Pope Francis

So far, I'm liking what he is saying. He is the highest "ranking?" figure within Christianity speaking in a way that I haven't seen many others do - Catholic, Protestant, Calvinist, etc.

His goal seems to focus on the things Christ wanted us to - caring for and defending those that cannot do so for themselves. And living it. For instance, there has been a war on unborn children since the 1960's... possibly sooner depending on your view of eugenics.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, encouraged Catholics this week to untiringly defend the unborn against abortion even if “they persecute or kill you.” Amidst a debate in the country over the legalization of abortion being sought by non-governmental organizations and by some members of the government, Cardinal Bergoglio recalled that the faithful have the duty to defend life “from the beginning until the end.”

Catholics should persevere in this mission, he said, even if “they persecute you, calumniate you, set traps for you, take you to court or kill you.”

The cardinal compared the “egoism of the culture of death” with “weeds that begin to grow and invade and kill the trees, their fruit and their flowers. They kill life.”

 “No child should be deprived of the right to be born, the right to be fed, the right to go to school.  No elderly person should be left alone, abandoned,” the cardinal said in remarks to a group of pregnant women.

Pope Francis is declaring war on abuse and death. And he's living it out, not just talking about it. And for that, I am glad.

More on Pope Francis:
Path to becoming Pope
Setting the Example
Condemning Abortion
Five thing about Pope Francis

Ban Salt

It's absolutely ridiculous.

But, you know, they will try to do it.

Think about it, New York has already passed a bill banning soft drinks over a certain size (temporarily blocked). The logical conclusion is that anything that can possibly be "proven" as contributing to death will also be attacked.

I saw a news article yesterday citing a study (thanks Harvard!) that shows 2.3 million Americans die every year because of salt. Well, too much sodium. My first thought:

"The bastards are going to try and ban salt next."

I was wrong. They have already tried.

Mr. Ortiz, a Democrat who represents several neighborhoods where salt is known to be heavily used, including Red Hook and Sunset Park, told The Times Union of Albany that he was inspired to introduce the bill by the case of his father, who used salt excessively for years and developed high blood pressure and had a heart attack.  

Thank you, Leftists, for continuing to try to micro-manage my life. I think I'll do just fine without your... "help".

People keep on saying we conservatives over-react. That they really aren't trying to control every aspect of every American's life. I say, "Open your eyes."

Things to be banned or getting more restricted:

• guns
• cigarrettes
• prayer
• oil
• soda
• Christianity
• Judaism
• moral codes
• hetero-only marriage
• salt
• truth-speakers / facts
• capitalism
• pregnancy
• US Military soldiers
• carbon dioxide

Things to be accepted as basic human rights or "free speech":

• homosexuality
• universal health care
• drugs
• abortion
• Muslim radicalism
• promiscuity
• pornography
• blatant lies about conservatives
• taking the "rich's" money

And every time you vote for Obama, or brush off that Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid absurd statement, or say Planned Parenthood does good work, look at that list again. The Democratic party isn't what it used to be. Neither is the Republican for that matter. But, one has become anti-American.

While on the subject of salt... does anyone remember that salt is what allowed humanity to make it out of the dark ages? To sail from Europe to the "New" world? To explore the west (of America)? Hmmm... doubt it.

Canon EOS Utility

Canon doesn't post a link to their EOS Utility application. This can be rather burdensome if you happened to have lost your dvd that came with the camera. The utility is a pain because it is the only way to add new lens profiles onto my camera or to install firmware updates. Go figure.

I was travelling and ran into the need to use the application, but couldn't find it anywhere. All of the work arounds for turning the EOS updater application into a viable installer didn't work for my setup.

Because of the troubles I've encountered, I decided to make a DMG of my disk (because I happen to use OSX) and thought it might come in handy for other people. Here it is. If it stops working, please leave a message in the comments or email me.

Yes, I encourage anyone who finds this to run a virus scan on the file. I can promise all day long that it's safe, but you have no reason to believe me really.

After running the installer, it would be worth heading over to Canon to download the latest update for the package.

France Fines Apple for Making People Work

Any surprise why France's economy sucks?

French law states that night work, defined as the hours between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., is reserved for exceptional cases only and must thus be justified.

Nanny State. (via AppleInsider)

Now go drink some wine, have a cigarette, and eat some cheese. Don't forget to surrender to the Germans.