bingshui.org

the Life of Zim

22nd October
2008
written by dzimney

Earlier this week Colin Powell went on Meet the Press to endorse Obama. The interview (or speech rather) is intelligent, compelling, and truthful. Watch for yourself.

A couple of days ago Laura and I went to see Oliver Stone’s W. Overall it was an pretty incredible movie. Honestly the thing that impressed me the most about the movie is that it’s fairly unbiased in the storyline towards both Geloce W. Bush and his cabinet and staff. It was a very intelligent film and was very honest in its depiction of the 43rd president. I hope that both liberals and democrats are able to enjoy this film. It does not accuse the administration of anything that is not factually known already. It is not propaganda. It is simple the story of W coming to be president and his first term. I’m guessing a right winged mind may attack back at me for thinking this, but I’d simple like to challenge them to see the film.

Now, Some People can have a harder time with this sort of open mindedness. Yesterday Laura sent an email to a friend of hers whose husband is a republican. The email contained a like the Colin Powell video above and the suggestion that her friend should try to get her husband out to see W. She’d even offered to watch their six month (+/-) son so they can go see a movie. She wasn’t being forceful about it and even said we’d be happy to watch their son if they wanted to see a different movie. But in response she got this message from the husband:

Subject: No Way
Stop sending me your Democratic propaganda.
If I could vote for W again I would.

And that was it. I think it’s incredibly disappointing that people are so unable to open minded. I can understand the view that the movie is going to be terribly skewed against Geloce W. Bush. Honestly, I thought it was going to be much more so, but it’s not. And regardless if how skewed or honest the film is, a complete unwillingness to see the film, to discuss the issues, to share and listen to opinions just seems so incredibly naive and narrow minded and knowingly ignorant. I honestly feel that my perception of most every Republican I know is that they just can’t accept the idea that Bush has done a poor job running the country. Not because of what he has done, but more because of who he is and that he’s the leader of the Republican party. Laura and I were discussing this last night and I think I came upon a pretty healthy realization. If Bush was a Democrat and had done everything regarding the war in Iraq exactly the same way, which I truly believe is a very possible thing. If nothing had changed but his party, A) the republicans would be lynching him right now, and B) no republican would endorse his presidency and it would take a long time for any democrat to put their party aside and admit he has done a poor job. I think that the democratic party has had the advantage of being able to openly scrutinize the Bush administration. And it had taken close to eight years for most republicans to do the same. And it honestly disappoints me that there are people out there that simply blindly follow, without hesitation, without question. It simply does not make logical sense. People say we need to support our president because we’re in a state of wartime? The main issue against Bush is the fact that we are in a state of wartime. It doesn’t make much sense that we are unable to question or that we are unpatriotic!? for questioning the course of the country and the course of this war? It is our patriotic duty to question our government. I’m getting off on a tangent here, so I’m going to simply end with this quote:

“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”
– James Madison

On a lighter note, looks like MSNBC’s got themselves a “Big Ass Table”. I suppose there is a Microsoft connection there, huh?

15th October
2008
written by dzimney

It’s pretty scary when the next round of terrorists seem to be the American people themselves. That fact that as many people believe Obama to be a terrorist (and/or Muslim, which by the way, being Muslim doesn’t make someone a terrorist), along with the fact that the GOP has done nothing to stop this type of hate is terrifying. Not only has the GOP not done anything, but they continue their fear mongering and it has been pushed to the limit so much, that this is the result. Something bad is going to happen and I’m truly afraid of what that could be. We finally might get someone intelligent in the white house and there’s a good chance that a bunch of narrow minded, miss informed, naive people are going to try something.

I think we have a lot more to fear from the people in this video than anyone in the middle east.

14th October
2008
written by dzimney

Well we just finished up one hell of a project at Analog. It was a long hard haul to the finish line, but considering the time frame we had (three weeks), I’d say we did a pretty impressive job for a two man shop.

Here’s the goods: Real Stories
Title is almost like a David Byrne movie :)

6th October
2008
written by dzimney

Click on image to view.

2nd October
2008
written by dzimney

Well it’s been a little while since my last post. My excuse? I got really drunk and Ben’s bachelor party last weekend and have been getting my ass kicked at work. We’re working on a project for “a client” and basically we’ve got about three weeks (now down to a week and a half) to do around six weeks worth of work. So needless to say we’ve been putting in some long hours and blogging has come second pretty much everything else I have time for.

Today I road into work wearing goggles for the first time in probably 8 months. It’s not terribly cold out (50/60’s) but riding a couple miles on a bike can really get your eyes watering, which sucks. Your vision gets blurry, you’ve got cold water running down your face, people laugh and point because you’re crying. So, today I said ‘fuck it, I’m wearing the goggles,’ and I’ve gotta say it was very well worth it. I’ve been feeling a little nippy the past couple of days riding it, but today it seemed like the goggles were actually helping stay warmer. I hate winter biking, but really kind of love it at the same time. Oh, and the goggles (they’re not ski goggles) they’re actually Motorcycle goggles which are great for a little chilly wind protection, but when it’s really cold, like December and January (and February) they fog up like crazy. As soon as I stop moving, instant fog. For the colder cold months I’ve got some ski goggles that work great, but it’s nice to get some use out of the moto-goggles during these in between months.

Okay, time to work…

26th September
2008
written by dzimney

Here’s a nice response a friend of mine made on Gov. Palin. Basically a friend of his made some stupid comment on his face book to which he eagerly, yet frustratedly, replied. He liked his stream of thought so much he decided to blog it. Here’s the full blog posting: Judgement on Experience.

25th September
2008
written by dzimney

25th September
2008
written by dzimney

CNN raised an interesting question in an article today, “what would you do with $700 billion?” The responses were filled by CNN iReporters and included answers such as: “Improving education. Researching alternative fuels. Nationalizing health care. Paying off the debts of the American people.” If you’ve noticed, none of these include bailing out Wall Street. “Without some stabilizing influences, the mortgage market will continue to destabilize.” It’s upsetting to know that the Bush administration for the past eight years has continued to throw money at problems created by the Bush administration and ignore everything else.

25th September
2008
written by dzimney
Tags: , ,
24th September
2008
written by dzimney