field marshall hrádek

Oh man do people whine. Ted Kennedy has been in office for 50 years (probably just riding out the nation's sympathy for the horrible murders of his brothers) and now that an independent State and free peoples elect a Republican to Congress and the hissing and stench of hate emit from the generally leftist circles of the Internet; Facebook and the various comments to the story on various news outlets.

We want change! No you don't. You want your agenda to enslave the country to your naive understanding of politics, history, and flawed human character. If people understood even a speck of that I think they'd be in for less government and more personal responsibility. Health care reform only needs to happen because government meddled in health care in the first place. See how the billions of dollars we've all paid into Social Security have been managed? Horribly. Do not expect otherwise from government.

Last night I had a jam session with Koa (drums) and his buddy Pat (guitar). It was flippin' awesome. I busted out my laptop, used my midi controller, and played some wicked organ, piano, and crazy techno bass lines and sounds to create almost two hours of intense Trash Rock Trance Lounge music. It was rage fun and we really had a good time. We played around with some chord progressions, styles, rhythms, and melodies. It took me a little while to set up but once I did it was on. The guys are just awesome. We practiced at Evolution in Bellevue. Since it isn't going to be often the $6.50 a person for 2 hours seems reasonable.

Last night I finally got my copy of Panzer Tactics for the DS. The reviews give it a low score but I kind of expect it in today's game market. It's a pure throwback to the old SSI Panzer General series. I played for a little bit last night. Very good indeed!

Transaction Total: Mocha with tax $3.13

Male barista: Would you like a receipt?
I: Yes, please.
Male barista: Wouldn't want to overdraft. (uncomfortable moment of silence as he realizes the idiotic slam he just made) I mean, I wouldn't either.
I: Every bit counts.

I guess I was taken aback a bit. It doesn't matter if it was a few cents or a thousand dollars. I want my receipt. Perhaps a majority of people have a laizzes-faire attitude towards money; I'm not one of them. I know what he was insinuating and it's incredibly lame. What a cock gobbler.

I voted, did you?

A famous scene from the 1976 film called "Network" which has caught my attention (which mow I need to borrow and watch) while watching Zeitgeist: Addendum. The first, I would say, 30 minutes of Addendum is a fairly factual explanation of our central bank system but then the entire thing fall apart into a conspiracist New World Order rant ultimately advertising The Venus Project. The movie is simply a drive for humanism attempting to illegitimate faith and truth.

If anything I'd watch it just to familiarize yourself with the way our monetary system works. Like the criticisms I have read so far, the entire Zeitgeist thing brings up good facts and things to discuss and ponder but ultimately some of the stuff is misrepresenting and the eventual collectivist solution is just more "... of the disease itself."

I've been making an effort to make time to do things other than work, commute, vegetate, and sleep. I've had mediocre success in that some days I will spend the night playing with the kids and having dinner with them and then other days when I plop down in front of my computer and play Navy Field. Incidentally I have been able to finally purchase the heavy cruiser (CA) Admiral Hipper and then refit it to the CA Prinz Eugen. It's been a challenge to play the Kreigsmarine (KMS) in that game in that this particular faction uses the shoot and scoot tactic a lot. Unlike the British faction which has decent armor and fire power the KMS is more distant precision strike type game play. Anyway, it has been really fun.

Not to overload you with media but here is something a little less filthy, a little less dirty, but good none the less, Betty Boo & Jack Rokka - Take Off (Digital Dog Dub):

So after a while you need to watch this commentary by the folks at South Park to the Indiana Jones IV movie that came out recently. It's fantastic and mirrors my thoughts about what Lucas and Spielberg did that that series. I realize that the subject is horrible but I and everyone at the office couldn't help but laugh... uncomfortably.

More work has been getting done on my revamp of that troublesome web application. I've been meeting with people to see what all needs to get done to make it stable and secure. I think I have a pretty good grasp on the problem and how to fix it.

We're moving into the final staging of selling our home in Bremerton. The final documents have been sent to our lender and everything appears to be lining up. The buyers are eager to buy our home and they even offered to take our cat.

I ordered this backpack today. I think carrying around my monster laptop will be a lot easier. On the other hand, it has been quite nice traveling to work with nothing more than my umbrella.

I have been listening to a lot of music lately. I have been traveling through the channels of DI.FM. I subscribed to the service. It's a mere $7 a month and at 192 Kbps its a lot nicer than the usual 128 stuff on most larger streaming radio stations. However, there are a few good ones I have regularly been visiting. Rautemusic.fm, Radio FG, and HHUK to name a few. I have been getting into a style of music called "Electro-House". The melody is driven by the bass line and is often a saw or... It's hard to explain but the WikiPedia has a couple samples. Oh, and Björk has a song/video "Declare Independence" that drives me awesome:

I am not a big fan of hers but once in a while things she does are interesting. Alfa-Matrix has been a fantastic record label. I like a lot of the stuff they release.

