POLITICAL: Just say no to raising the debt ceiling

Sunday, April 24, 2011

MESSAGE TO CONGRESS CRITTERS:

Subject: Tell Congress to cut federal spending

Please cut federal spending.

Please do NOT raise the debt ceiling.

Very simple, just DON’T do it.

As a matter of fact, let’s start cutting the debt ceiling. How about cutting the debt ceiling 1% a year for the next 100 years?

Don’t saddle the future with our mistakes.

If you do, don’t plan on getting my vote. And, you’ll see me out actively opposing you. I realize I’m only one little guy, but I will vote and I will campaign.

fjr

# – # – #

Dear Mr. Reinke:

   Thank you for contacting me about federal spending. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

   I share your concerns about the deficit inherited by this Administration. I have been a strong advocate for balanced budgets throughout my career in the Senate. As the Ranking Member on the Senate Budget Committee at the time, I helped negotiate the “Balanced Budget Act of 1997,” which restored fiscal discipline to the federal government and ended years of deficits. These provisions eventually led to a federal budget surplus of $237 billion in 2000, the first period of budget surplus since 1969.

   However, when this President took office, we had record deficits because of the recession and eight years of unpaid-for wars, tax cuts for the wealthy, and expensive spending programs. I am proud to support efforts that will restore fiscal discipline and I voted in favor of legislation (P.L. 111-139) that requires any new federal spending to be offset. This bill was signed into law on February 12, 2010.

   Please be assured that I will continue to work with my Senate colleagues and President Obama to reduce the deficit and our national debt, and I will keep your concerns in mind as this issue receives further consideration by the Senate. Thank you again for contacting me.

FRL:MD

Sincerely,

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg

[JR: Non responsive. I asked about the debt ceiling. But, if you’re such a deficit hawk, then either you’re ineffective or corrupt. Couldn’t hold the line or were bought off. Either way, I’m not voting for you.]

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Waiting for the others to respond.

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MEMORIES: Lillies in memory

Sunday, April 24, 2011

201104241352.jpg

“From our Easter Service today….lilies given in memory of Evy, Marge’s sister, and our little Wessie. Blessed to have known them all.”

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Appreciated. Sadly. She loved to give presents for any excuse. Easter was one such date. Thanks,

# – # – # – # – # 2011-Apr-24 @ 13:53

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FLASH: Two U.S. soldiers were killed

Sunday, April 24, 2011

http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/04/23/saturday-9-iraqis-killed-6-wounded-2/

Saturday: 2 US Soldiers, 9 Iraqis Killed; 6 Iraqis Wounded

by Margaret Griffis, April 23, 2011

*** begin quote ***

At least nine Iraqis were killed and six more were wounded in light violence. Two U.S. soldiers were killed during operations in southern Iraq as well. Although there were no large-scale attacks reported, a spate of shootings in the capital targeted government or security officials. Also, protests continued in at least two cities.

*** end quote ***

Unacceptable!

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SERVICE: LULU pushes my content to the Apple iBookstore

Sunday, April 24, 2011
Lulu.com


Publish | Buy | Services

Visit the Lulu Blog

Dear Ferdinand Reinke,

Lulu’s goal is a simple one: help you sell more books. This note is to tell you about an exciting new effort from Lulu to help achieve this goal by ensuring your work is able to reach readers across all devices, starting with the 130 million+ customers who own an iPhone®, iPad®, or iPod touch® and shop at the iBookstore℠. Over the coming weeks, at no charge to you, we’ll be making the title you have for sale on Lulu.com also available as an eBook edition on the iBookstore.

If for any reason you don’t want your book available in the iBookstore, you can opt-out easily. Just send an email to ipad_opt_out@lulu.com with the subjectline Opt-Out of eBook conversion. If you wish to opt-out, please make sure to do so within 5 business days of receiving this message. Otherwise, you don’t have to do anything to have your book included in this program and we think it’s a great idea to join the ranks of Lulu authors who have already sold 60,000 eBooks through the iBookstore.

