http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=33;t=003294;p=2
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SURVIVAL: Fiction with some interesting lessons
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
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SURVIVAL | 
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Posted by reinkefj
USA: Ron Paul’s secret weapon
Wednesday, September 5, 2007http://www.lewrockwell.com/ostrowski/ostrowski85.html
Ron Paul and the Four Horsemen
by James Ostrowski
***Begin Quote***
Finally, Ron Paul’s secret weapon, Hillary Clinton, has all but wrapped up the nomination. Obama has run out of steam and Edwards is going nowhere. The prospect of another President Clinton will focus the minds of Republican primary voters. They need to realize that only a Republican who represents a sharp break from the Gingrich-Bush-era legacy of sleaze, corruption, bloated spending and belligerence can beat Hillary in November 2008.
***End Quote***
Hillary’s enough to scare me.
She certainly would test theory that the President has a much power as the figurehead on a Viking ship to steer it.
Made she could actually out do her hubbie and get herself impeached and removed from office. She lost me a commodity trades back in AK. Now there is a felony she got away with. Just a tigers and leopards, she’ll run true to form.
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Posted by reinkefj
NATIONAL: Gooferment healthcare taken to its logical conclusion
Wednesday, September 5, 2007‘NHS should not treat those with unhealthy lifestyles’ say Tories
04.09.07
David Cameron will decide which of the Tories’ proposals to make policy
• Patients who improve their health to be given ‘Health Miles’ cards to claim free fruit and veg
***Begin Quote***
Patients who refuse to change their unhealthy lifestyles should not be treated by the NHS, the Conservatives said today.
In a bid to ease spiralling levels of obesity and other health concerns, a Tory panel said certain treatments should be denied to patients who refuse to co-operate with health professionals and live healthier lifestyles.
***and***
“It is inconsistent with the concept of the responsible citizen to imagine that it is realistic for citizens, having paid their taxes, to expect that the state will underwrite the health implications of any lifestyle decision they choose to make,” the report states.
***and***
Other health measures outlined include incentives to encourage GPs to “re-engage” in responsibility for the out-of-hours care provided to their patients, without imposing “undesirable working patterns” on doctors.
***and***
The group also warns that public support for the NHS is under threat because of the “failure” to engage citizens in the drive to improve the service and to boost productivity despite the billions being poured into it.
***End Quote***
Now that they have taken the tax money under the guise of “national health care”, they want to change the “insurance terms”. If a private insurance company did ti, then the executive would all be in jail.
Aren’t people better off managing their own “health care”?
If you have certain risks, then you can mitigate them or insure them or take the consequences. You don’t need a bloated gooferment bureacracy to “help” you. Argh!
Sorry, count me out.
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Posted by reinkefj
TECH SERVICE: FACEBOOK suggestion
Tuesday, September 4, 2007One of the charities associated with my alma mater has annual golf tourney for scholarships. I have no affiliation with it. BUT, it might be nice to allow the folks that run it to set up an “identity” for that charity? Is such possible? Considering that you allow fakey politicians, why not a fakey charity?
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Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Congress is Destroying America’s Schools
Tuesday, September 4, 2007http://americandaily.com/article/20149
Congress is Destroying America’s Schools
By Alan Caruba (09/03/07)
*** begin quote ***
If you want to witness the most blatantly un-Constitutional and un-American laws at work than just take a walk through your local schools. They are currently under the control of the federal government.
Why any town or city bothers to hold an election for members of the local board of education is a mystery to me. Between the U.S. Department of Education and a union, the National Education Association—masquerading as just a group of concerned teachers—local boards have no real power to reverse the subjugation and destruction of the nation’s education system.
Since the Constitution does not even mention education, it is a continuing mystery why the federal government has a department devoted to it. Well, it’s less of a mystery if you consider that its purpose is to indoctrinate the children passing through it to accept a whole range of values and ideas that lots of Americans think are wrong.
*** end quote ***
Gooferment skoolz making illiterate cannon fodder that can flip burgers too!
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Posted by reinkefj
MONEY: regulators issued special guidance
Tuesday, September 4, 2007http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8REP5LG3&show_article=1
Fed Urges Loan Holders to Avoid Defaults
Sep 4 01:14 PM US/Eastern
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
***Begin Quote***
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve and other banking regulators issued special guidance Tuesday urging loan service companies to work with borrowers in danger of defaulting on their home mortgages.
