Hello Folks,
Didn't the Republicans come out, talking about Bi-Partisanship? My understanding of this, from my Party's view of taking the best of Liberal, and blending it with the best of Conservatism to make my [up-coming] Party Platform, is that cooperation and compromise is the direction we need, to heal this country's financial situation.
So what did we get today from the House? Democrats: 231 Yea, 11 Nay, 13 Not Voting? Republicans: ZERO Yea, 174 Nay, 4 Not Voting? Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming this! (Latest update: Nope, not a chance!) Come on, now, don't the Republican members of the House of Representatives have any local constituents? Aren't some of them hobbled with sudden loss of their jobs, as well as possible foreclosures on their houses? And others, perhaps in danger of losing access to their Apartments because of the loss of ability to make rent? Aren't any of these Republican representatives worried that they might be voted out of office in the 2010 Midterm Elections? What are you looking for, Republicans? A house with 90+ percent Democrats in it?
A late, breaking update, at a subjective time of about 6:25 pm (I'm a bit behind on my TiVo, folks!) But this update came, thanks to Countdown with Keith Olbermann: The numbers have changed a bit: Now it's Democrats, 242 Yea, 12 Nay, 1 Not Voting, and Republicans, STILL ZIP on the Yea side, 177 Nay, and only one not voting!
Another late, breaking update, 9am hour (PST), January 30, 2009, Courtesy of MSNBC: Brad Blakeman defends the ZERO republican votes! Something about getting more jobs, purely via business tax cuts. (Once again, folks, if a company is in a period of loss, it won't get a penny from tax cuts (as zero tax is zero tax, regardless of tax rates). It's still free to spiral down to Chapter 11, losing its Employees, adding even more people to our unemployment rolls, as well as more people who might lose their homes and have to live under Freeway Overpasses!) Note that I haven't located a YouTube video yet.
And don't get me started on how Former Representative Dick Armey, (R) Texas, got Sexist with Joan Walsh of Salon.Com on Hardball on January 28, 2009, at about 2:42 pm PST (5:42 pm EST), after Joan Walsh asked if even one Republican gave thought to standing up and apologising to President Obama for the racist remark Rush Limbaugh spouted last week. This gets beyond partisan politics and into simple, human decency.
Note: Update posted January 29, 2009 at 2:35 pm: Links provided, to back up these stories. Thank you, Moveon.org, for providing the house.gov link to me! (Also note: Don't worry about correlation between my numbers, verses the house.gov link. That website will always provide the latest numbers, as well as who voted how. There were some late-breaking vote changes, mainly in the Democratic arena. I've still not seen any Republicans stepping forward to change their vote, however).
Latest Update posted January 30, 2009 @ 10:30 am, with mention of Brad Blakeman defending Republican rejection of Stimulus Package.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
"Bill of Rights in the Toilet" -- Double Header!
I feel the need to put two stories in one BLOG post. One of them is rather blatant, and the other, though quite a bit more subtle, actually bothers me quite a bit more, as it points out how many people can be spied on at once!
The first, blatant one will also live on in the "Google News Feed" on the right, at least until this story gets "stale", and I sure as heck hope it doesn't!
It is about an NSA Whistle Blower named Russell Tice. For a while, after he got fired from NSA for, I don't know, Whistle Blowing? ... he held his tongue, afraid of recriminations from the Bush Administration. So, now that Obama is in office, he has a two-day interview stint with Keith Olbermann. Oh well, all Journalists bugged? Or [left wing conspiracy theory] only the "liberal" journalists? Or [right wing conspiracy theory] only the populist/constitutionalist/libertarian journalists? Take your pick, it looks ugly, no matter how it's spun.
-----------------------------------------------
Second, more subtle story, but scarier to me: All 30G Zunes fail simultaneously.
