Month: August 2006

This is Monday’s open trackback post. Link to this post and track back. More below the post body,

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Very brief background, then a critical issue. Follow carefully.

It’s a given: Mass Media Podpeople and our political masters are going to lie, obfuscate and fabricate out their kiesters in order to lead us down whatever garden path they believe best for their agendas. Don’t believe that? Just check the fake news coming from Mass Media Podpeople about any one issue–take the Lebanon war–or the primo bullshit coming from our political masters–“Read My Lips Jr.” on amnesty for illegals, for example.

Recently, bloggers and other online “alternative media” have provided some relief from the bullshit. But internet watchdogs have an Achilles heel most don’t stop to think about carefully: site and personal computer security. Continue reading “Critical Issue”

(Notice in the popup pic–just CLICK on the thumbnail–that I’ve hidden the TWO default–top and bottom–nav bars)

After multiple baffling issues (traced at last to a failing power supply, of all things), I finally installed Ubuntu Linux 6.06.1 on an old computer last night/today (yeh, starting in the evening when I should have been going to bed was likely part of the problem tracking down the eventual culprit. *heh*).

OK. “Old” computer? Well, yeh. 333mhz Slot 1; 256MB; 1 40gig HDD and another 10gig. A “nothing special” AGP vidcard, a generic sound card and an old 10mbit network card.

An old computer.

Ubuntu 6.06.1 automagically recognized and installed all of it, except for the generic sound card (I’ll fix that later). First thing I did was download and install Opera 9.0 for Linux. Slick. Browsed the network here at “twc hall” and found everything I had passwords for (urm, pretty much everything, eh? :-)). Nice interface, a little slicker GUI look right outa the box than most XP installs I’ve worked on. As snappy on the old, seriously underpowered 333mhz/256MB comp as Win2K is (yeh, it’s in a dual boot–but that’s another issue).

Altogether, I’m quite pleased with the way the OS works. I’d been cruising along for a while and noticed a lil popup notice about updates. CLICKED “OK” and the OS found the Ubuntu packages needed and handled everything slicker than goose grease.

Ubuntu 6.06.1 “Dapper Drake” comes with a bounty of good software installed by default, including my fav office software, Open Office 2, which I’m already well familiar with in its Windows version. Generated some files with OO’s text editor, saved as M$Word format and… opened ’em in Word 2000 on this computer.

Not too shabby.

Although this is by far the easiest Linux install I’ve done, there still might be some gotchas for the Aunt Tillys out there. In fact, while I think that a computer already set up with Dapper Drake might be juuuuust fine for a novice (and naive) computer user, I’d suggest that someone more familiar with computers actually set the thing up for Aunt Tilly. Not that it’s all that hard, but formatting partitions and setting up mount points (even in the really cool, REALLY EASY GParted graphic partition manager) would likely be a tad intimidating for a novice user.

Oh, for those who’ve done lotsa disk management, GParted is a dream to use. The only comparable product on the Windows platform would be Partition Magic, which is itself Pretty Darned Cool.

But GParted is FREE, folks.

Grab yourself an old clunker somewhere (but be kind to yourself and do put more memory in the thing and maybe a better vidcard :-)) and slap Ubuntu Dapper Drake on it. Depending on your computing needs, you may find you don’t even need a Windows computer any more…

Caveat: I might have had a smoother time installing Ubuntu Dapper Drake on the old machine had I used the text-based installer that’s also available for download, but then I’d not have been able to see how really slick the GUI installer is. After I finished with inputting my user info and repartitioning the hard drives (including shrinking the Win2K NTFS partition), the rest of the installation was almost completely hands off. Really slick.

Tags: dapper, dapper drake, Ubuntu, Linux.

This is an Open Trackbacks Alliance open post. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, link to this post and track back. More below the post body.

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When I began doing occasional “mending walls” posts some time ago, I didn’t stop to make the meme clear to folks who may lack the historical/cultural background to catch it.

Mea culpa. While I did at one time cite a late cultural referrence that demonstrated our society’s tension with the idea of walls (the Frost poem, of course), I thought perhaps a little more background might make the analogy to our society’s need to defend itself from predators a bit clearer.

