His problem is also not what he clearly believed 10 or 15 years ago. Most conservatives have respect for anyone who moves from liberalism to conservatism.

Romney’s problem the lack of a path from one to the other!

With the exception of the abortion issue, Romney consistently claims he’s always been a conservative, multiple video evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Conservatives have a real problem with that. It’s disingenuous at best and downright lying at worst. It leaves conservatives with the sense that Romney has no real core beliefs. That he’s willing to say what he thinks people want to hear. That smacks of pure political calculation, which is exactly what people are sick of.

If MrRomney has had a true conservative conversion, tell us how and when it happened. Tell us why you’ve rejected the liberalism of your past and now embrace conservatism. But do not pretend to have always been a conservative when all the evidence declares otherwise.

Things have, of course, changed in the last few weeks. Perry has performed badly in debates, going so far as to call principled conservatives “heartless” for not supporting subsidized college tuition for illegal aliens.

Bachmann has also hurt herself by being to aggressive in her attacks against Perry while mostly ignoring Romney, the guy least trusted by conservatives. Her efforts have the effect of actually helping Romney!

Then there’s Herman Cain.

Cain has performed well in all thebdebates. He’s been knowledgable and given solid, substantive answers. More importantly, in my view, he’s remained above the fray by contrasting himself with other candidates while not attacking them.

The impact of all this has been Cain’s rise in the polls while both Perry and Bachmann have fallen. On Saturday Cain stunned everyone by winning the Florida straw poll! Now a Zogby poll has Cain leading with Perry second and Romney third.

Speculation of a Cain/Rubio ticket is now rampant on Twitter! Can you imagine how the dems would handle that? Such a ticket would, at the very least, nake it very difficult for dems to play the race card.

Cain now claims he can win a third or more of the black vote. If he’s right just think of impact that would have in the general election!

For many conservatives and tea party activists this race is equal parts conservative idealism and electability. At this juncture Cain seems to have both. The momentum has shifted and Herman Cain is in a great position to surge ahead.

If you can’t tell, I’ve now switched my suppot from Perry to Cain, a true American conservative.

In fact the housing bubble and subsequent collapse was the result of artifically low interest rates by the fed and government backed loan programs that ignored credit worthiness, along with “anti-discrimination”regulations that forced lenders to make bad loans, all of which removed normal market forces from the supply and demand equation. The predictable results were an artificial increase in demand leading to rising prices along with growing numbers of bad loans. Lending institutions were then forced to find ways to mitigate the risks forced upon them by the government which lead to the toxic mortgage backed securities. From start to finish this was ALL the fault of government regulation, NOT free market capitalism. This would not have happened in a real free market.

So my question is this: Why don’t Republicans make this argument and defend capitalism and market economics?

Lately I’ve been struggling over a desire to return to political blogging. I don’t really want to turn this back into a political blog again but I’m going to have to post some on politics. It is, after all, that season.

For now I’ll just do a little update.

My lovely wife has gotten hit by the Bank of America lay-offs. Her last day will be Oct 31. Thankfully she will get a decent severance and she has good prospects for new employment. In spite of all we’ve been through we feel especially blessed.

Our church search ended up at the church I grew up in. This is a church that has been in decline for years and I never imagined myself as a member there again. But God, it seems, had other plans.

I’m also getting involved in student ministry again for the first time in 10 or so years. Our high school boys small group is meeting at our house on Sunday evenings.

I think I’ve fully adjusted to my vision situation. I’ve found many ways to function a little differently so I can do many things and I virtually never feel sorry for myself any more. It’s been almost a year and a half and I’m used to the new normal.

So the next post will likely be political and for the next year plus there may be more political than non political posts. But I will also be posting about what God is doing in my life and how He uses my circumstances to grow me.

This year was different.

The events of the last year brought us back home. While those events were in no way desirable, the resulting move has been a big blessing.

This year Thanksgiving was at our house, twice. Thanksgiving with my family was Thursday and with Jules’ family was today (Saturday). Everyone was relaxed and the food was great both days. Everyone enjoyed themselves and there was very little stress.

I love my family and Jules’ family and enjoy spending time with both and I think we’ve established a new tradition because doing it all here has relieved a lot of stress from everyone else.

