Specter-tacular?

You've no doubt heard by now: In a move that further weakens an already flailing GOP, Arlen Spector, senior senator from Pennsylvania, defected to the Democratic Party. Citing the fact that the GOP has “moved far to the right,” (source: Financial Times). Mr. Spector now gives the President the prospect of a filibuster proof 60% majority in the U.S. Legislature's upper house. This coupled with the Democrat's nearly 100 person majority in the House of Representatives should have the American citizenry bracing for President Obama to run rough-shod over any chance of the promotion of a Republican agenda.

However, the optimist that I am, I see Spector's defection as a good thing. Let this serve as a wake up call to my Party! No longer can Republicans be beholden to ideologues that wish promote legislation based on emotion rather than logic! let us find not only our will to fight, but our will to win. To carve out a place in history that is not dictated by fear, but by courage. Robert F. Kennedy once said, in a speech at the California Institute of Technology in 1968:

There are people in every time and every land who want to stop history in its tracks. They fear the future, mistrust the present, and invoke the security of a comfortable past which, in fact, never existed.

That, my friends, is our Grand Old Party today.

haha...I wish Spector's defection was framed as poetically as all that. The reality is that Spector faced a tough Republican primary challenge next spring. This conservative challenger, Pat Toomey, is the Party's retribution for Spector's backing of President Obama's $700 billion stimulus bill. We are witnessing my Republican party at its worst.

If the Republican Party is to remain viable with an increasingly younger, politically active voting block, then we must make a push to the center as so wisely stated by Olympia Snowe (R-Maine): “If the Republican party fully intends to become a majority party in the future, it must move from the far right back toward the middle.”

To Strive, To Seek, To Find...

Anyone that's known me long enough might know that I used to be a pretty big slacker; I just really didn't have that much of a drive. I was content, had money, decent cars, and a comfortable place to lay my head; life was good. But there comes a time in life when you realize that mankind is on a timeline of expiration. When you realize this there's only one thing you can do. And that one thing is "everything". You need to do everything you can to shape your own destiny. For me that moment came when I discovered Ulysses, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The struggles, both within and without, that Odysseus faced did more to shape his character than any level of comfort ever could.

For the past five years, or so, Ulysses has driven my life. I never told anyone because it was something that was mine, something that could inspire me to strive with Gods. If there was ever a moment that I questioned why I was doing what I was doing, why I put up with the late nights and the homework, I would remember Ulysses. If there was ever a moment that I thought that I'd rather be hanging out with friends having a "good time", I'd remember "how dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As tho' to breathe were life!" I never shared it with anyone because it was the one thing that I could call my own, and I never wanted to cheapen it or have it be made less than by sharing it with someone else. I'm sharing it now because I've made a decision to move on with my life. I'm moving to a new town, leaving those I care about behind, and, in all reality I'll never see most of you again. We'll stay in touch, but it will never be the same...if there's one thing I've learned in life it's that people move on. So, I'm leaving, but I wanted to leave you with something that is very, very dear to me, something that after all these years can still find me, lift me up, and move me in the same way all of you have.

Ulysses
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
Life to the lees. All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known,-- cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honor'd of them all,--
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
to whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,--
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me,--
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads,-- you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Say it aint so, Governor Perry...

Ok, let me preface this post by stating, up front, that I'm a Republican. I'm a firebreathing, gun-toting, pro-life, small government Republican. I voted for George W. Bush twice. I have always supported Governor Rick Perry...up until Friday that is.

As most of you know Governor Perry spent this past week going on and on about state's rights. He supported a Texas State House resolution affriming Texas State sovereignty. In support of the resolution Perry stated "I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,". The Governor then followed this statement with a series of national media interviews railing against the Federal Government and relaying the expressed desire for Washington lawmakers to keep thier collective noses out of Texas' business. Governor Perry also attended several "Tea Parties" on tax day, and continually updated his Twitter "tweets" claiming pride for the Texas "patriots" that were fed up with the intrusion of the Federal Government into their lives.

When I heard about what GovernorPerry was doing I was excited; I thought to myself "here's a man that speaks truth to power, here's a man that represents the minority opinion. Here's a man that speaks out against big government spending, and stands up for what he believes is right, not matter how unpopular his position may be." Unfortunately I was decieved - I was wrong. I was suckered in by Rick Perry's shameless pandering to the base of the Texas Republican Party. On Friday, April 17, Governor Perry posted a "tweet" practically begging for Federal asssistance in the wake of torrential showers that left devastation in many parts of Texas...this is a complete reversal of his earlier position of states rights...



...this is complete reversal of his position of not wanting the U.S. government to interfere. So which way do you want it Governor? You can't talk about kicking out the Feds one day, and ask for Federal assistance the next. Men of principal don't do that; only shameless politicians that care for nothing other than votes do that.

Unbelievable!

