The Hard Truth From Orlando

TEEN-AGED MURDERERS: PAROLE OR NOT TO PAROLE?

According to an article in ABC news today, there are currently 79 people in the United States serving life without parole for homicides they committed at ages 13 or 14. The article discusses whether there should be parole for juvenile offenders receiving life sentences, because the death penalty for juveniles has been ruled unconstitutional but life without parole has not.

The question currently pending is, should these criminals be permitted parole just because they were juveniles when they murdered? And what about justice for those victimized by young thugs?

I am an advocate of the death penalty. I don't think it's equably awarded. I do think the appeals system is completely out of control; 20 or more years on Death Row pending appeals and case review is beyond ridiculous. In almost all death penalty cases today, once convicted and sentenced to death, it should be entirely possible to march the defendant out behind the courthouse and execute the sentence immediately and rest easy that justice was served.

I believe that we do more damage by hoping that these young nightmares might magically evolve into worthwhile, contributing citizens, instead of recognizing we've got a poisonous viper in our midst and crushing the life out of it expeditiously. We keep playing the "catch and release" judicial system with youthful offenders, with the result that more and more people are victimized and all the kids get is the improved criminal skills to perpetrate wider swathes of destruction.

The current argument is that juveniles' brains aren't sufficiently developed to allow them to understand the consequences of their actions. They aren't able to truly control their impulsive behaviors. Allowances should be made for their mistakes due to their immaturity -- and treatment, not punishment or incarceration is the best option.

And they're partially right. Kids are impulsive. They are inclined to act first and think later. That's why they're supposed to have parental supervision. That's why they're supposed to be taught discipline and what is and is not socially acceptable behavior. Most kids learn this. Most kids have parents who care about them and make them comply with rules. The ones who don't -- well, my question is, how hard should we try to retrain them when parents fail and where's our limit? What are we willing to lose as a society in order to preserve a problematic potential for positive return on our investment? How much and who are we willing to sacrifice if we're wrong not locking them away when we have the chance?

There's a case currently in the media we should look at in terms of these very issues. A pair of juveniles deliberately, maliciously threw a shopping cart off of a walkway in a busy mall, striking a woman below and causing life-threatening head injuries from which she is unlikely to ever fully recover.

"Charged as juveniles, the boy and a now 13-year-old friend pleaded guilty to assault in the Oct. 30 prank. It seriously hurt a woman who was shopping for Halloween candy to give away.

"The younger boy was the one who came up with the idea of tossing the cart off the walkway for kicks, and he gave the cart the final shove, city Law Department attorney Leah S. Schmelzer said.

"He arrived at that moment freighted with years of familial and emotional turmoil.

"His home life has been chaotic, punctuated with frequent moves, parental neglect and violence, including an episode in which the boy saw his father attack his mother, Manhattan Family Court Judge Susan Larabee said. The judge noted that the boy has been suspended at times from school, once after he started choking a girl, and she told the boy he has serious anger and mental health problems and a lot of catching up to do in school."

You see the problem. Advocates on behalf of the unsupervised, pre-teen juveniles want you to believe that these little monsters didn't fully understand that tossing a cart off a walkway in a busy mall might hurt people down below. They label a demonstrated intent to kill or cripple someone as a "prank." They want you to believe that this kid, with a pronounced history of violence, aggression and murderous intent, isn't exactly the kind of nasty little animal who should be locked up or put to sleep. They want you to believe that it's possible to remold this kid into a facsimile of a functional, trustworthy human being who might actually learn not to hurt anyone else -- if we throw enough social programs at him and spend enough taxpayer money for therapy.

Meantime, a conscientious, hardworking good citizen is facing years of disability and medical treatment and crippling financial hardship for herself and her family. Her injury and decreased contributions are a painful loss to society as a whole. Her attacker's continued presence in any community is a bleeding wound of resources, and a physical danger to others.

But we're going to inundate this little freak and his friend with special programs and therapy. We're going to funnel ridiculous amounts of money and resources into assistance and counseling for him and his family in the hope of somehow miraculously converting him into something other than fodder for the adult criminal justice system. But we're not going to take him away from the pee-poor excuse for parents and family that created him. We're not going to remove him from the neighborhood and demographical sewer that produced him or his parents.

Nope. We're going to leave him in right there in the familial/community toilet, pouring resources on him and pretending like there's something that can be salvaged, while all our efforts at redemption get flushed. And when he and his family finally run through everything the system has to get his life in order, when he's finally damaged or hurt enough people, when he's finally aged out and can no longer camouflage murderous intent behind a facade of juvenile incomprehension, then we can ship him off to the adult prison system, leaving a wake of waste and destruction behind him like a bloody EF5 tornado.

Do I think that these 79 murderers should be paroled? Sure. Do we still have Alcatraz ? Can we send them to a Siberian Gulag for rehabilitation? In short, can we lessen the negative impact of them on the community if we let them out? And how many people damaged, injured, killed before we say "Enough" and do a little trigger-pulling of our own?

