Airline customer service?
Within the last 6 to months to a year:
The airlines were just short of torturing their passengers (no food, little water, poor heating and humidity, cramped confinement, aggravating individual health concerns (asthma, diabetes treatment, etc), tempers flaring) - I know. I've been held on a plane longer than 4 hours on the tarmac and I have experienced or witnessed all these problems. In fact, the worst place to be confined to a plane on the ground is Dallas during the summer during a thunderstorm; the heat and humidity does become torture. The planes on the ground rely on auxiliary power to maintain decent conditions and there is none on the tarmac and they only minimally stock with stores to save weight, hence fuel.
Congress had to pass a federal law about how long passengers could be held on the tarmac before take off. After that time, they were to be returned to the gates and off loaded because the airlines had become so insensitive to their customers. If they were sensitive, then no federal law would be needed.
Then they started charging per bag checked
Then they stated charging for carry on luggage.
Then TSA has imposed draconian, invasive searches prior to boarding, violating the 4th amendment
Over the holiday period, 10,000 flights were CANCELED
One plane was on the tarmac 11 HOURS, violating federal law
And the airlines reaction?
Today, effective immediately, almost all of the airlines raised their fares by $20! (does anyone smell collusion?) Airlines Raise Fares on Many Routes
Airline service has truly become an oxymoron!
TTFN
(Bright)
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Facebook Lynch Mob hysteria
Facebook post falsely accuses man of Philadelphia stranglings
There seems to be a serial killer active in Philadelphia. "Fears of a serial killer stalking women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have prompted some residents to take matters into their own hands -- and onto the internet, with frightful results for one man."
"Police say a male Philadelphia resident was falsely accused of being responsible for three strangulation murders and three other assaults that have occurred in the central Philadelphia area in recent weeks. The post contained a photograph of the man and listed his address and contact information, police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers told CNN."
"Shortly after the posting, a group of people began gathering outside the man's home, prompting him to call the police, according to Evers."
DNA evidence proved he was not the killer.
(this lousy editor does NOT give you what you see! I will not apologize for how it has mangled this post and made it double spaced after publishing!)
TTFN
(Bright)
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Signs to Restore Sanity
In the spirit of
Free the Slavs
Sign? I thought they said, "Bring Singh".
Return to Traditional Values - play Donkey Kong
Protest like the Boston Tea Party - Use loose leaf tea!
I'm with Stupid (arrow pointing down)
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus turned water into wine, not whine!
Fundamentalists should quote the Gospels
I could be home watching "American Idol"
Signs? We ain't got no signs. We don't need no signs. I don't have to show you any stinking signs.
Tea Party? Vote for Earl Grey for president.
Palin-Gosselin for 2012!
Tea Party looks to the future. Vote for Thomas E. Dewey!
Return to traditional values. Put TV evangelists back into their tents where they belong.
Traditional Values - resurrect the Inquisition!
My sign is better than your sign!
I drink my tea black.
Sane people stay home and read books.
404 - sign not found
Has anybody seen my sign?
TTFN
(Bright)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Has the news editor gone the way of the dodo?
Has the role of the news editor become extinct in the online age? Reporters seems to be in a rush to "get something" into the great maw of the media that they don't care about or, even worse, don't know what nonsense they are writing.
For example, there was a shooting at a strip mall today. The article was not very well written, and it included the phrase
"The gunfire damaged several vehicles in the parking lot, including a Chinese restaurant across the street about 200 yards away"
Since when is a Chinese restaurant a vehicle?
Shooting at Mall
TTFN
(Bright)
For example, there was a shooting at a strip mall today. The article was not very well written, and it included the phrase
"The gunfire damaged several vehicles in the parking lot, including a Chinese restaurant across the street about 200 yards away"
Since when is a Chinese restaurant a vehicle?
Shooting at Mall
TTFN
(Bright)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The TSA has criminalized the US citizen
The TSA has criminalized the average US citizen. In their eyes, everyone is a guilty criminal until proven innocent! Under US common law and international law, one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The TSA has got it backwards.
"...somehow [... the TSA has to provide security ...] without treating everyone from frequent business travelers to the family heading home to visit grandma as a potential terrorist. "
"Over time, TSA has settled into a pattern of issuing directives with little explanation and expecting they be followed. But increasingly fed-up travelers don't understand the agency's sense of urgency and aren't buying it."
