Guest Authors – third world county

May 22, 2008May 22, 2008

Panic In Postville

By Nancy Matthis at ADMC

The Federal immigration raid last Monday in Postville, Iowa evoked all the stereotypical dramas — illegal aliens, identity theft, stolen Social Security cards, underage workers, worker abuse, a drug lab, a local school system burdened with illegal Hispanic children, a Protestant (mostly Lutheran) small town co-opted by Jewish business interests, Jewish businessmen skirting the law to turn an extra buck, a Catholic church offering sanctuary, an American labor union pitted against the Jewish businessmen who were hiring the cheaper illegal labor, a clash between two US government agencies with competing jurisdiction, pandering politicians scrambling to collect points with the Hispanic vote, liberal sympathizers supporting illegals in suing the government, foreign consulates sticking their noses in, protests that the civil rights of these criminal invaders have been violated and finally the WaPo putting a liberal spin on the news.

It is the stuff of opera, but this plot would be difficult to stage, because there are so many sub-themes that an audience could not follow the action. Ditto for the American public, trying to follow this in the mainstream news media that omit relevant background out of political correctness.

Illegal Aliens

Last Monday, on May 12 at 10 AM in the morning, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the world’s largest kosher meat packing plant, located in Postville, Iowa. From the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier:

Federal agents converged on the grounds of the Agriprocessors meat-packing plant in Postville at 10 a.m., rounding up Hispanics on investigations of identity theft, use of stolen Social Security cards and for people in the county illegally. As many as 300 people were arrested….

The raid by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was the largest such operation in Iowa history, said Matt M. Dummermuth, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.

He said the raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant was part of an investigation that started in October and came after months of planning. Agriprocessors is the world’s largest kosher meatpacking plant….

Underage Workers

Continue reading “Panic In Postville”

January 24, 2006

Drive-by post

“Gore to publish book on global warming” (What? Another one? Get with it, Al. The catchphrase for au courant enviro-wackos is “climate change”)

Deadly freeze claims more lives in Eastern Europe (The atypical cold weather in Europe this winter is reported to be featured in Algore’s book’s arhythmia section as proof of global warming… along with…)

“Skating flamingos, swollen elephant ears in frosty German zoos” *brrrr* More of that damnedable global warming at work.

January 16, 2006

Short Shrift Day/Open Post

Open Post-hit me with your best shot. Just link to this and trackback.

No time to babysit this blog today. I’ll just leave you with a thought for the Guard the Borders BB: what is a country without a border?

Conquered.

January 11, 2006

Superstitious Glurge: a rant/OTA Day

Can anyone riddle me this? Why do otherwise normally intelligent people insist on sending out superstitious chain emails? You know, the one’s that start out with some pseudo-inspirational glurge and then promise you a blessing or a curse: a blessing if you forward the thing and a curse if you don’t.

What? Does someone, somewhere, have a voodoo doll of my email address? Ooooo. That’s scary. *yawn*

Of course, some of the participants in such chains are not otherwise normally intelligent people. You know the ones. They forward the thing as an attachment. Usually starts with AOL users doing it and they forward it to other AOL users who then keep up the assinine behavior of forwarding the thing as an attachment. Nested attachments. Do I have to recreate the filter that junks every email I get that has nested attachments? Again?

OTA Wednesday.

Link to this post (http://thirdworldcounty.blogspot.com/2006/01/superstitious-glurge-rantota-day.html) and trackback (http://www.haloscan.com/tb/mnmus/113699582957838138/). “Borrowing” (open theft) from Diane’s Stuff,

“If you use blogging software that doesn’t have “trackback” ability built in, Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pingeris an excellent resource to overcome that small problem as is Kalsey’s Simpletracks.”

Or use Haloscan‘s commenting and trackback service.

Standing on a soapbox at Diane’s Stuff, Linkfest Haven, TMH’s Bacon Bits

January 3, 2006

The Crux

I know no one who has not done stupid things or behaved dishonestly at some point or another in their lives. And I specifically include myself in that assessment. Only a pathological liar could live past the age of two and say that they’ve never done something stupid or dishonest with a straight face.

That said, what’s the difference between a common, ordinary decent person and the typical Mass Media Podperson, politician *spit*, Academia Nut or Loony Left Moonbat?

It’s this: an ordinarily decent person experiences genuine guilt when they catch themselves lying or decieving others and will repent and attempt to remediate their lie. An ordinarily decent person who does something stupid will make every effort to make whole anyone harmed by their stupidity and seek for ways to do better next time.

John F. Kerry, whose name really should be pronounced “Jean Fraud sKerry”, is the early 21st century poster boy for pathological liars and wilfull stupidity. From his first entry into public life, he has lived by lying and by slandering others. It’s his fundamental personality trait. It doesn’t matter to him or to anyone who supports him that his lies are largely a matter of public record, that they have been exposed as lies time after time after time, because he 9and his supporters) care not one whit for truth in any form.