The new guidelines are not mandatory, but the regulators expressed the hope that companies that collect payments on mortgages would heed the advice.
***End Quote***
And what happens if they don’t want to take advice from these unelected minions of the rich and powerful?
Taxpayer pays?
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: all now concede he didn’t commit
Tuesday, September 4, 2007http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/015045.html
September 03, 2007
Do the wrongfully imprisoned get compensation?
Posted by Stephen Carson at September 3, 2007 10:44 PM
**Begin Quote***
Dedge served 22 years of a life sentence for a rape all now concede he didn’t commit.
***and**
Prosecutors continued to oppose Dedge’s motions on sundry procedural grounds for three years, and, according to the Innocence Project site, went so far as to admit in court that they would oppose Dedge’s release “even if they knew that he was absolutely innocent.” Nice group of people.
***End Quote***
Ahh, the gooferment at its best!
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Posted by reinkefj
VISTA: Sounds like it has a time out
Tuesday, September 4, 2007Frau was playing a game and listening to a CD. (The only two applications I’ve qualified her for. ROFL!) She say that everything went dark. Tech Support (me) was closed for the night! So she just gave up. I asked her if she did anything. (Press the any key? Waste of time to ask users anything. They forget, They lie, They misreport.) Scheduling an on-site visit by tech support (Me!) tonight. Argh! Have to explain that “personal” part in “personal computing”. :-) Technically, it sounds like a keyboard timeout to save the monitor?
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Posted by reinkefj
USA: Why Liberals Should Support Ron Paul
Monday, September 3, 2007http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_karsten__070901_why_liberals_should_.htm
September 2, 2007 at 05:04:21
Why Liberals Should Support Ron Paul
by Karsten Nicholson
***Begin Quote***
This is a response to: Peace, Injustice and Ron Paul by David Swanson.
“If Ron Paul had been president for the past 6 years, a million more Iraqis would be alive, and another 4 million would not be refugees. The world would be a safer place, and Americans would have lost fewer freedoms.” — David Swanson
This is very true. Many liberals have recognized and praised Ron Paul’s courageous stance on foreign policy and civil liberties. This is a man who is not afraid to go into a Republican debate, with 9 neo-cons, in South Carolina, on Fox News, and stand up to thugs like Rudy Giuliani. In the second Republican debate to which I am referring to, Ron Paul correctly pointed out that our foreign policy is a major contributing factor to the underlying cause of 9/11. “They don’t hate us because we’re rich or we’re free, they hate us because we’ve been over there, we’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years.” Ron Paul stood his ground, and said that with a non-interventionist foreign policy, we’d be less likely to incite hatred, and therefore more safe and more free.
***End Quote***
The writer goes into an awe inspiring litany of why Ron should be the next President.
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Posted by reinkefj
VISTA: FIrst impressions
Monday, September 3, 2007New machine for Frau. (Multiple motives)
* Out of the box, Vista found the home network. Second reboot, never found it after that.
* Killed the embedded wireless card. Used a Linksys WUSB54GC device. Needed new Vista drivers. But it’s working.
* Frau’s favorite game doesn’t do Vista. Argh!
Not for the faint of heart.
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Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Edwards backs mandatory “care”
Sunday, September 2, 2007http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070902/ap_on_el_pr/edwards_2
Edwards backs mandatory preventive care
By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 2 minutes ago
*** begin quote ***
TIPTON, Iowa – Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.
“It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care,” he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. “If you are going to be in the system, you can’t choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK.”
He noted, for example, that women would be required to have regular mammograms in an effort to find and treat “the first trace of problem.” Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, announced earlier this year that her breast cancer had returned and spread.
Edwards said his mandatory health care plan would cover preventive, chronic and long-term health care. The plan would include mental health care as well as dental and vision coverage for all Americans.
“The whole idea is a continuum of care, basically from birth to death,” he said.
*** end quote ***
OK Citizen, bend over for your required proctology exam.
I thought Hillarycare was bad enough. Then, come Edwardscare that makes her look “moderate”. This might be enough to to send the patriots to the slit trenches.
