My book Web Design for Developers is now available in Beta form.

You’ll learn how to design a web site from start to finish, and you’ll use many of the techniques and thought processes you’ve come to rely on as an application developer. You’ll learn some color theory, some typography basics, some XHTML and CSS, and how to incorporate Photoshop and Illustrator into a work flow that works for you, not against you.

You can buy an early copy and then contribute to the feedback cycle to help make this an even better book when it eventually ships. You can purchase the PDF and start reading now, or preorder the printed book which will ship after the beta process finishes up.

Michelle Bachmann (R, MN) is in a bit of trouble for some statements she made on Friday’s editiion of Hardball. This weekend she attempted to defend her comoments by claiming she never said what she said.

“It was reported that I questioned Barack Obama’s patriotism,” Bachmann said. “I did not, nor do I question Barack Obama’s patriotism. He is a patriot and he loves this country just the way everyone in this room does. And I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American.”

Here’s what she said, and there’s lots of evidence on the internet to back it up.

“Absolutely, I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views. That’s what the American people are concerned about.”

That’s questioning patriotism. She said it. She should apologize for it or stand up for it.

Then she says this:

“Nor did I call for an investigation of members of Congress for their pro-American or anti-American views,” Bachmann said. “That was not what I said. But, unfortunately we are two weeks away from an election and an echo chamber started. And it’s very difficult to overcome perceptions that are in the media.”

But on Hardball, she said:

“I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America or anti-America. I think people would love to see an expose like that.”"

It’s never about the scandal. It’s about the coverup. A simple search on YouTube can tell you if this happened or not.

But this is worse than a coverup, it’s an attempt to place a wedge between you and your neighbor.

This is dangerous talk. I will concede that Obama has left himself open for his associations. While he has said he does not agree with the statements of Ayres or Wright, and he does not condone their actions, Obama chose to send his kids to church and he chose to work with Ayres.

But look at the whole rather than the parts. To take his middle name, combine that with the Internet-forwarded falsities that he’s really a secret Muslim, to say that that he supports and even “works with terrorists”, and that he has ‘un-American’ views’ is the worst mudslinging I’ve seen, and I think that any elected official who engages in that type of divisive talk should definitely lose their elected office. Bachmann’s statement that people in Congress might have un-patriotic views coupled with Hayes’ recent comments about “Liberials hate real Americans” shows a coordinated effort to once again divide this country.

Now I hear the term “communist” being thrown around again.

I’m actually afraid at this point, and I’m not joking. I think that this type of rhetoric, at the levels it’s been ramping up lately, is dangerous because as the margins widen, and the election gets closer, unstable people may decide to take desperate measures to ensure that Obama never becomes president.

And it will be justified in that person’s mind because all the people he looks up to say that Obama is “anti-American” and thus “anti-America”.

But is it really ‘anti-American?”

Right now, polls show that the majority of Americans like Obama’s views. Logically, that would make them no longer ‘un-American’ views. People who don’t vote don’t get to have an opinion, and so the majority wins and the minority loses. . Socialism may not have been the original destination, but people seem to want that now. After 8 years of unregulated capitalism, people want a change, and people want to feel safe. They can’t worry about terrorists when they file bankruptcy because the have to pay thousands in medical bills. People can’t afford to have their pre-tax deductions become post-tax deductions. People can’t afford to retire this year because their IRA lost 10% in a month.

The “everyone’s special” and “don’t hurt poor Johny’s self-esteem” education we started embracing in the 80s and 90s (and still in effect today has raised a nation of whiny, self-centered people who want Mommy government to do things for them. Why should you have to work hard? Have you not wondered why we have credit problems? People don’t have any personal responsibility anymore.

That’s what ‘pro-American’ views are now, at least if you trust the polls. If McCain were 10 points ahead, you could see it differently. But people want a handout, and Obama’s promising it.

Very well done.

It’s the political season, and I am afraid I will write something stupid on this blog about the election or one of the candidates. That stops now.

