Month: December 2010

FUN: My New Year’s grant of amnesty to all!

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Sigh. So long ago, when I knew it all, yet knew nothing, I did have one good idea. Having watched my Mom and Dad literally torture themselves over bad decisions, I decided that each year at New Year’s, I would grant myself amnesty for all things — decisions, choices, purchases, sales, whatever — done in the prior year. No regrets. Not to forget the “lessons learned”, but to move forward as if life was a “new problem”.

So speaking ex cathedra from my belly button, I hereby declare all the mistakes of the prior year no longer “mistakes”, but “experiences”.

So, with my tin foil hat firmly adhered to my thinning hair, and grasping my keyboard as my sword, firmly clad in the righteousness of my intentions, I extend my grant of immunity and amnesty to all my fellow human beings and certain annoying animals. I forgive, but don’t forget all those things better left unsaid (because I really don’t remember them), and hope you will do the same for me.

My motto has become: “Don’t attribute to evil what can be better explained by stupidity.”

And quoting that great American Yoda — “Do or do not… there is no try.” (To do it justice, you must say the word try with all the revulsion and disgust you can put on it. Like you were talking about a rapist, a child murderer, or a politician!) — Yoda (Fictional character from George Lucas’s “Star Wars” movie)

I wish you all a “HNY” and will do better in the New Year.

Medically speaking, I forgive all the medical personnel who I have said bad things about. And, I hope for a much better year in 2011. I hope the Universe recognizes the <synonym for excrement> sandwich it presented to me this year and can have a better menu of choices in the coming year.

“My love, were it in my power, I would sadly grant thee this boon. But, we have to continue to follow His Plan for us. Let’s go forth and speak no more of this. Who ever is last will be last. It will be His choice; not ours. We’re but humble custodians of His temple on earth. It’s not our place to trump His plan. Whatever that plan be, know that I will be with you to my last breath.” — character “John” in CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 2 Page 399

Remember the sources of my education: I’m just a fat old white guy injineer with: Law “degree” from watching Judge Judy; Medical “degree” from watching Doctor Phil; Building “degree” from watching “Holmes on Homes”; Investing “degree” from reading about Bernie Made-off; and creating caring human relationships from studying the movie roles of Gunny Ronald Lee Ermey!

Good luck. Good hunting. Good night. And, may God Bless America.

# # # # #

Categories FUN

INSPIRATIONAL: Best and Worst of 2010?

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http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Ten-best-and-worst-moments-of-2010-112654449.html?page=2

Ten best and worst moments of 2010
The bad and good, the ying yang of news stories from this year
By PATRICK COOPER , IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

# – # – #

Everyone seems to be doing this. Guess I’ll have to do one as well.

BEST

① Frau Reinke escapes the clutches on RWJUH and appears to be good enough to stay out. Barely!

② The genuine admiration of Frau Reinke for my completion of “CHURCH 10●19●62”

③ Blood and platelets were available every time she needed them.

④ My oldest friend calls to console me on Mom’s death and, reflect on my Aunt’s death a few weeks prior, tells me: “Things happen in threes”, not knowing that Ev’s just crashed and is in the Cardiac Cath lab with the Doctors disagreeing on what to do. I found it hard to tell him and his chagrin was funny. I laughed so hard … Well let’s just say that’s the type if thing I do. No wonder I love him.

⑤ A fun afternoon with an “older” friend who can’t stand hospitals. Great beer and wings. I gotta get back there.

⑥ She requalified for her “black label”; thanks to our “old” friends coming to visit her. That was all she was worried about. Not dying, but losing her “black label” status. That, and missing out on her pillows. ROFL!

⑦ The rapport she established with the Four North staff. She has a gift to connect with people that I just don’t have. She made them laugh. As she does me. Or used to before she got so sick. Now not so much is funny.

⑧ The rapport she established with the nurses of the SPUH Infusion Lab and other patients in the lab. She encourages others; I don’t have that skill.

⑨ The great prix fix dinner at Sea Blue when Frau Reinke was healthy enough to enjoy it and our old friends.