It's not the age of the perpetrator that determines punishment. It's the crime. Age alone is not an excuse for murder -- and it should NEVER be the only criterion for opening the cage and letting a murderer out. Some crimes are beyond forgiveness. Some children are beyond repair and need to be locked away for everyone's safety. You don't keep risk the lives of good productive citizens for a proven murderer's improbable redemption. You just don't do it.

   Florida Cracker

The Hard Truth From Orlando

The Rutger's Verdict

By now, anyone who reads the news even occasionally knows that Tyler Clementi committed suicide after his Rutger's roommate Dharan Ravi decided to post Tyler 's sexual encounter online for the amusement of Ravi 's friends. Fewer folks have followed the case to find out that Ravi was found guilty of a "hate" crime and other charges for his actions. Jurors apparently didn't believe Ravi's claim that this was a one-time action and he wasn't targeting Tyler for further invasions of privacy or that he wasn't targeting Tyler because Tyler was gay.

One news item also indicated that jurors weren't told that Ravi's action led Tyler to kill himself (although everyone knew the case probably wouldn't have come to anyone's attention if Tyler hadn't taken his own life) and Ravi wasn't charged for Tyler's death, but the implication is that Ravi was convicted for causing Tyler to take his own life anyway. Defense attorneys are reportedly now attacking the bias law that Ravi was charged under as being too vague, poorly written and that the jury selection was rushed so the proper impartiality of a juror couldn't be established.

I believe Ravi was convicted for causing Tyler Clementi to commit suicide. I also think Dharan Ravi and his nasty little friend Molly Wei didn't target Tyler just for being gay. I think they targeted Tyler for being white, blue-eyed, fair-haired, awkward and a scholarship kid -- and assigned to Ravi 's room, which made him fair game. The fact that Tyler was gay was just the angle Ravi used to break a little geek and webcams, Twitter and the Internet were the tools Ravi employed to crush him.

I don't think the real issue in this case was about gay-bashing. I think the real issue in this case is the loss of privacy and respect for others. I think it's a clear message that we've armed youngsters of all ages with some of the most emotionally and socially destructive weapons ever devised and we've sent them out sans armor to combat armies of like-weaponed, conscienceless contemporaries.

We wring our hands about the damage done by kids, impulsive and with no concept of real consequences, when handling guns, knives, bats -- weapons of all kinds -- but we don't seem to see the bloodless but vicious warfare being waged between kids on social media with technological gizmos. They slice each other's reputations and self-esteem to ribbons with words, images. They destroy futures, their own and others, with sexting, the electronic equivalent of "poison pen" letters, defamation and out-right criminal threats.

If parents had to pay as much in civil and criminal damages for the harm their children do for slander, assault, defamation of character, voyeurism, pornographic or implicit imagery as they routinely shell-out for their children’s IPads, cell phones, laptops and Internet access, they’d be a whole lot more motivated to supervise their child’s online activities, and if necessary, to shut it down entirely.

If anything comes of this verdict, it’s that Ravi and Wei are reaping what they sowed with humiliation, loss of prospects, reputation and self-respect. And hopefully the message is getting out to the rest of the cyber-bullies that it’s not a joke, it’s not a game, it’s not funny to harass and deride others online. It’s destructive, mean-spirited, cruel and criminal –and you won’t think it’s still funny when your every move is being scrutinized by that same merciless public armed with appropriate legal authority to put everything you thought was private, secure and personal up for the most casual of onlookers. Ravi ’s getting the message. Are you?

   Florida Cracker

South Park vs. the TSA

'nuff said....

Amazing Sand Art!

I missed this when it came out originally, which is too bad because I would have sent it out to a few people. However, I get to offer it to you guys. Although I appreciate looking at completed art, it's never quite so much fun, or quite so amazing, as watching artists create their works. Herewith an example, animation sand artist Ilana Yahov, with Love 2008. This is simply super, super cool!

The Thought For Today

“You can dress a pig up and call it a pony, but it’s still a pig.” - Circuit Court Judge Anthony H. Johnson

The Hard Truth From Orlando

Should Limbaugh's show be cancelled? I guess I don't care one way or the other if Limbaugh keeps his show. I don't listen to him and never did. Rush Limbaugh is the sterling example of what I dislike about the extreme Republicans. Like Santorum, he wants to go back to the good old days, when men were men and women were supposed to shut the hell up and stay in the kitchen or the bedroom, depending on where their man wanted them. Women were wives or mothers in that world; they weren't people with the power to make decisions outside of the house.

And guys can argue it anyway they like -- there is no going back to that mythical world of stereotypical norm. We don't have the financial resources to allow one partner to stay at home full-time anymore. Almost every household (including single folks) now have to have two incomes just to survive. And the single biggest denominator in a woman's earning potential over her lifetime is whether or not she has a child. The average woman loses over $500,000 in income if she has a child, married or not, because of the disruption to her career, time off for child-care matters, paying for child care...

