I do not think I have ever been more dissappointed with our political system in my entire life until now. Since when does Congress have the right to become a judicial branch of the government? The entire Schiavo case should have never have made it this far but now that it has I have realized that it is a bigger problem than most people see.

The question of quality of life is the issue and the husband, by law has the right to decide if the feeding tube should or should not be removed. End of discussion. That’s the law. I don’t care if he is seeing another woman, he is still married to Terri Schiavo and from talking to people and doing a little research there is little he can do to get a divorce. There is no one who can honestly tell me that Terri Schiavo is “living”, she has been in a vegetative state for 15 years, 15! She is currently in a hospice, which last time I checked was for palliative treatment, not curative. A hospice, by definition neither postpones nor hastens death. To me this would mean that the feeding tube be removed, because technically it is postponing death. A hospice is supposed to provide care to patients who have a limited life expectancy, Terri Schiavo has been alive artificially for 15 yrs.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for treating the sick, but this is not treatment, it is postponing what people know will happen, they just don’t know when.

I know that fellow Republicans are reading this and saying to themselves that I am not a true member of the party, well, if that’s the way you feel it’s too bad. I am a pro-life person but this is not life, it is suffering at it’s worst and we (the government) have let it go too far. Congress has no right to act the way it has and I am very interested to see what kind of holes this opens up for other people. We are watching the demise of our political system unfold right before our eyes.

Texas Tech has advanced to the Sweet 16 after defeating Gonzaga.

From the beginning Tech was not performing well and wasn’t keeping up with the Gonzaga offense. Going into halftime Gonzaga had a 13pt. but Tech came back and outperformed Gonzaga, with some great 3pt. shots and a lot of free throws.

It was a scary performance for Tech and in the next round they will definitely need to play like they played against UCLA in the first round.

I am going to go out on a limb here and maybe be a little controversial. Right now there is a big debate over the Terri Schiavo case and who has the right to say whether her feeding tube is removed or not. To me this is a non-issue. She is still married and by law her husband has the legal right to remove the tube. I know that people want to use the fact that he is seeing another woman and such to say that he should not be married to her and therefore have no right to remove the tube. But who are we to determine that they should not be married. At what point do we retract ourselves from other’s lives and let them choose their path.

On one hand I can see where Terri Schiavo’s parents are coming from. They love their daughter and do not want to see her pass away. However, to me, Mrs. Schiavo is already dead, mentally at least, and maybe legally. When your heart stops you are not declared dead, actually your heart could still be beating and you are declared dead. The brain is a hospital’s main way of determining the time of death and when a person has actually been lost. Terri Schiavo is showing just enough brain activity to not be declared dead. The doctors are saying the chances of her ever coming out of the vegetative state are very slim to none.

The basic question then comes down to right to life. I agree with the principle that people (babies, children, adults, etc.) have a right to life. I don’t agree with abortion but this case really has me torn. Terri Schiavo, to me at least, is already deceased. Her brain is unable to function enough to support itself and from the medical side of things that is teetering on death.

I know that this is an extremely controversial issue but it really struck me today that people are throwing themselves into the middle of this like they have something at stake. If I ever was in a similiar vegetative state I know that I would not want to be like that forever, until the money ran out. I know I cannot speak for Terri but I can speak for friends who wear “Do not resuscitate” bands on them so that if they are horribly injured they do not have to endure what Terri Schiavo is enduring right now (even if she cannot cognitively grasp it).

I thought I would post up a few of the photos that I thought were the best from SXSW 2005 Interactive.

The Segars Communications team at the Liberty Tavern in Austin.

Tim about to dig in to his huge burrito from Iron Cactus.

Those are just a few… I will be adding more to this page and to my flickr account as the days go on.

Brandon, a coworker of mine and a fellow developer, has redesigned his little piece of the web with his samurai passion in mind. Go take a look, leave some comments and let him know what you think.

I wouldn’t say it’s great to be back, although it’s nice to sleep in your own bed, instead of a hotel. SXSW Interactive was great. I learned a lot new and exciting things and I also had a lot of ideas/processes reiterated and confirmed by the panelists.

Oddly enough, during the last panel that we attended I decided to check the weather in Lubbock to see what we would be driving back to. I was dumb struck with weather.com showing snow showers and a temperature in the 30’s. It is very strange to go from great weather in Austin to snow and cold temperatures in Lubbock. Not a return I looked forward to.

All in all it was a great experience. Met some great people and learned some great things. Can’t wait to go back next semester.

Keep your sights on my flickr page for more photos (hopefully soon).

After a few days here I have been pleased that we (Segars Communications) all came. Some panels have been great and others have been not so great.

As far as the 2005 Web Awards go, we sadly did not win. The folks at Cloud King took the award for best CSS design.

Right now I am sitting in Humor on the Web and they are bringing up some great points about making a living doing comedy on the net… Makes me think that maybe I should change the direction of this site, maybe it will take a comedic direction soon.

After this panel we are heading to Stubb’s and if you are in the mood for probably the best BBQ in Texas then join us around 12:45pm. I am looking forward to a chopped beef sandwich after a few days of strange foods (well, to me at least).

I will slowly be adding photos to my Flickr account. Stay tuned…

After a 6.5 hour drive we finally arrived in Austin and the night has gone well. We went to the Kyoto sushi bar and had some (surprisingly) good sushi. I am not a big fish fan but the sushi was very good. I had multiple types, from salmon to tuna, and was not dissappointed.

We start tomorrow at 9:30 am with a walk to the conference center and a full day of “panels”. Hopefully, I’ll have a few pictures up on Flickr soon. In the meantime you can check out ElementalInfusion for Josh’s take on our “adventure”.

We (myself, Tim, Josh, Brandon, and Mark) leave for Austin tomorrow for SXSW. We will probably head out of here around 1:30pm and arrive in Austin around 8:00pm. I will have access to my e-mail so if there is something urgent I will still be able to receive it.

Hopefully I will have a chance to write a few posts while the conference is going on.

After reading this article on the possibility of Bono becoming the head of the World Bank I have come to the conclusion that the end of the world may be drawing near.

Artists have no place in politics or in economics, end of story. If they did then we (Americans) would have Alec Baldwin as President and the U.S. would no longer exsist, it would be southern Canada. Now, I have to give Bono some credit, he is a fairly well educated man and he’s given a lot to the “community” but I wouldn’t say that makes him a great business man or financeer.

Then I look at other options for head of the World Bank and realize they are few and far between. There are not a whole lot of options when it comes to who I would want in that position but I know that Bono would definitely not be my first choice…