What Rug Thinks

A few days ago the Supreme Court ruled in a 5 to 4 decision same sex marriage is legal. Great, it's about time. Take a minute to rejoice, bask in glow of success. OK, minutes up. No time to slack now. There are many other inequalities to fight against. Here are just a just a few in the order I thought of them. First, law enforcement targeting black people. Not only are black people arrested more often, but they are also treated more aggressively. Second, religious teaching in public schools. Creationism has replaced science in many public schools. This has been the case for years (if not decades) in mainly southern states. Third, Fox news. I don't think I even need to go into this. However, Fox news has been known for years for spouting skewed statistics, hatred for large portions of the country, and on many occasions down right lies. Fourth, abortion accessibility. Since abortion has been deemed legal since the 70's many laws have been put forth to restrict access ...

Since today is fathers day I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about a father's rights. I would like to talk about custody, child support, and a few other things that gets on my nerves. To anyone that might have a problem with what I'm saying keep in mind I'm talking about good fathers that just want to be part of their kids lives. I'm not talking about the deadbeat guys that take off and are never heard from again. Guys like that do not deserve any rights to their children. When there is a custody dispute in most states in the US the law generally favors the mother. While I can understand this to some degree, I don't think it's fair. In the state that I live in, the father basically has to prove the mother is unfit to raise a child before custody is awarded to the father. This is the case even for joint custody if the mother doesn't agree. Basically the only way to get joint custody in this state is to have both parents agree. Does that really ...

I started learning Linux over 10 years ago. When I first started I was working with Fedora. I loved Fedora, except when I did updates and everything broke. Still, I learned a ton and genuinely enjoyed my experiences with it. Then I got new hardware. I went to load Fedora on it, and it blew chunks. Complete kernel panic during the install. Fedora seemed to be disgusted by my new hardware. I had cheated on Fedora off and on during this love affair. I would boot a virtual machine loaded with Ubuntu, lift up the skirt, and try to wrap my head around the differences. When my new hardware would not work with Fedora I figured I would try Ubuntu. Still, kernel panic during install. I was starting to think maybe Linux in general had an issue with what I had to offer. Looking around on the net I found Mint. This distribution of Linux was beautiful. Not only was it extremely happy to accept my new hardware, when it first booted I found one of the most beautiful desktops I had seen. Eventu...

I saw a post which was a picture of a man and a woman apparently getting married. The caption read, "Marriage is between a man and a woman. Let's keep it that way." Being the opinionated person that I am, I had to comment and attempt to show him the error of his ways. Within the discussion the person that posted the picture said, "Being gay is a choice." This statement confused me. Since I'm so confused about this statement I figured I would work out my thoughts for anyone that wishes to read them.  My first thought is how could someone chose to be gay? I never chose to be straight. I never chose to be sexually attracted to women. I don't even think I choose who I find attractive.  I don't think I could choose to be attracted to a man. Don't get me wrong here. I have no problem with saying a guy is attractive, or appreciating that other people would find him attractive. However, that doesn't mean I'm attracted to him. While the ide...

Anyone that has been reading this blog should realize by now I don't fit into any "normal" political party. While I'm rather conservative on most economical standpoints, I'm also very liberal when it comes to human rights. I don't even feel as though I fit in with the independent party either. While I agree with the independent part fits me, I don't agree it with party. When I hear the term party my brain now goes straight to the tea party. This bunch of hypocritical, double talk, self loathing, and destructive so called republicans have made a mockery of the system of government I have respected all of my life. In this post I would like to cover what it is the tea party says they believe compared to what their actions. It may be obvious at this point I don't like the tea party. Once you have read this complete post, I'm sure you will feel the same. I didn't want to take the word of the general media on what the tea party state their belief...

There has been a lot of talk lately in the news and podcast I listen to on the topic of politically correct speech. That got me to thinking. When you look closely to many disagreements and arguments language skills and the uses of words tends to be the main part of the disagreement. I realize this isn't always the case, but many times it is. I find myself many times looking at the terms used and trying to figure out how does it relate to the topic at hand. I would like to talk a look at a term that is tossed around in the media rather often. Islamophobia or calling someone islamophobic. When you break this word down it becomes rather simple to figure out the real meaning of this term. Islam is of course a religion. Phobia is an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. Therefore, to call someone an islamophobic or saying they have islamophobia is saying they are an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to Islam. While this may be the case for many people, when I...

There have been many debates about the existence of God. There have been many arguments, counter arguments, and so called evidence. I am going to cover some of the most used arguments I have came across.  The most common I hear people say is a dumbed down version of the cosmological argument. Here is the argument made from William Lane Craig. "Whatever begins to exist has a cause. The Universe began to exist. Therefore, the Universe had a cause." Then Mr. Craig goes on to say that cause must have been God. I'll excuse, for now, that giant leap he makes here from cause to God. I'll just talk about his premises. The first one, "Whatever begins to exist has a cause", sounds like common sense right? Sure, you never see anything happen without a cause. However, with the very next line he starts talking about the Universe. That gets me thinking but I'll hold off for the moment. The last line, "Therefore, the Universe had a cause," seem...