Snappy's Point of View

Election woes

2008-09-09T11:23:00.002-05:00

With this presidential election heating up, there will surely be one of two outcomes..... Change or more of the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs check out this video, it was cleverly done

trying to get back

2008-08-01T10:28:00.002-05:00

So, I am trying to get back in the swing of blogging. The political bandwagon, I figured I would lay off of for a while.

So last night, my daughter decided to tell me all she knew of her mother's boyfriends. That was too funny the way she explained things, I mean heck, she is only 8 1/2, lol. Anyway, the ex and I discussed, well basically, life in general. She is finally starting to calm down and not be such a patootie (grown up word, right?).

I told my daughter about this girl/woman I am seeing. She was thrilled, more so than she was about her mom dating, I really don't know why. Personally, I think she still has in the back of her mind that her mom and dad might get back together.

I am busy at work now, so I am going to get back to it.

Almost a year later

2008-07-31T14:56:00.002-05:00

Wow, what a difference a year makes, or not, depending on how you look at it.

Sadly, I am still in the trailer, but looking at an apartment to move into about September. The family life has been smoother than expected and life is finally getting back into a routine. Having no internet access at home is very inconvenient, but I am making do.

So, I have been dating this girl who is great. She is smart, funny and pretty on top of all of that. Her hair is great, and I have never been a guy who like hair, but there is something about her hair that just captivates me. We have been talking since March and had a first date in May. Last weekend I got a first kiss from her, it was unexpected but very nice. We have been just "hanging out" no pressures or expectations, and it has been very nice. Being a serial monogamist, I just never have been able to date more than one person at a time. Personally, I believe on focusing on that one person, which is tricky to explain to others who you were "hanging out" with that may have been trying for more.

I do believe she likes me as much as I like her, which is nice, but we are both still "feeling" each other out. Time just goes by too fast when I am with her. Maybe one day I will figure out how to pull a Cher, and turn back time. (groan) sorry for the bad pun. lol.

Till next time,

Snappy

More issues...

2007-08-17T11:11:00.000-05:00

Well, this "trailer life" isn't all bad, except for the odors. That's right, it stinks. I don't know if the sewage vent is stopped up or what, but last night was worse than a room full of farts. This weekend I will have to climb up top, and check the drain vent, I hope it is clogged so I can resolve this issue.

I like the privacy, and alone time, though I do not care for the schedule I am having to keep right now. I get up at 4:00, leave for work around 5:00 and don't get home until around 7:00. Doesn't leave much time for anything, but wash a few dishes, shower and maybe start a load of laundry.

I have been trying to stay on top of my laundry, because if I don't my mom does it, and I don't want her to be put out by me being there. She does enjoy me being there and I can tell.

Well, we finally got some rain last night, it was needed very much. That really helped the air conditioner not work so hard.

I am thinking about planning a trip to Japan next year by myself, and see how I can get around for a week. I think it would be an interesting adventure, plus I could go see an old high school friend.

until next time

The big D

2007-08-15T10:05:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a while since my last post, and well, things are different nowadays. I am in the process of a divorce (her choice not mine) and living by the river.

Actually, this is less stressful than I imagined it being. Don't get me wrong, this isn't fun by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not the worst thing that has happened to me.

The big thing that is killing me about where I live is there is no internet access. Well, I "could" get dial-up, but that isn't real internet access. I never really knew how dependent I have become to the internet. Kinda scary, isn't it?

My daughter seems to be getting through this o.k., she wants to live with me, but unfortunately the state probably won't go for that since there is no "bad" parent. Not that I want my ex to be a bad parent, that isn't what I meant.

Anywho, I will get back to my political views and stuff as things settle down. Heck I may just blog about this whole mess, if anyone finds it entertaining or interesting.

Kingdom of loathing. if you don't have an account, get one! it is free, fun and highly addictive, especially if you like rpg's. My character is xxxsnappyxxx.

until next time,

Snappy

I am still here...

2007-02-17T20:35:00.000-06:00

Well, I was scouring the net today, as I do daily and found a nifty article. rather than just link it, I will copy it here for you.

Stopping Junk Mail Is Easy, and Good for the Environment

By Kelli B. Grant Published: February 6, 2007

WORRIED ABOUT THE environment? Wondering what you can do to make a difference? Here's a simple solution: Eliminate junk mail.

The average American receives 11 pieces of unsolicited junk mail each week, according to the Center for a New American Dream, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting responsible consumerism. Tallied up, that bulk accounts for 100 million trees lost each year. By reducing the amount of junk mail you receive each year, you personally will save two trees and prevent some 92 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the air. (And we won't even mention the numerous trips to the chiropractor that you will have spared your mail carrier.)

All it takes is a few minutes of your time. Just follow these steps:

De-list your name
Most senders of unsolicited junk mail get your name and address from one of three sources: Abacus Catalog Alliance (catalogs), Direct Marketing Association (fliers, brochures, etc.), or the credit bureaus (credit card and insurance offers), says Paul Stephens, a policy analyst with Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer advocacy group. If you do nothing else, take the time to wipe your name from these lists. "That'll get rid of most of your junk mail," he says. Here's how to do so:

Abacus Catalog Alliance: Signing up permanently halts the catalog mailings from association members. Email optout@abacus-direct.com with your full name and current address.

Direct Marketing Association: Stops direct mail marketing from association companies for five years. There is a $1 fee. Access forms here for online or mail-in submission.

OptOutPrescreen.com: This joint venture of the three credit bureaus puts a stop to prescreened credit and insurance solicitations. Sign up to halt these mailings for five years, or stop them permanently. Call 1-888-5-OPTOUT, or fill out a form here.

Pick up the phone
Unfortunately, not every company sending junk mail your way belongs to one of these big three. Plus, companies with which you have a business relationship — from your credit-card issuer to that Internet retailer you ordered from once — can (and will) continue to send you mail. When you get a stray piece of junk, curb that initial impulse to throw it out, suggests Edgar Dworsky, editor of Consumer World a consumer resource web site. Instead, give the company's toll-free number a call and ask to be removed from the mailing list. Having the actual letter or catalog on hand may make the process easier, he says. Look for a customer number on the label, which may help the reps access your records more quickly.

While this is a good resource and a good thing to do, I will just keep sending junk mail back in the return envelopes.

2006-11-18T12:25:00.000-06:00

Well,

Yesterday afternoon we buried my grandmother. There was a great memorial service.

You know, one thing I regret is the fact that I have only seen most of the family at either funerals or weddings. I suddenly realized how it is funny that one person can be the glue for many. I am going to make a strong effort to keep in touch with more family members. There were cousins that I really like to see each time. Aunts and uncles, extended family and more. I was impressed with my second cousin who is in pre-med. Smart kid, he’s got his head screwed on straight. Much unlike the rest of us.

I woke up this morning to suffocation again. My girl likes to wake me up by holding my nose, ha ha very funny. I guess it is endearing. Anywho, I am in the process of repairing a hot water heater, I have to before the girls get home.

So next Thursday is Thanksgiving, and Tuesday, I am going to the doctor to try and get some meds for my “issue”. It is fun to sound cryptic because then most people freak out and think worst case scenario.

Anywho, I gotta get back to life.

a sad, sad day

2006-11-14T12:01:00.000-06:00

Well, the last of my grandparents died last night. My grandmother, on my father’s side, had a stroke yesterday evening, and did not recover from it. She had been suffering from emphysema, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s. I am sad and heartbroken, but more for my father than for myself.

He has been through some tough things in his life, and is a hardened man because of it. He had a less than desirable childhood, worked hard in the steel mills and even survived a deadly tumor in his brain. I won't go into all of it, but he is my hero, and I only wish I could be half as great as he is. He lost his father about two years ago and that saddened him greatly.

I just hope a brighter day comes for him soon.

May my grandmother now be at peace.

:(

Former Rep. Foley hiding Habeas Corpus for Republicans

2006-10-04T18:52:00.000-05:00

As you guys know Representative Mark Foley, republican from Florida, has resigned from his post due to innappropriate conversations with an underage page.

He has since entered himself into AA, which everyone knows cures pedophelia. The day after that he annonced that he is "gay", and that he was molested by a clergyman when he was young, but isn't using that as an excuse. Should he not wish to use either of those as an excuse why he did what he did, why even announce it. Not to mention what an insult to homosexuality that comment is, he is insinuating that if you are gay, you want to have sex with young boys.

Fox news is also stating that Foley is a democrat, not only the anchors, but the type on the pictures e.g.(D-Florida).

My biggest beef with this whole issue that America is not seeing, is the Habeas Corpus act that is burried in the media. The right to habeas corpus has been a basic part of English common law, and, later, American law, since the adoption of the Magna Carta, in 1215, which established that no one could be imprisoned on the mere say-so of the king.

The founders of the United States considered habeas corpus to be such a fundamental protection against tyranny that they enshrined it in the Constitution. Congress has expanded the right to seek habeas corpus several times, and it has never tried to take the right away. To do so now would turn our backs on our fundamental principles of justice.

The Bush administration has revoked this fundamental right for the 450 or so foreigners held at Guantanamo.

Our strength as a nation is demonstrated when we treat even our worst enemies within the rule of law.

This is the loosening of the shoestrings of America, how long will it be until we trip?

Clinton vs. Williams

2006-09-26T07:57:00.000-05:00

During last sundays broadcast of Fox News Sunday, Chris Williams interviewed former president William Jefferson Clinton. This interview turned out to be more than Chris could handle, but brought on entirely by his own poorly thought out line of questioning. I will leave my political opinions out of this and let you decide who was right and who was wrong. The right is trying to portray this as Clinton "loosing control", and the left sees this as a small victory in the media.

You know, I think I will place my opinion here. Personally, I think Clinton handled himself well. We all know the right-wing machine that is Fox News, has continually hammered not only democrats, but Clinton in particular for many years. You know he is fed up with that crap, and he is strong enough and articulate enough to take care of it. He handed Chris his ass on his own show.

Here is a transcript to read, it was on YouTube, but Fox keeps having it pulled down, and Fox also will not post the transcript on their site. Obviously, they see it as damaging to their prestigeous reputation.

CW= Chris Williams
WJC= William Jefferson Clinton

CW: When we announced that you were going to be on FOX News Sunday, I got a lot of email from viewers, and I’ve got to say, I was surprised most of them wanted me to ask you this question: Why didn’t you do more to put Bin Laden and al Qaeda out of business when you were President? There’s a new book out which I suspect you’ve read called The Looming Tower. And it talks about how the fact that when you pulled troops out of Somalia in 1993, Bin Laden said, "I have seen the frailty and the weakness and the cowardice of US troops." Then there was the bombing of the embassies in Africa and the attack on the USS Cole

WJC: Okay…

CW: …May I just finish the question, sir? And after the attack, the book says Bin Laden separated his leaders because he expected an attack and there was no response. I understand that hindsight is 20/20…

WJC: No, let’s talk about…

CW: …but the question is why didn’t you do more? Connect the dots and put them out of business?

WJC: Okay, let’s talk about it. I will answer all of those things on the merits, but I want to talk about the context (in) which this…arises. I’m being asked this on the FOX network…ABC just had a right-wing conservative on "The Path to 9/11" falsely claim that it was falsely based on the 911 Commission Report with three things asserted against me that are directly contradicted by the 9/11 Commission Report. I think it’s very interesting that all the conservative Republicans who now say that I didn’t do enough claimed (then) that I was obsessed with Bin Laden. All of President Bush’s neocons claimed that I was too obsessed with finding Bin Laden when they didn’t have a single meeting about Bin Laden for the nine months after I left office. All the right-wingers who now say that I didn’t do enough said (then) that I did too much. Same people.

They were all trying to get me to withdraw from Somalia in 1993, the next day after we were involved in Black Hawk Down. And I refused to do it and stayed
six months and had an orderly transfer to the UN. Okay, now let’s look at all the criticisms: Black Hawk Down, Somalia. There is not a living soul in the world who thought that Bin Laden had anything to do with Black Hawk Down or was paying any attention to it or even knew al Qaeda was a growing concern in October of 1993.

CW: I understand…

WJC: No wait…no wait…don’t tell me. You asked me why I didn’t do more to Bin Laden. There was not a living soul…all the people who criticized me wanted to leave the next day. You brought this up, so you get an answer.

CW: I’m perfectly happy to. Bin Laden says…

WJC: And secondly…

CW: Bin Laden says…

WJC: Bin Laden may have said that…

CW: Bin Laden says it showed the weakness of the U.S. …

WJC: It would have shown the weakness if we left right away, but he wasn’t involved in that. That’s just a bunch of bull. That was about Mohammed Adid, a Muslim warlord murdering…thousand Pakistani Muslim troops. We were all there on a humanitarian mission. We had not one mission - none - to establish a certain kind of Somali government or to keep anybody out. He was not a religious fanatic.

CW: But Mr. President…

WJC: There was no al Qaeda…

CW: …with respect, if I may, instead of going through ‘93…

WJC: You asked, you. It (was) you (who) brought it up.

CW: May I ask a general question that you can answer? The 9/11 Commission, which you talk about–and this is what they did say–not what ABC pretended they said…

WJC: Wait, wait…

CW: …They said about you and 43 and I quote, "The U.S. government took the threat seriously, not in the sense of mustering anything like that would be….to confront an enemy of the first, second or third rank"…

WJC: That’s not true with us and Bin Laden…

CW: …the 9/11 Commission says…

WJC: Let’s look at what Richard Clarke says. You think Richard Clarke had a vigorous attitude about Bin Laden?

CW: Yes, I do.

WJC: You do?

CW: I think he has a variety of opinions and loyalties, but yes.

WJC: He has a variety of opinion and loyalties now but let’s look at the facts. He worked for Ronald Reagan; he was loyal to him. He worked for George H.W. Bush and he was loyal to him. He worked for me and he was loyal to me. He worked for President Bush; he was loyal to him. They downgraded him and the terrorist operation. Now, look what he said. Read his book and read his factual assertions - not opinions–assertions. He said we took "vigorous action" after the African embassies. We probably nearly got Bin Laden.

CW: [..]

WJC: Now, wait a minute…

CW: …cruise missiles…

WJC: I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him. The CIA was run by George Tenet, who President Bush gave the Medal of Freedom to and said he did a good job. The country never had a comprehensive anti-terror operation until I came to office. If you can criticize me for one thing, you can criticize me for this: after the Cole, I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and launch a full scale attack/search for Bin Laden. But we needed basing rights in Uzbekistan, which we got (only) after 9/11. The CIA and the FBI refused to certify that Bin Laden was responsible while I was there. They refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred Special Forces in helicopters and refuel at night. Even the 9/11 Commission didn’t do (think we should have done) that. Now the 9/11 Commission was a political document, too? All I’m asking is if anybody wants to say I didn’t do enough, you read Richard Clarke’s book.

CW: Do you think you did enough, sir?

WJC: No, because I didn’t get him.

CW: Right…

WJC: But at least I tried. That’s the difference in me and some, including
all the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for
trying. They had eight months to try and they didn’t. I tried. So I tried
and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and
the best guy in the country: Dick Clarke.

So you did FOX’s bidding on this show. You did you nice little conservative hit job on me. But what I want to know..

CW: Now wait a minute, sir…

WJC: [..]

CW: I asked a question. You don’t think that’s a legitimate question?

WJC: It was a perfectly legitimate question. But I want to know how many
people in the Bush administration you’ve asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked ‘Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole?’ I want to know how many you asked ‘Why did you fire Dick Clarke?’ I want to know…

CW: We asked…

WJC: [..]

CW: Do you ever watch FOX News Sunday, sir?

WJC: I don’t believe you ask them that.

CW: We ask plenty of questions of…

WJC: You didn’t ask that, did you? Tell the truth.

CW: About the USS Cole?

WJC: Tell the truth…

CW: I…with Iraq and Afghanistan, there’s plenty of stuff to ask.

WJC: Did you ever ask that? You set this meeting up because you were going to get a lot of criticism from your viewers because Rupert Murdoch is going to get a lot of criticism from your viewers for supporting my work on Climate Change. And you came here under false pretenses and said that you’d spend half the time talking about…

CW: [laughs]

WJC: You said you’d spend half the time talking about what we did out there to raise $7 billion plus over three days from 215 different commitments. And you don’t care.

CW: But, President Clinton…

WJC: [..]

CW: We were going to ask half the [interview time] about it. I didn’t think this was going to set you off on such a tear.

WJC: It set me off on such a tear because you didn’t formulate it in an honest way and you people ask me questions you don’t ask the other side.

CW: Sir, that is not true…

WJC: …and Richard Clarke…

CW: That is not true…

WJC: Richard Clarke made it clear in his testimony…

CW: Would you like to talk about the Clinton Global Initiative?

WJC: No, I want to finish this.

CW: All right…

WJC: All I’m saying is you falsely accuse me of giving aid and comfort to Bin Laden because of what happened in Somalia. No one knew al Qaeda existed then…

CW: Did they know in 1996, when he declared war on the U.S.? Did no one know in 1998…

WJC: Absolutely, they did.

CW: …when they bombed the two embassies?

WJC: [..]

CW: Or in 2000, when they hit the Cole?

WJC: What did I do? I worked hard to try and kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still President, we’d have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him. Now I never criticized President Bush, and I don’t think this is useful. But you know we do have a government that thinks Afghanistan is 1/7 as important as Iraq. And you ask me about terror and Al Qaeda with that sort of dismissive theme when all you have to do is read Richard Clarke’s book to look at what we did in a comprehensive, systematic way to try to protect the country against terror. And you’ve got that little smirk on your face. It looks like you’re so clever…

CW: [Laughs]

WJC: I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get Bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try. And I did everything I thought I responsibly could. The entire military was against sending Special Forces into Afghanistan and refueling by helicopter and no one thought we could do it otherwise. We could not get the CIA and the FBI to certify that al Qaeda was responsible while I was President. [Not] until I left office. And yet I get asked about this all the time and they had three times as much time to get him as I did and no one ever asks them about this. I think that’s strange.

CW: Can I ask you about the Clinton Global Initiative?

WJC: You can.

CW: I always intended to, sir.

WJC: No, you intended to move your bones by doing this first. But I don’t mind people asking me. I actually talked to the 9/11 Commission for four hours and I told them the mistakes I thought I made. And I urged them to make those mistakes public because I thought none of us had been perfect. But instead of anybody talking about those things. I always get these clever little political…where they ask me one-sided question. It always comes from one source. And so…

CW: [..]

WJC: And so…

CW: I just want to ask you about the Clinton Global Initiative, but what’s
the source? You seem upset…

WJC: I am upset because…

CW: …and all I can say is, I’m asking you in good faith because it’s on people’s minds, sir. And I wasn’t…

WJC: There’s a reason it’s on people’s minds. That’s the point I’m trying to make. There’s a reason it’s on people’s minds because they’ve done a serious disinformation campaign to create that impression. This country only has one person who has worked against terror…[since] under Reagan. Only one: Richard Clarke. And all I’d say [to] anybody who wonders whether we did wrong or right; anybody who wants to see what everybody else did, read his book. The people on my political right who say I didn’t do enough, spent the whole time I was president saying ‘Why is he so obsessed with Bin Laden?’ And that was ‘Wag the Dog’ when he tried to kill him. My Republican Secretary of Defense, - and I think I’m the only person since WWII to have a Secretary of Defense from the opposition party - Richard Clarke, and all the intelligence people said that I ordered a vigorous attempt to get Osama Bin Laden and came closer apparently than anybody has since.

CW: All right…

WJC: And you guys try to create the opposite impression when all you have to do is read Richard Clarke’s findings and you know it’s not true. It’s just not true. And all this business about Somalia – the same people who criticized me about Somalia were demanding I leave the next day. Same exact crowd.

CW: One of the…

WJC: So if you’re going to do this, for God’s sake, follow the same standards for everybody.

CW: I think we do, sir.

WJC: Be fair.

CW: I think we do. One of the main parts of the Global Initiative this year is religious reconciliation. President Bush says that the fight against Islamic extremism is the central conflict of the century and his answer is promoting democracy and reform. Do you think he has that right?

WJC: Sure. To advocate democracy and reform in the Muslim world? Absolutely. I think the question is: What’s the best way to do it? I think also the question is how do you educate people about democracy? Democracy is about way more than majority rule. Democracy is about minority rights, individual rights, restraints on power. And there’s more than one way to advance democracy. But do I think on balance, that in the end, after several bouts of instability, do I think it would be better if we had more freedom and democracy? Sure, I do. …[Do I think] the president has a right to do it? Sure, I do. But I don’t think that’s all we can do in the Muslim world. I think they have to see us try to get a just and righteous peace in the Middle East. They have to see us as willing to talk to people who see the world differently than we do.

CW: Last year at this conference you got $2.5 billion in commitments, pledges. How did you do this year?

WJC: Well, this year we had $7.3 billion, as of this morning.

CW: 7…Excuse me…

WJC: $7.3 billion, as of this morning. $3 billion of that is…that’s over a multi-year [commitment]. These are at most 10-year commitments. That came from Richard Branson’s commitment to give all his transportation profits to clean energy investments. But still that’s over $4 billion [raised excluding Branson’s donation]. And we will have another 100 commitments and probably raise another billion dollars. We have a lot of commitments still in process.

