December 2003 Archives

My mother had a tradition of eating sauerkraut for good luck to start the new year.

To me, eating sauerkraut was just about #1 on my do-not-do list. If I ate sauerkraut to start the year, that was the worst thing that could happen. From a start like that, things could only get better.

I am going to do what I normally do for New Years: Sleep through it. It's no big thing for me any more.

If you're partying tonight, take care, use a designated driver and watch out for the amateur drunks.

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I have read many quotes from all of those people capping off 2003. Right Wing News has a top 10 list of his favorite feedbacks from the Democratic Underground. This one is my favorite.

"What we MUST realize in order to win - Americans are stupid and uninformed. This is very important because in order to win we must understand the way the average American thinks. I'm afraid WE have nothing in common with them.

I came to the two following conclusions when I saw the large number of people who voted for Bush back in 2000.

#1 - I would dare to assume that most of us here are in the upper 1%-20% of the population intelligence-wise. We must come to the realization that the majority of the population is in the lower 80% to 99% percent of the bell-curve. WE are not the norm. The Republicans understand that the average American is not very bright. They cater and pander to the masses. The Democratic Party tries to appeal to the population about "issues" that these people just don't understand.

I've heard it said that the reason that Clinton's sex scandal resonated so strongly among "the people" was because it was a scandal that the average American understood. The average person can't understand a financial scandal.

In addition, people of average or lower intelligence tend to not be as logical or reasoned as those of higher intelligence - they deal with emotion. Therefore they are more likely to get riled up about someone burning a flag rather than a illogical tax cut.

#2 - The majority of people do not read the newspaper OR listen to the news, CNN, etc. Therefore -they get their news from the Tonight Show, Letterman, Oprah and Saturday Night Live. Or, they get their news from talking to their co-workers at the water cooler.

Also, for the few people who DO listen to the news - who do they hear it from? Fox News and Bill O'Reilly are the most popular. Most newspapers and media outlets are owned by Republicans.

THIS is what we are fighting against people. In order to win we will need to start pandering to the masses." -- Janekat

This is the fringe that is presently control of the Democrat party. I'm glad. As long as the rabid zealots run the house, they will scare away the moderate swing voters that will make the difference.

These people actually remind me of schizophrenics. People who suffer from untreated schizophrenia are in their own world, responding to things that the rest of us don't see, hear or understand. Schizophrenics are easy to spot, however. They hear the TV talking to them, schizophrenic believe that computers are beaming thoughts into their brains and the like.

Now you tell me. Re-read the quote I have up there again and tell me this person does not have a serious disconnect from reality. Janekat does not imply, she says it in plain english that she thinks most Americans are stupid. They have to be not to see how right she is. It doesn't even occur to Janekat that she might be wrong. That is simply not possible. She's too smart to be wrong. Her stance on "The Democratic Party tries to appeal to the population about "issues" that these people just don't understand" doesn't even consider that the majority of people have already looked at their issues and just don't agree with them. She doesn't think that these people have the right to disagree with her. After all, she's right.

Yeah, right.

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God bless the ACLU is a rather scary look into our possible future. Do your best not to let it happen.

In 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union was finally successful in getting Ten Commandments plaques removed from public buildings in all fifty states. In addition:
1. They forced the Ten Commandments to be expunged from the Supreme Court building;
2. They obliged the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to fire their chaplains;
3. They won a ban on official chaplains in the military;
4. They removed "In God We Trust" from all currency and public documents;
5. They removed "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance;
6. They removed all crosses, Stars of David and crescents from the gravestones of American soldiers in military cemeteries around the world.

The last part that I didn't quote is the scariest of all.

Read on.

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While I am felling better than yesterday, it's not by much. Getting to have lunch with my family yesterday and do some shopping with them helped with my mood. My family still loves me. We are apart because of my condition and lack of emotional control. That's it. If I could handle normal stress, If I could be a positive asset for my wife and her struggles, I would be home today. But that's not going to happen for a long time, if ever.

This time of year has been very rough with me ever since I got sick. Most of my hospitalizations have been in the winter months. My wife thinks I have Seasonal Affective Disorder on top of everything else.

I'll shoot for a 7 tomorrow to start off the new year.

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Another great article by Victor Davis Hanson. The Western Disease goes into the why some of us are ashamed of our success.

Our Western intellectuals are sheltered orchids who are naïve about the world beyond their upscale hothouses. The Western disease of deductive fury at everything the West does provides a sort of psychological relief (without costs) for apparent guilt over privileged circumstances. It is such a strange mixture of faux-populism and aristocratic snobbery. They believe only a blessed few such as themselves have the requisite education or breeding to understand the "real" world of Western pathologies and its victims.

Read on. It's good for you.