We cannot guarantee the new eBook formatted version of your book will appear on the iBookstore, but we’re taking measures to ensure a high success rate. Here’s how the process will work:

  1. We’ll begin the process on your behalf by converting “Church 10?19?62” into an ePub formatted eBook – absolutely free.
  2. Next, we’ll submit your newly formatted eBook to Apple and request a listing in the iBookstore. In some cases we may need to make tweaks to your book’s catalog data* in order to meet Apple’s requirements.
  3. We will notify you once your eBook has been accepted by Apple and is available for sale in the iBookstore. At first, your book will be listed in the iBookstore with default pricing.
  4. We’ll place a new eBook project in your My Projects list on Lulu. You’ll then have full control over the project, and can opt-out of iBookstore distribution, change the default price, etc. at any time. Additionally, this ePub file will be available for you to distribute to our expanding list of eBook retail partners.

To learn more about this exciting iBookstore program, visit our knowledge base. Thank you for your continued support of Lulu and our ongoing efforts to help you sell more books.

Best,

Lulu Enterprises, Inc.

*Note: “Tweaks to book catalog data (metadata)” will be minor edits such as correcting capitalization problems. We will, of course, contact you before making any significant changes.
Apple, iPhone, and iPod touch are trademarks or Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPad is the trademark of Apple Inc. The iBookstore is a service mark of Apple Inc.
Copyright © 2002-2011 Lulu, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This email was sent to ******

Lulu.com | 3101 Hillsborough St. | Raleigh | NC | 27607-5436
Manage your account preferences

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SERVICE: What do you do when the “cloud” is out

Saturday, April 23, 2011

http://trace5.com/fb/fb/0F365CE6ECE11D44AA96CC4B1441D016ECD54962070B0526C755486C0D97C488/show.aspx

201104220848.jpg

The answer: “Not much”.

That’s what’s wrong with a “put everything in the cloud” architecture.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Gooferment Internet Identity plan

Saturday, April 23, 2011

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/04/with-passwords-broken-us-rolls-out-internet-identity-plan.ars

With passwords “broken,” US rolls out Internet identity plan
By Nate Anderson

*** begin quote ***

NIST hopes to arrive at privacy standards that will give Internet users confidence in using such credentials, to clarify the liability that credentials providers will face should someone still manage to steal your identity, and to issue a “trustmark” that accredits participating credential providers and websites.

Public meetings on NSTIC begin in June, and NIST hopes to be funding pilot projects by 2012. Still, ordinary Internet users won’t be able to use the system for three to five years.

*** end quote ***

The Gooferment did so well with the Social Security Number, I think they should just leave everyone the hell alone.

What’s next tattoo everyone?

Kick the ISPs! They are being paid to provide access. Credit cards! That sounds like a reliable identity to me.

Argh!

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RANT: Minnesota School Issues iPad 2 To Every Student

Saturday, April 23, 2011

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/04/23/019219/Minnesota-School-Issues-iPad-2-To-Every-Student

Minnesota School Issues iPad 2 To Every Student
Posted by timothy on Friday April 22, @09:40PM
from the boondoggle-defined dept.

*** begin quote ***

tripleevenfall writes

“Thanks to a federally-funded grant for magnet schools, every student at Heritage Middle School in West Saint Paul, Minnesota, now has an iPad 2.”

Why in my day, we had to buy our own graphing calculators — in the snow, both ways, uphill!

*** end quote ***

Why am I paying for this? Nuke the Department of Education and such waste. I’d like an IPAD2! Why do I have to pay for someone else to get one?

# – # – # – # – # 2011-Apr-23 @ 02:36

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RANT: The Gooferment’s role in “healthcare”

Friday, April 22, 2011

Don’t Let the Republicans kill Medicare!

act.credoaction.com

*** begin quote ***

Republicans are pushing hard on a plan to end Medicare as we know it. They’re trying to replace it with a ludicrous privatized system where seniors are given vouchers to try to buy coverage from private, for-profit insurance companies–the very same companies notorious for denying them coverage.

*** end quote ***

And, it’s a lousy system. Have you seen the stats on how much goes to fraud and waste. Never mind the “personal mobility” scams. Sorry, but Medicaid is the big hole in the Titanic and Medicare is the second biggest. Now we can stand around and listen to the orchestra play “Nearer My God To Thee”. OR, we can debate how to fix this disaster better, faster, and cheaper. Personally, I never want to have the Gooferment as having any role in healthcare. It can either be the referee or a player in the game. Not both. In the case of Medicare, the Gooferment wants to be the doctor, the insurance company, and the referee. Argh! And, it has a vested financial interest in the decision in both Social Security, Medicare, Standard of Care, and the “overhead in medical care” born by the Gooferment. Still want the Gooferment deciding about care?

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MEMORIES: Days Of Our Lives aka DrOOL!

Friday, April 22, 2011

“NBC has only one soap opera left, “Days of Our Lives.”

Our Girl’s “soap”. She watched it with her Mother growing up. (I believe watching it transported her to a happier place and time. For her, it was a near religious experience.) She watched it every chance she got. When it was bumped by a current event, the Saint Patrick’s Day parade, or anything, she’s get up and watch it at 2 or 3 in the morning.

With the advent of the VCR, she watched it every night. And woe was me, the techie genius, if the VCR didn’t tape. (Luckily, much later in our lives, the SOAPNET channel rebroadcast it at 11PM and 4AM. And on weekends, all five episodes were on in a row, twice. DrOOL overload. A few times I caught her peeking.)

She took a lot of good natured ribbing about “DrOOL” from me, but she never wavered from her devotion to her “television family” The Hortons. Maybe it was the family she wanted to have in her childhood. In the TV realm, everyone is perfect. The men are hunks; the women not a hair out of place. No one is poor. No one is hungry. No one suffers. And, they all look good as they deal with all their “problems”.

When we were flush, I even took her on a “DrOOL” cruise. She was disappointed; she wanted the whole TV family to be there. And, Micky didn’t look to “Micky-ish” in the harsh glare of sunlight and no make up. After seeing him in person, she didn’t want to see anymore “real life” representation of her idealized family. I guess one has to protect the only emotional link she had to her long passed Mom.

DrOOL was that link. And, I hope that she’s with her Mom finally. Finally at peace. And, I’m sure they are watching DrOOL together once again as the did so many decades ago.

I wonder if Micky looks better now that he’s passed too? I wonder if Tom Horton is there as well. She mourned their passing as she would an old friend.

I’m glad NBC never cancelled DrOOL while Frau Reinke was with us. That would have been tragic for her.

I still watch it from time to time. And, I imagine her sitting in her recliner, eating her lunch, usually Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup, Diet Pepsi, and a baloney sandwich. In a time warp, back with her Mom. Watching DrOOL together.

When NBC cancels DrOOL as it eventually will, that will be tragic for me, severing my connection to Our Girl.

Maybe I can buy a DVD of an episode and replay that over and over, when I need to feel her emotionally.

Donna Nobis Pacem.

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TECHNOLOGY: McGraw-Hill and ebooks

Thursday, April 21, 2011

http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/64169

McGraw-Hill Create: Customized eBooks for the Classroom
April 14, 2011 12:28
From CNBC:

*** begin quote ***

The McGraw-Hill Create platform enables instructors to easily customize digital content for their courses, combining their own course-specific materials with a range of other resources. Instructors have instant access to a vast library of McGraw-Hill resources to develop instructional materials adapted specifically to the needs of local markets. At Create’s core is a Google-like search engine functionality that enables professors to immediately pull from a wide range of quality content, including 4,000 McGraw-Hill textbooks, 5,500 articles, 11,000 literature, philosophy and humanities readings, and 25,000 business case studies from prominent providers such as the Harvard Business School

