Blogroll – Page 12 – third world county

August 2, 2007

T-13, 1.36: Connectivity

[Note: this post is an example of the benefits of ADHD. As TRY might say, “Statistically, 32.3% of you got that… and the rest of you weren’t paying attention.” *heh*]

Well, we had been planning to make a couple of “used car visits” today (and we still may), but the most interesting car has an owner who apprently doesn’t want very much to part with it (he’s not yet gotten me the VIN so I can run a CarFax report), so we’re scaling the day back a tad. A Good Thing. Going to check the car out would have been a 150 mile round trip, anyway–although there are a few others to check between here and there.

Yep. That’s right: America’s Third World CountyÃ¢â€žÂ¢ has slim pickin’s in the used car realm. Oh, why no new car shopping? Remember: tightwad here. I’ve ALWAYS let someone else discover a car’s unique failings and suffer the “drive the car off the lot” depreciation for me. Yeh, we don’t get the new car smell (though we could buy it canned if that were important) and we always have to budget for repairs and upkeep, but it’s less of a burden overall than a new car.

(Most recent used car purchase has set me back less than expected for upkeep: counting the normal “tune it as soon as it’s in my hands” expenses, new tires–the old ones passed safety inspection but weren’t the quality I wanted–replacement of lubes with ALL synthetics, and a couple of parts replaced: still only about $225 for the past 10 months… and getting above 40mpg on a regular basis. All for a car that cost well, well under $3K. I can live with that. Heck, a new car–just about ANY new car–would have cost me more in total expenditures over the past ten months.)

So, scaled down car shopping today–not for a replacement vehicle but for an added car, BTW. An automatic transmission vehicle for “other drivers” in the family. *heh*

But all that’s in aid of the theme of this 13: connectivity. Until recently, shopping for a new car was a hunt-the-want-ads/word of mouth experience that was often excessively laborious, often painful. Now,

1. Autotrader.com and other sites make finding a ton of possibles easy.

2. CarFax makes weeding out the obvious no-gos easier (still need an onsite inspection, of course).

3. And email, faxes and mobile phones make contacts with sellers (and callbacks/contacts FROM sellers) much quicker and easier–even when voicemail filters things.

4. Finding sellers/cars in places I don’t drive to/in much is also easier, because GoogleEarth lets me SEE what the places look like as well as just giving me a map of the roads.

5. Free WiFi hotspots (like Panera Breads’ almost ubiquitous FREE hotspots in cities… well outside America’s Third World County, where the only free hotspots are places like my (bad) neighbors’ unprotected wireless network–*heh*… are great for fine-tuning “the next step” after a rejected car.

But while thinking on these connectivity bonuses, I naturally veered off on a rabbit trail thinking of connectivity in general in our society.

6. The collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis led to my Wonder Woman using our VOIP phone (with a Minneapolis number) to call relatives there and see how the event is impacting their lives (“Y’all safe, not traveling the bridge when it went?” was a primary question to get out of the way first, of course). ConnectivityX4⁺.

That led, of course, to thinking of other disasters/events that we’ve been “connected” to over the years by means apart from simply seeing them reported on TV.

7. The Big Thompson Canyon Colorado flash flood on July 4th, 1976: I was dating my Wonder Woman then when one of her roommates died in that flood.

8. My parents, grandparents and many childhood friends and aquaintances were either directly or indirectly affected/involved in the cleanup of the 1979 tornado that destroyed much of southwest (and on through downtown) Lawton, OK…

9. …while my Wonder Woman and I were safely ensconced in our starter home bungalow in KCMO, where just a few months after Lovely Daughter’s birth (look rthe year up for yourself :-)), the Hyatt Regency walkway collapsed, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others during a tea dance. Sure, again we weren’t directly involved, but we felt connected just from having been there before, from living within a mile of the place, etc.

