Your Average Idiot

Routers Are Vulnerable to WPS Attack!

2011-12-31T02:33:00.006-05:00

If you have ever read this silly little blog, you know that I use profanity and sexual language a HOLE-FUCKING-LOT. (I know it's spelled wrong)

WE'RE FUCKED! Our Internet overlords who run our home networks fucked up and left a back door in your router, unintentionally. Please read this simple and to the point blog post by Stefan Veihbock.

Our government, Department of Homeland Security, and not some industry watchdog group has a nifty little office called CERT/CC, Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center. Apparently Mr. Veihbock reported this vulnerability (VU#723755) that he and Craig Heffner of Tactical Network Solutions independently discovered.

Here it is as I understand the situation. There is an "Easy Setup" button on your router called WPS, or WiFi Protected Setup. This is supposed to let you use a PIN that is usually hard-coded into most routers to setup your wireless devices in your house without losing too many hairs from your head. I haven't test what is does below the belt as of late. Anyway, it is accurate to say that there are now two published tools that let relative computer novices gain access to your router settings and, yes, your network. This is a freak out moment. I'll wait while you get in crash position.

BUT...

For once in my life I didn't cheap the fuck out and buy a crappy router. My upscale Netgear has an option in the firmware to disable and/or change the PIN. I had a feeling one day that extra $60 I spent on that router was going to be money well spent.

For you cheap ass brethren and sisters, until you get back on your feet from your stretched out and bouncy checking accounts after Christmas, turn off the radio in the router settings while you are not using the WiFi. If you are not confident enough to do that, turn off the router when you don't need the Internet and home network. Beware your Netflix and Hulu etc and Voice over IP (Vonage for example) all come through that little box as well.

From some of the reporting on this it seems that a hacker would have to be pretty persistent to take the time necessary to crack your PIN. Unless you are what Las Vegas calls a whale, it would hardly be worth it to a professional thief to choose your house to hit.

I am extremely concerned about homes with security and automation computer systems installed. Depending on the design of the system a hacker could in theory gain access to your cameras, telephones, lighting, shades, and door locks. His own smart phone could be used to reset security settings, unlock your front door, and walk right in. Even a prankster could just lock you out.

If you have one of these systems installed in your house, do not hesitate to call your installer or security service provider and have them check or replace the router. It may be wise to invest in a small computer to act as the router for your network.

This is an important story, so ask your radio and television station to spread the word. A little education can help mitigate the danger with this exploit.

I love you all, Happy New Year and stay safe and secure.

Your Average Idiot

Homosexual Agenda

2011-06-09T17:21:00.003-04:00

At the center of this Facebook debate is this video. This claims to be at PS 87 in New York City. I mistakenly identified it as PS 57. The message of this video is not changed with my error. I have removed the names of the arguing parties to protect the ignorant.

"Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness" comes from the Declaration of Independence and not the Constitution as I claimed. My error still does not remove the fact that these are the values of our forefathers who helped build this nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKQXd0MpZA8&playnext=1&list=PLFBD285F4D5D250A1

________________________________________________________

M-

Wow...I think I got "unfriended" by someone that needed a huge cake...probably because of my politics. That's really sad...because a cake that size really needs to be made by a pro:-) I hope their party is a hit and wish them well...

P-

Damn Liberals ! Let them eat crappy cake !

M-

I looked for her profile after I added her and she was gone:-( I wonder if all the people that shop at WalMart saw "their" political/economic motives...would they stop shopping there too??? I don't want to lose sales...but if I have to censor myself to get them...I would rather lose them.

M-

Wow...I lost four friends after I posted the vid about the homosexual indoctrination of third graders...good riddance!!!

Me-

The Walton family is one of the wealthiest in America. They give almost exclusively to Republican campaigns... And Communist China.

Unlike me many homosexuals are Christians.

Like me many homosexuals are veterans and that's good enough for me.

I believe that no matter what God you pray to or what person you sleep with, your rights are the same according to the Constitution that I swore to "support and defend." Equal protection under the law, 14th amendment. In religion and race and ethnicity and sexuality and national origins we are all different, but under the supreme law of our land, the Constitution, we are all equally American with the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

M-

[Me-]...did you have a vocabulary that included lesbian, gay, judge? In the third grade??? It's not about rights of the people being discussed...it's about appropriateness...and no one gets the right to teach yours or mine or anyone else's kids "social" issues that are inappropriate for their AGE. I think you're getting this wrong...it's not about the adults...it's about the kids and they are too damn young for this sort of brainwashing...but then, that's the point!

M-

And [Me-]...there is no way that little girl wrote that paper! I don't have a problem with the message...I have a problem with the lies.

Me-

If your attitude were different toward this segment of society, you might have deep personal relationships with these Americans unlike yourself.

In that discovery you would find a story repeated over and over again how as children they knew they felt different from other children. I have heard many of my friends say that between six and ten is when they started to feel that they were attracted to members of their own gender. This obvious difference between themselves and their classmates created all kinds of problems.

One problem that this generation won't have to face as much as earlier ones is their acceptance by their teachers and their peers. This is as it should be, because being gay or lesbian is normal. Like the Star-Bellied Sneetches with their snoots in the air, these Gay-Bellied Sneetches are just as fair.

A leading cause of death of young gay people is suicide which is why there are projects like the Trevor project and the "It Get's Better" Project. Telling kids they are immoral or somehow defective for how they feel is a recipe for disaster. What that teacher did was heroic!

Oh and on the subject of the child's essay, it is amazing what can grow from a loving and open-minded family environment. There is never any of this, "You can't come over because of who your parents are."

You can't catch the gay like it is some disease.

If you object on Christian religious grounds like the YouTube poster, you have to ask yourself and be honest What Would Jesus Do? Remember him? He was the one with all the hippie friends who didn't own land or businesses or houses. He had friends who were prostitutes and thugs and thieves. He opposed the death penalty.

He also spent a lot of time explaining how the Torah got it wrong. Thank God for that, because my shrimp salad, goat ribs, and polyester blended T-shirt would all get me stoned. Poor Newt Gingrich would be a gonner with his three wives.

M-

Again, [Me-]...they are third graders. It's obvious that any story that doesn't support your position...no matter how much common sense it makes...is not going to be supported because of your agenda. The only agenda I have is that our schools are overstepping and presenting material that parents would not want their THIRD graders exposed to. That kid did NOT write that story...That teacher was out of line and as far as gay or not gay...no one really cares one way or the other about what ADULTS choose to do. These kids are too young for this subject.

Me-

Some third graders are gay and it is not by choice.

The American Psychiatric Association agrees with me.

http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/schools.aspx

You did study psychology right?

This was a New York public school, not podunk ignorantville where ignorance is perpetrated on our kids. I know, because they tried with me.

M-

[Me-]...they are only 7-8 years old. If you want to discuss the problems of bullying and kids treating each other with respect...that's fine. I personally believe that kids should be allowed to be kids as long as necessary...and this story wasn't about kids that are gay and don't realize it...it's about whether it's appropriate for ADULTS with adult socio/political agendas...tailoring their teaching to indoctrinate kids into a whole area that they shouldn't even have in their vocabulary.

M-

I don't think there are any third graders out there having sex...in fact, I think you're changing the subject because deep down...you know that it's wrong to bring SEX into a discussion with 7-8 year old children. I wouldn't want anyone saying anything to my children beyond "no one has a right to touch you"...no matter what it's for. You act as if the other kids you grew up with would have treated you differently if they knew you were gay in the third grade? I am telling you...you would have been completely miserable and the situation would have been WAY worse than simply confusing. You're pushing a personal agenda and I'm saying that certain subjects are AGE appropriate...and this is one of them.

M-

Questioning my education...then, making assumptions about the education of anyone that isn't taught in NY doesn't account for the age issue. Those kids were too young to be used that way and you know it.

M-

It's called manipulation [Me-]...

Me-

Trying to hide parts of the world from kids is your personal agenda, because it doesn't agree with your closed-minded views.

You more resemble the parents in the video who wouldn't let the girl come over because of who her parents were.

School shouldn't be AOL with a walled garden. Our kids need to be encouraged to see way past our self imposed boundaries.

Me-

They did not talk about sex.

By your standards talking to a kid at school about his new baby brother or sister is talking about sex.

M-

[Me-]...so, it's your opinion that parents shouldn't be allowed to make decisions based upon their own choices? That our schools know better than a child's parent what is best for the child? Their JOB is to teach the child how to READ, WRITE and do MATH...beyond that, they are overstepping. I'm not closed minded [Me-]...I am of the opinion that these particular CHILDREN are too young for this type of manipulation. Talking about gender differences...and talking about gay and lesbian issues are not the same thing. This is why a serious discussion of what is appropriate never happens when the agenda is about the ADULTS and not the kids. I have never said one way or the other about who my kids could play with...I took everyone at face value for who they were and acted accordingly.

M-

Actually, I would have no problem whatsoever with my kids playing at the lesbian's house...the teacher, however, is a different story. What if that teacher had been preaching Christian ideals...would you feel the same way? That the kids deserve to hear all sides? Or do you only support that the kids hear the side that furthers YOUR agenda? It goes both ways [Me-].

M-

You know what? It boggles my mind that you would JUDGE me...when you're so adamant about not being judged...that's a real kick, isn't it? That you assume, judge and base arguments on your own false impressions...when you're fighting against the exact same thing being done to you? So, how is it that I deserve less consideration? This is no different than people that see a racist under every pebble and falsely project their own biases onto others...when the one with the problem is the one pointing the finger.

Me-

If the parents want to argue against scientific principles, then they espouse indoctrination which is their right as parents. Back when I was going to public school, parents who felt that strongly about certain things (like you obviously do) sent their kids to private school. You cannot apply your (be honest) religious views on the entire school system. It would restrict the school to teach up to the most conservative view and no further. We tried this and it doesn't work.

Religion has no place in public school except as a sociological study, and in that case no philosophy should be off limits. Herein is an example of a sociological study. The little girl has two mommies. She lives differently than little Johnnie or Betty.

You obviously glossed over my views about Jesus. I love the man. I hate the fan clubs. Too many people want to affix their own ideas to Jesus despite the fact that he so clearly spoke against them. Matthew 25 is where most Conservatives (most especially Republicans, but not exclusively) get it so clearly wrong. It would serve you well to read some of the writings of Pope John Paul II particularly regarding social justice.

I was once very active in the church. At the point when a preacher points his finger at someone else with anger in his voice and judges another person, he has strayed too far off the teachings of Jesus. 'If Jesus is love then why are you so freakin' angry,' I had to continually ask myself. It may have been outside your circle, but the guys on the wrestling team called me Father Merrell.

Religious instruction even when it agrees with my own philosophy is Constitutionally forbidden. The First Amendment bars the Federal Government from the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion." Further precedents have concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion." This applies to all governmental bodies including school boards, administrators, and faculty. I don't have to like or not. It is the law. You do a disservice to the Constitution to liken it with "my agenda." It is, or it should be, the agenda of all Americans this document that answers back to the Spanish Inquisition and other atrocities committed in the name of religion. This is our national value and we are founded on its principles.

I first learned this lesson from my devout Southern Baptist mother who obviously deserved her Valedictorian honor. When I refused to partake in mandatory religious instruction in fourth grade in public school, my mother supported me. Most egregiously the teacher had the audacity to subject me to corporal punishment for my refusal. In that same school I took an "F" rather than sing at my teacher's church. That smells a lot like American Sharia law.

When Aviano High School's Barbara Patton showed favoritism toward Ira because they were both Jewish, it was wrong. I personally feel she should have lost her job for that, but our class made her suffer for her utter disregard for professionalism. Dingaling with a bell... Class... Class... Class...

M-

Third graders are only 7-8 years old [Me-]...and teaching the opposite of Christian values is just as unfair to our kids...I surprised you don't see the irony of that...but my agenda is that these are age appropriate issues and NOT the job of the public school. From the above...I see that the only issue that you're willing to talk about is "you"...and not about the kids and whether it's right or wrong to be manipulating kids at this age...and I don't have the foggiest idea who Ira or Ms. Patton are...but you're doing the same thing when you call that teacher "heroic" for singling out that little girl for special treatment. If you cannot or will not see the hypocrisy in that...then, the subject is dead and the discussion is a waste of time. Their job is to teach reading, writing, arithmetic...not social/progressive/liberal ideology. I would be interested to know if the parents KNEW what the subject matter was ahead of time or not??? Or do you even think it is their RIGHT as parents to know?

Me-

I have tried to show you your complete exit from logic when it comes to this.

In evidence is that third grader are 7-8 years old. Kindergardeners are 5. 1+5=6, 2+5=7, 3+5=8, many (actually most) turn 9 by year's end. Great education system in South Carolina!!!

What the fuck is "opposite" of Christian values? Who the fuck are you to even judge that in my child's PUBLIC school? I am so glad that you have nothing to do with the school system.

I have pointed out to you what happens when "Christians" are given power over the weak AKA children in the classroom as evidenced by bruises on my ass.

People like you have the right to take your kids out of the public school and program them into the most right wing religious bullshit that you like. It is called PRIVATE school or home schooling.

I know there are others like you. You want the school to teach what you believe as opposed to their true goal which is to teach kids how to think. No amount of fact can shake the ignorance of someone's belief. The Vatican excommunicated Galileo for proving that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Homosexuality is NORMAL. There are and there has always been homosexuals. There is no significant difference between sexual orientation and being left handed. Oh but that is Science which was missing from your school subject list as was Social Studies, Art, Music, Technology, Theater, Physical Education. The teacher recognized her for her winning an essay contest. Honestly, did you and I watch the same video?

The problem that you have is the facts have a liberal bias.

A-

[Me-]... Let's leave G-d out of it. Let's look at...nature and procreation. It takes a male and a female of just about any species or plant on this planet to....re- create. You cannot create another male or female of any thing on this earth without the other. This is basic science. It is completely inappropriate to teach sexuality at that age. They do not have the emotional maturity. You can have children who have intelligence beyong their age and you can have children who are physically developed ahead of their age but they cannot be emotionally ahead of their age. But things can happen to them and things can be taught to them at the wrong age that will hinder emotional developement. Homosexuality has been around since the beginning of time. This is a parents responsibility to discuss this...not a teacher. Yes their are homes that it isn't.....but I have children and I have had techers who wanted to bring their political and personal opinions into the classroom....that's okay at the higher educational levels and older children....as long as the other side is also presented...debates are great. But not in elementary. Focus on the basics ....kids have trouble enough still trying to write their name in 3rd grade. Our schools have fallen so far behind compared to the rest of the world. I live is South Carolina but I was born and grew up in the North and went to very good schools back then. I moved South over 20 years ago....because of my southern roots and values for my son. RESPECT was beginning to leave the public schools in Detroit and other things began creeping in. It is wrong for you to assume that the schools in the south are all ignorant and the people also...that is prejudicial. There are fine colleges here and they are turning out excellent graduates that came from these schools. Have you ever even been to S.C. or even the south?

M-

[Me-]...this is yet another example of a discussion about children and appropriateness...the girl didn't win the essay contest. She was SELECTED for a paper that she didn't write on her own...because the content FIT their AGENDA. You areobviously upset by the fact that you can't come up with an argument to win this discussion without launching into an attack. More evidence if you were not gay...you wouldn't even be having this discussion in the first place. I stand by my opinion that it is the educator's JOB to teach the SKILLS necessary to become successful adults...not to indoctrinate all of our kids to give special recognition or special treatment because one's parents choose to live a certain way. Contrary to what you assume about the rest of us...we don't care who you sleep with. We do care that as parents we get the respect and common sense of the schools to recognize that we have rights and that our children should not be USED this way. That teacher should be fired! I believe that you only see things from the mirror...that no one else's rights matter to you and that makes you the one with the problem here.

M-

A-...thanks. I don't think [Me-] is seeing that if the schools would stop overstepping their jobs...we wouldn't even be having this discussion. It's abusive to put children in the middle of adult issues and it undermines the parents...what that has to do with Galileo or that absurd adding thing he did...are beyond me. I PERSONALLY have a child that was born the day before the cutoff for kindergarten...he was 7 years old until 2 months into his third grade year. Most of the kids identified with learning issues...are about this age as well...and add that to the social problems, poverty, crime and then this crap being forced on them??? It's too much for them... And it's really sad that [Me-] doesn't see that...he would rather take care of the needs of the adults...at the expense of the kids. Those kids in that class should have been outside playing...or doing math, english, science...not dealing with this nonsense!

M-

[Me-]...this is an adult, mature and respectful conversation...if you can't do that without cursing at me...you're outta here.

A-

Children are at the mercy of adults and childhood is so brief. A child should be protected from the stress and worry of an adult world and it's problems.

M-

Exactly! And if it's obvious to the educators that a child is acting a certain way toward other kids...single that child out and get their parents in the office for a pow wow...I mean really, how many names and jokes get played on everyone??? This BS about gays needing special treatment or we all need special brainwashing to make us accept people that aren't like us...fine! Maybe THEY need to take a class on accepting us breeders and stop blaming us for their chosen lifestyle! The hypocrisy is what drives me batty...

M-

I guess we lost [Me-]...I agree totally with you A-...kids have enough on their plate without having a short childhood cut even shorter by the likes of this...it isn't about the adults and that's the problem I have with this.

A-

They make it about THEM and they should not be in the teaching profession....that's what's happened to the public schools today...not all but way too many.

M-

If they spent half the time they spend jamming this progressive nonsense...our kids wouldn't be falling behind...but I guess it's ok for the proponents of this BS...for us to have DUMB kids...as long as they play nice with the little girl with two moms. NEWSFLASH...my kids have two moms and their kids have like four grandmothers! It's called an extended family and makes no difference in the educational setting.

A-

I wouldn't want a teachers discussing their heterosexual life styles either....stick to the basics....they aren't getting those.

Me-

I am heartened by the response of the kids in the video who are light years ahead of this Neanderthal thinking.

Evolution challenges religious indoctrination and we even had a famous Kansas trial over it. Now educated people look back at that time as quaint and backward. I hope somehow future generations will look back at this exchange and confirm, "never again."

In order for true learning to occur, you must be willing to let go of long held beliefs. In other words belief is ROM, Read Only Memory, while learning is more like persistent RAM, Random Access Memory. The stuff that is proved worthless is put in the recycle bin and the area on the disk is written over with fresh new data. And in the case of the ROM there is always a finite amount of data.

No special rights for anyone just "equal protection under the law" as guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. Don't puts words in my mouth. But now that mention it, there are some people in this country who can join together, take tax credits and rights in perpetuity while others are barred from doing so. This hold true for trans national corporations vs. small business owners, but it is just as true for heterosexual parents vs. homosexual parents.

Once again there was no discussion in that classroom about what the two mommies did in their bedroom.

Heterosexuality is not the only form of reproduction. Strawberries (the last time I checked they were plants) clone themselves. Some worms reproduce asexually. And alas homosexuality has been observed in many other species of animal besides humans. FACTS HAVE A LIBERAL BIAS ONCE AGAIN.

I am a Southern, Veteran, former Christian, and former Republican who found lies from all those groups that I identified with, because I was willing to challenge even my own identity to get at the truth. I am an American. In order for that word to mean something, I must constantly ask, "Does an American deserve to be ________ ?"

Persona non grata ...

M-

[Me-]...the point is that this exchange is NOT about you. It's about whether or not it is appropriate for a teacher...who obviously has his own agenda...self appointing himself the social advisor to these third graders...and if that's the case, were the PARENTS fully informed about the content of the class beforehand? I don't personally give a rip who does what...that's where your assumptions are wrong. I do, however, take objection with the argument that it's ok to teach this to third graders because strawberries and worms reproduce asexually??? For Heaven's sake [Me-]...is that all you have? If you take issue with the LIES that were allegedly told to you...who is to say that these kids aren't going to grow up and realize one day that they were LIED to? You and that teacher don't get to make that call...their parents do. Our kids are falling behind because our educators aren't educating them! They are indoctrinating them to be "free to be you and me" and forgetting that it's their job to teach them math, english, science. If you truly believe that third grade is the appropriate age...fine. That's your opinion...But don't think that some lame argument about other species being homosexual or weeds and worms have anything whatsoever to do with HUMAN CHILDREN...and age appropriate brainwashing!

Me-

By your standards these parents are not allowed to go to the third grade play. Or the grocery store. Or Chucky Cheese. Or anywhere where third graders might be. It is not age appropriate?

No American deserves that treatment.

Ignoring them won't make them go away.

A-

[Me-]..your private life is YOUR business.....not everyone else's. You cannot MAKE people believe the way you want them to. Parents still have the most influence over their children...period. Mom and Dad can be a piece of crap but little kids still listen to them and do deep down love them. Help kids get ahead by being the best possible teacher for them by giving them the educational basics that they need to get ahead. You are not a guidance counselor or a trained child psychologist or a social worker or a doctor. If you wish to teach biology ....teach in middle school where those kids need help.....And some acts that are considered to be homosexual are really acts of.....dominance.....

(oh yeah I too was tempted to go off on this ignorant little shit.)

M-

[Me-]...once again, you're taking a teaching situation that is not age appropriate and changing the subject, making assumptions which are not true and giving yourself a false sense of importance...we really don't care what you do or don't do. This thread is about whether or not the PUBLIC schools...using PUBLIC funds...should be doing anything other than teaching ACADEMIC subjects to our kids. I've never been at any of the places that you mentioned and thought, "omg! I wonder if those two are gay???" Because I don't care on way or the other. Again, this isn't about the adults....and you're just not getting that fact.

Me-

You fail to be intellectually honest. The YouTube video at the heart of this was filmed at PS 57 in New York City, where homosexuals live openly without fear of M-/A- kind of repression. This is these children's environment. Where they and other families fit in to their environment is an important part of an education.

On the subject of limited learning that both of you crow about, there is a line from a famous Libertarian's song regard the Right, "Keeping peoples dumb is where you're coming from..." - Former Presidential Candidate Frank Zappa

You are correct in saying that I am not a social worker or Psychologist. The tricky thing about those kinds of proclamations is that they also apply to both of you. In contrast to your uninformed blather, I posted a link to the APA policy on homosexuals in school. This is where we differ. I had the intellectual curiosity to learn something about the subject without the need to get a paper from a college. Then I did something that both of you cannot, defer to the experts. You can not supplant knowledge and learning with belief.

...And some acts that are considered to be homosexual (Christian or Jewish or Muslim or Vatican or Mormon or Scientology or heterosexual) are really acts of.....dominance... And the beat goes on la la la la la...

This whole "Think of the Children" fake outrage has been used on the Right for years to try and legitimize oppression. I quite frankly find it pathetic that you hide behind children to try and further your regressive views.

And regarding "giving yourself a false sense of importance," me thinks tho hast lost the argument and subconsciously understand the value of superior logic and intellect. Yet you choose to live your diminished capacity lifestyle.

And it has been my experience that Tea Party Hate-riots resort to last-word-ism when they lack the capacity to engage in Karl Rove's "fact-based community." You have the floor. Oh and by the way Rove's father was gay.

A-

I am not a Tea Party activist....stop making assumptions....I am Independent voter and and a member of the Whig party. I have several gay and lesbian friends......who don't feel the need to constantly validate themseves.....and I bet theywould be upset if a teacher who was heterosexual felt the need to focus on their sexuality in the classroom....at that age. Why do you think they rate movies now ?...because it is about age appropriate subject matter.....FOCUS ON THE BASICS....

M-

[Me-]...you are doing to us EXACTLY what you SAY has been done to you...assuming and name calling. If that IS their environment...then, why is the school system taking it upon itself to teach this? Isn't it a moot point to teach tolerance and special treatment to people that are already tolerant? You really have no idea what you're talking about...I know a LOT of gay people and they don't live in fear...you're exaggerating the point to try to save your butt here...these kids are too young for ADULT topics. The only person here that is trying to repress anyone is YOU.