Yes, I'm also a computer professional, which is why the above story scares me. But let me put this in simple English: Microsoft is blaming the simultaneous crash of however many 2006 30G Zunes on a simple Leap Year "glitch". OK. So, people thought the world would end on January 1, 2000, due to an unfortunate habit of some programmers to use only the last two digits of the year. The world didn't end, but a bunch of funny web glitches occurred, which I sure wish were still available to chuckle about. I also recall at least one state classifying the 2000 Model cars (which, of course, were on sale in 1999, as usual for a car company), as "Horseless Carriages".
An excerpt from Zune's Own Forum follows:
Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.
Why do I harp on this? Have any of you seen anything this intrusive? All multi-million owners of this device need to, in effect, force a reset to "Factory Settings" [my guess, based on the context of asking people to allow the battery to "fully run out of power"]?
But this isn't the worst part of this. The worst part of this is why this device needs to know about leap years to play MP3 Music files? Even if you're doing "Digital Rights Management", to protect files that you download to the device, do you necessarily need to know how many times, or exactly when, a particular song is being played? To the second? (These devices failed, pretty much simultaneously, suggesting that a central Satellite was the point of failure, not a bunch of individual consumer devices).
Is anybody else concerned about this, especially if we look at these stories together?
The first, blatant one will also live on in the "Google News Feed" on the right, at least until this story gets "stale", and I sure as heck hope it doesn't!
It is about an NSA Whistle Blower named Russell Tice. For a while, after he got fired from NSA for, I don't know, Whistle Blowing? ... he held his tongue, afraid of recriminations from the Bush Administration. So, now that Obama is in office, he has a two-day interview stint with Keith Olbermann. Oh well, all Journalists bugged? Or [left wing conspiracy theory] only the "liberal" journalists? Or [right wing conspiracy theory] only the populist/constitutionalist/libertarian journalists? Take your pick, it looks ugly, no matter how it's spun.
-----------------------------------------------
Second, more subtle story, but scarier to me: All 30G Zunes fail simultaneously.
Yes, I'm also a computer professional, which is why the above story scares me. But let me put this in simple English: Microsoft is blaming the simultaneous crash of however many 2006 30G Zunes on a simple Leap Year "glitch". OK. So, people thought the world would end on January 1, 2000, due to an unfortunate habit of some programmers to use only the last two digits of the year. The world didn't end, but a bunch of funny web glitches occurred, which I sure wish were still available to chuckle about. I also recall at least one state classifying the 2000 Model cars (which, of course, were on sale in 1999, as usual for a car company), as "Horseless Carriages".
An excerpt from Zune's Own Forum follows:
Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.
Why do I harp on this? Have any of you seen anything this intrusive? All multi-million owners of this device need to, in effect, force a reset to "Factory Settings" [my guess, based on the context of asking people to allow the battery to "fully run out of power"]?
But this isn't the worst part of this. The worst part of this is why this device needs to know about leap years to play MP3 Music files? Even if you're doing "Digital Rights Management", to protect files that you download to the device, do you necessarily need to know how many times, or exactly when, a particular song is being played? To the second? (These devices failed, pretty much simultaneously, suggesting that a central Satellite was the point of failure, not a bunch of individual consumer devices).
Is anybody else concerned about this, especially if we look at these stories together?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Regime Change in Washington
Remember how many times we were told about Regime Changes in other countries, such as Iraq?
Now, we finally have Regime Change here in Washington, to Barack Obama.
I'll leave it to the others to put the details out there, but I want to acknowledge that we finally have somebody that I firmly believe will listen to the American People.
Now, we finally have Regime Change here in Washington, to Barack Obama.
I'll leave it to the others to put the details out there, but I want to acknowledge that we finally have somebody that I firmly believe will listen to the American People.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Republicans fight Obama Stimulus Plan
A group of Republicans do not appear to be happy with the Obama Stimulus package, as they are afraid that it has too much spending in it and too little of the tax cuts that the Republicans still think will save our economy.
