Vagabond Loafers

VL 006 - "No Pipes"

Anthony Martin — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:22:00 -0800

We don’t have pipes, so we didn’t have any place to “stuff it.”

Smoking ban
- This essay, the culmination of four years of research. Included at the end of the essay are Joe’s op-ed pieces for the New York Times and the Telegraph of London.
One World Government
- Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America
Movies
- Rambo Death Chart

A La Carte: Read More Books

Anthony Martin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:46:00 -0800

This may seem like review, but this is actually new material. We talked about this subject back in Episode 002, and this is a response (mostly by Aaron (what else is new?)), to Fellowship and Frivolity. But it’s been so long, likely nobody remembers even what was even said.

Aaron, start your rant!

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Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Anthony Martin — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 20:07:00 -0800

Well, I guess the answer is yes.

Among other mistakes, I mixed up aerobically and anaerobically, which is sad because I used to terminate fiber optic cable using an anaerobic glue similar to Loctite™.

Religious Registry Council

Anthony Martin — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:02:00 -0800

Imagine what the public reaction might be, if one day the House of Representatives approved legislation that required citizens to register their religious affiliation with a new federal department called the Religious Registry Council, also amending the REAL ID Act of 2005.

Upon registration with the RRC, everyone’s religious affiliation would be categorized and recorded in a central database. Then, when each citizen receives his or her standardized, federal ID, a corresponding religious symbol is added to the front of the card, right beside the photo.

Those who do not elect to associate with a religious affiliation would not have a symbol. Those who want to associate with a new religion not part of the registry can fill out paper-work to add a new religion to the registry. Some people may have their own unique religion. Others might be part of an established religion. It doesn’t matter to the government.

You can register Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Latter Day Saints, Jedi, whatever.

What harm would it do? Congress isn’t making a law establishing religion, right? It’s just a centralized database. It’s just being collected for security measures. It will save lives.

Because we all know some religions are more violent than others, and having data ahead of time, before those who are part of those violent religions become radicalized, would represent another tool for law enforcement to prevent terrorist attacks. It would also prevent some forms of racial profiling, since people who register with certain affiliations give hints in the form of rich demographic data that the government can use in one way or the other. Some people would be hassled more based on their RVPI (Religious/Violence Probability Index), not their skin color.

Ok, maybe I didn’t sell the idea very well, but the truth is, I didn’t intend to.

Here’s the point I intended to illustrate with the above nonsense. Somehow, we all know this is absolutely wrong. Somehow, we know intrinsically that this is no different than what Nazi Germany did to their Jewish population. We can all plainly see how this added “security” is itself a violation. Asking for citizens to identify their religious affiliation so that data can be collected for security measures is wrong, even if there is objective documentation that guarantees it can save lives. Somehow, there’s a line, and we know it cannot be crossed.

This week, President Pervez Musharraf defended his military dictatorship and subsequent crackdown on dissidents, comparing it to U.S. actions after 9/11. Pakistani (state approved) television reported that Musharraf announced elections will be held in Pakistan before February 15. The announcement comes following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s statement that she will not delay major protests scheduled for today.

Pakistan is following the lead that the U.S. demonstrated and continues to demonstrate for the world. The Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, REAL ID Act, and HR 1955 represent an obvious erosion of our rights. It doesn’t matter if the “wave of abuses” has or has not been observed. The mere existence of these legislative monstrosities as signed by President Bush are themselves a violation.

We know that my fictitious Religious Registry Council idea would be a violation even before the “wave of abuses.” We know it is a violation even if we all stipulate that it would save lives. There are lines we won’t cross. Yet, we have crossed them before.

The Real News: Emergency proclaimed in Pakistan

Anthony Martin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 10:34:00 -0800

Eric Margolis says that the democracy movement and the Islamic militants are fighting the dictatorship. The key point made in this interview was the statement, when Margolis continued:

What we call Islamic Terrorism, or this so-called Faux War on Terror, that’s used as a justification by “right-wingers” everywhere, to undermine democratic systems, the main impetus behind Islamic militancy is against dictatorial governments in the Muslim world. They’re not fighting against the west, they’re fighting against western imposed governments in their areas.

VL 005 - "Not So Quick Silver"

Anthony Martin — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 22:23:00 -0700

Liberty Dollar
Ron Paul 2008
Info Wars
- Main Site
AT&T 8525
Tom Revell Interview – iPod Touch
- RE: Missing links mentioned in show, use Google instead.
Next Time On Vagabond Loafers
- We don’t even try.