A-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gey1PtXYwLI&feature=related [a link to Bernadette Peters singing Stephen Sondheim “Children Will Listen.” Submitted by A- without knowledge of the irony. The children in the video “listened” and for the most part defended the little girl's mothers]

Me-

Stephen Sondheim, being a very famous American Jew, might be able to tell us a thing or two about bigotry.

A-

Yes...he is gay. Neither M- and I care that you are gay. That is your private life. A person's prefernce sexually is not a subject in the classroom to be discussed....heterosexual or homosexual. That is not the point. It is not a teacher's responsibility to teach children about sexuality...it is the parents. The teachers need to stick to teaching the basics which kids are not getting because teachers feel this need to instruct children in other things that have nothing to do with the children doing well in school to do well in continuing education. The early years in elementary education are CRUCIAL for this. You continue this thread and I don't know why...Sondheim's song cuts both ways. My mother taught me about the difference in people and their preferences ......and I taught my children.....and my daughter taught her children.....no one is prejudice....it is a parental duty. You are not the children's parent. We will always have problems with prejudice....we will never have a perfect world.....deal with it and TEACH THE BASICS.....help kids be successful to learn and get a better education so they can get good jobs and not live off the government.

M-

A-...I did the same with my kids...one of them took in their friends cat while he did his military service in Sicily...who, BTW ended up having to come to SC to get the cat from ME...because the kids got stationed in Rhode Is. No one is talking about the ADULTS here [Me-]...and I still don't quite understand what your ROOT problem is...but A- said it best...we really don't care. What we do care about is that our kids aren't being manipulated for or against anyone...this case is about singling out a girl for special treatment and indoctrinating kids because the bottom line is...every one of those kids will be a VOTER someday. If you're too biased to acknowledge that fact [Me-]...further discussion is a waste of time.

Me-

I am gay, Arab, Jewish, Irish, Muslim, French, African American, transsexual, bisexual, Italian, Haitian, Communist, Liberal, Gypsy, Chinese, Mexican, Russian, Iranian, Libyan, Egyptian, Turkish, straight, Green, female, Planned Parenthood,NPR, Democracy Now!, geek, vegan, Salvadoran, Nigerian, Congolese, Korean, Puerto Rican or anybody else who has ever been "the least of these my brethren." So it has been done to me.

M-

Maybe you're just confused? :-) White, black, green, female...and "American" was listed eighth...I would describe myself as American, female, human. I think you're taking yourself just a tad bit too seriously [Me-]. Try lightening up a bit...

(the term African American escaped the ignorant fool)

A-

What does Planned Parenthood, NPR, Democracy Now, Communist , Liberal, vegan, Green have to do with ethnic groups and races of people ? Communism ? The least of these? Muslims are the second largest religion in the world....all your comparisons are weird. [Me-]....you sound like a person who isn't comfortable in your own skin....bottom line....your political beliefs are yours....your sexual preference is your business.......it is not your job to bring that into the classroom.....STICK TO THE BASICS. You are there to teach children the basics...Reading skills, Math, Science, LanguageArts, Computer, Writing ( which is now a lost art). You have kids who are not learning how to read and comprehend what they are reading and you want to bring all this other crap into the classroom. LET THEM BE CHILDREN..for crying out loud. They will soon enough learn about the complicated adult world. Teachers today ....it is all about THEM and not the children....How narcissistic can you get ?

A-

You know what is so amusing about that comment [Me-] ? The fact that you included Arab and Muslim...There are Christian Arabs, Libyans,Iranians, Egyptians, Turks....and the Muslim religion would have gays beheaded along with the Jews and Christians of those groups....ever read the Quran ? There are those " radical muslims" you read about.....who tolerate nothing. Those Christians have been the ones protecting everyone. Females in those countries HAVE TO wear burqas and are subjected to rape, beatings and mutilation. Can you imagine what would happen to gays ? There are extremes of any religon or groups.....EVERYONE doesn't belong. I don't have to believe everything and you don't have to believe everything. Leave the adult crap out of the classroom....TEACH THE BASICS !!!!!!

M-

I'd rather work on ME...and try to fix what I can fix and treat people with dignity...this nonsense about special interest groups is basically the opposite of fairness and treating people equally.

A-

M...[Me-] is a elementary school teacher and he is "flipping the bird" in one of his FB photos? What the heck is that about? I wonder if his school board has seen that one...or the kids parents? What does the purple on the finger mean I wonder? I can only imagine...

____________________________________________________________

By this point at had given up on this former classmate of mine and hid her posts.

For the record I am not a teacher, although I think I know more than some of the ones that are teaching my kids.

The purple finger is an answer back to the Right Wingers after I voted. It illustrates my wish to get the hell out of a $3 trillion illegal occupation in Iraq. My feeling have not changed.

Your Average Idiot

No Skin on Skin Sin

2011-06-09T11:49:00.005-04:00

Anthony Weiner like most politicians is a little light on his technology chops, so he thought he wouldn't get caught. He lied.

He did not put his weiner in the fish taco. Comparing him to Bill Clinton, John Ensign, David Vitter, Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford, Newt Gingrich, John Edwards, or Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't fair, because there is no evidence that he committed a skin on skin sin. It is illustrative to examine the degree of sex scandal in all levels of government to show that it is not unheard of. I submit that extramarital sex alone does not prevent politicians from serving the people that elected these representatives. If you appoint yourself as a moral police for others while getting sex whenever and wherever you can, get the fuck out. If you bribe your mistress with mommy and daddy's money, get the fuck out. If you get another woman pregnant while you are married, GET THE FUCK OUT.

I won't go so far as to banish these people to the political wasteland, because I reserve the right to review the speeches and writings of Edwards regarding poverty in America or Spitzer's assessment of corporate corruption and it's influence on politics or even Schwarzenegger's words on global climate change.

Representative Weiner did not put his weiner in the rear of the American people with other lies that are far more egregious. Tax cuts do not increase revenue. Giving money to rich people is not a way to American prosperity for all. It is as simple as the premise GIVING RICH PEOPLE MONEY. The only reason that this notion has any credibility is that the Citizens United Case in the U. S. Supreme Court gives Wall Street and all foreign equivalences a way to buy American politics and sacrifices our sovereignty.

Just because Weiner put images of his junk in the wrong place, it does not mean his cock took a walk. Weiner put his mouth in the wrong place regarding his "briefs" encounters, but he stuck to the truth on the floor of the House of Representatives. If his marriage is to survive, he will have to endure a tongue lashing times two. One from his wife's mouth and a constant one from his while the weiner stays home. This little weiner had none and went wee wee wee all the way home. We will have to look no further than Weiner's Twitter to find Blue State Balls.

Your Average Idiot

Stake out a place far left of Obama and drag him over

Trouble in Insancity

2011-04-12T21:43:00.005-04:00

Man fight

I just thought I might try and click through a few sentences to see how I felt about this situation in the Right-Winger extreme "Big Party" tent.

Okay you got a guy who is a afraid that Islam is going to come and remind him of the 10 Commandments, then possibly take his bacon cheeseburger. In this corner Frank Gaffney.

In the other corner you got a diminutive guy with a Sesame Street voice and a name to match who advocates treason in wanting to reduce the Federal Government, "I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." In this corner Grover Norquist.

Summary of Think Progress link:

Setting - The Awakening 2011 Conference in Lynchburg, Va.

Gaffney thinks that Norquist is an agent for the Muslim Brotherhood to help them infiltrate the conservative movement. Norquist thinks that you should have religious freedom in America.

Conclusion - For the reality-based community WINNER - NORQUIST.
Unfortunate Reality - For the irrational fear-based community WINNER - GAFFNEY.

Then again, if the right Conservatives said that purple ponies fly into their shoe boxes and bless their soles before every religious ceremony, the sales of My Little Pony necklaces would go through the roof tomorrow. Imagine the look on torture boy's face up there on the cross with that glazed pot metal pony banging into his gold electroplated shins. Why how thou forsaken me?

I think that Gaffney is a prime example of how the mind of Islamic extremists work. I believe that in Afghanistan and Pakistan and pockets of the Middle East the same kind of fear of us is spread much in the same way that Gaffney uses here in the US. His audience act like catfish. They swallow the whole thing hook line and sinker. Religious extremists and their followers all view opposing viewpoints as blasphemous.

How small a person must be that he fears words and religions different from his own? How lacking in faith of your fellow American must you be that your own words and deeds will fail all persuasion with the introduction of a new idea?

What I find interesting is that the treasonous Norquist asks the GOP to "marginalize" Islamophobia in the party. These voices have no following anywhere else in main stream political parties. The door that was opened to allow Norquist and his extremism in was left open. While President Clinton and other "Democrats" of his ilk adopted ill-advised right-wing policies in an attempt to incorporate the middle, Republicans desperately looked to the right in the remnants of the militia movement of the mid nineties now loosely reformed as the Tea Party.

The fascist-leaning authoritarian Right that flowed through the open door were apparent at Tea Party rallies holding racists signs opposing our first African American President. When they came for the black guy you did not speak. When they came for the liberal you did not speak. When they came for your Muslim wife, it was too damn late.

I'm sorry Mr. Norquist, but a little involvement in the GOP Proud is not enough to wash off the stain of corrupted conservative principles that flow through the veins of the Republican Party today. The words and deeds of those pointing a finger at you are a direct result "ends justifies the means" strategies that you Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, Karl Rove, Tom Delay, Michael Scanlon, and Oliver North put into action. You sir have so corrupted the values of American politics such that Party comes before country, money before justice, fiction before science, power before freedom, bombs before books, and profit before people. You have moved so far toward the dark side that even Nixon himself would have to ask you from his seat on the House Un-American Activities Committee, "Why do you hate America so much?"

Your Average Idiot
Stake out a place to the left of Obama and pull him over

High Contrast 2010-2011 Bowl Schedule

2010-12-06T14:48:00.003-05:00

High Contrast 2010-2011 Bowl Schedule

Apple's "New" Shuffle - Fourth Generation

2010-09-02T04:29:00.012-04:00

By now everyone has heard the announcement of the the iPod Touch and the iPod Nano. Both are noteworthy products, but the "new" Shuffle is probably as close to an apology you might get from Steve Jobs and the design team at Apple.

The third iteration of the Shuffle product was a great leap forward for the visually impaired only in the voice command and song announcement, VoiceOver, portion of the device. The remote on the ear bud cord made it nearly impossible to upgrade to better sounding ear buds or headphones. Oh, how in the world would a visually impaired person be able to tell the the stock ear buds are absolute shit? I know. They hear better than you or I!

One engineering blunder in my opinion was the Lotto pencil size. After touting its tiny tech, they completely forgot to mention that consumers were going to retain this device as long as they would a toothpick in a holey pocket. Unless you kept the ear buds plugged in all the time, there was a good chance you would lose it the first time you changed your pants. At least with the cord attached you could pretend that you were a very small-mouthed bass searching for the lure.

I must add that the $49 price of the fourth generation Shuffle makes it nearly impossible to compete against in the low end of the market. Nevertheless, I believe they could have pounded the nail in the coffin of all competitors at the low end, if they had made them all 4GB at the same price. A Sandisk Cruzer 8GB thumb drive retails for less than $20. Extrapolating from there, I think the build cost would have been increased buy a few quarters. Alternatively an included SDHC slot would have sealed the fate of the competition as well.

I could have only been more pleased, if they had gone all the way back to the first generation, stick-of-gum, design with the built in USB connector for charging from just about anywhere. A flip out or slide out USB connector could have eliminated the need for the gen one cap.

Your Average Idiot

WikiLeaks Accuser

2010-09-02T04:05:00.006-04:00

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was investigated for an allegation of rape, because of some weird twist in the Swedish law.

When I came across the picture (so-to-speak) of Anna Ardin at Gawker, I had to do a double take. First, for a microsecond the woman looks like CommandN's Amber MacArthur. Second, did that picture say she was a "fore skinning assistant."

I see where the misunderstanding was. Case closed.

Your Average Idiot

Who do you love?

2010-08-28T05:18:00.007-04:00

I have been following the idiocracy of the so-called debate over the so-called mosque at the so-called ground zero site in lower Manhattan coupled with the Dove World Outreach Center's plan to burn a Koran on September 11, 2010.

I made a specific point to link these two things together, because on September 11th this year I plan to join what I hope to be thousands of protesters at that Gainesville, Florida church. I will be the unofficial liberal-beer-bellied-bisexual-married-cracker of the Stephanie Miller Show carrying a large picture of a 9/11 victim with the words "Thank God for Mohammad Salman Hamdani." Hamdani was a medical student, NYPD cadet, and EMT who died a true American hero while trying to help rescue survivors. Park 51, I think I found you a new name, the Mohammad Salman Hamdani Memorial Community Center.

I join Gainesville's first openly gay mayor, Craig Lowe, in condemning their hateful plans, "They are opposed (to) Gainesville's true character as a place that values every person," ... "We may be of different religions, sexual orientations, races, genders, national origins, or ages, but all are welcome here in our efforts to build a better community both locally and globally."

It is important to note that there is an Islamic Center right on University Avenue, the main drag in Gainesville. I don't know how busy it is, but it does give some indication that there is a significant Muslim presence in that city. A few years ago, a group bought The Brown Derby Inn, a local landmark, and some of the surrounding land and started the Hoda Center, school(?) and mosque. The center is fittingly right off of Martin Luther King Memorial Highway, US 441, near the edge of the city limits.

This is not the first controversy involving the "church." Dove World Outreach Center got a bit of a smack down by the local press and the Alachua County School Board when some of the "Dove" parents sent their kids to school with T-shirt bearing the slogan "Islam is of the Devil." It's good to see when your elected officials pay attention some of the time. They ruled that the T-shirts were inappropriate and detrimental to the inclusive message that school should send.

DWOC has recently targeted Lowe for his sexual orientation and his opposition to the Burn a Koran Day with a march into the Bo Diddley Community Plaza downtown near the City Administration Building. Protesters chanted "No Homo Mayor!" The irony is that Bo Diddley sang "...Who do you love?..." not "...Who do you hate?..."

Most local media and critics of the "church" paint Terry Jones as a media whore. His "congregation" is literally walking distance from oldest local television news studio. Jones probably scheduled the 6PM-9PM event to coincide with local live television coverage in each CONUS time zone.

All this has come at a terrible cost to the fear mongering "church." Cotton's All Lines insurance (a spin-off of a local convenience store chain) has canceled their insurance. RBC has canceled their mortgage and are demanding $140,000 immediately to pay off the loan. The Tax Appraisal office in Gainesville has determined that a part of the property is being used for a for-profit business (READ skimming operation - the shepherd is fatter than the flock) selling used clothing and furniture locally and on eBay. They may be forced to pay some back taxes. The fire safety officials refused to grant a permit for the outdoor burn.

It's kind of strange to see how free market capitalism, government regulations and revenue ran up against First Amendment Rights and separation of church and state. The creepy wheel gets the shaft. Thank God?

Your Average Idiot

"Sociopath"

2010-08-28T03:43:00.006-04:00

This blog has not been updated in a while, because I have been mortified by the stupid attitude of the American people. This attitude reaches even into my family.

When traveling back and forth to visit my dying grandmother, my sister and I discussed the then pending health care reform bill. It should be noted that she and I both are cancer survivors with extensive personal experience with the health care system. I have never seen my sister in this light. Think worst Right-winger.

My sister sounded like a week's worth of Freeper callers on progressive talk radio. "My daughter was denied access to some social program, because of some black girl." "I don't want my taxes going to anyone who wants to sit on their ass." "Social programs are the very reason why black people can't succeed. It makes them lazy. They should work harder to get a job that offers health care." "Health care wouldn't cost so much if we didn't have to pay for all those black people." "I don't care what happens to them." "I'm only concerned with me and my family."

She was shocked that I called her a sociopath. She proudly displays a sign on her desk "sociopath." I doubt that she would display the other labels "bigot" and "racist" at her government job at the Public Defender's Office with her public option.

She and I both have mixed race nieces and nephews.

No amount of knowledge or fact can persuade the willfully ignorant.

Your Average Idiot
USA, please get your heads out of your asses

MPEG-LA a Hidden Controversy

2010-05-02T15:40:00.003-04:00

This link was up at /.

http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA

The author reveals that this organization, MPEG-LA, could control nearly all video production and distribution because of monopolistic language in its license agreement.

If the author is correct, I would like this to be a cause of the Department of Justice. In a time of unprecedented incompetence at the US Patent Office, let's start with a new application of eminent domain.

Your Average Idiot
Matthew Ch 23:Verse 24
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

Wrong.FM

2010-03-14T19:11:00.005-04:00

The late Frank Zappa does not appear in person on the Zappa Plays Zappa record. It is completely inaccurate to tag this music as Dweezil Zappa and he would be the first to admit it. The genius that is Frank Zappa does come through the fingers of Dweezil and Steve Vai and Warren and ... all that read those notes.

Zappa Plays Zappa is a concert like Beethoven if he had a demigod son like Dweezil. Frank Zappa is quite simply one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century if not the finest.

Last.fm is in the words of Frank Zappa, "You're an asshole. You're an asshole. That's right..." Do yourself a favor and research your library. fuckers.

Moron Health Care

2010-01-25T15:34:00.001-05:00

Thank you for your input in the Ken Blankenship Facebook debate. If we reduce the cost of health care for all Americans, we reduce the cost of government entitlement programs like medicare and medicaid.

Oh yeah, and I misspoke about the 17% that we currently earmark in the economy for health care. That figure doesn't cover everyone with insurance. Currently almost 15% of all Americans do not have health insurance and a disproportionate number of those are children. The number of uninsured/uncovered is part of the burden of health care at least with respect to hospitals. Hospitals are forced to offset this burden by charging more for all their services. The health insurance companies have to pay more, so the premiums go up. Then we are left with more people who can't afford to get their foot (or leg or heart or colon) in the door, so they go to the emergency room and the process starts all over again ad infinitum.

But most disappointing in all this debate is that there are millions of Americans that can look at the number of people dying and becoming disabled for lack of health care and can walk away completely unmoved. This selfishness that has crept into our culture like a cancer needs to be cleansed from the body politic. Shame on us all that we allow these voices to drown out common decency. I am dying on the road to Jericho and I need my Matthew 25.

Windows 7 Upgrade Scam?

2009-10-27T04:35:00.009-04:00

Following a bookmark to FatWallet.com brought me to a not-so-hot-deal at Staples which seeks to lighten your wallet unnecessarily.

I had just installed Google's Chrome browser on someone else's computer. Google imported some bookmarks from another browser. I noticed a FatWallet.com link and followed that through to a forum subject "Hot Deals." Someone added another deal from Staples as a comparison to the original post. They went on to tout the deal by adding that Staples is offering a $49.99 Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade with purchase of a (Edit: missing from the ad Windows 7) PC.

The problem with this "deal" is they are charging for something that is now FREE! (Sorry, Folks I got this wrong) Dan Ackerman at CNET reminded us in his article, October 26, 2009, that many manufacturers are offering FREE upgrades between June 26, 2009 through January 31, 2010. According to his article the manufacturers include: Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and Sony. (BTW this list is not complete. eMachine for one is included in the program.)

The link to the offending product deal is here.

I am unable to reach Staples for comment at this time because their customer service center, 1-800-378-2753, doesn't open until 7:00 AM Eastern.

Keep in mind that a qualifying computer is one that runs Vista Home Premium or higher. This would rule out most Netbooks which mostly run Windows XP or some form of Linux.

Please, do not get suckered into paying more for that new PC or laptop.

Update

I just got off the phone with Staples Customer Service they have referred me to the Staples CEO and gave me the number. That office opens up at 8:30 AM. I hope to get a better answer from there. I'll keep you posted.

Update 2

The Customer Service Desk was wrong. The office of the President opens at 9:00AM Eastern.

Update 3

I called a local Staples here and spoke to the computer sales department. The nice lady explained to me that they have discontinued all sales of computers with Vista.

I was a little surprised and a bit impressed that Staples had already enough computers in the pipe to totally eliminate Vista given that I had just seen many Vista PC still for sale at Best Buy.

My initial outrage assumed that Staples was selling Vista computers and Windows 7 upgrades for the computer you just bought. That isn't the case. Staples is selling Windows 7 PC's and laptops and selling a $50 Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for the piece of crap Vista computer that you have at home.

There is a little caveat to the story. According to Microsoft you can only get the $50 upgrade once per computer purchase up to 25 upgrades. Netbook purchases do not qualify, because they run Windows 7 Starter. I'm not sure if the upgrade can be used to upgrade from Starter to Home Premium.

The following is ripped directly from the Social.Answers.Microsoft.com/forums

· Upgrades to Windows 7 from the following operating systems are not supported:

· Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP, Windows Vista® RTM, Windows Vista Starter, Windows 7 M3, Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, or Windows 7 IDS

· Windows NT® Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2

· Cross-architecture in-place upgrades (for example, x86 to x64) are not supported.

· Cross-language in-place upgrades (for example, en-us to de-de) are not supported.

· Cross-SKU upgrades (for example, Windows 7 N to Windows 7 K) are not supported.

· Upgrades from Windows Vista to Windows N, Windows K, Windows KN, or Windows E are not supported.

· Cross-build type in-place upgrades (for example, fre to chk) are not supported.

· Pre-release in-place upgrades across milestones (for example, Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM) are not supported.

Your Average Idiot
Use your savings to support truly progressive candidates in 2010!

Yeah, Windows 7 - BOO Gateway!

2009-10-22T06:04:00.003-04:00

Update

I still haven't heard from Gateway about the free Windows 7 Upgrade and how long it will take to cover their pre-orders.

By the way, I misunderstood an "O" for a "0". That is why I was unable to get into the status page. It simply says "Order Status -----------------". FTW or Fuck The What?

Your Average Idiot

Data Recovery - Attempt - FAIL - BACK THE FUCK UP!

2009-09-23T17:10:00.009-04:00

From my previous post you heard about my disappointment of Hitachi hard disk drives. Now I would like to discuss what you may do to try and recover the data from the crapped out drive. This process can work for a specific kind of hard drive failure where the failure is in disk controller card that is sandwiched onto the bottom of the drive.

First you should listen carefully to the computer when it starts. You want to make sure that you can't hear a clicking sound coming from the area of the hard drive. Clicking from the hard drive usually indicates a head crash. Now I have to tell you what a head crash is. A head crash occurs when the read/write head actually contacts the recording surface of the spinning disk. Normally a disk drive spins between 4200 and 10,000 RPMs. This speed allows the head to float across the surface without contacting the oxide magnetic coating. When the head crashes, it scrapes away the oxide FOREVER removing the 1's and 0's that make up the stored data. This is analogous to scraping a audio cassette tape with a razor blade. See HowStuffWorks for this comparison. A clever hacker could still simulate the sound of a head crash with a rootkit virus but this is beyond the scope of my post. In any account you should remove the drive right away and send it off to a company that specializes in hard disk drive data recovery. One of the best is a company in California called Data Savers.

If your computer actually starts up, but winks out after a few seconds or minutes you may have the relatively rare condition where the controller card is bad or going bad. This little tutorial pertains to this scenario.

Let me start by pointing out that I am not an Electronic Engineer, so some of my guesses regarding the electronics may not be accurate.

My guess is that this winking out is caused by a chip that functions properly when it is at a lower temperature then fails when it reaches "normal" operating temperature. This guess is based on my experience back in the day when I was a main frame computer operator. I would watch a FE, Field Engineer, take a can of "trike" and chill different chips on a suspect circuit board. It was an expensive method of diagnostics in planetary ozone cost, but it worked.

So what if you could chill all the chips on a "bad" circuit board? You would be able to get the board to function so long as you don't let it warm to "normal" operating temperature.

