Congratulations and Concerns, Worldly and Personal
Today's blog features big news from an old friend, and concerns over the state of the world, privacy, and, of course, my own drudgery.
First of all I have to say Congratulations Meghan Buckely! I went to high school with Meghan and she's recently become engaged to some lucky fellow.
Now, I realize that there is a lot going on in the world right now ... but North Korea threatening Japan with nuclear weapons certainly raises a lot of concern. Makes me hope that the Israelis will be willing to spread some of those new Arrow anti-ballistic missiles around. Of course, we did put up quite a lot of money to help fund the project. I'll tell you what; missile defense is looking better every day. Hopefully, Japan will listen.
I'm encouraged by the most recent U.N. resolution on Iraq. As my co-worker said, "This is the seventeenth time ... and we mean it this time!" It still amazes me that Saddam cannot get it through his head that it's not just the U.S. but the world does not want a nut to have big bad bombs. Of course, I guess the U.N. is just one of our little puppets. Riiiight.
I saw a very interesting story on Slashdot. The Director of the NSA provided testimony to Congress in an open hearing that I think is most enlightening. He makes some very good and very reasonable points. However, I fear that the line is currently being drawn at the expense of freedom, liberty, and justice. I have serious problems, with allowing religious profiling, gag orders on librarians, searches without warrants, and incarceration without due process. Furthermore, I fear that a Republican owned Congress with continue to draw the line between freedom and safety at the expense of freedom.
A Republican Congress also worries me somewhat with their proposal to limit lawsuits against companies. I firmly believe that lawsuits have gotten out of hand in today's world. But, I also believe that strong laws must be available when they are needed. Recent events with big companies strengthen this belief.
A big company has recently raised my ire. I currently have my car insurance through GEICO and it looks like they've been double charging me. I recently went online and filled out a quote request ... and it came back at half of what I'm paying now ... and that's with a lower deductible! A quote from Progressive comes in at roughly the same price point. I've made sure to include all of my information (good and bad) on both applications. It will be interesting to see how this turns out ... if GEICO ever gets back to me. It's not like I want to sue them for ten trillion dollars. I just want a fair rate.
I've been reading more of On the Road. Inspirational story. Makes a man want to drop everything, throw caution to the wind and set off on the road in search of craziness. Also, I watched The Right Stuff again today; an inspirational story, but in a wholly different way. Chuck Yeager, damn that guy is cool.
I hate fixing toilets. Especially ones that have a stupid flapper that takes up half the tank and has no way to replace the rotting rubber and has to be ripped out without breaking the porcelain which is covered with black goop. I can't think of a better way to spend thirty minutes.