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2 Comments | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
MONEY: Tax deductions against home loans
Sunday, September 2, 2007FROM LINKEDIN ANSWERS:
***Begin Quote***
RE: Tax deductions against home loans (mortgage)
From:Lubna Kably
Senior Manager at Ernst & Young
International tax consultant and newspaper columnist
India
RE: Tax deductions against home loans (mortgage)
In India there is a tax deduction available against home loans up to a certain limit. Interest payments above this do not get the tax relief.
In US, there is move to introduce a legislation to remove the mortgage interest deduction on huge houses (more than 3,000 sq feet). This of course stems from the fact that large houses lead to higher energy consumption and gas emissions and this tax policy is seen as a “green policy”.
What is your view on tax sops against housing loans.
1) Should there be a ceiling limit against the interest payable
2) Should there be a ceiling limit in terms of square meters of property
3) Should the entire interest payment be allowed tax free?
I also have an additional question for LI members from the US. Am I right in assuming that at present the entire interest payment is tax deductible?
Thanks in advance. Your comments will help me in writing my next newspaper column.
*** end quote ***
On 9/1/07 11:41 AM, John Reinke wrote:
——————–
Taxes are nothing more than theft! How the gang calculates it and asking opinions about the that theft are akin to a mugger asking you if you want to be hit with a pipe or a bat. That being said, unless one is willing to resist, you have to go along with the gag!
You should NOT assume that mortgage interest is ALWAYS deductible in the US. Two things jump to mind: Alternative Minimum Tax where deductions phase out AND refinancing situation where deductibility is limited. Also, in 2008, we’re going to the polls to elect a President. Only one of the candidates Ron Paul can be seen as pro-freedom.
In doing any financial planning, I’d suggest an team approach is needed — lawyer, accountant, and financial investment adviser. They should be three separate people because you need diversity of viewpoints. (I’ve seen some conflicts of interest when you accountant sells investments or the lawyer does accounting.)
Count your change and use your fingers. Where money is concerned, strange things happen.
# # #
RESPONSE:
Hi John
Thanks so much for your reply and interesting insights.
Have a great weekend.
Best
Lubna
# # #
Reinke replied:
Well, I’ll assume “interesting” is a polite way of saying “what a nut job”. :-) Thanks OK. I’ve been called much worse to my face. But as a firm believer in the non-aggression principle of the libertarian movement (i.e., I foreswear the first use of force to attain my goals. To be free, I grant to all the liberties I wish to have myself.), I think you should be free to think whatever you like. When you do write that article, please send me a like. I’ll put it on my blog. I can only guaranty you one extra reader, but you might be surprised how many people read my blog. (I average about 150 per day.) I guess there are a lot of visitor who wants to see a raving loon. :-) Best wishes.
# # #
Lubna Kably wrote:
Hi John
Will def send you the link. This will be published end Sept. What is your email id?
And no, it was not a “nutty answer”. The bit about AMT is interesting. In India, fortunately, Minimum Alternative Tax, which works on the same basis is applicable only to corporate entities and not individuals – fortunately.
Thanks
Lubna
# # #
Reinke replied:
Here’s that email address: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hey, you all are lucky not to have an individual AMT. One of the tax resister’s popular arguments here is that in order for the Income Tax to be Constitutional that it only applies to “corporate entities”, not “sovereign individuals”. It’s hard to say which sets off people more: the income tax or the property taxes. The politicians do a fine job of “sticking it” to us. The really funny thing is that the biggest most-damaging tax is the largely unrecognized “inflation tax”. People are stupid. The politicians, abetted by the big media and the gooferment skoolz, “tax” every dollar by the unrestricted creation of more dollars. And, people just don’t understand it. That’s the sad part. And, it’s a “global tax”. That is the yearly monetary inflation impacts everyone who holds a dollar; not just the people in the US. Amazing how people don’t get it.
L8R,
fjohn
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Some trash bags as a travel aid
Sunday, September 2, 2007Lesson Learned: Carry some trash bags as a travel aid.
In my recent trek, we wound up some distance from the ice machine. If I had some grocery bags, I could have put one in my pocket and, upon returning to my floor, used it to bring ice back to the room. But, no I never thought of that, so I’d have to go to the room and trek back to the ice machine right by the elevator. That was at least five wasted trips.
In packing to go home, some big garbage bags would have been handy for the dirty clothes.