Liquid ice presents the problem of melting and getting into the drive and shorting it out. In fact even too much moisture may be problematic. I have been successful in the past by freezing a hard drive in the freezer overnight in a zipper storage bag with a desiccant pouch to absorb any moisture. The next day I would plug it in to the computer and copy the files over to another drive. Time is the enemy with the freezer method, because as you get up to "normal" operating temperature is winks out again.

I decided to eliminate the liquid and the time issue with this attempt, so I used dry ice. I was very surprised that the amount that I needed cost less than $5. I used a Styrofoam cooler and ran my cables around the top and pushed the lid as tight as possible. I left the dry ice in the grocery plastic bag, so I wouldn't have to touch it.

I plugged the USB into the computer and FAIL! I expected as much, clicking. I promised the man that I would try and recover the data regardless. What I had planned to do was use a partitioning tools like GParted (My Favorite = Free) or Partition Magic for those who need more features and need their money less than I. The plan is to copy all the partitions to a new drive and then install it into the once broken, in this case, laptop.

My computer offers me an option, F12, at boot to select a boot device other than the default, first hard drive. Check with your brand or modify the option in the boot tab in the BIOS to boot from USB Hdd. Save settings and exit.

GParted comes in a Live CD format so you can use it to format your new hard drive without even having Windows installed on the computer. If you took advantage of the recent back-to-school sales where 8GB SanDisk Cruzers went for around $20, then you are all set up for using the USB version of GParted, Parted Magic or System Rescue CD. You will need to have the bad drive mounted through the USB port via the adapter and in the case of the laptop here the new unformatted drive installed in the laptop. When Gparted starts you will see the USB key that you are running the software from, the "bad" drive and the unformatted drive. You will need to format the unformatted drive in partitions at least as big as the original ones. In my case I replaced the 160GB drive with a 250GB drive for a difference in price of $8. It is as simple as scheduling the partition and formats (NTFS for most modern Windows computers) of the new partitions and clicking the green check to apply.

Once you have prepped the new drive with the proper partitions and NTFS formats, you can select each partition and select Partition - Copy in the drop down. You should copy each partition in order as they appear on the old disk to the partitions on the new disk.

Exit everything and shutdown the computer and remove all the USB devices. If you did this correctly the new drive will boot right up just like the old one. Now you see why I chose the hard way. The so-called easy way of just backing up the files means that you still have to reinstall Windows and all the programs and copy back all the files. Then after that it takes literally months to get all the little tweaks back the way you wanted them.

The moral of the story BACK THE FUCK UP! Use a free open source image tool called Clonezilla when you first get the computer and even after every major upgrade. A great new expensive install of Pro Tools or Photoshop CS4? BACK THE FUCK UP!!! Save all your important shit outside the computer on a USB hard drive like the Western Digital My Book. They are available for Mac and PC with all the interfaces, USB 1.0/2.0, Firewire, Firewire 800, and eSATA. If your computer does eSATA or Firewire 800, choose either of them. Those options rank 1 and 2 in terms of speed respectively. Remember, this isn't the same as creating a Restore Point! A Restore Point assumes that the hard drive is going to be good the next time you restore to a previous point in time. You Apple fanboys are NOT immune to this either. I have heard horror stories about Apple's Time Machine. Online backups are impractical for whole system "clone" image backup for two reasons, huge hard drive capacities and relatively slow download speed compared to USB/Firewire/eSATA. Disaster backups need to be held in an offsite place in a manner that will keep them safe from any weather/disaster related event.

Think of the computer as the filing cabinet. The filing cabinet isn't that expensive to replace, but the files in that cabinet are priceless. If you keep a copy off site, you can be back up and running in a few hours.

Your Average Idiot
Sometimes the bits and bytes bite you in the ass

Hitachi is NOT IBM

2009-09-20T15:38:00.006-04:00

IBM was a great innovator in the field of magnetic disk storage devices with many patents to their name. They had one of the best hard disk drives in the business when they sold their hard drive division to Hitachi in 2002.

Hitachi was a great electronics company that I remember fondly for their fantastic VCR's in the 1980's. I owned one of the world's smallest personal portable cassette players made by Hitachi circa 1982 (generally known by the Sony trademark "Walkman").

Nowadays the only Hitachi branded products that I encounter are hard disk drives. While I don't know what the install base is for this brand of drive, I do see quite a lot of failures. As a matter of fact the last 7 hard drives that I have had to replace have all been Hitachi. In this subset of failed drives were both desktop and laptop models ranging in age from around 18 to 30 months with only one desktop model nearly making it to 4 years. My experience has been to expect around 5 years for a desktop hard drive and slightly less for a laptop hard drive.

I have to go out on a limb and guess that this failure rate has to do with the plant in Thailand. I am going to connect my knowledge of the very poor manufacturing standards for touch-screen voting machines with this hard drive problem. Admitted this is pretty thin, but I would like to know why a good company like Hitachi sucks so hard when it comes to hard drives.

Do your research and buy a model or a brand that doesn't use Hitachi hard drives. These failures I have experienced came from HP, eMachine, and Toshiba. I could care less for HP and eMachine.

I am a Toshiba Certified Service Technician who is very impressed with that company's foresight in the area of serviceability. They need to spend a dollar or two more to provide you with a better hard drive.

Your Average Idiot

Special Place in Hell For Pat Robertson

2009-07-17T02:00:00.005-04:00

Yesterday morning I was flipping through my DTV channels when up pops 700 Club and Pat Robertson noted friend of the Liberian dictator and alleged war criminal Charles Taylor. I'm pointing this out only for context. Here is a person who has made hundreds of millions of dollars being God's advocate and evil's advocate at the same time. Robertson is a money changer by Jesus' definition. This money changer is in charge of the temple otherwise known as Christian Broadcasting Network.

If you happen to be one of the unfortunate few who have read this blog, you know that I am a cancer survivor with strong feelings about health care reform. One big pool with single payer is the only way to have real reform.

Robertson steps out of his Christian teachings to fear monger the health care reform bill. He even goes so far as to ask his followers to call there congressman and senators to oppose the bill and demands that they vote against anyone who votes for this bill. How tax exempt of you fuckhead!

I responded to this broadcast through their website accusing them of bearing false witness in order to defend a system that kills tens of thousand a year by denying and delaying health care. I further stated that there is a special place in hell for anyone who defends the current system of profit from pain and suffering and death.

I am providing a link for the download of the podcast. I was screaming at the TV. My blood was boiling. I can't watch it again now, because it is late and I don't want to wake the whole house.

700 Club Thursday 7/16/2009

Respond to this asshole and call your local station and explain how anti-Christian his message is. If you must have Christian programming, it must be rooted in Christian values.

Your Average Idiot
Some Christians better hope there is no hell!

What is Sex For Money?

2009-07-10T11:20:00.001-04:00

Senator John Ensign from Nevada admits to giving money to his mistress and her family.

Ensign's parents gave money to his fuck buddy, Cynthia, Mrs. Doug Hampton.

Ensign employed Doug and found a job for his son.

Ensign writes note to break off affair, but continues.

Doug still works for Ensign after he finds out about the affair.

Doug demands money after he finds out about the affair.

Cynthia gets a $25,000 severance check for being fired.

Cynthia gets $96,000 from Ensign's Mommy and Daddy in $12,000 increments.

Cynthia is a prostitute. Ensign is a John. Doug is a pimp and an extortionist.

Your Average Idiot

Secret Trial: An American Victim

2009-07-09T06:31:00.003-04:00

Short post:

Way back in the 90's, Peru while still under the mismanagement of Alberto Ken'ya Fujimori jailed perhaps thousands of people with its stated goal of fighting terrorism. These "trials" were not that dissimilar to the US military tribunals that we plan to use against Guantanamo detainees today. One such prisoner in Peru is Lori Berenson who is currently serving a 20 year sentence high in the mountains of Peru.

Free Lori

Lori has been in jail since November 30, 1995

Your Average Idiot

You Had Me At Glenn

2009-07-09T04:13:00.003-04:00

Regarding Froomkin firing:

Greenwald Article

Clearly, journalism itself is not dying. What is dying -- and rightfully so -- is the staid, establishment-serving, passion-free, access-desperate, mindless stenographic model to which establishment journalism rigidly adheres.

I can't hold a candle to this guy, but I can put a spotlight on this article.

Your Average Idiot
OK OK penlight

"Health" "Care" "Debate"

2009-07-04T03:11:00.000-04:00

What is insurance? Insurance is a gambling operation. The insurance company is gambling that you won't get sick. The member is gambling that he will. The problem with any gambling operation is that the house always stacks the deck in their favor. If you win too much, the house will kick you out even if you are strictly following the rules. Look at your policy now. There is a clause in there that limits your lifetime benefit per family to say $1 million. The only way that this would work is if you could change your insurance company every so often, because lifetime is a long time. Then you get stuck with PRE-EXISTING CONDITION.

Why should a pool of people pay a penny more than the actual cost for health care for all its members? Insurance is a legal skimming operation AKA profit from pain. The CEO of United Health Care made a bonus of $1 Billion for one year of service AKA profit from pain. It has been reported that there are over 180 health insurance companies in America. This is simply Insurance 101 as the pools get smaller the more a company can charge each individual. This is a conspiracy against the American people. If instead we put people in one big pool, the cost per individual or family would be the cheapest it can be. This goes for medical supply to include pharmaceuticals as well. If we could use our Union of American States and do like the VA procurement system does we can dramatically reduce cost for everything from bandages to prescription drugs.

Overhead costs for some insurance companies is as much as 25%. The US government runs Medicare/Medicaid for less than 10% overhead cost with even the most conservative estimate. Where is that idiotic Republican idea that the government can't do anything? Those who work in service to their country are better than those in service to profit and dividend.

If you own stock in any health care company or HMO or insurance company or drug company or medical supply company, you are part of the problem. You are profiting from a system that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year by denying and/or delaying care. This is a crime against humanity as much as owning shares of Halliburton, KBR, or Blackwater (Xe). Administrators in insurance companies who deny care only to reap a reward in the form of a pay raise or a bonus are profiting from pain and suffering and death just like Dick Vader Cheney. CEO's and administrators whose charge is the lives of their patients are committing negligent homicide when their patients die. They should not just be held to account through civil action, but felony criminal action as well. Owning these stocks and especially being the spokesman for their crimes (yeah, I'm talking to you, Montel Williams, so-called “liberal”) means you share in their blame. I am so pissed when the Fascist Right Winger says they don't want to disrupt what accounts for one sixth of the US economy. ONE SIXTH!? According to Wolfsram Alpha the average percent dividend in the health services sector is nearly 2.5 times the rate of inflation. You sick blood sucking leeches are just speaking to protect your investments. I hope you all go to hell. I want you to throw those medical bills in the trash. When the bill collector calls your house do what I do and say, “CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE!” and hang up the phone. Don't participate in an immoral system!

Most insurance plans are 80-20 which means that every American is one car accident or a moderate illness away from bankruptcy. If you spend a day or two in the hospital your stay could cost $100,000. Then you have to hope that you don't need therapy or medication for years to recover. You also have to hope that there is a job waiting for you when you get well. How the hell are you supposed to pay your employer-based health insurance premiums when you are recovering from surgery and not getting a pay check? Also consider that the 20% is a built in deterrent for members not to seek medical care when they are sick. This can actually wind up costing the health care system far more, because the cost to do a colonoscopy and to clip a polyp, for example, is much cheaper than the cost to do colon cancer surgery and months of chemotherapy and follow up CAT scans and PET scans.

I would describe health care in the United States in terms of organism and host. There are many ways that this relationship could go, but I'd like to whittle it down to just two, mutualism or parasitic. In mutualism there is a relationship that benefits both the organism and the host like the relationship between the ants and the acacia tree. The ants trim down the brush around an acacia tree, so it can get sunlight and continue to grow strong. The acacia tree in turn provides food for its garden tenders. (Incidentally the 45+ million Americans who don't have health insurance are like the brush in that scenario) In a parasitic relationship the parasite will continue to suck the life out of its host even to the point of killing it. Aphids are the best example that I can come up with. They suck the sap from the plant which can seriously effect its circulatory system and it stunts the growth of the leaves which are the key to a plants respiration. Health insurance companies harm the host by keeping a profit margin that would otherwise allow those in patient care to provide more services and better care. First do no harm!

Republicans like Lindsey Graham have argued that national health care leads to long lines at the doctor's office. Currently we have a system rather like a cast system that I call economic triage where 45+ million Americans (and growing every day with 500k job losses) are not of the proper cast to stand in that line. There is a velvet rope that blocks people from entering the velvet ropes. How fucking insane is that? Furthermore, to have Lindsey Turdball Graham lecture me what damage would be done with a public system while he stands inside the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with his government run health care system (Senate or VA) is offensive. He has a plan that all Americans deserve and only dream of. You get “Sky Box” health care while we die. BLOW ME!

The only thing that should be too big to fail in America is the Union of American States. It is the job of every elected official in this country to negotiate the best deal on our behalf without consideration to age, race, ethnicity, social status, or sexual orientation. In a so called culture of life all life is precious. Do your fucking job!

I am a two-time stage IV colon cancer survivor who wonders with every new ache or pain if this is the one that starts all this shit over again. But a trip to the oncologist always results in a very expensive CAT scan and/or a colonoscopy. The threat of death is enough even before the cost consideration. I have an abdominal pain now that I gauge everyday to see if it is bad enough to go back to the doctor. The stress definitely can't be good for me.

Your Average Idiot
Go to the Left of Obama
and Drag Him With You

Politico Again Touts Irrelevance

2009-07-03T00:13:00.005-04:00

Poll: High unfavorables for Al Franken

The creepy little article has nothing to do with reality.

First, they only polled 1000 people nationwide. Who fucking cares! Al Franken was elected in Minnesota by several million people.

Second, I have a list of US Senators many of whom would have high negatives nationally. Here are a few that I would nominate for that distinction some deserved, and some not so deserving.

Alabama

* Richard Shelby (R) KARL ROVES FAVORITE PEOPLE
* Jeff Sessions (R) KARL ROVES FAVORITE PEOPLE

Arizona

* John McCain (R) BOMB IRAN
* Jon Kyl (R) CRIMINAL

California

* Dianne Feinstein (D) JUST FOR BEING PRETTY GOOD DEMOCRATS
* Barbara Boxer (D) JUST FOR BEING PRETTY GOOD DEMOCRATS

Connecticut

* Christopher Dodd (D) JUST FOR BEING PRETTY GOOD DEMOCRATS
* Joe Lieberman (ID) HONORARY LIKUD PARTY MEMBER

Florida

* Bill Nelson (D) RETIRE! WE'LL FIND A REAL DEMOCRAT
* Mel Martinez (R) FORMER REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIR

Georgia

* Saxby Chambliss (R) ASSHOLE

Illinois

* Roland Burris (D),[9] January 15, 2009 - present CRIMINAL

Indiana

* Evan Bayh (D) TURNCOAT FUCKHEAD

Iowa

* Chuck Grassley (R) REMINDS ME OF THE IGNORANT FARMER AT THE BARBER SHOP. PLENTY TO SAY ALMOST ALL OF IT STUPID.

Kansas

* Sam Brownback (R) RELIGIOUSITY
* Pat Roberts (R) COME HERE AL. I WANT TO KICK YOUR ASS.

Kentucky

* Mitch McConnell (R) I DIDN'T FALL FAR FROM THE HILLS, BUT IT DID DO A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF BRAIN DAMAGE

Louisiana

* Mary Landrieu (D) KATRINA WAS ALL HER FAULT (STATE AND LOCAL, LATHER, RINSE, REPEAT)
* David Vitter (R) DAVID "HOOKER" "DIAPER" VITTER

Maine

* Olympia Snowe (R) HATED BY NEOCONS
* Susan Collins (R) HATED BY NEOCONS

Massachusetts

* Ted Kennedy (D) HATED BY NEOCONS
* John Kerry (D) HATED BY NEOCONS

Michigan

* Carl Levin (D) CAR COMPANY STATE, UNIONS

Minnesota

* Al Franken (D) (senator-elect)

Mississippi

* Thad Cochran (R) YOU CAN TAKE THE REDNECK OUT OF MISSISSIPPI, BUT...

Missouri

* Claire McCaskill (D) RECENTLY MADE MY SHIT LIST OVER COAL/CLEAN ENERGY

Montana

* Max Baucus (D) WEAK DICK MOTHERFUCKER, WE NEED HEALTH CARE

Nebraska

* Ben Nelson (D) THIS SHITHEAD IS BRAIN DAMAGED

Nevada

* Harry Reid (D) HATED EQUALLY BY BOTH PARTIES
* John Ensign (R) FUCK MY ONCE, FUCK ME TWICE...

New Jersey

* Bob Menendez (D) SOUNDS TOO MUCH LAIK AN AY-LEGUL AILYUN

New York

* Charles Schumer (D) CHUCK "MUKASEY" "WATERBOARDING" SCHUMER

Oklahoma

* James Inhofe (R) FLAT EARTHER IN THE POCKET OF BIG OIL

Pennsylvania

* Arlen Specter (D; R prior to April 30, 2009)[10] HATED EQUALLY BY BOTH PARTIES

South Carolina

* Lindsey Graham (R) THIS IS THE WORST OF THE WORST- A MILITARY LAWYER CONDONING TORTURE

South Dakota

* Tim Johnson (D) JUST FOR GETTING SICK

Tennessee

* Bob Corker (R) RACIST CAMPAIGN ADS

Texas

* Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) TEXAS NUFF SAID
* John Cornyn (R) TEXAS NUFF SAID

Utah

* Orrin Hatch (R) UTAH NUFF SAID
* Robert Bennett (R) UTAH NUFF SAID

Vermont

* Patrick Leahy (D) NAILS ON THE CHALKBOARD FOR NEO CONS
* Bernie Sanders (I) SOCIALIST

Virginia

* Jim Webb (D) REPUBLICAN TURNCOAT WOMAN HATER

West Virginia

* Robert Byrd (D) THEY HATE HIS SENIORITY
* Jay Rockefeller (D) JUST FOR THE NAME PEOPLE WOULD FEEL NEGATIVE

Wisconsin

* Russ Feingold (D) CAMPAIGN FINANCE

The others are largely unknown though some had scandals and unpopular positions.

Third, if we elected US Senators by a national poll, even most of the Democratic Senators would be to the right of the population.

Fourth, Barbara Boxer couldn't get elected in Kansas, because she doesn't wear shit kickers and have shit for brains. She represents people with a little more education and life experience. All the people who used to live in Kansas that would have voted for her have already moved to California saying, 'Get me the fuck out of here these people scare me.'

Fifth, if you did an issue poll and asked likely voters how they stood on many of today's issues, you would see how closely they match with Senator Al Franken. A national poll would elect a sea of Franken's. Damn, that's alot of glasses. Good thing the Senate has a public plan.

Politico, you just can't help but be the product of beltway lunacy. Tom Oliphant, a frequent guest and sometime host of the Al Franken Show on Air America Radio, once made a wise statement something to the effect that, "Most of these pundits in Washington don't know any more than the average person who reads the paper." IF THE SHOE FITS...! ...YOU HAVE A BIG ASSHOLE! GOATSEE! Thus was born this stupid little blog that nobody reads.

Your Average Idiot
Al Franken will you be my valentine?
PS Al, it could have been closer, if Coleman had conceded.
PPS Last Halloween was 5 years since my last chemo. Now I need some health care that I can afford.

Michael Jackson

2009-07-01T10:05:00.004-04:00

I do own three LP's where Michael Jackson appears on the cover. One is an early compilation of Jackson 5 hits. Another is the Destiny by the Jacksons. The last is NOT Thriller instead I bought Off The Wall specifically because Thriller wasn't out yet. I got some crap from my GI buddies, but one guy's guilty pleasure was Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I digress therefore I am ADD. By the time that Thriller came out I had moved on.

I can't say that I am a true fan. It has surprised me a bit that in the time since Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, I have found myself singing along with many of his songs. I still maintain that alone does not make me a true fan. What that makes me is a victim of the Pavlov's Dog Syndrome that is American radio. How else can anyone explain Oasis for example? They just kept playing that fucking song until one day in your car you forgot to change the station and you find yourself humming along with the tune. This is the first symptom of Pavlov's Dog Syndrome. If you or a friend starts to exhibit any of this behavior, buy anything from the Chess, Stax, or Verve labels and play them until that insidious ear worm crawls out of your ear canal and commits hari kari on your lapel in its sad realization that it is simply not worthy.

I want to thank Hal Sparks who sat in for Stephanie Miller on Friday for his knowledge of Jackson's talent as a recording artist. I gained new respect for his talent that my Radio resentment Syndrome never let me see. Or hear.

This new respect has me contemplating buying some of Jackson's "flops," because there is more than likely a gem or two in the dust bin of recent history. True genius is rarely recognized in its own time.

If we find true genius who would be smart enough to recognize it? How many records would it sell? Certainly not 28 million! If sales are not the true test of genius them imagine how many undiscovered giants are rotting in the vaults of now defunct labels?

My Radio Resentment Syndrome informs me that we aren't allowed access to the dusty vault, because we will discover that all our praise for current stars is completely unfounded. It has all been done before by someone we never heard of. That unfortunately includes his highness

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009).

Your Average Idiot
Send me your Stax, Chess, or Verve LP's

Nearly Perfect

2009-06-30T09:24:00.002-04:00

Sebastian Rupley on Cranky Geeks said of netbooks that people would be disappointed when they found out how slow they were. I do believe that he hasn't seen this one.

My model, Acer Aspire One, came with XP Home, of course the 5400rpm hard drive and 1 GB RAM. Netbooks in general don't have enough memory. The 1 GB lets XP breath a little.

With this hardware it runs MS Office and several different types of media players perfectly well. The dream would be a tablet PC format with touchscreen for that train or bus commute. Asus showed where they may be heading with netbooks at CES. I expect that the Aspire One will follow suit.

Some netbooks have cheap thumb drive controllers for the minuscule SSD. This one sports a regular controller and a regular size laptop hard drive. In fact the hard drive is SATA that you can swap out in about 2 minutes with a much bigger drive.

Some netbooks come with only two USB ports, but this one has three.

Some netbooks have marginal battery life 1.5 - 2.0 hours, but this one is reported to have at least 5 hours. Battery life is dependent on WiFi, back light and other factors. I wish that the battery indicator didn't lie by saying 10 hours left. Although a bit ugly the larger battery pack is a godsend, and it doubles as a carry handle.

Almost all of the netbooks have crappy touchpads this one is no exception. It is too small and ultra sensitive sometimes, and then dead to the touch at others. The hard spring under the "mouse" buttons don't offer relief from the hit and miss tap on the touchpad. Please, please, Acer fix this when you release the next model upgrade!

Netbooks are a small form factor which necessitates an 85% keyboard. :(

Most netbooks have only a 9" screen, but this one has the tiny bit extra at 10.1" which makes all the difference in the world.

Like all netbooks there is no optical drive, but a fifteen dollar USB to SATA/IDE adapter along with a salvaged DVD-ROM drive gave me access to the software I have on CD/DVD.

Price is important too. Mine went for $349 before shipping. This compares very favorably with all the other netbooks particularly when you compare the features.

The sapphire blue is pretty in the box, but like Patrick Norton I get tired of rubbing out fingerprints.

There is supposed to be a model with Bluetooth, but mine does not have that. I would love to have an optional wireless keyboard and mouse and possibly a headset. Tnkgrl.wordpress.com hacked in a Bluetooth on the earlier version using the wireless switch to turn it off.

I do not know if it is more than a rumor that 3G will be available on some models, but it does sound interesting. See tnkgrl again. You can kiss that battery life goodbye.

