Local Forums

For local residents of Rochester and surrounding areas, I encourage participation in the following sites' forums:

http://www.rochesterwatch.com
http://www.collegeconservative.com

Quoting MARK From RochesterWatch.com

Congratulations on advancing the cause of socialism. Rochester is like a guy collecting welfare and driving a Cadillac. And now he wants to get a loan to put in a swimming pool. Try and explain to him how he might benefit by giving up some of his toys.

Well said, sir.

http://www.rochesterwatch.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2488

NO CONFIDENCE!

Last night, at nearly midnight, the Rochester's 9-Member City Council voted against the request and recommendation of incoming mayor-elect Robert Duffy, Rochester's former Police Chief. Duffy had asked the council to hold off voting to approve an $11.5M bond issue to cover explosive and disgusting debt incurred by the failing and pathetic Fast Ferry service newly running from Rochester to Toronto. The bonds were proposed by outgoing Mayor Bill Johnson, who has long stood atop a soap box of legacy-building that has done nothing but further coat our poor city in more muck and debt. It seems that Johnson, due to abdicate the office in just over a week and a half, has decided to force his legacy of failure upon the city and its citizens - and through the City Council, the incoming mayor as well. The boat was promised to run at a near-profit for the first several years, and then enter The Black soon after. Last year, the ferry's second year of operation, the boat's operation netted over $10M in debt, a disgusting and pathetic waste of taxpayer money that not one taxpayer had a WORD to say about.

Though the vote was 7-2 (Mr. Wade Norwood impressively being one of the two dissenting), and though the council "compromised" by agreeing not to make the legislation "effective" until 1/5/06, the effect is the same - the existing City Council took an exceptionally-worded and polite request from the incoming mayor to hold off voting on such a /gigantic/ debt allocation until his administration could review and approve it once in office... and wiped themselves with it before throwing it into the Gennessee.

Manners, respect, and diligent consideration have left the government of the City of Rochester. Though Mr. Duffy has conquered Rochester's engine of destruction and is soon to take it over, he's shown only politeness and no backbone in the run-up to his switch with Johnson. Politeness and a tight lip only go so far in our world, apparently, and respectfully 'asking' the City Council to give his new administration the chance to create the 11.5M dollar legislation for themselves apparently had little effect on the hearts and minds of these administrative and beuracratic fools.

It'd be one thing, if the ferry investment had ANY chance of solvency.

But even with the Ferry's new rates, even higher than previous rates few could already afford, there's simply no mathematical or realistic chance! The boat rarely ran more than 1/3 full, and with higher rates can't possibly hope to do better this coming year. With few Canadians even bothering with the machine, the floating nightmare merely serves as a conveyance for Rochesterians and their money to the Socialists to our North.


Though the climate of 'Western New York' is far too harsh for Jen and myself to ever settle here and hope to raise a family, I have for years taken strong emotional stock in the progress (HA) of our Great City (HA!). I've watched Bill Johnson hack with dull blades at the finances, commerce, debt-solvency, and PEOPLE of this proud region in the name of nothing more than the fool's LEGACY. And, all this from a man who already has a guaranteed teaching job with my own school, RIT. The moron babboon of a fool will actually be responsible for teaching students in the future, and that alone frightens me.

Unless Mr. Duffy is somehow able to dissolve this legislation before it becomes final on 1/5, and unless he is somehow otherwise able to stabilize and turn around a city so close to falling off the proverbial pier of reality and solvency - even as the city attempts legislation to circumvent state debt-limitation laws - there'd be no chance I'd ever want to live here and start a family that would soon be subject to the rampant insanity in which this city steeps. Forget the weather... this is just plain nuts.

Graduation, then we're gone, folks.

Voice In The Dark

I feel, so often, like I'm the only person who notices. Today, various news outlets reported that Iran's "hard-line" president has banned Western influences like music and other media.

Have you all forgotten your history? Has the entire world forgotten the hellish evils of Adolf Hitler, Mussoulini, and the Japanese of World War II? Have we (you) become so deluded by senseless demands of worldwide peace that you've noticed there are people who don't CARE that you want to be peaceful?

These people, all of them, would kill you merely for breathing. They wouldn't shoot you in the head, either - they would use a dulled hacksaw to RIP your head from your shoulders with as much blood and screaming and tearing of YOUR flesh as possible, while they LAUGH at your pain.