The problem with this is that tax cuts for the most wealthy, at the same time as we were spending our country into two wars was, in my opinion, one of the reasons for our economic meltdown!
For example, according to an already obsolete March, 2008 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, we had already spent about $500 Billion on just the Iraq war, much more than the first half of the $700 Billion Wall Street bailout.
Why is it OK with the Republicans that we spend billions for destruction, but not OK with them that we spend the necessary billions on our country's crumbling Infrastructure?
The problem with this is that tax cuts for the most wealthy, at the same time as we were spending our country into two wars was, in my opinion, one of the reasons for our economic meltdown!
For example, according to an already obsolete March, 2008 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, we had already spent about $500 Billion on just the Iraq war, much more than the first half of the $700 Billion Wall Street bailout.
Why is it OK with the Republicans that we spend billions for destruction, but not OK with them that we spend the necessary billions on our country's crumbling Infrastructure?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Bait and Switch, anybody?
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Henry Paulson came forward to Congress, demanding $700 Billion Dollars to purchase "toxic mortgage debt".
His first try in the House failed, so Paulson started trying to scare the American Public half to death, with visions of everybody being out of work at once and a large percentage of our homes being foreclosed on, due to the lack of money to lend. So it passed. [I'll let you people go for those stories, thank you].
But now, this week, Henry Paulson comes back, telling us, in effect, "about those toxic mortgages we were going to purchase. Funny story there. You see, we changed the rules on you and put money directly into the banks, so they could give dividends to their shareholders, bonuses to their top executives, and buy up other banks. And, by the way, if they have nothing else to do with their money, maybe there might be a mortgage loan somewhere". I'm paraphrasing, of course. But I believe everything I've said checks out.
Remember that this was originally a 3 page plan which literally forbid any oversight! (Fortunately, that was nipped in the bud).
So I go all the way back to the scare words from the second paragraph. If we aren't buying a single "toxic mortgage", can't we at least prevent "millions of layoffs", if our automotive manufacturers go bankrupt? Paulson says no!
What in the world are they up to? Looting the last dollar in our Treasury before Obama gets inaugurated?
His first try in the House failed, so Paulson started trying to scare the American Public half to death, with visions of everybody being out of work at once and a large percentage of our homes being foreclosed on, due to the lack of money to lend. So it passed. [I'll let you people go for those stories, thank you].
But now, this week, Henry Paulson comes back, telling us, in effect, "about those toxic mortgages we were going to purchase. Funny story there. You see, we changed the rules on you and put money directly into the banks, so they could give dividends to their shareholders, bonuses to their top executives, and buy up other banks. And, by the way, if they have nothing else to do with their money, maybe there might be a mortgage loan somewhere". I'm paraphrasing, of course. But I believe everything I've said checks out.
Remember that this was originally a 3 page plan which literally forbid any oversight! (Fortunately, that was nipped in the bud).
So I go all the way back to the scare words from the second paragraph. If we aren't buying a single "toxic mortgage", can't we at least prevent "millions of layoffs", if our automotive manufacturers go bankrupt? Paulson says no!
What in the world are they up to? Looting the last dollar in our Treasury before Obama gets inaugurated?
Friday, November 7, 2008
I am happy for now, but plan to do more later.
Hello folks,
I have been too busy to update my BLOG for a while. Part of this was that I was doing everything in my power to elect Barack Obama, with the idea that he is the closest thing to my own platform ideas. (Goodness gracious me, I even was paying money to both the Democratic Party and the Barack Obama campaign, as well as knocking on doors to remind people of how important it is to vote). A whole lot of us have been busy, and I fully and freely offer my congratulations on a job well done!
I now express my wholehearted approbations, as well as a pledge of support from the Green Libertarian Party to the Barack Obama presidency. Congratulations, Barack Obama! You ran a wonderful campaign and you deserve this victory.
