Finally, I've received an answer to The Letter!

This from Georgia's governor Sonny Perdue:

Dear Mr. Dolan:
          Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me about the role of government in our lives. The freedom of which you speak is a precious gift, and it is the duty of those in public office to protect the freedoms of all citizens.

          It is important that your elected officials know of your concerns, and I am always pleased to receive comments from Georgia's citizens. Many of the items you mentioned in your letter are more appropriately addressed at the federal level. I encourage you to get in touch with your Members of Congress so that they can keep your views in mind. For your convenience, I am including a list of the names and contact information for all members of the Georgia Congressional delegation.

          I appreciate the opportunity to learn what is on your mind and hope this information will assist you as you pursue this matter further with the federal government.

Yours truly,
Sonny Perdue

Way ahead of you, Mr. Perdue. Guess I need to write him a letter on some specific issues I wish the state government would just butt out of. Things like funding charities. Heck, I could even be radical and suggest that marriage should be a purely religious institution without state involvement.

Sheesh, these politicians, have to walk them through everything....

1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

3. Africans drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

4. Italians drink large amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

5. Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Words are fascinating, aren't they?

Take Fascism, for example. Most folks associate this word with Hitler and Nazis, and these days, it's all too often used as an emotional attack against the President by hyperventalating leftists who wouldn't know real Fascism if it bit 'em.

If these nutcases had checked the dictionary, they would see that Fascism is formally defined as a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. In economic terms, a fascist system is generally defined as one in which the state owns the means of production but hands them over to citizens and citizen-run corporations for day-to-day running.

So, where does the etymology come in? Well, I discovered a short while ago where the word comes from. It comes from the Latin fascis, plural fasces. And what's a fascis? It's a bundle of sticks, usually tied with a red strap, often wrapped around or attached to an axe. Back in Roman times, officials carried them around as a symbol of authority and penal power.

The ancient Roman symbol is still used in a lot of places today. Take a look at the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Hard to see it in this picture, but there are two gold fasces on that wall behind the Speaker's chair, one on each side of the flag. This commemorative five-dollar coin has a pair. There's one on the back of this WWI victory medal, and the LAPD badge boasts a border design based on the bundle and straps.

Just some interesting stuff to know.

From my page-a-day calendar for yesterday:

In 1975, the head of the Federal Energy Administration flew around the country speaking to business and civic groups about the need to conserve energy. He spent $25,000 of the taxpayers' money on 19,000 gallons of fuel to spread the word not to waste so much money by using so much fuel.

The word on my mind is 'fair'. I woke up yesterday morning to a radio newscast about a politician that wants to raise state gasoline taxes. Georgia currently has one of the lowest tax rates on gas of all the states. He was saying that drivers aren't paying their 'fair' share for keeping the roads maintained.

Hmm, 'fair'. I've also heard that the rich don't pay their 'fair' share, either. Nor do corporations. On the other hand, I've also heard it said that it isn't 'fair' to expect that certain people pay for what they use, especially if they are senior citizens, or it's medicine being used.

From all these considerations of fairness, I remembered how a certain Goblin King answered a protestation regarding the world's lack of fairness: "You keep saying that, I'm beginning to wonder what your basis of comparison is."

Went into Publix tonight, and what did I see? Santa Claus waiting at the door. Green and red all over. Dessert samples and eggnog.

And it's not the first time this year I've run into it. Heard some background music in Barnes and Nobles a couple of weekends ago that I recognized, after tapping my toe for a few moments, as a Christmas tune. And I learned from a friend of mine in the retail industry that stores play that music because it's been shown through psychological studies to trigger the 'buy impulse' in shoppers.

Thanksgiving is still nearly two weeks away, on my USA-centric calendar. If I'm going to see any decoration in the stores right now, I'd rather like it to be brown, yellow, and orange, with turkeys, pumpkins, horns-o-plenty, and politically incorrect icons of colonialism.

I love Christmas. I'm 26 years old and I still believe in the magic. My problem is that, at this rate, by the time the actual day rolls around, most folks will be just downright sick of it, and ready to get back to business as usual by Dec. 26th.