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Posted by reinkefj
GUNS: “Slow action” not the root cause
Sunday, September 2, 2007http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070830073724.ve9qnajc&show_article=1
Slow action faulted in Virginia Tech massacre
Aug 30 03:37 AM US/Eastern
***Begin Quote***
Virginia Tech was too slow to inform staff and students about a shooting incident in April that rapidly spiralled into the bloodiest campus massacre in US history, an investigation concluded Wednesday.
***End Quote***
Sorry, but the root cause was disarming those who wanted to defend themselves. They would have been in a position to defend the others.
Numbers I’ve read that about 10% of any large group will be armed if allowed to be.
(Based on my readings. I remember the Church break in story where the congregation of thirty people had three CCW holder in the crowd. And, the story where the down cop was protected by one armed bystander of about ten. It feels like its about 10% although on a raw number basis from permit issued versus the entire population in a subset indicates it could be higher.)
So of that class of thirty students where the bulk of the killing occurred, it would not be unreasonable to expect that there might be as many as three potential defenders. And, the gallant teacher that was killed! Surely he might have had a weapon given his life experience.
So, liberal disarm the population and then are astonished when bad things happen.
Imagine if one of those good kids was a “law breaker”. Imagine if he said “<insert favorite bad word here> it! I’m not going to be a sheep!”. Imagine the expression of surprise on the bad guys face if he had to face return fire! Assuming that our two lawbreakers were in that situation, who might be the better shot?
When they arrested our sheep dog for carrying an illegal weapon, who on the jury would say “no you should have died with the other 29”?
And, we wonder why the bumper stickers say “Better judged by 12 than carried by 6”.
So these delusional bureaucrats will blame “slow action” when the real problem was disarmament. Let’s sprinkle some sheep dogs in the flock of sheep and give the wolves a little surprise. If the bad guys are as cowardly as research tells us, we’ll see a huge drop in violet crime. There’s no profit in it. Guess wrong and you’re dead!
From an earlier blog post:
*** begin quote ***
I particularly like unlimited concealed carry. If the criminal regards the general public as sheep to be shorn, then let’s sprinkle in a few “sheepdogs” with big teeth in the flock.
Guess which gay to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Pink Pistol and you’re dead!
Guess which woman to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Paxton Quigly and you’re dead!
Guess which brown person to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Massad Ayoob and you’re dead!
*** end quote ***
Overlay that strategy on the VT shootings and we might have a much better out come.
Remember another bumpersticker — dial 911 and die!
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Yet another entry from the Ebenezer Scrooge School of Overseer Management
Sunday, September 2, 2007At I.B.M., a Vacation Anytime, or Maybe None
By KEN BELSON
Published: August 31, 2007
***Begin Quote***
Some workplace experts say such continued blurring of the boundaries between work and play can overtax employees and lead to health problems, particularly at companies where there is an expectation that everyone is always on call.
“If leadership never takes time off, people will be skeptical whether they can,” said Kim Stattner of Hewitt Associates, a human resources consultant. “There is the potential for a domino effect.”
Frances Schneider, who retired from an I.B.M. sales division last year, after 34 years, said one thing never changed; there was not one year in which she took all her allotted time off.
“It wasn’t seven days a week, but people ended up putting in longer hours because of all the flexibility, without really thinking about it,” Ms. Schneider said. “Although you had this wonderful freedom to take days when you want, you really couldn’t. I.B.M. tends to be a group of workaholics.”
***End Quote***
(1) Leadership turns an expense (i.e., someone has to pay for the time not producing widgets) into a “benefit”. If you’re “entitled” to three weeks vacation but can not take it, then do you really have such a benefit?
(2) If a company’s leadership announce that vacations were being cut from three to two, then all manner of strife would break out. There are the Federal Labor Standards Act and innumerable state laws, and maybe even local diktats. SO in essence, the company is getting unpaid labor.
(3) White collar workers are so scared for “their jobs” that they can’t object. The team players that don’t go along with the gag, will be let go for “poor performance”. In the world of knowledge workers, standards of good and bad are very subjective.
(4) Leadership may be learning that people can drive themselves harder than any slave master’s overseer. At that point, there is very little difference between being in one’s own business and working for the man. The only difference may be in the individual’s perception of being on a big team and their self confidence in their abilities.
(5) What about fraud? There are banks with policies that mandate vacations. Some even specify end of quarter time periods. So that the “loyal employee who never takes a vacation” can’t cover an ongoing fraud.
Interesting how things silently change. Is our own productivity used to our detriment?
