Jonahan.com

I am NOT writing today. You can't make me.

What? Oh. Er... this is writing?

Perhaps I shouldn't try to write and just write off the cuff more often. It's much more fun and it doesn't feel like work.

If you make an outline and say "I'm GOING to write a post today!", then some days it may happen and others it may not, but in any case it will probably sound forced and you will more than likely not be having fun doing it. (I was going for a personal record of sentence length and I just may have surpassed my old one!)

But, on the other hand, if you say "I don't have to write SQUAT today! Screw you guys!", you may find inspiration coming from some little nook of your brain. The writing won't be forced and you'll be having fun, which makes all the difference in keeping a readers interest anyhow.

Writing this way helps you keep things fresh, and lets your mind wander from subject to subject. You don't have to stay right-brained and logical all the time, for instance. That's where writer's block comes from IMNSHO: forcing things.

Same goes for all aspects of life. If something isn't working or doesn't feel right, take a break. Get some air, think about something else, walk the dogs. Then come back and approach it from a different angle.

Don't keep banging your head against a wall. "I'll fix this and I'm not doing anything else until I do!", is a waste of your time, creates stress, and usually an end product that is less than stellar.

Then again, you should do whatever works for you. Reject everything I'm saying and figure it out for yourself. These are my findings on what works for me.

Did this make any sense or have any point whatsoever? I hope not!

A clip where they talk about the Fed's solutions to prop up our flailing economy being socialism. That and the fact that the only real conservative is Ron Paul. And John McCain is not a conservative :-p

So, all three of the "mainstream" Presidential contenders have essentially the same agenda. Meanwhile the conservative candidate with "radical" views gets downplayed and gets no major media anymore (except for brief mentions in panels like this where the host quickly switches topic).

Hmm.... could there be an agenda here?

Nahhh!

What with this whole Anonymous vs. Scientology thing? Aren't we supposed to have freedom of religion in this country? And besides, don't we have bigger problems, like our economy falling down around us and government attempting to become a police state?

Yeah, sure, Scientology is dumb, but there are worse religions. Why can't we just leave them be? Sure, some people get suckered into it, and I feel for them, but what are you gonna do? People get suckered into other things all the time.

Check this out - the U.S. is dead last in a list of countries account balances (163 out of 163).

Then there's this: Sub-prime collapse 'beyond the US Federal Reserve'. The fancy terms confuse me too, but essentially it's saying that big banks are running out of money and the Federal Reserve is powerless to stop them. They don't have the money to keep propping them up.

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On a positive note about the Ron Paul campaign, here's a snippet of a Rand Paul article:

we should rejoice in getting 5-10% of the vote given that we got 1/1000 of the media attention and did not get enough attention to enter the realms of winnability in the public's mind.

To me, though, the campaign remains an unqualified success. My prediction for 2008: an utter crushing defeat for Republicans. Not out of anger for Ron Paul's loss, I think he won, but because Republicans are failing on two fronts: not living up to the promises of limited government and balanced budgets and failing to understand how unpopular the Iraq War has become.

Random thoughts and whatnot.

• Here's a great article where Ron Paul talks about the value of the dollar and gold. Start buying gold now!

• The play You're a Good Man Charlie Brown has been extended due to popularity. It's Saturday, March 14th at 2:30PM. Tickets are $5.00 each or $10.00/family. Good stuff, especially for kids to see, as it's a play where all the actors are kids 13 or under.

• I plan on playing Tomb Raider: Anniversary a lot tonight. I'm such a sucker for those games. I think it's because of the combination of good storytelling, well made game areas, puzzles that aren't too easy or too difficult, the action, and of course a pretty character to look at.

• Drupal sucks

• I'm planning on getting more involved with our local GOP. To affect change, you need to get involved. Sitting on your thumbs won't change anything, except maybe cause your thumbs to stink.

