"Lock the doors and close the blinds -- we're going for a ride..."

Holy crap -- I still have my Mindsay blog! How cool is that?!?

We did a test show last night to iron out some of the challenges of a new platform -- and it was a success!  Here are some of the latest details:

* The show has its own web page you'll be able to access at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69574  . There's a chat room for those who would like to participate live.  If you're looking to use your Mindsay name rather than "guest," you can quickly register with TalkShoe.  When you get to the chat, you can listen to the show.

* Windows users can also download "TalkShoe Live Pro" (for free) which allows a much sleeker interface and accessibility.  It starts up through your browser.

* For those of you who can't make it to a computer for all of the show -- you can also call in at (724) 444-7444
And punch in Call ID 69574 to listen! You MIGHT need to register on TalkShoe with a PIN beforehand; I'm not totally sure about that part of it.

* The show will be available online after the fact for those of you who have much less significant plans this Saturday evening.

Hope to see you there!

Oh good -- I can come out of hiding now.

What? You thought that you could get rid of me that easily? Heavens, no! Especially not when I've got an important announcement to make.

*ahem*




We'll be using TalkShoe as the platform for this show -- which allows a chat room and calling in to the radio show!  We'll send out the link closer to the date.

The show will also be saved as a Podcast for those of you who can't make it live.

Hope to see you there!

This should make for an interesting blog post. It's been something on my mind for a while now. Something I've felt like sharing, but since I really haven't been in a bloggity place it hasn't really come out.

Yesterday I told you a little bit about my life nowadays.  I intentionally left out a chunk of it so I could write about it today. It has to do with the volunteering I've been doing several times a month.

And it's one of those things that people will perceive in very different ways: some of you will take a look at what I'm doing and cheer, saying that I'm doing a wonderful thing. Others of you might nod a bit and take a "hey -- whatever floats your boat" attitude. There will be some who think what I'm doing is stupid, and some who will see this as a counterproductive abomination to society and the heavens above.

And you know what? That's fine. I'm still going to do it. Not because others have given me their blessings -- but because I feel that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Because I feel that what I'm doing is right.

So -- what exactly is it that I've been doing when I wake up early on certain Saturday mornings? When I hop in my car and cross over into downtown DC, parking my car on the street and huddling with a cup of coffee while I walk the few remaining blocks, where do I go?

There's a simple answer to this: I volunteer by helping women get to their doctors' appointments without being harrassed and/or intimidated.

I suppose that leaves out a huge chunk about why this is so controversial: The women with appointments are coming to a clinic at which I "escort." The clinic is Planned Parenthood in Northwest Washington, DC.  Planned Parenthood provides medical care and counseling for women -- primarily working class women in the District. Women can make appointments for gynecological exams.  Their physicians can prescribe birth control. There are counselors on site to assist women in many ways -- not just limited to discussions of sexual health.

And yes -- Planned Parenthood is a place where, if a woman chooses to do so, she can have her pregnancy terminated by a physician.  I'll say this in no uncertain terms in case anyone accuses me of not being direct and straightforward here: abortions. Women can get abortions at Planned Parenthood.

My job is not to judge. My job is not to ask women if they are there for the normal Pap Exam or for an abortion. My job isn't to convince women that they are making the right decision by choosing to have abortions.  My job is simply to help them get into the door without being harassed.  It's trickier than you might think: we have protestors lining the sidewalks and the common area leading up to the front door all morning. There are prayer vigils. Posters of babies -- and of fetuses, in utero and aborted. Self-described "sidewalk counselors" will find any woman walking down the sidewalk -- even if she's just walking on by! -- and latch on with flyers, pamphlets, and non-stop talk about how murder is occurring in that building. Some of them mention that there is always another way -- and that people can help take care of their babies. It can get rather intimidating.

Here's how a typical morning usually goes for me: we (the escorts) get there at about 8:15 or so. By that time, some of the protestors are already out front, some of them engaged in prayer vigils and mass. Some of them have their banners and signs up prominently.  Many are clutching rosary beads and crosses, one of them being on the lookout to "counsel" any women who might be going to Planned Parenthood.  A few of them are polite and responsive when I smile and say "good morning." We've both been there for weeks; we're simply soldiers standing guard on different sides of the battlefield. We simply have very, very different ideological differences. Others don't acknowledge when we greet them. I'm okay with that.

