or as westerners know it: vienna. the capital of austria is quite nice. it's pretty obvious they serve a lot of tourists (even in the winter when we went). large sections of town are set up exclusively for tourists. for the non-german speakers, this is where you'd spend most of your time...although a large portion of the non-tourist catering population also speak passable english.
i felt almost completely at home there. most of this is attributable to my ability to conduct basic communication (greetings, ordering/buying things, etc.) in german. as it is a major tourist attraction as well, most things (like public transit) also have directions in the common european languages so if you happened to get lost just get the translation.
while we were there, i got to visit the christmas markt (christmas market...funny how they used the english word for christmas). as with any european style market, i enjoyed running around sampling the food. there were trinkets available as well, but i'm not much for trinket shopping. so i got to enjoy the food and practicing my german.
we also visited the schonbrunnschloss (schonbrunn palace...roughly). this was the summer residence of the habsburg dynasty. it was quite impressive, and an excellent demonstration of the power and influence of the austro-hungarian empire. the entire palace is huge! the building currently houses the museums of schonbrunn and sisi as well as provides housing for quite a number of people (or at least i assume that huge wing is housing as it would be rather large for a museum). in it's glory days when it was still functioning as a true palace, the royal court included over 1,000 attendants that were also housed in the building.
all in all, i loved the short trip. this is rather funny as my hosts (the long family) were not at all impressed, and prefer the 'comforts' of budapest. i suppose this is a good thing as they are missionaries to hungary; not austria. i hope they'll forgive me for not sharing their sentiments though. the next blog will include my experience(s) on their home turf.
2010-12-26
2010-12-19
travel (part 1)
well...i'm in hungary now so i thought i'd share my experience about the trip here (more about the rest of it will be posted later).
so first i had to get past the fascists at the airport (aka the transportation security administration). to my surprise, i discovered the indianapolis airport wasn't taking everyone through their new 'screening' methods (aka porn or grope). they seemed to be either rolling with a random or profiling system. i would have stopped to ask them about it, but i didn't want to be profiled/selected to be groped so i quietly moved along...this was, of course, after removing everything from my pockets, taking off my belt and shoes, and going through a metal detector. the metal detector's fine, but my shoes...really?
anyway...the little hopper (plane) going between indy and chicago was running late as they had to contend with snow and ice at both ends of their trip. you'd think they would account for cold weather as it was (after all) winter, but they didn't. this caused me to miss my connection in chicago and get re-routed to a later flight. that part was, surprisingly, easier than i expected: just run over to customer service and presto...easy (and no charge)! the only thing i had to do was shoot off a quick email to the receiving party over here (in hungary) informing them of my new itinerary. this is when i discovered just how convenient it is to have a smart-phone.
fast forward to duseldorf (in germany). i had to go through their screening process as well...i think i unnecessarily left their 'secure' area...i guess i'll find out on the way back through. anyway, their process is so much easier than ours. they simply had me remove everything metal from my person and walk through a metal detector; no removing of shoes or any of that nonsense. clearly, the TSA have lost all sense of reality, and are implementing unnecessary procedures. conspiracy theorists would claim it's a power grab to prepare us for the new fascist state, while i simply think what we're seeing is the result of government being too large and full of incompetent people (especially around the top).
after a bit of a wait, i hit the plane to budapest. apparently, they don't get a lot of air traffic here as the airport is tiny: it consists of the baggage claim section (2 small carousels), and a non-secure area that's only twice the size of the baggage claim section. the small size made it easy for me to recognize my bag did not arrive with me. the lost baggage claim process was fairly simple; i just had to wander between lufthansa, customs, and the airport's claim desk. other than the back and forth though...easy.
