My heart goes out to the Terri's family and the entire world

I realize that in my previous post, one important fact was said, but may have been lost: My heart goes out to Terri and her family. Today that is felt more than any other day.

I had heard Terri was raised Lutheran. I was also raised Lutheran. My extended family actually owns a funeral home, so I've been to more Lutheran funerals than I can count. Even more so, I can't possibly remember how many times I've heard the phrase "She's in a better place now." Indeed, though her mind was dead, her soul is alive. And she is in a better place now.

My own grandmother passed away this last year. The comparison isn't the same. She was 98, and lived a very full life. Still, it was an incredibly hard experience for me. The hardest thing was remember the way she used to be. She was so alive and vibrant. In the last few years, she had days where she couldn't remember anyone. I was so incredibly honored that in a way I got to say good bye. I was visiting for a cousin's wedding, and I spent about an hour and a half with her. She was alert and remembered us, and we had a great chat. I had no idea it would be the last time I would see her alive, but I value that time so incredibly much.

At her funeral, someone was playing the piano. I just lost it. When she was younger, we used to play the piano together. It flooded back to me the way she used to be. And I bawled like a baby.

In the last few years, I had realized her time was nearer. The signs were subtler, unable to care for herself, a lack of mobility, losing her sight, being admitted to a home, one by one. But when she died, I still mourned God had taken a wonderful woman from this planet. I didn't want to see her go. To have one more chat, one more time at the piano, one more time staying up way too late watching TV. But I lost that chance years ago. But still, I knew she was in a better place, and I know she looked down on me from heaven. I still talk to her, to have another chat, to play the piano, and to have one more time staying up too late watching TV.

Terri didn't have it that way. No one can say why. It happened with a sudden event. Maybe they lost Terri 15 years ago. Mourn that. And still talk to her every chance you get.

It saddens me that it became so political. Politics should have never had anything to do with it. It is my hope that that kind of spectacle goes with Terri as well. Dying is the most personal of processes. It's why they have hospices, and people want to die in their homes instead of in a hospital, and to die with dignity. It's sad it had to play on the national stage, like a Jerry Springer show, like something so personal and never meant to be shown, suddenly played before the nation and the world, something to be latched onto for ratings and political gain.

It saddens me that it ripped a family and a nation apart. A family should be together and there for each other. I understand differences in beliefs and feelings and interpretations of what's best for her in this strenuous time that rip a family apart. It saddens me it had to rip a nation apart as well. It is my hope that Terri was comforted by her family, and by those around her.

I have no idea if Michael Shiavo made the right decision. Perhaps it was her time, perhaps it wasn't. But her suffering is now at an end. And I mourn her death all the same.

That was weird

Every once in awhile, your past and your present come colliding together. They just hit you with a sudden force, right out of no where. It intellectually knocks you unconscious, and you wake up to wonder what just happened. That just happened.

I likened it to that episode of Star Trek. Not Enterprise or Voyager or Deep Space Nine or even The Next Generation. Let's go old school with TOS, The Original Series. Enterprise lands on a planet to find out it's been previously inhabited by another Earthling who stumbled upon on it, only to have the natives worship him like a god, an all powerful deity they don't understand, but exalted to the highest form. Yeah, that's what happened.

Only, it wasn't another planet. It was Berlin. Yeah, Germany. And it wasn't another human. It was the Scorpions. Yes, you hear me right. Those Scorpions.

I had heard those "Where are they now" stories on VH-1 about big hair heavy metal bands that ended up in Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, scattered throughout the world, drifting off to find an island, like boats without an anchor or sail to stumble wherever they could find a port to call home. I had heard the Scorpions were big in Germany. Well, it was a rumor.

