Author: David

Tired of telemarketers trying to work their way around “no call” lists?

Yeh, well, so am I. And as far as I’m concerned, this is a Civil Liberties issue: I feel perfect at liberty to do everything within my power to spike these scammers, liars and cheats (Oh! My!) any old way I can.

Recently, we’ve gotten several calls from a Caller ID-blocked number, an obvious machine-generated voice message, “informing” us that the call “is not a telemarketing call” and “the head of household needs” to call a certain number.

Riiiiight.

Soooo, from a Caller ID blocked phone of my own, I called the number and discovered that it was a company trying to sell debt consolidation.

I tried to warn ‘em… really, I tried.

After a few calls attempting to escalate things to some manager to warn I gave up and called our State Attorney General’s office. Now, ya have to understand, this guy made his bones taking down telemarketers. It’s his main claim to fame. The consumer complaint rep I talked to promised fast action (and from the office’s record, that’s one of the few government bureaucratic pledges I give a little weight) and thanked me for reporting the scam.

Then… heh, then I called the scammers back. Told the person that answered the phone that I had gotten a call telling me to call that number. (True) She asked me what the number where I received the call was (caller ID blocking on the phone I was using).

I gave her our State Attorney General’s consumer complaint number. (OK, a small, wee, teen-eintsy fib)

*click-click-clickety-click* “Oh… “ CLICK, BUZZZZZZ

“Wha-fo’ the dialtone, Boopsy?” thought I.

Heh

“Submitted” at Cao’s Friday Open Trackback Party, Adam’s Blog’s Open Trackbacks,  Stop the ACLU’s Open Trackback Weekend and Open Trackbacks at Big Dog’s Weblog.

Oxymoron of the day: Corporate Creativity. A mini-rant

First we have this: Grandfather sued for $600,000 for 12-year-okd grandson’s downloads. Yep. The kid downloaded copies of DVDs he already owned and the MPAA is suing his grandfather for owning the computer they were downloaded to, then deleted from.

Kinda makes ya wanna go right out and watch another crappy movie made by Hollyweird, doesn’t it?

Then there’s this: Sony institutes crippling anti-use software on CDs. But here’s the kicker: it’s done so on the recordings of at least one group that it does not “own” (just distributes their independently-produced stuff), a group that has said it does not want the crippling “feature”.

Yeh, that’ll encourage sales (and artist creativity thereby, all right. Make it darned near impossible (or damnably difficult) to use a legally purchased CD for legally-allowed uses. Consumers’ll love that!

But this loon takes the cake: 1st Story Line Patent Published. Words fail me. (But that’s probably a good thing, cos someone, somewhere is probably going to patent the thought processes I’d use to comment and then I’d end up being sued outa house and home… oops! There I go… )

Come the revolution (heh, riiiiight), lawyers first in line for the guillotine, followed by the RIAA, MPAA, and all their partners in crime like Fritz Holling (the wholly-owned Senator from Disney) and his ilk.

While our Congresscritters fiddle, Islamic savages are burning whatever is handy. Ya think it won’t happen here if our government’s “Homeland Security” keystone kops routine isn’t amended? Well, maybe… just not likely in America’s Third World Countyâ„¢

In a convergence of thoughtful pieces, Committees of Correspondence’s Dan Kaufman posts “Lest we forget“* reminding us that November 2 also marks the anniversary of Theo van Gogh’s brutal murder at the hands of an Islamic savage, while Big Lizards’ Dafydd ab Hugh notes the emminent collapse of Old Europe in the face of Islamic savages with “Arms For the Poor“.

Dafydd ab Hugh (I just love typing that Welsh name 🙂 does note a potential way for European leaders to enable their peoples to withstand the armed Islamic barbarians in their midst, but I hardly see the elite of Old Europe’s political rulers vigorously encouraging something like our Second Amendment rights… heh

I don’t often do this, but in fortuitous (or well-planned) simultaneity with Michelle Malkin’s latest book, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild, comes Do As I Say (Not As I Do) : Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy

Among the eye-opening revelations of “Do As I Say”:

• Filmmaker Michael Moore insists that corporations are evil and claims he doesn’t invest in the stock market due to moral principle. But Moore’s IRS forms, viewed by Schweizer, show that over the past five years he has owned shares in such corporate giants as Halliburton, Merck, Pfizer, Sunoco, Tenet Healthcare, Ford, General Electric and McDonald’s.
• Staunch union supporter Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has received the Cesar Chavez Award from the United Farmworkers Union. But the $25 million Northern California vineyard she and her husband own is a non-union shop.

