Overload

We have computers and digital cameras and entertainment from over a hundred TV channels and as many radio stations. The list seems endless. Books, too, are abounding, even in the light of the information highway, the vast and unfathomable internet. It is little wonder that we need bigger and bigger hard drives and ever faster computers.

But with all this, we seemingly have gained no advatange in time. I spend way too much time in front of a computer monitor. For what? I do a bit of praying, encouraging, and communicating with folks, and that is all good, however, a big chunk of my time is spent trying to manage, retrieve or restore the information and pictures, and music and games on my computer... and now my phone.

My phone used to be a black, squarish boxy thing with a rotary dial and an earpiece. For some time, I had a party line. Now, my phone is sleek, white, rectangular and slender. I carry it at my waist in a little leather case, and it has 16 GIGS of memory! It's full of games, tells me what to do and when, has all my contacts, some of whom may be people I have called once in the past and no longer even remember.

For some time now, I have wanted to digitize and organize and label and make discs of all our old family photos and memorabelia. Funny, I have such powerful tools the task now seems overwhelming. Duh!

Well, today, I organized all my journals and blogs on my own computer - the one that recently crashed - just in case the internet disappears in the middle of the night sometime. Yes, my blogs are on several sites... but like I said, in case the WHOLE internet goes poof, I am covered, aren't I?

As the day wore on, I began to have pain in my chest, a tightness... no, not like a heart attack, more like a bad chest cold, congestion. Now, my throat is also sore and I feel really not well. Enough computer, enough anything, except prayer. Perhaps a nap, too.

Well, I didn't nap, I watched part of the Republican Convention. Sarah Palin's speech was a winner except for a few comments. I, for one, want to make sure everyone "has their rights read to them," even suspected terrorists, for if the rights of  the most reviled and weakest among us can me trampled, then my own rights might be the next to go. 

No matter who is elected, I am concerned that the constitutional rights of all people in this country, citizens or not, be jealously protected. While I am NOT an Obama fan and would never vote for him, neither am I a fan of some of the abuses of the Bush administration. 

I am appalled that this nation would resort to torture. I disagree with wire tapping without proper protocol. I am sickened that this great nation would violate its founding principles by doing such things and even go so far as to arrest and imprison people without due process of any kind. 

We have let fear of terrorism lead us into an unwholesome compromise and the evils of expediency. Although terrorists pose a very real threat world wide, trampling on the civil rights and human rights of anyone puts us in the same league as the enemy!