"The TSA has spent roughly $40 billion dollars. The ability of TSA screeners to stop prohibited items being carried through sterile areas of airports fared no better than the performance of the screeners prior to September 11, 2001"
TSA gone wild
The TSA has become paranoid and has overstepped its authority and all bounds of decency.
The TSA is flaunting the fourth amendment that guarantees American citizens against unreasonable search and seizure. Other law enforcement agencies need a warrant to invade a person's privacy. Body searches, thus far, have been by the police with reason to believe a person has committed a crime. Yet the TSA sidesteps the fourth amendment whenever a person refuses to submit to intimate body scans. These searches are offensive, touching the most intimate parts of a citizen's body. This is sexual harassment. By what right does the TSA have to do this?
What justifies this intrusion of privacy? What justifies this illegal search? What incidents were there with the metal detectors? A precious few, none leading to any serious incident. The paranoid TSA has perpetrated an enormous boondoggle, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to allow them to exceed the limits of the bill of rights.
They have not shown than the abrogation of a citizens rights and the expense they have incurred is justified by the facts at hand.
They have become an uncontrollable bureaucracy, unaccountable to anyone, least of all the US citizen.
TTFN
(Bright)
Friday, December 10, 2010
The FAA is missing 1/3 of the airplanes in the US!
Why waste time and money on the TSA when the FAA can't find 1/3 of the "registered" airplanes in the US??? It would be so easy for a terrorist to "steal" the tail number of an airplane and use it for nefarious purposes (porpoises?).
Where's all the Planes
TTFN
(Bright)
Where's all the Planes
TTFN
(Bright)
The government should pay for lighthouses and autopsies
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches” said Ben Franklin
"Here's a simple question at the heart of the debate over the federal deficit: What should the government spend money on? As it turns out, economists have an answer to this question: Lighthouses. Also, autopsies."
"Of course, these are economists we're talking about here, not politicians. So these answers aren't particularly helpful in advancing the public debate over government spending."
"Still, autopsies and lighthouses are useful examples of what economists call a public good — "something that we all need, that will make our lives better, but that the market will not and cannot provide," says Charlie Wheelan, who teaches public policy at the University of Chicago."
"Lighthouses
If the government didn’t build lighthouses, Wheelan says, where would the money come from?
Sure, someone could go around to ship captains and say, "Hey, we're gonna build a lighthouse. Wanna contribute?" The captains would say, "No thanks; don't need one. I'm a good sailor."
Those captains are "just going to use our lighthouse without paying for it," Wheelan says. "We can't say, 'Close your eyes when you sail past this rocky point.' ""
"Before the U.S. government set up a lighthouse service in 1789, there weren't many lighthouses in key places where it was expensive to build, according to Jeff Gales, executive director of the U.S. Lighthouse Society."
"Before the U.S. government set up a lighthouse service in 1789, there weren't many lighthouses in key places where it was expensive to build, according to Jeff Gales, executive director of the U.S. Lighthouse Society."
"Autopsies
"The Journal of the American Medical Association has been arguing for 15 years, at least, that there's a public health problem, because we're not doing enough autopsies," Wheelan says."
"If we had more autopsies, we'd know more about how people die — and about how to keep people healthier longer. So collectively, we'd all benefit. But where's the benefit for any given person?"
"There's none for the person being autopsied," Wheelan points out. "It's a little late for that."
"And there are reasons why doctors might not be pushing for autopsies, either.
"And there are reasons why doctors might not be pushing for autopsies, either.
It turns out to be extremely common, much more than you think, that there were either undiagnosed conditions, misdiagnosed conditions. So this person, best case he was right. Worst case, he's going to be looking at malpractice or something like that. So the person who is in the best position to encourage autopsy often will not.
There are some other public goods that we hear about more often in political debates: court systems, for example, and the military."
"But economists agreeing that these things are public goods fails to answer the real question: How much should we spend on the military? How much should we spend on the courts?"
"And what about health care and education? Those don't meet the strict definitions of public goods. But many societies have agreed that they should be publicly provided, so governments end up getting involved."
What should the government pay for?
TTFN
(Bright)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Naming a boy "Draco"???
Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper on late 90's TV program "The Wonder Years", has just had a baby boy.
She named him "Draco", from the Greek 'drakon' meaning "dragon; serpent"! From it is derived "draconian", meaning excessively harsh or severe.