⑩ The few times when I’ve been able to help people with their problems, it’s been very satisfying. Like the worried old woman coming in to 4 North, and I told her she was coming to the “best floor in the hospital”. She relaxed and gave me a big smile. The nurses told me later that she was a different person after that comment. Made me feel good! Connecting folks on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Jottings.

WORST

❶ Frau Reinke hits an HG of 3 and rushed to the ICU. Several doctors give me “the talk”.

❷ Frau Reinke spends the better part of the summer and fall in RWJUH with no diagnosis. (It upsets me how the medical folks make her “my problem”. Threw her out the door, like a boomerang, and they act surprised when she comes back into them in critical, or near critical, condition.)

❸ The death of a baby, third grandchild of our “old friends”, of a blood abnormality at exactly the same time as Frau Reinke. To have potential life lost is sad. One wonders at “The Plan”?

❹ TV rental at RWJUH of almost 5 bucks a day. Parking 20$/day unil I got their Frequent Flier card. The ambulance bills from RWJUH; let them sue.

❺ The inability to get anyone to read my magnus opus “CHURCH 10●19●62”; I still cry when I read it. What could have been. That’s the story of my life. Like Rocky, “I coulda been a contender”.

❻ Continued inability to focus on much of anything but her. Writer’s block, paperwork block, diet block. Frustration!

❼ Realization that I am now unemployed / retired. I’m now a home health aide. It’s not how I expected to spend my retirement.

❽ Regret for lost opportunities! So many, makes me sad.

❾ Fender bender on the way to RWJUH!

❿ Realization of what life would be like without my soul mate. Realization of how much life has changed with her condition. Realization of how much she can’t do. Frustration with her insistence “to do it herself” and I have to clean up after.

Now it’s time to move on!

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INSPIRATIONAL: Every parent should see this picture!

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1342580/Anorexic-model-Isabelle-Caro-appeared-shock-fashion-campaign-dies-28.html

Anorexic model who appeared in shock fashion campaign dies at 28
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:30 AM on 30th December 2010

*** begin quote ***

Isabelle Caro, a French actress and model whose anorexic image appeared in a shock Italian ad campaign, has died at the age of 28.

*** end quote ***

Sad.

The pictures look like she was a concentration camp victim.

We should take this as a wake up call to how we allow women to be treated.

Young girls are obviously at special risk.

“We, The Sheeple” need to speak up and not allow women to be abused.

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INTERESTING: Never too old?

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http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2010/12/youre-never-too-old.html

You’re Never Too Old

*** begin quote ***

Over the weekend, I read the inspirational story of a 100 year old man in India who recently started a PhD. Bholaram Das marked his 100 year birthday a few weeks ago by announcing his plans to go to university and begin his PhD.

*** and ***

1. What’s *that thing* you’ve wanted to do “one day?” The thing you convinced yourself you’re ‘too old’ to consider?

2. What could you do at the beginning of 2011 to get it off the ground in some small way? To test drive it in a really low risk fashion?

*** and ***

Age really is just a number; you’re never too old to do anything you truly put your mind to. What are you putting your mind to this coming year?

By Sital Ruparelia

*** end quote ***

So what’s YOUR one thing?

Remember the movie “The Bucket List”?

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POLITICAL: Gooferment taxation; Comply or die!

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http://libertyslifeline.com/2010/12/28/greed-america%E2%80%99s-top-1-and-government/

Greed, America’s Top 1%, and Government
December 28, 2010

*** begin quote ***

It’s time for Bernie Sanders to sharpen his pencil and see what programs should be cut so that he and his fellow greedy politicians can live within the means they are provided by a generous citizenry, instead of grandstanding for more and more.

*** end quote ***

I was with you right up until the phrase “the means they are provided by a generous citizenry”. Sorry, but the characterization is all wrong.

There’s no “generosity” in the equation.

The gang in power will send men with guns to take you to jail or kill you. There’s no “voluntary compliance” with the will of “The Master”. It’s the 800# gorilla in the room. Comply or die!

So we are robbed a slice at a time. The Gang In Power are nobody’s fool. There’s no way they can control 300 Million pissed off Americans. About a third of whom are armed. And, about a tenth can give as good as the get.

