So there Apple!

Googling other ways to mount my iDisk on my Windows 7 machine, I found an old post from Apple Support on how to do it in Windows Vista. I now have my iDisk mounted in Windows 7 and don't need to have iTunes, etc. installed.

Here's how to do it in Windows 7.

Go to Start
Click "Computer"
Click "Map Network Drive"
Use the pulldown next to "Drive" to choose your drive letter
In the "Folder" box, type in http://idisk.me.com/yourmembername
If you want to reconnect every time you boot, put a check next to "Reconnect at logon"
Put a check next to "Connect using different credentials"
Click "Finish"

In a bit, if you did it right, a box will come up asking for username and password. Enter your Apple me.com member name and your password.

You've now mounted your iDisk in Windows.

Sometimes I HATE Apple!

Those who've read my previous posts know that I prefer to us Apple's OS X operating system to any other unix or Windows system. Me and millions of others, so I'm in good company. However, I run Windows and Linux where needed, and on my desk at work (right next to where I plug in my Mac Pro 17" notebook) is my Windows machine.

As a .mac subscriber (excuse me... Mobile Me now), one of the benefits I have is a small cloud based storage drive called iDisk. While I have other cloud based solutions, the iDisk is useful... Sort of a cloud based USB thumb drive that many Mac and iPod Touch applications automatically recognize.

Anyway, for years I've run a program on my Windows machines that Apple provided to let me mount my iDisk as a Windows drive. Very simple, small, free and convenient.

So I go to get it for my Windows 7 desktop at work... and it is now integrated into the Windows Mobile Me control panel. Then I go find and download that application. Only to find out that it only works when iTunes is installed! Huh? This is nothing but a webdav application... it has nothing to do with nor should it need ipod/iphone/music/video capabilities!

Now don't get me wrong, While iTunes is a decent program and Quicktime is a decent media player, this desktop is NOT a multimedia machine! The machine has no reason to have iTunes. Being forced to download and install iTunes and hence QuickTime (even for free) is behavior more like I've come to expect from Microsoft!

This latest stumble on Apple's part is a continuation of their efforts to join Microsoft as one of the most annoying and disliked companies in the world.

Oral Roberts Finally Called Home

The famous TV fundraiser and evangelist liked to challenge his followers with emotional blackmail, for instance saying things like "If I don't raise $8 million by March, God will call me home."

Well today, God made good on His threat as Oral Roberts died in a Newport Beach, California hospital. Oral Roberts was 91-years-old and died of complications from pneumonia.

Oral Roberts was best known for his fundraising crusades and faith healing. Millions of Christians around the country donated many millions of dollars to him as one of Oral Roberts' teachings was that any money given to him would be returned a hundred fold by God.

There are some interesting facts on this at OnDoctrine.com.

Metric System is 300 Years old. Maybe.

My Today in History gadget on my iGoogle homne page says that France established the Metric system in 1799 on today's date. That would make it 300 years old today!

However, Wikipedia says that France adopted the Metric system in 1791.

Perhaps the difference is because one is measured in standard years while the other in Metric years?

Dodd offers bold financial reform plan | Reuters

Dodd offers bold financial reform plan
| Reuters

Hmmm In other words, because Chris Dodd and Barney Frank set up the conditions for the 2008 collapse, Dodd wants to add new government agencies and re-regulate the hell out of banking, mortgage and credit card companies to avoid a repeat of 2008.

How about leaving your mitts off it it Senator? We're still trying to recover from the last time you tried to help.

(Via CNN.com.)

What Else Is Missing In Windows 7 Home "Premium"?

Like Windows Vista, there are multiple editions of Windows 7. But do you REALLY need a high end version? You may be surprised, especially if you have more than one computer and the other isn't going to be Windows 7.

According to Microsoft (click here to see the original web page) The only differences between Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade are:

1. US$80.00

2. Windows XP mode (a copy of the already free Microsoft Virtual PC software plus a crippled version of Windows XP).

3. Use Domain Join to connect to company networks.

4. The ability to use Windows Backup to backup to a network drive.

Ok, the $80 price difference is obvious. The XP mode is certainly BS and of limited use IMHO. Especially if you already own a virtualization product like Parallels for Windows, VMWare Workstation, Virtuabox, etc. and an xp license.) Backing up across a network is integral to just about every backup application available in the past decade, expect Microsoft Backup. So that's easy to replace.

The kicker though is #3... Domain Join. Lots of big networks use Domain Controllers. This has nothing to do with internet domain names but rather with centralized local network username & password storage and network policies. I've never personally seen any network with less than a few thousand users, use a domain controller.

In fact, here's what Microsoft says on that page about Domain Join:

Domain Join

Plan to use your PC at the office—or for telecommuting? Then you might need to connect to a domain. A domain is a type of computer network commonly found in the workplace. (In technical-speak, it's a collection of computers that's centrally administered and operates under common rules.)

The Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate editions are designed to join a domain quickly and more securely. Just follow the easy-to-use wizard, which prompts you to enter your network credentials. A few moments later you're in business.

That they DON'T tell you for some reason is that you need Windows 7 Professional or above if you want to network to more than just another Windows 7 machine. Something like your older XP machine. Perhaps your Mac or even Linux computer... how about your PS3 or xBox 360? Maybe your TiVO or any of the zillions of other devices that use SMB networking protocol.

Actually I don't know what devices SMB networking (pretty much originally known as Windows or Microsoft Network/Lan Manager.)

But I do know that your Windows 7 "Premium" computer will "see" all the XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows computers on your home network. But won't talk to any of them except perhaps Vista and Windows 7.

And why is this? Well obviously if you haven't (or can't) upgrade all of your computers to Windows 7, then you must be a Professional user!

So Microsoft left the Group Policy Editor out of the Home Premium edition of Vista and Windows 7. (I didn't that about Vista as I only ran it few times and in a virtual machine.)

Now... as I understand it, when you make a change in the Group Policy Editor to let it network with non Windows 7 machines, only three changes are made to the Windows Registry.

I'm going to track those down and will be posting them later, just saving us all US$80! This makes me wonder what other little gotchas Microsoft has snuck into Windows 7 Home "Premium" and what other necessary features were left out.

A Look at Personal Income Tax

The cliche says that the two certainties in life are death and taxes.

The Federal Government produces no goods to sell. They do get a minor income from leasing out federally owned (meaning owned by us citizens) land. Every other penny they spend must come from taxes.

The taxes are labeled as taxes, fees or tariffs. They might be on imported products, services, business income, personal income, fees to access citizen owned land (like national parks), the temporary but still in force WWII rubber tax on tires (which don't use rubber any longer) or the temporary but still in force WWII tax on telephones. And pretty much anything else you can think of.

Despite planning on collecting $2.7 Trillion in 2009 from Personal Income Tax, payroll taxes, corporate income tax, excise taxes, customs and duties, estate and gift taxes and "other", Congress planned on spending $3.1 Trillion. With our economy in the dumps and unemployment officially at over 16% (16.7% actually if you count those on unemployment as well as those who no longer qualify for benefits), the 2010 Budget is slated to be $4 Trillion! By the way, the expenses for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not counted in the budget. Those expenses are appropriations not budgeted items.

In 2009, the majority of projected income comes from (in ranked order): Individual income Tax, Payroll taxes (think social security) and Corporate income tax with the Individual tax totaling $1.21 Trillion. That is almost $4,000 from every man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

Now when times are tough, one of the "stimulus" measures is to lower taxes on a group be it to lower taxes on those who create the jobs (Reagan's "Trickle Down Theory") or those who work the jobs (if the jobs still exist). So if lower taxes are so good for the country, why do it only on a temporary basis?

Now the Federal Income Tax was created to provide services that the state and local government can't provide. I guess that there must be a lot of them.

This leads us to the sometimes raging debate over the fairness of personal income taxes. The current individual income tax system has only been in effect for the last 93 years or so, just about the last 40% of this country's history. Amazingly enough, the Federal Government managed just fine the first 60% of this country's existence without taxing personal income. I guess that is a forgotten skill.

There are four ways to tax individual persons:

1. Don't tax them. It was proven several times around the Reagan years that the Federal Personal Income Tax wasn't necessary; That by cutting waste at the Federal Level, the personal income tax could be eliminated and the National Debt paid off within ten years or less. That was the result of the Grace Commission report, the report that the Congress ignored and didn't tackle even one single issue or problem found by the commission.

2. Tax a person's income. In Capitalist theory, the harder we work, or the more we produce, the more money we make. Taxing a person's income penalizes them for being more productive or working harder. The harder you work/more you produce, the larger percentage taken by the Federal government. The less you work or produce, the smaller the percentage taken by the Feds.