Overall I would give this model an "A!" Battery life, hard drive, price, portability and hack-ability lead the way, but the 85% keyboard and horrible touchpad tend to lessen the user's experience. Do not expect monster processing power. You will get what you need from this ultra-portable. Let's put this into perspective. A notebook for the price of an iPod!

Your Average Idiot

Playing It Straight

2009-06-28T04:20:00.003-04:00

Stephen Colbert almost never breaks character, but his interview of Jim Fouratt on the anniversary of the Stonewall riots he seems to have at times played it straight. Meta Joke?

Miscount Iran

2009-06-18T23:17:00.003-04:00

By now we have all heard the story of the strange "results" of the Iran election. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has gotten the nod by the ruling council in Tehran despite the widely predicted lead by opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Popular protest in the major cities within Iran continues to this day. There does not seem to be a big difference between the two leading candidates in Iran. But all is not lost there is an outstanding opportunity here for the ruling council to come out of this as heroes.

Mousavi lost in his home district by more than 2 - 1. Mousavi was the clear choice by Iran's youth vote which just adds more bullshit to the bullshit the ruling council is trying to spread through state-run media in Iran.

There has been report coming in to the US through non-traditional means like Twitter and other Internet based services. We see videos of the demonstrations in Iran where an estimated several hundred thousand Iranian citizens attended.

There will not be a huge change for Iran/US relations besides the change of the faces in both countries. That one difference may be just what the doctor ordered for a new direction in our two countries.

I can not make this post without again stating our crime against the nation of Iran in 1953 when we engineered a coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq. Our countries would be so much closer if it were not for the sin we committed against a generation of Iranians.

We here have to to make all of our statements with a large dose of humility if for no other reason but the elections of 2000 and 2004 where we appointed the guy who lost both those elections.

The best set of circumstances for the Iranian ruling council has just fallen in their laps. First, a large group of Iranian young people, also known as Iran's future, are united behind a leader that has already been deemed acceptable by the council. Second, given the US's international embarrassment in 2000 and 2004 with our elections, Iran has an opportunity to do better with its election by either counting the actual ballots or redoing the elections if the "original" ballots would expose Iran to some embarrassment. Third, a decision to "re-vote" by the council would raise the image of the council in the eyes of young people and therefore extend the council's relevance into the future even considering Mousavi's promised reforms. Consider the type of protest that we saw today where young people supported their candidate by also reconfirming their faith, "Allah Akbar!" Fourth, a "re-vote" decision by the council would send a strong message to Ahmadinejad's supporters within the Iranian government that their position is unsustainable. They would be forced to support a slightly more moderate voice of Iran. This in effect will make the entire government in Iran turn the page.

سلام

Your Average Idiot
Go Left of Obama
...And take him with you

Right to Bear Arms

2009-05-10T00:32:00.003-04:00

Let me channel a Jim Ward character, Squeezy McFeelpantz. MY, My, MY! What have we here!? An intelligent, nubile, young, strong bride to the President of the United States.

What big biceps you have Michelle. The better to spank me? I would likely soil myself at the mere swish of the cane. The thought of the bruises that I would have to endure by your hand sends my mind reeling.

Cough. Cough. I am catching my breath. I can't go down that road any more. I may send myself to an early grave or at least give me a strong need for Viagra after a couple of hours.

I again tip my hat to you, dear Mr. President, you used Michelle's strength for humor and not some lame ass white boy's public humiliation...

OK, OK I promised I would stop...

Your Average Idiot
Give in the Age of Obama
(Not just ass bruises - OK I'll stop)

Microsoft Firefox Friendly???

2009-05-05T10:11:00.004-04:00

It has been my experience that Microsoft won't let you have a damn thing from their website unless you use the oft hackable Internet Explorer. I mean hackable in a bad way not the cool skins and buttons that you can download or all the hundreds of plugins that actually improve your browsing experience, or ...

I was very pleasantly surprised today when I forgot to switch from my Firefox 3.0.10 over to holey Joe IE and instead followed my bookmark to the Windows 7 Release Candidate site. I did my registration thingy and proceeded to the download page for the 64-bit version, and low and behold the damn thing started downloading despite the pop-up blocker! When I made it back for the 32-bit version, the white listed pop-up came right up and my download started right up.

I'm not ready to give Steve Balmer a brownie though. I think that Microsoft was forced to completely rethink their customers' access pending the legal action brought against them in the European Union.

Microsoft is acting like every other multinational corporation. They keep profiting by pushing the little guy around even when they don't have to. They never do the right thing until forced to.

I will try and see if this openness extends to Windows/Microsoft Update. If I can get that to work on Firefox, then I think we all owe the Europeans a big round of applause.

Your Average Idiot
Give in the Age of Obama
(But give the multinational a black eye)

Reverend Angry

2009-04-28T15:44:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I stole the name from Robin Williams. He probably stole it from someone else. He referred to Reverend Ernest Angley.

This audio was completely unscripted, unrehearsed and unedited. (except for when the phone rang)

I wish that I had actually made a script because I stepped on some of my points.

This will eventually be the link to the audio when I post it.

Your Average Idiot
Give in the Age of Obama
(But don't give to the "Health" "Care" System)

Spell Check Fun

2009-04-12T20:53:00.003-04:00

Well, the first would be a Stephanie Miller fantasy with Keith sporting a flannel plaid shirt and his right hand on his wood... axe handle... The reality might show that Mr. Olbermann and I have a beer gut in common. TV attire I'm quite sure hides a thick fur under his three piece suit.

I rate this one host hard to outclass even stacked against ALL hosts of Faux News. Overmanned? Maybe. But never outclassed.

Lieberman? Bite your fucking tongue! I'm quite sure Olbermann would point out that the job of a US Senator is much more difficult than his.

After witnessing, no, experiencing the essence of an Olbermann Special Comment. Doberman may be an accurate description of his role in American politics. A bark that is backed by a good bite that scares off the sheepish politicians who seeks to spread their feces all over the place.

Stephanie, she who French kisses her dogs, may just be on the phone tomorrow trying to rescue a Doberman from a local shelter.

Your Average Idiot
Give, in the age of Obama
(rescue a dog)

Mama, about those dusty eggs...

Clean Your Keyboard: Baby Cleaning Juice

2009-03-10T09:43:00.003-04:00

I have been putting this post off for quite a while, but it can't wait any longer. I have recently worked (oh, yeah!) as a computer tech for an exploitative local company where I saw first hand how dirty some of y'all are at least when it comes to your computers. I have been afear'd of catching some unpronounceable multiple virii by touching the keyboard, so do us both a favor and clean your keyboard.

Before I pointed a finger, I should have reviewed my pictures of my keyboard.

I started with my trusty two headed CompUSA toolkit screwdriver. Then I pried the keys up and off.

*NOTE
Not all keyboards have removable keys. Make sure that your keys can be removed.

EEWWW!

EEEWWWWW!

EEEEEWWWWWWW!

Keep these keys straight. If you are a hunt and pecker like me, then you might not remember where all the keys actually go. See there! I'm an Idiot and a pecker.

*NOTE
If you don't have an ergonomic keyboard that has differently shaped keys in different areas of the keypad, you can switch from QWERTY to Dvorak when you put the damned thing back together.

I always start with a crappy old worn out paintbrush.

This got me most of the way there.

The old swab on a translucent stick whose name is not a trademark wasn't that successful.

Then I remembered a questioner on an old episode of TWiT (This Week in Tech) who hosts (hosted) 10,000 Uses for Baby Wipes podcast or something or other. My Google fingers are refusing to search for this nearly useless link 'cause I'm lazy. Anyway... The baby cleaning juice that came in my Huggies Supreme works wonderfully on the nooks and crannies of my Microsoft keyboard. I went back over with the swabs to soak up the tiny bits of baby cleaning juice and to finish the cracks.

Sweet and clean.

You can see that the larger keys attach with a plug and a wire guide.

I found it easier to reassemble upside down so that the wire guide would slip into place better. See the plastic guides where the wire fits "below" the Enter where the Backspace key will eventually go.

Look closely where the wire hooks in.

Rotate slightly and pop into place.

Look Ma! I'm done.

I know. I'm a pack rat who never cleans his desk.

PS I can see now with my new bifocals.

Final thoughts: I have tried the methods of unscrewing the keyboard shell with varying degrees of success. The trick to that method is getting the thin film where the keys contact EXACTLY lined up. Tiny shifts will turn your old school treasure into the printer from the movie Office Space.

Your Average Idiot
Give, in the Age of Obama!
Don't fill up the landfill, because you are too lazy to clean your keyboard.

"Open Source" Textbook

2009-03-07T22:12:00.004-05:00

I found this article on ZDNet.com.

I'm glad to see that little ol' me, Your Average Idiot, had a good idea that somebody else had the power to do something about. A peer reviewed Physics textbook online sort of Wiki style.

When the Internet was little more than an idea, the promise was a new age of human growth through learning. Couple this with a Wiki accredited college, and we will peek into a future that we thought would only exist on Star Trek.

Your Average Idiot
Give! In the Age of Obama!
(Imagine fact trumping belief, it's easy if you try.)

Debian Linux Developer Dies

2009-02-03T22:40:00.008-05:00

I read about this young man's death the day after Christmas and sent my condolences to the family.

He gave to society by programming for a free and open source operating system environment. His gift to the Debian community is being honored by naming the new release after him.

I wish that his example will be followed here in America in the Age of Obama. This is what Nelson Mandela calls the spirit of ubuntu.

Seufer's family sent the following response:

In memoriam Thiemo Seufer

On December 26th, 2008 Thiemo died in a tragic traffic accident which he didn’t cause – bad luck being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was hit from behind in his small car by a very fast sports car and overturned. We assume that it all happened very quickly and that Thiemo didn’t have to suffer which is a comfort to us.

Very consoling was the overwhelming number of emails from all over the world in which you expressed your sympathy and condolence.

Until the obituaries of Debian and the FOSS community we didn’t really realize which excellent work he did because he himself didn’t talk too much about this. Free software was his ideal and his colleagues and friends sharing this ideal were his family. Thiemo worked long and hard to make this ideal to a profession. We feel very sorrow that he could fulfil his “dream job” only for that short time.

To all of you we say thank you for your appreciated sympathy. We know that we are not alone in our pain and sorrow. We are thankful to have had Thiemo as our son and brother and are proud that the next release of Debian software will be dedicated to him. May he this way live on in our memories.

His parents and sisters

Although the family doesn't ask for it in this letter, I would like to encourage people to give of their time or tax deductible money to the Free Software Foundation in memory of Thiemo Seufer.

Your Average Idiot
Give. In the Age of Obama

Where's Sheehan?

2008-11-13T02:10:00.005-05:00

If there ever was a Don Quixote of Election 2008, you certainly would have to nominate Cindy Sheehan. The windmill of course is the lock of corporate greed on the mental regression of "elected" representatives in Washington DC. Corporations lobby for members of Congress as they also lobby to those same members. Sheehan who lost her bid for Nancy Pelosi's House seat, CA-08, knows this all too well.

From Sheehan's campaign website: (emphasis added)

Cindy for Congress never once sold out our solid principles based campaign and would never sell out the voters of San Francisco like Nancy Pelosi has. Nancy Pelosi ran from my campaign and our demands to debate me and we persevered and did so amazingly well after a near total media black out and several attempts at political intimidation.

In the push and pull between "red" and "blue" or "Left" and "Right" that the media has scripted, we lose the individual. Here is a sad reminder of that. The first place finisher and the third place finisher are mentioned, but where is Cindy? Better than 1 in 6 voters in the Speaker of the House's district refused to vote for her OR her Republican't counterpart, but CNN refused to acknowledge Sheehan's amazing feat.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me!
(Vote for true progressives and impeach George W Bush)

Down Payment

2008-11-05T00:30:00.003-05:00

"...America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds...'"

Martin Luther King (I Have a Dream Speech)

Mr. King, please take our vote for Barack Obama as a down payment.

Your Average Idiot

Palin in 2012

2008-11-03T12:58:00.005-05:00

Short and sweet. Sarah Palin is not going to be a serious candidate for the Republican't party for any office in 2012. There are several scandals that will work against Palin in the next few years. She may well win reelection as Alaska's Governor in a contentious campaign. I don't have much faith in the people of Alaska when they renominate Ted Stevens as the Republican candidate for the Senate. Palin comes from a state rife with corruption where "Corrupt Lite" is a maverick enough brand name to get you reelected. She comes from the Ralph Reed brand of religious conservatism where ethics are flexible. She doesn't even understand that what she did is wrong. Palin will be the leader of a quasi-political religious organization like Focus on the Family. She is very welcome in that crowd who have sold their souls for the cash and power that they wield over the heads of the American people. Like all the others leader of the so called Evangelical church Sarah Palin is frustrated that she can't get more people to come over to her way of thinking, so she proposes using the power of the Federal Government to enforce her religious beliefs.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Sarah Palin in 2012!
(We need separation of church and state)

"WE" Must Change

2008-11-03T02:01:00.004-05:00

The words of Chris Matthews:

I have this notion of America that I've been working on. It's romantic but also drawn from our grittiest history. Those waves of immigration that also brought so many of us to this country. Wherever we came from there were those of us who took a chance, pulled up stakes threw off what they had and made the often risky, dangerous crossing to this new land. They made this most basic of all decisions: I will not live this way. It's gotta be better than this. Those were our grandparents, great grandparents, great-great grandparents. And of course there were the others, those who stayed home and said, "I can live with this. Let's just muddle through." Well, we're children of that first group, the one's who said, "No way am I putting up with this second rate existence. I'm taking a chance. I'm going to America." I think that's in our blood. I love what the great Kansas newspaper editor, William Allen White, once wrote about us, 'The most precious gift God has given to this land is not its great riches of soil and forest and land, but the divine discontent planted deeply in the hearts of the American people.' There's something else. If Americans elect Barack Obama President, we will evidence for ourselves and for the world the truths said by our forefathers to be self evident not just that we are created equal endowed with certain liberties, but that old founding notion of 'WE' has been replaced by something new and truly American. So as we start this new century now at full speed, American seem on the verge of, in one vote, achieving two goals taking a great American leap toward something better and uniting our country as never before in our history. That's the show. Thanks for watching. And by whatever means, Vote!

I have this uncomfortable position of liking Matthews because he is entertaining. I know that this puts me at odds with Stephanie Miller's assessment that he is a "right-wing tool." I still want to inseminate your dusty eggs mama, but I would just like to do it in high heels and thigh highs. Stephanie's gay ray has me only half the way there. Sorry Jim and Chris I'd offer my services, but I hate rejection. Bra-less, lopsided Steph's easy. (CUE: She's a slut. Look at her. She's a slut.) I digress, therefore I am ADD.

I must say that Matthew is a bit more cheerleader than historian in his "notion of America" theory.

I would like to state for the record first that "We the people" is an American ideal. Europe believed it and took for themselves especially since WWII. If these European families' blood was somehow flawed it would have prevented them from coming to the light, so to speak. (<- an intentional Matthewsism - HA!) I suppose that flaw in their blood may have been the catalyst for implementing national health care. It may also be responsible for them rejecting fascism even its lighter more Republican form where industry gets to write the laws that govern themselves and where supporters at rallies scream racial slurs. (although I must admit that Europe's treatment of the Main River mirrors the wishes of American industry)

There were two group of immigrants in the new land generally speaking. The "Fuck You! It's Mine!" from the Chesapeake and the "Let's work together" from Boston. The "I'll do it my way, you do it yours" of the Southern colonies and the "Sin is crime" of the Northern colonies.

If moving is a smart thing, then I should already be in Canada. Maybe, like the ones that stayed behind in Europe, we should work to improve our situation. Those who stayed behind took a long view. They taught their children a kinder gentler approach that eventually beat the hatred and divisiveness. Maybe we are just far too eager to go for the quick fix, because it allows us the intellectual laziness not to ask how our decisions today will effect the future. Here's an example. Progressives spent a great deal of effort at the beginning of the last century trying to fix many of our country's ills. Their work established the FDA and banned child labor and did trust busting. We later in the century discovered the harm of all these chemicals that went into manufacturing and regulated their safe use. Then in a little less than three decades almost all of those protections were erased. If they weren't blatantly erased from the books, then they were effectively made mute by relocating the factory over there. "American Made" means safe or at least safer. It means fair or at least more fair. Here you go worker. You're out of a job and your parting gift is poison-laden import food. Bon Appetit!

Unfortunately we are not so damned discontent not to vote for the very fuck-ups that justify greed at the top and siphon off the riches of our great land, the health and well being and peace of mind of the citizens of our country. It's simple. Look at the polls! Those without the benefit of a good education tend to vote against their best interest. Keeping people dumb benefits Republicans.

Though I very much appreciate that Matthews gave the closest thing he could give to an endorsement of Obama, this election exposed the dirty underbelly of American culture. We celebrate the ignorance as we cut school funding to pay for war. We celebrate belief as we deride scientific fact. We champion Christianity as we work against everything Rabbi Jesus taught us. We still embrace the greed of the Southern colonies and the self-righteousness of the Northern colonies. "WE" are stupid, and until "WE" change that nothing will change. "WE" must approve Obama's national service plan to pay for college, because "WE" will care about people less fortunate than ourselves and "WE" will learn the mistakes of our history in college.

Your Average Idiot
Don't For Me in 2008!
Vote Democrat! Vote For Change!

Yo Agenda, I'm Outta Here

2008-11-02T02:38:00.002-05:00

When I first heard about this podcast called No Agenda produced by Adam Curry of Mevio and co-hosted by John C. Dvorak of many things including a blog (that you will have to Google yourself. I don't think I remember it from every episode of TWiT), I thought it may be interesting. I have grown to hate Dvorak and Curry.

We have to set the scene here. There is a technology reporter, Dvorak, who has been writing for about forever, particularly if you judge the measure of time in the tech industry which seems to be timed in nanoseconds. A year might as well be a century. Then you have a former Vjay from MTV who wisely parlayed his celebrity to a pretty good fortune on the web, podcasting, OnRamp. Curry is probably more of a celebrity in Europe from his radio and television work there. Curry is the conspiracy theorist which I like, but he endorsed Ron Paul and bashes Barack Obama at every turn. Part of this political show is critiques of local San Francisco restaurants including the California wines that are served with the fine dining.

Honestly, I believed that this was a conceptual joke. I thought that one show they would come out and say "April Fools" or something and base their opinions on fact. Yes, conspiracy theories can be based on fact. So two privileged millionaires are going to repeat the misinformation faxed out by the Republicants Party and repeated by the Right Wing talking heads like Hannity and Limbaugh. Curry insists that American workers are more accepting of working late than European workers. He obviously lacks the intellectual capacity to understand that a country with strong labor unions and pro worker laws protects its workers from being exploited in this way by management. Granted, the American worker will be willing to do whatever the boss wants him to do in part because of the strong cultural reinforcements. But there are millions that do what the boss wants out of fear. As a matter of fact that huge corporations that own all the media companies in America constantly pound this message into our brains, "VIRTUOUS HARD WORK." At this time in history when there are thousands of highly skilled and motivated American workers without a job because their factory got shipped over to China or Malaysia or India or Pakistan, these folks look more like dumb suckers in the eyes of management. I think there is a significant subset of the American worker who are acting like abused children trying ever so much harder to please an abusive parent. They live in constant fear of losing their job or losing their health care or losing custody of their children or losing their house or losing their car or losing their health or losing their spouse to illness. Their is no peace of mind that might lead to workers being able to accomplish all their work in the allotted time.

If I never have to worry about being homeless or hungry or sick, I don't care how much you tax me. Whatever you make the rate, I'll gladly pay. I don't have to choose a job based on the health care or salary. I can choose to do good for people by mentoring kids in poor neighborhoods. I can work in the food program to feed poor people. I can teach. All these things to give to others I do, because someone will also give to me.

I know that I have gotten really off track with what I intended to say here.

I think that it is insulting to hear millionaires go on and on about the Rothschild at dinner and complain about Obama's tax plan. Where the hell are our values that we reward these whiners in this way? But this is also why I hate pro sports in general. They are pampered pussies who erect a wall of toys to block out reality. I find it impossible to feel bad for them when they lose. Instead I find myself wishing that both teams could lose.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'm half asleep)

Guess The Quote - Again

2008-11-01T06:37:00.003-04:00

...Because of its value, in all of these spheres, it’s absolutely vital to defend academic freedom. This is something that’s valuable to all of us. It’s valuable to students, it’s valuable to the faculty, it’s valuable to society as a whole. If students were coming to be told ideas that they arrived at university with, they would be getting nothing of value here. If they were not to be challenged, if they were not to be forced to rethink the things that they come here as 18-year-olds or 22-year-olds or 25-year-olds with, what in heaven’s name would be the point of the university? What would in heaven’s name would be the point of teaching? We would just come here with monolithic conventional ideas, and we would leave here with the same monolithic conventional ideas. This is why academic freedom is absolutely vital. It’s not just vital to us, the academics. It’s vital to everybody in this society and it is something which has to be defended not just by academics, but also by students. It’s too valuable to be left to politicians, and heaven knows, it’s too valuable to be left to administrators...

...It’s a campaign that based on an utterly spurious argument that the universities are strongholds of radical and liberal ideas. Would that they were strongholds of radical and liberal ideas. Would that the medical schools and the pharmaceutical schools were challenging the stranglehold of industrial medicine, of the industrial pharmaceutical industry. Would that agriculture schools—would that agriculture schools or business schools were challenging the reigning orthodoxies. Would that economics departments, would that engineering schools, would that schools of international affairs were vigorously challenging the reigning orthodoxies in their fields. We should challenge these ludicrous assertions, which are permeating not just the columns of the right wing press, but which we find before important state legislatures today...

Rashid Khalidi speaking April 4, 2005 about Columbia University's attempt to censor speech of its professors by accusing them of anti-Semitism.

Link to the Archive.org file formats of the Democracy Now! episode April 6, 2005

Read the transcript here.

Guess The Quote

2008-11-01T00:46:00.002-04:00

True development cannot consist in the simple accumulation of wealth and in the greater availability of goods and services, if this is gained at the expense of the development of the masses, and without due consideration for the social, cultural and spiritual dimensions of the human being.

This has got be some communist. No, the clue is in the "spiritual dimensions." Well, then it must be some well know proletariat "redistributor" socialist. This person went and used that oft-used socialist word "masses." BUZZZZ, wrong again! It was Pope John Paul II in 1987.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'm not afraid of being called a socialist)

Opie Taylor, Matlock and The Fonz Endorse Obama

2008-10-23T22:27:00.002-04:00

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Now I wanna know who Joanie and Chachi love.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Vote for real change with Barack Obama)

McCain Platform

2008-10-22T09:55:00.002-04:00

Yes, I recognize the pun. My family is full o' pun-ish-ment.

Your Average Idiot
Vote For This Guy in 2016!

Death is Unbecoming of Us

2008-10-14T20:37:00.005-04:00

We bow our heads in shame today where again we are responsible for for the death of an innocent. Whether it be in Iraq or Afghanistan or right here in America the innocent should fall under the protection of the American consciousness. We have a man that will die soon for a legal technicality, because Bill Clinton, our "liberal" hero, signed a bill, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, into law that stripped away the right of a defendant to appeal even when new evidence is found. Today the Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of Georgia inmate Troy Anthony Davis, who was convicted of killing Savannah police officer Mark A. Macphail in 1991.

There are now several witnesses who have recanted their testimony and have made statements that they were coerced by police into testifying at Davis' trial. Though I believe that many of these witnesses were not angels at the time, I do believe that age and a degree of wisdom has lead them to a place where they feel they need to atone for their sins with regards to this conviction. Think about it. It's one thing to get the "Get Out of Jail Free Card" to falsely finger another, but it is another thing entirely to have your lie partially responsible for the death of that man. That is the moral equivalence to accessory to murder. Moreover, that fact that three of the witnesses have identified a third man who confessed to them that he in fact was the real killer was never brought before a judge. I call that benefit of reasonable doubt.