And now confirmed. I had Tivo'd an episode of Popxport on Deutsche Welle. Finally out of my haze of classes, I got caught up. Chatting online, I hear einen Junge muttering away auf Deutsch towards the end of his show when the get to the Kult Klassisch portion. And in the midst of a stream of unintelligible German that I'm not paying enough attention to translate, I hear the familiar words in English, "the cult classic 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' von die Scorpions." I look up. As I do, the video cuts in and the Berlin Philharmonic starts in with 150 of the most skilled stringists in the world emphatically showing off their 20 years of some of the best violin lessons in the world, only to play backup to.... The Scorpions. My jaw drops. I can't believe my eyes. Or ears. Or brain at this point, because this can't be happening. What used to be the theme song from a Junior High dance to a small town in rural Minnesota couldn't be sent via satellite from the opposite side of the world in one of Europe's cultural capitals. And yet, it was. I'm freaking out.

Four minutes of the Scorpions being the Scorpions, and the Berlin Philharmonic being the Berlin Philharmonic. I'm stunned. Appalled. And just downright speechless.

I think I need a hug.

Let this week forever being known as the "Let's All Just Ignore the Sanctity of Marriage Week"

Someone asked me why I haven't said anything about Terri Shiavo in my blog up until now. I said, easy answer: It's none of my damned business. I can't possibly imagine what the Shiavo family is going through. How can I put myself in their shoes and decide Terri's fate? The answer is I can't. It's not up to me. Regardless of how I feel about their decision, it's still their decision to make. That's between Terri, her family and God.

But how do I feel? Put it this way. If the situation were reversed, and Terri's husband wanted to keep Terri alive, and Terri's parents wanted to remove the feeding tube, I would respect the wishes of the husband and keep Terri alive.

And in this situation, my feelings are exactly the same. I would respect the wishes of the husband.

That's because my next point has been so beaten into my head by constitutional amendments in 18 states, laws in Congress and attempts to amend the federal constitution, so excuse me if I'm a little bruised and bloody: The sanctity of marriage is our most beloved institution for thousands of years that's been handed down by God, and we must do everything we can to protect it.

Apparently unless it's politically apropos to ignore it.

I think Tom Delay, Republican Majority Leader, ought to be so ashamed that some faggot from Sodom by the Sea San Francisco has more respect for the institution of marriage than he does.

And that's why the courts ruled in Michael Shiavo's favor time and time and time and time again. It's not that they love to see Terri die. It's that in case after case after case after case, whenever the courts have had to decide between the direction of her family and her husband, the court will go with the husband's direction. I know the case isn't that simple, and there can be circumstances where the court would not follow the husband's direction, but the courts do take into account that he is the woman's husband.

That's more than I can say for the Republicans.

Which is why it's so disgusting that the very people who beat it into our head about the sanctity of marriage, find it so easy to throw it out the window as soon as it becomes inconvenient.

It really begs the question, are they just doing this to placate their constituents? Do they really believe this, or are they just mindless automatons, bending to their every demand?

George W. Bush said we must err on the side of life. Of course, oh yeah, but ignore the 152 people he had executed under his watch as Governor of Texas. And ignore the young Texas boy who was just allowed to die until circumstances similar to Terri's, under a bill Bush signed into law during his term as Governor. Oh yeah, because he couldn't afford to pay for his care.

I won't even get into the fact that Republicanism was founded on the ideas of states rights (which the federal Republicans subjugated), a person's right to choose their own destiny (which they attempted to override), and against big government oversight (which was exactly what they were doing).

I understand Terri's case is difficult, complicated and tragic. But right now I'm so overwhelmed by the blatant hypocrisy of our government, it's hard for me to think about much else.

Man I love this City

It never ceases to entertain me.

So there's this security guard at work. He's a total bear, shorter, stocky, goatee, kinda cutish bearish kind of guy. He works the afternoon/evening shift, so I'll often just smile at him on my way out the door. I tried to figure out if he was family. I thought I saw him one evening when I was in the Mission grabbing dinner. So one weekend when I came in to drop some stuff off, I just asked "Do you live in the Mission? I thought I saw you there a couple weeks ago." He abrupted answered, "No, it must have been someone else." Just killed it like that. Okay, sorry for making conversation.

