THE INCOMPETENCE OF FEMAAs more and more details emerge about how FEMA handled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it becomes clearer and clearer that the agency is a screwed-up mess. It has come out that hundreds of rescue workers, large numbers of boats, aircraft and bulldozers were offered to FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina....and they turned it all down. That's nice. The offer came from the Interior Department...which also offered up to 400 law enforcement officers. FEMA took a month to put them to work. It's also being reported that Amtrak offered to carry residents out of New Orleans before the hurricane hit, but thanks to poor planning and coordination, the trains left the station almost empty. Nice. All of this government incompetence was paid for by us....the American taxpayer. This is such a wise investment of our precious resources...not. Yet, this week Congress will have hearings about the problems at FEMA. You will notice that despite all of the shortcomings of FEMA...the wasted money, the missed opportunities and the bungling of the aid effort, many politicians from both parties will conclude that the answer to the problems at FEMA is to give it more money. Isn't that always the answer when government comes up short? It's worked so well for schools, hasn't it?But that isn't it at all. The problem is and was bad management. FEMA has plenty of money. In fact, if anything, their budget should be cut, since they obviously can't handle the task at hand. But it won't play out that way. After all, here we are 5 months removed from the hurricane, and you're still paying to put Katrina "evacuees" up at the Holiday Inn. Is this a great country or what?
Actress Rosanna Arquette is making a movie about PMS.
...and she wants Hillary Clinton to star in it. Insert your own joke here. Will Sen. Hillary Clinton's next role be in a film about women's pre-menstrual syndrome? The answer is yes, if Hollywood's Rosanna Arquette gets her way.
Will New Orleans Be Black Or White?
Research is available that 80% of the African American community may ill not return to New Orleans and approximately 50% of the white community may stay away.
BYGONE ERA
Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't get food poisoning.
My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat a bite raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper, in a brown paper bag, not in icepack coolers, but I can't remember anybody getting e.coli.
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.
The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.
We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built-in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened, because they tell us how much safer we are
Now....
Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the
National Anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.
What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything, and she could even give you an aspirin for a headache or fever.
I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations
Oh yeah, and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!
We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked! Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did, we got our butt spanked there, and then we got butt spanked again when we got home. I recall Donny Reynolds from next-door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof.
It was a neighborhood run amuck.
To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a "dysfunctional family". How could we possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?
Illegal aliens are complaining that US border policy is racist and that the planned fence along parts of the border will result in more deaths. Of course, not a word is mentioned about their illegal status.
HAPPY STORY
A man who was being robbed at a motel on Airpark Drive got the gun away from the young robber and held it on him until police arrived early Friday morning.Police said the man who was being robbed was shot in the hand during the struggle.A 17-year-old black male was taken into custody.Members of the Chattanooga Police Department’s Burglary/Robbery Division are investigating the incident that occurred a little before 6 a.m. on the parking lot of the Extended Stay Motel at 6240 Airpark Dr.Police said the victim was loading his vehicle when he was approached by the suspect, with a handgun, and he was ordered to give up his money. The victim complied, but the suspect wasn’t satisfied with the amount of cash he had received and began to look through the victim’s pockets.During his search of the victim a struggle ensued and the victim was shot in the hand. The struggle continued and the victim was able to knock the gun out of the suspect’s hand. The victim then retrieved the gun and held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived.
School buses may get spy cams
The new transportation director of the Lee County School District wants multiple cameras installed on every bus in the district's 685-vehicle fleet, and he plans to look for money to buy them.
California to try tracking parolees with GPS
SACRAMENTO - Satellite tracking technology, a staple of weather forecasting and military operations for decades, is the latest tool California can use to ease its overburdened parole and probation system under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Weird News
Using a simple police scanner or ham radio, you can listen to a disembodied spacesuit circling Earth.
31 January 2006
24 January 2006
JURY DUTY SUCKS
"Not enough money for education? It’s a myth. The truth is, public schools are rolling in money. If you divide the U.S. Department of Education’s figure for total spending on K-12 education by the department’s count of K-12 students, it works out to about $10,000 per student. Think about that! For a class of 25 kids, that’s $250,000 per classroom. This doesn’t include capital costs. Couldn’t you do much better than government schools with $250,000? You could hire several good teachers; I doubt you’d hire many bureaucrats. Government schools, like most monopolies, squander money. America spends more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on the international tests. But the bureaucrats still blame school failure on lack of funds, and demand more money.” —John Stossel
The ‘fad learning disability’ syndrome is starting to reveal something that modern education is just now (re)learning: in general boys can’t be taught the same way girls can, particularly at the age when hormones start kicking in. We have so ‘feminized’ classroom education that there is little that holds the attention of boys. They are bored. When they are bored they look for ways to entertain themselves. Too often they entertain themselves in ways that are inappropriate and cause classroom distractions. The first reaction of the teachers and administration is that he’s got a ‘learning disability’. Bullhooey, he’s bored and the teacher and admimistration don’t/can’t provide him learning opportunities that hold his interest.