Draco is Harry Potter's nemesis in of all the "Harry Potter" books, a very negative, even evil, character. Could you imagine hanging a name like that on a kid who has to go through life with the villain's name from a classic series of books and movies?
Its like calling a kid "Jean Valjean" from "Les Miserables" or "Quasimodo" from "The Hunchback of "Notre Dame" or "Judas", Jesus's betrayer or "Sue" (re Johnny Cash), condemning him from the git-go.
What was she thinking? She graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a BS in mathematics in June 1998. Obviously, they didn't teach her the humanities or math is no longer a liberal art.
TTFN
(Bright)
She named him "Draco", from the Greek 'drakon' meaning "dragon; serpent"! From it is derived "draconian", meaning excessively harsh or severe.
Draco is Harry Potter's nemesis in of all the "Harry Potter" books, a very negative, even evil, character. Could you imagine hanging a name like that on a kid who has to go through life with the villain's name from a classic series of books and movies?
Its like calling a kid "Jean Valjean" from "Les Miserables" or "Quasimodo" from "The Hunchback of "Notre Dame" or "Judas", Jesus's betrayer or "Sue" (re Johnny Cash), condemning him from the git-go.
What was she thinking? She graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a BS in mathematics in June 1998. Obviously, they didn't teach her the humanities or math is no longer a liberal art.
TTFN
(Bright)
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Progress?
- There is a new service in San Jose, Red Kiosks that dispense DVDs, Blueray, etc. They only have the latest titles, obviously, and they are becoming quite popular. Our local supermarket has two, one inside and one outside the main door. Herein lies the rub. They are so popular on a Saturday night that there is a queue at both kiosks and the people in them block the entrance so other shoppers cannot get into or out of the store!
- There is a new app, Explore Your World: Virtual Globetrotting ( Virtual Globetrotting ). Once you learn to use the categories, its quite fun. However, Google Earth's Street View has one major problem.: The vast majority of its pictures are parked cars! As if I want to see every parked car in the world! Virtual Globetrotting? I can see all the parked I want by driving to the supermarket.
- Electric cars? I foresee a major problem: Lack of infrastructure.They may have a range of 200-250 miles without a charge, a reasonable distant for routine around town driving with recharging every few days. This is fine if you have a charging station, but what happens if you live in an apartment complex? Does one expect the complex to install the very expensive units? One per car? How about a "long" trip? Vacation? Holiday visits? People in California routinely drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back, a distance over 400 miles each way. Its a whole lot cheaper to drive than to fly and you don't get groped on the way and its actually faster because you don't incur the trip to the airport, checking in, the TSA hassle, waiting for the flight, taxi time, the flight time, and the reverse (minus the TSA) on the other end. Then you go through all of the rigmarole when you return. What happened to the passenger rail infrastructure we had up until the mid 50's?
- When are they going to upgrade spell checkers with a college education!!! When I use an erudite word, they do not recognize it, and give a list of inane choices. For example, the word "anhedonia" which one might encounter in a undergraduate pscyh class is not recognized and the checker gives me list of "Macedonian, Caledonia, Macedonia, and hedonism", none of which are even close!
Progress? Technology has again opened a new doors without considering the consequences.
TTFN
(Bright)
- There is a new app, Explore Your World: Virtual Globetrotting ( Virtual Globetrotting ). Once you learn to use the categories, its quite fun. However, Google Earth's Street View has one major problem.: The vast majority of its pictures are parked cars! As if I want to see every parked car in the world! Virtual Globetrotting? I can see all the parked I want by driving to the supermarket.
- Electric cars? I foresee a major problem: Lack of infrastructure.They may have a range of 200-250 miles without a charge, a reasonable distant for routine around town driving with recharging every few days. This is fine if you have a charging station, but what happens if you live in an apartment complex? Does one expect the complex to install the very expensive units? One per car? How about a "long" trip? Vacation? Holiday visits? People in California routinely drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back, a distance over 400 miles each way. Its a whole lot cheaper to drive than to fly and you don't get groped on the way and its actually faster because you don't incur the trip to the airport, checking in, the TSA hassle, waiting for the flight, taxi time, the flight time, and the reverse (minus the TSA) on the other end. Then you go through all of the rigmarole when you return. What happened to the passenger rail infrastructure we had up until the mid 50's?