This is a rather new political party, one that I am only slowly putting out in the limelight. I am not ready to put up a candidate of my own yet. Until then, I will be working with both the Democrats and Republicans to find the common ground that nobody ever thought could have existed. I like to work behind the scenes, being part of the Infrastructure. However, I have my limits. I found one recently during the election season that I had forgotten for much of my life. As a child of 13 in 1966, I had a school friend who had relatives near Detroit, Michigan, at least one of which worked at the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant. In October 5 of that year, there began a major panic relating to the this power plant that turned rather traumatic, especially when it almost melted down.
Even a few years later, in May, 1970, when I was in High School, there was a sodium explosion at that plant!
I expect to get into the debates, mainly on the green side of my party for now, regarding nuclear power. (For example, I was riled up by some republican "talking points" about "safe, clean nuclear power". Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way because there is way too much evidence of where Nuclear Power has been both Dirty and Dangerous. I am sure that everybody knows that, besides the "event" at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979, there was an earlier meltdown in Detroit on October 5, 1966, where we almost lost Detroit.
Comments? Where do we store this stuff forever? How do we deal with shoddy workmanship when the plants are built? What will our great grandchildren look like?
I have been too busy to update my BLOG for a while. Part of this was that I was doing everything in my power to elect Barack Obama, with the idea that he is the closest thing to my own platform ideas. (Goodness gracious me, I even was paying money to both the Democratic Party and the Barack Obama campaign, as well as knocking on doors to remind people of how important it is to vote). A whole lot of us have been busy, and I fully and freely offer my congratulations on a job well done!
I now express my wholehearted approbations, as well as a pledge of support from the Green Libertarian Party to the Barack Obama presidency. Congratulations, Barack Obama! You ran a wonderful campaign and you deserve this victory.
This is a rather new political party, one that I am only slowly putting out in the limelight. I am not ready to put up a candidate of my own yet. Until then, I will be working with both the Democrats and Republicans to find the common ground that nobody ever thought could have existed. I like to work behind the scenes, being part of the Infrastructure. However, I have my limits. I found one recently during the election season that I had forgotten for much of my life. As a child of 13 in 1966, I had a school friend who had relatives near Detroit, Michigan, at least one of which worked at the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant. In October 5 of that year, there began a major panic relating to the this power plant that turned rather traumatic, especially when it almost melted down.
Even a few years later, in May, 1970, when I was in High School, there was a sodium explosion at that plant!
I expect to get into the debates, mainly on the green side of my party for now, regarding nuclear power. (For example, I was riled up by some republican "talking points" about "safe, clean nuclear power". Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way because there is way too much evidence of where Nuclear Power has been both Dirty and Dangerous. I am sure that everybody knows that, besides the "event" at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979, there was an earlier meltdown in Detroit on October 5, 1966, where we almost lost Detroit.
Comments? Where do we store this stuff forever? How do we deal with shoddy workmanship when the plants are built? What will our great grandchildren look like?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Daily Show's Jon Stewart takes on "Real American" Question
The Monday, October 20, 2008 edition of Comedy Central's "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" directly takes on the question of who is a "Real American" or a "Fake American".
This is not the first show, today, to do so: See also today's episode of MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann".
Back to Daily Show, its second segment has Jason Jones looking at Wasilla, Alaska's "small town values", in a most uncomplimentary way. (This was after showing a clip of Governor Palin telling us that we can learn from Wasilla's "main street"). We learn, all right!
BREAKING NEWS!
I'm right now watching CNN (12:30 pm, PDT, 10/21/2008), where the Alaskan Independence Party is being addressed. (You may or may not have seen a YouTube video where Sarah Palin gave a short speech before a Party function, fully encouraging them.
So, Sarah Palin? Is the Alaskan Independence Party, who wants Alaska to secede from the United States, part of the "Real Americans", or the "Fake Americans"?
This is not the first show, today, to do so: See also today's episode of MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann".
