Ron Paul TV Ad: #2 for New Hampshire
Go, Ron, go! Clear concise and right on target. Opinions?
I’d be interested to hear if you disagree.
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POLITICAL: Ron Paul TV ad — perfect!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
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Posted by reinkefj
FUN: 8 tonnes of cement
Tuesday, October 30, 2007http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/4253595a6011.html
8 tonnes of cement drop in for a drink
By SONIA GERKEN – The Southland Times | Monday, 29 October 2007
*** begin quote ***
A building project next door to the Howl at the Moon restaurant and bar in Gore’s Main St literally burst through the wall on Friday, sending 4000L of wet concrete spewing into the dining area.
*** end quote ***
Sounds like a college prank except this was for real.
Since no one was physically hurt, it’s good for a laugh.
If you want to see the difference in cultures, read the reporting. How calm! “… it was hoped insurance would cover everything”.
How civilized!
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Knowing when to fold ’em
Tuesday, October 30, 2007http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/HomelandStupidity/~3/175170720/
TSA screeners fail most bomb tests
By Michael Hampton on TSA
***Begin Quote***
Transportation Security Administration screeners at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport missed more than 60% of bomb components which undercover agents attempted to smuggle through airport checkpoints, according to a classified report. The January 2007 report, obtained by USA TODAY, also said that screeners at Los Angeles International Airport failed to detect the bomb parts and fake explosives about 75 percent of the time. But screeners at San Francisco, who work for a private contractor under a pilot program, missed only 20% during a recent round of red team testing by the Department of Homeland Security.
***End Quote***
There’s an old wall street expression that says “when you’re in a hole, stop digging!”
Perhaps it’s time for us to dig the TSA a grave. With the best of intentions, it was supposed to keep us safe. I’d say it’s an idea who’s time has past. Long past.
Give the pilot and co-pilot a side arm. (They were packing for a while when they did mail runs.) Passengers are not going to stand idly by any more while someone drives a plane into a building. Return security to the airlines where it should have been all along.
Move on to real scary things, like the gooferment flying nukes over America.
Sigh!
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Posted by reinkefj
FUN: “Find the hat”
Monday, October 29, 2007An urban legend, but this is how I heard it.
*** begin quote ***
Back in the 1950s, men wore hats as part of their business attire.
An IBM sales rep, new on the job, was going to call on a key customer in Texas. The old sales rep met him for he was to introduce the new rep. The old rep was aghast that the new rep had no cowboy hat. “You’ll never be taken seriously”, he advised. So the stopped at the local Stetson dealer, and the new rep purchased a fine $100 Stetson cowboy hat. (In the Fifties, a hundred dollars was “real money; not like today!) The meeting went well and the new rep was warmly greeted by the client.
Everything was right with the world.
In preparing his Sales Report, the new sales rep also prepared his expense report. Of course, he attached all his receipts as part of his expenses as required by the IBM policy, including the one for the hat.
His boss returned the expense report, telling him to “lose the hat.” While the rep felt it was needed that didn’t matter. It was not on the official schedule of reimbursable expenses. And so the company wouldn’t pay for a hat!
So, the sales rep turned in a new expense report … for the same amount, but with no line in the report for the hat. In response to his boss’ questioning look, the man said, “Find the hat.”
*** end quote ***
Obviously a urban legend since no one at IBM would have ever been so confrontational.
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Posted by reinkefj
FUN: PaiGow session#2 at more modest $20 table
Monday, October 29, 2007
What was interesting in this session is the player to my far left was playing “hunches”. Varying her bet and varying her bonus play.
Guess what?
She was wiped out.
Note: 5Aces400x; StraightFlush50x; FourOfKind25x; Fullhouse5x; Flush4x; ThreeKind3x; Stright2x
If she’d have just played the bonus for the 5$/hand, she’d have been rolling in it. She was catching a bonus had every other hand. If I have had her cards, I’d have been loaded.
So that brings up the essential question. Are you playing to win the hand or the bonus?
Still don’t have an playing or exit strategy. This time I used the clock (i.e., meet for lunch or meet to go home). There has to be a better way.
Next time:
* Play at a low minimum table.
* Always play the bonus for the full five dollar stake.
* Since we are going to limit our losses, cap the loss (i.e., a “wall” of five soldiers?).
We are seeking a winning streak. A two win streak replaces one soldier. Use the breakage from the first win to advance the line and bonus bet? The commission on a 20$win gives you back a 19$. Increase you line bet and bonus bet by five each? Hole the nine for the next commission. If you win that second bet, you’ll get a full soldier back. If it wasn’t a bonus win, use the extra five to bump the bonus again. It’s all about playing more when you are winning and less when you are losing.
Comments welcome?
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INTERESTING: Lauren Canario
Monday, October 29, 2007A nonviolent civil disobedience superactivist Lauren Canario has been held for more than 20 days. How can “they ” do that?
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Posted by reinkefj
INTERESTING: My congresscritter responds
Monday, October 29, 2007***Begin Quote***
From: Representative Rush Holt [mailto:representative.rush.holt@mail.house.gov]
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 12:27 PM
Subject: Email from Rep. Rush Holt
Dear Mr. Reinke :
Thank you for writing me regarding our government’s policy on so-called “military tribunals” and the related Hamdan v. Rumsfeld court case on this subject. I appreciate learning your views, and I apologize for the delay in my response.