It is often mind boggling to me how God takes very difficult, even tragic situations in our lives and uses them to accomplish good things. As much as I would like to have my vision back I am repeatedly forced to recognize that I am in a better place than I was before losing my vision.

I don’t pretend to know or understand God’s plans but I just have marvel and praise Him when He continues to provide good things. I am so glad that He is running things and I’m not.

When we found out I was approved last week we were elated but we were also frustrated because all we could find out about was my first monthly check coming in December. There was no mention of back pay and no one could tell me why or what the deal was. So waited on the approval letter hoping it would have more information or maybe a check. The letter came and still no mention of back pay.

So today I called again and got a completely different answer from what all previous SS reps had told me. I was told today, for the very first time, that I had to be disabled for five months before I could receive SSID. There will not be any back pay.

How is it that government agencies can be so totally incompetent? How could I have been given the same wrong information by multiple people over a period of five months? And what senesce does this rule make anyway? Has some idiot determined that a person should lose their house before getting any benefits?

I wish I didn’t need SSID. I wish I could see normally and continue to earn a living. But the fact is, here I am and I’ve paid into the system my entire working life. It may have been unrealistic but I expected better.

Thanks to all who have been praying for us. God does answer prayer!

Write in candidacies also exist because people want on the ballot but can’t get there. But now, according to the Alaska Supreme Court, none of that matters.

Lisa Murkowski’s campaign had managed to get poll workers to distribute her name in polling places which clearly amounts to electioneering and negates the barrier to getting on the ballot. Republicans sued to stop it and got a restraining order, which seem quite reasonable to me.

So what does the Alaska Supreme Court do? They stay the restraining order. So now all anyone who can’t get on the ballot has to do is have their name distributed at the polls.

Why bother having primaries at all? Just put everyone who wants to run on the ballot! That’s in effect what the court has just done, after all.

UPDATE:

It seems that a radio talk show host in Alaska, upset over the ruling, put out a call for citizens to sign up as write in candidates. The last count I heard was 56 new write in candidates poll workers have to distribute at the polls. That was an ingenious move and it perfectly illustrates my point. I wonder if the geniuses on the Alaska Supreme Court are rethinking their idiotic ruling?

Let me also say that I haven’t exactly been an Apple fan in the past. I’m a PC guy and have been for years. And one the biggest problems on a PC since the inception of the iPod is iTunes. To put it simply, iTunes on a PC just sucks! It has from the start and it still does. But now I have no choice but to use it if I want to put my music collection on my iPad or stay current on updates. I wish there was another option.

Then there’s the Safari browser. Yeah, that sucks too. I can’t believe the number of web sites I have trouble with because of Safari and they aren’t flash sites. I actually agree with Apple’s decision not to support flash because flash is a memory hog. No, I’m talking about simple things like scroll-bars on a web page that can’t be scrolled. On numerous sites I simply cannot see content “below the fold” and there appears to be nothing I can do about it.

Safari also doesn’t deal with the WordPress editor very well. Once I get beyond a couple of paragraphs I can’t convince Safari to keep the window where I’m typing which is pretty annoying since I can’t see what I’m writing. I can scroll back down but as soon as I type one character the window automatically scrolls back up on it’s own.

That’s enough of the bad for now, though I may have more to say in another post. For now let’s look at what works well for me.

Pinch zooming, which I believe has been around for some time on the iPhone and iPod, is a big plus. Many web pages wouldn’t be readable to me without it. But it’s important to note that pinch zoom doesn’t work everywhere. Primarily it works in Safari and in the email app. And sometimes, for reasons I’ve been unable to determine, pinch zoom doesn’t work in Safari. Also many web pages will only zoom so far and if you go farther it snaps back smaller when you lift a finger.

Fortunately there’s another option, the three finger tap. The three finger tap zooms the whole scree which means it no longer fit so you have to pan left and right as well as up and to see everything. This panning must also be done with three fingers. It is this feature, which is turned off by default, that really makes the iPad usable for me. The fact that it works everywhere means I can access menus and settings that would otherwise be out of reach for me.

Being a longtime PC guy means I’ve had to make some adjustments but they’ve been mostly painless. I’m looking forward to iOS 4.2 coming out next month which is supposed to add multitasking, folders and printing. Being able to print will make a big difference to me, as will being able to organize my apps into folders.