10. And speaking of Lovely Daughter (please forgive me, girl :-)), on her birthday anniversary in 1993, the FBI killed a bunch of children in Waco, TX. A crime of mass murder that no one in the “feddle gummint” has been held accountable for. Naturally. We felt her “birthday connection” with her, so of course…

11. A couple of years later, when we were living relatively near the OKC bombing that was also on her birthday anniversay, she felt that strongly as well. But then, so did the rest of us, both physically–the bomb and aftereffects could be physically felt for miles and miles–and emotionally, as friends and aquaintances were affected directly by the blast and nearly as much by the rescue and cleanup. Lovely Daughter did approach her birthday anniversary on pins and needles for some years to follow…

But when that “connectivity” thread began to get a little too harsh (yeh, along about Waco), I turned to another aspect of connectivity: percieved connections to people and events far removed from me, people I have never known and never would have known anything about “brought near” by media presentation of events, such as

12. Katrina (and otrher natural disasters such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami, innumeerable earthquakes, storms, etc.).

13. 9-11.

While, largely because of widespread visual imagry, we all feel some sense of connection to events like these, I sometimes wonder just how healthy a preoccupation with remote events that we cannot directly affect or that do not directly affect us can be. Sometimes I think that the “disaster-a-day” mentality of Mass Media Podpeople (and our society’s addiction to it) cannot be a good thing. Sometimes? No, I often think that, which is one reason that I’ve scaled back (to almost nothing) my viewing of televised news. Until recent years, my newsviewing was limited to spotty and network news viewing was almost nonexistant even before Ra^thergate and other abuses highlighted the “lies, damned lies and Mass Media Podpeople lies” nature of so-called “news” reporting. But now… now, I really only “watch” whatever news MAY be on when I walk through the room and my Wonder Woman has something on the TV (and her “news” watching is almost as limited as mine).

Such are my disjointed, semi-randomized, nearly stream of consciousness thoughts on a cloudy day before heading out for some onsite car research.

Noted at the Thursday Thirteen Hub. Visit others’ T-13s while I’m out having fun in the RW today, ‘K?

August 1, 2007August 1, 2007

Child Abuse

You might think from the post title that this would be about physical abuse. Perhaps sexual abuse or even the institutionalized child abuse in the classrooms of our nations “prisons for kids” (AKA, “public schools”). But no. I’m talking about the twisting of children into moral and ethical monsters, people who grow up into societal black holes because their parents have demonstrated to them that disregard–even outright contempt–for property, safety of others and even laws intended to protect persons and their property* is a positive good, as long as such disregard for others enhances the material wealth of the child.

Parents teach this by demonstrating a complete disregard for the rights, property and safety–including contempt for laws intended to protect folks from such abuse–of those around them day in and day out as they pursue their own selfish ends.

And a very good example of such disregard for others and for laws intended to protect the rights and safety of individuals are the illegal aliens who bring their children here (or come here to spawn) deliberately, willfully and maliciously determined to violate the laws intended to protect others from their predation. Yes, illegals steal jobs from the most vulnerable in our society, the working poor. They don’t care.

Yes, illegals are bringing back diseases once wiped out in our society, by circumventing the process of legal immigration meant, in part, to prevent the importation of such diseases. They don’t care who they may infect or even kill because of their acts. All they want is “a better life for themselves and their families”. They don’t care what the cost to others is.

Yes, illegals are clogging emergency rooms (forcing the shutdown of emergency services in many hospitals). They don’t care that by doing so they are using limited resources belonging to others.

Yes, illegals are eating limited educational resources, demanding (and recieving) exceptional treatment in schools–and by doing so depriving others of services. They don’t care.

Illegals are wreaking havoc with the finances of countless individuals by means of fraud, identity theft and the attendant damages they cause.

All this and much, much more: they don’t care, because by breaking innumerable laws designed to protect others from predation and complete disregard for the safety and property* of others, they can “better” themselves.

Sure, and that’s what any thief, robber, murderer might say: “As long as I benefit, what does it matter who I harm?”

And THAT is the destructive lesson they teach their children: how to be monsters who care not one damn about others as long as it gets them what they want. Bringing children up with a hole in their souls carved out by parents’ selfish disregard for others.

On the other side of the equation are those who are waiting in line for LEGAL entry into this country. Another set of folks harmed by illegal aliens jumping the line.

(And yes, I know there are other parents teaching a similar lesson with their behavior, but few can be so starkly contemptuous of the lives and rights of others as the outlaws who are the 2-20 million strong invading army of hateful** illegals.)

*Property is simply distilled time and effort and talent; it is chunks of our lives converted into material possessions. X-number of hours of ones life invested in order to purchase… stuff. Think about that the next time you buy a piece of appealing junk.