All well and good, but there are still a small percentage that are not just simply bored, they are evil and don’t belong in a regular classroom. One of the biggest problems in public schools today is the inability of virtually anyone inside the school building - to include the principal - to expel a student. The paperwork drill is so onerous, and the blame for the kid’s behavior is so quickly shifted to the teacher and administration, that most teachers and administrators simply ‘put up’ with the little terrorists. As a result teachers spend 80% of their time ‘managing’ the 5% that are causing the problems. Teachers struggle with it daily, and it often brings the good ones to tears. Tears of frustration. Tears of regret for how much they could be doing for the other students if the one or two probelm children could just be removed and dealt with elsewhere.
The ‘No Child Left Behind’ philosophy is BS. Some of them need to be left behind.
For American public education to improve a number of things MUST be accomplished: 1. Hold children to a higher standard and actually flunk and retain those that don’t measure up. Give good students more options - better schools, more challenging classes, scholarships. 2. Hold parents accountable for their children’s success. It’s not the school’s job to make sure your kids learn, it’s the parent’s. 3. Establish tough standards for teachers, promote those that perform, fire those that don’t. Pay them more than a token wage. Teaching is a profession, not a trade. 4. Give teachers the power to enforce discipline in the classroom. This includes the power to permanently remove a child for any reason. 5. Stop allowing teachers, parents and administrators to use ‘fad’ learning disorders to excuse a child’s behavior or unwillingness to learn. 6. Develop curriculum that doesn’t just teach facts or processes, but trains the mind. 7. Break the NEA and insulate process of education in the classroom from political influence. Punish teachers and administrators that take obvious political stands. 8. Establish and enforce values. Tell the kids early and often what is right and what is wrong. Reward the right, punish the wrong. Let the kids know that actions have conesquences. And lastly, there is nothing new in education. Mankind been running organized schools for well over 6,000 years. It’s all been tried before and we know what works. Cut the crap, dump the fads and get back to the business of teaching.'CHOCOLATE CITY' SPRINKLED WITH NUTS from Ann Coulter
So Hillary Clinton thinks the House of Representatives is being "run like a plantation." And, she added, "you know what I'm talking about."
First of all: Think about what a weird coincidence it is that Hillary would have made these remarks in a black church in Harlem on Martin Luther King Day. What are the odds? Did she even know it was a holiday? Bravely spoken, Senator. I haven't been this surprised since finding out Hollywood likes a movie about gay cowboys.
Now that Zell Miller is out of office, the only office-holding Democrat I like anymore is Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans. I had never heard of him until Hurricane Katrina, but after his "gaffe" this week, he's my favorite Democrat. I like a politician who casually spouts off insanely politically incorrect remarks in front of large audiences and TV cameras.
Nagin cheerfully told a crowd gathered for a Martin Luther King Day celebration that New Orleans would soon be "Chocolate City" again. I don't know who's supposed to be offended by that. I'm not. Perhaps all the white mayors who know they couldn't have said it. True, life's unfair. Oh well.
When it comes to choice-of-word crimes, I'd prefer detente to mutually assured destruction. Lead us off the chocolate plantation, Mayor Nagin!
Perhaps next week will be more exciting or nil if I'm suquestored.
19 January 2006
FBI Revisionist History
“Revisionist History at the FBI: " February 28, 1993: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Agents raided a compound of the Branch Davidian cult, led by David Koresh. Known as the Mt. Carmel Church, the facility was located nine miles from Waco, Texas. The resulting confrontation resulted in the deaths of four ATF Agents and six Branch Davidians." uh, I seem to recall the body count was closer to 80 dead civilians... being off by an order of magnitude is NOT a typo, it is a travesty.” I seem to remember at least a dozen children died, maybe more like 20... Maybe the six are the only ones that they the FBI actually just shot. This is how the Democrats use authority. And let's not forget the armed entry to grab the little Cuban boy Elian. And George Bush is the bad guy. Sheesh. I've yet to see Ashcroft order armed raids on anyone. Maybe he has, but at least the results haven't become public history.
17 January 2006
THE GOVERNOR
The New Orleans Saints fired head coach Jim Haslett the day after his team lost their last game this past Sunday. Haslett had come to the Saints six years ago, and was voted "Coach Of The Year" after he led the team to a winning 10 and 6 record and actually won a playoff game for the first time in Saints history. That was an exciting year for Saints fans, and expectations were high. Unfortunately, that was the only "good" season the Saints had under Coach Haslett, and the team finished only "average" each of the next four years. Even so, expectations were still high when this football season started.
Then Katrina came, and everything changed. The Saints practice complex was taken over by FEMA for emergency operations. The Superdome was heavily damaged and could not be used. The team was hastily relocated to San Antonio, and mass confusion became ordinary fare for the team. All 16 games of the season were played "away from home", and the team was able to win only 3 while loosing 13.