- When are they going to upgrade spell checkers with a college education!!! When I use an erudite word, they do not recognize it, and give a list of inane choices. For example, the word "anhedonia" which one might encounter in a undergraduate pscyh class is not recognized and the checker gives me list of "Macedonian, Caledonia, Macedonia, and hedonism", none of which are even close!
Progress? Technology has again opened a new doors without considering the consequences.
TTFN
(Bright)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Is Huacachina an oasis?
Huacachina is a beautiful oasis in the Ocucaje Desert in Peru.
"… an oasis ... is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert…"
Wikipedia
Is Huacachina an oasis or not? It doesn't look very isloated to me.
TTFN
(Bright)
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The TSA has criminalized the US citizen
The TSA has criminalized the average US citizen. In their eyes, everyone is a guilty criminal until proven innocent! Under US common law and international law, one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The TSA has got it backwards.
"...somehow [... the TSA has to provide security ...] without treating everyone from frequent business travelers to the family heading home to visit grandma as a potential terrorist. "
"Over time, TSA has settled into a pattern of issuing directives with little explanation and expecting they be followed. But increasingly fed-up travelers don't understand the agency's sense of urgency and aren't buying it."
"The TSA has spent roughly $40 billion dollars. The ability of TSA screeners to stop prohibited items being carried through sterile areas of airports fared no better than the performance of the screeners prior to September 11, 2001"
TSA gone wild
The TSA has become paranoid and has overstepped its authority and all bounds of decency.
The TSA is flaunting the fourth amendment that guarantees American citizens against unreasonable search and seizure. Other law enforcement agencies need a warrant to invade a person's privacy. Body searches, thus far, have been by the police with reason to believe a person has committed a crime. Yet the TSA sidesteps the fourth amendment whenever a person refuses to submit to intimate body scans. These searches are offensive, touching the most intimate parts of a citizen's body. This is sexual harassment. By what right does the TSA have to do this?
What justifies this intrusion of privacy? What justifies this illegal search? What incidents were there with the metal detectors? A precious few, none leading to any serious incident. The paranoid TSA has perpetrated an enormous boondoggle, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to allow them to exceed the limits of the bill of rights.
They have not shown than the abrogation of a citizens rights and the expense they have incurred is justified by the facts at hand.
They have become an uncontrollable bureaucracy, unaccountable to anyone, least of all the US citizen.
TTFN
Saturday, November 20, 2010
We pay Sarah Palin's State Taxes.
It seems to have gone unnoticed, but Sarah Palin and the Alaskan citizens do not pay state income or sales taxes. They tax the oil companies who pass the cost to the citizens of the other states when they fill up their gas tanks.
In short, the average non-Alaskan pays for the Alaskan government and its services while the Alaskans get a free ride. In addition, the Alaskan citizen is given a "bonus" each year, again from taxes on the oil companies, and ultimately by the average US citizen.
In short, the average non-Alaskan pays for the Alaskan government and its services while the Alaskans get a free ride. In addition, the Alaskan citizen is given a "bonus" each year, again from taxes on the oil companies, and ultimately by the average US citizen.
When Palin was governor and running for VP the citizens of the other states were paying her salary as governor. She was not paying state income or sales taxes like the citizens of the other states . Even today, everyone else in the other states pays her taxes for her.
When you think about it, since the US average citizen paid her salary, not only did they pay for her states taxes but also her federal income taxes because that came out of her salary. She was running on a platform of lower federal taxes when everyone else were paying hers. She is still touting the the same idea, ignoring the fact that everyone else is paying her way.
She seems to be quite proud that her state is so prosperous. Of course it is. Everyone else is paying Alaska's way, even in these difficult economic times. They do not have the cash cow that Alaska has and have to pay for their own state governments out of pocket as well as Alaska's.
When you think about it, since the US average citizen paid her salary, not only did they pay for her states taxes but also her federal income taxes because that came out of her salary. She was running on a platform of lower federal taxes when everyone else were paying hers. She is still touting the the same idea, ignoring the fact that everyone else is paying her way.
She seems to be quite proud that her state is so prosperous. Of course it is. Everyone else is paying Alaska's way, even in these difficult economic times. They do not have the cash cow that Alaska has and have to pay for their own state governments out of pocket as well as Alaska's.
She is speaking with a forked tongue. She is talking about reducing taxes when the rest of the US citizens are paying her State income and sales taxes for her.
TTFN
Thursday, November 11, 2010
How Tall Was Napoleon?
Look at the painting. He seems normal height to me unless the painter used deceptively small furniture.