Let’s take a pretty basic cultural reference to “mending walls” that anyone from the early 20th century and previously with just a bare literacy would almost automatically associate with “mending walls”. (They would do so, because they’d have at least a passing familiarity with the single most influential book in the English language… ) Continue reading “Mending Walls: the concept”

Words that seem conspicuously absent from linkage with “terrorism” in “news” reports I’ve seen thus far:

Muslim
Islamic

Oh, the words may appear elsewhere in some of the reports (though not in the al-reuters report here. Its only mention of Islam is in a link at the bottom of the page to an Islamic Aid organization… of course), but not in connection with terrorism.

Mass Media Podpeople’s Army Hive Mind line: “Pay no attention to the Islamic terrorist behind the curtain.” (For best effect, deliver the line in your mind’s ear with Elmer Fudd’s voice.)

Can’t fool the folks that congregate over at Diane’s Stuff, I betchya.

Yesterday, at All Things Beautiful, Alexandra makes some significant observations about the deception practiced by Mass Media Podpeople. Read it, and her commenters, one of whom pointed out this article,

How North Vietnam Won The War

North Vietnam won, of course, with lies and with the willing—eager! enthusiastic!—support of those lies by Mass Media Podpeople and Academia Nut Fruitcakes and “Entertainers/Celebrities” *spit* here in the U.S. They won by seducing America away from the truth.

Today, things have progressed much further down that line, and yet there remains some hope, because “alternative” media are looking behind the curtain at the Mass Media Podpeople’s wizardry.

But still, Kipling’s cautionary echoes in my mind’s ear: we must not forget whence we have come and to Whom we owe our very lives. And a committment to Truth—and to holding the MMP and our politicians *spit* accountable to the truth—will stand us in good stead in the days and weeks and years to come.

UPDATE: Watch as the Mass Media Podpeoples Army spins and ducks and twists the breaking news of the foiled UK terrorist plot in their own lil predictably trite ballet of lies, half-lies and misrepresentations. Sad to say, Americans (the West as a whole) needs to develop some serious antibodies to the raging epidemic of Mass Media Podpeople lies, damned lies and Ra^thergating (Lies that support reality-based fantasy and so can be—falsely, in another lie—called truth. Orwell, where are you when we need you?)

Root cause? Abandoning Truth for “True to me.”

Recessional
1897
Rudyard Kipling

GOD of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart;
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire;
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!

(Oh, TMH is back in town—drop by and say “Hi!” wouldya?)

I updated “Fiddlin’ Around” yesterday to include references to the faked up photo featured in a NYT “photoessay” online. Before I put my oar in with this post, a h.t. to Michelle Malkin for the “fauxtography” neologism. (She’s the first one I’ve seen use it. Yeh, maybe I don’t get out much, but there it is… :-))

Here’s the “pieta” (again, MM, with one really obvious addition by me:

CLICK the image for a popup enlargement

Seems the NYT is now claiming the image wasn’t fake in any way, but that it was only miscaptioned.

A picture caption with an audio slide show on July 27 about an Israeli attack on a building in Tyre, Lebanon, imprecisely described the situation in the picture. The man pictured, who had been seen in previous images appearing to assist with the rescue effort, was injured during that rescue effort, not during the initial attack, and was not killed.

OK, all this you can get from Michelle Malkin’s post. But what she’s too principled to point out (I’m not–*heh*) is that this is just more lying. The picture is posed. Examine it carefully. I’ve circled one lil clue (the guy almost aping limp unconsciousness—or death—firmly clutching his green hat between his left arm and his body. Needs acting lessons and better direction, IMO).

First, the NYT strongly implies the guy was killed in the bombing, then, when it’s pointed out he was not, they retrench to a position that he was injured in the cleanup. They just can’t bring themselves to call an obviously staged picture an… obviously staged picture.

I can recall once—long ago—sitting on a jury while Cyril Wecht gave us, the jury, a short symposium on examining evidence. I’d need someone of his caliber to examine video footage of the actual event and compare it to actual injuries supposedly sustained before I’d credit the NYT’s NEW story.

Double-teaming ya. This is Wednesday’s Open Trackback Alliance (see the linked graphic atthe foot of this post) post. Link to this post and track back. More after the Fair Tax post.

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by TD of The Right Track

More and more, I am hearing of people advocating for the FairTax in print, speeches, symposia, television, and radio. I’ve gathered a few of the more recent articles and provided links and a summary below each link. I’ve also quoted from several of the articles. Seems like support for the FairTax is pretty diverse!