Anyone who knows anything about football knows that coach Haslett did a terrific job under the extreme circumstances, and that the poor record was not his fault. Even so, his firing surprised no one. That is the way of professional sports. If the team looks bad, the head coach has to go. A new face, a new name, a new way of doing things is necessary for the fans to regain hope and to believe in the team again.
Katrina devastated the football team, but the man has to go. Likewise in real life, Katrina devastated our state, but the lady has to go. Governor Blanco didn’t do everything wrong, and she is not a bad person. She did not make the hurricane happen. Even so, in order for our state to regain hope and to believe in itself again, Governor Blanco should be, and must be, replaced.
A football team has an owner to hire and fire coaches. In the state, we are the owner. It is up to us to replace our Governor. We can do this by using the power of "recall" as is provided for in our state constitution.
We have heard the argument that the Governor is up for reelection in 2007 and we can replace her then. That is the easy way, but we strongly believe that we, the citizens of Louisiana, should act now to recall her. This should be a nonpartisan effort, as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike share a common love for our state and want it to regain the respect of the nation and the world. The governor’s incompetence in the face of crises has seriously tarnished our reputation as a state. Her continuing attempts to cover up her mistakes and blame others are embarrassing to all of us.
By the way, the name "Katrina" is used in Germany, Sweden, and all English speaking countries as a name for girls. It has roots in the Greek word for "pure", or "to make pure", or "to purify". It’s interesting that a storm by that name came to our region and, along with death and destruction, brought an opportunity for rebuilding an entire city.
We need help from public and private sources to get on with the rebuilding, and we need new leadership at the top to make that possible. Grass roots recall organizations are forming around the state. They will need lots of help. This is hard and thankless work, but work that nevertheless needs to be done. Even if the recall effort fails, the very fact that the citizens of Louisiana are making an honest effort to replace this governor will help our state to recover it’s image.
If you would like to help with the recall effort, go to R.E.C.A.L.L. Responsible & Effective Citizen Action for Leadership in Louisiana
THE MAYOR
Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.
Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again. As 'God intended it to be'. Orleans is a french word Mr Nagin. N'est-il pas? Many of the city's black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.
Nagin also said Dr. King would have been dismayed with black leaders who are "most of the time tearing each other down publicly for the delight of many."
A day earlier, gunfire erupted at a parade to commemorate King's birthday. Three people were wounded in the daylight shooting amid a throng of mostly black spectators, but police said there were no immediate suspects or witnesses.
DID YOU HEAR THIS NEWS?
December 9, 2005 (CNN) While interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier, a Reuters News agent asked the soldier what he felt when sniping members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The soldier shrugged and replied, "Recoil."
The Hildabeast said something potentially racist on Martin Luther King Day.....she referred to the House of Representatives as a "plantation." Now stop and ask yourself something. If one single Republican had called the House a plantation while it was under Democratic control, what would have happened? He or she would have had to resign, that's what. But Hillary Clinton? Nah...the media will cover for her quite nicely.
CNN, known far and wide for its favorable coverage of dictatorships, is breathing a sigh of relief today. Iran has lifted their ban on the network's reporting in their country. If CNN never reports on the Islamic terrorist regime's nuclear ambitions, we'll know a deal was struck.
A study by an Italian "sexologist" (what a job!) says that those who have TVs in their bedrooms have 50% less sex. Anybody want to buy a used TV? LOL
The New York Times has been caught red-handed running a staged photograph of Pakistanis near a supposed U.S. missile. The problem? The missile in the photograph is old...and unexploded. The blame-America-first crowd continues to rule at the Times.
The Medicare prescription drug program seems to have slowed out of the gate. Of the 42 million senior citizens eligible to sign up, only 2 million have so far. Obviously government isn't doing enough...more money will be the solution!
STUPID IN AMERICA
Did you happen to catch John Stossel's bit on ABC's 20/20 this past Friday night? I didn't sad to say, and now I'm looking for a transcript or a copy. It exposed the pathetic status of our government school systems.
One school even grades with geometric shapes -- squares, triangles and circles -- rather than with numbers and grades. The reason is evidently that while there may be a negative connotation to an "F" or a "60" on a test, geometric shapes have no preset negative meanings. Well, if you do not know you did poorly then how do you know you need to improve?
While our schools are getting worse, and our education standing around the world is falling, the teacher's unions continue their fight to maintain the government monopoly on education and to prevent anything that even remotely resembles school choice to become a part of the equation.
This is a passionate subject for me. I realize many of you think that the school system is good. And it may be better than a neighboring one. But, it is a disservice to the children never the less. The government schools teach to the ‘average’ kid. Average for the system, ask yourself ‘is my child smarter than their classmates?’ Probably so, hence they are not being challenged, so they grow lazy any work to a lower ability or grow bored and quit altogether.
