Defining American Politics

From a thread on Slashdot: Several posters air some definitions of the American political system in it's present form...

Nooo! Here in the US, the media polarizes two options and have people in bow ties argue it. You're either in agreement with this idea or totally against it.

I have a friend who describes the American political scene as two armies in trenches, shooting at straw men in no-man's-land.

{Referring to the above} Except that there are really one sides and they are employing a huge mirror...

Nate once described American politics as, "A large stone rolling down the hill to crush us, and we're voting on the color of the stone." (Paraphrased, as I can't find the quote.)

All apt descriptions.

Wish list

Planning Life

I'm not much of a life-planning goal setter--I pretty much take life as it comes, to the detriment of potential achievement, I realize. In the interests of setting down some of my hopes and dreams on the direction of my life, here are some things I want for my life.

1. My dream (pie-in-the-sky) is to get myself to a point where I can work from ANYWHERE, so that the wifey and I can take some extended trips and/or move out west somewhere, with the option to come home (to PA) for rather extended periods. My chosen field is computers/technology, so I need to find a comfy niche to groove in--I'm thinking web development, though the concept of "multiple streams of income" appeals to me.



2. I want to be able to know that I'm doing God's will. How to find this is a question men have struggled with for centuries. I need to increase the amount of time I spend with the Lord each day--the more time I spend with Him, the more my life will be focused on His will for me.

This is all I can muster up for now--it's late, and the urge to put this to the web just struck me minutes ago.

Watching the Watchers

How long until a law is passed decreeing this illegal?

From St. Louis Today:

St. Louis police officers often say they feel as if people are looking over
their shoulders.

That feeling isn't likely to let up this year.

The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, a frequent critic of
the city police, says it plans to arm residents of the city's north side with
video cameras to record officers' dealings with the public.

The activist group says the department often mistreats and unfairly targets
blacks and said it hopes the presence of cameras will act as a deterrent to
police abuse and result in smoother dealings between residents and police.

The group said the cameras will start rolling in the summer, after a series of
workshops near Fairground Park where blacks can learn about how to protect
their rights during dealings with police. The program is called the Racial
Justice Initiative.

I'm not all that interested in the reason for this, though I am interested in the idea behind it. Let's tape record police officers. All of them. All the time. Just follow them around, watching.

Waiting.

They'll do something stupid eventually.