LOSERS AWARDED $2.25 MILLION DOLLARS FOR
BEING LOUSY PARENTS
“It was a mistake of the parents to not remember the kids
might be in the car, but that's what the professionals are
there for, to save you from those basic everyday mistakes."
(From ABC news article)
What a crock of crap. The three families whose unsupervised
children died when they got trapped in the trunk of their own
Camry on their own property and the bodies weren’t found
for days have been awarded $2.25 million dollars because the
Camden police didn’t find their kids for them.
All right, the police didn’t follow all the “search for
children” protocols. They might have found them if all
protocols had been followed – already dead probably,
but they didn’t and the bodies weren’t discovered until
days later. Of course, if the parents had opened their eyes,
quit the handwringing, and gone out to look, they’d have
found them too – and probably still alive.
What did the parents fail to do? Well – how about
everything? They failed to train their children in
appropriate places to play. They failed to have someone
keeping the children within earshot or line-of-sight while
they played. They failed to keep the children from going
places where they couldn’t readily be seen by an adult.
When they didn’t see or hear their children, they didn’t
do an immediate and complete search – particularly
knowing their own children’s habits and proclivities.
Instead, they sat back, went hysterical, and waited for the
police to figure out where their untrained, unsupervised
miscreants had wobbled off to.
Too bad about the kids. This kind of crappy, disinterested
parenting is epidemic in America and become worse since
the influx of immigrants with the “it takes a community to
raise a child” mentality. Yeah, it takes a community, but first
the kid is supposed to have a parent, whose priority is the
safety, training and well-being of the child they bred so they
can be a positive influence in the community and not a
community burden. And because these parents oftimes
aren’t legally married or have some pretty loosey-goosey
living arrangements with “cousins” and “friends” whose
last names they don’t even know, you’ve got a pretty good
idea of what kind of self-awareness and discipline the parents
have – never mind what they instill in their children.
So now we reward these piss-poor excuses of parents by
giving them money, on top of whatever social services and
welfare moneys they were receiving for not taking care of
their children, and simultaneously reinforcing the “blame
the cops because I acted like an idiot” mentality rife in
America.
But I don’t feel like the parents have really profited.
These people are born losers. You could give them the
keys to the National Treasury and they’ll blow it. But
maybe they’ll take that 2.25 million dollars and get some
parental training to go along with their grief counseling.
And maybe they’ll buy enough mirrors so they can plainly
see who to blame for the loss of their children, instead of
pointing the fingers at everyone else.
The cops, who take responsibility seriously and who failed
to find these children, will punish themselves forever. I’m
glad I wasn’t there. But you know it doesn’t take a lawsuit
to get the attention of a responsible person. It just takes an
in-your-face failure, someone else to pay for your mistake
and you’ll never forget what you failed to do. And I don’t
think that’s something those poor excuses for parents will
ever learn however much money we throw at them.
Florida Cracker
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Thought For Today
"To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girl friends." - Benjamin Franklin
The Hard Truth From Orlando
Delighted! I am delighted to see that in the vicious bully-cide
death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old Irish girl who hanged
herself after relentless months of bullying, cyberstalking,
physical intimidation and harassment, NINE of her school
mates have been indicted on charges relating to her death.
And finally, the State of Massachusetts had the gumption to
do what most state prosecutors won’t and charged the 17
and 18 year old who had sex with Phoebe with statutory rape.
And I feel no sympathy for them. Some official apparently said
“their lives, too, are forever changed” – or whatever. And my
response is, well, they still have lives, don’t they? They went
out of their way to tear Phoebe’s apart. They gloated over her
suicide. Time for the wheel to come around and their ugly,
sociopathic selves to be exposed to the world the way they
exposed Phoebe’s pain for ridicule.
I hope they don’t get anything as simple as probation and to do
community service. I hope they do some detention time,
removal from public school and loss of scholarships and a tag
that haunts them for the next 50 years. I hope they get a big
black stain on their names – as a warning to their peers on the
consequence of viciousness towards classmates.
Bullying in schools is completely out of control in every state
in the Union . I don’t know if it’s because we no longer
“weed out” the kids with emotional problems but insist on
mainstreaming them with others, or if kids today just have
no sense of perspective. Every bullying action has the potential
for criminal charges. School administrators who fail to protect
their charges from bullies on their campuses need to face
criminal charges as well. I’m tired of bullies hiding out on the
campus because the campus is “off limits” to normal law
enforcement. If an action is illegal in the work place or on a
city street, it should be illegal on our school grounds and
school officials need to be put on notice that they’re liable.
I do know that it’s the failure of parents to instruct and
protect their daughters and further to educate their sons
which has resulted in rampant sexual activity among
underage children. And let’s face it, there’s a reason the
age of consent is 16. It’s to protect children from sex with
persons who might be a year or two older, but who are years
ahead in maturity and ability to manipulate their younger
classmates.
And what is it with these girls nowadays? Used to be if the
guy was dipping his wick, you got mad at him – not the girls
he was using like toilet paper. I think the girls and young
women of today have gotten so used to being treated like
“bitches” by their “dog” boyfriends that they feel they have
to fight like bitches. What happened to the boys and young
men nowadays that they have absolutely no sense of honor
or responsibility? Were there always so many low-lifes in
our society or have we just had a bumper crop of them lately?
It’s because parents have failed. Parents and courts
consistently fail to respond to youthful sexual predators.
And they are predators when they target younger children for
sex – for the sake of sex. It’s time the States pick up the
challenge and enforce the law when parents refuse to press
charges. And if necessary, States need to charge the parents
with negligence, or aiding and abetting if they fail to report
the sexual abuse of their children by other youngsters.
Every girl under 16 who turns up pregnant should have a
criminal complaint attached to the boy or man who got her
that way, as used to be the case (unless you were just dumb
trash from a dumb trash neighborhood). Because the people
who weren’t trash taught their children better and held them
accountable for their actions. You knocked the girl up, you
had to marry her. You’re lucky now if he even pays child
support – forget behaving as a responsible father or decent
human being; these guys don’t have a clue and no one will
hold their feet to the fire to make it happen.
We’ve traded freedom for license; equality for entitlement.
Time to adjust our thinking and make the consequences dire
enough that even a dumb kid will think twice about crossing
some lines.
Rest in Peace, Phoebe Prince. I’m sorry it had to cost another
young life to get the adults to pay attention.
Florida Cracker
death of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old Irish girl who hanged
herself after relentless months of bullying, cyberstalking,
physical intimidation and harassment, NINE of her school
mates have been indicted on charges relating to her death.
And finally, the State of Massachusetts had the gumption to
do what most state prosecutors won’t and charged the 17
and 18 year old who had sex with Phoebe with statutory rape.
And I feel no sympathy for them. Some official apparently said
“their lives, too, are forever changed” – or whatever. And my
response is, well, they still have lives, don’t they? They went
out of their way to tear Phoebe’s apart. They gloated over her
suicide. Time for the wheel to come around and their ugly,
sociopathic selves to be exposed to the world the way they
exposed Phoebe’s pain for ridicule.
I hope they don’t get anything as simple as probation and to do
community service. I hope they do some detention time,
removal from public school and loss of scholarships and a tag
that haunts them for the next 50 years. I hope they get a big
black stain on their names – as a warning to their peers on the
consequence of viciousness towards classmates.
Bullying in schools is completely out of control in every state
in the Union . I don’t know if it’s because we no longer
“weed out” the kids with emotional problems but insist on
mainstreaming them with others, or if kids today just have
no sense of perspective. Every bullying action has the potential
for criminal charges. School administrators who fail to protect
their charges from bullies on their campuses need to face
criminal charges as well. I’m tired of bullies hiding out on the
campus because the campus is “off limits” to normal law
enforcement. If an action is illegal in the work place or on a
city street, it should be illegal on our school grounds and
school officials need to be put on notice that they’re liable.
I do know that it’s the failure of parents to instruct and
protect their daughters and further to educate their sons
which has resulted in rampant sexual activity among
underage children. And let’s face it, there’s a reason the
age of consent is 16. It’s to protect children from sex with
persons who might be a year or two older, but who are years
ahead in maturity and ability to manipulate their younger
classmates.
And what is it with these girls nowadays? Used to be if the
guy was dipping his wick, you got mad at him – not the girls
he was using like toilet paper. I think the girls and young
women of today have gotten so used to being treated like
“bitches” by their “dog” boyfriends that they feel they have
to fight like bitches. What happened to the boys and young
men nowadays that they have absolutely no sense of honor
or responsibility? Were there always so many low-lifes in
our society or have we just had a bumper crop of them lately?
It’s because parents have failed. Parents and courts
consistently fail to respond to youthful sexual predators.
And they are predators when they target younger children for
sex – for the sake of sex. It’s time the States pick up the
challenge and enforce the law when parents refuse to press
charges. And if necessary, States need to charge the parents
with negligence, or aiding and abetting if they fail to report
the sexual abuse of their children by other youngsters.
Every girl under 16 who turns up pregnant should have a
criminal complaint attached to the boy or man who got her
that way, as used to be the case (unless you were just dumb
trash from a dumb trash neighborhood). Because the people
who weren’t trash taught their children better and held them
accountable for their actions. You knocked the girl up, you
had to marry her. You’re lucky now if he even pays child
support – forget behaving as a responsible father or decent
human being; these guys don’t have a clue and no one will
hold their feet to the fire to make it happen.
We’ve traded freedom for license; equality for entitlement.
Time to adjust our thinking and make the consequences dire
enough that even a dumb kid will think twice about crossing
some lines.
Rest in Peace, Phoebe Prince. I’m sorry it had to cost another
young life to get the adults to pay attention.
Florida Cracker
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Thought For Today
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
Rec: Microwave Cornbread Eggs Benedict
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons white vinegar
4 strips bacon
1 package microwave cornbread (or premade English muffins)
4 slices American cheese
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
chives, chopped for garnish
Fill a 1 quart microwave bowl 1/2 full with water and add vinegar.
Carefully crack the eggs into it and poke a hole in the yolks with a
skewer or toothpick. Remember, you're poaching and not
scrambling them. Microwave on HIGH for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes until
the whites are set and the yolks are still soft. Remove from oven
and set aside. Put 2 layers of paper towels on a paper plate with
the bacon on top. Microwave on HIGH for about 3 minutes until
crisp, then set aside. If you purchased muffins, put on plates and
skip the next sentence. Mix the microwave cornbread according
to the package directions and cook 2 muffin sized portions in
microwave safe cups as directed and put on plates. Tear the
cheese into small pieces and put into microwave bowl and add
the milk, hot sauce, mustard and season with salt and pepper.
Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute, stirring half way through,
or until the cheese is melted and smooth. Put 2 slices of bacon
on each muffin and top with an egg. Add half the cheese sauce
to each and garnish with chives. Enjoy.
Serves 2
Recipe may be doubled if very hungry
2 tablespoons white vinegar
4 strips bacon
1 package microwave cornbread (or premade English muffins)
4 slices American cheese
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
chives, chopped for garnish
Fill a 1 quart microwave bowl 1/2 full with water and add vinegar.
Carefully crack the eggs into it and poke a hole in the yolks with a
skewer or toothpick. Remember, you're poaching and not
scrambling them. Microwave on HIGH for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes until
the whites are set and the yolks are still soft. Remove from oven
and set aside. Put 2 layers of paper towels on a paper plate with
the bacon on top. Microwave on HIGH for about 3 minutes until
crisp, then set aside. If you purchased muffins, put on plates and
skip the next sentence. Mix the microwave cornbread according
to the package directions and cook 2 muffin sized portions in
microwave safe cups as directed and put on plates. Tear the
cheese into small pieces and put into microwave bowl and add
the milk, hot sauce, mustard and season with salt and pepper.
Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute, stirring half way through,
or until the cheese is melted and smooth. Put 2 slices of bacon
on each muffin and top with an egg. Add half the cheese sauce
to each and garnish with chives. Enjoy.
Serves 2
Recipe may be doubled if very hungry
Rec: Fluffy Sausage Omelet
1/4 pound bulk pork sausage
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
3 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
Crumble the sausage into a small microwave-safe dish;
add onion and red pepper. Cover and microwave on HIGH
for 2 minutes; drain. Stir in sour cream; set aside. In a
bowl, whisk the egg yolks, milk, salt, baking powder and
pepper. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks
form. Gently fold into egg yolk mixture. Place the butter
in a Pam'd 9 in. microwave-safe pie plate. Microwave on
HIGH for 30 seconds. Pour egg mixture into plate.
Microwave, uncovered, on MEDIUM for 3 to 5 minutes
or until partially set. Lift edges, letting uncooked portion
flow underneath. Cook on MEDIUM for 2 to 3 minutes
longer or until eggs are set. Spoon sausage mixture over
one side; fold omelet over filling.
Serves 2
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
3 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
Crumble the sausage into a small microwave-safe dish;
add onion and red pepper. Cover and microwave on HIGH
for 2 minutes; drain. Stir in sour cream; set aside. In a
bowl, whisk the egg yolks, milk, salt, baking powder and
pepper. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks
form. Gently fold into egg yolk mixture. Place the butter
in a Pam'd 9 in. microwave-safe pie plate. Microwave on
HIGH for 30 seconds. Pour egg mixture into plate.
Microwave, uncovered, on MEDIUM for 3 to 5 minutes
or until partially set. Lift edges, letting uncooked portion
flow underneath. Cook on MEDIUM for 2 to 3 minutes
longer or until eggs are set. Spoon sausage mixture over
one side; fold omelet over filling.
Serves 2
Rec: Omelet In A Mug
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons diced fully cooked ham
1 tablespoon diced green bell pepper
salt and pepper to taste
In a Pam'd microwave-safe mug, combine all ingredients.
Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH for 1 minute; stir. Cook
1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes longer on MEDIUM or until eggs
are completely set.
2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons diced fully cooked ham
1 tablespoon diced green bell pepper
salt and pepper to taste
In a Pam'd microwave-safe mug, combine all ingredients.
Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH for 1 minute; stir. Cook
1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes longer on MEDIUM or until eggs
are completely set.
Rec: Microwave Breakfast Frittata
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup cubed fully cooked ham
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
4 egg, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
Place butter in a microwave-safe 9 in. pie plate. Cover with
waxed paper; microwave on HIGH for 30 to 40 seconds or
until melted. Add ham, onion and green pepper. Cover and
cook on HIGH for 2 minutes. Stir in eggs, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes or until
a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand
for 3 minutes or until completely set. Cut into wedges.
Serves 2 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave
1 cup cubed fully cooked ham
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
4 egg, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
Place butter in a microwave-safe 9 in. pie plate. Cover with
waxed paper; microwave on HIGH for 30 to 40 seconds or
until melted. Add ham, onion and green pepper. Cover and
cook on HIGH for 2 minutes. Stir in eggs, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes or until
a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand
for 3 minutes or until completely set. Cut into wedges.