CW: When you look at the $3 billion from Branson, plus billions that Gates is giving and Warren Buffet, what do you make of this age of philanthropy?

WJC: I think that for one thing, really rich people have always given money away. They’ve endowed libraries and things like that. The unique thing about this age is first of all, you have a lot of people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who are interested in issues around the world that grow out of the nature of the 21st century and its inequalities - the income inequalities, the education inequalities, the health care inequalities. You get a guy like Gates who built Microsoft and he actually believes that he can help overcome all of the health disparities in the world. That’s the first thing. Second thing, there are a lot of people with average incomes who are joining me because of the Internet. Take the tsunami, for example. We had $1.3 billion given….by [average income] households. The third things you have all these NGOs [non-governmental organizations] that you can partner with along with the government. So all these things together mean that people with real money [can contribute] in ways that help people that before would have been only the object of government grants and loans.

CW: I know we’re over, but can I ask you two political questions? Let’s talk
some politics. In that same New Yorker article, you say you’re tired of Karl
Rove’s BS. I’m cleaning up what you said.

WJC: I also say I’m not tired of Karl Rove. I don’t blame Karl Rove. If you’ve got a deal that works, you just keep on doing it.

CW: So what is the BS?

WJC: Well, every even number year–right before an election–they come up with some security issue. In 2000, right before the election. In 2002, our party supported them in undertaking weapon inspections in Iraq and were 100% behind them in Afghanistan and they didn’t have any way to make us look like we didn’t care about terror. And so they decided they would [push] the Homeland Security bill that they opposed and they put some pill in it that we wouldn’t pass–like taking the job rights away from 170,000 people–and then [they could] say that we were weak on terror if we weren’t for it. This year I think they wanted to make the question of prisoner treatment and intercepted communications the same sort of issue until John Warner came and Lindsey Graham got in there and it turns out there were some Republicans who believe in the Constitution and their convictions…some ideas about how best to fight terror.

As long as the American people believe that we take this seriously and we may have our differences over Iraq, but I think we’ll do fine this election.

Even if they agree with us about the Iraq war, we could be hurt by Karl Rove’s new foray if we don’t make it clear that we care about the security of this country. We want to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations, which they haven’t [done] in four years. We want to [..] Afghanistan against Bin Laden. We want to make America more energy-independent. If they want to talk about Iraq, say what they really want about Iraq.

But Rove is good and [that is] why I honor him. I’ve always been amused by how good he is. But on the other hand, this is perfectly predictable. We’re going to win a lot of seats if the American people aren’t afraid. If they’re afraid and we get divided again, then we’ll only win a few seats.

CW: Do you think the White House and the Republicans want to make the American people afraid?

WJC: Of course they do. They want another Homeland Security bill and they want to make it not about Iraq but some other security issue, where if we disagree with them, we are by definition endangering the security of the country. And it’s a big load of hooey. We’ve got nine Iraq war veterans running for House seats. President Reagan’s Secretary of the Navy is the Democratic candidate for Senate in Virginia. A three-star admiral who was on my NSC staff - who also fought terror, by the way - is running for the seat of Curt Weldon in Pennsylvania. We’ve got a huge military presence in this campaign and you can’t let them have some rhetorical device that puts us in a box that we don’t belong in.

That’s their job. Their job is to beat us. But our job is to not let them get away with it and if we don’t, we’ll be fine.

CW: Mr. President, thank you for one of the more unusual interviews.

WJC: I promise you, I was not trying to [..].

Mr. Clinton, in my opinion, was the best president we have had since Roosevelt. Roosevelt helped the average person, and so di Clinton. He is the first president that I thought it a shame that he was restricted to two terms. Just imagine how well off our economy would be at this point had he stayed for two more terms.

Wow, just wow.

Congress rushes to 'secure the border'

2006-09-25T10:32:00.001-05:00

Instead of negotiating a broader immigration law, lawmakers seek to boost enforcement a bit at a time.
By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer
Published September 25, 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON - Congress will avoid tackling major immigration reform this fall and instead will try to limit political damage to members in the November election by boosting enforcement along the border.

Lawmakers are reconsidering some of the same security proposals they looked at earlier this session but will forgo any decisions on citizenship for the nation's 12-million illegal immigrants.

As they head into the final week before their pre-election recess, they will continue to debate proposals to construct 700 miles of fences, increase criminal penalties for smugglers and allow "dangerous" illegal immigrants to be held for months at a time, among others.

Late last week, the House passed three border enforcement bills. The Senate is expected to vote on the fence bill as early as today. If it passes, it will go to President Bush, who said he will sign it into law.

"The state of our borders is a security crisis," House Speaker Dennis Hastert said. "The American people want ... immediate, targeted legislation specifically designed to secure the border, protect our homeland and vigorously enforce our immigrants laws."

A failure to complete what was expected to be landmark immigration reform would be a blow to the Republican-controlled Congress, Bush - who had made the issue his top domestic priority this year - and supporters, who had seen enormous momentum this year.

Only months ago, a congressional debate on immigration helped create an atmosphere of emergency that galvanized the nation and led to huge marches and a nationally televised address by the president.

"What an amazing year," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. "The president and the Senate and the public agree to a historic solution to a problem, and House Republicans vote for a fence? Oh, my God."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who supported a broader approach, said it would be "next to impossible" to finish the bill before November. Bush reiterated his support for a comprehensive solution to the immigration problem recently but said he was not sure when it would happen.

"I don't know the timetable," he said. "My answer is as soon as possible."

Critics accuse House leaders of avoiding a contentious issue that divides Republicans while still trying to show that they accomplished something before heading home to a difficult election that could cost the GOP control of Congress.

"The House Republican majority ... is engaging in a cynical charade that is designed to do one thing: score a cheap political point that can be demagogued in a 30-second campaign ad," said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the second-ranking Democrat in the House.

For a while it seemed that a new proposal by Rep. Mike Pence, a leading conservative Republican from Indiana, could have been the much-needed compromise.

Despite a visit to the White House and growing enthusiasm for his proposal - a guest worker program for illegal immigrants if they go back to their home countries and return to the United States legally - House leaders will not consider anything now but enforcement.

Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for Numbers USA, a group that supports enforcement and not citizenship, called the House proposals "common-sense, good measures."

"They don't have a lot of choice," she said. "They are not going to be re-elected if they go for what's being called comprehensive reform."

Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican who helped write a more comprehensive bill that has now been set aside, said he still supports the earlier approach and is hoping House members will eventually take it up.

"I am concerned," Martinez said. "In the more sober moments I think they know that comprehensive reform is the only answer to securing the border. ... Some may be intractable, and others are willing to talk."

Over the last year, Congress debated the most sweeping immigration legislation in two decades, but lawmakers remain divided on key issues, including what to do about the 12-million illegal immigrants already in the United States.

In December, the House passed a bill that focuses on increasing border security and other enforcement measures, but offers no way for illegal immigrants to become citizens. In May, the Senate approved a more comprehensive bill that would provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, expend guest worker programs and increase security.

The two sides were expected to begin forging a compromise in the summer but congressional leaders refused to appoint negotiators.

Instead, the House took the unusual approach of holding hearings around the nation to find out what the American people thought of the Senate bill. After 22 hearings in 13 states, the House once again declared the Senate bill flawed.

"While there must be a comprehensive approach to immigration, securing our borders is the first and most pressing problem demanding our attention and action," said Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow, the fifth-highest ranking Republican in the House who was in charge of getting feedback from the hearings.

Critics said the hearings were stacked with witnesses who were biased toward the House bill and declared the hearings a sham.

An early sign of trouble: House leaders referred to the Senate bill using the names of Democrats Harry Reid and Edward Kennedy even though many Republicans including Frist support it and it was written by Republicans - Martinez and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

In the past two weeks, the House has passed four bills including one that would mandate construction of more than 700 miles of fencing.

Cecilia Munoz, a vice president at the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group, described the latest move as an "attempt by the House to ram through its enforcement-only agenda after playing games this summer."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican who voted against most of the House proposals, said he hopes Congress will consider a more comprehensive bill later in the year.

"In order to secure a border, we need to have a bill that deals with it in a comprehensive fashion," he said. "I want a bill that really tries to solve the problem."

I found this on the St.Petersburg Times website, and it is interesting to me. The politicians are in a rush to block the Mexican border, but what about the Canadian border. We can have Arab companies own our port s, we can allow free flow of citizens from Canada, but no Mexican's? This is just assinine. I truly believe this is legislation for legislation sake.

Mexican imigration is a problem, but for the Mexicans. Many "entrepreneurs" and businesses hire the cheap labor off of the books, and take advantage of the situation. Had these businesses paid the proper taxes on the labor, there would not be near the jobs for the people to compete for more cheaply.

A great example is here in Alabama. I work with a legal immigrant from Mexico, his name is Renee. He also works the weekends for local "farmers" at a rate of $8.00 per hour. This is hard labor, not just putting around in a farm truck drinking beer. He was asked by his employer to bring two other Mexican's for the same rate. When he did, his employer was furious that they did not speak English. Of course, when some one doesn't speak english, you only have to yell louder for them to understand, right? Well, he was explained that he could get Mexican's that spoke english, but at a higher pay rate. This was unacceptable to him.

This same "farmer" is an outspoken republican against illegal immigrants. This just shows how it is a topic of convenience. As long as people can benefit from others misfortune and ignorance, they will.

I say leave the border open, and penalize businesses cought with illegal labor. Pay proper wages, and the taxes that go along with them. Hell, these same politicians don't have a problem sending our jobs to other countries, why do they have a problem with Mexican's taking jobs here?

Kruti’s magic woos children in China

2006-08-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me, or of me, know that I like magic. Heck, who doesn't like magic. This is an inspiring article I ran across while looking at an Asian website.

Beijing, August 8, 2006

India’sfirst test tube baby is creating magic, literally. Kruti Parekh, alsoIndia’s top woman magician, created an illusionary world for childrenand adults alike in China with a magic show where elephants vanishedinto thin air, people were beheaded, and paper recycled after beingeaten.
With intonations like ‘Sim Silabi Fu Fu Fu,’ Parekh, one ofthe world’s youngest and rare woman magicians, entertained children inTanjin, in north east China when she performed at the 2006International Children’s Culture and Art Festival.
I really had agood time with children in Tianjin where they enjoyed my magic shows,”Kruti said on her maiden visit to China. In the process, Kruti said shealso fulfilled one of her ambitions — to perform in China. Apart fromTianjin, she also performed in Shanghai, China’s eastern metropoliswhere the Indian community arranged a show.
“I was yearning toperform in China and Canada, the two countries where I have not got anopportunity to display my talents. Now I have fulfilled my dream ofperforming in China,” a visibly thrilled Kruti said. “I was the onlyforeign artist who was allowed to have two one-hour shows in Tianjin,which was appreciated by the audience, mostly children,” theMumbai-based magician said.
Kruti, who has just completed herengineering, successfully read the mind of three Indian diplomats,including Indian ambassador to China, Nalin Surie at a magic show heldat the Indian Embassy.

been a while...

2006-07-14T10:43:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy, but there have been a few things that have happened that were neat. First off, I got season passes for my family at a local theme park, Alabama Adventure. The best money I have spent, not only is it a fun park, it is growing and there is a lot of improvements that we will get to see happen. I do not mean that sarcasticaly.

I also have gotten an Xbox 360, and this is the neatest platform I have e ever owned. I still use the other platforms I have occasionally, but the 360 has by far taken the lead.

Business has been good, and I am getting into investments through stocks. I have gotten sick of not having money, so I am taking steps to generate more revenue.

Anywho, while playing the Xbox the other night, my 6 year old was playing with me. We were playing the game Amped, not only did she beat my high score, but she beat two other online players. This is only neat due to the fact it was only her second time playing the Xbox. I was impressed, though she hasn't backed up that performance, it was neat to see.

Mr. Popularity

2006-05-15T20:30:00.000-05:00

As of right now, 8:06 May 15, 2006 President Bush’s approval rating is at a dismal 29%. Up until now, I have been fairly reserved on my rants, so here it goes. This is the worst president in the history of the country! The national deficit is about to hit 1 quadrillion dollars! That is 1000 trillion dollars, holy shit. The budget is screwed up completely, this man hasn’t vetoed a single spending bill, and is still trying to pass more tax cuts faster than you can scream “Fiscal Rape!”
The supply side economics, or the “trickle down” theory as it is known, is in full swing, my friends, this is the economy of the eighties. Does the workingman have it good? You bet we do. Higher gas prices, higher interest rates, more expensive food, lower pay increases and even higher jobless rates. But wait, don’t look at that, we have to help the rich, because then they can invest in the workers. You know what? It don’t Fuckin’ work that way, never has, never will, it is only a theory. The only way for it to work is to eliminate greed, and that will not happen. The rich business owner will try and recuperate his losses before he even thinks about helping the workers any more. Hell, I haven’t had anything higher than a 2% raise in 6 years, and that doesn’t include two years of pay freezes.

This president is a complete and utter failure, and a joke. He campaigned on opening the borders with Mexico, and just tonight, he had a special address to his minions about “tougher border restrictions”.

Here is my beef and complaint. All through the nineties we heard the Republicans “bitching” about the “tax and spend” democrats, damn liberals giving everything away, and how the Republicans were fiscally responsible. Here we are 6 some odd years later, and what have the goddamn republicans proved. They took over with a balanced budget, hell a budget surplus even, and a national debt of 3 trillion dollars, which would have been nearly gone by now, had the plan stayed the course. The Republicans took over all three branches of government, the Judicial, Congressional and Executive. And from day one the first thing that was announced was to give people the surplus of the budget. Tax breaks for everyone, and even started a war on what is now learned as complete lies, and fictitious information. The NSA is illegally spying on our phone conversations, but that’s ok, G.W. gave the O.K.

I am sick of this shit, and this man should be impeached, hell Clinton was impeached for a blowjob, so should the unlawful slaughter of our own citizens be any lighter? But if we impeach Bush, what the fuck are we stuck with, Cheney? Hell he’s the brains of the outfit anyway..

All I am saying is, if we are in Iraq for any reason other than what has been told to us, at least be honest, not a sham. We as hard working Americans deserve that. Hell we will let you piss away money, that has been proven, but don’t lie to us as to how you piss it away.

Retirement? hardly...

2006-05-03T10:07:00.000-05:00

The Guardian, a British news source, has released an interesting article on our retirement system. The article staes that Social Security will be tapped out in 2040, one year sooner than predicted, and Medicare much sooner.

Politicians, the republican politicians mostly, have assed up this system. I know president Kennedy was the firstto make the social security surplus a presidential "loan office", but over the years, due to fiscal irresponsibility, politicians have allowed this to happen. I don't have a huge problem with the fact that it has happened, but more in the fact that noone is doing anything to fix it, or change spending habits. Noone could live the way the U.S. government is living. No household budget could stand it. That my friend is where the problem is. The fact that the government is trying to be a "yuppie", and spend like they will get the money tomorrow, rather than budget what they already have.

Another problem I have is, the money we are forced to pay into Social Security and Medicare will never be refunded to us. The thousands of dollars that each individual has to pay annuall, heck, over a lifetime, will be lost to poor management, innadequate legislation and even ignorant laws. The problem, as I see it, is that the system was innacted by a Democratic even Liberal President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Then over time the opposing party chips away at prior acheivments, if you want to call it that, of the prior sitting administration. In essence you have a catfight between opposing parties, and the only looser is the general public. For years the Republican's have been preaching privitized retirement, but have never stated what will happen to all of the lost money. A 401K, 403B or even a Roth IRA is privatized retirement.

The purpose of Social Security is to help the economy when times get tough, and since times haven't been tough for over 60 years, not many people remember what it is like to truly be broke. This goes for the politicians as well. During the great depression of the 30's times were truly tough, and many had nothing, literally millions lost their homes, could not feed their families, a great depression in every sense of the word. So Roosevelt created and enacted the WPA as well as Social security, The WPA gave people work, and the Social Security forced people to save, because lets face it, American's aren't good savers even when we do have money. The problem came in the 60's when a generation that hadn't relly known hard times came up and saw the excess in the SS fund, and decided it would be wise to borrow against that. Heck it wouldn't even show up in the budget, almost like free money. Then as administrations came and went this practice was slowly perverted and finally, it was out of hand, and we now have too few dollars to provide the coverage it was intended for.

Had the fund been left alone, everything would be fine, but politicians seem to make legislation and rules for the now, not the future. Not only do they seem to ignore the consequences, they also don't seem to anticipate a worst case scenario to plan for.

The average american has less than 20,000 dollars saved for retirement. This is not a good sign, especially since we are supposedly one of the richest nations in the world. What is wrong with this picture?

Oil, what oil?

2006-05-02T09:28:00.001-05:00

Anna Nicloe has won the right to fight for her half of her late husbands estate. I realize that she is more importantly, in a fight with the son of her late husband. Money brings out the worst in people, especially money you don't have to earn. Sad, sad situation.

In other news, Republicans pull tax plan, hurriedly and are scrambling to come up with a bill that is NOT opposed by the Oil Industry executives. Who can blame them, I mean the citizens are trying to crucify these companies for making a profit. What is wrong with a company making a profit? The answer is, it depends on at what costs the profits are made.

The Bush family was involved in the oil industry as early as 1953 with Zapata Petroleum, then in '53 a subsidary Zapata Offshore was created. Move on to 1955 with Permago, then on to 1978 with the infamu Arbusto Energy. Then in 1982 there was Bush Exploration Oil Company, which partnered with Spectrum 7. In 1983 JNB Explorations (Neil Bush). 1986 the affiliation to Harken Energy begins and finally Apex Energy in 1989.

Why does the administration comply with the oil industry? I have no idea.

McClellan Resigns

2006-04-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

Well the press secretary, Scott McClellan , has resigned. In the wake of this administration, a lot of positions have been resigned as of late. The question that arises is, What do these people know that we don’t know. We can speculate scenarios, but we truly don’t know.

With the Republican party having a lot of members speaking out against the administration, and obviously, the Democrats against them, it does make me wonder if an impeachment is on the horizon. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, has had a lot of opposition, the Vice President, also has had a lot of people speak out about him, and don’t forget the Rove/Lewis scandal. One thing I do know for a fact, this is a big mess, and the façade can only last so long.

The President announced today that "failure is not an option" in Iraq, when and where is it an option. When people fail at something, it is not because they planned it, but because they had a poor plan. The fact is, it IS that simple. There were lies to get the war started, there were lies to continue the war, and when they were being exposed they broke the law to try and destroy the ones who opposed them.

My own opinion, I don’t believe that Bush has as much of a hand in this other than being the head of the beast. I know this sounds bad, but I don’t think he has made any of the decisions that lead to all of this. He let his Secretary of Defense, and Vice President do their jobs. That is what I believe, I mean this president hasn’t vetoed a single spending bill since he came into office, he sure as hell isn’t going to tell Cheney or Rumsfeld no.

And ANWR, oh my god, everyone wants to drill there, and accuse the Democrats for blocking. Here are the facts, Republican’s can pass whatever they truly want, they are majority in all three branches of government, judicial, legislative and executive. The fact about ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Alaska, for those who aren’t up on it) is that on loose estimates, there are only 30 years worth of oil there, some say 5 or less. One report is the amount of barrels in ANWR equal 6 months of oil use in the U.S. total. This is not just for gasoline, but for producing bottles to toilet paper. Of the oil imported 60 percent is used for producing gasoline.
Why is oil so valuable? Quite simply one barrel of oil equals 25000 man hours of work. A good example is this. An American coal miner can retreive in one day what it takes 25 men in China to retrieve. Does Electricity and fuel for machinery help, hell yeah, is it profitable and valuable, hell yeah. Is Anwr and option, no. Plain and simple, the detractors outweigh the benefits. O.K. say you get the oil, what do you do in 30 years? You are back at square one. People need to think about tomorrow, and not worry about today.

Skilling getting a grilling

2006-04-18T07:52:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey Skilling is getting grilled on the stand in the wake of the Enron collapse. He has been asked several direct and pointed questions, and seems to be trapped. This should be a lesson to all people in position of power that you have to answer for all you do. Whether it be good or bad, you have to answer.

I hate it for his family, but he should have thought of all of the consequences. Unfortunately, the temptation is too much for some.

I hope I am never faced with temptations that could affect others in a negative way. Not that I am afraid I would make the wrong decision, but more thatI hope things get better.

Tax refunds, yippee

2006-04-16T01:17:00.000-05:00

Maybe, Rep. Gary G. Miller, R-Calif, is submitting a bill April 27.

First let me “school” you a little. Back in 1898 the government needed a little help paying for the war (yes even back then the government was finding creative was to obtain money.), and the solution was an excise tax on long distance telephone calls. Three percent to be exact, and it has been that since 1898. This tax has been collected for One hundred and eight years. I think it is safe to say that particular war is paid for. Here is where we get tax dollars back. Somewhere around 3 years ago, the phone companies started offering minutes in block plans, not based upon distance, as the prices had been calculated on up until the nineties. The tax is based upon distance, so when this changed, we have been unfairly taxed.

Now the government is going to refund the money, to the tune of 15 billion dollars over the span. How can the money be refunded without having our children pay? Here is the “plan” as I see it. Say you spend $100 a month on long distance fees. You would get $36 dollars back for that year, $108 for the last three years.