And so, his blatant stupidities get a pass as well. He can contradict himself from one day to another, from one part of a speech or interview to another, from one part of a sentence to another, and to him snd his devotees, his stupidity is a sign of intellect.

Another lie.

So, where are the records Jean Fraud sKerry has promised time and again to make public? Nowhere, mon frere. But that’s perfectly sensible when one realizes that an “echo test”* performed on Jean Fraud would return a null value.

Jean Fraud: no more B.S. Where’s the beef?

Sneered forth at The Liberal Wrong Wing and at Cao’s Blog, where the Free Kerry’s 180 all started (go there and sign up, eh?)

*The “echo test” was devised by the late, great Werner von Sam Browne as a field test for the presence (or absence) of gray matter between the ears of doofs, politicians and moonbats. Simply have the subject open its mouth, rap it sharply on the noggin a few times. No sound comes out the mouth (beyond the occasional “Ouch!” or the like)? Well, you know, sound doesn’t travel in a vaccuum…

December 30, 2005

Ten Good Ones… times 2

Boudicca picked up a non-meme-ish suggestion and passed it on in Top 10 Good People of 2005. Not necessarily “big names” but folks who’ve been a strong positive influence, personally or in wider society.

At least, that’s how I’m choosing to interpret this. 🙂 Bou’s post was a lil vague (she was still heavily medicated from her surgery), and GuyK’s post at Charming, Just Charming (whence Bou picked this up) is pretty open-ended.

So, maybe not ten. Maybe not the TOP ten. But quite a few.

Let me begin with my fav top ten bloggers who have had a positive influence on me this year. Keep in mind: I am NOT listing them in any order other than maybe alphabetically, ‘K? Having pared it down to only ten, I feel badly because another list just as long belongs with this one. So, as wrong as this list is, here are ten OF the top good folks who have positively influenced my life this last year:

Kris at Anywhere But Here
Christine of BTW and Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea
Bou (heal quickly!) at Boudicca’s Voice
My Blogmom, Carol Platt Liebau 🙂
Kathryn at Cathouse Chat
Diane of, well, Diane’s Stuff
Rich at The English Guy
Kat from Keep The Coffee Coming
TMH (secretive booger that he is) of TMH’s Bacon Bits
Woody of the eponymous Woody’s News & Views

Please keep in mind that I’ve left off many who have been just as good to me, had influence just as positive as the folks on this list, but I’m trying to keep this portion at ten. The rest of you who belong on this list also know you do, but you’re the kinda folks who will take it in the right spirit. Good on you one and all.

In “real life” I’d have to list my Wonder Woman, Lovely Daughter and Bubba at the top. No matter what (even when I’m not at my best or irked with one of them or whatever), they are the most positive influences in my life. Period. They KNOW the real curmudgeonly me, and still lend me their light.

I miss my neighbor. Yeh. The one neighbor, really. Always ready to help with anything. Nobody’s perfect, but he was a thoughtful, generous guy.

A couple of my siblings definitely qualify as strong influences for good-older sister and younger brother. Pretty constant contact with these two, and they are always uplifting. Heck, I’d have to say my youngest nephew has been a strong positive influence! (Just keeping up with his academic progress has thrown me back at some classics in my reading.) Great kid.

Guy at the local grocery who has fun playing my silly people/word games. Heck, the checkers there are neat, too. Aww… even the owner’s a really nice guy (though he’d not necessarily want ya to know it–likes to play curmudgeon. heh).

And two clients who have done medical transcription for years (you know who you are-and since you read this blog, I’ll let this be your “Have a great new year!” OK? :-). Thanks, ladies, for your continual positive outlook and influence on me. Oh, and thank the bread baker, too.

NOTE: this list is not exhaustive, either. Just a quick runback through a few contacts in the last lil bit who have been constant positive influences over the past year.

And that’s my of ten of the top Good People of 2005 for the “real world”-how about yours?

December 24, 2005

The Gift

Trees and lights and bells and carols;
Bright-wrapped packages, piled high;
Winter’s sharp blow joins the heralds:
“Christmas-time is nigh!”

Mailmen hurry; shoppers scurry;
Time is fleeing – Oh! So fast!
Parties gather, loud and merry,
Grander than in Christmas’ past.

Pause a moment to remember
That a Savior’s simple birth
Still stirs angel wings in susur’ –
“Peace to men; good will on earth!”

Now the Father’s hands that molded
The first Adam in the clay,
Gently ’round a manger folded,
Cradle a Baby in the hay.

So the Greatest Gift extended,
Gift of love and peace to all,
“God’s great love to man descended”
Calls us to a manger stall.

Submitted to Adam’s Carnival of Christmas

This is a piece (already posted at Whistling in the Light) that I’ve used in several different ways over the years. I had planned a much more elaborate Christmas postâ€”including a quasi-pod-cast-y sorta “report from the fields near Bethlehem” thingâ€” but instead, I think I’ll take bits and pieces and post them throughout Advent, up through Christmas.