my bag finally did arrive about 30 hours after i did. the airline was kind enough to deliver it to the house (score)! i opened it up and possibly discovered why it was so late: my laptop had been disassembled and poorly re-assembled. i suspect this was done by none other than the no longer so friendly TSA; it would make sense as they're incompetent in everything else they do so why would laptop re-assembly be an exception? i find it rather disconcerting that dis-assembly was necessary to see there weren't any explosives in there as well as we have machines that could have determined it was clean. i guess they're fans of the more intrusive method; again, hardly a surprise from the TSA.
fortunately for me, my job insures i have no trouble fixing sloppy re-assembly of laptops. i get the feeling most people would have a little more trouble with it though. so if you don't want your electronics to be opened up and have who knows what done to them, don't put them in your checked baggage. that would be lesson #1.
lesson #2: lufthansa (a german airline) is far nicer than any american counterpart. they afford you more leg room (at least in economy class), their flight attendants are more friendly, and they're all multi-lingual. not that language is a problem when it comes to the more common ones like english, german, spanish, even greek...but i quickly discovered i've had zero exposure to hungarian. i've managed to learn 2-3 words since i've been here, but starting from a clean slate is quite frustrating.
which leads nicely into point #3: next time i travel to a foreign country, i'm going to at least learn some basic phrases. not being able to greet someone in another country in their own language is unacceptable (at least for me). this time, i did the typical american thing and hurled myself into a completely foreign country with no method of fending for myself. if i didn't have friends here, i'd be screwed.
well...i've gone on enough for now. more will follow about the rest of the trip later.
so first i had to get past the fascists at the airport (aka the transportation security administration). to my surprise, i discovered the indianapolis airport wasn't taking everyone through their new 'screening' methods (aka porn or grope). they seemed to be either rolling with a random or profiling system. i would have stopped to ask them about it, but i didn't want to be profiled/selected to be groped so i quietly moved along...this was, of course, after removing everything from my pockets, taking off my belt and shoes, and going through a metal detector. the metal detector's fine, but my shoes...really?
anyway...the little hopper (plane) going between indy and chicago was running late as they had to contend with snow and ice at both ends of their trip. you'd think they would account for cold weather as it was (after all) winter, but they didn't. this caused me to miss my connection in chicago and get re-routed to a later flight. that part was, surprisingly, easier than i expected: just run over to customer service and presto...easy (and no charge)! the only thing i had to do was shoot off a quick email to the receiving party over here (in hungary) informing them of my new itinerary. this is when i discovered just how convenient it is to have a smart-phone.
fast forward to duseldorf (in germany). i had to go through their screening process as well...i think i unnecessarily left their 'secure' area...i guess i'll find out on the way back through. anyway, their process is so much easier than ours. they simply had me remove everything metal from my person and walk through a metal detector; no removing of shoes or any of that nonsense. clearly, the TSA have lost all sense of reality, and are implementing unnecessary procedures. conspiracy theorists would claim it's a power grab to prepare us for the new fascist state, while i simply think what we're seeing is the result of government being too large and full of incompetent people (especially around the top).
after a bit of a wait, i hit the plane to budapest. apparently, they don't get a lot of air traffic here as the airport is tiny: it consists of the baggage claim section (2 small carousels), and a non-secure area that's only twice the size of the baggage claim section. the small size made it easy for me to recognize my bag did not arrive with me. the lost baggage claim process was fairly simple; i just had to wander between lufthansa, customs, and the airport's claim desk. other than the back and forth though...easy.
my bag finally did arrive about 30 hours after i did. the airline was kind enough to deliver it to the house (score)! i opened it up and possibly discovered why it was so late: my laptop had been disassembled and poorly re-assembled. i suspect this was done by none other than the no longer so friendly TSA; it would make sense as they're incompetent in everything else they do so why would laptop re-assembly be an exception? i find it rather disconcerting that dis-assembly was necessary to see there weren't any explosives in there as well as we have machines that could have determined it was clean. i guess they're fans of the more intrusive method; again, hardly a surprise from the TSA.
