Well, just a quick update from my iPhone (love this WordPress application for it, although sure limits my being able to post long posts).

I’m really going to miss being able to post during the day, and I can’t copy n paste on iPhone, so that limits the ability for me to react to articles or the like. I’m going to try to post in the evenings, but it’s difficult after work around making dinner and studying, before falling asleep on my books.

Hopefully later this week I’ll do a review of a new album from one of my favorite artists and maybe a book or two.

Anyway, just wanted to post a reminder I’m still around! Stay tuned.

This is going to have to be short…so tired….

Something that’s got me irked late in the Presidential campaign is the constant bandying about “socialist” this and “Marxist” that. One person I follow on Twitter remarked of Obama after the election, “…too bad he’s a socialist,” and he was rooting for him. Now this:

• Paul Broun calls Obama a “Marxist”

Georgian Representative Broun took Obama’s comment to encourage and build up a civil service agenda (civil workers and Peace Corps, etc.) as tatamount to Marxism, like Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. I am so sick of people throwing “Marxist” around to mean anything non-American–and being utterly wrong.

Hitler was a national socialist at best–fascist in reality. Stalin was a fascist dictator. Neither of which in the least bit Marxist. Stalin started as a Marxist, back in the days of the Revolution with Trotsky and Lenin, then quickly abandoned the spirit and the letter of Marxism in order to become a religiously worship dictator, counter to Marxist concepts.

Marxism is indeed a criticism of capitalism–a very pointed criticism, indeed. But what Marx and Engles recommended or believed in was NOT socialism controlled by a dictator or even a ruling “party.” They believed in society owned by the proletariat, the workers, the people–not fascist rulers giving lip service to such ideals but in fact ruled the people with iron fist and continued to control the means of production and distribution. Marx would have been appalled by what Stalin did and disgusted by Hitler.

Obama is a liberal, but very much a liberal capitalist. And when it comes to actual (or nearest thing to) socialism: when you look at the high average level of lifestyle, lack of poverty, lack of health care induced bankruptcy, high level of social health, low infant mortality rates, high education rates of socialist countries like Canada, Sweden, Netherlands…. I have to wonder, what’s wrong with that?

I started a new job a couple of weeks ago: “E-Media Specialist.” Pretty fun. I get to do all the computery stuff I love (Web development, graphic design, playing with different e-media applications) without the stuff I’ve gotten to hate (computer repair).

Unfortunately, it’s completely stopped my RSS/blog reading and writing. In my last job it was easy to just take a few minutes each day and read the latest newsfeeds and if inspired by something, spend 5 to 15 minutes as a break to write a blog. Well, that’s when I was in control of the network. Now I work at a place where the ‘net is monitored and my PC can even be VNC (remotely viewed) stealthily. So, no news/blog reading and no posting.

It’s annoying, but I’m not angry about it: it’s their job to have strict ‘net policies. In my opinion (and practice as Network Admin at the last job) though, if the work gets done and done well and on time–I didn’t care if an employee of mine (and I only had two) did some non-work stuff now and then. Hey, some people in the office went out to smoke every 20 minutes, I and my minion browsed nerdy Web sites. The tough thing is I just don’t have any more time at home to do it than I do at work. As soon as I get home in the evenings it’s right to dinner making, then cleaning up, then an hour or so of homework before I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. This is the first moment I’ve had in a while to write–and I shouldn’t. I have an important presentation next week to work on, a paper due soon, and comprehensive exams questions to research and formulate. Ugh!

Well, I’m inspired to say something briefly in a moment on another subject. Enjoy the babble.