Guys don't face the same loss; child support notwithstanding. But married guys with children face some real hardships nowadays if they do pull their fair share of the financial burden.

Limbaugh represents that old stereotype of blaming women for wanting intimacy and guys aren't responsible for the consequences. Like sex even between the most ideal of married couples isn't sometimes a matter of letting him do what he wants just so he'll quit whining, and then it's her fault if she gets pregnant.

And all of this contraceptive business is just Republican smokescreen for the real issues. We are frankly facing a 25 year gutting of the American middle-class for the profit of the few at the top, looking down the barrel of the end of easy energy and suffering the early stages of a potentially catastrophic environmental change on a planet overburdened with human population.

The illegal immigration flood was allowed because big business made money out of the cheap labor and it kept legal workers' salaries depressed because of the competition. Big business doesn't pay the same taxes as the legal workers so they didn't feel the pinch of the drain of social services to "undocumented" laborers and their families. And so long as they don't feel the pinch, they don't care if we're overrun. None of this mattered until the terrorists rode in on the tide. Now we're trying to play catch-up.

Fuel alternatives weren't explored because petrol is the biggest business out there and anything that challenged the oil monopoly on energy was quashed by lobbyists, paid for by big business.

Environmental factors are discounted, always in the name of jobs. Like the Northwest lumber business having a fit because of spotted owls, etc. The real truth was, the lumber in one of the last American rain forests was acquired by miles of devastation to a non-replenished eco-system -- and the lumber was going overseas to Japan, not for the U.S. And once the forests are gone, the jobs would be gone anyway.

The Republicans need to quit jamming their heads in the Bible and rhetoric and start looking long-term at their decisions. All of the politicians need to quit telling people what they want to hear and tell them what they need to know to stay alive. And fat-bellied hypocritical bigots like Limbaugh and Gingrich should be ignored like the loud-mouthed embarrassments that they are.

   Florida Cracker

The Thought For Today

"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be." - Thomas Jefferson

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

Read. Those Stupid Assholes are at it again.

Chicks With Guns

I'll be sure and write up a review.....though bear in mind, this isn't one of those "swimsuit"-type books....

I think I reviewed one of those elsewhere in the Blog.

Faith Hill Is, Uhm ... Like, Gorgeous?

Okay, so Faith Hill is gorgeous. Nevertheless, the blogger at this site took it upon herself to obtain a copy of the unretouched photograph of Faith Hill that Redbook magazine used on a recent cover. I expect you've seen this sort of before and after, as have I, but what makes this one so much fun is the before and after animation. Instant reveal! Click on the "annotated guide" to the photo while you're there because it's quite funny.

End of the Internet

Well, I've finally found the end. So, with nothing else to do, I found a wonderfull recipe for peach Sangria:

1 bottle dry white wine (ie Sauvignon Blanch)
1 cup peach puree (made from about 2 medium peaches)
1/2 cup peach brandy
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 peach, pitted and thinly sliced
4 slices of lime
Mint sprigs fro garnish

Stir together the wine, peach puree and brandy in a large glass pitcher. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add fruit slices, pressing slightly to release some of the juice. Refrigerate for 2 hours. DRINK.

TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux

TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux

More tools for the seriously paranoid, now that Customs has started stealing laptops when you cross the US border. Yes, I'm talking about YOU!

The Thought For Today

"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." - Samuel Ullman

Manilla - Free Online Account And Bill Organizer

Interesting - and FREE.

The Hard Truth From Orlando

When the Mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, issued the challenge; can you live off of less than $5 a day for food, responder Ms. Cottrell said what I’ve been saying for several years.

Ms. Cottrell said:
“Absolutely. We can make meals that will feed both my husband and I for at least two, sometimes three, meals for less than $10. Meals that are delicious! In fact, we eat better than a lot of people I know. The trick is knowing HOW TO COOK. I'll admit I am not as creative as my husband. I can't believe the meals he can put together on just a few dollars. What we need are more community programs to each people how to make delicious meals on a strict budget. (Now for the bad news, you're going to have to give up your coffee, sodas, cookies, and daily McDonalds runs. I know, what a horrible life).”

Ms. Cottrell has it exactly right. A bag of dried black beans is 89 cents. An onion and a can of stewed tomatoes (or raw, in-season vegetables/fruits) can both be purchased for less than a dollar. A small bag of rice can be purchased for less than a dollar. Most people have salt and pepper on hand. Most people have cooking oil on hand. If you know how to cook beans and rice, add the onion and stewed tomatoes, salt and pepper, and you’ll have a dish that is easily two or three meals, very nutritious, tasty and less than $5. You can buy a “tube” of ground turkey for $1.65, box of spaghetti for under $1, a can of Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauce for 89 cents, an onion if you like, and make enough spaghetti for one person to eat for up to four meals.