Apple has done a lot right in the iPad but there are real problems with Safari and Apple needs to address them. For most people the iPad is a convenience in addition to their computer. For people like me with major vision impairment it is a replacement that needs to work on the web.

I haven’t posted because it has gotten progressively more difficult to use a computer. Even with a big screen TV for a monitor the backlight was wiping out what vision I have and the problem gets worse as the sCreen gets bigger!

But thanks to my men’s Bible study group and my brother in law, I now have an iPad and it’s incredible what it allows me to do. Reading is once again a part of my life. I can do research on the web again and reading emails is so much easier. In fact, I’m writing this post on my iPad.

It seems counter intuitive that the iPad would be a good solution when a 20 inch monitor is unusable for me but the key is the interface. The screen is small enough that the backlight doesn’t wipe my vision while the interface makesit accessible to me. I highly recommend that anyone with low vision problems visit an Apple store and try one out.

I’m no Apple fanboy. This is the first Apple product I’ve ever owned and I still hate iTunes but this iPad is life changing for me.

<y lovely wife finally found a job in Atlanta making much more than she can make in Charleston. We move in two weeks back to where I grew up. In fact, that house we’re leasing is less than half a mile from my parents,

Also, for the first time ever, we’re using a moving company rather than moving ourselves. I’ve done my own move far to many times, not to mention moving friends over that years. We still have to pack though and that is the main focus right now. I’ll be glad when it’s done and we’re in the new house.

I’m sad leaving Charleston. I love this place and I’ve really put down roots. We have so many friends here and the best church I’ve ever been a member of at East Cooper Baptist Church. It is NOT easy to leave. But this is clearly the direction God is leading us and His plans are always better than mine.

It will be noce to be close to my parents who are getting older more in need of help from time to time. For years now they’ve not had either of their children close by. Now they will and they’re pretty excited that we’re moving back.

Still no word on Social Security but that’s no surprise. It is the government after all and they’re not exactly know for efficiency.

All in all God is really blessing us and I’m so thankful for that. Things can’t always be rosey but it’s nice when things go right and right now they are.

Everyone gets frustrated at umpires from time to time but they mostly do a good job. But sometimes they screw up so badly you just want to scream.

Such was the case the other night in game two of the Braves – Brewers series.

In game one of that series Tommy Hanson hit Prince Fielder with a pitch and Fielder was obviously angry as he headed to first base. He glared at Hanson all the way down the line.

Now Hanson has hit more batters this year than just about anyone because he likes to come in on hitters. And Fielder is just the type of hitter a pitcher needs to come inside on. This is just part of the game. It was not an intentional hit batsman.

Now to game two. Late in the game Jonny Venters came on in relief and Fielder was the first batter he faced. His first pitch sailed over Fielder’s head, which isn’t too unusual for Venters. He can be a little wild the first few pitches. Here’s where the problem comes in.

The umpire immediately issued a warning to the Braves, which was totally unnecessary and uncalled for. Then, on the very next pitch, Venters attempted to go inside and managed to hit Fielder. The result, in addition to Fielder going to first base, was the immediate ejection from the game of both Bobby Cox and Jonny Venters.

Now I admit that it didn’t look good but the question is, was there any reason for Venters to be intentionally throwing at Fielder in the first place and the and the answer is no. I think everyone would agree that we don’t need teams retaliating against each other for perceived offenses and I understand why this warning rule is in place. But the problem is, umpires have to try and determine intent and they simply can’t.

But this story gets even worse. That night a Brewers pitcher was also warned, then a Braves batter hit and no ejection resulted! And finally, Bobby Cox was suspended for one game, which he served last night, and Jonny Venters was suspended for four games, which he is appealing.

Thankfully none of this has hurt the Braves in terms of win-loss record, at least so far. The Braves won last night without Bobby Cox in the dugout. Venters did contribute to the win last night since his suspension is on hold pending the appeal.

But the fact is, this was nothing like a just action and clearly it was applied unequally between the Braves and the Brewers. I personally believe the warning against the Brewers was also unwarranted but it was issued and no ejection resulted when Braves batter was hit. Something is just fundamentally wrong with this whole situation specifically and with the rule as written in general. Umpires cannot be expected to decide what a pitcher is thinking in the absence of clear evidence of that thinking and the simple fact that a batter was hit is NOT evidence of anything except that the ball got away from the pitcher. It is not, in and of itself, evidence or intent.