*** end quote ***

Perhaps they are feeling the heat, as their “franchise” swirls the bowl? I guess the days of big over-priced textbooks is over and the inet hosted ebooks is just over the horizon. Obviously, this has implications for MC, the faculty, and staff. Not to mention the Library, and the Technology Architecture. Argh! I guess my big concern would be who own’s the copyrights and the “organization of the dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom)”. Maybe I’m a skeptic, but, since “crowd sourcing” is all the rage, perhaps the “customized digital content”, and the organization there of, becomes the property of McGraw-Hill. Then, they turn around and “sell” it as a new “title” to anyone who will buy it? Bet some evil lawyer has billed a lot of hours writing that licensing agreement that will be a quick pop up. Hmmmm?

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GOVERNACIDE: One sailor “in a non-combat incident” is just as lost

Thursday, April 21, 2011

http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/04/20/wednesday-1-us-soldier-8-iraqis-killed-30-iraqis-wounded

Wednesday: 1 US Soldier, 8 Iraqis Killed; 30 Iraqis Wounded
by Margaret Griffis, April 20, 2011

*** begin quote ***

At least eight Iraqis were killed and 30 more were wounded in new attacks. Also, one U.S. sailor was killed in a non-combat incident.

*** end quote ***

Who knows what?

But I do know that that sailor shouldn’t have been there.

Bring all the boys and girl home now.

# – # – # – # – # 2011-Apr-21 @ 09:08

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FUN: Walk on water

Thursday, April 21, 2011

FROM Frau Reinke’s bud

Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthday. On that special day they’d each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink. So when Paddy’s 18th birthday came ’round, he and his pal Mick took a boat out to the middle of the lake. Paddy stepped out of the boat and nearly drowned! Mick just barely managed to pull him to safety.

Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother. ‘Grandma,’ he asked, “It’s my 18th birthday, so why can’t I walk ‘cross the lake like my father, his father, and his father before him?”

Granny looked deeply into Paddy’s troubled eyes and said, “Because your father, your grandfather and your great grandfather were all born in December, when the lake is frozen, and you were born in August, ya dip!!!!

   (Laughing)

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INSPIRATIONAL: Addis Hope — USA $9.00 — sponsor a child for a year!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Dear Donor Partners of Addis Hope,

The cost of running the Addis Hope program has now increased by 53% and when some long standing donor partners can no longer assist at the same funding level, I am extremely worried about the future of this much needed program. Your desperately needed financial support obviously continues to be our vital life line. The 150 Ethiopian dollars – the equivalent today of USA $9.00 we have been asking for the last ten years of the program to sponsor a child for a year makes it very difficult to keep the program operational in light of the huge increase in the cost of living.

As many of you have responded very generously to our Christmas appeal, I’m now asking if it would be possible for even more of you to do the same this Easter season by going to our web site (http://www.addis-hope.com/) to locate any additional “disposable income” for the program.

For the children of Addis Hope the program is intended to grow their minds to feed their future in a country where malnourishment of both the intellect and body is very evident.

Again, many thanks and may the risen Lord continue to bless you.
Brother Gregory Flynn (Jack)

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[JR: I prefer charities that I can “see”. In this case, I trust my fellow Jasper. Seems like a good “sacrifice” to make — 9 bucks. Little more than a “designer” beer at any place other than a dive. For a year! Seems like a “good buy”.]

# – # – # – # – # 2011-Apr-20 @ 09:58

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FUN: Preventing a night time “dunking”

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

http://unclutterer.com/2011/04/13/unitasker-wednesday-light-up-toilet-seat/

Unitasker Wednesday: Light Up Toilet Seat

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

*** begin quote ***

Whenever I’m cleaning the toilet in my house, I think to myself, “This toilet really could use something to brighten it up.”

I’m sure you think the exact same thing about your toilet. Toilet darkness is a major concern for most people. And, I think we all know that bleach will never be able to brighten our toilets the way we need them to be illuminated.