Serves 2 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave
Monday, April 19, 2010
The Thought For Today
"The greatest monarch on the proudest throne is obliged to sit upon his own arse." - Benjamin Franklin
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Hard Truth From Orlando
Well, I guess it’s news -- but it’s not like it’s the first time news.
Multiple arrests have been made in the New Jersey gang-rape
of the 7-year-old girl, who followed her 15-year-old druggie,
delinquent stepsister to some kind of party where drugs were
being handed out. 15-year-old sister was prostituting herself
for drugs and then, I guess, someone made an offer for the
7-year-old – because you always find such classy people at a
party with drugs – and the 15-year-old agreed they could
molest her little stepsister, but it turned into a gang-rape of
the 7-year-old by a 20-year-old and 17-year-old and
13-year-old and any other thing in human form with a dick
or a dildo.
And I had such an incredible sense of déjà vu, because it
wasn’t that many years ago I read virtually the same set of
circumstances in a different part of the country. The
16-year-old half-sister agreed that her 6-year-old sister
would perform oral sex on some “guys” so the half-sister
could collect her share of the drugs. And the guys decided
oral sex wasn’t enough and raped the six-year-old. The
16-year-old claimed that she tried to stop them, because
she only agreed to the oral sex, not the rest, but…
There’s a reason for capital punishment. It’s not about
justice. It’s about getting rid of human-shaped monsters with
a proven track record of preying on the helpless. New Jerseyites
are screaming for incarceration. Why continue to throw money
at the problem? Instead of welfare money, we’ll throw prison
money at the perps – cheaper and safer all the way around to
get rid of the monsters, including the 15-year-old stepsister.
And ACLU and the NAACP and the whichever alphabet
soup organization wants to decry the facts, the facts are that
both of these incidences happen in subsidized housing areas
on the taxpayers’ dime, where the poorest of the poor, the
most ignorant of the illiterate and the most vicious of lowlife
criminals perpetuate, generation after worthless generation.
These horrific incidences happen because you don’t have
families, you have a loosely-related aggregate of people,
who care little or nothing for each other, co-habitating to
maximize government benefits and freebies. They live
together in squalor; the unplanned, unwanted and
unsupervised children at the mercy of all the other freaks
in the building – their only worth in the fact that they
represent two-legged government subsidies for the
welfare parents.
And why would expect that a child’s future should be any
brighter when raised by the self-serving idiots who have
chosen this life, turned their back on education, regular
employment or anything else? So when the news article
goes on to say, the family is grieving and in shock and
whatever over the vicious rape of their 7-year-old
(engineered by their delinquent older daughter), I say,
uh-huh. And where were any of the adults supposed to be
supervising a 15-year-old who’s going to parties with
20-year-olds where drugs are being sold? And don’t tell
me they didn’t know the older daughter was into drugs
and running with scum. It’s been my experience that
everyone in the housing area knows who the bad guys
are, where they live, who they hang with and what
they’re doing.
A real parent makes sure the oldest kid knows, your
younger sibling, half-sibling, child or dog I left in your
care better be well taken care of or I will take care of you
when I get back and there won’t be anything left when
I’m finished with you. But this 15-year-old and the
7-year-old don’t have real parents. They have welfare
self-victimizers who bred them but don’t raise them.
And they’ll hand-wring and wail – for themselves, but
it won’t surprise me if the 7-year-old gets blamed for the
15-year-old’s legal woes. It won’t surprise me if the
7-year-old gets put back in the 15-year-old crackhead
sister’s care again by the same handwringing “parents”
because you don’t breed this kind of worthless,
never-going-to-be-anything-but-scum behavior overnight.
You got to start them out young and be consistent in your
lousy parenting. Give it about four years and the rape victim
will be following her stepsister and all the others into the
self-perpetuating life of crime, scum and indifference. So my
solution is, quit paying for the scum. Lethal injection, bullet
to the back of the head – but get rid of the wolves in the fold.
And for the lousy parents of the lousy delinquents living on
the welfare dime, time to terminate the payments. Taxpayers
pay so you can take care of your children while you’re moving
ahead with employment opportunities, school opportunities,
whatever it takes to get out of the welfare roles. If you’re not
making sufficient progress, time to repossess the kids and put
them in agencies that will make them got to school, conform
and perform, and be something other than fodder for freaks
or a new generation of drug-dealers and users. Without the kids,
you only have yourself to take care of and you should therefore
make tremendous personal progress.
Sorry for the 7-year-old. Sorry for the 6-year-old. Sorry that
your families and neighbors are such sorry excuses for human
beings. Look at them and vow to be something else and live
somewhere else far away if you survive this experience. And
don’t tell anyone from the “hood” where you’ve gone. You’ll
be surprised how much better your life will be when you’ve
scraped off your sorry family and acquaintances and struck
out on your own.
Yeah. It’s not New Jersey . It’s the welfare state that breeds
such crimes and such poor excuses for people…
Florida Cracker
Multiple arrests have been made in the New Jersey gang-rape
of the 7-year-old girl, who followed her 15-year-old druggie,
delinquent stepsister to some kind of party where drugs were
being handed out. 15-year-old sister was prostituting herself
for drugs and then, I guess, someone made an offer for the
7-year-old – because you always find such classy people at a
party with drugs – and the 15-year-old agreed they could
molest her little stepsister, but it turned into a gang-rape of
the 7-year-old by a 20-year-old and 17-year-old and
13-year-old and any other thing in human form with a dick
or a dildo.
And I had such an incredible sense of déjà vu, because it
wasn’t that many years ago I read virtually the same set of
circumstances in a different part of the country. The
16-year-old half-sister agreed that her 6-year-old sister
would perform oral sex on some “guys” so the half-sister
could collect her share of the drugs. And the guys decided
oral sex wasn’t enough and raped the six-year-old. The
16-year-old claimed that she tried to stop them, because
she only agreed to the oral sex, not the rest, but…
There’s a reason for capital punishment. It’s not about
justice. It’s about getting rid of human-shaped monsters with
a proven track record of preying on the helpless. New Jerseyites
are screaming for incarceration. Why continue to throw money
at the problem? Instead of welfare money, we’ll throw prison
money at the perps – cheaper and safer all the way around to
get rid of the monsters, including the 15-year-old stepsister.
And ACLU and the NAACP and the whichever alphabet
soup organization wants to decry the facts, the facts are that
both of these incidences happen in subsidized housing areas
on the taxpayers’ dime, where the poorest of the poor, the
most ignorant of the illiterate and the most vicious of lowlife
criminals perpetuate, generation after worthless generation.
These horrific incidences happen because you don’t have
families, you have a loosely-related aggregate of people,
who care little or nothing for each other, co-habitating to
maximize government benefits and freebies. They live
together in squalor; the unplanned, unwanted and
unsupervised children at the mercy of all the other freaks
in the building – their only worth in the fact that they
represent two-legged government subsidies for the
welfare parents.
And why would expect that a child’s future should be any
brighter when raised by the self-serving idiots who have
chosen this life, turned their back on education, regular
employment or anything else? So when the news article
goes on to say, the family is grieving and in shock and
whatever over the vicious rape of their 7-year-old
(engineered by their delinquent older daughter), I say,
uh-huh. And where were any of the adults supposed to be
supervising a 15-year-old who’s going to parties with
20-year-olds where drugs are being sold? And don’t tell
me they didn’t know the older daughter was into drugs
and running with scum. It’s been my experience that
everyone in the housing area knows who the bad guys
are, where they live, who they hang with and what
they’re doing.
A real parent makes sure the oldest kid knows, your
younger sibling, half-sibling, child or dog I left in your
care better be well taken care of or I will take care of you
when I get back and there won’t be anything left when
I’m finished with you. But this 15-year-old and the
7-year-old don’t have real parents. They have welfare
self-victimizers who bred them but don’t raise them.
And they’ll hand-wring and wail – for themselves, but
it won’t surprise me if the 7-year-old gets blamed for the
15-year-old’s legal woes. It won’t surprise me if the
7-year-old gets put back in the 15-year-old crackhead
sister’s care again by the same handwringing “parents”
because you don’t breed this kind of worthless,
never-going-to-be-anything-but-scum behavior overnight.
You got to start them out young and be consistent in your
lousy parenting. Give it about four years and the rape victim
will be following her stepsister and all the others into the
self-perpetuating life of crime, scum and indifference. So my
solution is, quit paying for the scum. Lethal injection, bullet
to the back of the head – but get rid of the wolves in the fold.
And for the lousy parents of the lousy delinquents living on
the welfare dime, time to terminate the payments. Taxpayers
pay so you can take care of your children while you’re moving
ahead with employment opportunities, school opportunities,
whatever it takes to get out of the welfare roles. If you’re not
making sufficient progress, time to repossess the kids and put
them in agencies that will make them got to school, conform
and perform, and be something other than fodder for freaks
or a new generation of drug-dealers and users. Without the kids,
you only have yourself to take care of and you should therefore
make tremendous personal progress.
Sorry for the 7-year-old. Sorry for the 6-year-old. Sorry that
your families and neighbors are such sorry excuses for human
beings. Look at them and vow to be something else and live
somewhere else far away if you survive this experience. And
don’t tell anyone from the “hood” where you’ve gone. You’ll
be surprised how much better your life will be when you’ve
scraped off your sorry family and acquaintances and struck
out on your own.
Yeah. It’s not New Jersey . It’s the welfare state that breeds
such crimes and such poor excuses for people…
Florida Cracker
Friday, April 09, 2010
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
The Thought For Today
Believe nothing, No matter where you read it, Or who has said it, Not even if I have said it, Unless it agrees with your own reason, And your own common sense. - Buddha
Monday, April 05, 2010
The Thought For Today
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." - Leonardo da Vinci
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself." - Robin Williams
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Thought For Today
"She is not perfect. You are not perfect. The question is whether or not you are perfect for each other." - Robin Williams
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Hard Truth From Orlando
Article in the news about the North Carolina English teacher
Rex Roland who labels his students’ homework with LOSERwhen they make a mistake caught my attention. Apparently,
that’s not all he reportedly does. He allegedly threw a
student’s property into the hallway and is otherwise verbally
abusive. More important, it’s not the first time his conduct
has been brought to the school’s attention. The victim he’s
selected – and apparently is bearing the brunt of his disdain
– is a pretty little blonde, blue-eyed 11 year old girl. How
interesting. I wonder if he always selects pretty little girls
to torment. I wonder if his torment ends with degrading
remarks or if he’s grooming her for additional, more
physical abuse?
You know what I expect the school administrators to do?
Nothing. After all, it’s only one kid that’s complaining –
there’re however many other kids in his class that he’s not
abusing, so that kid must be wrong, or just too sensitive, or
just too dumb to keep up. Of course, the mother of this little
girl has hopefully been contacted by an attorney or two, and
the school and Mr. Roland are about to find out just how
expensively not funny and unacceptable his “loser” labels
and meanness really are.
Education was a priority in our household. I liked school.
I liked learning, but I have to say to this day, almost 40
years later, I remember my abusive teachers, not
lousy teachers, there were a few – but the truly abusive
ones. I was a good student. I was consistently at the top
of my grade, dean’s list, annual awards in languages, good
attendance, NEVER a disciplinary report. And you know,
I have always believed myself to be dismal in math and I
can tell you why; lousy, abusive teachers – which is ironic
as I was responsible for payroll preparation for hundreds
of government employees for years and years. And it’s
probably due to my lack of confidence that I triple-checked
and then re-checked every calculation – and had very few
errors in all those years of multiple payrolls. I went to college.
I took the minimum, dumbest math class I could and still got
my degrees – made deans list most of the time, too. There
were careers I was interested in, but the prerequisites
involved math – so I skipped them. I often wonder what
else I might be doing with my life if not for “loser” teachers
who got their kicks out of mangling kids instead of teaching.
My fourth grade math teacher, Ms. Clements, once pulled
me up in front of the class to tell me how difficult and sulky
I was when I repeatedly asked for help because I didn’t
understand the “New Math.” To my knowledge, I never
did anything to warrant her displeasure. Thereafter, she
made a point of ridiculing me in class. Her constant picking
at me didn’t stop until my mother started calling her every
day to get a progress report – in person – from Ms.
Clements. When my mother started making her explain
my progress and report on my classroom behavior every
single day, Ms. Clements left me alone. I got passing grades
and I never understood a thing that was being taught in her
class. And frankly, I never caught up and I never felt the
slightest confidence in my ability to learn math after that.
Then there was my 6th grade pre-algebra teacher, Mr. Riley.
He had a disparaging nickname for almost every one in the
classroom. He liked to walk by the desks and slap the long
wooden pointer against your chair to make you jump. He
enjoyed sending you to the blackboard to do the algebra
problems in front of everyone, especially if you were one of
the ones he recognized wasn’t getting it – then he’d get a good
five minutes worth of enjoyment by telling you how stupid
you were when you didn’t get it right. To my memory, he
never explained how to do a problem himself once. He left
up to you and the textbook to decipher. You know what I
learned about in his class? Nothing, except how much I hated
math and him. I don’t know how I passed his class, but I
hope to be around when his obituary is in the paper so I can
go spit on his coffin. He was a sorry excuse for a human
being and a teacher.
My brother and cousin, and later a nephew, all fell afoul of
another teacher named Mr. Griggs, the one who told my
mother that my brother was retarded and had no business
in school. This is the same brother who became project
manager of overseas armored vehicles assembly and
maintenance programs for a DOD-contracted American
corporation. What I find unbelievable is that the
administration kept this poor excuse of an instructor,
even after receiving reports of him having parties and
serving alcohol to his students at his residence.
I hope this child gets out of Mr. Roland’s class and gets
a decent representative of the teaching profession before
her confidence is destroyed. And I hope Mr. Roland gets
some serious psychotherapy. That guy’s a wrong one.
Florida Cracker
Friday, March 05, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." - George Bernard Shaw
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Hard Truth From Orlando
Pretty little Shannon Marie, age 17, of Marion County, Florida,
is charged with aggravated cyberstalking, a felony, for targeting
a 15-year-old girl who USED to date the guy that Shannon is
going with now. Shannon was apparently so insecure in her
relationship with this new guy that she posted the 15-year-old’s
phone number and photo on an Internet porn site with
suggestive messages to call the 15-year-old, she does great
phone sex, etc.
Wow. Shannon sounds like a winner, huh? Sounds like
another Amy Fisher, the kind you want to bank your future
on. She dates a guy, probably a senior like her, who dates
the sophomore girls – girls who are miles behind his female
peers in maturity if not actual physical age, which doesn’t say
much good about what kind of guy he is. Well, now he’s
going with that 15-year-old girl, he’s going with Shannon .
But Shannon isn’t content with that; she’s got to destroy any
previous rivals. Sounds to me like boyfriend is one of those
who keeps dipping his wick where it’s not supposed to be.