So a few weeks later, guess who I run into at the Lone Star. Bingo. He was a lot nicer to me then. It's not like I wanted to do him, just I see him all the time so just to be sociable. In fact, the fact that I knew I could have him made him a lot less appealing. *lol* ("I can't have you? That is SO hot!") :-)

So this morning when I'm coming in, CC, the security guard who works in the morning and fellow family member, pulls me aside. "Hey, you know the security guard who works here in the afternoon, shorter, stocky guy." "Yeah." "Well, it turns out he's family. I ran into him at the Eagle yesterday." She frequents the Eagle. "Yeah I know, I ran into him at the Lone Star a few weeks ago." "Well, if you wanted to know, he's family. I talked to him about you, so go ahead and talk to him next time you see him." "Okay sure." I walk into the elevator. Then it hits me, CC, are you trying to set me up? :-) Is one security guard trying to hook me up with another security guard? Is everyone in this town gay? (Yeah, pretty much!)

I love this City. :-) It never ceases to entertain me.

I don't get it

Barely a day's passed since yesterday's decision and, as expected, the opposition is fuming. What I really don't understand is the rhetoric.

Tom Del Beccaro, chairman of the Republican Party of Contra Costa, said marriage "should be decided by the American voters, not by the court." Exactly when should the rights of a few be put up to a vote of the many? Blacks would never have the right vote, segregation would still be legal, and a litany of other social ills would well be in force simply because they're popular. Please drop that argument.

"This decision will be gasoline on the fire of the pro-marriage movement in California as well as the rest of the country," said Mathew Staver of the Campaign for California Families. First off, I'm all for marriage. Secondly, what he's referring to is an initiative change the California constitution to ban it. Mark my words: he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of changing the California constitution to ban same sex marriage. Unlike other states, it takes 2/3rds vote in both the state senate and house to go to the voters. Already a third of the members of both houses are backing a Marriage License Nondiscrimation Act, and many others certainly aren't going to back a constitutional amendment. Secondly, they frequently cite that in 2000, 62% voted for Proposition 22, an initiative defining marriage as a man and a woman. This ain't 2000, dude. Polls show support in California for same sex marriage around 45% and civil unions around 25% (which we already have), while opposition to either only around 30%. The idea that a majority is going to approve a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage has a snowball's chance in Death Valley of passing.

"Although this was just a lower court ruling, it's a vivid reminder that opponents of traditional marriage have not given up their effort to overturn the will of the people," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Who in the hell said we oppose traditional marriage? Marriage continues to be one man and one woman, and we have no intention of abolishing that. If I'm for gay rights, does that mean I'm against straight rights? If I'm anti-racist, does that mean I'm anti-white? I'm an not anti-Semitic, does that mean I'm anti-Christian? Tone down the rhetoric dude. Actually, it's not rhetoric, it's a bald-faced lie.

Thomas Wang, an evangelical pastor in Mountain View, said, "Freedom doesn't mean freedom to do anything. If that happens, then there is chaos." Dude, did you read the ruling, or just go out spouting party lines?

In determining whether the public interest requires the prohibition of a marriage between two persons, the state may take into consideration matters of legitimate concern to the state. Thus, disease that might become a peril to the prospective spouse or to the offspring of the marriage could be made a disqualification for marriage. Such legislation, however, must be based on tests of the individual, not on arbitrary classifications of groups or races, and must be administered without discrimination.

Likewise, the state can preclude incestuous marriages as well as establish a minimum age for effective consent to marriage because such limitations on the fundamental right to marry would further an important social objective by reasonable means and do not discriminate based on arbitrary classifications. Thus, the parade of horrible social ills envisioned by the opponents of same-sex marriage is not a necessary result from recognizing that there is a fundamental right to choose who one wants to marry.

I've said it before. Those who argue that giving same-sex couples the right to marry, then you'd have to give it to siblings or NAMBLA, follow the same argument that if you give women the right to vote, then you have to give it to dogs, or if you give blacks the right to own property then you have to give it to trees. Women can vote, and I don't see dogs given the right to vote. Blacks can now own property, and I don't see trees owning it anytime soon. Same sex couples in Massachusetts can now marry, and the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west, and hell did not open up and swallow Boston whole. In fact, Boston is still just as lovely of a place to visit, so please, drop that argument.

