So about a week and change ago I decided to completely reinstall my computer. Of course between work and everything else it has taken me a while to get everything reinstalled back to the way it was. One of the only things I hadn’t gotten at this point was installing World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. After installing all 8 discs(4 for the original World of Warcraft and 4 for Burning Crusade) and wasting an hour and a half while it installed then I found out it was going to be another 2+ hours and just under a gig of downloading. I can only imagine that it will also take a while to run the full patch as well, so chalk up another 30 minutes to an hour for that. 

Blizz I can respect that you want to fix bugs, tweak the environment and add content. But I gotta draw the line at having to download a gig’s worth of fixes if for some reason I have to reinstall. For instance the 3 times that have had patches go bad and been told the only way to fix the error is to delete my installation and reinstall from scratch. Or if for some reason I need to reinstall one of my computers that has WoW installed on it. 

Captain Dylan Hunt: [counting down to fire] You know what? I’ll count again 1… 2…
[his opponents start diving for cover/shooting]
Captain Dylan Hunt: 3 !
Beka Valentine: So, uh, counting to three, kind of tells them when to shoot.

            – Andromeda (2002) : Season 2 Episode 16 : In Heaven Now Are Three

The state originally sued for $606,424 to recoup the costs the state incurred in fighting the fire. The settlement terms that I have been able to drudge up so far from local newspapers and the radio are for the most part a very good compromise. The terms that have been announced are as follows: the Greater Salt Lake Council will pay approximately $300,000 to the state, oversee the planting of 9,000 seedlings(not sure if it is only in East Fork or in general), develop specific training for troop leaders and videos/training for the scouts themselves and last the Great Salt Lake council admits no wrong doing for the fire. That last one is the one that I have to take issue with, the fact that the Great Salt Lake Council will not admit any wrong doing goes against the very ideals of the Boy scouts. Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts of America are not acting any better. According to the Deseret News article There is still a pending lawsuit between the BSA and the federal government for $13 million that they spent fighting the fire. Besides not admitting any fault of their own as far as I have seen the BSA has also filed a lawsuit that claims the “unknown Scouts, on their own free time” started a different campfire that then spread and started the 2002 East Fork Fire.

Now I am an Eagle Scout and today I am now ashamed of the organization from which I earned that rank. From both the Mission Statement and the Vision statement the BSA currently has on it’s website two lines that essentially repeat each other which would imply that it is important to them. “The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.” from the Mission statement and “Instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical characte as expressed in the Scout Oath and Law” from the Vision Statement. With all of their concern with instilling ethical and moral values in the scouts by not admitting any wrong-doing, they have shown their true colors. In my opinion they have lost their own moral compass by looking after their own ass instead of doing what is right and leading by example. One final note before I sign off on this post, Yes I know that if they do publicly and on the record admit liability it is possible for them to open themselves to other liability claims, but by denying it entirely they cannot profess to be setting a good example for the scouts that they are trying to teach these same values to.

In other news Ken Mehlman will be stepping down as RNC Chairman in January as was announced today.

They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!

Capt Jean-Luc Picard – Enterprise-E – Star Trek: First Contact

For some reason I have been wanting to post that quote for weeks. Everytime that I read/watch the news especially when it is relating to North Koreas and their nuclear testing, Iran and their nuclear technology aspirations and any news story relating to terrorism seems to trigger it. It seems like the last few decades there is a general inclination to avoid conflict….ANY conflict, and if for some reason there is a conflict to end it no matter what.

It seems that after World War II, once Japan attacked us and pulled us into the fray, that no one except minor terrorists dared to attack us. Now it seems to me that we have lost our reputation. Think about North Korea’s failed ballistic missle test that was supposed to fly towards Hawaii, but not hit us. Think about Mexico challenging us because we decided to build a border fence on our own soil.

I don’t say this to piss people off or to say that we should go to war and prove that we are not weak. I say this to show that the general impression that we have been giving off is that we like running away from a fight, especially when it gets to hard or the media, and in turn thepublic, doesn’t like it. Like I said these are just the thoughts that have been swimming through my mind threatening to drown me unless I let them out.

Although I personally haven’t decided whether I still agree with the war in Iraq(I did initially for the record), I still believe it is of the utmost importance to finish what we started. If we run away from Iraq now leaving it in the chaos then the next time we are attacked, either by another country or by terrorists, the war will be over before it even begins.

P.S. The title is a joke not a suggested course of action!!!

In Dunn’s case, just recently this Reuter’s article has her lawyer saying:

“These charges are being brought against the wrong person at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons…. They are the culmination of a well-financed and highly orchestrated disinformation campaign.”

And then later in the article, it’s reported that

Dunn has said she regrets the way the probe was handled, but does not take personal responsibility for any deceptive methods used.

Now did I miss something or didn’t Dunn order the investigation and guide its progress? You can’t order something to be done, be briefed on methods, guide other parts of the investigation, and then claim no responsibility.

Now Mark Foley on the other hand, so far as I have read, hasn’t actually denied sending his messages. Instead he has relied upon making excuses for what actually caused his behavior. So far, he has blamed alcohol and being abused when he was a kid. I can’t speak for his being abused as kid, but it was still his conscious choice(s) to do what he did. Alcohol on the other hand doesn’t have the ability to change a type of behavior, usually alcohol will only release/lessen the inhibitions of a person.

Unfortunately I am not a mind-reader and I cannot tell you why both of these people have made the decisions they have. Though one of my theories and, i think a plausible one, is that because both of these people are high-profile and more susceptible to lawsuits, they’re being cautious in denying responsibility. After all, anything that is said publicly or privately can come back to haunt them in a lawsuit. If they deny everything and provide excuses, then those words can’t later come back as evidence against them in some future lawsuit or campaign.

The only problem with this argument is that it falls flat on its back when applied the general public. Although there is still a possibility of a lawsuit, but it is far more remote. Sadly the reasons that the everyday Joe Schmoe won’t accept responsibility are far more simple. It’s easier to blame someone else for your own problems rather than accepting responsibility for your actions and their consequences.

UPDATE: Special thanks to Peridyd for his proofreading and reformatting on this post.