But isn’t this such a typical deadly scenario anymore that
we’re seeing played out across the nation? Used to be if the
guy switched partners, the new girl was the one preening
and the old one was the one crying – or supposed to be crying
Very few recognized it was usually a step in the right direction
when they got Mr. Liability out of their lives. Nowadays, it’s
like a pack behavior. He switches partners and the new
partner has to prove she’s queen bitch of the pack and tear
out the throat of any rivals because she knows her mate
can’t control himself and never will, so she takes it out on
any possible competition. We’re seeing it in the news more
and more frequently where the girls are beating the hell out
of each other over some guy who can’t keep it in his pants –
instead of beating the hell out of the guy who can’t keep it in
his pants and dumping him as the loser he is.
The second part of this little nightmare was little Miss
Insecurity’s choice of weapons, one that’s all too common
with the cell phone/Internet generation. She chose to put
her rival in the crosshairs of every pervert and freak who
has access to cyberspace by putting the girl’s face and
phone number on that porn site. When confronted by law
enforcement, Shannon Marie point-blank says she’s not
going to stop the harassment, either. Take that as a red
flag. There’s no remorse, no comprehension, no sense of
perspective with this one.
Please let someone be paying attention. This callous and
calculated viciousness because Ms. Shannon Marie feels
romantically threatened goes way beyond cyber-bullying
and harassment. Shannon Marie is pathologically jealous
and possibly psychopathic. She needs a psych eval, and
students at her school need to be carefully interviewed –
this will not be the first time she’s done something like this.
She’s a bully and a danger to the community. She needs to
be tagged by law enforcement and labeled by the community
so everyone knows what they’re dealing with – a malicious
psycho. And her parents – guarantee you they’re gutless
wimps or she’d never be playing these kinds of games with
other’s lives.
I hope the 15-year-old’s parents sue Shannon ’s family and
take everything they own. It might make a dent in Shannon ’s
complacent sense that nothing can happen to her - loss of
possessions might scare her where the police and the loss
of future jobs and income due to her criminal behavior
haven’t. We’ll see this little monster again in the system.
She won’t stop; she’s hardwired to destroy and there are
no brakes.
Florida Cracker
is charged with aggravated cyberstalking, a felony, for targeting
a 15-year-old girl who USED to date the guy that Shannon is
going with now. Shannon was apparently so insecure in her
relationship with this new guy that she posted the 15-year-old’s
phone number and photo on an Internet porn site with
suggestive messages to call the 15-year-old, she does great
phone sex, etc.
Wow. Shannon sounds like a winner, huh? Sounds like
another Amy Fisher, the kind you want to bank your future
on. She dates a guy, probably a senior like her, who dates
the sophomore girls – girls who are miles behind his female
peers in maturity if not actual physical age, which doesn’t say
much good about what kind of guy he is. Well, now he’s
going with that 15-year-old girl, he’s going with Shannon .
But Shannon isn’t content with that; she’s got to destroy any
previous rivals. Sounds to me like boyfriend is one of those
who keeps dipping his wick where it’s not supposed to be.
But isn’t this such a typical deadly scenario anymore that
we’re seeing played out across the nation? Used to be if the
guy switched partners, the new girl was the one preening
and the old one was the one crying – or supposed to be crying
Very few recognized it was usually a step in the right direction
when they got Mr. Liability out of their lives. Nowadays, it’s
like a pack behavior. He switches partners and the new
partner has to prove she’s queen bitch of the pack and tear
out the throat of any rivals because she knows her mate
can’t control himself and never will, so she takes it out on
any possible competition. We’re seeing it in the news more
and more frequently where the girls are beating the hell out
of each other over some guy who can’t keep it in his pants –
instead of beating the hell out of the guy who can’t keep it in
his pants and dumping him as the loser he is.
The second part of this little nightmare was little Miss
Insecurity’s choice of weapons, one that’s all too common
with the cell phone/Internet generation. She chose to put
her rival in the crosshairs of every pervert and freak who
has access to cyberspace by putting the girl’s face and
phone number on that porn site. When confronted by law
enforcement, Shannon Marie point-blank says she’s not
going to stop the harassment, either. Take that as a red
flag. There’s no remorse, no comprehension, no sense of
perspective with this one.
Please let someone be paying attention. This callous and
calculated viciousness because Ms. Shannon Marie feels
romantically threatened goes way beyond cyber-bullying
and harassment. Shannon Marie is pathologically jealous
and possibly psychopathic. She needs a psych eval, and
students at her school need to be carefully interviewed –
this will not be the first time she’s done something like this.
She’s a bully and a danger to the community. She needs to
be tagged by law enforcement and labeled by the community
so everyone knows what they’re dealing with – a malicious
psycho. And her parents – guarantee you they’re gutless
wimps or she’d never be playing these kinds of games with
other’s lives.
I hope the 15-year-old’s parents sue Shannon ’s family and
take everything they own. It might make a dent in Shannon ’s
complacent sense that nothing can happen to her - loss of
possessions might scare her where the police and the loss
of future jobs and income due to her criminal behavior
haven’t. We’ll see this little monster again in the system.
She won’t stop; she’s hardwired to destroy and there are
no brakes.
Florida Cracker
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not." - George Bernard Shaw
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Hard Truth From Orlando
Anyone who read the ABC news article this week on the
increasing violence in sorority hazing has to be sickened by
the vicious acts of these young women, supposedly the cream
of our society, practicing every kind of abuse, from demeaning,
malicious verbal assaults to physical violence to calculated
sexual abuse of the young women seeking to become
members/pledges. I mean, we've heard about the fraternity
hazing violence, the alcohol poisoning deaths, the rites of
humiliation, and just plain criminal acts which have led to
some campuses banning fraternities and sororities from their
educational institutions. Why does it continue despite
institutional policies and protocols on hazing?
It continues because it's institutionalized bullying. It
continues because it happens on school campuses, just
like elementary, middle school and high school bullying,
and therefore law enforcement defers to the campus
authorities first instead of taking immediate outside
criminal action against the perpetrators of these abuses.
And campus authorities are loath to admit their institution
has these types of criminal behaviors occurring on their
grounds. For institutions of higher learning, bad press
equals loss of revenue by students changing their choice
of university or college. Bad press means a loss of revenue
from former alumni and financial subsidizers. So
universities and colleges are highly motivated to whitewash
or hide the questionable, if not outright illegal and
discriminatory practices of these "fraternal" organizations
and to make it difficult, if not impossible to report these
abuses by students. Sure you see little real action taken
-- until there's a high profile case that makes the local news.
But there's almost nothing substantial done to change the
culture of the frats and sororities themselves.
Some would say it's up to the youngsters themselves to
refuse to participate in these rites of humiliation. But why
are rites of humiliation the source of determining who will or
will not be admitted into a sorority or fraternity? If these
"Greek" system organizations want to represent the best,
then let them recruit by grade point averages, recruit by
special artistic or academic talent, and leave the sadistic
silliness elsewhere. Let them open their doors to external
reviews and have outside supervision of their initiations.
That won't suit the "it's a secret" mantra which these
organizations embrace to prove their exclusivity and which
the bullies hide behind.
Frankly, as a young college student, I thought about
pledging to a sorority. But I wasn't at the university for
a four-year social event. I wasn't at the university for
parties, dating or hanging out. I had a lifetime goal ahead
of me. I went for an academic education that was going to
get me a chance at the best paying job in a professional field
I enjoyed. And I let that be my all-consuming focus, rather
than "belonging" to a crowd I was most likely never going to
see again once I graduated. So I never joined. I went to
school, I got good grades and I put my energy into living
my life independent of others and their opinions of me.
I recognize not everyone is that sturdy. A lot of students
are desperate for peer acceptance and validation, so they
subject themselves to figurative slaughter by frat house
and sorority conscienceless sadists, protected by a tradition
of secrecy and rampant peer pressure.
If we keep the antiquated and increasing influence of
sororities and fraternities on campuses, then the campus
authorities need to do more than pay lip service to the
no-hazing policies. They need to define hazing, they need
to make it plain that many actions which currently pass for
"hazing" are in fact criminal acts and that any complaint
of hazing will see the sorority or fraternity closed down and
participating individuals (and their Greek chapters) facing
criminal and civil prosecution. That's the punitive measures.
The positive measures should be banning pledging. Sororities
and fraternities need to set public written requirements for
membership and recruit accordingly, the same as you would
for any professional organization. And the organizations
themselves need to set a standard for courtesy, honesty and
a few other virtues which seem to have gotten lost in the
animalistic clawing for supremacy.
To paraphrase the article, this ain't reality TV where you're
going to get some prize for survival; this is the real world and
living means more than staying alive. Show you have enough
personal integrity to stand up for yourself and the guts to say
"no" to abuse by these bullying creeps and walk out. You'll be
surprised how many will follow you out the door. And when
enough young people show they're not interested in being
victims, the frats and sororities will stop the hazing and
become the positive social organizations they were once
purported to be.
Florida Cracker
increasing violence in sorority hazing has to be sickened by
the vicious acts of these young women, supposedly the cream
of our society, practicing every kind of abuse, from demeaning,
malicious verbal assaults to physical violence to calculated
sexual abuse of the young women seeking to become
members/pledges. I mean, we've heard about the fraternity
hazing violence, the alcohol poisoning deaths, the rites of
humiliation, and just plain criminal acts which have led to
some campuses banning fraternities and sororities from their
educational institutions. Why does it continue despite
institutional policies and protocols on hazing?
It continues because it's institutionalized bullying. It
continues because it happens on school campuses, just
like elementary, middle school and high school bullying,
and therefore law enforcement defers to the campus
authorities first instead of taking immediate outside
criminal action against the perpetrators of these abuses.
And campus authorities are loath to admit their institution
has these types of criminal behaviors occurring on their
grounds. For institutions of higher learning, bad press
equals loss of revenue by students changing their choice
of university or college. Bad press means a loss of revenue
from former alumni and financial subsidizers. So
universities and colleges are highly motivated to whitewash
or hide the questionable, if not outright illegal and
discriminatory practices of these "fraternal" organizations
and to make it difficult, if not impossible to report these
abuses by students. Sure you see little real action taken
-- until there's a high profile case that makes the local news.
But there's almost nothing substantial done to change the
culture of the frats and sororities themselves.
Some would say it's up to the youngsters themselves to
refuse to participate in these rites of humiliation. But why
are rites of humiliation the source of determining who will or
will not be admitted into a sorority or fraternity? If these
"Greek" system organizations want to represent the best,
then let them recruit by grade point averages, recruit by
special artistic or academic talent, and leave the sadistic
silliness elsewhere. Let them open their doors to external
reviews and have outside supervision of their initiations.
That won't suit the "it's a secret" mantra which these
organizations embrace to prove their exclusivity and which
the bullies hide behind.
Frankly, as a young college student, I thought about
pledging to a sorority. But I wasn't at the university for
a four-year social event. I wasn't at the university for
parties, dating or hanging out. I had a lifetime goal ahead
of me. I went for an academic education that was going to
get me a chance at the best paying job in a professional field
I enjoyed. And I let that be my all-consuming focus, rather
than "belonging" to a crowd I was most likely never going to
see again once I graduated. So I never joined. I went to
school, I got good grades and I put my energy into living
my life independent of others and their opinions of me.
I recognize not everyone is that sturdy. A lot of students
are desperate for peer acceptance and validation, so they
subject themselves to figurative slaughter by frat house
and sorority conscienceless sadists, protected by a tradition
of secrecy and rampant peer pressure.
If we keep the antiquated and increasing influence of
sororities and fraternities on campuses, then the campus
authorities need to do more than pay lip service to the
no-hazing policies. They need to define hazing, they need
to make it plain that many actions which currently pass for
"hazing" are in fact criminal acts and that any complaint
of hazing will see the sorority or fraternity closed down and
participating individuals (and their Greek chapters) facing
criminal and civil prosecution. That's the punitive measures.
The positive measures should be banning pledging. Sororities
and fraternities need to set public written requirements for
membership and recruit accordingly, the same as you would
for any professional organization. And the organizations
themselves need to set a standard for courtesy, honesty and
a few other virtues which seem to have gotten lost in the
animalistic clawing for supremacy.
To paraphrase the article, this ain't reality TV where you're
going to get some prize for survival; this is the real world and
living means more than staying alive. Show you have enough
personal integrity to stand up for yourself and the guts to say
"no" to abuse by these bullying creeps and walk out. You'll be
surprised how many will follow you out the door. And when
enough young people show they're not interested in being
victims, the frats and sororities will stop the hazing and
become the positive social organizations they were once
purported to be.
Florida Cracker
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in this life." - Jean Paul Richter
The Hard Truth From Orlando
And the tragedies continue. While we’ve come a long way in
recognizing domestic violence, legislating against violent crimes
targeting women and children, the murder of 23 year old Alissa
Blanton in Orlando, Florida, this week by 61 year old stalker
Roger Troy, highlights how much further we have to go in
getting the judiciary and law enforcement proactively on the
side of the human targets of random dysfunctional freaks. Who
knows what Brevard County’s Judge Dean Moxley was thinking
– or even if he was thinking – when he denied Ms. Blanton’s
petition for an injunction against her stalker-murderer, Roger
Troy. Plainly there was enough to send up alarm bells if the
judge was paying attention, and certainly enough to err on the
side of caution in issuing an emergency injunction. The
stalking/harassment had gone on for two years, and if
that wasn’t enough, the emails and complaint plainly
indicated that Troy was willing to travel over 40 miles
in one direction from his home in Cocoa Beach order to
stake out Ms. Blanton’s home and work place in Orlando.
That alone shows a real obsession and scary determination
on the part of this fruitloop which should have triggered
all kinds of alarms in Judge Moxley’s mind.
But I bet I can guess what Judge Moxley was thinking. He’s
a white, older, middle-class male – deep down, he doesn’t get
it. He’s never been victimized by a member of the opposite
sex; never been stalked; never been put in daily fear for his
own safety simply because of his gender. He looked at this
petition, as he’s looked at dozens of others, said, well, she used
to work at Hooters, and she can’t be that nice, not and be a
Hooters girl. And the stalking has gone on for two years and
she’s just now getting upset? There’s something wrong with
her. And it’s not like a domestic violence case where there are
mandatory legal requirements – this guy is just someone who
used to be a customer where she was a waitress, no reason for
them to be in contact.
So he denied the emergency injunction, scheduled a hearing
two weeks out, notice was sent to the bad guy, and Alissa died
at the hands of her stalker. And, even if Roger Troy didn’t
receive the notice of the pending action against him, chances
are that, in effect, such notice would have signed Alissa’s
death warrant, just as it has in so many other cases where
the victims had active injunctions in place against their killers
and the paperwork proved the trigger to the final violence,
rather than the solution.
Advocates are trying to end the legal notification of abusers
until the restraining order is a done deal. And that’s for the
protection of the petitioners. It doesn’t mean the respondent
– the accused – doesn’t have any rights. They absolutely
have the right to legally challenge the restraining order in
court. But frankly, there’s no reason they can’t challenge
the order after it’s issued. Civil rights advocates would say
that’s a violation of the respondent’s Constitutional rights to
confront witnesses against them in court. Well, an injunction
is a civil action – not a criminal action, and it’s there simply
to give the police legal backing to confront an abuser and
probable cause to arrest if necessary if the situation merits.