Why in hell is the 1996 Clinton bill used in judgment and restriction of a case where the crime happened before he even took office? If I grew and smoked pot in Alaska when it was legal, does that mean that now I should fear that a later law should apply to my "crime" today. OK, OK killing a police officer is more serious a crime than smoking pot, but it doesn't change the fact that we don't turn the clock back with the stroke of a pen. Isn't that specifically forbidden in the Constitution?

How can someone suspend common sense enough to say that a finding of fact that is exculpatory should not be seen by a judge and jury? This bill excludes new evidence from being brought before an appeals court. This is idiotic! So the system we currently have says that if we "legally" convict an innocent man of murder it is better that he should die than to indict the criminal justice system.

This is somehow oddly analogous to Bush's lies about weapon's of mass destruction in Iraq. The guy that we are going after is no angel, but when the evidence doesn't match the accusation we quickly kill the accused in an effort to turn the page away from those who falsified the documents. We have taken part in and will take part in a crime against humanity.

People holler, Justice! Explain to me, Your Average Idiot, how justice will be served when we have a man that quite possibly is the real killer walking around free. What happens to justice when we later find out that the free man is the real killer? Guess what? There will be reasonable doubt that he is not the killer even it goes to trial, because there will be a man that will have been executed for the crime. If they admit their mistake, there will be no "vengeance is mine sayeth Georgia" moment.

This sickens me to the very core of my being that the very fact of a man's guilty or innocence is insignificant with regards to his execution. When I think about the oath I took when I served in the military most specifically "I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States" and the pride in repeating those words in my own voice, I am filled with disgust and loathing for these American institutions that have taken part in the dismantling of our greatest source of strength.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic)

Part of My Reading List

2008-09-21T23:38:00.002-04:00

I had to pass on this very good post about a topic that I wish I had keyed in on at the time on Palin's speech. I read this post. It makes the point that I have inartfully tried to make time and again here and over at Air America Place preaching to the choir. But it makes me feel better to commiserate. I take no credit for this concise paragraph by Mark Bowden.

We are at war against forces who seek a permanent state of fear, for whom violence is an end in itself. Our side of the fight defends government by consent, and the rule of law. It is why we fight, and what makes our use of violence against our enemies morally defensible. This is why it is critical that we respect individual rights and act lawfully.

Two-Percent Solution

2008-09-05T02:30:00.003-04:00

I had read that the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul Minnesota attracted only two percent of Black voters to the convention floor. With the Black guy running on the Democratic side two percent is probably a very high number for the Republicans given their utter disregard for the concerns of poor people and people of color. So for me it came as a bit of a surprise to see all those Black convention goers during John McCain's speech tonight. I think the camera men found a little game of "Where's Waldo" would be just the ticket to fill the boredom. Maybe the game was more akin to a kind of Sesame Street game "Some of their skin is not like the other. Some of their skin just doesn't belong. Can you guess which skin is not like the other?..." It was most telling to see the wider mayonnaise shots of whole sections. Camera three can you adjust the white balance? Not even a hint of tan. I know, I know. Were are supposed to be post racial. And now I've gone and done it with a racial post.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Vote for the Black Guy!)

America the Beautiful - Pelosi's Refrain

2008-08-25T22:12:00.004-04:00

I was so moved by the words of our first woman Speaker of the House that I looked up the words of "America the Beautiful" for some further inspiration. There are a few lines of note in the song.

From the second stanza

God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

Gee, we could have used that in the Bush administration. Mr. Bush confirm thy soul in self control and do not give in to the base instinct that you used as a child with your playmates and then again in college with pledges and torture the weaker individual.

Thy Liberty in Law! Where do I begin? Alberto Gonzalez firing the prosecutors for not succumbing to the illegal use of the "Justice" system to do a little electioneering and the prosecution of Don Siegelman in Alabama. Karl Rove for his roll in the aforementioned scandal and that of leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent whose job it was to secure loose nukes in a time of WAR. Using the Small Business Administration to funnel even more money to large corporations which is exactly opposite the role of that agency. Using the Civil Rights Division at the Department of "Justice" to reduce the number of voter allowed to go to the polls ditto on the previous comment. Trying to destroy the EPA's library of chemicals effectively making it impossible for investigators to do their jobs. I could keep this up all night. Check out Hugh's List of Bush Scandal's. Or better yet Google "list of Bush scandals" yourself.

And just think our pinhead Congress critters stood and sang this song on the steps of the Capitol Building.

The beginning of the third stanza

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!

... shows that we forgot this one too. All CEO's who profit from our pain with huge bonuses to peddle weapons of mass destruction and no negotiated drug prices in a Federal Government Social Security Part D plan not to mention the manipulated misery at the gas pump. This is a that mythical "redistribution of wealth" that the Republicans are talking about but in reverse. We all pay and suffer every stinking day of our lives so that they can come up with a newly refined system that further maximizes their profits and corporate CEO bonuses. This is a transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to the rich and investor class in America.

On the mercy front, we are still the only "Modern" country in the world that still insists on the death penalty. Oh yeah, and health care is a privilege. And we have been using the IMF and the World Bank to eliminate local farm production in other countries like Mexico and most effectively in Haiti. Haiti used to produce 80% of the rice consumed in that country, but now it is so low that it is immeasurable. The result is that people are resorting to eating dirt cookies to try and satisfy their hunger. Oh and thanks US news media for pointing this out to me! If only!

We get Pelosi's line from her speech in stanza four

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years

But it continues without my comment

Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!

Then stanza seven ends as such

God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

As if we would somehow evolve past the point of pure unadulterated greed. I fear that the thing that we ran away from in the "Old World" has followed us here. Moreover we have become the very example of greed's perfection to such as an extent that it gets taught all over the world. I suppose "New World Order" just means that little guys like me get to stand at the back of the line no matter what country you call home.

Now for the most ironic kicker at the end...

God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

A sentiment shared by David Duke.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Even our national songs aren't above a review)

My Medical Update

2008-08-10T17:55:00.003-04:00

I have blogged before about my cancer story, and I thought it was about time to give an update about the state of my health. Yesterday I got out of the hospital again. Well I think that I should probably back up a bit.

Since the second cancer surgery and the subsequent chemotherapy, I have had abdominal pain. The doctors have always acknowledged that it was most likely caused by scar tissue and possible adhesions, but they were unwilling to do anything about it. I think that was partly caused by the fact that I had lived with the cancer pain for so many years that I had developed a "mind over matter" pain management system that made me look as though it was no big deal. (Believe me, drugs are more effective, but I have always been afraid of becoming a deaf idiot like Rush Limbaugh through too much pain medication.)

Remember that the doctors first missed my cancer back in 1996 and then again in 1999 only to be finally diagnosed in 2002. SIX fucking years of pain before diagnosis. SIX fucking years of pain since diagnosis.

It wasn't until January of this year when I started dropping weight coupled with the worsening pain that they started to listen. I lost 15 pounds in January and another 9 in February before I got back on the oxycodone (generic Percocet.) The pain pills oddly enough seemed to slow things down enough for me to maintain my weight around 200. After some serious communication problems between the Oncologist, the Surgeon, the Cardiologist, and the Anethesiologist and a canceled surgery appointment, I went into the hospital on July 23rd. I took matters into my own hands on July 31st and escaped the hospital, after I was eating solid food and using the toilet like a regular person. (Adding to my distaste of the hospital was the fact that someone came into my room in the middle of the night and turned the thermostat down to 50 degrees. That is a potential death sentence to someone recently out of surgery. The culprit must be caught and charged with a serious crime. In 2002 the same hospital put hot sauce in my "bland" food four days into a week-long stay when my body rejected my chemo. That same chemo had just shredded my entire digestive lining leaving me bare to the harsh chemical irritants in hot sauce.)

I came home and saw my long away stepson and took my girls out for a smoothie. I watched a little TV and ate my wife's pasta salad. That was the only good day.

I woke up in the middle of the night with terrible stomach pain. I found it impossible to lay down. I pulled the sheet and blanket from the spare bedroom and made a bed in the Lazy-Boy. That even wasn't enough to ease the pain and eventually through sheer exhaustion and surrender, I crawled to the toilet to vomit. This became my pattern for the entire weekend and Monday:

Drink some
Water or
Gatorade or
Hot tea

Wait until my stomach filled up with bile and
Vomit again.
Mouthwash
Lather
Rinse
Repeat

By Tuesday when I had my appointment with the surgeon, I was so dehydrated that my eyes sunk into their sockets and my vision got blurry. I was barely able to walk straight and my muscles were failing to cooperate. I couldn't wait until the afternoon to see the surgeon, so I went to the Oncologist's office where I knew there was plenty of saline.

My Oncologist agreed to pump me up with some fluids until it was time to go to my appointment. The nurse was more than a little concerned when the display on the machine to check my vital signs read blood pressure 137/101, heart rate 118. That was the strangest feeling of having my organs reinflate themselves with fluid. I could feel the liquid run into my colon even. My head got a little clearer and my vision improved and my breathing became easier, but that heart rate was still WAY up there.

My surgeon wanted to admit me right then. My heart rate was still 108. I explained that we had kids and needed to find someone to watch the kids. We left it as an admission the next morning at the latest.

My wife and I did some emergency phone calls which didn't prevent her from having to take the kids to work with her. My wife drove me back to the hospital, and the kids' Mamaw came up later and got them from work.

Back at the hospital: SEE ABOVE FORMULA. Only this time we get to add a broken bed to my hospital misery. (Normally there is a pump system that moves air around under the plastic mattress. It relieves pressure points and reduces the possibility of bed sores. And it is just plain more comfortable.) I am no doctor, but a couple of nights on that broken bed so soon after surgery left my sides feeling like I went a few rounds in a title fight. When I got there, I was assigned to bed A which was missing, so they opted for the forced downgrade. (...don't tell the airlines) Wednesday morning saw the dreaded CT Scan contrast dye. Image a fluid that is at least five times as heavy as water being added to the gut of someone that can't even pass water. Even after the scan it was a couple of days of misery. The laxative effect of the dye eventually took over and started things back in the right direction. By this point Jello had become my favorite vomit flavor, so I stuck with that until late Friday night when I ate a turkey sandwich. Saturday morning was eggs, bacon, sausage and biscuit. Lunch was prime rib and baked potato. Thus I convinced the doctor to let me go.

I ate too much for lunch, so all that day and part of this morning I spent hand on very sore gut. I did however feel better after a few trips to the bathroom enough so that I got a $5 footlong from Subway - meatball sub on that cheesy Italian bread - frickin' YUM! I ate too much for lunch today, but after a few trips to the bathroom... I can't make this a pattern. It hurts!

I want to get back to normal, whatever the fuck that means, and work to help my wife support this family. I just wish that I lived in France. Refer to SiCKO!

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me In 2008!
(I'd take the profit out of health care)

It's Greek to Me

2008-06-29T11:03:00.006-04:00

By the way Ralph Nader asked George Stephanopoulos, "How are you?"

Stephanopoulos (which he mispronounces - stef-an-O-poo-lOs) answered back, "Very well (or good).

They ended the show with, "Thank you." and "You're welcome."

But I am reminded of other expressions that would have better suited the situation. "Kala' krassia!" Very roughly translated would be, "Gimme a break" or "You gotta be kidding me!" Literally it means "good wines." I'm guessing that the person saying the expression is accusing the other of talking out of his ass like a drunkard. But that is just my guess. Then there is "malakias" which is a cross between masturbation and stupidity. Too much masturbation will make you stupid, not blind, in Greece. How about one that I almost forgot, "I write your name on my balls!" Finally, Greeks are smarter than Americans, because they don't wish the the very best physical experience of your life to you by saying, "Fuck You!" Greeks instead question your worthiness by asking, "Who fucks you?"

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(And don't vote for Nader)

Tim Russert Has Died

2008-06-13T23:04:00.009-04:00

The Bills and Sabres fan whose day job kept him coming back to my Sunday recording schedule has read his last teleprompter line. Through the years many of his viewers learned about Russert's love and respect for his father, the union man. Viewers knew too that he loved the job that he did.

I'm sure there has to be a record of Russert promising to report the inauguration. Here's what you said then, Tim. Let's watch the tape...

Russert said of Obama's win in the Democratic Primary that he would love to be a teacher in an inner city school, so he could explain the significance of this historic event. I would hate to be a reporter in Buffalo or on any of the NBC family, because it must be very painful to have to report this terrible loss to journalism.

Your Average Idiot
(Does it make me a news nerd, because I am hurting now?)

News from MoveOn

2008-06-09T14:45:00.001-04:00

I want to pass along what my beloved MoveOn is doing today.

Dear MoveOn member,

Amazing news: We smashed our goal and have given away over half a million Obama bumper stickers!

Since folks are so enthusiastic about showing their support for Obama, we're going to open this up to everybody. That's right: We'll give a free bumper sticker to every American who wants one.

Can you take a moment to forward this email to your friends, family, and colleagues and let them know that they can order a FREE Obama bumper sticker? (If you haven't ordered yours yet, you can do so at the link below, too.)

https://pol.moveon.org/obamastickers/?id=12816-6566700-MN8wat&t=4

If hundreds of thousands of us order these stickers and place them somewhere visible, we'll show voters in every town how excited we all are about Barack Obama.

These stickers are great even if you don't have a car. You can put them on your bike, laptop, ice chest—really, anywhere.

Forward this email to your friends, family, and colleagues so they can order theirs—or click below to order one for yourself if you haven't already.

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Monday, June 9th, 2008

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Single Digit

2008-04-24T14:56:00.004-04:00

This is a minor point, but Clinton accomplished a SINGLE digit victory in the Pennsylvania primary. According to the Pennsylvania Department of State the margin of victory was 9.2%. Here is the link.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote for Me in 2008!
(The math doesn't work)

Gibson's "We"

2008-04-18T01:17:00.003-04:00

I want people to remember that on election night 2006 Charles Gibson when referring to the Senate races said something to the effect, "...These are the seats that we have to hold." I'm quite sure that ABC wasn't the "we" he was referring to. To say that would make a bigger problem than I could have ever imagined. OK that's not true. I say it all the time that with the media consolidation approved by the Clinton administration has made the point of view of the media companies quite different standing on that huge pile of cash. And supposedly Senator Obama is out of touch.

I had assumed in the past that Gibson was a Democrat, because his daughter was an intern in the Clinton administration, but I see now which side his bread is buttered on. No, I am not referring to "The Last Tango in Paris." But Gibson, I probably can think of a few things that you can stick up your ass.

I must say that I was a very devoted to ABC World News when Peter Jennings was at the helm. I raced home from the grocery store or the restaurant so as not to miss the news. I am bitter, because I lost my window to the world on broadcast television. ABC News now pales in comparison and it drips over on Good Morning America. Gee mom, can we interview a protofascist like Glen Beck again. Can we! Can we!

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I would have asked Gibson who the fuck was "we")

Crocker Shit

2008-04-08T10:33:00.000-04:00

I love MoveOn.org.

Quote for Clinton

2008-04-04T02:04:00.002-04:00

First they ignore you,
Then they ridicule you,
Then they fight you,
Then you win.

Mahatma Gandhi

It could as easily have been Obama describing the Clinton Campaign.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I own a bowling ball)

Former Prez Candidate Endorsements

2008-04-02T05:12:00.002-04:00

Not Declared
________________
Joe Biden
John Edwards

Hillary Clinton
________________

Barack Obama
________________
Bill Richardson
Chris Dodd

Not going to endorse a Democrat
___________________________
Mike Gravel - Running for President as a Green no Libertarian
Dennis Kucinich

Clinton's Pathetic Supporters

2008-04-01T03:27:00.005-04:00

I am a partisan in my point of view here. I thought the best way to advertise that is my little widget to the left of every post. With that aside let's get to the subject at hand.

I watched Hardball with Chris Matthews and Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Larry King Live. Every time I watch the Clinton supporters I get a bit sick to my stomach. Today the Governor of Pennsylvania and the former chairman of the Democratic Party, Ed Rendell, makes Olbermann's Worst Persons list for extolling the virtues of Fox News' coverage of Hillary Clinton. Lanny Davis is as much of a traitor to the Democratic Party as is his former Senate candidate Joe Fucking Lieberman. Remember that Lieberman like Clinton endorses McCain over Obama. I hope the Clinton's are proud. Kiki McLean, who admits 'my old boss' Joe Lieberman, had to actually use the image of dead soldiers to deflect the question of her candidate's lack of adherence to party rules in Michigan and Florida by insisting to count the states that broke the rules.

I believe this is a struggle between the old school Democrats that are to blame as much as Bill Clinton for the losses during the 90's and the new school Democrats that are far more progressive than their predecessors. The old school Democrats ran to the Right and held out their hands to the huge money interests for campaign cash. Obviously their policies were responsible for media consolidation and corporate mergers and the dismantling of the Small Business Administration while accelerating the move of American factories to China. New school Democrats actually have the audacity of saying NO to these corporate Democrats and pointing out that all you have to do is to look at home interest rates 30 years ago to know that adjustable rate mortgages are a STUPID idea. New school Democrats know that there is no such thing as "Free Trade." When giants and ants make an alliance the giants always eat more than the ants, so the open trade border allows the giants to eat the ants' food. Even if the ants get pissed, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. They get stomped. The ants have no sovereignty.

It appears obvious to me that the old schools are afraid of the new direction of the Democratic Party and are backing Clinton as a way to cement themselves in the future of the party. I am damned sure that the new schools are asking questions and taking names, Lanny Davis, Ed Rendell, Kiki McLean, and by extension Joe Lieberman you're fired! If you don't vote for progressive policies, we will run progressives against you in primaries. No more free rides.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'm not as nice as a new schooler)

My Answer to Cavuto's Bias

2008-03-26T17:17:00.004-04:00

Bias Is in the Eye of the Beholder

Tuesday , March 25, 2008

By Neil Cavuto

I have no issue with guests with whom I disagree. I just disagree with guests with whom I cannot discuss an issue. Liking me isn't important. Arguing my very question is even less important.

Arguing the color of the wallpaper on the Titanic while it's sinking is, like Neil Cavuto, stupid. It is so very obvious that the personal political agendas of both Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch are championed on F(act) O(ptional) X(tremism) N(ot) E(veryone) W(ill) S(ee). It is more than a little ironic that Hillary Clinton and Fox News owe a great part of their success to voters who lack the education or detailed knowledge to call them out on an obvious distortion. "Them" refers to both Clinton and Fox News.

Here's what is important. Answering the question. Knock it, dismiss it, challenge it. But the issue isn't me or this network. The issue is you and your position. If you are comfortable with your facts, assume I'll be comfortable challenging those facts.

Here is a most basic flaw of Fox News, "your facts." People are entitled to their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their "own facts." Facts are facts. Fox News is a network that won a lawsuit in court where they argued their right to lie to their viewers. Fox claims that they had to lie so they wouldn't offend their advertisers (milk producers). ...And cue my version of the Beatles' song, "All you need is cash da dadadada..." A Florida Appeals Court ruled February 14, 2003, "held that the Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is only a "policy," not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation." Which again brings us back to the Fact Optional Xtremism.

Right. Left. It doesn't matter.

The previous example stinks to high heaven of Fascism. Fascism being defined in my Groliers dictionary as - an autocratic system of government, headed by an absolute dictator, and characterized by strict social and economic regimentation, aggressive nationalistic policies often accompanied by racism, and forcible suppression of all criticism or opposition. This is nohow the Left. This is one corporate entity being willing participants with another corporate entity in a deception perpetrated against the American people. And moreover we have a corporate entity that is a willing participant with a government and an administration that relies so heavily on these fabrications to hide the true insanity of its policies. Our founders trusted that the news media would be the true voice of the people as a counterbalance to the power of the state. When a company like Fox News ceases to do that, they become essentially state-run media. If your news network functioned as a proper news agency, it would point to many of the worst criminal dictatorships around the world and their state-run or state-owned media. Anyone for taepodong kim chee, wouldn't that be nice? Oh, and Neil, It DOES Matter.

Clear answers do. Now if you feel appearing on this network doesn't matter, don't. If you feel it's not worth the trip, don't make the trip.

I can't for the life of me understand why my lovely Stephanie Miller, my fictional future mistress who would run off to cuckold me with her Mandingo warrior albeit sleep-deprived Kevin in DC, would show up to gig like Fox News. I can only dream that she does it to cast her gay ray on all Fox News viewers in a vain attempt to turn them all into Democrats by first turning them all gay. Alas, that doesn't work on some fabulous reverends or McCain campaign chairs. At least not the Democrat part.

And if you feel it matters more to brag to your like-minded friends you threw in a zinger, here's a reminder. You are of no value to the friends whose support you crave. And the viewers whose ear you should crave more. Bias is in the eye of the beholder. Behold a good argument, and you'll win over eyes. Deflect the argument, and you'll end up with people just rolling their eyes.

Sorry Neil it was a Twinkie and not a Zinger. Zingers are reserved for people of a network where they actually tune in like Chris Matthews and MSNBC. Please, spare me your cupcake attempt at righteousness. The sad fact is that a mercury Popsicle on 40 radio stations and who calls herself a middle-aged radio slag who French kisses her dogs is more accurate in her reporting than the network that forfeited $1 Billion to cram lies down the throats of uneducated viewers forever changing the very perception of truth in America. The fact is that Fox News rarely relies on the simple truth to gain viewers. It simply serves to appeal to lesser of our nature. If we hate or fear or believe some Right-Winger E-mail campaign, we won't be challenged to change when the channel selector stops at Fox News. On the other hand, Miller represents me quite well in that she too repented from her vote for Reagan, though we are not friends. And I looked and looked at my radio and my iPod and there ain't no pichur. I guess I'll have to listen. Unless of course you are trying to suggest that the TV machine is better than the lady in the radio box. Deflecting the argument would not be necessary if you are simply asking a question. So which is it Neil? Question or Argument?

I just find it ironic that political types who so much value staying on message are the first to get in a snit when someone calls them on forgetting that message.

When you become a tool of the government that you are supposed to defend us from, you deserve no fewer words of truth to power. It seems your snit derailed when it didn't stay on message that Fox News asks questions and doesn't argue. ...And the flaw in your logic is being pointed out by a guy who calls himself Your Average Idiot...

And in the process, forgetting something else: their senses.

And you have completely forgotten the role of the media and that makes no God Damned sense to me or our founding fathers.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote for Me in 2008!
(The First Amendment isn't challenged by agreeing with the government)

Clinton's C-17 Helicopter?

2008-03-24T21:30:00.004-04:00

According to the Associated Press, Senator Clinton has claimed that she was in danger in her visit to Tuzla Air Base Bosnia saying, "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." I read some posts on blogs, but have yet to find one that brought up another obvious blunder in her statement about the move to the cockpit of the C-17, "Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests. And we came in, in an evasive maneuver. ... There was no greeting ceremony, and we basically were told to run to our cars. Now, that is what happened." The video that I just watched on MSNBC's, "Verdict With Dan Abrams" and again on YouTube.com (video dated March 25, 1996) shows Clinton walking from what appears to be a helicopter and not a giant target like a C-17 cargo plane. You know, the one with the big propeller on its head and the little propeller on its tail.

Update: Ok. OK. I just saw the repeat of Olbermann. There was the video of her walking out of the C-17 with her head up walking leisurely with her daughter Chelsea.

Hello, media. Please, explain to me what the helicopter was for. Is the base actually that big?

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I know the difference between a helicopter and a plane)
(But I'm not smart enough to look for more sources of video)

Think Progress

2008-03-22T03:42:00.003-04:00

I found this story at ThinkProgress.org, "81% of Americans say government should pay attention to polls."

