Now that I am a stones throw away from FINALLY completing the thesis I seem to be hitting the worst roadblocks ... namely being forced into completely relying on other people (which I don't like doing on a normal day) ...

So my adviser won't give me a complete explanation on how to input data into SPSS ... I mean I have input data before ... but on a much smaller scale ... and given the incomplete explanation that I got from my adviser ... I am pretty sure that the vague and sketchy idea I have about how to input this data is correct ... unfortunately, I have to wait for this doctoral student to show me the proper format ... and from what she told me ... she has to wait until another doctoral student shows her the proper format ....

... all I want to know is why is everyone being so cloak and dagger about SPSS? Why not just give me a complete explanation on how to input my data?

Not to sound cocky ... but SPSS is just Microsoft Excel on steroids ... once you know Excel, its not that difficult to extrapolate to SPSS ... and I'm starting to get under the impression that the only reason that SPSS is so difficult is because everyone says it is and treats it like it is  ....

... and to put the cherry on top of a wonderful week is that I can't get into a computer lab until the end of this week because the President is coming to campaign for Corzine and is using FDU's Rothman Center so the whole campus is closed down .... figures ...

... well since I only made one September entry I'm just going to leave the colors and pic and quote the way they are .... busy busy busy .... sampling for the thesis is about done so now all I have to do is organize the data and make a results and conclusions section out of it ....

... while I'm on here I'd just like to share a realization that I came to the first time I took a political science course ... American political identity can be defined based one only one individual belief ... whether the individual puts their trust primarily in people or in institutions ... everything else is based on that ...

Those who mistrust people to come to do the right thing put their trust in institutions, government, and allows institutions to force people to do what that institution deems as right .... a large "benevolent" government with its hands in every aspect of every individual's private life carefully determining the "right" thing to do and distributing individual's income to "worthy" causes leaving relativity very little for the individual to personally distribute to causes he or she finds deserving. People who freely choose to do stupid things should be made to not do those things through the force of "nanny laws" .... sure the government is big .... sure your freedoms are limited .... sure you income is limited .... but the government gives you things for "free" ... and takes care of you .... and always stands up for the the "right" and the "good" even though it is made up of money and power grubbing individuals who, despite what they say in campaign ads, are all about themselves and their own good ....

... for a country with a bleak out look on lawyers we sure do elect a lot of them to positions of governmental power ... and the federal government is all about power ... not once has the federal government ever given back power it has usurped ... not from the state governments and definitely not from citizens ....

Those who mistrust institutions believe that people will do the right thing on their own ... they believe in personal responsibility and charity to fellow human beings .... but they are often disappointed in how easily people turn a blind eye to their fellows in need or how fast people can give up personal responsibility to despair ...

Personally, I distrust both people and the institutions they form .... however, I happen to believe that people are easier to change than institutions .... it is easier to persuade a person to join a worthy cause than it is to persuade an institution .... you need not look far into history to find instances where individuals have spent years fighting a large and powerful government who has gone terribly astray from the needs and ideals of its citizens ... changing an institution requires a tremendous struggle spanning a large amount of time .... government should be small and ever-cognizant that its survival is completely dependent on the will of its governed .... such a government can do as little damage as possible ... freedoms can be preserved ...

Those of us living in the People's Republic of New Jersey are often shocked to hear that we are the second to least free state in the United States .... when you tell someone this they are staggered and say "But we have a progressive governor, how can we be loosing freedoms?" Well our progressive governor has progressed the size and scope of the state government .... our progressive governor has progressed government regulation into many aspects of private life .... and has progressed our taxes to pay for said size and scope of government to boot leaving us with very limited incomes for personal use ..... the amount of jobs in the public sector has progressed while the number of jobs in the private sector ... the ones who actually pay for the public sector jobs  .... has fallen dramatically ..... the amount of people on public assistance has progressed while the amount of people paying for this public assistance but not eligible to benefit from any of it has decreased due to a mass-exodus of the middle class from New Jersey .....

... I'm just interested to see what will happen when there will be more people depending on public assistance than there are to pay for it .... an ugly situation to be sure ... all because of blind trust in an institution ...