(The drug gangs are the finest “light infantry”. Who like indigenous rebels can blend into the population seamlessly. The Totalitarians can’t keep “contraband” out of their prisons; so how can they keep the people unarmed if they are in revolt. Note how well MayorForLife Bloomberg does keeping guns off the streets in New York.)

So, the DUTY of every American is to piss off the “sleeping” “We, The Sheeple” at every opportunity. I like that movie quote.

“I fear all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.” — apocryphal quote attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto played by Mako in the movie ‘Pearl Harbor’

I want the sleeping Tiger — the American patriots — to wake up. The Tea Parties are the first vestige. Note how fast the TSA backed off when the “holiday revolt” was announced.

The LAST thing the ruling class wants is an enraged citizenry!

Get mad! Get loud! And, refuse to cooperate with theft!

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RANT: Privacy or lawsuit protection

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http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2213818

Birth photo ban irks western Md. mom-to-be
December 27, 2010 – 4:26pm

*** begin quote ***

Rachel Seeger, a spokeswoman for the U.S. office of Civil Rights, said birth photography by a family member or friend doesn’t violate privacy laws, but that some hospitals prohibit the practice out of a fear of lawsuits.

*** end quote ***

The hospital cites “privacy”, but do you really think it’s that?

Maybe I’m a cynic, but I suspect the lawyers are behind this policy.

Given Big Medicine’s incestuous relationship with Big Gooferment, I assume that there is nothing “We, The Sheeple” can do about it.

Interesting that all the hospitals in the area have the same policy. Isn’t that collusion? Don’t we have anti-trust laws?

Nah, not when the “King” grants absolution.

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RANT: Why is Yankee Stadium snowless while NYC roads ain’t?

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FROM A FACEBOOK FRIEND

*** begin quote ***

Ok explain this..there are roads throughout NYC that haven’t yet been plowed BUT they are working overtime to get Yankee Stadium ready for a bowl game tomorrow

*** end quote ***

Greed is good! Seriously, human society advances when each of us cooperates. What better way to get someone to do what you want than to reward them with “certificates of appreciation”?

People will drive themselves harder, mostly without the need for an overseer — boss — taskmaster — slavedriver, when they see their own self-interest being satisfied.

So that’s why the Ghost of George Steinbrenner is well pleased. And, when those industrious Yankee Stadium cleaners get their “certificates of appreciation”, they will be happy too. Those certificates not only get cranky humans to cooperate, but the ENSURE that any effort is the BEST use of resources available at the time. After all you don’t really waste your “certificates of appreciation” on your fellow humans who have not satisfied your needs and wants, do you?

Except for the Gooferment! They steal yours; sometimes without your even knowing it. And, they print up their own certificates, even though they haven’t earned them, whenever.

(For those on Facebook who never had “ekkynonics”, “certificates of appreciation” are a placeholder for the word “money”. For a quick remedial, Google “I, Pencil” and read a short expose of how cooperation by often unwilling humans allows society to thrive.)

So greed will ensure that Yankee Stadium is snowless while the rest of the City chokes on the snow. Gordon Gecko was right. Greed does make the world go round.

# # # # # posted 2010-12-29 10:47

POLITICAL: Make progressive reform impossible

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http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/12/giving-states-veto-is-bad-idea.html

Monday, December 20, 2010
Giving states the veto is a bad idea

*** begin quote ***

I would dismiss this as a joke, but given the looniness we’ve seen grow on the issue of federal power it obviously is not a joke.

The this, in this case, is an amendment that would grant state legislatures the power to repeal federal law — two-thirds of all state legislatures would need to vote for repeal. It has the backing of folks in 12 states (the story says legislatures, including New Jersey, when it needs to be made clear that full legislatures are not on board in most cases) and some in Congress — which leaves me wondering if anyone is thinking clearly out there.

The amendment is being pushed as a way to trim federal sails and force national lawmakers to consider the impact of their actions on the states, which sounds logical in theory but would create chaos in practice and do little more than further empower small states and, more ominously, make progressive reform impossible.

*** end quote ***

So how do YOU prevent “unfunded mandates”?

The Dead Old White Guys HATE democracy as “mob rule”. And, we are PROVING them correct.

The Seventeenth Amendment killed the feedback loop from Trenton to DC.

Will the Trenton crooks pick better crooks that the bosses do for “We, The Sheeple” in Nu Jerzee to rubber stamp?

I bet yes. For only one reason, Trenton Crook wpuld pick someone to go to DC and make sure that (1) they were no unfunded mandates; (2) they “get” as much as they “give”; and (3) conduct that causes “We, The Sheeple” to get upset (more) with Trenton is not tolerated.

Sorry, but you “Secular Progressive Socialists” have to remember the words of the Iron Lady! “The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” –Margaret Thatcher

The States’ “veto” is just trying to de facto repeal the Seventeenth.

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TINFOILHAT: “Chris Matthews Why Doesn’t Obama Just Release The Birth Certificate?”

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/27/chris_matthews_why_doesnt_obama_just_release_the_birth_certificate.html

Chris Matthews: Why Doesn’t Obama Just Release The Birth Certificate?

*** begin quote ***

On Monday night’s edition of “Hardball,” host Chris Matthews talked about putting the birth certificate controversy surrounding President Obama to rest.

“Why has the president himself not demanded they put out the original documents?” Matthews wonders.

“If it exists, why not put it out?” Chris Matthews asks.

*** end quote ***

One reason: It keeps his opponents off balance. If they mention it, they are branded as a “birther”, “tin foil hat”, or “conspiracy nut”.

A more likely reason is that there is a “disqualifier” or an embarrassment.

I just don’t know.

So I call myself a “proof-er”.

Why is Obama spending time, money and effort to frustrate ANY disclosure?

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RANT: Screwed at the grocery!

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Claim low price

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tale of the tape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo!

 

Don’t believe the signs. I told the cashier, but she didn’t care.

The line at the (misnomer) “service counter” was ten long. My time was worth more than 30 cents. (But I’m annoyed!)

Let’s see if Stop ‘n’ Shope reads my blog!

#####

 

FUN: Another quiz show booboo

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341509/Million-Dollar-Drop-couple-lost-800-000-correct-answer-second-chance.html

Couple who lost $800,000 on Million Dollar Drop with correct answer will get a second chance after Fox admits mistake
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:43 AM on 26th December 2010

*** begin quote ***

On Monday, Gabe Okoye and Brittany Mayt lost $800,000 on the Fox game show Million Dollar Drop.

When asked which was sold first and offered the options Macintosh computer, Sony Walkman or Post-it notes, the couple – mostly driven by Mr Okoye – decided on Post-Its.

To their horror, they were told it was the wrong answer – but it later turned out that it was the game show that was in error.

After their plight became the subject of an Internet uproar – and a minor public relations disaster for Fox – the network has decided that it will give the couple a second chance.

*** end quote ***

I bet there are a lot of MBA students, who will know that. Post-It Notes are always used as an example of a “laboratory failure” (i.e., adhesive that doesn’t adhere well) being made into a successful product. “How not to make a lightbulb” isn’t necessarily bad.

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Categories FUN

RANT: I guess I don’t understand the “tablecloth” mentality

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EMAIL FROM LUDDITE FORWARDING SOME SILLY SPAM

201012191244.jpg

“I just hope, for their sake, that each husband goes home with the right table cloth!”

# – # – #

MY RESPONSE:

There are many things in this world that I just don’t understand. This is one of them. But as an American, I’m sure glad we get to compete with them. The phrase “half my brain tied behind me” comes to mind. When these societies “tie down their women”, it’s truly half their intellectual capital, half their energy, and half their “good ideas” going to waste. I’m not able to get inside a woman’s head, but why would you cooperate. Reminds me of the anti-war quote in CHURCH (*). Yeah, I know everything reminds me of something I wrote. fjohn

(*) “Yes, when we get out of here. We’re going to have to fix that. You know we control something that can get it done. Not the ballot box, but the other box. (A giant sucking sound as pure Miss Marie used that very rude idiom.) We can end war.” — character “Marie” being anti-war in CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 1 Page 262

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This is a very nice souvenir photograph of 24 newly wedded couples in Enfield, near London.           

MACBOOKAIR: Email frustration

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Intermittent Problem Sending Email on Verizon FIOS?

PLATFORM = Mac Book Air v1.1
OS = OSX 10.6.5ISP = Verizon FIOS
CLIENT = Thunderbird 3.1.7
FREQUENCY = Intermittent

SCOPE:

All 1and1 accounts are impacted.

Yahoo, GMail, and BlueHost accounts are unaffected.

SYMPTOMS:

THUNDERBIRD attempts to send email.

It either works relatively quickly or eventually fails.

When it fails, the status is EITHER “looking up smtp.1and1.com” OR “sending message”.

Then it never completes.

COMMENT:

It feels like 1and1’s not working correctly.

I can switch network and DNS settings and have the same problem.

# # # # # posted 2010-12-26 21:43

MONEY: Counter party risk … Gooferment style

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http://www.cnbc.com/id/40791768

Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning

STATES, STATE, BUDGET, DEFICIT, PENSION, ALABAMA, PRICHARD, GOVERNMENT, MUNIS, MUNICIPAL BONDS

The New York Times
23 Dec 2010 | 04:39 AM ET

*** begin quote ***

This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry.

Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.

*** and ***

Far worse was the retired fire marshal who died in June. Like many of the others, he was too young to collect Social Security. “When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house,” said David Anders, 58, a retired district fire chief. “He was a proud enough man that he wouldn’t accept help.”

The situation in Prichard is extremely unusual — the city has sought bankruptcy protection twice — but it proves that the unthinkable can, in fact, sometimes happen. And it stands as a warning to cities like Philadelphia and states like Illinois, whose pension funds are under great strain: if nothing changes, the money eventually does run out, and when that happens, misery and turmoil follow.

*** and ***

Current city workers could find themselves paying into a pension plan that will not be there for their own retirements. In Prichard, some older workers have delayed retiring, since they cannot afford to give up their paychecks if no pension checks will follow.

So the declining, little-known city of Prichard is now attracting the attention of bankruptcy lawyers, labor leaders, municipal credit analysts and local officials from across the country. They want to see if the situation in Prichard, like the continuing bankruptcy of Vallejo, Calif., ultimately creates a legal precedent on whether distressed cities can legally cut or reduce their pensions, and if so, how.

“Prichard is the future,” said Michael Aguirre, the former San Diego city attorney, who has called for San Diego to declare bankruptcy and restructure its own outsize pension obligations. “We’re all on the same conveyor belt. Prichard is just a little further down the road.”

*** and ***

A lawyer representing the city, R. Scott Williams, said that the city simply did not have the money. “The reality for Prichard is that if you took money to build the pension up, who’s going to pay the garbage man?” he asked. “Who’s going to pay to run the police department? Who’s going to pay the bill for the street lights? There’s only so much money to go around.”

*** and ***

And if a company goes bankrupt, the federal government can take over its pension plan and see that its retirees receive their benefits. Although some retirees receive less than they were promised, no retiree from a federally insured plan in the private sector has come away empty-handed since the federal pension law was enacted in 1974. The law does not cover public sector workers.

*** end quote ***

If a “company”, another legal fiction, failed this way, then the company’s executives and directors would be in jail. The only worse offense is to fail to pay “taxes”.

So why are NOT these Gooferment officials in jail for the holidays?

Where is the various “high level” Gooferments?

Where are all the Gooferment bureaucrats charge with protecting citizens from the various “Made-offs”?

Just because this is a Gooferment doing the defrauding, it should make NO difference.

It’s called counter party risk.

Immediately, the Federal Gooferment should force all subordinate gooferments to adopt “cash basis” conversion

Argh!

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RANT: Flight from hell as US passengers wait seven hours on ground | Irish News | IrishCentral

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Flight from hell as US passengers wait seven hours on ground | Irish News | IrishCentral.

Even if the TSA wasn’t enough to put you off. The way that “Big Airlines” treat their Customers is appalling.

