The Computer Curmudgeon

Fed Up With Harrah's

2012-01-01T22:32:00.001-08:00

Mrs. Curmudgeon and I have been member of Harrah’s Total Rewards program for 15-20 years. We signed up when we lived in Oregon and would go to Reno, Nevada for our getaways. We would usually stay at Harrah's and do the bulk of our gambling there.

Now we are not big gamblers. We are usually in the bottom rewards tier, and don’t have a lot of high expectations in terms of what we are going to get out of the program.

We do, however, expect to be treated with respect.

Friday night we went to Harrah's for the all you can eat buffet that features crab legs. We have been going there for more than a decade, and have experienced good food and bad as they have worked their way through chefs and managers. We’re usually willing to take the good with the bad because the good always outnumbers the bad, and we have always been treated with respect. The staff, particularly the wait staff, are friendly and do a good job of making everyone feel welcome.

Friday was a different encounter.

Here is the way that Harrah's has always worked: you get in line. Most of the people get in the gold tier line, which is for folks who are small gamblers. They have two other lines for [people who gamble more.

When the restaurant opens, they first let the highest tier gamblers in, followed by the middle tiers, followed by the folks who don’t gamble enough to qualify for one of the shorter lines. We mumble and grumble at the fact that we have to be in the back of the bus, but since the higher tier lines are relatively short, it is not worth making much of a ruckus over.

Now Harrah's has come up with a new way of dealing with the masses who don’t qualify for a higher tier.

Here is our story:

We arrived at Harrah’s a few minutes before five, and noticed there was not much of a line. We attributed it to the holiday weekend, so we sat on a bench out front and waited for our friends to arrive, always watching to see if the line was getting much longer, it was not.

Our friends arrived at 6:15 so we all got in the short line until we met up with a young guy with what looked like an iPad. He wanted my cell phone number. I asked why and he said it was so I could get a text message when it was our turn to enter the restaurant.

I told him my cell phone does not accept text messages. He proceeded to tell me that yes, my cell phone would accept text messages. I declined to tell him that have been using cell phones since before he was born, but instead I simply told him I was not going to share my cell phone with him, and he grudgingly asked my first name, which I gave to him. He said it was an hour to and hour and a half wait, and that he would call my name when we could eat.

I asked why they were doing this and he said it was so we would be free to gamble and would not have to stand in line. We didn’t come to gamble, we came to eat.

So we hung around near the entrance to the restaurant and a manager, Anna, kept coming by telling us that we had move since we could not block the entrance. We asked her how we were supposed to know when we were allowed to eat. She said we would get a text message. I told her we did not have a cell phone, and she basically told us too bad, we could not hang around. We were not the only ones, and Anna was doing a wonderful job of making everyone mad. another lady asked why the people who signed up after her had already been called, and Anna told her that it was because those people were a higher tier.

We asked Anna how that could happen because the young man was not asking what tier we were. Maybe he figured if we didn't have a cell phone that didn’t take text messages were had to be the lowest tier.

Disgusted by our treatment, we simply left.

We won’t be back.

McGrath’s Fish House–RIP

2011-08-12T21:09:00.001-08:00

McGraths has closed their Mesa restaurant and no longer has a presence in Arizona.

Gonna miss that place.

Mrs. Curmudgeon particularly loved their fisherman stew.

ALG Blasts Reid’s committee choice

2011-08-10T18:07:00.001-08:00

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today blasted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for placing Senator Patty Murray on the deficit reduction committee:

"Senator Murray serves as the Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, whose job is to raise money to maintain the Senate Majority. Murray's inclusion indicates that Harry Reid is using the super-committee as a means to shake down political interests in exchange for protection in the budget process.

"The cynical misuse of this budget experiment virtually ensures that it will fail and fail spectacularly to reduce the debt and regain our Triple-A rating. It will be up to the media to closely scrutinize the actions both past and future of each of these committee members to ensure that typical Washington, D.C. pay-to-play politics will not rule the day.

"This is one reason why Americans for Limited Government opposed the super-committee concept from its inception. America cannot afford yet another backroom budget deal insulated from public scrutiny and full and honest debate. That is how we got downgraded in the first place."

ALG Urges Senate to Reject 'Gang of Six' $3.1 Trillion Tax Hike

2011-07-21T20:22:00.001-08:00

July 21^st, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the U.S. Senate to reject a $3.1 trillion tax increase proposed by the so-called "Gang of Six":

"The 'Gang of Six' proposal will increase taxes on job creators to the tune of $3.1 trillion, precisely the last thing this weak economy needs to get moving again and create jobs. House Speaker John Boehner expressly rejected any tax increase in exchange for a debt ceiling vote, making the 'Gang of Six' proposal dead on arrival in the House. The Senate should not even waste its time.

"Senators should instead vote for the only proposal on the table that balances the budget, avoids a credit downgrade, and does not include tax increases, meanwhile saving $5.8 trillion over the next ten years, and that is the 'Cut, Cap, and Balance Act'."

Courtesy of Americans For Limited Government

"HANOI JANE" FONDA LYING AGAIN

2011-07-19T19:37:00.001-08:00

Courtesy of Move America Forward

TELL QVC "STICK TO YOUR GUNS" THEY DID

THE RIGHT THING!

One of the reasons Move America Forward for formed in 2004 was to defend our troops in Iraq who were being unmercifully criticized by anti-military activists like Jane Fonda and Cindy Sheehan and left-wing politicians like Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who compared American soldiers to Soviet gulag and Nazi concentration camp guards.
The controversial Fonda is back in the news today because the QVC Shopping Network cancelled her appearance because of complaints from Americans loyal to our military. We need to step now up as the liberals and leftists howl like stuck pigs. We have to let QVC know that Americans are behind them. Please sign this petition to QVC now so they will hold to their decision and not bow to the anti-military Hollywood crowd.

PLEASE COPY THIS LINK AND SEND TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY
LINK TO PETITION: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/support_qvc_ban_fonda/
We are determined that American troops in the Middle East will always be seen as heroes and make sure they are never treated like our military heroes from the war in Vietnam. Actress Jane Fonda was one of the worst offenders, and she continues to leave a bitter taste in most military mouths because of her reprehensible conduct and trip to North Vietnam.
To help her Hollywood career along, Fonda has consistently been deceptive in recalling those events during the Vietnam War. She attacks her critics as if they did something wrong, instead of realizing that her loathing for America seeps from her every pore.

So here are the real facts behind the Fonda trip to Vietnam.

Jane Fonda, sitting in North Vietnam on an anti-aircraft gun while she admires the communist troops.

Fonda claims on her web site that she is being unfairly maligned:
“Bottom line, this has gone on far too long, this spreading of lies about me! None of it is true. NONE OF IT! I love my country. I have never done anything to hurt my country or the men and women who have fought and continue to fight for us. I do not understand what the far right stands to gain by continuing with these myths.”
But Fonda is just flat out lying. In a 1970 address at Michigan State University Fonda gave a speech saying; "I would think that if you understood what Communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees, that we would someday become communists.”
When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars". She added, "These were not men who had been tortured. These were not men who had been starved. These were not men who had been brainwashed."
Fonda further stated that the POWs were "military careerists and professional killers" who are "trying to make themselves look self-righteous, but they are war criminals according to the law".
While Fonda claims all of these attacks against her are false, the truth is that only one part of the story is untrue. A story went around that she was handed notes from POW’s, but that Fonda promptly turned them over to the Communist guards who beat the prisoners. That didn’t happen. But the rest of the story is all totally true, yet Fonda likes to find one incorrect fact and make it sound like the whole story is wrong.
Fonda also claims that she has apologized for anything she has done, but in reality she has only apologized for sitting on an anti-aircraft gun and pretending to shoot down American pilots. She repeated in a 60 Minutes interview on March 31, 2005, that she had no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972, with the exception of the anti-aircraft gun photo.
During her trip, Fonda also made ten radio broadcasts in which she denounced American military leaders as "war criminals". Fonda said she had no regrets about the broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, something she asked the North Vietnamese to do: "Our government was lying to us and men were dying because of it, and I felt I had to do anything that I could to expose the lies ….”
The battle to keep up support for our troops can never waiver, and we are committed at Move America Forward to defend them against all comers. Please help us stick up for our troops with your contribution today.

Please help us so we can continue our mission to support our troops!

Cut, Cap and Balance–Now!

2011-07-18T20:27:00.001-08:00

From NetRightDaily.com:

Cut, Cap and Balance is the only plan that actually cuts the deficit, caps federal spending and requires passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

RE: A proposal by Senators Lee, Toomey and 30 others in the U.S. Senate and Congressmen Jordan, Chaffetz and over 80 others in the U.S. House to insure any increase in the debt ceiling only occurs if substantial cuts in spending, enforceable spending caps are enacted and a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is sent to the states for ratification.

ISSUE-IN-BRIEF: President Obama has not offered a plan to reduce the deficit and control spending. The Democrats in the Senate have not passed a budget in two years. The interest alone on the more than $14 trillion debt is over $1billion per day, and the national debt is growing about $3 billion per day.

CUT CAP and BALANCE:

"Cut." Means substantial cuts in spending that will reduce the deficit next year and thereafter. Congress would have to place significant cuts on the table as part of any legislation increasing the debt limit.

"Cap." Means enforceable spending caps that will put federal spending on a path to a balanced budget. The Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) has enforceable spending caps, yet they will not kick in until the BBA is passed by both chambers of Congress (with a 2/3rds vote) and ratified by the States. This necessitates a budget reform that implements an immediate spending cap.

"Balance" Means adopting the Hatch-Lee BBA that is supported by all 47 Republican Senators. This version of the BBA includes both a spending limitation and a super-majority for raising taxes, in addition to balancing revenues and expenses." Congressional passage is necessary before the debt limit is allowed to increase.

"Of course, the best way to permanently reduce spending would be to enact a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution requiring a supermajority in both houses of Congress to run an annual deficit, raise tax rates, or increase the debit ceiling."

James A. Baker III, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Treasury from 1985-1988

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATISM VISIT: WWW.THEMOUNTVERNONSTATEMENT.COM

For Additional Information on the Cut, Cap and Balance effort please click on the links below:

http://cutcapbalancepledge.com

http://www.forbes.com/2011/07/08/cut-cap-balance_print.html

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/07/how_to_solve_our_debt_woes_by.html

http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/06/cut-cap-and-balance-the-debt-solution-america-needs/print

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2011/07/14/after-blinking-republicans-unite-on-deficit

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/07/04/cut-cap-and-balance-pledge-gains-traction

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/07/07/v-print/2091920/a-balanced-budget-amendment-is.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304186404576389520633008878.html

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/06/28/pledge-fatigue

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/06/28/conservative-groups-press-lawmakers-to-pledge-spending-cuts-caps

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/22/coalition-launches-to-promote-cut-cap-and-balance-pledge

Memo signers:

Al Cardenas, Chairman, American Conservative Union

Duane Parde, President, National Taxpayers Union

William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government

Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council

Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring

Tom Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

David N. Bossie, President, Citizens United

Edwin Meese III, former Attorney General

David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Brent Bozell, President, ForAmerica

Kay R. Daly, President, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary

James Martin, Chairman, 60 Plus Association

Elaine Donnelly, President, Center for Military Readiness

Mathew D. Staver, Chairman, Liberty Council Action

Karen Kerrigan, President, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com

Bob McEwen, former Member of Congress, Ohio

David McIntosh, former Member of Congress, Indiana

Alfred Regnery, Publisher, American Spectator

T. Kenneth Cribb, former Domestic Adviser to President Reagan

Susan Carleson, Chairman & CEO, American Civil Rights Union

Bill Pascoe, Executive Vice President, Citizens for the Republic

Chris Littleton, Co-Founder, Ohio Liberty Council

Bob Adams, Executive Director, League of American Voters

Swine: Scarborough Research

2011-02-23T20:57:00.002-08:00

Got a telephone call tonight, well after 9 p.m. from some dude doing research for Scarborough Research (800-753-6043)

When I told him he was in violation of Federal law by calling after 9 p.m., he informed me that since it was market research, he was exempt and could call at any time he wished.

The national telemarketing laws need to be changed. My phone number is my phone number and I should have the absolute right to define who is allowed to call me.

I fired off a dozen or so e-mails to the big shots at the company, but I suspect I am just pounding sand.

A disingenuous update

2011-01-31T17:06:00.004-08:00

TSA updated their blog over the weekend in a failed attempt to reduce the anger that has been directed at them since they posted their highly-spun account of the Mocek trial.

Their ungracious words:

***Update 1/30/2011 I referred to recent media coverage (which was all about Mr. Mocek's acquittal). The purpose of the blog was to focus on TSA checkpoint procedures which have not changed- as some have assumed- and to provide a refresher on TSA procedures.

Mr. Mocek was charged by the Albuquerque Police Department with trespassing, disorderly conduct, refusing to obey an officer, and concealing identity. He was acquitted. In so far as Mr. Mocek wants to fly in the future, like other passengers, he will still need to produce ID or work cooperatively with TSOs to confirm his identity.

TSA verification processes must proceed quickly and without interference. Any passenger holding a camera in the face of TSOs as they try verify identification should not be surprised if asked to step aside so that other passengers in line can be processed expeditiously without further disruption.

TSA's goal is to ensure that all passengers who fly are checked against government watchlists. This can be achieved only if a passenger's identity is confirmed at the checkpoint. *

Fire in the hole

2011-01-31T17:04:00.003-08:00

Please click on the headline link to read my review of Native New Yorker.

TSA Spin Machine Runs Wild

2011-01-29T19:56:00.002-08:00

http://blog.tsa.gov/2011/01/new-mexico-v-phillip-mocek-quick.html

Well, well, well, the TSA has finally spoken on the Phillip Mocek trial. Wait! Stop the presses, that is not correct. TSA has repeated the allegations and conveniently ignored the fact that Mr. Mocek was found innocent of all charges.

Since I do not trust the TSA to leave the original posting intact, here is what they have to say:

A recent case - New Mexico v. Phillip Mocek - is making the news recently. The case stemmed from Mr. Mocek’s failure to cooperate with the instructions of Albuquerque police officers at the Albuquerque International Sunport Airport after interactions he had with TSA transportation security officers.

Mr. Mocek had a boarding pass, but would not produce ID when asked. As I've said before here on the blog, if you don’t have an ID, TSA will work with you to verify you are who you say you are. On the other hand, if you refuse to provide information, you will not be permitted to fly. This process had begun with Mr. Mocek, but was not completed. Without an ID that matches the individual holding the boarding pass, we can’t be sure the passenger has cleared government watchlists.

