Hola from Baghdad

Hello everyone. This is my first blog post from Baghdad, Iraq. I am stationed with the US Army at the lovely Presidential Palace, inside the Green Zone. It is also known to the US Forces here as the US Embassy in in the International Zone (IZ). Life here is interesting and not too bad. I started Active Duty for the Army on 6 Oct 2008 and expect to complete my time in May 2009. I am not yet sure when I will leave Iraq. I got to Baghdad on 21 Oct. I am advising the Iraqi Army inside the IZ, drive an uparmored SUV, carry an M9 (standard Army issue 9mm pistol), have body armor and a helmet.

I am working on a longer post that covers more areas and gives you a flavor of life here and what I do. Always the optimist I plan on posting more information soon and keep up a running commentary.

Have a fun day and see you soon!

Heading out from the office to get some food and work from the hotel. S'later y'all

Glad the 4th Amendment is not dead

So it seems that the Department of Homeland Security has deemed seizing property without probable cause is acceptable under the US Constitution. The policy allows for seizure of documents and electronically stored data BEFORE probable cause is established. Please see the below full text of the 4th Amendment and correct my ignorance of the language that allows this policy.

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

It will be along time after King George II's departure until there is a balance restored to government v people. So long as the Scalia type justices remain on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) our rights as citizens remains suspect and subject to the whim of people who could not get real jobs. People who work for the Terrorist Support Agency (officially known as the Transportation Security Administration or TSA) may be nice people individually, but are working for a corrupt agency that undermines American values and security.

If you care about what America stood for, if you valued freedom from government interference in your life, you must vote AGAINST John McCain. If you do not more of the Scalia brand of justices will be appointed to the SCOTUS and our rights and privacy will continue to be eroded in the name of National Security. Don't let this happen.

Very late night again, early morning, on a web sales session, lots of work. Need more sleep, more coffee

Finally have hotel reservations from Jul until Oct in Westborough, MA. I will be in Natick, MA for the next 2 wks.

About Me

I always question myself about me. I wonder about who I am and how I am perceived by others. The reason for this is simple, I know that the way I do things is found to be odd or annoying or rude or just strange many times. Recently I joined Twitter to see what it is like. From there I have joined several other sites. I have two sets of accounts, one has my real name or a very close approximation, the other has another handle for the name. The second set of accounts is to minimize people from tracking me down without some effort and sophistication. The first set is so I can maybe meet the people in real life.

Today my lack of social grace hit me in the face again and I felt bad about what I did, and now I am feeling melancholy about my inability to overcome some real social ineptitude I have. I seem to have insulted a very nice young lady on Twitter while trying to be smart. I spend so much time is spent inside my head that I fail to take into account people perceiving my comments any differently than I perceive the comments. All too often I insult people without meaning to, largely due to gaffs in my word selection, but also due to a level of insensitivity.

At the end of the day I am sitting here alone in a hotel room, traveling for work again, frustrated because of my poor social skills. While I often enjoy being alone, I am not enjoying being lonely. I am not sure exactly what I want, but I do know that being a social clod is not part of my desires. When I look at my father and the place he is in his life I know clearly that I want to be no where near where he is, except alive that is.

So in the end, my life is better than I make it out to be, better than many other people's lives, and can be better still once I get my act together.

Many High School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism

Good to see that religious faith is more important than education. When 12.5% (that is 1 out of every 8 if you went through religious education) of high school teachers teach that creationism/intelligent design are co-equal with evolution as science there is no wonder in my mind why other countries are beating the US in eduction. With the amount of money available for education in the US we should be #1, like we were at one point, in science education. Not slipping behind other nations and needing to import knowledge workers using H1-B visas just to keep up. The US deserves to get its ass kicked on eduction if we are to allow this BS to continue.