As usual lots of stuff is going on. There is a credit/market crisis of sorts. It's hard to muddle through the details but it appears that a few key legislations that were enacted after the previous Great Depression were repealed by President Clinton, a democrat. With large institutions collapsing all around us and the government dropping the federal interest rate to near record lows things look bad in terms of a recession or even better, the once a hundred years correction; a depression. If the price of goods inflates past the increase in wages, then even us consumers have things to worry about. The price of gas is now hovering around $3.45 a gallon which is also affected things like the price of groceries and our willingness to drive. I had a thought the other day about this insane drive with things "Green". I wonder if eventually private land use will be abolished in the name of being environmentally conscious. After all, its the moral thing to do. No, not really.

It's Friday and I am beat. A week of riding the bus has taken the toll on me.

Interesting that CNN, BBC, MSNBC and even FOX make no mention of our government's recent move to attempt to further restrict "tyrannical government and law breaker defense devices" yet its mentioned on the front page of the Al Jazeera website. The law itself is not particularly bad, but the lack of mention is peculiar.

There are a few things that I have heard and seen that are bothersome. Every generation has its push towards passing or allowing certain social, legislative, or economic changes. Women's Suffrage and Civil Rights are two examples of how good can come of some of these things. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) which, for example, allows you one writ in federal court and you're done whether new evidence shows up after that original writ was submitted or you just had a crappy lawyer. Messing with habeas corpus is not an option... ever. The Assault Weapons Ban of two years prior was also completely illegal and proved itself absolutely ineffective. These two solid examples are of some bad legislation.

The point I am making is that whenever something happens that gets a lot of people attention this huge ball gets rolling. Sometimes the ball gets rolling quickly as in the case of the events surrounding the World Trade Center tower destruction. Suddenly there is a new class of people called terrorists with no habeas corpus around the globe. Many countries group everyone who is a rebel, criminal, or whatever "undesirable" as a terrorist thereby imprisoning and torturing them indefinitely. What a wonderful precedent we have set for the world. This is one example of how using emotionalism and short sighted wisdom to make massive policy changes can affect all of mankind for decades to come. It seems like a couple more attacks and we may as well call all civil liberties a delusion used to incite terrorist attacks. I am digressing.

This massive push for sweeping changes is widespread and some of it is less consequential than other changes. More subtle changes are just as worrisome. For example, a recent NPR story examines a report that current generations are not doing as well financially as previous generations. The reasons for this are numerous but we have had conservatives spoon feeding us their policies now for almost thirty years it is no wonder that the financial climate for the average person is much more difficult than before. All these large corporations have been lobbying for stricter bankruptcy laws, tax breaks for themselves, consolidation of media outlets; the list goes on. These corporations which are run by the richest 1% of our country generally have one thing in mind: increase in revenues to report to their shareholders. That is all that matters. If I bought a steel pump for my tires 30 years ago, I would still have it today. Nowadays, I have to buy a new pump every year or two because the plastic breaks. And, figuring inflation in, I am still paying more for today's lesser quality pump!

Speaking of economics, I love hearing about how there is this huge crisis with Social Security. Nate and I were discussing how the outgoing generation will be the most massive injection to the US treasury in the history of our country. These folks have billions of dollars in 401(k)s, taxable IRAs, stocks; you name it. All of these securities will be taxed through the nose. They will be virtually paying for their health and Social Security costs and then some. So why has our President and others in our leadership blown the horn so hard on this everyone is freaking out about how Social Security is dead? Isn't it interesting how over the last 7 years a huge pallet of century's worth of social and civil progress is reversed all in the name of funding and managing a war and said terrorists? The money will not be there because our regime in D.C. is spending it all. We just got done paying off the Spanish-American War last year.

I am surprised by the effectiveness of the media and how crafty sources are to bending public opinion to fill some agenda under the guise of doing good. Until we invaded Iraq, there were no Al Qaeda operating there because Hussein hated them and other fundamentalists. Now the place is crawling with them and we are being told if we don't fight them there they will attack us here. How does any of this make sense when the fellas who attacked us were from a supposed ally Saudi Arabia? So much rhetoric and "wag the dog" manipulation goes on it sickens me.

Oh, and everyone has a problem with conservatives and Republicans. I am not going to defend them but after listening to some of the Democrats and liberals spout their version of the same thing it seems that politicians as a whole have no idea what they are doing. After seeing the Democrats pass this last spending bill virtually allowing this highly unpopular war (never mind foreign and domestic legality) to continue, it seems that there won't be an end to any of this in years to come. Democrats or liberals are, in my opinion, as much as a poison to our country as the conservative junta currently running the show. It is never either of these that pass anything good for the greater people in our country. It is more those progressives which have change in mind. Why do our leaders insist on declaring unwinable wars? Supposed war on drugs, terrorism, what is next? To wrap all this up, I guess what I am trying to say is, it is very hard to pick through all the garbage we see and hear. Every ounce of it has been tainted by agenda, policy, and whatever else. How do we actively participate as voters and peaceful protesters when seemingly everything we think we know can be potentially false? A mustard seed of truth is magnified, exploited, and processed into something capable of so much harm and misinformation. It is a wonder how anyone not privy to these machinations can possibly interpret them to put into action the necessary means to counter them.