fortunately for me, my job insures i have no trouble fixing sloppy re-assembly of laptops. i get the feeling most people would have a little more trouble with it though. so if you don't want your electronics to be opened up and have who knows what done to them, don't put them in your checked baggage. that would be lesson #1.
lesson #2: lufthansa (a german airline) is far nicer than any american counterpart. they afford you more leg room (at least in economy class), their flight attendants are more friendly, and they're all multi-lingual. not that language is a problem when it comes to the more common ones like english, german, spanish, even greek...but i quickly discovered i've had zero exposure to hungarian. i've managed to learn 2-3 words since i've been here, but starting from a clean slate is quite frustrating.
which leads nicely into point #3: next time i travel to a foreign country, i'm going to at least learn some basic phrases. not being able to greet someone in another country in their own language is unacceptable (at least for me). this time, i did the typical american thing and hurled myself into a completely foreign country with no method of fending for myself. if i didn't have friends here, i'd be screwed.
well...i've gone on enough for now. more will follow about the rest of the trip later.
2010-12-09
wikileaks
so i don't know how many of you have been following the wikileaks news. i'll give a brief synopsis up to this point. as i'm sure all of you know, wikileaks is at the heart of an international drama of epic proportions because of their unfailing commitment to publishing material world governments strive maintain sole possession of.
so which government has the most secrets? the united states of america! that's right, our own government has more secrets than any other. i have no proof of this (of course) because proving it would require someone have access to every government secret across the globe. i'm quite certain, though, we the are the proprietors of the world's most secretive government. this is rather ironic as we started off as the world's most transparent.
as a result, the world's (arguably) sole superpower we are the best positioned and most concerned with an organization that's publishing secrets. it's become quite clear in this case, we are leveraging this position to it's fullest. to see this, we merely need to check out what's happening with wikileaks' spokesperson, and editor and chief; julian assange.
a few months ago, mr. assange was in sweden for a conference. during his stay, he had sex with a couple women. apparently, they weren't too pleased as they attempted to file charges against him. the swedish courts, however, would have none of it and dismissed the case. this was, of course, before wikileaks started publishing extremely embarrassing, and possibly destabilizing material.
fast forward to today and we see sweden has issued an arrest warrant for julain assange. this has to do with the same case their courts dispensed with a few months ago. but that's not all. the swedes have also failed to present any evidence against mr. assange; nor have they even presented charges. they're demanding his extradition (from britain) to sweden. so chances are good there's still no case against him.
there's speculation the united states is behind this as sweden has been used in the past to dispose of terrorists we'd rather not hold here. though there are more obvious cases of our government applying pressure to wikileaks. amazon stopped hosting wikileaks, and paypal froze mr. assange's account. there's no evidence here either, but i'm convinced these attacks were also the result of government pressure.
so there are several interrelated questions that come out of all this: 'is this action warranted', 'is wikileaks a terrorist organization'.
as a soldier who's been charged with keeping government secrets, one would think my answers to these questions would be yes. after all, that's the stance our government is taking. they've called wikileaks and all the journalists associated with it information terrorists, and are utilizing most of the 'weapons' in their arsenal to negate the 'threat'.
at first, i have to admit i agreed with this assessment. i was in a war zone surrounded by fellow members of the military, and my access to news was severely limited by both logistics and time. the brainwashing factors were high. fortunately, i've returned to civilization, and re-gained access to the free media. (this is opposed to the mainstream media that often become cheerleaders for our government.)
now i've heard 'wikileaks' side' of the argument. i've heard how they've redacted their leaks to protect the 'little guys' it would have otherwise condemned to death. (did you know, for example, the government used their own unabridged copies of the material on wikileaks when they cited how many people were in jeopardy.) the only things threatened by the wikileaks' postings are our government and its officials.
i'm of a mind this is a good thing as the world's biggest terrorist organization is now our own government. we terrorize the people we imprison and torture it guantanamo bay (innocent until proven guilty? please, we won't even try them in a civilized court). we terrorize the iraqi and afghan people (i've seen the collateral damage; it's not something i'd want anywhere). we even terrorize our own citizens (hello transportation security administration in our airports).
