The Results are In…

While I make no secret of my political beliefs, I ordinarily try to shy away from outright endorsement of candidates. I used to think that politics was kind of like religion: something that’s a very important part of peoples’ lives, but something that’s bound to offend people if you talk about it much. Plus, I really don’t like to divulge too much in the way of significant personal information, and who I supported (or how I prayed) was no one’s business, I thought. But to me, my vote on January 8 is going to be one of the most important things I’ve ever done.

And I’m going to break with tradition and tell you who I’m voting for. I’m going to case my vote in the primary for Barack Obama. And I’d like to encourage you to do the same.

If you’d asked me a few years ago, I’d have told you that I was somewhat unhappy with politics. I was sad when Kerry lost the 2004 elections. But I’ve gone from “somewhat unhappy” to being truly afraid for the future of our country, and for being truly disgusted with some of the betrayals of the American people. I’ve been exploring jobs in other countries. Not because I want to send some sort of message that I don’t like politics, but because I don’t think I’m living in the America I was so proud to belong to. I hate alarmists, but, well, sound the alarm bells: America is in crisis.

Maybe about six years ago, I started getting disappointed every time I turned on the news. Something bad was always happening. And it’s happened every day for all these years. Most of the world hates us. Not all of it, but huge parts of it. While much of the world is already suspicious of our motives, we start a series of wars in Islamic countries and then go and issue proclamations expressing our support for Christianity. We seek to teach the “backwards” world about the benefits of freedom and democracy, by capturing them, transporting them to secret prisons, abusing them, and then torturing them in barbaric fashions. Does no one see the blatant hypocrisy? And when we point out that we already outlawed this, and that it flies in the face of everything that is America, we debate it. We’re at war against people who torture people and defy democracy, and we need to be able to torture people and defy democracy in order to do it, after all. The kings of democracy also have a whopping one state that permits same-sex marriage, something that more advanced countries have been permitting for years. And when we started calling it unconstitutional to deny people a basic civic right, we changed the Constitution in many states, and tried to change the Constitution. Forty-two states, and the Federal government, also passed laws explicitly prohibiting gay marriage.

When I graduate from college, I’ll have no health care until I get a job that offers it. But I count myself as lucky, because millions of people just don’t have health insurance at all. We tried to pass a bill ensuring that poor children could get health insurance, but we struck it down. Twice. We spend more than any nation on health care, and yet our system is among the worst. But people argue that there’s no problem, or that, if there is a problem, we shouldn’t pay for it.

Oh, and the American economy, kings of capitalism, is in the toilet. No offense to Canada, but it’s pretty depressing when the Canadian dollar surpasses the American dollar. We had an investment banker come in and talk to us a while back. He moved all of his money out of the country a few years ago.

I want to turn on the news and smile once. I want to stop looking at jobs in the Netherlands.

I want to be proud to be an American again.

I’ll admit that, at first, I didn’t want to support Obama. As much as he blew me away every time he spoke, I was really concerned about his lack of experience. Foreign policy is going to be huge, and he’s a one-term Senator. Why should he be the guy?

I think it’s the same reason that I’d be an amazing police chief, or an amazing president of my school. No, not hubris. Because he has a fresh experience. You spend too much time at something and you start to maintain status quo. Look at a lot of the businesses, especially small ones, that have been around for decades. What are they doing? Nothing new! Where are they going? Nowhere! They’ve built themselves a fabulous box in which to think, in which there’s really not a lot of room to maneuver. They found something that works and stuck to it. But this box–these blinders–prevent change. It’ll help you keep things going, but it won’t help you change the direction things are going on.

And if there’s anything we need, it’s change.

But don’t take my word for it. While I strongly support him, you owe it to do your own homework. Check him out. Read about his stance on the issues. And, living in New Hampshire, go see him speak. I always go in with high expectations and leave with them surpassed. And I’m firmly convinced that he’s the right man for the job. We’re not picking some arbitrary thing. We’re choosing our fate for the next four years. And we have an obligation–not just to ourselves, to our neighbors, and to the world, but to future generations–to make sure we elect the best person for the job.