3. Tax a person's income part 2. Use a flat rate percentage of tax on income. If it is say 10%, then the person making $20,000 a year, is taxed $2,000. The person making $100,000 would be taxed $10,000 and the person making $1,000,000 a year, would be taxed $100,000. No fancy tax laws needed, no fancy tax attorneys needed and very simple accounting. Even a moron can move the decimal point one place to the left to figure out their taxes. However it still penalizes us for how hard we work or how much we produce.

4. Tax a person's expenditures. Those who produce little, will spend less than one who produces a lot due to the difference in discretionary income. Therefore, the low producers will pay less in taxes than the rich. Treat it like state sales tax, you don't tax rent, food, labor, personal real estate or medical costs. I.e. the basics of life are tax-free. You DO tax material goods. So the drug dealer, welfare recipient, bank teller, millionaire and politician all pay the same tax dollars when they buy the $1,000 flat screen TV. The person that buys the $10,000 Nissan Versa (cheapest car in America for 2009) pays less in taxes than the person who buys the $106,000 Corvette ZR1.

Just to give you an idea of the numbers I'm talking about, eleven years ago in 1998, retail sales in the United States were $2.7 Trillion! The Census department estimates 2009 retail sales to be an annualized $3.6 Trillion, even in this tanked economy. With a 10% VAT, that'd bring in $360 Billion in income, about the same as corporate tax income but only 1/3 of the current individual tax system. So cutting Federal waste would still be a priority.

There ARE however two problems I see with the VAT tax.

#1, the European countries who've gone with it as a Value Added Tax, tax everything, food, water, labor... and the VAT runs from I think 17% to 27% depending on which country of the EU you are in.

#2, The Federal Government would add this in addition to state and local sales taxes. And they'd keep the personal income tax as well.

The only GOOD answer is #1. But the pigs at the trough will never go for it.

Is It Racist Only When About A Black Man?

Video - Obama witch doctor image racist?:

Let's see... The stereotype of a witch doctor has them dancing around while making noise and having no benefit to the patient.

President Obama has been if not dancing, at least making a lot of noise about the economy but has caused no benefit to the economy other than helping the CEOs of some banks, automakers and the unions.

That sounds like a fair comparison to me.

But...
African witch doctors are black.
President Obama is black. (Well, half-black)
Does this make the comparison of the two racist?

How about if President Obama was white? Would it still be racist?

When the liberals called President Reagan's economic policies "Voodoo Economics," no one called them racists... Yet I believe that most if not all voodoo practitioners are black.

So is it racist only when it is about a black man? On the other hand, is it racist only when said by a conservative? Since President Obama is also half white, does this mean that it is only half racist?

(Via CNN.com.)

Canadian Gets Life Sentence for Driving Drunk

Canadian Gets Life Sentence for Driving Drunk: "A Canadian man has been sentenced to life in prison for mowing down a woman in a wheelchair as he drove drunk. It was his 19th drunken driving conviction, the court said."

All I can say is that it's about damn time! This man shouldn't have been allowed to even GET to 19 DUI convictions!

Add to it his 114 other previous convictions and perhaps the death penalty would have been better for society.

(Via AOL News.)

"The defenders of the status quo are bankrupting America"

Obama putting heavy imprint on big speech - CNN.com: "'The defenders of the status quo are bankrupting America,' the administration official said of Republicans.

Yes, the Whitehouse is blaming republicans for bankrupting America. Not the four trillion dollars of budgeted debt that the current Democrat controlled Whitehouse and administration have run up; Not the projected doubling of our National Debt over the next ten years.

Yes, there is a problem with healthcare. Many of us can't afford it. I think that the problem is that insurance companies pay most of our health care costs. It is the "deep pocket" syndrome. When someone else is footing the bill, we tend to not care about cost.

Take car insurance for example. In most states of the U.S. it is mandatory to carry liability insurance. If your car is financed, then the bank requires that you carry comprehensive insurance to protect their collateral for your loan.

So you get into a fender-bender, pay a small deductible and someone else pays the rest of the bill. Sounds fair right?

Recent collision tests of mid-size family cars (supposedly the safest) showed that 2-5 mph collisions resulted in up to $3,000 in damages! What happened to those 5 mph Federally mandated bumpers so that there would be no damage? The bumpers are still there. Anything much faster, i.e. at real world speeds, means that the car is totaled and the insurance company has to pay it off. It is totaled not because of the damage itself, but because of the repair costs to the insurance company make it cheaper to scrap it than to repair it.

Here's an example from my personal life. About 20 years ago, I'd borrowed a motorcycle from a friend. While riding it for the weekend, I left my 1971 Pinto parked on the street in front of his apartment. Now granted, my 18 year old Pinto wasn't a classic, but it was in darn near perfect shape with a recent paint job and no damage. The car was a great commuter car.

That night he calls me that I need to get over there right away, that my car had been hit. A young lady was sitting in his living room crying when I got there. Totally stoned on marijuana, she'd left her boyfriend's apartment next door, gotten in her car and (supposedly) her foot slipped off the brake onto the gas. This made her car launch across a parking lot, over the sidewalk and curb and strike the right front fender of my car. My car was knocked into the street at a 45 degree angle to the curb. The visible damage was to the fender, hood, right headlight area and grill.

I worked out a deal with her father to keep her from going to jail and a drug conviction. A very reputable body shop quoted me over $2,000 for the repairs. When I objected, I told him I was paying cash. The price immediately dropped to $800.

Now let's look at health insurance. The difference here is that most hospitals don't give a cash discount like that.

Back in July, I had a colonoscopy. Despite the jokes and horror stories going around, it wasn't a bad experience, except for the "cleansing" prep the day before. For those who don't know what the colonoscopy is, it is a check for colon cancer and a test that especially men for some reason should have every five to ten years once they turn 50. It is a simple test, they put you to sleep and insert a cable that has a camera attached up your butt and go in about four feet.

So far, I've gotten bills from the doctor, the hospital where it was done as a day surgery, the lab that analyzed the polyps that were removed, the anesthesiologist, and I think there is one in there somewhere from the janitor.

Now... I have no clue as to what something should cost, but I'd originally guessed that the colonoscopy would run about $1,000 as it is a simple procedure and only takes a couple of hours.

Naive me.

The Doctor's office charged $720, the Anesthesiologist charged $1,100 and the hospital they used charged $6,136!

The total bill (Not including labs or janitors) came to almost $8,000!

Of that I had to pay $888.69 out of pocket and the insurance company paid $2,336 and disallowed the rest.

Another example. I had a doctor visit in June at a local clinic. Nothing fancy at all. Just checked height, weight and BP and a consultation with the doc to get a prescription renewed. I paid a $25 co-pay. The clinic bill the insurance company $138.60 on top of that. The insurance company paid $13.30. Now if I was a cash customer, it'd have cost me the full $138.60. On the other hand, the clinic will probably get that $13.30 every month as an HMO provider whether I go there or not. That means that if I go once a year, billing wise, they've almost broken even.

Now in September, I visited the medical community again. And I shudder to think of the bills. Paramedics, ambulance ride, four to five hours in the emergency room, three calendar days in the cardiac care unit, two cardiologists, two doctors (all four of whom I saw for maybe 20 minutes total) and untold lab tests.

That will certainly exceed the $5,200 a year I pay in insurance premiums.

So who is bankrupting America?

The most visible group is Congress. As I've pointed out before, they are the ONLY ones in the Federal government who can spend money. If a penny is spent, a penny taxed, something regulated or something deregulated, it is because that body of 535 people approved it. Congress tries to pass the buck for bad things "We inherited this" (from themselves) and blame past presidents of "the other party"... presidents who can't spend a penny.

As it currently sits, they are working to bankrupt America by running up the national debt and bringing on hyper-inflation. Many of the countries who have been buying our debt, most notably China, are more and more reluctant to do so.

If that wasn't bad enough, we older Americans are doing our share. In 2007, 60% of our population was supporting the 12.6% over 65.

By 2020, just eleven years away, another almost 100 million of us will reach retirement age.

That's 1/3rd of our population.

That's 1/3rd of our population added to medicare and social security rolls.

Since Congress stole the Social Security trust fund to pay for the Viet Nam war, it has been pretty much a pay as you go Ponzi scheme since then with the working citizens paying for the benefits of the retired citizens.

In 2015-2020, there won't be enough paying in to pay the promised benefits.

So there are only three solutions:

1. Take more from the workers
2. Borrow the money to make up the difference
3. Reduce costs

Option 1, like any tax is distasteful and could be political suicide for any member of congress who pushes for it.

Option 2, is already a non-starter as we are so heavily in debt that no one really wants to loan us the money. And it is only going to get worse.