Think about your government school experience, if you were subjected to one. Do you feel you as an adult [not capable of the sponge like child’s brain learning] have learned more on your own in a shorter amount of time than you ever did in 12 yrs of school?
Unions are setup to provide a consistent level of service. If your union operator knows exactly what the address of the business you are calling for happens to be because she lives right around the corner, then she is not allowed to use that ‘geographic familiarity’ knowledge to help you. Due to the fact that all the other operators do not have that same knowledge. So you get the same unhelpful service every time.
Why are we talking about unions? Because the largest one in the country is the Teachers Union. Same crappy service to every kid in school. They get pay raises not on merit, but because some politician gives them one as payback for him winning an election.
Following are the ten official measures (planks) needed for a Communist society, exactly as published in the English language translation. Resemblance to the platform of the modern Democrat Party is not coincidental.
1. Expropriation of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with industry, promotion of the gradual elimination of the contradictions between town and countryside.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!
"It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to thesuggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness." -- James Wilson (1791)
The New Orleans Saints fired head coach Jim Haslett the day after his team lost their last game this past Sunday. Haslett had come to the Saints six years ago, and was voted "Coach Of The Year" after he led the team to a winning 10 and 6 record and actually won a playoff game for the first time in Saints history. That was an exciting year for Saints fans, and expectations were high. Unfortunately, that was the only "good" season the Saints had under Coach Haslett, and the team finished only "average" each of the next four years. Even so, expectations were still high when this football season started.
Then Katrina came, and everything changed. The Saints practice complex was taken over by FEMA for emergency operations. The Superdome was heavily damaged and could not be used. The team was hastily relocated to San Antonio, and mass confusion became ordinary fare for the team. All 16 games of the season were played "away from home", and the team was able to win only 3 while loosing 13.
Anyone who knows anything about football knows that coach Haslett did a terrific job under the extreme circumstances, and that the poor record was not his fault. Even so, his firing surprised no one. That is the way of professional sports. If the team looks bad, the head coach has to go. A new face, a new name, a new way of doing things is necessary for the fans to regain hope and to believe in the team again.
Katrina devastated the football team, but the man has to go. Likewise in real life, Katrina devastated our state, but the lady has to go. Governor Blanco didn’t do everything wrong, and she is not a bad person. She did not make the hurricane happen. Even so, in order for our state to regain hope and to believe in itself again, Governor Blanco should be, and must be, replaced.
A football team has an owner to hire and fire coaches. In the state, we are the owner. It is up to us to replace our Governor. We can do this by using the power of "recall" as is provided for in our state constitution.
We have heard the argument that the Governor is up for reelection in 2007 and we can replace her then. That is the easy way, but we strongly believe that we, the citizens of Louisiana, should act now to recall her. This should be a nonpartisan effort, as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike share a common love for our state and want it to regain the respect of the nation and the world. The governor’s incompetence in the face of crises has seriously tarnished our reputation as a state. Her continuing attempts to cover up her mistakes and blame others are embarrassing to all of us.
By the way, the name "Katrina" is used in Germany, Sweden, and all English speaking countries as a name for girls. It has roots in the Greek word for "pure", or "to make pure", or "to purify". It’s interesting that a storm by that name came to our region and, along with death and destruction, brought an opportunity for rebuilding an entire city.
We need help from public and private sources to get on with the rebuilding, and we need new leadership at the top to make that possible. Grass roots recall organizations are forming around the state. They will need lots of help. This is hard and thankless work, but work that nevertheless needs to be done. Even if the recall effort fails, the very fact that the citizens of Louisiana are making an honest effort to replace this governor will help our state to recover it’s image.
If you would like to help with the recall effort, go to R.E.C.A.L.L. Responsible & Effective Citizen Action for Leadership in Louisiana
THE MAYOR
Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.
Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again. As 'God intended it to be'. Orleans is a french word Mr Nagin. N'est-il pas? Many of the city's black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.
Nagin also said Dr. King would have been dismayed with black leaders who are "most of the time tearing each other down publicly for the delight of many."
A day earlier, gunfire erupted at a parade to commemorate King's birthday. Three people were wounded in the daylight shooting amid a throng of mostly black spectators, but police said there were no immediate suspects or witnesses.
DID YOU HEAR THIS NEWS?
December 9, 2005 (CNN) While interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier, a Reuters News agent asked the soldier what he felt when sniping members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The soldier shrugged and replied, "Recoil."
The Hildabeast said something potentially racist on Martin Luther King Day.....she referred to the House of Representatives as a "plantation." Now stop and ask yourself something. If one single Republican had called the House a plantation while it was under Democratic control, what would have happened? He or she would have had to resign, that's what. But Hillary Clinton? Nah...the media will cover for her quite nicely.
CNN, known far and wide for its favorable coverage of dictatorships, is breathing a sigh of relief today. Iran has lifted their ban on the network's reporting in their country. If CNN never reports on the Islamic terrorist regime's nuclear ambitions, we'll know a deal was struck.
A study by an Italian "sexologist" (what a job!) says that those who have TVs in their bedrooms have 50% less sex. Anybody want to buy a used TV? LOL
The New York Times has been caught red-handed running a staged photograph of Pakistanis near a supposed U.S. missile. The problem? The missile in the photograph is old...and unexploded. The blame-America-first crowd continues to rule at the Times.
The Medicare prescription drug program seems to have slowed out of the gate. Of the 42 million senior citizens eligible to sign up, only 2 million have so far. Obviously government isn't doing enough...more money will be the solution!
STUPID IN AMERICA
Did you happen to catch John Stossel's bit on ABC's 20/20 this past Friday night? I didn't sad to say, and now I'm looking for a transcript or a copy. It exposed the pathetic status of our government school systems.
One school even grades with geometric shapes -- squares, triangles and circles -- rather than with numbers and grades. The reason is evidently that while there may be a negative connotation to an "F" or a "60" on a test, geometric shapes have no preset negative meanings. Well, if you do not know you did poorly then how do you know you need to improve?
While our schools are getting worse, and our education standing around the world is falling, the teacher's unions continue their fight to maintain the government monopoly on education and to prevent anything that even remotely resembles school choice to become a part of the equation.
This is a passionate subject for me. I realize many of you think that the school system is good. And it may be better than a neighboring one. But, it is a disservice to the children never the less. The government schools teach to the ‘average’ kid. Average for the system, ask yourself ‘is my child smarter than their classmates?’ Probably so, hence they are not being challenged, so they grow lazy any work to a lower ability or grow bored and quit altogether.
Think about your government school experience, if you were subjected to one. Do you feel you as an adult [not capable of the sponge like child’s brain learning] have learned more on your own in a shorter amount of time than you ever did in 12 yrs of school?
Unions are setup to provide a consistent level of service. If your union operator knows exactly what the address of the business you are calling for happens to be because she lives right around the corner, then she is not allowed to use that ‘geographic familiarity’ knowledge to help you. Due to the fact that all the other operators do not have that same knowledge. So you get the same unhelpful service every time.
Why are we talking about unions? Because the largest one in the country is the Teachers Union. Same crappy service to every kid in school. They get pay raises not on merit, but because some politician gives them one as payback for him winning an election.
Following are the ten official measures (planks) needed for a Communist society, exactly as published in the English language translation. Resemblance to the platform of the modern Democrat Party is not coincidental.
1. Expropriation of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with industry, promotion of the gradual elimination of the contradictions between town and countryside.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!
"It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to thesuggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness." -- James Wilson (1791)
10 January 2006
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Would this be useful to you?
You can getting added to the list by emailing Minuteman-Chronicles@googlegroups.com
NEWS
The battle lines are clear for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito: Moderates and liberals want him to repudiate his work for the Reagan administration while conservatives urge him to hold his ground _ or his tongue _ on issues that could provoke a Democratic filibuster. FULL STORY
Homeland Security opening private mail Last month Grant Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal.
Al-Qaeda is trying to recruit Islamic terrorists to give our troops the AIDS virus. Sounds like "freedom fighters" (as Cindy Sheehan put it) to me.
Some in the Bush administration are finally admitting the Medicare prescription drug program is a big screw-up. Who do they blame? Karl Rove, says Robert Novak. Whoever is to blame, our children are going to be paying for it for the rest of our lives.
Whistle Blower??? If you work at the NSA and something your working on is classified, and you don't like it so you take it to the New York Times... That is not Whistle Blowing. That's called a breach of security. That's called a Felony. I'm sure the New York Times is fuzzy on this issue, but one thing is for sure, this guy deserves a lesson in Whistle Blowing, and hopefully he will get the harsh lesson in prison where he will get the change to blow a lot of whistles.
Harry Belafonte .. what a guy! Now he's calling President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world." I'm sure those words warmed the hearts of many liberals and almost the entire Hollywood crowd, Danny Glover, for instance. By the way, Belafonte works for the UN too ... as a UNICEF "goodwill" ambassador. Donated any money to UNICEF lately?
Fine...Howard Stern is switching to satellite radio today. Now will the media please talk about something else? Enough already.
According to National Review's Michael Ledeen, Osama Bin Laden died from kidney failure last month and is buried in Iran. I guess the only way to know for sure is to dig him up and do a little DNA testing.
Gas prices are going up again....and while the left will jump up and down and blame George Bush, they will do nothing to actually bring the prices down. You know, like drill for more oil in the United States and build more gasoline refineries.
LOCAL NEWS
The rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that is going on down at the Gulf has created an interesting side effect: massive corporate welfare. Did you know you're paying to rebuild casinos? George Will reports.
The New Orleans Saints have relieved Jim Haslett of his head coaching duties in a decision made by Executive Vice-President/General Manager Mickey Loomis. Haslett's tenure with the Saints stretched eight years with six as head coach.
