“This administration has used faith more overtly than any other in its first hundred days,” says Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “That includes Bush.”

The news stories go on to say that his overt faith-based initiatives could cost him the support of the Democratic base.

Drawing Fire

Of course, the news reports drew immediate fire themselves. Most of it was based on ‘if you do not believe as a I believe, you don’t believe at all.’ People on the right whose faith is central to their public lives are quick to state that Obama’s faith is a sham, designed to ‘deceive the very elect’ and lead the USA into godlessness and the abandonment of Christian principles.

Full disclosure: there are a number of areas where I disagree with the President concerning statements he has made concerning Christianity. But I consider most members of the far right to be hypocrites who ‘deceive’ and garner followers among evangelicals by paying lip service only Christian principles. Can anyone say ‘Sanford?’

Someone close to me has said she prefers the far-right-sided liars. I don’t. I prefer to know when someone disagrees with me from the get-go, rather finding out about their ‘indiscretions’ in news reports.

Principles vs. Beliefs

If i were enumerating Christian principles, I would include those of honor and integrity. I would also include communicating with others, rather than preaching down to them. St. Francis is credited with saying, “preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” Matthew 5:16 (KJV) says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

I think Obama’s definition of Christianity is different than mine. But I don’t believe for a minute he is shamming his faith. His is holding true to the vision of his faith despite its unpopularity with both the right and the left.

Does the fact that the President’s faith differs from yours really mean he is faithless? He is being true to his princples, and his beliefs. That’s far more than I credit many of his followers with doing.

That may not seem like a huge change, because either way the materials do, after all, have to be paid for. But the change actually has a significant impact: less liquidity means more resources are tied up in each job; which in turn may limit the number of jobs being able to be pursued at one time. Even if it doesn’t limit the number of jobs, it would limit flexibility in responding to changes foe specific jobs.

Instead of the jobs paying for themselves as they go forward, they are instead being paid for by the prior jobs. If a client is late paying, company resources stay tied up even past job closure dates – further restricting liquidity.

There’s a cycle here, and it’s not a pretty one: the less liquidity available, the more providers – banks and credit card companies – seem to be moving to limit remaining liquidity. Because they are limiting liquidity, you have less, and because you have less, they lower it even further.

If this is the way the economy deals with a successful, strong, ongoing small business, then the impact on individuals would be even greater.

Note: this is my oversimplified thought process based on what Mr. Bowerbank said; at no point do I quote him directly in writing this.

The letter tendered to the Scott County Electoral Board cites a desire to spend more time with her family.

Ms. Kilgore has served in this capacity for 25 years.

In addition to sons Terry and Jerry, many of Ms. Kilgore’s family is engaged in some form of public service; her husband has served numerous terms as chair of the Scott County Republican Party. Her third son, John Junior, served on the board of the Economic Development Authority, before becoming director of that body.

I’m in shock; I haven’t talked to my youngest brother, but I have to my sister. She went shopping.

I went shopping, then I went to work, because my brain won’t shut down, but I’m not exactly being productive. The shopping wasn’t productive, either. For either of us. It was just get out of the house, do something. Fight or flight activity when there’s nothing to do.

Prognosis: 6 months. Half a year. Time goes by so fast.

Dad – what will my dad do?

Processing. We’re all still processing.

I love you, mom…

That was nice. However, my concern, id est, my reason for calling them in the first place, for the most part, was not addressed.

I was trying to take an action on the site that required that I enter my card security number. I have no problem with that, it’s what the number is there for, after all. The problem was, after checking whatever sources it checks, the website came back with “The information you entered below does not match our records. Please try again.”

So I did. Several times. With and without my glasses, with FireFox and MSIE, with the card in and out of the wallet, with the number pad and without. Error message persisted throughout all the various combinations.

OK, forget about the action I was trying to take. It became, to me, of secondary or even tertiary importance to the fact that the company that issued me my card (or at least their website) was telling me that the correct information was incorrect.

I repeated this to to both the initial CR Representative, and a technical support person. Both offered several times to help me complete my initial action. As I said before, that was great, but that wasn’t the reason I was calling. Neither of them seemed to get that.

At some point, someone must have clicked something, or corrected a database, or something, because the warning went away. That means I can now complete my initial action myself. But I haven’t… I’m having second thoughts. Third ones, even.

You see, while I give the card company VERY high marks for having both CR and Tech staff online and available to help me, and both were very polite and listened to me carefully, the failure to address my reason for calling in favor of completing the initial action without addressing my concern just won’t let me push the submit key.

And I’m sure someone at the Credit Card Company is reviewing this (the call was being recorded) and then looking at my account and saying, “After spending all that time on the phone, why didn’t he go through with it?”

A new panel (http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/S/SCIENCE_AND_SECURITY?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-10-18-09-32-13 ) has been proposed that would supposedly balance the need for knowledge and the need for security.

I myself can’t see it working, but the idea has some basis in real need.

I’d propose instead the teaching of ethics and moral behavior: positive socialization trumps secrecy any time in my book. But I don’t think that would fly, either.

Don’t get me wrong … I like the fact that everyone has a voice. I do think – there go my left-wing leanings again – that everyone has a right to have their voice heard. I really like sites like wordpress.com, for instance, which let a fair number of people access the mike, and croon away. Or Wikipedia, which lets even someone like myself edit and correct information. I try to limit myself to topics I actually know about, so I’m not a prolific editor.

My problem tonight isn’t with people having their voices heard. Instead, it’s with sites like Associated Content, or more specifically, the use some people make of them. Associated Content is billed as “The people’s media company.” Essentially, it allows someone to put their content online, in multiple formats, and potentially monetize it.

Fine by me. Have your voice heard and earn a buck or two. It’s all good, right?

Not so, young grasshopper.

My problem is with the fact that AC is billed as a ‘media’ outlet, and yet, some people use it as they would a personal blog. ‘Media,’ to me, brings to mind television, newspaper and radio – and Internet sites like WikiNews. You know, like ‘mainstream media,’ ‘left wing media,’ and some blogs. News, or at the least, well-thought-out reviews, not personal rants.

In researching a store credit card, on Blogger or wordpress.com, the title “Why not to apply for the (store name) credit card” would clue me in that it might just be a personal rant. However, on a media site, I expect a bit more of a fair and balanced report … or what I was looking for in the first place, a review.

I don’t expect someone old enough to apply for credit crying because she maxed out her (store name) credit card, didn’t read the notices the card company sent her, got charged a large late fee, and calling everyone that doesn’t agree with her that (store name) is inherently evil for treating her this way “ignorant.”

That’s fine … on a blog. As media, it sucketh mightily. Far too level a playing field.

Actually, it reminds me of a quote that sums up the Internet’s free speech dichotomy far more succinctly than I will ever be capable of doing:

“Just because your voice reaches across the world does not mean that you are any wiser than when it reached the end of the bar.”

-Edward R. Murrow

Jim Webb is considered a populist; I can go with that.

Apparently Hillary Clinton is considered a moderate liberal populist, as is Dennis Kunich (sp?).

Since my opinion on Ms. Clinton is decidely undecided, I don’t know how happy I am with this designation.

Ah, well … I’m happy enough with Wikipedia’s  overview of ‘populist,’ as long as you leave the White Supremacists out of the equation.

(Hopefully, very far out…)

• It’s much easier to use than the Legislative Information Services site
• Tag Clouds. But beyond that, it’s easy to add relevant tags
• Up-to-date progress on the bills
• An easy-to-read mark up of changes (to existing legislation)
• A clean, simple interface (hey, it’s Waldo Jacquith creation, so that’s only natural, right?

I use DLS/LIS sites a lot, and sometimes finding what I need there is an incredibly slow and annoying process. Richmond Sunlight makes finding the same information a snap, click, smile experience. This is a definitive ‘keeper.’

I’m off to spam eMail this site to the mayor, tc, and my commission and committee buddies now

The three divisions for entries are:

• VAYD Teen Blogger of the Year (ages 13-18)
  • Kenton Ngo
• VAYD College Blogger of the Year (in college)
  • Neal2028 [I think ... ]
• VAYD Young Adult Blogger of the Year (younger than 36 and not in college)
  • Brian K. Patton, Waldo Jacquith

Hat tip: Bryan J. Scrafford

Not to single out one party, since this is a bipartisan bad idea, but somehow I don’t remember “protecting the RIAA’s outdated business models” as one of the tenets of the Democrat’s “First 100 Hours” push. The head of the RIAA adds that satellite radio companies are ripping off musicians, once again trying to play the fairness card. Keep in mind, though, that this bill would increase the royalties paid to the RIAA-backed SoundExchange royalty clearinghouse — the group that conveniently can’t find a bunch of musicians to whom royalties are owed. And when it can’t find people to pay, guess who gets to keep the money.

Just goes to show – you don’t have to be a Republican to go in Reverse.

Kingston generally spends a grueling 3 days a week in Washington: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

3 days seems sufficient for rubber stamping someone else’s agenda. It doesn’t seem like nearly enough time to actually work on something. To be fair, Kingston and others like him can work outside the office. But do they? Make no mistake: being elected to Congress should mean you have a job, not a sinecure.

But then again, I haven’t worked under 40 hours a week in a long time. Maybe I should be taking time management lessons from the 103 day GOP congress.

That’s the price one pays for being convicted of voter fraud. A Scott County jury returned guilty verdicts in 13 charges brought against Charles “J.R.” Dougherty, Jr. for his role in the overturned election in a small Virginia town of approximately 2,000 residents. The case marked the first time in the Commonwealth’s history that the mayor’s and all town council races were voided by the courts. The jury also returned 2 not guilty verdicts.

Dougherty was previously found guilty on 18 counts 16 counts of voter fraud stemming from the same election. Sentencing for both trials is set for 1 p.m. December 13 has been deferred by Judge Birg Sergent until January 9th at the Scott County courthouse.

Before delivering the sentencing recommendations, jurors submitted written questions to the judge. Two of the questions had to do with how time would be served – concurrently or consecutively. The judge’s response to the jurors in essence was that they should impose the sentence they saw fit for each offense, without considering how the sentence would be carried out.

This jury set the penalty for voter fraud lower than the previous Dougherty jury. The previous convictions earned Dougherty 32 days and $2,000 apiece.

Update: Apparently, the jurors sentenced the way they did because they didn’t want Dougherty to face prison time (as opposed to jail time)

I can comprehend this. Dougherty is not an evil man. I feel for him, and his family.

They also allegedly thought he was shouldering the entire blame for a larger group of people, which they seem to have thought was unfair.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.