Plain, inexpensive oatmeal, not in individual serving packets but in the quart-size cardboard container, is a good source of several meals. Most Americans have never tried oatmeal as anything but breakfast material or in a cookie. Oatmeal can be cooked with soy sauce, spices, mixed with vegetables, fried and baked. And oatmeal is nutritious, filling and easy to prepare…if you think outside the stereotypical norm.

The problem is people today don’t know how to cook. They don’t know how to shop, and most importantly, they don’t really know how to problem-solve. Most suburban and urban folks have forgotten or were never taught the basics of survival. They don’t know how to prepare food, so they don’t know what to buy in bulk versus what they can onesie-twosie within their budgets to maximize their food supply with what money they have.

Remember home economics? Those of us who are older remember it was mandatory for all the girls to take in junior high and high school. And I’ve always believed it was the beginning of “unlearning” basic survival skills. There was very little cooking taught, but a whole lot of presentation. How to properly set a table, present a centerpiece, decorate, coordinate – but almost nothing of nutrition, food preparation, cooking. Well, in those days, they pre-supposed that you were learning it at home. But we were already in the generation of frozen food and TV dinners. Drive-through windows and fast-food were becoming the standard – not the Leave It To Beaver sit-down dinner that mom cooked and everybody ate.

We’re running out of time to get smarter in our choices. The economic situation is not going to get better. Gas and energy prices are going to drive the cost of food sky-high. Other countries’ citizens spend 80% or more of their disposable incomes for food. We might not reach that point, but ff we’re going to learn to survive in the new economy of making do with less and less, we better re-discover some basic culinary skills – or be prepared to go hungry.

Budgeting for $5 a day in food costs is a good place to start practicing. Take the challenge and be prepared for when it becomes a necessity rather than a personal experiment. Game on.


   Florida Cracker

The Thought For Today

"The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by Homo Sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the sacharrine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not recieve this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history." - Robert Heinlein

Neil Gaiman on Fairy Tales

In the wake of the British release in theaters of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, he wrote an interesting piece about fairy tales and their relationship to his novel for Britain's Guardian Unlimited. Of particular note, he makes the point that fairy tales originally were tales of the fantastic for adults. But you knew that, didn't you?

The Thought For Today

"Why should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't!" - George Bernard Shaw

Poe's Mysterious Visitor

Think he'll show?

KILL SOPA!

KILL PIPA!

BEFORE THEY KILL THE WEB!

User Manual, users guide, operation instruction

User Manual, users guide, operation instruction

Got an older TV, computer, VCR or other electronic equipment whose operating manual got sucked into a black hole years ago? You might be able to find a replacement here. If you're planning on a garage sale soon, having a manual will help sales too.

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA12-010A

Yup - it's Microslug again...

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA12-006A

WI-FI?

Media Mistakes

Media people goof on occasion, in case you haven't noticed. Regret the Error tells us all about it. Now if only there was a publicly available correction list for all the errors -- not to mention flat out untruths -- that blogsters make...

The Thought For Today

“The truth of that would be apparent to a crackhead wino with one eye.” - Circuit Court Judge Anthony H. Johnson

The Thought For Today

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." - Roger Caras

The Hard Truth From Orlando

I went to Port Orange last weekend. Saw a poor starving hound some SOB hunter had abandoned on Osteen Road . I could not persuade the thing up to me and didn’t have enough treats to sustain it. I did call the ASPCA to report it but I doubt anyone will come to get it. Beautiful animal; white with pale brown spots – and the bones pushing out from under its hide, desperately prowling by the road and watching each vehicle as it passed.

I used to see that all the time up in North Central Florida. Bastards would abandon their dogs in the woods because “that dog don’t hunt,” or it was gun-shy, or they didn’t want to keep it past hunting season, or they stole the dog to use it for hunting season and then dumped it. These dogs don’t survive. They starve to death slowly and hideously unless they’re lucky enough to be struck by a car and instantly killed instead of crippled, maimed, to die an even more painful death by the road.

Sportsmen, my butt. They’re neither sporting nor men who perpetrate this kind of evil. I think hunters should have to have each dog licensed, micro-chipped, collared with GPS, and registered before they get a hunting permit and then the dog has to be produced at the end of the season, either to the regulators or ASPCA for certificate of surrender, or they never get another hunting license again. The viciousness of these people astonishes me. I don’t care if they hunt. I don’t care if they shoot Bambi’s mother to cull the herd. I care if they are irresponsible and cruel.

And you’ll always hear some other hunter who DOES take care of his dogs, has them numbered, tagged and trained, who protests regulation. Well, he’s the exception to this ugly little subculture. Ask any guy who goes out hunting and he can tell you the name of one or more from his hunting clique who has abandoned or does abandon or will abandon a dog in the woods to die. It’s that common.