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John Stossel: Give Me A Break - Oil Prices

Anthony Martin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:29:00 -0700

Not Electing Ron Paul

Anthony Martin — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:47:00 -0700

If you are a one-issue voter, and your “one issue” is Abortion, you will not like Ron Paul. Neither hard-core-pro-lifers nor hard-core-pro-choicers like him. Here’s proof:

NARLA Analysis of Ron Paul

When comparing this record with others, one can certainly understand why one-issue-voters would be turned off by him. He wants to do away with Roe vs. Wade, as NARLA points out, but what they ignore is that he thinks it’s a state issue.

Even though he thinks it’s a state issue, he’s also behind H. R. 300 which would block any futher judicial activism:

Allows the Supreme Court and the federal courts to determine the constitutionality of federal statutes, administrative rules, or procedures in considering cases arising under the Constitution. Prohibits the Supreme Court and the federal courts from issuing any ruling that appropriates or expends money, imposes taxes, or otherwise interferes with the legislative functions or administrative discretion of the states.

He’s also authored H. R. 1095, which prevents federal funds to be used for so-called “population control.”

Yet hard-core-pro-choicers will likely focus on the one 0% rating he got from NARLA and ignore the fact that he has never had 100%. Hard-core-pro-lifers will focus on the fact that he’s not always 0% like Representative Tom Tancredo.

It’s easy to understand why Ron Paul is neither 0% or 100%. We’re talking about the voting record of a representative who’s focus is on understanding all problems from the standpoint of what The Constitution is allowed to dictate.

By the way, what is hard-core-pro-choice, anyway? I can imagine someone who is hard-core-pro-life, but someone who is hard-core-pro-choice must actually loath their own birth, yes?

A La Carte: Helmet Boy

Anthony Martin — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:24:00 -0700

Let’s just get this overwith and move on, ok?

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A La Carte: Lots of Gardening

Anthony Martin — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:29:00 -0700

It looks like Aaron had a few of pent up words for the last Fellowship and Frivolity (the last one he listened to, anyway). Good times … good times.

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VL 004 - "Practically No Politics"

Anthony Martin — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:27:00 -0700

New Devices
- AT&T 8525
- Windows Mobile
- Java 2 Micro Edition
  - MIDP Manager – “Mobile Information Device Profile”
Feedback (from Adam J.)
Age of the Earth using Biblical Genealogy.

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A La Carte: The Constitution

Anthony Martin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:22:00 -0700

We had a bit of difficulty last week. We recorded late, and the recording went really long. Then the audio software kept messing up when I’d try to edit it. So here’s a compromise. I started an “A La Carte” version that contains only a single topic of discussion. This time, it’s roughly centered around The Constitution.

Taking this approach might allow me to edit the episode too. There was a lot of good stuff, and we didn’t want to lose any of it. But the episode would have been two hours, and that’s just too long for Garage Band, apparently. Actually, I’m still trying to figure out what went wrong there.

So here, Aaron and I discuss the relevance of The Constitution as it relates to practical problems in the globalized society.

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Déjà View

Anthony Martin — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:07:00 -0700

This is all one speech in three parts. It’s as though Reagan was speaking into a time warp describing 2007 in 1964 terminology. Only the scale has changed. Scary.

”...the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan…” – Ronald Reagan, October 27th, 1964

”...welfare spending is ten times the amount spent in the deep dark depression…” – Ronald Reagan, October 27th, 1964

”...somewhere a perversion has taken place…our natural inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government…and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment…” – Ronald Reagan, October 27th, 1964

Michael Badnarik: The Constitution

Anthony Martin — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:04:00 -0700

“Does it make sense that our American government has the authority to violate The Constitution? No, it’s a contradiction in terms. How do we define what our government is? We define it by The Constitution. Article I tells you everything there is to know about congress. Article II tells you everything there is to know about the president and vice president. Article III tells you everything there is to know about the supreme court. Articles I, II, and III create and define the legislative, executive, and judicial branches respectively. Do they have the authority to just add power?” – Michael Badnarik

Powerful X-Ray To Unravel Fragile Dead Sea Scrolls

Anthony Martin — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:14:00 -0700

New x-ray techniques will be used on some of the Dead Sea Scrolls that are too fragile to unravel.

They will look at the texts using x-rays produced at the £360m ($722m US) Diamond Light Source in Didcot, Oxfordshire. The machine works by propelling electrons at great speeds around a giant tunnel. As they corner, they emit x-rays 100bn (100,000,000bm US) times brighter than a medical x-ray.

Researchers led by Tim Wess have developed computer software that can “unravel” x-ray images of rolled up parchment documents to reveal the writing, even if the parchment has text on either side, according to Guardian.

Single Issue Voters vs. The Constitution

Anthony Martin — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:16:00 -0700

How can we put any single issue above The Constitution? Even if the issue is as huge as the War Waged in Iraq II, how can that overshadow how we approach The Constitution?