Apparently the British Tory press of his time sometimes depicted Napoleon as much smaller than average height, and this image persists.
In 1908 psychologist Alfred Adler cited Napoleon to describe an inferiority complex in which short people adopt an over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term Napoleon Complex.
Napoleon surrounded himself with tall bodyguards and had a nickname of le petit caporal which was an affectionate term that reflected his reported camaraderie with his soldiers rather than his height, which only added to the confusion ("petit", a term of endearment as in "petit chaux", "my little cabbage").
I'm curious why he surrounded himself with tall bodyguards. Wouldn't bodyguards shorter than himself make him look taller and more impressive?
Confusion about his height also results from the difference between the French pounce (inch) and British inch—2.71 and 2.54 cm respectively. Of course the Tories reported the French "inch" which makes him about 5'2". He was measured at his autopsy to be about 1.7 metres (5' 7", English) tall.
He was average height for the period.
I told you, I don't have a Napoleon complex. I'm 1.7 meters tall!
(So much for the the Tory Press. Alfred Adler should have read a variety of newspapers and checked his facst in a couple of medical journals)
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Obama Economic Recovery According to Dow Jones
"[...I...] wasn't alone in [...my...] failure to foresee the financial meltdown and defended [...my...] administration's decision to invest in failing banks in late 2008 to stabilize the financial system I believe it helped save the country" G.W.
Bush cannot take credit for the subsequent recovery; at most, he put his finger in the dyke.
The election saved our country by booting the administration and congress out of office.
The democrats have been struggled mightily working to keep us out of depression and seem to have succeeded, saving the economy, and leading its recovery.
Supposedly smart money with diversified portfolios invests in the stock market. One leading economic indicator is Dow Jones. Notice the large, consistent recovery under his successor.
Select the 5y option and notice the trends before and after the last presidential election. Do you notice any growth and recovery.
Dow Jones
The economy isn't recovering fast enough under Obama and the Democrats? Someone has made a significant investment in the American economy.
So much for the economic acumen of the Republicans!
(my political party - the Green Party)
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
Bush cannot take credit for the subsequent recovery; at most, he put his finger in the dyke.
The election saved our country by booting the administration and congress out of office.
The democrats have been struggled mightily working to keep us out of depression and seem to have succeeded, saving the economy, and leading its recovery.
Supposedly smart money with diversified portfolios invests in the stock market. One leading economic indicator is Dow Jones. Notice the large, consistent recovery under his successor.
Select the 5y option and notice the trends before and after the last presidential election. Do you notice any growth and recovery.
Dow Jones
The economy isn't recovering fast enough under Obama and the Democrats? Someone has made a significant investment in the American economy.
So much for the economic acumen of the Republicans!
(my political party - the Green Party)
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
The Return to Racism in Conservative Politics
"... you're not going to see me out there chirping away (at Obama). ... I want our president to succeed. I love our country." -- G.W.
What is all this Republican invective about getting Obama out of office? Some of them say that this is the primary goal of the Republican Party. Is some it racial bias?
It seems to me that the Tea Party is not very racially, culturally, and ethnically diverse. Nor is the Republican Party.
It seems that the conservatives have focused so much on illegal immigrants that they've denigrated the Latin heritage in this country. They seem to have forgotten that the vast majority of Latino's are American Citizens going back to the Mexican-American war when America's spoils were the Southwest and all its residents became Americans. The "mexicans" aren't Mexicans. They are Americans.
Is their grasp of U.S. history so scant that they have forgotten that America was discovered by a Latin, Columbus (not the English)? That the Spaniards established the oldest surviving settlement in America, and settled the Southwest when the English Colonies were being established. Do they not recall that Spanish was the primary language of the Southwest until well into the 19th century. I doubt that few know that there are proud U.S. Citizens, veterans, leaders, responsible members of our society, whot can trace their ancestors back to the first European conquistadors.
Are the people in Arizona that dense? Is Jose Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, that dense? Don't they know who their people are? 31% of their state is Hispanic/Latinos. What are they going to do? Stop every third person?
Take Leo Carillo for example, the Cisco Kid's sidekick.
Leo was born in an adobe in the Plaza in L.A. His ancestry that goes back to the exploration of California, a settler of San Diego, a governor who controlled 70,000 acres in what is now West Los Angeles, a signer to the capitulation to the Americans, an L.A. judge, and a Santa Monica mayor. For Leo's service to California, there is a state beach and a state park named after was well as several state historical sites. A fixture in the Rose Parade, he and his mounted posse carried an American Flag. I know he was a proud U.S. citizen and American.