And I wouldn’t be too concerned about the perpetrator’s
rights when he’s so patently in violation of his victim’s rights.
But the other lesson from this hideous event is simply, an
injunction does not make you bullet-proof. If you’re waiting
for the police or the judicial system to save you, you’re dead.
Safety is in your hands. Pacifist idiots preached the juvenile
silliness of maybe getting in trouble for standing up to bullies
until law-abiding, decent citizens are afraid to do more than
cringe, lock their doors and try to hide from the predators.
If we’re going to curtail this phenomenon of people being
casually murdered by losers who kill because they’re too
dysfunctional to get a date, maintain a relationship without
violence, or just plain socialize in a general population, then
instead of trying ineffectively to play protector, we need to
teach our daughters to be aware and to get tough. A
predator needs to know if he reaches out and the touch
isn’t welcome, he’s going to pull back a bloody hand – and
his target will be the one drawing blood. An obsessed freak
sending emails and hatching bizarre plots in his twisted brain
needs to be brought sharply to reality with criminal, not civil,
charges shining a public spotlight on his destructive activities.
And rest assured, there was any number of criminal charges
that could have been leveled against Mr. Troy early on in
preceding two years which would have been much more
effective in stopping his vicious campaign of intimidation
and eventual homicide than a civil injunction.
Our daughters need to know that being nice doesn’t have to
mean being weak. Our daughters need to know more than
how to dial 911 on a cell phone if they’re in a dangerous
situation. And when all is said and done, if every legal
means is ineffective or impractical and the wolf is at the
door, our daughters need to know they should tell the bad
guy to come on in while she has her finger on the trigger –
and pull it point-blank. It’s not a pretty solution, but it
beats the alternative of her family in mourning, playing
forever the woulda, shoulda, coulda game that resolves
nothing and brings no one’s daughter back.
Prayers for Alissa Blanton and her family and all the
victims of self-absorbed losers everywhere.
Florida Cracker
recognizing domestic violence, legislating against violent crimes
targeting women and children, the murder of 23 year old Alissa
Blanton in Orlando, Florida, this week by 61 year old stalker
Roger Troy, highlights how much further we have to go in
getting the judiciary and law enforcement proactively on the
side of the human targets of random dysfunctional freaks. Who
knows what Brevard County’s Judge Dean Moxley was thinking
– or even if he was thinking – when he denied Ms. Blanton’s
petition for an injunction against her stalker-murderer, Roger
Troy. Plainly there was enough to send up alarm bells if the
judge was paying attention, and certainly enough to err on the
side of caution in issuing an emergency injunction. The
stalking/harassment had gone on for two years, and if
that wasn’t enough, the emails and complaint plainly
indicated that Troy was willing to travel over 40 miles
in one direction from his home in Cocoa Beach order to
stake out Ms. Blanton’s home and work place in Orlando.
That alone shows a real obsession and scary determination
on the part of this fruitloop which should have triggered
all kinds of alarms in Judge Moxley’s mind.
But I bet I can guess what Judge Moxley was thinking. He’s
a white, older, middle-class male – deep down, he doesn’t get
it. He’s never been victimized by a member of the opposite
sex; never been stalked; never been put in daily fear for his
own safety simply because of his gender. He looked at this
petition, as he’s looked at dozens of others, said, well, she used
to work at Hooters, and she can’t be that nice, not and be a
Hooters girl. And the stalking has gone on for two years and
she’s just now getting upset? There’s something wrong with
her. And it’s not like a domestic violence case where there are
mandatory legal requirements – this guy is just someone who
used to be a customer where she was a waitress, no reason for
them to be in contact.
So he denied the emergency injunction, scheduled a hearing
two weeks out, notice was sent to the bad guy, and Alissa died
at the hands of her stalker. And, even if Roger Troy didn’t
receive the notice of the pending action against him, chances
are that, in effect, such notice would have signed Alissa’s
death warrant, just as it has in so many other cases where
the victims had active injunctions in place against their killers
and the paperwork proved the trigger to the final violence,
rather than the solution.
Advocates are trying to end the legal notification of abusers
until the restraining order is a done deal. And that’s for the
protection of the petitioners. It doesn’t mean the respondent
– the accused – doesn’t have any rights. They absolutely
have the right to legally challenge the restraining order in
court. But frankly, there’s no reason they can’t challenge
the order after it’s issued. Civil rights advocates would say
that’s a violation of the respondent’s Constitutional rights to
confront witnesses against them in court. Well, an injunction
is a civil action – not a criminal action, and it’s there simply
to give the police legal backing to confront an abuser and
probable cause to arrest if necessary if the situation merits.
And I wouldn’t be too concerned about the perpetrator’s
rights when he’s so patently in violation of his victim’s rights.
But the other lesson from this hideous event is simply, an
injunction does not make you bullet-proof. If you’re waiting
for the police or the judicial system to save you, you’re dead.
Safety is in your hands. Pacifist idiots preached the juvenile
silliness of maybe getting in trouble for standing up to bullies
until law-abiding, decent citizens are afraid to do more than
cringe, lock their doors and try to hide from the predators.
If we’re going to curtail this phenomenon of people being
casually murdered by losers who kill because they’re too
dysfunctional to get a date, maintain a relationship without
violence, or just plain socialize in a general population, then
instead of trying ineffectively to play protector, we need to
teach our daughters to be aware and to get tough. A
predator needs to know if he reaches out and the touch
isn’t welcome, he’s going to pull back a bloody hand – and
his target will be the one drawing blood. An obsessed freak
sending emails and hatching bizarre plots in his twisted brain
needs to be brought sharply to reality with criminal, not civil,
charges shining a public spotlight on his destructive activities.
And rest assured, there was any number of criminal charges
that could have been leveled against Mr. Troy early on in
preceding two years which would have been much more
effective in stopping his vicious campaign of intimidation
and eventual homicide than a civil injunction.
Our daughters need to know that being nice doesn’t have to
mean being weak. Our daughters need to know more than
how to dial 911 on a cell phone if they’re in a dangerous
situation. And when all is said and done, if every legal
means is ineffective or impractical and the wolf is at the
door, our daughters need to know they should tell the bad
guy to come on in while she has her finger on the trigger –
and pull it point-blank. It’s not a pretty solution, but it
beats the alternative of her family in mourning, playing
forever the woulda, shoulda, coulda game that resolves
nothing and brings no one’s daughter back.
Prayers for Alissa Blanton and her family and all the
victims of self-absorbed losers everywhere.
Florida Cracker
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense." - Robert Heinlein
Monday, February 08, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Power is not a means; it is an end...The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power." - George Orwell
Friday, February 05, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to." - J.R.R. Tolkien
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Recipe: Microwave Instant Rice
2 cups instant rice
2 cups boiling water
Place the rice in a microwave safe dish (3 quart)
pour in the boiling water. Cover with a vented
microwave lid. Cook on HIGH (1200W) for 2 to 3
minutes. When it boils, reduce the power to
(30%) and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
the dish out and fluff the rice with a fork.
Makes 4 cups
2 cups boiling water
Place the rice in a microwave safe dish (3 quart)
pour in the boiling water. Cover with a vented
microwave lid. Cook on HIGH (1200W) for 2 to 3
minutes. When it boils, reduce the power to
(30%) and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
the dish out and fluff the rice with a fork.
Makes 4 cups
Monday, February 01, 2010
The Thought For Today
"The superior man seeks what is right; the inferior one, what is profitable." - Confucius
Sunday, January 31, 2010
God's Littlest Angels in Haiti
God's Littlest Angels in Haiti
Sadly, now there's a lot more orphans to care for. I donated, now it's YOUR turn.
Sadly, now there's a lot more orphans to care for. I donated, now it's YOUR turn.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
A Perfect Snow Day
This is especially for those of you who live in a warmer climate. Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman has posted a photo of the gorgeous view outside his guest bedroom window in Minnesota. Even this blog ought to have something pretty in it occasionally.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Hard Truth From Orlando
There’s a big story on Christian Bible references engraved
on U.S. gun sights by the manufacturer is in the news today.
A practice for some years (and an open ‘secret’ on the Internet
and in military circles) is the placing of Biblical verse references
on gun sights manufactured and sold to the U.S. military by
Trijicon. It’s a clever idea – kind of like being a kid again and
decoding a message with your magic decoder ring – only in this
case, you need a Christian Bible instead of the ring. Yeah, it’s
kind of cool when you have nothing else to do and the biggest
enemy a soldier has (per Rudyard Kipling) is boredom. It
even plays to the violent video game mentality so prevalent in
our younger generation to have a reference that reads the
classic “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out” or “There
shouldn’t be any divisions among you, but you must all learn
to think the same way and share the same opinions” from 1
Corinthians or “you should hand such a man over to the
Opposer for the destruction of his flesh” – also from
Corinthians. I mean, no one can top the Bible for great
rhetoric and pithy quotes for every occasion.
But there’s a problem with the practice. It’s illegal. And
it’s illegal for a reason. It’s a violation of Constitutional
Law – specifically, the First Amendment, and the U.S.
military is supposed to be an impartial enforcement
agency of that Constitutional law. Therefore, endorsing
this practice – or turning a blind eye to it, compromises
the integrity of our military mission, at home or overseas.
Worse still, it makes us hypocrites in the eyes of the
non-Christian world.
Scarier for Americans, though, it’s representative of a
deeper, more invidious situation developed in our military
hierarchy over the last 25 or so years – the unspoken but
real culture of mandatory Christianity in the American
Armed Forces.
An officer of the Central Command orchestrating the
ongoing war against terrorist and insurgency in
Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan -- some major,
but not the commander, who’s hopefully smarter than
that -- said he doesn’t see a problem with Bible verse
references on weapons. It’s just like “In God We Trust”
on the back of the U.S. dollar bill, he says. Basically, he
implies, “What’s the big deal?” I’ll just bet he’s a
member of the Christian Officers Society and he really
doesn’t see the big deal in proselytizing, or appearing to
proselytize, when the U.S. is engaged in a war against
an enemy who recruits against us because they’re on a
jihad – a holy war. He doesn’t see the practice of Bible
verses on weapons as fuel feeding the fire – or even as
a profound violation of the civil rights of American soldiers
by the endorsement of a particular religion’s credo on the
very equipment they’re required to carry.
He’s probably the same guy who doesn’t understand why
the ACLU keeps filing, and winning, lawsuits against schools
for prayer before games and classes, nativity scenes on
government property, the Ten Commandments in
courthouses – because he’s part of what many consider
the “majority” religion in this country. He fails to see any
harm in insisting everyone and everything meet a religious
standard, because after all, his is a real religion, but theirs isn’t.
And he’s also the kind of guy who is about to cost the U.S.
a ton of money in legal fees because he is part and parcel
of a culture of Christian fundamentalist military leaders
who continually violate the Constitution of the United
States to which they have sworn an oath. A former
White House Attorney, military man from a long family
history of military service, Mikey Weinstein, founder of
the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, reports that
he has been contacted by more than 5,000 active duty
and retired soldiers, many of whom served or serve in
Iraq, who told Weinstein that they were pressured by
their commanding officers to convert to Christianity.
And we’re not talking about the minority of American
soldiers who are Muslim or Jewish or atheist – we’re
talking about soldiers who just don’t subscribe to the
particular brand of evangelical Christianity espoused
by the military commanders engaged in this
discriminatory practice.
Seems we’re doomed to keep forgetting history – and not
just ancient history. In the 1800’s, the British had one
of the bloodiest mutinies in history when they packed
ammunition in animal grease and issued it to Hindu
soldiers in the employ of the British. The British
Christian officers didn’t see the big deal – it was cost
effective to prepare the ammunition this way. To the
Hindu soldiers, it was a deadly insult and sacrilege and
just underlined the reasons why the British should not
be allowed to impose their way of life on local populations
with utter disregard for indigenous culture, custom and
religion. At Fort Hood in the 1990’s, a group of soldiers
won a lawsuit which allowed them to practice their Wiccan
beliefs and rites on post property – the same rights
always enjoyed by Christian soldiers and Christian
chaplains – but rights only won by Jewish and other
minority soldiers in previous lawsuits years before.
We can’t show the Muslim world that we’re
and we’re not engaged in a religious war with them
when we openly subscribe to practices which impugn
our impartiality and dedication to freedom. We can’t
expect respect for our religious beliefs when we fail to
respect others. When a soldier puts on the uniform, he
is now a representative of all Americans – not just his
race, culture or religious belief. He represents true
democracy.
So get rid of the Bible references on the weapon sights
or find a new secular manufacturer. Retire those sights
already issued and sell the old ones on E-Bay as
collectibles of politically incorrect military history.
American soldiers lead by example – let’s make sure
we’re setting the right one – not the religious one.
Florida Cracker
on U.S. gun sights by the manufacturer is in the news today.
A practice for some years (and an open ‘secret’ on the Internet
and in military circles) is the placing of Biblical verse references
on gun sights manufactured and sold to the U.S. military by
Trijicon. It’s a clever idea – kind of like being a kid again and
decoding a message with your magic decoder ring – only in this
case, you need a Christian Bible instead of the ring. Yeah, it’s
kind of cool when you have nothing else to do and the biggest
enemy a soldier has (per Rudyard Kipling) is boredom. It
even plays to the violent video game mentality so prevalent in
our younger generation to have a reference that reads the
classic “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out” or “There
shouldn’t be any divisions among you, but you must all learn
to think the same way and share the same opinions” from 1
Corinthians or “you should hand such a man over to the
Opposer for the destruction of his flesh” – also from
Corinthians. I mean, no one can top the Bible for great
rhetoric and pithy quotes for every occasion.
But there’s a problem with the practice. It’s illegal. And
it’s illegal for a reason. It’s a violation of Constitutional
Law – specifically, the First Amendment, and the U.S.
military is supposed to be an impartial enforcement
agency of that Constitutional law. Therefore, endorsing
this practice – or turning a blind eye to it, compromises
the integrity of our military mission, at home or overseas.
Worse still, it makes us hypocrites in the eyes of the
non-Christian world.
Scarier for Americans, though, it’s representative of a
deeper, more invidious situation developed in our military
hierarchy over the last 25 or so years – the unspoken but
real culture of mandatory Christianity in the American
Armed Forces.
An officer of the Central Command orchestrating the
ongoing war against terrorist and insurgency in
Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan -- some major,
but not the commander, who’s hopefully smarter than
that -- said he doesn’t see a problem with Bible verse
references on weapons. It’s just like “In God We Trust”
on the back of the U.S. dollar bill, he says. Basically, he
implies, “What’s the big deal?” I’ll just bet he’s a
member of the Christian Officers Society and he really
doesn’t see the big deal in proselytizing, or appearing to
proselytize, when the U.S. is engaged in a war against
an enemy who recruits against us because they’re on a
jihad – a holy war. He doesn’t see the practice of Bible
verses on weapons as fuel feeding the fire – or even as
a profound violation of the civil rights of American soldiers
by the endorsement of a particular religion’s credo on the
very equipment they’re required to carry.
