My Boys Fucking Rock!!!!

My twenty month old and my seven year old spent 10 hours drive time and about a total of 1 hour, 25 minutes of break time, on our trip from TN yesterday. I will grant that bringing a power inverter and my laptop loaded with Chicken Run, Walking With Dinosaurs and BBC's Oceans helped things run smoothly (there was a little more variety, but those were the things that we actually watched). But there was very little friction, very little complaining. About the worse that could be said was that the eldest kept asking how many more hours we had left - for a while, every ten to twenty minutes.

Youngest did start to melt in the last fifty minutes, but that was because he only managed a twenty minute nap and his really mean, even Cruel papa, refused to let him fall asleep because we were coming upon bedtime and papa wanted him to sleep in his bin, not for fifty minutes in the car.

We had quite a reasonable trip and a great book time before bed and they went to sleep wonderfully. To make it even better, we had a wonderful snuggle this morning. Youngest demanded to come out of his bin and latched himself to me, pulling a hand away only long enough to point at my bed. There we all snuggled and youngest drooled all over my chest...Mmmm, tiny's drool...

And now we are having a dancing break with Tool, from which I needed a break...I just can't thrash like my boys - my roofers knees can't keep up...

Yes, I am alive...

It's nice to know that I'm loved...Seriously - I appreciate emails from people wondering if I'm alright - especially from people who have never actually communicated with me before. So yes, I am alive and mostly alright.

I am currently in TN with my boys for the weekend--eldest wanted me here for fathers day. I am also brutally fucking busy and will probably be too busy to get a lot written over the next few weeks. I am going to do what I can, but I have been really stressed and honestly, reading the blogs has been making it worse lately, so avoidance has been key for the last week.

I am fucking pissed at our fucking government, which I expected to be. I just didn't expect to be angry about the things that I am. I was honestly hopeful that I would be pissed because things that I happen to believe in would be done badly or halfassed. Never - never in a million fucking years did I expect to actually be considering whether we might not be better off with a president McCain, tempered by an opposition congress.

But I am.

Not even his first motherfucking SCOTUS pick is looking any better than someone that a president McCain would have picked. And given everything else that this sick fucking excuse for an administration has fucked us up the ass without lube about, that was about all I had left.

I am grateful that he has made science a priority. But that is hard to weigh against the outright destruction that this motherfucker has done to our justice system - a system already fucking broken. But hey, we really didn't need to protect the rights of suspects to be free from the pressure of law enforcement to waive their right to counsel during questioning - as long as they've been charged and are now considered a defendant.

Obama is a fucking disgrace and our circle jerk fucking congress is absolutely fucking pointless. These shit eating bastards are no better than the fucking republicans. At least the republicans actually throw their constituency more fucking bones than these fucking scumbags do...

First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Florida: Snakes and Vipers

Please pass this along. I just don't have the time to really go into all that is wrong with this situation, but I would love to see more folks post about this and show FBC JAX that attempts to suppress dissent will lead to a greater dissemination of that dissent. And though I am no longer a Christian, I still believe that it's important to strike a blow against those who misuse the authority they are granted, such as it is, as leaders of churches.

Thomas Rich, a member of FBC, was disturbed by the actions of one Mac Brunson, when he became the senior pastor of FBC. Seeing that the complaints lodged by him and other members of the church ignored, he started a blog to provide a platform from which to express the legitimate concerns of himself and other members of the church.

This situation took a very dangerous turn towards the end of last year, when Detective Robert Hinson of the Jacksonville sheriff's department and member of Brunson's security detail, opened an official investigation to discern Rich's identity and ultimately to quell dissent. Hinson, with the support of his superiors in the department, obtained a warrant from the state attorney's office to force google to reveal the identity of the previously anonymous Rich. Though the investigation turned up nothing illegal and though Rich was never contacted about the investigation, Hinson then revealed to church authorities that Rich was in fact the dissenting blogger.

