I have been following the campaign with interest and wondering where the candidates that have a heart are.
Bernie Sanders comes closest. He has a heart, as long as it is with someone else’s money.
If you are going to find Hillary Clinton’s heart, there will need to be an increase in funding for microscopy research.
And a Republican with a heart seems to be an oxymoron.
Security
Terrorists are in the news as is their wont. This has prompted a dither over what to do.
We need to keep doing what we have been doing and do it better. Since 9/11, our freedom continues to be eroded. This is just what the terrorists want.
My recommendation is that we continue to allow the NSA to monitor phone connections. And allow the encryption of phone content. A backdoor for the government is a backdoor for everyone as the government has demonstrated its lack of ability in keeping secrets.
We should continue the debate as to whether the NSA should share the data it collects with the FBI and others. I lean to “no sharing” of data without a court order. The NSA should be free to share findings of specific threats with other agencies.
Running on empty, running wild…
Let it be official. I shook hands with a constituent and said “I’m Chris Calvin and I am running for President”. Full disclosure, before this evening, my only politically related handshake was at the Riverside Station of the Boston MBTA Green line where I shook hands with Scott Harshbarger. Had I been able to avoid it, I would have and, in retrospect, I wish that I had.
The constituent commented that I had an honest handshake (implying “You are wasting your time”) and suggested that a “joy buzzer” might assist my campaign.
Open to consideration of all contributions, I replied “I need to be ‘always on’, solar powered with battery storage needs investigation. Thank you for the suggestion.” Wind-up is reliable but we need to be looking at productivity and cost reduction. Maybe we can put treadmills on the borders. If you run fast enough, you are in. If you are not in yet, you just are trying but not hard enough, “Thanks for the Energy”
Freedom
Freedom is a word I rarely use without thinking. And without thinking of Richie Havens. I have an LP that I had before Woodstock. Did not get to go there. Glad that Mr. Havens remains will be there.
If you have never heard it, find it, play it, listen.
Listen also to the Woodstock soundtrack.
…
Freedom!
Free-ee-dom!
Free-DOM!
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Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone
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A long, long, long, way, way from my home
Like every day, today is a confluence. Snowden, Kim Dotcom, Richie Havens, freedom.
Perhaps this interview interview will be required reading someday. Or banned/buried if the current administration has its way.
Elvis is gone
Elvis, our 18 year old cat, died in his sleep last evening. He was walking around when I fed him at 1730. I did not check on him again until I went to bed. He was not breathing. I had taken him to the veterinarian at Cedar Lake Animal Hospital last week. He was off his feed and not perky. She said that he was old with some thyroid and metabolism problems. She was reluctant to give medication given his precarious condition. Now he is gone. I miss that old cat.
Yo! Prez
President Obama, no disrespect intended: The article title is merely a wake-up. Your buddy Nancy has had you again. Did you notice that the lead-off on NPR this morning was that there are still folks in Haiti who have no roofs over their heads (several million). And our government’s best kept secret is the the number of construction jobs is still not where it ought to be. Seems to me a little per-diem, a steady paycheck, and the skills at building hurricane and earthquake proof housing of USA construction workers could go a long way at bootstrapping the Haitian restoration. If we had any leadership. If we had Representatives who were looking out for the workers of the USA, Nancy Pelosi. If we had Senators who were not sleeping, Harry Reid. Hillary Clinton, here is your chance to out-do Chavez. We voted for you. You have let us down. Big time. Again.
Just Dumb
The Florida pastor who wants to burn the Quran is wrong headed. Instead of burning a holy book, he should try burning Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s The Grand Design. The act might please God, would not harm soldiers in Afghanistan, it would satisfy the pastor’s arson-istic cravings, and Professor Hawking might enjoy the publicity. Everybody knows banning or burning books increases sales.
Blessings
I am blessed that last month my son son became a member Upsilon Pi Epsilon (ΥΠΕ), the International honor society for people with interest and ability in Computer Science (CS).
I am impressed that in a small school, the UPE inductees include a young woman and young man with a visual handicap.
In for a Dime, in for $6 Billion
The RIAA’s sister organization in Canada, the CRIA has been called to account for $6 billion in royalties due to artists that have not been paid. Apparently this may have some effect on the juries that are deciding cases in their parallel anti-piracy cases. I wonder how much the U.S. RIAA has failed to pay.
Down To Earth Carbon Reduction
My brother sent me a story about Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana is going geothermal for their heating and cooling requirements. This is one of the more practical ideas available to reduce the use of fossil fuels.