Followup
Couple of points of clarification to some of the comments on my last post:
1) Re: Bush. I don't mean to cast aspersions on President Bush as a person. As I said, from all accounts he seems to be a nice guy, and a fellow brother in Christ. My point though, is to question whether the average American evangelical Christian would have been so enthusiastic about voting for him had he not claimed to be a believer. Based solely on his job performance, did he merit re-election? If a voter felt his performance was adequate, or didn't think another candidate was up to the task, then that's all well and good. But if the voter voted for a candidate solely based on a similar faith or alleged "shared values," then that's where I have some issues.
2) Re: legislation of morality. No, there is nothing wrong with voting your conscience. Since we are a democracy, we have the right to choose our laws by virtue of a majority vote (or more than a majority in some cases). However, I sense a certain attitude from the Religious Right that these laws are accorded more importance than they should have - that allowing these "immoral" laws to pass would be an affront to God, and that preventing them from passing is a victory for God. I take issue with this. As someone who believes that only God does a redeeming work in a person's life, and thus changes that person's morality, I don't think that legislating a standard of morality will do anything to change a person unless that person is touched by God through the Church. This is the job God has given to the Church.
3) Re: impact upon witness. Yes, God knows what He is doing and eventually will work things out according to the plan He put in place before the beginning of time. However, from the eyes of this imperfect and sinful blogger, I can see and experience the negative impact that a poor example set by other Christians throughout history can have on my own. I wish I could just present the Gospel and its impact in my life as testimony to what God has done and is doing. Instead, in most cases, I have to gently guide people away from dwelling on the mistakes and atrocities perpetrated by Christians so that they can dwell on the enormity and transforming power of Christ. It's a lot of work, and for many people this is a sticking point. It hurts me when I hear friends and family disparage Christ and defame the name of God because of the example a Christ-professing Bush has set as a leader. There is much work for the Holy Spirit to do.
As George mentioned, all we can do is pray for this nation and make the best of it. Sounds good to me.
Other stuff
Quick takes...
Recently, Marian posted a few links about the recent issues going on at Electronic Arts and their labor practices. Apparently it was sparked by this blog from the spouse of an EA employee, talking about 9a-10p workdays, seven days a week, as a regular work schedule, and without any sort of compensation in the form of overtime pay or comp time. Kind of makes startup life look cushy by comparison. Now, it looks as though some employees are looking to sue the company.
I found this portion of the blog to be very interesting: "The interesting thing about this is an assumption that most of the employees seem to be operating under. Whenever the subject of hours come up, inevitably, it seems, someone mentions 'exemption'. They refer to a California law that supposedly exempts businesses from having to pay overtime to certain 'specialty' employees, including software programmers. This is Senate Bill 88. However, Senate Bill 88 specifically does not apply to the entertainment industry -- television, motion picture, and theater industries are specifically mentioned. Further, even in software, there is a pay minimum on the exemption: those exempt must be paid at least $90,000 annually. I can assure you that the majority of EA employees are in fact not in this pay bracket; ergo, these practices are not only unethical, they are illegal."
I'm certainly not making $90K... heh. 'Course, I knew what I was getting into at a startup, and things have been better the last month or so, so I guess I don't have much to complain about. The incentive of stock options doesn't hurt either :-).
Being a Warriors fan is depressing. Thank goodness I'm also a Spurs fan, otherwise I'd probably have sworn off emotional ties to any basketball team a long time ago.
Currently spinning "The Blue Album" from Weezer in my car, which I found in my bro's room. I found a couple of other ~10 year old albums as well that I'll probably revisit and see if my more mature (I think) music listening habits help me enjoy or not enjoy this old-school stuff more. Before Weezer, I was playing an old MTV Jams mix CD with dance hits like "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" (PM Dawn), "Good Vibrations" (Marky Mark), "Motown Philly" (Boyz II Men) and a few other ones that brought back memories of junior high.
Speaking of old-school, I was able to pick up The Beatles' "1" CD on Saturday at Best Buy, along with Vienna Teng's "The Waking Hour." Looking forward to them.
Recent events:
Go Bears! Rose-Bowl-Rose-Bowl-Rose-Bowl...
Beat X-Men Legends w/ Andy Y and Byron. That's a fun game.
Byron's bday - to borrow Alex's phrase, we ate the glutton at Hot Pot last Saturday.
I think I rediscovered my bank shot this past Sunday on the courts.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you're looking for a football game, come out to Turkey Bowl: 9:30 am, Kennedy Jr High, Thanksgiving Day.