He’s probably the same guy who doesn’t understand why
the ACLU keeps filing, and winning, lawsuits against schools
for prayer before games and classes, nativity scenes on
government property, the Ten Commandments in
courthouses – because he’s part of what many consider
the “majority” religion in this country. He fails to see any
harm in insisting everyone and everything meet a religious
standard, because after all, his is a real religion, but theirs isn’t.
And he’s also the kind of guy who is about to cost the U.S.
a ton of money in legal fees because he is part and parcel
of a culture of Christian fundamentalist military leaders
who continually violate the Constitution of the United
States to which they have sworn an oath. A former
White House Attorney, military man from a long family
history of military service, Mikey Weinstein, founder of
the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, reports that
he has been contacted by more than 5,000 active duty
and retired soldiers, many of whom served or serve in
Iraq, who told Weinstein that they were pressured by
their commanding officers to convert to Christianity.
And we’re not talking about the minority of American
soldiers who are Muslim or Jewish or atheist – we’re
talking about soldiers who just don’t subscribe to the
particular brand of evangelical Christianity espoused
by the military commanders engaged in this
discriminatory practice.
Seems we’re doomed to keep forgetting history – and not
just ancient history. In the 1800’s, the British had one
of the bloodiest mutinies in history when they packed
ammunition in animal grease and issued it to Hindu
soldiers in the employ of the British. The British
Christian officers didn’t see the big deal – it was cost
effective to prepare the ammunition this way. To the
Hindu soldiers, it was a deadly insult and sacrilege and
just underlined the reasons why the British should not
be allowed to impose their way of life on local populations
with utter disregard for indigenous culture, custom and
religion. At Fort Hood in the 1990’s, a group of soldiers
won a lawsuit which allowed them to practice their Wiccan
beliefs and rites on post property – the same rights
always enjoyed by Christian soldiers and Christian
chaplains – but rights only won by Jewish and other
minority soldiers in previous lawsuits years before.
We can’t show the Muslim world that we’re
and we’re not engaged in a religious war with them
when we openly subscribe to practices which impugn
our impartiality and dedication to freedom. We can’t
expect respect for our religious beliefs when we fail to
respect others. When a soldier puts on the uniform, he
is now a representative of all Americans – not just his
race, culture or religious belief. He represents true
democracy.
So get rid of the Bible references on the weapon sights
or find a new secular manufacturer. Retire those sights
already issued and sell the old ones on E-Bay as
collectibles of politically incorrect military history.
American soldiers lead by example – let’s make sure
we’re setting the right one – not the religious one.
Florida Cracker
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Thought For Today
"Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain." - Friedrich von Schiller
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Hard Truth From Orlando
I like this current brouhaha about Democrat Harry Reid’s
reported racist remarks. He apparently made the statementsome time ago that because presidential candidate Obama
was a light-skinned African-American and spoke grammatically
good English with good enunciation (“didn’t sound Negro”) that
he had a good chance in the presidential campaign. Apparently,
some Republicans want Harry Reid to resign for his “racist”
remarks. Since when do people resign for telling the truth?
And which part was racist; that Obama’s light-skinned,
speaks Standard American English -- or is the word Negro
just no longer politically correct?
I didn’t vote for Obama because he was “African-American”
and we need to put an “African-American” in the White
House. And I didn’t just vote for the Democratic ticket
because I was so sick of the Bush-boys and their
hard-headed, let’s-go-back-to-the-fifties policies that
any Democrat would do. I supported Hillary first because
I thought she was the best choice of all those running for
office at the time. I still support Hillary, but Obama
wasn’t a bad second choice of the candidates available.
But I have to say right up front, if Obama had been
named something illiterate and idiotic like Anfernee
(instead of Anthony) or Dontravious (which has no
meaning in any language) and flashed gang signs during
his speech and sprinkled his oration with unintelligible
inner-city street slang and constant hip-hop references,
I would have voted for a cardboard cut-out of anybody
else. I don’t want to flinch when my president opens
his mouth in front of the world.
Does that make me racist? Possibly, but statistics are
in my favor. We needed a president who communicates
effectively with the heads of other nations, who reflects
the American ideal of equality before the law and personal
achievement. Obama does that – whether you agree that
he represents mainstream American values or not. Harry
Reid was dead on when he said Obama had a good chance
of being elected because he didn’t fit the stereotypical
African-American. And if African-Americans don’t like
the stereotype, they need to work on their image, just
like everyone else.
Frankly, though, I haven’t heard African-Americans
quibbling about Reid’s remarks, only some Republicans.
I guess nothing is too trivial to squabble about when your
party can’t come to the table with any realistic means of
tackling the big issues of recession, unemployment,
poverty, illegal immigration, spiraling international debt,
financial corruption at the top levels of our monetary
institutions, wars in multiple countries, terrorism and
illegal drug trafficking. Political correctness –
always a priority when you’re teetering on the brink of
national disaster. Uh-huh.
Florida Cracker
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Weekly World News
http://books.google.com/books/serial/ISSN:0199574X?rview=1&lr=&sa=N&start=0
Back print issues can now be found on Google Books.
Back print issues can now be found on Google Books.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
The Thought For Today
"A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences." - Dave Meurer
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Thought For Today
"To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best." - Margaret Thatcher
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Anybody can become angry -- that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not within everybody's power and is not easy." - Aristotle
The Hard Truth From Orlando
To paraphrase the old murder rhyme, “And Knox the girl who bought the beef.”
Well, the verdict is finally in on the Amanda Knox murder trial. She’s been tried a by a jury of Italians (I doubt we’d consider them peers) and found guilty of the murder of her British roommate. Of course, there’s reasonable doubt that she in fact committed the murder or had anything directly to do with it. But make no mistake, Amanda was guilty. She was guilty of being a typical self-centered American twit who went to a foreign country, allegedly on a study program, and instead acted like she was still attending her local community college. She partied, ran around with trash, talked trash, had sex with guys she wasn’t engaged to, and generally acted in a manner guaranteed to bring negative attention to herself. Then when her roommate was murdered and she was brought in for questioning, she continued to behave like a Barbie blow-up doll, smooching all over her boyfriend in the police station, giggling and being egocentrically stupid while her butchered roommate lay, grotesquely murdered, in the morgue.
And personally, I wonder if it wasn’t Amanda who, if she didn’t kill her erstwhile roomie with her own hands, indirectly caused her roommate’s death by drawing the murderer’s attention to herself and her residence, or – as in so many American murders, opening the door to the human riff-raff who perpetrated the crime. Most of us have had roommates like that – who welcome all comers, don’t lock up behind themselves, and invite people they’ve met in bars to “stay over.” They’re oblivious to their own safety and don’t give a damn about yours. They run their mouths about their personal business in public places and they’re not averse to telling yours at the same time. And to compound Amanda’s error, she did it in a foreign country.
What most Americans don’t realize is how poor a reputation we have overseas. Our movies portray us as drugged-out, sex-crazy, fornicating at the tug of a zipper, with no sense of shame, decorum or modesty. And then our young men and women go overseas and prove it, because – hey, I’m not home. Nobody at home is going to know what I’m doing. And the folks are not here to tell me how to behave.
Italy is not Vegas – and what happens in Italy , doesn’t necessarily stay in Italy .
Amanda’s learned what hundreds of other young Americans overseas have learned. You don’t have the same civil rights overseas that you do here in the United States . In foreign legal systems, innuendo and hearsay are treated as facts and you can be convicted solely based on the impression you make on the people around you. By Italian standards, she behaved like a common whore, cavorting with low-lifes and freaks; her reactions to the crime were callous and disaffected. Her credibility was shot before she ever came in the courtroom, due entirely to the impression she made on her Italian neighbors and the police. And no matter what her parents and country do, she’s derailed her future and her family’s with her lousy sophomoric decisions.
Amanda ostensibly went to Italy for an education. I’d say she got one. I hope others learn from her, but I doubt it.
Florida Cracker
Well, the verdict is finally in on the Amanda Knox murder trial. She’s been tried a by a jury of Italians (I doubt we’d consider them peers) and found guilty of the murder of her British roommate. Of course, there’s reasonable doubt that she in fact committed the murder or had anything directly to do with it. But make no mistake, Amanda was guilty. She was guilty of being a typical self-centered American twit who went to a foreign country, allegedly on a study program, and instead acted like she was still attending her local community college. She partied, ran around with trash, talked trash, had sex with guys she wasn’t engaged to, and generally acted in a manner guaranteed to bring negative attention to herself. Then when her roommate was murdered and she was brought in for questioning, she continued to behave like a Barbie blow-up doll, smooching all over her boyfriend in the police station, giggling and being egocentrically stupid while her butchered roommate lay, grotesquely murdered, in the morgue.
And personally, I wonder if it wasn’t Amanda who, if she didn’t kill her erstwhile roomie with her own hands, indirectly caused her roommate’s death by drawing the murderer’s attention to herself and her residence, or – as in so many American murders, opening the door to the human riff-raff who perpetrated the crime. Most of us have had roommates like that – who welcome all comers, don’t lock up behind themselves, and invite people they’ve met in bars to “stay over.” They’re oblivious to their own safety and don’t give a damn about yours. They run their mouths about their personal business in public places and they’re not averse to telling yours at the same time. And to compound Amanda’s error, she did it in a foreign country.
What most Americans don’t realize is how poor a reputation we have overseas. Our movies portray us as drugged-out, sex-crazy, fornicating at the tug of a zipper, with no sense of shame, decorum or modesty. And then our young men and women go overseas and prove it, because – hey, I’m not home. Nobody at home is going to know what I’m doing. And the folks are not here to tell me how to behave.
Italy is not Vegas – and what happens in Italy , doesn’t necessarily stay in Italy .
Amanda’s learned what hundreds of other young Americans overseas have learned. You don’t have the same civil rights overseas that you do here in the United States . In foreign legal systems, innuendo and hearsay are treated as facts and you can be convicted solely based on the impression you make on the people around you. By Italian standards, she behaved like a common whore, cavorting with low-lifes and freaks; her reactions to the crime were callous and disaffected. Her credibility was shot before she ever came in the courtroom, due entirely to the impression she made on her Italian neighbors and the police. And no matter what her parents and country do, she’s derailed her future and her family’s with her lousy sophomoric decisions.
Amanda ostensibly went to Italy for an education. I’d say she got one. I hope others learn from her, but I doubt it.
Florida Cracker
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Burger King Showercam
I can't wait until the HD version comes out...and I really, really, miss British advertising...
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
The Hard Truth From Orlando: An Open Letter
Monday, 12/7/09
XXXXXXXXXXX Street
Orlando, FL XXXXX
TO: Senator Bill Nelson
United States Senate
716 Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
re: Health reform
I'm not optimistic about the healthcare bill passing. As usual, the Republicans have started waving the Anti-Abortion red flag around in order to derail any healthcare initiative. You know, I'd rather pay for abortion on demand than the endless expenses of the unwanted, abused and neglected children produced by our nation's wholly inadequate sex education and counseling programs -- inadequate because Republicans and the so-called Moral Majority and Religious Right refuse to move forward into the 21st century.
The "just say no" approach isn't and never was rational or realistic. We've restricted adequate healthcare and counseling to minors based on the faulty premise that it is the parents who are primarily responsible for their children's well-being and information. Well, statistics show that we don't have a country of uniformly responsible and rational parents. Minors need alternatives for rational, unbiased information and resources. Meaningful school sex-education has been brought to a standstill by Republicans and special religious interest groups. Access to reproductive healthcare is restricted both by gender and age -- disparately impacting underage but reproductive-age women. I would think that was grounds for anti-discrimination measures, but our patriarchal legislators don't seem to see past what they want for their affluent, educated daughters toward what's just and equable for all the young women of this country.
Arguments about my tax money being paid for abortions doesn't wash, either. Ask any tax payer, if it's an inexpensive abortion or footing the bill for 18 years of welfare programs and anti-poverty initiatives for an unwanted child and its mother, which would you rather pay? Which could you afford to pay? And healthcare for women is already biased. Many healthcare providers don't cover contraceptives and some reproductive procedures for women -- but they pay for Viagra for men. Like the cigarette industry, healthcare insurance corporations are intent on breeding an endless supply of consumers.
Well, I'm tired of footing the bill. I'm tired of the rhetoric and I'm tired of legislators who live in the rarified atmosphere of Washington deciding how best I'm to be served, based on their lifestyles and religious beliefs. Put the vote directly to us, the regular taxpayers, on whether we want the healthcare reforms. End the insurance industry's stranglehold on our financial futures, the medical profession's insane prices for service, and get us some realistic options.
And tell the Republicans, if they want to be the fathers of their country -- fine. Every woman who has a child she didn't plan for and can't afford should be able to put a Republican representative's name on the birth certificate and let him pay child support. Watch how fast abortion becomes sacrosanct.
Good luck up on the Hill. I know you're trying.
Florida Cracker
XXXXXXXXXXX Street
Orlando, FL XXXXX
TO: Senator Bill Nelson
United States Senate
716 Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
re: Health reform
I'm not optimistic about the healthcare bill passing. As usual, the Republicans have started waving the Anti-Abortion red flag around in order to derail any healthcare initiative. You know, I'd rather pay for abortion on demand than the endless expenses of the unwanted, abused and neglected children produced by our nation's wholly inadequate sex education and counseling programs -- inadequate because Republicans and the so-called Moral Majority and Religious Right refuse to move forward into the 21st century.
The "just say no" approach isn't and never was rational or realistic. We've restricted adequate healthcare and counseling to minors based on the faulty premise that it is the parents who are primarily responsible for their children's well-being and information. Well, statistics show that we don't have a country of uniformly responsible and rational parents. Minors need alternatives for rational, unbiased information and resources. Meaningful school sex-education has been brought to a standstill by Republicans and special religious interest groups. Access to reproductive healthcare is restricted both by gender and age -- disparately impacting underage but reproductive-age women. I would think that was grounds for anti-discrimination measures, but our patriarchal legislators don't seem to see past what they want for their affluent, educated daughters toward what's just and equable for all the young women of this country.
Arguments about my tax money being paid for abortions doesn't wash, either. Ask any tax payer, if it's an inexpensive abortion or footing the bill for 18 years of welfare programs and anti-poverty initiatives for an unwanted child and its mother, which would you rather pay? Which could you afford to pay? And healthcare for women is already biased. Many healthcare providers don't cover contraceptives and some reproductive procedures for women -- but they pay for Viagra for men. Like the cigarette industry, healthcare insurance corporations are intent on breeding an endless supply of consumers.
Well, I'm tired of footing the bill. I'm tired of the rhetoric and I'm tired of legislators who live in the rarified atmosphere of Washington deciding how best I'm to be served, based on their lifestyles and religious beliefs. Put the vote directly to us, the regular taxpayers, on whether we want the healthcare reforms. End the insurance industry's stranglehold on our financial futures, the medical profession's insane prices for service, and get us some realistic options.