The Cisco's Kid sidekick, Pancho
I remember a conversation with a colleague from the mid west. We were having lunch and he wanted to know, "why don't the "mexicans" speak English. After all, this is America." I gently pointed out that we were on Santa Teresa blvd. in the city of San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara, in the state of California. The state's largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco. The Spanish speaking got here before "us"!
There is no majority ethnic group or race in California!. Anglos account for, at most 43%. Latinos account for 37% . Other groups are 20%. Illegals do account for 7.3% of the population; i.e. 80% of the Latinos are American Citizens! The "mexicans" he was referring to were bilingual Americans.
Rather than wanting our president to succeed because we love this country it seems that the conservatives are intent on driving the divisions even deeper.
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
What is all this Republican invective about getting Obama out of office? Some of them say that this is the primary goal of the Republican Party. Is some it racial bias?
It seems to me that the Tea Party is not very racially, culturally, and ethnically diverse. Nor is the Republican Party.
Have they forgotten that one of the things that has made America great is its diversity
What continents, countries, and ethnic heritages do our ancestors come from? We are descended from Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, Australasians, and so many more.
Latin Americans
It seems that the conservatives have focused so much on illegal immigrants that they've denigrated the Latin heritage in this country. They seem to have forgotten that the vast majority of Latino's are American Citizens going back to the Mexican-American war when America's spoils were the Southwest and all its residents became Americans. The "mexicans" aren't Mexicans. They are Americans.
Is their grasp of U.S. history so scant that they have forgotten that America was discovered by a Latin, Columbus (not the English)? That the Spaniards established the oldest surviving settlement in America, and settled the Southwest when the English Colonies were being established. Do they not recall that Spanish was the primary language of the Southwest until well into the 19th century. I doubt that few know that there are proud U.S. Citizens, veterans, leaders, responsible members of our society, whot can trace their ancestors back to the first European conquistadors.
Are the people in Arizona that dense? Is Jose Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, that dense? Don't they know who their people are? 31% of their state is Hispanic/Latinos. What are they going to do? Stop every third person?
Take Leo Carillo for example, the Cisco Kid's sidekick.
Leo was born in an adobe in the Plaza in L.A. His ancestry that goes back to the exploration of California, a settler of San Diego, a governor who controlled 70,000 acres in what is now West Los Angeles, a signer to the capitulation to the Americans, an L.A. judge, and a Santa Monica mayor. For Leo's service to California, there is a state beach and a state park named after was well as several state historical sites. A fixture in the Rose Parade, he and his mounted posse carried an American Flag. I know he was a proud U.S. citizen and American.
The Cisco's Kid sidekick, Pancho
I remember a conversation with a colleague from the mid west. We were having lunch and he wanted to know, "why don't the "mexicans" speak English. After all, this is America." I gently pointed out that we were on Santa Teresa blvd. in the city of San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara, in the state of California. The state's largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco. The Spanish speaking got here before "us"!
There is no majority ethnic group or race in California!. Anglos account for, at most 43%. Latinos account for 37% . Other groups are 20%. Illegals do account for 7.3% of the population; i.e. 80% of the Latinos are American Citizens! The "mexicans" he was referring to were bilingual Americans.
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
G.W. Bush Owns Up to Some of His Mistakes
Republicans Take Heed!
"... you're not going to see me out there chirping away (at Obama). ... I want our president to succeed. I love our country." -- G.W.
Selections from the rest of what G.W. said:
A little joke between him and the rest of the world
"A lot of people don't think I can read, much less write"
Iraq
"When we didn't find weapons I felt terrible about it, sick about it and still do, because a lot of the case in removing Saddam Hussein was based upon weapons of mass destruction,"
Does he not feel terrible about his major disregard of American Tenets and Policy, international law, and humanity - "preemptive invasion"?