As far as photography, as I stated in a previous post, TSA does not prohibit photography at checkpoints as long as there is no interference with the screening process. As TSOs were talking to Mr. Mocek to verify his identity, he was holding a camera up to film them and appeared to be trying to film sensitive security information related to TSA standard operating procedures on ID verification. Such behavior interferes with the ordinary course of business at the checkpoint and may well delay other passengers.

We are grateful for the support provided to TSA by the Albuquerque police.

Blogger Bob

TSA Blog Team

Click on the link to post and read the comments as visitors severely take the TSA to task for their heavy-handed approach.

TSA’s very own sock puppet, someone who posts under the name TSA West jumped to his employer’s defense with this incredible bit of logic:

This case was not about TSA and Mr. Mocek, this case was between New Mexico and Mr. Mocek. The situation originated with TSA, but once the LEOs arrived, it became a situation between Mr. Mocek and New Mexico. This case has nothing to do with ID requirements (which have not changed at TSA, they remain exactly the same as they have been), or TSA policies (they have not changed either). Filming has been allowed (with the same exceptions that have been there for ages) at the checkpoint areas since before I came to TSA (6 years ago). For all of you trying to present that this was a case against TSA, nothing has changed, the same requirements are there.
West
TSA Blog Team

Nice try West, but the whole world knows that it was TSA that was on trial, even though the charges were brought by the Albuquerque PD and the local District Attorney.

It does serve to warn the American public that the police at airports are generally not to be trusted, and they have clearly bonded with the blue shirts in the TSAs, and will accept when they say without applying any critical thinking of their own. What this means is that you get the TSA mentality with a legitimate badge.

I’d love to see Mr. Mocek file charges for false arrest and defamation of character against the TSA agents at the airport that day, along with libel and defamation of character charges against the person posting under the name of Blogger Bob

Look what is happening in Egypt as people take to the streets to fight against government oppression. Janet Napolitano should be very, very afraid, as she presides over a government agency that acts in a similar manner.

US Constitution Upheld -- TSA Slapped Down

2011-01-23T13:50:00.002-08:00

An Albuquerque jury found Phil Mocek innocent of all charges brought by the Albuquerque Police Department Aviation Unit.

Mr. Mocek refused to show the TSA and ID, insisting that he knew his constitutional rights, and filmed his encounter with TSA and the Albuquerque PD. For that he was arrested, charged with four misdemeanors: trespassing, disorderly conduct, refusing to obey an officer, and concealing his identity.

Civil libertarians have taken great interest in his trial, given that TSA has no law enforcement authority, and that there is a widespread belief they have no legal authority to demand someone identify themselves at the checkpoint if they are in possession of a valid airline ticket and boarding pass. Citizens cannot be accused of trespassing at a public airport if they also have those two documents, since they have a valid contract allowing them to be at the airport.

Watching the linked video, one sees just how out of control TSA is, and how the police department simply accepts what they say as gospel truth.

TSA is, simply put, out of control.

Bad Pickle

2010-12-19T10:19:00.001-08:00

Did you ever taste a product that was unexpectedly bad.

Please read the following review I recently wrote for Epinions.com

Be careful of criticizing the TSA

2010-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

Big Sis and all of her little boys and girl in blue have been engaged in their own form of domestic terrorism. They put their critics on the airlines watch list, so that they are hassled every time they make reservations or attempt to fly.

Details: http://www.prisonplanet.com/cnn-reporter-put-on-watch-list-after-criticizing-tsa.html

More TSA Abuses

2010-11-29T20:49:00.002-08:00

Let’s see how they spin their way out of this encounter:

The TSA Shell Game

2010-11-26T19:53:00.002-08:00

While the TSA loudly proclaims its victory over National Opt Out day, the astute observer cannot fail to notice that one of the reasons there were so few opt outs was that they broadly shut down the full body scanners and relied heavily upon regular metal detectors.

Strategically, it was a nice move.

Don’t you just love it when a government agency plays fairly? Not!

One less reason to trust the boys and girls with the baby blue shirts who work so hard at pretending they are some type of law enforcement.

Just Desserts

2010-11-23T20:15:00.001-08:00

I am delighted to see the public backlash against the TSA.

I refuse to go through their nude-o-meters, and if any TSA agent ever sexually molests me I will have him/her arrested on the spot.

TSA does not represent airline security – it is the poster child for terroristic government. It would be right at home in North Korea.

Self Promotion

2010-10-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

Wanted to share a review of Eva Airlines that I wrote for Epinions.com.

Enjoy!

Lindsay Olin Graham: The Watermelon Man

2009-12-14T20:42:00.004-08:00

By Carter Clews

With his sell-out late last week on the cap & trade bill in the U.S. Senate, Lindsay Olin Graham officially established himself as "The Watermelon Man."

Green on the outside, pink on the inside, Graham will now serve as the pusillanimous poster boy for the amorphous mush that emerges when a Washington politician has soaked up far too much Potomac swamp water.

Adding insult to injury, The Watermelon Man got thumped by fellow Senator John Kerry, who convinced the diminutive Carolinian to co-sponsor the ruinous cap and trade bill by promising to let America drill for a little bit of its own oil and build a couple of nuclear power plants here and there. We hasten to add that rumors about the gullible Graham also buying into Kerry's promises to walk on water and build a swing set on the moon have not yet been confirmed.

It is almost impossible to overstate the damage Graham has done across the board by sleeping with the enemy on this draconian socialistic measure. Not only has he increased the chances of the once-moribund bill's passage by giving it bipartisan cover, he has also served notice on the American people that he has now become nothing more than a carbon-obsessed copy of all that he once pretended to oppose.

Like Marley's Ghost, cap and trade was dead. Average, everyday Americans knew that it was government control in extremis. That it would give the greedy, grasping Washington political elite despotic dominion over the very air we breathe – and empower them to exact an onerous tax on every breath we take.

So, they told the politicians to back off, to stop scaring the children with dumbed-up stories about the earth on the brink of a fiery demise, and to cease making believe the carbon extant since the beginning of time had somehow transmogrified itself into the Deadly Creature from the Industrial Lagoon.

For once, the politicians, ever fearful of losing their plush offices and lavish perqs, listened. And then came The Watermelon Man.

Ever eager to cotton favor with the Far Left, a supine Lindsey Graham put his name on a bill that could open the door to the most massive government takeover since the founding of the Republic. Once Big Government's gluttonous oligarchs arrogate to themselves the power to tax carbon emissions, they will at long last have achieved their coveted objective of controlling every aspect of the average Americans' daily life.

As respected political pundit Charles Krauthammer recently wrote, "Since we operate an overwhelmingly carbon-based economy, the EPA will be regulating practically everything ... Not since the creation of the Internal Revenue Service has a federal agency been given more intrusive power over every aspect of economic life."

Krauthammer warns that under cap and trade hegemony, government will control "hospitals, plants, schools, and businesses." But, that's just the beginning. Thanks to Lindsay Graham's devious collusion with John Kerry, government will also be empowered to tax and control the amount of heating oil you are allowed to burn; the temperature at which you can set your thermostat; perhaps, eventually, the number of rooms you can heat or cool; and, of course, the number of miles you can drive your car.

At first, predictably, the restrictions and "fees" will be hardly noticeable. Remember, in 1913, the first income tax Congress levied came to a grand total of 1 percent. So, perhaps, the first carbon tax on cars will be a minuscule 1/10 of a cent per mile. With the average American driving 12,000 miles a year, who could argue with paying a paltry $120 to save the planet?

But, then, naturally, just as the income tax escalated, so will the car carbon tax. Perhaps to a penny. Then to a dime. And eventually, if government holds true to form, to a dollar. And one day soon, invariably, inevitably, more. Much, much more. Until the gluttonous oligarchs of Big Government control every mile you drive – and every move you make. All under the guise of capping carbon.

And that will be the legacy of Lindsay Olin Graham. Ironically, the largest watermelon ever grown also originated in South Carolina. The world record Carolina Cross, as it is called, weighed in at a whopping 262 pounds. The pint-sized South Carolina cross who colluded with the Pecksniffian John Kerry probably weighs in at no more than 130 pounds soak and wet. But, The Watermelon Man has now set a world record for betraying the trust of the American people.

Carter Clews is the Executive Editor of ALG News.

Supreme Court keeps sun shining brightly on Arizona government

2009-11-12T18:58:00.002-08:00

Supreme Court keeps sun shining brightly on Arizona government
by Carrie Ann Sitren

With temperatures wavering in Arizona's autumn season, the state Supreme Court is keeping the sun shining brightly on Arizona government. The Justices ruled on October 29 that information automatically stored in electronic files, like creation date and edit history, is open to the public.

The case, Lake v. City of Phoenix, was filed because the city refused to release a document's "metadata," which reveals who accessed the file and when, print dates, authors, and changes to a document.

Under state public records law, the public has a right to see all records of official activities. Specifically, the public has the right to see the original record, not just a paper copy. The Court ruled, "When a public officer uses a computer to make a public record, the metadata forms part of the document as much as the words on the page."

The Court further explained that the decision would not create the "administrative nightmare" the city insisted. Officials can easily fulfill their duties under the law by simply providing the public with copies of records in their "native" (i.e., electronic) form-a task that may be even easier than printing hardcopies.

This decision is a victory for sunshine laws in Arizona. Unfortunately, some governments and agencies continue to turn the shades on public view. Many months after Glendale negotiations began over possible subsidies to keep the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team in town, taxpayers are still in the dark about even the barest details of what, or how much taxpayer money the city has offered to give away.

The Goldwater Institute will continue to push for transparency in government. We provide a number of tools on our website to help guide citizens in making effective public records requests and will continue to turn the spotlight on when cities try to make deals in darkness.

Carrie Ann Sitren is an attorney with the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation

Learn More:

Goldwater Institute: Open Government Project

Goldwater Institute: FOIA Facts

Arizona Daily Star: Ruling: Public records include all the embedded electronic info

Read the online version of this Daily Email here.

Not Their "Kind of Town"

2009-10-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Not Their "Kind of Town"

By Carter Clews

The world has clearly gone nuts.

How in the name of all that is good and just is Barack Obama supposed to bring lasting peace, true prosperity, and White House beer busts to the entire world if they won't even let him get in a little playtime in sweet home Chicago?

With just the sound of his mellifluous voice, Dear Leader has already ended a recession (well, all right, not quite – but what's a few million unemployed?), cured the ills of all ailing Americans (well, he would have if those redneck Tea Partiers out in mid-America hadn't turned on him), and ended green house gases once and for all (stay with me, I'm doing a little future viewing here).

And yet, even after all of that, those idiots over in Copenhagen refused to show their appreciation by giving Dear Leader a chance to get in a little record-setting pole vaulting, long-distance shot-putting, and breaking the three-minute mile – without even breaking a sweat.

Did you see the announcement? I'm asking you, did you see the actual announcement? Those stupid dunceheads in Copenhagen didn't even have the decency to make it a close finish. Voted out Barry, Michelle, and Oprah on the very first ballot! And after Michelle had even got all touchy-feely and shared her horrifying childhood in oppressive America with them.
Can't they even appreciate a good sob story?

And Barry … well, Barry even promised that all those foreigners would be allowed to visit our shores again. And that he would personally welcome their "tired, poor huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Oh, wait a minute, that was the Statue of Liberty, wasn't it? All right, all right, so I got the two mixed up. But, in Dear Leader's case, at least he really meant it. He told us so at the UN.

So, now, what do we do? Where do we turn after the whole wide world tells us in no uncertain terms that -- unlike Barry, Mich, and the Big O – they really don't consider Chicago "that toddlin' town"? It is decidedly not their "kind of town"? And they don't give a hoot in Hades whether Billy Sunday couldn't shut it down, or not.

It may be "one place that won't let you down" – but the IOC sure as heck let it down. And Dear Leader along with it.

All right, now, let's step back, take a deep breath, and see if we can collect ourselves here. After all, we don't want to look like CNN's stunned on-air Obamatons who were rendered so speechless by the announcement that they had to cut to a commercial while they changed their undergarments.

Let's put it all into perspective here. Sure, it was a massive, international public humiliation for the man who only days earlier had told the world that he, alone, had redirected the course of history, and had become beloved among all men. Who could forget the standing ovation he received from our closest allies, Khadafy, Chavez, and good old Mahmoud? Why, Chris Matthews' legs are still tingling.

And, sure, it probably cost the bankrupt U.S. government five or six million dollars to send Barry, Michelle, Oprah, Air Jordan, and whoever else peopled Dear Leader's entourage over to sweep the Copenhagenians off their feet. But, what's a few million dollars here and there when you consider the "sacrifice" Michelle told the world she, Barry, Oprah, and Air had to make to wine and dine among the elite "for the sake of the children"?

No, let's set the record straight right here and now: this was an unmitigated slap in the face by a bunch of bigoted, international xenophobes who don't know quality whey they see it and may have just blown the last chance they will ever have for peace in our time, a chicken in every pot, and the biggest beer bust this side of a Teamsters Union board meeting.

Why … why – all right, I'll say it: these are the kind of people who would probably boo the Second Coming of Christ. In fact, it is very likely that from Dear Leader's vantage point, they just did.

Carter Clews is the Executive Editor of ALG News.

Obamacare or Jail: Your choice

2009-09-25T21:47:00.001-08:00

Just a quick note for the Libertarian-minded folks among us.

Don't want Obamacare, that's OK, just pay the $1,900 fine.

Don't pay the fine? No problem, just spend a year in jail or pay a $25,000 penalty.

Don't ever say that you don't have choices.

This is change we can live without.

Open Letter To AP’s CEO: Take Offensive Photo of Dying Marine Off AP Newswire

2009-09-08T17:50:00.001-08:00

Open Letter To AP’s CEO: Take Offensive Photo of Dying Marine Off AP Newswire

Washington, DC – Merrilee Carlson, President of Families United For Our Troops and Their Mission, the nation’s largest military family organization, sent the following letter to Associated Press’ CEO Thomas Curley regarding AP’s decision to publish a photo of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, in his final moments of life. Lance Cpl Bernard was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush August 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. Lance Cpl Bernard’s father had asked the Associated Press to not publish the image of his dying son.

Text of the letter is below:

Dear Mr. Curley,

As a Gold Mother, I am painfully aware of the indescribable anguish that a family endures when they learn of their child’s death. I am also aware of the media’s responsibility to tell a story and convey the sometimes bleak images of that story. However, your decision to print the photo of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard in his final moments of life against the wishes of his family was anything but a tribute to his sacrifice or legitimate reporting of the news. That photo has no news value and is not worth the pain that it is causing the Bernard Family.

