RANT: Hey Continental what’s wrong with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands) TLD?

Monday, October 1, 2007

Continental Airlines does recognize CC as a valid email address!

Argh!

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UPDATE: NOW it’s working. Go figure.

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RANT: You have NO idea what you pay in taxes!!!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

http://forwhomthebelltolls24.blogspot.com/2007/09/someone-is-stealing-money-out-of-my.html

Friday, September 28, 2007
Someone Is Stealing Money Out Of My Paycheck, And I Think It’s The Government

For Whom the Bell Tolls…

…The thoughts and rants of a white, upper-middle class, conservative, dangerously good-looking, super awesome, twenty-something mechanical engineer straight out of the not-so-mean streets of the not-so-urban suburbs of Bergen County, New Jersey…whose last name just happens to be Bell so that he can cleverly name his blog “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

*** begin quote ***

Have you ever bothered to calculate how much money the government actually takes out of your paycheck per year in taxes?

*** end quote ***

Well, ChrisBell, sad to tell, it’s even worse that you think. You can’t tell Bell what you are paying in taxes. There are additional factors to consider:

ONE, Inflation! The good old Federal Reserve Bank, which is neither Federal, Reserves anything, or a Bank, prints far more dollars — both with a printing press and electronically. This technically is monetary inflation, which allows the Federal Gooferment to “tax” everyone who has a dollar. If one pays attention in Ekkeynomics Class, when the sovereign debases the currency by printing more they get to spend these new dollars without taxing the people. Inflation ripples through the economy hurting all sorts of people. After all the stolen wealth has to come FROM somewhere. The net effect is a tax of some number per cent, no one knows exactly, estimated between 2% (Fed’s number, 12% some economists’ number, and 20% some conspiracy nuts number. So, each year, one can say you’ve paid an inflation tax. Someone has to pay for all the welfare warfare programs.

TWO, Businesses don’t pay tax; you do! Business only exist to make a profit. All of their costs are added into the cost of whatever they sell. Buy a widget and all of their costs are in that widget. Think they paid taxes? Nope, you did. Corporate income tax? Nope, it is deliberately misnamed. It’s a Personal Tax Paid By You Via A Business!

THREE, Hidden taxes! Did you know there are federal, state, and local taxes on gasoline? How much gas goes into the products and services you buy? (see item #2) How much gas do you use earning money and getting the stuff you need home to consume? Yup, you paid more taxes.

FOUR, Price rises raise taxes and fees! When the cost of goods and services go up, from inflation or greedy gooferment charges more, that is more taken out of the productive side of the economy and flushed down the rat hole of gooferment. So, inflation raises the “value” of your house, then your property taxes go up. So, you sell an “investment” that increased in “value”, you pay more in capital gains tax. So, the gooferment publik skoolz pay more for goods and services, they need to raise your taxes to pay it.

FIVE, Gooferment spending crowds out profitable growth! When the gooferment takes more for itself, it silently crowds out better uses of that money. (Basat’s Fallacy of the Broken Window) Some of those uses would be important. If I had an extra 100k, I’d probably do something frivolous like buy a car (which would employ lots of people in Detroit). But I don’t have it, so those people are not gainfully employed. They are probably on unemployment. But, imagine all the productive wealth building uses that are crowded out. Someone could have opened a new business, discovered a medical breakthrough, or who knows what! That effect is compounded. That is, when Mary didn’t find the cure for cancer, then Joe wasn’t around to discover the superconductor, that Peter could have used to make a faster computer, that Paul woul have used to halve the cost of your next book from Amazon.

SIX, What is a tax and what is a fee!?! The gooferment mislabels it’s revenue collection. If you can’t avoid paying it, then it is a tax! Not a user fee. Not anything other than a nasty tax. SO, when you register your car, that’s a tax! You can’t avoid it. Real Estate Transfer Fee. That’s a tax. Regulatory recovery fee on your cell phone. Tax. Rural Telephone Fund Surcharge. Tax! SO make sure when you try to identify all the taxes you pay, you don’t miss any.

Bottom line: We have no idea how much we pay in taxes! The number, that we come up with by adding the direct taxes we pay, is only a small portion of what we actually pay. The gooferment is the only think that can force you to pay for services that you don’t want, need, or can’t afford. And, those services are shoddy, over-priced, and often sometimes even undelivered.

