Categories
life pictures

Welcome Noah

After weeks of Laura feeling like she was ready to be done with this pregnancy (despite the fact that we hoped it would last a little longer to get a few more things done around the house) we got the news on Tuesday that the midwife was concerned that the baby was breech. She had Laura go to the hospital to have the baby turned on Wednesday and said that if the baby was breech again for the visit next week she would want us to turn the baby again and induce labor. We spent a couple of days expecting to enter next week with the prospect of inducing labor – someone had other ideas.

Laura was having contractions off and on for much of Friday. After a Thanksgiving dinner with my side of the family we came home and Laura had concluded that labor was imminent. She planned to go to bed when we got home (at 5:00 pm) so that she could be rested. She took a sleeping pill and laid down – not five minutes later her water broke.

The labor was exciting based on the fact that she had a sleeping pill encouraging her body to postpone labor counteracted by Pitocin in her IV. To make matters more fun, as we neared the crowning the midwife discovered that the baby was oriented oddly again – face first. At 9:11 a swollen and bruised face emerged – just as the midwife had forewarned us when she discovered the orientation – and as I looked to finally identify the gender we had not previously determined I told Laura that “we have a Noah.”

Up to that point we had decided that I would choose the middle name if we had a boy but I had not yet settled on one. I soon knew what name to use – Noah Thomas Miller.

At 6 lbs. 8oz. and 20″ long he’s a healthy and happy little man.

Categories
culture

A Desperate Defense

Apparently (but not really surprisingly) the defense team for Brian David Mitchell has decided to stand up as a prime example of exactly what is wrong with our justice system today.

They started this case by trying to get a change of venue. That was understandable although I don’t think we have an extradition agreement with Antarctica – the only place on the globe where there would be zero bias against their client. When that failed they said in their opening statement that they did not dispute the facts of the case. Now, after the prosecution has rested their case and the defense has had a day to call their own witnesses they are apparently desperate because their first witnesses have already shown that the insanity defense they had intended to argue is absurd. (Their client being certifiably insane is not absurd but the idea that he is not fully responsible for his actions is absurd.)

Three weeks into the trial they have suddenly discovered that one of the charges against their client may not be technically accurate.

This is not the action of a legal team seeking to ensure that justice is done but rather the action of a legal team who is willing to do anything to win their case.

In a healthy justice system both the prosecution and the defense legal teams would be working for the same goal—namely the goal of finding the true criminal(s) in the case and ensuring that they receive the appropriate consequences for their criminal behavior.

Unfortunately in our win-at-all-costs justice system the defense team is hoping that their client, who is obviously guilty and who has repeatedly shown that he has the dangerous attitude of thinking that he is above the law, will be able to get out of this with nothing more than a very badly damaged reputation.

Categories
life National politics

Saying “No” to the TSA

Laura and I have been talking about what we can do in response to the horrendous new TSA procedures. Inspired by Connor and Jesse I took a first step by sending this letter:


To: ata@airlines.org

To Whom It May Concern,

I have been appalled at the new security procedures being implemented by the TSA. I don’t consider myself a particularly frequent flyer but I have personally flown twelve times in the last nine years (usually with at least one family member flying with me) and I was planning flights to New York and Orlando next year for both personal and business purposes but after these latest changes in procedure I have determined that I will not take any further flights for any reason. I will avoid business travel that cannot be done on the ground and I see no reason to spend my money so that myself, my wife, or any of my children can be subjected to the full body image machines or the enhanced pat-downs that are now standard procedure by the TSA.

These new “security procedures” are all the more outrageous and intollerable because as far as I am aware passenger screenings have never stopped a single incident of someone trying to interfere with the normal operations of a flight. All such incidents have either been stopped before the would-be criminals approached the passenger screening area or else after they had successfully navigated the passenger screening procedures and boarded the plane.

I refuse to teach my children that nothing we have taught them regarding the sacredness of personal space – especially with regards to strangers – applies when they are inside an airport or when the stranger in question is wearing a uniform. Although others travel much more than I do, I will avoid all public air travel wherever possible and teach my six children to do the same so long as such degrading and unreasonable procedures are in place.

David Miller
Bountiful, Utah


Update 11/17/2010: I got a response to my letter this morning. Normally I would see little reason to share the response publicly but this response included some information that I think should be shared publicly for anyone who is concerned with this issue. Specifically, the response included two links where people can provide their feedback directly to the TSA:

While we will pass on your concerns to the TSA in our routine discussions, we suggest that you also comment directly to TSA – they have a moderated blog on these very subjects, which can be found at:

Enhanced Pat Down: http://blog.tsa.gov/2010/11/new-tsa-pat-down-procedures.html

?Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) Scanner: http://blog.tsa.gov/2010/11/white-house-blog-backscatter-back-story.html

Categories
Uncategorized

Group Identity

An incident that took place yesterday got me thinking about a topic that is probably very appropriate at election season (in some ways more applicable after an election than before). That is, how and why we identify and associate within groups.

The reason I say this seems appropriate around elections is that part of the political process, at least for those who wish to make things happen rather than being content to simply express their views, is for groups to form from previously unconnected people in support or opposition of a candidate or proposed law or policy.

What happened yesterday reminded me of the psychological effect of identifying ourselves with a group.

I was driving to work when someone ahead of me began driving uncertainly as if the driver was trying to choose a route while driving. The driver was hovering near the lane line deciding whether to get in the turn lane or whether to go straight through the light ahead. As I was entering the turn lane the driver made the decision to do the same – right in front of me. That wasn’t a huge problem but it was mildly frustrating until I looked in the top right corner of the back window of their SUV where I spotted a sticker like the one pictured at the top of the post.

That picture was taken from the bottom left corner of my rear window and it identified the vehicle ahead of me as belonging to someone who lives somewhere near me. As soon as I saw the sticker all feeling of annoyance vanished with the thought that we were both on the same team (metaphorically speaking).

Categories
life thoughts

My Wealth Target


photo credit: Dvorscak

When defining how much wealth you want it is important to first define what wealth is. It can’t simply be income because I think most people would agree that the person who earns $100,000 a year and spends $60,000 is better off (wealthier) than the person who earns $1,000,000 and spends $1,060,000. (Amazingly Congress does not believe this.) A few years ago I stated it this way:

Wealth is not about cash, it is about cash flow – to be wealthy all you really need to do is flow less cash out than in.

While I still believe that statement to be true, I consider it to be an incomplete definition of what it means to be wealthy. If you have more cash flowing in than flowing out then I think it is safe to say that you appear to be heading toward being wealthy as opposed to heading towards poverty but there must be a reason for keeping that extra cash flowing in which gets to the heart of what it means to be wealthy.