# # # # # posted 2010-12-26 12:42

RANT: Rape victim didn’t want to be “raped” agin by TSA; arrested

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http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Woman-arrested-at-ABIA-after-refusing-enhanced-pat-down-112354199.html

by JIM BERGAMO / KVUE News
Posted on December 22, 2010 at 9:38 PM
Updated yesterday at 9:39 AM

*** begin quote ***

Early Wednesday morning, a computer glitch shut down a security checkpoint for a couple of hours at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The line snaked out the door as many travelers waited for more than an hour and some missed their flights. One of the first people in line after that shutdown never made it through. She was arrested and banned from the airport.

Claire Hirschkind, 56, who says she is a rape victim and who has a pacemaker-type device implanted in her chest, says her constitutional rights were violated. She says she never broke any laws. But the Transportation Security Administration disagrees.

*** and ***

When Hirschkind refused, she says that “the police actually pushed me to the floor, (and) handcuffed me. I was crying by then. They drug me 25 yards across the floor in front of the whole security.”

An ABIA spokesman says it is TSA policy that anyone activating a security alarm has two options. One is to opt out and not fly, and the other option is to subject themselves to an enhanced pat down. Hirschkind refused both and was arrested.

*** end quote ***

Just saw this one.

Just wave goodbye to your Fourth Amendment rights.

“… to be secure in your person …”

Unbelievable.

Wish I could get on that jury!

Stand up, “We, The Sheeple”!

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SOFTWARE: Created a list of anti-malware site for an e-friend

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Here’s a list of FREE anti-malware sites. You may need them all.

Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx

Spybot-S&D http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Avira AntiVir http://www.avira.com/en/free-download-avira-antivir-personal

avast! http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?part=dl-85737&subj=dl&tag=button

Panda Cloud Antivirus http://acs.pandasoftware.com/cloud/PandaCloudAntivirus.exe

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NEWJERSEY: The pension mess

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http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/12/tell-me-again-whos-at-fault-for-pension.html

Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tell me again who’s at fault for the pension mess

*** begin quote ***

The state treasurer announced today that the state pension shortfall is at an all-time high.

*** end quote ***

>It’s the shock doctrine or disaster capitalism at its best.

Be nice if these two terms were defined? Or, perhaps, these are terms d’art of the Liberal media. You can’t seriously define what has been going on in the USA since say about WW2, (although some little L libertarians woud argue the “turning point” was 1913 with the income tax, the FED, and the Seventeenth!), as “capitalism”! Maybe “mercantilism”, “federal socialism”, or “empirical nationalism”?

> We have a huge Great Recession, the worst in more than 70 years

I’d call it a depression. But then I’m out of work. So I guess since you’re drawing a check, it’s only a recessions.

>what a great opportunity to kill off public sector unions and all
>their pensions and benefits. Private sector wages have been falling or
>stagnant for years, private sector benefits and pensions have been hallowed >out or become extinct.

But weren’t public sector pensions raised when private pensions were supposedly higher? So it’s logical, that, when private pensions become “cash basis defined contribution plans”, public pensions change as well.

(Note for those that don’t read my blog, I thought that CTW’s failure to make pension contributions or address the problem was terrible. “Pensions and benefits” are a FRAUD perpetrated on the working class. Without getting into yucky details, a business can pay $X for a certain unit of work. Now out of that $X, if the business “pays” $Y for “benefits”, then the worker gets X-Y. But, their “benefits” are tied to their job. So, let’s use life insurance as a concrete example. And, let’s keep it simple, life insurance costs either the company or the employee X$. Why don’t we just let the employee buy hi s or her own Damn insurance? Cause the Gooferment, the Company, the Politicians and Bureaucrats all have a vested interest in screwing the worker. And, everyone plays along with the fiction that some how this is “better”. Not better for the worker when he or she gets laid off, downsized, or whatever euphemism for fired you want to use.)

> race to the bottom in which American workers must compete with Chinese
> or Indian workers who earn a few dollars a day and have absolutely no
> protections or benefits.

So, instead of moaning and groaning, we have to learn to compete by moving up the value chain. We have to clear the road blocks to successful competition: taxes, regulation, education, paradigms / memes, and energy.