We get buzzed into Planned Parenthood's front door by Rita (not her real name), the security guard on duty. Each of us puts on an bright orange vest stating that we are clinic defenders. The phrase that sticks out the most, in big, capital letters: "PRO-CHOICE."  Some would feel that this is a misnomer, but it's a surefire, quick way to let people know that we are with the clinic, and we are here to help those who choose to use it.

There is a coordinator onsite every week -- and that person is "the boss," letting volunteers know the skinny on what might be going on that week and where to stand.  Some of us are at the front door, waiting to open it quickly when a patient needs to come in -- and closing it just as quickly so the protester following inches behind  doesn't have his/her shouts bellowing into the vestibule.  Others are lined up on the sidewalk -- sometimes playing zone coverage, other times covering individual protesters who roam around.  When women (and companions) are approached by protesters, we walk alongside and ask if they need help getting in. With a smile. If we're needed, we often talk about anything -- or nothing at all -- drowning out the voices of protesters and alleviating the tension.  The same thing happens once someone exits the clinic: we ask if an escort is needed, and we'll walk alongside the patients as far as they need us to go. Usually the protesters won't go more than a block or two (but I've seen it happen on occasion).  We do not raise our voices; if anything, our job is to diffuse any potential violence.  We won't get into a screaming match with protesters; if the patients get emotional and start yelling at them, so be it.  We're a strong, quiet force. Not there to preach, not there to argue. Just there to escort.

What happens on any given Saturday depends on a few factors: the weather is one of them. Protesters still come out on rainy days, but not in full force. (Patients are also sometimes dissuaded by bad weather.) Washington, DC is a unique place in that it's a hotbed of political activism. There was a huge rally on September 12 of this year which had many conservative opponents of Obama come down -- many of whom passed by Planned Parenthood and decided to spontaneously join in with their own protests.  A campaign called 40 Days for Life took place from the middle of September through this past Sunday; we had shifts of protesters there specifically for that cause. On most Saturdays during the school year we have groups come down from Catholic University (in DC) and Christendom College (in Front Royal, VA) for their own student prayer vigils. Rumor is that students can get school credit for attending.  Some Saturdays we can have only a handful or protesters; other Saturdays we can see crowds into the hundreds.

Escorting at the clinic used to be a much tougher job until 1994, when the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act was passed. This is a US law passed which makes it a crime to block the entrance of an abortion clinic. I've spoken with some of my fellow escorts who remember the days when protesters would sit-in on sidewalks -- or even park cars there.  We don't see this happening nowadays (at least I haven't). Most of the protesters are well aware of the extent of the law. They also know exactly where our rights, as escorts, end: we can't "assault" them (meaning we try not to touch them in any way). We make sure to travel in pairs to make sure that there is a witness to any possible accusations.  Sometimes we will state the facts to protesters: "You're not allowed to block the sidewalk." Usually they comply pretty easily.

In fact -- there is some civility there on both sides -- perhaps because there is enough legal information on both sides. Example: one day we noticed a film crew shooting patients coming in and out of the clinic. One of our escorts asked them to stop -- not that there was a specific legal prohibition against it, but it was seen as harassment. Almost immediately, one of the protesters asked them to stop filming as well -- and they did.  It's interesting to see that, although it can be easy to see them as simply "the enemy," they have the same type of goals that we do: they want to make their position heard in a civilized professional manner. (At least some of them.)

Usually it's pretty clear that we're not going to convince each other of our own views. But I have been approached by protesters in a very friendly way, trying to get me to change my ways.  I mention, right up front, that I'm certainly okay to "agree to disagree." That I'm not here to change their minds, and I'm not going to be swayed either. But some of them just won't quit. I've had one protester take out a box of plastic models of fetuses of different sizes (I kid you not), lecturing me on gestation. I've had protesters say that my position aligns me with Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger who had some nutty (and scary-ass, in my opinion) opinions about eugenics and culling the herd. Other times I've had labels thrown at me: godless. accessory to murder. Murderer. Racist (in that our clinic serves primarily African-American women). Misogynist. Child-hater. (Only the ones who run around shopping malls with no boundaries -- and I hate the parents more than I do the kids). Evil. I've even been called a "tool of the devil."  (I certainly won't argue with being a tool; I've been called that many times before.)