This will not benefit the average citizen as it would the big businesses, but it is a fair dismantling, jut not worth the hassle to get less than $30 bucks back for the 3-year span. I believe the average person will just let it go. As for businesses, they already have accountants that should be on top of this.

How to claim a refund of the telephone excise tax:
* Use IRS Form 8849, Claim for Refund of Excise Taxes.
* Include this information in Schedule 6 (Other Claims): The legal basis of the claim, noting that the distance charges don't apply.
* State what's paid each month in phone excise taxes.
* Include telephone bill copies or a note saying the bills are available upon request.
Source: Stephen D. Kirkland, accountant with Moore Kirkland & Beauston LLP in Columbia, S.C.

Beyond Good and Evil

2006-04-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

Those of us who have a different belief, who do not consider the democratic movement merely a degenerate form of political organization but a degenerate form of humanity, that is, as something that diminishes humanity, makes it mediocre and of lesser worth, where must we reach out to with our hopes?

There's no choice: we must reach for new philosophers, for spirits strong and original enough to provide the stimuli for an opposing way of estimating value and to re-evaluate and invert "eternal values," for those sent out as forerunners, for men of the future who at the present time take up the compulsion and the knot which forces the will of the millennia into a new path. To teach man the future of humanity as his will, as dependent on a man's will, and to prepare for great exploits and comprehensive attempts of discipline and cultivation, so as to put an end to that horrifying domination of nonsense and contingency which up to now has been called "history"—the nonsense of the "greatest number" is only its latest form. For that some new form of philosophers and commanders will at some point be necessary, at the sight of which all hidden, fearsome, and benevolent spirits on earth may well look pale and dwarfish. The image of such a leader is what hovers before our eyes: may I say that out loud, you free spirits?

The conditions which we must partly create and partly exploit for the origin of these leaders, the presumed ways and trials thanks to which a soul might grow to such height and power to feel the compulsion for these tasks, a revaluation of value under whose new pressure and hammer a conscience would be hardened, a heart transformed to bronze, so that it might endure the weight of such responsibility and, on the other hand, the necessity for such leaders, the terrifying danger that they might not appear or could turn degenerate—those are our essential worries and gloom. Do you know that, you free spirits? Those are the heavy distant thoughts and thunderstorms which pass over the heaven of our lives.

There are few pains as severe as having once seen, guessed, and felt how an extraordinary man goes astray and degenerates: someone who has the rare eye for the overall danger that "man" himself is degenerating, someone who, like us, has recognized the monstrous accident which has played its game up to this point with respect to the future of humanity—a game in which there is no hand and not even a "finger of god" playing along!—someone who guesses the fate which lies in the idiotic innocence and the blissful trust in "modern ideas," and even more in the entire Christian-European morality, such a man suffers from an anxiety which cannot be compared with any other—with one look, in fact, he grasps what still might be cultivated in man, given a favourable combination and increase of powers and tasks; he knows with all the knowledge of his conscience how the greatest possibilities for man are still inexhaustible and how often the type man has already stood up to mysterious decisions and new paths: he knows even better, from his own painful memory, what wretched things have so far usually broken apart a being of the highest rank, shattered him, sunk him, and made him pathetic.

The overall degeneration of man, down to what nowadays shows up as the socialist fool and flat head, as their "man of the future," as their ideal—this degeneration and diminution of man to a perfect herd animal (or, as I put it, to a man of "free society"), this beastialization of man into a dwarf animal of equal rights and claims is possible—no doubt of that. Anyone who has once thought this possibility through to the end understands one more horror than the remaining men—and perhaps a new task, as well! . . ..

This is one of my favorite passages by Friederich Nietzche from the book Beyond Good and Evil. I have re-read this book many times since I first acquired it in 1990. Not that I whole-heartedly agree with everything this philosopher wrote, but he helped open my mind tremendously. When I first read this book, I was a staunch right wing, bigot and racist. By reading a lot of his ideals I learned to see from the other persons perspective. Ironically, and I remember this vividly, it was his views on women that changed me. He believed that women should have no rights, and should be treated as secondary in society and live in the shadow of men. This did not sound right to me, I mean, if I were in their shoes, and not to mention, is my mother less important than my father?

So, as I started pondering status in society, I realized that these views were very myopic, and selfish. Oddly enough, Nietzsche is a Marxist, pretty much socialism, but down on women. These views that I started to see as wrong, I had to admit were my own also. I then started to change. No more Rush Limbaugh, No more Ken Hamblin, no more a.m. talk radio. But I had one huge hurdle, where could I find media on the other views, the views that represented what I was thinking. There was none around my area, and I did not get on the Internet for another seven years.

I immersed myself into Philosophy: Voltaire, Plato, Aristotle, Ayn Rand, Nietzsche, Socrates, John Stuart Mill, and others. These people really inspired me to really think, not only of my actions and words, but repercussions of what my come about from my actions and words.

These people can fix most of the world’s problems, by their lessons, and by their examples. The best-kept secrets are written in books, you just have to find them.
Until I die, I will keep searching for the wisdom to pass to my daughter, to help her with what she needs, whether it is fighting personal demons, dealing with others ignorance, or just standing up for herself.

Namaste

Oh No She Didn't!!!!!

2006-04-03T08:09:00.000-05:00

Well, this post is a rant. Not based on any news event, though I would like to comment on Charles Taylor former president of Africa and on Hugo Chavez building troops trying to defend his country from us, as if...

Anywho, I do a newsletter for my daughters school and am a member of the PTO. This is done for free and is rather time consuming. As you have probably guessed by my posts, I am pretty much agnostic, borderline atheist. Having said that, in the monthly calendar in the newsletter, I would put most holidays in the calendar. This included Christmas, Channukah, Kwanzaa, Lent, Ash Wednesday, Chinese New Year, Yom Kippor, etc. and along with the verbage, I would put a small picture representing the day, or event. I did this along with Arbor day, Spring break, you know, days of importance to most people.

Well, someone complained that I was trying to push my christian agenda! I bit my tongue and only said, I am sorry that people are not open minded enough to respect all cultures, beliefs and religions. Truly, I believe that, but to be accused of pushing an agenda, that was a kick in the pants. When I pointed out that there were images and verbage of many other religions and cultures, they didn't care about that, only the christian stuff.

So, now the newsletter will be plain jane. No images, and only reasons for school closings during the week. Weekends blank, and for goodness sake, no mention of anyones beliefs. This is total bullshit! Everyone should have the freedom of speech, EVERYONE! I don't care if it is promoting or protesting, but damn, it is not like there was some church info, it was a picture that said LENT, on the day of lent. This is enough to have me quit doing the newsletter. I only did these things for filler, you know so the calendar didn't look empty, hell are these things not on all calendars?

Oh well, some people just suck, and are not happy unless others are miserable.

On another note, Sandlapper, I hope you get well soon, and thanks for the lack of prayers. ;)

Give me medicine, not prayer!

2006-03-31T03:27:00.000-06:00

In this article I found it very surprising that there actually was a study. Prayer is just a christian form of meditation. I can understand that those who practice the religion, believe it helps. There are those who avoid black cats, crosss their fingers, and toss salt over their shoulders.

Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking christians, I am only knocking those who choose to be ignorant. There are those who will not accept blood transfusions due to their religion. Logically, praying for someone, is the same as crossing your fingers for them. Whether you agree or not, this fact is true, but I wonder how much they spent on the study.

The money would have been better spent, helping someone with an illnes, or even a surgery. That's just my opinion there. Had the study not been done, the answer would not be definative.

Don't get me wrong, it is healthy to think of others, and reflect about peoples well being, but it accomplishes nothing for them, other than the fact that they know they are on your mind. That can be helpful to the persons psyche, and help them "hang on", but only in a psychological sense, not physical.

Got Balls?

2006-03-25T14:09:00.000-06:00

Testicle cells used for research

I found this article not only interesting, but an eye opener.You know if stem cells work, why not cells from the testes. Heck that is pretty much half of the stem cell. The amazing thing is that this breakthrough can help science in an enormous way. We can avoid the problems with the legalities of stem cell research, aborted fetus research, research on left over fertilized eggs, and research on many othe hot topic cells. As far as the researcher goes, this is a good day, heck most men have testicles, at least in the physical sense.

Until next time,

Snappy

Bush urges patience in Iraq

2006-03-20T11:07:00.000-06:00

Bush urges patience in Iraq. This comes as no surprise to me. He and Cheney would be doing themselves an enormous injustice if they were to "cut and run".

They have tried for years to get everyone to "stay the course", and keep their "resolve". What I want to know is, at what point does the average person realize, this isn't working, nor will it work. The way we are trying to force democracy on Iraq is equivilant to screaming english instructions louder to make a non-english speaker understand. Flat out, it won't work.

On top of this, we keep spending money, hand over fist, to keep up this farce. The Palestinian election should have been a great indicator as to how the people of that region want to be led.

I predict within the next year, we will start pulling out of Iraq, but keep up the rethoric as if we are staying. They will try and fade into the night, and not be noticed.

Uggghhhhhh

Good Greif, will we never learn

2006-03-16T06:14:00.000-06:00

Bush re-states preemptive policies

How can we afford a preemptive strike on Iran, we could never turn up Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and still have mud on our face over that. Then let's talk about money. Where is that coming from? The latest request from congress will be putting our deficit at 9 Trillion dollars , and I don't know about you, but that is a deep hole to dig yourself out of.

I wish the Republicans still tried to honor their Contractwith America. This was a real well thought out guideline, and I agree with it, or at least the majority of it. Dick Army wrote most of the document. This was put in place in 1994, just six weeks before the congressional election. Which resulted in the first time in forty years that the Congress was not a Democratic majority.

My final gripe on this is that George W. Bush has never, and I mean never vetoed a bill in his time in office. This has even set a record. So just looking at the history of his administration, the latest debt ceiling will rise, and we will try and attack Iran. When will every one wake up and smell the coffee? It is this simple, you either pay now, or pay later. The difference is that it costs more to pay later.

Enough for now, I can only take small doses of ignorance at a time, mine included.

Carbon Dioxide, it's what we have...

2006-03-15T00:16:00.000-06:00

Carbon Dioxide article

This article clearly shows we have too many people on the planet, and too little greenery. I don't mean we need to knock people off, but clearly why do we do some of the things we do. Ine example is life in prison, this is more cruel than death. Death is final, life in prison with no parole is an enduring punishment. You know, if everyone knew you would get executed for commiting crime A, you would have a whole lot fewer people risking the consequences.

Trees, convert Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen. When there is more carbon dioxide being produced than can be converted, we clearly don't have enough greenery around. There are only two solutions, more greenery, or less people. Fewer people, would mean fewer auto emissions, less electrical plant emissions and even less crime. Though, most people are against that way of thinking, let's plant more trees! Not only are they pretty, they serve a purpose.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a vegan, I eat meat, and enjoy it, but we have a problem that isn't going to go away on its's own. Someone has to take the first steop, so I am planting two trees, yet again this weekend. Dogwoods, they are nice to look at.

Texas Tragedy

2006-03-14T23:47:00.000-06:00

A sad story

This poor girl, a beauty queen nonetheless, was struck by a train. Sure a couple of assumptions and cruel jokes pop up off the bat, that is sadly how my mind works. Let's look at what went wrong, according to the report.

First off, whay was she walking along a railbed? Sure I know many do, bud if you are deaf, would'nt that increase the risk factor?

Secondly, she was "texting" at the time of the accident. Couldn't she feel the vibrations of the train? There is a train that passes by my house, about a hundred and fifty yards away, I can feel the train coming, before I hear it.

Thirdly, towards the end of the article, it sounds as if the police are suspecting foul play. That was thew first thing I thought of.

The snow plow sticks out 16 inches on either side of the engine, why would you walk that close to the tracks. Also, a person questioned in the article stated you can see the train coming, so did the engineer see her? was she pushed out at the last minute? Why was the engineer not interviewed? I figure the police suspect fowl play, and let an article like this to get printed so the murdere will loosen up, and fess up.

Truly, it is sad to hear of anyone loosing their life, especially someones child.

I am not sure why this particular article struck my attention, I could have written on tornadoes, Mitt Romney's gay adoption bill (which I stjll should) or even the earthen damn breaking away in Hawaii. Dunno, other forces at work maybe?

US trade deficit widens further

2006-03-09T10:32:00.000-06:00

Foreign imports of oil into the US are continuing to grow

The US trade deficit has hit a new monthly high of $68.5bn, with imports of oil and cars continuing to grow significantly.

January's deficit was 5% higher than a month earlier and exceeded the previous record of $67.8bn seen last October.

The figures make gloomy reading for the Bush administration after the deficit hit an annual high of $723.6bn in 2005.

The value of imports rose 3.5% to $182.9bn, eclipsing a 2.5% rise in US exports to $114.4bn.

Costly oil

Economists said the figures pointed to the annual deficit rising above $800bn in 2006.

The increased cost of oil imports helped fuel the deficit rise, according to figures released by the Commerce Department.

The trade shortfall with Opec, the oil producers' organisation, rose by more than 11% to $8.4bn.

However, imports of a wide range of consumer and industrial goods, including food industrial supplies and cars, also hit record levels.

"You can't blame it all on energy, because the trade deficit excluding petroleum rose faster than the overall deficit," Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at stockbrokers Spencer Clarke told Reuters.

The deficit with China continues to grow amid persistent calls by Washington for China to further revalue its currency.

The US trade gap with China rose 9.9% to $17.9bn.

I found this article on The Raw Story, and Oh My God! We have to do something

We are going to go bankrupt as a nation! We cannot continue down this road. The republican party for years kept saying the democrats just want to tax and spend, basically villifying the party as a whole, but look at where we are now fiscally. You have to tax, if you are going to spend. This country cannot continue to live it's Yuppie, I want it now and pay later ways.

Look, I know there are good and bad politicians on either side of the aisle, but lets face it, the Democratic party, while a more liberal party, are proven to be more fiscally responsible. This is a fact, proven, records show it, case closed. This war, is not only costly, but unecessary. We would have been better off to put that money into our education system, and invest in ourselves, rather than spread the mass destruction we did. I'm not against war, don't get me wrong, I do believe we needed a campaign to oust Saddam. Why did we give up on Osama? Why did we stay in Iraq after Saddam and his sons were removed? Truly, we cannot make Iraq a democracy, nor should we try. Hell, look at Palestine, they had a chance, an election, and they voted Hamas into power.

Though I firmly believe no government should be dictated by religion, neither Muslim nor Christianity, I do believe it is not our place to dictate to another country what is right or wrong there, hell we can't even straighten out our own crap!!!!!!!!

We need a leader in office, not a politician, we need bankers running the budget, not politicians, we need teachers running education, not politicians. We need reform

Thank the Constitution for freedom of speech, and freedom of expresion. Thank the fore fathers, maybe soon we will have leaders with the foresight and fiscal responsibility they had. That will be a great day!

Christian death squads

2006-02-23T08:01:00.000-06:00

Bodies burnt in open after Nigeria riots kill 138
23 Feb 2006 13:56:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds Maiduguri tension, paras 10-13)

By George Esiri

ONITSHA, Nigeria, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Christian youths burned the corpses of Muslims on Thursday on the streets of Onitsha in southeastern Nigeria, the city worst hit by religious riots that have killed at least 138 people across the country in five days.

Christian mobs, seeking revenge for the killings of Christians in the north, attacked Muslims with cutlasses, destroyed their houses and torched mosques in two days of violence in Onitsha, where at least 85 people have died.

"We are very happy that this thing is happening so that the north will learn their lesson," said Anthony Umai, a motorcycle taxi rider, standing close to where Christian youths had piled up the corpses of 10 Muslims and were burning them.

Dozens more corpses had been thrown into the back of pick-up trucks by security services overnight, residents said.

Uncertainty over the political future is aggravating regional, ethnic and religious rivalries in Africa's most populous nation. Militants in the oil-producing south have waged a three-month campaign of attacks and kidnappings against the oil industry, which has cut exports and driven up oil prices.

There was no fighting in Onitsha on Thursday but Emeka Umeh, of human rights group the Civil Liberties Organisation, called it "the peace of the graveyard".

Some corpses were still lying on the streets and hundreds of Muslim men, women and children fled the city crammed into open-top trucks for fear of more killings. Thousands more were hiding in army barracks and police stations.

Umeh said most of the 85 bodies his group counted were Hausa, but some Ibo were killed too. The Hausa are the main ethnic group in northern Nigeria and most are Muslim, while the Ibo are dominant in the southeast and almost all are Christian.

FUNERALS

In northern Maiduguri, where the Christian Association of Nigeria says 50 Christians were killed in a weekend riot that began as a protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, tensions were high during several Christian funeral masses.

The Red Cross said at least 21 people died in Maiduguri.

A crowd of Christian youths broke away from the burial of one of the victims, a Catholic priest, and ran shouting through the streets before police dispersed them.

At the funeral of 13 children from two families who were burnt in their houses, mourners wailed as police stood by.

News of the Maiduguri murders set off the bloodletting in Onitsha, and tit-for-tat violence spread on Wednesday to Enugu, another southeastern city, where seven people were killed.

Nigeria's 140 million people are divided about equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south, but sizeable religious minorities live in both regions.

Thousands of people have been killed in religious violence in Africa's top oil exporter since the restoration of democracy in 1999. Killings in one part of the country often spark reprisals elsewhere.

The triggers for riots that killed at least at least 46 people, mostly Christians, in northern Maiduguri, Bauchi and Katsina, were different, but religious and secular leaders have linked them to political tensions.

Elections are due in 2007 and many Nigerians believe President Olusegun Obasanjo will try to stay on after eight years in power. The prospect angers those who feel the time has come for their ethnic or regional group to get the top job.

In Bauchi, an alleged blasphemy started the trouble, while in Katsina it was a constitutional review that many see as an attempt to keep Obasanjo in power.

The constitution bars Obasanjo, a Christian from the southwest, from seeking a third term in 2007 and he says he will uphold the charter. But he has declined to comment on a powerful movement to amend the constitution to allow him to stay.

Maiduguri and Katsina are both hosting public hearings on constitutional reform this week which many Nigerians believe are geared towards furthering the so-called third term agenda. (Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon in Abuja and Ibrahim Mshelizza in Maiduguri)

This article is a disturbing reality. People use religion to do bad things. There is no better or worse religion, only better or worse morality. This will not be a big news story in the U.S. due to it putting Christianity in a bad light. I hate hearing about riots anywhere, because the victims are usually innocent bystanders. Noone deserves a death like that, with the exeption of Pedophiles and rapists. Well, let's include rioters in this.

The shame of it is that the U.S. will stay in Iraq, trying to force it's will on the middle east, and not try and help the Nigerians, unless there are commodities at risk.

Snappy

Acronyms

2006-02-17T15:32:00.000-06:00

Acronyms

Ifyouare like me, you work in an industry that is increasingly inundatedwithacronyms. This begins to seem like a second language, and thepeople wespeak too find it hard to keep up with any conversation thatwe use toomany acronyms in. For example, I am in the graphiccommunications field,and a typical conversation could go like this;

Person 1: I need this TIFF in CMYK not RGB please.

Person 2: Have you already Ripped the Tiff?

Person 1: No the DPI is too low RES, you could try a PDFX1A, but up the RES.

Person 2: Did you Rip the PDF ROOM or NORM?

Icouldgo on, but the average person would just be lost. I knowfromexperience, that many other fields have this problem. The problemisnot the acronyms themselves, but the lack of understanding thepersonusing them has that not everyone knows when the appropriate timeto usethem is.

As a member of the communications field, I seethis,and experience it often. Rather than using the "alien" acronyms,spellthings out for your customer. Don’t be afraid to ask if you aretalkingover their head, and most importantly, be more concernedaboutconveying the message, rather than rattling off information.Theimportant thing is that you are on the same page with your client.

Well, I will keep it short for now, as they say "KISS" (keep it simple stupid)

Snappy

Alabama House turns down bill to teach Bible course

2006-02-10T08:23:00.000-06:00

2/7/2006, 6:30 p.m. CT

By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama House on Tuesday turned down a bill that would have allowed public high schools to offer a course teaching the literary and historical significance of the Bible.

The bill was sponsored by House Majority Leader Rep. Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill, and supported by Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, but Republicans objected to the bill naming a specific textbook to be used in teaching the class.

A procedural vote to bring the bill up for debate failed on a 49-42 vote, with 60 percent or 56 votes needed. The vote fell mostly along party lines with 49 Democrats voting "yes" and 39 Republicans and three Democrats voting "no."

Guin said he is going to continue to talk to lawmakers about the bill and could attempt to bring it up again later in the session.

Guin said the bill would encourage schools to teach the Bible's influence on literature, art and other subjects, which he said is already legal. He said the proposed textbook "The Bible and Its Influence" does not teach students what to believe but helps them understand references to the Bible in literature, art and other subjects. The book was developed by the Bible Literacy Project.

"We need to give children an understanding of how the Bible has influenced the society around them," Guin said.

But opponents said naming a textbook would bypass the textbook selection process established by the Alabama Board of Education and by local school boards.

Rep. Jeremy Oden, R-Vinemont, said the Legislature has never passed legislation that named a specific textbook to be used in schools.

Some Republicans also questioned the content of the book.

"You've been told if you're against teaching this book, you're against the Bible, that's not the case," said Rep. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale. Beason questioned the appropriateness of some of the questions the textbook asks students, such as: "Did Adam and Eve receive a bad deal?" and "If God is good, why does he allow bad things to happen?"

Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, spoke in favor of the Bible course, saying it would be a great opportunity to expose students to the "amazing" stories in the Bible.

"When I think of what this book (The Bible) can do, I think about Corinthians as being one of the greatest love stories ever told," Newton said.

After the vote, some Democrats accused Republicans of voting against the bill for political reasons.

"They didn't think of it first. They didn't want the Democrats to get credit for it," said Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery.

But House Minority Leader Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said most Republicans would have supported the bill if it had not named the textbook. He said he doesn't think the vote will hurt GOP lawmakers who face re-election this year.

"I don't think people are going to believe that Republicans are against religion and don't want the Bible taught in schools," Hubbard said.

End Article,
Start Opinion here;

O.k. so the Republicans say it's not political, the Democrats say the Republican's are just mad because they didn't submit the bill first. So I have two questions, if it isn't political, why comment that you don't think this will effect the upcoming election, and two if the Republicans are "mad" that the Democrats beat them to the punch, they have had many opportunities to do this.

Let's face it, religion and politics should not be mixed, in any capacity. Should you allow an elective in school to study a religion, you should NOT dictate, mandate, recomend nor require any book or materials. I belive the republicans were in the right for voting down the bill, but for the wrong reasons, as well as I think the Democrats were on the right track with the idea for the bill, but the wrong wording, and possibly agenda. Another thing to consider, if they require a certain book for the christians, do the muslims, buddhists, shintoists and hindus get to choose their materials, or have free selection.

The main problem here is government is trying to dictate christianity, rather than promote freedom of religion. Should they promote freedom of religion, there would not even be a hint of controversy in passing a bill allowing religion to be studied in school, though it should be an elective. Think of this, if the school systems were to teach a theocratic christian ideal in the educational system, to educate and create christian followers and believers, as is trying to be done by the fundamentalists, then our education system would not be much unlike the education systems in the middle east, where the Muslim religion is dominate.

So, just because a majority believes an ideal is right does that make it so? Years ago the world as a whole thought and agreed the world was flat, then you had the many Greek Gods, later Egyption Gods, and even Roman Gods. All of those citizens believed in those ideas, though later all have been proven wrong.

My point is should we as a united democracy, be so myopic that we are not objective, nor open minded to the ideals and opinions of others, we will never move forward, but fall behind not only as a civilization, but as a people. The truth is out there, we just have to be willing to receive it, and with objectivity, and a willing rationalization we can take these varying opinions and beliefs, and construct the whole picture with all of the pieces. We just have to be humble enough to realize that we do not have all of the answers, and are willing to admit that.

Snappy

2006-02-07T04:28:00.000-06:00

Well, it looks like GM's Board of Directors voted today in Germany that it will halve its $2 per share dividends as another way to try and save money.

I feel no pity for this corporation for they have made their own bed. You have these overpaid executives, who buy the supplies for their product from over seas. I'm not sure when the majority will see this, but if you don't pay Americans for labor or American companies for supplies, then Americans won't have the money to support your product. It's the whole circle of life thing here.

Do these top executives really bring the value to the companies to justify the compensation? Then on top of that you have the "Golden Parachutes" that the get after a limited time in service. Honestly, I can't see anyone bringing over a million dollars worth of value to a company, just on their own fruition. I can see a sales position, but that is based on comission. I just can't see someone who contributes no labor, no sales, and is not the founder of the company to bring that kind of value. Maybe I am missing something in the big picture, but it is hard for me to believe that those companies are getting a return on that investment that is worthy of the hefty investment.

I see with the local company HealthSouth, there was a scandal of which the founder CEO was acquitted of fraud, though that is questionable in my mind. He made millions off of this company and his minions got pinned. There is no way a CEO doesn't know what is happening when there is financial mismanagement. Should he truly be ignorant of what is going on, is he worth his pay? This man did not, and still doesn't live a meager humble lifestyle. He had a cigar boat that cost $120,000, then spent over $200,00 for the rights to paint it with the Monopoly theme. You don't spend money you earn in this fashion. This is how you spend "free" money.

I feel no pity for these people, nor should you, for failing due to greed, deceit and lies. But we need to pay attention to these trends, because even when we see these companies hurt and fail, so will we, the American public. I just wonder how much more sound a company will be when it supports not only its employees, but support its consumers also.

I know I rambled a lot, but there is an idea in there somewhere.

Snappy

2006-02-06T09:37:00.000-06:00

Why America will soon hurt worse….

Imports are killing us, and consumerism will be our downfall. Big business and politicians want us to ignore the trade deficits and open all forms of trade, and all borders. This would be good for big business, but bad for the average middle-class and below American citizen. Let’s look at some numbers:

Chart of Trade Deficit

Now having read this I would like to illustrate what is actually happening. We, as Americans, are shopping at Wal-Mart, Old Navy, etc. and those establishments are getting their products they offer from countries other than the United States. The money for these products leaves the country to pay their producers. I know this seems basic and too spelled out, but stay with me here. Most other countries aren’t buying as much of our goods and services that we offer. Now think of each country as a person, one individual. If this individual is spending more than they make, what happens is massive debt. When this person isn’t earning enough money to payoff this debt, more debt is incurred. Now this guy stands here just buying, and not selling enough to keep up with his purchases, he will be financially ruined soon.

My point is that the U.S. needs to keep its money here. At least on the labor side, if not on the good side also. Though it is more expensive, when you buy American, you keep the money here. This needs to be taken seriously. You cannot borrow your way out of debt, and you cannot have a superior economy, if you wholly include inferior economies. A one-world economy will average out eventually, which means the U.S. economy and Britains economy will only go down.

All businessmen and politicians should look this at hard. This has been my two cents.

Snappy

2006-02-03T14:17:00.000-06:00

Apple sued over iPod earphones
Fri Feb 3, 2006 6:34 PM GMT

By Susan Butler

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A Louisiana man has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple Computer for allegedly putting consumers at risk of suffering noise-induced hearing loss.

The complaint, filed January 31 in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif. by John Kiel Patterson, alleges that iPods fail to contain adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss. Patterson claims that the iPods and the accompanying "ear bud" earphones are defectively designed.

The suit notes that in 2002, France required Apple to limit personal listening device output to 100dB. In response, Apple pulled its players from store shelves and upgraded the software in European models to limit output to 100dB. It did not change U.S. models, the complaint alleges.

Apple provides a general warning in its user's manual regarding the risk of permanent hearing loss if earphones or headphones are used at high volume. The complaint alleges that the warning is insufficient because it does not advise the listener of what is a high volume or a safe level.

Patterson claims in the complaint that he would not have purchased his iPod priced at that level had he known he would need to buy different earphones to reduce the risk.

Attorneys in the Seattle and Los Angeles offices of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro filed the suit for Patterson.

Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reuters/Billboard

Holy crap! I knew the first time I used my ipod, that that little jewel can get noisy quick. So I don't turn it up that loud. This is the same type of person that would sue a bridge construction company, because if you rammed into it a over one hundred miles per hour, you could sustain life-threatening trauma.

What a jack ass! Don't get me wrong, I believe we should have the freedom to litigate in the court system, but for events that haven't occurred? Come on, had this guy lost his hearing, or even were it damaged due to the thing turning on at full blast and he could not turn it down, the earbuds sprouting claws and embedding themselves into his ear canal, not allowing him to take them out, then yes, sue the hell out of Apple.

Come to think of it, I might sue ford because my car will exceed the speed limit, therefore might cause financial damage to my household due to impending penalties enforced by the traffic officer.

Get a life, and something to do.

1/30/06

2006-01-30T12:57:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are January 30 2006, and the last year has flown by. Today Congress will be voting on the confirmation of Judge Alito, which I believe, will go through. He should be a fair judge; he seems to respect prior rulings, which is all I could ask from a judge, regardless of their party affiliation. Though it seems there are enough votes to kill a filibuster, should it arise. Sen. Kerry and Sen. Kennedy are trying to rally up a good ‘ole filibuster, I believe they will just be out voted… anywho you can’t blame them for trying, at least they state what they believe and stand behind their beliefs.

Today will be Alan Greenspans last Federal Reserve meeting, then Ben Bernanke will officially be in that position. Mr. Greenspan has had a nice 20 + year run as fed. chairman and will retire at 79 years old. I think it is safe to say he won’t have much time to enjoy his retirement. I don’t mean that as a sick joke, just a fact. Though it is among the trend that people are working longer than ever before, and retirement age is creeping up there.

On the subject of hobbies, my time has been limited as of late with my side business, my full time job and with my wife getting her masters degree, I am having to pick up our child at school 3 days out of the week, which means my work schedule is 6-2 so I can get to the school by 2:45. Needless to say, I am burning the candle at both ends, though oddly I am reading more books now than I ever have. I have completed 3 books in just 2 months. I am not sure why, but I am enjoying reading more now than ever. It helps me with my anxiety, but it also is stimulating and entertaining; though the subjects I read are not necessarily fiction. Usually I read Autobiographies or biographies. Right now I am reading Jimmy Carter’s latest book, and it is interesting to get an inside perspective on not only his ideals, but his thought process also.

So I haven’t had the time for magic that I would like, but am still holding cards daily, and trying to manipulate coins. The card manipulating has led me to the poker craze that has reared its ugly head. I am not a gambler, so that part doesn’t appeal to me, but the strategy and competition is neat to learn. I have taken to no limit hold ‘em, limit hold ‘em, stud, stud hi/lo, and limit Omaha hi/lo. I am weakest at Omaha, and strongest at stud, though hold’em I am above average. I started by reading a few books, so I didn’t take a lot of lumps right off the bat. I figure if I get decent at all of the forms, I will do ok as an average. Tournament poker is more enticing to me than cash games. The strategy is a lot more complex hand for hand, than in cash games, plus chip value fluctuates. As of yet I have done well in the sit and go's I have played and the couple of tourneys, I have done better than I expected, though I will never do it for a living, at least I don’t imagine I will reach that level.

I really want to get back into the magic, and am considering shutting down my business for that reason, the design business isn’t that big, though it makes o.k. money (it turns a profit), it isn’t going to really grow unless I dedicate more time to it than I am willing, right now.

I finally shipped a package to my online buddy in Iowa the other day. I had procrastinated due to anxiety and depression, which is a total bitch, but got off of my ass and did it. I met him on a message board, and found him very interesting. He and I are about the same age with young families. The kind of person I would want to be neighbors with. Anywho, he and I are collaborating on a magic board, and we are about to get it sparked back up, after my hiatus.

That’s it for now.

Snappy

Oregon has won for now.....

2006-01-18T07:40:00.000-06:00

The Supreme Court rules in favor of Oregon's physician-assisted-suicidelaw in a 6-to-3 decision. The justices find the state has the right toallow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs for terminally ill,mentally sound patients. The court also finds that the Bushadministration, through the actions of the U.S. attorney general, hadin effect criminalized the practice without the authorization ofCongress.

Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court, inwhich Stevens, O’Connor, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer joined. Scaliafiled the dissenting opinion, in which Roberts and Thomas joined.

Thisruling puts this issue in the states hands, and that is a great victoryon this issue, at least in my opinion. In the last seven years, 208people died by doctor assisted suicide. This is an unremarkable numberconsidering in 2004, 40 doctors wrote a total of 60 prescriptions forlethal doses of barbiturates. The prescription total fell from 68 theyear before -- the first decrease since doctor-assisted suicide becamelegal in Oregon.

Of the 60 Oregonians who received aprescription for a lethal dose last year, 35 died after taking thedrug. Two other patients died in 2004 after taking a drug prescribedfor them the year before. Of the 25 who did not ingest the medication,13 died from their illnesses, and the other 12 remained alive by theend of the year.

In Oregon, it is legal for a doctor toprescribe a lethal dose to a terminally ill patient of sound mind whorequests it orally and in writing, with two witnesses. Another doctormust confirm that the patient has a life expectancy of less than sixmonths. By law, the patient must swallow the drug; it cannot beadministered by a doctor.

Most patients who choose assistedsuicide have terminal cancer. A few are dying of AIDS or amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

College graduates are eight times as likely as those without a high school diploma to die by doctor-assisted suicide.

Of the 37 Oregonians who died by assisted suicide last year, only one lived east of the Cascades.

Allbut one patient died at home -- the exception dying in anassisted-living center. All used a quick-acting barbiturate, and noneregained consciousness after taking the drug.

Three patients vomited part of the medication, but all three died within 31 hours.

Halfthe patients became unconscious within five minutes, and all within 30minutes. Half died within 25 minutes, and all within 31 hours.

It’s not about suicide as much as it is end of life comfort.

My beef with abortion laws

2005-12-05T19:05:00.000-06:00

My beef with the Whole “abortion” issue.

I have been thinking of this for a few weeks now, and have a few thoughts that I would like to just get out there. I don’t believe it is controversial, but it needs to be said.

First off, as I stated in an earlier post, abortion should be a medical issue, not a legal issue but that is my opinion. There are just too many areas to where a politician can get in and screw with the law, and this latest “case by case’ determination isn’t the way to go either, you shouldn’t have to call a court when a physician that upholds his hypocratic oath would work just as effectively.

Second, The issue everyone is bitching about has been called the wrong thing for years now. What everyone means when they say that, “abortion shouldn’t be used for birth control” is that “abortion shouldn’t be used for pregnancy control”. What I mean by this is explained here; I.U.D’s, condoms, the pill, sponge, etc.. are for pregnancy prevention, not birth control. Birth control implies you are controlling an already fertilized egg and pregnancy prevention means the egg isn’t allowed to be fertilized. You may say this is splitting hairs, but it is actually a big difference if you really ponder on it. Once an egg is fertilized, whatever you do to terminate that pregnancy is an abortion, so the goal is for pregnancy prevention.

Thirdly, the largest key to this issue is to truly teach the kids about pregnancy and the responsibility it holds. True sex is fun, true some seem to not be able to control themselves, and pregnancies do sometimes just happen, but knowledge is the key. Should the kids not be told not to have sex, but tell them what life really is like having to raise a kid, that is the key, in my humbled opinion.

Hopefully this issue gets taken care of soon, which ever way it goes. Maybe also, people will stop fighting over this issue, and discuss the issue because there is a common ground whether each side knows it or not. There is a solution, there is a compromise, there is always a compromise.

The important thing is to not make sex taboo. When it is made taboo and wrong, it then draws more toward it, like a seductress, a delicious seductress.

Brian

Harry Potter and my health

2005-11-18T23:15:00.000-06:00

Well, I have had an interesting couple of days. My incision from the surgery seems to be swelling a lot, and excessively draining. Long story short, infection. I am on antibiotics now, and hopefully they will do the job. Hell, with the way farmers are pumping antibiotics in chicken now days, maybe I should just eat a bunch of Franken-Chicken. Anyway, I will see the surgeon again on Monday, and see what he thinks. The wife was shocked when she saw it this evening, the incision that is. Her description of it was that it is “angry”, but it sure feels that way. Until yesterday, I had not had much discomfort really, but now it is flaring up, and I am not sure if it is due to being too active too quick, or bathing daily bothering it, or what.

We saw the new Harry Potter film tonight “The Goblet of Fire”, and it was o.k. In my opinion, it was nowhere near the book, as a matter of fact; this film demonstrated to me why books are better than film. Don’t get me wrong, I love film and read few books for entertainment, but wow did they leave a ton out. The effects were good, had some good humor, but they left enough out that I spent more time noticing what wasn’t there than I spent soaking up the splendor of the presentation. The movie is worth watching, at least once, but if you have read the books, you will know exactly what I am speaking of.

One last thing that I want to mention, something that makes me feel good. I had been away from the computer a lot the last few months with dealing with a bunch of personal stuff, and neglected keeping in touch with a few relationships I had built over the internet, and found that One was actively seeking me to see if I was well. That made me feel good that he was thinking about me, but bad that I had lost touch so immediately that he was worried. You know who you are, and I appreciate you. You’re package is in the mail tomorrow.

The pills are kicking in, so I am kicking back,

Till next time,

Brian

2005-11-10T19:50:00.000-06:00

It has been a little while since I have posted. I have been getting back in the swing of things with work and all. The funny thing is that I had it all planned out what all I would get done on the computer, and small projects completed while I was out of work recovering. But it turned out that I spent most of the time snoozing. The Lortab and Darvacet cocktails rendered me into a helpless time warp that was nice. Peaceful slumbers, until the night I was wired and did not sleep for nearly 20 hours. I guess the medicine caught up with me. Fortunately I wasn't in much pain, but the medicine was nice.

Unfortunately, the past couple of days I have been getting a little more "uncomfortable", but I get my stiches out tomorrow, and most likely I will get another prescription. When I went Monday to get them out, the doctor decided to wait until Friday. Hopefully the incision won't open back up a whole lot, but the doctor said it will open up some. Ugh!

I will get back on my rants and opinions since so much has happened since I slowed on my posting. So here we go;

Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies:
Diebold and ES&S. (which the company I work for, prints some ballots for them)
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight>> of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are>> brothers. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizerand donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He>> became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines. http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee. http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26 http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates. http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of>> the votes in 30 states. http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States. http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years. http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio. http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov.) http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates. http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the>> President's brother. http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://uscountvotes.org/

Now, I am not a staunch liberal, I am against any corrupt administration that is for special interest and note the good of the people as a whole. The problem with politicians, as I see it, is that they serve their own agenda versus the people. In years past politicians served the people, and ruled for freedoms. I truly believe politicians soon will be trying to rule religion into our lives, which is the opposite of what the country was founded under. The reason I am against putting religion in politics is actually a simple reason. Should the religion that is put in is not one that I believe, I shouldn't have someone elses beliefs forced upon me, whether it be Muslim, Judaism, Christian, Buddhist, Wiccan, or any theism. Therefore, religion should not be in politics.
Some may say that religion should be in politics for the morals. I heard an interisting thing from a friend on this subject today. There is a group locally that is trying to eliminated nudity in strip clubs because the believe it is immoral. (for the record, I do not attend these businesses, but I don't oppose them.) Now these people don't have to go to these places, so are they afraid of the temptation? Why should they be the moral police for everyone else. But it does boil down to one thing, morality is what you do when noone is looking. So, only you truly know what your moral standards are, regardles what public stance you take.

We should have socialized healthcare. Cancer costs an average of 250,000 dollars to treat one case. And while the publicized healthcare is more efficient, they have to keep profits up for shareholders, pay the large salaries for executives and the huge corporate costs, the rates seem to actually wind up higher than what the savings are worth.

Abortion is a moral and medical issue, not a political issue. A woman who has been raped should be able to get a safe abortion, and this is in Roe V. Wade. I saw a survey somewhere, and I can't cite it verbatim, but it said that most people who have an opinion on Roe, have never read the decision. So people need to really think things out before jumping on a bandwagon. So here is an opportunity Roe V. Wade. Say, if you, or your wife, depending on your gender, were raped, would you want to have to go full term with a reminder of this act to only have to either give it up for adoption, or raise it. Should you spend the time to truly depate both sides with yourself... you know. Or say your daughter gets pregnant, should she get the proper medical attention or a back-ally coathanger job that not only could kill her, but destroy her chances of a child in the future. But in this situation you have to consider the parenting that led to this point in the childs life.
Now that you may be sufficiently angry, or agreeable, I will state my stance on abortion. I am against abortion for convenience. I am against an abortion for a child who had sex too early. I do agree on abortion for rape, medical issues that the child won't survive with, or if the mother may die during childbirth.

Now the next issue that people are all tense about, when does life begin. Let's look at the definition of life; the time a person or thing is alive or exists. (Webster's New World Dictionary)
A cingle cell organism has life, this is not refuted, and is widely known. When a cell splits and replicates, this is an active function that requires no outside source for this to happen, therefore that is life, right? a bacteria is alive, a mold is alive, algae is alive. So when thinking of it this way, Life begins when the sperm penetrates the egg. Obviously, this is a symbiotic relationship with the mother, but this ends after 9 months as far as 24 hour attachment. The absolute dependancy lasts for a few years after birth. Some argue that life doesn't begin until birth, and these people, could not have a true understanding of life, as it is defined. But with all of this said, it is clearly a medical issue, and not a political issue. Therefore, it should be left to the medical field and individuals morals. Personally, I would never condone an abortion except in extreme situations, which is rare, but noone else should have to live by my standards.

Lastly, The government should not borrow from the social security funds. This is not a good practice. We are suffering from it and it will get worse, because of this practice we began in the late 80's. Our fiscal policies should be fairly conservative, and we shouldn't have a large government, but yet here we sit with the largest government in the history of the U.S., under the administartion that preaches small government and fiscal responsibility. I like the talk, but it seems like all propoganda. We have the largest budget deficeit, the loosest spending policies, and the national debt is just completely oposite of what the republican's stand for. Also, they stand for morality, but yet there are more corrupt politicians under the banner of republican, than under any other party label.

O.K. I am sure you are about sick of me now, so I will give you a break.

Snappy

The Poles are now closed.