**Hateful? WHat could be more hateful than complete, utter, absolute disregard of others? Think about it. Being completely ignored as though you didn’t even exist. Treated as nothing but a completely unimportant nothing, a zero with the rim kicked off. THAT’S hateful. As an old Greek prof once told me about a word usually translated from the Greek as hate, “It really means, ‘Couldn’t give a damn'”. And that’s exactly what these parents are teaching their children by their actions: Don’t give a damn about anyone else. Look out for yourself and your family with no regard for the harm you are causing anyone else. If you have to make extraordinary efforts to harm others (obtain false documents to commit fraud harming others, for example), fine, as long as you benefit yourself monetarily.

*bah* Moral monsters breeding more moral monsters.

*heh* It’s one reason I approve of our pastor’s support of a Latino mission in America’s Third World CountyÃ¢â€žÂ¢. If some of them are exposed to a decent standard, then maybe some might repent, turn themselves in or practice a little self-deportation.

But I doubt it.

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July 30, 2007July 30, 2007

Promoting Harmful Myths

One of the dangers of our contemporary american society is that much of the communication and education industries (and if you don’t think public education is an industry, you’re an example of how far the problem extends *sigh*) are dominated by harmful myths.

One of the most harmful myths cropped up recently in an email exchange I had with an ESOL teacher who’s also a retired military officer. He ought to know better, but he’s bought the myth that American birth=American citizenship and presented the “fact” of American birthright citizenship as a “300+ years of legal tradition in this country”. He was talking about children who were born in this country to illegal aliens.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Indeed, the defining legal moment in a discussion of American citizenship took place as the Senate was debating the lamentable (despite its laudable intent, clear language and easily-grasped concepts) 14th Amendment. (“Lamentable”? Yes, for the way it’s been abused, misused and used to aid “feddle gummint” imperialism :-))

Let’s see what our Constitution, that pesky lil document that everyone honors more in the breech than in reality nowadays, has to say in that “lamentable” 14th Amendment… and what the people who wrote the thing said they meant when they wrote it. (Oh! The Horrors! Actually taking a legal document to mean what it says! What would the courts ever come to were that to happen nowadays! The End of the World! The End of the World! The Sky is falling! The Sky is falling!)

FIrst, a note: illegal aliens, by very definition–theirs, not forced upon them!–do NOT consider themselves subject to the laws and jurisdiction of this country. If they did, they’d get in line and apply for visas. Their acts speak for themselves.

Now, the pertinent clause from the 14th Amendment:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. [emphasis added]

What did the people who wrote and passed this amendment mean by this? We do not have to suppose anything, because their thoughts on the matter are public record. You can look it up yourself, but here’s a sample. Sen. Lyman Trumbull, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee at that time, was clear:

“[T]he provision is, that ‘all persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.’ That means ‘subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.’ What do we mean by ‘complete jurisdiction thereof?’ Not owing allegiance to anybody else. That is what it means.”

Indeed, Trumbull continued,

“The provision is, that ‘all persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.’ That means ‘subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.'”

And, as Senator Edgar Congen said,

It is perfectly clear that the mere fact that a man is born in the country has not heretofore entitled him to the right to exercise political power. Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ I have supposed Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ that it was essential to the existence of society itself, and particularly essential to the existence of a free State, that it should have the power, not only of declaring who should exercise political power within its boundaries, but that if it were overrun by another and a different race, it would have the right to absolutely expel them.

There’s a long discussion, part of the public record, clearly delineating the FACT that the “citizenship” clause in the Fourteenth Amendment DOES NOT in any way, shape, fashion or form mean that just anyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen. And the discussion is abundantly clear that the _parents’_ allegiance (since babies can have none) is the issue. Buying into this old cannard costs millions of dollars each year at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas, alone (DO read that linked article at Snopes). Dollars stolen from the public pocket. Why? Because illegal aliens want the freebie health care they cannot get in their own country (let’s be frank: Mexico) and they want the myth of American citizenship granted at birth to become their magic ticket to flouting our immigration (and many other) laws.