i truly hope julian assange is released; as i hope the onslaught of wikileaks will end. however, reality tells me mr. assange will probably end up in some secret prison to be held without trial. and wikileaks? i imagine mr. assange is merely the first of many reporters to be repressed.
so which government has the most secrets? the united states of america! that's right, our own government has more secrets than any other. i have no proof of this (of course) because proving it would require someone have access to every government secret across the globe. i'm quite certain, though, we the are the proprietors of the world's most secretive government. this is rather ironic as we started off as the world's most transparent.
as a result, the world's (arguably) sole superpower we are the best positioned and most concerned with an organization that's publishing secrets. it's become quite clear in this case, we are leveraging this position to it's fullest. to see this, we merely need to check out what's happening with wikileaks' spokesperson, and editor and chief; julian assange.
a few months ago, mr. assange was in sweden for a conference. during his stay, he had sex with a couple women. apparently, they weren't too pleased as they attempted to file charges against him. the swedish courts, however, would have none of it and dismissed the case. this was, of course, before wikileaks started publishing extremely embarrassing, and possibly destabilizing material.
fast forward to today and we see sweden has issued an arrest warrant for julain assange. this has to do with the same case their courts dispensed with a few months ago. but that's not all. the swedes have also failed to present any evidence against mr. assange; nor have they even presented charges. they're demanding his extradition (from britain) to sweden. so chances are good there's still no case against him.
there's speculation the united states is behind this as sweden has been used in the past to dispose of terrorists we'd rather not hold here. though there are more obvious cases of our government applying pressure to wikileaks. amazon stopped hosting wikileaks, and paypal froze mr. assange's account. there's no evidence here either, but i'm convinced these attacks were also the result of government pressure.
so there are several interrelated questions that come out of all this: 'is this action warranted', 'is wikileaks a terrorist organization'.
as a soldier who's been charged with keeping government secrets, one would think my answers to these questions would be yes. after all, that's the stance our government is taking. they've called wikileaks and all the journalists associated with it information terrorists, and are utilizing most of the 'weapons' in their arsenal to negate the 'threat'.
at first, i have to admit i agreed with this assessment. i was in a war zone surrounded by fellow members of the military, and my access to news was severely limited by both logistics and time. the brainwashing factors were high. fortunately, i've returned to civilization, and re-gained access to the free media. (this is opposed to the mainstream media that often become cheerleaders for our government.)
now i've heard 'wikileaks' side' of the argument. i've heard how they've redacted their leaks to protect the 'little guys' it would have otherwise condemned to death. (did you know, for example, the government used their own unabridged copies of the material on wikileaks when they cited how many people were in jeopardy.) the only things threatened by the wikileaks' postings are our government and its officials.
i'm of a mind this is a good thing as the world's biggest terrorist organization is now our own government. we terrorize the people we imprison and torture it guantanamo bay (innocent until proven guilty? please, we won't even try them in a civilized court). we terrorize the iraqi and afghan people (i've seen the collateral damage; it's not something i'd want anywhere). we even terrorize our own citizens (hello transportation security administration in our airports).
government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have....the course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.part of our government's growth and influence includes its ability to hold secrets that should not be kept. don't get me wrong here; there are secrets that absolutely need to be kept. what wikileaks has posted, however, do not fall into the category of necessary secrets.