The hypocrisy doesn’t end there. Pelosi has received more money from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union than any other member of Congress in recent election cycles.

But the Pelosis own a large stake in an exclusive hotel in Rutherford, Calif. It has more than 250 employees. But none of them are in a union, according to Schweizer, author of “The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty” and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other periodicals.

The Pelosis are also partners in a restaurant chain called Piatti, which has 900 employees. The chain is – that’s right, a non-union shop.

• Ralph Nader is another liberal who claims that unions are essential to protect worker rights. But when an editor of one of his publications tried to form a union to ameliorate miserable working conditions, the editor was fired and the locks changed on the office door.
• Self-described socialist Noam Chomsky has described the Pentagon as “the most vile institution on the face of the earth” and lashed out against tax havens and trusts that benefit only the rich.

But Chomsky has been paid millions of dollars by the Pentagon over the last 40 years, and he used a venerable law firm to set up his irrevocable trust to shield his assets from the IRS.

• Air America radio host Al Franken says conservatives are racist because they lack diversity and oppose affirmative action. But fewer than 1 percent of the people he has hired over the past 15 years have been African-American.
• Ted Kennedy has fought for the estate tax and spoken out against tax shelters. But he has repeatedly benefited from an intricate web of trusts and private foundations that have shielded most of his family’s fortune from the IRS.

One Kennedy family trust wasn’t even set up in the U.S., but in Fiji.

Another family member, environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr., has said that it is not moral to profit from natural resources. But he receives an annual check from the family’s large holdings in the oil industry.

• Barbra Streisand has talked about the necessity of unions to protect a “living wage.” But she prefers to do her filming and postproduction work in Canada, where she can pay less than American union wages.
• Bill and Hillary Clinton have spoken in favor of the estate tax, and in 2000 Bill vetoed a bill seeking to end it. But the Clintons have set up a contract trust that allows them to substantially reduce the amount of inheritance tax their estate will pay when they die.

Hillary, for her part, has written and spoken extensively about the right of children to make major decisions regarding their own lives. But she barred 13-year-old daughter Chelsea from getting her ears pierced and forbid the teen from watching MTV or HBO.

• Billionaire Bush-basher George Soros says the wealthy should pay higher, more progressive tax rates. But he holds the bulk of his money in tax-free overseas accounts in Curacao, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Schweizer writes: “Liberals claim to support affirmative action but don’t practice it. They support higher taxes but set up complicated tax shelters to avoid paying them. They claim to be ardent environmentalists but abandon their cause when it impinges on their own property rights.

“The reality is that liberals like to preach in moral platitudes. They like to condemn ordinary Americans and Republicans for a whole host of things – racism, lack of concern for the poor, polluting the environment, and greed.

“But when it comes to applying those same standards to themselves, liberals are found to be shockingly guilty of hypocrisy.

“The media and the American people need to hold them accountable.”

---

I guess I’ll be putting these books on my Amazon Wishlist along with this:

…and this:

See the post at The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns.

No. I’m not going to say more here. (Beef panties… what’ll they think of next? Fish bras? And why recall them, anyway? It’s painful enough even contemplating such a thing to begin with. 🙂

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Originally uploaded by mnmus.

Yeh, yeh: ever since I saw this posted at Parrot Check with the title “Paris Hilton Screwing By the Pool” I’ve been highly conflicted. Puke? Laugh myself silly (surely a redundancy) and then puke? Succomb to the temptation to mimic his post title in my own?

I never have understood the Paris Hilton thing. Someone is famous for being a rich slut? What’s going on there? She’s just Madonna without the recording contracts (of course, she may well sing better than Madonna, but that’s damning with faint and merely potential praise. A gutted tomcat sings better than Madonna).

Well, here is it, anyway. The stupidest pun-on-a-pic I’ve seen on a blog yet. Congrats, Parrot Check. That’s (seriously) quite an accomplishment. No one and nothing was damaged by the thing, save for whatever eyes actually look at the pic.