Why did I point out at the head of this that illegal aliens have, by their very plain and continued flaunting of our laws, conclusively demonstrated that they do not consider themselves subject to our laws nor under our jurusdiction? (Yeh, that ws a rhetorical question–*heh*) The Supreme Court, in its first use of this amendment to consider citizenship of someone born in the U.S. not a citizen, included this comment in the decision:

The evident meaning of [the jurisdiction phrase] is not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.

Indeed, the Court in that case made much of allegiance to one’s country, something that has fallen into the dustbin in today’s society, apart from in the military (it’s certainly not apparent in Congress!).

And that, my friends, is that. As Teddy Roosevelt said in 1907,

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile…We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” [emphasis added]

The Senate record of the adoption of the 14th Amendment, and Supreme Court cases specifically citing the Amendment, agree: people who do not meet the criteria Roosevelt stated above do not meet the criteria of citizenship, nor do their children born here, by accident or by design.

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July 28, 2007July 28, 2007

FAKE “Morale Buster” Directive

Do note: the following “directive” has been widely debunked. It is, according to the best information I can gather, completely bogus, fake, NOT the genuine article. (Now, for those NON-readers who may stumble on this blog and be unable to parse that, I have no more help to offer. :-))

Dr. CIV V Corps Deputy G5, CIMIC/US Executive, Maneuver Programs; Giangrego, Salvatore Mr. V Corps G5, Manuever Management

To: All Commands

Subject: U.S. Navy Directive 16134

Ref: ComMidEast (mip://03620fb8) For Inst 16134//24 K All commanders promulgate upon receipt.

The following T-shirts are no longer to be worn on or off base by any military or civilian personnel serving in the Middle East:

A. “Eat Pork or Die” [both English and Arabic versions] B. “Shrine Busters” [Various. Show burning minarets or bomb/artillery shells impacting Islamic shrines. Some with unit logos.] C. “Napalm, Sticks Like Crazy” [Both English and Arabic versions] D. “Goat – it isn’t just for breakfast any more.” [Both English and Arabic versions] E. “The road to Paradise begins with me.” [Mostly Arabic versions, but some in English. Some show sniper scope cross-hairs.] F. “Guns don’t kill people. I kill people.” [Both Arabic and English versions] G. “Pork. The other white meat.” [Arabic version] H. “Infidel” [English, Arabic and other coalition force languages.]

The above T-shirts are to be removed from Post Exchanges upon receipt of this directive. In addition, the following signs are to be removed upon receipt of this message:

A. “Islamic Religious Services Will Be Held at the Firing Range at 0800 Daily. B. “Do we really need ‘smart bombs’ to drop on these dumb bastards?”

All commands are instructed to implement sensitivity training with respect to the above topics upon receipt.

Let me once again redundantly and repetitiously repeat: The above “directive” is a FAKE.

But.

In today’s climate, is it any surprise that the first time I read it, I believed it could be real?

Still, I think I’ll have to have a couple of T-Shirts made up…

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and

“Islamic Religious Services Will Be Held at the Firing Range at 0800 Daily”

(Also as “Ã˜Â³Ã™Å Ã™â€¦Ã˜Â³Ã™Æ’ Ã˜Â®Ã˜Â¯Ã™â€¦Ã˜Â§Ã˜Âª [Ã˜Â¥Ã™Å Ã˜Â³Ã™â€žÃ™â€¦Ã™Å Ã™Æ’] Ã˜Â¯Ã™Å Ã™â€ Ã™Å Ã™â€˜Ã˜Â© Ã™Æ’Ã™â€ Ã˜Âª Ã™ÂÃ™Å Ã˜Â§Ã™â€žÃ˜Â¥Ã˜Â´Ã˜Â¹Ã˜Â§Ã™â€ž Ã™â€¦Ã˜Â¯Ã™â€° Ã™ÂÃ™Å 0800 Ã™Å Ã™Ë†Ã™â€¦Ã™Å Ã™â€˜Ã˜Â©”)

And if (IF? IF? *ROFLKASTMAFO!*) the po’ widdle moose-limbs can’t take a joke, well, who cares? 100% terrorists or terrorist wannabes or terrorist enablers. What else can one infer from their veneration of Mohammed, the Butcher of Medina, pedophile, rapist, mass murderer par excellence, slaver, and more: THE prototypical Islamic terrorist?