And the other thing that astonishes me is that it’s most common in areas that are overloaded with churches and the usual Come-To-Jesus hypocrisy. It is hypocrisy. Not because they hunt and are members of the NRA and like to shoot Bambi’s mom. It’s hypocrisy because if they really believed in being compassionate and kind and the sanctity of life, they’d never abandon any animal to a slow death when there are so many more reasonable, legal alternatives – if they weren’t too damn lazy and mean to take them.

If I believed in Hell, I’d want to go there and work for the Bad Guy in that ice-cold level of Hell reserved for traitors, which is where these so-called sportsmen and hunters belong. They’ve betrayed their dogs’ trust in them. They’ve betrayed the best friend most of them could hope to have. They’ve betrayed their four-legged benefactors. There is no salvation for anyone whose heart is so cold he commits this crime – much less does it every hunting season. I want to see them suffer a sentence like that they passed on these poor animals – an agonizingly slow death of hunger, cold, loneliness and misery.

That poor hound still haunts me. I’m going to start traveling with an extra leash and dog food in the car in case I run into another lost creature. I hope to salvage what I can. Vicious Michael Vicks’ dogs were largely saved and went on to good, loving homes; there’s no reason these poor devils can’t be rehabilitated and given to decent people who will show them the kindness, comfort and companionship should have been theirs from the beginning.

And from my heart of darkness, I’m going to pray for a pandemic that makes all dogs precious and few, so that they can never be considered disposable by anyone ever again.

     Florida Cracker

The Thought For Today

"I've come to believe remembering someone is not the highest compliment - it is missing them." - Vincent Price

The Thought For Today

"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!" - Thomas Jefferson

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA11-347A

Yup - it's Microslug again. Ho, ho, ho.

The Thought For Today

"Everyone is queer, excepting me and thee. And sometimes I wonder about thee." - Old Quaker Saying

The Thought For Today

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition. Small people always do that, but the really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain

Deano Sez: Live News Cameras

Nice portal for live feeds......and yeah, a couple of the moderators are babes.....

The Thought For Today

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson

The Truth Hurts When You're Dead

The Truth Hurts When You're Dead

A very funny Site for zombie T-shirts. Any fan of zombie movies will reconize some of the quotes: "Remove the head or destroy the brain."

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA11-286A

WOW! It's Apple for a change!

Rec: Wasabi Mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Wasabi powder
1 1/3 tablespoons water
3/4 cup mayonnaise


In a small bowl, mix wasabi powder and water to form a
paste. Let sit for 1 minute, then add mayonnaise.
Especially good with seafood or beef.

Be sure to refrigerate unused portion
It should be good for 2 to 3 days

Rec: Ruth's Mega Butter

1/3 cup peanuts, roasted and unsalted (or salted if you like a
saltier peanut butter)
1/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup cashews
1 1/2 tsp honey
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
canola oil/peanut oil, enough to get correct peanut butter
consistency


Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spread nuts in a cake pan. Roast nuts in the oven for about
10 to 12 minutes. You’ll start smelling the roasty nut goodness
as the are getting good and yummy. Take them out of the
oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes. Pour cooled
nuts into a food processor or blender. Before adding the
flavorings give the nuts a good blending. Give the pulsed
nuts a stir and add the honey, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Turn on the blender and gradually add the oil. Do this very
slowly, it takes a bit for the oil to really incorporate so be
patient!! Drizzle the oil!! This takes about 5 minutes.
Forget the bread and jelly, just get a spoon and dig in! Enjoy!

Rec: Wasabi Cocktail Sauce

3/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon wasabi powder
1/8 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
1/2 cup ketchup
dash of soy sauce

In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar,
wasabi powder, lemon juice, soy sauce and ketchup.
Chill until using, or use immediately.

Serves 2 to 4

The Hard Truth From Orlando

“No Child Left Behind” is like another stanza for the “I have a dream” speech. I have dreams, too. Unfortunately, we live in reality and this legislative action has become a dead weight on meaningful educational progress.

“No Child Left Behind” bred the standardized tests which have become the rigid, carved-in-stone yardstick against which schools are measured and which results determine shrinking allocations of a school’s critical operating funds. Of course, if you have enough low-performing students who can’t pass the test, then you lose the funds you need to improve your programs – or even to maintain the ones you have. So in too many instances, the local powers-that-be cheat to save their facilities – dropping failing kids from their school rosters so that they won’t be counted against their school or by teachers completing or correcting tests or giving the answers -- or in too many cases, local governments lowering the standards so that more kids pass. It’s called “dumbing down” and we’ve gotten real good at it just so that we can pretend that life is an even playing field and that’s what democracy is all about…nobody is allowed to be ahead of anybody else, instead of an equal opportunity available for anybody who’s willing to make an effort.

Now the stats are in and this nation has the lowest SAT results in about 40 years. If you believe the SAT scores, our kids can’t read for doo-doo, their math skills are dismal (one assumes the other basics of history, science, composition and geography are equally deficient) and they don’t seem to be cut out for anything but a future of near illiteracy, fast-food semi-employment and playing video games. Meantime, the cost of higher education, assuming this bunch of academic dummies can actually do the scholastics, has soared beyond most middle-class families’ financial reach and definitely beyond the reach of the working poor. In fact, the current societal backlash is an active campaign to discourage youngsters from seeking higher learning, decrying it as a waste of money and useless as a stepping stone to a career in the foreseeable poor economy.