- gerald ford
i truly hope julian assange is released; as i hope the onslaught of wikileaks will end. however, reality tells me mr. assange will probably end up in some secret prison to be held without trial. and wikileaks? i imagine mr. assange is merely the first of many reporters to be repressed.
i don't wanna be afraid
i don't wanna run away
i don't want to be here fading
it's more that I can take
i'm never gonna be the same
i threw it all away
i don't want to be here fading
just let go! (look what you do to me)
let go! (look what you do to me)
- red 'let go'
2010-11-24
we the sheep
well, today was the supposed demonstration day where people were going to opt out of the new porn scanners the TSA has installed in our airports. i was pretty excited to see how it would turn out; i expected huge delays at airports across the country...i was sorely disappointed. on this, one of the busiest travel days of the year, a grand total of 10 people opted out of being scanned at indianapolis international airport during the morning hours. statistics for this afternoon are not out, but i'm not very hopeful that the numbers will be better. similar reports of sporadic demonstrators, but nothing major are coming from other airports as well.
i'm sure, by now, you're all asking why i'm making such a big deal out of this. it's because the TSA is a sham. they do not make planes safer. terrorists were already ahead of this technology before it even got to our airports. they were putting bombs on freight planes, or putting their explosives in their rectums. neither of these are preventable with the shiny new scanners or groping at effect at our passenger terminals. additionally, the terrorists that are targeting us have been coming from airports outside the united states; where these methods are not used.
but the fact that the TSA doesn't make us any safer is not the most alarming thing about this. what is alarming is the people's apathy to their right to be secure in their person being violated. if a private citizen (or company) attempted to do what the TSA is doing now, they would be arrested and sent to jail for sexual assault. this is the case whether you have the pornographic scan taken or the grope (or as they call it, enhanced pat down). we didn't even subject the afghani people to anything this invasive, and a good number of them actually are terrorists. this is because we know if we tried this in afghanistan, there would be even more attacks on our installations. it seems the afghanis have a better understanding of their basic human rights than we do.
but would that be a lawful amendment?
but if that wasn't enough to convince, here's a quote that states in no uncertain terms how the framers of our constitution felt about this.
it's time the american people stopped putting up with our government which is clearly unable to keep us safe. why is it every time something happens, the government cracks down on it's citizens instead of empowering us to defend ourselves? instead of imposing more onerous and ineffective security screenings, the government should have been giving every firearm licensee the right to carry airplane safe ammunition. how many planes would get hijacked if half the people flying had the means to stop hijackers? instead of one flight marshal per plane, how about 50? and they wouldn't even have to be payed!
but we keep trudging along. you want to take a naked picture of me...ok. you want to touch my genitals...ok. all is forgiven as long as i'm safe.... if the constitution was to be re-written today, it wouldn't start off saying we the people. it would (if accurate) begin 'we the sheep....'
i'm sure, by now, you're all asking why i'm making such a big deal out of this. it's because the TSA is a sham. they do not make planes safer. terrorists were already ahead of this technology before it even got to our airports. they were putting bombs on freight planes, or putting their explosives in their rectums. neither of these are preventable with the shiny new scanners or groping at effect at our passenger terminals. additionally, the terrorists that are targeting us have been coming from airports outside the united states; where these methods are not used.
but the fact that the TSA doesn't make us any safer is not the most alarming thing about this. what is alarming is the people's apathy to their right to be secure in their person being violated. if a private citizen (or company) attempted to do what the TSA is doing now, they would be arrested and sent to jail for sexual assault. this is the case whether you have the pornographic scan taken or the grope (or as they call it, enhanced pat down). we didn't even subject the afghani people to anything this invasive, and a good number of them actually are terrorists. this is because we know if we tried this in afghanistan, there would be even more attacks on our installations. it seems the afghanis have a better understanding of their basic human rights than we do.
the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.above is the constitutional amendment that's supposed to protect us from the TSA's new screening procedures. in order for anyone to search an american citizen the way TSA does at our airports, the person (or entity) performing the search must have a warrant. warrants are to be issued by judges. in order for a judge to issue a warrant, there must be probable cause. attempting to board an airplane is not probable cause. the constitution is supposed to be the supreme law of the land. any law that violates the constitution is null and void. in order for the TSA to legally search us as they do, the constitution would have to be amended.