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I found this in The Washington Times, about the BATF and their quest to be the secret police. Bill limits gun-buyer database means they are trying to keep records on those who buy guns legally.

And if they get away with a 90 day record keeping, then they will go for 6 months, then a year, and so on until it becomes permanent. They are already permanently digitizing and archiving all of the 4473's from gun shops that have gone out of business. A 4473 is the ATF form that you fill out when you buy a gun from a gun shop or someone who owns a Federal Firearms License.

This is not an aberration because the BATF is trying to do the same thing for rocketry as well. Years ago, they decided to add Ammonium Perchlorate to their explosives list, without checking to see if it really was an explosive or not. AP is the major propellant used in high power rocketry. In fact, it's the same stuff used in the two boosters used on the space shuttle. Now the BATF wants to regulate it out of the hands of rocketeers. You need to have a license for it, you need to store it in such a way, you must record when you use it and so on.

And my mental illness precludes me from obtaining a license for AP, just like a firearm.

The BATF is an enormously aggressive force, grabbing everything they can, never letting go and always hungry for more. It needs to be given close oversight control and be reined in severely. You can find hundreds of anecdotal incidents out there that range from destroying law-abiding citizens lives all the way down to killing kittens.

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This article, Criminals Owe Debt to Victims, Not Society has been bandied about for years. I myself wrote about this subject in an earlier version of The Conservative Zone.

Most people realize that the court and penal systems in North America are seriously broken and must be fixed. With the possible exception of China, the United States currently imprisons more of its population than any other nation: the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports 2,033,331 imprisoned as of December 31, 2002.

I wrote that upon conviction, a fine should be assessed the convictee, to cover court costs, victims recompensation and enough so that the criminal, upon release, has a substantial nest egg (~$10,000) to help start a new life.

A large portion of those behind bars today are there for drug related crimes. While drugs have many parallels to alcohol and prohibition, there are many important differences. To get into them would be a digression I am unwilling to take right now, maybe later.

Suffice it to say our judicial system needs a capitalistic overhaul. Most of us have to pay our way through life, I see no reason for those who break the rules to do any different.

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No, I don't have the flu, but rather peaking at 9.5. The only reason I got out of bed this morning was to feed my birds. I got really bad like this last year around Christmas too. The time of year when you're supposed to be the happiest I'm at my lowest ebb.

It really sucks not being with your family, knowing that if you do spend more than a few minutes with them, you get out of control and become a danger to everybody around you. It really sucks to know that they need your help and you are unable to give it to them.

I'm going to crawl back under the covers and call in sick. Maybe something this afternoon.

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The family emergency (leaking hot water tank) is being fixed as we speak, and things are getting patched up between me and the wife. Her troubles are still there, but there is nothing I can do to help with that.

I forced myself to get out the last two entries, but now I really have to go into the closet. There is much gnashing of teeth and wailing going on this side of the screen. I need the darkness to quiet down and regain control of myself.

Later.

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While glancing through National Review Online, I found a guest columnist and his article, Khaddafi's "Conversion".

Written by the former head of Romania's foreign intelligence, who "ran" Khaddafi for the Soviet Union, we get the impression that Khaddafi is being more smart than scared.

Whether he's smart, scared or whatever, as long as we can know for certain that Khaddafi has no WMD and no ties to terrorism, he's clean as far as we are concerned. We have no strategic interest in his country as long as he keeps his nose clean. As Ronald Reagan once said, "Trust, but verify."

I don't care what spots he has as long as they pose no danger to us. That might sound rather harsh, but look at the reality. The US cannot depose every dictator, no matter how brutal. At least not in any quick succession. The rest of the world either doesn't care or is unable to do so by their own internal problems.

And while freedom is every person's birthright, it remains something that must be earned, not given. Freedom is a scary way to live. Not only can you win big, you can also lose big as well. Freedom to starve is right next to freedom to succeed. That's why we as Americans are so successful. We know there is nobody to catch us if we fail. Very few of us who reach for the stars get there on the first attempt. It is by failure that gives us the incentive to try again, and harder. In brutal dictatorships where any success is seen as a threat to the State, no one tries. Because the reward for success and failure is death. In places like Iraq was, doing nothing also could get you a trip into the plastic shredder. So again, there is no incentive to try very much. You eke out what you can and hope you don't attract the attention of the secret police.

I stand by what I said when I wrote that freedom must be earned, not given. The people of Iraq have not been given freedom yet, but rather the removal of the yoke of dictatorship. They must still earn it. Iraqis are only learning about the fundamentals of freedom today, they are getting the payoff of freedom first. They still have to learn the responsibility part. It takes eternal vigilance on the part of the people to make sure freedom stays free. The people of Iraq can still lose their freedom before it ever gets off the ground if they do not wisely choose their form of government. Hopefully we will steer them down the proper path.