When my son Michael was killed in Iraq in 2005, I held on to every memory I had of him. From scrapping cars with his father in our yard as a young boy to watching him receive his high school diploma, those memories are sacred to me now that he is gone. With your decision to publish a photo of that young man in his painful last moments, you may have ripped away the family’s happy memories of their son’s life and replaced them with an image of death that will undoubtedly be seared in their minds for years to come.

When my Michael died, a local news media was intent upon releasing information before I was even able to comfort my older son who had to tell me the news of Michael’s death – let alone comforting Michael’s fiancé. Those moments are lost to us forever because the media was intent on getting “the scoop”. This isn’t about news. This isn’t about history. This is about a life. Every time that photo is republished, you are forcing the Bernard family and the families of the men who served with him as well as every military family whose hero died in this manner to suffer the same pain that they are experiencing right now.

We at Families United, the nation’s largest military family organization, implore your organization to permanently remove this photo from your newswire so no media outlet can publish it. We believe that publishing this photo was a mistake but allowing thousands of news stations and papers around the world the opportunity to republish it, is a travesty. The Associated Press can still mitigate the damage done here and honor the sacrifice of Lance Cpl. Bernard by preventing others from publishing this tragic photo.

We at Families United, and all America’s Gold Star Families await your timely response.

Sincerely,

Merrilee Carlson

President of Families United For Our Troops and Their Mission

Proud Mother of Michael “Shrek” Carlson (KIA 01/24/05)

Note - Merrilee Carlson is President of Families United For Our Troops and Their Mission. Her son, Sgt. Michael Carlson, was killed in Iraq in 2005.

Families United Response to AP’s Release of U.S. Marine Death Photo

2009-09-05T11:24:00.003-08:00

Families United Response to AP’s Release of U.S. Marine Death Photo

Nation’s Largest Military Family Organization Asks News Organizations to Refrain from Using Gruesome Image of Fallen Hero

Washington, DC – Merrilee Carlson, President of Families United For Our Troops and Their Mission, the nation’s largest military family organization, released the following statement concerning the Associated Press decision to publish a photo of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, in his final moments of life. Lance Cpl Bernard was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush on August 14th in southern Afghanistan. Lance Cpl Bernard’s father had asked the Associated Press not to publish the image of his dying son.

“As a Gold Star mother, I know the horrific pain that comes with the death of a child. The last thing that a mother or father wants to see is their child in immense pain and dying on the battlefield. Unfortunately because of AP’s tactless and insensitive decision to disregard the request of a grieving father, Lance Cpl Bernard’s family will be forced to relive their pain every time that photo is republished.

Publishing this photo is not worth the pain that it has and will continue to inflict. This family should be able to move on with the difficult task of remembering their son as he lived, not as he died. This photo only serves to magnify the grief of a family who has already suffered enough.
LCPL Bernard and his fellow fallen Heroes have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend freedom of speech and freedom of the press. AP’s right to publish this photo should not come at the cost of causing this family additional pain. Associated Press should honor the sacrifice of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard and honor the request of his family by not reprinting this tragic photo.

Note - Merrilee Carlson is President of Families United For Our Troops and Their Mission. Her son, Sgt. Michael Carlson, was killed in Iraq in 2005.

About Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission
Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. We are a grassroots coalition of Gold Star and Blue Star families including some with loved ones in harm's way, Veterans, and Americans who share a deep appreciation for our men and women in uniform and support them in their efforts to make America safer by allowing them to complete their mission.

Jim Strikes Again

2009-06-19T21:09:00.004-08:00

What a moron!

Jim polluted my inbox again with more of his leftist bile.

If he is such a warm, caring concerned person, why doesn't he respect my privacy?

Here is my response:

Dear Jim:

When you were running for office I demanded that you take my name off your e-mail list, and was generally unsuccessful.

Now you are sending me your e-mail again.

I have done the polite thing that used your unsubscribe feature.

Now I will do the unpolite thing: Take me the *&*% off your list. You are the only one on the planet who uses this e-mail address.

By the way – I blog your rudeness at http://www.spectregunner.blogspot.com/ and will continue to do so.

Warmest regards,

websavvy@gunships.org

Jim Pederson

2009-06-07T11:18:00.003-08:00

Just like a nagging headache that won't go away, Jim Pederson (developer, former chair of the state Democratic party, and unsuccessful candidate for statewide office) and his cohorts at "Stand Up For Arizona" never found an e-mail address he refused to keep using.

I chronicled my efforts to get off of his mailing list when he was running for office, and thought that this was a dead issue. But no, apparently Jim and his buddies have no problems with refusing to honor requests from people who don't want to listen to his left-wing socialist rants.

He visited my mailbox again late this week.

What a buffoon. And the claptrap he put forth in his e-mail was just like the blather we heard from him on the campaign trail: smarmy and disingenuous. Hope I never meet the man, because if we shook hands I'd feel obliged to see if I still had my watch and ring.

I completed the "unsubscribe" link on the form e-mail he sent, I'll let you know when I get the next e-mail, since he showed no signs of honoring unsubsribe requests last time around.

More Sprint Stupidity

2009-05-27T21:54:00.002-08:00

A follow-up memo to the fools who are running Sprint.

Please read my previous posting.
T-Mobile will match my current plan and give me a new phone -- including some awesome PDAs
According to your website, you'll give a brand new customer a better deal than you will give me when my contract expires. So much for brand loyalty.
You have officially lost a customer.

Interesting month

2009-05-26T19:57:00.003-08:00

Been an interesting month. Have done very little editing at Best of the Web -- I'm suffering from editor burnout, a not uncommon malady of directory editors. One morning I'll wake up with a bug up my butt, and go on an editing rampage.

Visited the world's worst Outback Steakhouse in Northwest Albuquerque, just down the hill from Rio Rancho. Great service, worst prepared food I've had in a long, long time.

Even the San Marcos Resort managed to thoroughly disappointed me. We went in a couple of weeks ago for the Saturday Night Prime Rib Buffet that I've bragged on in this blog. Got there at 5 past 5, dining room was empty and this snot nosed kid asked if we had reservations. I said no, and he said we had to sit in the lounge. Hey, stupid, we showered, the dining room is empty, it is the middle of a recession and we are paying customers. He showed us to the table in the bar area and left. We never sat down, just turned around and walked out the door. We haven't been back. May not be back, either. Screw 'em. They don't need my business, I don't need their food. Or attitude. Yet people wonder why so many restaurants are failing.

If you own a restaurant, understand one thing. You are not doing me a favor by being in business. I'm the one doing you a favor by walking through your door. If you don't meet my expectations, I won't come back and if that happens to enough of your customers, you'll be in the newspaper listed as another failed restaurant. That is if the newspaper doesn't fail first.

And while I'm on a roll, I have a few unkind words for the marketing droids at Sprint/Nextel. My contract expires in a few months. I've been following your website to see what kind of phone I will get with my credit. *poof* Apparently on May 1 you changed the rules of the game. I can only get a new phone if I increase my service level by one notch. Push-to-talk this: there are plenty of other cell phone vendors -- despite your marketing you are all essentially the same -- and I'll switch before I get jacked up by you. So tell the marketing genius who decided to try and jack my rates that he lost a customer -- and I was the best kind of customer because we rarely used our cell phone, so the money we paid was virtually all profit. Not a lot of profit, mind you, but profit nonetheless.

This recession is going to wipe out a lot of companies that have done little more than consume oxygen for years.

A wonderful Saturday and the nuts were out

2009-04-25T18:15:00.005-08:00

It was a beautiful Arizona Saturday, it was the first day of the NFL draft, and the anti-Covance nut jobs were out in force.

It was fun to watch as they marched up and down the sidewalks in front of - no,not Covance, that might make sense - the restaurants and shops at Gilbert and the 202. So, the servers inside of Chili's were busy watching the loose lugnuts rather than watching their customers.

Great fun.

By the way, if the people protesting animal cruelty and exploitation bring a puppy to their protest alongside a major throughfare, aren't they equally guilty of animal exploitation?

A Couple of Things

2009-04-24T23:56:00.003-08:00

Why is Chevron gas almost always the most expensive?

Kudos to the City of Chandler for cracking down on the illegal signs (litter on a stick).

Apologies for the delay

2009-04-15T20:26:00.001-08:00

Been a while since I posted...I've been tied up in a series of right-wing extremist meetings, and trying to dodge the people from homeland security.

Miserable MEAL

2009-02-28T15:08:00.003-08:00

We went to the IHOP on South Gilbert Rd. last night, and had one of the worst dining experiences in memory.

We were greeted and seated almost immediately. it would have been ice if they told us about the problem with missing cooks.

Our server, Tina/Trina, was attentive and efficient. The only real good part of the meal!

Apparently, two cooks had called out, and the manager was in the kitchen trying to fill orders while they attempted to get one of the morning cooks to come in for an additional shift. In addition, the manager apparently was not feeling well, and with the location of our table, we could hear the constant litany of complaints coming out of the kitchen.

Food delivery was slow -- very, very slow. We were just getting ready to get up and walk out when our food was delivered. We should have left while the leaving was good.

Mrs. Curmudgeon had the fish and chips with unseasoned fried and cole slaw. The fish was prepared properly, the french fried were seasoned and the cole slaw was a yellow-mess that smelled bad and was bitter to the taste.

My burger had to be sent back before it even got to the table, because they forgot the fries. Then, with it did get to the table, they had forgotten the egg. We won't spend a lot of time here criticizing the fact that the burger was not cooked toorder, but was precooked and slightly warmed. How slightly warmed was it? Not enough to melt the cheddar cheese.

We ate what we could, paid and left. Some 24 hours later, the bad taste over the dining experience is still in my mouth.

Bargain Eats

2009-02-24T19:23:00.003-08:00

Given that we go out to eat a lot, I thought I would share some bargains we have discovered:

Tuesday Nights - Valle Luna Restaurant. Senior discount, restricted menu (but regular size portions), buy one, get one of equal or lesser value for free. Be prepared to beat the snowbirds back with a stick, but still worth the wait.
Wednesday Nights - Village Inn. Free pie with entree and a drink (not water you cheapskate!).
Tuesday Night - Native New Yorker - 30-cent wings. Woo hoo!
Any weeknight - Abuelos. Early bird special, limited menu with smaller portions before 6 p.m. Solid deal.
Any weeknight - Abuelos. Save your receipt (then call for a $5 discount on your next meal.)
Any Weeknight - Outback. Early bird special, order must be in the computer before 6 p.m., limited selection of smaller portion meals.
Wednesday - Black Angus. ½ lb. Prime Rib and Mud Pie for $14.99
Sun-Thu - San Marcos Hotel. Nightly $9.99 entree. Limited seletion, but nice.
Fri-Sat - San Marcos Hotel. All you can eat prime rib buffet for $11.99
Anytime - Black Angus. Go to their website and sign up for their diner's club, get a free dessert for signing up and a free steak dinner on your birthday.
Anytime - Marie Callendar. Sign up for their birthday club, get a coupon for $5 off your meal during your birthday month, and everyone who dines with you get a free slice of pie. Yum!

I'll share more in the future.

The Rich boy

2009-02-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

More wisdom from my inbox.

-------------------------

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country
with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, 'How was the trip?'

'It was great, Dad..'

'Did you see how poor people live?' the father asked.

'Oh yeah,' said the son.

'So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?' asked the father.

The son answered:

'I saw that we have one dog and they ha d four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.'

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, 'Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are..'

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.

Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!

Pass this on to family, friends and acquaintances and help them refresh their perspective and appreciation.

'Life is too short and friends are too few.'

Exercise of People Over 50

2009-02-22T20:29:00.002-08:00

Found in my inbox:

EXERCISE FOR PEOPLE OVER 50

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of
room at each side.

With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from
your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full
minute, and then relax.

Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit
longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.

Then try 50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you
can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight
for more than a full minute. (I'm at this level.)

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.

Dining Out

2009-02-20T22:50:00.003-08:00

While Mrs. Curmudgeon is a fabulous cook, the day to day pressures of life mean that we eat out a lot. And we tend to visit the same restaurants on a regular basis.

What continue to amaze and befuddle me, is how two restaurants from the same chain can consistently deliver different levels of performance.

Some examples:

Stuart Anderson Black Angus:
Near the Chandler Mall -- perfect in every way. Clean, smells good, great service and attentive management.
Near Superstition Springs Mall -- we won't go back. It gives us the impression it is dirty, service is mediocre, and there seems to invariably be something wrong with the food.
Near Fiesta Mall -- usually smalls stale/bad. Horrid. I'd rather go hungry.

Red Lobster:
Near the 202 and Gilbert Road -- fantastic. Service, food cleanliness. they have their act together.
Superstitions Springs -- mediocre in every way. Indifferent. I've got to be really hungry to go there.

Olive Garden:
Chandler Mall -- always a superior meal with great service and well-prepared food.
Fiesta Mall -- another big winner. Never disappointed there.
202 & Gilbert Road -- is now on our personal do not dine list. I think the half-cooked pizza was the final straw. It might have been one of the snooty servers.
Superstition Springs -- doesn't stand out one way or the other.
Casa Grande -- new store, strong first impression.

Marie Callander:
I-10 Chandler Blvd -- very consistent, clean (although the men's room could use a refurb), good salad bar, strong managements.
Dobson in Mesa -- just fair, lots of items on the Salad Bar are frozen (yecch - frozen cucumber). Dark, gives the appearance of being dirty, even if it is not. Even the pie case looks boring.

Old Country Buffet:
Superstition Springs -- always good, always sparkling, food is always fresh and the dining room attendants are top notch.
60 & Stapley/Cooper -- an enigma. Great location, history of horrid management, dried out food and indifferent servers. Drive past this store to get to Superstition Springs. Must note, however, that the new manager Harold is making a difference, but it is still going to be a long, hard climb.
Warner Rd, Chandler -- this is actually a Hometown Buffet franchise -- somehow fitting that it is next to a car wash. We speed up when we go past, not worth stopping there.

----

I think it comes down to the local managers and if they are more concerned with taking good care of their customers than with squeezing evey possible penny of profit.

Thoughts on the Big 6-zero.

2009-01-28T20:31:00.003-08:00

I turn 60 this week, and frankly I'm having a hard time with it.

Sixty. The economy is in the tank, the Democrats successfully sabotaged the bush administration, the cult of personality won out in the election, and full-blown socialism is on our doorstep.

Sixty. I'm too old to find a new job -- so I pray that I can keep mine. I doubt I'll ever see Social Security or Medicare, the Cardinals made the Superbowl (quit strutting around Bidwill, all your family ever did was institutionalize mediocrity for 61 years), the D-Backs let Randy Johnson go to San Francisco.