• I need to head to Buffalo soon. I'm jonesing for a fix of that WNY attitude, culture and food. Plus I'm missing my fam and friends. May have to time it to catch a Sabres playoff game - IF they make it to the playoffs.

• Speaking of hockey, I've realized we haven't gone to even one game this year - INCONCIEVEABLE! (think princess bride). Not sure if we need to rectify that or be ok with having watched many more games on NHL Center Ice.

• It's more efficient to be left-handed on the mouse. Why? Consider that the main keys you use are return and the space bar. Space bar can be used with either hand. However when you're right-moused and want to hit 'return' you have to either take your right hand off the mouse and move it to 'return', or move your left hand across the keyboard. If you're left-moused, your right hand can reside on the right side of the keyboard, waiting like a cobra to strike the return key!

For this reason, I've found that lefties are 2.54%* more efficient at their day-to-day computing tasks.

* This stat comes to you from the Department of Makin Up Shit as We Go.

I can understand how I thought I was having heart issues a while back: I've run out of prilosec and I feel like I'm short of breath and there's this pressure in my chest.

Oy vey.

I know it's from drinking coffee, and that sucks. Because when I got up this morning and for the first couple hours of the day, I didn't feel like doing ANYTHING. No chutzpah, no energy, no get-up-and-go, just a deep desire to curl up in a warm bed and sleep a decade away.

Then I have a cup or two of coffee, and the world becomes a much brighter place. I have energy, a desire to get stuff done, that sort of independent can-do attitude that won the wild west and killed all those Indians*.

But then this chest stuff, caused almost definitely by coffee. I thought I was over it and this insane heartburn wouldn't crop up. It's not really heartburn though, I know that feeling and rarely get it. This is more of a cold feeling.

Anyway, I won't bore you any longer with tales of "what's wrong with Jonahan". Pantheon and I have joked at length about old people relating their ailments: "Now it's your turn to stand still for 15 minutes while I tell you what's wrong with me!".

But hey, you talk about what's important and relevant to you, or you'd talk about nothing else at all.

Now, to find some Prilosec...

*My tongue is firmly in cheek here.

Over the course of the last six months I've slowly come ot the realization that I like the principles of conservatism. True conservatism that is. Not the phony stuff the neo-cons try to sell us.

Sure, the liberals have majestic goals, if you take them at their word. The term progressive is, after all, a noble one. But at the cost of more taxes adding social welfare programs and universal health care isn't worth it. Besides, with every new government program we slip closer and closer to socialism!

And the cause of the creep to socialism isn't limited to either party. These days they're in lockstep with each other, selling off America to the highest bidder. Big pharm, the oil companies, the military industrial complex - you name it and that market has a big piece of the American pie.

Politicians aren't for the people anymore, but might as well have logos of companies tattooed on their foreheads.

For that reason I point out this article: Conservatives Offer No Hope . Here's a snippet:

...I am left with the very profound and distinct impression that the so-called conservative movement is dead. It is not dying: it is dead. Totally and thoroughly dead.

Oh, the spokesmen (and women) of the various conservative organizations will strongly argue that the conservative movement is as alive and vibrant as ever. They are either delusional or in denial. The truth is, there is no conservative movement in America today.

Most conservatives--even Christian conservatives--have embraced philosophies and ideals that are antithetical to genuine conservatism. In fact, my experience with these people leads me to the conclusion that today's conservatives do not even know what true conservatism is--or was.

Obama, Clinton and McCain will all give us more or less the same thing. Sad but true.

But there is hope my friends! The American Freedom Movement is just getting rolling, and it includes many players around the country. The Ron Paul revolution is just the snowball that got the avalanche rolling.

Here's an excerpt from a great article from the American Free Press:

Without the deceptive news media—or with fair and honest reporting—Ron Paul would have already sent John McCain back to the Senate and would already be the all but elected new president. But the media have created the appearance that the American people don’t want Paul to be president, when it is the Republican planners who don’t want him. As the campaign trail lengthens and the revolution expands, it is becoming more and more obvious that Ron Paul is the people’s choice.

