Saturday, May 5, 2007

WE NEED AN IRS RECALL

Once in a while I want to scream.
The CDT (Center for Democracy & Technology) has a new post about the IRS wanting to stick its nose into your pocketbook. They want your favorite "broker of personal property" (like auction houses and consignment stores) to get your personal information and share it with the IRS.
But according to the CDT, the real target are sites like eBay, Amazon, Craig's list and such. That means all these Internet sites would have to collect your personal info (SS number, address, phone number, age of your firstborn and so on). Then they'd have to store it. And leave you open to errors and perhaps a lack of security about your personal information. After all, the Feds aren't the best at securing information.
I'd like to know when was the last time you offered Yahoo or eBay your SS number? I for one would not ever use them again. I imagine many people would feel the same way. Imagine, the IRS going to force businesses to close?
I hope they don't forget they qualify for number two on the three place list of Big Lies. You know, the one that says, "I'm from the Government and I'm here to help you".
Have a read of this thing. It's one more attempt to pigeon hole you.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

TWA SHOT DOWN?

On the night of July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 took off from JFK headed for Paris. It never made it. The link above is to connect you to Jack Cashill's site. It is not pretty, no pix, no smiling cats, but he talks about a possible Government coverup. He backs up his statements with quotes and links. I hope he's wrong. There were 230 people killed in that crash.

OH RATS, MORE HIGH TECH JOBS GONE

Intel has made a formal announcement here. No drum roll, no blaring trumpets. Just a statement from Jami Grindatto, the company's public affairs manager (why couldn't I get a snap job like that?).
He said that Intel will close its Fab 11 plant starting in August. He pointed out that the plant makes older, simpler components using old style wafers. I tried to find out what it would cost to update the plant to handle the new technology, but had no luck.
He is quoted in the Daily Mistake, when asked how many people would be affected, he wasn't sure "but we're saying it will be north of 1,000".
"North" of a thousand? Wow. He didn't mention East nor West nor South, but I feel sure he can come up with a more colorful, more inane phrase for those directions too. Shucks, I could have said something as silly as that. I often do.
All the jobs lost will be technicians, engineers and skilled workers. More tech jobs going wherever.
On the other hand Intel will offer them a two months paid job search period and severance package. That'll help a year from now.
Oh, they didn't mention anything about the 30,000 tech jobs lost to India, either. That's not their area of expertise.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, ALREADY

The media has been sucked into another "non-event", but this time there has been a pretty nasty backlash. Maybe it will carry over to our so-called representatives in Washington and they will do what the American people want.
No, I'm not talking about the war in Iraq. Nor the curbing of Internet stalkers. Not even considering forcing software manufacturers to stop loading the programs we buy with their bloat. Nope. None of the above.
I'm talking about illegal aliens in this country. I have absolutely no problem with legal aliens. Shucks, I've even been known to help them learn our impossibly difficult language.
The news reports, parroting each other from many, many different sources, is saying almost the same things. Participation was way down on this Mexican Holiday. Fewer illegals showed up this time. There were the paid rabble rousers, of course, yet fewer of the "regular" illegals. They may be getting the message that they are not wanted here. They should be running scared.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Like it or not, the public is learning the true costs of letting these illegals remain in this country. They're finding out that our own low income citizens often can't get into the public hospital services because so many illegals have taken the places designed for them. They're finding out that the starter jobs their kids could use are filled by the illegals. They're learning that Medicaid, designed to help our poorest of the poor, has been restricted to mothers and children only. Many of our citizen seniors now get absolutely no health care.
And then there is the food stamp program designed for our poorer citizens. It has become a nightmare to get food stamps now, unless you can wait and wait, like the illegals, and then ask for help in a foreign language. Apparently that will get you the food stamps more quickly than trying to explain why you need them in English.
The public is learning that illegals will form a group and one of them will get job. The rest will find out about the programs designed for American citizens and apply for all the freebies. The "lucky" job holder will have used a fake Social Security card, false driver's license and be paying some taxes. While not carrying any automobile insurance. It takes a while for our bureaus to find out about the fake Social number and by then the illegal will have found another job, perhaps one not requiring a social security card (employers not only save money with low wages, they don't have to pay their share of the taxes that cover wage earners). And meanwhile his compadres will be getting all the "freebies" they can.
We hear, off and on, that Social Security may be in trouble. But we do not hear that even some illegal aliens are collecting it. Without ever putting a dime into the fund. They are.
Americans are also finding out that certain criminal activities have increased rather dramatically with the advent of the illegals. Car theft, domestic disputes, shoplifting, breaking and entering, gang activity, to name a few, are up all over the country.
The children of the illegals flood our schools without knowledge of English. So we get to pay more for teachers who are bilingual. And we run out of class rooms. And have more cliques forming in our schools. And more gangs.
The women of the illegals make a running start at getting pregnant. They know our rule about a baby born on American soil is an American. They know how to use it to their advantage, too. After all, WIC and various aid programs supply things these illegals have never heard of before. Including medical care and money for rent and utilities. They know we will not, never ever, separate a baby and his mom and dad. And brothers. And sisters. Apparently not even in cases of child abuse.
I have read estimates of the number of illegals anywhere from 12 million to 30 million. I wonder just how one counts a huge number of mobile people and has the nerve to call it "pretty accurate". Beats me.
I used to do professional estimating at one time in my checkered past. I always referred to the results as "my guess". Sometimes I was virtually spot on. Other times I was way off.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our governments don't want to make the English language mandatory because then these people would start to read the facts about being Americans and be able to get real help in becoming citizens. Think about this: we supposedly deplore slave labor conditions in foreign countries, but we are busy setting up our own slave labor conditions. To really protect these people, we need to force them to return to their homelands and enter the country legally. I am disgusted by the fuzzy thinking here. Wake up America.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