So we begin the blame game. Why are the scores so bad? Why are so many children failing? Why are so many kids giving up?

It’s simple: Because we’ve somehow gotten the weird idea that “No Child Left Behind” means that:

(1) Everybody has to be on board the same metaphorical bandwagon on the same road to one definition of education instead of multiple vehicles on multiple roads to various forms of learning and educational certification,

(2) You’re supposed to take the time and resources to round everyone up to get them on the one bandwagon, even when they’re dodging the trip, and…

(3) You have to stop the bandwagon any time some little nitwit decides to jump off. And while everyone waits, you’re supposed to cajole the abandoner to get back on board before everyone else can move on. Further…

(4) According to the latest Tea Party rhetoric, you don’t just stop the wagon and find the kid who’s jumped off and hiding from you; you’re supposed to shoot the driver and find a replacement every time one of these twits takes a leap.

The latest Tea Party theory is that it’s all the fault of the teachers and teacher’s unions that kids are doing so poorly. Their proposal is to gut educators’ pension plans, tenure, seniority and anything else that is used as an employment incentive to keep our teachers in the classrooms. Somehow, magically, good teachers will emerge to step into the morass, sans benefits or security for them and their families, and take on the task of educating the next generation, knowing that if they are assigned to teach a class no one else wants of attention-deficit, disruptive, mentally challenged students who can’t remember on a daily basis if they walk to school or ride a bus, the TEACHER will lose his/her job when these little idiots can’t pass a generic standardized exam. So what’s a teacher’s motivation; an intense martyr’s passion to be unemployed, broke and humiliated? There might be a reward waiting in Heaven for this thankless job, but the teacher and his/her family have to eat right now. Not too many qualified people who have spent a fortune on higher education are going to embrace teaching under those conditions.

Our Tea Party Republicans say that a teacher’s pay should be merit-based. Your kids don’t perform, you don’t get paid. Wow. What a shame that isn’t applied to the parents of little non-achievers. Your kid doesn’t go to school, you don’t get paid. Your kid fails to participate in class, your pay gets docked. Your kid isn’t appropriately dressed or fed before they are sent to school; you lose your next raise. Your kid skips class; you have to surrender a day’s ration of food from your pantry. Your kid doesn’t turn in his homework; you have to put in two hours extra without pay at your job. Your kid mouths off at the teacher; you pay a fine. Your kid hits the teacher or other kids; you get to spend some time in jail.

How fast do you think parents would then get the message that education isn’t just the teacher’s job to provide; it’s the kids’ job to get what’s offered and the parents are responsible for putting a foot up the kid’s butt to make sure the kid does what he’s supposed to?

Why were the recent SAT tests so poor? One group says it’s because of the diversity in students we have now. Well – yeah. We have a bumper crop of non-English-speaking immigrants and their children, illegal or not; a bizarre policy of allowing people of other languages and cultures and abilities, for whom education is not a priority, to cherry-pick the criteria they’re going to comply with in attending public-funded schools, but insisting that their deficiencies be ignored and they still be issued the same certificates as those who do comply with ALL the rules and criteria of higher education. And then we use diversity-encouraging legislation to allow the non-achievers and the low achievers to get the same or better financial benefits as the high achievers in employment, housing and educational opportunities. Oh, and even if they’re not citizens or living on the dole, citizen taxpayers are supposed to fund these marginalized kids’ educations to the detriment of their own children’s access to higher learning. We’re in the habit now of richly rewarding people for non-achievement, non-compliance, and punishing anyone who tries to get ahead of the pack.

I believe we’re reaping the loss of common sense in our government institutions. It’s the inclusion silliness of political correctness and social experimentation as well as a politically-driven curriculum that’s created this fiasco. Not every child is meant to be a student. Not every child is meant to go to college. Every society has deadbeats and drop-outs. You aren’t going to save the dead-weights and do-nothings. Scrape them off and move on. Invest your money and talent in the kids who do what they’re supposed to do and who show they want to learn and be someone instead of the losers and snoozers who are content to drift aimlessly, sucking up resources better utilized elsewhere. Clean up the fraud, punish the grifters, and get some rewards back for tangible, measureable accomplishment.


Let’s upgrade our educational system to provide for a TASK-diverse workforce. America needs skilled technicians as well as academics. Let elementary schools teach basic skills, problem-solving techniques, and then open the door to vocations on an equal footing with academics after the sixth grade and you’ll see the more kids investing of themselves because learning is a means to a visible end and not some nebulous legality or societal expectation. Give technical skills the same weight as pure academics and you’ll raise students’ expectations of themselves and create a more positive, flexible, proficient labor force.

And meantime, tell the Tea Party ding-dongs to back off on their “let’s gut public employees – penny-wise and pound-foolish” campaign. We need to attract and retain good teachers. We need to quit shooting the messenger and DEAL with the real problems; top-heavy, over-paid, nonresponsive school administrators, poor morale of educators and students, and a lack of clear guidance in an antiquated academic hierarchy. We need a keen eye to what skills our nation requires to succeed, not just by the next election, but in 100 years. Our nation’s children deserve our best efforts to streamline this clunky, ineffective systemic dinosaur. And it’s long past time to give teachers what they need to be effective and the concerted recognition they so richly deserve instead of punishing them for continuing parental failure and political agendas.

   Florida Cracker

Upgrade Your Life: 5 ways to make an easy-to-remember, ultra-secure password

Good info and advice.

The Thought For Today

"The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum." - Thomas Paine

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

"TSA Officers, N.Y. and Fla. Cops Involved In Illegal Oxycodone Operation, Feds Allege"

Ah, yes - the TSA. The TSA that has NEVER, EVER actually caught a terrorist. They've been too busy with other important stuff. Like smuggling drugs, stealing from passenger bags and having fun groping people (especially crying children). And we should trust them, why? IDIOTS!

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA11-256A

Yup, it's Microslug again.

The Rantings Of Rosy

Boy: "Do not try and get Rosy to Post. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth." Neo: "What truth?"
Boy: "There is no Rosy."
Neo: "There is no Rosy?"
Boy: "Then you'll see that it is not Rosy who Posts, it is only yourself."


- The Matrix, The Unknown Director's Cut

The Thought For Today

"There is no sin except stupidity." - Oscar Wilde

The Thought For Today

"The artist finds a greater pleasure in painting than in having a completed picture." - Seneca

Rec: Black & White Vegetarian Chipotle Chili (Crock Pot)

1 (15 oz) can black bean, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can navy bean, drained and rinsed
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomato
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes and green chilies
or diced tomatoes with jalapenos
1 cup onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon dried cilantro (optional)
1/2 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chipotle chile, minced





Stir everything together in a 4 1/2 quart or larger crock pot.
Set power to LOW and cook for 6 to 10 hours. Serve with
cheese or sour cream if you wish.



Serves 2 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Crockpot Spanish Rice

1 1/2 lb Ground beef; browned & drained
1 medium Onion; chopped
1 Green pepper; chopped
14 1/2 oz Tomato, whole; OR
2 large Tomato; sliced & quartered
16 oz Tomato sauce
3/4 cup Water
2 teaspoons Chili powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup Rice, converted; raw



Stir all ingredients together. Cover and cook
on LOW 7 to 9 hours (HIGH 3 hours). If you
like a spicier (hotter) flavor and a moister
casserole, replace the tomato sauce with 2
tablespoons Hot Thick & Chunky Salsa,
1/4 cup sherry and 15 oz of tomatoe sauce.


Serves 2 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Crockpot Turkey With Sweet Potatoes

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch cubes
1 1/2 to 2 pounds turkey thighs, skin removed
1 jar (12 oz) turkey gravy
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaf
1/8 teaspoon fresh black pepper
salt to taste
1 1/2 to 2 cups frozen cut green beans


Layer sweet potatoes and turkey in crockpot. Combine gravy,
flour, parsley, rosemary, thyme and pepper. Stir until
smooth. Pour mixture over turkey and sweet potatoes. Cover
and cook on HIGH 1 hour. Reduce heat to LOW and cook for 5
more hours. Stir in beans, cover and cook on LOW 1 to 2
hours until turkey is tender and juices run clear. Remove
turkey and potatoes to a serving dish with a slotted spoon.
Stir sauce and serve over turkey and potatoes.

Serves 5 to 6
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Crockpot Turkey Ranchero

3 turkey thighs
Salt and pepper
1 pkg. enchilada sauce mix
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1/2 cup water
2 cups grated Jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 can (4 oz) sliced ripe olives


Cut each thigh in half and remove bone. Sprinkle
with salt and pepper and place in crockpot.
Combine enchilada sauce,tomato paste, and water.
Spread enchilada sauce mixture on top of turkey
thighs. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours,
or until turkey is tender. Turn control to HIGH;
stir in cheese and continue stirring until cheese is
melted. Place in shallow casserole dish to serve.
Top with sour cream and sprinkle on green
onions. Garnish with sliced ripe olives.

Serves 4 to 5
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

The Thought For Today

"Of all the music that reached farthest into heaven, it is the beating of a loving heart." - Henry Ward Beecher

Deano Sez: Wireless Extenders

These were featured in PC-World...I got to play with a desktop version for a while, but if the office models work as touted, this is a serious product for those "on the fringe". Devices with comparable features for industrial applications will run you damned near a grand; those I have used extensively, and they're not something you simply hand to an intern and expect to be installed properly.