Sixty. Chandler is in reasonably good financial stead, my local HOA is solvent, Fulton Homes filed for bankruptcy (that will put a stop to all those construction defect lawsuits for a while).

Sixty! I never figured to make 40. Heck, there were times when I never figured to survive 1971.

Sixty! Who'd a thunk it???

Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino

2008-12-27T12:53:00.003-08:00

We had another disappointing meal last night at Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino in Maricopa. Friday and Saturday night is their all-you-can-eat seafood buffet at $19.99 a person. We arrived, and got into the longest line because we are only Gold Card Members. that's fine, the have to give some priority to the Diamond, Platinum and Seven Stars guests. Still, we were in line for more than an hour as they only seated about one-in-ten tables with Gold Card members.

Now Mrs. Curmudgeon likes their buffet because she is a seafood lover, and the crab legs are exactly what she wants. Since I am not a seafood eater (allergy) I have to eat the non-seafood items. That's OK, and I'm moderately comfortable with not receiving as much value for my meal, since I don't get the crab legs, salmon, clams and shrimp. Mrs. Curmudgeon is happy, so that make me happy. Well, it did until last night.

A number of year ago, the non-seafood entrees included roast pork loin, prime rib and often some other type of cooked beef, along with fillers such as fried chicken.

The prime rib was replaced a couple of years ago with sirloin. The pork loin has long since vanished, and while the fried chicken remains, there is no other beef to be found. There is a bunch of chinese-style food.

Now, to my dismay, even the sirloin is gone, replaced by brisket. Yeah, brisket, one of the least expensive cuts of beef you can find. Of course the guy cutting it, and serving up tiny portions, is proudly proclaiming it to be roast beef, and serving three-bite portions.

No longer with the $40 bucks, no longer worth the 15 mile drive. My gold card is now about to take one last trip -- to the trash can. We won't be back.

Merry CHRISTmas

2008-12-25T11:01:00.002-08:00

Found in my e-mail, too good not to post!

To All My Democrat Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere.

Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.

To My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Stopping Piracy

2008-12-02T21:51:00.003-08:00

We need to put a stop to the piracy happening off of the coast of Africa, and I know exactly how to do it.

During WW-I, the British navies employed Q-boats in a move to thwart German submarines.

With no fanfare at all, the US and Russian navies should acquire a number of freighters and equip them with hidden gatling guns and other small, rapid fire ship-to-ship weapons. Then they should start running these ships through the shipping lanes where piracy is the strongest.

When the pirates attack, the sides of these ships should drop down, the weapons should appear, and they should be used to compeltely annihilate the pirate boats. No mercy, no niceness,, no political correctness. Just blast them into dust.

When enough pirate attack boats vanish without a trace, piracy will stop. the minute CNN finds out about it, the battle is lost.

Advantages of Getting Older

2008-11-19T20:26:00.002-08:00

Another gem from my inbox:

Perks of reaching 50, or being over 60, and heading to/or over 70!

01. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

02. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

03. No one expects you to run--anywhere.

04. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you?

05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

06. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

07. Things you buy now won't wear out.

08. You can eat supper at 4 pm.

09. You can live without sex but not your glasses.

10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.

13. You sing along with elevator music.

14. Your eyes won't get much worse.

15 . Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.

17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.

19. You can't remember where you saw this list.

And you notice these are all in Big Print for your convenience?

Forward this to every one you can remember ---- now!
And never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night

The Layoff

2008-11-18T20:18:00.001-08:00

Found in my e-mail:

Fellow Business Executives:

As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama is our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8% but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.

So, this is what I did. I strolled thru our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them.

If you have a better idea, let me know.

Sincerely,

BOB

Definition of a Veteran

2008-11-18T20:03:00.003-08:00

When listening to XM radio on the way to work on Veteran's Day I heard the following:

A veteran is a man or a woman who has written a check payable to the United State of America for any amount up to and including his or her life.

Car Washes and Glass Nazis

2008-09-26T21:32:00.002-08:00

When I go the the car wash it is with the expectation that my car will get washed.

I do not want some dude pressing his thumb on my windshield hoping to make a small star turn into a long crack. Half the time they have a sharp object concealed in their hands. It is all a big scam.

It has gotten to the point that I now sit in the car until the glass Nazi come up to my windshield, and the minute he reaches for my glass I lean on the horn. Pisses them off. Mightily.

Solution is simple -- stay away from my windshield.

I've also begin telling the car wash managers that they are about to lose my business if they keep renting out space to the glass Nazis.

Francis & Sons car wash in Gilbert has lost my business because of this practice.

Bill Heard Chevrolet

2008-09-23T21:50:00.001-08:00

Just a quick comment on their failure in Arizona:

We may be a bunch of dumb cowboys, but we outlasted your sorry posterior. You will NOT be missed.

Guess Whose Coming to Dinner

2008-09-13T22:47:00.002-08:00

I would bet that you could never imagine what greeted me in the middle of my driveway on Friday morning.

Looks like the Chandler Republic was able to successfully stop delivery for exactly four weeks.

I remain unimpressed.

Stupidity at Frys

2008-09-05T20:41:00.002-08:00

We were shopping for some produce at Frys at the corner of Chandler Blvd and Gilbert Road tonight.

At 9:15 they turned off all of the floodlights over the product racks, plunging the area into dimness.

There were three families shopping for produce, and we all basically walked away at that point.

So, while they are congratulating themselves over how much energy they saved, I wonder if they thought about how much they lost in sales.

My only conclusion is that the idiots who ruined Albertsons have now found new jobs at Frys.

Security Theater

2008-08-13T22:10:00.001-08:00

One of my many-times-a-day read is the Evolution of Security blog that is put out by TSA.

In it, the bloggers unsuccessfully try to present their agency as a dedicated group of security professionals who have the safety of traveling public foremost in their minds.

Instead, they have successfully managed to demonstrate that they are a rogue agency that plays fast and loose with civil liberties, that cares not a wit about the US constitution, and that uses draconian techniques to stifle their critics.

I actually feel sorry for the team that does the actual blogging -- I'm certain that they often feel very, very sick when they are finished making post that is clearly not of their making.

So what have we learned about the TSA:

There is no scientific validity in their liquids ban. If there were, then all of the confiscated liquds would be treated like hazardous waste, rather than just tossed in a trash bin next to the security station.
If you are a journalist, and you write bad things about them, your name will go on a list and you will be subjected to additional screenings every time you try to fly.
They have no Constitutional basis for demanding ID as a requirment to enter the departure area.
They have no legal authority to prevent someone from flying, but act as judge, jury and executioner by dealying people who don't cooperate long enough that they miss their flights.
Their newest scanners are basically electronic strip search machines.
They will accept a driver's license that is based on fraudulent Mexican ID as proof of identity, or even a Costco card, but will not accept ID that is produced by NASA, the Department of the Interior, etc.
They claim that they do not maintain their own private watch lists - but they do. Or at least they did until yesterday when USA Today called them on it.

I could go on and on. And I think that TSA will be a regular topic in this blog from this point forward. Just take a look at their blog. Read the comments, especially from the commenters who use their names or their net names, like Trollkiller, etc. The routinely call TSA's bluff.

TSA is dangerous, it is out of control, and it is your rights that it is running all over. And, despite their pretty badges and law-enforcement type uniforms, they are NOT law enforcement. They have no more arrest authority than the old guy in the green vest at Wal*Mart. They just act like they do.

The Chandler Republic

2008-08-07T20:11:00.003-08:00

I've been trying, with no success, to get the people who distribute the Chandler Republic to stop throwing free copies of their newspaper in my driveway once or twice a week or so.

I don't want it.

I called customer service on two occasions and politely asked them to stop. I was assured it would stop.

Obviously it has not.

I tersely called the Southeast Valley General Manager of the Chandler Republic, Mr. Paul Maryniak at 602-444-7785 and told his voicemail that I didn't want him littering my driveway and insisted that he stop delivering the paper. I wondered aloud if I would need to collect the papers and redeliver them to his home address in Mesa, but that did not get him to stop.

I don't understand. He is involved in nice charities, being on the boards of Save The Family Foundation, The Mesa Arts Center Foundation, East Valley partnership, and others. One would think that with that degree of civic responsibility he would have the power to stop the delivery of the newspaper to my home -- but apparently not.

So, dear blog readers, I am soliciting ideas on how to (legally) get the powers that be at the newspaper to stop littering my driveway.

Fair and Balanced Media

2008-07-16T21:03:00.003-08:00

Does anyone else think it is interesting that when John McCain goes to Iraq, it barely warrants a mention on the evening news, but when the other guy running for President (TOGRFP) decides to go, the new anchor-whores are falling all over themselves to be there for the visit and the accompanying live interviews.

Fair and balanced. Yeah, right.

At last, a reason to vote for McCain

2008-05-30T21:31:00.001-08:00

Actress Susan Sarandon has told the New York Post that she will move out of the US if John McCain wins this fall.

I've struggled trying to find a reason to vote for John, now I finally have one.

SUSAN SARANDON, who appeared in three films last year and won kudos for her TV movie "Bernard and Doris," is still not a contented soul. She says if John McCain gets elected, she will move to Italy or Canada. She adds, "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people."

I wonder if she could get one of the Baldwin twits to accompany her?

Wisdom From my inbox...

2008-05-29T20:48:00.001-08:00

EISENHOWER IN DACHAU
It is a matter of history that when Supreme Commander of the
Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the
death camps, he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for
the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the
camps and even made to bury the dead. He did this because he said in
words to this effect:

'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because
somewhere down the track of history some bastard will get up and say
that this never happened. All that is necessary for the triumph of
evil, is for good men to do nothing.'

This week, the University of Kentucky removed The Holocaust from
its school curriculum because it 'offended' the Muslim population
which claims it never occurred.

The Shariah Risk Due Diligence Campaign

2008-05-27T21:55:00.002-08:00

Looking for an interesting, but scary read?

Check out the The Shariah Risk Due Diligence Campaign here and here.

The Shariah Risk Due Diligence Campaign - A Project of the Center for Security Policy - Established to defend the U.S. Constitution and to protect our political and religious liberties, which are all under assault by those seeking to legitimize Shariah law (i.e., Islamic law) and its economic tool, Shariah-compliant finance. Shariah law is neither religion nor personal faith, but a theo-political doctrine seeking to dominate and to subvert Western liberties and representative government.

NOTE: This newsletter is not targeting Muslims or the religion of Islam; but rather, the political Islamists who seek to establish Islamic Law as defined by Shariah "scholarly consensus". This newsletter is not referring to the pietistic individual Shariah practiced by patriotic American Muslims.

Here is the table of contents from the most recent newsletter:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES: EYE ON SHARIAH LAW
1. Blaming the victim: Abused Afghan women often end up in jail
2. Iranian Feminist Receives Suspended Sentence - 10 Lashes and 6 Months in Prison
3. Saudi Arabia executes three Pakistanis convicted of drug trafficking
4. JOEL BRINKLEY: Saudi king silent on journalists' death sentences
5. Saudi women had more rights at the time of the Romans than today
6. Iraq: Beheading up. Constitution accepts Sharia
7. Islamists Torch Girls' School in NW Pakistan
8. Pakistan: Muslim man shot to death for not praying
9. Muslim Prison chaplain still on duty pending assault inquiry
10. School accused of favoring Muslim students
11. Islamic Divorce Ruled Not Valid in Maryland
12. Second Girls' Schools Burned Down In Taliban-Controlled Swat District
13. A draft Iranian law would mandate the death penalty for apostasy
14. Calls Mount for Restricting Underage Marriages
15. Jordan: Man Shoots Pregnant Sister in the Head to "Cleanse Family's Honor"
16. Turkish wives battle culture of domestic abuse

ARTICLES: ISLAMIC FINANCE - SHARIAH IN THE WORLD OF MONEY
17. Gulf investor warns of EU over-regulation
18. UAE set to centralise Zakat management
19. Britain's first Islamic insurance company given stamp of approval by FSA
20. Dubai World to Pay Higher Rates, Seeks New MGM Loans (Update1)
21. Saudi Arabia may set up India investment fund
22. Misys Facilitates Masraf Al Rayan's Expansion of Islamic Banking Operations
23. ISLAM: MASTER IN SHARIA-COMPLIANT FINANCE TO OPEN IN ROME
24. Citi shifts top executive to Dubai base
25. Bank plans $500m Islamic property fund
26. Israeli Diamond Magnate's Business Unwelcome in Dubai
27. Islamic index launched - Dow Jones Islamic Market (DJIM)
28. Harvard Islamic Studies Program Opened
29. Follow the money - Rachel Ehrenfeld
30. Islamic banks 'are making mark'

LIBEL TOURISM
31. Press Release: Specter, Lieberman, King Introduce Free Speech Protection Act
32. Rachel and Goliath: Ehrenfeld vs. The Saudis

OPINION, ANALYSIS, REVIEW
1. MUST READ: A Secular Market Nightmare By Alyssa A. Lappen
2. The Grave Threat of Arab-Muslim Anti-Semitism By P. David Hornik
3. 'JIHAD' NEWSPEAK - Anyone heard Condoleezza Rice use the word "jihad" lately?
4. The silent jihad against the west by Vincent Gioia
5. Worshippers of Death by ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ
6. Saudi fundamentalist cleric's fatal ruling by Joel Brinkley
7. Muslim Brotherhood Cronies Getting Together in Denmark by Douglas Farah
8. Amerabia by Frank Gaffney
9. Turning towards Mecca - The Economist-Editorial
10. The MSU's Hate Week By Reut R. Cohen & Jonathan Constantine Movroydis
11. History textbooks promoting Islam by Bob Unruh
12. Islamist Chickens Roosting in America's Backyard by Youssef M. Ibrahim

Sleep well!

Recall Effort Underway

2008-05-08T19:45:00.003-08:00

On April 30, 2008, American Citizens United officially filed a recall petition with the City of Phoenix Clerk's Office to recall Mayor Phil Gordon. The group now has 120 days to collect the necessary signatures to force a recall election. A total of 23,751 valid signatures are required. Upon the City Clerk verifying the signatures, Mayor Phil Gordon may either step down as mayor or face a special recall election.

The petitions are back from the printer and efforts to obtain signatures are underway. Here is the schedule from the website:

Friday, May 9th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Saturday, May 10th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Saturday, May 10th from 8:00 am to Noon at Roadrunner Park located at 3502 E Cactus Rd. Look for us at the ramadas on the 36th street side of the street. (This location will be a reoccuring Saturday event). This volunteer circulator is willing to also go to your place of employment, church, home, etc. To make special arrangements to have a petition brought to your area, please call Brandy at 602-798-9205.

