Strength Is Not Measured by That Which You Would Kill For

Often throughout my life I've heard people say what they would kill for. I'm not talking about "God, I'd kill for a cold beer." but of ideas, or country.

While watching Ken Burns' latest documentary series one veteran commented that "It is hard to give up someone else's life." My grandfather always told me that what one would die for always says more about a man that what he would kill for.

Once I grew up I started to realize what that really meant. Killing, fundamentally, is easy. The act of taking a life is simple and for many people the repurcussions (guilt, incarcerations, various mental issues) may not even come to years later. Additionally, as compared to dying, killing can be done repeatedly.

Death, being a permanent condition is rather harder to accept. I rarely ever hear anyone speak seriously of what they'd die for.

I think that such casual statements of what one would kill for are also part of the overal degredation of the english language we have constantly been enduring but that is a rant for a different day.

Business Travel

My big project at work these past few weeks has been getting Live Meeting up and running.

Even though this is standard software for my company this is actually proving to be a nightmare. It turns out the main office (located in LA) is still running win2k, does not have the citrix client on their machines (needed for how we access...long story) and so it will be a few weeks until I can do all of my remote training through that.

Normally I wouldn't care, except that as usual I got my last minute training request. I have to train 20 people next week and it took every ounce of reason to push this off until Thursday and Friday. I am however, getting sick of business travel. Sure I've got lots of frequent flyer miles and loads of hilton Honors points but they don't like to let me rent a car due to the "you are too damn young" surcharge i get nailed with.

Why is it that every time I start to get shit laid out at work timing is always waiting to sodomize me in the end?

bloody hell.

Making Sitzkreig Look Honest

Ok, here comes my obligatory liberal anti-bush/war post:

Ever since 2004 I have been counting down the days until this term is over...

I was very frustrated when "the current president" as Sarah Vowell refers to him was elected (sorry, won't bother with a bullshit "re-") that year on a platform of keeping boys from kissing, bullshit tax cuts and shouting from the hills that the liberals are cowards and that the terrorists would win.

Sure, I'm willing to be that said terrorists and their compatriots would love to have seen Bush get defeated...as would the majority of the rest of the world. I find it utter crap whenever someone states that because the terrorists would like something it is inheritly bad. You know, I'm pretty damnèd sure that both bin Laden and I are pretty damn fond of Oxygen...not going to make me hold my breath until I turn blue. And I'm also pretty damn certain that there is not an american who wouldn't be happy to give any of those arses a .45 ACP enema.

In a hypothetical debate one night someone asked me if I ever thought I'd feel guilt about having not volunteered to server in the "war on terror." I actually laughed. I have respect for those who do but it will be a cold day in hell when I would volunteer and be willing to sacrifice for a sodding joke. Plus the fact that I was raised by "militant pacificists."

The war on terror is just as much as a joke as the war on drugs. There will always be those who disagree with Lincon's thought of the "ballot is stronger than the bullet" and there will always be a customer base for taco bell.