A radio commentator said that when George W. Bush took office, the euro could be bought with 82 American cents—the overnight change on your dresser. Now with the trading price at $1.53, that 2001 figure may be doubled before you read this. The American economy is crashing, and the Federal Reserve Note “dollar” is doomed. For the past quarter century or more, monetary realists have pointed out that no nation in the history of this planet has ever survived a paper money scheme, and this one won’t either.

[Full Article]

After reading this I finally signed up for the online version of American Free Press. You get a free book and it's only $15 a month --- can't beat that!

Some quick hits from my life:

• Our big lab, Mackenzie (a.k.a. Mackie, or just Mac) broke the inner pane of our window trying to get a squirrel. Lynn quipped that is was only a matter of time because Macs break Windows.

• The iPhone SDK is very exciting. It'd be fun to program apps for the iPhone for a living.

• On that note, I wouldn't want to be pigeon-holed into a corner and only do development work all the time. I want to do more writing and am thinking about getting into doing more political-type writins. Perhaps getting involved with a Ron Paul-like site.

• I dinged 70 on World of Warcraft (WoW) finally, despite not playing hardly at all. I got my flying mount and plan on playing in some battleground this weekend, maybe also start an arena team. I'll have to get my pet up to snuff and get it doing more DPS, or perhaps train my secondary pet up a bit.

I have a cat (Mango) as my primary pet, which has served me well for leveling. However, I noticed that my ravager (Spot) does hellacious DPS, but dies at the drop of a hat. It seems like his chitinous exoskeleton is made of glass. If I can get him to sustain some damage we could do much better in BGs (battlegrounds).

• I need to finish Weaveworld this weekend. Clive Barker is an AMAZING writer.

• I hope to hook up with Pantheon this weekend to do some research and writins.

As Lil Sis says, Thaz it and thaz all.

Ron Paul is NOT dropping out, at least not at this stage.

The media is saying McCain has clinched it, but he doesn't have enough delegates yet.

Besides, many of the delegates are unbound and can vote for whoever they want. And many of those delegates are saying we need to listen to this Paul guy, and that McCain is not a conservative.

So the RP campaign sort of has this stealth tactic - since we're shut out by the MSM, we have to do an end-around and hit the delegates.

It's truly not over. While we probably won't have enough to take the presidency (I won't pretend to think we can do that), it will be enough to make people sit up and take notice. It may even be enough to force a brokered convention, i.e. where McCain wouldn't have enough delegates to win.

Paul has said that he'll keep going as long as the campaign keeps drawing new supporters and keeps growing. It's obvious that the MSM won't allow reports of any success the campaign has, and will continue to harp on anything remotely negative.

Therefore it's smart to keep the revolution going this way. We don't give up on the presidential run, yet we acknowledge that it's not very likely at this point. Yes, we can steal many delegates and we should continue to work on that as well as recruiting new people to the cause.

Paul's book comes out soon, "The Revolution, A Manifesto" and it should hit the bestseller list right away.

The American Freedom Movement will kick into high gear soon.

We have marches in DC planned, and rally at various conventions.

Not to mention that Paul has successfully defended his congressional seat in a landslide win. It's a message that when the ideals of the Constitution are understood, they're very powerful and people respond positively to them. It's a message that people are ready for a change and that people are sick of what both the Republicans and Democrats have become.

The revolution continues. Ron Paul hasn't quit, nor have his supporters.

Ron Paul's campaign is morphing into something else. The MSM (mainstream media) is reporting that he's hinting at quitting the race, but that's either purposeful bad spin or horrible reporting.

No, RP has said all along that this movement needs to be about more than him, and for that matter more than just about the presidency. Hell, it's about more than just this year. This is a long-term thing, not a flash in the pan.

As this post on DailyPaul.com is titled, it's about the campaign moving to the next phase. Rumors have it that there's a name to the movement - the American Freedom Movement.

Here's RP talking about the whole thing: