Happily Ever After

I spent the weekend in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne is a city with approximately 220 thousand residents, which makes it significantly larger than Ann Arbor, Michigan which has 114 thousand residents. But despite the larger population, Fort Wayne "feels" much more rural than Ann Arbor, and in many ways is the classic midwestern city. It is a very nice city, and people are very friendly there. One thing that was interesting was that the city seems to have more Arby's restaurants per capita than any city that I have been in. It seems that you can't drive more than a few blocks without running into another one.

I was in Fort Wayne because a friend of mine from church was getting married. The wedding was held at his fiance's (now wife) church, the Bible Baptist Church of Fort Wayne. I was actually part of the ceremony as both a groomsman as well as helping to lead worship music. It has been over a decade since I last was a member of a wedding party, which was when my friend Jesse was married. It was a little odd being dressed up in a tuxedo (no thanks to After Hours, which almost screwed up the event for the groomsmen). Tuxedos are really hot to wear in the summer, and I was really sweating. I was worried that my hands were so slippery that the guitar pick would fly out of my hands. Thankfully, the music went ok, and the rest of the ceremony was beautiful.

The best man had an excellent toast at the reception. It was moving, funny, and very appropriate to the occasion. It's not every day that the toast brings the bride to the verge of tears both for how funny it was, as well as how nice it was.

What Lurks in the Minds of Men?

I have had several unusual dreams this past week, ranging from the highly disturbing to downright funny. One in particular is worth sharing.

The dream opened up in a classic science fiction style. Alien technology had been discovered buried here on earth. The existence of technology from another civilization caused great consternation and excitement among the world's population. Teams of scientists worked on deciphering the technology, and finally figured out that it was a communications mechanism. They sent a message out into the ether, and people waited anxiously to see what would happen. A message came back, and soon an alien spacecraft arrived at earth. The aliens had warned humanity that they were energy beings, so they were going to adopt a physical form to make it easier to interact with humans. The glowing clouds of light exited the spacecraft, and coallesced into ... six foot versions of the Easter Bunny. Easter Bunnies???

Some very puzzled people asked the aliens why they chose the form of the Easter Bunny, when they had the ability to take the form of anything they wanted. Their response was, "well, everyone loves the Easter Bunny."

And don't ask me how I managed to dream about this. I don't know, and I'm not sure I even want to know.

Violent Extremists at Home

For the past several years, the United States has had to deal with Muslim Imams who have preached war and violence against the United States. It appears that the United States has recently found its own counterpart to the Imams in the form of Pat Robertson, a television preacher and host of the Christian Broadcasting Network. On Monday, Robertson advocated that the United States government assassinate Venezualan President Hugo Chavez. Robertson said, "but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

President Chavez is a strong-armed dictator and a thug, but he hardly represents a significant threat to the national security of the United States. Venezuala is a significant exporter of oil to the United States, and Chavez could interfere with that. But Venezuala needs money, and as long as the United States is willing to keep paying, it's doubtful that the shipments would stop. And besides, would even the most hawkish politicians be willing to go to war if oil was the only reason?

State sponsored asassinations of the leaders of other countries are an act of war, albeit a somewhat more targeted approach. Robertson is effectively saying that the United States should engage in war against Venezuala. Even assuming that "Just War" theory, it's hard to imagine how Venezuala, or Hugo Chavez in particular, is an imminent threat to the United States. Robertson wants Chavez dead because he doesn't like the communist politics that Chavez espouses.

Killing without justification is murder, and the Bible is pretty clear that is wrong. This incident reminds us that violent rhetoric doesn't only come from Imams in far-away countries, but can come from "respectable" people right here at home. Let's hope that we denounce such behavior as vigorously as we do that of people who don't live here.

Kick Them While They're Down

In June, the Supreme Court ruled in Kelo vs. New London that the government has the right to sieze private property under eminent domain laws and transfer the property to someone else for private use. The United States Constitution says "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." For some odd reason, the Supreme Court thinks that increasing tax revenues is a "public use" for eminent domain.

One would think that the town of New London, CT would be happy that they won this case, especially given the clear wording of the Constituion. But sadly, New London isn't finished yet. The town is now suing the residents for back rent since 2000. Because the residents failed to win in court, the town claims that it has owned the land since 2000, and the residents must pay up. Apparently it isn't enough to deprive people of their personal property, and they want to add insult to injury.

New London seems to have forgotton that government is the "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Instead, they think that the purpose of the government is to "screw the people." And unlike Michigan, which learned from the Poletown incident, Connecticut hasn't stepped in to curb the (IMHO) flagrantly corrupt behavior of the officials of New London. So the state is as much to blame as the town is.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association has threatened a strike at Northwest Airlines if the airline fails to deliver a suitable contract. Northwest has demanded some concessions from the union in order to keep itself out of bankruptcy. As of the time that I write this, the union and the airline are still in negotiations, but there is a possibility that the mechanics will walk off the job. If they do so, it is likely that Northwest will find itself in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which could lead to the loss of Northwest's dominant position in the midwest. But worse, Northwest could find itself in the same position as Eastern Airlines, where a union managed to cause a carrier to go out of business, taking everyone's jobs with it.

Northwest is bleeding cash at the rate of about $4 million per day, which is pretty obvious to its frequent passengers, such as your truly. Northwest has been trying to add new revenue streams and cut costs left and right. In coach class, Northwest wants to charge you outrageous amounts for that little snack mix bag. You now get to sit and listen to the flight attendant make a sales pitch for Sky Mall at the beginning of the flight. And everything points to a carrier desperately trying to hold on. So it is natural that they would want to get some concessions from its unions to stay afloat.