The recent scandal at the World Bank regarding Paul Wolfowitz has been interesting. After all, he has been credited with the architecture of the Iraq war and he is an upper echelon figure in the Bush regime. I wonder, how can a man with such a position make a mistake so silly as to give a raise and promotion to someone he is close to? It is definitely improper and should have resulted in his immediate dismissal but never mind the media frenzy surrounding the general details of the situation. My wonder is about the reasoning for such an action of such a important contemporary political figure. The conflict of interest was obvious. The explanation was easy. The result was careful.

The bigger question is whether or not this is part of a larger redirection of media. Right now our government is passing a spending bill to help Israel with a 504 billion dollar missile defense shield. Perhaps as Tony Blair resigns he will be installed as the next World Bank president given the convenient timing of events. Perhaps the sweeping immigration reforms are being convoluted in the news.

The end result is that this architect of preemptive aggression leaves his current post virtually unharmed. Sure, his reputation may be affected, but his job is done.

UPDATE: Although Tony Blair was not chosen for the new post at the world bank, President Bush is recommending Robert Zoellick. I remain suspicious and we will have to watch closely what will transpire in the coming months. He is currently an executive at Goldman Sachs and has history at Fanny Mae and other institutions which will definitely help in securing him a position at the world bank. He is, however, very high up in the Bush regime's hierarchy having been second to Ms. Rice. I guess I will have to do some digging around and see what this means for the World Bank.

When Oliver Stone spoke in Spain this week, I could not agree with him more. It is such a shame that our regime in Washington D.C. continues to use fear to pass the most terrible legislation. Now practically anyone in the U.S., legal or illegal, can be imprisoned for any reason, held indefinitely and not allowed to even know the charges. Suspending such fundamental legal principles such as habeas corpus in the name of fear is a sad day for us all. So much blood was spilt to ensure secret trials and arrests were outlawed. I wonder why those Senators caved in to the great satan's wishes. Praise to Hugo Chavez and others who are willing to stand up to this government. People of the world, my government does not represent the will of the majority of Americans and most certainly not me.

What is even scarier than this is the way the situation was handled. The Supreme Court says no, your practices are illegal in terms of the Constitution and the Geneva Convention. Bush's reply? Fine, I will just pass a law making it legal (Well, its still illegal but it is the fact that he is doing whatever he pleases). The whole affair is silly. This neo-conservative movement is just about dead. Their theories on conquering and forcing the world to submit to their versions of democracy are null. Iraq and Afghanistan have turned into quagmires. Every time in our nations history something happens like September 11th that scares people to legislate themselves out of freedom. Every time we regret it and prove that doing these things was not worth the false sense of security they granted.

Oh and the rhetoric has started up again. Democrats are soft on terrorists. They do not support their troops by bringing them home. Well this sort of one sided you-are-with-us-or-against-us super patriotism is our worst enemy. Let us stop our hypocritical ways. Let us stop abiding by a plutocratic system. Let us start behaving like Americans.

I am so tired of seeing stickers on cars that are stupid. The ones I am talking about are the big annoying ones that proclaim the name brand of the car the person is in. Now before I go on I will admit I was once this stupid too but I have reformed and corrected my erroneous ways.

I see these kids drive around in their Honda and a giant Honda sticker on their rear window. Every time I see this kind of crap no matter the brand I say to myself, "Is that...? No. Can't be. Really? A.... Honda? Wait! It's a Honda? Really? Are you sure? Honda. Okay... Naw.... You know, I think they're right. It's a Honda. Yep. It is. That decal on their window matches the symbol on their trunk and their hood ornament. Cool! I wasn't sure if it was a Honda. Those symbols are so hard to see from so close in this traffic." Well, not everytime but you get the point.

See how ridiculous that is? If it was something interesting like the name of their clan, some game, or a club they are into I'd be okay with it. But re-affirming the name brand of the vehicle you are in seems so pointless. If it was, say, an Astin Martin I could understand a sticker that says "Astin Martin: Look at me I'm filthy rich and you're not." but a Honda or Hyundai or Ford or Chevy or whatever isn't really that impressive. It's not like I sit in traffic for an hour everyday and haven't seen your brand and model and color sixteen times already today.

Besides, cars are simply a way to get from point A to B. Comfort is important and some luxuries are allowable but some levels of pride in inanimate objects are just strange.