What is the next headline? 19% of people think the government should know that they're full of shit.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!

Repent America Lest Ye Get Damned

2008-03-18T22:47:00.004-04:00

We have all been barraged by the reports of the "anti-American" statements by Barrack Obama's pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Why?

On the one hand I do understand the knee jerk reaction to jump to the defense of the US, but on the other hand I would even throw by Right-Winger father under the bus (and I have) for his stupendously idiotic statements against the civil rights leaders calling them "outside agitators." What the fuck are we going to say if our child just lit the dog on fire? He or she needs some serious medical attention. The fact that we don't fully know or understand the sins of our fathers, it doesn't excuse them. Iraq is on fire and Bush lit the fire. And yes, he does need some serious medical attention.

In church damnation is not a taboo subject. God forbid! Ironically, Jesus spoke for peace. I divined from my time listening to a pastor that those who choose to further the cause of war will go to hell. If America chooses war, God will damn America.

If you want to go to the conspiracy theory that the US created AIDS to kill black people, you have to look no further than the 1992 presidential campaign of pasty white James Gordon "Bo" Gritz. In a radio appearance with a White Springs, Florida host Chuck Harder, Gritz pointed listeners to a 1969 funding request in Congress, House Bill 15090, that called for a study of a potential weapon that attacked the immune system. His theory continues with the possibility that human testing was accomplished by tainting vaccination that ultimately made their way to Africa.

I think the good reverend didn't go far enough to challenge us. Why does America use 1/4 (I'll admit, I may be using old numbers here) of the world's energy resources? Almost all of our energy use is hydrocarbons whether it comes from coal or oil. This means that the US is creating the largest carbon footfrint per capita in the entire world. By not signing the Kyoto protocols we are simply telling the rest of the world to literally suck on our waste.

Nobody ever talks about what we did in the Philippines. We brutalized thousands in our quest for military superiority in Southeast Asia by replacing Spain as the new imperial masters.

The US started the "Big Stick" policy in South America as a warning to other nations to stay out of our back yard. Little did the people of South America know that that big stick was about to get turned on them.

The Bonus Army marched on Washington only to find that the big stick could get turned on them as well. Now we just drive by the homeless veterans under the overpass on our way to the lard restaurant.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that we expect our religious leaders to challenge conventional thinking and conventional messengers to find a new approach that will shock the senses in order to shock the soul. I think Jesus is a Reverend Wright fan.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'm a non-Christian Jesus fan who doesn't pass the religious [non]test for office)

Net Activism - Domain Name Locking

2008-03-09T18:29:00.003-04:00

There was a story on Friday's Rachel Maddow show whereby the Republican Party bought up some domain names that would most likely be used against their candidate this fall. Lock up a domain name temporarily for free.

Since I am a tech nerd, I listen to the tech news podcasts. There was a story last month that a class action lawsuit was filed against Network Solutions, because they locked the domain names that were input into their search tool on their website for five days. Network Solutions says it guarantees refunds for five days and must do this, but it doesn't make sense to me. The company locks the name even before you agree to buy anything. If you REEEAAALLLY want the domain name then you have to pay the very high priced registration fee through them.

If a lot of people started going over to search for domain names that are derogatory against their candidate, it would do one or both of the following: First, it would keep the Right from registering those domain names. Second, it would force Network Solutions to change their policy. Either way I'd say it was a win-win. Remember, you have to go back every five days and input the domain name into the Network Solutions search tool. Set your calendar for the reminder.

I'm really surprised that Karl Rove hasn't come up with this one yet.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(People Power)

Democratic Unity Ticket

2008-03-06T03:07:00.005-05:00

I am listening to Rachel Maddow right this very moment via podcast where the subject is a proposed unity ticket of Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton. I have no power over the passage of time, so I am unable to call in and get in my two-cent's worth.

I will give my one jackass opinion. It is a horrible idea. No shock, if you read some of my previous posts. I am deathly afraid of Clinton back in the White House given her Iran vote. Yes, that is an "n" at the end of that word and not a "q."

I can think of more and more reasons to forgive all of those who voted for the war. We were all in pain over the attacks on 9/11. Those who voted for the bill probably thought the situation dictated that we speak with a unified voice and trust the President. If you ever know someone that had a family member murdered, you could forgive their obsession with doing great bodily harm to the perpetrator especially if the victim were a child. I'd like to think that my personal response would be quite different, because of the words of a master Rabbi called Jesus.

Now we go on to the country of Iran. I personally held a grudge against Iran, but as I learned more I modified my position. The first reason that I held a grudge may not be apparent, heating oil. Yes, that's right I had to spend an entire winter in Northern Italy without heat. I was a teenager, so I might not know the figures correctly here. The story going around the base was that nearly 90% of Italy's oil came from Iran at that time. The second reason was of course for the hostage situation from late 1979 through inauguration day 1981. But even remembering a hostage crisis, I also recall the stories that came out of the US Embassy "strip shredded" documents. The most damning, according to an article I read, was that President Carter knew about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and simply "LIHOP" let it happen on purpose. I think this embarrassment to Washington was a major part of the campaign against Iran in the years since the release. In 1988 the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air flight 655 over the Straits of Hormuz. I was cursed enough to see the bodies of the victims floating in the water face down on Greek news. We haven't even begun to discuss the 1953 CIA operation to re-install the Shah, which undermined a secular democracy in the heart of the Middle East. England didn't like Iran's claim on its own oil. England wanted to take it without having to pay for it. Boy Howdy Cream magazine what we wouldn't do to have that secular democracy now. Oh wait! Iran is relatively secular when compared to our closest ally, Saudi Arabia. Oh yeah, so was Iraq before the invasion. Let's also not forget that we backed a brutal dictator in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War while secretly selling arms to both sides just so Reagan could sponsor a terror group called the Contras. If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements are a bit bizarre, we do hold some responsibility for pushing Iran in the direction of idiots like him.

What was the Iran vote? A vote to call a portion of Iran's military a terrorist organization. A very good case can now also be made against our own CIA as a terrorist organization. Extraordinary rendition, black site prisons, kidnapping, torture, coup plots, drug running, and harboring known international terrorists.

It was a an uniformed, bad vote exposing Clinton as a person without the foreign policy experience to sit in the White House. I don't want her anywhere near that phone.

Alternate plan: Woman Speaker of the House, Black man President of the United States, Woman Senate Majority Leader.

Hillary has shown her talent for Right-Wing smear tactics both dishing it out and taking it. She would be far more Machiavellian in the Senate than our current weak Harry Reid who is only a slight improvement over Tom Daschle.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I might be a jackass now, but I used to be an elephant - I remember things)

Left Wing E-mail

2008-02-27T16:12:00.002-05:00

Hey,

I wanted to let you know that I am supporting the Democratic National Committee's FEC complaint against John McCain, and hope that you will support it, too.

You can add your name to the growing list of others:
http://www.democrats.org/McCainBusted

Thank you,
http://www.democrats.org/page/s/mccainbusted

My response to my friend is as follows:

Thanks for the E-mail. I think that there is a problem with the complaint however. There isn't enough people left in the FEC to have a quorum. It means that whatever the complaint the FEC is out of business until they get new members. The Bush administration broke the rules in nominating people to the FEC. There is supposed to be a balance between Republicans and Democrats on the board. Bush knew this, so he asked some of his Republican friends that he intended to nominate for the board to resign from the Republican Party and register as Independents. After these people had been placed on the FEC board, they continued working on behalf of the Republican Party. Don't quote me on the figures, but I think the ratio became 4:2 in favor of the Republicans. The Democrats at FEC had been touring the country trying to shed light on this violation of trust. Democracy Now! did an interview of two(?) of them, if my memory is accurate.

Remember that these are the same people that allowed Tom Delay to use his campaign contributions as his legal defense fund. Given that history Senator "Wide-Stance-I-Am-Not-Gay" Larry Craig did the same with his campaign contributions. As far as I know they never answered the lawsuit regarding Fred Thompson's violation of the pre-campaign spending limit rules.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Minutia sometimes sticks in my head)

Bus Meet Ditch - Metaphor Crash

2008-02-27T00:37:00.004-05:00

I watched the Democratic Debate tonight on MSNBC wherein Barrack Obama made the statement that Hillary Clinton voted to give President Bush the authorization to use force in Iraq. In other words she "voted to drive the bus into the ditch," forgive the possible imprecise quote. Rachel Maddow from Air America Radio and a frequent guest on MSNBC and the subject of my political crush for some time now points out that "no one votes to drive the bus into the ditch." (previous apology may still apply) I have given Senator Clinton somewhat a pass on the vote to authorize military force in Iraq, because in my lifetime there has not been a Neo-Conservative nutjob President making it nearly impossible to predict what he might do.

For the sake of argument let's extend this metaphor just a bit further. Obama could rightfully counter that while Clinton didn't vote to drive the bus into the ditch, she did vote to give a bus and keys to a dry drunk. Furthermore, whether we got the bus into the ditch because the driver fell off the wagon or for some other reason is inconsequential. It was still a mistake.

Now imagine the press conference where the driver would make a public statement flanked by his lawyers and several bus passenger fortunate enough not to have been on that particular bus at the time. After a few incoherent words from the driver about his perfect driving record and all his satisfied riders and, "besides, that how we hunt deer down here," there must have been at least one reporter who would have looked over his shoulder to see if he had been Punk'd. The driver would have continued, "Tender-EYE-zez-em, deer inna head-LA-eats, shock 'n' aaaw." Certainly under his breath the reporter must have mumbled to himself, "Who the FUCK gave this guy keys to a BUS!"

Reporters would later learn that the driver was part of group that had posted a manifesto online entitled "Project for New American Transportation" wherein the drivers would expound on their ability to drive in reverse while wearing earplugs and blindfolded on an icy, narrow, back road. Further reporting revealed that the driver was still legally allowed to buy guns and his father was a gun dealer.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I like semaphores and metaphors)

Endorse Now!

2008-02-23T01:17:00.005-05:00

It is time now for John Edwards to endorse Barrack Obama.

I don't understand what all the hype is when it comes to Hillary Clinton. She just happened to be in the wrong room at the the wrong time in the White House when her husband was President. I'd really have preferred she had spent more time on Willie's legal briefs using knee pads with extra rigid back. I know this point is a little hard to swallow, but the results of not having done so put the Democratic Party back on its heels or bent over the proverbial barrel to get spanked and abused by the Republicans including Lieberman. The country and the world suffered as a result.

I don't take this position lightly. I was a John Edwards voter back in 2004, and supported him until the day of Florida's non-binding-resolution-also-known-as-a-primary. While I have always had a soft space for the underdog, in my adult life I never quite heard it expressed as well as Edwards did. I was smitten with the young, good looking, Southern, gentleman, and proud liberal. I was so certain that he would be a sure thing for the nomination. Unfortunately, he played second fiddle to the somewhat clumsy John Kerry. We all know how that turned out. This time Edwards found a new voice of urgency for the needs of the people at or near the bottom of the economic ladder. I have been close enough to the bottom at times to see how invisible I had become. It was like turning down the opacity on the Vista sidebar. I felt little more than a pixel on a giant Jumbotron. Edwards spoke for me. I got very discouraged by Edwards' lack of voter support and fund raising prowess. I was certain that the US could come to a morality check and reverse course from the greed and corruption. I was depressed to a point that I didn't even blog anymore.

Enter Barrack Obama. At first I only supported him as the anti-Hillary candidate with a marginal health care proposal. Now I see him as the candidate that has drawn the attention of a great number of American voters who were so turned off by the politics of the past that they barely paid attention. His speeches inspire. People actually listen to a politician without feeling the need to jam something sharp into their ears and eyes. There is a hell of a lot that the voters don't know about the workings of Washington, but you can not educate them until you get them first to listen. I'll have to admit that this isn't my first instinct. I'm so pissed that I want to fight for my country's honor, but people are sick of the bickering. I think it was Confucius that said, “The first person who raises his voice in an argument loses.” After the bitter Right-Winger endless attacks of the Bill Clinton administration and the breathless outrage of people like myself over all kinds of Republican abuse of power, people want someone who talks to them. I am sure to hear more of Edwards' message from Obama. I suspect he will sound so natural saying those words that they will sound like his own much the same way that Elvis took ownership in covering another artist's song.

Respectfully, Mr. John Edwards it is time!

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'm espresso – strong and a bit bitter)

More Right-Winger E-mail

2008-02-12T01:20:00.000-05:00

Maybe you got this one too...

A Billion Dollars

THIS IS TOO TRUE TO BE VERY FUNNY.

The next time you hear a politician use the

word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about

whether you want the politicians spending YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,

but one advertising agency did a good job of

putting that figure into some perspective in

one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in caves.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the

rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at
New Orleans. It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division
. .

Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D), asked the
Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild
New Orleans . Interesting number. What did it mean?

A. Well, if you were one of 484,674 residents of
New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you were supposed to get
$516,528.00

B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your were
supposed to

get $1,329,787.00 for repairs.

C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family would it have gotten
$2,066,012.00

Washington, D.C .. HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken?? (No
one got anything, and they never rebuilt New Orleans)

Tax his land,

Tax his wage,

Tax his bed in which he lays.

Tax his tractor,

Tax his mule,

Teach him taxes is the rule.

Tax his cow,

Tax his goat,

Tax his pants,

Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,

Tax his shirts,

Tax his work,

Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,

Tax his drink,

Tax him if he tries to think.

Tax his booze,

Tax his beers,

If he cries,

Tax his tears.

Tax his bills,

Tax his gas,

Tax his notes,

Tax his cash.

Tax him good and let him know

That after taxes, he has no dough.

If he hollers,

Tax him more,

Tax him until he's good and sore.

Tax his coffin,

Tax his grave,

Tax the sod in which he lays.

Put these words upon his tomb,

'Taxes drove me to my doom!'

And when he's gone,

We won't relax,

We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!

Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

CDL License Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax

Federal Income Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel Perm it Tax

Gasoline Tax

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax

Inventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),

IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),

Liquor Tax,

Luxury Tax,

Marriage License Tax,

Medicare Tax,

Property Tax,

Real Estate Tax,

Service charge taxes,

Social Security Tax,

Road Usage Tax (Truckers),

Sales Taxes,

Recreational Vehicle Tax,

School Tax,

State Income Tax,

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),

Telephone Federal Excise Tax,

Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,

Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,

Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,

Telephone State and Local Tax,

Telephone Usage Charge Tax,

Utility Tax,

Vehicle License Registration Tax,

Vehicle Sales Tax,

Watercraft Registration Tax,

Well Permit Tax,

Workers Compensation Tax.

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,

and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in
the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!, Federal Resrve Bank(sters)

And I still have to 'press 1' for English.

I hope this goes around THE USA at least a billion times .

My response "Reply to all" is as follows:

There is a flaw in the logic of the New Orleans criticism. First of all New Orleans was born more than a billion seconds ago or even several billion seconds ago. If it were up to me alone, I would like New Orleans to exist into the next millennium. All construction even reconstruction is a front-loaded venture. This is true of our Interstate Highway system and our electrical grid and our tunnels and our bridges and our railways and our pipelines etc. most of which didn't exist 100 years ago. Implied in this E-mail is that New Orleans is expendable. OK, then which city is next. Tampa? Miami? Los Angeles? San Francisco? New York? Seattle? And those are just cities on the coast. San Antonio? Dallas? Billings? Omaha? Denver? Albuquerque? Minneapolis? Detroit?

I learned in American history that the Northern colonies were far more successful at building a society, because for many reasons, one of which was a moral reason, they worked together. Harvard was founded in 1636, 140 years before the Declaration of Independence. William and Mary was founded in 1702. Oh yeah, people in Northern colonies lived longer too.

I am personally sick and tired of so-called "Americans" so willing to disregard the needs of their countrymen. New Orleans is a wake up call. You could be next. When you continually neglect the needs of the country, it becomes like the car when you refuse to change the oil. When it (the US and the car) blows up, don't cry about the repair bill. In the case of New Orleans, it needs several doors, a hood, some tires, a battery, an alternator, an engine, a transmission, and upholstery (we'll forgo). Even after all that is done, you must not forget to train the driver and put some gas in the tank. (assuming you don't spring for the zero-emission model)

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Infrastructure)

Alarm Bells!!!

2008-01-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

When the polls show that Obama was leading by 13% going into New Hampshire and losing by 3%, it looks far too similar to 2000 Florida. According to BlackBoxVoting.org 81% of the votes in New Hampshire go through "John Silvestro and his small private business, LHS Associates." The two most established "establishment" candidates, Clinton and McCain, just happen to win. Please, please, someone in the media look at the paper ballots in New Hampshire.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Democracy is not a statistical impossibility)

Stem Cells Revisit

2007-12-19T02:29:00.000-05:00

A month or so ago we got the word that scientists were able to coax a skin cell into a state that at least appears to be an embryonic stem cell. This of course brought calls from the Right-Wingers that Bush was vindicated. Their argument goes something like this: See you don't have to destroy a life to do this kind of work. I have heard all the nutjobs on the Right line up and repeat this talking point transmitted out from the corporate offices of Fact Optional Xtremists Now Everyone Was Stupid. The problem with this talking point besides the fact that the scientist in charge of the research is very hostile to the Bush agenda is that with this new discovery it brings a new ethical dilemma. If the scientists were as successful as they hoped, then future scientist are one step closer to somatic cell cloning. Somatic cell cloning until now was a concept from science fiction authors' brains. It involves taking a skin cell for example and creating an exact duplicate of that person by first coaxing the cell into a stem cell phase. Remember that stem cells give rise to all cells and eventually a whole person as a blastocyst grow into a baby. I'm sure that technology is decades away, but we are one step closer. I personally would have rather left this path untraveled.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I don't let theocrats do my science)

The Des Moines-ers

2007-12-14T02:25:00.000-05:00

The Des Moines-ers

I'll have to admit that I didn't watch the Republican debate all the way through to the end, because this batch makes me ill. I am going to go through the transcript that I downloaded from the Des Moines Register and point out the illogic that explains why I am no longer a Republican. I did see most of the debate and found myself wondering if I had fallen off into an alternate reality, because some of the candidates sprinkled reality on top of their vast sea of delusion.

Before I get to the aforementioned reality, Delusion.

Mayor Giuliani when asked if our national debt is a security issue avoided the question entirely and spelled out his ideas of how to cut the budget,”I believe that it's a major problem, and it's one that hasn't been addressed the way it should be over the course of the last seven, eight, maybe really 20 years, and there are three major things we have to do. First, we have to reduce government spending, and we have to be disciplined about that. And we have to do it by imposing spending caps on spending agencies in government, 5, 10, 15%. Say we're not going to rehire half of the civilian employees coming up for retirement, they should not be rehired. That would give us a $20 billion, $22 billion reduction, the other would even be higher, and then we have to reduce taxes. Right now we should reduce the corporate tax to 25%. It'd be a major boost in revenues for the government. Most importantly, it would be a way of dealing with our fiscal policy in the same way the fed is dealing with our monetary policy to create more liquidity, and there are other taxes we should get rid of. The death tax and a whole group of others.” First of all, a big part of the problem of the Federal Government in the US today is a lack of a sufficient numbers of competent employees to do the work of the American people. If a person is nearing retirement from a government position, the chances are good they know a thing or two about how to do the work that is required of them. Quickly pushing out these people from the several agencies that are already stressed because of lack of funding and an administration that seems hell-bent to undermine their mission would remove the mentors that we need to rebuild our government infrastructure. As a matter of fact I think it would be prudent to ask some retired government employees to come back and help repair the damage that was done to those agencies under a counterproductive Bush administration. I would say that the CIA and various intelligence gathering agencies would be on the top of my list.

As kind of an aside here, I would also work to eliminate the outsourcing of intelligence gathering to contractors. I am afraid that profit motive is incompatible with accurate intelligence, just as financial instability of a service member is incompatible with a top secret security clearance. A contractor that benefits from our fear in the form of further contracts could be persuaded to heighten that fear and downplay evidence that would attenuate the fear.

Corporations have had a free ride under the Bush administration. The American people are not about to stand for handing over the wealth of our nation in order to feed the need of the fat cats on Wall Street who hide their profits in off shore accounts in the Cayman Islands. Rampant speculation in the stock exchange and easy credit lead to the Great Depression. It is a little too close to what is happening in the housing market today. Like the period after the long recovery from the Depression we will have to strengthen regulation that will prevent this kind of thing from happening again. It is called economic security.

So the answer is, yes. The people who stand behind the corporate logos, who lobby Christians to vote for a war mongering death machine, and who advocate borrowing the money from China are a threat to our national security and our economic security. That's why Giuliani didn't answer the question, he didn't want to offend his sponsors and his clients.

The irony of the inheritance tax issue is that these are huge piles of cash that have been taken out of the system. Giuliani's appeal for liquidity should discourage leaving these piles of cash to your kids.

Taxes should stay progressive and not regressive. Those who can best afford them should pay them. If you stop and think about it, the people who own the huge businesses benefit most from government spending. Infrastructure like roads and bridges and telecommunications all serve the big business' needs most. Sure, the average person benefits from access to the Internet, but what he or she can do with it pales in comparison to that of big business. When you consider that the development of the Internet helped facilitate interaction between the business and the average person, you understand why we require a little payment to the owner of the house which is the American people.

Romney did not say, “The best answer is to make sure we have good jobs for our suicides.” I think the transcript should say 'citizens.' But if the Iraqi people had jobs, they just might not strap on a bomb.

Romney did say, “If you want to see a strong America, you don't look to Washington, you look to strength in the American people.” This statement is only true if you have a Republican administration. Only a strong American people could endure the catastrophe that is in the White House.

The fact that Alan Keyes is addressed as “Ambassador” should shock the senses of all Americans enough to realize the enormous job of diplomacy that has to start in January of 2009. Keyes got his ass handed to him by Barrack Obama in his Senate race. Now he's qualified to run for President? I'm skipping this guy. Next!

Governor Huckabee, “We need to do what most American companies are finding works in reducing costs, that's moving from the intervention-based health care model to prevention-based. We wait until people are catastrophically ill, and then we spend the most expensive ways of trying to cure incurable diseases. If we would put the focus on prevention, we would find like American business is finding, that there really is savings if you kill the snake rather than treat the snakebites, which is the way our current system is built. “ The real issue is that no matter if it is snakes or snakebites those who profit from pain in providing “health” “care” are not going to willingly walk away from the piles of cash. Those who profit from pain have to be drug away and shown the door and replaced with “health” and “care”!

Back to Governor Romney. “We have 13 different programs to prevent teenage pregnancy, they're obviously not working real well, and we could probably cut it down to one or two that are making a difference. ” The irony here is that the so called “abstinence only” programs that the Bush administration is pushing are the ones that are pathetic and miserable failures.

Representative Tancredo, the irony here is that “credo” means “I believe” in some other language than English. “Concentrate on doing what's right and what the constitution itself gives us the responsibility for, and the rest of that stuff becomes extraneous. And honestly, if you think about it, if you ask America what would you do, what would you sacrifice? The one thing I would aask -- say is this, don't ask the government for womb to tomb protection because all of that will cost a humongous amount of money, but we will respond to you, politicians will do it because they want the votes. Don't ask, and I guarantee you my administration will remain inside the bounds of the institution. “ This “entitlements” myth gets repeated by Thompson too. If you remove the cap on Social Security and tax all the income of rich Americans we can pay for health care and Social Security. Tancredo will never really argue to limit the government's authority to look into a woman's uterus or my E-mail or to snatch a person off the streets of a foreign country.

Senator (and I use the term loosely) Thompson, “Our entitlement programs, about 20 or 40 or so are going going to eat up our entire budget. ” He forgets that the American people out of the kindness in our hearts paid tax credits to oil companies nearly equal to the amount they paid out in dividends. After being treated so nicely at the pumps...