If Facebook Voted…

Top Presidential candidates, and their current number of supporters on Facebook:

  • Barack Obama, 174,650
  • Hillary Clinton, 56,935
  • Ron Paul, 45,906
  • John Edwards, 26,255
  • Mitt Romney, 23,155
  • Fred Thompson, 19,311
  • Dennis Kucinich, 18,587
  • Mike Huckabee, 17,161
  • McCain, 15,320
  • Rudy, 13,043

The numbers are interesting. Obviously, this isn’t a scientific poll, but I think it’s useful as a straw poll of where young people come down. And Obama is dominating, with about three times the support of his next rival, Clinton. Ron Paul is close on her heels.

And then there’s a huge gap, with Edwards at the front. I’m somewhat surprised to learn that Romney is right behind him, and even more surprised that Fred Thompson is next on the list. No offense to him, but I’d never considered him a viable candidate. He just slightly nudged out Kucinich, who’s about as likely to win as Thompson in my mind. Rudy and McCain, who I’d thought would be front-runners, are way down at the bottom. (Technically, it’s not the bottom, but I left off people way down there… Poor Richardson, who I would vote for in a heartbeat, has 8,272 supporters.)

Of course, we know that young people have the least voters of any age demographic… But imagine if we changed that this election. I hope to.

The Definition of a Game

I’ve been playing Team Fortress 2 a bit lately. Not so much now that finals are here, but it’s a fun way to pass the time. When the mood strikes, I’ll sign on and play one of a few different classes of people… I’m usually either Pyro or Engineer. As Pyro, I go around with a flamethrower. It’s a good weapon, as it sets enemy forces on fire. It’s also the only sure-fire (no pun intended) way to see if someone who looks like a teammate is actually a spy disguised as a teammate: if they burn, they’re a spy. So I’ll run through my own team with the flamethrower periodically, since it’ll only damage enemies. As Engineer, I set up teleporters, so people that die and respawn can get to the front lines faster to keep up the attack. I also set up Dispensers, which dispense health points and ammunition. And, my favorite, the sentry guns, automated guns (which I usually upgrade to include rocket launchers), letting us cover areas without having to be there. They’re a good way to protect our assets.

The process of going through and doing all of this, to defend against enemies, is really fun. And, even though it’s just a game, there’s a certain sense of accomplishment when we capture the enemy bases.

Last night, I installed a new piece of software on my server, a web-based file manager. They have a wiki (powered by MediaWiki, the Wikipedia software), but it was overrun with spam. So I signed up and started reverting back to spam-free versions. It’s a skill I picked up on Wikipedia, and it’s super-easy. In about 20 minutes time, I wiped out weeks, sometimes months, of spam. As time went on, I took out more and more. This morning they made me an admin, and I’m now deleting spam accounts, blocking persistent spam IPs, and deleting pages that are nothing but spam.

Is this a game? Volunteer work? Work? I’m not sure, but I’m getting at least as much enjoyment out of it as I get from setting enemies ablaze in Team Fortress 2. And I’m actually accomplishing something.

Is Congress Insane?

There are a lot of issues that I really understand both sides of. Most anything with money will benefit some at the expense of others. I don’t think gun control or drug policy have “clean” answers: I’m not at all comfortable banning guns, but I’m not at all comfortable allowing felons to own automatic weapons; I don’t get why smoking marijuana is a crime, but I’m not at all opposed to putting heroin dealers in jail. And I still struggle with the issue of abortion.

But there have been some really strange things going on…

  • In 2006, the military established a policy manual describing what was–and what wasn’t–an acceptable interrogation method. In particular, it banned:
    • Forcing detainees to be nude for interrogations
    • Engaging in sexual acts, real or simulated
    • “Beating, shocking, or burning” them
    • Mock executions
    • Waterboarding
    • Starving or freezing them

    In my mind, this is a no-brainer. We’re not some backwards third-world nation led by a cruel military dictator. (Well, snide comments aside…) We’re the freaking United States of America, and we pride ourself on being ‘advanced’ past barbarism. The 2006 military policy confirmed this.