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This article, Bush Makes Dozen Recess Appointments discusses how the President has appointed several people into positions he wanted them in, but the Democrat minority didn't.

These appointments are up for a review in just over a year when the next Congress is sworn in. Hopefully there will be a filibuster proof Republican majority come 2005 and we can move forward without interference.

The question remains is will President Bush continue on this path and put in the judicial nominees that are being held up. Hopefully soon.

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Wow. I made it through with only one tech support call, very little screaming and no bloodshed. I got the major programs reinstalled, now the minor stuff will take place over the next week to a month. It'll be a good indication of what I actually use. Instead of having to worry about squeezing out a little more disk space, I have a whole 6 gig (out of a 10 gig drive) free. I use a laptop, so it isn't easy to just upgrade the hard drive.

Phew. This was one job I was really dreading. I'm glad it turned out to be a molehill.

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Drive wiped, Windows reinstalled. Internet conection re-established (duh!). Now I'm on to update Windows before I install anything.

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I finally got hold of a bootable DOS disk with format. So, I started backing up my hard drive last night and this is my last post before I wipe my drive.

I should be back on line by this evening, the biggest headache will be installing all of the updates after reinstalling Windows. Once that is out of the way, I can take my time over the next week discovering what I have and what I need. When I need something, I'll take the time to install it. That should simplify my Start menu.


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I found this article tonight, Florida Tells Cities to Pick Up Costs of Nuisance Suits.

It tells the story where the small municipalities use state court to prosecute nuisance suits and get the court for free. Well, tight budgets has forced the state to stop offering use of the court for free. It's now going to cost the cities several thousand dollars for prosecuting and defending lawyers, plus filing fees, all for a $50 fine.

The solution is simple: Pass the costs on. Assess court costs if you go to court and lose. Let the people know that a $1-2,000 court cost gets tacked on to that $50 fine. It makes pleading guilty cheaper.

Of course there are problems associated with this, but the only other choice is to stop enforcing these minor crimes. The problem with that is once you stop enforcing the minor stuff, the area goes downhill and bigger crimes start happening.

It has been documented in places like NYC that overall crime goes down in neighborhoods where the minor violations are vigorously enforced. By keeping tight on the little stuff, you keep the criminals away, and thus the bigger crimes are not committed.

In a situation like this, there are no simple or easy answers. But there is the right one.

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While perusing my referrer logs, I found one from Blogshares. It's a fun website where you can buy and sell shares of blogs. Think fantasy stock market. If you've got some time to waste, wanted to dabble in the stock market or whatever, try this.

Here's the link to my stock.

Have fun!

PS, I woke up late, so no news analysis this morning, maybe something when I get back tonight.

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Well, the family had a emergency at 2:00 am this morning, necessitating me walking up and taking care of it temporarily until the landlord can fix it. Between last night and this morning, several conversations ensued between my wife and I, and I found out her condition has taken a turn for the worse in several regards.

I am totally useless to her, considering that I have no transportation to help and I cannot handle my own life, let alone support her in her hour of need. That's what tears me up inside, not being able to be there. If I were there, I would quickly build up from the pressure and explode, becoming violent and out of control.

It might suck to be me, but it sucks a lot more to be my wife. Not only is her medical condition serious, her husband is more of a liability than an asset. The only person she can lean on is our son, and he has his own set of problems.

If anybody can help, it would be greatly appreciated. A miracle would really come in handy about now.

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Hat tip to American Realpolitik.

"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story?

No. This uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived -- all put together. How do we explain that?

...Unless he really was what he said he was." --Ronald Reagan

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Take a time out from opening your presents, and remember those less fortunate than you, especially those men and women who are serving overseas away from their families.

Remember the reason for the season, the birth of Christ.

Give your family members an extra hug for me, please.

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President Bush is at it again. Immigration Reform on Bush Agenda

The Administration is again systematically stealing issues and votes from the Democrats. President Bush and his team are performing accomplishments in areas that Democrats have promised movement on for 40 years. In the process of actually addressing these problems, he is converting these single issue voters from Democrat to Republican. And he doesn't have to convert that many. A simple five to ten percent swing in multiple issues translates to an overall big swing that steals states. Barring a major catastrophe in the next year, Bush is looking at a landslide of Reagan-sized proportions.

The Democrat Party is in serious trouble. They are at significant risk of being declared a minor party because they are so fractured and there is no one on the stage that stands as a unifier. Instead, they are engaging in large-scale cannibalism. All 9 dwarves are all busy attacking the leader, each other and President Bush that they have no time left to say what they will actually do if they win. The few plans that have been talked about are easily picked apart and seem to be made off-the-cuff than by think tanks.

The Democrat ship never made it away from pierside. They have so many candidates that no one will be happy (except the winners camp) by the time a winner is chosen. The spectrum of these candidates are so wide that some supporters might actually support Bush over the Democrat candidate. There needed to be a guiding hand at the helm of the Democrat party that would have culled the herd before things got too far along. Too many choices confuse the voters. In all of the elections I have paid attention to, Republicans have put forward two candidates, while the Democrat side looks like the Boston Marathon.

I'm glad there's no one on that side of the aisle to hold things together and make the incoherent understandable. The Democrats are self-destructing and the 2004 election cycle will put a stake in the heart of this monster.

Hopefully then the Democrats will regroup, be reborn and come back a stronger party, interested in the things that appeal to the majority of American citizens. I'd hate for this country to become a one party state.

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I've been peaking at about 8 on my depression scale all day today. I have not been interested in anything at all today. Right now I'm pigging out on chili dogs and M&M's.

It's bad not being able to be with your family, especially when they are within walking distance. Not being able to see them hurts deeply, even when there are severe problems that exist between you and them.

So today has sucked, and tomorrow will be a complete waste for me. Except for feeding the birds, I may not get out of bed. Some Christmas.

Do me a favor, when you and your family is opening presents tonight or tomorrow, give them an extra hug for me.

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Closet time now, comments later.

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Remember Mrs. Kravitz, the nosy neighbor across the street in Bewitched ? Now, it seems, she's running things in South Florida.

Abuse of power? Homeowners group tells woman to remove Virgin Mary. It details the case against an old lady who wants to display her faith, as she has for the last 19 years.

The Mote Ranch covenant doesn't mention statues. But it does make two association committees "the ultimate deciding'' bodies in what a person can do to his home and property.

I could never live in such a place. I would not sign such a covenant. That would be a deal breaker for me. I am the one paying the mortgage, I should be the one in control of the property. These "homeowners associations" go so far as to decree what colors to use on the interior of your house. I understand the want to keep property values up, but this kind of stuff goes way too far.

Thankfully case law in Florida is on this woman's side. There is an elderly man who put up a flag pole to display the Stars and Stripes and got put through the wringer for it. Governor Jeb Bush came to this mans rescue by pushing a bill through the Legislature making things like this legal. The homeowners association then went so far as to put a lien on this mans house for legal expenses the association ran up bringing the case against him. Thankfully there was a drive by Sean Hannity and others to raise the cash to let this man keep his home.

Hopefully this lady won't have to go through the same hell.

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I found something that the Liberal media won't say anything about, because a) it's a followup, b) it makes fools of those who yell the original claims. Halliburton's "Gouging": What Really Happened

The obvious question raised by the discrepancy was: Why would Halliburton deliver high-priced fuel from Kuwait when it could be obtained at a much lower price from Turkey?

The company says it did so because the Army demanded that it deliver fuel from Kuwait...

It turns out that Halliburton did exactly what the Army wanted. Unless stupidity on the Army's part is a crime, there is nothing here to yell about.

But you'll never see Brokaw, Jennings or Rather talk about this.


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I found this article, AFSCME Official Endorses Socialism After Union Backed Dean and it reminded me that I owe Spike Magazine's blog Splinters and article on Socialism.

Let's start off with the comments:

"The first thing we have to do is remind ourselves that we are fighting for socialism," said District Council 1707 President Brenda Stokeley of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Stokeley's remarks were made during the Workers World Party's national conference in New York on Dec. 6 and 7. The conference was entitled, "Reviving the Worldwide Struggle for Socialism."

First of all, there are three types of social structure for this discussion: Capitalist, Socialist and Communist.

Capitalist is the one most free. You are allowed to start whatever business you want (within some very wide parameters) and go for it until you succeed or go broke. You are allowed to go where and when you want, and it is the government that is limited in their powers rather than you.

Communist is best described as governmentless. After all of the people have been properly and completely indoctrinated, the government would just "fade away" and be no more. Everybody would be equal and everybody would work for the common good.

Now let's talk about exactly who is/was Socialist.

Socialist can be best described as either "hard" or "soft." Countries such as the UK, France, Germany, et.al. are best described as soft socialists.

Soft Socialist societies still have a large contingent of capitalistic entrepreneurship, while the government is heavily invested in social programs and controls major industries. Freedoms exist, but at the pleasure of the government. In the UK, the press is nominally free, but can be gagged at the governments leisure if "official secrets" comes out.

Now the hard socialists, they are another ball of wax. The former Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Cuba. No freedoms, the State controls everything, constant indoctrination, "re-education" camps for those who don't conform, the list goes on and on. Imagine having to get permission from the State to leave the county where you live. Imagine the only freedom of speech you have is what the government tells you what to say. If you were accused of a crime, you had to prove your innocence. It's very hard to prove a negative under those conditions.