And tell the Republicans, if they want to be the fathers of their country -- fine. Every woman who has a child she didn't plan for and can't afford should be able to put a Republican representative's name on the birth certificate and let him pay child support. Watch how fast abortion becomes sacrosanct.
Good luck up on the Hill. I know you're trying.
Florida Cracker
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Friday, December 04, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Rec: Microwave Roux (no more sweating over the stove for us lazy folk)
For Four Cups Of Roux
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup green bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, tops included,chopped
1/4 cup hot water, approximately
Mix oil and flour together in a 4 cup glass container (I use a
Pyrex 4c. cup). Microwave uncovered on HIGH for 6-7 minutes.
Stir at 6 minutes with a wooden spoon - roux will be a light
brown at this time and will need to cook 30 seconds to 1
minute longer to reach the dark brown color so important
in making Louisiana gumbos and stews. The roux will be
VERY HOT, but usually the handle on your measuring cup
will stay cool enough to touch. When the roux has reached
a very dark brown (think a coffee grounds dark brown),
remove from microwave and CAREFULLY (remember-
the roux is very hot!) add the onion, celery, and bell pepper,
a little at a time. Stir and return to microwave. Saute' on
HIGH for 2 minutes. You should now have about 3 3/4 cups
of roux. If any oil has risen to the top, you can pour this off.
Slowly, add enough hot water to bring the roux to the 4 cup
mark. Stir and you will have a smooth, dark roux in only 12
minutes! Roux freezes very well and you are ready at any
time to put together a delicious gumbo or stew.
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup green bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, tops included,chopped
1/4 cup hot water, approximately
Mix oil and flour together in a 4 cup glass container (I use a
Pyrex 4c. cup). Microwave uncovered on HIGH for 6-7 minutes.
Stir at 6 minutes with a wooden spoon - roux will be a light
brown at this time and will need to cook 30 seconds to 1
minute longer to reach the dark brown color so important
in making Louisiana gumbos and stews. The roux will be
VERY HOT, but usually the handle on your measuring cup
will stay cool enough to touch. When the roux has reached
a very dark brown (think a coffee grounds dark brown),
remove from microwave and CAREFULLY (remember-
the roux is very hot!) add the onion, celery, and bell pepper,
a little at a time. Stir and return to microwave. Saute' on
HIGH for 2 minutes. You should now have about 3 3/4 cups
of roux. If any oil has risen to the top, you can pour this off.
Slowly, add enough hot water to bring the roux to the 4 cup
mark. Stir and you will have a smooth, dark roux in only 12
minutes! Roux freezes very well and you are ready at any
time to put together a delicious gumbo or stew.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Human Space Flight (HSF) - Orbital Tracking
Human Space Flight (HSF) - Orbital Tracking
Now that the shuttle is on it's way, you might find this handy. With this Site you can track the shuttle and the ISS. It also includes some information on conditions aboard the shuttle.
Now that the shuttle is on it's way, you might find this handy. With this Site you can track the shuttle and the ISS. It also includes some information on conditions aboard the shuttle.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Charity Navigator - America's Largest Charity Evaluator
Charity Navigator - America's Largest Charity Evaluator
This is the time of year when the mail is stuffed with catalogs and charity appeals. I can't do anything about the catalogs, but this Site can give you an idea of which charities are worth while and which ones waste your donations. Read up on them BEFORE you write that check.
This is the time of year when the mail is stuffed with catalogs and charity appeals. I can't do anything about the catalogs, but this Site can give you an idea of which charities are worth while and which ones waste your donations. Read up on them BEFORE you write that check.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Rec: Sauteed Duck Foie Gras
1/2 pound piece raw Grade A duck foie gras at room
temperature, cleaned and deveined
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
After deveining, cut the foie gras crosswise into 1/2
inch thick pieces, then season with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 teaspoon of the canola oil in a 10 inch heavy
skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not
smoking. Saute half the foie gras until golden, 45 to 60
seconds on each side (it will be pink inside). Quickly
transfer to a paper towel to drain and discard fat in
skillet. Saute the rest of the foie gras the same way,
then discard all all but 1 tablespoon of remaining fat in
skillet. Add 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and bring
to a boil. Serve foie gras with sauce.
Serves 2 to 4
Will not reheat well
temperature, cleaned and deveined
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
After deveining, cut the foie gras crosswise into 1/2
inch thick pieces, then season with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 teaspoon of the canola oil in a 10 inch heavy
skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not
smoking. Saute half the foie gras until golden, 45 to 60
seconds on each side (it will be pink inside). Quickly
transfer to a paper towel to drain and discard fat in
skillet. Saute the rest of the foie gras the same way,
then discard all all but 1 tablespoon of remaining fat in
skillet. Add 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and bring
to a boil. Serve foie gras with sauce.
Serves 2 to 4
Will not reheat well
Sunday, November 01, 2009
The Hard Truth From Orlando: BEWARE!
It’s all in the news about the 15 year-old girl who was gang-raped by who knows how many for over two hours while a crowd came and went, laughed, took pictures – and actively participated in her brutalization. Well, she’s alive. That’s in her favor when the case goes to court because otherwise, the perpetrators get to tell their version of the story and her side of the story is only reflected by forensics.
America is exhibiting a culture of progressively vicious female denigration, exploded into the mainstream by the incorporation of immigrants from rigidly patriarchal societies and segments of our own male-dominated criminal-class subcultures, reinforced constantly by popular media. It’s common every day to hear children of all ages say, “I’m going to make you my bitch.” Best pay attention to the ugly intention behind those kinds of claims and the dangerously derogatory perception of women and girls they imply.
Frankly, while I decry the cowardice of political correctness, I nonetheless hope some day to hear the word “bitch” treated the same as “nigger.” It’s not a word you should be allowed to use anywhere except in discussing canine pedigrees.
All of that aside, apparently young women today are a whole lot dumber than they used to be – or their mothers are so negligent as to not give their daughters some pointers on safety.
Rule number 1: Never trust a guy when it comes to your safety. Most sexual assaults are by someone you know and any time it’s about sex, it’s only about what he wants – not you. You put yourself in harm’s way; don’t be so surprised when you get hurt.
Rule number 2: Just because you’re acquainted with someone, doesn’t mean he’s your friend.
Rule number 3: Never, NEVER be the only female in or near a group of guys, even if you think you know one or more of them. Guys in a group do not act or think like individuals; they react as a pack and the girl almost immediately becomes the prey.
Rule number 4: NEVER drink with guys in an isolated or non-public area, NEVER accept a drink or leave your drink, and NEVER drink to the point you’re intoxicated or impaired. And the reason for that goes right back to Rule number 1: Never trust a guy with your safety.
I’m sure that young lady, if she survives and recovers, has learned the Rules. She’ll regret her poor decisions for the rest of her life. Her attackers and those who stood by and enjoyed the spectacle of someone else’s debasement and injury – well, they’re really sorry if they were caught. But they’re also asking, what’s the big deal? Because in our modern sociopathic society, it wasn’t.
The media are behind the times on this gang-rape episode. They keep trying to figure out why the guys were all cheering and participating and celebrating while the girl was being brutalized.
The dynamics are nothing like the bystander intervention we knew. This is truly a case of spectator sport – it was like watching a dogfight, something this group of guys participates in on a regular basis. She wasn’t human; she was just the thing that was being torn apart. Those guys never saw it as sex. They saw it as a pure act of violence – like throwing a rabbit in with the dogs – how long can it last?
That’s the real dynamics of this event.
Glad the girl survived – hope she’s tough enough for the aftermath. Maybe we’ll start exporting these little spawn of illegals – or putting a needle back in the arms of the sex offenders.
Florida Cracker
America is exhibiting a culture of progressively vicious female denigration, exploded into the mainstream by the incorporation of immigrants from rigidly patriarchal societies and segments of our own male-dominated criminal-class subcultures, reinforced constantly by popular media. It’s common every day to hear children of all ages say, “I’m going to make you my bitch.” Best pay attention to the ugly intention behind those kinds of claims and the dangerously derogatory perception of women and girls they imply.
Frankly, while I decry the cowardice of political correctness, I nonetheless hope some day to hear the word “bitch” treated the same as “nigger.” It’s not a word you should be allowed to use anywhere except in discussing canine pedigrees.
All of that aside, apparently young women today are a whole lot dumber than they used to be – or their mothers are so negligent as to not give their daughters some pointers on safety.
Rule number 1: Never trust a guy when it comes to your safety. Most sexual assaults are by someone you know and any time it’s about sex, it’s only about what he wants – not you. You put yourself in harm’s way; don’t be so surprised when you get hurt.
Rule number 2: Just because you’re acquainted with someone, doesn’t mean he’s your friend.
Rule number 3: Never, NEVER be the only female in or near a group of guys, even if you think you know one or more of them. Guys in a group do not act or think like individuals; they react as a pack and the girl almost immediately becomes the prey.
Rule number 4: NEVER drink with guys in an isolated or non-public area, NEVER accept a drink or leave your drink, and NEVER drink to the point you’re intoxicated or impaired. And the reason for that goes right back to Rule number 1: Never trust a guy with your safety.
I’m sure that young lady, if she survives and recovers, has learned the Rules. She’ll regret her poor decisions for the rest of her life. Her attackers and those who stood by and enjoyed the spectacle of someone else’s debasement and injury – well, they’re really sorry if they were caught. But they’re also asking, what’s the big deal? Because in our modern sociopathic society, it wasn’t.
The media are behind the times on this gang-rape episode. They keep trying to figure out why the guys were all cheering and participating and celebrating while the girl was being brutalized.
The dynamics are nothing like the bystander intervention we knew. This is truly a case of spectator sport – it was like watching a dogfight, something this group of guys participates in on a regular basis. She wasn’t human; she was just the thing that was being torn apart. Those guys never saw it as sex. They saw it as a pure act of violence – like throwing a rabbit in with the dogs – how long can it last?
That’s the real dynamics of this event.
Glad the girl survived – hope she’s tough enough for the aftermath. Maybe we’ll start exporting these little spawn of illegals – or putting a needle back in the arms of the sex offenders.
Florida Cracker
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Television is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome." - T.S. Eliot
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The Hard Truth From Orlando: Shut up and THINK!
I'm glad I did most of my formative years in the era of “low-tech.” I think it has probably made me a little more survivable in the face of catastrophe because I learned that screaming alone isn’t likely to save my life. I remember thinking “how cool” when the mobile phones came out – those big block phones with the fat antennas were state of the art when I was a probation officer. Probation officers then went into the field without communication – unless they took their own personal mobile phones or had a CB radio – and we didn’t get paid enough to afford either.
One day, I thought it would be a good idea to stay in touch with the office while I was out in the community checking on my bad guys and so signed out the office mobile phone.
Imagine my surprise when my boss called me not 15 minutes after I’d left the office to ask me if I’d received a letter pertaining to fees or fines or something on one of my 80-plus cases. I had to tell him I had no idea if the letter had come in; if he needed to know that urgently, he could a) check my inbox, b) pull the file and see if the letter was where it was supposed to be in the file, or c) I could drive back to the office and look for the letter myself and let him know. And all this conversation while I negotiated my standard shift car through heavy traffic in downtown streets and trying to balance that brick of a phone on my shoulder.
No, no, no – it’s not important, was his response, I was just wondering if you got that letter. He then called me four more times in the two hours I was out of the office to ask equally mundane housekeeping questions – things he never would ask me even when I was sitting in my office right across the hall from him. But somehow, knowing I had a phone and could be reached in the field, he felt obliged to call me every time a thought flitted through his head.
Thus endeth my enchantment with mobile phones – but not my frustration with people who seem to operate with the mouth perpetually in motion and the brain in idle.
The thing everyone says is, “you need a phone in case of an emergency.” Seemed to me having a mobile phone tended to manufacture crises – because people, if they know they can just reach out and touch someone, absolutely think they have to do just that – and for no particular reason. The mobile phone was a distraction, not an aid. I was safer without it because I paid attention to what I was doing, where I was going and what kind of situation I was heading into. I made a habit of planning ahead and therefore avoided the kind of emergencies that might have required a mobile phone.
It’s been 15 years since the mobile phone lesson. I finally got a cell phone and let my landline go – and it was money, not “in case of an emergency” that motivated me. I don’t know how to retrieve voicemail – if my friends and family want me, they can call back until I answer. And if I don’t want to answer, I don’t. I don’t take pictures with the camera feature. I don’t play video games or download ringtones or music. And I’m not so dumb as to think that the phone in my pocket makes me any safer by virtue of the fact I can “call someone in an emergency.”
You see, I know that the phone is to report an emergency; it’s not to save me in an emergency. Avoiding the emergency if possible and getting to a position of safety before reporting an emergency is my job – not the phone company’s and not the 911 dispatch operator’s.
I don’t know when people came to believe that their cell phones were tantamount to the proverbial Star Trek communication devices and all you have to say is, “Beam me up, Scotty!” to get out of whatever predicament you’re in. But in recent weeks, we’ve had two spectacular cases of people dying in emergency situations while apparently expecting 911 dispatchers to figure out how to save them.
In one case, the fellow and his family were in a car with a piece of carpeting wedged over the accelerator pedal, racing over 100 mph into a busy intersection and into a fatal collision. In the other, the lady was in her minivan when she drove into floodwaters; the vehicle was picked up by the floods and washed up for several minutes against some trees before it overturned and sank with her inside. Hideous, preventable deaths – a loss to their families and their communities, but their deaths are meaningless if we don’t pay attention to the real lessons that should be learned from these tragedies.
In both cases, the victims, rather than using both hands and all of their brains to attempt to regain control of themselves and their situation – or at least minimize their immediate risk, grabbed their cell phones and quit thinking. I understand that in a panic people are reacting – not thinking. But thinking is what you have to do first if you want to stay alive.
In the jammed gas pedal case, there were several critical seconds the driver had to respond to the rapidly accelerating car – I mean, common sense tells you the car didn’t just SUDDENLY reach 100 miles per hour – it takes time to get to that speed. There were other people in the car who could’ve talked to dispatch while the driver fought to free the accelerator from the upholstery. He could’ve slammed it into neutral – better a ruined transmission than being dead. He could’ve tried to lift the pedal by putting his foot under the pedal itself and lifting or reached down and jerked the floor pad back. He didn’t have long to react, but he had several critical seconds to recognize a problem and respond – and his response was to grab the cell phone, tying up one hand while trying to maneuver an out-of-control vehicle, and talk while attempting to survive an increasingly desperate situation -- a situation beyond the control of anything a 911 operator could have done.
In the minivan case, first, the woman drove into the floodwaters and the vehicle was washed off the road. This woman had over 12 minutes in the floating vehicle to figure out how to open a window or door or the back of the minivan and get into the trees the vehicle was wedged against BEFORE the vehicle filled up, overturned and sank. She spent the entire 12 minutes on the phone, panicked, crying for help until she drowned. Beyond keeping her head in an air pocket and the phone to her ear, there’s no indication she did anything significant to extricate herself.