I've marched in DC supporting women's reproductive rights.  I've supported Planned Parenthood in petitions and donations. As recently as this past Tuesday I've voted for candidates who feel the same way I do about the right of women to choose what happens with their bodies.  But this is different: This goes against the grain a bit. I suppose it's potentially dangerous (although the chances are very small that I'd be in a situation where I would risk my life).  It begs the question if this is something I really feel is right. It's easy to march among thousands for a cause. But what happens when you're one in a sea of others who feel differently from you?  I've determined that yes -- this is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed to do.

And I get my share of thank yous from people passing by. I smile at them. I also get a lot of stares from those who don't condone what I'm doing or who think I look foolish in a bright orange vest. I smile at them as well.

When I go home at the end of the shift, however, I feel like I've helped make a difference. And that's what counts for me.

Note about comments: feel free to post whatever replies you'd like. Praise me. Condemn me. Compare me to Hitler. Whatever. Just know that I'm not going to engage in a debate about abortion rights.  This isn't a post to try to convince anyone that my viewpoint trumps the opposite one; I'm just chronicling what I'm doing and how it makes me feel.

EDIT: I haven't posted this yet, but I'm anticipating that maybe one or two of you might want to know how to get involved in clinic escorting. In the DC area our organization is called the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force (WACDTF). I happened to read about Clinic Defense through a blog -- and had found it to be intriguing since my Mom and I had spoken about it years back. (She was a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood). If you're interested in volunteering, you can do a web search on "Clinic Defense" and your local area. 

You know what I miss about blogging at Mindsay the most? Bullet points:

• I wrote extensively about my son, av, growing up from a baby to a toddler and then into a preschooler.   Since I last posted here a lot has changed:  he's now in first grade! And he'll be seven at the end of next month! Where does the time go?!? We're sending him to a private Jewish school here in Northern Virginia -- which is an amazing fit for him.  He's in a class with 18 other kids with whom he's become great friends.  The teachers this year (as were the kindergarten teachers last year) are truly wonderful; they allow all of the kids to excel and immerse themselves in learning. I'm proud of him being able to work addition and subtraction problems with two-digit numbers; find different countries on a map and read entire stories in Hebrew. It's just great to see what he learns every single day.

• He's also very tall -- one of the tallest in his class. I have no idea how that happened.

• ... and he plays guitar! Well, kind of. He's been having guitar lessons every week for the past month and a half, and he's (slowly) getting it down. Perhaps the hardest part of it is his concentration during lessons and practice sessions. But when he gets it, he gets it.  He has six chords under his belt; this week we're focusing on transitions between chords.  He can play "The Wheels on the Bus." exciting!

(No, that's not him really playing. But it's a cool picture.)

• Enough about the kid; let's talk about ME! After taking a break from blogging, I decided to get more exercise and join Weight Watchers. I was at a pretty dangerous weight and was leading a more sedentary than not lifestyle. Well -- a summer of running in the neighborhood paid off (as did a pretty good change of diet): I'm now down about 30-some pounds from June! I still have a ways to go before my goal, but this really feels good. I've been told that I look different. It makes me happier and more confident. (Having bought pants in a smaller size for the first time in my life certainly didn't hurt!) I look forward to keeping up the progress. Although I can't run outside in the Fall/Winter season (too dark), I've joined the gym at work, and I find myself on the treadmill, elliptical and stairmaster a few times a week.

• Modern Family on ABC is the best new show of the season. With Glee as a close second. There. I said it.

• The Mindsay community was very helpful and supportive when I was going through the grief of my mom's death back in 2006, and I appreciate you all being there for me. Since then a lot has happened in my Dad's life:  He started dating a wonderful woman, and they have since moved in together. In March of this year he sold his home -- the home where I grew up since age 2. He also was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. An aggressive case of it, in fact, which required chemotherapy. But after a spring and summer's worth of chemo treatments, he has kicked cancer's ass into remission.  His hair is short but it's pretty much all grown back. I'm so proud of him for staying strong throughout this time.

• Oh -- and did I mention? He's getting married this month. At age 65. My brother and I will be walking my Dad down the aisle. And moments later, I'll have a much, much bigger family. A stepmom. Step-siblings. Step-nieces and nephews.  The cool part? We all get along pretty well.