Saturday, May 10th from 9:00 am to Noon at the Acacia Library Branch located at 750 E Townley Ave (near Cave Creek Rd and Olive). Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Saturday, May 10th from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the Yucca Library Branch located at 5648 N 15th Ave. Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Sunday, May 11th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Sunday, May 11th from Noon to 3:00 pm at the Century Library Branch located at 1750 E Highland Ave. Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Sunday, May 11th from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm at the Saguaro Library Branch located at 2808 N 46th St. Look for us outside the main entrance. You may pick up petitions here or just sign a petition.

Monday, May 12th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Tuesday, May 13th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Tuesday, May 13th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

Wednesday, May 14th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Wednesday, May 14th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

Thursday, May 15th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Thursday, May 15th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

Friday, May 16th from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm? at the Mesquite Library Branch located at Paradise Valley Mall (4525 Paradise Village Pkwy N). This event will be to sign the petition only and will be located outside the main entrance.

Friday, May 16th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm outside Chase Field (various corners) for the Arizona Diamondbacks game.

The Day Laborer Center located at 16801 N 25th St (Cave Creek and Bell Rd, turn east 1 block and turn right on the corner of 25th St). This will be an on going location Monday thru Saturday from 7:00 am to Noon.

FBI to Investigate Violence Against Military Recruiting Centers

2008-05-05T20:26:00.002-08:00

The Move America Forward Daily File Blog is reporting on the news that the Department of Justice has asked the FBI to review the incidents of violence against military recruiting centers and recruiters themselves that are being committed by anti-war activists.

The Department of Justice acknowledged Move America Forward’s request for such action in a letter dated April 29, 2008 and sent to the pro-troop organization’s legal counsel. Excerpt from the Department of Justice letter follows:

This is in response to your letter to the Criminal Division dated April 3, 2008, on behalf of your client, Move America Forward, Inc., recounting a number of incidences of vandalism and other activities at military recruiting stations.”

This action is seen as a serious step forward in the fight against groups like Code Pink, World Can’t Wait, New SDS and other socialist and anarchist groups that have been actively conspiring to attack recruiting stations all over the country.

On March 14, 2008, Move America Forward published The Sedition Report which catalogued many of these attacks, drawing from sources such as police reports, news stories, numerous blogs (most noticeably MichelleMalkin.com), forums such as Free Republic and action reports from groups such as Gathering of Eagles, Blue Star Mothers of America and many others. The Sedition Report, copies of which were given to the FBI and members of Congress, should provide a road map which investigators can use to examine the conspiracy of anti-war radicals to conduct campaigns of violence ("counter-recruitment") against military recruiting centers and our military men and women who serve here on the home front.

These attacks coincide with the activities of Code Pink, which provided $600,000 for terrorists families in Fallujah, as well as organized visits to Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and other nations where American anti-war radicals met with and pledged support to dictators who conspire against America’s interests.

Just as many of the far-left groups from the 60s, such as the Weather Underground, Vietnam Vets Against War, and the Black Liberation Army had ties to communist sympathizers and organizers in other countries, Move America Forward suspects that once a full investigation of these groups is conducted they will find links to foreign dictators, terrorist organizations, or organizations that work to fund or funnel support to terrorist organizations.

- MAF Blogger Danny

County Attorney: Sheriff's Saturation Patrols Are Legal

2008-04-29T19:30:00.002-08:00

This news definitely doesn't make Mayor Phil "I wannabe governor" Gordon very happy. the Associated Press reports (and the Arizona Republic probably won't mention):

Maricopa County's top prosecutor said Tuesday that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's recent high-profile crackdowns around the Valley are legal if his officers follow rules that prohibit racial profiling and unwarranted traffic stops.

That's right Phil, despite your political posturing, Sheriff Joe is in the right. Now, about the racial profiling you participated in a number of years ago....

The Empire Strikes Back With Massive Attorneys' Fee Request in CityNorth Case

2008-04-26T22:25:00.001-08:00

by Clint Bolick,

While the Goldwater Institute's legal challenge to the CityNorth subsidy moves to the Court of Appeals, one issue remains before the trial court that upheld the subsidy.

Not content merely to demand $97.4 million of taxpayer money, the developers now are seeking hundreds of thousands more for their attorneys' fees-from the Goldwater Institute.

The City is, too. Rather than using the same huge in-house legal department that negotiated the deal, the City hired a high-priced private firm to defend it. The total demand for fees and costs: $688,000-more than an entire year's budget for Goldwater's litigation center.

Courts almost never have awarded attorney fees against firms seeking to vindicate public rights. The reasons were articulated by Arizona Supreme Court Justice Stanley Feldman in the very same case, Wistuber v. Paradise Valley Unified School District, that all the parties agree sets the legal parameters for the Gift Clause under which the CityNorth case is litigated.

Such fees "would be contrary to public policy," the Court held, "because it would have a chilling effect on other parties who may wish to question the legitimacy of the actions of public officials. Where aggrieved citizens, in good-faith, seek a determination of the legitimacy of governmental actions, attorney's fees should not usually be awarded. Courts exist to hear such cases; we should encourage resolution of constitutional actions in court rather than on the streets."

The trial court decision is merely the first step in the legal process; many initial decisions, such as in the Bailey's Brake Service eminent domain case, are overturned on appeal. We hope the Court of Appeals will see it for what it is: a subsidy of a private business on terms unavailable to other businesses, and paid for by ordinary taxpayers.

Goldwater's litigation center is a vexation that government officials who stray beyond constitutional boundaries and special interests who seek their favors surely would like to remove. Try as they might, our response is simple: not a chance.

Clint Bolick is the director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute

Watch this video

2008-04-13T18:29:00.002-08:00

This video was apparently put together by a 15-year-old girl.

You need to watch it.

It is OK to cry when you do.

Prostitution and Day Labor

2008-04-10T19:14:00.002-08:00

If a woman is standing near a busy street corner, attempts to make eye contact with drivers that are going by, flags down those that she can, get in the car and negotiates a cash payment for personal services -- one is probably right in suspecting that they are witnessing suspected prostitution.

Now, change the gender of the person on the corner from female to male, but keep the rest of the circumstances the same. We have a case of day labor that some people think should be constitutionally protected.

I have recommended, during a recent District meeting, that the Chandler Police Department should begin to arrest everyone attempting to flag down motorists along Arizona Avenue with suspected prostitution.

Book 'em!

More on Best of the Web

2008-04-08T22:01:00.004-08:00

I mentioned a little while ago that I had been allowed to join the fine time of editors at Best of the Web (www.botw.org).

Here is their latest press release. Link

Here is Rob Jones take on the whole thing: Link -- do not share with small children or impressionable adults.

A Change In Editorial Policy

2008-04-06T19:58:00.005-08:00

I believe there has been a significant change in the editorial policy at the Arizona Republic.

It has been quite hilarious watching the reporters and editorial writers do everything in their power to avoid mentioning the phrase "illegal alien". The paper seemed to refer "undocumented immigrants" instead.

Now, twice in the past week I've actually seen the words "illegal immigrant" as part of news stories -- and not in direct quotes, either.

Congratulations and welcome to the real world.

Gordon the tool

2008-04-01T21:00:00.002-08:00

Watching Phoenix Mayor Gordon attempt to do verbal battle with Joe Arpaio makes me very thankful that Gordon is the Mayor of Phoenix and not of Chandler.

What a first class tool he has turned out to be.

Great Moments in Education

2008-03-28T18:56:00.003-08:00

We've been here before.

A middle school student in Phoenix realized that he had brought a pocket knife to school in his backpack. Knives are specifically prohibited in school.

Said student tells a teacher about his mistake.

His reward?

A five day suspension.

The school's reasoning: they have a zero tolerance policy.

So what did they teach the student? Honesty invokes punishment, and if he had just kept his mouth shut and not mentioned his error, he would have escaped unscathed. Nice lesson.

When are we going to realize that zero tolerance policies are crutches that are used by milquetoast school administrators who lack the necessary IQ points required to evaluate a situation and make a reasoned decision.

Why do we entrust our children with these people?

The Big Mistake

2008-03-06T21:57:00.003-08:00

My mailbox overflows with riches like this:

What a difference 60 years makes..!!!
President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake was in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders so it was the people's duty to back those leaders. Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not whether the war was going badly or not.

And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had : in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. (Remember that concept?)

Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war. Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old, pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort. Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough, in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our resident. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

Teachers in schools started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance and with prayers for our country and our troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or because they did not have air conditioning.

There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve. He was wrong.

It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11 but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third - or over three hundred million - of all Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorist's cause. Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.

So...we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

America is not at war. The military is at war.
America is at the mall.

More gun stuff

2008-03-05T22:28:00.003-08:00

And, I just had to mention that I amazed that an Avondale HOA now has armed security guards -- apparently in an attempt to thwart vandalism.

Meanwhile, administrators at a nearby elementary school that borders the HOA property are having the expected reaction -- and were last seen wildly flapping their arms and yelling "guns, guns, guns -- they've got guns."

Do we have a serious lack of judgement here? On both sides?

Assault Rifles on Campus

2008-03-05T22:10:00.003-08:00

According to the Arizona Republic, plans are now in place to arm the campus police at ASU, U of A and NAU with assault rifles.

No, I'm not making this up. Assault rifles.

Police departments at Arizona's three universities plan to arm their officers with military-style assault rifles within the next year, officials said Tuesday.

The new rifles would give campus police officers long-range shooting capabilities, allowing them to hit targets at the end of long hallways or atop tall buildings, officials said.

Arizona State University will be the first of the three schools to use the weapons. Officers there will be trained to use the rifles in the next few months, said ASU police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina.

Officers will undergo 40 hours of training before using the weapons.

"We don't want to just throw rifles out there," Hardina said.

Well, I'm really glad they are not going tho just throw the assault rifles out there.

Is this stupid, or what? I'm all in favor of gun rights, but this idea is really off base, and I'm willing to be that within the first year of implementation we have at least one ugly incident that involves those weapons.

The National Heroes Tour

2008-03-03T21:05:00.005-08:00

On March 14, on the deck of the USS Midway in San Diego, The Vets for Freedom National Heroes Tour kicks off. The coast-to-coast bus tour, which runs 3/14-4/9, is the first “thank you” tour to the troops and to rally the country to complete the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tour features American heroes, such as:

Marcus Luttrell - Navy Cross recipient, sole survivor of a Navy SEAL's mission gone awry, and author of New York Times best-seller Lone Survivor about his miraculous escape and survival.

David Bellavia - author of House to House(a memoir about house-to-house combat in Iraq), recipient of the Silver Star, and nominee for the Medal of Honor.

Steve Russell - recipient of the Bronze Star medal with Valor Device for his actions in Iraq; Lieutenant Colonel Russell led the battalion responsible for the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Sgt. Jeremiah Workman - recipient of the Navy Cross for heroism in rescuing wounded comrades while fighting off enemy insurgents during the Battle of Fallujah.

The tour stops in Phoenix on Monday, March 17. The bus will be pulling in to the Goldwater Institute for a media event at 8am followed by a Town Hall discussion at 10:00 a.m. about the importance of progress, conviction, commitment & completing the job in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tour hits Tucson on Tuesday March 18, starting with a visit to the John Scott radio show on KVOI starting at 6:30 a.m., followed by an American Legion luncheon, and concluding with a Boy Scout Catalina Council Meeting at the Naval Operations Support Center on Wilmot Road at 7 p.m. A book signing will follow.

I encourage readers to turn out in support of this activity.

Don't hold your breath waiting or the local media to announce or cover this event.

2008 Democratic National Convention Agenda

2008-03-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

Another goodie from my inbox:

Agenda for the 2008 Democrat National Convention (Just Released)

7:00 pm Opening flag burning
7:15 pm Pledge of Allegiance to the U.N. in Spanish
7:20 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
7:25 pm Nonreligious prayer and worship with Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton
7:45 pm Ceremonial tree hugging
7:55 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
8:00 pm How I Invented the Internet - Al Gore
8:15 pm Gay Wedding - Barney Frank presiding
8:35 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
8:40 pm Our Troops are War Criminals - John Kerry
9.00 pm Saddam Memorial Rally - Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon
11.00 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
11:05 pm Collection for the Osama Bin Laden Kidney-transplant Fund - Barbara Streisand
11:15 pm Free the Freedom Fighters from Guantanamo Bay - Sean Penn
11:30 pm Oval Office Affairs - William Jefferson Clinton
11:45 pm Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
11:50 pm How George Bush Brought Down the World Trade Towers - Howard Dean & Rosie O'Donnell
12:15 am 'Truth in Broadcasting Award' - Presented to Dan Rather by Michael Moore
12:25 am Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
12:30 am Satellite address by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
12:45 am Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Nancy Pelosi
12:50 am Speech and toast by Hugo Chavez to the departure of the great satan George W. Bush
12:55 am Hillary proposes a toast to our 89 million new Democrat Mexican voters
1:00 am Ted Kennedy proposes a toast to the extinction of the Republican party.
1:05 am Coronation of Hillary Rodham Clinton
1:30 am Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
1:35 am Bill Clinton asks Ted Kennedy to drive Hillary home

Hooray for Indrek Wichman

2008-03-03T20:40:00.001-08:00

The following appeared in my in-box. Don't know if it is true or not.

The story begins at Michigan State University with a mechanical engineering professor named Indrek Wichman.

Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student's Association.

The e-mail was in response to the students' protest of the Danish cartoons
that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. The group had complained the cartoons were "hate speech." Enter Professor Wichman.

In his e-mail, he said the following:

Dear Moslem Association,
As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intend to protest your protest. I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey ), burnings of Christian churches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt ,
the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavian girls and women (called "whores" in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland, and the rioting and looting in Paris France. This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many of my colleagues. I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile "protests." If you do not like the values of the West - see the 1st Amendment - you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans.

Cordially,

I. S. Wichman
Professor of Mechanical Engineering

As you can imagine, the Muslim group at the university didn't like this too well. They're demanding that Wichman be reprimanded and the university impose mandatory diversity training for faculty and mandate a seminar on hate and discrimination for all freshmen.

Now the local chapter of CAIR has jumped into the fray. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, apparently doesn't believe that the good professor had the right to express his opinion (unlike the broad latitude given to the Islamists to spew their hate-filled raves). For its part, the university is standing its ground in support of Professor Wichman, saying the e-mail was private, and they don't intend to publicly condemn his remarks.

Wassup?

2008-02-27T21:02:00.002-08:00

No, I haven't abandoned this blog, just been busy with real life.

