RANT: REALID has a racial aspect

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/2007/apr/03/brazil_or_rwanda

“Brazil” or Rwanda
Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .
Please share with concerned friends . . .
Subject: Ethnic ID
Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

*** begin quote ***

No one intended it to happen. It was a small thing — just a few letters printed on identity cards. Certainly no one in the Belgian colonial government of Rwanda had any idea that the words “Hutu” and “Tutsi,” printed on pieces of paper, would later enable the murder of between half a million and a million people.

Likewise, no one in the Department of Homeland Security intends anything bad by establishing standards for REAL ID cards that include a designation of ethnicity. In fact, this is an entirely voluntary aspect of the REAL ID program. State governments can choose to designate ethnicity, or not.

*** end quote ***

Of course, it can’t happen here. Japanese internment aside. Governments kill their citizens! REALID is an abomination, or at least it should be, to all Americans.

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: Gary DeVercelly is a casualty of gooferment.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

I thought there was an interesting juxtapose of two stories. I find anyone’s death very important. A young person, full of potential, even more so. Perhaps, the nanny state can’t substitute for parenting. AND, by that nanny state interfering with people parenting, children and young adults are put at risk.

{Story #1}

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/11469409/detail.html?subid=10101581

Long Beach Teen Dies in N.J. Frat Drinking Incident
POSTED: 6:41 am PDT March 31, 2007

LONG BEACH, Calif. — An autopsy is expected to be done Saturday on an 18-year- old Long Beach man who died after drinking a large of amount of vodka at a fraternity party at his New Jersey university. Gary DeVercelly, a freshman at Rider University, died Friday at a hospital in Trenton, N.J.

{Story #2}

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lora/m.lora33.html

Let Kids Buy Vodka!
by Manuel Lora

*** begin quote ***

Let’s share an anecdote. A few years ago I was at a bar with my wife’s family. It was a large group with several adults and some “underage” children. We all sat at the bar and ordered drinks. The bar tender saw my wife’s underage cousin (who had ordered a soft drink) and said that she could not sit there because of some law. So far so good right? This is something that we’re used to by now. Truth is: this kid’s mother was there. The law has replaced parental guidance.

So let’s see. Instead of parenting, we have laws and regulations, and greedy and faraway politicians. When kids break the law, however, the parents get blamed, not the politicians! How in the world does this make sense? Those in government want to have it both ways. They impose norms on society but they are almost legally untouchable when things go wrong.

How, then, do anti-vice laws strengthen communities? They do not. Instead of letting families set standards, these kinds of law break communities apart. What’s worse is that families that don’t even “get in trouble” still have to pay for the enforcement of others’ problems with the government in the form of taxes. One would wish that it stopped here but when the police begin to enforce vice laws (part of that eternal “victimless crime” category) they have to devote less time dealing with real crime like murders. Of course, the police department could hire more police, but this means more taxation and more enforcement of the same laws.

Parental responsibility involves having both the right and responsibility to set rules. This right belongs exclusively with the parents. The state has nothing to do with parenting at all.

*** end quote ***

So as I see it. the vice laws enforced by the gooferment caused this problem.

(1) The gooferment intrudes into parenting. Gives parents a false sense of security. Creates a “prison” (i.e., Rider University is a gooferment school) with “drug” problems.

(2) The gooferment diktats precludes people from learning about “drinking” from their parents in a safe environment where mistakes wouldn’t be fatal.

(3) Then the gooferment wants more diktats and budget to “solve” the very problem it creates.

When I first visited Vegas on a family trip, there was no speed limits, no drinking age, and no gambling age. I didn’t see any kids drinking, gambling, or hot rodding. And, I looked ’cause I was convinced I was in paradise. They even had legal prostitution. But, the family set a few rules of its own. And, I escaped sin city, virtue in tact.

We don’t need Mommy Government smothering us with “what’s good for us”. Nor do we need Father State throwing millions of us in jail for “our sins”. We need to just leave everyone alone to respect the rights of others.

I think that Gary DeVercelly is a casualty of gooferment. End the Drug War now!