Well, our days of having toilets that loom in the shadows are gone. We can now install a Light Up Toilet Seat:

*** end quote ***

I know a young ten year old lady who would love to have this. She lives with two younger brothers. And, I have been told that one more than one occasion in the middle of the night, she’s “sat” in the toilet. The screams reportedly woke the neighbors. But not her brothers, who she wanted to stuff IN the toilet. This maybe a joke to us, but I bet she’d buy it. LOL.

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POLITICAL: Tuesday (April 19) is Patriots’ Day

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

http://commanderzero.com/?p=2230

PSA: Patriots’ Day

*** begin quote ***

Friendly reminder: Tuesday (April 19) is Patriots’ Day. There is but one ideal way to celebrate it and that is by going to the range and shooting a revolution-worthy firearm. What is a revolution-worthy firearm? If they were re-enacting ‘Red Dawn’ in your neighborhood, its the firearm you would take with you.

*** end quote ***

I’d bring George and Martha. My pet names for a match pair of Colt 1911 .45’s.

Hard to shoot both at the same time. But, I’m sure there will be folks without.

The Second is about keeping the Gooferment in check; it’s not about hunting.

So what would you bring?

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Posted by reinkefj

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: But with out the Gooferment’s lame “social security number”

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Identity Fraud would be impossible with out the Gooferment’s lame “social security number”. Argh! Everything is so predictable!

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2011/04/texas-exposes-addresses-ssns-of-35-million-residents.ars

*** begin quote ***

And now, a large group of Texans are about to have it a lot worse:the state revealed Monday that personal information for 3.5 million citizens has been exposed to the public, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and more.

*** end quote ***
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INTERESTING: Nearly Half of U.S. Households Pay No Income Tax

Monday, April 18, 2011

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/17/nearly-half-households-pay-income-tax-feds/?test=latestnews

Politics
Nearly Half of U.S. Households Pay No Income Tax to Feds
Published April 17, 2011 | Associated Press

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON — As Monday’s tax filing deadline nears, ponder this: The super rich pay a lot less taxes than they did a couple of decades ago, and nearly half of U.S. households pay no income taxes at all.

*** end quote ***

That’s a stunning figure.

So, we have the few who pay for the rest?

Isn’t that socialism?

How did we allow total tax rates to exceed the Bible’s tithe (10%)?

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Speed limits are for revenue generation

Monday, April 18, 2011

http://www.lewrockwell.com/peters-e/peters-e35.1.html

Texas May Go To 85! (Clovers Stroking Out All Over)
by Eric Peters

*** begin quote ***

If routinely exceeding politically contrived “limits” were in fact dangerous and not just a scam to gin up money without imposing an explicit Motorists Tax, then our system is oddly kindhearted to all the millions upon millions of (cough) dangerous drivers out there.

But of course, they’re not dangerous. Just guilty of ignoring a number pulled out of a hat and plastered into a sign bu politicians bureaucrats. The cops know it, the judges know it, the insurance companies know it, too.

All the evidence says so, too.

*** end quote ***

Why have any speed limits at all?

Other than revenue generation.

How about using the police to stop real crimes?

Ever drive on any of our roads? Every day at least once a day, I see some one jeopardizing public safety with roid rage behaviour or being a Left Lane Richard. But, the cops wiuld have to patrol to see it and snag them. That’s hard work. As oppoesed to sitting somewhere with a magazine waiting for an alarm clock.

Argh!

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MONEY: if silver is 125$/oz or 2k$/oz … …

Sunday, April 17, 2011

http://acrossthestreetnet.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/what-the-silver-vigilantes-understand-that-you-probably-dont-arithmetic-human-nature-and/

What The Silver Vigilantes Understand That You Probably Don’t (Arithmetic, Human Nature and other Stuff)
In Open Thread, Silver, stocks finance, Treasuries on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 6:03 pm

*** begin quote ***

Part 6. So what’s silver worth.