Couple of points of clarification to some of the comments on my last post:
1) Re: Bush. I don't mean to cast aspersions on President Bush as a person. As I said, from all accounts he seems to be a nice guy, and a fellow brother in Christ. My point though, is to question whether the average American evangelical Christian would have been so enthusiastic about voting for him had he not claimed to be a believer. Based solely on his job performance, did he merit re-election? If a voter felt his performance was adequate, or didn't think another candidate was up to the task, then that's all well and good. But if the voter voted for a candidate solely based on a similar faith or alleged "shared values," then that's where I have some issues.
2) Re: legislation of morality. No, there is nothing wrong with voting your conscience. Since we are a democracy, we have the right to choose our laws by virtue of a majority vote (or more than a majority in some cases). However, I sense a certain attitude from the Religious Right that these laws are accorded more importance than they should have - that allowing these "immoral" laws to pass would be an affront to God, and that preventing them from passing is a victory for God. I take issue with this. As someone who believes that only God does a redeeming work in a person's life, and thus changes that person's morality, I don't think that legislating a standard of morality will do anything to change a person unless that person is touched by God through the Church. This is the job God has given to the Church.
3) Re: impact upon witness. Yes, God knows what He is doing and eventually will work things out according to the plan He put in place before the beginning of time. However, from the eyes of this imperfect and sinful blogger, I can see and experience the negative impact that a poor example set by other Christians throughout history can have on my own. I wish I could just present the Gospel and its impact in my life as testimony to what God has done and is doing. Instead, in most cases, I have to gently guide people away from dwelling on the mistakes and atrocities perpetrated by Christians so that they can dwell on the enormity and transforming power of Christ. It's a lot of work, and for many people this is a sticking point. It hurts me when I hear friends and family disparage Christ and defame the name of God because of the example a Christ-professing Bush has set as a leader. There is much work for the Holy Spirit to do.
As George mentioned, all we can do is pray for this nation and make the best of it. Sounds good to me.
Other stuff
Quick takes...
Recently, Marian posted a few links about the recent issues going on at Electronic Arts and their labor practices. Apparently it was sparked by this blog from the spouse of an EA employee, talking about 9a-10p workdays, seven days a week, as a regular work schedule, and without any sort of compensation in the form of overtime pay or comp time. Kind of makes startup life look cushy by comparison. Now, it looks as though some employees are looking to sue the company.
I found this portion of the blog to be very interesting: "The interesting thing about this is an assumption that most of the employees seem to be operating under. Whenever the subject of hours come up, inevitably, it seems, someone mentions 'exemption'. They refer to a California law that supposedly exempts businesses from having to pay overtime to certain 'specialty' employees, including software programmers. This is Senate Bill 88. However, Senate Bill 88 specifically does not apply to the entertainment industry -- television, motion picture, and theater industries are specifically mentioned. Further, even in software, there is a pay minimum on the exemption: those exempt must be paid at least $90,000 annually. I can assure you that the majority of EA employees are in fact not in this pay bracket; ergo, these practices are not only unethical, they are illegal."
I'm certainly not making $90K... heh. 'Course, I knew what I was getting into at a startup, and things have been better the last month or so, so I guess I don't have much to complain about. The incentive of stock options doesn't hurt either :-).
Being a Warriors fan is depressing. Thank goodness I'm also a Spurs fan, otherwise I'd probably have sworn off emotional ties to any basketball team a long time ago.
Currently spinning "The Blue Album" from Weezer in my car, which I found in my bro's room. I found a couple of other ~10 year old albums as well that I'll probably revisit and see if my more mature (I think) music listening habits help me enjoy or not enjoy this old-school stuff more. Before Weezer, I was playing an old MTV Jams mix CD with dance hits like "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" (PM Dawn), "Good Vibrations" (Marky Mark), "Motown Philly" (Boyz II Men) and a few other ones that brought back memories of junior high.
Speaking of old-school, I was able to pick up The Beatles' "1" CD on Saturday at Best Buy, along with Vienna Teng's "The Waking Hour." Looking forward to them.
Recent events:
Go Bears! Rose-Bowl-Rose-Bowl-Rose-Bowl...
Beat X-Men Legends w/ Andy Y and Byron. That's a fun game.
Byron's bday - to borrow Alex's phrase, we ate the glutton at Hot Pot last Saturday.
I think I rediscovered my bank shot this past Sunday on the courts.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you're looking for a football game, come out to Turkey Bowl: 9:30 am, Kennedy Jr High, Thanksgiving Day.
posted by Bob at
5:18 PM
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