Everything is controlled by the State. Where you work, how much you get paid, where you live, etc. And we all know how well this system works. In the Soviet Union, the small privatized plots for the farmers outperformed the collective farms. You had to stand in three lines to buy anything. Stand in line to see what is for sale, stand in another line to get a ticket for it, and hopefully you get what it is you were looking for in the third line. Military units had a Zamploit or political officer to make sure the troops were properly indoctrinated and they had the power to overturn a commanders decisions if they went against the party interests.

Socialism works somewhat in China because of their culture. The Chinese have pigeonholed everybody for thousands of years. You stayed where you were, you do what you're told and you don't complain. Even so, China is beginning to see Capitalistic overtones. It will be a long time, however, before those who control China give up the reins of power. Constant indoctrination of the people still goes on, and dissent is still ruthlessly crushed as Tienanmen Square plainly showed.

People no matter where they are have pretty good BS detectors. When they live in squalor and under a ruthless government, there comes a point where people realize that they are being told a crock of shit, however they also see the point of the gun being pointed at them if they aren't sufficiently enthusiastic enough about being in a workers paradise. Why do you think people from these countries defect every chance they get? Why do you think dozens died trying to cross the Berlin Wall? Why do you think it was put up in the first place? It certainly wasn't to keep us out.

Cuba and South Korea are hard Socialist dictatorships. You can tell that it's a dictatorship because there is one guy in power and that is all that matters. Unless the succession is to a son, there is no "line of succession." Nobody is given enough power to threaten the dictator, there is no orderly transfer or power upon his death.

The situation in North Korea can be summed up in one word: Cannibalism. Some workers paradise that is.

Cuba depends on trade with Europe, because it can't survive on its own. It was being heavily subsidized by the Soviet Union, but that came to a halt when the SU collapsed. They still have thousands of people a year fleeing from this 'paradise,' only to die on the way or be executed upon their return. Dissidents are routinely jailed for years or executed if they get too loud.

And this is the kind of world Ms. Brenda Stokeley wants us to live in. Never forget that. There is no such thing as a benign government, even our own. It takes the power of the people to keep the government in check, not the other way around.

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I am working on an article about socialism, but it is overloading me. I have already been in the closet twice today and I am looking at a 3-peat very soon. I have been unable to search the news sites beyond what I got for the article.

Sorry.


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I found two related stories on The Drudge Report. Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs obviously talks about how GPS technology in your cell phone that can instantly locate you. The other story is from the UK, Police call for remote button to stop cars talks about remotely stopping cars who are evading police.

These two related technologies show the best and worst side effects of technology. Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park asked, "Just because we can do something, does that mean we must do it?" Movies such as Enemy of the State and Changing Lanes show just exactly what can happen to a person if they become the target of anybody with such resources, and the capabilities of these people grow every day.

Identity theft is a prime example of a nefarious use of our interlinked society, where a couple of words and numbers in the right order spell disaster for thousands of people every day.

I don't like the technologies described in these stories, especially the "mandatory in the future" part of it. Every good reason you can come up with I can come up with two bad reasons, things that bad people can do to you.

I've asked this before, and it bears repeating: If I know everywhere you go, and you know I know, are you truly free? Can you honestly say your decisions on where and when you go are untainted by the knowledge that someone could be watching you? I spend great amounts of time online, and I do so with the knowledge that I am watched. Every website I visit, every email I send and receive is logged somewhere, ready at a moments notice for someone to look at. This knowledge does affect where I go and what I say. And I don't like it. It isn't for my protection, it isn't in my best interests at all, but it happens nonetheless.

These are the last days that we are truly free, if they are already not passed. Remember them well. They will not come again.

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I just got back from a MechWarrior tournament and saw the terror alert level raised.

Hat tip to Mike Hollihan for having this on his blog for me to see. Click on the Sesame Street icon to the right to see the entire spectrum. Hope it never gets to Elmo.

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President Bush's long range plans are bearing fruit. Despite the lack of positive press coverage, things are getting better every day in Iraq. The capture of Saddam has put a large stake into the heart of despotism. Countries in the region are seeing that is far better to have us as a friend rather than an enemy.

Iran is screaming for nuclear inspectors to prove that they are not developing a nuclear weapons program. Time will tell. The mullahs have had to put down several pro-democracy movements, and the internal pressure is still building. External pressure via Iraq is also beginning to show in the fact that they are willing to have international inspections concerning their nuclear program.

Libya is begging us to take away their WMD and promising that they won't do it again. The history of Libya took a hard right turn back in the 80's thanks to Ronald Reagan. Qaddafi was making a lot of big noises, especially about his "line of death." A carrier group brushed his defenses aside and an F-111 dropped a bomb into the tent next to his. He was down right quiet after that.