And, the American revolution was fought over the Stamp Act which was a 1% tax on deeds.

Now how do you feel? I feel screwed. When you consider inflation, my tax rate is over 100% of annual year’s earnings. Hard to imagine? That’s just losing ground on every dollar I save for retirement!

Don’t get me started on property taxes for gooferment eddycation and the social insecurity Ponzi scheme!

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RANT: Minimize their tax burden; go to hell?

Sunday, September 30, 2007

http://www.liberty-watch.com/volume03/issue06/aminorityview.php

PRO-PICK POCKETING
Pope Benedict XVI condemns those who look to minimize their tax burden
BY WALTER E. WILLIAMS
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

*** begin quote ***

London’s Times Online recently reported that, according to Vatican sources, Pope Benedict XVI is working on his second encyclical, a doctrinal pronouncement that will condemn tax evasion as “socially unjust.” The pontiff will denounce the use of tax havens and offshore banking by wealthy individuals because it reduces tax revenues for the benefit of society as a whole.

*** and ***

I share Pope Benedict’s desire to assist our fellow man in need. But I believe that reaching into one’s own pocket to do so is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into another’s pocket to assist one’s fellow man in need is despicable and worthy of condemnation.

*** end quote ***

Seems like the “social justice” side of the Pope is coming out. Hmmm! Maybe he is ignoring that the gooferment is forcefully stealing form the people. At one time, when there were Kings, the people could run to the Church for protection. Guess that time is over? No one — not King, Pope, or President — has any “right” to what I produce, have produced, or will produce. For if they do, then we are but slaves. All we are talking about is percentages.

I’m reminded of an off-color joke. Ugly old man asks beautiful young girl to sleep with him for a thousand dollars. She exclaims “I wouldn’t do it for a a hundred thousand dollars”. He replies, “How about a million?” She says, “What kind of a girl do you think I am?”. He concludes, “We’ve already established that. Now we are just talking price!”

If you have a positive right to something, then someone (i.e., the taxpayer) has an obligation to pay for it. That implies that the gooferment can use force to make the taxpayer cough up the dough. So, if you have a right, then I am your slave. We already established what the moochers are and what we are. Now we are just talking “price”. How much of a slave do you think you can make me?

Hope you have a lot of weapons when that next Sparticus fellow comes along. You’re going to have to kill a lot of us slaves to preserve your right to the dole.

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RANT: Fix old imanutjob with financial sanctions

Friday, September 28, 2007

ANSWERING A’JAD: DISINVEST, N.Y.!
Dick Morris Reports
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published in the New York Post on September 27, 2007.

*** begin quote ***

The blow to Iran’s rulers should be huge. The California system alone has assets totaling $350 billion – much of it invested in companies that do business with Iran such as Sieman’s, Total, Respol and Shell.

*** and ***

In one of the letters, Thompson warned the Spanish oil giant Respol that its investments in Iran pose “significant risks to the company, and by extension, to our investments and that of other share-owners of the company.”

*** and ***

Eighty-five percent of Iranian government revenues come from the energy industry – a total of $55 billion in 2006. Already, falling oil production (down by a third since the 1979 revolution) and rising domestic demand will cut government energy revenues by an estimated 20 percent over the coming year.

*** and ***

What could be more right than slowing Iran down in its drive to acquire nuclear weapons?

*** end quote ***

What better way to “kneecap” old “I’m a nut job” (as coined by Jay Leno) then with out an invasion, firing a shot, or any fuss or muss.

Luv it!

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RANT: Gooferment at work; don’t get in the way!

Friday, September 28, 2007

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_269185729.html

Sep 26, 2007 6:43 pm US/Central
Crew Paints Over Roadkill Raccoon In Lemont
Area Residents Say This Isn’t The First Time Crews Have Treated Animals Carelessly
Mike Puccinelli Reporting

*** begin quote ***

racooninroad

(CBS) LEMONT, Ill. A photograph sent to CBS 2 shows a raccoon dead in the middle of a Lemont street, and yellow stripes painted right over its body by road crews.

*** end quote ***

Your gooferment at work.

Now you know how I feel every April 15th and every (Dej)Election Day!

In their defense, it wasn’t a case of “treating an animal carelessly”. It is probably that the work rules don’t allow the Certified Line Painter to get of the truck and shovel it off. That’s probably the job of the Certified Wildlife Removal Specialist. And, we have a labor dispute when the wrong union gets certain work. Probably, the fellow could have done it and the state would have just paid the “right” union worker extra. Now the Certified Job Designer will have to change the Certified Line Painting Procedure and put the job back out for bids.

