March 05, 2004

Martha Steward Convicted

Letter to the Editor

A jury has convicted Martha Stewart of lying to the government and she will probably go to prison for it. However her lie isn't nearly as serious as the lie Bush told the nation to trick us into going to war with Iraq. Does the government go to prison when it lies to the people?

Posted by marc at 09:10 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

March 04, 2004

Bush ad I'd like to see

Letter to the Editor

Here's a Bush style ad I'd like to see: "Kerry voted for Bush's Patriot Act! Kerry voted for Bush's tax cuts for the rich! Kerry voted for Bush's illegal war in Iraq! Now he's changed his mind. Can you trust someone who votes with a slimeball like Bush? NO! -- Vote Bush!"

---------

Yes - it is stolen from a Simpsons epasode - but when the Republicans started criticizing Kerry for voting with Bush - it was the same logic.

Posted by marc at 04:49 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

March 02, 2004

Borrowing = Taxes

There's no difference between borrow and spend and tax and spend. Running on borrowed money is just a tax that you have to pay later. So for those who think that a bond measure is not a tax increase - you're being lied to. This 15 billion dollars they want to borrow will cost you more than 15 billion in new taxes.

Posted by marc at 09:54 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 01, 2004

Democrats and Republicans join on Borrow and Spend

One thing that brings Democrats and Republicans in California together is borrow and spend politics. Borrow and spend is really a tax increase on the credit card. Its spend now and taxes later.

I'm voting NO on Props 57 and 58. California has every tax there is and poor services. In fact - it seems from what I see that the higher the tax rate the poorer the service. The problem with California is that they is too much government and that it needs to be cut. And they aren't going to make the cuts until we tear up the credit card.

Posted by marc at 07:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 29, 2004

Thinking Outside the Box on Legal Issues

Nobody thinks like me when it comes to law. I used to practice pro-se gurella law. Take the gay marriage issue - people are wondering how to make the legal issue happen. But I know a way to put it to the test. If the conservatives want to get to the bottom of the issue and force the courts to make a decision - they need a better plan.

Here's what I would do. Have two men get married - wait a few days - then have them file for a divorce. One takes the position that they need to be divorced because they are legally married. The other argues that they aren't really married and the court should find there was no marriage in the first place.

The reason I would like to see this happen is that it would resolve the issue one way or another. If the gays win then the man claiming the marriage is real will get half the property of the other one. After all - if heterosexuals get screwed out of their property - shouldn't it be the same for same sex couples?

So - let's end the illusion and get down to it. I'd like to see if gays want equality with straights when it comes to divorce. My guess is that if same sex couples experienced the other side of marriage they would be about as enthusiastic as gays in the millitary under Bush.

I'm still not for same sex marriage because it ignores a lot of reality. I however only weakly oppose it. After all - it doesn't take long before the logic gets fuzzy on both sides of the argument. Why should non reproducing heterosexuals get married and same sex couples not? On the other hand - why should a man not be allowed to marry his brother - or why limit the marriage to two people?

In contrast I strongly oppose amending the constitution to exclude same sex marriage. What if we develop the technology for same sex reproduction? A gay couple with legal custody of children is in a strong position to justify marriage.

But - we can't just let the decision be made based on political will. We need to be smart and I think this legal trick would force the courts to face the issue. I think its time to look at reality the way it really is and take into account the rights and liberties of everyone involved.

I believe the reality is - the same sex relationships are abnormal. However - its only slightly abnormal. Not as abnormal as someone who is addicted to alcohol or nicotine. But - for me to call same sex marriage a real marriage is basically a lie. It ignores the reality that same sex marriage is fundamentally normal and that same sex marriage is fundamentally abnormal.

To gays, same sex marriage (referring to law - not relationships) is a social ploy to justify to themselves that what they are doing is not abnormal. And I don't think marriage should be redefined merely to help someone justify their lifestyle.

On the other hand - its not sin - its not severely abnormal - and the relationships are real. Which is why I support same sex civil unions. These people have rights and these rights need to be taken seriously and fairly. So - what the right thing to do is a real demema. I don't have the answer.

As a reasonable person I feel caught inbetween two groups of bullies. On one hand - the same sex community is trying to force unreality on the rest of us. On the other hand - the anti-gay religious nuts who have been persecuting these people - are even bigger bullies and are using it as an opportunity to gain political power at the expense of people who have rights. The reality is that religion is a mental defect as well, and a far more serious mental defect than being gay. And I can not support the position of those who would use oppression against gays in an exercise of moral masturbation.

We as a society put up with the illusion of religion. We have an amendment in the constitution that protects religion from government and government from religion - even though the invisible guy in the sky doesn't exist. One could argue - if people of religion get to live a lie then why shouldn't same sex couples get the same opportunity? After all - same sex couples aren't as big of a lie as religion.

In conclusion - I have no conclusion. But I resent being used by both sides in an artificial battle. Marriage is just a word that doesn't add anything to the relationship. Marriage in America just a fraud anyhow. Marriage by definition is a permanent relationship - till death do you part.

With the laws that allow for no fault divorce the definition of marriage is legally nullified. If you're not getting married for life - then your not really getting married anyhow. So everyone is fighting over something that doesn't really exist in the first place. Marriage in the heterosexual world is a temporary civil union with a really bad property agreement where two lawyers get to divide up everything you own if the relationship fails. That isn't marriage - its a fraud.

So I say to the gay community - I agree with Barney Frank - give it up! Settle with civil unions and respect the reality of the situation. Civil unions are actually a better deal than marriage anyhow if you really understand the way the law really works in the real world. I've been married and it sucks and no one in their right mind would wish it on anyone.

And - I say to those who hate gays and are using this to divide the country ion order to distract America from the illegal war and the looting of America that we are not going to allow Christians to destroy this country and we are uniting to take America back for people of all religions and sexual orientation.

Posted by marc at 08:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Network Solutions Sucks

You would think that a big company like Network Solutions would have their act together enough to be functional - but they aren't. For those who don't know - Network Solutions is a company where people go to register domain names. Their tech support is so bad and their system is so bad that I actually REQUIRE my customers to move their domain from Network Solutions to ANYONE ELSE before I will host them.

Six months ago I was working for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and used one of their servers for secondary dns. When I left there I changed my secondary to a different computer - yet for some reason they are still returning EFFs IP address for one of my secondary name servers. And - they shouldn't be resolving this from their own database in the first place.

Rather than explain how bad they are - I recorded This Conversation with their tech support staff. There's nothing like hearing it for yourself.

The conversation is slightly edited. I took out personal information about the customer - and - I cut out about 10 minuted of music on hold. So - the pauses there I'm put on hold are actually much longer.

After listening to the conversation - keep this in mind. Network Solutions did not fix the problem. Engineering did not call me back. I got an emial survey that I filled out stating how dissatisfied I was and I put in a link to my blog. So - if any of you out there are thinking of using Network Solutions to register your domain - ask yourself this - do you want to be in the phone having a conversation like this?

I just built my official Network Solutions Sucks site to warn other customers about them. I've noticed that online punishment of evildoers has been very effective and I'll bet that I get their attention with this. But - they have caused me and a lot of other hard and the deserve punishment. And - I'm an asshole - and it allows me to express that in a constructive manner.

Posted by marc at 06:45 AM | Comments (27) | TrackBack