Which leaves us with reducing costs. Despite claims of this health bill not competing against insurance companies, the only way for the Federal Government to reduce medical costs is to ration health care. The President is scheduled to mention this in his speech tonight. I haven't had time to see if he did. But one of the things mentioned as a push to "cap end-of-life healthcare expenses". Meaning that someone in government will decide just how much money will be spent on old folks.

This ties into the other way to reduce expenses. Reduce the number of people running up the expenses and collecting Social Security. I.E., kill off the old folks.

Face it, most of us who reach retirement age pay little into the tax system. We no longer work to fill the Federal Pig Trough. So those of us who are that age, not millionaires and not politicians are a drain. Instead, we're taking money from the Feds.

So since we have no value to them, they'll give us our gold plated watches, put us out to pasture and then withhold our healthcare so that we die and they don't have to support us.

President Obama and Congress swear that this isn't the case. We all know that politicians lie. We almost expect it of them.

(Via CNN.)

My Thoughts on the Late Senator Ted Kennedy

Yes, it has been awhile since I posted to my blog. Sad news for some, as I'm still alive and kicking. Life has just been busy and gotten in the way. Back to the subject of this post.

As I'm sure that you are all aware of by now, Senator Ted Kennedy, "The Lion of the Senate" has passed on from brain cancer.

The burning questions that are on the minds of many from coast to cast and in capitol cities of the world are: Is Ted Kennedy finally sober for the first time in over 60 years? Does being embalmed count as still being pickled? Actually, I heard that the late Senator won't be embalmed as there is still enough alcohol in his body to meet the legal requirements for burial.

Ok, yes I know those were bad. So am I and I'm damn good at it. That is original humor that came to me a bit ago. I don't think of it as saying anything bad about the Senator, but more poking fun at the facts of his life.

Though I have never been a fan of the Kennedy clan, my mother taught me to not speak ill of the dead. Well, at least not until they are buried. So struggling to come up with something good, I'll say, "He dressed nice".

Then again, I do have some nice things to say about Mr. Kennedy. Not that it mattered to anyone, but he and I disagreed on most subjects. This meant nothing to him as I've never been a constituent or donor and we've never met. My opinion meant nothing to him.

Which is sad in a way as I had a lot of respect for Senator Kennedy. I respected him because he stood up and fought for his beliefs.

He believed in civil liberties, civil rights, better health care for all, safe working conditions and better education. His beliefs were the core beliefs of the Democratic Party. Senator Kennedy campaigned, fought and voted for his beliefs for almost 50 years. I have to respect a man who fights for his beliefs even if I don't agree with them.

No, I'm not against civil rights, etc. However, I don't believe in the socialist, nanny state that is the goal and result of his work. Even worse, I expect President Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress to use Senator Kennedy's death to push that ill-thought health reform bill through Congress, as "This is what Teddy would have wanted."

Two Years, Three iPhones, is 3rd Time The Charm?

iPhone 3GS launch has app developers seeing gold - CNN.com: "Apple fans in the United States and seven other countries lined up Friday morning to be among the first to get their hands on the new iPhone 3GS, billed as the fastest, most feature-laden iPhone yet."

It must be June again, I can tell by the lines of people queuing up outside of Apple and AT&T stores to get the latest and greatest iPhones.

Note the above quote about the "most feature-laden iPhone yet."

Apple released the first iPhone in June of 2007. Just weeks later, Sprint and HTC released the Mogul. Apple got the press of course.

The two phones really couldn't have been more different. The iPhone was sleek and had a cool user interface, the Mogul was boxy and had state of the art features.

And there is the rub. In June of 2008, Apple upgraded the iPhone to third generation connectivity. (Mogul had it in 2007.) Apple also added a real GPS to the iPhone that June (Mogul had it in 2007.) Etc, Etc. Etc. The press went wild and again people lined up extend their contracts and get the "new and improved" iPhone. I.E. Apple was adding things that Windows Mobile phones had all along.

Now it is June of 2009. Apple has increased the speed and storage of the iPhone. Added in the basic feature of "cut and paste", upgraded the camera resolution (it still doesn't have a flash) and added a video recorder which, you guessed it, everyone else had two years or more ago. Oh yes, they added a compass but I don't think anyone ever considered adding that to phone before. And again, folks are lining up to yet again, trade in their year old iPhones for the latest and greatest.

Notice that I didn't use the new iPhone 3GS MultiMedia Messaging Service or Internet Tethering to your notebook as reasons... that's because AT&T doesn't support MMS and won't for months and because tethering is against AT&T's terms of service.

But perhaps not. This time, AT&T wants to charge them up to $400 for the upgrade in addition to the two year contract extension. The morons err I mean AT&T customers would be better off paying the $175 early termination fee and buying a new phone and new contract.

So what Apple has come out with for their third generation of iPhones is a phone that is finally on a feature parity to Windows Mobile and Rim Blackberry phones of two years ago.

The iPhone STILL doesn't have a replaceable battery. My boss had to buy a holster that's larger than the iPhone itself, as the holster contains a battery to recharge the iPhone. Why? Because even the new iPhone 3GS with its double-length battery life is still only good for five hours of talk or internet use.

Power users need more than that to get through a day. A friend of mine was a tour manager for a rock band (until an IED took out her HMMWV in Iraq) and her iPhone battery couldn't last until lunch. So whenever she'd stop for more than a few minutes, she had to plug in a wall adaptor to top off the battery.

So who is the iPhone marketed to? Not the true power users.

How about the really geeky? Nope. The fact that the iPhone still can't multitask, run flash, java or any of the other standard web technologies and all applications must be blessed by Apple and purchased from them means that the real geeks aren't interested.

Ahh... perhaps it is the light user Apple has targeted? People like my wife... err nope. She gets along just fine with her Motorola A900 (basic cell phone with minor PDA and some multimedia capability.)

It seems like the iPhone is attractive to basically two groups of people. Teens/young adults with money and us middle-aged to older folks who had never considered a PDA phone before.

If this was Apple's target market all along, then again they are marketing geniuses... sell to a niche market and offer them enough new (old) technology features every year to sell them a new phone every year.

Not to be totally negative about the iPhone, there is one place where it excels. Storage. Someone was recently deriding the iPhone because it doesn't take removable media cards. Well... my HTC only has 256MB of storage... so for loading up lots of apps, music files, videos, etc. removable flash storage is a must.

But when the smallest storage on an iPhone EVER was 4GB... lack of storage space is NOT a problem with an iPhone.

Apple is a good company with good products. We have six Macs and two iPods at home. We buy them because of the quality customer service, good industrial designs and higher-than average build quality. No one buys Apple for low prices and bleeding edge technology. Well, except for the Mac Pro perhaps.

Now, if someone wants to give me a 3GS iPhone AND pay the monthly fees, I'll use one. I DO however reserve the right to keep and use my current phone and service as AT&T has the worst coverage in Las Vegas. Over the 14 to 15 years that I've had cell phones, I can probably count my dropped calls from Verizon and Sprint on my fingers and have one or two to spare. My boss on the other hand is constantly dropping his calls to the office, no matter where in town he happens to be. (This was even with non-iPhone AT&T phones.)

What I'll probably end up doing is buying an iPod Touch. I already carry my iPod Classic 80GB on the Goldwing and trips... the Touch and my Mogul (or any cell phone) will pretty much give me an iPhone... without Apples limitations, AT&T's crappy service and without the hype.

So no... 3rd time isn't the charm, I'm still not buying an iPhone.

Questions for the Investigators of the Indiana Pension Funds

Here's a few things that I feel should be looked into as you investigate the activities of the three Indiana State pension funds.

1. Was it greed that caused them to gamble by investing in high interest bonds from a company clearly headed for bankruptcy? It was pretty clear to most, including the owners of Chrysler last year that they couldn't make it and were headed for bankruptcy. Thus any money invested in the failing company had to be backed by high interest bonds to offset the high risk.

2. Are the three state funds managed by the same group? It is interesting that the three vocal holdouts of the Chrysler settle are all state funds from Indiana.

3. What would an audit of those pension funds reveal? Would it show that their investment in Chrysler bonds last year was a "Hail Mary" move to try and replace missing or mismanaged funds?

When Pensions Get Stupid - Must Be the Water in Indiana

Ok... On one hand, we have the former #3 auto maker in the United States. One that is privately held but is deep in debt and losing billions a year.

On the other hand, we have a few pension funds who own a very tiny sliver of Chrysler's debt. So tiny, that any less and it'd be less than 1%!!!

Now... Chrysler can go under, leaving the pension funds able to collect a few pennies on the dollar if they are lucky.

