The Ramblings of PascalFan

Congress hates a free market....because it means they have less power

2008-11-11T05:54:00.001-08:00

Senator asks sites not to sell inaugural tickets - Yahoo! News

"Feinstein said she was readying legislation for Congress' lame duck session, which begins next week, to make scalping the tickets a misdemeanor punishable by a yet-to-be-determined fine."

Our elected officials are the ones who get to dole out the free tickets to the Presidential Innaugural. To have people selling them (on eBay or Craigslist) means that they, the elite, will not be the only source once the tickets are given out.

Why do our elected officials actually think they can win a battle against the natural laws of supply and demand? What's worse is how much will be wasted on trying to arrest/prosecute those who violate silly laws like selling your innaugural tickets to someone who wants them? Our elected officials (especially those in the House of Representatives) have completely lost focus on what they should be doing.

I guess the upside of them wasting time on a silly law like this, which will be nearly impossible to enforce, means they won't be spending time on drafting laws that are REALLY bad for our country.

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Pro-Life for Obama

2008-10-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

If you happen to pro-life, and find yourself convinced that Barrack Obama is your candidate, I think you need to read this article. Those who know me are aware that I am not a big fan of either of the two major party candidates, and will likely vote for a third party candidate if at all. Abortion is the one issue that could get me to vote for Senator McCain and only because he is not Barrack Obama. Unfortunately that remains one issue where the Republican party somehow manages to hold Christians under the big tent while they grow the government and thus reduce personal liberty.

I'm beginning to believe we, as Christians, need a new strategy regarding abortion that looks beyond the next 4, 8, or even 80 years. Our eternal perspective needs to think of a world for our children, grandchildren, and perhaps great-grandchildren where abortion doesn't need to be banned because it is already obsolete.

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Negative Advertising vs. \'Real Issues\'

2008-10-14T06:57:00.001-07:00

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Negative Advertising vs. 'Real Issues'

Mr. Sowell, yet again, sums up the random thoughts floating around in my head in a clear an concise manner.

I've come to accept that Presidential Politicking is a necessary evil. Anyone who thinks that a candidate can get elected without pointing out the faults or wrong stances of his opponent is naive. Now we have politicians who are trying to convince us that doing so is wrong and avoiding the 'real issues.' Forgive me if I believe prudence, character, and integrity are qualities I would like to see in the people I elect to handle 'real issues.'

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Third Party Challenge

2008-10-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to remind my fellow Americans who feel like neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are really listening that there are third party candidates running in nearly ever race this year.

Will they win? Doubtful.

Would some of them make good leaders or representatives? Probably.

I speak with so many who see voting for a third party candidate as a wasted vote. I'm not convinced. I believe that as long as Americans continue to settle for the least objectionable candidate the duel party system puts forth they will continue to elect empty suits who represent their interest over ours. If more of us were to vote FOR candidates we like (such as libertarians or greens) we might find the Republicans and Democrats forced to deal with just how out of touch with us they are and maybe start giving us some real choices.

So maybe you can't bring yourself to do it. Maybe you can't stand the idea of McCain so you feel you have to vote Obama. Maybe you can't stand Obama so you feel you have to vote for McCain. If that's your attitude, then you are perfect for this challenge:

Have a look at the ballot for your voting precinct, and pick one race in which you will at least consider if not vote for a third party candidate.

Nader: Open the Debates for Third Party Candidates Like Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Me - US News and World Report

2008-09-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Nader: Open the Debates for Third Party Candidates Like Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Me - US News and World Report

Well, it certainly wouldn't hurt the discussion...

Kiva - Loans that change lives

2008-09-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

The whole notion of how far my money would go elsewhere in the world was brought to my attention a several years ago. My parents were living in Pakistan at the time and were supporting a native Pakistani family that was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. My parent's monthly donation was about $70, and was 1/3rd of their entire monthly needs. This concerned my dad because he worried that when they could no longer donate due to logistics, this family would have to seek new givers to make up that difference. That's eventually what happened. Flash forward and I think Crusade now can more easily accommodate giving of this nature, but back then nothing of the sort was in place.