The short answer is: more. If silver were priced based on its occurrence relative to gold, it would be over $125/oz. If it were priced on its availability – somewhere around $2,000. But if you are content to let the likes of Blythe Masters dictate the value based on truckloads of worthless paper promises, you can expect ultra-low prices until the whole thing blows up. Of course at that point, we’ll be so busy killing each other for food no one will have time to say, “I told you so.”

The silver vigilantes just want you to re-learn what the phrases like, “cold, hard cash,” and“payment in full” are supposed to mean. There not asking you to sink everything you have into physical silver, just a little. Silver can’t be printed into oblivion, or stolen by a cyber attack. Why wouldn’t you want to own some of your very own?

A paper dollar from 1960 is worth exactly the same as a paper dollar in 2010, but four quarters from 1960 are worth more than $21. Given the fiscal insanity of the US government, I can’t imagine the US dollar surviving another 50 years, but I’m quite sure that silver will still be useful. Please consider getting some.

*** end quote ***  

Amazing the price estimation. Question: if silver is 125$/oz or 2k$/oz, what will be the value of the dollar, gold, oil, and everything else? Argh!

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GOVERNACIDE: Shouldn’t we examine the system that enabled this to happen?

Sunday, April 17, 2011

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14422802/breaking-news-woman-dead-after-undergoing-butt-enhancement

Arrest Report: Woman Died After Undergoing Buttocks Enhancement
POSTED: APR 11, 2011 12:58 PM
UPDATED: APR 11, 2011 6:55 PM
By Melissa Duran, Reporter – email

*** begin quote ***

LAS VEGAS — A woman died Saturday night after undergoing a medical procedure from two people who are now facing murder charges.

Police say the incident took place at a small office near east Charleston Boulevard and Palm Street. The victim, 42-year-old Elena Caro, arrived Saturday for a buttocks enhancement, but was pronounced dead at a hospital hours later.

*** end quote ***

So much for the vaunted Gooferment protection.

All the regulations, all the inspectors, and all the laws couldn’t save this poor woman from her own bad decision.

Now, I am sure, that everyone will “blame the victim”.

And, there is some blame for her in this incident.

But, shouldn’t we examine the system that enabled it to happen?

The Gooferment controlled by the AMA, Big Insurance, and Big Pharma, keeps prices high by restricting supply. So what are poor people, without insurance, without money, supposed to do?

Go to the “shade tree mechanics”. The back alley doctors. The con artists.

Could she have been fooled by the illusion of respectability?

And, what did the Gooferment do to prevent this from happening? I bet there were all sorts of tell taale warning signs. I bet various agencies have “inspectors” on the payroll “vigorously” “Inspecting”.

Deregulate healthcare and train the Sheeple to do their own “inspecting”!

It’ll be cheaper and we’ll all be better off.

Gooferment is truly the meme that kills.

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FUN: The biggest compliment …

Saturday, April 16, 2011

http://thomsinger.blogspot.com/2006/06/41-things-ive-learned-by-40.html

*** begin quote ***

6. If you know someone who wrote a book, read it. The biggest compliment you can give an author is to read what they wrote.

*** end quote ***

True, true, true!

http://www.itstartedinchurch.com

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SERVICE: Yahoo email hacked … …

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Greetings from XXXXX – Alive and Well in Singapore
Posted by: “XXXXX”

Sat Apr 9, 2011 12:01 am (PDT)

HI Guys, Saturday, April 9th, 2011.

Greetings from Singapore.

I understand that on March 22nd an “Emergency Help!!!” SCAM e-mail was sent in my name to the Manhattan Prep 1964 Yahoo Group.

My apologies if it created any alarm.

However, I am sure that any Prepster who received this e-mail would have realized that the exaggerated emotional tone and piss poor grammar gave it away as a scam…

Here is the background on the scam…

On the evening of March 22nd, someone hacked into my Yahoo/Prodigy Account, hijacked my address book, which contained about 1,400 addresses and then proceeded to send out an “Emergency Help” E-mail asking for money. The hacker even changed my password and set up a forwarding address edward1.coll@yahoo.com to which all my incoming e-mails went so he could try and continue to perpetrate this scam.