NOTE: bumped to Christmas Eve and updated with the Carnival of Christmas URL

December 24, 2005

The Gift

Trees and lights and bells and carols;
Bright-wrapped packages, piled high;
Winter’s sharp blow joins the heralds:
“Christmas-time is nigh!”

Mailmen hurry; shoppers scurry;
Time is fleeing – Oh! So fast!
Parties gather, loud and merry,
Grander than in Christmas’ past.

Pause a moment to remember
That a Savior’s simple birth
Still stirs angel wings in susur’ –
“Peace to men; good will on earth!”

Now the Father’s hands that molded
The first Adam in the clay,
Gently ’round a manger folded,
Cradle a Baby in the hay.

So the Greatest Gift extended,
Gift of love and peace to all,
“God’s great love to man descended”
Calls us to a manger stall.

Submitted to Adam’s Carnival of Christmas

NOTE: bumped to Christmas Eve and updated with the Carnival of Christmas URL

December 23, 2005

The Meaning of Christmas

Carnival of Christmas is up at Adam’s Blog. My lil piece, The Gift, is included along with a wide array of submissions. Romeocat gets-and well-deserves!-top billing for her daily Advent Meditations. Please do yourself a favor and hie thee to CatHouse Chat for some excellent reminders of what Christmas really celebrates.

Below is a reprint of my casual thoughts on that matter…

[This is a re-run from 12-03-04]

___________________________

Just did a lunchtime check of some blogs and ran across a comment by someone calling themseves “Vandal” responding to a post by someone fed up with the LLMB’s* PC approach to eliminating “Christmas” (or anything Christian) from the season.

[Note: the thread seems not to be available any longer]
Vandal commented that the best response to such was “Merry Christmas, you filthy animal.” Others were quick to chastise Vandal for such an “unchristian” attitude. I beg to differ. “Merry Christmas, you filthy animal,” really does touch the very heart of what Christmas is all about. I applaud Vandal’s clear Calvinism and want to remind us all that anyone who ascribes to the total depravity of man can’t be all bad… heh

After all, Christmas is God’s gracious response to our “filthy animal” depravity, demonstrated in the incarnation and sacrifice of His Son…

So, “Merry Christmas, you filthy animal” is kinda God’s loving response to our total depravity. I like that.

It is just as scripture has said,

“There is no just man, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one in search of God.
All have taken the wrong course,
all alike have become worthless;
not one of them acts uprightly, no, not one…” (Romans 3: 10-12)

and

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6: 23)

So, Christmas is about “Good will [from God] to filthy animals,” if you will. And that’s something we can be very, very grateful for: that God looked upon those who hated Him and chose to reach out to His enemies with love. (Romans 5: 8) “Peace on earth”? Accessible only through Christ. (Romans 5:1).

And that addresses why so many who find the Christmas season depressing or-in LLMB* PC conformity, offensive. They do not yet know the Good WIll God has already expressed toward them, nor have they welcomed the Peace He offers through His Son.

Their choice.

So, I wish one and all a Merry Christmas you filthy animals!

A very merry, merry Christmas, indeed.

_______________________________

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

“Fear not then,” said the Angel,
“Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might.”
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

_______________________________

*”LLMB” as those who are regular readers know is the “Loony Left Moonbat Brigade”. Could as easily be the “Light in Their Loafers Brigade” or “Loose Nut in the Braincase Brigade” but I like LLMB just fine.

Sung from the heavens at Right Wing Nation, bRight and Early.

December 23, 2005

sigh I didn’t want to give you this for Christmas…

…although those of y’all depending on Symantec security products (e.g. Norton Anti-Virus) might view this as my Christmas present to you. So, Merry Christmas, all tied up with a bow and all:

Using NAV? JUST STOP IT. Quick, download a different AV product! Grisoft’s free AVG Anti-Virus will do. Why?

“Symantec Confirms AV Library Flaw, Promises Patches”

Anti-virus vendor Symantec Corp. has publicly acknowledged that a high-risk buffer overflow vulnerability in its AntiVirus Library could lead to code execution attacks when RAR archive files are scanned.

A proof-of-concept example of Symantec’s products’ inability to catch bad code that can execute from within an RAR file is all that’s been shown, so far. But that’s enough. Just ONE example like that would be enough for me to switch (and it was, several years ago), and anyone using NAV ought to at least temporarily disable it, download another AV product and install it until Symantec can restore some semblance of confidence in its product.

You have been warned, If the Grinch steals your Christmas cos you didn’t heed the warning, at least I know I tried.

(Yes, I know that SO FAR no examples exploiting the Symantec virus scan flaw/vulnerability have been found in the wild. So? You wanna be the one to find one? 🙂

Red Lights Flashing at Is it Just Me?, NIF, TMH’s Bacon Bits, and Jo’s Cafe.