We don’t recognize US government officials who swear on a stack Bibles to uphold UN resolutions. Only The Constitution gets that distinction. That’s because it’s the only binding document between US Citizens and the government. The UN has no jurisdiction.

Yet, we have a Congress that has no problem ignoring The Constitution by going to war without a declaration. So what makes us think that same Congress won’t ignore the first and second amendments? If Congress thinks nothing of ignoring one part of The Constitution, why not others? We have words for people who do that to the Bible (they’re called hypocrites).

So we cannot look at this election myopically through one issue like the War Waged in Iraq II. If you disagree with The Constitution, if you think The Constitution is anachronistic to require Congress to declare war, then you should advocate change to The Constitution. First things first. We have a mechanism for that. It’s called an amendment. After the amendment, you can have your fancy no-declare-war. Until then, it’s unconstitutional.

Are we trying to build The American Empire? Is that our goal? Can we be so blind not to see that every war since WWII has been part of The American Empire? If we are trying to build The American Empire, we have some dire problems. The money supply for one. The IRS can only collect about one third of the money we spend. I don’t want The American Empire, ever. It’s unconstitutional.

We depend on this unconstitutional government far too much. It was this unconstitutional government that opened holes in our airline industry that contributed to 9/11. If we had more respect for the 2nd amendment, planes would not have flown into buildings.

By that, I mean if the airlines were able to secure themselves rather than rely upon an unconstitutional federal ban on firearms, the airlines would have had the means to protect their customers. The airlines could still legally require customers to relinquish their firearms before boarding their aircraft. Then, it would be incumbent on the airlines to protect the planes, not the customers, nor the government. That’s constitutional.

For more information, get off your high one-issue horse, set aside an hour, go get a cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and watch:

VL 003 - "Sock-A-Bye-Baby"

Anthony Martin — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 20:41:00 -0700

Theology:
- Ken Ham DVD #2
  - Slippery slope: “If we don’t believe in 6 literal days, we actually open the door to the collapse of Christian Morality in our nation.”
  - Postulation: You don’t get “millions of years” from reading the Bible alone. (Anthony asks, Do you get “molecules and atoms” from reading the Bible alone? The idea that we are all just big molecular machines undermines the bible, so do we throw out the idea of molecules and atoms due to the theory of the molecular machines notion?)
    - Ergo: It’s obvious that God created everything in 6 literal days. This proves that there is something wrong with man’s theories.
    - Even if this is incorrect, we can still conclude that there is something wrong with man’s theories. In fact, this is a self enforcing statement.
  - The Gap Theory
    - So when did the angelic rebellion happen?
      - After the account described in Job 38:4-7
    - Ham: No death before sin proves there was no gap.
  - Ham: “In a sense, I’m not interpreting [Genesis] literally, I’m just reading it as it is.”
  - No thorns before sin? Thorns were a consequence of sin? How did that work exactly?
    - Ham says there was no death before sin. He cites:
      - Genesis 1:29–30 (Ham “proves” there was no death)
      - Genesis 2:16-17 (I say “knowledge of good and evil” is different from “good and evil”)
    - Ham says a Gapist doesn’t believe the complete and literal 6 day creation account.
    - Ham doesn’t believe in six day creation account either. He says that after God was finished with creation He went ahead and created the thorns on the roses after the fall.
    - If there was no sin before mankind fell, did the serpent sin by tempting Adam and Eve? Say Adam and Eve resisted the temptation instead of succumbing to it, did the serpent sin in this act alone?
      - Doesn’t this prove sin existed before mankind fell?
Programming/Technology:
- Inform
  - Download App
  - Download Anthony’s Sandbox
Update On Aaron’s Java Progress: None
Zhorn Software: Bart
Podcast Digest:
- The Sitter Downers (Diet Western Short):
  - Loafer Feedback Policy: whatever man
  - Should a Christian’s goal be to get to (i.e. strive for) heaven?
    - The Animation
Next Time On Vagabond Loafers:
- ~~The Book of King Solomon by Ahimaaz, Court Historian~~ (we didn’t read it, so we never talked about it in show 004)

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Leaving Iraq

Aaron Jackson — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 08:26:00 -0700

I asked my brother Adam, from The Sitter Downers, to help me explain why leaving Iraq is a bad idea. Below are his comments which I agree with wholeheartedly.

I am most likely in the minority in believing that we should stay in Iraq. War is terrible. I don’t like it. I wish people didn’t have to die. I wish the world was at peace, but since I’m not a lib…

1) If we left there would be no order whatsoever. The Iraqi government and military is not ready to do the job, even though it should be by now. If there is a chance that something like Cambodia would happen again, like after we left Vietnam, we should stay.

2) We started this mess (sort of) so we should finish it. There are Sheiks in Iraq who are going out on a limb in their respective communities, and they are counting on us to back them up.