Or, Chrysler can be sold to Fiat and the pension funds and other secured debt holders given majority ownership, thus if not outright saving the investments, at least giving them time to sell off the new stock to recover more of the money than they would with a full bankruptcy.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

And therein lies the rub... it seems that the pension funds are managed by people with no brains.

Instead of looking out for the interests of the pensioners who would benefit from the funds, those mighty mental midgets instead chose turn down the stock in the new company.

They then turned down the 29 cents on the dollar that the rest of the bondholders accepted.

Now remember... those three funds only have $42.5 million invested in Chrysler bonds. The holders of the other $6.8575 BILLION in bonds were OK with the deal.

Instead, the three pension funds' greed caused them to file suit in Federal Court to STOP the saving of Chrysler! They kept losing but appealed all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court. The same court which today, stopped the sale of Chrysler to Fiat.

If Chrysler doesn't find some way to appease those paragons of fiduciary responsibility in Indiana this week, Fiat can and will likely give us all the finger and back out.

When that happens and the pension funds tank due to the actions of their managers, I sincerely hope that the investors/employees whose futures were in those funds and bonds do the same to the managers of the funds and sue the crap out of them.

The Political Party Credit/Blame Decision Maker

We're in a mess. No one can dispute that. Fingers are pointing in a lot of directions. Politicians and commentators from the far left and the far right are battling and as usual, the "common" person is caught at the bottom of this pile of bovine processed grains.

After too many years of listening to Democrat and Republican politicians, AND the rabidly devout of both parties, I've come to notice a lot of similarities in their attitudes. This is not a GOOD thing.

There are SOME though who are new to this political "game" of finger pointing. So to help you banish your newbie status, I've prepared the following chart to help you determine where to place the blame or credit for anything that happens.

You may click the image for a larger version.

Computer Troubles - The Importance of Backup Software

If anyone noticed, I haven't posted in a few weeks.

My MacBook Pro developed some problems and had to go off to the depot level to be repaired. (I love Applecare... under warranty they fixed the problem and did a lot that wasn't necessary such as replacing the keyboard, touchpad, hard drive, dvd burner, etc. leaving only the display, battery and bottom half of the case original.)

Almost as soon as that failed, we developed a problem at work that kept me working odd hours during most of the day for almost two straight weeks.

All is back in good shape now though. The fun part was setting my MBP back up. I had an older backup of it as well as a fresh "most important" I did in the Apple Store before it left. And plenty of my stuff is on other computers and drives.

MobileMe's sync (.Mac to most of us) was backing up my preferences folder as well, so that helped a lot.

This time around I'm doing the backups a little differently.

1. I finally have a dedicated external hard drive for Time Machine, connected via Firewire 800. It is a 500GB LaCie d2 Quadra. It seems rather small at 500GB but my MBP currently only holds a 200GB hard drive. This solution gives me a full backup plus previous versions of files that have changed. The 500GB drive was more expensive than the 1TB Western Digital MyBook but considering my experience with the MyBooks (I own four of them) is worth the money.

2. I will be adding a second external drive that will be used for a bootable backup. For this, I'll use Synchronize! Pro X from Qdea. I could use Carbon Copy Cloner which is another popular backup program and is donationware/cheaper than Synchronize! Pro X, but there are issues restoring cloned drives to drives of different models. So I'm not personally convinced that I should switch. I personally KNOW that Synchronize! Pro X works perfectly.

3. I changed the way I install applications. Usually I installed them to the default Applications folder. However, I simply created an Applications folder inside of my home folder and put the applications there. For the most part, the only ones in the main Applications folder are those supplied with OS X. The reason? I can take a Mac with freshly installed copy of OS X, restore/copy over my home folder and be back up and running.

4. In addition to the MobileMe synchronization, I have a subscription to DropBox where I keep my programming source code. I have a "dropbox" folder on each of my computers (Windows and Mac) which is automatically kept synchronized on those computers and an encrypted account on getdropbox.com for web access. Any file added, deleted or changed on one computer is almost instantly reflected on all my other computers. I will probably be adding an account from SpiderOak.com as well. Both offer 2GB for free... SpiderOak offers 100GB for $100 a year vs $200 a year at GetDropBox.com. Plus with SpiderOak, I select which folders are synced rather than having to use one master folder. (I.E. I can select my "pictures" folder and an "important stuff" folder instead of having to put both into one dropbox folder.)

All in all, this should make my life easier the next time something bad happens. And since we're talking computers/electro-mechanical devices it is indeed WHEN and not IF.

Sticky Notes Online - Synchronized Sticky Notes

Every now and then a new app or utility jumps up and smacks me in the face with how useful it is rather than me having to use it extensively first.

Sticky Notes Online by Sharpra is one of those that make me say "Wow!"

The concept is simple: A Small application that looks like a Post-It™ note. Such apps come with OS X, Windows Vista/7 and a number of other systems that support Widgets/Gadgets/Applets.

There are 3rd party freeware/shareware/commercial sticky note applications that will even synchronize to other computers running the same program.

The difference is that Sharpra offers sticky note programs for almost everything, so it almost doesn't matter what operating systems or devices you use, notes you write on one device will appear on all of your devices.

Since they currently offer Sticky Notes Online for Windows Vista Sidebar, Windows 7, Mac Dashboard, Google Desktop Gadget for Windows XP/Vista/7/OS X/Linux, IGoogle.com, Live.com and MyAOL.com... it covers most desktops out there.

They are also planning to release iPhone and Windows Mobile versions this year with Blackberry and Android versions in the first half of next year.

Granted, this isn't earthshaking, world-peace-inducing, orgasmic software. No, it is just a small application that does one thing and does it well. Allows you to take notes and edit/view them on almost every communications device that you own. Even phones without current support can see the notes on your IGoogle.com page providing your phone has a web browser and internet connection.

The Cost: Oh did I mention that it is FREE?

Actually it is donation-ware. It is free to use for as long as you like. If you like it, they ask that you make a donation to them. Even that is unobtrusive... in the Dashboard widget you have to click the info icon, then go to About and you'll see the PayPal donation button.

Bottom Line: If you have more than one communications device or computer, jot little notes to yourself and want to have those same notes on all your devices/computers, Sticky-Notes Online is a must have application.

I'm Applying For the Patent on Female Breasts

That's right. I'm going to own the patent on one of men's favorite play toys. If anybody wants to study them, examine them or do anything else with them then they'll have to ask MY permission and pay a licensing fee.

No, I'm not God. I didn't invent them nor do I create them. My ideas obvious had no influence in their development as they've happily existed for thousands of years providing nourishment to infants and joy to men and women all over the world.

So how do I figure that I can patent female breasts? Well, if the University of Utah Research can patent a pair of humane genes which they didn't create, then I can patent a pair of boobs. So there.

Oh and ladies? Remember, they'll soon be mine so you have to share. *GRIN*

ACLU sues over patents on breast cancer genes - CNN.com

It's All About the Lies Dummy!

Carrie Prejean is a proud Christian and proud of her morals. She was proud to be crown Miss California USA and came in second in the national event. There is one small problem: It seems that she may be a habitual liar.

To try and keep the pageants wholesome, pageant rules require candidates to reveal any nude or semi-nude photographs that may be floating around. Having them taken doesn't disqualify the woman, but the committee will determine if they cross the line. The current Miss New Jersey USA posed for some very revealing shots for Maxim magazine. Pageant officials had no problems with them. She informed them of the shots, the officials reviewed them and said all was fine.

Ms. Prejean, being the good, moral Christian that she is, told officials that she'd never posed for nude or semi-nude photographs and signed a contract stating the same.

When a professionally shot, topless photo of her appeared on thedirty.com, she said that "That is the only one", that she was 17 when it was taken, that she didn't know that it was still around and that it was a smear campaign because of her views that gay marriages should be banned.

Except that there are at least THREE photos, according to one of her pageant sponsors, she was over 18 when the photos were taken as they were after the breast enhancement surgery she got at 18, and that she knew the photos were still around as she'd sent her sponsor one asking if she was in good enough shape for the pageant.

Now her photos are even less risque than the ones of Miss New Jersey that officials approved. Certainly, they are nothing to be ashamed of, even for a moral Christian. Consequently, pageant officials would have given her a pass on them if she'd been an HONEST, moral, Christian.

However, she lied to pageant officials about there not being any nude or semi-nude photos of her. That is a fact that can't be challenged.

She lied again to officials when after the first photo appeared, she promised them that this was the ONE and ONLY photo. That's been proven a lie as well.

It seems that she may have lied about her age, knowledge and purpose of the photos as well.

To add insult to injury, she has repeatedly missed events that as Miss California is required to attend and has participated in an advertising campaign not approved by the pageant committee.

Yes Ms. Prejean claims that all the fuss is because as a good, moral Christian, she spoke out against gay marriage.

