).  I was actually determined not to watch Heroes until quite a few people assured me that it was an amazing show, so I decided to give it a shot.  A warning to all, this blog will spoil the entirety of Heroes, so if you have not seen it and plan on doing so, close this window at once. 

I was hooked almost instantly.  The concept is phenomenal, the characters were engaging, and the storyline was stellar.  It was somewhat like the X-men, but the X-men never seemed like normal people trying to cope with superpowers so much as super people trying to be like normal people.  Watching these everyday average people dealing with these new powers that they don't understand and can hardly control really taps into the dream of having such powers yourself.  And what person can honestly say they never spent a large portion of their childhood imagining what it would be like to have some superpower or other?  (And most of you will probably admit you still do it.  Frequently.)

One of the most powerful aspects of that glorious first season was the way that all of the different paths intersected, but it never felt contrived or forced.  It seemed like crazy random happenstance that brought their stories into the overall arc and eventually to the amazing finale.  Needless to say, I was very excited for the second season.

And then it happened, and things quickly went awry.  We have a new villain now that Sylar has been stabbed and is currently out of the picture.  Bob, the boring accountant.   I don't have much to say about Bob, but he is a completely unconvincing and uninteresting villain.  They have also added some new characters, Maya and Alejandro, and nobody gives a shit about them.  And if you do give a shit about them, I would love to hear why that is.  Hiro (my absolute favorite character from season 1) is trapped in Feudal Japan for more than half of the season on an incredibly slow paced and boring adventure, and then the writers strike hit and we have a ridiculously fast paced wrap up of the mediocre threat.

Now, while season 2 was incredibly disappointing, I was able to forgive it.  There was a strike after all, and I have no way of knowing how things would have turned out with an extra ten episodes worth of storytelling.  So while I wasn't very excited about season 3 starting, I also wasn't dreading it, and I truly hoped they could write themselves out of the hole created by season 2.  Two episodes into the new season and I am very unconvinced.  Season 2 involved a lot of the characters acting very much not like what we had come to expect from that first glorious season, and that still seems to be the case.  

One of my main problems is that none of these characters have progressed in any meaningful way. Peter is the face of the show, and apparently is setup to be the most heroic of them all (They even feel the need to directly point this out to us in season 3 "Now I know you're lying, nobody is that heroic") but he's still a whiny, neurotic, angsty, and generally useless person.  (And if future Peter is any indication, the angst just keeps on comin).  Claire has potential with a pretty cool power, but they are going absolutely nowhere with the character, so I'm pretty sure everyone has completely lost interest.  

And then we have Hiro.  As I mentioned, my personal favorite from season 1 is now one of the characters I hate the most.  Our introduction to him this season is him whining about having no great destiny to fill (apparently he doesn't even think saving the world twice is good enough) so he disobeys direct orders from his father, intentionally putting the world at risk, and then repeatedly fucking up every single opportunity he has to put it right.  What the hell?  He's able to basically single-handedly save the world but can't manage to get anything right?  And his whole "I don't trust you Ando because I saw you in the future killing me even though we've already proven a thousand times in this show that the future is always changing" is beyond irritating.

One possible reason why they're having issues actually progressing the characters is because there's so goddamn many of them, and the writers are keen on getting everyone into every episode so we get at most a few minutes on one of the many plot lines before we're unceremoniously transitioned into the middle of another.  

My final major issue I'd like to discuss is villains.  Early in the life of Heroes I thought the writers had a firm grasp of cool villains.  We had Horn Rimmed Glasses man, and Sylar.  Both were mysterious, though only Sylar was obviously evil.  HRG was pretty ambiguous, but that made him really freakin' cool.  They have ruined them both.  Now HRG doesn't have anything mysterious to him, and Sylar has been given a back story that makes him a crybaby with mommy issues.  They introduced four new villains so far this season, and it took all of three episodes to kill half of them (in really lame ways too).  

I have a suspicion that I will continue to watch Heroes, if only because I can see what it could be, although maybe that's why it's so hard for me to accept what it is.  

I may not be a man of God, Reverend, but I know right and I know wrong and I have the good grace to know which is which

I don't know if any of you were aware, but there is some kind of election coming up.  And as such, in addition to the excitement of potentially pissing off anyone around you just by bringing up the wrong candidate (seriously, some people look like they're ready to throw down if you even think about voting for the wrong guy), but we get the pleasure of a nearly nonstop stream of political ads, billboards, phone calls, emails, and who knows what other methods will be employed (I myself am following Obama on Twitter).