2005-11-02T10:53:00.000-06:00

Here are the unofficial winners in Tuesday's runoff elections for Birmingham City Council and Board of Education:

B'ham City Council - Dist. 117 of 17 precincts reporting (100%)
(i) Joel Montgomery 2,052 54% (winner)
Lashunda Scales 1,713 46%

B'ham City Council - Dist. 217 of 17 precincts reporting (100%)
(i) Carol Reynolds 1,594 64% (winner)
Frank Matthews 885 36%

B'ham City Council - Dist. 415 of 15 precincts reporting (100%)
Maxine Parker 1,579 71% (winner)
Hezekiah Jackson 653 29%

B'ham City Council - Dist. 521 of 21 precincts reporting (100%)
William Bell 1,374 53% (winner)
(i) Elias Hendricks 1,206 47%

B'ham City Council - Dist. 815 of 15 precincts reporting (100%)
Steven Hoyt 1,428 58% (winner)
Gerri Robinson 1,050 42%

B'ham City Council - Dist. 927 of 27 precincts reporting (100%)
(i) Roderick Royal 1,912 62% (winner)
Leroy Bandy 1,166 38%

B'ham BOE - Dist. 117 of 17 precincts reporting (100%)
(i) Martha Wixom 2,305 62% (winner)
Jody Trautwein 1,394 38%

So, Carol Reynolds won the runoff, and the piece of work that was running against her lost by a landslide. She will continue the great progress that she has begun.

Congratulations Carol, you deserved the victory.

Snappy

After the Knife....

2005-10-28T16:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I am back from the hospital, and got home about noon. The surgery itself wasn’t that bad, so I thought, but the doctor seemed to think it was pretty major. When I was being prepped, there was a student nurse trying to put a catheter in my hand, and well, it went straight through the vein. She wasn’t too happy, and was very apologetic, but I didn’t mind too much, and this was before the drugs. She got her “teacher” to do the catheter for her and she did a nice job.

This is when I had to inform them that I had sleep apnea, and did not bring my machine, so they decided to give me a saddle block, versus putting me to sleep, which I preferred anyway. Now I get the first round of I.V.drugs. Smiling, I am carted to the O.R. where I receive a second round of drugs, a spinal tap, and it’s off of the gurney and on to the table for me. This is where they play with my butt cheeks and ask me if I can feel anything, the answer obviously was no.

Now the nurse anesthetist hooks up a syringe full of what looks like milk, but damn, it was some happy milk. I don’t know the real name, but I think it was something like heroin or crack it had to be. The next thing I know I am lying on my back buck-naked and the nurse saying, “don’t worry, we’ll cover you back up.” Just then I realized, I am naked in front of all of these folks, but I just don’t care, the drugs are too good.

I get wheeled in the recovery room, where I met the nicest nurse who sat with me until I could move my legs. She has just me the love of her life at 50 years old and is about to get married to a guy she dated 25 years ago. We talked for about an hour, she also told me she was a fellow bush “dis-liker”, but that’s a whole different story.

Once I moved my legs, I was moved into a room where my wife and parents came to see me. Which by the way, I found a scam. When I was registering, they told me my insurance covered a semi-private room, but for 25 dollars more, I could get a private room. I declined to shell out the extra money. I figured I could just talk the other peoples ears off and they would leave. When I was wheeled to the room, it was a private room, WTF? Not that I was disappointed about being in a private room, but why try to charge more for what I am getting anyway?

Well, everyone came in, and I was in good spirits, but my wife gave me the nickname “devil sheep”! She thought that was funny, it was because I don’t want to be babied and that’s what she was trying to do. So the explanation from her was that I am sweet like a sheep around other, but mean like the devil when we are alone. Any who, it was kind of funny.

Then after I finally peed, they wanted to make sure my kidneys worked, I was thrown in a wheelchair and thrown into my car. I came home and everything is fine so far. Got some Hydrocodone, and a couple of days to recover. Should I feel this good on Monday or Tuesday, I will return to work. This time around, the surgery went a lot easier than last time.

Snappy

P.S. I didn’t miss Lewis Libby get the 5 counts against him, I am just waiting for Karl Rove to get his now.

The Big Knife incident....

2005-10-27T18:54:00.000-05:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day for a little surgery. I have a pilonidal cyst that will be removed. Sadly this is the second time this has come up, and as luck would have it I have come down with a cold also.

Well, what is that weird crap you have, you may ask, I will let you read about it here.

It has since been established that pilonidal disease is an acquired condition involving midline pits in the natal cleft. These holes or pits are enlarged hair follicles in the skin. The nature of these distorted hair follicles is unclear. It has been suggested that gravity and motion of the gluteal folds create a vacuum that pulls on the follicle. Bacteria and debris enter this sterile area, producing local inflammation. Edema occludes the mouth of the follicle, which continues to expand, rupturing into the underlying fatty tissue. Keratin and pus escape, and a foreign body reaction results in a microabscess, which is similar to perforating folliculitis. The purulent material subsequently tracks within the presacral subcutaneous tissue, producing acute and chronic pilonidal abscesses, as well as potential laterally displaced and epithelialized tracts. The conversion from a microabscess to the burrowing infection defines pilonidal disease; the same forces that create the pits are thought to cause the conversion.

It was once thought that every pilonidal lesion contained a nest of hair. In reality, only 50% of cysts and sinuses are found to have hair during exploration. This finding, however, does not diminish its importance in the pathophysiology of pilonidal disease. Here is a link to a diagram of the epidermis http://www.jdenuno.com/epbimages/images/mayoskin.jpg

Hair has three distinct roles. The distended hair follicle plays the first role. It is not shed like its normal counterparts; it can remain in the follicle during its expansion. The hair contributes to local inflammation once the follicle ruptures, and it can even perforate the posterior wall of the follicle, enhancing microabscess formation. The second role is that of hairs from other parts of the body, which also can cause local disease. Free hairs act as secondary invaders, entering the follicle through its open mouth and contributing to the foreign body reaction. Neighboring hair in the skin surrounding pilonidal wounds plays the third role. These hairs act as mechanical irritators that affect wound healing. The second and third roles affect advanced pilonidal disease and maintain the adverse environment within the natal cleft.

Malignant degeneration rarely occurs in pilonidal disease, although verrucous carcinoma (giant condyloma acuminatum) has been described.

Here is a couple of links to what it looks like, if you are interested. I will warn you, this is of medical content, so it mught be a little gross looking to you.
This is the exit of the sinus , but it isn't of me, just a generic pic.
This is why I am glad they let you sleep during this.
Here is a pictoral site I found of the surgery.

I will be there at 5:30 a.m. and should be back home within 6 hours. Supposedly, I am to be off of work for one week, so my plan is do this on Fri. have Sta. And Sun. for recovery, and try and go back to work by Tuesday. I don’t like knowing that the workload is increased on my coworkers because of this, so I will try and get back as soon as I can, but I think I will be able to.
Hopefully I will put an update or two up while I am down and out.
Snappy

Miers nomination withdrawn

2005-10-27T08:16:00.000-05:00

Well, it was announced that Harriet Miers nomination for the supreme court was withdrawn this morning. After many unanswered questions and disappointed senators, the inevitable happened. The president stood seadfast beside his decision, as he does with all decisions, whether he is right or wrong.

The good thing is that maybe the case Gonzales V. Oregon might be decided on without the interuption of a new member possibly swinging the vote. The bad thing is that this is just another embarassment for this administration.

The nomination of Harriet Miers was mediocre at best. I realize you can be on the Supreme court with no formal judging experience, but you need more credentials than what she had. This was exhibited by the Senators not supporting her leading up to the vote.

Personally, I believe this was a lure to a trap by the republican party that backfired. I think their plan was to present someone who wasn't going to be voted in by the democrats, then present a hardliner that the democrats whine about, and they could then say,"well, you just don't want to vote for anyone we pick." Instead, what has happened was the Democrats mostly agreed with her nomination but the Republican senators were outraged, therefore forcing the resignation. A failed nomination during the vote would have exposed that more Republicans voted against the Republican nomination and that would not have looked good.

The next nominee will likely be a conservative stalwart and leave the Democrats vigorously opposing the candidate. Other candidates mentioned frequently included conservative federal appeals court judges J. Michael Luttig, Priscilla Owen, Karen Williams, Alice Batchelder and Samuel Alito; Michigan Supreme Court justice Maura Corrigan; and Maureen Mahoney, a well-respected litigator before the high court.

The battle that is going to be embarked upon now will be a hard fought battle. With the weakness of the Republican party exposed, and the many dilemmas currently ongoing i.e. Lewis Libby and Karl Rove in the Valerie Plame scandal, Richard Cheney and his ties to Halliburton and the Valerie Plame case, Michael Brown and the FEMA fiasco, Bill Frist short selling stock from his families HMO and making a HUGE profit just one week before it tanked, Tom Delay and his whole stunt and I am sure there will be more to come.

The only problem I see in the future for the Democrats is their lack of orginization, and being the minority, lack of fight. This withdrawal is one of the best things that could happen for the Democrats. Sandra Day O'Conner will remain on the court through January due to this.

This will now be a third candidate to replace Sandra Day O'Conner. The first was John Roberts, who, when Rhenquest passed away, was quickly withdrawn, and placed as Rhenquists replacement. Then Harriet Miers, who withdrew amidst many negative comments from Republican Senators. Now there will be a third candidate. I will crap a brick if they nominate either Dick Cheney or Tom Delay though. That would be Hubris, and what an example that would be.

Snappy

2005-10-25T18:09:00.000-05:00

Carol Reynolds, representing District 2, was elected to the City Council in November 2001. The daughter of a registered nurse and United Steel Workers organizer, Reynolds might be considered something of an activist by birthright. A firm believer in the adage that "one person can make a difference", Reynolds spent 15 years as a retail manager before taking a job with a major city utility company in 1987. It was in that transition that Reynolds realized her passion for the rights of the "everyday person" and started her work in the community as an advocate for the environment, social change and public education.Reynolds, a native of Birmingham and lifelong resident, has an impressive track record of community service. She has provided leadership to a number of organizations including Airport Neighbors United, (former board member).

The previous info, and image, I got from the Birmingham City councel web site. I have an opinion I would like to share here. Carol Reynolds, though I do not live in her district, is in a runoff election against a local, I will say "person" for the sake of civility, person for the District 2 seat on the city councel. Sadly, he is not the caliber of person she is and yet he forced a runoff. Carol's record is impressive, and she is a great person. I know someone who is a friend of hers and he constantly tells me of the great things she does. She has a kind heart, and a serious commitment as a public servant, which is not easily said about many people in public positions.

Here is a list of accomplishments from her website;

1. Removed 27 taxi cabs with invalid insurance within first 6 weeks in office
2. Created ordinances preventing taxi industry from over charging patrons
3. Voted to create a stronger police force with advance weaponry
4. Allocated 80% of Discretionary Funds to school enhancements
5. Annexed land into District 2 increasing tax base
6. Voted for $20 million to prevent takeover of public school system
7. Secured $4.7 million for airport noise mitigation buyout
8. Created zone buyout plan establishing time line and defined target area
9. Partnered with Jefferson County for flood buyout
10. Secured $1 million for new library in District 2
11. Secured funding for repair of dam at East Lake Park
12. Secured funding for new gymnasium at Hawkins Park
13. Secured funding for Hawkins Golf Course beautification
14. Contributed to plans redevelopment of Eastwood Shopping Center
15. Contributed to plans concerning the first Publix grocery store in Birmingham
16. Facilitated evening and Saturday bus service through the Transportation and
Communication Committee
17. Replaced bridge at 71st Street South

Pretty impressive if you ask me. The most impressive is these projects are not "pork" type projects, but things that affect the foundation of a community. The woman has her priorities straight, and her record shows this.

So in all fairness, let me introduce you to her competitor if you will.

Here is a bit of a bio that was published in the Birmingham news;

Matthews, an ordained minister who first gained public attention in the early 1990s working with youth as "God's Gangster," knows first-hand about crime and recidivism.

As a youngster, he was a gang member and by 1985 he'd been in and out of jail on a variety of burglaries, robberies, assaults and other crimes. A forgery conviction sent him to West Jefferson Correctional Facility in 1985.

In prison, he became a born-again Christian, Matthews said. On furloughs with the prison chaplain, he spoke to youth groups and preached against crime. His ministry and good behavior earned him early release in 1989 and in 1993, then-Gov. Guy Hunt granted him a full pardon.

Matthews said his second biggest issue is the ever-increasing water rates charged by the Birmingham Water Works Board.

He has a radio show, I'm not shure what church he is a minister of, much less which one he attends. but his past is not one I personally would look at as a "banner". I realize people can change, and sometimes do, but you can only judge people by what they have done in the past, not what the say they will do. That's how I judge people, and believe me, I judge, oh, I judge.

Hopefully Carol will get enough votes to remain in office, she is a good woman, with a great track record.

I realize the majority of you have no interest in this race, but one day, you never know, she may aspire to a higher office in the state, and personally, I hope she does.

Snappy

2005-10-25T05:30:00.000-05:00

We have a new Fed Chairman! The funny thing is, I am pretty non-opinionated on this guy. His resume seems pretty strong, and the papers on macro-economics that he has written are well thought out. I mean, he does have a P.H.D., what would you expect. I am surprised he isn't from Texas though, as most appointments from this president have been as of late i.e. Harriet Miers.

Greenspan has been a decent chairman, especially when times were good, but he can't single handedly control inflation. When there is a full on assault on the middle-class and the working poor, dropping the interest 1/4 point does nothing for someone who can't even stay current with their bills, much less finance a home to own. Even Greenspan himself kept trying to tell Bush what he was doing wasn't going to work, Though greenspan is the one who suggested to George H. W. Bush to borrow from social security so that money would not show as a defeceit in the budget. Teaching creative bookkeeping basically, and look where it has gotten us. The national debt is 8,009,326,847,182.94 and the national debt has continued to increase an average of$1.62 billion per day since September 30, 2004, and China holds most of that debt. The budget defcit is forcasted to be over 1.7 Trillion within the decade.

My whole gripe about this is the fact that Reagan's "Trickle down theory" (supply side economics) had proven not to work in the 80's and early 90's, and here we are in the throws of it again. Republican's preach less government and lower taxes, they tag Democrats as "tax and spend". Well, we now sit with a larger government than we have ever had, spent more money than has ever been spent, and cut taxes on the wealthiest families. The government should be run like a houshold budget, you only use credit in an emergency, and if you can't afford it, you don't buy it!

Historically, whenever either party was doing poor they just blamed the previous administration, and now it is becoming clear to many, including members of the sitting party that the current policies do have a major impact on what the economy does. So Reagon and H. W. Bush were responsible for their economies, not Clinton's, and Clinton was responsible for the Economy in the 90's, or their administrations as a whole, not just the individual, but you know what I am trying to say.

So in conclusion, I hope Dr. Bernanke does a satisfactory job, and doesn't listen to people trying to sway him. He should do fine, and as usually in changes of post in levels like this, us working poor will never know the difference. I have included the official biography below.

Snappy

Biography of Dr. Ben S. Bernanke copied from Whitehouse.gov;

Ben S. Bernanke was sworn-in on June 21, 2005 as Chairman of the President'sCouncil of Economic Advisers. Prior to his appointment to the Council, Dr.Bernanke served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal ReserveSystem.

Dr. Bernanke was born on December 13, 1953, in Augusta, Georgia. He receiveda B.A. in economics in 1975 from Harvard University (summa cum laude) and aPh.D. in economics in 1979 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Before becoming a member of the Board, Dr. Bernanke was the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics and Public Affairs andChair of the Economics Department at Princeton University (1996-2002). Dr.Bernanke had served as a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs atPrinceton since 1985.

Dr. Bernanke has published many articles on a wide variety of economicissues, including monetary policy and macroeconomics, and he is the authorof several scholarly books and two textbooks. He has held a GuggenheimFellowship and a Sloan Fellowship, and he is a Fellow of the EconometricSociety and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Bernankeserved as the Director of the Monetary Economics Program of the NationalBureau of Economic Research (NBER) and as a member of the NBER's BusinessCycle Dating Committee. Dr. Bernanke's work with civic and professionalgroups includes having served two terms as a member of the MontgomeryTownship (N.J.) Board of Education.

Dr. Bernanke and his wife, Anna, have two children.

Could Dick Cheney be stepping down?

2005-10-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

There are currently rumors that Vice-President Cheney may resign soon. Many are speculating as to why this is even being considered, but I think I have an idea. This is only speculation, and not based on any hard evidence, nor any reports that I have heard as of yet.

I don’t think this has anything to do with the Valerie Plame case, though I could be wrong. It has been reported that Lewis “Scooter” Libby along with Carl Rove, leaked the CIA agent’s name. Libby, being Cheney’s Chief of staff, has caused a stir as to what directions or instructions he had.

What I think it is, or why he would be stepping down, is more of a self-viewed sacrificial move for the party. Right now, everyone sees the Republican Party slowly disintegrating. Possibly the 2006 elections could turn the Congress and the House back to a Democratic majority, which would take the power away from the Republican Party. Then there is the rumor that Hillary Clinton may be heading up the presidential ticket for the Democratic Party in 2008. Cheney himself stated in a vice-presidential debate in 2004 that he had no interest in running for president, and traditionally, the vice-presidential spot is a sort of grooming spot for a presidential candidate for the sitting party. So, what I think is happening, Alabama native, and secretary of State, Condeleza Rice is going to be put in the No. 2 spot to prep her to run head to head against Hillary in 2008, though I think it is a stretch for the grassroots Republicans to support a minority female as their president. What I mean by that is, a majority of the red states, are typically known as racist states, plus the party itself typically slams women in politics and portrays them as inept.

Now, another option could be Cheney’s ties to Haliburton, and the fact he does have an interest in the company still. He is still on their payroll, and they or their subsidiaries, are getting more no-bid contracts than any one company in the history of America. To be fair to Haliburton and it’s subsidiaries, there aren’t many other companies out there that are large enough to fulfill some of these contracts as quickly as they do, but also the smaller companies wouldn’t blatantly waste money like Haliburton does either. They we used even when Clinton was in office, so it’s not like they just showed up on the map, they just showed up on the radar.
God I love political crap!

2005-10-15T07:30:00.000-05:00

This is the funniest clip I have seen in a long time. Enjoy!

Chicken Genocide

Brian

2005-10-14T17:06:00.000-05:00

Today was an eye opener for me. I learned that I need to read more of the acts passed by congress, just to see what kind of shit they are slipping by us. Well, here is something they did slip by us;

See section 9528

Well, if you are as fired up as I was when you read this, there is help. A great website named
Leave My Child Alone. in this website you can find several resources, including opt out forms, to disallow this practice.

Reading this, and I know it was passed years ago, just reaffirms how politicians, and republicans in general, believe we as citizens do not have a right to privacy. With the Republican led senate, congress and house, we are screwed. No party, and I say again, no party should have complete control over the government.

Fortunately for my daughters school, I write the monthly newsletter and will be heading up a letter campaign. Please do something to protect your child, you don't want a recruiter calling them on the cell phone without your consent.

Brian

Intercepted letter

2005-10-12T18:14:00.000-05:00

A few days ago a letter was intercepted that was from Bin Laden, to Abu Musab Zarkawi. Here is a link to it;

Letter to Abu Musab

The letter is interesting, to me, on several levels. Not only the composition, but also the content. I would also be interested in how it was "intercepted" and if it is a red herring.

Firstly, I gather by the letter that God is on their side. He is apparantly blessing the muslims extremists left and right. From what Bush is telling me on the news, God is on our side, Americas side. That would mean God is for democracy, because it surely isn't a holy war started by the christian right. Oddly enough, I haven't read anything in the bible about democracy. I think God must be torn on this one, or either one side is going to be really disapointed. But, if you go by my Senators statement, it is still not apparant which side God is on, there are many dying on both sides of natural disasters. (I am not making light of those horrible disasters, just light of the nimrod, saying they were planned and intentional.)

Secondly, the letter doesn't really lay out a plan, but more of a "this is what I would do" scenario. Though if they get us out of Iraq, are the other steps necesarilly needed? I was under the impression, they just want us out, and who can blame them. I mean if China came to America to instill Comunism for all of our "freedom", we would be in the same boat.

Thirdly, Why are they still sending letters that are being "captured". I believe this was intentional for us to see. There isn't much content other than the polite compliments, the how are yous, and this is what I would do.

I personally believe we will be withdrawing before the first of the year, a lot of people have died for the weapons of mass destruction/ Iraq helping Al Qaida destroy the towers/control of oil to raise the prices for profit........... God this could go on.

Brian

Alabama should be ashamed.......

2005-10-12T12:29:00.000-05:00

There was a poll taken that asked Alabama residents if they agreed with Sen. Erwin. Here is the poll in its entirity;. Sad, just plain sad;

Poll asks: Was Hurricane Katrina God's punishment for sin?

Sep 28, 2005

Here Are The Results of the SurveyUSA News Poll

Almost a third of Alabamians agree with Sen. Erwin.

