It’s been an embarrassingly long six months since my last post. I started the new year with a resolution to blog more, and it all fell apart pretty quickly. But in the spirit of change sweeping the nation today: Yes, I can post more. Here’s to two strong months of blogging to finish 2008. I need them: I have a ton of germs of ideas, and I just need to sit down and reflect on them more deeply.

But for now, I’m going to go on record and say that as a registered pro-life Democrat, I voted for Obama. Shocker, right? Actually, it is a big deal for me because even though I’m a registered pro-life Democrat, this is the first time I’ve ever voted for a Democrat for President. For the past few elections, Democrats have been very dismissive of the pro-lifers in the party. I’m hoping our new President stays true to his word about finding common ground to reduce abortions since he said in the last debate that abortion is “always a tragic situation.” And I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, which is only fair since I also gave W. the benefit of the doubt on his compassionate conservatism (yeah).

And a reflection for all those I’ve encouraged to seek justice through their lives. I love talking about what I’m doing to combat global poverty; other people eat it up and think it’s the best thing since the toaster. It’s not so fun talking about abortion because it feels divisive and – in the liberal, educated circles I run in – I’m on the “wrong” side of the issue. But justice is about defending the weak and giving a voice to the voiceless. And the more I see of the world, the more I’m convinced that the two communities most in need of defense are the abject poor and the unborn. They have the least amount of say in this world. (Not very original, btw. Mother Teresa got it way before me.) We cannot be satisfied only pursuing the sort of justice that is culturally acceptable. We also need courage to be the unpopular voice as well.

This entry also published at Not on My Quach!

How do you help the world by doing nothing? Contribute your unused computing cycles to worthwhile global data-crunching efforts! Since most of us have fast computers, we are often not maxing out the processors inside. Berkeley has developed a platform called BOINC, which allows scientific research projects to tap into that capacity.

I recently installed BOINC on my computer and it’s really fun! I’ve signed my computer to crunch numbers for MalariaControl.net, ClimatePrediction.net, and IBM’s World Community Grid (within which, I chose the projects “Help Conquer Cancer” and “FightAIDS@Home”. You could also help search for intelligent life on other planets, but my feeling is this: why listen to other planets when ours is in need of some pretty serious help anyway?

I tweaked the settings so that it only operates when I’ve been idle for five minutes, and it gets to use up to 90 percent of my processing power when that happens. I could even let it just run all the time in the background. I’m not at the point where I think one should leave a computer on all the time just for BOINC processing. (Because of energy conservation issues.) But why not at least for those pauses where you’re not using your computer at all?

This entry also published at Not on My Quach!

John McCain just won the South Carolina Republican Primary. With this victory, it looks it’s going to be a two-horse race on the red team between McCain and Romney.

Which is interesting because according to glassbooth.org, John McCain is the candidate who is most similar to my views. We’re 69% compatible. BUT, the second most compatible candidate for me is Hillary at 64%. Obama is third at 63%. The site does a pretty good job of weighting their compatibility based on the issues that are important to you. Check it out.

It’s too bad that I can’t find a candidate that’s more compatible than 69%. I think what did me in were my economic views and my consistent views on life. I’m a free marketeer, but I believe that we need to undo our subsidies on cotton, corn, wheat, etc which disrupt the growth of other countries (plus the subsidies make us fat). I’m against the death penalty and want to see more gun control (and bullet control for that matter!) but I also am not a fan of abortions. I think that’s the only internally consistent position. (Update: I realized that there is another internally consistent position on the spectrum of life: pro-abortion, pro-guns, pro-death penalty. If you hold that position, I will respect you for your consistency, but I think it would be hard to be friends.)

This entry also published at Not on My Quach!