Under his tenure, Haslett led the Saints to the NFC West title in 2000, followed by the team's first playoff victory and was awarded following that season with NFL Coach of the Year honors.
Only Jim Mora (1986-96) served as head coach of the Saints for a longer period than Haslett. Haslett's victory total is the second-highest in team history behind Mora.
SAD NEWS FROM PEACE LOVING MUSLIMS
Iran to hang teenage girl attacked by rapists. An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece
HISTORY
Legal proceedings against Joan of Arc commenced on 9 January 1431 at Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government. Joan's trial for heresy was political. The Duke of Bedford claimed the throne of France for his nephew Henry VI, and she was responsible for the rival coronation. Condemning her was an attempt to discredit her king. The procedure was irregular on a number of points.
This is the funniest blonde joke ever. HAHAHA
OBSERVATIONS
Although I do think kicking terrorist butt in their home countries is a great idea, if we are all about safety of Americans, why are the borders still so ridiculous? I was flipping through the channels the other day and came across a movie where there was a line to get into the military base. The MP was checking credentials very carefully as people walked through the gate. One of the guys in the line noticed that it was easier to slip through a HUGE hole in the fence instead of waiting in line. So, for fun he went through the hole and showed his ID to the MP as he exited. Then went back in through the hole, exited again showing ID. On his 4th pass out the gate the MP finally catches on. Then they are more concerned with this mans ‘suspicious activity’ than the hole in the fence he is trying to tell them about. Sound familiar?
The battle lines are clear for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito: Moderates and liberals want him to repudiate his work for the Reagan administration while conservatives urge him to hold his ground _ or his tongue _ on issues that could provoke a Democratic filibuster. FULL STORY
Homeland Security opening private mail Last month Grant Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal.
Al-Qaeda is trying to recruit Islamic terrorists to give our troops the AIDS virus. Sounds like "freedom fighters" (as Cindy Sheehan put it) to me.
Some in the Bush administration are finally admitting the Medicare prescription drug program is a big screw-up. Who do they blame? Karl Rove, says Robert Novak. Whoever is to blame, our children are going to be paying for it for the rest of our lives.
Whistle Blower??? If you work at the NSA and something your working on is classified, and you don't like it so you take it to the New York Times... That is not Whistle Blowing. That's called a breach of security. That's called a Felony. I'm sure the New York Times is fuzzy on this issue, but one thing is for sure, this guy deserves a lesson in Whistle Blowing, and hopefully he will get the harsh lesson in prison where he will get the change to blow a lot of whistles.
Harry Belafonte .. what a guy! Now he's calling President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world." I'm sure those words warmed the hearts of many liberals and almost the entire Hollywood crowd, Danny Glover, for instance. By the way, Belafonte works for the UN too ... as a UNICEF "goodwill" ambassador. Donated any money to UNICEF lately?
Fine...Howard Stern is switching to satellite radio today. Now will the media please talk about something else? Enough already.
According to National Review's Michael Ledeen, Osama Bin Laden died from kidney failure last month and is buried in Iran. I guess the only way to know for sure is to dig him up and do a little DNA testing.
Gas prices are going up again....and while the left will jump up and down and blame George Bush, they will do nothing to actually bring the prices down. You know, like drill for more oil in the United States and build more gasoline refineries.
LOCAL NEWS
The rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that is going on down at the Gulf has created an interesting side effect: massive corporate welfare. Did you know you're paying to rebuild casinos? George Will reports.
The New Orleans Saints have relieved Jim Haslett of his head coaching duties in a decision made by Executive Vice-President/General Manager Mickey Loomis. Haslett's tenure with the Saints stretched eight years with six as head coach.
Under his tenure, Haslett led the Saints to the NFC West title in 2000, followed by the team's first playoff victory and was awarded following that season with NFL Coach of the Year honors.
Only Jim Mora (1986-96) served as head coach of the Saints for a longer period than Haslett. Haslett's victory total is the second-highest in team history behind Mora.
SAD NEWS FROM PEACE LOVING MUSLIMS
Iran to hang teenage girl attacked by rapists. An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece
HISTORY
Legal proceedings against Joan of Arc commenced on 9 January 1431 at Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government. Joan's trial for heresy was political. The Duke of Bedford claimed the throne of France for his nephew Henry VI, and she was responsible for the rival coronation. Condemning her was an attempt to discredit her king. The procedure was irregular on a number of points.
This is the funniest blonde joke ever. HAHAHA
OBSERVATIONS
Although I do think kicking terrorist butt in their home countries is a great idea, if we are all about safety of Americans, why are the borders still so ridiculous? I was flipping through the channels the other day and came across a movie where there was a line to get into the military base. The MP was checking credentials very carefully as people walked through the gate. One of the guys in the line noticed that it was easier to slip through a HUGE hole in the fence instead of waiting in line. So, for fun he went through the hole and showed his ID to the MP as he exited. Then went back in through the hole, exited again showing ID. On his 4th pass out the gate the MP finally catches on. Then they are more concerned with this mans ‘suspicious activity’ than the hole in the fence he is trying to tell them about. Sound familiar?