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Posted by reinkefj
RANT: The gooferment doesn’t need your help; just your money
Sunday, September 2, 2007http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070901/D8RCVPCG0.html
Feds to Restrict Volunteers at Disasters
Sep 1, 7:56 PM (ET)
By DEVLIN BARRETT
*** begin quote ***
In an effort to provide better control and coordination, the federal government is launching an ambitious ID program for rescue workers to keep everyday people from swarming to a disaster scene. A prototype of the new first responder identification card is already being issued to fire and police personnel in the Washington, D.C., area.
Proponents say the system will get professionals on scene quicker and keep untrained volunteers from making tough work more difficult.
***AND***
The Federal Emergency Management Agency came up with the idea after the World Trade Center attack and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when countless Americans rushed to help – unasked, undirected, and sometimes unwanted.
Many of those volunteers angrily dispute the notion they were a burden. They insist that in many instances they were able to deliver respirators, hard hats, and protective boots to workers when no one else seemed able.
Ground zero volunteer Rhonda Shearer and her daughter launched a fast-moving supply system that bypassed regular channels, often infuriating city officials.
Even as she delivered box trucks packed with supplies over months of recovery work, she increasingly ended up in a cat-and-mouse game with New York City’s police and emergency management agency.
Shearer, 53, said the experience convinced her that agencies are ill-equipped to handle major disasters – but don’t want outsiders pointing out their failings.
Similar frustrations arose after Katrina, when people were shocked that the government struggled to take basic supplies such as water to the worst areas.
“They’re more worried about keeping volunteers out than doing an analysis of what really went wrong,” Shearer said. “Independent citizens need to be involved, where we have no ax to grind or cross to bear. But we will tell the truth, and we will tell what we see and bear witness to the incompetence.”
*** end quote ***
What a bunch of “barbara streisand”! Go tell it to anyone who will listen.
It’s all about control. And, looking good. And, the “authorities” did so well at Katrina, the WTC site, and the countless other disasters.
Wake up! It’s a police state. All for your own safety of course.
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: INSTANT WIRE TAPS
Saturday, September 1, 2007INSTANT WIRE TAPS: How the FBI Does It
Submitted by Rob Williams on Thu, 08/30/2007 – 10:06am.
***Begin Quote***
Maul Man says – So, Jason Bourne’s world is, in fact, the tip of the iceberg. From “Wired” magazine, courtesy of the ACME newswire. FOIA still lives – for now.
The FBI has quietly built a sophisticated, point-and-click surveillance system that performs instant wiretaps on almost any communications device, according to nearly a thousand pages of restricted documents newly released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The surveillance system, called DCSNet, for Digital Collection System Network, connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephony providers and cellular companies. It is far more intricately woven into the nation’s telecom infrastructure than observers suspected.
It’s a “comprehensive wiretap system that intercepts wire-line phones, cellular phones, SMS and push-to-talk systems,” says Steven Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor and longtime surveillance expert.
***End Quote***
Makes it just a little too easy!
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Posted by reinkefj
TECH SERVICE: Monster’s Security Breach Larger
Saturday, September 1, 2007http://mashable.com/2007/08/29/monster-security-breech/
Monster’s Security Breach Larger than Thought
August 29, 2007 — 10:56 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole
***Begin Quote***
The 1.3 million individuals whose data, including financial information, was stolen from Monster’s database may be larger than initially reported.
During the investigation regarding the theft, it was discovered that the website had been previously hacked. The exact number is still unknown, but could reportedly be in the millions. Monster has indicated that users should assume their information has been taken. As this wasn’t an isolated incident, the illegal activity has been impossible to pinpoint. Monster has lost between 200 and 300 job seekers and some employers’ accounts due to the issue.
***End Quote***
Like I said. Lot of blame there.
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Posted by reinkefj
MONEY: getting screwed since 1913 by a monopoly
Saturday, September 1, 2007http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/09/01/the_federal_reserve_is_monetary.htm
September 1, 2007
Robin Good
The Federal Reserve: Is Monetary Power Being Replaced By Private Economic Global Interests?
***Begin Quote***
In the present world financial system turmoil generated by the collapse for “sub-prime” mortgage bonds, the US Federal Reserve System functions, as it always does, with private meetings and telephone conferences with the great financial houses, deciding in apparent secrecy whether to increase the money supply and government lending to financial houses or whether to raise or reduce interest rates.