And in that spirit, I give you C. S. Lewis's What Christmas Means To Me. Warning, there is a midi.

Especially your phone bills. At least, read the detail pages when you pay them.

See, my roommates and I don't have long distance service on our phone line, or any other services that cost varying amounts from month to month. So our phone bill is always the same, just over $32. I know this because I use Quicken.

Got a phone bill last night for $118. My eyes nearly popped.

Read down into the detail pages. Seems some company called Integretel was billing us for two 4-minute calls to a 900 number. Each for four minutes. Each by itself costing more than the regular monthly bill. And the first of these calls was on an evening when we were all out of town!

Called this Integretel company up, and they said that they were billing for another company which was claiming that one of us had downloaded software onto our computer which had dialed the 900 number to download some video. Okay, I've heard of viruses and spyware doing that, but we've all got strong antivirus and antispyware protection here. Plus, we use DSL. We rarely even have a modem hooked to the phone line, except on the rare occasion that one of us needs to send or receive a fax.

So anyway, Integretel said they'll be crediting the charges to our local monopoly phone provider, that the local monopoly phone provider should get the credit in 7 to 10 days, and we should see it on the bill in 2 to 3 billing cycles. Not good enough for me. I'll be calling up said local monopoly phone provider to make sure they received that credit, plus I'm in a mood to make a complaint to the FCC, just to add another bit to some bureaucrat's lousy day. From what I've heard, false charges are a common problem, and the phone companies hope we just don't notice. As do the banks and credit card companies.

Grrrr.

What a fine night.

Went down to the semi-monthly Coffee House. Jazz and Blues was the theme this weekend. Ray Chesna gave the opening act, with some sweet guitar-picking and fine singing. Loved his Computer Blues. (That thing you're holdin', there in you're right hand.... It can't help you baby, it's just a mouse, it ain't a man.) Titled this journal after another great song of his.

After the first intermission, found out that the pianist who was scheduled to accompany the next two acts mysteriously didn't show up. Not a problem, though, the show went on, and Janet Metzger gave us some sweet a capella classical jazz. Familiar old tunes like Crazy, and of course, Over the Rainbow.

Last up was the velvet voice of Oscar "The Smooth One" Sheppard. Sang a few by himself, then shared the stage with Ray. We had our kicks on Route 66, and the night was quite Unforgettable.

After a hellava week at work, tonight was pure musical heaven. Good enough that I broke my usual habit of only buying one CD a month. (It's okay, none of the groups from last month had CDs to offer.) Can't wait for tomorrow night. The first act is going to be this jazz-and-funk group from Atlanta called Urban Blu.

Property and Order
by Butler Shaffer

Excerpt:

Because all political systems are wars against the private ownership of property, statists must redefine social and political issues to exclude "property" as the defining factor. Thus, a manufacturer who is disposing of industrial wastes by releasing them into the air, or dumping them into rivers, is charged with "pollution" or an offense against the "environment." To correctly characterize his actions as property trespasses against those who either breathe in the smoke or gas, or whose lands are damaged by the waste, would be to focus on what politically-minded people know would threaten their regulatory schemes. If the wrong engaged in by the manufacturer is defined as an intrusion upon an individual's property interests, people might soon begin to regard governmental action as property invasions as well.

It is safer to treat the act as some hazy collective wrong to "the environment," an approach that raises the more interesting question: do environments - whatever that word might mean - enjoy "rights" of non-transgression that individuals do not?

I'm reminded of the situation in Alabaster, AL, and other Eminent Domain abuse cases. The government always finds a way to redefine the issue. It's not that the government is taking property away from the owners and giving them less than what they could get on the free market, it's the owners' fault for "underutilizing" their land, or allowing it to become "blighted". Whatever those words might mean.

Here's my first ever contribution for the Slashdot Cookbook, desserts section. It's pure sweet-tooth satisfaction! I'll be baking a batch for the Coffee House this weekend.