03 January 2006
GREAT NEW YEAR
OH BOY, IS THIS IS A GREAT NEW YEAR
News
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has been named "Person of the Year for 2005" in an online poll by the Black Entertainment Television network, beating out Oprah Winfrey, Sen. Barack Obama and BET founder Robert L. Johnson.
[‘PERSON’ not ‘MAN’, even though man is a species not a gender. Male of the year would be gender specific. No wonder we are the only country who has to take its own language to get a college degree. Nobody knows how to use it.]
The controversial ‘minister’ touted a theory that the Bush administration had blown up the levees in New Orleans. Farrakhan said he came to that conclusion after a private meeting with Mayor Ray Nagin, who told him there was a 25-foot crater beneath the levees. Farrakhan urged African-Americans to bring a class action suit for "criminal neglect" against the U.S. on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans and demanded that America "acknowledge her wickedness to the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere."
Did the New York Times put America in danger? They released a story about the Government monitoring phone calls coming into the US from suspected terrorists. While no one has mentioned this yet, I bet you this has had an effect on those who were doing the monitoring and their ability to do their job in a negative way. Put it this way... if you know people are listening to you, do you watch what you say? Yes, you do. That is human nature. What if you are talking about an illegal action? If you are smart, and these terrorist groups are – they start using codes. All the sudden our monitoring is less effective, because we don't understand the code words and phrases. This makes everything all the more difficult and time consuming, thus putting America in danger. The people's “Right to Know” doesn't extend into national security issues. And it doesn't extend to alerting the terrorists that they are being monitored and how they are being monitored... thus alerting them that they need to change tactics. Thanks a lot New York Times. Jerks.
Technology
If you have Windows XP SP2. Read this. Now, what do you do about it? This.
My computer crashed, but I’m back on now. I went ahead and used the downtime for a little break. I figured no one would miss the 2 issues as I have only a few readers and it was Christmastime.
Politics
Many Americans are libertarian at heart - they just don't recognize it...yet. These folks believe in fewer restrictions on behaviors (a liberal or Democratic view) and less involvement by the government in economic issues (a conservative or Republican view). Right now, many closet Libertarians are counted among the two major political parties. As Democrats continue to espouse increasingly liberal economic policies - such as universal healthcare - it is becoming more and more difficult for libertarians in their ranks to remain. Likewise, philosophical libertarians in the GOP are getting increasingly uncomfortable with the growing influence of the values-based politics - such as pro-life policies and the Defense of Marriage Act - in their party.
BOOKS
I read a book over the holiday break ‘Joshua’ by Father Joseph Girzone. The book’s main theme, which he believes is at the heart of many struggles in churches. Love, he insists, must never be confused with law. Here is how Girzone puts it, speaking through Joshua in a confrontation with his Vatican inquisitors at the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrines of the Faith.
"Religion is beautiful only when it is free and flows from the heart. That is why you should guide and inspire but not legislate behavior. And to threaten God's displeasure when people do not follow your rules is being a moral bully and does no service to God. You are shepherds and guides, but not the ultimate judges of human behavior. That belongs only to God."
Joseph has written sequel books and after reading Joshua I will get others. I found an excerpt from one of them online and as the police question Joshua here is his reply:
"I am hiding nothing. You are the ones who picked me off the street although I had done nothing wrong and have no intention of doing harm to anyone. Why do you suspect me? Because I am poor? Because I look like someone you prejudge to be evil? If I have done nothing wrong, then why do you interrogate me? You are the ones who are doing what is unjust, profiling people because of the way they look and the clothes they wear. Fear does terrible things to people, pushing ordinarily normal people into doing things that would be unthinkable in ordinary times. I am surprised and saddened that this could happen in this beautiful country."
I can sympathize with that statement. All of us can, as we have all been prejudged at some time or other in our lives. Hairstyle, piercing, weight, color or clothes are not relevant. Inside a man is what he is, not the clothes. A pillar of the community and wealthy man could end up in unknown surroundings in tattered clothes. He is still himself. Worn, tired and hungry, but still the same man.
Logic and clothing rarely go together - if they did, we would all probably be walking around in coveralls most of the time. Take the neck tie for instance - that piece of rag around a man’s neck. It constricts the throat; gets caught in car doors; drops in your coffee; blows over your shoulder in the wind; it hangs there like a phallic symbol, and is constantly having to be stroked and adjusted by the wearer. Yet, for all its non-logic, many "rag-necks" willingly continue to wear ties - if not already being forced to do so by their employer or spouse.
I believe that is the message Fr. Girzone is going for. God knows us as we really are, and doesn’t judge us for our mistakes. Read the book, you will enjoy it.
Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR [although our calendar does not work correctly, i.e. leap years to shuffle it back into place {maybe that’s what we are ‘saving all the daylight time’ for} and the year always starts in the middle of a season.]
News
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has been named "Person of the Year for 2005" in an online poll by the Black Entertainment Television network, beating out Oprah Winfrey, Sen. Barack Obama and BET founder Robert L. Johnson.
[‘PERSON’ not ‘MAN’, even though man is a species not a gender. Male of the year would be gender specific. No wonder we are the only country who has to take its own language to get a college degree. Nobody knows how to use it.]
The controversial ‘minister’ touted a theory that the Bush administration had blown up the levees in New Orleans. Farrakhan said he came to that conclusion after a private meeting with Mayor Ray Nagin, who told him there was a 25-foot crater beneath the levees. Farrakhan urged African-Americans to bring a class action suit for "criminal neglect" against the U.S. on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans and demanded that America "acknowledge her wickedness to the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere."
Did the New York Times put America in danger? They released a story about the Government monitoring phone calls coming into the US from suspected terrorists. While no one has mentioned this yet, I bet you this has had an effect on those who were doing the monitoring and their ability to do their job in a negative way. Put it this way... if you know people are listening to you, do you watch what you say? Yes, you do. That is human nature. What if you are talking about an illegal action? If you are smart, and these terrorist groups are – they start using codes. All the sudden our monitoring is less effective, because we don't understand the code words and phrases. This makes everything all the more difficult and time consuming, thus putting America in danger. The people's “Right to Know” doesn't extend into national security issues. And it doesn't extend to alerting the terrorists that they are being monitored and how they are being monitored... thus alerting them that they need to change tactics. Thanks a lot New York Times. Jerks.
Technology
If you have Windows XP SP2. Read this. Now, what do you do about it? This.
My computer crashed, but I’m back on now. I went ahead and used the downtime for a little break. I figured no one would miss the 2 issues as I have only a few readers and it was Christmastime.
Politics
Many Americans are libertarian at heart - they just don't recognize it...yet. These folks believe in fewer restrictions on behaviors (a liberal or Democratic view) and less involvement by the government in economic issues (a conservative or Republican view). Right now, many closet Libertarians are counted among the two major political parties. As Democrats continue to espouse increasingly liberal economic policies - such as universal healthcare - it is becoming more and more difficult for libertarians in their ranks to remain. Likewise, philosophical libertarians in the GOP are getting increasingly uncomfortable with the growing influence of the values-based politics - such as pro-life policies and the Defense of Marriage Act - in their party.
BOOKS
I read a book over the holiday break ‘Joshua’ by Father Joseph Girzone. The book’s main theme, which he believes is at the heart of many struggles in churches. Love, he insists, must never be confused with law. Here is how Girzone puts it, speaking through Joshua in a confrontation with his Vatican inquisitors at the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrines of the Faith.
"Religion is beautiful only when it is free and flows from the heart. That is why you should guide and inspire but not legislate behavior. And to threaten God's displeasure when people do not follow your rules is being a moral bully and does no service to God. You are shepherds and guides, but not the ultimate judges of human behavior. That belongs only to God."
Joseph has written sequel books and after reading Joshua I will get others. I found an excerpt from one of them online and as the police question Joshua here is his reply:
"I am hiding nothing. You are the ones who picked me off the street although I had done nothing wrong and have no intention of doing harm to anyone. Why do you suspect me? Because I am poor? Because I look like someone you prejudge to be evil? If I have done nothing wrong, then why do you interrogate me? You are the ones who are doing what is unjust, profiling people because of the way they look and the clothes they wear. Fear does terrible things to people, pushing ordinarily normal people into doing things that would be unthinkable in ordinary times. I am surprised and saddened that this could happen in this beautiful country."
I can sympathize with that statement. All of us can, as we have all been prejudged at some time or other in our lives. Hairstyle, piercing, weight, color or clothes are not relevant. Inside a man is what he is, not the clothes. A pillar of the community and wealthy man could end up in unknown surroundings in tattered clothes. He is still himself. Worn, tired and hungry, but still the same man.
Logic and clothing rarely go together - if they did, we would all probably be walking around in coveralls most of the time. Take the neck tie for instance - that piece of rag around a man’s neck. It constricts the throat; gets caught in car doors; drops in your coffee; blows over your shoulder in the wind; it hangs there like a phallic symbol, and is constantly having to be stroked and adjusted by the wearer. Yet, for all its non-logic, many "rag-necks" willingly continue to wear ties - if not already being forced to do so by their employer or spouse.
I believe that is the message Fr. Girzone is going for. God knows us as we really are, and doesn’t judge us for our mistakes. Read the book, you will enjoy it.
Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR [although our calendar does not work correctly, i.e. leap years to shuffle it back into place {maybe that’s what we are ‘saving all the daylight time’ for} and the year always starts in the middle of a season.]
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