• arrrgylesocKs and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary a few weeks ago. We spent the weekend in Baltimore and had a lovely time.  Here's to eleven more years! (Hell, maybe 12!)

• I've been spending a lot of time volunteering. But I'll save that experience for a post later this week.

And them things is bullets!  Have a good night...

I think I read another Mindsay Reunionite compare the current state of Mindsay to the dilapidated town. It used to have all of its allure, but then it started to decay due to lack of upkeep. The local riff-raff moved in (splogs), and there wasn't a lot of maintenance being done. True -- friends still lived in the town and were fun to visit, but many decided to look for better places to nurture their creativity.

I'd like to think of today's Mindsay as something a smidge different:  It's more like the VCR which has its clock still blinking *12:00* perpetually even though it's been plugged in for several years now.  Sure -- other sites may have more sophisticated blogging and social networking gadgets embedded. It may look a bit un-tech savvy to hang around and take a look at it from the outside. But it still works just fine as platform. In the same way that you can still watch that VHS tape of "City Slickers" over and over again on it with no problem, Mindsay serves up the blogs of dear friends. Over and over again. But without subtitles or extraneous "making of" featurettes.

But you know what Mindsay really reminds me of? A roller coaster. Not just any roller coaster, though -- a kick-ass roller coaster which opened at Kings Dominion Theme Park in Doswell Virginia in the early 1990s called The Hurler.  At the time, KD was owned by Paramount, and Paramount's hot movie property at the time was Wayne's World.  Thus -- they decided to open a special section of the park based on Aurora, IL -- the town where Wayne's World took place. The line leading up to the coaster had all sorts of Wayne's World references and took guests through the basement set and the legendary breakfast nook. It was amazing -- a roller coaster which was exciting but also relevant to my generation! How awesome was that?

Fast forward ten years. The notion of a Wayne's World themed roller coaster was about as exciting as an Angela's Ashes log flume ride. The ride was still there, but they took out all of the dated references to what people thought would be a timeless movie franchise.  The coaster was still quite good. But if you were to ask most riders why it was called "The Hurler," they'd likely scratch their heads.

Maybe I thought that Mindsay would evolve a bit more. I mean, why not? I had been blogging here when it made a leap from version 1 to version 2 (which people complained about until they got used to it). I saw through a move to version 3 (which, not surprisingly, people complained about until they got used to it). I saw the advent of video posting. A wiki! Forums!  Maybe I thought that, in my absence, Mindsay would continue to flex its muscle and become a social networking power! Perhaps it would have been a mighty contender in the race to become the next MySpace! (SPOILER ALERT: Facebook won that race.) Maybe Mindsay would achieve some sort of celebrity status not seen since the days of gusopenshaw.*

Maybe I set my expectations too high for Mindsay.  But I had expected that at least a few of the following things would have happened by now:

• There would be a working Mindsay app for the iPhone.  There's an App for everything. Why not Mindsay?  If I could update Mindsay as quickly as I could Facebook, maybe I'd still be around!

• Mindsay would bring back true Instant Messaging Integration. You know why I picked Mindsay over a whole plethora of other blogging platforms? Two reasons: (1) One of the creators (Adam) was an alumnus of the University of Maryland, just like me; and (2) Mindsay allowed you to post blog entries simply by IMing the post to their server. That went away in verison 2.  I would have loved to see that come back -- as well as a chat feature.
  

• A more useful "Find People" button at the top of the page.  Has anyone used that in the past few years? I mean really...

• More episodes of bdtsp   In fact, I would have wanted "The Best Damn Tech Show, Period" to have graduated to the more vibrant "The Best Damn Tech Show, Exclamation Point!" I'm thinking co-sponsorships, a booth at a nationwide Mindsay annual convention, and more exposure to what was a wonderful video podcast.

• An Annual Mindsay Convention in Las Vegas. Or Amsterdam. Or Macau. Loads of sponsors. Seminars. Swag. Comped hotel rooms. Booze. And, of course, spicy pork.

• An Acquisition of Wikipedia by Mindsay Wiki complete with a merge of Wikipedia into Mindsay's platform. Can you imagine the number of people who would need to sign up for Mindsay accounts simply to edit information about ... well, everything on earth (and beyond)?