Argh! Makes me “Certifiable”. Argh!!

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RANT: Making men look … …

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Has anyone noticed the trend in TV advertising that makes men, particularly fathers, look stupid, inept, or bad.

Example: T-mobile has the Dad do 5 * 5 = 26 and the Mom says “that’s why you have to stay in school”.

Now they wouldn’t dare target an ethnic minority for this type of treatment! So why is it OK to assign this role to men?

I am not going to buy any product, or family of products, that advertises in this fashion. And, I urge you to do the same. And, as I spot them, I’m going to point them out. I invite you to do the same.

So, if you use T-Mobile, then don’t call me.

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Add Thomas English Muffins — make Dad who ate Mom’s looks like a dishonest ass!

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RANT: Hotel stuck us in an out building. Argh!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Lesson Learned: Find out about the hotel; arriving at night leaves you no, or poor, room choices.

By way of background, Frau has a heart condition and I have allergies. When we booked the Golden Nugget, it was because of the hotel footprint. It was a few feet from the car valet, elevators, and the rooms were all close to the elevator. We requested a non-smoking room close to the elevator. Never heard anything negative from the travel agent; nor the hotel. Best we could do considering all the factors was to arrive at the hotel at 1800 local time.

Guess what?

Not only was there no non-smoking room, and there was no room in the main part of the hotel. (I didn’t even know they HAD an out building!)

What a surprise!

Eventually a non-smoking room was found in the “South Tower” (probably from the casino pit’s hold for comps) that was a long city block from where we wanted to be. The hotel staff was unappologetic and unsympathetic. Argh!

I pointed out that if I hadn’t shown up at all, they would charge me for that room, so why did I NOT have that room? Blank stare!

If rooms are assigned at check-in, then why do I have to be physically there to check in? What good is a reservation? Not much. So, what I envision is that they are in the business of selling rooms on a first-come first-serve basis. Show up with or without a reservation and they will sell you a room. First come and you get the pick of the litter. They may know that they have to give me a room, so they probably don’t sell “my” room. But they do give away “my” room. Argh!

Don’t like? Tough!!

If it wasn’t that we selected their hotel for some very specific medical reason, I would NOT be so upset. I’d have been better off going the next day in the morning and I would have gotten “my” room.

So my “They Suck” award goes to … … the Golden Nugget and my travel agent for their inability to deliver on their moral, and possibly legal, commitment.

I’d like to chat with the IT folks and see why they can’t do it right fmpov.

Lesson Learned: Make sure you are getting what you pay for!

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RANT: Does DELL suck, really suck, or extremely really suck!!!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

OK, I messed up. I went off on vacation and stupidly left the power transformer at home. Now that was the root cause.

In my attempts to “fix” my problem, singularly DELL stands out as my personal villain in this particularly morality play. Based on my prior experiences with them, I was not expecting a good results. In the list of things that I tried, they were my next to last option. True to form, they not only managed to disappoint me, but they actually teased me with a promise and then managed to dash my hopes.

Strike One: My luddite friend attempted to identify the replacement power supply from the DELL website with my service tag. (The LUGGABLE’s unique identifier.) But, the site would not recognize the tag. (That would have been too easy!)

Strike Two: I called from the hotel and, with the very same service tag, Nicholas was able to id my system, find the needed power supply, and place the order. I, very carefully, (this call is being recorded for quality assurance — my ass), expressed the fervent desire to have the power supply in my hotel in Las Vegas. I even joked that he should be sure NOT to send it to my home. He assured me that “it could NOT happen”. He insisted on sending me an email confirm with everything I needed to track the order. I explained that without the power, I had no way to check that email address without the power cord. Sigh.

(Needless to say, I pestered the heck out of the hotel bell staff about my package.)

It was amusing when I got the phone message from home from DHL telling me that they were trying to deliver my package. I called DELL and they acted dumbstruck that I wanted the package at my hotel. No problem! They could redirect my package and I could have my package on MONDAY! I calmly and quietly pointed out that I WOULD BE AT HOME by then. Then, the helpful DELL person said she have the delivery delayed until Monday and I could have it them. Argh! (No, I didn’t tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.) After we debated the merits of their assertion that it was “not returnable”. They transferred me to “customer (dis)service” who would decide if credit would be issued. For security purposes, I had to give my name, address, city, state, zip, phone, and email. (Security my a double Q) “Let me put you on hold while I look up your case!” Double Argh! The vocabulary just drove me nuts. Eventually, after a half hour on my cell phone, it was all straightened out.