No toots... it is all about your LIES!

God must like good, moral, lying Christians though... Or at least Donald Trump does. Mr. Trump, who owns the pageant announced today that (despite her lies and her failure to do her job) he's letting her keep the crown.

Miss California USA to keep title - CNN.com

It Sucks Getting Old

It sucks getting old. I'm fond of saying that it is better than the alternative, but someone proved to me that it may not be so.

He said that there are three possibilities in death. That whatever is after is better than now, worse than now or no change. That means that statistically, there's only a 33.333% chance that being dead is worse than being alive. Comforting thought.

We're all getting older from the moment we were born. But from time to time, something pops up and smacks us in the head to remind us just how far along we've gone.

When I joined the U. S. Air Force, we had a guy in our flight who was the old man of 26. He was actually married and had a kid! Remember, most of us were 17 and 18 years old. So he was ancient, at least in our eyes.

The first time it finally hit me that I was no longer a young man was when after I hadn't seen a Playboy magazine in a long time, I opened one up, looked at the centerfold then at her data sheet. The first was that she was younger than me. The second was that I could clearly remember what I was doing the year she was born. You guys will probably understand this, but for the ladies... I'd been looking at and eventually even READING Playboy magazine since I was 8 or 9 years old. The women were always "older women". Now they were younger women! When did Playboy start doing that?

The next big slam came when I was working part time at the local community college in the computer lab. There was a very sweet young coworker who seemed to like me. We shared several interests in common, one being instrumental jazz. I mentioned two of my then favorites, Wes Montgomery and Cal Tjader. "Who?" she asked. "They were pretty much big in the late 60s, early 70s", I replied. As she batted her lashes at me and gave me a slight smile, she said, "I wasn't even born yet."

The final grey hair inducing slap came on a hike about fourteen years ago. We'd been given instructions to wear hiking boots/rough-soled shoes. On one of our breaks, a sweet young thing (girlfriend of one of my friends) was giving me hell because she could see that the soles of my combat boots were worn almost smooth.

"Give me a break" I said, "I got these 20 years ago!"

Again, she gave me that look that only a pretty girl can get away with and said, "You have BOOTS older than me?"

Just shoot me now.

However, misery loves company. So... every chance I get I share these grey hair raising moments with my lovely wife. Mostly because it drives her snakeshit as she's just a little older than me. *GRIN* Yes, I'm an ornery old brat. Bad and damn good at it.

So I'm fond of pointing out how many years ago something happened.

This is 2009 and a lot sure happened in 1969, just forty years ago:

The one that got me thinking a out this today is that I recently recorded "Alice's Restaurant" off Turner Classic Movies. What surprised me was that the movie came out 40 years ago.

Here's a few other "current" events that happened forty years ago this year:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 800
A new house cost $15,550.00
Average U. S. income was $8,550
Average Monthly rent in the U. S. was $135
A new car averaged $3,270.00
A gallon of gas was 35 cents.

Richard Nixon became President of the United States

Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon

The Queen Elizabeth 2 had her maiden voyage

Golda Meir from Milwaukee, Wisconsin became Prime Minister of Israel

Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to sail solo, non-stop, around the world.

The U. S. started the draft for Viet Nam.

The U. S. started the first troop withdrawals from Viet Nam.

PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) started in the U. S.

After a party, Senator Ted Kennedy drove himself and young Mary Joe Kopechne off a bridge. Senator Kennedy swam to safety but didn't call authorities untll after her body was found the next day.

The Charles Manson Cult murdered Sharon Tate and four others.

Hurricane Camille hit Mississippi, one of the worst hurricanes in history. I lived in Biloxi until just weeks before she hit.

Wal-Mart incorporated

The Chicago Seven went on trial for the riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Charles de Gaulle resigned as the President of France

350,000 to 400,000 rock fans swarmed a farm in New York for the Woodstock music festival.

The U. S. Air Force closed Project Blue Book concluding that there was no evidence of UFO's

The Concorde flew its first test flight

The first transplant of a human eye was done

Seiko sold the first quartz watch

The Harrier Jump Jet entered service with the RAF. (The Harrier is or was also used by the U. S. Marines. It was the first and as far as I know, only jet fighter than can hover. A U. S. Marine also figured out how to make it fly backwards.)

The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) was founded

ARPANET was created (the precursor to the Internet)

The Boeing 747 made its public debut.

UNIX was invented

GM introduced the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

The microprocessor was invented.

The first battery powered smoke detector was released in the U. S.

The first ATM machine was installed

Sesame Street debuted

Bell bottom jeans and tie-dye shirts were the teen fashion rage

The Beatles performed their last public appearance.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Brett Favre were both born in 1969.

He Said, She Said: An Inconvenient Truth

When two sides have differing stories, the usual reliable method is to look and see who has the most to gain from distorting the facts.

In this water-boarding case though, do we believe a professional disinformation agency trying to justify their actions? Or do we believe a professional politician who takes pleasure in trashing the previous administration who approved the interrogation techniques in question?

The CIA has records which may confirm their story while Nancy Pelosi only has her word.

CIA says Pelosi knew about waterboarding; she says no - CNN.com

Morons Commit the Crime, Walmart Pays the Fine

One of my pet peeves (in case you hadn't noticed) is that people don't take responsibilities for their actions. It is easier to just blame everyone else.

More and more lately, we've seen the public at large turn into a mob at a sale. (I posted a bit ago how the average IQ is inverse to the size of the crowd.) It seems like every time some "hot" new toy comes out, morons will stand in line for hours/days to get it. PS3, iPhone, xBox all come to mind.

Last year on the day after Thanksgiving, thousands of people massed outside of a Walmart in New York, all eager to get in on the so called door-buster sales. Well, with thousands in the mob, you can figure out that the average IQ must have been lower than the number of times a year that Paris Hilton remembers to wear panties in public.

Anyway, the Walmart doors opened and the herd of cattle, err I mean mob of shoppers, stampeded injuring a number of people and trampling a Walmart employee to death.

Now it'd be difficult, but not impossible to identify those idiots from the various security tapes.

Instead, however, the county prosecutor took the easy way out and went after Walmart. They've settled and Walmart is now going to pay for the actions of the moronic mass of shoppers.

Walmart screwed up by not having better crowd-control. Nevertheless, they DID at least try to have crowd-control. Though, from the sounds of things they really needed the NYPD Riot Squad.

Wal-Mart to pay $2 million after employee's death - CNN.com: ""

Roland Says: "Man up and be a real dad" - I say "Amen!"

Roland S. Martin's commentaries on CNN.COM are usually very interesting reading, even if I rarely agree with him. Then again, if I always agreed with him and others... Then it'd mean that we think alike and if we all though alike, this country would be in a lot better shape (assuming we all thought MY way. LOL)

Today though, Mr. Martin has posted a very good column that I totally agree with.

There's an old saying. "Any male can be a father, it takes someone special to be a Daddy."

And buddy, that's the truth.

There are far too many children growing up without the benefit of a Daddy. There are far too many men, or rather males who wanted the fun of procreation without taking the responsibility for the created.

My first wife and I tried to have children, but it wasn't meant to be. They all failed in miscarriages. Many years later I was fortunate enough to get involved in the lives of a wonderful divorced woman and her then twelve year old son. A young man who never knew his father and had been raised to that point by his grandmother and mother, with some influence from his late grandfather.

Luckily for him, his grandmother and mother had done a great job protecting and raising him, but at twelve, he was entering those rebellious years of teen-hood. The age where he needed a firm male hand and role model in his life. I say I was fortunate, and I was in that both, he and his mother accepted my willingness to fill that role. I didn't to do a lot, just be there for him, talk with him and try to guide him through the turmoil of his teen years. My reward was having a son to be proud of and watching him grown into a man to be proud of. Now almost 17 years later, his mother and I look at him with great pride and a feeling of accomplishment. Is he perfect? Nope and neither are we. However, we have a man who is loving, a hard working professional and who will be a good provider. A man who hasn't ruined his life with crime, drugs or booze.

Sadly, for many children, their fathers can't be around to provide that role. Even sadder are those cases where the fathers COULD be around but aren't. The worst though is where the fathers ARE around but negligent. It is primarily to THOSE fathers that Mr. Martin is addressing when he tells them to "Man up and be a real dad".

To which I say, "Hear, hear!" and "Amen!"

Please read Mr. Martin's column and pass it on to a father who could use a kick in the pants.

Also, with Father's Day coming up, please at least shake the hands of any Daddy's you know. Men who have done or are doing their jobs and taking care of their responsibilities.