• A feature film based on the activity of the Mindsay Forums.  I'm thinking that a horror/thriller might work best. But I'll let someone else sort out the details.

• Crazy40.com - the hype and hoopla spun off onto its own website!  (I know that some of you have decided to see if this is registered now. Yes. Yes it is. There are links to adult websites on it. Which reminds me...)

• Racier and more exploitve banner ads for American Apparel. I think Mindsay can certainly graduate to full frontal nudity in its revenue stream, don't you?

• Mindsay as a mainstream religion in three or more civilized countries.  I think I've seen enough strong, spiritual leaders in the ranks here to make it happen. I'm actually most surprised that it hasn't.

• A Dateline NBC Expose featuring: "Mindsay: It's Poisoning Your Children's Souls." See above.

•  A weekly sketch comedy show on NBC at 10:00/9:00 Central featuring characters from the  wtf  Radio Show.  Look -- anything will be better than Leno.  This is a missed opportunity -- unless Mindsay acts now!

So -- let's make all of this happen before next year's Mindsay Reunion! Who's with me?
___
* I do have to say, however, that former Mindsayer drewby hit it pretty big in the social networking world. An early user of Twitter, he happened to register the name "drew." After discovering that he had cancer (which he recently announced he had beaten), he has done a lot in the online community to raise money and awareness for cancer research. He made a deal with Drew Carey, in fact, to relinquish his Twitter name to the Price is Right host in exchange for $10,000 towards cancer research -- a deal Drew Carey accepted and said he would complete if he had 10,000 Twitter followers.

Drew Carey decided to change the terms of the bet:  If he has 1,000,000 followers on Twitter on December 31, 2009, he will donate a million bucks to the same cancer research charity. If you want to be a part of this, follow @drewfromtv on Twitter. And just know that the guy who started this all used to have his own Mindsay blog. Just. Like. You.

EDIT:  Corrected Drew Carey's current Twitter name above.

Let's get it out in the open:  Mindsay is only a memory of the community it once was.

So -- what happened? Why did people leave? Why did I leave?

Let's start with that one: I left for a few reasons. The general gist of it all: Mindsay, as much as I loved it, wasn't allowing me the control that I wanted in a blog:

• Non-Mindsay members could not comment without registering for a Mindsay account. When I began my BlogTalkRadio show and started interacting with people in different communities, I told them where I was blogging. They mentioned that they were readers, but they didn't want to register for a whole new platform.  Understandable.  Having my own blog elsewhere -- even through one of many platforms -- would allow visitors to comment simply by entering a name and an email address. That's it.  Furthermore, I could find out if someone commented via email. Simple as that.

• I could have more control over who could comment on my blog. Yes, Mindsay allows the "screening" of comments, but it's all or nothing: if I want to give laughwithme full permissions to comment but not give that privilege to allaroundpsycho, there was no way I could do this. It's a trade-off when I want to have my blog remain active without me having to control each reply as a gatekeeper but also want to keep out the SPAM, trolls and other annoyances. I switched to a platform which gave me more control.

• I wanted to find out who, actually, was visiting my blog. Yes, I know: it's possible to mask one's IP address in this day and age. Proxies are available all over the place. But knowing who visited, when my visitors came, and to which posts they were directed -- that intrigued me. I suppose I could have embedded small images in each Mindsay post to determine this, but other pastures are greener with this type of control.  And I could see a running total of visitors per day, which I can only do on Mindsay if my visitors number less than 11 or so.

• I wanted my own domain name. I love shiny.mindsay.com,  don't get me wrong. But the allure of my own domain name? Something for people to remember that much more quickly? "Shiny's Takeout" seemed to do the trick. How do you know what the web address is? Simply type shinystakeout.com. Easy.

• I wanted to backup my own data. We used to have this feature on Mindsay; it hasn't been available since v3 was rolled out. If Mindsay were to disappear tomorrow (and although I'm hoping that the Mindsay administrators wouldn't let Mindsay fall by the wayside like this, it's certainly always a possibility), I'd like to know that my content is safe.  With my own hosting, I can back up my content regularly quite easily.

• I wanted my full posts to appear in an RSS feed rather than just the first few lines. That's how I do the majority of my content reading nowadays online...
  

