I've rolled and slid parts of my life around again... more of the colors I focus on are together, but at the cost of disrupting other patterns. I'm still an amateur in Rubik-space, unable to grasp the deep pattern that will take me to order in all facets. And yet, it's more glorious, in a way, to be the beginner in this game than the expert. More percieved freedom, versus the boring algorithm that is the solution.

Reworked Israel/Palestine thoughts... It appears that the current political climate in Israel might be aimed at acting better. And yet, there's talk about expelling Arafat. Hmm. What should happen? I've been thinking about the argument by someone that suggested that because Israel is a good, democratic government, it's nation should be given precedence over the nation of a likely Palestinian autocratic theocracy. I can't quite buy it -- Israel allows far too much religious influence in its structure, and some practices, such as the right of return, are blatantly racist and completely unacceptable. Yet, despite these faults, he does have a point -- the Israeli government, despite not being structured in an ideal wayLINK and despite its racist/religious undertones, does have a better structure than what the Palestinians likely would form. As to the territorial claims, and my prior arguments, there's a flaw. In sum, I argued that any living Palestinians from before Israel's birth would invalidate it's existence. That's too harsh, to weigh the existance of a nation based on smaller territorial claims. Instead, I propose that any Palestinians that predated Israel be given back their exact, personal land from before the expulsion/flight, and nothing more. I believe that this is the minority of cases. As for the settlers, their lands and structures should be immediately returned to personal Palestinian control. As for Palestinian statehood, I don't know. I might be inclined to suggest that large continuous lands that are under Palestinian control should be granted to them should they desire it. The Israeli government needs to be reformed. The Right of Return policy should end immediately, or it should be extended to permit the return of all Palestinians. Those who participated in that expulsion, settlements, and the systematic oppression should be jailed. The religious laws should be purged, and the right-wingers advocating for the expulsion of all Arabs should be removed from government. There, that's my position on Israel/Palestine. As noted, it's based on echos of Leon, and thoughts on the likely form that the Palestinian state would take. Theocracy is unforgivable.

Work is going well, with plenty of interesting projects, responsibilities, and people. I am working on C-Fortran bridge code though, and that's not particularly easy. I tend to get nasty headaches after working for it for long enough, and this note is written in one of the breaks I need. It's almost certainly the least pleasant programming task I've had recently. Still, at least everyone around me is nice. I'm glad that I got away from the pit that was that McLeod job. I regret that I didn't stay at GoAntiques longer, but for Debb, I would give up everything.

I find myself missing some of my friends... Jason's in Cleveland, Aug, Lorie, Jeff, and Amanda are back in Columbus, and I've found myself wondering where Woody is recently. He used to have a website..

LINK It's democratic structure is, however, based on the idea of coalition governments, and I do think that that makes for a healthier democracy than what we have here in the states.