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Posted by reinkefj

ADMINISTRIVIA: Attempt a BLOGLINES blog claim

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

<!– ckey=”3EE2EF9A” –>

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RANT: 1015 sports report this morning skipped the NCAA mens bball

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

I went to sleep before the end of the Florida – Ohio State mens bball game last night. (TV schedules don’t match my schedules. But, that a different rant.) So this morning, I was interested in who won. The 0609 sports report on 1015 had lots of commercials, the fact that many of the pro teams were idle (Who cares? I assume that, if you don’t report a score, then they didn’t play.) But nary a mention of the 2007 NCAA Final Game. In terms of significance, as if any “game” could be significant, the this has to rank right up there. But, no, no mention. Argh!

p.s., Florida won

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TECHNOLOGY: “free” WORDPRESS is too expensive

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

http://www.legalandrew.com/2007/03/29/
get-your-own-domain-and-wordpress-for-your-blog/

http://tinyurl.com/25e39j

Get Your Own Domain and WordPress for Your Blog
posted March 29, 2007 by Andrew Flusche

***Begin Quote***

Free hosts are great for the casual blogger, but they’re not right for companies or individuals wanting to distinguish themselves. The primary reason is control. If you own your domain and pay for hosting, you control your blog. You decide what you can and can’t do.

***End Quote***

Of course, being a giant turkey, and not knowing any different, I commented. How else does one learn?

Ferdinand Reinke says:

I guess I’ll say I don’t understand. Sorry, maybe I’m being a little dense. (1) What do I want to “control” that I can’t do on the free blog at WordPress? (2) I’ve been doing the “free thing” for over a year now and have a substantial amount of content on the free WordPress blog site. If you convinced me to move to a paid WordPress account somewhere, what would be the benefits, challenges, and migration activities? Maybe I’m just being more than a little dense, but I have not seen anything “bad” at the free WordPress offering. And, I think I’m pretty critical. Thanks for the education, fjohn

To which Andrew replied, both in his blog and by an email:

***begin quote***

Ferdinand,

I definitely don’t think WordPress.com is “bad.” In fact, for many bloggers, it’s a great option. It just wasn’t right for me, mostly because I didn’t have ultimate control over my blog. Here are some thoughts on limitations of a free blog:

With a free blog, you don’t actually own the domain or the blog. You’re just using someone else’s space. I like having the keys to my blog, and knowing that I can do anything I want; I’m not at someone else’s mercy.

Free blogs are inherently limited when it comes to customization. You’re usually stuck with a number of preset themes. WordPress has tons of plugins, but only certain widgets are allowed on WordPress.com.

You also can’t do some things on free platforms, due to the Terms of Service. One example is PayPerPost. We can debate the paid posting model, but the fact is that WordPress.com won’t allow you to do it. I like flexibility.

Migrating to your own custom WordPress installation shouldn’t be too hard. I did it last year. I copied each and every post from WordPress.com to my new installation. There’s probably a way to automate this, but I’m not sure. The biggest issue of migrating is that you’ll lose some referral and search traffic, if you’re not careful. You can put redirects on each old page, but this is time consuming. Once again, maybe there’s an automatic way for this to work.

Best of luck in whatever you decide,
Andrew

PS: I’m happy to help with a specific issue or question. I hope this answers some general questions.

***end quote***

Now, I know about the widget restriction. Javascript is basically verboten on the free site. And, I doubt I’d ever attract the readership to make any money out of this. So up to now, the idea of moving off the free site, never interested me. But, like bozos who use a hotmail email address for their jobsearch, maybe I am being “dense”. I started to look at WordPress’ preferred hosting vendors. One has some gripes about their availability and others are focused on webhosting with barely a mention of WordPress.

Have to think if that effort is worth the cost in dollars and attention.

One item of note: I found Legal Andrew as a result of a blog carnival hosted by Jason Alba of JibberJobber http://www.jibberjobber.com. So, one truly has to keep your eyes open and connect the dots to learn all the “tricks of the trade”. Blogging trade that is.

I was exchanging email with G. Lane Cavalier of “Connecting the World One Beverage at a Time” http://glcavalier.wordpress.com/ about my thoughts on this topic. I referred him to the blog and he came back and asked where I had blogged about it. Of course, being lost in the subject, I had forgotten to hang it out here. Duh. That’s for the reminder Lane. P.S.: Listening to my favorite podcast http://www.freetalklive.com I’ve been know to drive by my exit in the morning too.

Bottom line: I’m not sure that moving off the free WordPress is a good idea or easily done. Still thinking about that/

by ,

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