After the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration’s use of so-called “military tribunals” in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case in 2006, the administration and the Congress had an opportunity to craft a detainee policy that both protected our country and the principles it stands for. Instead, the Congress passed a deeply flawed piece of legislation-the Military Commissions Act (MCA)- which I opposed.
How true we are to our ideals affects the clarity and decisiveness with which our soldiers can act, the safety of our troops, the motivation of our potential enemies, and the behavior of our actual enemies. The MCA provides protections that are vague, slippery and imprecise. It is subject to interpretation by the President, by the Secretary of Defense, by our commanders in the theaters of operation, by our troops in the field, and by our friends and enemies around the world.
We need a law on detainee treatment that does at least two things. First, i t should provide a clear set of guidelines consistent with American principles-such as in our revised Army Field Manual-that applies to all U.S. Government personnel (including contractors and intelligence agents ) on how to treat prisoners in ways that preserve our principles. That is why I have become a co-sponsor of the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007 (H.R. 1415) and the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 1416). If enacted, these bills would undo the most pernicious and c onstitutionally offensive provisions of the MCA, including the denial of habeus corpus rights to detainees.
Second, any changes to our laws on detainee treatment should include verification mechanisms to monitor how prisoners and detainees are treated. One of those mechanisms is already in use by law enforcement organizations across the country: the videotaping of interrogations.
Videotaping has proven to be extremely effective at preventing not just abuse of detainees but also false allegations of abuse by detainees against their interrogators. The practice aids in interrogation (by allowing linguists and others to review the record) , and it protects all of us-the enforcers, the prosecutors, and the defendants. By not including such a provision in the MCA , the drafters missed a real opportunity to ensure that we prevent serious problems in the future.
In May 2007, I offered an amendment to the FY2008 National Defense Authorization Act that would have mandated the videotaping of detainee interrogations after the detainee had been held for seven days or had been transferred to a permanent detention facility. While my amendment did not pass, it garnered 199 bipartisan votes and demonstrated that a near-majority of my colleagues recognize the value of videorecording of interrogations.
Indeed, it may interest you to know that the day after the House voted down my amendment, the Defense Department released a previously classified Inspector General report on detainee treatment in Iraq that was originally sent to the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in August 2006. While portions of this 131 page report remain classified, the conclusions are not:
“(U) Allegations of detainee abuse were not consistently reported, investigated, or managed in an effective, systematic, and timely manner..no single entity within any level of command was aware of the scope and breadth of detainee abuse. policy for and oversight of interrogation procedures were ineffective. As a result, interrogation techniques and procedures used exceeded the limits established in the Army Field Manual 34-52, “Intelligence Interrogation,” September 28, 1992.” ( Report No. 06-INTEL-10 , Review of DoD -Directed Investigations of Detainee Abuse (U), August 25, 2006, p. ii.)
You can view the full report at the following URL:
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/abus e .pdf , or ask me to mail you a copy.
I will continue to press for mandated video recording of detainee interrogations because I believe doing so would provide critical safeguards for all involved in the process.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
RUSH HOLT
Member of Congress
***End Quote***
Sigh!
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: “voting” doesn’t opt anyone in!
Monday, October 29, 2007http://www.keenefreepress.com/mambo//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=642&Itemid=36
Opting Out Print
Monday, 22 October 2007
By Kat Kanning
***Begin Quote***
People opt in implicitly by voting or taking government benefits.
***End Quote***
CONTRASTING
http://www.lewrockwell.com/mcelroy/mcelroy107.html
Lysander Spooner
by Wendy McElroy
*** begin quote ***
Spooner now explains why voting cannot collectively bind “the people” or even a particular individual to the Constitution. A rough listing of the points in his argument is as follows:
* The act of voting can bind only those who vote.
* Most people do not vote in any given election; many people never vote. Therefore, they have not consented.
* To be binding, a vote must be “perfectly voluntary” yet a “very large number” vote in self-defense.
* Taxation is compulsory and many vote only to prevent their money from being used against them.
* Votes for unsuccessful candidates cannot be binding.
* A secret vote provides no legal evidence by which to bind any particular voter to the Constitution.
*** end quote ***
SO … imho … “voting” doesn’t opt me in!
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Get routine ezines out of your email
Sunday, October 28, 2007***Begin Quote***
Why does Bloglines Offer Email Accounts?
Bloglines free email accounts allow people to receive email newsletter subscriptions within their MyBloglines page. This helps to reduce traffic through your primary email inbox and helps to contain the spam menace. A Bloglines email account gives you a trump card when a newsletter breaks the rules of opt-in marketing. When you unsubscribe from a Bloglines email subscription, the email address disappears. You never have to worry about trying to find the unsubscribe instructions for an unwanted mailing list.
***End Quote***
This is useful in that email ezines really shouldn’t be in your email flow. An rss reader is “better” imho.
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Posted by reinkefj
FUN: Pai Gow results today
Sunday, October 28, 2007session #1 at a 60$ table
push
22txxxx loss
push
push
akqxxxx lose
22xxxxx lose
99axxxx push
444q9xx push bonus15
777axxx win bouns15
77kqxxx push
jjjaqxx won bonus15
tt66axx push
akqjxxx lose
akqjt97 push bonus10
wakqxxx win
999atxx win bonus15
88qxxxx push
66qtxxx lose
ttt22ax win bonus25
wjtxxxx lose
won about $24.
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Posted by reinkefj
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