I'm now editing in a second directory, Best of the Web. (http://botw.org) This is a long-time directory with a million or so listings and a taxonomy that is similar to the one in use by the Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org), which the old timers remember was adapted from the old Usenet heirarchy.

They have three main directories: the basic main directory, a blog directory (which is a lot of fun) and a just-launched enterprise software directory. I'm editing in the main directory and the blog directory, and have really been enjoying the experience.

There are a lot of differences between BoTW and ODP, the largest being that BoTW is a privately owned directory that does have a mechanism for paid reviews and sponsored categories. This revenue is what keeps the lights on and helps to fund the growth of the directory.

And while I remain involved with the ODP, that project needs to experience a sea change as it has started to grow stagnant under AOL's stewardship.

Both directories serve valuable purposes and wise webmasters and bloggers should suggest their sites to both.

New Arizona Web Directory

2007-12-18T22:19:00.001-08:00

As an experiment I've started an Arizona-centric web directory called Arizona Web Guide (http://www.azwebguide.com).

It is still in growth mode, with fewer than 500 listings -- but I invite you to pay it a visit and if you have an Arizona business or an Arizona-oriented website, go ahead and submit it.

It's free, and free is a very good price.

Chase Bank and the Ethics Void

2007-12-13T14:15:00.001-08:00

For a long time I used to get unsolicited mortgage offers from Chase Bank. Finally got enough of them to call one night and inform that them my mailbox was off limits to them for any future solicitations.

Took them a couple of months to turn off the flow, but eventually they did stop.

I didn't even make a big issue out of the fact they were misspelling my last name. No biggie.

So in today's mail, here come a letter from Chase.

Our records currently show that we haven't been mailing any Chase offers to you. We're writing to let you know that we're changing the way we manage preferences for receiving these offers. the change allows you more options to specify which mail offers you do not want to receive from us.

OK, so far they have patted themselves in the back for doing what I told them to do, and decided that they had one something of such monumental importance that they could disregard my instructions and tell me about it.

Please tell us by January 24, 2008, which offers you do not want to receive; unless you tell us otherwise, you may begin to receive offers in the mail about these products and services.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Let's recap. I opted out. You changed your system and will automatically opt me back in unless I opt out all over again.

Nice ethics. My initial preference apparently means nothing to you. Not a thing. And if I had just tossed this letter unopened, you'd have begun flooding my mailbox starting in February.

Of course, there was no telephone number where I could call and express my outrage. Nice. Highly ethical!

Explain to me again how I am supposed to engage in financial transactions with you in the somehow misguided belief that you can be trusted to keep your word?

Immigration with a new twist.

2007-06-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the stuff that comes into your e-mail box as humor is frighteningly true. Take the following, whose authorship is unknown:

Dear Senator,

As a native Pennsylvanian and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you.

My primary reason for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to Illegal alien, stem from the bill which was recently passed by the Senate and for which you voted. If my understanding of this bill's provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, all I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years. I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started before everyone figures it out.

Simply put, those of us who have been here legally have had to pay taxes every year so I'm excited about the prospect of avoiding two years of taxes in return for paying a $2,000 fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively? This would yield an excellent result for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in 2004 and 2005.

Additionally, as an illegal alien I could begin using the local emergency room as my primary health care provider. Once I have stopped paying premiums for medical insurance, my accountant figures I could save almost $10,000 a year.

Another benefit in gaining illegal status would be that my daughter would receive preferential treatment relative to her law school applications, as well as "in-state" tuition rates for many colleges throughout the United States for my son.

Lastly, I understand that illegal status would relieve me of the burden of renewing my driver's license and making those burdensome car insurance premiums. This is very important to me given that I still have college age children driving my car. If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal (retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would be most appreciative.

Thank you for your assistance.

Your Loyal Constituent,

Cell Phone Backlash

2007-06-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

A decade or so ago, if we saw someone wandering around in a public place, talking to themselves, we knew we were in presence of someone who is mentally disturbed. We would probably steer clear.

Today, if we see someone wandering around in a public place, talking to themselves, we knew we were are presence of some self-centered fool with a cellphone and a wireless earpiece/microphone. The are talking away, oblivious to everyone else, totally centered on themselves. We generally try to steer clear.

It doesn't matter where -- churches, libraries, theaters, malls, restaurants, bathrooms (guys, the people on the other end can hear it when you flush) or any other public place. After all, it is all about them.

The moron in the car in front of you -- the one who can't keep up, changes lanes with no signals, and generally drives like a drunk is actually a real estate agent who believes it is their god-given right to be driving, talking on the cell phone, looking for homes and reading listings all at the same time.

People have begun to fight back.

My pharmacy has a sign on the counter announcing that they will not help you while you are on your cell phone.

Some fast food drive up windows have similar signs saying that they will not take your order while you are on the cell phone.

Every Sunday my church reminds people to turn off or mute their cell phones during services.

It's about time.

Rest Rooms

2007-06-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

At the risk of seeming indelicate, I must share that I am at the age where I make it a point of knowing where the rest rooms are located most every where I go.

I'm always amazed when I stumble across a business that has a filthy rest room -- I believe that whether they intend the public to visit or not, a filthy rest room says that the ownership has no respect for even the people who work there.

Similarly, I am always delighted when I find a nice clean rest room, and usually try and make a point of mentioning that fact to someone in authority, as good behavior needs to be encouraged.

So, where am I going with this?

I'm think that that I am going to start a series of posts that discuss the public rest rooms that I visit. No, I'm not going to get gory, or particularly gross, nor do I plan to come up with some stupid rating system -- where I rate restroom on a one to five commode scale. Yech.

Instead, just a few lines now and then.

Having said that, here we go:

Sunflower Market, Gilbert.

Clean
Well ventilated
Well maintained

I'll bump this post periodically. Or not!

Bump 5/15:
Kohls Baseline & Stapley

Very clean
Well ventilated
Spacious
Good hot water
Well maintained.

Bump 5/19:
Joannes Fabrics -- San Tan Village

Immaculate
I wanted to move in!

Bump 5/23
Costco -- Arizona Avenue in Chandler

Clean, as always, which is a bit amazing considering the amount of traffic it gets.
Well stocked.

Bump 6/4
Safeway -- McQueen & Ray, Chandler

Never really smells clean
Lots of ground in dirt.
Needs to be steam cleaned and better ventilated. A coat of paid would not hurt either.

More Rest Room News

2007-05-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

Posted 5/18/07

No, I'm not changing the theme of this blog, but I have to share this:

DESTIN, Fla. - Confusing signs on the bathroom doors at McGuire's Irish Pub have played jokes on customers for years, sending women to the men's room and vice versa.
But the father of a girl who was interrupted by a man in the women's room and Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation don't find the signs funny.
The agency recently threatened the Panhandle tourist landmark with closure for "Lack of signage properly designating bathrooms."
The state took action after the father filed a complaint, which said his 15-year-old daughter was embarrassed and left the restaurant crying after the bathroom incident.
The signs have been up for 10 years in Destin and 30 years in Pensacola.

Florida's tax dollars at work. The 15 year-old can't read, daddy has to demonstrate his testosterone level, and the state has to demonstrate its total lack of common sense and humanity. Sure, shut them down. Why not just burn them to the ground.

If this great nation fails it will be cause of our loss of individuality.

The same lack of common sense and governmental pig headedness is happening in our own Pinal County where San Tan Flat owner Dale Bell will be subject to fines of $700 a day for allowing dancing outdoors at his restaurant.

Gotta stop that evil dancing in Pinal County.

I have an idea...maybe Pinal County can mount huge outdoor speakers along the routes where illegal immigrant travel, then at night, they can play loud music and nab the illegals for illegal dancing.

Update:

Under the agreement reached late Saturday night, the restaurants will be required to install an additional set of doors to prevent any embarrassing incidents.
"When you walk in the front door of the bathroom, and you walk into the alcove, before you get to the stalls, there will be a swinging door that will be labeled men or women as appropriate," said Holly Benson, secretary for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and a former state representative from Pensacola.
Benson said the owners of McGuire's agreed to the new doors because they did not want to embarrass customers.
McGuire's has 30 days to install the doors.

Glad to see that some common sense can prevail.

And he wants to be president!!!

2007-05-26T21:54:00.000-08:00

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hasn't spent much time in the Capitol this year as he seeks the GOP presidential nomination. But one of his rare appearances this week provided a pretty salty exchange with a fellow Republican.

During a meeting Thursday on immigration legislation, McCain and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) got into a shouting match when Cornyn started voicing concerns about the number of judicial appeals that illegal immigrants could receive, according to multiple sources -- both Democrats and Republicans -- who heard firsthand accounts of the exchange from lawmakers who were in the room.

At a bipartisan gathering in an ornate meeting room just off the Senate floor, McCain complained that Cornyn was raising petty objections to a compromise plan being worked out between Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House. He used a curse word associated with chickens and accused Cornyn of raising the issue just to torpedo a deal.

Things got really heated when Cornyn accused McCain of being too busy campaigning for president to take part in the negotiations, which have gone on for months behind closed doors. "Wait a second here," Cornyn said to McCain. "I've been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're out of line."

McCain, a former Navy pilot, then used language more accustomed to sailors (not to mention the current vice president, who made news a few years back after a verbal encounter with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont).

"[Expletive] you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room," shouted McCain at Cornyn. McCain helped craft a bill in 2006 that passed the Senate but couldn't be compromised with a House bill that was much tougher on illegal immigrants.

Later in the Washington Post column it notes:

By early Thursday afternoon, McCain joined nine other senators and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez at a Capitol press conference announcing the deal.

After making a few comments, McCain left the Capitol to head to New York for presidential campaign events. Later that day, McCain missed his 43rd straight vote, this on the $2.9 trillion budget outline.

I guess his personal political goals mean more than doing the job he was elected to do. Wonder if we can apply for a refund?

Bump:

In a wonderful article titled: Senator Cranky Strikes Again, columnist Kevin McCullough takes McCain to task for his inability to controlhis temper.

Lady Sun Devils

2007-05-26T20:36:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to the Lady Sun Devils softwall team, which is now enroute to the Women's College World Series.

Our AG at work

2007-05-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

I'm no big fan of Attorney General Terry Goddard. I hold the opinion that political considerations routinely outweigh his respect for the law, and that he uses his office to promote his liberal political agenda.

His website is a piece of work -- and I suspect he pays he PR people by the word, and they are very quick to dash off press releases of marginal value -- all designed to keep Terry in the news.

Still, buried in the unbridled puffery, there are some occasional jewels.

(Phoenix, Ariz. – May 18, 2007) Attorney General Terry Goddard today warned consumers to be wary of callers claiming to be from Arizona Veterans Hospital or Veterans Services asking for donations over the telephone.

The Attorney General’s Office has received information that individuals claiming to be associated with the hospital or veterans group are soliciting donations over the telephone to make food baskets for veterans.

This is a scam! The Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center Hospital and the Arizona State Veterans Home do not solicit over the telephone and are not collecting money for food baskets.

OK, good stuff that. Contrast it with this:

(Phoenix, Ariz. – May 21, 2007) Attorney General Terry Goddard today commended MySpace for agreeing to provide information on sex offenders found using the popular Internet social network.

Once the data about registered sex offenders is obtained, it will be shared with local law enforcement officials, Goddard said. The information can be used to look for potential parole or probation violations by offenders who may be barred from using a social networking site or contacting minors.

“This agreement will provide an additional tool to law enforcement to help protect
children from predators,” Goddard said.

A careful read of the press release fails to note that Terry Terrific and his staff had anything to do with the agreement -- or who forged the deal. In fact, the press release strongly suggests that Terry is grandstanding. After all, if he had anything at all to do with the agreement, we can be certain that his efforts would have been highlighted in excruciating detail.

But Terry is busy chasing smokers and doesn't even have time to enforce the illegal immigration laws -- unless it is an illegal immigrant caught smoking in a business.

Snappy Nappy Veto Happy

2007-05-09T19:49:00.000-08:00

The carpetbagger who presently occupies the Governor's office vetoed SenateBill 1236 which would have prohibited local government agencies from accepting the widely used Mexican Consular Cards as formal means of identifications.

The cards, issued by the Mexican government, are widely forged, and are often used to abet illegal immigration, a concept the carpetbagger-in-charge chooses to ignore.

Today I vetoed Senate Bill 1236 which would have prohibited the state or any political subdivision from accepting as a valid form of identification a consular identification card that is issued by a foreign government.

I did so for the same reasons I vetoed Senate Bill 1511 on May , 2006. Without the ability to accept a consular ID card, Arizona's law enforcement officers may be unable to confirm the identities of foreign nationals who are stopped for any reason. If a foreign national is pulled over for a traffic violation and presents a consular ID our law enforcement officers have the ability to use that ID to determine whether the person is wanted for other crimes. It makes no sense to hamstring our law enforcement agencies' efforts to know the criminal histories of foreign nationals they encounter.

I guess that the carpetbagger never heard of a passport -- which is a book-like form of identification that one must use when crossing international borders. I carry mine with me whenever I travel internationally, and it is not unreasonable to expect others to do the same -- unless one is hellbent on pandering to the illegal immigrants for political reasons.

Freedom of Speech

2007-05-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

The Arizona Republic is reporting that a Maricopa Community College professor is in danger of being fired because he sent an e-mail to district employees that contained (gasp!), a link to Pat Buchanan's web site along with the text of George Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation.

Five employees complained because the Buchanan website is not politically correct with regards to immigration policy.

A Maricopa Community Colleges professor could be fired after he sent an e-mail to district employees that contained a link to Pat Buchanan's Web site and a transcript of a George Washington Thanksgiving proclamation.

Math Professor Walter Kehowski, who has sent controversial e-mails in the past, was placed on paid leave from his job at Glendale Community College. A national free-speech group, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, has taken up his cause and is asking the Maricopa County Community College District to exonerate him.

Greg Lukianoff, president of the Philadelphia-based group, said Kehowski is being targeted because of the e-mail, sent Nov. 22, with the 1789 proclamation and the link to the site of Buchanan, a conservative commentator and former presidential candidate. Lukianoff said five employees filed complaints because the Buchanan site criticized immigration policies.
"This case would be almost funny if it wasn't having such serious implications for the professor's life and livelihood," Lukianoff said.

Kehowski declined comment Monday.

He has angered some employees and students in the past with his e-mails, leading to debate over academic freedom and how far professors can go in expressing opinions.

In 2003, he e-mailed employees several Internet links that contained statements about Hispanics. Titles on the Web sites included, "Mexicans Think U.S. Belongs to Them!" and "Mexican Double Standard."

School administrators said his postings were abrasive and divisive, but said they could do little to prevent professors from expressing their views outside class.