Wang added, "If everyone in the world would follow the same-sex pattern, then there would be genocide." Actually we tried that already. Thanks to the Fab 5, for awhile the entire world was metrosexual. Kids still got born, dude. Please drop that argument.

Even so, Kramer argued that the opponents were incorrect: Same sex couples can procreate. One member of a lesbian couple can be artifically inseminated and produce a child. Those who would argue that it is not the same as opposite sex couples procreating are also wrong. Find the case of a opposite sex couple where the male is infertile, and so sperm is donated and artificially insemiates the woman. Legally, the child his baby just as much as if it were his own sperm. And there's no legal precident to say their marriage is any less valid. Legally the argument has no grounds. Please drop that argument.

There's an overwhelming reason why the opposition failed in this case: They followed the exact same logic as that led up to the 1948 decision striking down interracial marriage. It's always been done, it's applied equally to men and women (or blacks and whites in the previous case), it would lead to social ills, the purpose of marriage is procreation. I ask you, if you're up for securities fraud, would you follow Martha Stewart's strategy? If you're up for murder, would you follow Scott Peterson's strategy? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result. Exactly why did they think they were going to win this time? I have no idea, but then again, I'm not a psychologist and have no experience in diagnosing the insane.

Let March 14th forever be known as California Freedom to Marry Day

"No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today I'm a lot more satisfied.

I heard the news over lunch that a California judge ruled that California's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. While I've never spoken about it on my blog, I've spoken about it to great length in my personal life. I wanted to use this day to highlight what we've gained, and how far we have left to go.

Many people and politicians preach from the halls of the congresses across our country that we must defend marriage. They never give reasons why. I use this space to say exactly what we must defend and exactly why. Not nebulous "what if" scenarios, but actual instances of people who have been harmed by the injustice of discrimination.

My arm bears the tattoo in memorium of a man I never met, but became my hero on 9/11, as Mark Bingham defended our country on Flight 93. He, along with those others on the plane, died fighting terrorists and took down the plane rather than allow it harm another soul. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

What wasn't known was after, Mark had no will. According to California law of the time, his partner would get none of his estate. As part of Mark's estate, half of their house would be split between Mark's parents, one fourth to his mother, and one fourth to his father, a man who hate the fact Mark was gay, and estranged him and his mother at an early age. Mark's mother was loving enough to help Mark's partner save the house, but she had no legal obligation to do so. And the man who hated Mark got rich off his death.

And almost the entire world knows the case of Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, a San Francisco couple who's pit bulls attacked and killed their neighbor Diane Whipple. What isn't as well known is that her partner Sharon Smith had no legal grounds to file a wrongful death suit. The court allowed it to occur in this case, and later led to legislation to allow it for all same sex couples. At the time had it occurred in any other state (except Vermont), Sharon would have been on the good graces of Diane's family to step up to the plate, something that happens less often with families who are often estranged from their gay children.

These are also countless cases of life-long partners who were denied the chance to see their love one's pass on, because the hospital did not consider them "family". The practice is now illegal in California, but is legal in 47 of the 50 states. (Soon to be 46, thank you Connecticut!) It still happens all the time in those states. It's only through the goodness of the doctor's hearts it doesn't happen more often. But only one homophobic doctor or nurse can stand in your way between you and being able to say your final goodbyes to the person who's committed your life to.

Even those that claim that many of tenaments of marriage can be reached without legislation, such as through wills and trusts, are tenous at best. A male couple in Colorado drew up a will with each other as the beneficiaries. When one of them died, the family contested the will, claiming the family was superlative to the surviving partner, since the state did not recognize their relationship, and therefore the will had no legal grounds. They won and got everything.

It begs, even screams a question:

Why do people have to die before they are given the same rights as others?

California recognized that, and thus why all of the above rights that can be granted at a state level are now included in domestic partnership rights. But they also now realize separate is not equal.