  • A bill that would require the CIA to follow the same rules got struck down in Congress. Of course, don’t be so quick to fault Congress–if it had made it through, the Administration said it would veto it anyway.
  • So what did Congress pass? I’m glad you asked! The House passed House Resolution 847. It’s a non-binding resolution, which is a nice way of saying that it’s utterly pointless and carries no weight. It contains lots of feel-good stuff endorsing Christmas. But a lot of people seem troubled by the fact that it also “recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world.” I mean, I’m a Christian, and, if you define “great” in terms of numbers as opposed to quality, it’s a fact that Christianity is one of the “great religions.” But I’m still left with an uneasy feeling about this. Even if “it’s true,” why is Congress giving Christianity its stamp of approval? It just seems really strange. And our Founding Fathers were uneasy about it, too. (Of course, the First Amendment bans Congress from establishing a religion, not endorsing it. But a case from the 80’s gives us a clarification that government endorsement of a religion still construes an Establishment Clause violation.)
    But of course it’s a moot point, because the First Amendment starts off with “make no law,” and this isn’t a law. It’s a Resolution. And it doesn’t really do anything except proclaim to the world that the United States likes Christianity. And frankly, I’d like it if our proclamations to the world were kept in line with our Constitution.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not against Christianity. I just find it really, really weird that Congress is endorsing it. Especially when half the world thinks we’re in a war against Islam, where endorsing Christianity is only going to further that misinterpretation?

Raise your hand if you think that Congress has lots its mind!

Guantanamo Bay

With all the talk about the torture in Guantanamo Bay, it’s easy to lose sight of another fact that I still find really strange.

It’s in Cuba. We’re renting the space from them, despite an embargo on trade with their country.

Why don’t we move it somewhere else, even if it’s just over to the Dominican Republic or something of the sort? I just find it really bizarre that we’re paying them (and that they’re taking our money) when they’re our sworn enemies. Why are we in Cuba?

A Suggestion

Dear News Media,

Please stop covering senseless shootings. They just make people depressed and encourage more people to do it. Sure, it assures you more material to cover, but we prefer a world where people don’t get shot for no reason. And dear jerks on the Interwebs: when someone gets shot in senseless violence, it’s really in poor taste to spin their deaths into an argument in favor of free open carry laws.

Sincerely,

The World

Misery

Tonight Oprah and Obama spoke at the Verizon Center. I went, both as a fan (of Obama, not Oprah) and to try to get some great shots.

I’ve heard Obama speak before. He’s really good. I went in tonight with Obama being my likely pick, but with Edwards still having some chance, and with the idea that Richardson would rock, too, but that he doesn’t stand a chance right now. I came out convinced that, without a doubt, Obama’s my guy.

Oprah also turned out to be an amazing speaker. I generally don’t have anything positive to say about TV celebrities, but she turned out to be great. She spoke about how, when she’s not on TV, she’ll often say, “Somebody should do something about that…” to all the things wrong in America right now. So, for the first time in her career, she stepped up and endorsed a political candidate, the one she thinks will “do something about that” to all our contemporary problems.

Michelle Obama spoke, too. Granted, she’s biased, but she had nothing but good things to say about her husband. She spoke about how when she first met him, they were both lawyers. While she was focused on wanting to be the next millionaire with her law degree, Obama received his degree and then went into destitute, rural areas to help.