• I wanted more exposure.  Even though google apparently crawls (crawled?) the pages, the number of hits on my independent blog from search terms far exceeded the same from my Mindsay blog (or so I'm guessing).  I had new visitors every week. As someone looking to expand his audience, Mindsay was a bit limiting for me for this purpose.
  

The community at Mindsay has been wonderful. (I mean, except for brandre who was a total rectum.)  The community had its high points and low points like every other community. There were times that people left because they felt that the membership was becoming too militantly religious, and other times when people left because they felt that the membership was becoming too godless. There were times when people were engrossed with other people's drama, and times when people manufactured drama to exacerbate others.

But you know what? This type of thing happens in all communities, not just Mindsay. People sometimes have knee-jerk reactions to the balance of a community, and they might depart of the community does not suit them at a certain time. While the climate might change, that person might remain gone. I like the notion that Mindsay is a play where I can pop my head every so often. And feel welcomed -- even if I've been gone for a while.

Thanks to all of you for making it such a place for me.

And tomorrow I'll make the post much funnier. I promise.

(I have checked the 'Submit to "News."" check box above on this. Which is funny because there no longer is a functioning news box. Isn't life grand?)

Hi there. My name is shiny. I started my Mindsay blog several years ago -- some would say 2004, but I prefer to say that I began 29 years ago. It had been a wonderful experience for me -- I was able to form a community full of truly awesome people -- some of whom I've had the honor to meet in person, and many I'm happy to call my friends to this very day.  Blogging was able to give me an outlet to write about what was going on in my life, my head and my funny bone.  It was a really great feeling to have people "follow" me on Mindsay, interested in reading what I decided to write.

In the midst of my happy times at Mindsay, I became interested in a new project started by some online friends of mine who called themselves chilly and nomad.  They had decided to form a weekly, live internet radio show which eventually was called wtf.  I would listen every week, writing in with my answers to their "Questions of the Week," and submitting my own audio material just to see if they would find it witty enough to play on the air. They did -- and ultimately invited me onto their show to be a guest and eventually a co-host.  I was able to bring my wife arrrgylesocKs into the mix as well. We had a lot of fun times.

I really liked the notion of Internet radio quite a lot. It was then that I decided to start my own show on the BlogTalkRadio platform called "Shiny Talks Too Much."  It only lasted for a short time, but I had a blast with it. I had met many others beyond Mindsay through BTR, many of whom had blogs hosted independently by them and not through Mindsay (or Blogger or Typepad). I was wondering to myself: could I do this? Could I break out into the proverbial big leagues?

And so I did: I registered a domain name and started "Shiny's Takeout."  At first things were rather slow. I was the new kid in a much larger pond. But I started to get readership. And with my own independent site, I could count the stats of people visiting my site. I went to a blogging event in Philadelphia called TequilaCon -- where I met all sorts of fascinating people.  Before I knew it -- my new blog was thriving! I was getting hundreds of hits per day!  I was even at the point where advertisers  were coming to me with porducts to review online. (I politely turned them down). Life was good.

Fast forward to June of this year -- when I came to a realization that my life online was starting to get in the way of other things that really deserved more of my attention: my life at home with my family, for starters.  As much as I felt that blogging had been a wonderful experience for me, it had been, in some ways, a crutch.  An escape from certain issues that I simply didn't want to deal with in the real world.  It became apparent that I was spending too much time online and not enough time focusing on the things that counted -- or needed to count more.  An example: my weight. It had been in pretty dangerous territory, and I realized I needed to lose a hell of a lot of it. I decided to take the time I had spent blogging and focus it on eating better and exercising.  Since then I've lost about 30-some pounds, and I'm still going at it towards a goal further down the weight line. I'm also concentrating more time on my family. On finding things that will make me happy. Even volunteering regularly (which I'll write about later this week).

There are some who say that I quit blogging regulalry at the top of my game. Perhaps this is true. Perhaps I'll go back to blogging the way I did several months ago. I'm still not sure. I suppose, for me, the important part of all of this was finding a good balance in my life. I think blogging may have a place in it, but I'm not certain exactly where that is right now. In the meantime -- I've got this week. And I've got Mindsay -- a place which has a lot of happy memories for me.

Welcome back, everyone! Looking forward to spending this reunion week with you...