This year, district Chancellor Rufus Glasper notified the professor March 9 that he intended to recommend to the governing board that Kehowski be dismissed. He said Kehowski's Nov. 22 e-mail violated the district's electronic communications policy, which prohibits using district e-mail for private or personal matters.

Glasper's letter says the professor continued to disregard district policies despite previous sanctions and directives. Kehowski was suspended without pay for five days in September 2005 for a similar violation.

A hearing date has been set for June 5 before a three-member faculty committee, which will listen to evidence and make a recommendation to the chancellor. Glasper then will make a recommendation to the governing board, which has the final say.

While Kehowski clearly demonstrates an ongoing lack of judgement, I wonder how many of the five who complained have sent around e-mail's accusing our President of being either a criminal or a dumb criminal?

I also suspect they would take him out back and hang him from a tree if he linked to this site.

Attack Foiled

2007-05-08T18:23:00.000-08:00

Six foreign-born men -- two of whom are in the United States illegally -- were charged with planning an attack on U.S. soldiers stationed at Ft. Dix in New Jersey.

Five individuals -- three of them brothers -- have been arrested and charged with plotting to kill soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey, Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, U.S. Attorney Christopher J.Christie and Philadelphia FBI Special Agent in Charge J.P. Weis announced today. A sixth defendant is charged with aiding and abetting the illegal possession of firearms by three of the members of the group.

The arrests occurred last night in Cherry Hill as two of the defendants
were meeting a confidential government witness to purchase three AK-47
automatic machine guns and four semi-automatic M-16s to be used in an attack
they had been planning from at least January 2006, according to criminal
complaints unsealed this morning.

Some members of the group allegedly conducted surveillance at Fort Dix and
also at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the
U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia. The co-conspirators obtained a detailed map
of Fort Dix, where they said they hoped to use assault rifles and rocket
propelled grenades to kill as many soldiers as possible. They also conducted
small-arms training at a shooting range in the Pocono Mountains in
Pennsylvania and distributed training videos amongst themselves that included
depictions of American soldiers being killed and known foreign Islamic
radicals urging jihad against the United States.

I can't wait for the apologists and whack-jobs at "move-on dot org" to explain how this is just a Karl Rove inspired trick to drive up the ratings for George Bush.
The defendants are as follows:

-- Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill. He was born in Jordan, is
a U.S. citizen and is employed as a taxicab driver in Philadelphia.

-- Eljvir Duka, 23, of Cherry Hill, a.k.a. "Elvis Duka," a.k.a.
"Sulayman," was born in the former Yugoslavia. Duka is illegally
residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as Qadr. Inc.,
Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, all of which list business
addresses the same as his residence.

-- Dritan Duka, 28, of Cherry Hill, a.k.a. "Distan Duka," a.k.a. "Anthony
Duka," a.k.a. "Tony Duka." He was born in the former Yugoslavia, is
illegally residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as
Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, both which list business
addresses at the residence of defendants Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka.
(All of the Dukas charged are brothers).

-- Shain Duka, 26, of the same address as Eljvir Duka in Cherry Hill,
a.k.a. "Shaheen," was born in the former Yugoslavia. Shain Duka is
illegally residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as
Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, both which list business
addresses the same as his residence.

-- Serdar Tatar, 23, of Philadelphia, was born in Turkey. Tatar is
legally residing in the U.S. His last know employment was at a
7-Eleven convenience store in Philadelphia.

-- Agron Abdullahu, 24, of Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County, was born
in the former Yugoslavia. Abdullahu is legally residing in the U.S.
and is employed at a Shop-Rite Supermarket.

The Duka brothers and Abdullahu were born in the former Yugoslavia.

Does anyone doubt for a minute that Islam has declared war on the rest of us, or will it take car bombs and blood running down the gutters of your tree-lined neighborhoods to wake you up?

I also wonder if the Politically Correct Socialists at the Arizona Repulsive will mention that two of the six were here illegally -- or will it simply refer to them as "undocumented immigrants"?

Dems want spy agencies to investigate global warming

2007-05-04T21:21:00.000-08:00

The National Surrender Party has now determined that Global Warming poses a national security risk and is planning on requiring that our already limited national intelligence resources be used to study the national security implications of global warming.

So, if I have this right, instead of watching Iran, or Osama, or any of the world's crackpots and dictators, the political party that boasts Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Cindy Sheehan wants our national intelligence resources to focus less on real threats and more on imagined threats.

Am I making this up? Nope.

Senior House Republicans are complaining about Democrats' plans to divert "scarce" intelligence funds to study global warming.

The House next week will consider the Democrat-crafted Intelligence Authorization bill, which includes a provision directing an assessment of the effects that climate change has on national security.
Democrats, who outnumber Republicans on the committee, blocked the minority from stripping the warming language from the bill.

Intelligence panel Chairman Silvestre Reyes, Texas Democrat, said the climate-change study is one of several shifts his party has made to intelligence policy.
"We're concerned that global warming might impact our ability to maintain national security," he told The Times, describing the idea as "cutting edge."
"We want to get feedback from the intelligence community to understand if there are possible global issues," Mr. Reyes said, noting the change was on the advice of "several former military commanders."
The panel voted 11-9 to keep the provision that directs a National Intelligence Estimate "on the anticipated geopolitical effects of global climate change and the implications of such effects on the national security of the United States," according to a Republican staffer familiar with the bill.
The study, which so far has an undetermined cost, would examine the science of climate change, among other things. Few details about its method were available, but the staffer said it would "divert already scarce resources to study the climate."
The staffer added that the U.S. already tried using intelligence resources for this purpose in the 1990s.
"There are other parts of the government better suited to doing this type of study," agreed Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican. "Our government should not commit expensive spy satellites and human intelligence sources to target something as undefined as the environment."

I can see it now, deep in the heart of Cheyenne Mountain.

"Sir, one of our keyhole satellites had determined that the three Iranian kilo-class subs are about to try and enter New York Harbor. What should we do?"

"Have the satellite perform a three-second Delta V, to get in position to focus in on that gardener using a gas-powered weed eater on Fred Thompson's back yard."

The Speech President Bush Should Give

2007-05-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

The following has been floating around the Internet and on e-mail lists, and the original author is unknown. It expresses what many Americans feel -- or at least what this American feels.

The speech President George W Bush SHOULD give:

Normally, I start these things out by saying "My Fellow Americans." Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.

I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: there's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.

The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people.

I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton Administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.

Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I was trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied People Died' crap either. If I was the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered'. Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out-spend and out-tech them.

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you. And the bastards are all over the globe.

You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor'.

Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, damnit, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol.

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching. I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.

So I quit. I' m going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.

Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there're just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.

So that's it. God bless what's left of America. Some of you know what I mean.

The rest of you, **** off.

Call for Wikimania Participation

2007-04-30T18:28:00.000-08:00

Wikimania is an annual global event devoted to Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia Foundation projects. It is a community event, which is also open to the public and to researchers. Wikimania is a place for editors and users of the Wikimedia projects around the globe (Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikinews, Wiktionary, and Wikiversity) to gather, to meet each other, to exchange ideas, and to report on research and projects. This year's conference will be held from August 3-5, 2007 in Taipei, Taiwan at Chien Tan Overseas Youth Activity Center. For more information, please visit the Wikimania site:

http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/

Send your submissions through:

http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submission

We are accepting submissions for posters, presentations, workshops, and discussion groups. We are also accepting nominations for speakers and speaker panels, and suggestions for other activities. Please note the details below and be bold in your submissions!

Important dates

1 March – 30 April: Submission (The deadline has been extended to May 15)
1 May – 31 May: Feedback and notification of acceptance
3 – 5 Aug 2007 : Wikimania

Conference Themes

Submissions should address one or more of the following themes:

Wikimedia Communities – Interesting projects and particularities within the communities (we explicitly invite you to present your local Wikimedia project's community!); policy creation within individual projects; conflict resolution and community dynamics; reputation and identity; multilingualism, languages and cultures; social studies.

Free Content – Open access to information; ways to gather and distribute free knowledge, usage of the Wikimedia projects in education, journalism, research; ways to improve content quality and usability; copyright laws and other legal areas that interfere with Wikimedia projects.

Technical infrastructure – Issues related to MediaWiki development and extensions; Wikimedia hardware layout; new ideas for development (including usable case studies from other wikis or similar projects).

Your topic must be related to Wikimedia projects and its communities or to the creation of free content in general.

Types of Submissions

We are seeking submissions for

presentations (10–30 minute talks with optional short or full papers)
posters (printed presentations or visual displays that can stand on their own)
workshops (30–120 minute session with more involvement of the audience)
panels (group of 2-5 speakers to discuss on a specific subject)
Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) (45-60 minute informal meetup of group discussion on a particular topic)
artistic artifacts (plays, competitions, comedy, visualizations, or other representations of some aspect of the projects)

Guidelines

Wikimania is organized by volunteers, so please help us to minimize wasted effort by following these guidelines carefully before submitting and be sure not to forget anything that is mentioned here. All submissions must explicitly include the following:

an English title
a short English abstract of 50 to 100 words. The abstracts should be provided as plain text, and not as file attachments. This abstract will be used as public description of your submission in the conference program
a detailed description (or full paper) of at least one page (300 words or more). This description will not be published unless you want it, but used for reviewing your submission. Give an overview of the areas to be covered or taught. State clearly the relevance to the Wikimedia projects and whether submission concerns a specific wiki project. You may use any language, but we strongly suggest English or Chinese. Full descriptions may include a link to a full paper or slides in HTML or PDF, if available.
full name, email address, and a short bio of 1–3 sentences for each author. You may also add wiki usernames and nicknames.
the type of submission (presentation, poster, workshop, panel, BoF, artistic)
the language(s) you are going to talk in (or the language of your poster)

Please tell us with your submission whether you will attend to Wikimania (a) surely, (b) probably, (c) only if your submission is accepted, or (d) only if we provide travel and/or accommodation.

Additionally, please specify:

the target audience you are going to reach and what previous knowledge is needed
special requirements (such as equipment for a workshop or panel) if needed
images or sketches of the poster or artistic artifact if available
for panel submissions short biographies of each suggested panelist
whether the presentation is intended to be a specific length.
BoF proposals should describe the significance of and community interest in the topic, and name the proposed discussion leader(s).

For poster sessions there are additional guidelines: http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Poster_session

Please note that all submissions must be dual licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 or later and the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Submissions

Once you are sure you have included all of the required information, please send your submission by the respective deadline through our submission system:

http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submission

Please do not send submissions by email. If you need help for translating your work please visit our translation help page. Questions, but not submissions, may be directed to cfp@wikimedia.org.

What does a traffic accident in California have to do with the WTC?

2007-04-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

A section of overpass collapsed in California yesterday, the result of a gasoline tanker truck that caught on fire. The heat of the fire collapsed the section of freeway where the accident occurred.

The threat of a nightmarish morning commute led many Bay Area residents to use public transportation Monday, one day after a fiery tanker crash caused a heavily trafficked section of freeway to collapse.

Westbound traffic into the city largely flowed as usual Monday morning, except for drivers slowing on interchange lanes headed to the Bay Bridge to look at the damage.

But officials warned the afternoon drive would bring bigger headaches as traffic leaving the city is diverted away from the collapsed eastbound segment.

The elevated section of highway that carries motorists from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to a number of freeways was destroyed early Sunday when the heat of a burning gasoline tanker truck weakened part of one overpass, crumpling it onto another.

As I read this I could not help but flash back to the critics of the World Trade Center collapse who claim that the fire could not have weakened the steel structure enough to cause the building's failure.

Of course, it is easy to be a critic when you don't let the facts interfere with your prejudices.

More on Opt Out Marketing

2007-04-28T00:15:00.000-08:00

I have written before with my thoughts on opt out marketing, and I wanted to share a couple of additional examples of companies that I think are pond scum.

www.freecreditreport.com
These lovely pieces of humanity offer consumers a free copy of their credit report. Of course, in order to get the free credit report you have to sign up for their credit monitoring service. Here is their disclosure:

When you order your free report here, you will begin your free trial membership in Triple AdvantageSM Credit Monitoring. If you don't cancel your membership within the 30-day trial period, you will be billed $12.95 for each month that you continue your membership.

OK so the credit report is free, but if you don't contact them and cancel they will start charging you $12.95 a month for their service.

Instead, consumers should simply go to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and get a totally free credit report with no opt-out marketing hook.

www.bargainnetwork.com
This is a portal to two so-called free offers.

First is for Bargain Homes, which says it will let you:

View Thousands of Foreclosures and FSBOs Nationwide for FREE!

Except its terms and conditions state:

Complete the registration form and click "Submit" to activate your trial membership and take advantage of your Bargain Network Trial Membership today. To activate your 7-day trial membership you will be charged/debited a $1.00 refundable activation fee, and you can immediately take advantage of the great savings Bargain Network has to offer. After your 7-day trial period your membership continues at $9.95 per week and will be automatically charged/debited on a monthly basis on or about that same date to the credit card you provide today or from the checking account associated with the debit card you provide today at $39.80 (which will appear as two items, one for $38.80 and one for $1.00).

So the so-called free trial costs money and if you don't proactively cancel in 7 days they start billing you roughly $10 a week for their ongoing service.

They also offer Bargain Motors, which boasts the word "free" seven times on its introductory page. Do these terms and conditions look familiar:

*Offer Details: Complete the registration form and click "Submit" to activate your trial membership and take advantage of your Bargain Network Trial Membership today. To activate your 7-day trial membership you will be charged/debited a $1.00 refundable activation fee, and you can immediately take advantage of the great savings Bargain Network has to offer. After your 7-day trial period your membership continues at $9.95 per week and will be automatically charged/debited on a monthly basis on or about that same date to the credit card you provide today or from the checking account associated with the debit card you provide today at $39.80 (which will appear as two items, one for $38.80 and one for $1.00).

Oops, they forgot to change Bargain Network to Bargain Motors in the terms. Still the same deal, free is only free until they start charging you.

They also offer Bargain Shopping, which has this lovely information in its terms and conditions:

The day you ordered marks the beginning of your free trial membership and your ability to access Our Services. The length of your free trial is the one offered to you at the time of purchase, and the MEMBERSHIP FEE (which includes applicable sales tax) is the amount you agreed to pay at the time of purchase. You may have been offered, and agreed to purchase, a membership plan that did not include a free trial.
At the time of purchase you may have agreed to and been charged one or more separate one time fees such as an activation fee, enrollment or processing fee, shipping and handling, or trial period fee, as applicable.