A colleague in California sent a link to me today that got me thinking about it again. Kiva.org gives folks here in the US who (let's be honest) have more money than we really need to lend money to entrepreneurs in developing countries to help them rise above poverty. Many charities we donate to allow organizations to care for the orphans and needy without overtly stressing the needs of the greater economy. Kiva.org looks like a great opportunity for us to get involved in helping there now too.

Kiva - Loans that change lives

Worth checking out.

9-11-2008

2008-09-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

I was just remembering where I was and what I was doing 7 years ago today. It's so hard to believe that 7 years has already passed.

I'm very thankful that we've not had another incident like that.

I'm very thankful for those who have worked to prevent such incidents.

I'm glad the terrorists didn't win, and I'm proud of my country for not letting them win.

Bipartisianship Midwest Style

2008-09-11T03:51:00.001-07:00

Norm Coleman would get my vote.

Church Small Groups - Bah!

2008-09-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

Why have I become such a cynic of home fellowship groups (or small groups or care groups or whatever you call them)?

iTunes8 Genius Feature is, well, GENIUS!

2008-09-10T06:13:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago a coworker turned me on to Pandora. Pandora is a totally awesome streaming audio service that continuously feeds you songs based on an artist, song, style, genre, etc. The best thing about Pandora is it got me interested in music again. Yesterday, iTunes8 rolls out with a similar feature called 'Genius.' You pick a song, select GENIUS and it creates a playlist of songs that it thinks you would like based on that song. The couple of playlists I've created have not been disappointing. Pandora made interested in music again. GENIUS is making me interested in MY music again.

Would somebody please tell me what a Senator actually does?

2008-09-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

Joe Biden Says Barack Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush

Huh? Why would two elected members of the US Senate need to wait until they get into the Oval Office to pursue criminal charges against those who may have committed crimes? Certainly they have adequate clout to push for investigations today, don't they? Shouldn't they have already begun?

Oh, wait....it's politics.

One week in with iPhone

2008-08-11T13:54:00.001-07:00

So a week ago I was able to score an 8gb iPhone3G. In turn, I turned my Blackberry Pearl off. It's been one week, and I am not missing the BlackBerry a bit. Understand that with the Blackberry I was always connected to my corporate Exchange server for latest e-mails, contacts, calendar appointments, etc. Because our company (don't ask me why) won't turn on Activesync, I am unable to connect directly to the Exchange server via my iPhone.

And you know what?

I don't miss that.

Don't get me wrong. I think the Blackberry is a fine device, and does what it claims to do very well. The trouble is I am not the person that needs the Blackberry. I am not a road warrior. I am not a sales person. I am not a remote employee. I work a relatively normal 9-5 job with limited travel. My portal at work is Outlook. It's on the laptop. When I'm not at work, I can view it via Outlook Web Access via any internet connected PC. I can do that on my iPhone too.

I don't miss having my work e-mail in my face evertime I look at my phone. Certainly I've found a way to get my work e-mail on my iPhone, but I don't find myself reading it or looking at it.

The iPhone is a cool device, but the novelty of it is not new for me. Mrs. PascalFan has had one since February so I'd get to play with it every now and then. Now I have my own (albeit half the price and twice the speed) and I'm very pleased.

Anybody want to buy a used Blackberry Pearl for AT&T for cheap?

First Post

2008-08-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Around the web I've started a few abandoned blogs. I am not certain if this one will be any different. I realized that I wanted to keep a certain amount of anonymity while I got my feet wet with this blogging thing. Anonymity and privacy in a world dominated by blogs and social networking is a topic that interests me. Once I give up my anonymity, I can't easily take it back. Better to keep it and give it away as I see fit.