Within a few minutes of the scam e-mail being sent, I started receiving phone calls and e-mails from all over the world from people on my contact list enquiring if I was O.K. and whether they should send money to me via a Western Union Office in London .

I told them that this was a big SCAM and to just ignore the e-mail and not even reply as the hacker had arranged to have all the replies forwarded to him. What an operator !!!

It was really frustrating as this hacker also changed my password so I could not initially access my account to see what was going on

I was finally able to get in touch with Yahoo’s Customer Service Department and spent about two hours on the phone with them to get my password reset so I could access the account and cancel out all the forwarding addresses that the hacker had set up.

The worst thing was that he erased my Yahoo Address book and the 1,400 names it contained. Fortunately, I had backed up the address book so I was able to re-import the contacts to my yahoo account.

I hope this matter is settled now. and that no one was duped into sending this hacker any money.

My e-mail address, {Privacy Invoked} should be secure now.

Best regards,

# – # – #

I’m glad you’re OK. It’s not that we have any fellow alum to spare.
On a technical note, were you able to determine, how the hack was accomplished? I’m interested from an InfoSec pov. The default assumption was that someone kept “knocking on the door” with passwords until it opened. It’s not hard to imagine a bot (software robot) doing that. But, it’s also possible that it was malware on your computer or malware on a site you visited with an old browser.
Interesting?
May I suggest that you, or anyone, have your own domain? The common wisdom, or is that common whizdumb, is to own your own name as a domain name. I own “reinke.cc”. (I like saying “sea sea me at reinke.cc”! me@reinke.cc will actually work!)
I can send you some links to stuff that I’ve posted on my blog “Reinke Faces Life” about how to “do” email to avoid such unpleasantries. It’s neither hard not expensive.
Unfortunately, having a yahoo, gmail, or hotmail account makes you are target for the black hats. Eventually they find everyone who has one of those “free accounts”.
At the very least, one can hide by using a very long random string password. I use twenty characters. Of course, I use tools like roboform, last pass, and even the infamous yellow stickie to remember them.
But I doubt anyone has as many unique ids and passwords as I do. I’m a little nuts about it.
I’m now off to change my Yahoo password to something longer. I’m sure someone is listening.
:-)

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TINFOILHAT: BOR tries to explain BHO44’s CT SSN

Friday, April 15, 2011

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=287253

O’Reilly falsely claims Conn. was residence for Obama Sr.

*** begin quote ***

In an attempt to explain why Barack Obama, who lived in Hawaii as a teen, has a Social Security number that indicates he had a Connecticut address, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly asserted the president’s father lived in the state.

But there is no evidence that Barack Obama Sr., who left Hawaii in 1962 to study at Harvard in Massachusetts and then returned to his home country of Kenya, ever lived in Connecticut.

*** end quote ***

I watch Bill O’Reilly regularly, and sometimes Glenn Beck.

BOR has been completely dismissive of the “birthers”. I agree that there is little “evidence” that BHO44 was born ANYWHERE.

Obviously, he was born SOMEWHERE. And, there is some assertions that REGARDLESS of where he was born, he’s not a “natural born citizen”. (That’s a term of art from the late 1700’s that is well defined in Blackstone’s but not in Federal Law.)

(That assertion cites the dual citizenship of BHO44’s purported father and the age of his purported mother. Or is it “alleged”?

Lately, I suspect everything. There’s a good reason for the Rules of Evidence. As opposed to the Rules of Engagement.

Anyway, I saw Bill making his argument. And, just from my casual knowledge of the assertions, I KNOW he’s wrong about the CT SSN. I think his EGO has tripped him up here.

And, expect that eventually there’s going to be a lot of “egg on face” for a lot of reporters, investigators, and pundits.

As Trump says, (and I’m no Trump fan), “He may have pulled off the scam of the century.”

Argh!

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MONEY: Money magazine asks me what my ” greatest regrets as an investor”?

