Monday, April 30, 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Have I done this yet?

I don't know if I have formally done this yet or not, if I have, sorry, if I have not, here goes.

I hereby formally renounce my associations with the Republican Party and any membership I hold therein. Next time I'm at the DMV I'll ask how to formally change to independent if that's possible.

I'm doing this on its own, not attached to an issue, because I want to make clear that I'm not mad about any one thing and that this is not entirely reactionary.

I was a Republican because I am a conservative, and I have a strong belief in the pro-life issues they once championed. Though Republicans still claim to be a pro-life conservative party, that statement is not true objectively. It is true that they are more conservative and pro-life than Democrats, but that's not good enough for me.

I am not opposed to voting Republican, and in fact, I'm still more likely to vote for them than for Democrats. I am not opposed to one day coming back into the fold or even one day to accept Republican support in the event I ran for office. But as for being a rank and file elephant, I'm out.

Forgive me if it takes a while to stop saying "we" when talking about the party. I've been one officially for 10 years.

The party has become a thing I do not like, and I am done with that.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Pro-life, You're doing it wrong

I'm railing against my own today.

Conservative law makers in Arizona tend to be extreme on immigration, and now they're extreme on th pro-life issue. You'd think I'd welcome this, and I would if they were extreme only in their desire to end the practice of abortion through honest means (For example, saying they want to outlaw it, and attempting to do so).

Instead they've passed a series of troubling bills that I'm only just learning about and if my initial impressions of them are correct, I'm hereby publicly condemning them as intellectually dishonest, and even morally unacceptable laws.

For time's sake, I'll only focus on the biggest doozy. Arizona has passed a "Wrongful birth, wrongful life" law (which by the way is already law in nine other states). In this law, a doctor is given immunity from being sued if he withholds information from the parents about their unborn child that might cause them to seek an abortion.

I don't even know where to begin with this one but here goes.

1. A child born with a disability or disease ABSOLUTELY has the same right to life as one born without those things. But a parent has a moral and legal right to know the status of their unborn child's health regardless of how that will effect their intentions.

2. Withholding the information will put the parents at a disadvantage when they could have spent the last nine months preparing for their special needs child, emotionally, financially and as far as any home care needs.

3. It's just bull. I appreciate the sentiment, I do. Trying to save more kids from the evil of abortion is good. But ends do NOT justify the means in my understanding of the world.


I want to see the practice of abortions ended, but I don't want to screw around with it. On most issues, I advocate changing people's hearts and minds, and then changing the laws. However, on some issues the laws must change first because of the urgency of the situation. That's where I stand on abortion.

But we are full of crap if we think that allowing a doctor to lie, even by omission, to those in their care is a step in a good direction. It isn't.




Friday, April 6, 2012

John's attempt to get....well, I'm not sure what the goal is

Some of you may remember my quasi-regular posts about weight loss called John's Attempt to Get Less Fat....well the attempts have continued with some success while the postings have not.

For those still keeping score at home, I now weigh 297.6 pounds, which is 42-45 pounds total loss since last April (the number is unclear because the starting weight wasn't written down anywhere I can find). I hoped to hit 50 pounds before April ends, but I'm not going to push it. I'm happy with the progress.

Anyways so after dealing with a possible virus, low blood pressure and then a very annoying and probably never going to totally go away other problem (Don't worry I'll live) I've started focuseing on this fitness stuff again. A few little walks, some physical work days, and most importantly, the resuming of playing semi-competitive table tennis against co-worker Todd.

We've decided that February and early March just might be the yearly off-season for what we've dubbed the Not Professional Ping Pong Association (NPPPA, t-shirts coming soon?)

But we're back. I won week 1, Todd won week 2 and we were off this week. Play should resume for the NPPPA proper when I face Todd on Thursday but I've got an "exhibition" with possible NPPPA member, my boss Jason, on Tuesday.

So why so much table tennis? After beating up on each other for a solid year, Todd and I have decided we want to see just how good we are, and we plan to enter the Bluegrass Games <a href="http://www.bgsg.org/">Bluegrass State Games</a> this year. For a modest entry fee, we can each compete in USATT style competition for our age group and singles open play, and we'll also have a shot to play doubles together.

I've watched some video of last year's event... We're not likely to do very well. But I've been losing motivation on my workouts of late and the only thing that ever got me to take fitness seriously was regularly scheduled athletic competition. So I'm hoping this will serve to motivate me.

I got a new racket (trainer model, nothing special) and we're going to step it up between now and July with training. We're also going to visit the Lexington Table Tennis Club for some pointers and practice between now and then.

Will we be the best in Kentucky? No, I don't think so. Can we win a match? I don't see why not.

So here's to the stoking of my competitive fire. Let's hope there's enough fuel to keep it burning.

Also, have a happy Easter folks.


Tuesday, April 3, 2012

We talking bout sports? Really?

It has been some times since the topic of sports was broached here  on the account that actually started out as a sports blog, but today's a good day for it.

Today the town I live in (Lexington, Ky.) is celebrating a national basketball championship while the town I'm from has reportedly signed former NL MVP Joey Votto to a big boy contract of 225 million over 10 years. That's REAL PLAYER money. That's almost Yankees money.

So let's start with basketball. As many of you know, despite a former massive interest in all sports, I've really not cared so much the last few years. I think it is a product of working in sports that it becomes a job and no longer a passion. And even when I was a big sports guy, I didn't like college sports that much.

And even when I did sort of follow college sports, I didn't care a whole lot for the University of Kentucky. But now, I live in it's Mecca. As I type before starting work on Tuesday, I'm wearing a UK basketball t-shirt (clearance, $8) and everyone else is too. I'm going downtown in a few hours to hock programs from the Final Four as collectors items.

It's neat to be in a town that's won a national title, when the town really cares about it. It was a little like when the Reds won the NL Central in Cincinnati, I wasn't there, but I read and heard a lot about it. It really, and perhaps sadly, was one of the cooler moments of my life.

This was different though, as here I'm an observer, not really a fan. I watched the game and literally within seconds of Kentucky's winning, I heard shouting and cheering in my apartment complex. Then I heard car horns from far off. Next came fireworks, so many fireworks, for roughly an hour.

Not long after that of course came the sounds of police and fire engines, but I digress. Seeing the celebration unfold, I was a little jealous I'm not really one of them, but then I see the drunks burning cars and I'm glad I'm not one of them. Such is my strange relationship anymore with sports.


Anyways, as for the Reds, this is some big news. I can't stress enough how strange it is for such a small market team to spend so much money. This is the kind of decision an owner needs to make to win.

Joey Votto is big time. He's the real deal and is one of the five best players in baseball. He's ours now for all of his career that will matter. That's good.

What's bad is I don't see how we can re-sign second baseman, all-star and fan favorite Brandon Phillips now with all our money tied up in Votto, but that's the cost of doing business. I hope the Reds find a way to keep Phillips too, he's really a fantastic player and a great community guy too, but if we could only keep one, we made the right choice.

The last thing in my mind left for the Reds to do is to crap or get off the pot with Aroldis Champman. They're paying the Cuban Missile more than he's worth to pitch the most meaningless parts of the game. Middle relievers are a dime a dozen. He needs to be a starter, or a closer and he needs to either have that role with the Reds, or be sent to the minors where he can play that role and learn it.

Wasting him in a limbo where he won't develop or be of any great use is an abomination to the baseball gods.

But I digress, point is today's not such a bad day to be a sports fan in Cincinnati or the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky.