Facebook strikes again

This would be the second time that Facebook has taken down one of my videos, without prior warning or permission, due to an anonymous (to me) copyright claim.

Let me catch you up. A while back, I made a video. It consisted of video and pictures that I took on my camera during a week's worth of nature's goodness in Montana. Every single picture and every single second of video was shot with my own hands. The only thing in the video that did not belong to me was the background music, and I gave it just acknowledgment.

Now, that's the only reason I can see why they would do this. As far as I know, it's not against the law to use background music for a video. Even then-- I'm not intentionally attempting to damage the reputation or earnings of Boston, Newsboys, Switchfoot, Fastball, or Fatboy Slim with my video. All things considered, I'd say that even with my totally destructive video, they're doing "more than fine."

So, why? Why, Facebook? Am I such a terrible citizen that you deemed it necessary to devalue my hard work to criminal shame, without any semblance of a warning at all?

I filed a counter notice. We'll see where it goes.

Wasted votes

"No, seriously, who are you voting for?"

I'm not sure if anyone takes me seriously the first time I tell them that I'm voting for Ralph Nader. He's actually my favorite candidate, and if you find that hard to believe, then maybe you should detach that corporate media slurry hose from your mouth every once and a while. Look at what the man stands for... and look at what I stand for. If you don't think I would drop what I'm doing to take part in one of his causes, then we should chat sometime. You know, one on one.

I think he's very Christ-like. He cares about people, and he's never been paid to say it. In fact, all of the money he receives is guided by his own hands back to the people. I love that. He doesn't care that people don't think he's going to win. He sees the need to change the American political system back to the way it should be-- as it was laid out in the Constitution-- and he believes the only way to do this is from the inside. It's unfortunate that he'll never be on the inside, however, and this is probably why he'll never be elected. So, all you political noobs who want my vote in four years better start taking notes, because Nader resonates with people like me.

So, what is this talk about my vote being wasted?

Through the lens of a corporate-driven election, yes, it's wasted. I'm not voting for the two scumbags they want us to vote for. It's very true that Barack Obama refusing to debate with both John McCain and Ralph Nader on two separate occasions was a pretty smart political move. Why take on two old farts, when the people are fine with you taking on only one? It makes sense; but you see, it doesn't score any points on the accredited "legitimizing-the-opinions-of-other-citizens" meter. Now, that's what I call reaching across the aisle. I'm sorry, that might have been a bit close to home... just to be fair, everyone knows that McCain has been in big oil's back pocket, confessed to voting with a real stinker of a president 90% of the time, voted in favor of the Bailout just because "something needed to be done", and pulled one of the most monumentally shameless pandering ploys available for recollection from my own memory by picking Palin as a running mate. Seriously, what a tool.

Coming back to this ridiculous election, it's becoming every day more similar to a bad youth Christmas pageant-- the kind where Joseph and Mary are the star of the show, and you're just the unfamiliar kid in the corner dressed like a sheep, and I'll let you guess which one of these weiners is Mary. It's awful to watch people try to be active in the political process, only to be led by the nose to only two of the six legitimate candidates. So, on the grand scale of things, I suppose my vote is twistedly for McCain... somehow.

But it got me thinking, that's for sure.

Over and over, I've made fun of single-issue voters. Primarily, Christian single-issue voters are about abortion and gay rights (or wrongs, rather). Now, I'm being persecuted, because I don't stand on either side of the political fence. One side wants me to vote in line with my Biblical values (which I've read, and buddy, "pre-emptive strike" and "regime change" are not the same as "love your enemy"); yet the other argues that my vote draws from their pool of votes out to the radical (which is a viewpoint that hasn't even been legitimized by your actions in any way-- thanks to your shrewd politics, you've alienated a powerful group).

It makes me think that people shouldn't be persecuted by how they vote. It's their vote, after all.

Vote for McCain. Vote for Obama. Nader, Barr, McKinney, Baldwin... maybe just the candidate that promises to do what you want them to do-- it doesn't matter to me. Just vote, and I promise not to make fun of you.

Wasted votes. You've got to be kidding.

James' top 10 of relevance

This is how you copy your friends. Also, to blog when I really don't know what to say... and the music I hear says it all so well.

1) "Weighed Down" > Jars of Clay

(As we deny that love is still the king / not as weak as we make him out to be / love lies here waiting all alone / can a king be a king weighed down?)

2) "Showdown" > Pendulum

(But it's simple, you were wrong / you must have known that we did not belong / I know you thought I sold my soul / but you never told me to my face / I just had to let you go)

3) "The Spy Hunter" > Project 86

(Pawns standing in awe / of the game, of the stage / you worked so hard at building an empire / of secret rooms to display to yourself / and add to your wealth / and the sting of, oh, it stings / when I saw it all come crashing / I witnessed the sound of a million voices / screaming for a public hanging)

4) "Countin' Down the Days" > PAX217

(Now I'm waiting for the day, the day to come / when I, when I will be with you / I know where you went / I know where you are / I know who you're with 'cause your just like Him / I'm gonna see you in a little while)

5) "You're On Fire" > MxPx

(Now that you're on fire, you're voice is like the wind / now that you're on fire, let life begin again / now that you're on fire, a new day has begun / now that you're on fire, you are like the sun / more than anything I'd like to see / better brighter days for you, for you and me)

6) "This Is The Countdown" > Mae

(you tread to stay above the waterline / but never taking off the weights that / keep us stuck here / in the comfort, in the fear / I’ll never know what we were fighting for /but I’m still looking to break out)

7) "Farsighted" > Five Iron Frenzy

(to all the farsighted, the skies never looked so clear / hello to the hopeful, goodbye to the full of fear / glorious, luminous / the heavens have painted, have brushed you with angel wings / and you know in your heart / that the farsighted see better things)

8) "The Nothing" > Equalibrum (misspell intended)

(lurking in shadows and creeping in darkness / is a will to commit an unspeakable harm / so this is the pick of a beat of heart / that women and children are easily marked / completes every deed and as vicious imparts / it's here and it's keen and it's visibly sharp / appearing in flesh in its various forms / shadows the earth as it hovers and swarms / feeding on anything breathing and warm... / when you open your door, it's already inside)

9) "Permanent Holiday" > Suicide Machines

(just to today, I was forced to say / I'm going on a permanent holiday / I'll drop what I'm doing, it's okay / I'm going on a permanent holiday / left a note saying I'll be gone for a long time)

10) "15" > Surrogate

(so forget about the money / and forget about yourself / and forget about the calculated risk / it never ends well)



There it is. I would suggest these songs to anyone; their rockitude is unmatched.

How to jump the gun properly

So- dreams the other night. The first one is a little creepy, and doesn't really tie in, but I thought I'd add it in anyway. This is my journal, and there's something about it that makes me want to ensure that I don't forget.

Dream #1: My friends (I forget the faces, exactly) and I are inside an old creepy house with lots of windows and two stories. It's the type of dream that isn't exactly in B & W, but not totally in color either. Sort of a grayscale/sepia tone going on there, with old looking furniture. Very unhappy clouds in the sky, but no rain. Stay with me, now. For some weird reason, a freaky little girl comes down out of the sky in a cyclone-type funnel and begins to walk toward the house. It's always a freaky little girl, right? Anyway, she attempts to convince the rest of us that one of us has committed a blatant offense which must be punished by death.

Do we take the bait? No. We stab the ho.

Afterward, she reappears out of the sky and accuses another one of us of a different crime, and we take the liberty to sing her a different lullaby for her next dirtnap. Gun-- dead. Even blunt-freaking-broomhandle: vanquished. Every time we do this, the bodies continue to pile. It's no wonder I woke up and thought I was losing my mind. Jury's still out on this one.

Then, the dream that correctly corresponds with the title...

Dream #2: I come across the revelation that I can graduate this year. That's right, in Spring 2009, with the rest of my classmates. This is the one that woke me up for good-- the terror of seeing the ASP in a dream is truly formidable. But it made me think... could that be true?

When I checked the ASP, I got my answer. Myth "confirmed."

Thoughts poured down through my brain, and my cognition was awash with the possibility of graduating this year: $24,500 that would not even need mention, a headstart on my peers in the field, a launch into the life I'm pursuing, and a real chance to test by fire the solidity of my faith in an unbelieving world. Hold, please.

Would I even be ready?

"... but the Lord directs his steps..." Guys, I don't know about this one.

Stallion's song, reprise

Ice cream? You've got to be kidding. I wasn't there, but I swear I could see the insult shatter against Papa's stern countenance in the nursing home.

This stallion wrote his rules-- he knew that within the limits of God's pasture, the grass was greenest. The best part was the wind against his back. The only time he wore a saddle was when he became too weak to buck it off; even then, he still refused to be tamed. And here, in the nursing home, he was making ice cream with the other women. How did you think it was? Is the stifling chafe of this saddle supposed to be as worthy against the skin as the soft breath of freedom?

"It sucked."

Just let it come, he said. Even before he began to improve, he accepted the end. You can't live forever. If this is how it must be, then take me away. This was neither a plea to live, nor a plea to die.

It was only the simple submission that the life of a saint is never his in the first place.

[Rest in peace, Papa. Should the skies fall, my heart will never forget you.]

Victory and/or death

You know, I can't believe it's finally here. We leave for Cedar Bend tomorrow. I hope to G-d that this semester will be as memorable as it has been fast.

Anxiety and excitement spark back and forth in my brain in equal amounts. Of course I don't know what will happen-- that's part of the experience. How much could I control... what levers are in my reach to tweak? The usual situation, though, ends up showing me that my finger is too weak to push these kinds of buttons: they're meant for bigger hands.

Hallelujah. I will say again, hallelujah; for uncertainty is the yeast of our daily bread. For who can see the product of a baker's labor until after it is too late to turn back? In the same way, I lead my group as we test this depth with both feet. It will be dreadfully uncomfortable, and we might not emerge again in this ocean. But I tell you the truth-- I would rather drown as a body suspended and dependent on the permeating, penetrating sea of the mercy and love of Christ than breathe another breath of the deadly, destructive oxygen that swamps the world. I fear not that I may never again take in the air of self-centered arrogance... no, I embrace the sacrifice of succumbing in worldly death to G-d's endless, overwhelming grace.

I'm warning you. It costs little to be safe. It costs everything to be free.

Politics makes my truth hurt.

Some of you may have seen commercials on TV, with scary corporate logos that read "Human Double Inc" and "EMBROLUX." If any of you may possibly have been misled by this hostile attempt to invade your private mind, read and be enlightened:

ARTICLE 1
Section 27. (1) Nothing in this section shall alter Michigan’s current prohibition
on human cloning.

and...

(2) (c) No person may, for valuable consideration, purchase or sell human
embryos for stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures.

Oh, so Proposal 2 won't legalize human cloning or sale of human embryos. What a relief!

The Big Dream

My dream involves physics. You were warned.

In class today, we were discussion the "conservation of linear momentum." In English: things don't just start moving. The energy has to come from somewhere, and in quantities related to mass and speed. So, we used the example of a car on Earth. When a car accelerates, it pushes off the Earth. Therefore, the total momentum of the planet Earth is affected every time I pull out of the parking lot. What a trip. So, this got me thinking. I raised my hand, and asked the question,

So, if we coordinated every car on Earth to drive in the direction against Earth's rotation, could we theoretically add an hour to the day?

In theory, yeah, that would work. I thought it made sense. My question was shortly thereafter shot down like a New York yuppie in the parking lot of U of M Flint.

No, there's really no way.

A curse on you, dream-stealer! I say all of that to say this: don't be afraid to ask the big questions. I know it would take hundreds of years for cars all going the same direction to even add ten minutes to a day... but the idea is fascinating, isn't it? Some people want us to believe that the border of "no, there's really no way" is lined by concrete walls and razor wire, with armed guards at every possible crossing. I tell you that the imagination treats this fence as the wall of a sand castle-- the overwhelming, God-modeling tide of human curiosity blows it away as soon and often as it desires, and this is not a behavior that can be repressed.

Thank God.

A little nugget of wisdom

I hate when people say that. However, I feel like this saying, which I recently received, is important:


"When work begins to feel overwhelming, just remember that you're going to die."


I can only hope. puh.