Thompson, “5% of Americans pay over half the income taxes in this country, 40% of Americans pay no income taxes at all. ” The first figure sounds about right. I'm not sure about the second figure, but let's assume for a moment that is true. Our current income tax system actually pays people with tax credits if they fall below a certain income threshold particularly if they have kids. These people, like my family, have a negative tax burden. There are probably some that don't fall into that category who have a clever strategy to avoid income taxes or they pay back to society through charitable giving. Back to the working poor / lower middle class... If anywhere near 40% of Americans fall below 0% tax burden, it means that prosperity is reaching fewer and fewer of the upper echelon. Referring to South Africa's apartheid government despite its overwhelming black majority population, Robin Williams asked, “Does the name 'Custer' mean anything to you?”

Huckabee, “Well, job migration is a result of three things, excessive taxation that penalizes the productivity of a company, you add to excessive regulation which means you've got more red tape than is possible to get through. And I would say as President one of my goals would be I can't part the Red Sea, but I believe I can part the red tape. The third thing is we've got too much litigation. When a company goes into business, particularly small business, most small business people can't fight off the potential liabilities that they come from all of the lawsuits in litigation. Take care of those three things, we won't see the incredible level of job migration that we see today. “ Productivity of the company is increased by people doing more and more without asking for a raise. The company is getting more bang for their buck. At the turn of the last century we ate rats in our canned meats and saw our children literally being chewed up by the machinery of the industrial revolution and worked 12-14 hour days. Regulation is necessary to prevent a medical disaster. It's better to kill the snake than to treat the snakebites. Currently we have super-citizens in our corporations which get most of the rights of an individual without ever having to pay the penalty that an individual has to pay for the same crime. The only penalty many businesses ever pay comes at the order of a judge and jury. The penalty is far less likely than that of an individual. Bush once argued that regulation was stupid and he cited the fact that salt was on the hazardous materials list as per OSHA regulation. What dopey doesn't understand is that salt is sodium chloride. NaCl is made of highly caustic sodium and chlorine gas. You know, the same chlorine that was in some recent bombs in Iraq.

Tancredo, “I don't believe in mandates, I believe the market is the best determinant. I do not mind and I would not oppose research and development, but the idea that the government knows the right amount somehow, some way, some brilliant analyst will make a decision about what is the right amount of mandate to impose on the rest of the country? And you know what? It never works out right. Let the market -- I trust the market more than I do the government. “ The market approach for everything environmental is “voluntary.” Right-Wingers always argue thing point as if we have a voluntary speed limit or a voluntary tax system or a voluntary minimum wage.

Tancredo, “We have had 45 years of unlimited immigration both legal and illegal into this country. That is a problem, unlimited massive immigration is a problem. But when it happens without the same amount of assimilation, it becomes a catastrophe. It will become what Teddy Roosevelt warned of when he said you can have immigration, but if it happens without assimilation, all you end up with is not a nation, but a boarding house. Some of my friends on the stage both governors and senators say we should trust their judgment. Well, their judgment is what got us into this problem, so we need to trust somebody else to get us out. “ If we keep the level of legal immigration artificially low, then we will continue to encourage people to go around the system. This is what fueled the current environment in the US. With the addition of the fact that Republicans don't want to have any government agency funded to the level that they may actually do something. It has created an kind of hell for the immigrant which he or she will never break out. These workers are so desperate they will do anything to stay and they usually do. They will put up with illegal or unsafe things that an American will not. Illegal immigration is outsourcing without having to ship the factory over there.

Senator McCain, “The answer to the problem in education in America is simple, we need more choice and more competition. Entrance by a good student into college today, they have a number of choices, and people are seeking them to be part of those educational institutions. We need competition in k-12, we need charter schools, we need vouchers where it's approved by the local state and school boards, we need to have, clearly, home schooling if people want that.” While I like the idea of charter schools in which they receive only the per child funds that regular public schools do, I oppose vouchers. Some have used vouchers to send kids to parochial schools. Not one cent should ever go to a church or religious institution. Voucher systems are a success on paper because they get to cherry-pick the best students from the public school system. Eventually the only students left in the public school will be those with physical or social disabilities and children of desperately poor parents who can't afford the transportation cost to the private school. This new privatized landscape in education will be completely separate and completely unequal which completely undermines the shared American value set forth in the Brown V. Board of Education landmark Supreme Court ruling. I can't help but think that this will benefit the rich.

Representative Paul, “we should encourage home schooling.” I don't know if Ron Paul has read some of the surveys lately, but there are many American people who are wholly unqualified to teacher their own kids at home. You don't have to look much further than the US House and Senate to see the bullshit distortions of history used to justify some indefensible policy position. Our leaders have systematically been de-educating us to fit the fiction to their policy.

Hunter, “...I'd free Ramos and Compean...” Well isn't that special. A couple of people who were entrusted with our border security shot a fleeing suspect who posed no threat to the lives of the Border Patrol agents and tampered with the evidence of their crime. This case looks like an allegorical tale of the Bush administration. Bush, “We do not torture.”

McCain, “Our first obligation and any qualifications lend to making America safe.” This again tries to heighten the fear. Those Republican investors in Mantech or the Halliburton profit from pain and fear. I for one am not willing to hand the keys of this bus that is America over to a bunch of fear mongering idiots who are willing to sacrifice our long term safety and security from some short term profits. This shit was done with the Truman administration that saw the ramp up of the Cold War and military spending. The age of fear must end. These people have the moral character of King Rat, played by George Segal. The entire prisoner of war camp is starving, but the investors are healthy. Don't forget we are prisoners of the war we started.

Giuliani regarding the paper shuffle to finance the travel and security expenses for his affair with Judy, “All that information was available, and known to people, known six years ago, and I would make sure that government was transparent. My government in New York City was so transparent that they knew every single thing I did almost every time I did it. So I would be extremely, I would be extremely open.” The crowd laughed. He isn't open now about his idiotic decision to put the emergency response center in the twin towers after it had been the target of a previous attack. He won't reveal the names of the clients that his firm represents. Back to the money laundering through other government agencies. This is complete pile of shit. If I believe that there was a problem getting the money for the services that his office “required,” why didn't he just go through the proper channels to correct the budgeting oversight. Ask the comptrollers office or the city council to approve additional funding for the security measures. Involving these various other agencies compromised their budgets and brought a bigger scrutiny to affairs of their offices. Who knows how many man hours of accounting had to be accomplished above and beyond the normal operations to correct what looks like a skimming operation. Even if it wasn't a fraud, these procedures certainly opened the city up to fraudsters in the future.

If one were to cherry-pick through the statements made by the candidates you might believe that you were at the Democratic debate. To some extent I have to assume that the Republican candidates were pandering to the Iowa voters. I think that Ron Paul is probably the notable exception. The following are some of the strange statements in the alternate reality that was the Iowa debate.

Ron Paul, “Our dollar is going down rapidly as we speak. It's because we have lived beyond our means, we can't afford the foreign policy we have. We have to cut back, live within our means. If we're going to spend money, spend it at home, and that is why we have to change this foreign policy. We can't afford to do what we're doing today, because it will destroy our dollar. “

“I think it's unnecessary to sacrifice. We want to give people more freedom, more chance to spend their own money. It's unnecessary. We can cut by looking at our foreign policy. We maintain an empire which we can't afford. We're in 130 countries, we cut there. And then we have a better defense of this country and the people get that money, and they get to spend it here at home. “

Thompson, “[O]ur infrastructure ... is coming apart... But I want to take a chance on telling the truth to the American people... [W]e need to tell people in Warren Buffett's category we're not going to take care of your Medicare in the future, we can't afford it.”

Romney, “ I don't stay awake at night worrying about the taxes that rich people are paying, i'm concerned about the taxes middle-class people are paying. Gasoline's expensive, home heating oil, health care costs are going through the roof, education costs and higher education are overwhelming, and as a result we need to reduce the burden on middle-income families in this country. “

Paul, “The most sinister of all taxes is the inflation tax, and it's the most regressive. When you destroy a currency by creating money out of thin air to pay the bills, the value of the dollar goes down and people get hit with a higher cost of living. It's the middle class that's being wiped out, it is the most evil of all taxes.“

Tancredo regarding NAFTA, “It's been a disaster for a lot of places and especially Mexico. Southern Mexico, it was a disaster. Guess what happened? They all came north. If NAFTA had worked so well as everybody appears to think it did, why would we still have so much pressure on our southern border trying to escape from a country that does not provide them the opportunities that NAFTA promised? “

Hunter, “NAFTA is a bad business deal.“

McCain, “I know that climate change is real.“

Giuliani, “I agree with John. Climate change is real, it's happening, I believe human beings are contributing to it.“

Romney, “...We're going to invest in new technologies to get ourselves off of foreign oil, and as we do, we also dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions. Because buying 300-400 billion a year in oil from people who use it against us, that's bad for our economy and our environment. We can do it in a way that helps the economy and the environment. “

Huckabee, “I think people are looking for leadership, for change, they're not looking for people to be elected to be so much a ruling class but a servant class. We've forgotten that. Our founding fathers had a brilliant, really revolutionary idea, that the people elected would not represent the elite but would represent the ordinary. Our founding fathers had the idea that when we are elected, we're not elected as a part to be elevated up but to truly remember who it is we work for.“

“We have 6,000 kids every day drop out in this country. They drop out because they're bored to death. They're in a 19th century education system in a 21st century world... I'm a passionate, ardent supporter of having music and art in every school for every student at every grade level – “

Giuliani,”I would move toward energy independence as a goal similar to putting a man on the moon, the Manhattan project, you can use a lot of ways to describe the nature of it, but I would make sure we would find energy independence.“

Hunter, “Bringing back high-paying manufacturing jobs to this country that will serve this next generation well.“

Paul, ”You would have to work with a congress, but a commander in chief could end the war. We could bring our troops home. That would be very valuable. We could be diplomatically, we could become credible once again around the world. Right now today we're not. Even our allies resent what we do. We would have no more preemptive war, we would threaten nobody. Now it is proven once again Iraq didn't have the nuclear weapons, the Iranians have no nuclear weapons, there's no need for us to threaten the Iranians. I think this would be a major step toward peace.”

Thompson, “I'd tell them we're bankrupting the next generation, and nobody wants to talk about it, much less do anything about it.“

Giuliani regarding reproductive rights, “I believe the government should leave that decision to a woman and her conscious.“

Paul, “One thing we could do just a couple of weeks before Christmas is buy American goods. If we do, we may save the job of our neighbor or provide a job for that young service person.“

There you have the delusional to the surreal all coming from the same mouths in the Republican field. Needless to say I wouldn't vote for any of these clowns for President, but with another Paul performance to listen to it makes me wish he would run for the Senate. Texas would be much better for it, if he did accept the challenge of the job. I think that some Democrats could learn a thing or two from Paul's mantra of liberty for the American people. I would enjoy hearing more independent voices from the Right.

That's about wrap it up for me right now.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'd work for peace. I'd work for you!)

The Purge is Working

2007-11-16T00:54:00.000-05:00

I watched CNN last night before the debate to hear their take on our political situation. This is what I heard from Wolf Blitzer's interview with the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan. Elections 2000 and 2004 have shown a disturbing pattern of the Republican party's willingness to suppress the will of the people by throwing people off the voter roles. I guess they aren't going to lose without a fight.

Gone are the days of winning by reasoned debate over the issues. Republicans know that their corporatist agenda has been outed by the Bush administration. They will do anything including massacring the messenger in the media. Even after the argument is over and they have lost and we vote by a show of hands, they use Sierra Leone tactics and cut off our hands.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(You may lose your hands)

Bateman, Scott - On Despotism

2007-11-15T02:26:00.000-05:00

http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2007/11/14/scottbateman/index.html

Response to Tancredo

2007-11-15T01:41:00.000-05:00

Tancredo No Habla

background music titled "Heart of the Beast" © 2001-2007 Kevin MacLeod
Creative Commons
Found at this link. Incompetech.com which is ironic given the name of this blog.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008
(I ain't afraid of terrorists)

My Pod Thingy

2007-11-12T22:34:00.000-05:00

These are just some of the sources that I used for this edition of the Pod Thingy.

I'm calling it #5 just because I have posted some things before the "first" podcast.

Once again I am just a guy who is pissed by the crap that the oligarchy is getting away with. I am open to new ideas or correction. I have a bad habit of pulling facts/statistics out of my ass just to make a point. I appreciate the real stats and links to the information if you know where it is.

Click the following link to download my Pod Thingy.

Torture

Information obtained from Air America Radio - The Rachel Maddow Show aka The best reason for buying a Gold Premium subscription.

Venezuela

http://www.moisesnaim.com/

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/aboutfp/academic.php

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-naim10nov10,0,1470504.story?coll=la-opinion-center

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_chavez

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mois%C3%A9s_Na%C3%ADm

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/print/2818

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ajaTQxp50aMk&refer=latin_america

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5290890.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309737,00.html

Odd News

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0932185120071109

Illinois vs. Ohio State

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/clubhouse?teamId=356

Environmental Front

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0822954120071112
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/11/russia.spill/

Guiliani Gets Pat

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2007/11/10/giulianis-good-news-and-bad-news.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_robertson#Claim_that_some_denominations_harbor_the_spirit_of_the_Antichrist

Britney Spears and Paris Hilton Both did something this weekend **pause** You'll have to google to figure out what it was.

Pakistan

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUS119482084532._CH_.2400
http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/12/top4.htm

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I have a pod thingy)

Confirmations Have Consequences Redux

2007-11-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

Please, Please, Stop and think. If you voted down Mukasey, you wouldn't have necessarily gotten somebody worse than Mukasey. Remember JOHN BOLTON? This supreme jackass was exposed to be so completely lousy at his job, before he was nominated to be Ambassador to the United Nations. The Senate committee said, "no fucking way" without letting the nomination come to a vote. You vote your conscience. You vote your nations conscience. You vote the guidelines of our honorable military. You vote the international treaty standards. You vote our nations previous prosecution of Japanese officers after World War II. You vote our nations previous prosecution of our own military members for torturing Viet Cong during Vietnam. After you very publicly denounce Judge Mukasey's idiocy and hold a united Democratic press conference where you apologize to the world for the actions of this administration and vow to uncover all war crimes and prosecute those who knew and said nothing. Then, and only then when Bush is thoroughly exposed could he recess appoint Judge Mukasey to be Attorney General just the way he did with JOHN BOLTON.

The Hague should not record a single Democrat in this scandal. Yes, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was right. Elections do have their consequences, but more importantly confirmations have their consequences. In this nomination some Democrats are partners in CRIME. These crimes are similar to those prosecuted at Nuremberg.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'd have the Hague on speed dial)

Dumbass Banner Ad

2007-10-16T05:09:00.000-04:00

OK, Sensi is short for "sin (las) semillas" or "sin semillas" which means without seeds.

Your Average Idiot
(Bank on that)

SiCKO DVD Release November 6th

2007-10-15T04:05:00.000-04:00

OK activists! It's time for us to make a huge change in the values of this country. We now are at a point in American history when we can make medical treatment a human right. There is no excuse for us to turn away from this problem. All Americans have cousins or a parent or a grandparent that has suffered the evil consequences of a business that chooses money over flesh and bones. We have all had loved ones that would be alive today if not for some paper pusher in an office somewhere saying that they would not pay for a procedure or a test that would better determine the cause of the patient's symptoms. Michael Moore has lobbed this topic up for Republicans and Democrats to knock it out of the park. There is no excuse to allow profit from pain. There is no excuse to allow the "health" "care" industry to make people sick and sicker so that it will cost more money and Glaxo Smith Kline medication.

Rent the damned DVD and have a dozen friends over to see it and get disgusted just like I did. You will have no choice but to pick up the damned phone and call all your relatives and friends and tell them about what you just saw. Encourage them to see the DVD. Hell, offer to pay them the rental fee. Whatever it takes! This movie deserves eyeballs!

I need health care. I know that sounds very self serving. I don't often ask for things for myself. I am well aware that this movement may not be in place to save me from my eventual next cancer. I'll have to accept that and go on yelling and screaming for this basic of human decencies in the country that I love.

Because I can't walk too well now and have a particularly hard time standing for an extended period of time, I will carry a plastic lawn chair to the roadway median. Honk if you see me. I'll be doing my version of Don Quixote without a horse. This entire blog is exactly that. My stubborn hope that I may be able to make a difference. We are a country that respects life over money. Come prove it with me.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Make peace with flesh!)

Patterns of Destruction

2007-10-15T03:38:00.000-04:00

We have a debate over universal health care in America. The obstacles are obvious. Cash!

What if there is another reason not to have universal health care? Image that we have all Americans going to the doctor and getting their health monitored on a regular basis. What might we show if we start to look at patterns in the medical record of our citizens? We could inadvertently expose environmental toxic effects on the human body. We could expose a chemical plant as the cause for a higher incidence of asthma or cancer or learning disorder. Imagine the greater potential for reporting to the Center for Disease Control.

I think that big business is quaking in their boots at this very moment. Even business that may not have done anything wrong are using the the lawyer's axiom, 'Don't ask the question unless you are sure of the answer.'

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote for Me in 2008!
(I'd expose reckless endangerment)

Ann Coulter's "Perfection"

2007-10-14T04:50:00.000-04:00

On The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch Ann Coulter offended Deutsch by saying, "Christians are Jews that are perfected." What Deutsch fails to understand is that all evangelical religions believe that they are right and you are wrong and they have no reservations about telling you to your face.

I was raised in a Southern Baptist household where that kind of confrontation happened frequently. When I was younger, I fell in with a very fundamentalist church in Aviano, Italy. It was my responsibility to tell as many people as possible how they could be saved. I'm talking high pressure sales tactics. Needless to say that didn't make me very popular.

I eventually left the church altogether, because too many things that they taught were in direct conflict with what I knew to be fact. They distributed Chick Publications tracts which were downright hateful and bitter. I found that fear of sexual feelings and the guilt that they put on us only stood in the way of sexual maturity. There were worse things in the world than teenage horniness to focus on.

Nowadays I see that kind of fundamentalism to be willfully ignorant. Despite mounds of evidence before their face, they will go on believing that the Earth is 6000 years old.

Don't even try to tell Ann Coulter or any fundamentalist for that matter that confronting people like that is just rude.

Don't ever expect that an Ann Coulter will look at Eastern philosophies and try and incorporate them in with the words of Jesus.

God forbid that a fundamentalist ever find significant agreement between Buddha and Jesus.

God forbid that a Christian would ever consider living an entire life dedicated to non-violence. That might be too Christ-like.

Jesus would notice that piles of resources are stacking up in our houses while people die which is very sad for a country that so prides itself a "Christian Nation."

In the words of The The,

"If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today, he'd be gunned down cold by the CIA.(or chained and cold in Guantanamo Bay - ed) The light that now burn brightest behind stained glass will cast the darkest shadows across the human heart. God didn't build himself that throne. And God doesn't live in Israel or Rome. God doesn't belong to the Yankee dollar. God didn't plant them bombs for Hesbollah. God doesn't even go to church. God won't send us down to Allah to burn. God will remind us what we already know that the human race is about to reap what we've sewn. Armageddon days are here again."

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I might get us out of the peee-uuuuu)

Let's Talk Turkey

2007-10-13T04:20:00.000-04:00

President Bush has been very vocal in his opposition to the bill in Congress recognizing the Armenian Genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Turks. Perhaps he could have been more convincing by saying, 'I think the Armenians owe Turkey a debt of gratitude.'

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Forever sarcastically yours SWAK)

An Inconvenient Fact Check

2007-10-12T15:24:00.000-04:00

The Right-Winger nutjob flipped-out freaks are seething that Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize. A man in England sued to try and get the film "An Inconvenient Truth" banned from school classrooms. Inaccurate reporting including some from BBC has mischaracterized the judge's ruling. As part of the ruling the judge used 'error' to denote the areas where the complainant alleged inaccuracies without himself also alleging errors. "the hearing before me did not relate to an analysis of the scientific questions." Deltoid Blog link

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'd pay more than lip service to Nobel Peace Prize winners Al Gore and Jimmy Carter)

Pod Thingy - 10/11/2007

2007-10-11T04:24:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to get another one out, so here you go.

POD THINGY

Before you hear me say anything, remember I am Your Average Idiot. You can't count on me being accurate all the time, but I believe that I have the moral issues pretty well established in my mind and heart. Wanting to kick Rush Limbaugh's ass and actually doing it are not the same. He probably furthers our cause by continuing to spew his hate.

This week is my frustrations with Greenspan, Halperin, Reich, and Limbaugh et al.

Call the Weinstein Company and send a message to Michael Moore to get this film out on DVD TODAY!

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I probably will make you all watch SiCKO)

Clinton's Money Not Equal Ideas

2007-10-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

Just consider that Clinton's campaign money doesn't equal a treasure chest of ideas.

Sucking the tit of corporate America. Senator Clinton worked for the Rose law firm which represented Wal-Mart. I don't think that a person who was the attack dog of the Walton family deserves to represent the Democratic Party. Wal-Mart has locked its employees in the store overnight. They make all kind of rules and procedures to undermine the pay of its employees who aren't allowed enough work hours to pay for the "fabulous" health care benefits. Granted they aren't the only one that take an anti-trust type approach for killing every small business in a small town, and they aren't the only ones to go out of their way to "Buy Chinese" forcing all US firms to move to China or be crushed by the flood of prison labor goods. This again highlights that the Clintons both husband and wife are far too close to the money interests of big business.

Licking the ass of Bush. When everyone on this planet that has seen a news report in the last several years knows that you cannot give George Warmonger Bush a fucking inch nay millimeter of leeway regarding the use of force against anyone, Clinton voted for a resolution that is basically a use-of-force-authorization-against-Iran-excuse for chimpy. This comes after Clinton voted for the use of force authorization that gave Bush the all clear to go ahead with his Project For a New American Century war plans with Iraq. That group sent the letter to the White House in 1998 asking then President Clinton to consider war with Saddam's regime to help bring forth a new Middle East. One of the signatories to the letter was none other than Bill Kristol who is infamous for his predictions about Iraq all being WRONG. Remember the "pop sociology" that the Sunni's can't get along with the Shia? I digress, therefore I am ADHD. She has never called her vote a mistake! AND she hasn't learned from her previous mistake! This president is not a Republican, he is a Neo Conservative who can not be expected to act in the best interest of this nation. Clinton who sits on the Armed Services Committee doesn't seem to be that concerned that $9 billion went missing in Iraq, or that many of the companies that were rewarded contracts in Iraq passed the Republican Party loyalty test with the associations to Right-Winger organizations and fund raisers, or that the Vice President and the President's own father are making money hand over fist in this immoral endeavor. In effect she is the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand which ironically is how George W. Bush is described. This does not bode well for Senator Clinton. She doesn't have the conscience enough to realize that all this talent and money that we currently use for constructing newer and more lethal ways to kill people, could be better spent on (quoting Bill) "building a bridge to the future."

Keeping the killers around. Our current health care system accomplishes neither, we don't promote health and we don't care. If ever there are a group of people that sit in a room and decide who lives or who dies based on the probability of that person costing a company money, they should be in prison and not invited back to the table to have tea and talk about what went wrong. Health insurance companies are MURDERERS! They don't deserve therapeutic understanding, they deserve indictments! If a company in America whose principle mission is "health" "care" kills people they have violated a most sacred trust. This equates to mass murder on a scale that borders a genocide simply for cash to better flow into the hands of noted Republicans like Ex-Senator cat-killing blind-trust HCA-Grant-Center (where I was misdiagnosed) SEC-&-ethics-violator Bill Frist. Not one person in America has more a right to live simply because of his or her station in life. Not one person is more deserving to die, because they don't have the money to invest in the death stocks of a war machine that drains our future of our most committed young people who enlist in the military. Poor people who are lucky to even have a pillow die from preventable disease, while rich people can afford to stuff their pillows with $100 bills. The stupid idea of social Darwinism was abandoned years ago. Our current "health" "care" system is the grim reminder of the turn of the last century. I find it incredibly ironic that the CEO of United Health Care can afford to write a check to pay for the SCHIP program that Bush just vetoed with just one year's worth of bonus check and still have hundreds of millions of dollars left over to buy dozens of private islands and build landing strips on them all. We have to revise old terms like robber barons to "murder barons."