Back to Daily Show, its second segment has Jason Jones looking at Wasilla, Alaska's "small town values", in a most uncomplimentary way. (This was after showing a clip of Governor Palin telling us that we can learn from Wasilla's "main street"). We learn, all right!
BREAKING NEWS!
I'm right now watching CNN (12:30 pm, PDT, 10/21/2008), where the Alaskan Independence Party is being addressed. (You may or may not have seen a YouTube video where Sarah Palin gave a short speech before a Party function, fully encouraging them.
So, Sarah Palin? Is the Alaskan Independence Party, who wants Alaska to secede from the United States, part of the "Real Americans", or the "Fake Americans"?
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Examples of possible Election Fraud.
Since I changed the Title when adding part 2, I need to state that this post originally had to do with a burglary of an ACORN office in Burien, Washington, close to Seattle.
Excuse me, NBC, but this is WAY too major of an issue to just "brush aside"!
What I heard, on KING 5 News here in Seattle, Washington, was an amazing example of something EXTREMELY important, nationwide, being brushed aside, as if it were a fly.
I had to hunt around for a link to this story, but I'm happy I took the time, because KING 5 News's website didn't help me one bit.
The linked story claims that the breakin wasn't politically motivated, just a simple theft. My big question: How the heck do they know????
BREAKING NEWS!
Speaking of Election Fraud, I'm watching CNN's Situation Room, about 3:50 pm PDT, 10/21/2008, where Voting Machines are addressed, that "have a mind of their own". It seems pretty strange to me that the machine in West Virginia would change a person's vote from a Obama to McCain! (And yes, some wouldn't be observant enough to notice...)
The point, in both parts of this BLOG post, is how our voting process MUST be fair, in a democratic society (or a representative, republican society, if you please).
Excuse me, NBC, but this is WAY too major of an issue to just "brush aside"!
What I heard, on KING 5 News here in Seattle, Washington, was an amazing example of something EXTREMELY important, nationwide, being brushed aside, as if it were a fly.
I had to hunt around for a link to this story, but I'm happy I took the time, because KING 5 News's website didn't help me one bit.
The linked story claims that the breakin wasn't politically motivated, just a simple theft. My big question: How the heck do they know????
BREAKING NEWS!
Speaking of Election Fraud, I'm watching CNN's Situation Room, about 3:50 pm PDT, 10/21/2008, where Voting Machines are addressed, that "have a mind of their own". It seems pretty strange to me that the machine in West Virginia would change a person's vote from a Obama to McCain! (And yes, some wouldn't be observant enough to notice...)
The point, in both parts of this BLOG post, is how our voting process MUST be fair, in a democratic society (or a representative, republican society, if you please).
Friday, October 3, 2008
House passes 700 Billion "rescue". Now, will Bush sign it?
The house passed the bill, with the changes put in by the Senate (including a few bones to the Middle class).
Now, the next question is, "Will Bush Sign This Bill?"
The reason I asked is that I heard a rumor that John McCain told Morning Joe [MSNBC], on Thursday, that he wanted George Bush to VETO this bill, because "IT HAS EARMARKS IN IT!"
Can anybody confirm this rumor? If anybody has a link to a U-Tube video (or on another site), please send a comment with the link.
Thank you and best regards,
Ken Parker in Seattle, Washington, BLOG Owner.
Now, the next question is, "Will Bush Sign This Bill?"
The reason I asked is that I heard a rumor that John McCain told Morning Joe [MSNBC], on Thursday, that he wanted George Bush to VETO this bill, because "IT HAS EARMARKS IN IT!"
Can anybody confirm this rumor? If anybody has a link to a U-Tube video (or on another site), please send a comment with the link.
Thank you and best regards,
Ken Parker in Seattle, Washington, BLOG Owner.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Palin disses McCain policies on regulation. Film at 11!
I'm only 13 minutes into the Debate, and I'm already seeing serious policy differences between McCain and Palin!
Does this mean that McCain will be running against Palin?
Does this mean that McCain will be running against Palin?
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