***AND***
I am certainly not an expert at these matters but if I have to look and report at what mainstream media does not report about, while inviting each one of us to question and research in greater depth all such issues, this looks definitely like something on which we should all ask some more and better questions.
***AND***
Should the US, reconsider the makeup and makeup of the Federal Reserve System so that it can serve the people of the United States in a meaningful and fully transparent fashion?
***End Quote***
I love it when someone “discovers” that they (we) have been getting screwed since 1913 by a monopoly.
The monied elite and the politicians have conspired to “monopolize” “money”. The monied elite gets the license to print money and do fractional reserve banking. The politicians get all the money they want to spend with having to raise taxes. (The inflation tax is a silent killer to savings.)
We could consult the Constitution for what it says about the Federal Reserve.
At the very least, we could follow the example of Andrew Jackson and end the “federal reserve cartel”. Ron Paul is just the fellow to do it.
When you are in a hole, stop digging!
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Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Betting on talkers
Saturday, September 1, 2007http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070830143114.52ur3g60&show_article=1
Unnamed players allege corruption in professional tennis
Aug 30 10:31 AM US/Eastern
*** begin quote ***
Match-fixing, some of which is linked to internet gambling, is not uncommon in professional tennis, according to a damaging report in L’Equipe on Thursday.
Two elite players made the claims, under anonymity, in an interview with the French sports daily claiming they have witnessed matches being “thrown” and that they had personally been offered bribes.
The allegations come in the wake of the controversy surrounding Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, who is the subject of an ATP enquiry.
Davydenko recenty pulled out a match injured on the same day that large sums of money had been bet on his defeat to Argentina’s Martin Vassallo Arguello.
Betfair, an internet gambling website, refused to pay out on Davydenko’s defeat. Seven million dollars in wagers, 10 times more than normal for such a match, swung to Arguello even after Davydenko won the first set.
*** end quote ***
I think I blogged here about the dangers of betting on anything that can talk!
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Posted by reinkefj
FUN: while it lasted
Saturday, September 1, 2007http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2007-09-01_D8RCNL381&show_article=1&cat=breaking
*** begin quote ***
New Jersey’s winning ticket was sold at Blitz’s Villas Market in the southern town of Villas, said state Lottery spokesman Dominick DeMarco.
*** end quote ***
OH well, the dream was fun while it lasted.
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Leave a Comment » | FUN | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
TECHNOLOGY: More from the Ebenezer Scrooge School of Overseer Management
Saturday, September 1, 2007>Network World’s Security Strategies Newsletter, 08/28/07
>Hacker tips published in Wall Street Journal
>By M. E. Kabay
>On July 30, Vauhini Vara published an article in the _Wall Street Journal_ entitled, “Ten Things Your IT Department Won’t Tell You.”
>The author explains that office
>workers like to use corporate-supplied equipment to “keep up with our lives. … …
Don’t forget that corporations are INTENTIONALLY blurring the lines between work / play / home. As an IT executive, I have seen:
* The corporate honchos with different sets of rules for themselves and the serfs.
* IT troops are expected to answer “problems” at all hours of the day or night. And, then turn to in the morning on time as if nothing happened.
* Projects scheduled with a “forced march” ethic in human resources. AND
* The deliberate planning of “human resources” to avoid payment of overtime and giving comp time.
So let’s not kid around that people are just goofing off all the time, watching YouTube, and playing online poker. Work has to get done. And it does get done. If you are going to fudge the margins, then you can’t get all uppity when the letter of some policy or standard is not met.
If I’m waiting for a phone conference call to assemble and begin, usually because some required honcho is “late”, don’t scream like Mayor Bloomberg if there’s a solitaire screen up. If I’m working on a holiday weekend installing a new IT system and don’t get anything other than maybe “thanks” or keep getting my regular paycheck, don’t gripe when the “big” football game is on one of the monitors or everyone’s watching a movie while the big update is ruining. At least on Wall Street, when they make absurd demands, they pay obscene bonuses.
The AFL/CIO is dumb not trying to unionize the IT workers. It’s the new sweat shop. I am astonished that some one hasn’t sued about these type of issues already.
>her “safety” measures for violating appropriate-use policies include this advice for attempting to wipe audit trails:
> “Clear your private data as often as possible.