Economic outlook: Georgia No. 1 in U.S. – July 16, 2006

Georgia’s economic outlook is rosier than that of any other state in the nation, according to a new study by the father of supply-side economics.

Arthur Laffer, an influential adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, put Georgia at the top of his annual comparative ranking of state economies, a seven-category analysis that primarily focuses on tax and fiscal policy. That’s up from fifth place in 2005 and a marked improvement from a No. 24 finish in 2002.

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…Laffer suggested the state might want to shift more of the tax burden to sales from property or income, an idea popular among state Republican lawmakers, who are currently examining the possibilities. Even without such a shift, he advocated expanding the sales tax to encompass food and services in exchange for a lower rate.

“You want to tax those factors the most that can escape the least … and in the least damaging fashion,” Laffer said. “The broader the base, the lower the rate, the better the tax.”

Perdue agreed that the state might do well to adopt a more consumption-focused tax system, perhaps after the fashion of the FairTax proposed by U.S. Rep. John Linder, a Republican who represents parts of north metro Atlanta.

GOP debate for Hefley’s post, July 18, 2006
Candidates in Colorado support the FairTax:

Continue reading “Wednesday OTA/Fair Tax Blogburst”

If you take an even casual glance at the big news recently and compare the “big stories” found on blogs to the ones played up by the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army, Political Goons, Loons and Poltroons, etc., you might notice a common thread: traditional media and political power brokers are primarily NOT concerned with facts, truth, information of substance dealing with significant issues but with manipulating perception of events to fit their reality-based fantasies.

Hissybullies, in textbook terrorist actions, lob hundreds of rockets into civilian homes and businesses in Israel, deliberately attempting to kill noncombatants, then go hide among women and children when the Israelis predicatbly start to stomp their nests.

What do politicians and Mass Media Podpeople show? Hissybullies deliberately staging fake “atrocities” and using bodies of children THEY attempted to use as human shields/foils in multiple re-stagings to provide “proof” of Israel’s perfidy.

And politicians and Mass Media Podpeople not only buy these re-stagings of Hissybully atrocities as Israeli wrongs, they lap up completely fake “evidence” and ask for (pay for) more.

Switching gears: The hottest decade on record for the U.S. was dozens of years before global warmists say man-made global warming took off, yet what dominates the weather news?

U.S. HAS ITS SECOND-HOTTEST JULY ON RECORD;
DROUGHT CONDITIONS WORSEN

All sizzle, friends. The steak is that 1934 through1936 still stand as the worst drought, highest temp years this country has ever recorded. When the Mass media Podpeople can show me the Dustbowl starting up again, I might start believing their cry of ”Wolf!” />

Racism, bigotry and hate are alive and well… in the Democratic Party, but the news is filled with the drunken ravings of an… actor. Yeh, racism, bigotry and hate openly displayed by Democratic leadership’s own—and their “operatives”—to defeat Joe Lieberman, but the “news” is filled up with the horror (the HORROR!) of Mel Gibson’s drunken ravings. (Lemme tell ya, folks: drunks say all kindsa stuff. Hang around Teddy “Swim for your life!” Kennedy for a while if ya don’t believe that.)

Fill in with nearly every “major” story and burning political issue today. Majoring on the minors, selling the sizzle, buying the lies: Mass Media Podpeople and political elite fiddling while society burns.

Crossposted at The Wide Awakes

Mini0micro update: h.t. to Dan Rhiel for the link to Gateway Pundit’s expose of the NYT fakery of the week (until superceded by another one, no doubt). Seems some of those pics should be captioned “Dead Man Working” or “The Zombie of Tyre” or something… Just one more example of embellishing a fundamental lie (the “uncalled-for aggression of Israel”) with a stupid one.

This is an open trackbacks post. Link to this post and track back. More below the lament.

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“Poor Jud is Dead” (or, “Pore Jud is Daid” more like :-)) is my fav funereal piece. *heh* In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve requested “Just Plant a Watermelon on My Grave” I’d probably be tempted to change my name to Jud Fry and request it for my funeral, such as it may be.

Oh, well, a lament of sorts is in order, I suppose, if only because I seem to have re-habbed/remodeled myself into a neverending spiral of ever more intricate remodeling projects this summer—projects enough, in fact, to keep any “spare time” I may have occupied pretty much until the day of that long-awaited time when my shade can look on as the choir sings, “Just Plant a Watermelon on My Grave”… even though I might rather it be

😉

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