A long-time friend of mine is partnered to a German man. If they were a straight couple, they would have been allowed to marry and his partner could be a nationalized citizen. Instead, INS discovered he was HIV positive, and had him deported back to Germany. Instead of staying here in San Francisco, they now both live in Frankfurt. In Germany, he is allowed to register his partnership and emigrate to Germany. But not in America.

So even in San Francisco, same sex couples, even now married ones, have none of the immigration rights, and over a thousand rights at a federal level that states cannot grant, even with full marriage equality. Let today pave the way to ensure that people who love each other can commit their lives to each other. Love knows no boundaries.

Today I am so proud to be a Californian, to say that they did not give their lives in vain. Let today forever be in memory to them.

My bookbag keeps getting lighter

I finished up a crapload of homework this weekend. I was saying to a friend, "If I have to write one more freakin' paper... and I do..." (I have one final paper to finalize, and two more to edit up.) :-) So I finished up my Philosophy homework, and then next assignment isn't due until next week. So after I finish up my class tomorrow night, that gives me the full benefit of next weekend to do nothing but decompress. I did put my Phil book in my carry on so I can read it on the plane. But not needing my books today, I just had my papers and notes with me this morning. Man it felt light. I thought it was so symbolic, that my book bag was getting lighter, and so is the burden of all this homework. When I finished up my PM class, that was one less folder and one less tome to carry around. Now that I didn't need my Business Writing book, that was one less thing to carry around. After tomorrow, I don't have to carry the notes and papers either. And with it, no more work for those classes. Oh sweet freedom! :-)

I love making people's day

So this morning I was running a little late, mostly because I didn't sleep well last night, but partially because I lost one of my motorcycle gloves. After combing the area between my bike and apartment and not finding it, I finally gave up and decided to brave it and ride in without them.

It was a gorgeous day, so everyone and their grandmother rode their motorcycles into downtown San Francisco. I circled around the enclave of motorcycle parking around the Federal Reserve Building (since 9/11 it's been a security concern to allow large vehicles to park around it, so it's nothing but motorcycle parking around the entire block) and not a spot to be found. So I decided to check out Justin Herman Plaza a couple blocks down. I wait at the light at 1st and Market, and standing next to me is a tourist family waiting to get on the F-line street car to go down to Fisherman's Wharf. The five year old next to me goes balistic. "WOW!! A MOTORCYCLE!" I look next to me. You'd think he'd never seen a motorcycle in his entire life. I mean he was jumping up and down, "Look mom, look! Nice bike man!" "Thanks!" I call back. It put a smile on my face too. :-)

If I could do it all over again

That light at the end of the tunnel keeps getting brighter and brighter.

On Tuesday, I finish up my final Business Writing class. Can I emphasize more how happy I am about this? Another 3 credits, and this class is probably the most work of any classes I've had this term. Project Management was a hell of a lot of reading. Ethics in Business is a hell of a lot of thinking. Business Writing is just plain a lot of work. I'm nearly caught up on my homework, and I'm so glad because I'll actually be able to enjoy some of this absolutely amazing California weather we're having. Mid-March and it's currently 83 degrees out. So cruel that I have to be inside working on school! I've tried to get caught up so I'm not staring outside watching motorcycles go by while I'm sitting inside staring at an empty Word document wondering what to fill it with. :-)

So I've started to get contemplative. In PM, we call it a "lessons learned report." What worked, what didn't, what would you do over. If I could do it over again, what would I do again? What really helped out?

First off, if I could do it again, I would have bought a small laptop. Emphasis on small, like only a 12" screen and 5 lbs or less. Emphasis on size and portability rather than features and power. Oh yeah, with a long battery life too. I have a laptop at work, but it's a 15" screen and over 6 pounds. Man it's heavy to lug around after awhile. The ability to be able to take it wherever to be able to work wherever so you can work on homework whenever inspiration strikes. Emphasis on Word and an internet browser (and wireless Internet access), and Excel works awesome for Math classes.

Some things I got later on that I would have got earlier. A laser printer. A memory card (for porting files around). A Palm Pilot (for organizing classes and homework, and making billions of to do lists, and the ability to jot down an idea whenever it strikes).