32% Yes
62% No
6% Not Sure

State Senator Hank Erwin says Hurricane Katrina was God's judgment of sin, because, quote, "NewOrleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin, and wickedness." Do you believe Hurricane Katrina was God's judgment of sin?

chart

How this poll was conducted: This SurveyUSA poll was conducted by telephone in the voice of a professional announcer. Respondent households were selected at random, using Random Digit Dialed (RDD) sample provided by Survey Sampling, of Fairfield CT. All respondents heard the questions asked identically. Within the report, you will find: the geography that was surveyed; the date(s) interviews were conducted and the news organization(s) that paid for the research. The number of respondents who answered each question and the margin of sampling error for each question are provided. Where necessary, responses were weighted according to age, gender, ethnic origin, geographical area and number of adults and number of voice telephone lines in the household, so that the sample would reflect the actual demographic proportions in the population, using most recent U.S. Census estimates. In theory, with the stated sample size, one can say with 95% certainty that the results would not vary by more than the stated margin of sampling error, in one direction or the other, had the entire universe of respondents been interviewed with complete accuracy. There are other possible sources of error in all surveys that may be more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. These include refusals to be interviewed, question wording and question order,weighting by demographic control data and the manner in which respondents are filtered (such as, determining who is a likely voter). It is difficult to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. Fieldwork for this survey was done by SurveyUSA of Verona,NJ.

Copyright2005 SurveyUSA, All Rights Reserved. SurveyUSA and the SurveyUSA logo are registered trademarks.

Brian

God spoke to Bush?

2005-10-07T05:08:00.000-05:00

I found this article, highlighting an upcoming BBC special about Bush and how God told him to do what he has done. Here is the link.
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1215163

If this is true, I have a few problems with it. First of all, wasn't the reason we wen't into Afghanastan was to hunt and capture Osama BinLaden? Then we went into Iraq because of the weapons of mass destruction they were harboring.

What this means is that either we were lied to about the reasons we are in Iraq,(big surprise) or that Bush is lying to the folks in the Middle East (another big surprise). I seem to remember that Bush suffers from dyslexia and if that is so, well, I 'll keep the cheap jokes to myself.

I am always amazed at the reaching lies I hear. I wish some official would just be honest and say," We are an oil dependant country, and we have occupied Iraq to secure oil reserves for our use."

How would America react if say, China or Russia came in, took the President out of power, and said they were trying to free us. They wanted to help set us up with a communist state, and show us a better and fair way of life. We all would take up arms and defend our country, regardless of political lines.

Why is it so hard for the administration to understand they are not wanted in Iraq. Just because their country and government is run differently, does not mean they want to change it. I am not surprised one bit at the problems that have been run into with the rebellion that is in Iraq.

I have veered off of my original thought, so I will wrap it up before I get way off track.

Brian

Gonzales v. Oregon

2005-10-06T07:52:00.000-05:00

Gonzales v. Oregon 04-623

This case is before the Supreme Courtand is about state-assisted suicide, or more plainly, the states allowing doctor-assisted suicide. The justices will be deciding whether the federal courts could/should block, or control, the states in this matter. John Ashcroft originally brought up this case, and then Alberto Gonzales has taken over.

Chief Justice John Roberts thrust himself in the middle of his first major oral argument he has presided over. He asked over a dozen tough questions, and seemed to be a defender of federal authority to block state-assisted suicide. Roberts has just recently replace William H. Rehnquist who recently passed as a result of thyroid cancer.

Antonin Scaliaand Roberts both seem to be skeptical of Oregon's claims. To me, from what I have read they seem tobe trying to find a black and white line for this issue, which is tricky. Morphine was one example that was used. Morphine can be used to make someone comfortable, but with too large of a dose, you will die. So their stance seems to be let the federal government regulate narcotics that are prescribed.

SandraDay O'Conner seemed ready to support Oregon's law, but with the new judicial nominee, Harriett Miers, the vote could be delayed until she is sworn in. Should that happen, what O'Conner would vote would be irrelevant.

Three of the sitting judges have personally battled cancer. Sandra Day O'Conner (breastcancer), John Paul Stevens (prostate cancer), and Ruth Bader Ginsberg(colon cancer) survived their battles, and have personal experiences with these terrible diseases in which many die from regularly. StephenBryer's wife is a counselor for children with cancer.

My interest in this case is pretty high due to having seen several relatives die of terminal diseases, and watching the end of life experience. My grandfather had succumb to prostate cancer after a long battle, my grandmother had a long battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig'sdisease), my other grandfather died of acute renal failure (his kidneys quit working), my last surviving grandmother is in the throws of dementia and Alzheimer'sand my wife's only surviving grandmother is in the beginning stages ofAlzheimer's

The case that Iwill share is why I believe stronglyin the patients right to die. My grandfather had a quadruple bypass surgery in 1993. All was well, but they discovered he was diabetic at this time, as well as hypertensive. Then in 2001 he was going to the hospital for an angiogram to see if his heart was health enough for a valve surgery, had a mishap when they injected the die, and his kidneys shut down. So then as he teetered on death, the conundrum arose. He could not have heart surgery because he had no kidney function, and he could not have a kidney transplant because he did not have a healthy heart. So dialysis was his onlyoption, and that only works for a few years on average.

Anyway, fast-forward a couple of years and he finally decided to stop torturing himself. When he would get the transfusions, the last few times that he did, he would pass out, and the doctors told him it was just a matter of time. He made the decision to stop dialysis, which I admired him for such a brave decision. Brave based on the fact that our most primitive instinct is to survive, and he openly accepted the inevitable, and chose to not fight it. Well, the doctors said with no dialysis it could be two days to two weeks, and unfortunately, it was two weeks. Fourteen days to be exact. We could not give him water, only a moistened sponge on his tongue. He was miserable,and on day 7 asked me how much longer until it was over. I had no answer. He asked my cousin to shoot him,which wasn't an option, but he was desperately hurting. When he finally passed, I was both sad for his loss, yet relieved he wasn‚t suffering anymore.

Had he been able to be administered the endof life medication when he decided to end it,he would not have suffered, and the end result would be the same.Personally, I believe if a terminally ill patient, who has been diagnosed with certain death, with absolutely no chance of survival orrecovery, it is absolutely asinine not to allow the patient this humane option.

Why is it we will kill a dog after he has been hit by a car, or has a cancer or the such, and call it humane, but when it comes to doing the same for a human we call it murder, or at least our laws. We would rather keep a human on a machine to extend life past its natural intention, even against the patients‚ wishes. A good example of that is the Terry Schaivo case.

So back to the case,

I believe the votes will go like this.

Roberts, Ginsburg, Breyer, Souter and Stevens against Oregon

And Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy and O'Conner for Oregon

Which will be a 5 to 4 ruling against state rights. I have come to this conclusion from the Raich case from 1996, and assuming Scalia will uphold his belief in states rights. Also I believe Roberts will vote opposite ofhow Rehnquist voted in Raich, though we may find he has different beliefs. Either way, I think Oregon will loose, but time will tell.

Brian

Hurricanes Rain on Bush's Tax cut Parade

2005-10-05T17:50:00.000-05:00

I found this and just had to post it word for word, of course with credit to the author. This is a well researched article, that demonstrates why supply side economics do not work. A good read, and at the least interesting.

Hurricanes Rain on Bush's Tax Cut Parade
By David Sirota, In These Times. Posted October 4, 2005.

When President Bush kicked off his bid for re-election in the spring of 2004, he launched what was another in a long line of cookie-cutter conservative campaigns. There was the predictable pander to cultural conservatives with his high-profile introduction of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Then, there was the well-worn chest-thumping on national security and the War on Terror (sans any mention of the still-at-large Osama bin Laden).
And then, finally, there was the most familiar theme of all: right-wing economics.
Bush proudly promoted the trillions in tax cuts he had passed as supposedly helping the economy, and then went on the attack. "The tired, old policies of tax and spend," Bush said, referring to Democrats, "are a proven recipe for economic disaster."
The implication in Bush's statement is one America has been hearing for years from the right: namely, that conservatives' agenda of tax and spending cuts is not tired, but rather somehow "new," and is, most importantly, a path to success.
But with New Orleans residents still bailing water from their streets, that seemingly impenetrable axiom of American politics has crumbled almost as quickly as the infrastructure supposedly protecting our Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina. "Tax and spend" was not the recipe for economic disaster -- tax and spending cuts were.
This is a reality visible in the numbers. Year after year, the Bush administration insisted on massive tax cuts for the wealthy. And year after year, the White House refused to provide the funding government experts said was needed to strengthen levees, beef up hurricane preparedness and get federal emergency response ready for an onslaught from Mother Nature. America's budget surplus, built in the '90s to serve as a rainy day fund, was robbed to provide more and more giveaways to the rich. When the rainiest day of them all came, our country was left totally -- and unnecessarily -- vulnerable.

2001 and 2002: Denial

Casual observers wouldn't expect Mike Parker to serve as a de facto spokesman for how the Republicans' tax-cuts-at-all-cost agenda has weakened America. As a conservative GOP Congressman from Mississippi in the '90s, Parker was an outspoken advocate for giving tax breaks to the wealthy.He served as one of Newt Gingrich's lead grassroots advocates for reducing the estate tax -- a levy that falls almost exclusively on the wealthiest 1.2 percent of Americans. In his 1999 run as Republican nominee for Mississippi governor, Parker made tax cuts the centerpiece of his campaign. His signature television advertisement featured him shooting pool, saying "When I say I'll fight to cut your taxes, well friend, that's something that you can bank on."
After narrowly losing that race, Parker was rewarded for his Republican service by President Bush, who appointed him to head the Army Corps of Engineers on June 7, 2001. That was the very same day Bush signed his massive $1.3 trillion income tax cut into law -- a tax cut that severely depleted the government of revenues it needed to address critical priorities. As Parker soon learned, one of the priorities that would be sacrificed was flood and hurricane protection.
Overall, Bush's first budget introduced in February 2001 proposed more than half a billion dollars worth of cuts to the Army Corps of Engineers for the 2002 fiscal year. To be sure, these budget cuts were one in a number of cuts to public priorities like health care, human services, infrastructure and job training.

And it is true that the cuts to the corps came as the agency was being legitimately criticized: Some of its projects in recent years had run roughshod over environmental concerns, and others had been unnecessarily expensive products of congressional pork. However, instead of reforming the corps and getting it back on track, the White House used the criticism as a cover to gut the entire agency. The cuts were so deep, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) broke ranks with her party and penned a nationally-syndicated op-ed in April 2001 saying that "lives very likely will be lost."
Consider just a few of the specific examples: In the same budget that provided more than a trillion dollars in tax cuts, Bush proposed providing only half of what his own administration officials said was necessary to sustain the critical Southeast Louisiana Flood Control Project (SELA) -- a project started after a 1995 rainstorm flooded 25,000 homes and caused a half billion dollars in damage. This 2001 budget proposal came in the same year that, according to the Houston Chronicle, federal officials publicly ranked the potential damage to New Orleans by a major hurricane "among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."
Similarly, less than two weeks after Bush signed his tax cut on June 7, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that "despite warnings that it could slow emergency response to future flood and hurricane victims, House Republicans stripped $389 million in disaster relief money from the budget."
By the beginning of the 2002 congressional session, Parker had enough of sitting in silence while these tax and budget decisions were being made. In a meeting with White House budget director Mitch Daniels, Parker demanded the Bush administration restore the critical money for flood and hurricane protection.
"I took two pieces of steel into Mitch Daniels' office," Parker recalled. "They were exactly the same pieces of steel, except one had been under water in a Mississippi lock for 30 years, and the other was new. The first piece was completely corroded and falling apart because of a lack of funding. I said, 'Mitch, it doesn't matter if a terrorist blows the lock up or if it falls down because it disintegrates -- either way it's the same effect, and if we let it fall down, we have only ourselves to blame.' "
But as Parker noted, "It made no impact on [the White House] whatsoever." In February 2002, the president unveiled his new budget, this one with a $390 million cut to the Army Corps. The cuts came during the same year the richest five percent (those who make an average of $300,000 or more) were slated to receive $24 billion in new tax cuts.
The cuts were devastating. The administration provided just $5 million for maintaining and upgrading critical hurricane protection levees in New Orleans -- one-fifth of what government experts and Republican elected officials in Louisiana told the administration was needed. Likewise, the administration had been informed that SELA needed $80 million to keep its work moving at full speed, but the White House only proposed providing a quarter of that. These cuts came even though the potential cost of not improving infrastructure was known to be astronomical. A widely-circulated 1998 report on Louisiana's insurance risks said a serious storm could inflict $27 billion worth of damage just to homes and cars -- and that didn't include industrial or commercial property. Local insurance executives estimated in 2002 that the total damage would be closer to $100 billion to $150 billion -- estimates that now look frighteningly accurate.
When Parker headed to Capitol Hill for annual budget hearings in February 2002, he couldn't hide the truth. Under questioning, he admitted that "there will be a negative impact" if the President's budget cuts were allowed to go forward. The White House fired Parker within a matter of days.
Some Republicans came to Parker's defense after he was removed. Then-Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said, "Mike Parker told the truth that the Corps of Engineers budget, as proposed, is insufficient." Rep. David Vitter (R-La.) said the administration was "in denial" about the cuts. "There's no two ways about it that [the corps] are very underfunded," he said, noting that "southeast Louisiana flood control [is] our most obvious example."
Vitter was right -- but he was also "in denial" about his own culpability: Just weeks before, he and his Republican colleagues voted for a brand new business tax cut package, costing the federal government $43 billion in revenues that could have gone to fill the budget gaps Parker identified. And those tax cuts were targeted specifically to the GOP's biggest financial backers. According to the Houston Chronicle, the White House-backed legislation was a windfall for Big Business, "reducing total corporate tax collections by 21 percent."
Inadvertently foreshadowing just how closely tied the tax cuts and budget infrastructure negligence really would be, Bush signed this new tax cut two days after firing Parker.

2003: A new flood of cuts

In October 2002, politicians and emergency planners from 10 Louisiana parishes convened a critical meeting with the Bush administration's Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the increasingly precarious position the region found itself in. A month before, a surge from Tropical Storm Isidore -- a storm far tamer than even the weakest hurricane -- came dangerously close to breaching levees in New Orleans. That wasn't necessarily surprising to local residents -- the Times-Picayune had recently completed a five-part series about how budget cuts were allowing the region's hurricane and flood control infrastructure to crumble.
At the meeting, the chairman of Louisiana's Levee Board made things clear to the Bush administration: "If [a hurricane] hit us today, we'd see more water in more places and more lives lost." If there wasn't a serious investment of new resources, he said, "then we're losing our past and our future."
The Army Corps told the levee board that the necessary improvements could cost up to $2 billion -- a large figure, indeed. But not compared to the new tax cut package that President Bush unveiled just three months later.
On January 7, 2003, Bush gave a speech in Chicago outlining a $600 billion tax cut proposal. It was a plan that centered around eliminating taxes on stock dividends. "Nearly two-thirds of the tax benefits would flow to the most affluent five percent of households," noted the Christian Science Monitor. "The top one percent -- with incomes averaging $1 million -- would get 42 percent of the tax-free-dividend goodies [while] only 13 percent of this tax cut would go to people with incomes below $50,000."
For the Gulf Coast in particular, the plan was a disaster. According to the nonpartisan Citizens for Tax Justice, three out of the five states that would receive the least from the new tax cuts were Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Perhaps more importantly, the package would cost cash-strapped states tens of millions of dollars in lost revenues, because many state tax rates were tied to the federal tax code. The Baton Rouge Advocate soon reported that the proposal "could cost the Louisiana state treasury up to $30 million in tax revenues" -- money needed to address the state's infrastructure problems.
Those concerned about Louisiana's safety may have seen the new tax proposal as a reason for optimism. If the White House believed it could afford hundreds of billions of dollars of new tax cuts for the very wealthy, surely it would not plead poverty when it came to spending a few million to plug infrastructure deficiencies its own experts said were critical.
But four weeks after the dividend tax cut plan came Bush's new budget, and another half billion proposed cut to the Army Corps of Engineers. That included a proposal to slice about two thirds of SELA's budget -- such a massive cut that it would effectively halt projects that were reinforcing flood control infrastructure.
By the late spring, the tax and budget cut contrast came into full relief. On May 28, President Bush signed his tax cut into law. Though the overall package had been pared back, the dividend tax break alone would cost $125 billion.
Two days later, the Times-Picayune reported that the administration's own officials announced "that they don't have enough cash to pay for major drainage and hurricane protection projects under way in at least five local parishes" in the New Orleans area. Additionally, the paper noted that "four other major construction projects also will run out of money within the next month," including the Lake Pontchartrain hurricane protection project and two other major levee reinforcement projects. Though Congress ultimately restored some of the money, the message from the White House was clear: Tax cuts would supersede everything.

2004: Tempting fate

The Washington Times headline on January 20, 2004, told it all: "Bush Wants Tax Cuts to Stay." The article reported that even with a war, record budget deficits and dangerously crumbling infrastructure, the president would make a new, $1 trillion tax cut plan the centerpiece of his State of the Union address.
And once again, just days after the speech, the White House on February 2 released a budget with another massive cut to infrastructure and public works projects -- this time to the tune of $460 million. As the Denver Post later reported, "the Southeast Louisiana Flood Control project sought $100 million in U.S. aid to strengthen the levees holding back the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, but the Bush administration offered a paltry $16.5 million." The Chicago Tribune noted that the Army Corps of Engineers had also requested $27 million to pay for hurricane protection upgrades around Lake Pontchartrain -- but the White House pared that back to $3.9 million. Meanwhile, budget cuts forced the corps to delay seven projects that included enlarging critical levees.
These latest cuts came just as the previous ones were starting to wreak havoc. Five days after Bush's budget was released, the Times-Picayune reported that "the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't have money to keep its dozen major flood-protection projects going" simultaneously.
More bad news arrived in the spring. Gaps in levees around Lake Pontchartrain, which were supposed to be filled by 2004, would not be filled because of budget shortfalls. Corps officials told the Times-Picayune in April "that the lack of money will leave gaps in the structure, weakening its effectiveness and pushing back its completion date." Worse, because budget cuts had been compounding for three years straight, "even after all the gaps are closed, the levee must settle for several more years until it reaches its final height." By June, the newspaper reported that "for the first time in 37 years, federal budget cuts have all but stopped major work on the New Orleans area's east bank hurricane levees."
"We are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us," Jefferson Parish emergency manager Walter Maestri said at the time, desperately begging the Bush administration to reevaluate its budget decisions. As he noted, the budget cuts meant that levee gaps would accumulate and "we'll end up so far behind that we can't catch up. ... And the further behind we get, the more critical the safety of the city becomes."
But almost no one in Washington was listening. Ten days after the Times-Picayune story, the U.S. House passed a $155 billion White House-backed bill to cut corporate taxes. The Senate had passed a similar bill the month before. Republican lawmakers from the Gulf Coast -- who purported to be concerned about infrastructure budget cuts -- all supported the new tax cut.
In September, as congressional negotiators were ironing out the final details of the corporate tax cut, Hurricane Ivan came within a hair of directly hitting New Orleans. The near miss was a bright red flag warning Washington to get its priorities straight, fast. Knight Ridder newspapers reported that Ivan was a very real reminder that "a direct hit by a very powerful hurricane could swamp [the region's] levees and leave as much as 20 feet of chemical-laden, snake-infested water" in its wake. The city's director of emergency preparedness said "it's only a matter of time" unless infrastructure was quickly improved.
Yet, a month later, Bush signed the corporate tax measure into law, draining more revenue from the federal treasury that could have gone to infrastructure upgrades. The tax cut measure, of course, could have included additional provisions to provide money for infrastructure improvements, if that was a priority. But it did not. Instead, Congress attached language written by corporate lobbyists to shower taxpayer cash on special interests. As the Washington Post reported, the bill was larded up with 170 smaller measures that benefit "restaurant owners, filmmakers, brewers, distillers, bow-and-arrow manufacturers, tackle-box companies, native Alaskan whalers, NASCAR track owners, and importers of Chinese ceiling fans." It was about as responsible as buying a home near a forest fire zone and refusing to spend the hundreds needed for fireproofing, but shelling out thousands to install a jacuzzi and add a skylight.

2005: Catastrophe strikes

The weeks and months leading up to Hurricane Katrina were more of the same. The White House focused on a multi-trillion dollar plan to privatize Social Security, and a plan to repeal the federal estate tax.
Meanwhile, as the Financial Times reported, the president proposed a budget that "called for a $71.2 million reduction in federal funding for hurricane and flood prevention projects in the New Orleans district, the largest such cut ever proposed." In addition, "the administration wanted to shelve a study aimed at determining ways to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane." This, in the face of a March 2005 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers that warned 3,500 dams were at risk of failing unless the government spent $10 billion to fix them.
By the time Katrina struck on August 29, the disaster was already a fait accompli. Though politicians feigned shock and outrage at the federal government's hurricane preparations, there was nothing to be surprised about. The disaster was the consequence of years of putting tax cuts above everything else -- even above a catastrophe we knew was coming.