Strike Three: The next day, I got a strange phone call on my phone. Which when I answered, they hung up. Later I picked up a long nasty voice mail from DHL saying that “they could not complete the delivery and that the extra charges would be charge to my credit card”. (This I can’t wait to see that!!)

Note for the record: the email has ship to home address. Argh!

CONCLUSION: DELL really sucks. They may sell computers cheap, but don’t depend upon them for anything after that.

(I was reminded, during my call, that if I had purchased the four year extended warranty that they would cover the power supply. “barbara streisand”!! They forget I’m a methodical record keeper –like I’d forget this one!! About a month into the new warranty, the wire to the LUGGABLE power block went bad. They did nothing but moan ‘n’ groan about replacing it. The wire would not deliver enough power to boot the box, but you could boot the box on the battery, then plug in the power supply and it would recharge the battery. I was supposed to send them the power supply with the wire, and then in two weeks, they’d let me KNOW if it was going to be replaced. So how full of it were they? I forget the power supply and they under the warranty will send me another? “barbara streisand”! By the way, that four year extended warranty would have cost as much as the machine did. When they originally tried to sell it to me, I said “I should just buy two”! And, they wanted to sell it to me. No joke!)

If you think I am really frosted, you’re right!

I have a long list of lessons learned. But the principle one is don’t depend upon DELL … ever!

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UPDATE: With apologies to my favorite Luddite (because deep in my heart I thought he might NOT have been up to the task), I too today entered the the Luggable’s Service Tag 3KZZ571 into the Dell website and it responded “service tag not found”. So, a relatively easy task, enter tag, find part, and order same, turned into the nightmare. Argh!

UPDATE: Another friend said he had DELLs and could have sent me the power supply. But I knew from my prior power problems that a lesser DELL power supply would not have worked.

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UPDATE:

My recent disaster has led me to do a slew of thinking about it.

BTW, I was not thinking clearly in LV. I could have used the hotel’s browser at 12$/hour, done gotomypc to Frau’s machine at home, where I could have reached my backup of the fob’s password file. With that I could have then done anything I needed to.

Argh! I hate when I am dumb.

So, from the hotel’s browser, or any inet connected screen / keyboard, I can now g.ho.st.

Sunday night, I should have bought the notebook at Sams for $600. I could have then used the inet from the room for 10$. At that point, I had my fob. I could have then retrieved ALL my data from MOZY. The next day, I could have gone to the verizon store and updated my vwbbie to a usb model. And, I’d have been really essentially back in business as usual.

Sigh!

Hindsight is always 20/20.

I coulda taken my employer’s notebook on vacation with me.

I should have had the replacement power cord delivered to a real person and reshipped it.

I should have brought my old dell with the bum battery.

I shoulda … remembered the cord.

The shouldas, couldas, and woulda will kill you.

Sigh!

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GLOBAL: Islam’s veil is symptom of their problem

Sunday, September 16, 2007

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57573

Head of Reform Judaism says wearing veil should be respected
Posted: September 11, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
Dennis Prager

*** begin quote ***

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of fundamentalist Muslim culture – whether in the Muslim world or in the West – knows that, given the social, religious and familial pressures on women to wear a veil, the veil is not worn voluntarily in any meaningful sense of the word.

But while the rabbi respects Muslim women who choose to wear the veil, he had words of contempt for American women who choose to dress like Lindsay Lohan. Like others on the left, Rabbi Yoffie only has standards for Westerners, especially Americans, not for other cultures. It is the left’s soft bigotry of low expectations that has often been noted.

*** end quote ***

Well in my world view, everyone can do what they want to the extent that it doesn’t infringe on their neighbor’s rights.

If that section of the globe wants to disempower half of their population, then that’s their problem. Not mine.

I agree that the “liberal left” in the USA gives people a pass instead of expecting high performance.

As far as women “volunteering” to hide behind a veil, that’s fine. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for. It’s been that way since the dawn of time.