Other things I found out worked really great. I used to go on weekend trips and found the time I spent travelling invaluable for reading, working on homework etc. Being stuck in an airport for a late plane and you're practically forced to read a textbook. During crunch times, I used to even go camping (in the summer of course), out in the woods with nothing to do but read, away from the distractions of the TV and even the computer.

I probably would have scheduled things a lot differently. Spring was definitely the best time to stack up on the classes. Not a whole lot going on. Summer was by far the worst time. As I like to say, SF is a very distracting city, and it's worst in the summer. Fall is better, but it gets hell around the holidays. Finals, final projects and getting ready for the holidays and year-end, all at the same time. You have no idea how glad I am that's behing me.

Would I have done it at such a feverish pace? That's a good question. I think it was appropriate, given the number of credits I had to finish. I think I might have scheduled them a bit differently. One of the things I found really helped was to mix up the type of classes I took at once. Take one technical, one business, and one liberal arts class at once is a great mix. Not overdoing it on writing papers or code or solving matrices all in one term. That really helped out.

As for now, I'm just happy it's almost over. :-)

Bears are smart too!

So this weekend, one of the things I managed to get caught up on was my Jeopardy shows (I have them "replayed", recorded on my DVR), 7 shows in all over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So it's the Tournament of Champions, and this bear Ed from San Francisco is on. I'm looking at him thinking I KNOW I've see this guy somewhere before. It's the Tournament of Champions, so he's a 5 time champion, so he has been on the show before, but I'm thinking, no that's not where I've seen him before. I know I've seen him somewhere in the city. After all, he is from San Francisco.

So I go out to the Lone Star for the Sunday beer bust with a few friends, and guess who I run into? Ed Schiffer. He hangs out at the Lone Star. I've never known him personally, but he does hang out there on occasion. I totally walked up to him and said "You're that Jeopardy guy, aren't you?" He was surprised that someone recognized him. I said "I just saw your show yesterday. I THOUGHT I recognized you from somewhere! Congratulations on winning. I remember it so well because I got the Final Jeopardy question and so did you, but the guy who was in the lead didn't, and I was surprised because if I got it and he didn't, and he was in the lead. Congratulations!" "Well, thank you!" he replied. I think he was a little surprised at the attention, so I let him be, but I was just more surprised to confirm he looked familiar for a reason. He left not long after. I didn't mean to come on like a groupie. *lol*

Red sky at night, sailor's delight

The rain finally abated. After rain earlier in the day, I made my way home. When I walked out of the subway, this is what I was greeted to. It's supposed to be beautiful all weekend.

Only in San Francisco

I was out at lunch at Henry's Hunan (some of the best Chinese in the Western Hemisphere), and this was the special. Read the second one. It begs the question, what's the point? :-)

Parking in The City

I've often said finding a good parking spot in San Francisco can bring you to tears. I've also said that sometimes I'll go somewhere purely for the sheer fact that I just happened to find a parking spot near there. Needless to say, there's a lot of adventures to be had parking in San Francisco that are hard to find elsewhere.

A few years ago, a friend was visiting for IBR. We parked downtown on a Saturday, and about 90 minutes later, we came out after our meter had run out and found a $35 ticket on the windshield. I grabbed the ticket and threw it in my car. "$35??" balked my friend, "for a parking ticket?" My other friend from San Francisco replied, "Please, most of us have a monthly budget for parking tickets." (Note, that same ticket would now be $50.)

Another friend came to visit, and I said I knew of just the restaurant to go to. We went to the Inner Mission on a busy Thursday evening. I said, "Be on the lookout for parking." "I can't find any anywhere." "Oh, there's one." I pulled into the median of a street between the two lanes of traffic. "Can you do that?" my friend asked. "I just did," I retorted. "But isn't it illegal?" "Oh quite." :-) (It's a $50 ticket if they would ticket you, but they don't usually patrol there that time of night, and if I did get a ticket, that would average out to $12.50 per incident, pretty cheap parking in San Francisco.)