>Better yet, don’t use your work computer to do anything you wouldn’t want your boss to know about.”
I agree that one should have your own ethical standards. A good Nun once told me that my standard should be “don’t do anything you would want to have to tell your Mother”. Works for me.
BUT!
Let’s not imbue Acceptable Use Policies as if they come down from some Olympic mountain.
For example, once upon a time, there was a corporate policy not to use AOL IM. (Why I have no idea? Pinging someone to join a conference call may tell some hacker … what?) But the corporate IT group (aka the shills for Microsoft) had no solution. Yet the executives used AOLIM, and wanted their people to use it. It was efficient. Talk about mixed messages. But piously, they made people sign annual acceptances of the corporate policies. Like Stossel says “gimme a break”. In my past executive coaching practice, as well as my stints as an ITA/BPR consultant, I counseled against sending mixed messages. People, like little children, learn by watching carefully what you do. Not what you say.
>I invite readers to read Vara’s article for themselves and then to join me in a short series of columns
>as I analyze her work from an ethical standpoint.
Having been brought up in the Ebenezer Scrooge school of employee training, where the motto was “You pretend to pay me; I’ll pretend to work”, I suggest that it’s time for everyone to grow up.
The world has changed.
Unlike KMart, there’s no Blue Light to turn on. No PA system over which we can make the announcement. No clap of thunder or bolt of lightening to get everyone’s attention. Nor any formal demarcation point, like when the calendar changes. We can’t afford to play silly games. In the global competitive environment, we need to develop our thinking.
So for example, just like I don’t expect my employer to buy me my pens, I buy my own technology. Sure I’ll use theirs for their stuff if they insist. (Mine’s better.) But, if your trash is not working, you can’t hold me accountable for the “shortfall”. Can’t have it both ways. If you want me to do 24×7 support or some other outrageous demand, then it’s OK for me to use my home computer, policies be darned, for which you don’t pay. That’s OK, but heaven forbid I answer an email from work? (Note: My personal information NEVER goes near their hardware.) Now I realize I’m a little bit of an odd ball. I’ve been a consultant, and in my own business several times. But I can see the hypocrisy in some “policies”.
New times require new rules.
It’s about generating value. Some of that value belongs to the employer and some I am allowed to retain. It’s a team sport. I need them and they need me. 50/50.
(Actually the company needs the employees more. Some wag once said “Each night, all of our intellectual capital walks out the door.” I had an old boss who use to extend that with “It’s my job to make you want to come back.” With the aging of the work force, that’s even more true today than it was then.)
Leadership and management must forget the lessons of Ebenezer Scrooge and Frederick Winslow Taylor. You manage things and lead people. Throw all the policy manuals out the window. Lead people. Teach them why you should NOT put corporate secrets into email unencrypted or waste time when your supposed to be earning value for the team. Deploy tools that make it unnecessary to “bend” rules. Share the monetary value such that unpaid OT or unreasonable demands aren’t made. Hold leadership accountable for their decisions and policies.
This line of inquiry is based on an old paradigm and is coming from the meme of “unwilling worker”. In today’s new world, the new team-shared meme must be that there is value produced which is shared by all who produced it.
We have to evolve our memes because there are a lots of very smart very hungry people in India and China that are going to eat us for breakfast if we stay stuck in “Detroit thinking” with respect to the roles of employer and employee.
In my not so humble opinion, I believe that these large corporations are going to self-destruct. The new meme will be small team size agile organizations, that can do a better job of delivering and sharing value, while “outsourcing” all non-core competency functions (i.e., HR, finance, IT). The economies of scale that allowed the IBMs, AT&Ts, GMs, and such to evolve and flourish are no longer there.
Small ‘n’ agile will outperform big ‘n’ bureaucratic every time.
And, don’t get me started on the “gooferment”.
imho,
fjohn
P.S.: I hope that’s the type of input your were looking for. My current employer is very enlightened and doesn’t have these problems that I know of.
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: Here we have more “theater”!
Saturday, September 1, 2007http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070901/D8RCITJ00.html
Judge Sends Duke Prosecutor to Jail
Sep 1, 5:18 AM (ET)
By AARON BEARD
***Begin Quote***
Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III could have sentenced Nifong, who had already been stripped of his law license and had resigned from office, to as many as 30 days in jail and given him a fine as high as $500. Instead, he opted for a largely symbolic punishment – the public humiliation of sending a prosecutor to jail – that he said would help protect the integrity of the justice system.