The aftermath

In the wake of Katrina, the D.C. political establishment has tried desperately to prevent any discussion of tax cuts and budget priorities as the culprits in the disaster.
At first, President Bush claimed, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" -- an insult to the experts in his own administration and elsewhere who had been warning about exactly that for years. When that line fell flat, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan did his best impression of Saddam Hussein's information minister during the Iraq War, insisting, "Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one."
On Capitol Hill, Republicans simultaneously criticized those who were "playing politics" with the disaster, while pointing fingers at Democratic state and local officials.
Democrats -- many of whom had voted for some of the Bush tax cuts -- attacked the pathetic government response to the catastrophe, but largely refused to hammer the underlying tax and budget decisions that created the conditions for disaster. And the media ate it up, without putting any of it into the context of tax and budget decisions.
To be sure, even if the Bush administration had fully funded basic infrastructure improvements on the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina would have caused serious damage. And most agree that the Army Corps of Engineers has in recent years made some very poor spending decisions, and that the agency is in need of reform.
However, it is downright criminal for Congress and the media to pretend that the Bush administration's tax cut binge and subsequent budget cuts had nothing to do with the catastrophe. The fact is, experts roundly agree that had the administration made different budget decisions, the impact of the hurricane could have been reduced.
For instance, take Joseph Suhayda, an emeritus engineering professor at Louisiana State University who has worked for the Army Corps of Engineers. He told the Chicago Tribune that the reason levees weren't as high as they were designed to be "was a result of lack of funding."
"I think they could have significantly reduced the impact [of Katrina] if they had those projects funded," Suhayda told the Tribune. "If you need to spend $20 million and you spend $4 or $5 million, something's got to give."
Similarly, Mike Parker told the Washington Post, "You have watched during a period of 72 hours a modern city of New Orleans [become] a Third World country, and it is all because of the disintegration of infrastructure." He told the Tribune that "had [the infrastructure] been totally funded, there would be less flooding than you have."
Sour grapes from a disgruntled ex-employee? It is echoed by the president's current Army Corps chief. The Associated Press reported that Lt. Gen. Carl Strock "acknowledge[s] that more funding for the Southeast Louisiana Flood Control Project would allow the Corps to more quickly pump out the floodwaters inundating New Orleans."
Some may try to argue that because of New Orleans' sub-sea-level geography, there was no amount of funding or infrastructure improvements that could have protected the city. House Speaker Dennis Hastert foreshadowed this inane assertion when he callously questioned whether New Orleans should even be rebuilt. But that argument asks us to simply forget places like the Netherlands -- one of the oldest industrialized countries in the world that has thrived right on the banks of the tempestuous North Sea, even though half of the country sits below sea level. After a powerful storm breached dikes there in 1953, the Dutch launched a massive project to upgrade its infrastructure. The Associated Press reported that the most critical piece of the project cost today's equivalent of $3.1 billion -- one half of one percent of the tax cuts the Bush administration delivered to the richest one percent of America.
The difference between the Netherlands' prudent investments and our government's tax-cuts-before-everything policies can be seen in the most basic comparisons. USA Today reported that "few levees anywhere in the [United States] are built to more than a 100-year standard -- capable of withstanding a flood so bad that its probability of occurring is once in a 100 years." Better-funded Dutch levees, by contrast, are built to a 1,250-year standard. And while the Netherlands' infrastructure is built to withstand some of the strongest storms, the New York Times reported in September 2005 that "Congress authorized a flood control system to handle only a Category 3 storm"--most likely to save on cost. Additionally, "as a result of federal budget constraints" (that came as the Bush administration was handing out ever-increasing numbers of tax breaks) the flood walls that broke during Katrina "were never tested" and never built to the strength experts made clear was necessary.
Still, even after Hurricane Katrina, none of these facts has shocked conservatives into reevaluating their tax cut zealotry. Instead, they continue to push forward with the insanity, as if nothing happened. In his first interview just days after the disaster, President Bush made sure to tell ABC's Diane Sawyer that he will not consider rolling back his tax cuts to deal with the disaster or beef up infrastructure.
The next week, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) reassured reporters that GOP plans to repeal the estate tax and pass a new $70 billion series of tax cuts were only being postponed temporarily. "There's plenty of time to do everything that we want to do," he said -- not a surprise coming from the same man who, just before the Iraq invasion said "Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes."
Make no mistake: This tax-cut-at-all-cost orthodoxy is not supported by the public. Polls have consistently shown that a majority of Americans support rolling back tax cuts to deal with pressing national priorities. And yet, the political establishment now regularly makes passing tax cuts its sole objective.
If you think that is hyperbole, think again. New Orleans provides only one example of how tax cuts are routinely put ahead of the most pressing public priorities. For proof, just look at the Detroit News' special report before the most recent presidential election. The newspaper reported that in 2004 alone, the richest 10 percent of Americans received tax cuts that were "twice as much as the government will spend on job training, $6.2 billion; college Pell grants, $12 billion; public housing, $6.3 billion; low-income rental subsidies, $19 billion; child care, $4.8 billion; insurance for low-income children, $5.2 billion; low-income energy assistance, $1.8 billion; meals for shut-ins, $180 million; and welfare, $16.9 billion."
And that prompts a critical question: When will this madness end? If a city submerged under water can't shock the insulated political establishment into reevaluating its tax and budget priorities, what can?
The answer is patently clear: The only thing that can prompt a serious debate about taxes is a political opposition that is willing to step forward and draw the tax cut contrast--an opposition that has not yet coalesced. As In These Times goes to press, most high-profile Democrats have refused to explicitly connect the dots. Instead of explaining how Bush's tax cuts contributed to the Katrina disaster, Democrats have proposed a blue-ribbon commission to investigate the government's (albeit pathetic) response--a position that buries the broader debate about priorities.
True, John Kerry did talk about repealing some of the Bush tax cuts during the 2004 campaign. And true, some Democratic voices, including Bill Clinton and even the conservative Democratic Leadership Council, have now started talking about repealing tax cuts to pay for reconstruction and upgrades to America's infrastructure. But as yet there has been no coordinated campaign by the Democratic Party to intensely focus on tax cuts. Instead of calls for repealing the $336 billion in additional tax cuts that will go to the richest 5 percent of Americans in the next five years, most Democrats have mustered only a call for a delay in new tax cuts -- something the GOP agreed to temporarily, but will ignore in a matter of weeks.
These split-the-difference tactics -- which have marked the party's electoral decline over the last decade -- are once again preventing the party from explaining how Democratic leadership would lead to vastly different results for America.
Politicians love to put signs up next to the projects they created saying "your tax dollars at work." The only way for the United States to have the desperately needed debate over budget priorities is if Democrats find the courage to plant a figurative sign in New Orleans' flood-drenched streets that says "your tax cuts at work." Then, and only then, will America's tax debate transform from a theoretical one that features terrific-sounding promises into a concrete one that highlights the very real consequences of a political system that seeks only to enrich the already rich, no matter what the cost to society.

David Sirota was the top spokesman for Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. He is currently writing a book on the middle-class economic squeeze for Crown Publishers. Contact him at Davidsirota.com.

Moore and the big Ten

2005-10-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

So, Roy Moore wants to be governor of the great state of Alabama. Well he will not be getting my vote, and that is just one of many. Let’s just set the facts out as they are, no Christian overtones, or how great he is.

In the late nineties, Moore was a cicuit judge in northeast Alabama when he fought a lawsuit seeking to remove a woode plaque depicting the commandments from his courtroom. The leagal battle was well publicized, and he championed the suit.

Using his notoriety from this case this republican ran for statewide office in 2000, campaigning as the “Ten Commandments Judge.” This campaign was an easy battle for him, and he was elected to chief justice.

Then in 2001, Roy Moore had a 2.6 ton granite monument made, depicting the ten commandments and placed it in the rotunda of the court house.

A lawsuit was soon filed for its removal, arguing that the marker constituted a government endorsement of Christianity.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled the granite carving was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. Moore refused to obey the order but was overruled by his eight colleagues on the state Supreme Court.

"God has chosen this time and this place so we can save our country and save our courts for our children," Moore said.

With Thompson threatening to fine the state $5,000 a day for defying his order, Attorney GeneralBill Pryor and Gov. Bob Riley refused to support Moore.

Moore continued to defy what the higher courts ruled, as a result Moore was suspended by the Judicial Inquiry Commission, which charged him with six ethics violations for refusing the order. (note he was fired for disobeying, not for professing his beliefs.)

Now Moore is going to compete against the very Governor who would not support him for the republican ticket for governor. Siegleman will probably be the democratic horse in the race.

Now, I say do you really want a Governor who has shown utter disregard to authority, a complete disdain and contempt for the court system of which he was bound to? Should a man of such narrow vision, that he reads only from one book, and ignores what his superiors say, get a chance at the helm of the highest position in a state. I say no, this man has demonstrated complete and utter contempt for authority, he has demonstrated a stuborness that our president is using to ruin this fine country.

Sadly, the sheeple will probably vote him in, just due to the bible connection. This is where it gets bad. Seperation of church and state is there to keep government officials from pushing their religion on others. What if I don’t want my daughter to be exposed to the fanaticism of religion in her formative years. What if I plan to let her decide if she wants to believe in faith on her own. Should it be up to these fanatics, I won’t get a say so, and if she doesn’t join in on the prayer, she is an outcast, and that just should not be an issue in school, or much less, our court system!

In the end, I lose. I lose for being the minority in beliefs, opinions, and finacial clout. I lose because I choose not to be a sheep led to the slaughter and accept the mistreatment of bad leadership as “His Will”. I lose because, I can’t pass go and collect two hundred dollars, I an stuck in jail and can’t roll doubles.

Anybody got a get out of jail free card I can trade a copy of the Ten Commandments For?

Brian

Bill Bennett on reducing crime

2005-10-03T19:58:00.000-05:00

From the September 28 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett'sMorning in America:

CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot about theloss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund Social Security,and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent months here, that theabortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade, the lost revenue from thepeople who have been aborted in the last 30-something years, could fundSocial Security as we know it today. And the media just doesn't -- nevertouches this at all.

BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?

CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, itwould be an enormous amount of revenue.

BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be, too. Ithink as -- abortion disproportionately occur among single women? No.

CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.

BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not argue forthe pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cutsboth -- you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that theymake is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with thishypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up.Well --

CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.

BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either,because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I doknow that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if thatwere your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country,and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous,and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think,tricky.

Bill Bennett's Morning in America airs on approximately 115 radio stationswith an estimated weekly audience of 1.25 million listeners.

I don’t listen to Mr. Bennett’s show but heard of the comment and I wanted to investigate myself and read the context it was in. Clearly we can take someone’s words, quote them out of context, and make them sound like they said something entirely different. He chose a poor example to explain his point. Let’s say he used caucasion babies, rather than black babies to demonstrate his point, the result would be the same. Hind - sight being 20/20, he should have said that if you allowed every considered abortion, the crime rate would go down.

The guy screwed up with his choice of words, but I think the media is jumping on this due to the recent mess some republicans are finding themselves in. Other than him not being thoughtful about his choice of example, the other beef I have with this situation is the media choosing one sentence, and highlighting only that. Part of this is a result of the media trying to give a story in less than 15 seconds. Not every story is a sound-bite, and not every sound-bite is a story. Being one who tends to be politically left of center, it pains me to say that I think the media is running with this due to the sensationalistic matter that is being featured. You know that old saying, “if it bleeds, it leads”, well, I don’t think there were any bleeding victims that day. Honestly, I would have gone on more about Tom “the Hammer” DeLay a little more.

To sum it up, though what he said was racially insensitive, race should have had nothing to do with what he was trying to discuss. Whether it be a Freudian slip, or just a boneheaded example, he just plain screwed up. Seems to me he is in line with his fellow republicans.

Brian

Hank Erwin

2005-10-02T16:51:00.000-05:00

The Storm, Katrina, that was sent by God to kill the sinners who enjoy gambling.

Hank Erwin Republican Senator from my hometown in Montevallo. The biggest ignorant jackass I have ever seen that can read or write. Since the Hurricanes he wrote in a column, the following;
"New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness. It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God."
"Warnings year after year by godly evangelists and preachers went unheeded. So why were we surprised when finally the hand of judgment fell?"

So he is saying that only the ones who died were gamblers, sinners and those filled with wickedness. Why did the hurricane sent by the lord almighty not get those who were shooting at the rescue helicopters? This must mean that those few were spared to try and kill the sinners who chose to help in the rescue effort.
Mr. Erwin, and I am only showing respect for the mere fact that you are my elder, Think before you write or speak. God did not do this, it is called a natural disaster. The event is called that because it was caused by nature. Should god have sent it, it would have been called divine intervention. You are intelligent enough to know that what you said wasn’t even close to true. I guess, by your statement, past hurricanes that have hit every other mass of land were sent by god to kill the sinners, and only sinners died in these tragedies. NO, your logic does not stand. Not in that one instance, nor in any instance of natural disasters. God does not cause earthquakes; they are caused by tectonic plate shifts in the Earths crust. But yet many sinners were killed by them, as well as innocent victims.

Apparently, Mr. Erwin has never had a relative die as a result of a hurricane. Now, I don’t wish this on anyone, but it is painfully obvious, his statement was made out of ignorance. He really makes me ashamed of being associated to this state.

The Republican Party, as a whole, is slowly self-destructing, and it’s being exposed as the power hungry, greedy group it is. With the recent indictment of Tom Delay, the exposure of, Lewis Libby and Karl Rove revealing the name of Valerie Plame. Then there is William Bennett with his most recent quote, "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose; you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.". These are all self proclaimed Christians who are clearly not following the rules set forth in their religious tome.

I will research more topics more in depth, and share with you in the future. Please share your opinion with me, good or bad.

A sad, sad situation

2005-10-02T15:56:00.000-05:00

There have been a few things on my mind I wanted to share with you guys, and it has nothing to do with sex, porn, alcohol or the combination of any of these. Amazingly enough it has to do with our fellow citizens. Many have heard of the recent tragedies and it is sad. I weep for our nation, and the victims of the awful atrocities. We all know that they could have been avoided, of course hind-sight is always 20/20. Make a small change here, should have done that there, but this is the course we chose. Many people are outraged, and rightly so. I join in on this outrage, so there is only one thing we can do, that is roll up our sleeves and take care of business!
You might be thinking I am referring to the Hurricane, and you would be partly right, but the bigger tragedy is the lame ass excuse for a president. Mr. Arbusto himself. I know that may be a shock to some, but he is more responsible for a lot of the tragedy that developed after the storm hit. His tax cuts stopped the work on building up the levees. His appointees, which make up 73% of the FEMA Executives, are not qualified disaster strategists (or storm folks, as Bush would say). Two hours after the Hurricane hit, the power company in Baton Rouge received a phone call from the Vice-Presidents office to divert electricity to some oil companies, causing two hospitals to be without electricity for two hours. Finally, guess who has the contract with FEMA for clean up after disasters..... you guessed it, Halliburton and Bechtel. Led by Joe Allbaugh, lobbyist for KBR, who was director of FEMA the first two years of the Bush administration.
Now you may be asking yourself, if you are on the religious right, "can this asshole be right?" and sir I submit this asshole is right, and I will give you more evidence. Michael Brown, or "Brownie" as Tex so lovingly calls him, was not Bush's first choice as you previously read. Allbough was Brown's college roommate and Bush's chief of staff as Governor and his campaign director in 2000. So I submit to you both of these gentlemen, were not qualified other than helping Bush pull of the most spectacular scams in the history of man.
But, I'm not calling for impeachment, no that's not what we need. We need an intervention!

To think, all the republicans were pissed because President Bill Clinton got a blowjob, and were screaming for impeachment. But you show complete and utter incompetence, start an unjust war, create the largest budget deficit and national debt in the history of civilization, blame others for the bad stuff, then turn around and accept it, only after you popularity drops to the low 40 percentile. He is still lobbying for his damn personal retirement accounts everyone pretty much laughed about. His whole damn family is in the oil industry, and who is showing record profits, the oil industry. Fuck, when are the republican minions going to realize they are sheep being led to the slaughter, with Christianity as a pretty cover for the agenda. Oh God, I better not get started on that shit... Pat friggin' Roberts, what a goddam joke.

So to summarize, 911, 911, evil doers, stay the course, keep our resolve, 911, terrorists, terrorists, terrorists, *dumb smirk* Laura, God Bless America.

We will have our troops out of Iraq by November, or at least withdrawal will begin then, you fuckin' mark that on your calendar. This isn't by his plan, it's by nature screwing up his plan. Some say God sent the Hurricane to get the sinners, well, if that is true, he sure exposed the weakness of the sinners, the President and all of his men.

You bring the ice cream............

2005-05-20T17:06:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a busy time, and I haven't been able to update as often as I would like. But, here I am once again.
Since I last posted, a great writer whom I have always been intrigued by died. Hunter S. Thompson commited suicide and well, just all of a suden decided to end it all.

Scrubs is finally out on DVD, I looked forward to that for a while. Great show if you have never seen it. I love single camera sitcoms, they are just so much more clever, IMHO.

Work has been way hectic, and I tell you starting you're own business is a friggin' handful! I have been doing O.K. so far, but I just don't have enough time to do it all. I sell the job, then design it, get it produced then deliver it, and it is back to the whole process again. Soon, I need to get me a sales man, or either someone to help in the design part. Either way, I have bitten off more than I can chew.

I will post more later, I have to do my sales taxes now.

Snappy

Busy, busy, busy.

2005-02-22T20:05:00.000-06:00

Hola, Amigos

I am still alive, and man am I busy. My business is going pretty good, I have more work than I can handle right now, which is good, but stressful. My day job is getting busier also, but the market is really tough. There were two print shops that closed their doors this month, I hate that for the employees of those companies, but that's how it goes.
Unfortunately, I am not able to devote as much time to the forums as I would like, but I am enjoying the business. Honestly I never thought sales would be as much fun as it is, and knock on wood, everyone I have spoken with have purchased at least a stamp, and most a full stationery package. The website is mostly operational, but I need to find a good web person to get it finished. I e-mailed Chrispy of the Great Radio Tiki Experiment and he said he would holla, I'm waiting for him, he is up to his elbows with getting his new servers up and running smooth.
I just found out what old lunatic I am, you ought to check it for yourself.http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/tests/lunatics/">%20src=" Historical Lunatic Are You?
From'>http://rumandmonkey.com/">From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Well, the forum I set up seems to be doing well, and I have some big plans for it. This summer I am planning on building a crystal casket, I will probably build 3 or 4, and sell a couple. I plan on sending one to my buddy Curmudgeon, to let him critique it for me.

Guys, I am going to call it a night Scrubs is on, and that show friggin' rocks! Comes out on DVD April the 5th!

Brian

Back in action...........

2005-01-26T05:05:00.000-06:00

Well, we made it back from Disney World in good form. The trip was a blast, the best trip I have ever been on. The girls loved it, and I really enjoyed everyone that went with us. I can't remember all of it because we crammed so much in in seven days. We literally got up at daybreak, ate breakfast, hit the parks, and didn't return to our room until nightfall. The pedometer read that we averaged walking 6 miles a day. I enjoyed the walking after about day 3, but before that, it was work.
The parks were impressive, and the rides were fun. The Cirque De Soleil show was my favorite, La Neuba was the title, I believe. Epcot was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, I found a new favorite beer in Germany, it is named Dinkel Acker dark, and man is it delicious. Then in Japan, I got some wasabi peas, and rice candy. Of course I can't leave out Pocky, that stuff is good. We ate dinner in Morocco, and saw a belly dancer, I ate lambshank and couscous, it was good, a little gamey though. Mission space and test track are both worth riding, pretty well done. Tower of terror and Rockin' roller coaster are both good, though the coaster was a little rough, it rode better in the cars toward the back. Splash Mountain was a hit with the little ones, thus it was the most fun.
I finally found a Donald Duck hat and shirt, believe it or not they were hard to find. The plane ride was great both ways, but the pilot on the return trip was an excellent pilot. We had cross winds gusting at 35 to 40 miles an hour when we were landing, and we never felt him touch down, he was that smooth. When we were getting our luggage, they had lost one piece, but drove it to our house that night, so it was here when we awoke. That impressed me.
While in the park, we saw a lost little boy, and I got a park worker to help him. They found his parents in about 2 minutes. I felt good about that. There was no magician to be found, and I was disappointed about that, so I performed my own magic while in line and at dinner. The magic shop they have down there is way too expensive, definitely not marketing to the performer, but more to the ones wanting to learn a gimmick. Anywhoo, I'll go get ready for work now, 3 more days till the weekend.
Happiness is a brisk fall morning.

