Greetings from Cleveland

Hi everyone. I am currently in Cleveland, where today was a blustery winter 64 degrees. (It is supposed to chill down again before I leave.)




The above is a fairly good arial view of the city downtown. The street on the left that you see coming all the way down to the water (Lake Erie) is East 9th. If you see the large green oval in the center of downtown, go a block above that: You'll see there a square with a criss-cross of roads going through it. That's a place called Public Square. The street between Public square and the park with the green oval lawn is Superior. If you follow Superior to the left, toward where it intersects with East 9th: That's where I am right this very moment. There's a hotel on that corner (on the lower right hand side of that corner as you look at this image) and I'm on the 12th floor. If you can see the tall white building sandwitched between the two darker buildings: that's the tall building immediatly next door (and attached) to the hotel building I'm staying in. The funny shaped sliver-white building that is at an odd angle from the street is the next block down toward the lake from me. Just past that building is a parking garage, and then the Catholic Cathedral, which is right out my window. I look down upon Christ suspended from the Cross.

When I came into town last Sunday night, the Terminal tower was lit up like this:

but it isn't any more... I guess they have to end Christmas sometime.

This was my very first business trip. I feel fortunate that I was sent here. It was great to meet a customer that I've worked for for the past couple of years, and to work with their team first hand for several days.

Well, more later. I don't really have much to say right now.

Regards,
Basil

The Final Tally

Well, now that it is all said and done, I've voted for:

4 Repulbicans
4 Democrats
1 Green Party Guy
6 Libertarians
4 Non Partistans (several of them you had no choice)

1 Tax increase
1 Tax decrease

I hope you've all gone out and voted!

The general principle I use is:

-> If a candidate has something they make their main campaign promise that I strongly agree with, I vote for them.

-> If a candidate has something they make their main campaign promise that I strongly disagree with, I vote AGAINST them. (In this case, I vote for whatever opponent is most likely to win - as is the case, for instance, with Kerry).

--> If don't particularly like one candidate or the other (of the Rep and Demo) then I vote Libertarian. (This is the case when neither mainstream candidate is making a big issue out of something I care about. The Libertarian problably won't win, but at least I'm making a stand by siding with a cause that I pretty much agree with, namely, "get the Government out of our lives thank you very much.")

--> The one case where I voted for Green Party it was becuase both the Republican and Democrat candidates were boring, and the Libertarian was a complete nut-case, so I voted green.

Thank God we live in a country where we are free to vote for any candidate of any party.

God Bless America!

Basil

Why am I going to vote for?

I have decided that my goal for the day is to figure out who I am going to vote for.

I have been very much against the current president George Bush, and have long ago decided to vote for Kerry as a protest vote. (Normally I'd vote for a Libertarian if I didn't think my vote really mattered, but in this case I really want to vote Bush out of office.)

Well, lately I've been swayed by things I've read. Isn't abortion an important enough issue to vote for Bush instead of Kerry?

Well, I also discovered the other day that George Bush is my 8th cousin. (My family is really into geneologies and stuff.)

Does that sway me?

There was a romantic article on the web about a young man who George Bush prayed for him when he told the president his mother was sick.

Shouldn't I want a man of faith?

Well, I still stand firmly against Bush for various Bush-led agendas and their implications:
-invading Iraq,
-his own personal interest in oil,
-the whole hiding the truth from the public about WMD issue,
(I do not think, and nobody can convince me, that invading other counters makes you safer back here at home. Nope, the bad guy always eventually catches up with you. If you piss people off in this world, it will come back to haunt you. Enough said.)
-the Bush-led compromise of American's civil liberties in the interest of "protecting us from terrorist" (the fact that law-inforcement agencies can now ignore "due process of law" - something our ancestors died for, one of the main reasons they founded this country - if the government claims it believes there is a terrorist thread.)
(that last one in my book is almost justification for civil war, no less booting the fascist president who brought it into being)


Anyway, all this time, however, I really haven't had any particular liking for Kerry. But today I stumbled across a couple of things.

1) Kerry voted for the "Daschle amendment" something that banned certain types of abortions! (hurray for Kerry!) you can read about that here:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/155/story_15523_1.html He also says he stands by his vote.


2) Kerry is a Catholic and seems devoted to his faith:
http://www.democrats.org/values/

Anyway, that's my 2 cents about the Bush-Kerry question.

I'll be posting some more on other candidates, but to give you a glimpse:

* I'm voting for Rossi (GOP) for governor. (The Gregior campaign has been full of lies from what I've been able to discover.)

* I'm voting for Jay Enslee (Democrat) for Senator (He's been a fine senator the past term and has tried hard to work toward the preservation of our civil liberties in the very matter that I mention above.)

* I will probably cast my typical Libertarian vote for other positions where I can't decide between the lesser of two GOP- Democrat evils.

Regards,
Basil

In case you haven't decided who to vote for yet...

I think this little film here can be highly informative:

http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/this_land

Regards,
Basil

For No Reason...

The Weekly Reader

My daughter as a new 2nd grader has started receivieing a weekly periodical called "The Weekly Reader" for young kids who are just learning how to read. It's four pages long, perfect for a 2nd grader as far as I'm concerned. The first issue was about the presidential election. It features a page on Bush and a page on Kerry. Excellent, that's about all I can stomach on the matter.

We reviewed the facts:

Bush has a cat named India.
Kerry has a bird named Sunshine.

Bush was born in Connecticut, and is currently president.
Kerry was born in Denver Colorado, and is currently a senator from Massachusetts.

Bush likes blue.
Kerry likes blue.

Bush's favorite childrens book: "The Hungry Caterpillar"
Kerry's favorite childrens book: "Robin Hood"

There's a photo of bush as a child dressed up like a cowboy riding a pony.
There's a photo of Kerry as a child on a sailboat wearing a life vest.

***

So after reading the little magazine, there's a series of questions on the back and a place where you can cast your vote. "Who are you going to vote for?" I ask her. (I'm thinking: Kerry, Kerry... It was the choice of book that did it for me. Bush likes a children's picture book, and Kerry likes a great classic work like Robin Hood. An actual chapter book!)

My daughter quickly points to Kerry.

"Why" I ask? "Why not vote for Bush?"

"Because he likes to keep fighting for no reason."

~ Basil

Regarding the Presidental Election

I've so far not really paid any attention to Kerry. I've planned on not voting for Bush, which in my mind means: voting for Kerry.

However, with this story, I think I can hear Kerry say something that I believe is right on:

MSNBC - Kerry: Bush has wrong priority in war on terror: "I don't view these people as conservatives," Kerry said. "I actually view them as extreme, and I think their policies have been extreme, and that extends all the way to Iraq, where this president, in my judgment, diverted the real war on terror which was Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and almost obsessively moved to deal with Iraq in a way that weakened our nation, overextended our armed forces, cost us $200 billion and created a breach in our oldest alliances."

Amen!

Basil

today's dilbert
I'd like to post this little thought because it is so Orthodox:




It's not every day that Dilbert hits the spot, but I love it when it does. In this particular case I think it is something we can all agree with!

Regards,
Basil