- united states constitution, fourth amendment
but would that be a lawful amendment?
we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.according to the declaration of independence, there are certain unalienable rights. unalienable rights cannot be repudiated. the right to liberty would certainly include the right to be secure in one's person. therefore, it was our founder's belief that one cannot surrender his right to be free of unwarranted searches.
- declaration of independence [of the united states]
but if that wasn't enough to convince, here's a quote that states in no uncertain terms how the framers of our constitution felt about this.
they who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.there's a chilling thought.
- benjamin franklin
it's time the american people stopped putting up with our government which is clearly unable to keep us safe. why is it every time something happens, the government cracks down on it's citizens instead of empowering us to defend ourselves? instead of imposing more onerous and ineffective security screenings, the government should have been giving every firearm licensee the right to carry airplane safe ammunition. how many planes would get hijacked if half the people flying had the means to stop hijackers? instead of one flight marshal per plane, how about 50? and they wouldn't even have to be payed!
but we keep trudging along. you want to take a naked picture of me...ok. you want to touch my genitals...ok. all is forgiven as long as i'm safe.... if the constitution was to be re-written today, it wouldn't start off saying we the people. it would (if accurate) begin 'we the sheep....'
2010-11-11
armistice day
happy armistice day; or more commonly known in the united states: veterans day. today western europe celebrates the end of what was then known as the great war. americans altered the meaning a bit to remember military veterans.
regardless of what or who's being remembered, the day reminds us that freedom is not free. on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the world thought they would never again see the terrors they were laying to rest. yet 21 short years later, the world witnessed a still greater horror: the second world war. while nothing has come along to match that cataclysm since, the curse of war has been a persistent presence: korea, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan.
but the world has too many demons in need of vanquishing; we simply cannot fight everyone. especially when there are such insidious forces rotting away our home. the scourge we now face involves money.
our founding fathers recognized the threat from the beginning.
while i was away peter schiff managed to expand his weekly broadcast to 5 nights a week. his economic commentary can be found at his radio website.
the political watchdog and constitutional defender judge andrew nepolitano has managed to get his show on fox. his show is also making the move from a weekly broadcast to every weekday. old episodes can be accessed via a website as well.
america is finally starting to learn. on this armistice day, perhaps we should all vow to get ourselves a true education; not the pitiful excuse for one our government is peddling.
then the true fight for freedom can begin...with property rights, and sound money. how many wars of the past century can be traced back to monetary issues? we lead the world down this keynesian rabbit hole. it's time to lead the world back out of it.
regardless of what or who's being remembered, the day reminds us that freedom is not free. on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the world thought they would never again see the terrors they were laying to rest. yet 21 short years later, the world witnessed a still greater horror: the second world war. while nothing has come along to match that cataclysm since, the curse of war has been a persistent presence: korea, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan.
but the world has too many demons in need of vanquishing; we simply cannot fight everyone. especially when there are such insidious forces rotting away our home. the scourge we now face involves money.
our founding fathers recognized the threat from the beginning.
banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. if the american people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.if only we had heeded their warning.... we're now paying the price for our ignorance. but there is hope.
- thomas jefferson
while i was away peter schiff managed to expand his weekly broadcast to 5 nights a week. his economic commentary can be found at his radio website.
the political watchdog and constitutional defender judge andrew nepolitano has managed to get his show on fox. his show is also making the move from a weekly broadcast to every weekday. old episodes can be accessed via a website as well.
america is finally starting to learn. on this armistice day, perhaps we should all vow to get ourselves a true education; not the pitiful excuse for one our government is peddling.
then the true fight for freedom can begin...with property rights, and sound money. how many wars of the past century can be traced back to monetary issues? we lead the world down this keynesian rabbit hole. it's time to lead the world back out of it.