Rich and his wife, longtime members of FBC JAX, have now been kicked out of the church and there is an official no trespassing order against them. FBC also did their best to ensure that Rich and his family wouldn't be welcome in other Jacksonville churches. Moreover, the church board and the deacon's counsel have passed a resolution to ensure they can quickly and efficiently quell any future dissent against the FBC power structure (see video in the above link).

While I am no longer a man of Faith, I fully understand just how difficult this must be for Rich and his family. Being booted out of one's church family can be and often is very painful - a pain I am all to aware of. And beyond the direct impact on the Rich family, this story has very frightening implications for all of us. Yet another situation where police authority has been abused, in an attempt to quell dissent - this time in the name of a church. I have yet to hear back from Thomas Rich, having only just emailed him, but I have little doubt that he would object to a short letter of support (email at his blog).

I also think it would be appropriate to write the FBC JAX, to voice your distaste for their tactics and to let them know that by their actions, they will be known - that because they chose to act in this manner, the criticisms leveled by Rich will be spread much further than they ever would have. And comments can be sent to the Jacksonville sheriff's department, via this email form - or by phoning them through this link. If you do use the email form, be sure to use the drop menu at the top of the form and use the label general comments. And the State Attorney's office can be contacted at sao4th@coj.net or (904) 630-2400.

The new baby arrived safely

It has been a hectic week. David arrived safely, everyone is home. Another post should come soon, possibly even tonight.

Egregious Use of State Authority, Right in my Home City

I was in a hardware today, getting some supplies for the job I am doing. While I was there, a news crew showed up. When I asked the clerk helping me, why, she explained that our municipal government just passed a measure requiring every store in Multnomah county, that sells spray paint and other "graffiti paraphernalia," to keep it locked up or behind the counter. Too, they must now demand photo ID and fill out a form, every time someone buys spray paint or other such paraphernalia. Here is a link to the ordinance, passed today.

This is even more ridiculous than making cough medicine OTC. This will also create a huge pain in the behind for anyone who needs to actually buy spray paint, not to mention the stores that sell it. When I am in the middle of a job and happen to need to run to get spray paint, I am often times in a hurry. I don't to spend ten minutes filling out a form, stating the purpose I intend to put the spray paint to, the colour I am buying and all that jazz. This is a minor, yet egregious invasion by state authority. Absolutely absurd.

Privacy and Personal Information

I would like to thank Icepick, whom I ran across in comment at Respectful Insolence, for allowing me to post this comment on the front page. Icepick is a human resources guy, who blogs at The Kitchen Drawer, even more sporadically than myself.

He describes himself thus, in response to my accusation of libertarianism;
I appreciate the kind words. However, I would like to correct one perception - I'm actually a (small-government) conservative and not a libertarian. While I generally like the idea of less government, I'm not as adverse to the idea of government as libertarians are, especially at the local level. I tend to think of government as a necessary evil, but the "necessary" part is just as important as the "evil" part, and I think libertarians badly underestimate the importance of government.

I would just respond that I actually agree with the sentiment, with the adjustment that few would call me very conservative. . .

HR departments have access (directly and indirectly) to lots of personal information, and we have a responsibility to protect that info, both from the public at large and even (for the large companies) from individual supervisors and such.

Great care has to be taken so that the HR departments don't even get some of the employee info. For example, HR departments should not have access to individual employee medical records. Most of the large companies these days are self-insured on the medical side, and so they do have an interest in managing employee health. To that end, third party providers generally manage the healthcare delivery system, and provide the companies carefully scrubbed data about employee health - records shouldn't be connected to individual employees.

The funny thing is this: I personally believe privacy is a dead concept in any event. (Note that in practice I excercise great care to protect the confidentiality of any records I deal with. It is my job afterall.) Technology has become so advanced that the idea that information can be kept private seems ludicrous to me. If someone REALLY wants to find out the facts on somebody else, they can do so if they're willing to spend the time and money to do so. As technology progresses it will become cheaper and easier to peal back the layers of privacy. Satellites can increasingly look through walls and ceilings, and if they can the tech they use can certainly do so at closer range.

I do believe we're rapidly approaching the day when we will all effectively live in glass houses. I'm not happy about this development, but I believe that's where we're headed nonetheless.