Homework to catch up: Part I of the series.

Not that this was planned, but the current events just point to the ongoing search to find the one locus from which all things can be blamed for all the ills of the entire universe.

This week’s theorized cause of all evil: Mark Foley.

Here’s a thought, as I have presented before on a similar topic, that of the “corruption” of Tom Delay. Back then, in one of my blog posts, I said it would behoove the opposition party to first “check six” and clear their baffles, before taking what they thought was the best shot, for they might find out some of their number had similar issues in their records. Well, in the case of Tom Delay’s situation, it seemed many in Congress had not filled out travel reports 1) in a timely manner 2) disclosing all the sponsors of their trips. Not only was this a reality in the aftermath of the very public charges, later, we found William Jefferson with $90K in his freezer, wrapped in tinfoil (I guess to preserve it’s freshness).

I will, once more, predict (and I’m certainly no oracle), that, as one TV correspondent says last night, they are getting many emails from other pages. It is only realistic to believe, that the subjects being discussed in those emails coming in will include human beings, most likely almost exclusively male, and, there ceratinly may be some Democrats in the bunch. Whether that is disclosed before or after the elections next month isn’t necessarily the issue, but the fact that it’s a human condition in the sexually related society we live in. The “backsplatter” will get those who are making exceptionally bad (and in some cases, illegal) choices, but it isn’t reasonable to brand everyone of their party as participating in the same behavior.

I also don’t think this will cause the conservative Christians to boycott the entire Republican party slate, any more than any other group will get rid of their incumbent congresspersons. With a 95%+ reelection rate over the long term, we love to hate them, and we say we should vote them out, but what we really mean is “you vote out yours, mine did a great job getting me and my family government handouts…” History tells us where that has gone. The shrillness of the calls for punishment, however, might actually energize people to get out and vote out/against those who scream the loudest, seeing the out of control rage as a sign of being, well, out of control in general.

Somehow, I also believe that in all the races around the country for the various House and Senate seats, if the Democrats try to say their opponent, being of the same party as Mark Foley, by implication, is just like him will be a very long stretch and I presume most people with a degree of common sense will see through the preposterous accusations along these lines.

Frankly, I’d much rather put my head down and recount 25 years of personal computer use, and the joys of changing standards, “vaporware,” try before you buy software wars, and having to convert to the “Dark Side” of choices of operating systems.

Final note of the moment: As a self appointed oversight board member for the committee searching for the GUBT, get back to work, you’re being distracted from finding the real root cause of all evil.

Next final note: Democrats – I think you found a crack in the armor, but it’s not big enough for you to get a pry bar in and open the floodgates.

Update 10/5/2006: Geez…it’s a tough day when I can predict the future….It seems that:

• The “child” was 18 at the time of the IMs in question, ergo: No crime, just a really embarrassing story here. Certainly far less of an issue than Gary Studds actually committing sexual acts with a minor page of his in 1983.
• The entire IM thing is a prank gone off the tracks. It seems the IMs were recorded and passed around for entertainment value, and ended up in the hands of someone who wanted to cause pain and anguish. BIG lesson here….

Back many years ago, a man I worked for taught a lesson about writing things. The message applied here. Too bad more Congressional Respresentatives haven’t been reading my blog…:(

Anyhow, it’s not that I have special powers, it’s just the Democrats/leftists are too blinded to see they aren’t thinking. Not fac checking something you have had available for about a year, then deciding to use it as a lever to regain power is, well, the most gracious word, STUPID!

As I’ve ruminated about a few times in the junior blog, and now here: You lefties dishonor the very people with a background that has a prayer of getting you some traction: ex-Military members. War College grads, with battlefield experience could serve you well, but they are just people too stupid to be able to have a real job, so…they don’t darken your doorways to offer their expertise. Just the facts, Ma’am!

“It has to do more than play games” was the admonition from the now Ex.

Two guys in my shop owned Atari computers. One had the 400 and one the 800 model. Sometimes they brought them in and we’d fire them up at lunch and play “Star Raiders.” Even now, for such a small amount of RAM and a slow processor, the graphics were pretty good 3D effects…in B&W, of course. So, I had the bug.

The spouse agreed we could get a computer but, (see opening sentence) it would perform a number of tasks. We began the journey to find the best computer to allow me to stop wandring into game arcades and going thru a handful of quarters, as well as have some money making ability. The options we shopped were: The TRS-80 series, the Atari 400/800, and the Apple ][+. I had no idea there was an IBM PC out there, but a few months ago, seeing a note about the anniversary of the IBM PC, I now realize it pre-dated the Apple ][ series.

Our analysis was:
The TRS-80 was good for business related stuff, but sucked for games (my priority).
The Atari series sucked for business, but was great at games (her priority).
The Apple ][ series, was adequate at both, but not superior at either (seemed like the best bet).

So the Apple ][+ it was, sometime in October, 1981. We found the Byte Magazine, and the local computer stores and began shopping for the best price, knowing Apple was the most expensive choice. We finally bought it and here were the specs:

Apple ][+, 6802 1 Mhz processor, 48K RAM.
We added:
Two 5 1/4″ floppy drives, capacity 134K, unless it was used as a system boot disk, then it held 143K on a single side.
80 Column video card, the Videx Videoterm, specifically for word processing tasks
Zenith 12″ green screen monitor
C.IOTH StarWriter daisy wheel printer with parallel interface.
EZ Write Professional (I may have this title wrong)
and we had a printer interface cable made (I had no clue as to standard interfaces, so I paid $89 for the education).

Total outlay, in 1981 dollars from an O-3’s household budget: $5400.

We still had a free bedroom, one being set aside for the pending arrival of the first born, so the computer was placed then, upstairs and I went to work learning the seeming magic of electronics. We talked to some of the computer store salespeople (most of who couldn’t answer any questions, but would let you go and play with the display models by yourself) and found out there was an Apple club in the area. The Tidewater Apple Worms (TAW) met every Saturday in one of the large classrooms at the Naval Amphious School on the Little Creek, VA base. We wandered in to see how we might learn…..

(to be continued)