2010-11-05
guy fawkes
remember, remember
the fifth of november
the gunpowder treason and plot
i know of no reason
why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot
today marks the 405th anniversary of what is popularly known as the gunpowder treason plot; a failed attempt to assassinate the king of england along with most of the british parliament. the authorities discovered guy fawkes guarding a bunch of gunpowder barrels that would have leveled the parliament building. the day (or night) has been celebrated in briton and it's colonies ever since; generally with fireworks and burning effigies of unpopular figures (traditionally guy fawkes). it's popularity has been waning in recent years, but i suspect it might re-emerge as things become more tumultuous.
it's proximity to election day (in the united states) makes me still more inclined to believe the holiday's due for a comeback. perhaps in a couple years we'll be burning effigies of the monetary terrorists in office.
a few days ago, the american people sent a clear, small government message to capital hill. and what was the response? the federal reserve announced they'd buy another $600 billion of government bonds. this is exactly the opposite of small government: it enables the federal government to go further into debt, and it tosses another dose of inflation at us. but i guess the fed wouldn't care as they're not elected. the only thing keeping the fed in existence is the public's ignorance (hello government controlled schools).
it is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, i believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
-henry ford
it's going to take a lot of education about government and monetary policy, and vigilance at the polls to redeem the country. the depression is upon us already; what we do today merely determines the degree. all the while, our government continues to run as quickly as possible in the wrong direction.
will the neophytes be able to make a difference in time? i certainly hope so. time is quickly running out. if this clock expires, there will certainly be blood in the streets.
2010-11-02
election day
well, the poll seems to not be getting very far. perhaps people's RSS feeds won't update unless i post something else? if that's what's holding things up, this should help. and if you haven't read my previous post (that was initially blank), go ahead and try that.
so today is mid-term election day. i expect turn-out will be larger this year than in previous mid-term years. my address is still listed as the one i was at before the whole deployment thing started so my polling center was in downtown indy. it was quite a bit emptier than 2 years ago during the 'big' election. i'm going to guess that has something to do with indianapolis being a primarily democratic zone. it was also rather telling that someone handed me a list of democrat candidates on my way in. i guess they think people are too brain dead to read what party the candidate is a part of? it's written directly under their name....
well, they'll be disappointed as i voted libertarian wherever there was one on the ballot. i realize this might cause some annoy some of my readers as well, but such is life. indiana's a primarily republican state, and i feel the republican candidates stand a pretty good chance of getting elected regardless of my puny vote. as such, it's far better spent raising awareness for the libertarian party. i realize there are some republicans and democrats that are more libertarian than their party, but none of those types were on my ballot so....
regardless of your political leanings, i would like to encourage anyone that's reading this to please go vote. i'm relatively certain my readers are educated enough to have a valid opinion so go make it heard.
the revolution continues today. let's hope it gets resolved before things get bloody.
so today is mid-term election day. i expect turn-out will be larger this year than in previous mid-term years. my address is still listed as the one i was at before the whole deployment thing started so my polling center was in downtown indy. it was quite a bit emptier than 2 years ago during the 'big' election. i'm going to guess that has something to do with indianapolis being a primarily democratic zone. it was also rather telling that someone handed me a list of democrat candidates on my way in. i guess they think people are too brain dead to read what party the candidate is a part of? it's written directly under their name....
well, they'll be disappointed as i voted libertarian wherever there was one on the ballot. i realize this might cause some annoy some of my readers as well, but such is life. indiana's a primarily republican state, and i feel the republican candidates stand a pretty good chance of getting elected regardless of my puny vote. as such, it's far better spent raising awareness for the libertarian party. i realize there are some republicans and democrats that are more libertarian than their party, but none of those types were on my ballot so....
regardless of your political leanings, i would like to encourage anyone that's reading this to please go vote. i'm relatively certain my readers are educated enough to have a valid opinion so go make it heard.
the revolution continues today. let's hope it gets resolved before things get bloody.
the tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
- thomas jefferson
they will not force us
they will stop degrading us
they will not control us
we will be victorious
- muse the uprising
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