Political Action Committees. I'm no expert on this subject, but as I understand this industry officials can set up pools of cash like honey pots to attract corrupt politicians to vote their way. Hillary has the cream of the crop in "dumbassery" award for saying that corporate cash will not influence her vote. If the industry is actively seeking to weaken the protection of citizens in order to make more money, the money should be left UNCLAIMED! If the industry is actively seeking to sell off the United States piece by piece to China, they are TREASONOUS! The money should be left UNCLAIMED! If the product that the industry sells kills people even if you use the product exactly as it was intended, namely cigarettes, their money should be left UNCLAIMED!

Senator Clinton, I hope you are listening to me. You do not represent the interest of my country, much less my party. The only honorable thing that you could do right now is to bow out of the race and give your millions to the next Democratic President of the United States. You have served a very good function as a lightning rod for the Republican attack machine who have no doubt spent a billion dollars in 527's in production costs for their attack ads. You will not survive the sheer volume of soft money and 527 ads that will bury your message. You have not learned a damn thing about Ne0-Cons. They are not patriotic. They are motivated by greed and selfishness. Yes, even your friend Rupert Murdoch! How out of touch do you think I am to believe a fucking word that you say? Stay in the Senate and serve New York, they must love cat-killing doctors, and truth-slaying Aussies, and global warming deniers, and murdering bean counters, and job killers, and war profiteers. Once you pull your head out of your ass and wipe the shit from your brains and have your epiphany, you will have a leadership role.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I don't kiss corporate ass!)

New Rule

2007-10-01T23:51:00.000-04:00

The next time there is a trial of a black man who is convicted by an all white jury chosen from an all white jury pool and you represent the 15-20% black in your town, you have no right to cry "racism" if you are an eligible voter who is not registered to vote. We all know that they pick jurors from the voter rolls which means that it isn't just "the best justice that money can buy," it's also "the best justice from people who hide."

Mychal Bell of the Jena Six - Perhaps you've heard of them? They're not quite the Jackson 5, because they don't have the dance moves. Unless or course you count the way they danced on Justin Barker's face. Bell is just one of the latest victims of this kind of race-based initiative.

The Civil Rights Movement was not just a struggle for suffrage. It too was a struggle to break the chains that bound black people to a whipping post of fear and injustice under the lash of many a cracker sheriff, prosecutor and/or judge.

Far too many times did a white man get off after beating a black man to death or lynching him. It was through an unofficial process called jury nullification. They all knew that Bobby did it. "Hey, Bobby is a good kid. His mom taught my Sunday school class. He married my cousin twice removed on my wife's side. I just don't want to see that man go to jail. Why, that would just tear his wife and kids up. His Auntie Helen would never speak to me."

We found out recently it takes only 41 jackasses in the Senate to guarantee that nothing will happen, but with a jury it only takes ONE. You can be the thorn in the side of some out of control prosecutor by voting to acquit the pot smoker who was walking while black after the Friday night football game. You can shitcan their plans to railroad some young man for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and getting hit with only 7 or 8 of the 41 bullets officers fired near a downtown nightclub. You can be the sole "guilty" vote when the white cop comes up on charges of beating the shit out of a speeder. I know that this doesn't necessarily constitute "truth," but it does come closer to our idea of justice.

I know that some of you will say, "How the hell are people supposed to survive if they miss work that as George Bush says, 'puts food on their family?' " I guess they'll just have to do it the old fashioned Republican way, charge it on our grandkid's credit card.

Oh yeah, and while we are on the subject of the Jena Six. Don't you think that some presidential pardons and a reconciliation panel would go a long way towards restoring the community of Jena? Not just pardons for the Jena Six, but for the prosecutor who had a conflict of interest being the legal counsel for the school board and the idiot who pulled a gun on the black kids at the store and the black kids that got charged with grand theft for taking the gun and the white kids that beat up the black kid at a "white only" party and the idiot/s that hung the nooses and Justin Barker who had a felony possession of a firearm at the school and the idiot/s that burned down the school. Wouldn't a South African style reconciliation panel do far more to heal this town than any punishment? They certainly are far more deserving than Scooter Libby.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(Apart? Hide?)

Britney Spears Loses Custody

2007-10-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

I guess Kevin Federline is ruled a better parent, because his drug use is restricted to legal alcohol. If you buy that, I'll throw the Golden Gate in free.

But what I think is strange is that even with all her money Spears wasn't able to beat this thing. I have no idea where she went to hire her attorneys. Money is "supposed" to buy your way out of rape, murder, child abuse, starting an illegal and immoral war in a country that didn't attack us so you could guarantee most of Iraqi oil will stay in the ground and not compete with Saudi Arabian oil interests. I digress, therefore I am ADHD.

Come on, even OJ got custody. Maybe she would have done better if she had borrowed Lindsey Lohan's SUV and her "black guy" and fled on a slow speed chase.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I too might drive on the left side of the road)

Petraeus Did Betray Us

2007-09-25T22:00:00.000-04:00

Fuck Clinton and all those idiots that sucked up to the money tit of the fear machine coming from the Fox noise machine. Petraeus did betray us.

The Right-Winger fringe does generally make noise when their lies are in danger of being exposed. No matter how much the proto-fascists at Fact Optional Xtremists screech and cry, you should understand that they are simply the paid spokespeople of the multinational corporations that undermine the sovereignty of our nation. This entire affair in Iraq is a back door bank robbery. Just like the Western on Saturday's matinée, they are creating the distraction and backing the wagon up to the back door and emptying the vault. The Xtremists at Fox "News" will do anything to distract from the Grover Norquist's attempt to drown the government in his bathtub.

The metrics that are being used to gauge the success in Iraq were intentionally fudged by the General. That is also known as LIES. You can't eliminate vast numbers of civilians deaths, so that your numbers look good. You can't have the part of the government that oversees this very kind of blatant distortion release a statement that essentially calls you a liar. General David Petraeus is the "Reverse Westmoreland." Instead of inflating the number of killed to spell success, Petraeus is shrinking the numbers. You can't change the number of benchmarks that constitute success. That would be like getting a 20% on a test and calling it a passing grade. No Child Left Behind doesn't pass kids with 20%. Mr/Mrs America, Bush/Cheney/Iraq/Petraeus are retained as unelected flunkies who have no respect for the reality in the classroom aka on the ground. Conduct unbecoming an officer for making false official statements is the charge. It is punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. All XO's know this all too well. They come across this charge in Article 15's regularly. If he refuses to accept non-judicial punishment, courts martial is the last recourse.

There was two farmers talking over the fence of their respective farms.

One farmer asks the other, "Are those radishes?"

The other farmer says, "Yep."

The first farmer asks,"You sure got a lot there. Is there good money in radishes?"

The second farmer says, "I don't sell 'em."

The first farmer asks, "You must like radishes then?"

The second farmer says, "Not particularly."

The first farmer asks, "Why all the radishes?"

The second farmer says, "To keep the wolverines away."

The first farmer protests, "But there ain't no wolverines around here!"

The second farmer says, "See, it's working."

The moral of the story is that in order to make sound policy for success of any strategy, you first have to have a good grasp of reality. Just like torture and wiretapping and Iraq and Afghanistan did not stop another terrorist attack. Fudging the numbers doesn't make you successful. Petraeus doesn't have daddy's Saudi royal friends to bail him out.

Petraeus is not the first war hero to disgrace himself. Duke Cunningham, the Dukester, was the flying ace depicted in the movie "Top Gun." Just because you win a few medals, it doesn't give you a lifetime pass. If you commit a crime, you will be punished.

For the Democrats it is time to double down and stand behind the organizations that helped you win in '06. In the words of Paul Begala referring to Petraeus, "He ain't the baby Jesus!" I think the public expects even more from their military leaders. Military culture promotes the idea of honor. We expect that they be impervious to political influence where the truth is concerned. When this full General lies to Congress and the American people, he dishonors himself, the Army, and the entire American military. It is an officer's duty to refuse unlawful orders. It is even more important when the lives of thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens are the cost of this lie.

(Update)

These idiots voted Yea. Note that Clinton wisely voted Nay, but it doesn't excuse her statements against MoveOn. I have never given money to a candidate, but I have to MoveOn.org. Why? They have balls, and they speak for me!

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA) Who beat man-on-dog Santorum
Conrad (D-ND) You can powder your nose, but there is something in your teeth.
Dorgan (D-ND)
Feinstein (D-CA) Are you serious? Et tu Feinstein?
Johnson (D-SD)
Klobuchar (D-MN) Come on, Al got me all excited about you.
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Lieberman (ID-CT) "Betrayer" should be tattooed on his forehead.
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO) Right on stem cells. Wrong here.
Mikulski (D-MD)
Nelson (D-FL) Stealth Republican.
Nelson (D-NE) Ditto!
Pryor (D-AR)
Salazar (D-CO)
Tester (D-MT) Mr. Three Fingers I'm disappointed in you.
Webb (D-VA) Democratic response? Thank, but no thanks.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(There ain't no sacred cows in the Pentagon)
(I might be Karma-cly bitch-slapped by a six armed goddess)

State Children's Health Insurance Program

2007-09-20T16:25:00.000-04:00

The Boehner thinks that if he calls SCHIP "Hillary Care," they can kill this program. Think again! As far as I'm concerned you could call it "Taliban Care," I'd call on my Senator and Congress member to vote for it as long as it gives health care to kids.

All the studies show that kids without proper access to health care are far more likely to miss school and for more days due to a simple illness. This has an effect on our children's performance in school. Just like we know that undernourished kids under perform so do unhealthy kids. I know a kid who failed first grade simply because he needed glasses.

There is a good name for the Republican plan that leaves kids out in the cold to see how long they can survive. Let's call it "Mengele Care." Josef Mengele was the the Nazi doctor that did cruel experiments on the Jew's in Auschwitz. One such experiment involved leaving a person in frigid water to see how long he could survive. This information was supposedly valuable to the Luft Waffe to estimate how long they had to rescue downed pilots.

Most people hate the references to the Nazis in modern day. But with the rise of corporatists and a new deference to authority, I find it mandatory to make these comparisons. The current state of fear that the Republican party is spoon feeding us through the corporate media in America today could fast pave the way for the most dangerous form of Fascism the world has ever seen.

Like Germany before us, we at the bottom in the US are expendable. I survived my 90% chance to die from colon cancer twice through no help from the US government. I am again without health insurance, despite my being the most in need of constant monitoring. Dr. Mengele start your stopwatch. I'll fuck up your experiment though, because I'd rather see Dr. Kevorkian and die on my own terms than to add value to your sociopathy. Although I'm just 45, I'll gladly die today. "It is a good day to die... " (Star Trek - Lt. Worf) "...And the day is not over yet." But I need somebody to care for my kids, both of whom have to have early cancer screenings and preventative medicine that would be most effective if it started now. If you can see my story and still not be moved, Mr. Boehner, then you too are a sociopath.

Even if you are a fiscal conservative, you understand that you must do maintenance on your fleet of vehicles in order to get the most out of your investment. So too is true of the American people. You can reduce the gap between entitlements and revenue by improving the number of taxpayers. We are the Flesh Investment. Keep us running smoothly.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(We are the world. We are the children.)

Romney, Who's Chuzpah?

2007-09-20T06:05:00.000-04:00

Well, we have another cherry picker of quasi-intelligence trying to lecture us about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York. He is so quick to point to Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, but not so with Saudi Arabia. Romney doesn't want this "sponsor of terrorism" to visit 9/11 Ground Zero.

Hey dumb ass! I don't want my president holding hands with the leader of the country where 15 of the 19 hijackers came from.

I don't want him holding the hand of the leader of the country where Bin Laden is a household name.

I don't want my president holding the hand of the leader of the country where they openly have fundraisers for Al-Qaeda, "For Allah they will give."

The long term prospects of a good relationship with Iran is outstanding once we get rid of these idiots that don't have the slightest of clues as to who our real enemies are. Iran's youth population is relatively secular and embrace American culture and have a positive view of the idea of America. Iranian-Americans are a large block of our population and they frequently communicate with their relatives back in Iran. My college biology professor was the daughter of a Pepsi or Coke executive under the Shah. My cousin was married to an Iranian and they have a daughter. In both situations they have told me about their communications with relatives and visits back to Iran. These are educated people with a better understanding of the world than people do in the slums of Baghdad or sadly even the streets of some American cities.

Before the invasion Iraq was secular. Now it is teetering on the brink of collapse and the introduction of sharia law. Ever heard of the Taliban? Some neighborhoods and even entire towns today already live under a brutal version of sharia akin to the Taliban which makes it impossible for me to understand this new "bottom up" BS that some in the administration are marketing on us. The new Iraq will look far less like us than if we had left it alone.

I don't want to add Iran to the list of colossal failures of Bush and his band of thieves. Don't put another Bush in the White House! Romney, shut the fuck up and step aside to leave room for someone who knows a tiny bit more about history and the current state of affairs to lead armed with facts.

Your Average Idiot
Don't For Me in 2008!
(But under NO circumstances are you to vote for Romney!)

CREW's Shithead List

2007-09-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

Members of the Senate:
Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)

Members of House:
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)

Dishonorable Mention:
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

Throw them all out. Murtha I love your war stance, but you gotta go. There was a jackass in Ohio who stopped all executions in his state, but that didn't mean he didn't put money in his pocket too.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(You'd only get your paycheck and not a piece of an earmark)

Student Arrested at Kerry Forum

2007-09-17T16:28:00.000-04:00

What otherwise would have been a very pleasant experience for a liberal Democrat like me turned into University of Florida Police acting like the dick heads that they truly are.

A student protested his not being able to ask his question when University Police tried to manhandle him away from the microphone. After a short scuffle punctuated by the student loudly complaining that John Kerry spoke for two hours, Kerry told the officers that it was alright he would let him ask his question. The student went on to ask his question that was something to the effect that Kerry had suggested a book for the student to read Vali Nasr's "Shia Revival," The student suggested that Kerry read "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast. Kerry said that he has that book and he has read it. The student wanted to "educate" the audience first and then ask his question. He asked why Kerry conceded on the first day after the elections. Kerry politely asked the student to wait his turn, because he was in the middle of his answer to another student. Kerry finished his answer regarding the change in the mission in Iraq.

The little prick cops instead of defusing the situation, were taunting the student during the end of Kerry's answer to the other question.

The question came back to the other microphone and the waiting student, where he asked his question again asking also whether or not he too was a member of Skull and Bones like George W. Bush. The police officers were pulling him away from the microphone. They cut the mike.

I was looking at what was happening right behind my right shoulder, when I believe I heard Kerry ask, "Is this really necessary?" of the police officers. One power junkie on each arm and a third mini might had a taser drawn on the student when he asked, "What did I do?" He stated, "I've done nothing wrong. Get off of me."

Again little midget prick cops with small man's syndrome and a very uncop-like pussy assignment at a college campus have nothing better to do than to swing their dicks in front of the distinguished guest. Hey, it beats handing out parking tickets and telling the frat boys to turn down the music.

The young man at this point simply wants to hear the response to his question. But they keep dragging him out of the University Auditorium. More officers jump in to "help" the situation, which just prompt the people to tell the police to leave him alone. More than two dozen or so people are calling on the police to stop, when a jackass about four rows in front of me waves bye-bye in a baby wave and says, "See ya." That just set me off.

I started screaming, "Secure the vote! Secure the vote! Secure the vote! Our democracy depends on securing the vote!" I said it to take up the cause that this young man had brought up, because I believe in it. I said it plenty loud enough so he could hear.

Then everyone was horrified to hear the man screaming. I looked around to the back of the auditorium as best I could. From where I was seated all I could see were the heads of several police officers in the aisle near the rear exit of the auditorium. The screams coming from the young man sounded to me like they had tasered him.

Everybody was very upset at this sight of police brutality. Some were still milling around in shock as to what they had just witnessed. Kerry's leader instinct kicked in and he tried to get everyone to "calm down" and "come on back" into the discussion. Then Kerry joked, "I was hoping he would come back and swear me in." Kerry added, "I was hoping he would be here to hear my response."

Kerry basically explained that he didn't have all the information that he needed at the time of his concession to make an effective legal battle to fight the results. He also said what we in Florida found out in the 2000 Election fight, there is no legal recourse for proving voter fraud or vote tampering. You are basically stuck with the results. Plus there was the added problem that they had lost two earlier challenges to the way the election was being run. Pushing that legal battle would have only run up against a stacked Supreme Court eventually. States run elections the way that they want. It was up to us voter to let our representatives know how we are feeling.

I suppose to answer to the general problem of electronic voting Kerry said that we should have a verified paper trail. (Applause) Frankly he felt that we could do away with all the machines and do it on paper. (Applause) He cited the example of India that casts tens of millions of ballots in their election all on paper, yet within 24 hours or so they have the results of the election.

There is an issue here that I see repeated over and over again all over America. Authoritarianism is on the rise. We have dozens of incidents where police will ride their horses into a crowd or fire rubber bullets at cameramen then laugh about it later. All these new limits on authority are surrendered by our complacency and our fear of terrorism or crime. People in position of authority in America receive all of their authority by the consent of the governed. That goes for police officers, Congress, Judges, and even the President. If they are not serving the interest of the people, they should be removed.

(Update)

I found this idiot's comments on the web. WMCA's Kevin McCullough.

I E-mailed him thusly.

Look Mr. Moron I was there.

>First off - even though the kid's questions are odd - they are nonetheless supportive of Kerry, who had the power to call the police off the student. He does not do so...

He did so. Your minuscule little mind failed to realize that there is a whole history of the world before the YouTube video started rolling. He said, "It's OK. Mr. Security, I'd be happy to answer his question."

>Secondly - notice if you listen carefully Kerry says some almost equally bizarre things. He tells the crowd to keep cool. He apologizes for what they are having to "see." Things like, "too bad he can't come up here and swear me in." (Yes John Kerry - even as the kid is getting volts run through him in front of your very eyes - it's STILL all about you!)

The idiot cops were flanking the young man even after Kerry told them it was ok. While the young man waited for Kerry to finish his answer to the previous question, the officers were taunting him. The young man told them to, "Leave me alone."

>Thirdly - these two really deserve each other, and the whole thing is a really clear picture of what "free speech" looks like in the eyes of liberals. Ask an oddball question or two - and that's it hustle him out and taser him.

This stupid point assumes that the University Police Department and/or ACCENT is liberal. All you have to do is ask anyone that has ever had any dealing with UPD here in Gainesville and they will tell you that these officers are power junkie wannabes. They are bored stiff from giving out parking tickets and dealing with drunks at football games and frat row. These diminutive turds saw this event as an opportunity to do some "real" police work. What you might not have noticed is that almost all of the officers were around 5' 6".

>Fourthly - anyone notice the number of empty seats? This man was the Democrats top man on the ballot, the room doesn't look terribly big...

You obviously didn't go to college. Many of the student who attended had to leave early to go to class. The event organizers did not allow reentry. Furthermore this was a ticketed event through Ticketmaster though the tickets were free. ALL of the tickets were distributed. As a matter of fact I got the very last ticket #3736652. You can check that information with the University of Florida Box Office. The location was chosen at least in part for it's historical significance, because Kerry had spoken at that location back in 1972 a decorated war hero speaking out for another very bad idea, Vietnam. A Winter Soldier, Scott Camil, lives right here in Gainesville.

>Fifthly - the cries of "police brutality" and "Rodney King" are laughable. Sure I think this is all an overreaction to an otherwise stupid and obnoxious college kid. And yes it is painful to hear him holler through the tasering, but Rodney King?

The student was handcuffed with six officers holding him down. By no stretch of the imagination did he pose any threat to anyone at that point, yet they tasered him. The UPD procedures were violated. They state that a Taser is only allowed when a person poses a threat to himself or someone else. Rodney King no, but brutality yes.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'd demand service to the public of public servants)

Blessings of Giving

2007-09-16T07:34:00.000-04:00

I have blogged about the waste of energy that is locked into products that we throw into the landfill, and recently discovered Freecycle.org. Freecycle allows people to give rather than throw away the products that they buy. A product is more completely used up before it is thrown away.

I just started to offer some items on Freecycle and actually to find takers. The kids had way too many stuffed animals, so those were part of a list of things I had offered. I later found a wanted post for used stuffed animals and responded to it.

Yesterday this girl-next-door beauty stepped out of her car and walked to the door. Walk is not all she did as she approached the front door. Cue the Squeezy McFeelpantz theme song. This nice young specimen of female anatomy undulated toward my front door. In the world of computer animation it is called breast physics. I have a slow motion instant replay seared into my mind. My, my, my! We had here a stupid looking white sort of male person's conservative kind of middle-of-the-road COTTON UNDER-GARMENT! Trapped inside were one of the nicest pair of double D's vintage circa 1983 mammalian protuberances that I have ever seen. Pillowy softness swaying and nodding, "Yes, Yes, Yes" to the question in my mind, "Can I gently lay my head upon your bosom?" If there is a God, my lips involuntarily mouth the words, "Thank You!" Cut the theme song - cue Elvis "Teddy Bear" - I just wanna see your titties bare.

Thank you, young lady for making Freecycle a far more rewarding experience than it ought to be. You certainly made this swell - er - well worth my while.

There is another little twist (you know where my mind is) this morning. I was going back over my E-male - er - E-mail in-box - er - inbox when I noticed her address @theclintongroup.com. Hillary, stop hitting me. She wanted a position on my staff. The young college student needed more exposure to the political world. Hobbies: she likes cigars and getting fellacials... "CLANG!"

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I have a libido. Show me yours and I'll show you mine.)

The Last Ticket

2007-09-14T04:19:00.000-04:00

I called today to see how many tickets were left for the town hall style meeting of John Kerry at the University of Florida. There was one! I asked if there were a way to hold the ticket, but the ticket agent told me that they were first-come-first-serve. (Same policy as Senator Wide-Stance) I jumped in the car and boogied on over there. I got the very last ticket.

If you missed your chance to see President John Kerry speak, eat your heart out.

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(But count the votes!)

Kicking Ass

2007-09-12T04:36:00.000-04:00

Bush was quoted as explaining the situation in Iraq to the Australia Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile, "We're kicking ass!"

Funny thing, I think that is what Jim Jones was saying just before he drank the Kool-aid.

The result is the same. Both men have damned their people to a slow and painful death.

Mr. Bush, Chug!

Your Average Idiot
Don't Vote For Me in 2008!
(I'd show you the rewards of peace)

U.S. OK’d Exports of Unsafe Products

2007-09-12T03:51:00.000-04:00

Pulled directly from the website of Democracy Now!

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is being accused of reckless hypocrisy following the disclosure it allowed thousands of products it deemed unsafe for Americans shipped overseas. According to the Sacramento Bee, ninety-six percent of more than a thousand companies that asked to export their products despite failing U.S. safety standards were given approval to ship. Thousands of those goods included toys violating the same child safety guidelines that led to last month’s massive recall of Chinese-made products. The toys were sent to countries including Venezuela and Jamaica. Experts say the shipments’ danger is higher in those countries because of fewer local resources for consumer protection and safety. The shipments were not announced at the time at they were made.