A cell phone is not going to make you rape-proof, break-proof, abduction-proof, death-proof. It’s a reporting device. The people who answer your call are going to have to take precious minutes to figure out what kind of situation you’re in – and you’re the one who should know best; you’re already facing it. So put the phone down; it’s for reporting emergencies – not extricating you from them. Turn your mouth off, the brain on – and call after you’ve gotten yourself into a sustainable situation, not before.
But I think we all need to break the dependence on cell phones as decision-making devices and make a habit of leaving the things at home a couple times a week while we re-learn self-reliance and cognitive functioning. So my advice -- in an emergency, keep your hands free, shut up and THINK. Odds are you’ll live longer.
Florida Cracker
One day, I thought it would be a good idea to stay in touch with the office while I was out in the community checking on my bad guys and so signed out the office mobile phone.
Imagine my surprise when my boss called me not 15 minutes after I’d left the office to ask me if I’d received a letter pertaining to fees or fines or something on one of my 80-plus cases. I had to tell him I had no idea if the letter had come in; if he needed to know that urgently, he could a) check my inbox, b) pull the file and see if the letter was where it was supposed to be in the file, or c) I could drive back to the office and look for the letter myself and let him know. And all this conversation while I negotiated my standard shift car through heavy traffic in downtown streets and trying to balance that brick of a phone on my shoulder.
No, no, no – it’s not important, was his response, I was just wondering if you got that letter. He then called me four more times in the two hours I was out of the office to ask equally mundane housekeeping questions – things he never would ask me even when I was sitting in my office right across the hall from him. But somehow, knowing I had a phone and could be reached in the field, he felt obliged to call me every time a thought flitted through his head.
Thus endeth my enchantment with mobile phones – but not my frustration with people who seem to operate with the mouth perpetually in motion and the brain in idle.
The thing everyone says is, “you need a phone in case of an emergency.” Seemed to me having a mobile phone tended to manufacture crises – because people, if they know they can just reach out and touch someone, absolutely think they have to do just that – and for no particular reason. The mobile phone was a distraction, not an aid. I was safer without it because I paid attention to what I was doing, where I was going and what kind of situation I was heading into. I made a habit of planning ahead and therefore avoided the kind of emergencies that might have required a mobile phone.
It’s been 15 years since the mobile phone lesson. I finally got a cell phone and let my landline go – and it was money, not “in case of an emergency” that motivated me. I don’t know how to retrieve voicemail – if my friends and family want me, they can call back until I answer. And if I don’t want to answer, I don’t. I don’t take pictures with the camera feature. I don’t play video games or download ringtones or music. And I’m not so dumb as to think that the phone in my pocket makes me any safer by virtue of the fact I can “call someone in an emergency.”
You see, I know that the phone is to report an emergency; it’s not to save me in an emergency. Avoiding the emergency if possible and getting to a position of safety before reporting an emergency is my job – not the phone company’s and not the 911 dispatch operator’s.
I don’t know when people came to believe that their cell phones were tantamount to the proverbial Star Trek communication devices and all you have to say is, “Beam me up, Scotty!” to get out of whatever predicament you’re in. But in recent weeks, we’ve had two spectacular cases of people dying in emergency situations while apparently expecting 911 dispatchers to figure out how to save them.
In one case, the fellow and his family were in a car with a piece of carpeting wedged over the accelerator pedal, racing over 100 mph into a busy intersection and into a fatal collision. In the other, the lady was in her minivan when she drove into floodwaters; the vehicle was picked up by the floods and washed up for several minutes against some trees before it overturned and sank with her inside. Hideous, preventable deaths – a loss to their families and their communities, but their deaths are meaningless if we don’t pay attention to the real lessons that should be learned from these tragedies.
In both cases, the victims, rather than using both hands and all of their brains to attempt to regain control of themselves and their situation – or at least minimize their immediate risk, grabbed their cell phones and quit thinking. I understand that in a panic people are reacting – not thinking. But thinking is what you have to do first if you want to stay alive.
In the jammed gas pedal case, there were several critical seconds the driver had to respond to the rapidly accelerating car – I mean, common sense tells you the car didn’t just SUDDENLY reach 100 miles per hour – it takes time to get to that speed. There were other people in the car who could’ve talked to dispatch while the driver fought to free the accelerator from the upholstery. He could’ve slammed it into neutral – better a ruined transmission than being dead. He could’ve tried to lift the pedal by putting his foot under the pedal itself and lifting or reached down and jerked the floor pad back. He didn’t have long to react, but he had several critical seconds to recognize a problem and respond – and his response was to grab the cell phone, tying up one hand while trying to maneuver an out-of-control vehicle, and talk while attempting to survive an increasingly desperate situation -- a situation beyond the control of anything a 911 operator could have done.
In the minivan case, first, the woman drove into the floodwaters and the vehicle was washed off the road. This woman had over 12 minutes in the floating vehicle to figure out how to open a window or door or the back of the minivan and get into the trees the vehicle was wedged against BEFORE the vehicle filled up, overturned and sank. She spent the entire 12 minutes on the phone, panicked, crying for help until she drowned. Beyond keeping her head in an air pocket and the phone to her ear, there’s no indication she did anything significant to extricate herself.
A cell phone is not going to make you rape-proof, break-proof, abduction-proof, death-proof. It’s a reporting device. The people who answer your call are going to have to take precious minutes to figure out what kind of situation you’re in – and you’re the one who should know best; you’re already facing it. So put the phone down; it’s for reporting emergencies – not extricating you from them. Turn your mouth off, the brain on – and call after you’ve gotten yourself into a sustainable situation, not before.
But I think we all need to break the dependence on cell phones as decision-making devices and make a habit of leaving the things at home a couple times a week while we re-learn self-reliance and cognitive functioning. So my advice -- in an emergency, keep your hands free, shut up and THINK. Odds are you’ll live longer.
Florida Cracker
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Hard Truth From Orlando: Kanye, Serena, Wilson -- aren't they special?
We have an epidemic of rude. And yes, I think it goes back to lousy parenting and the bizarre sense of entitlement which has become pervasive in our society. It’s that my-kid-is-special and nobody is allowed to fail or be shut out. No one is required to conform unless the behavior violates specified legal terms. The “see me, see me, see me; I’m important” behavior is everywhere and everywhere, regular citizens are expected to put up with it while trying to continue to produce and comply with civil standards the “entitled” people are free to ignore.
A mini-cosmos of the national problem is enacted everyday in the classrooms across the country.
You could talk for days about the mandatory “inclusion” of so-called special needs children in classrooms – many of whom simply need real parents. This policy stems from the bad old days when if your child had a physical disability or a slight learning disability, they were immediately shunted off to a “special ed” class, relegated to the leftover educational resources. So now, we’ve gone totally the other way. Children of normal aptitude are expected to perform today in situations we adults file lawsuits on if we are subjected to them in our workplace.
Nowadays, it doesn’t matter if your child is a screaming lunatic with outbursts of homicidal insanity, a threat to themselves and every child around them; they are “mainstreamed” into the classrooms with regular, everyday compliant kids who are in public school to get the legislated education. So your average kid is expected to become proficient in his lessons with Mr. ADHD on his specially designed bouncy seat (yeah, there’s such a thing) next to him, thudding away and twitching and muttering to himself or Mr. or Ms. ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) challenging the teacher, disrupting the class, threatening the students around him.
The kids with problems learn that they don’t have to comply to be accepted into the group. Their inclusion is mandatory, no matter how egregious their behavior. They don’t have to earn attention by good behavior and positive achievement – they become used to having a captive audience to whatever whim passes their way. They’re “special” and they get told this every day. And they have parents who know what their “rights” are, even if they don’t have a clue what parenting is really about.
And regular kids – well, they learn that bad behavior is acceptable and mirror it accordingly, or struggle in silence until they can find another environment or give up and drop out.
We need to start practicing “exclusion” again for incivility and failure to comply. Parents of “special kids” need to foot the bill for their child’s failure to adapt or comply with social norms – their parenting failures are not the community’s responsibility to repair. I don’t see any reason to leave a child behind; I also see no reason to stop the wagon to pick one up if he chooses to jump off. Poor choices need real consequences.
Florida Cracker
A mini-cosmos of the national problem is enacted everyday in the classrooms across the country.
You could talk for days about the mandatory “inclusion” of so-called special needs children in classrooms – many of whom simply need real parents. This policy stems from the bad old days when if your child had a physical disability or a slight learning disability, they were immediately shunted off to a “special ed” class, relegated to the leftover educational resources. So now, we’ve gone totally the other way. Children of normal aptitude are expected to perform today in situations we adults file lawsuits on if we are subjected to them in our workplace.
Nowadays, it doesn’t matter if your child is a screaming lunatic with outbursts of homicidal insanity, a threat to themselves and every child around them; they are “mainstreamed” into the classrooms with regular, everyday compliant kids who are in public school to get the legislated education. So your average kid is expected to become proficient in his lessons with Mr. ADHD on his specially designed bouncy seat (yeah, there’s such a thing) next to him, thudding away and twitching and muttering to himself or Mr. or Ms. ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder) challenging the teacher, disrupting the class, threatening the students around him.
The kids with problems learn that they don’t have to comply to be accepted into the group. Their inclusion is mandatory, no matter how egregious their behavior. They don’t have to earn attention by good behavior and positive achievement – they become used to having a captive audience to whatever whim passes their way. They’re “special” and they get told this every day. And they have parents who know what their “rights” are, even if they don’t have a clue what parenting is really about.
And regular kids – well, they learn that bad behavior is acceptable and mirror it accordingly, or struggle in silence until they can find another environment or give up and drop out.
We need to start practicing “exclusion” again for incivility and failure to comply. Parents of “special kids” need to foot the bill for their child’s failure to adapt or comply with social norms – their parenting failures are not the community’s responsibility to repair. I don’t see any reason to leave a child behind; I also see no reason to stop the wagon to pick one up if he chooses to jump off. Poor choices need real consequences.
Florida Cracker
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Cookies.......not just for breakfast anymore.
Wired comes through again....this story was mentioned on incidents.org, an often-checked web site in my line of work....
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/you-deleted-your-cookies-think-again/
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/you-deleted-your-cookies-think-again/
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Rec: Lo-Cal Spanish Rice
This is a low-cal Spanish rice accompaniment for an entree. This dish takes a little chopping, so it's best for those days when you feel ambitious in the kitchen. It serves 4, but may be frozen in portions to microwave on other days. This is from Change One, the Reader's Digest diet.
Spanish Rice
1 medium onion, finely chopped (or 1/2 cup minced frozen onion)
1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 teaspoon jarred garlic)
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced (mild mushrooms, such as button)
2/3 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 cup low sodium tomato juice
1 cup low sodium chicken broth (or 1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup water)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
4 plum tomatoes, halved, seeded, and diced (or one 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes)
Lightly coat a deep nonstick skillet with cooking spray and saute the onion, green pepper, celery and garlic until the onion is almost soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and rice and saute until the rice turns golden, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the tomato juice, chicken broth, salt, black pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium-heat. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes.
Cover again and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes longer. Fluff with a fork to keep the rice from sticking, and remove the bay leaf before serving.
Spanish Rice
1 medium onion, finely chopped (or 1/2 cup minced frozen onion)
1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 teaspoon jarred garlic)
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced (mild mushrooms, such as button)
2/3 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 cup low sodium tomato juice
1 cup low sodium chicken broth (or 1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup water)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
4 plum tomatoes, halved, seeded, and diced (or one 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes)
Lightly coat a deep nonstick skillet with cooking spray and saute the onion, green pepper, celery and garlic until the onion is almost soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and rice and saute until the rice turns golden, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the tomato juice, chicken broth, salt, black pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium-heat. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes.
Cover again and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes longer. Fluff with a fork to keep the rice from sticking, and remove the bay leaf before serving.
Rec: Hollandaise for Beginners
So many cookbooks assume we know a lot more than we do. They give us a recipe but leave out the details involved in the process, then we wonder why we failed. Herewith, a hopeful guide to a simple Hollandaise for the beginner.
Hollandaise is famous because it's tasty, it's fattening, and it's supposedly difficult to make. The first two points are true but the last one is not. British home cook Nigella Lawson refers to Hollandaise as "a kind of hot mayonnaise" because it's composed primarily of eggs and butter, with a little lemon juice or white vinegar, and pepper for vital flavoring. The difficulty lies in cooking it so it's neither runny nor curdled. If it's runny, it means the eggs were not cooked sufficiently. If it's curdled it means you don't have a nearly pudding-like emulsion because the butter has separated from the other ingredients.
Making it properly is simplicity in itself, but it takes practice. First, I recommend dispensing with the double boiler most recipes demand. You don't need it. Secondly, I find using lemon juice and white vinegar together gives the sauce a piquant vibrancy, without being too lemony or too sour. Since that is a matter of taste, though, you will want to experiment.
Turn an electric burner onto medium-low, or gas onto low, and drop the egg yolks* into a small saucepan** along with the lemon juice and vinegar, cayenne pepper, salt and white pepper. Immediately start whisking the eggs. It should take two or three minutes of careful attention before they start to cook. As soon as the eggs start to thicken, turn the burner down one notch, otherwise they are likely to turn into scrambled eggs. If they start to solidify instead of thicken it means the heat was too high and you will just have to start over. If they don't thicken it means the heat isn't high enough, so turn up your burner a notch.
As soon as the eggs start to thicken, begin adding the butter a little at a time, whisking continuously. If the sauce starts to thin out, it means you're adding the butter too fast; either your butter chunks are too big or you're adding them too quickly. Either way it means too much butter at once, so adjust. After about five minutes of whisking, you should have a nice pudding-like Hollandaise. This is a good time to taste it, then adjust the seasonings. I find a nice fat pinch of cayenne is perfect, along with small pinches (or a couple of shakes) of salt and pepper. It's best to use white pepper, because then you don't have black specks in your sauce. As soon as the sauce is complete, take it off the burner. If you leave it on the heat it will almost certainly overheat and curdle. It will cool rapidly off the heat and thereby maintain it's consistency. It's best used as soon as possible, however.
Leftover Hollandaise can be successfully frozen, something nice to know since it's touchy and a bit time-consuming to make. It's also economical and convenient for a small household to make up a batch, knowing there will be some left for another meal. Heat frozen Hollandaise slowly on a very low burner, whisking or stirring constantly. Alternately, it will heat up nicely in the microwave. Again, a low setting is the key. Try the defrost setting for one to two minutes. If it's still partially frozen, then stir it and try heating for an additional 30 seconds at a time on an even lower setting, followed by a quick stir each time, until it reaches the proper consistency.
This is wonderful over asparagus, broccoli or salmon.
Hollandaise is famous because it's tasty, it's fattening, and it's supposedly difficult to make. The first two points are true but the last one is not. British home cook Nigella Lawson refers to Hollandaise as "a kind of hot mayonnaise" because it's composed primarily of eggs and butter, with a little lemon juice or white vinegar, and pepper for vital flavoring. The difficulty lies in cooking it so it's neither runny nor curdled. If it's runny, it means the eggs were not cooked sufficiently. If it's curdled it means you don't have a nearly pudding-like emulsion because the butter has separated from the other ingredients.