Commentary: Man up and be a real dad - CNN.com: ""

Jacqui Assumes Too Much

In a grand but merely symbolic gesture, Britain's Home Office Secretary Jacqui Smith and the Home Office have published a list of people not welcome to come to Britain. That is assuming that the people on the list ever even thought of visiting Britain, which in considering the backgrounds of many on the list is probably not the case.

As for me, I love Britain. I lived in England for several years back in the 70s courtesy of Uncle Sam's Air Force. The people were wonderful and the laid-back rural lifestyle was a real treat, much like I think it'd be if we could roll the calendar back 30 years here in the States. I've often stated in public that the way things are going, I'd like to move to Canada or back to Great Britain as if I'm going to live in a Socialist country, I want to do it in a country with lots of experience at it.

For what it is worth, I recognize several on the list, especially the "Reverend" Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church and wouldn't want them visiting me either. We still have some freedom of speech in the United States, so I'll defend his right to his opinions. Just keep them away from funerals and me.

UK publishes list of 'least wanted' people - CNN.com: ""

(Via .)

Ex-Secretary of State Wears Rose Colored Glasses

Condoleezza Rice may be "a professor, diplomat, author and national security expert" according to Wikipedia, but she has a BIG blind spot when it comes to George W. Bush.

I've read many comments from family members, neighbors and friends of a person suspected of a major crime "But he'd NEVER do anything like that!"

Ms. Rice's comments today echo the same symptoms of disbelief and hero worship about her ex-boss:

Rice: Bush wouldn't approve illegal interrogations - CNN.com: ""

"He was also very clear that we would do nothing -- nothing -- that was against the law or against our obligations internationally"

"was only willing to authorize policies that were legal in order to protect the country"

"Even under those most difficult circumstances, the president was not prepared to do something illegal."

(Via CNN.)

Has she forgotten the illegal wiretaps by the NSA which President Bush authorized? Despite an almost white-wash by Congress, the facts were clear:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1980 allowed the President to spy without a warrant for up to a year, UNLESS someone in the U. S. legally was involved. If someone from the U. S. was involved in the wiretap, the Feds had three days to obtain a warrant from a secret court. In 26 years, the secret FISA courts approved 22,985 of the 22,990 warrant applications.

But that wasn't good enough for Ex-President Bush. He chose to go outside of the law and order the NSA to start secretly intercepting cell phone and other phone conversations without a warrant and against folks who would certainly cause the wiretap to require a FISA search warrant.

Even Congress admits that the President violated the law, through their response to give the president more power yet tighten the controls. If he hadn't broken the law, then the changes in 2006, 2007 and 2008 at the height of the bad publicity wouldn't have been needed.

So President Bush certainly broke the law in that case, why should we believe that he was incapable of breaking the law in regard to torture?

The Perfect Baby Shower Gift: 20 Pounds of Gold

A number of children are given money at birth in the form of opening trust or college funds for them. However, considering the debt load that each child has at the moment of birth, perhaps giving them 20 pounds of gold is a better idea so that they can start life debt free. That will cover their share of the U. S. National Debt and unfunded Social Security and Medicare commitments. Only 20 pounds of gold however, won't also pay for their college or even their graduation gown.

BTW, that amount of gold is almost THREE TIMES the average newborn's weight in gold.

Here's how I came up with the number.

According to the U. S. Treasury, the U. S. National Debit is currently $11.15 trillion. This is the debt for past Congressional spending.

According to this speech given to the Federal Reserve, the total amount of Social Security Benefits and Medicare Benefits that are unfunded is $70 trillion. This is the amount of money the Federal government has committed to paying out after the trust funds run out of money. This is debt for future spending that is committed but for which no funds are available.

This brings us to a grand total of $81.15 trillion of debt.

According to the Federal census folks, there are currently 306,324,670 people in the United States.

So the share per person (share = debt/population) is: $264,915.00

The price of gold as of today in troy ounces is $886.80.

Share per person expressed in troy ounces of gold (ounces = share/price per ounce): 298.731393

Converted to U. S. pounds @ 14.58 troy ounces per U. S. pound = 20.5 pounds of gold bullion.

Clinton Balanced the Budget... So What Did Obama Do?

Before the last U.S. Presidential election, I heard a lot of Democrats crowing about how President Clinton balanced the Federal Budget and produced a surplus. Thus according to them, only a Democrat as President would again, balance the budget.

So we have Barrack Obama in the Whitehouse and a record busting almost $3.5 trillion budget with a planned deficit of over $1 trillion!

WHAT? I thought those Democrats said a Democrat as President would balance the budget?

Could it be because the President doesn't determine how much we spend? I know, it's just a little fact. But facts count.

Presidents prepare budgets and ASK Congress to approve them.

When "Clinton" balance the budget, that was (I think) the first Republican controlled Congress in 40 years that approved it. Just by coincidence, it was the first balanced budget in 40 years. (Remember, the "Great Society" and all the budget busting social welfare programs were started by the Democrats after they tool control of Congress back in the 60s.)

So we had a Democratic President and a Republican Congress that balanced the budget. In most of Bush's term, he had a Democratic Congress.

Now we have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress and the budget is busted all over the place.

Their "frugal" budget plans to get the deficit back down to above the record Bush/Dem Congress 2009 planned deficit in only four years.

Yup, that's change we can count on... trillions of dollars worth of change.

Why not use Photoshop vs flying Air Force One?

Why not use Photoshop vs flying Air Force One? - iReport.com: Is the question posed by an iReporter referring to the recent low level fly-over of Manhattan by Air Force One for publicity photo purposes.

In case you've been in a coma that past few days, you'll know that the fly-over caused thousands to panic and try to evacuate due to memories of 9/11.

The iReporter has a good point and the comments on that page agree with him or her.

However, expecting the government to use stock photos and Photoshop, just saving many thousands of tax-payer dollars with the economy the way it is, well, that's just asking the government to use sense.

It has been said that the bigger the crowd, the lower the average IQ of people in the crowd.

And that describes our government perfectly... a crowd of morons, many who when seen singly or in very small groups seem to have at least as many functioning brain cells as class of college freshman. But when in a crowd... like when Congress is in session, or a Federal Department shows up for work, degenerates into the equivalent mental power of the town of St. Olaf. (A reference to the dense citizens of the fictional town that Betty White's character in The Golden Girls was always talking about.)

(Via iReport.com.)

A Punny Thing Happened on the Way to the Fish Market

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com: "Cod swallows cell phone "

A small human interest/odd news story caught my eye this morning. The front page headline read "Cell phone found in belly of 30-lb cod". Now remember, I'd only been awake a few minutes... but my first thought was "Hmm a long distance calling cod."

Jay Leno... if you're reading this, feel free to use it. LOL

(Via CNN.com.)

Will Mike Tyson's Family Get Him Pardoned Because He Is Black?

Family of boxer fights for pardon of 1913 racist conviction - CNN.com

And now the rest of the story.

In the above news story, the family is upset and outraged that their ancestor was convicted of violating the Mann Act about 100 years ago and because he was black, want him pardoned.

The truth of the matter is that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Government couldn't prohibit prostitution. That was for the states to do. So we got the Mann Act which made it illegal to transport a woman across state lines for immoral purposes, as that fell under the Federal jurisdiction of interstate commerce. This was the law he broke as he was in the habit of hiring prostitutes and taking them to another state for the act.

He was convicted of transporting a prostitute across state lines for sex. He married the prostitute the Feds had as a witness so she couldn't testify against him. No problem though as the Feds had at least one other standing in line to testify. It took the jury two whole hours to decide that yes, he had violated Federal law by taking a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes", a violation of the Mann Act. He was sentenced to one year and a day in prison.

That should be the end of the story... a man repeatedly commits a crime, gets caught, convicted and sentenced. Nothing new here.

But, because he was black and convicted by an all white jury, they want President Obama to pardon him and clear up the family name. The pardon is only symbolic as it won't change the facts that the ancestor whored around and broke the law (which is still in effect today.)

Gee, in 100 years will Mike Tyson's descendants ask for him to be pardoned, claiming that the rape charges were only because he was black?

Make Choices and Live with the Consquences

That is one of the tenets on which I was raised, though it is currently deemed old fashioned. "Life is full of choices, you make yours and live with the consequences." Then again, most things that resemble taking personal responsibility are out of fashion.

Almost 20 years ago, two people independently chose to commit crimes. They continued to commit crimes for almost 20 years. Today they are paying the price for those crimes as is their daughter.

The crimes? They wanted a better life by leaving their rural Philippine farms and moving to the big city of Tokyo, Japan. That in itself isn't a crime of course. The crimes came in when they found that they weren't qualified to emigrate to Japan.

The crime was when they each chose to obtain forged passports (a crime) and enter Japan illegally.