-- S

Well -- I know I've said this before (and I'll probably say this again), but I'm officially shutting down shiny@mindsay -- meaning that this will be my final post at this location. For the past ten months I've been blogging at http://www.shinystakeout.com-- feel free to check it out and comment if you'd like.  I likely will continue to be around to read and comment upon my friends' blogs here at Mindsay.

I wanted to say thanks to all of you, once again, for being part of a remarkable community. Some of you have become wonderful frinds with whom I've chattedon and offline -- some of you I've even had the pleasure to meet in person, and some of you I hope to meet in the future. A special nod to a few people -- laughwithme, a very special friend who has been there through thick and thin; the wtf crew of chilly, nomad, and allaroundpsycho, and, of course, my lovely wife arrrgylesocks who fits in all of the above categories.

Just because your name isn't listed above doesn't mean that I don't care about you -- Many, many, many of you have really been wonderful friends. And I'll certainly be around to visit.

Peace,
-- S

EDIT:  For those of you looking for the RSS feed of the new blog:  http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ShinysTakeout

For those of you looking for me on Twitter:  http//www.twitter.com/mr_shiny

Hi all. Yes, I'm alive and kicking. This is a very rare blog entry for me here at Mindsay (although, as you may have seen, I've been doing a lot of replying on Mindsay as of late).  As you may already know, I've moved my blog to my own site at Shiny's Takeout (www.shinystakeout.com). And even there I've really stayed away from political commentary on the most part.  I suppose I've wanted to not only keep an open mind about this important presidential election, but I also wanted to keep the minds of undecided voters open as well.  There are plenty of partisan and non-partisan blogs out there that could do a far better job than I ever could.

But since the election is really right on top of us -- and because I've been witnessing a vibrant and active debate across Mindsay over the past few months, I decided that this would be the place where I would air my views. This blog entry is not going to be posted on the Takeout; you at Mindsay were my first blogging audience and, although this post will remain open to the general public, the Mindsay folks are my target audience in this case.

So -- as for the statement in the title that probably confuses many of you: What? You're not voting for Obama on Election Day? Is this a joke? I thought you were a Democrat?  I'll try to answer everything as thoroughly as possible.

First and foremost -- I have a great deal of respect for Senator Obama.  The story of how he came to be is quite phenomenal. There are many moments during which he overcame hurdles and adversity, and I think he's a better man for that. But I feel a similar way about Senator McCain -- whose story is also something extraordinary.  Whoever ultimately wins the election -- I hope his past experiences help him make the proper decisions to lead this country well, thinking about what's best for the citizens of the United States of America and the global community.  I mention this so you all will know that I harbor no ill-feelings against any candidate based on who he is.

That being said, we run into a problem that has been plaguing the American democratic system (as well as other democratic systems worldwide):  How do we select a leader who is truly a representative to the people and who won't be sidetracked by special interests?  Senator Obama is campaigning that he wants to cut down on pandering towards large corporations and focus on the people -- which is noble indeed. But by definition, he's a successful Congressional politician! He didn't get where he is today without the financial backing of corporations and individual donations -- no matter how socially and globally aware the sources of these contributions may be.  Can a politican -- especially a presidential candidate -- really stand a chance to win without this sort of war chest? Is Obama really someone who isn't in the pocket of some corporation, PAC or benefactor?

(In all fairness -- all of these questions can be asked of Senator McCain as well.)

The manner in which this election has been covered since day one has been, in some people's eyes, a travesty.  There has been so much garbage to get past regarding bullshit issues such as a candidate's name, the legitimacy of said candidate to run for president; decisions made by both presidential candidates during times of duress that have little to do with the issues; even the age and purported religions of the candidates! This was compounded by brutal negative ads on both sides taking the words of the opponent blatantly out of context. It became increasingly difficult to cut through the many layers of smoke and mirrors to get to the real issues.

And when you get down to "the real issues," you need to take a look at consistency. Many have looked at the record that Senator Obama held while still a Representative -- and found inconsistencies with his term as a Senator and as a presidential candidate. The same can be said of John McCain.  Both candidates have had their share of so-called "flip-flopping." And I won't scrutinize that necessarily -- it's important to use one's past experiences to improve upon a stance. For someone to strive to do his job well, he must constantly be looking for ways to improve -- and he must look for advice from the far reaches of the spectrum. When I took a look at John McCain as a serious candidate for President in 2000, I saw someone who shared many of my views and disagreed with quite a few as well -- but he wasn't pandering to a specific political party the same way that John McCain '08 has been.  In Senator McCain I see a glimmer of his own ideals rather than that of an established political partisan machine.