>Teachers and other public sector workers did not cause the Great Recession

Well, maybe they did. They have permitted the dumbing down of society. And, their union is absolutely out of control in the incestuous relationship with the professional politicians. Finally, as voters, they participated in a process that was designed and accomplished the destruction of the USA.

>they will be made to pay the price for the crimes of the
> Wall Street criminals.

As we all are!

> Katrina was the disaster

of Gooferment!

>

We have to separate the Gooferment from “Education”. If we are to have any hope of saving “the American Experiment”.

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INSPIRATIONAL: Flash mob choral

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

A SPAM FOREWARDED BY AN OLD HIGH SCHOOL BUD

>This is why I avoid malls

>Just click and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=SXh7JR9oKVE&vq=medium#t=49

FOUNTAIN SQUARE FLASH MOB

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Interesting that everyone forgets why we “celebrate”.

Just the other day, I was asked “Why are you a Scrooge?”

My quick one word answer was “Commercialization”.

The questioner agreed sadly.

I continued: “And, it the time of year when every parent LIES to their children. Children should KNOW that their parent is the ONE person in the world that always tells them the truth. Santa Claus exists as the famous editorial response tells us. Just that parents can’t EVER lie to their children. That’s the death of innocence and the beginning of cynicism. People wonder why youth rebel. THey’ve been lied to.

Any way, Season Greetings.

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GUNS: Proprietor shot and killed three alleged armed robbers

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/12/17/Store-owner-shot-3-times-kills-robbers/UPI-80031292634288/

U.S. News
Store owner shot 3 times kills robbers
Published: Dec. 17, 2010 at 8:04 PM

*** begin quote ***

HOUSTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) — A Houston jewelry and pawn shop proprietor shot and killed three alleged armed robbers despite having been bound and shot multiple times himself, police say.

*** end quote ***

Good “gun control” by the proprietor. (Gun control is hitting what you aim at safely.) Sad that death comes at this Holy Day Season. But you have to recognize that, if we have to choose who lives and who dies, and choose we must, it’s nice to see the “good guy” win.

Now put them in NYC, and the “bad guys” win!

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RANT: Regulate the inet when no one is watching

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/20/nothing-neutral-about-this-unholy-scheme/

PRUDEN: Nothing neutral about this unholy scheme
By Wesley Pruden-The Washington Times6:06 p.m., Monday, December 20, 2010

OPINION/ANALYSIS:

*** begin quote ***

The new “net-neutrality” regulations here, which will have the force of law though Congress need have nothing to do with writing them, will be considered for a vote by the FCC on Tuesday. The rules being considered for the Tuesday vote are technical and complicated, and the timing of the vote clearly was arranged for Christmas week, when most people are delighted not to have to think about Washington and the trouble it makes for the rest of us.

*** and ***

One of those liberal Democrats is Al Franken, proving that even a blind pig can find an occasional acorn. He’s unhappy mostly that the FCC is moving toward approving a merger of Comcast, the ubiquitous cable provider, and NBC-Universal and enabling big corporations to pay extra for Internet “toll lanes,” which would speed transmission of messages with a higher priority over the rest of us.

*** and ***

Even now some of the busybody countries at the United Nations are working on setting up “a working group” to “harmonize” global efforts to regulate the Internet. Alas, this is scariest of all. “Harmony” suggests everyone singing together to a tune written to U.N. satisfaction. Nothing is broken about the Internet that needs fixing, which is why certain cunning saboteurs are so eager to “fix” it.

*** end quote ***

Amazing how the bureaucrats pick this time of year to do their mischief!

As a little L libertarian, I don’t see ANY need for the FCC.

For example, how’s that junk phone rule working out for you. I still get them. Don’t you? I’ve complained. Hasn’t worked out to well for me.

For example, junk faxes. Should have been an easy one. My docs turn OFF their fax machines at night to prevent getting them. I find that annoying when I want to communicate with them. (“Federal Law” prevents them from doing email! But that’s another topic.)

SO when all the other bureaucrats are home on their Winter Solstice vacation (Their WHOLE lives are vacations!), these bureaucrats are using the holiday inattention of “We, The Sheeple” to steal “OUR” internet.

Argh!

Pitchforks and torches! Pitchfork and torches time.

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