As illegal immigrants, they got jobs, again a crime in Japan.

They stayed in Japan illegally for almost 20 years. More crime.

They got married to each other... now aiding and abetting each other in the continued commission of a crime.

They got caught.

They got convicted.

They got sentenced.

Now they have to return to the Philippines in shame as convicted criminals.

I don't feel bad for the couple. They made their choices to commit those crimes. They took their chances and got caught. Now they need to deal with the consequences.

However... there's a consequence of one of their choices that they didn't bother to think about. They had a child while living illegally in Japan.

Japanese law is much like U.S. law in this respect in that the child born in Japan may stay in Japan. Unlike the U.S. they don't get automatic citizenship but close to it.

So here we have a teen girl, 13 years old who knows nothing of her Philippine heritage. She speaks only Japanese, not Tagalog. Her culture is Japanese.

The Japanese government gave the girl a choice. Stay in Japan or go to the Philippines with her parents. She chose to stay in Tokyo.

Yet the press reports people thumping their chests about how this violates the human rights of her and her parents. Excuse me?

All three individuals made choices. No one forced the parents to commit crimes. No one forced the girl to choose to stay with an aunt in Tokyo rather than stay with her parents. The only parties that are wrong in this case are her criminal parents.

We have a similar situation in this country. Here's an example, a woman doesn't qualify for immigration into the United States. So she comes across the U.S.-Mexico border at other than a valid port of entry. That is a violation of U.S. Federal law.

She stays in this country without a valid visa. Again, in violation of U.S. Federal law. So now she's committed two crimes.

She gets a job. Since she has no right or permission to live or work in the United States there's another law broken.

Then she has a baby. THAT is not illegal. However, under U.S. law, the baby is automatically a U.S. Citizen. As a rule, if mom gets caught, she'll be allowed to stay in the United States until the child reaches a certain again. The child is called an "anchor baby".

In most cases, before the child reaches the age where mom would be forced to go back to Mexico, mom's dropped another kid or two, thus ensuring that she gets to stay in the United States.

The part that really riled me though was when the illegal immigrants were protesting a couple of years ago with placards "We are not criminals!".

Yes you are.

You can call yourselves "undocumented workers" but you are criminals in every sense of the word just by crossing the border at other than a legal point of entry. You didn't use the legal point because you knew that you wouldn't be allowed in. This makes you at the least a trespasser.

This is the same as the couple from the Phillipines. They KNEW that they wouldn't be allowed to stay in Japan, so they set about to break numerous laws to do so.

As the joke goes, "Calling an illegal immigrant an undocumented worker is like calling a drug dealer an unlicensed pharmacist."

Illegal immigrants are illegal immigrants. You chose to break the law, deal with the consequences.

Schoolgirl told to choose: Country or parents - CNN.com:

Island DIY: Kauai residents don't wait for state to repair road

And they saved the state $4 Million in the process by doing it all for free and in only eight days! Gee, people helping themselves... while doing it cheaper and faster than the government. I love it!

Island DIY: Kauai residents don't wait for state to repair road - CNN.com: "Their livelihood was being threatened, and they were tired of waiting for government help, so business owners and residents on Hawaii's Kauai island pulled together and completed a $4 million repair job to a state park -- for free."

(Via CNN.)

So Where Is the U.S. Congressional Blonde Caucus?

U.S. lawmakers meet with Fidel Castro - CNN.com: "Fidel Castro, the longtime communist leader of Cuba, met with visiting members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus..."

(Via CNN.)

I keep hearing about how we all need to look beyond skin color, blah, blah blah. So why does Congress have a "Black Caucus"? Why not a Blonde Caucus? Where is the Brown Caucus? How about a Congressional Eyeglass Wearer's Caucus? Oh! I know... How about forming an U.S. Congressional Honest Politician Caucus?

Never mind, I doubt we could even find ONE.

Hmm sounds like a motorcycle to me

GM and Segway have teamed up to make a low cost two wheeled vehicle. "A solution to the world's urban transportation problems could lie in two wheels not four, according to executives for General Motors Corp. and Segway Inc."

reviewjournal.com -- Associated Press News: "The companies did not release a projected cost for the vehicle, but said ideally its total operating cost - including purchase price, insurance, maintenance and fuel - would total between one-fourth and one-third of that of the average traditional vehicle."

(Via Las Vegas Review Journal.)

Sweet Memories of Childhood

A co-worker offered me a stick of Dentyne gum. And off my mind goes, not just wandering but doing it at a run.

I'll just name some things... see what it does for your memories.

Blackjack


Clove

Beemans 

Boston Baked Beans 

Chick-O-Stick

peanut butter logs

wax lips

wax bottles with sweet syrup in them 

pixie stix

Bazooka bubble gum (and the Bazooka Joe comics)

red vines

Milk Duds

Whoppers (long before Burger King)

Good and Plenty

candy cigarettes

candy corn



The sound of the ice cream truck on a hot summer day... nutty buddies, sidewalk sundaes, dreamsicles, pushups, ice cream sandwiches...

When reading this, my wife told me that our teeth would fall out. I pointed out that at our age, at least we can put them back in.

*SIGH*

GM Continues to Blur the facts

Prior to the Bailout... the CEO of GM made over $20 million in "other compensation" each year in addition to his salary. So promising to reduce his salary to $1 per was no big deal.

Of course no mention is THIS story about that. "Oh look! He promised to do it and did. What a great sacrifice!"

GM's ousted CEO eligible for $20M retirement package - CNN.com: "Wagoner said late last year he would accept a $1 annual salary if the federal government would come through with billions of dollars in loans for GM. The loans came, and Wagoner's $1 salary commenced January 1, according to a filing with the SEC."

(Via CNN.)

They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha hah...

That's it... I'm certifiable. We've all had songs stuck in our heads at least once. But for the past half hour or so, I've had Carioca as recorded by Martin Denny running through mine.

This wouldn't be so bad as Carioca is a pretty song and Martin Denny and His Orchestra were very good. The problem is... According to All Music he never recorded that song.

So where did this full arrangement that I'm mentally hearing over and over come from? Yes, full arrangement. I hear marimba, piano, bass, maracas, the wood rasp/scraper thing and tropical bird calls. No vocals, just orchestra.

Here you'll find that Track #24 is a clip from the version by the Andrews Sisters. More up tempo than the arrangement I'm "hearing".

All I can figure out is that I must have read one news story too many and my fragile psyche has finally snapped leaving me in the same condition as those running our country.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

There are many reasons for me to be worried these days. The news rarely has anything good to say. My wife has been unemployed for over six months (after over ten years in her company) and no one wants to hire an older nurse. The company I work for is suffering much like most of American businesses so my job (after 12 years) isn't too secure. All around me I see others getting "downsized". What little investment for retirement we had, has dwindled to half value thanks to the death spiral of the stock market. Our health is suffering, our vehicles getting to the point where we need to replace them but can't afford it. Our income is cut in half while expenses like utilities and groceries keep going up.

On the governmental front, we've come out of eight years of increasingly fascist leaning government to replace it with an increasingly Marxist leaning one.

Then add in the media boogie-men of Global Warming, pandemics, looming life terminating events (calderas, giant asteroids, etc) and an increasing number of mass homicides.

However, this morning it dawned on me that instead of thinking about all of the things that are going wrong, I should instead, focus on all of the things that are going right.

My wife and I are still happily married, our son is doing great in his corporate IT job and has survived several rounds of lay-offs. The weather here in Las Vegas is nice as is usual for this time of year. I'm still healthy enough to enjoy riding my Goldwing motorcycle to the job I still have. And I still have the Internet and access it via one of the fastest home broadband connections in the United States (though that's only a fraction of the speeds available in Europe and at a much higher price.)

So this week, I'm going to try my best to follow the advice of Bobby McFerrin:

"In every life we have some trouble 
When you worry you make it double 
Don't worry, be happy......"

After all, this has been the mantra of peasants for over a thousand years.

/me reaches for the Kool-aid

Is Hillary So Bad That An Actor Has To Spin Things She Says?

Perhaps some day she'll be seasoned enough to speak for herself. Oh wait... she DID!

Gere: Clinton 'misspoke in the moment'

Actor Richard Gere told Wolf Blitzer in an interview on Monday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “misspoke in the moment” when she said that human rights “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis.”

(Via CNN.)

What Part of "Shall Not Be Infringed" Don't You Understand?

Back in September of last year i blogged about the dumbing down of America as part of the "the biggest threat to a tyrannical government" which is "An educated, armed and mobile populace."

For almost 100 years, the Federal Government has imposed more and more restrictions on the private ownership of firearms. Starting with the exorbitant Federal tax on full automatic weapons and short barreled shotguns in 1934 through the Gun Control act of 1968 to the Brady Bill and "Assault Weapons Ban" of 1994, our Federal Government has continued to infringe on the 2nd Amendment rights of our citizens.