***End Quote***
“protect the integrity” … … you have to be kidding me!
Once again the true nature of the criminal gang masquerading as the “gooferment” shows its true colors. Close ranks. CYA. Protect the “system”.
Here we have more “theater”!
Note the story goes out on Friday night of a three day week end where it is sure to be ignored.
Three young men’s lives are ruined. Their families emotionally tortured. And, the treasure expended in their defense.
Sorry, it’s a slap on the wrist. And, the system is fundamentally flawed.
The Grand Jury system doesn’t protect the accused. That’s its one purpose. Despite what you see on Law & Order, there’s truth in the old canard that “a prosecutor can get a ham sandwich indicted”. We need to rework the system. The prosecutor has an unlimited budget to overwhelm all but the rich. And, if you are acquitted, the prosecutor bears — in most cases — no punishment.
No the gooferment courts are part of that illusion of legitimacy. It’s just gooferment bureaucrats in costumes putting on a show and protecting other gooferment bureaucrats.
Sigh!
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LIBERTY: government’s dereliction of its first basic function
Saturday, September 1, 2007Liberal Views, Black Victims
By Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
***Begin Quote***
So here’s the question: Should black people accept government’s dereliction of its first basic function, that of providing protection? My answer is no. One of our basic rights is the right to defend oneself against predators. If the government can’t or won’t protect people, people have a right to protect themselves.
***End Quote***
Even if the gooferment could or would protect people, the people have the right to defend themselves.
Interesting. I’ve been quibbling with the great Professor more and more.
I think the formulation of a “right” is interesting process.
(1) To own myself, I acknowledge that all men own themselves.
(2) Thus, everyone owns their past and their future. (If I own myself but not my past and / or my future, then what do I own?)
(3) Rights are basically negatives. Right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
(4) If one man’s rights are infringed, everyone’s rights are infringed. (alone we are weak; together we are dominant.)
(5) I have rights that are “inalienable”. You can’t take them; I can’t give them away.
(6) I can fail to fight for my rights and you can infringe upon them.
(7) If you delegate, that representative can exercise no more rights than you had to delegate.
So, rights are recognized as inalienable but must be defended to “have” them.
Heck, yes, like Jack Nicolson said in A Few Good Men:
Col. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
I too don’t care what the gooferment thinks it’s entitled to. I don’t care what anyone thinks they are entitled too. I especially don’t care what some gang in fancy suits thinks they are entitled to.
I suggest that when push comes to shove over rights, we’ll both have to pick up a rifle and defend each other’s rights. Or “they” will pick us off one by one.
I would say that victims of crime have ONLY themselves to blame for not defending their rights. I’ll stand with them.
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Posted by reinkefj
RANT: 194,901 New Jersey residents moved
Saturday, September 1, 2007http://www.americansforprosperity.org/index.php?id=3042
*** begin quote ***
Did You Know?
* From 2000–2005 194,901 New Jersey residents moved to other states.
* Since 1965, New Jersey’s state government debt has increased almost 500%.
* From 2000–2004 New Jersey’s government spending grew 13% faster than its economy.
* New Jersey ranked as the least friendly state environment for entrepreneurship in 2006.
* Had New Jersey grown at the national average of 14.5% since 2000, the state’s economy would be almost $20 billion larger. That’s $2,300 per person!
* From 2000–2005 state and local government jobs increased by 52,544 while 4,000 private jobs were lost.
* Between the years 2000–2004 New Jersey had the 8th lowest growth in average wage per job.
* 49% of New Jersey adults say they expect to be no better off financially, or even worse off, next year.
*** end quote ***
http://www.freestateproject.org/
That’s all I can say!
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Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Upturned Palm
Saturday, September 1, 2007A World of Eloquence in an Upturned Palm
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: August 28, 2007
*** begin quote ***
ATLANTA — The chimpanzees, after spotting the humans at the corner of their compound, came over to us with their arms outstretched and their palms turned upward. This was the chimps’ way of asking for a banana — and a lot more, as researchers here at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center have discovered.
*** end quote ***
Seems like panhandling is a paradigm hard coded in our genes. Maybe that’s why my taxes are so high?
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Posted by reinkefj
Reinke Faces Life 