A few years ago my car got totaled and I was stuck with a Suzuki Aerio as a rental for a couple of weeks (which I have to admit, for an entry level car, it actually performed well and seemed well engineered...anyway...). This car had a CD player in in that would automatically find hidden tracks on any CD. This was around the time that Dashboard Confessional released Dusk and Summer (see where I'm going with this?). There are 2 hidden tracks on that CD; one of the is Vindicated, which was released on the Spiderman 2 soundtrack, and the other is a song called Write it Out, which has never been released and for which I've looked everywhere for copy! Well now I've found it!!!...it's one of my faves..enjoy

Mid-Week Update

Lot going on these days in the world of National Security news. First the Somali pirates are stepping up their game after the "3 shots, 3 kills" incident over the weekend.

Benyamin Netanyahu is taking a hardline approach with Iran in the wake of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that Iran now has 5000-7000 centrifuges at its Natanz facility capable of enriching uranium (this nearly 2 months after the fact that is was discovered that Iran is already in possession of enough enriched uranium to produce at least one bomb).

Earlier this month North Korea successfully launched a Tae PoDong II missile. Bear in mind that the rest of the world is calling the launch a failure in that the missile wasn't actually able to put a satellite in orbit. In reality, the DPRK already has that capability with the Tae PoDong I. The test was an attempt to prove that the Tae PoDong II missile was able to achieve a longer range than its predecessor...which it did, traveling approximately 2000 miles before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. DO NOT believe the Western press reports that the launch was a failure!!! If you think that the DPRK wont have long range capabilities within the next five years, you're crazy!

Finally, (well there's tons more, but no one likes my "boring" blog posts, so I'll keep it short) China is working on its next big export: A carrier rocket capable of launching multiple satellites on a single trip. It's not a huge step to outfit this thing with MIRV capability, ya know.

Musical flavor this week is one of my longtime favorites: The New Pornographers. I saw them open up for Spoon last year...amazing. And Neko Case is so much hotter in person!

The Week Ahead...

So here I am, a little after 1am Monday morning sipping a St. Arnold's, posting to my other blog and thinking about the week ahead. This is my crazy time of year; T.S. Elliot was right. Let's see what I have lined up...need to complete my FAFSA, file for an extension for income taxes (now is just not the time to dig through all of those receipts...I'll do it after finals), I have a paper due in 1 week, a customer deployment in California, a customer here in Texas that needs attention, not to mention my regular work duties...oh well, at least I'll be busy and the week should go by rather quickly.

My paper topic is pretty kick-awesome: Pentateuchal Sources of the Just War Doctrine (Jus ad Bellum). Which is just another way of saying "how the Old Testament justifies war". I've already collected most of my research, now I just need to synthesize content...wish me luck!

Great picnic with the peeps yesterday and great bike riding today. My only regret is that Huntsville left me so tired that I didn't have any energy left to go hang out with my family for Easter...I guess that's the price you pay for glory...

Oh, they're good...

Ok, this is a sort of an anonymous blog in that I don't publish my name ANYWHERE on the site and, as far as I know, I've never received a comment that mentions my name. However, the Franklin Pierce Law Center, in Concord, NH (see previous post) found it! They visited yesterday and looked at 3 pages. So to the Franklin Pierce Law Center I say kudos!...I'm pretty sure I figured out how they found the Hobo (I have theory, which I will post later, that is so elegant in its simplicity), but I gotta ask them directly...how'd you do it?

Final Round

Well, the final round of law school apps has been sent out; the lucky recipients this round were George Washington University (D.C.) and Franklin Pierce Law (Concord, NH). All that remains is to wait around and see what happens...it is truly out of my control at his point.

It feels weird not having to go to Mock Trial practice everyday...I'm not sure what to do with my free time...guess I better be productive and do homework! So now that it's all over we're asking ourselves if it was worth it and I gotta say this: Mock Trial was the most demanding and excruciating program in my college career...but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

New Musical Flavor of the Week: The Sainte Catherines, they're kinda awesome.

Walking in Memphis

Well, The ol' mock trial team didn't exactly win this past weekend, but we did crack a few heads in the process. Fucking Rhodes College was comprised primarily of doucebags so we gave them hell. When I was taken on cross examination one of the questions I got was "Was it reported in the media that your brother-in-law cheated on his income taxes?". My response, "My brother-in-law is an idiot", had the entire courtroom in stitches. After the crossing attorney made a "Witness is Non Responsive" objection, I was forced to answer the question. Of course, I didn't. My next response was "I'm not H&R Block" hahaha. Fuck 'em...does anyone else find it odd that 3 of the judges in that round were Rhodes College Alumns?...shenanigans much?

Memphis was a really kick ass down. Beale street was particularly awesome considering the NCAA Sweet 16 was in town; the street was full of revelers. In addition, the food was freakin' awesome!

On Sunday we were hanging out in the bar after the final round of competition with none other than actor/comedian Eddie Griffin and his homey J.C. Eddie and J.C. were cooler than the other side of a pillow. We watched the UNC/OU game and drank some brews. They hooked us up with tickets to Eddie's comedy show and after the show we all hung out back at the bar. Eddie now has a fan for life, in spite of the fact that I disagree with his politics.

Speaking of NCAA did anyone catch the Pitt/Villanova game on Saturday? How sick was the last 5.5 seconds?!?!!??

That was a weekend that will not be topped soon...