3) Bin laden has referred to us a paper tiger. Al-Queda and the middle east in general think that America doesn’t have the stomach for war, and they are right. Our soldiers operate under ridiculous rules of engagement. That is to say, we are at war but aren’t allowed to be killers. More “ruthlessness” during this war may have ended it by now. Our enemies are counting on what the North Vietnamese counted on and received. They are hopelessly out gunned, but they know that if they make things bad enough and gruesome enough there is a large element in America who don’t understand war is necessary and let their emotions rule in regard to it. The terrorists are hoping to win by default. When we’ve had enough we leave. In my opinion America needs to remind the bad guys that we are tougher than they are. In effect the war is “good for our brand”. We will never do this of course. We need to erase the notion that America has a lot of weapons but wont use them. The overall policy of appeasement/apathy through the last fifteen or so years is part of, in my opinion, what opened the window for 9/11. There were numerous attacks on American interests during the 90’s that we basically did nothing about. Unfortunately the people we are dealing with aren’t nice guys and they understand one thing—a bullet to the head.

4) Iran is actively involved in Americans dying, with fighters and weapons coming over the border. Not to mention, their President wants to destroy is real. This is another country that we should not be sending weak signals to. Leaving Iraq is not only surrendering to Al-Queda, it is also surrendering to Iran. With Iran injecting itself into the world stage we would be stupid to send a message like that.

5) Oil. The left’s accusations is that we went to war for oil and in a sense I believe we did. Some would have you believe that the US went to take Iraq’s oil and start shipping it over here—BS. Whether the left likes it or not, oil is the life’s blood of the world, and we need to protect our interest where the oil is. Having an oil producing country friendly to us, right in the middle of the whole mess would be huge. Whether or not that will ever happen I don’t know.

6) Our investment in billions of dollars and thousand of dead Americans is huge. Four thousand Americans dead. Twenty five thousand wounded. I’m not OK with leaving all that behind in the sand.

7) The main reason not to leave is what we are doing there. We are killing terrorists, and they are joining up and showing up to be killed. Those men want us dead and my kids dead so they must die. We have been killing 1,500 terrorists a month. It took less than twenty to bring about 9/11.

8) Leaving = Surrender

9) Our enemies will never win in a firefight. They are COUNTING on the American populace to win for them. Dissenters may be genuine in their opinions but they need to use a little more wisdom when expressing those opinions—especially those that are on the public stage. Anti-war sentiments, no matter how well intentioned, wind up on Al Jezeera used as propaganda against our soldiers.

I am willing to give a little on why we went the first place, and I freely admit that we have screwed up a couple things in a major way that we should have known better about. But the current reality is that we are there, and to leave tomorrow would be insane.

The Prediction

Anthony Martin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:27:00 -0700

Ron Paul Big Top & Ronstock

Anthony Martin — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:55:00 -0700

3,000-Year-Old Beehives Found In Israel

Anthony Martin — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:22:00 -0700

Here’s another ancient find. Apparently archaeologists have discovered evidence of the ancient bee-keeping industry described in Exodus 3:8. It appears to date back as far as 3,000 years old. The find was uncovered in northern Israel and is believed to be the oldest intact hive ever found, as MSNBC reports.

Now they just need to uncover the ancient Israeli cow farms … ahh smell that dairy air.

VL 002 - "Three Missing Links"

Anthony Martin — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 07:17:00 -0700

Theology:
- Ken Ham DVD #1
Programming/Technology:
Politics:
- Ron Paul/Fred Thompson
Next Time On Vagabond Loafers:
- Ken Ham DVD #2
- Inform

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Biblical Find At The British Museum

Anthony Martin — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:06:00 -0700

You never know what might turn up when you’re digging around the British Museum. July 2007, Professor Michael Jursa found a cuneiform receipt from a person named in Jeremiah 39, as the Telegraph reports:

Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the cuneiform tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered – Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as “the chief eunuch” of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name – Nebo-Sarsekim.

Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II’s “chief officer” and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.

The small tablet, the size of “a packet of 10 cigarettes” according to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, is a bill of receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin’s payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon.

The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem.

VL 001 - "A Ducking We Will Go"

Anthony Martin — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:31:00 -0700

Theology
- Mother Teresa’s Crisis Of Faith
Programming/Technology:
- Learning to program Java using Murach’s Java SE 2
Podcast Digest
- The Sitter Downers – Episode: Trilogy
Google Fight
- “Ron Paul” (2,030,000) vs. “Hillary Clinton” (5,550,000)
- “Miss South Carolina” (639,000) vs. “Larry Craig” (2,090,000)
Next Time On Vagabond Loafers
- Jakarta
- PeepCode
- More About Ron!

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