SOME THINGS I'VE LIBERATED

*Rules for Writers*
1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Don't use no double negatives.12.
Proffer carefully to see if you any words out.
Some bumper stickers for Ladies...
SO MANY MEN, SO FEW WHO CAN AFFORD ME.
GOD MADE US SISTERS, PROZAC MADE US FRIENDS.
PRINCESS, HAVING HAD SUFFICIENT EXPERIENCE WITH PRINCES, SEEKS FROG.
COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, MEN ... SOME THINGS ARE JUST BETTER RICH.
DON'T TREAT ME ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU WOULD THE QUEEN.
I'M OUT OF ESTROGEN AND I HAVE A GUN.
WARNING: I HAVE AN ATTITUDE AND I KNOW HOW TO USE IT.
OF COURSE I DON'T LOOK BUSY...I DID IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.
DO NOT START WITH ME. YOU WILL NOT WIN.
ALL STRESSED OUT AND NO ONE TO CHOKE.
I CAN BE ONE OF THOSE BAD THINGS THAT HAPPENS TO BAD PEOPLE.
HOW CAN I MISS YOU IF YOU WON'T GO AWAY?
DON'T UPSET ME! I'M RUNNING OUT OF PLACES TO HIDE THE BODIES.
IF YOU WANT BREAKFAST IN BED, SLEEP IN THE KITCHEN.
A Poem for Computer Users Over 40 A computer was something on TV from a science fiction show of note.
A window was something you hated to clean. And ram was the cousin of a goat.
Meg was the name of my girlfriend. And gig was a job for the nights. Now they all mean different things. And that really mega bytes.
An application was for employment.
A program was a TV show.
A cursor used profanity.
A keyboard was a piano.
Memory was something that you lost with age.
A CD was a bank account.
And if you had a 3-inch floppy you hoped nobody found out.
Compress was something you did to the garbage, not something you did to a file.
And if you unzipped anything in public, you'd be in jail for awhile.
Log on was adding wood to the fire.
Hard drive was a long trip on the road.
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived.
And a backup happened to your commode.
Cut you did with a pocket knife.
Paste you did with glue.
A web was a spider's home.
And a virus was the flu.
I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper.
And the memory is in my head.
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash. But when it happens they wish they were dead.

MEN, MAKE YOUR LADY HAPPY

How to Make a Woman Happy
It's not difficult to make a woman happy. A man only needs to be:
1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
44. compassionate
WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
45. give her compliments regularly
46. love shopping
47. be honest
48. be very rich
49. not stress her out
50. not look at other girls
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:
51. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
52. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
53. give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes
IT IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO:
54. Never forget:* birthdays* anniversaries* arrangements she makes (Whether she tells you about them or not.
HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY
1. Show up naked
2. Bring food

Monday, April 30, 2007

GOOD INTENTIONS AND ALL THAT

I really only wanted to help the eco system of the world. Honest. So I made the trip to WalMart a few months ago and bought these energy saving, long lasting, good for the environment, superduper, fluorescent light bulbs to replace all my energy wasting, short life span, bad for the environment tungsten light bulbs.
After all, many web sites I visited said they were a great way to help and my maintenance man said they were really good and would last a long time. The guy in the hardware department said he had been using them for six months and none had burned out.
Very smugly I pointed out to the cashier what I was doing and suggested she should do the same.
Told all our visitors about them, too. Very proudly, I might add. Recommended they switch to these bulbs and help the world out.
So what? Well, the "so what" is why I'm hiding behind the leaves.
Our morning paper carried an article about these energy efficient bulbs. Seems they all have a "tiny" bit of mercury in them. That stuff is bad for our nervous systems. Really bad.
Albuquerque is going to try and prevent most of this stuff from getting into our solid waste fills. They've set it up so we just have to call our 311 number and tell the person there that we have one or two of these things that have outlived there usefulness. The city will send someone out to pick it, or them, up and take them to a recycler to be disposed of properly.
Thus, we can use these bulbs that last 10 times longer than fluorescents and use only a quarter of the electricity consumed by incandescent bulbs.
But I also remember that when I was a kid, my Christmas present chemistry set had a container of mercury in it. I really enjoyed playing with that stuff. I guess that the old mercury was cleaner than the new stuff.