Friday, April 15, 2011

> greatest regrets as an investor

“Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention …”

I, personally, have a “no look back” policy. I’ve seen folks drive themselves nuts, literally, over choices made decades before. So, I don’t REGRET. I’ve made mistakes, blunder, and brain freezes. I’ll share one of the many financial lessons I’ve learned after paying some very expensive “tuition” at the University of Hard Knocks.

The biggest “lesson”, what you’d call a regret, is that, from youth to middle age, I always spent money like a drunken sailor. Savings were for old people. I had some thrifty relatives, but they never transferred that wisdom to me. During this period, I had many investment opportunities, ideas, and opportunities that I couldn’t, wouldn’t, or didn’t take advantage of. In hindsight, I would have been fantastically wealthy if I had taken advantage of them.

You want a specific. I worked on Wall Street and, during that ‘drunken sailor’ era, I thought I knew it all. I “invested” in all sorts of stuff pushed by my employers — the worst was Real Estate Unit Trust. They were dogs; the organizers and the firm made a lot of money. It was a disaster. And, caused me tax problems.

I wised up at some point in my life and got a real financial planner, who gets paid a fixed fee. They’ve gotten me organized and accumulating. Luckily, in my life, I’ve been lucky to stay employed and earning. Time heals all stupidity?

(I’ll permit myself one “coulda”. I know the “shouldas, couldas, and wouldas” will kill you.)

I “coulda” had a much better and different life if I’d just been a little smarter about money.

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POLITICAL: “The Borrowed Us Into The Poor House” generation?

Thursday, April 14, 2011

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730104576260911986870054.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

REVIEW & OUTLOOK
APRIL 14, 2011
The Presidential Divider
Obama’s toxic speech and even worse plan for deficits and debt.

*** begin quote ***

Did someone move the 2012 election to June 1? We ask because President Obama’s extraordinary response to Paul Ryan’s budget yesterday—with its blistering partisanship and multiple distortions—was the kind Presidents usually outsource to some junior lieutenant. Mr. Obama’s fundamentally political document would have been unusual even for a Vice President in the fervor of a campaign.

The immediate political goal was to inoculate the White House from criticism that it is not serious about the fiscal crisis, after ignoring its own deficit commission last year and tossing off a $3.73 trillion budget in February that increased spending amid a record deficit of $1.65 trillion. Mr. Obama was chased to George Washington University yesterday because Mr. Ryan and the Republicans outflanked him on fiscal discipline and are now setting the national political agenda.

*** end quote ***

Argh!

Politicians and bureaucrats all lie. When their lips move.

The budget commission’s report was not perfect. Taxes ARE theft. And, these political games are stealing from our posterity. The last generation was misnamed “The Greatest Generation”. (I say misnamed because they started us down the road to ‘borrow and spend’ with an added expansion of European Social Spending and Militarism.) What will this generation be called “The Borrowed Us Into The Poor House” generation?

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FUN: Time shares as penny stocks

Thursday, April 14, 2011

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/free-time-shares-owners-cut-losses-by-dumping-1379853.html

*** begin quote ***

For Ginger Brownlow, a sales executive at King’s Creek Plantation, a luxury time share in Williamsburg, Va., the challenge is competing with her own product when it’s selling for half price on sites such as Tremblay’s. Though her price includes the cost of marketing the resort and driving consumer demand, resellers are capturing some of that demand with much-lower prices.

*** end quote ***

This reminded me of an old Wall Street joke about penny stocks. Those are stocks that sell for under $1/share. Dogs.

Broker: “You should buy acme it’s at a nickel and will go to $100.”
Rube: “Buy 10,000”
Broker: “You should buy acme it’s at a 7½¢ and will go to $100.”
Rube: “Buy 10,000”
Broker: “You should buy acme it’s at a dime and will go to $100.”
Rube: “Buy 10,000”
Broker: “You should buy acme it’s at a 12½¢ and will go to $100.”
Rube: “Sell my whole position; I want to take profits.”
Broker: “To who?”

Same as time-shares.

:-(

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