Here’s a lil treat from “Gribbit” while Jay, of Stop the ACLU, is occupied “out of town”…

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From the ACLU:

ALBUQUERQUE –The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to declare Albuquerque’s recently passed Voter ID Amendment “unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.”

The new law requires people who vote in person to present a “current valid identification card containing the voter’s name and photograph.” Among the acceptable forms of identification are a driver’s license, a credit card, and a voter identification card issued by the City Clerk. Absentee voters are exempt from any photo ID requirements.

“If you’re poor or homeless, there’s a good chance you don’t have any of the permissible forms of identification,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson. “Wealth shouldn’t determine your ability to participate in democracy. Americans shouldn’t have to jump through unnecessary hoops to exercise their constitutionally-guaranteed right to vote.”

From the ACLU

CINCINNATI – The American Civil Liberties Union today asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court ruling blocking an anti-abortion specialty license plate in Tennessee, saying that the plate discriminates against opposing viewpoints.

“When the state of Tennessee approved an anti-abortion license plate and failed to do the same for a pro-choice plate, it effectively cut off public discussion,”” said Julie Sternberg, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, who argued the case today before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. “The lower court made clear that the state cannot open up a forum for public debate on abortion without allowing both sides an equal opportunity to express their position. We are hopeful that the appeals court will do the same.”

The law in question makes a “Choose Life” license plate available to motorists for an annual fee of $35 over and above the basic costs of registering a car in the state. Fifty percent of all funds raised, after expenses, go to a private anti-choice organization called New Life Resources. The legislature twice rejected an amendment that would have authorized a “Pro Choice”” specialty plate.

I found this over at GM's Corner, posted by Woody, and just followed the bread crumbs and…

I started wondering about civics knowledge of the typical American citizen. Googling provides a superficial infoset about the topic that nevertheless supports a day-to-day impression formed by exposure to my fellow citizens, especially whenever political topics are being discussed.

"In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the wave of patriotism that has followed, there has been renewed concern about the state of civics education, citizen formation, and national character in the United States. Yet according to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress test in civics, only 24 percent of high school seniors were "proficient" in their knowledge of American government and civics.[1] Study after study since then continues to suggest that historical literacy is at a similarly abysmal level.” [Federalism and Fiscal Responsibility: A Lesson in Civics Education]

In fact, as I drilled down deeper into the information at the source of the statement above, I found… a lot of mush and obfuscation hiding the core data. And a lot of euphemistic interpretation of the data.

Not a good sign. When educrats bloviate (when do they not?), it’s a sure sign they’re trying to hide or twist bad news.

Well, I decided to take the "citizenship quizes" that Woody linked to in a post he mentioned in the one that started this lil wander through the web. (Convoluted enough for you, yet?) Here's what resulted from the first lil quiz:

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations – you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Sadly, I know high school-and college!-grads who would definitely miss some of those very easy quiz questions, but I wasn’t satisfied, so I took the other two quizes mentioned. The results of those quizes are below the fold (if it works right this time-heh).

But here’s another lil quiz that’s perhaps a better indicator of whether or not a person should be allowed to vote (yeh, I said that, and I meant it). It’s an online practice quiz offered to help immigrants prep for a citizenship test. I'm thinking that if a person born a citizen in these United States can't pass this test, they should be given a Green Card and be treated as a resident non-citizen. *sheesh* Seriously, if I weren’t able to pass a 100Q quiz as easy as this one by seventh grade, I would have flunked my seventh grade civics class. And NO ONE lacking such basic knowledge of civics American style ought to be allowed in a voting booth. They’re too stupid and ignorant to exercise the franchise.

(Linked at GM’s Corner’s Open Trackback Wednesday.
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Here are the results of two other simple “citizenship quizes” Woody linked that I took (simply copied and pasted the text of the results. And note that I do know Rhenquist is no longer Chief Justice of the SCOTUS :-):

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You might be surprised to learn that immigrants usually know more about our nation than most born-and-bred Americans! Want more? Try the sample citizenship questions posed by the Immigration & Naturalization Service.

Your Score: 10 out of 10 — Congratulations! You’re a model citizen.