I don't know if Qaddafi was directly responsible (ordered) the bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103, but he certainly is paying for it and a similar French aircraft bombing. He has been moving toward civility for some time, this WMD step is just the latest step. While the timeline is not exact, it indicates that the negotiations to get rid of Qaddafi's WMD started about the time we rolled into Iraq. I'm sure Qaddafi saw his own future in that attack.

The United States has played softball far too long. The world is a dangerous place, and we as a people need to realize that. Thank God that there is a man in the White House who is willing to play hardball with those who wish to do us harm. 9/11 came about because we were seen as soft. We must be seen as swift, unequivocal and fatal in our responses to keep us safe. Trying to be nice and being ambivalent with our military strength caused two towers to fall.

The most dangerous time of the world is yet to come. Terrorists must have nations as sponsors. That is how they get most of their money, their training bases and a pool of potential recruits. We need to convince (and I am sure we are doing so) these states that an NBC (nuclear, biological or chemical) attack on the US will result in at least a limited nuclear strike against those countries deemed responsible.

Retribution would likely come in the form of a Trident D-5 SLBM. Unclassified capacity is 12 warheads per missile, but I have heard that we only have 8 warheads each. Each of the 8 is a W-88 thermonuclear warhead, with a 475 KT yield, equal to 31 Hiroshimas for a total of 248 times the devastation. I hope the terrorist sponsoring countries do the math and realize it is not in their best interest to be on the wrong side of the US.

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I clicked thru an ad while doing my morning research, to Bumper Talk.

They sell the funny and thoughtful bumper stickers that you see on cars today. I myself would never dress up my car with these, I do understand why people do it.

I myself collect these witticisms, simply because they are cheaper than collecting cars or stamps. I have over 400 tucked away in a Word file, and I add to it whenever I come across something thought provoking or funny.

I use these witticisms as signature lines in emails and whenever I post on public forums. Here are my prior and present sig lines:

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup."

"Jesus saves, Allah protects, Cthulhu thinks you'd make a nice sandwich." (You need to read H.P. Lovecraft for this one.)

I know, I know, I've got a twisted sense of humor. But what can I do about it?

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The Bush Administration has weighed in on the "Under God" case before the SCOUTS. Administration Asks Supreme Court to Support Pledge.

"The reference to a 'nation under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance is an official and patriotic acknowledgment of what all students - Jewish, Christian, Muslim or atheist - may properly be taught in the public schools," the administration argued in its 63-page filing.

I agree. "God" can equally mean Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, and so on. While God names the One True God, there are many ways and Names to worship Him. Under God means that we recognize that our rights and power as a people come from Him. The rights and power granted by God do not go only toward Americans, but to all who recognize that fact. Too bad there are no other governments that derive their power from the people.

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I talked about P E T A in this post, along with the front cover of their "comic." Well, I had heard some extra gross things today about the inside that I wanted to check out.

It turns out that URL to it is now dead. You come up with a placeholder search page. It seems that these people have discovered they bit off more than they could chew. Rather let the world see how truly radical their tactics are, they took it down. Remember, they want to tug on your heartstrings, and they can't do that while showing graphic images to young children.

Too bad. I think everybody should see what they want to show young children.

UPDATE: It was either unrelated down time or a denial of service attack, but it's back up. You can find it through P E T A's website, the obvious page. Sorry but I won't link to them.

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This article, Living Wage Law Is Blocked in N.M. City is a sign that reasonable people are trying to stop a stupid law.

Earlier this year, the Santa Fe City Council set a local minimum wage of $8.50 for all businesses with at least 25 employees. The law was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

This is plain bad law, and the people who passed it know nothing about economics.

This is a wonderful Liberal idea, to make sure everybody is paid "a living wage" but as always, the reality sharply interferes with the ideal. Why did they stop at $8.50? Why not $10 or $12? When does the number become ludicrous? And why is that number so unreasonable? Why not just pay everybody $17 an hour, which translates out to the average income for the US? Any argument you can make for $8.50 I can make for $17.

I have already written that businesses don't pay taxes, they pass the costs along to the consumers in the price of the product. The same applies here. If these companies are forced to raise their pay level, they will have to either a) cut back on employees to save payroll, b) increase prices, or c) a combination of both.

Wages do not exist in a vacuum. Raising wages via legislative fiat translates into people losing their jobs and price increases somewhere else. It happens every time it's done. Every time the minimum wage goes up, the price of everything goes up a little to reflect the increased cost of doing business.

When will they learn?

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From inside the ring:

History lesson
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, in a statement in December 1998 supporting President Clinton's four-day bombing of Iraq:
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process. The responsibility of the United States in this conflict is to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, to minimize the danger to our troops and to diminish the suffering of the Iraqi people."