In the USA, we have to respect religion as a right enshrined in the Constitution. The gooferment has to tread lightly. We, as people, don’t. If you’re out in wackyland, I can call you on it. Just as you can, me.

I want everyone in the USA to be all that they can be.

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RANT: Walter E. Williams calls politicians what they are

Saturday, September 15, 2007

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/09/12/insulting_blacks

Insulting Blacks
By Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

*** begin quote ***

“I don’t feel no ways tired. I come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy. I don’t believe He brought me this far,” drawled presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton, mimicking black voice to a black audience, at the First Baptist Church of Selma, Alabama. I’m wondering if Mrs. Clinton visits an Indian reservation she might cozy up to them saying, “How! Me not tired. Me come heap long way. Road mighty rough. Sky Spirit no bring me this far.” Or, seeking the Asian vote she might say, “I no wray tired. Come too far I started flum. Road berry clooked. Number one Dragon King take me far.”

*** end quote ***

Politicians pander. And, anyone who’s fooled by them is just a sheep to be shorn!

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RANT: Military politicians?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese394.html

This Is the Month
by Charley Reese

*** begin quote ***

As a rule of thumb, don’t believe anybody above the rank of lieutenant colonel. That’s the rank most warriors are forced to retire at. Most of the rest are politicians in uniform.

*** end quote ***

Ahh, the old tank driver nails the “perfumed princes”. Wonder how the testimony would have been different if they flew in a Marine gunny right from the front. I bet they’d have heard in no uncertain terms about the “war effort” and results. Might even have made a few of them blush. But, I’d bet a paycheck there would be no powerpoint slides.

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RANT: Isn’t a NC publik skoolz bound by that pesky First Amendment

Thursday, September 13, 2007

http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0027.html

*** begin quote ***

SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. – On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American flag.

Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags, from any country, including the United States.

The new rule stems from a controversy over students wearing shirts bearing flags of other countries.

Gayle Langston said her daughter, Jessica, was told to remove her Stars and Stripes t-shirt.

“Today she wanted to wear her shirt, and I had to tell her no,” said Langston. “She didn’t like it at all because I knew it would get her in trouble. Of all days, 9/11, she could not wear her American Flag shirt.”

The superintendent of schools in Sampson County calls the situation unfortunate, but says educators didn’t want to be forced to pick and choose which flags should be permissible.

*** end quote ***

See! That’s ONE of the problems with gooferment skoolz.

(And, I’d dispute the assignment of the word “educator” to the babysitting service they provide.)

It’s a free speech issue.

Private schools can enforce whatever dress code they see fit.

“Public schools” are part of the gooferment. The gooferment is bound by that pesky First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Hopefully, some of the patriots in North Carolina will “educate” these “educators” with exactly what that means!

Argh!

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RANT: When do we get to the truth about Lincoln?

Thursday, September 13, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo127.html

A Fitting Tribute to a Corrupt Tyrant
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

*** begin quote ***

Lincoln himself was a corrupt corporate insider and a lifelong mercantilist. The economic policies that he spent his entire adult life championing – protectionist tariffs, corporate welfare for railroad and road-building corporations, and inflationary central banking – were nothing but an Americanized version of the corrupt British mercantilist system that the American Revolution was fought to discard. They were all designed to use the powers of the state to benefit a small, politically powerful cabal of (mostly Northern) manufacturers, bankers, and politicians at the expense of the rest of society. They were also designed to enlarge the state by tying all of these powerful interests to it politically.

*** end quote ***

Interesting how the liberal media and the gooferment skoolz have turned this fellow into an icon. The thing I really can’t understand is awarding him the appellation “freed the slaves”. Revisionists seem to have overlooked a whole lot of facts. Glad I’m an injineer where facts matter more than opinions.

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POLITICAL: Gooferment is the problem

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle434-20070909-01.html

*** begin quote ***

Indeed, government-run schools are an excellent example of what would happen if this craxy idea by Mr. Perez were allowed to go forward. If the government were in the business of selling guns and ammo in the same way, and to the same extent, that it is in the business of providing “public” schooling to children, we should see the same level of quality—next to none—and the same sort of lazy, indolent, and rude teachers and administrators clamoring for more money, as well as all the other features of poor performance and inadequate preparation that we find from schools.

*** end quote ***

Yup, the last thing we need is the gooferment with a monopoly on anything.