A strike could have some interesting potential. It could allow the discount carriers, such as Independence Air and Southwest Airlines to increase their presence in Detroit without getting flattened by Northwest. It might even make Northwest realize that gouging your best customers (ie. business travelers) is not a pricing model that businesses appreciate. If one of the discount carriers started regular service between Detroit and Reagan National, I would be happy to switch to them despite my "elite" status with Northwest.

On the other hand, a strike by the mechanics could cause significant problems for all of the other Northwest employees. There are lots of people who work very hard for Northwest, and who work under very challenging conditions. (Try being a flight attendant dealing with obnoxious first class passengers). It would be sad if they lost their jobs because the mechanics union hasn't figured out that the glory days of large airlines are over. The discount airlines are the way of the future, and the big carriers must adapt or perish.

Soldiers are people too

Recently, the media has been having a field day covering Cindy Sheehan. In case you have missed it, Cindy Sheehan is the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq. She is staging a protest outside of Bush's ranch in Texas, and claims that she will stay until President Bush agrees to personally meet with her and discuss the situation in Iraq. The political left has jumped on her protest, and now the whole political spectrum is in a frenzy over the situation.

Initially, I found the situation rather amusing. What great insights does Ms. Sheehan have regarding the war? Obviously, she must think they are pretty important to demand an audience with the President. She must think that the President is going to be more willing to listen to her than Democratic Senators, members of the House, and other individuals that want to tell the President he is wrong. I sympathize for her loss, but she is very arrogant in assuming that she should have time on the President's calendar. I have some great ideas on how the government could more effectively use technology. Should I demand some time from the President too?

But as I considered the situation in more depth, it began to bother me. Ms. Sheehan has effectively told the world that the decisions and choices that her son made don't matter. She shows a total lack of respect towards her son as an individual. Given the volunteer nature of the military, her son made a choice to join the military. When he joined the military, it would have been made very clear ("crystal") to him that the purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. War is "politics by other means". Further, if Ms. Sheehan's son had thought that the war in Iraq was wrong, he could have made a choice to go AWOL or be put into the brig. But he chose to fight in the war, and he served honorably, and I am thankful that there are men and women who serve our country in this capacity.

So what gives Ms. Sheehan the right to disregard the choices her son made? And why do people (at least the media) think that just because she is the mother of this slain soldier, that her opinions on the war matter more than those of the rest of the citizens of this country? Some people talk about the "great sacrifice" that she has made. But the real sacrifice was made by her son, and not by her.

If my life had worked out a little differently, I would be in the military now, and I would have dutifully served my country, even in Iraq. And if I had died in Iraq, it would have been a great tragedy if someone in my life discredited my life and my right to make choices.

So let's raise a toast to Mr. Casey Sheehan, and all of the men and women of our armed services, and be thankful that there are people like that who have made the choice to serve our country the way they do. And I will do my part to make sure that they get the support and respect that they deserve.

A Bluebird on my Shoulder

Yesterday, I attended the wedding of two friends of mine from church, Nate and Laura. The wedding was held down at the Milan Vineyard Church in Milan, Michigan, which is about fifteen minutes outside of Ann Arbor. The wedding was fun, with an interesting twist at the end. The exit processional was the Disney song "Zippity Doo Dah", which although initially suprising, really seemed to fit the bride's personality.

I took a lot of pictures at the wedding and the reception, and I was rather frustrated with how my Samsung digital camera handled the low-light conditions inside the church. The camera did not handle exposure times correctly when the flash was turned on, which led to a lot of dark frames. The outside shots worked fairly well, At some point I will probably go back to Canon, since their PowerShot and Digital Elph cameras are fantastic all-around point-and-shoot cameras. And some day, hopefully, the prices on the Digital Rebels will come down enough to be affordable for amateur use.

I'm back on a plane on Washington DC tomorrow morning, and I have a long two weeks ahead of me.

A Silver Thunderbird

I'm in the middle of another week here in Virginia, and so far the week is going pretty well. Things have been hectic at work, and there have been some minor frustrations (grr! to Dell OEM'd SCSI cards). But overall, I can't complain. I had dinner with my brother last night at an Irish pub in Arlington. He's a newlywed, so I don't get to see him as often as I used to. It was fun hanging out with him.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. My parents are in town until tomorrow afternoon, so I would like to see them for lunch. However, I have a meeting tomorrow morning, so we'll see how it works.

Anyways, I have to get myself to bed, since it will be a long day tomorrow.

And so it begins...

When one is telling a story, the saying goes, you start at the beginning, and continue on until you reach the end. But where does a blog truly start? For me, my blog starts with a lazy summer night, as I sit and contemplate life, the universe, and everything. (Apologies to Douglas Adams, of course) A couple of months ago, a friend of mine suggested that I start a blog, and after enough procrastination, I am finally starting one. I don't have any lofty goals for this blog. The intent isn't to create powerful discourse on the nature of politics, people, and God. Rather, it is meant to serve as a tiny snapshot into my life, such as it is.

I'm home for the weekend in Ann Arbor, and it is good to be home. As most of my friends and family know, I have been spending a significant amount of time out of town on business travel. The focus of my job is in the Washington DC area, but home is here. Ann Arbor is a wonderful little town, full of interesting people, fun restaurants, and of course, the University of Michigan. In a few short weeks, the students will be returning to town, and adding their own vibrant touch to town.

I flew home on Friday night and hung out with one of my friends. We had dinner at Ashley's downtown, and then watched the movie "Hitch". The movie was very funny -- definitely recommended. I didn't get to bed until way too late, which kind of put a damper on my Saturday. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a lot more productive than today was.

Anyways, it's time for a bed.