Yeah - maybe Western music has nothing to offer. But most societies allow their citizens to choose what is and is not senseless for themselves. That this man has pulled the cinch-strings on his society, and makes advances towards militant islam EVERY SINGLE DAY has apparently escaped everyone. Are you going to give this despot the "benefit of the doubt?" And if so, at what point will you WAKE UP?

He's going to build his nuclear reactors. Then, he'll finish his nuclear warheads. Then, he'll complete a few chemical warheads. With those in hand, Adolf Hitler's regime will suddenly PALE in comparison to the absolute power this one (ONE) fucking man will wield. He will have the power to completely and utterly destroy any country within firing range of any rocket he can get his hands on... and we won't be far behind.

Without a missile defense system, we're back to the cold-war, with a fire-and-I'll-fire-back mentality... waiting for the newest force of evil on our planet to decide it's time for Christians to die, to decide that he's ready to die in our return volley and NOT CARE... because he'll have killed US and made his peace with his god.

History may be boring, at times... but forget it, and you're bound to repeat the same mistakes over and over and over... until you're dead.

Pure, Public Evil

The current president of Iran is the embodiment of Adolf Hitler. FoxNews sub-headline quoted:

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as "a myth" and suggested that Israel be moved to Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska."

This, after he suggested, quite literally, that the entirety of Israel be "wiped from the map." He refers to "Zionist Regimes" (a favorite LITERAL quote from Adolf Hitler himself) often. He continues to forcefully push the country's Nuclear program.

Iran supplies and shelters terrorists.

Iran is the evil child down the street who blows up cats with fireworks. Shake your head and say "poor shame" all you want, until he grows just a bit bigger, and you find him one evening in your living room pointing a shotgun at your face.

Hitler took over an entire country, and then most of a continent because the world looked the other way. Open your fucking eyes!

Air Marshals and Morons Without Medication

One: The man screamed repeatedly that he had a bomb.
Two: The man refused to stop, to slow, or to calm down.
Three: The man did these things while on a docked but FULL airliner at an international airport.
Four: The man was shot, repeatedly until dead, by Federal Air Marshals.

One, two, and three are "actions."
Four is a consequence of those actions. Period.

Then: The man is found to be 'bipolar' and had apparently not taken his medication.

Irrelevant. Without medication and standing as a 'potential threat,' it is solely the responsibility of the man and his wife to prevent his boarding the plane. Knowing he'd failed to take required medication, it is HIS FAULT for boarding the plane under circumstances he could not handle.

Response "what if he didn't know?" is also irrelevant. If you're bipolar, you are a threat to yourself and others under stressful and dangerous circumstances such as being packed into an airliner with little room to move or breathe. Stay off the plane.

If you flip out on a plane, Federal Marshals will watch you very carefully. If you flip out AND say the word "BOMB," you will be SHOT. Period.

Why? Because the moment the Marshals do NOT shoot someone that does these things is the moment 9/11 has the potential to be repeated. PERIOD.

The man made choices, and he and his wife were thus subject to the consequences of his actions. Welcome to life, folks.

VOLUNTARY Software Endorsement

If you use Windows, and are tired of the 'usual' look and feel, I'd like to suggest the following programs. I've used them now for several weeks, both on a traveling laptop and a powerful server. All programs have performed PHENOMENALLY on both platforms, and I'm SO impressed with them that I've decided to endorse them officially...

1. StarDock Windowblinds - This can be acquired via BitTorrent, purchasing it from StarDock, or asking me for my copy. It's relatively small (only a few MB), and skins windows almost completely without the performance drags of apps like StyleXP.
2. Rainy's "RainMeter" - An AMAZING system monitoring application. It's got a teensy footprint (about half the size of a running AIM process, at about 9MB resident), and is POWERFULLY extensible via plugins and skins. My server is running a powerful series of plugins that constantly monitor all mounted disks, all forms of memory, and everything else I want to know about network and system. My laptop, on the other hand, is running a super-simplified single skin/plugin for RainMeter that sits way back on the desktop layer and monitors only the criticals... but does so wonderfully.
3. Rainy's "Rainlender" - A very similarly-simple and equally-powerful calendar and scheduling program. View options allow 'on top', 'normal', and 'desktop' layering options, keeping it either in your face or out of your way. Rainlender is equally as skinnable as rainmeter, and has some REALLY neat options for visually organizing your schedule. Rainlender also offers a 'server' option, which allows you to keep one primary 'calendar' on a windows or linux server, and instantly synchronize it to a mobile device w/ access to the 'net. Even just a home workstation can be a server, and with a firewall port opened and IP restricted can allow you to keep rainlender on your laptop and synchronize it anytime you want from your home machine. TRY IT, and see how freaking simple and awesome it is.
   