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RANT: United States creates new drugs; no thanks to the gooferment

Monday, September 10, 2007

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2007/09/04/no_health_care?page=2

No “Health Care”?
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, September 4, 2007

*** begin quote ***

People who are urging us to follow other countries that control the prices of medications seem uninterested in the fact that those countries depend on the United States to create new drugs, after they destroyed incentives to do so in their own countries.

*** end quote ***

HillaryCare, EdwardsCare, Medicare … … it’s all the same trash.

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STATE: NC gets on a legally binding organ donation plan

Monday, September 10, 2007

http://lifesharers.blogspot.com/2007/09/legally-binding-organ-donation.html

Saturday, September 08, 2007
“Legally binding” organ donation?

*** begin quote ***

North Carolina will soon become the 45th state to make signing up to be an organ donor legally binding, according to a story in the Charlotte Observer. http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/268591.html

*** end quote ***

Seems like a “sin” to deny another of God’s children a chance to live by being “stupid” or vain or superstitious. Imagine arriving at the Pearly gates, where there’s a big queue, and being greeted by a big Purple EZPASS like sign that says “Express Lane for Organ Donors”? :-) As if there is such a thing as a Pearly Gate. More likely Minnie Pearle saying “Howdeee”. And, I have to laff at my older relatives who believed that they’d need all their parts in the after life. To steal Marv Alpert’s line, “if there is a next time”.

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USA: Ron Paul’s after the debate report!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

FROM RON’S EMAIL TO THE FAITHFUL

*** begin quote ***

September 7, 2007

Has this been a hectic and encouraging time! First we got almost 17% in the Texas straw poll, an event set-up to represent the establishment, with very restrictive voting rules. That 17% of the Republican hierarchy would support our views, after a full day of pro-war propaganda, is good news. Then we won the more open Maryland Republican straw poll with 28%. In both cases, as usual, hard-working, well-organized volunteers made all the difference.

The Fox debate was a lot of fun as well. It’s true that a few of the network people are not exactly with us on foreign or domestic policy (though one famous guy whispered to me that he is a libertarian), but the audience-with lots of students from the University of New Hampshire-was definitely fair and balanced, as their enthusiastic reaction showed.

My opponents called for more war, more torture, more secret prisons, more eavesdropping, more presidential power. Some seemed to identify the government and the people as if they were one entity. But you and I know that once the government moves beyond its very limited constitutional mandate, it is an opponent of the people, a rip-off operation that takes our money and our freedom and our social peace, and gives us a mess of statist pottage in return.

The government failed miserably on 911 to protect us, despite spending trillions. So the answer was supposed to be the giant, socialist Department of Homeland Security, protecting you and me from taking our toothpaste on the airplane. I was ridiculed for saying that the airlines, which know best how to protect their property, should have been allowed to arm their pilots. But then, you and I really believe in the Second Amendment. It is not just a political slogan for us.

When I discussed the blowback that came from us intervening on the Arabian peninsula, Chris Wallace asked me if I wanted to follow the marching orders of al-Qaeda. I responded that I wanted to follow the marching orders of the Constitution, and not wage undeclared, aggressive wars that cause us only trouble. This is a mystifying to some, of course, but not to more and more Americans.

There was much talk of taxes, and a pledge not to raise rates. But as usual, I was not allowed to discuss my lifelong pledge to abolish the income tax. Just holding the line, when the government takes such vast sums through an illegitimate guilty-until-proven-innocent system, is hardly enough. We need to slash taxes and spending if we are to have a future of prosperity for ourselves and our families.

After the debate, many young people gathered around the stage to discuss our ideas and ask questions about them (and to have me sign their badges). My colleagues got no such response, and after a few moments, “security” ordered me off the stage. Can’t have any such demonstration of interest in liberty.

But the young are with us, and so are Americans of every stripe. Even party officials. When one of my opponent said it was OK to lose elections through supporting the Iraq war, that set party people’s teeth on edge, and rightly so. The Republican party is shrinking. We need new people. It’s either our ideas or President Hillary, and more and more people recognize it.

But the media, and everyone else, will be looking at fundraising totals at the end of this month. They’ll judge us by how we do. And we need help to wage what we hope will be a full-scale, 50-state campaign. Please help me head into the next quarter fully armed to do battle for freedom, peace and prosperity. Make your most generous contribution https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/. This Revolution is on the move, but it very much needs your support.

Sincerely,

Ron

*** end quote ***

Go Ron Paul!