I’m pretty conservative, but John McCain has disappointed me since his nomination, as he has abandoned his principles and become an ally of the failed policies of Bush, Cheney, etc. I have since favored Obama.

McCain’s supporters have been getting out of hand, calling Obama an Arab, a terrorist, and many other things. He’s a socialist who’s made some bad judgment calls, and I thank John McCain for his (albeit late) response today in Lakeville, Minnesota.

The sad thing here is that supporters actually booed him when he told them that Obama is a good person, and that people do not have to be scared of him.

You may disagree with someone, but you need to learn to respect people who disagree with you. People are so easily blinded by hate and lies. We’ve had enough of that.

Yahoo thinks you should.

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Lisa has surgery on Thursday morning. This is going to be the sixth one and I’m getting really tired of this. It’s expensive and nerve-racking, and I really hate putting her through it each time. Ana’s gone this week again, and I miss her. Things are moving so fast and yet I feel like we’re going nowhere.

I’ve been busy. Many of my side projects have come to an end and I’m not actively looking for more at this moment so I can get the graphics book finished. It’s holding up my life a bit and I want it done. The problem is that you can’t force writing, no matter how much you really want to.

I launched http://www.snippetstash.com/ a few weeks ago. It’s just a simple site that lets programmers store bits of code they tend to use over and over again. When you program for a living or as a hobby, you tend to encounter cool tricks that you’d like to keep track of for later use, and SnippetStash lets you do that. You can also share your code snippeets with the rest of the world if you want to. It was something I threw together over the weekend and I got some decent feedback on it.

Other than that, it’s been book, book, book. Oh, and Call of Duty on XBOX Live every Tuesday night.

So Lisa’s more than four months old already. I can’t believe how much time flies. In the last four months, quite a few things have happened around here.

First, Ana just finished up Second Grade. She’s planning to spend her summer doing lots of reading and learning, and hopefully she’ll get some video game time in with me. I’m pretty proud of her–she really pulled it together this year.

Next, I just gave a presentation at RailsConf 2008 in front of 208 people. I gave hands-on training in web design, teaching color theory, typography basics, and showed some fun Photoshop and Illustrator stuff too. If you’re bored, you can check out the slides and handouts from my presentation.

I’ve made good progress on the book. We launched MyDecisionHelper so I have some more free time, although I’m looking for more work since I could use the money. Unfortunately the book is top priority right now and I’ve been rewriting a good chunk of it as of late.

I also launched a site caled FeelMySkills where you can build your own online profile page where you can list your skills and show examples of your photography, illustrations, designs, video or audio production, or whatever else you can share on the web. The site is designed to be easy to use so it’s easy to create an employer-safe web presence for yourself like this one. Give it a try. You can sign up for free and upgrade to a pro account when they’re available.

Lisa’s doing very well with things. There’s a chance she’ll need surgery again on the 27th of this month, so we’re all hoping she won’t. The 27th, as you may or may not be aware, is the day before Dad’s wedding. We’ll have to go to Marshfield on the 27th and then head to Monroe on that day or the next day depending on the need for surgery. Nobody’s happy about that, least of all Dad.

And I’m still waiting to hear about Tor Seilheimer, son of Titus and Amy. Any day now, right?

Carissa’s getting in on the internets action. Go check it out here.

I can’t believe it’s been over 8 weeks already! We just finished removing Lisa’s final leg casts in preparation for her new set of shoes. We’re excited, but she didn’t like the cast removal this time It seemed to be quite painful for her which was hard on us.

She’s also finally done with eye surgeries. For those that don’t know, she had to have two additional surgeries (making four total - two on each eye) because some scar tissue was in the way of the pupil so her eyes couldn’t dilate. She already has one contact lens in her right eye and she’s happily exploring anything and everything she can. Whe’ll get her other contact lens on Thursday, and then she has an appointment with the county nurse and the early childhood people on Monday. We did a rather unofficial assessment of her development and she’s pretty far behind in a lot of areas so we’re going to learn how we should work with her so she can catch up.

It’s almost time to go get the new shoes, but I’ve got some pictures to share coming very very soon.