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
-- United States Constitution, Amendment II

infringe - Definition

in·fringe 
Pronunciation: \in-ˈfrinj\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): in·fringed; in·fring·ing
Etymology: Medieval Latin infringere, from Latin, to break, crush, from in- + frangere to break — more at break
Date: 1513
transitive verb
1: to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another 
2 obsolete : defeat , frustrate
intransitive verb
: encroach —used with on or upon

(Via Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.)

More Definitions at:Webster and Oxford English Dictionary

Considering that the 2nd Amendment was ratified in 1791, I'd guess that it is safe to say that the obsolete usage of "frustrate or defeat" applies in this usage as well.

Last year, the United States Supreme Court finally ruling (as most of us believed anyway) that the Second Amendment refers to an individual right, not right of the states.

Add to this the definition of "infringe" and every Federal law regarding firearms ownership or usage by individuals is unconstitutional. The same with state laws on the subject provided that the state based their constitution on the Federal one and included such a statement.

Last Year I Culd Not Spel Fiskal Konservativ. Now I Are One.

Hoyer: Congress, not Obama, to decide on earmarks - CNN.com

Earmarks... Pet projects tacked onto non-related bills are also known as "pork". Taxpayer dollars not necessary to run the country, but popular with the voters back home, especially since the spending is done with OPM (other people's money.)

President Obama campaigned for change, for no "politics as usual", for not "sending the same old people" to Washington, for cutting spending.

Yet those same old people that he's used to populate his administration were not only feeding at the trough last year, they were shoveling it in as fast as they could. Now those people call it "last year's business" and call for limited pork from now on.

Guess they are now fiscal conservatives since they don't have to appease the voters back home for re-election.

From the article:

The majority leader dismissed a reporter's question on whether the $410 billion spending bill for the rest of this year is becoming an "embarrassment" to Obama, and reiterated Obama's argument that the package is "last year's business."

Hoyer also said that even though Obama, then a senator, did not request any earmarks in last year's spending bill, he did request projects for Illinois in prior years he served in the Senate.

Cutting "wasteful" government spending was a pledge Obama made on the campaign trail and has repeated as president.

Despite Obama's promise, the administration says it inherited the spending and he will sign it.

Several members of Obama's administration served in Congress and have earmarks listed on the bill.

Vice President Joe Biden requested $750,000 for a University of Delaware program during his time as a senator from that state. Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who was a Democratic congressman from Illinois, requested $900,000 for a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.

An Emanuel aide told CNN on Monday the request was submitted more than a year ago and is leftover business.

(Via CNN.)

Surprise! - Another Tax Cheat Politician

Obama's trade rep pick owes almost $10,000 in taxes - CNN.com

(Via CNN.)

When campaigning, President Obama repeatedly stated that you can't get change by sending the same old people back to Washington and having the same old politics. (Of course sending then-Senator Obama back to Washington as President didn't count in his book. He was talking about sending a different Senator back to Washington as President being unable to bring change.)

However, as some in the media have pointed out, President Obama has surrounded himself with "the same old people" who carry on "the same old politics".

A perfect example is shown by the problems his picks for cabinet members and other high offices have faced. At least four of them are guilty of not paying taxes. Since Vice-President Biden stated that paying taxes is patriotic, those Obama picks must be unpatriotic.

The latest scoundrel, err I mean fine, honest politician (I can't even type that with a straight face) didn't bother to report almost $40,000 in income, claimed charitable deductions using the income he didn't declare and filed false business expenses.

Now if that were you or me caught doing that... the IRS would be all over us with fines, interest, etc.; They'd be threatening to seize our property, attach our wages and possibly even jail time.

However, if you happen to be an Obama pick, those in power looks the other way saying: "just file amended tax returns and we'll forget about this."

Weeks ago, there was an editorial cartoon showing President Obama behind his desk going through the Washington, D.C. phonebooks. The caption was something like "Doesn't ANYONE in this town pay taxes?"

Gee, that's Washington D.C. Full of politicians who by nature, tend to be cheats, liars and thieves. Obama should know this having worked in a similar environment of Chicago's Daily Machine.

OTOH, Remember the black outrage about the editorial cartoon of a dead monkey, the caption saying: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill"? Somehow black activists decided that the cartoon was racial (I'm not sure what connection the NAACP and Reverend Al Sharpton claimed but it appears to be that monkeys are blacks or blacks are monkeys or something like that.) and a call to assassinate President Obama. (Makes me wonder about the IQ of those black "leaders".)

Well, the phonebook cartoon is much more racial... it insinuates the Obama has gone through half of the names in the Washington DC phonebook and all of them have tax problems.

Let's see... I doubt many Washington Politicians are in the Washington DC phonebook. They live in their home states. I imagine that many live in Virginia and Maryland in those expensive rich people communities.

So who DOES live in Washington DC? According to the census... 60% of Washington DC residents are black. (citation here.)

Hmm...
Joe Biden says that paying taxes is patriotic.
Therefore, the corollary is that not paying your taxes would be unpatriotic.

A large percentage of Obama's picks didn't pay their taxes.
Therefore, a large percentage of Obama's picks are unpatriotic.

The majority of residents of Washington DC are black.

We can safely assume that Joe Biden feels that it is unpatriotic to not pay your taxes.

I guess the question of the day should be: "Which is more surprising? That yet another politician/Obama pick cheated on his taxes?

Or an editorial cartoon says that blacks are unpatriotic tax cheats and which doesn't even rate a protest by those who associate a dead monkey with President Obama?

The Lens of History? Try the Lens of Reality

Commentary: NY Post cartoon is racist and careless - CNN.com: "...has to be seen through the lens of America's racist past..."

(Via CNN Politics.)

Ok, most anyone who (to borrow a phrase from a comment left to the above editorial) has been within 50 feet of a news source in the past week, knows about the chimp who was killed by police after attacking a woman. The same thing goes for the news about the latest stimulus package and who wrote it.

For those who have been in hibernation for the past week, a pet chimpanzee in viciously attacked and injured a woman friend of the chimp's owner. The chimp was killed by police. Also, Senators and Representatives in the Capitol finally hammered out a bill laden with pork and wasteful spending but which contains just enough legitimate stuff to qualify as the economic stimulus package that is such a high priority for President Obama.

So the Washington Post published an editorial cartoon showing: "a cop is holding a smoking gun and, with another officer, looking at a bullet-riddled body of a chimpanzee. The caption reads: 'They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.'" (Quoted from the above referenced article.)

Ok... a political cartoon combining recent news events. Nothing new here.

To me and others I know... it is clearly a shot at Washington Politics where they've continually monkeyed around, padding their pockets and pretending to do good for the American people. I.E. the opposite of what President Obama promised during his campaign.

However, Roland S. Martin, Reverend Al Sharpton, the New York Association of Black Journalists and others looked at that cartoon and interpreted the chimp as representing President Obama.

According to Roland S. Martin (whose columns I normally enjoy), "We all know that the stimulus bill was the first priority of the new president, so when reading the caption, it was easy to infer that the cartoonist was implying the president of the United States."

WHAT?

Umm... No.

You might be able to infer that IF you were already predisposed to bigotry and prejudice while not having a clue about what's going on in Washington. Which based on his prior columns does not describe Mr. Martin.

You might be able to infer that if when you see a chimp, you think black man and when you see President Obama you see a black man.

"What could be seen as silly humor if President George W. Bush were in the White House has to be seen through the lens of America's racist past, as noted by the leaders of the New York Association of Black Journalists, who also are demanding an apology from the Post."

Put away the lens of America's racial past and get over it. Don't forget it, just don't dwell on it. Doing so has helped to make, in my opinion and experience, Black Americans the most prejudiced and bigoted race in the United States as a group.

Some have been anxiously waiting for the racial slurs against President Obama to surface. If you look at everything for any hint of prejudice or bigotry, you're going to find it; Even if it exists only as a figment of your imagination.

When I sat down to write this, I realized that I didn't even have a category to do with race. That's how little it means to me. Perhaps I'd feel differently if I was a Black American looking for headlines. But as a mongrel (mostly white but 1/8th Native American) the differences in skin color make as much difference to me as differences in hair color.

Not so to those who look at the U.S. President, a man with a black father and white mother and see, not a man, but a BLACK man. Since I guess technically he's 50% black, that means he's also 50% white. These people are the same who'd look at a glass 50% filled with water and say that it is half empty.

So... you prejudiced bigots out there, starting looking through the lens of reality. I think that most of us agree that racism and bigotry is bad. So why are you perpetuating it?