I have no idea whether Venters suspension will be lessened or overturned but four games is just way to much. I hope Major League Baseball will correct this injustice.

On Tuesday morning I was out with the IT company I’m turning my clients over to, showing them around one of my client locations.  The pain in my hip was bearable so long as I walked slowly and didn’t make any sudden mover.  I took them down a dark hallway to where a couple of computers were located, then turned right, through a door and up a short set of steps.  At the top of the steps the world fell away.

There was a removable floor panel for access to subfloor wiring that someone left open and I went right through it.  The first thing I can remember was an inability breathe which caused me to believe I had cracked ribs.  The guys kept asking if I was okay but I couldn’t answer them because I couldn’t take a breath.  After a few moments I managed to get a breath and tell them I was feeling better, then I passed out.

Apparently I was only out for maybe 30 seconds and when I came to, I was able to breathe and I wasn’t really in much pain at all.  The guys helped me out of the hole and I sat down to gather my wits.  At that point I thought I was okay except for sweating profusely because there was no air conditioning on in the room and it was very hot.

I ended up going back to the offices to cool off, where I ended up discovering I had indeed cracked ribs under my right arm.  It took me probably half an hour to really recover but it seemed I was not seriously injured and I had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon anyway.  What was really interesting was that within an hour of the accident my right hip was feeling much better.  I’m about half convinced that the fall caused the sciatic nerve problem to be relieved.

At the doctor’s office I confirmed that the hip problem was indeed a sciatic nerve problem.  I also confirmed that I had cracked ribs, which has been a lot of fun to deal with since.

All in all I did not have a particularly good week last week but I think the fall may have been worth it if it really did resolve the sciatic nerve issue.

For the most part I’m not in a lot of pain.  Sitting is virtually painless but getting up and down is a slow process to minimize the pain involved.  Of course, coughing, sneezing or laughing is a problem because each causes excruciating pain for a minute or two.  So I really try to avoid any of those things so far as possible.

Perhaps I’m the victim of the Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times.”Over all I’m just about ready to stop having things happen to me.  While I’ve had some problems with boredom since the vision problems began, I think a little boredom may be just what I need for a while.

I’ve been convinced that I could still make a living on the computer doing things like WordPress design.  I expected I’d have to learn some new skills but I saw that as just another hurdle.  I’m finally beginning to realize that my vision simply isn’t going to allow me to do that.  But I can’t see myself as a couch potato for the rest of my life so what to do?

One of my frustrations has been the cost of so much assistive technology for people with low vision or blindness.  I’m convinced that the reason for some of the exorbitant prices is that in so many cased the end user isn’t paying for it, the government is.  While that is a blessing for those who qualify, it removes the marketplace from the price equation, resulting in much higher prices.  It’s the same problem we face with medicine as a while.

An example of what I’m talking about is a little program called ZoomText.  ZoomText is a very nice little program that makes it much easier for the vision impaired to read on a computer.  The problem is this little program costs as much as Microsoft Office or an iPad.  It’s $500!  If the actual market was dictating the price of this program it would likely be closer to $50 but the market is not setting the price.

ZoomText is just one example among many.  For those who are not legally blind and therefore do not qualify for assistance, technology like ZoomText is simply out of reach.

So I’ve been thinking about what could be done.

I’m considering starting a non-profit to deal with this problem.  The initial goal would be to raise enough money to hire a contract programmer or two to write a program to compete with ZoomText. As that grew we’d branch out into other areas of need.  For example, smart phones are notoriously difficult for the vision impaired or those with low vision to use.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have some apps to deal with that problem?

I see a real need here and no one is filling that need.  Every agency or group I’ve found that deals with this stuff seems unable to provide any assistance unless you are legally blind.  But a whole host of people are not legally blind, yet find it extremely difficult to read.  And those without vision problems simply do not grasp just how basic to everyday life reading is.  I’m learning that first hand and I want to do something about it.

So if you’re reading this and have ideas, suggestions, know anything about starting a non-profit or in any way want to help out, just leave a comment here.  I think this is doable and very much worth doing.  What are your thoughts?