RC Cola Cake
2 cups flour
2 sticks margarine
1 cup RC Cola
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1.5 cups miniature marshmallows
.25 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa
.5 cup buttermilk

Stir together the flour, salt, sugar, and cocoa. Heat margarine and cola to boiling point. (Don't let it boil!) Pour over dry mixture. Stir in milk, baking soda, eggs, and vanilla. Add marshmallows last. (This will be a thin batter, but don't worry.) Bake in 9x13 inch pan in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until cake is done. Pour icing over cake while cake is still hot.

Icing:
.5 cup margarine
2 tbsp. cocoa
6 tbsp. RC Cola
1 box confectioner's sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat the 1st three items to boiling. Pour this over sugar, mixing well. Add nuts and vanilla. Spread over hot cake. Cool and cut into slices.

Just a quick flash animation that I found to be rather well done....

And since I don't want this journal entry to be just one link, I'll just pass on some additional miscellaneous news I heard today. Seems there's this bar up in Edmonton, Alberta which has a problem. It's a sober bar, catering to recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. No alcohol sold.

Seems a lot of ex-alcoholics smoke. Swapping one addiction for another, y'know. And a judge has ruled that the bar has to get a license to sell alcohol or else they can't let people smoke at the bar. Even though they don't sell alcohol.

Now here's the real kicker: The bar applied for a liquor license. But they were turned down. Why were they turned down? Because they don't sell alcohol.

Seems those of us south of the border don't have an exclusive claim on silly government.

What it is: The Stars on the Southern Crescent Coffee House

The Theme: Bluegrass Festival

The Nights: Friday, Sept. 26th and Saturday, Sept. 27th. Doors open at 7:45pm, show begins at 8:15.

The Place: The Fayette Family YMCA, 215 Huiet Road, Fayetteville. (Just off of GA-54, halfway between Fayetteville and Peachtree City).

The Performers: Just Us and Stranger 2 on Friday. Red Line Express and Counterpoint on Saturday.

The Menu: Gourmet coffee, herbal tea, hot cider, other beverages. Desserts supplied by EJ's Sweets and Gift Shop. Bring your own mug to receive a discount on hot beverages, and you might win the Most Usual Mug award!

Admission: $8 for general audience, $6 for senior citizens and children 12 and younger. For group rates, contact Offshoot Productions.

Season tickets are also available. We've put together a Jazz and Blues Weekend in October and a Celtic Christmas Coffee House for November.

Florida seems determined to get its title of "Most Mockable State" back from California.

It was bad enough when the state decided to remove high school diploma requirement for entering state universities, following a year with a dismal graduation rate. Bad statistics? Lower the standards!

Now, they've got "school overcrowding". And to deal with it, they've passed a law to make the senior year of high school optional. Students can now get a diploma without attending a senior year through a "fast track graduation". Reward without the work. Hey, since they don't need a diploma to get into college, it's not like that piece of paper means anything any more, right?

There's a part of me which says going to school shouldn't be manditory for all without exception in the first place. If you're not going to learn, you're just taking up space. Better to take up space somewhere else, where you won't be distracting the teachers and the students who actually want to learn.

But that doesn't change the fact that Florida is crazy.

A good friend recently posed a challenging question in e-mail and IM discussion. The topic: The tension between faith that our Heavenly Father looks out for us and the truth that bad things happen. I've heard that particular challenge before, and the best answer I've got is, sometimes a good parent has to let his/her child learn from painful experience.

The really tough question he asked was: What if God isn't as logical as we like to think?

That got me to thinking about free will. I believe that, being created in God's image, I have the capacity to act on free will. I can act rationally or irrationally, I'm the one that decides. But I've never really given much thought to the implication: God, too, has free will.

One thing I've noticed more and more recently: we humans have difficulty enough in dealing with free will in our fellow humans. Politicians find it so much easier to legislate if they can treat people as just cogs in a socio-economic machine, instead of respecting the wishes and rights of each individual. (A machine which they must be superior to, since every one of them proposes to 'fix' it.) In the modern psychologist's lingo, people don't make decisions based on experience, they "exhibit behaviors" based on "conditioning". (I wonder, do they ever seriously think to themselves, "I'm going to exhibit a behavior of going out to lunch today,"?) People who frequently act on their free will, in defiance of "social will", tend to end up being labeled as "radicals". Doesn't matter whether they act for good or ill, individuals are dangerous.