Katrina
"[...I...] should have sent federal troops to help with security in New Orleans sooner, but I was waiting for authority from Louisiana state government" (the constitution and federal law is very clear about that for very good reasons; actually who delayed was the Governor of Louisiana for not calling out the National Guard of her state)
"I didn't land Air Force One to view the submerged New Orleans up close because he was worried about taking resources away from rescue efforts." (You cannot fault him on that - all the panoply of his physical presence would have hampered the effort)
"I shouldn't have flown over and looked. I made a mistake. I should have landed ... I didn't realize a picture of me looking out would look like I didn't give a darn." (see his previous statement)
The Economy's Meltdown
"[...I...] wasn't alone in [...my...] failure to foresee the financial meltdown and defended [...my...] administration's decision to invest in failing banks in late 2008 to stabilize the financial system I believe it helped save the country"
G.W. On Ophray
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
"... you're not going to see me out there chirping away (at Obama). ... I want our president to succeed. I love our country." -- G.W.
Selections from the rest of what G.W. said:
A little joke between him and the rest of the world
"A lot of people don't think I can read, much less write"
Iraq
"When we didn't find weapons I felt terrible about it, sick about it and still do, because a lot of the case in removing Saddam Hussein was based upon weapons of mass destruction,"
Does he not feel terrible about his major disregard of American Tenets and Policy, international law, and humanity - "preemptive invasion"?
Katrina
"[...I...] should have sent federal troops to help with security in New Orleans sooner, but I was waiting for authority from Louisiana state government" (the constitution and federal law is very clear about that for very good reasons; actually who delayed was the Governor of Louisiana for not calling out the National Guard of her state)
"I didn't land Air Force One to view the submerged New Orleans up close because he was worried about taking resources away from rescue efforts." (You cannot fault him on that - all the panoply of his physical presence would have hampered the effort)
"I shouldn't have flown over and looked. I made a mistake. I should have landed ... I didn't realize a picture of me looking out would look like I didn't give a darn." (see his previous statement)
The Economy's Meltdown
"[...I...] wasn't alone in [...my...] failure to foresee the financial meltdown and defended [...my...] administration's decision to invest in failing banks in late 2008 to stabilize the financial system I believe it helped save the country"
G.W. On Ophray
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Women don't stay home and cook anymore
Female Soldiers from around the world
Girls in the Israel defense forces
Girls of the Israeli Army
Gee, just like any other girls at the beach? Guys, this is an eye test. Look very carefully. Do you see any rifles in this pic.
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
Girls in the Israel defense forces
Girls of the Israeli Army
Gee, just like any other girls at the beach? Guys, this is an eye test. Look very carefully. Do you see any rifles in this pic.
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
Acidcow.com is always fun
Imagine
-- lyrics by John Lennon
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)
Send "Imagine" Ringtone to your Cell
Maybe the Greens Are A Viable Alternative
Cooperation is hard. Change is hard.
First, a quick review of civics. I was taught in school that "The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic [...whose leaders are chossen by...] representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law.""
The United States Government
"Republic" is not the antithesis of "democrat". It is the combination of the two that makes this country great.
So, what is all this codswallop about Republicans versus Democrats? Certainly, there needs to be different of opinions to keep our country fresh and alive. Our government, to keep our values, is difficult to run. But shouldn't it be based on cooperation rather than obstructionism?
A lot of people are saying that it is time for hard changes. What direction should we go?
Maybe its time to think differently? Green, and its platform for example,
First, a quick review of civics. I was taught in school that "The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic [...whose leaders are chossen by...] representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law.""
The United States Government
- A federation of states
- The law is defined in the Constitution which can only be amended by the will of the people.
- A republic where the leaders are responsible to the people
- The leaders are elected democratically
- Majority "rules", but people's rights are protected
- It has a system of checks and balances to ensure that no one part of the government dominates to the detriment of the people (executive, bicameral legislature, and judicial branches - so for all intents and purposes, four (4), not three branches of the govenment)
"Republic" is not the antithesis of "democrat". It is the combination of the two that makes this country great.
So, what is all this codswallop about Republicans versus Democrats? Certainly, there needs to be different of opinions to keep our country fresh and alive. Our government, to keep our values, is difficult to run. But shouldn't it be based on cooperation rather than obstructionism?
A lot of people are saying that it is time for hard changes. What direction should we go?
Maybe its time to think differently? Green, and its platform for example,
- Grassroots democracy
- Social justice and equal opportunity
- Ecological wisdom
- Non-violence
- Decentralization
- Community-based economics and economic justice
- Feminism and gender equality
- Respect for diversity
- Personal and global responsibility
- Future focus on sustainability
Isn't Our Universe A wonderful And Awesome Place?
My personal most wonderful and awesome sight.
Peace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)