1. What country did we fight during the Revolutionary war?

a) Great Britain
b) France
c) Germany
d) Italy

You chose: a
The correct answer is: a

2. Why did the Pilgrims come to America?

a) to flee colonization
b) for religious freedom
c) for the right to vote
d) for a better life

You chose: b
The correct answer is: b

3. Who helped the Pilgrims in America?

a) the slaves
b) the Native Americans
c) the British
d) the Dutch

You chose: b
The correct answer is: b

4. Which list contains three rights or freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?

a) Right to life, Right to liberty, Right to the pursuit of happiness
b) Freedom of speech, Freedom of press, Freedom of religion
c) Right to protest, Right to protection under the law, Freedom of religion
d) Freedom of religion, Right to elect representatives, Human rights

You chose: b
The correct answer is: b

5. Who is the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court?

a) George W. Bush
b) Janet Reno
c) Colin Powell
d) William Rehnquist

You chose: d
The correct answer is: d

6. How many changes or amendments are there to the Constitution?

a) 10
b) 13
c) 27
d) 9

You chose: c
The correct answer is: c

7. How many voting members are in the House of Representatives?

a) 50
b) 100
c) 435
d) 535

You chose: c
The correct answer is: c

8. Who becomes President of the United States if the President and the Vice President should die?

a) the Speaker of the House of Representatives
b) the Senate Majority Leader
c) the Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff
d) the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

You chose: a
The correct answer is: a

9. Who has the power to declare war?

a) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
b) the Supreme Court
c) President
d) the Congress

You chose: d
The correct answer is: d

10. What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called?

a) Articles of Confederation
b) Manifest Destiny
c) Bill of Rights
d) Declaration of Independence

You chose: c
The correct answer is: c

Quiz

U.S. Citizenship Test: Could You Pass?
Way to Go!
(Note: In the actual test, answers are given in sentence format; here we’ve changed the format by offering multiple-choice answers.) You got 11/11 correct.
1

Correct!
The correct answer: A They represent the 13 original colonies
Your answer: A They represent the 13 original colonies
The stripes on the American flag represent the 13 original colonies; the 50 stars represent the current states in the nation.
2

Correct!
The correct answer: C 27
Your answer: C 27
Over the years, there have been 27 amendments to the Constitution–the most recent one was ratified on May 2, 1992.
3

Correct!
The correct answer: A Legislative, executive, and judicial
Your answer: A Legislative, executive, and judicial
The three branches of the United States government are the legislative, executive, and judicial.
4

Correct!
The correct answer: B It ordered that slaves in rebel territory be freed
Your answer: B It ordered that slaves in rebel territory be freed
The Emancipation Proclamation ordered that all slaves in rebel territory be freed. It was issued on January 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln.
5

Correct!
The correct answer: C The Speaker of the House of Representatives
Your answer: C The Speaker of the House of Representatives
The Speaker of the House of Representatives becomes president of the United States if both the president and vice president die. During the country’s history, the line of succession has changed several times.
6

Correct!
The correct answer: C United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and China
Your answer: C United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and China
The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and China were principal allies of the United States during World War II.
7

Correct!
The correct answer: A Alaska
Your answer: A Alaska
Alaska was admitted as the 49th state of the Union on January 3, 1959.
8

Correct!
The correct answer: A 9
Your answer: A 9
Nine justices sit on the Supreme Court of the United States: eight associate justices and one chief justice. The president of the United States appoints them to the Court for life terms, but the U.S. Senate must approve each appointment with a majority vote.
9

Correct!
The correct answer: C “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Your answer: C “The Star-Spangled Banner”
“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States. Francis Scott Key wrote the text in 1814, and it later became popular as a song, sung to the tune of a British drinking song. Congress approved it as our national anthem on March 3, 1931.
10

Correct!
The correct answer: C 1787
Your answer: C 1787
The Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788.
11

Correct!
The correct answer: B Mayflower
Your answer: B Mayflower
The Pilgrims came to America aboard the Mayflower. A good way to remember this one is the old joke: If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring? The Pilgrims. Originally, the Pilgrims intended to take two vessels, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, but the latter proved unseaworthy.

“Once More, With Feeling”: The Script Book