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STATE: NC — If I was them, I’d be looking to … …

Friday, September 7, 2007

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070907/D8RGHIK80.html

Source: Duke Players Seek Money, Reforms
Sep 7, 5:24 AM (ET)
By MARTHA WAGGONER

*** begin quote ***

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Attorneys for the three players falsely accused in the Duke University lacrosse rape case are seeking a settlement of about $30 million and several changes to the state’s legal process, a person close to the case said early Friday.

If the terms aren’t met, the players’ attorneys will file a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Durham early next month, said the source, who requested anonymity because not all of the details of the proposed settlement had been worked out.

During a discussion Wednesday with Durham officials, players’ attorneys Brendan Sullivan and Barry Scheck, stressed that the money they are seeking – about $10 million each for David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann over five years – must be accompanied by the legal reforms, the source said.

*** end quote ***

If I was those young men, I’d be on a vendetta for the Duke administration and faculty who had ANY role in this debacle. It was bad enough that the Gooferment was involved, but the faculty and administration were even more culpable imho. I’d want the life savings of every single one of them. They’d be eating dog food before I settled. And, I have no axe to grind!

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RANT: Congress is Destroying America’s Schools

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

http://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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RANT: Edwards backs mandatory “care”

Sunday, September 2, 2007

http://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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RANT: The gooferment doesn’t need your help; just your money

Sunday, September 2, 2007

http://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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RANT: Betting on talkers

Saturday, September 1, 2007

http://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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RANT: Upturned Palm

Saturday, September 1, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28tier.html?ex=1345953600&en=3daa8d275c27c76a&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

A 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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RANT: “repeal” bad laws … … in the jury box!

Friday, August 31, 2007

http://sendtherightmessage.com/images/stamp_out_prohibition

1932 photo 0

 

Ohhh, they meant alcohol! Everyone knows that there is no similarity between alcohol prohibition and drug prohibition. No gangs killing innocent people. No infringements of our rights. No loading the jails with non-violent offenders.

Guess we’ll have to respond in the jury box.

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RANT: Death By Gooferment

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/2007/aug/23/death_by_government

Free Healthcare is Expensive

*** begin quote ***

A Calgary woman was in excruciating pain from worn-out knee cartilage.
She had to wait 16 months for her “free” surgery. It took so long that
she became addicted to “free” Oxycontin. The result? More time on
another long list, waiting for “free” drug rehab.

*** end quote ***

We have in today’s Amerika a perfect laboratory of “socialized medicine” in the “single payer genre”. The VA!

Yes, you don’t have to look and see what Hillary-care will look like. We have it already.

And, you want this for all of us?

Please count me out!

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RANT: 14 Reasons to Deport Illegal Aliens

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

KB:

Interesting, but how much are spent on “legal” freeloaders?

I’d suggest we dump all the “welfare” for “illegal” aliens, and right along with it, the “welfare” for all the freeloaders, including aliens, citizens, corporations, politicians, bureaucrats, “celebrities”, the media, and all those that “pig at the trough” by “servicing” all the gooferment programs.

We can while we’re at it end the phony War on Drugs, that doesn’t do anything about “drugs”.

Next, we bring home all the troops from all over the globe and become a porcupine like Switzerland.

Finally, nuke the Federal Reserve and let the dollar be backed by something other than politician’s promises!

And, life would get a whole lot better and cheaper.

Then, “legal” and “illegal” will have lost all meaning.

And there is a presidential candidate who’ll do most of this — Ron Paul.

See his site. http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
:-) crazy fjohn

—–Original Message—–
From: KB
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 9:32 AM
To: KB
Subject: 14 Reasons to Deport Illegal Aliens

INTERESTING ‘FACTS’…

Hope these 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read by the majority of Americans. Then they will have something to yell at their U.S. Congress members about. Our elected officials must open their ears and listen to us, or vote them out and get in those who are willing to stop the ‘downfall of the ‘AMERICA’ which we loved!!!:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year.
http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the United States.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine and marijuana, crossed into the U. S. from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, “estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.”
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.
http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14. “The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States “.
http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

So using the LOWEST estimates, the annual cost OF ILLEGAL ALIENS is $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!

So if deporting them costs between $206 and $230 BILLION DOLLARS, start getting rid of em’. We’ll be
ahead after the 1st year!!!

Please pass this on. Americans need to wake up!

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