4. Skinning site - www.customize.org is a phenomenal resource for nearly ANY kind of skin. Included are skins for all three applications listed above, as well as almost anything else skinnable that you can think of. Try it out, once you've got the software above.

Google will help you find any of the above programs. Rainy's programs are both open-source free downloads, with binaries precompiled for windows.

VOLUNTARY Software Endorsement

If you use Windows, and are tired of the 'usual' look and feel, I'd like to suggest the following programs. I've used them now for several weeks, both on a traveling laptop and a powerful server. All programs have performed PHENOMENALLY on both platforms, and I'm SO impressed with them that I've decided to endorse them officially...

1. StarDock Windowblinds - This can be acquired via BitTorrent, purchasing it from StarDock, or asking me for my copy. It's relatively small (only a few MB), and skins windows almost completely without the performance drags of apps like StyleXP.
2. Rainy's "RainMeter" - An AMAZING system monitoring application. It's got a teensy footprint (about half the size of a running AIM process, at about 9MB resident), and is POWERFULLY extensible via plugins and skins. My server is running a powerful series of plugins that constantly monitor all mounted disks, all forms of memory, and everything else I want to know about network and system. My laptop, on the other hand, is running a super-simplified single skin/plugin for RainMeter that sits way back on the desktop layer and monitors only the criticals... but does so wonderfully.
3. Rainy's "Rainlender" - A very similarly-simple and equally-powerful calendar and scheduling program. View options allow 'on top', 'normal', and 'desktop' layering options, keeping it either in your face or out of your way. Rainlender is equally as skinnable as rainmeter, and has some REALLY neat options for visually organizing your schedule. Rainlender also offers a 'server' option, which allows you to keep one primary 'calendar' on a windows or linux server, and instantly synchronize it to a mobile device w/ access to the 'net. Even just a home workstation can be a server, and with a firewall port opened and IP restricted can allow you to keep rainlender on your laptop and synchronize it anytime you want from your home machine. TRY IT, and see how freaking simple and awesome it is.
   
4. Skinning site - www.customize.org is a phenomenal resource for nearly ANY kind of skin. Included are skins for all three applications listed above, as well as almost anything else skinnable that you can think of. Try it out, once you've got the software above.

Google will help you find any of the above programs. Rainy's programs are both open-source free downloads, with binaries precompiled for windows.

'tis the season!

I'm REALLY easy to shop for...

Definition of a Conservative - My Views On Roe v Wade

Number one - I have personally experienced the benefits of abortion. Further details are none of your business, and I'll be grossly offended if you even ask. Suffice it to say that I am pro-abortion, and believe strongly in personal rights.

Number two - I am a conservative. Conservatives, at their most fundamental, believe in smaller federal government and a focus towards the States and personal responsibility. I am strongly against ANY extended-welfare system, nationalized healthcare, and any other socialist program.

Number three - The Supreme Court IS NOT empowered to create law. The decision of Roe v Wade, granting national rights to abortion, grants them via the federal government by way of the supreme court. By the constitution and foundation of our country - by the extensive writings of James Madison and other framers of our country's foundation - the federal government should serve to KNIT TOGETHER the seperate states into a greater nation. The federal government is a runaway entity that has proven unable to control its own spending, among other things. Most importantly, the federal government MUST exist, but must also be directly limited... and it's not.

Number four, and finally - States-Rights are the default. If there exists no law for a particular need, it is the responsibility of the States to enact legislation to govern that need. Why? Because every state is different - landscapes, people, cultures. Even though we're all Americans, we are ALL different.

Federal drug statutes fall into this same category - it is NOT the job of the federal government to tell any citizen what he or she may consume to take the edge off at the end of the day. Instead, it should be left to the states. If, for instance, I lived in Texas and my state were to ban the smoking of Marijuana, but California did not - then if I would like to smoke Marijuana legally, I could move to California. However, I would ALSO be far from my rights to BITCH because Texas had made it illegal, because there'd be another state that allows me to be a proud American AND smoke what I want. Plus, who am I to force my smoking views on others in my state?? Just as badly as I may want to smoke something, others may desperately NOT want to... and it's just as much their right as mine to get what they want. So SPLIT controversial issues by STATES RIGHTS, and allow regions of the same country to have differing laws on topics that ALREADY split our population. Stop making people FIGHT over things at a federal level where few if any can even be heard, and leave the fight to the states, where it's EASY to be heard as a citizen.

