I think I should tell the world about myself (briefly). Without giving away any personal information :) I am the Security Administrator for an ISP in Utah. I have a bachelor's degree in Information Systems Security from ITT-Technical Institute, and an Associates degree in Business from Salt Lake City Community College (I'm reel learnt). I hold the Associate of (ISC)² certification (same test as CISSP, just lacking work experience), which I hope to upgrade to full CISSP in 2008. I juggle and ride a 6-foot tall unicycle for fun, and play World of Warcraft in my ever-diminishing free time (I can't help it, I love computer games- sad, I know). I am also teaching adjunct at ITT-Technical Institute now, which is a very interesting experience that I will elaborate more on in a later post.
I am happily married, and my first kid (son) was born October 3rd, 2007. I also have 2 cats (fat and lazy- not their names but should be)
Anyway, that's me in a dried-out-insect-exoskeleton. ;)
I hope that lends some credibility to my random comments (yeah right).
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
politics
As we draw nearer to the 2008 presidential election, I find myself pondering politics. In, Utah, or example, I am surprised that there isn't a huge Mitt Romney base, blindly following him because he's Mormon. Traditionally, Mormons are Republicans. I know this is a bit of a stereo type, but Utah hasn't been won by a Democratic candidate in a long time. Here's an interesting link for the electoral college. I tried to find out when the last time Utah was won by a non-republican party, but my attention waned. Anyway, in the last 2 presidential elections, Utah has been won by the Republicans by a large number of votes. My point I was trying to get to is that most Utahns that I have spoken to about their political affiliation, have been blindly Republican, not able to make clear reasons for being Republican. Also, mormons love to tell you the famous people that are also mormon, which led me to think, combined with the former statement, they would blindly follow a mormon republican candidate anywhere. Perhaps they are holding out to see if he wins the republican nomination.
What I have seen in Utah, that I expected, is a general hatred of Hillary Clinton. I have heard many things like, "If Hillary wins, I'll have to move out of the country". I believe this stems from the LDS religion's tendency not to trust women in positions of power. Couple that with Hillary Clinton being a Democrat, and to many Utah Mormons, she's the devil. If you ask these people why they won't vote for Hillary, they will generally tell you one of three things: She's a socialist, she's a liar, or she contradicts herself. To this, I say: To a Republican, the Democratic platforms are on the socialist side- the Democratic party has always been more for the laborer than the business owner, and their belief that good health care is a basic human right, flies against good Republican, billionaire, pharmaceutical and health care campaign contributers, so of course you think she's a socialist. Also, of course she lies, she's a politician. Contradict herself? Again, she's a politician. Anyone that thinks that any presidential candidate doesn't lie or contradict themselves, is an idiot. I, obviously, am democratic-leaning, but I will freely admit that all the democratic candidates lie and contradict themselves, because every candidate, regardless of party, does. If you don't believe me, spend a week listening to Sean Hannity and John Stewart. Hannity will point out the lies and contradictions of the democrats, and Stewart will point out the lies and contradictions of the Republicans
So what does that mean for the election? Am I going to vote for Hillary? I won't decide that until I see who the democratic nominee is. I'm not totally opposed to the idea anyway.
Just a quick note about health care. I was listening to Sean Hannity the other day, and I heard him say that the American Health care system is the best in the world. That's why people leave the country to get their health care. That's why Americans buy their prescriptions in Canada and smuggle them back. That's why elderly re-hab patients are sent home before they are able to take are of themselves, many dieing or needing to be rushed to the ER because they tried to get to the bathroom and fell. That's why millions of Americans can't afford to go to the doctor, or have to choose between seeing the doctor themselves, or having their children see the doctor. That's why millions of Americans can't afford life-saving medications and procedures. And that's why Republican politicians get free rides/trips on HMO and pharmaceutical private jets. Give me a break Hannity.
Forrestmage
What I have seen in Utah, that I expected, is a general hatred of Hillary Clinton. I have heard many things like, "If Hillary wins, I'll have to move out of the country". I believe this stems from the LDS religion's tendency not to trust women in positions of power. Couple that with Hillary Clinton being a Democrat, and to many Utah Mormons, she's the devil. If you ask these people why they won't vote for Hillary, they will generally tell you one of three things: She's a socialist, she's a liar, or she contradicts herself. To this, I say: To a Republican, the Democratic platforms are on the socialist side- the Democratic party has always been more for the laborer than the business owner, and their belief that good health care is a basic human right, flies against good Republican, billionaire, pharmaceutical and health care campaign contributers, so of course you think she's a socialist. Also, of course she lies, she's a politician. Contradict herself? Again, she's a politician. Anyone that thinks that any presidential candidate doesn't lie or contradict themselves, is an idiot. I, obviously, am democratic-leaning, but I will freely admit that all the democratic candidates lie and contradict themselves, because every candidate, regardless of party, does. If you don't believe me, spend a week listening to Sean Hannity and John Stewart. Hannity will point out the lies and contradictions of the democrats, and Stewart will point out the lies and contradictions of the Republicans
So what does that mean for the election? Am I going to vote for Hillary? I won't decide that until I see who the democratic nominee is. I'm not totally opposed to the idea anyway.
Just a quick note about health care. I was listening to Sean Hannity the other day, and I heard him say that the American Health care system is the best in the world. That's why people leave the country to get their health care. That's why Americans buy their prescriptions in Canada and smuggle them back. That's why elderly re-hab patients are sent home before they are able to take are of themselves, many dieing or needing to be rushed to the ER because they tried to get to the bathroom and fell. That's why millions of Americans can't afford to go to the doctor, or have to choose between seeing the doctor themselves, or having their children see the doctor. That's why millions of Americans can't afford life-saving medications and procedures. And that's why Republican politicians get free rides/trips on HMO and pharmaceutical private jets. Give me a break Hannity.
Forrestmage
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
First day of blog
So I've been meaning to start a blog for... well.. years. I just never did it. I do have one on my myspace page, but ...meh.... nobody sees it. At any rate, we'll see how often i manage to post to it as my attention span is .... I like bunnies, they're cute..... and I want a butterfinger..... anyway, here's to my future in blogging! Forrestmage
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)