As a whole, I take a look at Senator Obama's voting record and stance on many different issues and see someone who appears to represent me with more parity than Senator McCain. But on the same level, I also see someone who does not have the same sheer experience in the Senate as McCain does. And I see similar pandering on Obama's side as well.  Perhaps the one occurrence which raised a large red flag for me happened on July 9 of this year.  That's when he cast a vote affirming Senate Bill H.R. 6304.

H.R. 6304 was also known in some circles as the "telecom immunity bill." There had been some sneaking around behind closed doors where the government worked in cahoots with the phone companies to illegally eavesdrop on conversations.  This was something which, at the time, was outside the scope of FISA and was covered with a "we need this or the terrorists will win" excuse.  The bill passed, allowing the telecommunications companies to absolve responsibility for the illegal acts they assisted with which violated the fourth ammendment of the U.S. Constitution.   I was extremely proud of Senator Hillary Clinton on that day who had the balls to stand up against this bill.  As well as 26 other Democratic Senators (including VP Nominee Joe Biden) and one Independent.

Senator Obama voted in favor of this bill. I was pissed off. As were many in the blogosphere.  I can understand the pressure he was under; as a front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination, he would have been fried alive for a vote which some would (incorrectly) assume was harboring terrorism.  And since the vote was going to pass anyway, I suppose what he actually voted would not have changed anything.

Also not changing anything was Senator McCain -- who chose to make himself absent that day to campaign.  Not quite a "yay" vote, but a slimy evasion nonetheless.

So -- was that the deciding factor for me? Was that the dealbreaker? It was for a while. I'd like to not think of myself as a one issue voter, but this issue was at the forefront of my mind for quite a while. Not the economic plan. Not foreign policy. But the notion of what our country had become where someone had felt pressured to vote a certain way as to not have been caught up in a witch hunt.  I will admit that I felt better when Joe Biden was picked to be Obama's running mate -- someone who, in some ways, could balance the ticket a bit more.

But if that wasn't the deciding factor -- what was it? What would prompt me not to vote for Senator Obama on November 4? Why would I feel compelled not to?

Look -- any presidential race is a tough issue. This one, for many, is even more difficult. I have to look on what I feel is the bright side -- a certainty, in my eyes, that either of these two Senators will do a hell of a better job than the Commander in Chief over the past eight years.  I feel that, on some level, I'm a winner despite who wins. It will be a bittersweet, Pyrrhic victory -- as the state of the Union is such that we're in such economic and diplomatic turmoil. Whoever comes in will have his job cut out for him. I know that there are lofty, if not impossible, expectations which will not be met, but I feel that only one of the candidates will come close to pushing this country into a new direction from where it's all but stalled over the past eight years.  And he's the one I stood in line today for over two hours to fill out a walk-in absentee ballot for. Of the two candidates who have a chance at winning, he's simply the better choice for me and for, I believe, the vast majority of the population of the country. He's a leader with a vision and an implementation strategy, and he's been connecting with people by giving them hope for a brighter tomorrow.  Hell -- if I could vote for the guy twice, I would. But I can't.

And that's why I will not be voting for Barack Obama on Tuesday.

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(This message brought to you by "International Talk Like a Pirate Day." Arrrr.)

Dear Mindsay,

So long. And thanks for all the fish.

Love,
Shiny


(This has been Shiny's Take-Out.)

It's National Talk Like a Pirate Day  somebody's birthday today!

Look -- I went through this last year. If you know who it is, just go to her blog (Yes. It's a her.) and leave her some birthday wishes and cheer.  Your only hint is that she's the most awesomest person on Mindsay in the whole wide world.

Happy Birthday, Mystery Blogger! We love you!

www.dayofsilence.org

Hi all.

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful birthday wishes. It's been a long day -- with travel, errands, cooking, etc. And since we were out of town for Passover, I haven't been glued to the computer as much as I usually am.

But this time around I will respond to each and every one of you. It just might take some time.

Thanks again!

-- S