At the time you ordered you may have been offered a continuity or a fixed term membership. If you ordered a continuity membership the MEMBERSHIP FEE is for Our Services during the period stated to you at the time of purchase and is not refundable. After the free trial, and every month thereafter until you cancel, your MEMBERSHIP FEE, or its monthly equivalent, will be automatically billed to your credit card (or debited from your checking account, if you authorized that option). You can call us at 1-800-211-0000 to cancel your continuity membership at any point and have no further obligation. Cancellations must be done by telephone.

The smart moves are as follows:

Never, ever give your credit/debit card information for a free trial. If you give your card you have basically given permission for them to charge you -- even if they say they won't. If they are not going to charge you, then why do they need your card number?
Read the terms and conditions.

This is NOT my last word on this subject.

The National Cowardice Party

2007-04-26T10:53:00.000-08:00

The cowards who lead the Democratic party have done it again -- betrayed our country and our fighting forces in an effort to extract political revenge.

From the Associated Press:

A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war.

The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president's threatened veto. Nevertheless, the legislation is the first binding challenge on the war that Democrats have managed to send to Bush since they reclaimed control of both houses of Congress in January.

The $124.2 billion bill requires troop withdrawals to begin Oct. 1, or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks. The House passed the measure Wednesday by a 218-208 vote.

The Cowards in Congress were aided by two turncoat Republicans, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, while the Party of Surrender had no one of integrity, other than former Democrat and now independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut who sided with America.

Republicans said the vote amounted to little more than political theater because the bill would be dead on arrival after reaching the White House. Bush said he will veto the bill so long as it contains a timetable on Iraq, as well as $20 billion in spending added by Democrats.

So there we have it, the high-minded Democrats pushing a pork-laden bill to cut the feet out from under our military -- but I guess they can sleep well because they got a few million extra for their constituents.

Disgusting.

J.D.'s Newest Gig!

2007-04-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

He has come full circle.

From media personality to US Congressman, J.D. Hayworth has returned to talk radio as the newest drive time talk show host on KFYI.

Congressman Hayworth has already proven himself to be an excellent on-air talk host. Twelve years after taking the oath of office as a United States Congressman, and 20 years after making his Arizona broadcasting debut, J.D. Hayworth returns to his profession in his familiar surroundings at KFYI.

It wil be good hearing JD's reasoned opinions on the way hoem from work every afternoon, and I hope that this gig is short lived as it catapult's him into the Governorship of this fine state.

The new gig starts today at 4 p.m at 550 on the AM spectrum.

Chocolate, oh chocolate!

2007-04-24T21:59:00.000-08:00

Tired of taking that expensive blod pressure medicine with all its nasty side effects? Here, have a nice chunk of dark chocolate instead.

Eating dark chocolate may be almost as effective at lowering blood pressure as taking the most common antihypertensive drugs, a review of studies has found. Tea, on the other hand, appears to be ineffective.

From more than 3,000 papers, researchers picked the largest randomized and controlled prospective studies and used statistical techniques to combine the data. The analysis included four studies of black tea, one of green tea and five of dark chocolate. It appears in the April 9 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.
Four of the five studies on chocolate found reduced blood pressure after eating, but none of the tea studies showed significant benefit. The magnitude of the effect of eating three and a half ounces of dark chocolate a day was clinically significant, comparable to that of beta-blockers like atenolol, known by the brand name Tenormin, or propranolol, known as Inderal. The authors acknowledge that the studies were short and that results may not apply to habitual use.

Honey, I'll be right back, I have to run to the store for a minute!

More EU Imagination

2007-04-24T21:53:00.000-08:00

The EU has stumbled again -- badly -- in its inability to agree upon cell phone roaming rules.

EU politicians and officials on Tuesday failed to resolve key details of a plan to cut the cost of calling abroad on cell phones, EU sources said.
Representatives of the European Parliament, the Commission and member states tried to agree the levels at which price caps should be set and whether consumers should be automatically switched to the regulated rates.
"There has been no agreement today," an EU diplomat told Reuters. "There will be a second round of talks on May 2."
The executive European Commission has promised Europeans the new rates by this summer, but the three EU bodies, heavily lobbied by industry and consumer groups, are split over the details and time is running short.

As is typical with the EU, each country is acting like a fifedom, working to protect its own interests at the expense of greater good. In addition:

Cell phone companies have opposed the planned rules, saying caps would crush investment in infrastructure and that prices are coming down in any case.As if any of the cell phone company have acted responsibly in the past.

So, my European friends, if you take your cell phone with you on holiday, be prepared to pay through the nose for any calls you make, while the European disUnion continues to play games and avoid the inevitable.

David Halberstam 1937-2007

2007-04-23T21:00:00.000-08:00

Famed reporter and Vietnam war critic David Halverstam died today in a multicar automobile accident in California.

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Halberstam, whose work for the New York Times on the Vietnam War led many to question the U.S. military presence there, died on Monday in a car crash in Northern California.

As young man in the Southeast Asian nation in the early 1960s, he was one of a small group of intrepid reporters who questioned the official Washington line that the United States was winning the war. The New York Times had to resist pressure from the Kennedy administration to take him out of the country, and he won the Pulitzer Prize at age 30.

His 1965 book "The Making of a Quagmire" described how the United States got involved in the war in 1961 and 1962 and helped link the word quagmire with the Vietnam War. In 1972 he wrote "The Best and The Brightest," which made the case the best minds in the U.S. government had engaged the country in an intractable and unwinnable war.

Recently, he drew parallels between the current U.S. war in Iraq and the past failure in Vietnam.

His writings had a profound effect on this blogger.

EU Continues to Target M$

2007-04-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Regular readers know that I can be pretty harsh with Microsoft -- it is a company that has lots its ability to be nimble and it is more interested inprotecting its franchise than in being at the forefront of innovation.

Still, the EU is acting incredibly French-like in its dealings with the Redmond giant.

The most recent report contains some startling commentary that brings into question their entire case against the company.

Last week, [Competition Commissioner Neelie] Kroes told the American Bar Association in Washington: "In 50 years of EU antitrust policy we have never before encountered a company that has refused to comply with a Commission decision."

I guess that I didn't realize that the EU had been around for 50 years. Perhaps that is part of their problem -- they seem to think that they evolved out of the ashes of WWII, when in fact they are a recent innovation that does not even represent all of Europe.

Microsoft has said it would charge for interoperability information because the data was based on the company's own innovative work and protected by patents.
But the Commission charged in March this year that competitors gave away such software whether or not it was patented.

"The Commission's current view is that there is no significant innovation in these protocols," Kroes said in March.

No significant innovation???????? No significant innovation???????? If there is no significant innocation, then why is half of Europe so intent on using and copying and competing with Microsoft products? Could it be because there are no decent operating sytems coming out of Europe?

Sort of reminds me of the Airbus consortium. Where would they have been if they did not have Boeing's market research to rely upon when they started out. Is it a coincidence that their product line almost perfectly mirrors Boeings? Oh, except for the fact that the engineers and technicians can actually create a wiring harness that works.

So back to Microsoft. Sure I hate them. There is a lot to hate -- until the cheese eaters at the EU get into the act -- then they are my best friends.

House panel approves anti-spyware bill

2007-04-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

The Energy and Commerce committee of the US House of Representatives passed a bill that they claim would help protect consumers from Spyware.

Yeah, right. This is the US House of Representatives. They are here to protect us!

"Protecting Internet users from dangerous programs that steal consumers' identities, invade their software or just plain harass them is a top priority," said Democrat John Dingell of Michigan, chairman of the full committee.
The bill would require software distributors and advertisers to clearly notify and obtain consent from consumers before their programs can be loaded onto a computer. Violators could be fined up to $3 million for each unfair or deceptive act.

What is unsaid, of course, is exactly how Representative Dingell plans to apprehend the purveyors of spyware, and how he is going to fine some company operating out of Gibraltar?

Don't get me wrong, spyware is evil and the companies that produce it need to be put out of business. The inviduals who write this stuff need to have their nether regions removed by force. Ask me how I really feel about this. Still, I am inherently suspicious of any legistion that is supported by Dingell.

A look at the committee press release is equally scary based on some of the language they use:

Today, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection approved H.R. 964, the “Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act”, by voice vote in its first bill markup of the 110th Congress. The bill, also known as the Spy Act, is designed to protect consumers from harmful and intrusive programs known as “spyware” that can harvest personal data, damage computer software and disrupt Web usage.

If passed, the Spy Act will shield Internet users from under-the-radar spyware programs that can secretly invade their computers and monitor their online activity. Some of these programs steal personally identifiable information, such as addresses, telephone numbers or even credit card account information. Other programs send repeated intrusive and aggressive advertisements, require consumers to download software or redirect users to Web pages against their will.

“An informed consumer is a powerful consumer. Too often, the average citizen is unaware of the litany of scams and con-jobs that infest the marketplace. We must stop the scourge of identity theft and related abuse. The Spy Act is a pivotal first step,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. “Data breaches continue at a rapid pace and constitute a major threat to consumers. Next month the subcommittee will examine the astonishing breach at TJX to key up this issue. We must pass comprehensive data security legislation this year.”

The TJX breach is the security failure at the parent company of retailer TJ Maxx (and others) in which a substantial number of debit and credit card numbers were compromised. Of course, when the congresscritters fail to mention is that the comany should not have been storing that information in the first place -- but we won't go there now.

My sympathies

2007-04-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

To everyone in the great state of Virginia, and to everyone in this great Nation. We are all Virginians today.

Coyotes

2007-04-14T21:42:00.000-08:00

The Coyotes just completed the worst season they have had since they moved here from Canada.

Still, the news is not all bad.

There are no Bidwell's in the ownership team.

Arizona Watch

2007-04-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite blogs, Arizona Watch, seems to have vanished.

Anyone having any knowledge as to its whereabouts is welcome to reply to this post.

I just hope it is temporary.

What do we stand for?

2007-04-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

I love living in Chandler. It is a great community, it is well managed and local government is not overly obtrusive.

However, I have noticed an alarming trend among the populus. There are against it. What exactly is it? It is whatever is being proposed.

The medical research firm Covance wants to come to town. Lead by the extremists at PETA, there is a small but vocal group opposed to the firm.
Plans are underway for a very modest increase n the runway length at the Chandler Airport. The NIMBY crowd is all up in arms, suggesting massive fireballs in neighborhood backyards if corporate jet (ooooohhhh how evil, corporate jets) will be able to take off with a bit more fuel. They seem to not notice that their neighbor who rents a Cessna 172 about one weekend a month will have a bit more runway for safety purposes.
The Gila River Indian Community plans to build a new casino on its own land near Gilbert Road and Hunt Highway and all the soccer moms are out in force trying to stop the project because it is not Family Friendly. What? All anyone is going to see is a huge parking lot and a huge building with people going in and out. No different than Intel or Motorola. Big building with no windows and lots of traffic.
Members of the Hindu faith want to build a worship temple near Dobson and Galveston and people are trying to rally support in opposition. They are opposed to the noise and traffic. Maybe they can work a swap and get the casino?
Plans are underway to put a privately owned garbage transfer station about 1 mile away from the City's own showcase site (which was the subject of much opposition) and people complaining about the trucks, the traffic, the smell, and the general idea, even though there are no trucks, no traffic and no smells.

People complain about a lack of leadership in the world today, but in a fictional series available only on the web, author Lazlo Zalezac has woven the concept of a lack of followship into several of his stories. We don't lack people who are willing and able to lead, we are lacking in people who are willing to follow without putting their own personal priorities first.

We see this in one issue voters. People will judge candidates based on one issue and one issue alone. They will vote for a Janet Napolitano or a Terry Goddard or a Harry Mitchell because their are upset that the Republican candidate is not "right" on a single issue, so will vote for their opponent "just to teach them a lesson." Some lesson. I can smell the smugness from here.

Wabid Wepublican Wecap

2007-04-11T18:17:00.000-08:00

Now we get to hear from the "rabid Republican" neighbor, who may need a permit to thin the herd of media descending upon is "slummy" property.

"I'd just like to know why she has such hard feelings to me," he said. "They say they're for poor people."

And this:

"I think she owes me an apology," he said. "And I won't feel right until I get it. If this is how they treat people in the White House, America is in for a helluva time."

The article also give great insight on how the television newsmagazines coach people:

On Tuesday, "Inside Edition" turned up.

A producer and a videographer told Johnson to go in his trailer and then come out carrying his gun. They told him to describe it as the "weapon of mass destruction" that Edwards referred to, and talk about it as "nothing more than a squirrel gun."
"This is my weapon of mass destruction," Johnson said, looking into the camera.

We can't make this stuff up!

----------
Update:
----------

The Washington Post has a "shoot them between the eyes" analysis/summary that begins thus:

When Sen. John Edwards ran for president four years ago, the North Carolina Democrat declared that President Bush had divided the nation into "two Americas ... one America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward."

Turns out that the other America lives right next door to the 28,000-square-foot, $5.3 million mansion Mr. Edwards has built near Chapel Hill, N.C.

Dose Wabid Wepublicans

2007-04-09T20:35:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Edwards is scared of the "rabid Republican" neighbor she has never met -- which might be a good thing because the wife of the presidential candidate has no plans to be nice to him in the event they do meet.

Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home -- and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.
Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way near his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person.

So let me see if I have this right. She has profiled the neighbor she has never met as rabid simply because he is Republican and owns a firearm, which he brought with him when he investigated some strangers on his property.

There is a tremendous amount of ignorance and bigotry to be exposed here, but the mainstream media will clearly ignore these comments.

Of course, if she had said that he is rabid, Republican, owns a gun, and knows Karl Rove then the alphabet soup networks would be rushing in to praise her courage and wisdom.

--------
Update 1:
--------

The Washington Times has a "get them between the eyes" analysis that begins thus:

When Sen. John Edwards ran for president four years ago, the North Carolina Democrat declared that President Bush had divided the nation into "two Americas ... one America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward."

Turns out that the other America lives right next door to the 28,000-square-foot, $5.3 million mansion Mr. Edwards has built near Chapel Hill, N.C.

-----
Update 2:
-----

Corrected the citation in Update 1; Hat tip to Donbury

A Modern Miracle

2007-04-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

It seem like it was just yesterday when I signed up to be a volunteer editor with the Open Directory Project.

It looked to be a fun activity and I figured I would contribute five or ten edits a months. Such is the addictive nature of volunteerism.

I just passed my 20,000th edit, and have added more than 8,000 unique sites to the directory.

This is a highly worthwhile activity, and if one is interested in "giving back" to the Internet, it is a great place to contribute whatever time you have to offer.

And, glutton for punishment that I am, two nights ago I finally signed up to be a volunteer editor with Wikipedia. Of course I only plan to do the occasional edit there. Heh-heh.