And of course, Obama spoke. While he called himself the third-best of the three when it comes to speaking, his speech didn’t disappoint. Hearing him talk almost gives me goosebumps. I’m so focused on all that’s wrong with America: millions don’t have health care (as soon as I graduate from college, I’ll join the ranks of the uninsured), we keep botching things like Katrina, maybe because all of our National Guard / military is tied up with Iraq’s civil war. Our economy heads further south and shows no signs of stopping…

But when he talks, I suddenly have a vision of what America should be: veterans coming back from Iraq receiving a hero’s welcome and receiving veteran’s benefits, restored relations with the world community, health care for everyone*, the end of a pointless war, and the end of the clash between blue states and red states–a United States, if you will.

So why is my post entitled Misery? Because my camera died.

Here’s Cameron, a 10-year-old student, reading a letter to Obama, imploring him to provide more aid to the autistic:

10 year old!

He received (much-deserved!) hearty applause.

NH Governor John Lynch

There’s our beloved John Lynch addressing the crowd. We were near the back of the Verizon Center, so we didn’t have the best angle, but I knew from past experience that Senator Obama was very cognizant of the fact that the crowd wasn’t just directly in front of him, so he would turn around and make sure all the crowd got his attention. So I was excited. Obama would surely come around to the other side of the podium at some point, and I’d get some great shots. The lighting was good enough that I was getting 1/100 and better shutter speeds at ISO800 (on a slow f/5.6 lens); the only thing I could have wished for was a faster lens to throw the background out of focus a bit more. But I was golden. A lot of people say photography’s all about light. To me, it’s all about angles. And we’ve all seen head-on shots of politicians. They’re boring. I had a good perch.

So, you might ask, where are all the shots of Oprah, or Michelle and Barack Obama?

Err 99. Canon’s catch-all error message.

For a lot of people, it’s a bad connection between the camera and the contacts on the lens. For others, it’s a CF card error. But I tried it all in vain. I “reseated” the lens. No luck. I tried taking a shot with no lens. No luck. I tried shooting without a CF card. (That wouldn’t do me much good, but it’d tell me if the CF card was the problem.) Still Err 99. I tried reseating the battery, which apparently sometimes resolves the error. No luck. I even took the battery out and removed the little CMOS battery. No luck.

All indications are that it’s the worst possible fate: a shutter problem. There do look to be some small scratches on the shutter, although I wasn’t about to stick my hand in and try. (Because then it’s guaranteed to become a shutter problem…) The shutter isn’t really user-serviceable. Taking the camera apart is very involved. You have to send it back to Canon, for what’s apparently a $200 repair.

Is this a sign that I should get the Rebel XTi I’ve been eying? Or just a sign that I should give up photography?

The worst part, though, wasn’t sitting there knowing that my pride and joy of a camera had just become little more than a paperweight. It was knowing that I was missing some great shots. Initially, I kept just powering it back off and on trying to get some good shots. As Obama walked out, there was a huge sign blocking a lot of people from seeing him as he walked out. So he ducked down and waved underneath the sign. I had a nice, clear shot, and was at 1/100. I clicked the shutter. If all I had gone well, I’d have held it down and gotten three off in rapid succession, ensuring that at least one came out well. But all didn’t go well. Err 99. I got nothing.

A bit later on, he was speaking, and I noticed that Michelle Obama had her arm across Oprah’s back as they sat there. 200mm was just enough length to just about fill the frame with the two of them and Barack at the podium to the left. Err 99.

I spent a long while trying to see if I could resuscitate it, but eventually gave up.

* Before you fault this for the cost, consider that we’re spending many, many billions more than any nation in the world. As President Clinton remarked last month, if we were to put all the other country’s health care systems up on a board, throw a dart and pick whatever it hit, we’d save billions. And yet, despite paying billions more than we should be, we can’t even cover everyone!

The Time…

I’m pretty OCD and thus run an NTP server on this server. (It should respond to any hostname on this box.) Despite the server being in Texas, I keep the timezone set to EST.

So here’s a page displaying the time. Granted, having a clock that’s accurate down to a fraction of a second (synced to the atomic clock) is no longer that impressive. But tell me you’ve never wished for an easy way to find the correct time… Now you know.