Likewise, I met a friend for dinner tonight. I usually ride my motorcycle down but it was raining, and the buses were fairly inconvenient. So forgetting how long it takes to find a spot to park a car in San Francisco, I ran late. Pressed for time, I pulled into a red zone along with a few other cars. When I came out, luckily I had no ticket, but as I was pulling out, another car was waiting for my parking spot... my ILLEGAL parking spot. You know parking's bad when people are waiting to get into an illegal parking spot. :-)

Friend of the court brief

No, I highly doubt anyone from the Supreme Court will be reading this. However, like some of my other postings, I felt it necessary to let my feelings be heard. Sometimes people ask "Where will this end?" For me, it ends here.

I'm a fairly liberal person. Actually by San Francisco standards I'm pretty conservative. I do actually admire the ministers outside the Supreme Court, fighting for their beliefs. I just think they're a little alarmist.

One of the worries is that "Where will this end?" If we ban the Ten Commandments in federal buildings today, one day won't we just ban religion altogether?

As for "Where will this end?" the Supreme Court has actually already spoken. In the Supreme Court building, there's a facade of several figures, including Moses holding the famed tablets. But also includes Confucious, Hammurabi and some secular figures. The Court already decided in 1989 it to be constitutional as it did not endorse a religion.

There's several constitutional problems of the issue of the Ten Commandments. One, it's purely a religious icon. There's nothing secular about it. Even more damning (okay, bad choice of words, but in a constitutional sense), the words are verbatim out of the bible, a text specific to a certain religion. In this case the constitution is clear. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." The Ten Commandments are specific to a certain religion, therefore respect an establishment of religion.

At the same time, I fully understand why people are upset about this. The constitution bans their religion in federal areas. It doesn't ban religion, but it does ban theirs. I would actually argue if it contained the Ten Commandments alongside writing of other texts, religious and/or secular, it would be perfectly fine. Let everyone feel welcome at the table.

And I'm actually not against the use of the word "God", such as in the Pledge of Allegance, or swearing "so help me God". The idea of God is universal to most all religions, not just a particular "establishment." And our nation was founded on religious freedom, and our use of the word "God" embodies those beliefs. But our nation was also founded on many different religions. I personally feel that people of all religions should feel welcome in America, and I believe our Founding Fathers felt that way as well.

But to specifically condone a specific religion is unconstitutional. If someone feels offended about this, then they get a taste of how God-fearing but non-Christian people feel living in a Christian America.

Are we there yet?

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed the last few days. On my way home from class on Saturday, I was feeling awesome that I finished another class. (As well I should!) I kept thinking, man I'd love to go see a movie or something. However, the feeling didn't last. As I assessed my other classes, I realized I had to get caught up on those. On Monday I got caught up on one class, but have another onslaught due on Friday. And I'm still not caught up on the other class. Oh yeah, and working every day too. Monday night after I got caught up on the one, and sat and stared at the pile of work I had to do in the other class, I realized there was something I desperately wanted to do: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I didn't want to write any papers, read any chapters, go through the horizontal filing cabinet formerly known as my kitchen table, nothing. I did manage to clean a bunch of my apartment (at least the worst of it, like the kitchen and bathroom and pick up major stuff), but still.

So I logged into school and checked up. My grade had been posted for my PM class (I got an A!), and I registered for my capstone project class that starts in two weeks: The final class. After feeling overwhelmed, I just realized I need a little inspiration to get me over this final hump. I found it in my evaluation report:

Credits required: 123.0
Current credits earned: 114.0
Current credits remaining: 9.0
Anticipated credits remaining: 0.0

0.0. I've never been so happy to see zeros in all my life. It means I have 9 credits (3 classes) left to finish (although one is half over, the other has only two weeks left), and they're all in progress.

I need to schedule some me times to get over this hump. I do realize I have one less class to worry about, and I have my weekends back... at least to work on other classes. :-) Two more weeks, and it'll be easy street. In May, walk down the isle. Eye on the prize, Joe. :-)