Making it properly is simplicity in itself, but it takes practice. First, I recommend dispensing with the double boiler most recipes demand. You don't need it. Secondly, I find using lemon juice and white vinegar together gives the sauce a piquant vibrancy, without being too lemony or too sour. Since that is a matter of taste, though, you will want to experiment.
2 egg yolks
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and white pepper
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons white vinegar
4 ounces (1 stick) butter, cut into half-inch pieces
Turn an electric burner onto medium-low, or gas onto low, and drop the egg yolks* into a small saucepan** along with the lemon juice and vinegar, cayenne pepper, salt and white pepper. Immediately start whisking the eggs. It should take two or three minutes of careful attention before they start to cook. As soon as the eggs start to thicken, turn the burner down one notch, otherwise they are likely to turn into scrambled eggs. If they start to solidify instead of thicken it means the heat was too high and you will just have to start over. If they don't thicken it means the heat isn't high enough, so turn up your burner a notch.
As soon as the eggs start to thicken, begin adding the butter a little at a time, whisking continuously. If the sauce starts to thin out, it means you're adding the butter too fast; either your butter chunks are too big or you're adding them too quickly. Either way it means too much butter at once, so adjust. After about five minutes of whisking, you should have a nice pudding-like Hollandaise. This is a good time to taste it, then adjust the seasonings. I find a nice fat pinch of cayenne is perfect, along with small pinches (or a couple of shakes) of salt and pepper. It's best to use white pepper, because then you don't have black specks in your sauce. As soon as the sauce is complete, take it off the burner. If you leave it on the heat it will almost certainly overheat and curdle. It will cool rapidly off the heat and thereby maintain it's consistency. It's best used as soon as possible, however.
Leftover Hollandaise can be successfully frozen, something nice to know since it's touchy and a bit time-consuming to make. It's also economical and convenient for a small household to make up a batch, knowing there will be some left for another meal. Heat frozen Hollandaise slowly on a very low burner, whisking or stirring constantly. Alternately, it will heat up nicely in the microwave. Again, a low setting is the key. Try the defrost setting for one to two minutes. If it's still partially frozen, then stir it and try heating for an additional 30 seconds at a time on an even lower setting, followed by a quick stir each time, until it reaches the proper consistency.
This is wonderful over asparagus, broccoli or salmon.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." - Ronald Reagan
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Thought For Today
"You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans." - Ronald Reagan
Monday, July 20, 2009
"According to Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: "Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted more than just an American flag on the moon. The lunar module had no overboard dump valve... Armstrong and Aldrin had to leave behind everything they could to lighten the lunar module for its blast-off from the moon - including the bags."
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails. " - Scottish Proverb
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one." - Scottish Proverb
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Conficker Work Group - ANY - RepairTools
Conficker Work Group - ANY - RepairTools
It looks like Conficker is waking up and stealing information. If you're still not sure if you have it or just want another check up, this is the place.
It looks like Conficker is waking up and stealing information. If you're still not sure if you have it or just want another check up, this is the place.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Barack Obama's czarlike wielding of executive power. - By Bruce Fein - Slate Magazine
Barack Obama's czarlike wielding of executive power. - By Bruce Fein - Slate Magazine
We had hoped for more from the new Pres. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
We had hoped for more from the new Pres. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
FreeCreditReport.com vs. AnnualCreditReport.com. - By Seth Stevenson - Slate Magazine
FreeCreditReport.com vs. AnnualCreditReport.com. - By Seth Stevenson - Slate Magazine
Read. This is something everyone should know about.
Read. This is something everyone should know about.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
The Five Dumbest Tariffs: As the global recession deepens, countries go to extreme lengths to prop up their ailing industries. | The Big Money
The Five Dumbest Tariffs: As the global recession deepens, countries go to extreme lengths to prop up their ailing industries. The Big Money
Government stupidity at it's finest.
Government stupidity at it's finest.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
The Two-Minute Haggadah - By Michael Rubiner - Slate Magazine
The Two-Minute Haggadah - By Michael Rubiner - Slate Magazine
Funny, but it does cover MOST of the basics. Sorry Elijah.
Funny, but it does cover MOST of the basics. Sorry Elijah.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Like everyone else who makes the mistake of getting older, I begin each day with coffee and obituaries." - Bill Cosby
Monday, April 06, 2009
The Thought For Today
"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The Thought For Today
"An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support." - Fulton J. Sheen
Monday, March 30, 2009
The Thought For Today
"The best index to a person's character is(a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and(b) how he treats people who can't fight back." - Abigail Van Buren
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
The Thought For Today
"If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires." - Abigail Van Buren
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place." - Abigail Van Buren
Space Eulogies: Shuttle-Riding Bat Dies The Most Glorious Death Imaginable
Space Eulogies: Shuttle-Riding Bat Dies The Most Glorious Death Imaginable
Just in case you missed it, I did. Glorious though it might have been, I'ld still prefer to ride on the INSIDE.
Just in case you missed it, I did. Glorious though it might have been, I'ld still prefer to ride on the INSIDE.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Deano Sez:
Well, he would, but he's passed out drunk on the living room rug and drooling on himself. As usual. Oh no, Deano, what did you do to your neighbor's poodle? I'm afraid that it's time to change your name and move again!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Eclectic Micks: HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY FROM FATHER JACK HACKETT!
Eclectic Micks: HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY FROM FATHER JACK HACKETT!
"Eclectic Micks are a collection of Irish professional comic book artists." Enjoy.
"Eclectic Micks are a collection of Irish professional comic book artists." Enjoy.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
EPA Fugitives | Criminal Enforcement | US EPA
EPA Fugitives Criminal Enforcement US EPA
Interesting Site. Bad men, one and all. Sadly, no corporate heads, only the small fish.
Interesting Site. Bad men, one and all. Sadly, no corporate heads, only the small fish.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." - John Wooden
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Thought For Today
"Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning..." - C. S. Lewis
Friday, March 06, 2009
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
The Thought For Today
"My advice to you is to get married. If you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not you'll become a philosopher." - Socrates
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
My computer has died for good so I don't know when I'll be back on line. I'll try and borrow one like this now and then, but...
Saturday, January 17, 2009
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK BY ROSY!
And since I haven't heard from her in a while, I have no idea why. Something about giant mutant crawfish with Uzis invading Shreveport. How you can let such trivial things stop you from Posting... *SIGH*
Saturday, January 10, 2009
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK BY ROSY!
Whoops, still no Posting? Too busy with all those wild parties? Poor Rosy, hangovers and the DTs are a pain. You really ought to stay away from the Everclear and Tang. What, do you think that you're working for NASA now?
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Thought For Today
"One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done." - Marie Curie
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Download Squad
Download Squad
This is the place to find out about new software as it becomes available for Windows, Mac and Linux. All sorts of handy reviews and previews.
This is the place to find out about new software as it becomes available for Windows, Mac and Linux. All sorts of handy reviews and previews.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
Another Abolition Movement
I guess it seemed a good idea at the time. Must be a lack of interest since it doesn't appear the site has had any activity since 2006. I'd be supportive if it meant that I never had to work day shift again.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
EFF: DeepLinks
EFF: DeepLinks
I'm reminded of a chorus to a song by Cher: "Thieves, thieves, tramps and thieves". A bit over a year and a half old, but still worth reading.
I'm reminded of a chorus to a song by Cher: "Thieves, thieves, tramps and thieves". A bit over a year and a half old, but still worth reading.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
EFF: List of Printers Which Do or Don't Print Tracking Dots
EFF: List of Printers Which Do or Don't Print Tracking Dots
Once again we have the government peeking over our shoulders. Scary stuff.
Once again we have the government peeking over our shoulders. Scary stuff.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
ThemeXP- Desktop Themes, Wallpapers, Screensavers, WinAmp Skins, and more!
ThemeXP- Desktop Themes, Wallpapers, Screensavers, WinAmp Skins, and more!
That pretty well describes the Site. Mostly for XP with a few for Vista.
That pretty well describes the Site. Mostly for XP with a few for Vista.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Join your local TAPS
Ok. I'm hooked. Ghost Hunters. So, find a local paranormal investigative group near you. I've found a few in my area and some who are taking applications. Hmmmm......I'm thinking of doing it. Let's see what they think about a Crime Scene Investigator checking for EVP.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
How To Get an Unbelievable, Amazing, Fantastic, Thrilling Deal on New Glasses
A great article from Slate magazine on buying eyeglasses online. It looks like you can save a bundle. Worth bookmarking for later.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
The Thought For Today
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite." - Winston Churchill
Monday, September 01, 2008
More Media B.S.
2 for 1 Monday. Had to post this one. More B.S. from the media. How do I know, you ask? Well, because I was the investigator in this case. AND.......I never said that she tried to make it appear as if someone had tried to break into the home. Also, Forsythe NEVER confronted her.
I just like how the media can say whatever they want, even when it is NOT true!
I just like how the media can say whatever they want, even when it is NOT true!
Consumers bite back
Not that this is anything new, but I was pissed today reading the paper, in particular an article about how companies are shrinking product size and keeping the price the same. Check out the Consumerist link above and search "shrinking product." And while you're at it, www.consumrworld.org has some good reading too.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movies and Games, Reviews and Previews
ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movies and Games, Reviews and Previews
My FAVORITE movie review site with the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) a close second. Both are on my "Favorites" list. I've found so many great movies that I had never heard of. Plus it's interesting to see what they have to say about movies from your younger years. "Hey, it wasn't THAT bad!"
My FAVORITE movie review site with the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) a close second. Both are on my "Favorites" list. I've found so many great movies that I had never heard of. Plus it's interesting to see what they have to say about movies from your younger years. "Hey, it wasn't THAT bad!"
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Thought For Today
"England and America are two countries separated by a common language." - George Bernard Shaw
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Patch to a patch
Need I say more.....?
Microsoft has posted new update packages, labeled Version 2, for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Service Pack 3" described in MS08-051, Vulnerabilities in Microsoft PowerPoint Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949785)
"Customers who manually installed Version 1 of this update from Microsoft Download Center need to reinstall Version 2 of this update.
Customers who have installed this update using Microsoft Update or Office Update do not need to reinstall".
Others should check with their patch management vendors.
The original patch "contained incorrect versions of the binaries. While these versions did protect against the vulnerabilities discussed in the bulletin, they lacked other important security and reliability updates".
Microsoft has posted new update packages, labeled Version 2, for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Service Pack 2 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Service Pack 3" described in MS08-051, Vulnerabilities in Microsoft PowerPoint Could Allow Remote Code Execution (949785)
"Customers who manually installed Version 1 of this update from Microsoft Download Center need to reinstall Version 2 of this update.
Customers who have installed this update using Microsoft Update or Office Update do not need to reinstall".
Others should check with their patch management vendors.
The original patch "contained incorrect versions of the binaries. While these versions did protect against the vulnerabilities discussed in the bulletin, they lacked other important security and reliability updates".
Monday, August 18, 2008
B Films not yet on DVD
So, I''m channel surfing and happen upon MST 3K the movie on HBO the other day. I miss that show. Naturally, watching that I had some horrible flashbacks of B films and booze and started surfing the net for more obscure films and found this little gem. Contained therein are some forgotten classics...and on the cheap if you want one.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
EFF Releases "Switzerland" ISP Testing Tool | Electronic Frontier Foundation
EFF Releases "Switzerland" ISP Testing Tool Electronic Frontier Foundation
"Hours before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to take action against Comcast for violating the FCC's net neutrality principles, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is releasing "Switzerland," a software tool for customers to test the integrity of their Internet communications." VERY handy.
"Hours before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to take action against Comcast for violating the FCC's net neutrality principles, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is releasing "Switzerland," a software tool for customers to test the integrity of their Internet communications." VERY handy.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
If you like music and are ever in Bethlehem, PA
Well, Musikfest is in full swing and celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Musikfest is quite the amazing event and becomes larger every year. Plenty of extra jobs for the public safety people. That's why I'm at the beach right now. Far away. Far, far away.
Check out the site. I wouldn't have minded working the Jethro Tull show, but I don't have enough seniority to get the good jobs yet.
I'll be gearing up and kilt ready for Celtic Fest, but that is a blog for another day.
Check out the site. I wouldn't have minded working the Jethro Tull show, but I don't have enough seniority to get the good jobs yet.
I'll be gearing up and kilt ready for Celtic Fest, but that is a blog for another day.
Situation resolved
The suit was settled the day after the first article hit the press. Now, after reading the comments on the papers site on the original article, the paper wrote it in such a way as everyone was bitching and moaning about how Flitter was demanding so much money for doggie baths. The media never mentioned that the suit was filed federally because the city was breaking a contract by not paying for care of the dogs. Additionally, the media failed to mention that the care costs also included food costs and grooming (other than baths).
Additonally, not that the paper would, but the paper didn't feel like mentioning the the K-9 officers spend about 20 hours a month training on their own time and doing demonstrations that the do not put in for overtime or additional pay. The K-9 officers were only suing because the city was not paying them what the law required.
Additonally, not that the paper would, but the paper didn't feel like mentioning the the K-9 officers spend about 20 hours a month training on their own time and doing demonstrations that the do not put in for overtime or additional pay. The K-9 officers were only suing because the city was not paying them what the law required.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thunderbird (Mozilla) patch
Almost didn't have a post, but Mozilla came through for me...
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/thunderbird20.html
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/thunderbird20.html
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Updates, always updates...
New Firefox is out!
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0.1/releasenotes/
Also, Adobe Reader 9 is out, but I'm holding off on any installations en masse at this point--most of my users can barely spell PDF, much less open one without hurting themselves, so I don't see a real need for moving up from version 8 at this point. The installer on their main page is huge and full of other crap- and beta-ware as I type this...if you're feeling brave, a smaller version without all the unnecessary trimmings is available on their FTP site. Pick the file that ends with US_Std.exe
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.0/enu
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0.1/releasenotes/
Also, Adobe Reader 9 is out, but I'm holding off on any installations en masse at this point--most of my users can barely spell PDF, much less open one without hurting themselves, so I don't see a real need for moving up from version 8 at this point. The installer on their main page is huge and full of other crap- and beta-ware as I type this...if you're feeling brave, a smaller version without all the unnecessary trimmings is available on their FTP site. Pick the file that ends with US_Std.exe
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.0/enu
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Laptops for the Wounded
Laptops for the Wounded
A group of nice people trying to do something good for our wounded Vets. Please read and help.
A group of nice people trying to do something good for our wounded Vets. Please read and help.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
OldVersion.com
OldVersion.com
Sometimes the app you're running no longer works well or you download a new app that interferes with the older ones. This Site stores a lot of older, earlier versions of various apps. From Patti.
Sometimes the app you're running no longer works well or you download a new app that interferes with the older ones. This Site stores a lot of older, earlier versions of various apps. From Patti.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
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