Americans are very proud people, and that's a great trait to have... to a point. We are unfortunately VERY selective with our pride. We are proud enough to SCREAM that we want the right to have an abortion in any state no matter what others believe or feel, but not proud enough to turn border-jumpers around and ask them to APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP LEGALLY.

So let's say the supreme court decision were revoked. Let's say it's up to the states to allow or disallow abortion. What states do you REALLY think would BAN IT???? Not a freaking ONE, I'd be willing to bet. But the point is, if you leave it up to the states, then it's the STATES that will have made the decision... and not the federal government forcing one law on everyone, regardless of how we feel.

In other issues LIKE Marijuana use, however, states might be less forgiving - I'd be surprised if MANY states didn't ban Marijuana entirely under states-rights conditions... but many would allow it, and I'd be happy to move to one of those states for the right!

You simply cannot govern 300+ million citizens from literally every walk of life on our planet, living on one of the largest land-masses, with one set of rules. That's the point giving the states rights while tying them into a common federal government!

So. Am I pro-life? No. Am I pro-choice? Yes! But do I believe that the legislation governing that choice should be federalized? NO. I want STATES to decide Gay-Marriage, Pot, Abortion... every single controversial issue EVER! Let the states, and the people IN them, decide what they want and how they want it. If you don't like your State's laws, move to a different state. If you can't move, then save up your money and bitch under your breath if you must, and move when you can. If you're working some go-nowhere retail job and can't save any money, then GO THE FUCK TO SCHOOL.

Got any more arguments against States-Rights? Try Cuba. They have one set of laws for their tiny-ass little island, and their citizens are REEEEEAL happy. Gotta love that communism! Or if that's a bit much, you could try Canada's burgeoning pseudo-socialism.

But while you're up in Canadia, waiting in lines for service at a hospital, I'll work my ass off in ol' America, and earn some heath insurance... instead of having it handed to me for being a lump-ass on the street.

Christmas Lights, Lead, and You

I'll keep this brief, because for the most part it's a cut-and-dry subject. I'm going to quote a few sources, note a few things, and that's it.

If you handle christmas lights or other electrified decorations at any point, this message pertains directly to you.

First - a definition, quickly. California's Proposition 65 Warnings pertain to items and substances to which a consumer may be exposed at ANY point, that contain a potentially-dangerous level of certain substances. In the case of lead, for instance:

The Proposition 65 warning is required for any product whose customary use will lead to a level of 0.5 micrograms of lead or greater entering the body of a consumer or public citizen.

Second - Lead, the metal. If you don't know what it is, or anything about it other than that it's "dangerous," you should read up a bit on it. Lead is a frankly terrifyingly dangerous metal that, in almost any quantity, does incredible nervous system damage. It was very popular in the 17 and 1800's in face makeup (anyone who indulged in these makeups was almost constantly pale, as their body went through the miseries of lead poisoning), in many (much older) water pipe systems, and most notably - paint. Human skin does not readily absorb lead in teensy quantities, but if ingested or found in large enough quantities on the skin, its danger begins.

Finally - Christmas lights almost ALWAYS contain lead in their wiring. This is because the PVC (plastic) used in their insulation needs a metal 'stabilizer' to aid in fireproofing. Lead is most commonly used (the cheapest option?) in the case of xmas-lights.

So I went to Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, and even Wegmans. At each and every store, each and every brand and type of holiday lights sold had a prop 65 warning both on the box and on the wires. By the above definition, that means that handling christmas lights in a routine fashion will subject your body to absorbtion of AT LEAST 1/2 a microgram of lead. Handle them longer, or stick your fingers in your nose or mouth after failing to wash them - or even worse having a cat or child stick them happily in their mouth... lead, lead, lead.

Various sites list 'hazard' levels of 40mcg per square foot of dust on floors, and in the body at 10mcg per deciliter of blood. So, if by handling xmas lights, the body absorbs 1 or 2 mcg of lead, it might not hurt you 'that much' - but do you really want that stuff in your system?

Of all the things in life that 'can hurt you' and 'cause cancer' - many, I'm sure, can be ignored as a bit much. But in the case of lead... wouldn't you rather elimenate ANY lead content, considering the damage to your nervous system that can be caused?


Someday, I'd love to see a different chemical choice in mixing the PVC for the wire insulation in holiday lights. However, while the companies choose to use it, consider wearing gloves (even thin latex), or at least do what the Prop 65 warnings suggest and "wash your hands promptly after handling."