This just shows how two-faced she is. She can support long-range bombing of targets that in the end do nothing, but when it comes time to actually do something about it, she is against it because a Republican is the one doing it.

She can say with certainty in 1998 that Hussein is a direct threat because he is developing WMD, but when President Bush says, "Let's not wait until he actually has them" Pelosi starts crying about where the WMD are. This is standard Democrat rhetoric, against anything Bush is for, just because he is for it.

Just for one day, I would like to see President Bush come out for gay marriage, just to see the Democrats come out against it. It will never happen, but it is a dream I have.

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Well, I normally stay cowered under my covers until 8:30 or so but since my Abilify is waking me up starting at about 5:30, I decided to get up an hour earlier. This will give me extra time to produce stuff to go with your morning caffeine. I hope you like what I write.

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I saw this on Drudge this morning, but he took the link down before I could get around to it. Here it is: Jacko Finds Islam

High-ranking members of the Nation of Islam have been working to bring Jackson into Rev. Louis Farrakhan's flock - and Jackson's conversion is now well-known in the NOI [Nation of Islam] community.

And we all know how reasonable and peaceful Rev. Farrakhan is. I think Jacko is clutching at straws to get him out of the hole he has dug for himself, and this is one more play on the public relations scene.

But then again, there is an old Arab adage that I heard years ago, "A woman for sons, a goat for pleasure, a boy for ecstasy." Maybe Jacko heard of it.

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And these guys are planning on handing this out to children going to a Nutcracker performance. Fur flies over flier: P E T A targets "Nutcracker" kids

"And the sooner she stops wearing fur, the sooner the animals will be safe. Until then, keep your doggie or kitty friends away from mommy - she's an animal killer.''

I will be the first to admit that the conditions that these animals are kept under and killed are deplorable. I commend P E T A for wanting to improve the conditions of these animals. But inflicting such propaganda on children is beyond horrendous. It shows that these people have no boundaries at all. This would severely and permanently traumatize a child who is supposedly going to have a fun evening with their parents. It is these kind of people who make me wish that Klingon pain sticks were real. I'd declare open season on these people. The sad thing about it is you can't change the mind of anybody who would hand one of these to a child. These people are sickos and there is very little you can do to them.

On a side note, I'm sure you know these "people" will spray paint anybody who wears fur, destroying the clothing. Well, some people got the bright idea to "go right to the source" so to speak. They decided to start spray painting the baby seals directly, so the seal hunters wouldn't go after them. They got that part of the plan right. The bad news is a baby seal needs that white coat to make it invisible to polar bears. They become easy to see with a large stripe of bright red paint on them, and polar bears know how tasty baby seal is. So the animal is directly doomed to death by their actions instead of having a fighting chance to grow up. So much for well thought out plans.

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A while back, I handed out a reading assignment, This Perfect Day by Ira Levin. It was a world where you wore a bracelet with your nameber (Mark GH 7246931) and every time you passed a station, you stuck the bracelet in to have it scanned, so UniComp knew exactly where you were at any given moment.

Of course, back in the 70's when the book was written there was even no concept of Wi-Fi, the Internet, RFID tags or any of the technology that surrounds us today.

This article, Summit group confirms use of ID chip talks about having RFID tags in the security badges used by the attendees.

The technology exists today to track your every movement. The only hurdle is the individualistic notions of the American people. Once that is out of the way, it would be a relatively minor cost to install RFID scanners throughout the country. Then the only thing left is to install the chips in every person. Mark of the devil anyone?

Oops, there goes your freedom. Because if I can track everywhere you go, are you truly free?

Of course, this will start small. Chips in sex offenders and scanners nearby schools to keep them out. Then all criminals and prisons, then in kids (because you've already got the scanners in the schools). Once you get them into the kids, that is the point where everything is lost. Because if you can get the kids to grow up and think nothing is wrong with it, then all the fighting is over. Adults can wail all they want, but if the younger kids accept it, there is no younger generation to carry on the fight.

When missionaries invaded (correct word) foreign lands, the first step to converting the local populace was to teach the missionaries language to the local children. This drove a wedge between the children and the older generations, with their customs. Once that wedge was in place, it was relatively easy to destroy the old culture and replace it with the missionaries culture. It took 20-30 years, but it happened.

That is where a lot of people learned incrementalism. Take small steps when possible, don't give up ground and hope the other side doesn't catch on to what you are doing. That is what Liberals have been doing for the last 40 years and they have been good at it. The bad news is the people of the US is starting to catch on to what the Liberals have been doing.

Let's hope they wake up all the way and combat this incrementalism.

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This is shocking. You can read the whole thing here: Gen. Wesley Clark The piece before the transcript is total gushing cotton-candy fluff. Yecch.

