29
Apr
This site is kind of interesting. You can use it to print out the kind of paper they used to use in the old days before Word and stuff. I found this on BNETS’s Business Hacks which is a great site, BTW.
1
Apr
30
Mar
He wrote every word of this himself…
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: ‘A More Perfect Union’
Philadelphia, PA | March 18, 2008
As Prepared for Delivery“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Continued below the fold… Continue Reading “Someday my son will study this speech in school”
7
Oct
Well, I figured it was time that I tried to start this thing up again.
It’s been 18 months days since I last updated the blog. Needless to say a lot has changed since then. Nate is growing incredibly fast. Every day is literally a new adventure. The words are coming fast and furious. He’s able to run now, and therefore able to get into trouble a lot more quickly.
It’s amazing. The first year was full of changes in physical development, but now, especially in the last 6 months it’s like his little brain is really coming on-line. He’s figuring things out rapidly and quickly realizing that he needs to test every boundary and explore everything. It can be exhausting, but I love being part of it.
If you want to catch up on the pictures over the last 18 months, you can click on the picture link up at the upper-right.
If you refresh the page, you’ll see random shots from our apple picking run a couple of Saturdays ago.
As for this blog, I am going to try to update it more often (I think I have said that in 5 different posts now each about a year apart). I have no idea what I’ll write about. I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see.
10
Apr
l’il get donkey! was born on 04-05-06 at 6:08Pm. He weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 inches long. Mrs. get donkey! and l’il get donkey! had a long day of labor before the doctor decided that Mrs. gd! had to have a c-section. Mrs. gd! is doing very well, and l’il gd! is now happy at home meeting his new animal friends (Buddy, Bailey, Baby and Monty).
The two dogs (Buddy and Bailey) don’t even really seem to notice him, although Buddy barks when l’il gd! starts crying. We can’t figure out if that is because he feels empathy for l’il gd! or is annoyed by the noise. Monty and Baby (the cats) are both very curious about the baby. Baby really seems to like him, but Monty has no clue what the heck l’il gd! is.
So far, l’il gd! has been letting us get a little sleep (4 whole hours last night!) and seems to be a pretty laid back little dude. Although he did have his first bath tonight and didn’t seem to like it too much.
Here is a shot of l’il gd! a little less than a day after he was born:
Stay tuned for more exciting l’il get donkey! news!
27
Mar
The arrival of the l’il donkey! is fast approaching. It could be any day now. Stay tuned for more information and pictures.
16
Jan
Unfortunately, it seems like more walls have been erected, in the last 6 years especially, than have been broken down. Nonetheless, these words still make me teary, hopeful, and proud that my country once had such brave and eloquent men fighting for the ideals the United States were meant to embody.
Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Source: Martin Luther King, Jr: The Peaceful Warrior, Pocket Books, NY 1968
UPDATE: You can listen to the speech here. (via: Americablog)
6
Jan
Natural Man
You know, there was a time when, if someone told you to
do somethin’, you did it. Bam! Right on! No questions asked.
It was “Yes, sir” and “Yes, mam”. You never said no. You know? Huh.
But, you know, things are changing nowadays. It’s a new day,
babies. Folks want to take their own lives into their hands and
make their own choices. No longer do they wanna go along with
the program ’cause everybody say it’s right. You know what I mean?
Let me tell ya what I’m talkin’ about, ya see, ’cause…I don’t want no gold watch for workin’ fifty years from nine till five
A-while the boss is guzzling champagne and I’m beltin’ beer in some dive‘Cause I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and loving for me
I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and lovin’ for me
Like a natural man (like a natural man)
A natural man (like a natural man)Well now, I refuse to listen to people’s thinkin’ that I live too high
I’m gonna taste it now before my one life streaks on by‘Cause I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and lovin’ for me
I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and lovin’ for me
Just like a natural man (like a natural man)
I said a natural man (just like a natural man)Well now, I tried to do what others say that I should do
They say that I should fit in, fool ‘em, fake it, well
Those kinda dues just make me crazy and blue
Man, I just can’t take itSo when ya see me walkin’, won’t ya notice that proud look in my eyes
My feet are on the ground and my soul is searchin’ for the sky‘Cause I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and lovin’ for me
I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and lovin’ for me
Just like a natural man (just like a natural man)
A natural man (just like a natural man)
Just like a natural man (just like a natural man)
My feet are on the ground (just like a natural man)
My soul is searchin’ for the sky (just like a natural man)
Like a natural man (just like a natural man)
No more “Yes, sir” (just like a natural man)
No more “Yes, mam” (just like a natural man)
Huh, ’cause I’m a natural man (just like a natural man)
I’m a natural man (just like a natural man)
23
Dec
While Mrs. gd! and I were upstairs cleaning, the cats were downstairs having their own little Christmas celebration. After we caught them, we decided to give all the animals their Christmas gifts. Baby and Buddy loved theirs (see gallery), but Monty seemed unsure about his “miracle balls” (little clear balls with a tiny mouse and some rattles inside). Bailey just returned to napping on the laundry after he saw his gift (a rope toy for tugging).
I hope everyone in internetland has a Happy Holiday Season!
Man, there is just no other way to put it… John Cornyn may be the most dimwitted man in the Senate:
“None of your civil liberties matter much after you’re dead,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former judge and close ally of the president who sits on the Judiciary Committee.
Get that? There is no longer a place for liberty in these here United States (formerly known as the “Sweet Land of Liberty”). Cornyn’s moment of actual anti-American idiocy was in response to the Senate stalemate over the renewal of the “patriot” act.
Thankfully Russ Feingold was there for the perfect retort:
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who has led a bipartisan filibuster against a reauthorization of the Patriot Act, quoted Patrick Henry, an icon of the American Revolution, in response: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
He called Cornyn’s comments “a retreat from who we are and who we should be.”
I am very wary of running another senator in 2008, but Feingold’s stock sure has been rising lately here in get donkey! land.
15
Dec
Thousands of airline passengers unexpectedly found themselves stranded in line at U.S. border checkpoints in August, after a Department of Homeland Security computer crashed.
At Miami International, some 4,500 frustrated travelers waited in cramped conditions. Airport staff handed out bottles of water and coloring books with crayons for children during the wait for the computer, which checks identities, to come back up.
“This incident was extraordinary,” said Greg Chin, an airport spokesman. “In other cases when the computers have been down, it has only been for less than half an hour.”
Here is one of the reasons why DHS is having computer problems:
The holdups can be attributed in part to the Homeland Security Department’s antiquated computer systems. The agency’s mainframes do not share data and are accessible only by some offices. An upgrade to Microsoft’s Windows 2000
operating system failed because of application incompatibilities, which meant one division had to undertake a cumbersome reversion back to Windows 95.
Windows 95!? Man, aside from scaring the crap out of me, articles like this one are really making it difficult for me to suspend disbelief when watching movies like Enemy of the State or TeeVee programs like Threshold that portray government agencies as having actual technology and stuff.
I came home from the gym this morning and caught Bailey daydreaming in front of the Christmas tree. Luckily he was not motivated enough to get off the couch when he saw me and I got a couple of shots of him lying there. The good news about this picture, even though Bailey is doing something he shouldn’t technically be doing, is that a year ago Bailey would not have been able to get up on the couch. He has developed arthritis in his old age. About six months ago, our vet recommended putting him on Cosequin. It’s been just awesome. Bailey is not gimpy anymore.
BTW, if you click through to the small gallery, you will see photographic evidence of which animal rules the roost.
UPDATE: Of course Buddy, refusing to be upstaged, also posed this afternoon…