While the ads themselves are fairly annoying simply due to sheer volume, the worst part is that it can be rather difficult to determine whether what they say is the truth, a stretching of facts, or an outright fabrication.  It would be nice if they would tell us at the end of the ad (by the way, all of that was total bullshit) but I think that could undermine what they are trying to accomplish.

Fortunately for all of us, there are people who have decided it is a worthy cause to separate the wheat from the chaff and provide it to the masses via the interwebs.  FactCheck.org

Completely non partisan, they do fact checking on statements from ads, interviews, debates, speeches, and pretty much any other venue.  Now when different commercials say different things you can determine which (if any) are correct.  Hopefully it will help all of us survive the next two months, and prevent us from perpetuating any untruths that we may have seen on the TeeVee.

I have heard the voice of the voters and the voters said...Holy Shit!

I don't understand people.

This statement holds true a great majority of the time, but my confusion tends to grow at a geometric rate (!) when it comes to politics. If you happen to live under a rock, it is possible that you missed the nomination of Sarah Palin as John McCain's Vice President. If you're like most people your response to hearing about her nomination was probably "who?". Don't worry, it doesn't mean you're uninformed in this election, it just means you don't need to know who is governing a state with a population smaller than any given major US city. (It's barely 6 times the population of Boulder). Of course being unknown and inexperienced doesn't necessarily make her entirely unqualified (despite what the McCain campaign would have had you believe before they picked her for VP) so I was interested in learning more about who she is and what kind of candidate she would make.

I decided to check out her speech from the Republican National Convention as a starting point, to hear what she had to say with no preconceived notions. And shortly into the speech the confusion began to set in. When Hilary Clinton talks tough and has snippy comebacks she is "a bitch", but when Sarah Palin does it she "has spunk". Of course, if we want to call it having spunk, then the only things I learned from her RNC speech was that she

A)Is spunky.
B)Likes drilling. (For oil)

Her first opportunity to really address the nation, and all she has is a bunch of snide remarks belittling community organizers and people who actually care about human rights. I realize that she was probably not the one who wrote that speech, but it seems like as some point when she was practicing it she could have asked if it was necessary for her to sound like a high school girl who didn't get asked to the prom. She was unable to assuage any doubts people might have about her ability to lead, she told us almost nothing about how she feels about ANY of the issues surrounding this election, and she made no mention of the current administration's success/failures.

The other thing that she failed to address was the hypocrisy of her selection as McCain's VP, and if hypocrisy can help you win an election, then we've got another four years of Republicans in the White House coming. It starts with picking a VP who is extremely inexperienced, and seems to be more of a celebrity than politician. (I don't think Obama was ever in a beauty pageant...). How do you explain this move when your entire campaign against Obama was "Don't vote for him, he's inexperienced! He's more a celebrity than he is a Senator!"? The current strategy seems to be never mention that they said that, and don't show those commercials anymore. We also have all of the republican pundits showing nothing but sympathy and respect for her pregnant 17 year old daughter, and demanding the same of the rest of us, despite having spent all of their careers up until this point condemning teens for having sex and blaming it all on poor parenting. Sarah Palin asks us to respect her family privacy in this matter and respect her daughter's decision to keep the child when she intends to remove the right to privacy and decisions for all women and families. The Republican party claims to be concerned about the people (They're going to give us tax cuts!) but they still find time to mock community organizers. (You know, the people who help those who the government has left behind)

In addition to the raging hypocrisy (any wagers on how many times I'm going to use that word in this blog?) I have taken some time to investigate more about Sarah Palin, and what kind of Veep she would make.

Sarah Palin does not believe that humans are at all responsible for global warming, and she does not believe polar bears should be on the endangered species list. I don't think she has any scientific backing for either of these opinions, simply that they both have the potential to interfere in her love of drilling. If she does have backing she hasn't informed anybody of it. Perhaps it's hypocrisy a secret.

Sarah Palin wanted to ban certain books from her town library back when she was mayor, simply because she didn't like the ideas expressed within. If the thought of that kind of government censorship doesn't upset you then you and I will probably not agree on very many things in life.

The one that made me laugh out loud (right before I started weeping in terror): Sarah Palin never left the country before July of 2007. I cant' even comment on that. Seriously.

I think Matt Damon says it well:

"It's like a really bad Disney movie, 'The Hockey Mom.' Oh, I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska, and she's president. She's facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It's hypocr absurd."

The prospect of Sarah Palin being our VP, and being a heart attack or a cancer relapse away from being the Commander in Chief of the United States of America is absolutely terrifying. This cannot come to pass. I urge each and every one of you do your part to save our country and vote Barack Obama in 2008.

Matt Damon on Youtube