Now, I take it on faith in the teachings of certain people who knew God very well, validated by my own spiritual experience, that He's made certain promises to us. We humans go back on promises all the time. The thought of God going back on a promise, especially with our continued existence at stake.... That's downright scary. I happen to have grown somewhat attached to existing.

But it's my experience that an honorable person keeps their word, and trusts others to do the same until a lack of trustworthiness is demonstrated. He's never broken a promise to me that I know of. So, I can accept a bit of unpredictability on His part. After all, I'm not the omniscient one here.

As for whether God might be illogical, well, logic is influenced by frame of reference. It's just plain hard, if not impossible, to see things from His frame while we're stuck with our physical limitations. Remember that thought experiment from Advanced Physics, with a clock traveling near the speed of light and time apparently slowing down? Seems about as illogical as anything I've heard, unless you have some faith in Einstein's genius.

So, how does free will work on a level of existence beyond time and space? Does causality have any bearing on an eternal mind? Do I have a tendency to overthink things sometimes?

Well, at least I know the answer to that last one.

The 74th General Convention is over, Rev. Robinson has been confirmed as a bishop, and moment-to-moment attention of the national 24-hour news networks has shifted away from the Episcopal Church to cover the circus in California. (On a tangent: Just saw Chicago this weekend. Great movie. The news media really is as portrayed. Razzle dazzle.)

The real story, though, has just begun. Now comes the fallout. The effect of the cause. I'll start by sticking to the facts and what might yet happen.

A number of Episcopal churches across the country have begun withholding their tithes to their dioceses. Others are waiting to see what happens at the meeting of the primates that has been called by the Archbishop of Canterbury for mid-October. The Kenyan Anglican bishops have threatened to break all ties with the American Episcopal Church. Still others stateside seem to be in the dark as to what the controversy is all about.

Whatever happens, this is big. Especially the whole withholding of tithes to dioceses. We're talking lots of money, lots of property. The diocese holds the legal title to each church's land and property. A bishop has the authority to fire the priest and kick out the congregation, if push comes to shove. And sure, you can always hire another priest, but if the congregation pulls away, you can't just pull in new worshippers off the streets.

This isn't the first time "splinter groups" have broken away from the Episcopal Church. In 1873, the Reformed Episcopal Church was born. In 1977, the priest at the church my parents now attend was present as a deacon-in-training at the forming of the Anglican Church in America. And today in sermon, he pointed out another big problem you get whenever a church splits in an issue of politics against theology. It's not just the faithful followers who join the splinter movement. The kooks come out of the woodwork, every one seeing an opportunity to become a bishop and claim a "flock".

I'll just mention one thing on Rev. Robinson. I heard it mentioned that he was asked whether a priest in a heterosexual extramarital relationship should ever be promoted to bishop. His answer: A strong, quick, definite no. Followed by a quick "Next question, please," before it could be asked how the gender of the lover makes a difference.

Just a few quotes that have stuck in my head this week:

A science of economics must be developed before a science of politics can be logically formulated. Essentially, economics is the science of determining whether the interests of human beings are harmonious or antagonistic.
--Frederic Bastiat

It is impossible to understand the history of economic thought if one does not pay attention to the fact that economics as such is a challenge to the conceit of those in power.
- Ludwig von Mises

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it.
The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.
- Thomas Sowell

Money's been on my mind since earlier this week, I opened up the mind of a friend at work (who styles himself a "moderate Democrat") to the thought that politicians can never really "create economic growth".

Him: What you're saying is, it has to grow on its own, right?
Me: I'm saying, the government can only do two things with the economy. The government can chain it down, or loosen the chains.
Him: Ah, you're talking about the tax cuts.
Me: I'm talking about all kinds of things. Tax cuts, the Fed, regulations, stuff like that.