Brian

T minus 23 hours

2005-01-15T06:52:00.000-06:00

Well, yet another exciting week has gone by, and 23 hours I will be in the southern skies heading towards Orlando. I am pretty excited, not only to go to Disney World, this will be my first time aboard a large airplane. The takeoff, I think, will be the best part. Little Gigi is excited as well, but as luck would have it, she came down with a cold 3 days ago. Fortunately she is almost over it. Shell is also excited, well heck who wouldn't be.
O.k. onto the non vacation stuff. This week I solidified or I should say strengthened an online friendship with a fellow magician, and am pretty stoked about this. I know on the outside you are saying,"so what's the big deal, I chat with people online all the time?" Well, as magicians you are upheld to a code of silence, you cannot freely chat on the forums about specific effects, and for specific help. But by having a trusted fellow magi, such as he, we can discuss the finer details about routines, effects, moves, and the such. The only thing I regret is that I don't live closer to where I could meet up with him for some sessions. Should I visit him it would take 14 and a half hours to drive there, basically a whole weekend. That is better than 15 hours though. I would give him a shout out, but magicians code you know, I can't reveal who he is. I can tell you who the masked magician is though. Chances are you don't really want to know.
I received my latest order from SpookClub Tuesday, and got some great books, and a couple of effects. Lately, I have been devouring books, as I have more effects than I can perform. Busking is seeming so much more interesting to me, and I think it would do well here since I'm in a college town. Currently, I am working on building a couple of personas, working out their nuances, and personalities. I can't seem to think of any real catchy names. They will come as the personalities get developed though, and I will gladly let you in on them.
Last night I watched Disney's made for t.v. movie, "You gotta see this..." and I was very entertained, they did several illusions that were neat. A couple they botched to go along with the story line, though I personally would have rather seen them played out properly. All in all, a great movie for the family and rather entertaining. The plot is designed for a kid to keep up, and there aren't any subtleties, such as what is going to happen, but it was good. Bravo, Bravo, another decent family movie.
I am hooked on this little game right now
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/iizuka/games/dopewars/index.html
it is a neat little game, but not for the kiddies. My high score, no pun intended is 420,568,009. And I can't seem to beat that, man that would be cool in real life.

So, back to magic based stuff, I am torn as to take more than my TT, a deck of cards, and a few sponge balls, to Disney World. I don't think the little girl will get bored, but I might, plus I need to work on my spongeball work more. I think I am going to have more downtime than I am thinking now. My mother-in-law is going with us,(I know what you're thinking, but she is not a typical in-law, she is great), and she is fighting bone spurs in both feet. Shell and I tried to talk here into taking a wheel chair, but of course she won't have it. I can't say I would if I were in that position. I am defiately packing books. Anyway, I'll sort all of that out later.
Well, I better get packin, literally. I wish you all a great week, and I will post back on Sunday, hopefully I will learn how to put pictures here when I get back.

Peace, Love, and happiness

Brianstein

Swimming up the stream, away from the school.....

2005-01-07T22:54:00.000-06:00

Well, this has been a fairly eventful week. I finally got my website sorted out, and am about to offer a great new service for my customers. They will be able to design their own letter head, envelopes and business cards online, purchase them there and have them shipped to their door, all without speaking to a customer service rep, if that is what they choose.This should be an effective item, or at least I am banking on it being popular. I still have a few kinks in the html, but should be ironed out soon enough.One thing through this web page fiasco, I have learned a couple of valuable lessons; one is to never just register a domain name without having a host. I registered my domain name at one place, and was under the impression that the price included hosting, because it was higher than most hosts, but found out, they were just expensive to register a domain name. That has been resolved, but with much ire. Secondly, Web templates are the bomb! I would have not had gotten this far without them. Thirdly, Having your own business is a ton of work, especially if you have absolutely no help.
I can't wait to start doing magic for a living, if I could only speed up my refinement. That is probably the most technical thing I have ever studied in my life with the exception of competitive driving. There is so much history I am trying to get down pat and correct. I plan on starting my magic business this coming fall, after I get my other venture set up and going. My silent partner, is pretty excited of the progress, so with all of that I am going to sell magic at shows, and flea markets locally. That way I can stretch myself really thin. Currently my goal is to have a complete nervous breakdown within six months, *sighs contently*. Not really, but I do tend to take on too much.
Well, the countdown is on, only 9 days until we leave for Disney world, and I am ready. I haven't had a week of vacation in almost a full year. This summer we are driving out to California, and we are going to visit DisneyLand there. We will stop in Vegas for a few days on the way, and I plan on catching some kick butt magic shows. I will definately catch Lance Burton, Mac King, The Amazing Jonathan and Penn and Teller. There are plenty more there but I will have to see if any others tickle my fancy. While I am in Vegas, I will have to track and spot any street magicians.
One last thing magic related, I will be getting my SpookClub package in the mail Monday, it takes 14 days to recieve magic now, but that's all good. Wayno is a cool cat. I try and give him as much business as I can afford, I admire the task he is taking on. Anywho, I look up to him as an example.
Earlier this week, I bought a couple of new dvds and they are good. The first one is Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhall,(I think I spelled that right, his sister Maggie was hot in "The Secretary"), which I have seen about ten times, it is a great story with a completely great plot twist at the end. The second is Garden State, written, directed, and starring Zach Braff. A great movie, great sound track, and includes a night in shining armor,(which is completely hilarious.). I highly recommend both of these movies, they are both a little dark in the content, but hey, that's how I like my movies. Around Wednesday I read an article on making short films, and might give it a shot, I have an idea for a plot, but it would be longer than a short. The first one I do I want to be between 3 to 5 minutes.
Well, I'm out like a trout

New Years Eve, baby........

2004-12-31T17:08:00.000-06:00

Well, The holidays are almost over, and I discovered that I will post only weekly, unless something extraordinary happens. I have too much going on right now to post each day. My Secret Santa gift came Monday, and it was really cool. It is a book written by Richard Osterlind,and it has some excellent tips and instructions on performing real magic. I devoured the book, and it will be a re-read definately. Monday I also placed a large order at the SpookClub for some books and a utility, and a gimmick. Lately I have really gotten the bug for really honing out a performance, by linking tricks and creating a storyline to go along with it. That in my opinion is where the true magic is, if you just do a trick, it is just that, a trick. Should you perform a routine that includes tricks, well my friend, I believe that is magic.
Well, on the personal front, we celebrated at my parents house on Christmas eve, and Shell's parents on Christmas day. Christmas as a whole was good for our family, we were wiped out though. I hate to say but it seemed to pale in comparison to the anticipation for DisneyWorld. We will be going there on the 16th next month. I plan on Gigi, Shell and myself to have a great time. My mother-in-law is going with us, as well as her brother his wife and their daughter, who is close to Gigi's age.
As I sit here, it is New Years eve, and I just returned from buying fireworks and board games. We are going to be celebrating by ourselves tonite, and with friends tomorrow. Lance and Kristen will be coming over, and they are great. Lance and I seem to hit it off, and his wife is just as sweet a person as you will ever meet. We are going to grill steaks, and shoot off the fireworks,(not simutaneously though). Gigi loves to watch fireworks, but hey who doesn't, and the little pyromaniac inside me love shooting them off.
This afternoon, I finally got Gigi's computer set up in her room, she is real pleased, so of course, that pleases me. Shell has already taken all the decorations down in the house, that was a chore, but it is nice to see things back to normal. Tonight I have decided to make no New Years resolutions, as I have rarely upheld the last four years worth. You see, I didn't come through with the millionaire thing, nor the loose weight thing,(actually gained a little), etc, etc, etc,.........
Well, I am being requested by the Queen to play CLUE Simpson style ;)
'till next time, peace love and tight bearhugs......

as the sun sets..........

2004-12-22T19:08:00.000-06:00

Well, here I sit after a nice dinner, reflecting on the day. Looks like all is well on the home front. I had a pretty slow day to again, hoping work will pick up. The presses are staying busy, but man the prepress side is about dead.
On the magic front, let's talk trash, and roumors first. Looks like Penguin has their site working again, but with no forums, some 48 hours. On the down side other magic sites are getting hit with the virus. Luckily the good ole SpookClub is clicking along just fine. There is a report that Derren Browns site has gotten hit, but I haven't verified that report. I hope this person, whoever they are, would lay off the hacking. I wouldn't wish this kind of confusion on my worst enemy. Well, O.K. maybe I would, but not to do damage, just as an inconvenience. There have been some rumblings on another site about Waynos logo for the SpookClub, I have a sneaky suspicion that a competing online magic shop is behind that little rumbling. I have seen a few posts that add up to as much. Either way, I hope he gets things sorted out so as to avoid any issues.
On a different subject, I am anxiously awaiting my secret santa from the SpookClub. That is another great thing about the SpookClub, It honestly is like a group of great people with a common interest. Nine of us participated in a secret Santa gift swap, and it is really neat. I am looking forward to seeing what my secret santa chose for me.
With christmas coming up, for some reason I am really wanting an ipod. That is one neat toy, I would get a ton of use out of, but I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on just one toy. I just built a new computer, and had to put a set of tires on my car, and especially when I haven't gotten a straight jacket yet, much less chains for escapes I plan on.
My hundred foot rope escape is a good deal, but I think a chain escape would have more impact. I am looking forward to doing a buried alive stunt, I am trying to get everything planned out so it will go as planned. The one thing that would make it a little more impressive would be an entourage of people, to make it bigger. This is something I think can be done and be pretty impressive. Here is what I want to get going; To be buried 6 foot under wet cement in a casket, the casket will be strong enough to withstand the cement, I don't have a deathwish. Stay buried for 48 hours the first time. then as I work out the kinks up to a week then, maybe two weeks. A convincing stunt would be to be buried long enough that grass is actually grown in the soil which covers me. This would be pretty strong, and there are a few ideas I have for adding a little drama to it. This would be great publicity for a grand opening for a store, that's what I would like to see, or even after being buried, have another magi, perform a show right after, being buried, then right before being dug up.................Man the ideas are swirling right now.
Well, I am going to draw some more sketches. remember, Hapiness ia a shell that doesn't talk.

TEWSDAY.....

2004-12-21T17:25:00.000-06:00

Yet again another day has passed, and the Penguinmagic.com forums are still owned. SpookClub.org, fortunately has not been touched, but someone in the magic community is not a happy camper. Oh, well, maybe in some odd way this will help SpookClub grow, not only in forum members, but also in sales and customers, for Wayno. He's a good guy and deserves this shop to be a success, and I have no doubt it will be.
Today I had some lunch guests, my wife, little girl, mother-in-law and Maria ( a friend I haven't seen in a while.). I broke away from surfing the web, and trying to beat my high score at curve ball to eat lunch and visit with all of them. Took a whole hour, I usually don’t take a lunch, but hey, it’s Christmas time. I felt a little guilty about wanting to get back to the web surfing, I guess I do it to much.
While at work I had a thought on a website intro I mught try and use, it is in Flash;
A spaceship (like from my favorite martian) stops from light speed, and you see there is a monkey in the spaceship, the spaceship lands in a field, climbs out of the ship and starts hopping up and down screaming (as monkeys do), then craps in his hand an throws it at the screen (as monkeys do), as the poop slides down the screen it reveals the menu for the site.
I know this is childish and weird, but hey, show me a site that has this as an intro
I found out that Gigi is staying the night at my mother-in-laws tonite, so we have the house all to ourself, and as you would guess Shell is on the couch watching season 2 of Alias, and I am reading magic books, watching dvd’s for routine material, and typing this blog out. Truly after you’ve been married a while, 7 years for me, things just aren’t like the honeymoon. I think it is actually better, but that’s after you get over the rough parts, which everyone has, it just comes in different forms. For some it’s infidelity, for others it’s lack of respect, for some it’s drinking from the milk carton but ultimately you have to get used to each other, and comfortable. It has taken us a while, but we found our rut, and were stuck! J So I guess, I will try and get through a few levels, on my console game, while keeping an eye on the forum occasionally.
Lately I have really been into the cups and balls, when done right they are absolutely beautiful, of course when done wrong, they just look like crap. That is why I love them, why they appeal to me, it is all hero or zero with them. Once you learn the mechanics, and a few other moves, you can create an absolutely stunning performance that will stand out by itself. Should you be interested in cup routines, check out an Indian cup routine, not only hard, but man you will respect the fire out of the performer if done right. I have been studying a routine by a magi named Les Greenhalgh, he issued this particular routine in 1974, one year and four months after I was born, but it is still relevant today. If you can use a set of Indian cups, you can perform about any cup routine with regular cups. Also Kirk Stiles, had some loading techniques that help out on the Indian Cups.

That's about it for today guys, hopefully, I can start giving more info on some tricks, tips, and maybe even advice. Magic wise of course, not on life, God knows you don't want life advice from me. Hell I am an unmedicated manic depressive, who just hopes to stay manic more often than not........that's actually sad but true. I can't stand anti-depressants, but isn't that what a clown is supposed to be? ;)

Happiness is an IT that doesn't snap!

BA

Yesterday was........

2004-12-20T10:02:00.000-06:00

Here I am again, and I am post-posting for yesterday. Well, I got up late, around 8:30, then watched several christmas specials. A Christmas Story is one of my favorites, along with the cartoon of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. After several shows, I decided to go fill "the hole", and what a hole it was, I filled the whole hole, with a shovel not a hoe. Well, the story is this, Earlier this summer, someone (I'm not naming names but, he knows who he is) drove a backhoe through our backyard with wreckless disreguard as to where the field lines, septic tank, or input line lay. As a result of this heinous act, the input drain pipe was collapsed resulting in an atrocious backlog of used waters remaining in the shower, and bathtub. Fortunately, this was only water from sink, showers and washers (clothes, and dish). Either way, it leaves a foul stench when those odors are allowed to float adrift within the house, but at least it was not from the toilets, which due to the extreme age on the house, are on a seperate system. So, a couple of weeks ago, I dug up the entire inlet pipe to the septic tank, and replaced it. I left the hole open to makesure all of the joints were sealed, and was not leaking. The hole was about 5 feet deep, and 3 foot wide and 6 foot long. That my friend is a lot of digging, although, filling is a lot easier than digging, it is still a little bit of excercise.
On a different note, the forums, I sometimes visit related to magic have been hacked and owned. The names are Sleight Geek, Penguin, and Magic Cafe. Magic Circle Jerk, has gone on break, but luckily my favorite forum, is still all good. While I am on the subject of magic, I am working on a new effect, not created by me, but am working out the routine to fit me. It is a card thru the window effect, it is pretty ingenious, and works pretty flawless, and looks great. Although, I like card effects, I personally think performing with everyday ordinary objects makes for more strong magic.
I did watch Spiderman 2 and it was pretty decent, I still think part 1 was better as far as story wise, but 2 left off with the plot obviously screaming,"hey part three will have the green goblin back, so how clever are we!" I was unimpressed by the ending. Although, speaking of Marvel movies, I saw the preview for Electra, and it looked interesting, which will make 2 Marvel movies Jennifer Garner has been in. The first one being DareDevil starring Ben Affleck.
Basically, I had an uneventful day, and went to bed early, around 8:30, which meant I had a good 12 hour day. Lovely, just lovely.

Until next time, keep on smiling.

Brian

Night time, yet again...........

2004-12-18T20:05:00.000-06:00

Well, today was a lot of fun, not very eventful, but fun. We got up and went to the Calera Railroad museum, and rode a train with Santa. Gigi had a blast, we went about 3 miles, stopped, then Santa boarded the train. We then left there and went to lunch, came back and napped. After a brief nap we watched Dodgeball, it was about a B. I really like Vince Vaughn, he is a good comedy actor. He was great in the movie "Made". Anywho, two hours, three chicken fingers, and a few fries later, here I am. See, I told you not much happened.
On the lighter side, I got caught up on a great book I am reading called "Hiding the Elephant" by Jim Steinmeyer. A great history of great magicians of old. I really wish I had the talents that some of those magicians had, although, there are a couple that are rumored to not have very adequate skills, and they were pretty famous, so maybe I won't be a Copperfield, Blaine, or Burton, but if I could make a decent living at it, that would be fabulous. Takes a lot of practice though. I tend to burn through a deck of cards pretty fast practicing, I try and keep at least a dozen or so around. Blue backed are my favorites, though I do use red backed some also. My favorite thing right now is disappearing objects. Disappearing a handkerchief is probably my favorite right now. Although, I really don't like being asked to perform, it just sort of ruins the magical spontaneity having someone ask for a trick, then six other people start staring at you every move to try and catch a glimpse at anything.
I have tried to teach my neighbors kid a trick or two, and he is just a little young yet, but I believe he will grow into it pretty soon. He hasn't got the whole secrecy thing down pat yet, but hey, he's only 7. He asked me to show him a trick, so I asked him to pick a card and not let me know what it was, I had him put it back in the deck, then I shuffled the cards, as I was performing about to tell him what I was doing, he as-a-matter-of-fact said," Oh, I know, your going to make the card come to the top of the deck." Well, little did he know, as I spread the cards out all cards were face up, with the exception of one card, his. His eyes lit up with disbelief. The point I am making here is, that the best magic comes when none is expected. Well, I am off to read some more, then head of to sleepy town, I got me a hole to fill tomorrow. I'll tell you all about that after that project is over. Not that it's a secret, I am just tired of typing right now.

Till next time, keep on smiling!

Friday evening

2004-12-17T21:13:00.000-06:00

Well, I wound up having to work until 5 tonight ( I usually leave between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m.) as a result of coming in late and a coworker who usually stays late to cover the presses not being there today. His daughter graduated from Auburn University, I know he is a proud father. While I got off of work at 5, I decided to let the traffic die down, and left around 6.
After dinner, Gigi, my daughter, showed me a bunch of crafts she did at school. Then I washed dishes with Shelly, and sat in front of the computer.
I heard from a friend the other day, Byron, and I had lost touch with him because of us working odd shifts. Talk about surprised, the last time I heard from him was 2 years ago, I regret not doing a better job keeping in touch with him, but all is good. He is a great person, and has a heart of gold. There is another friend I used to have, that I need to get in touch with, Chuck is his name. He was a friend of mine from Kindergarten. We grew up together and had many great times, I got married, then he got married, and that was about it, we just lost touch. I wish it was easier to not let life take souch precident that you don't find the time to keep a friendship alive. That is an excuse, I do realize it.
On a positive note, I have a great group of people I work with. They are intelligent, funny, wity, and just plain fun. Actually, the conversations we have get kind of out of control at times, and we have to gather it back up. Of the 7 employees in that department there is only one female, and I feel sorry for her. She has to put up with a bunch of male humor, but I tell you she is great. She not only puts up with us, she joins in at times, and is a lot of fun. Work would not be tha same without her, she is always positive, and is always helpful and cheery. Except for when she is not, LOL. The guys are all fun too, we all try and keep everything light, because sometimes it gets a little heavy, if you know what I mean.
Well, in the morning, we are taking Gigi to see Santa. I need to get on to bed now.

Always look on the brighter side of life! *whistling*

Slow day

2004-12-17T13:58:00.000-06:00

Hi all, i am currently at work, and man is it slow! My day started off in a panic, I woke up 2 hours later than I usually do, new medicine I took last night, so i had to skip the shower, and got to work about 30 minutes late, but no worries, we are very slow. Plus, I have a great boss. He not only puts up with my crap occasionally, but he is very understanding that crap happens sometimes. Anyway, i got here and started trying to find things to do.
This economy we are currently a part of is in pretty bad shape, although it could be worse. I have already caught up on the forums I visit, and have practiced some palming techniques with both a card and coin. So I then decided to add to my blog I started last night on a whim. I still don't know what to think of this blog, I mean the only people that will read this are ones that are directed to it, and even then they are probably trying to get a peek into the freakshow that is my life. LOL. I have listened to several shows of "This American Life" today, and about 3 hours of Radio Tiki on itunes eclectic stream.
I still have a couple of gifts to get my bride for Christmas, my daughter is taken care of, and between both sets of grandparents and us, she shouldn't want a thing for about 16 years! We all love her a ton and as such, we all tend to spoil her in our own ways. She has such a wonderful personality, and she makes me so proud to be a father.
I try and be the best i can to her, but I have to admit, I sometimes doubt myself. If I can be half as good a father as my dad was to me, that will be a success to me. My father was and is the best, in my mind. I know his perception and my perception of back then are different from some of the comments he has made. When I remember him as a father when I was little, I remember a hard working man who did what it took, and when he had the spare time from work he spent it with us. I can honestly say, I can't remember a time when my sister and I wanted to spend time with him, and he tell us no. He always had time for us, and taught us great lessons about life, love, and being an honorable person. He is my Idol, Role Model and Hero. I will share more about him later.
My Mom is great also, she was the perfect mom, she always had crafts for us to make, took us to matinees in the summer, and made the best snacks. As a family we would go camping a lot, and I loved that, especially when our neighbors went with us. Jim, Ilona, Tina and Scott, man did we all have fun together, they were like my second family. Mom and Ilona were like sisters almost. Sometimes, I wish I could go back to childhood, but that will never happen. So I just act chilish everynow and then, and that is one thing I think my daughter loves about me, I am not afraid to get on her level and play.
Finally, my sister, whom I love so dearly, as children, I was occasionally a pest as big brothers generally are, which I do wish I could change at times. I just hope she understands that I only aggravated her bacase I love her. She makes me so proud to see her now, happily married to a great guy, finally. Her first husband was not so nice, that's all I'll say about that. Her new husband seems to fit her perfectly, and he fits into our family like he has always been there, it is great. I really enjoy talking to him, and doing things like, watching football, talk politics, etc. Did I mention he's a Marine? He is, and it just impresses the heck out of me. I know it sounds kinda silly, but isn't this what a blog is about. I believe they will be together 'till death, and that makes me happy.
I will just fill in some stories and info on other relatives later, maybe try and make somethings sound more interesting, like chasing my sister with a pizza cutter..............getting my fingers trapped in a closed and locked door, as a result of chasing my sister, and stories of the infamous Sam and Bethoven. Till next time, be good.

Brian

Post number one

2004-12-16T21:57:00.000-06:00

Hello all, this is my first attempt at a weblog. I really don't know what it is supposed to accomplish, but maybe it will do something. We'll see.