I have an SUV that I used in my business.  My wife drives a car.  I’ve argued that we need to keep the SUV for when we travel.  We have a dog that usually goes with us and she’s not a small dog either at 50 pounds.  Traveling is much easier with the SUV.

Then there’s the MUCH nicer stereo in the SUV that I don’t want to give up on trips.  But my wife is reasonably arguing that we need the money we’d get from selling the SUV, not to mention the savings on insurance.  So I guess I’m going to be saying goodbye to the car I’ve driven since 2004.  Just one more casualty of vision loss I guess.

I don’t mean to sound whiny but this is all very hard!

I seem to get one of two responses.  The more prevalent response is amazement at how well I’m dealing with it.  Some folks act as if I’m some kind of spiritual giant because I’ve chosen to trust that God knows what He’s doing rather than collapse into a useless heap.  My response to that is pretty simple.  The route I’ve chosen appears to me to be far superior to any other option available to me.  Sitting in the corner in the fetal position just isn’t very appealing.  And the fact that God has carried us through many crises in the pas and always been faithful to provide for us makes it almost easy for me, along with my wife, to trust Him.  That doesn’t make me any kind of giant.

The second, less common response seems to be a belief that it’s not really all that bad to begin with.  After all, if it was I’d be a basket case.  This response mystifies me.  I’m legally blind and I had relatively normal vision just a few months ago.  I’ve lost my business, my ability to drive and my general independence.  From my perspective that’s pretty bad.

With the right perspective, of course, it isn’t nearly as bad as it could be and it certainly isn’t as bad as many others have it.  And from that perspective I actually feel blessed!  After all, while I’m legally blind, I’m not completely blind.  I can see well enough to walk around, cook a meal or work in the garden.  I need some help sometimes but I’m not helpless.

Just a few days ago I was doing the intake interview with the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.  The lady doing the interview seemedalmost incredulous that I wasn’t acting blind.  She was talking about me having to learn to use the white cane!  I can assure you that I don’t need the white cane.  Maybe I will one day but not today.  She acted as if I was somehow in denial about my disability!  That was the last response I would have expected from someone whose job it is to assist someone like me.

So this new journey continues to provide me with one surprise after another.  Some of them are more welcome than others but all have to be faced and dealt with and with my wonderful wife at my side, I will do just that.

I’m experimenting again with Windows Live Writer in the hope that it will solve my problem.  I’m writing this post with it but so far I have not found a way to make the text bigger and I can just barely read it on this 47″ screen.

If anyone is aware of a blog writing/editing tool that helps the visually impaired, by all means, please let me know about it.

Another example of the changing reality is trying to follow package directions on food.  I keep a large magnifier in the kitchen for reading package directions.  The problem is, so many food labels are printrf with very poor contrast.  Like whitr trxt on an orange background.  I can’t make that our no matter how much I magnify it.  So I end up calling my wife to the kitchen to read it to me.  It’s really very frustrating.  I know that food companies aren’t just messing with the vision impaired but they aren’t exactly thinking about us either.

I remember reading several years ago about standards for web design that make reading web pages much easier for the visually impaired. The problem is, no one thinks about it unless they or someone they are close to is actually visually impaired.  There have been moves to address the problem but so far as I can tell, none have met with much success.

So if you’re reading this and you have a web site or you are in any way involved in producing any kind of copy intended for wide consumption, please give so thought to those of us who struggle to read what you write.

Note: Please excuse any typos you may find in this post.

I’m trying to work out something with another local IT company.  They are small, only two guys, and they seem to have the same philosophy I do when it comes to taking care of their clients.  They also charge the same rate I do, which helps.

I’m having lunch with these guys today to work out some details but it looks like this may be a good fit to ensure my clients aren’t just left to figure things out on their own.  If it works out it will lift a burden from my shoulders.

We’ve filed the Social Security Disability applicaiton and need to submit the documentation but we’re stuck because our accountant still has not got our taxes completed and he’s on vacation now.  On top of that, Social Security show me not making ANY income for the last two years, which is clearly wrong!  This is a real problem because the amount they pay is based on my income.

I have an appointment with someone from the South Carolina Commission for the blind today at 2:00.  It’s just for the intake interview so nothing will happen today but the hope is I’ll get some assistance with some assistive technology to make me more able to work and earn an income.  Since I’ve become legally blind I am no longer able to run my business which has drastically cut our income.