July 27, 2007July 27, 2007

“Some Cold-Eyed Rationalism”

From a longer post by someone worth listening to:

We need to rethink our anti-terrorist strategies and tactics with some cold-eyed rationalism. What do the measures cost us? Including in national dignity: at the moment the TSA is indistinguishable from an organization whose major purpose is to humiliate the people and make certain Americans understand they are subjects and not citizens. How easily can they be circumvented by intelligent and determined people? What new targets do our security measures create?

It is pretty clear that you can’t stop intelligent and determined people from destroying airplanes if the attacker doesn’t mind being killed. You can prevent the airplanes from being taken over and used as cruise missiles against other targets. We all know how that can be done. Strong cockpit doors, armed pilots, air marshals not dressed in 3-piece suits and short haircuts on randomly selected flights. We all know how that can be done.

We need to assess the real threats and deal with those. When we do, we will find that one of our more powerful weapons is our citizenry. If we really believe in freedom and the republic, we would enlist the citizens in this war on terror. Actually, we clearly don’t believe in any of the ideals we want to export to other nations. Instead, we disarm the citizens, express horror at the notion that people can assist in protecting themselves, and we allow conspirators to set up the citizens and then sue hell out of them. It is as if we are determined to progress from republic to empire.

Be sure to CLICK on over and read the rest. And consider contributing to the ongoing serious discussion about an honorable exit strategy in Iraq. As Pournelle once put it, We broke it; it’s ours [to fix].” There are some seriously interesting comments there from folks who’re more “in the know” than most of us.

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July 26, 2007July 26, 2007

T-13, 1.35: Thirteen “Thangs”

Just a kinda, sorta, halfway semi-randaom list of 13 Things…

1. Cables, wires and peripherals, oh my! How do these things meet, mate and multiply so quickly?

2. 2-keyboards, 2-mice, 1-Palm cradle, one label maker, one scanner, phone headset, off-cradle phone (need to get that back in the cradle charging–been off since last night), old 5″ IBM Mini-comp fan (providing “personal airflow” for… me), desk detritus and keyboard tray “duff” composed of various pocket jetsam, file cabinet escapees, wanders-in from elsewhere, etc.

3. I love it when idiots serve up their own rewards. Like the folks who stop a full car length beyond stop bars at traffic lights hereabouts. See, darned near ALL the traffic lights here around America’s Third World CountyÃ¢â€žÂ¢ (historical note: there were no traffic lights IN America’s Third World County a decade ago) are set to stay green for the high-traffic road in an intersection and only change for the cross-street when a car sits for a predetermined amount of time on a sensor buried in the road. No car on sensor? No light change. So, I love it when I see an idiot who’s driven beyond the stop bar to stop. I just hope there’s also a LEO who needs another ticket for his quota nearby when the idiot eventually jumps the light…

4. Why is it the cats here at twc central only want to sit in my lap in two places, at similar inconvenient times? Right: when I’m typing at a computer keyboard (at any of the twc comps) or when I’m communing with my inner nature while sitting on the throne.

5. Will I ever have the 1886 Buffet clarinet I pulled from a trash bin rehabbed? Maybe. Until then, it’s a purty desktop ornament/dustcatcher.

6. I’m thinking of starting an “Office Archaeology Club” for those of us who enjoy the thrill of discovery whenever we dig down several layers and discover gems of past civilizations lurking in our offices…

7. Best fuel economy tip? Walk.

8. Speaking of which, I read somewhere recently (and lost the reference when I didn’t immediately blog it–*heh*) that human-style walking upright is 75% more efficient than chimp-style 2+2 walking. But the ultimate in efficient transport is, of course, imaginary transport. What flights of fancy have propelled the human race to heights no chimp can aspire to!

9. I just know there MUST be a use (beyond target practice or coffee cup coasters) for the 1,000s of floppy disks I have boxed, filed and strewn about. There must be.

10. Have to mow again. Can no one and nothing deliver me from this torture? (Yeh, yeh, I know: pave it.)

11. Rain, rain, go away! There is such a thing as too much green.

12. Trying out a new-to-me backup solution. Cobian Backup. We’ll see how it works. So far, not bad. It’s a Windows-only backup software, so any future networked backup solution I built with it would have to be Windows-based.

13. I need a nap. 🙂

Posted at the Thursday Thirteen Hub. Click on over there and make the rounds, wouldya?

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