General Wesley Clark was on Hardball December 8th and had this to say:

Well, if I were president right now, I would be doing things that George Bush can't do right now, because he's already compromised those international bridges. I would go to Europe and I would build a new Atlantic charter. I would say to the Europeans, you know, we've had our differences over the years, but we need you. The real foundation for peace and stability in the world is the transatlantic alliance. And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we'll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We'll bring you in.

"You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have." Wow. If he was in charge, he would surrender the security of this country to other countries that have had a vested interest that is in opposition to our own security.

Let me say that again: He would give the power of deciding what is in the best interests of our country to those countries that have interests in conflict with ours. Countries that would never allow us to respond to attacks upon the US in such a manner so as to make sure they won't happen again.

On 9/11, the terrorists took this fight to a new level. No longer were they concerned about getting the infidels out of their territories, but rather the destruction of as many infidels as possible in their home country. These fanatics will not rest until either they or America is dead. We didn't start this war, and the only way to finish it is to kill all of the terrorists, because surrender is not part of our vocabulary. And Clark is willing to prevent us from doing that because he wants to make nice with France and Germany.

France and Germany are not against us just because they had interests in Iraq, but because they view themselves as being a counterbalance to us. Just like the Democrats are against anything President Bush is for, just because he is for it, so are France and Germany against anything the US is for.

To surrender control of our security to those who work against us is ludicrous. I'm glad he doesn't have a snowballs chance.

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These "conservative bake sales" where you are charged according to your sex and skin color are really offensive. To the Liberals. The one thing they can't stand is being made fun of while strictly adhering to the principles they hold dear. Liberals hold disdain, and hatred of them as badges of honor. It (to them) reinforces that they are right. What they can't stand is laughter. Being laughed at offends their sensibilities.

Orwell would be proud, because Liberals believe that some people are more equal than others, namely themselves. In order to assuage their guilt of being more equal, they want minorities to have two bites at the apple to make up for past injustices. So instead of picking the best qualified candidate regardless of skin color for any position, they force unqualified candidates, primarily minorities, into positions where they have little real chance to hold onto what they have been given a shot at.

To put a person, regardless of color, into college when they struggled through high school is an injustice to that person. The chances of them surviving four years in college is very slim. I myself was in a similar situation. When I joined the Navy, I aced the entrance exams. A recruiter looked at me and asked, "How would you like to go to Annapolis?" That is the Naval Academy where you go to become an officer. I turned it down. I knew I would have never made it. I had a 2.8 GPA in high school and someone with that level of studying skills has no place in a high pressure situation like a military academy. Hell, I almost flunked out of my Electronics Technician school twice. If I would have accepted and had been admitted, I would have flunked out quickly and had denied a more qualified person their slot. That should not happen.

In the business world, putting an unqualified person into a position in a company is a dangerous proposition. A company depends on every person doing their job, and if someone slacks off, things don't get done and the company suffers. Normally that person is fired for not doing their job. But if that unqualified person is a minority who was specifically hired to promote "racial diversity," then you're stuck with a big hole that you can't do anything about. You're damned if you keep them, you're doubly damned if you get rid of him.

I'm not saying that you can't take a chance on a person. One of the major things that businesses hire on is potential. But I am saying that if it doesn't work out, then the company should be able to let him go without recriminations.

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Terry McAuliffe has gone and been a poster boy for the GOP again, making himself and his party look petty, hateful and spiteful. DNC chairman's school visit sparks anger among Portsmouth city officials.

He was supposed to give a class on democracy and the political process to some social studies classes. The remarks he made were outrageous, silly and just plain stupid.

During the presentation, McAuliffe told students that due to Bush's mismanagement of the country, 70 percent of college graduates will not be able to find a job upon graduation. He also told students that if the war in Iraq continues as it has, there could be a reinstatement of the draft.

The sickening thing of it is, this very stuff is being taught as gospel at a thousand other schools by teachers and is going unchallenged.

The unmitigated and outright lies on our Constitution, our way of life and our president goes on every day, in almost every grade. Get involved with your child's school, learn what the teacher is teaching and refute it with the truth.

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"Bill Clinton's dimwitted former secretary of state Madeleine Albright" (FOX words, but I like them) suggested that Bush already had bin Laden and was going to spring him as an "October surprise."

Believe me, dimwitted is a compliment for her. She tries to swim with cement shoes. But she has backtracked, saying she was only joking.

It was a "tongue-in-cheek comment and was not intended in any other way," Albright told Fox News Channel.

"But witnesses to Albright's comment said the ambassador did not appear to be joking Tuesday when she suggested President Bush may reveal bin Laden's capture as an "October surprise" before next November's presidential election," FNC reported.

Do you think if everybody ignores her, she will go away? I guess the problem is some news show will ask her opinion, and she will always stick her foot in her mouth doing it.

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