Rec: Microwave Fettuccine With Alfredo Style Sauce

3/4 pound fettuccine (dried)


Sauce

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 cups low fat milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2/3 cup leeks, chopped finely
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Garnish

4 tablespoons parsley, chopped




Cook the fettuccine according to the instruction on the
package. To make Alfredo Sauce, place the flour and
margarine or butter in a microwave safe bowl (4 liter
or 4 quart) and cover. Cook on HIGH (1200W) for
30 to 40 seconds. Take the bowl out and stir well with
a wire whisk. Gradually add 1/2 cup of milk at a time,
stirring constantly until you use all the milk. Cover with
a vented microwave lid and cook on HIGH (1200W) for
2 minutes. Take the bowl out and stir. Cook on HIGH
(1200W) for 2 more minutes. Add the leeks, cheddar
cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese melts.
Gently mix in the pasta until it is well coated with
Alfredo Sauce. Transfer to warm serving plates and
garnish with parsley.



Serves 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

The Thought For Today

"A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time." - Henry Ford

The Thought For Today

"An armed society is a polite society." - Robert Heinlein

The Hard Truth From Orlando

Ice cream truck runs over boy playing on back

That's the story from Atlanta . A 10-year-old was run over by an ice cream truck and died. The 7-year-old, who was with him, fell from the truck and broke his leg. The driver is not being charged because he's not the idiot in this story. The parents or guardians are the idiots, and they were obviously hell-bent on raising another set of idiots. Apparently, the truck driver saw the kids playing on the truck and told the parents to get them off the truck. Driver does what he has to do, gets in the truck and pulls away and the little idiots, who never got off the truck -- or who got back on the truck after he wasn't looking, fell. One was run over and died and the other broke a leg.

And the question, as always, is, who is supervising the children? We have the sorriest batch of parents in this generation across the world. One supposes it's because we live in an enlightened society where you don't have to work in order to eat, you just have to qualify for a government subsidy. Stand in line at a soup kitchen if you're hungry; you don't have to do anything to get fed and keep on living. And if you pop a kid out, no big deal. It's not like you have to take care of it, grow food to feed it, dress it, teach it, educate it so it can survive on its own. The government is going to do that for you through all kinds of programs that you can use to pad your own pocket and make your own life easier, even if you don't use it to benefit the child. And because you don't have to do any of those keep-the-kid-alive survival things, you don't care about supervision. You're not capable of enough self-discipline to do the right thing for yourself, never mind training some little rug rat to do the right, smart and safe thing.

But goodness! Let something happen to that child and you're wringing your hands and looking for someone to blame so you can collect a big payoff for your lousy parenting.

It's not about being downtrodden, disenfranchised or any of the rest. It's about having absolutely no self-respect, no motivation, no sense of community, no sense of family -- no sense of responsibility. I can't think of a single 10-year-old in my old neighborhood growing up who would've been so stupid as to climb up on a stranger's truck to play around.

First of all, if the truck didn't belong to family, you didn't go near it because it's someone else's and your parents would tear your butt off for messing with something that belonged to someone else. If it did belong to family, you wouldn't play on or near it or take a chance on damaging it for fear your butt would be torn off by your parents. As the older kid, you didn't let your younger sibling do it either. You'd tell on him in a heartbeat because if he got hurt or messed something up and you knew what he was doing, your parents would tear your butt off for not stopping him.

Starting to sense a pattern here?

You didn't do stupid things because your parents were watching you. They were watching you because they cared what you did. They cared what happened in their community and what you were doing in the community. Your parents knew what you were doing, where you were doing it and they took action if they saw you doing something that was dumb, dangerous or just plain destructive. Your parents cared if you got into trouble. Your parents were the first line of discipline in your community, not the first to excuse you from your responsibility to yourself and the community. And you knew, absolutely knew, that if you got into real trouble that wasn't your fault, your parents were going to be there to take care of you and protect you -- you weren't utterly on your own.

Where are the parents today? I think if I hear one more parent say, well, I've got a life, too -- I'm going to get a little postal. We've got two-year-old Caylee Anthony murdered and dumped because her mom wanted to party. There are the two little kids dead because their mom went up to visit and have sex with her boyfriend and left the kids for hours in a locked vehicle in record-breaking heat. The mom who left the baby strapped in her car seat in the summer heat because she had to go to work and "forgot" she had her only child in the car and didn’t remember until she found her baby’s body at the end of her work shift. The thirsty, malnourished toddler in diapers found by neighbors drinking from beer bottles in the yard because dad's drunk and been drunk and passed out on the porch.

Keeping your children safe is tough enough, even when you are paying attention. Failing to pay attention is a prescription for tragedy and the parents of these boys have no one to blame but themselves.

I'm sorry for the boys. I'm sorry for the truck driver, who probably feels responsible even if he did all the things a prudent person would think necessary to prevent this accident. But if it were up to me, the next government checks to the dead and injured boys' parents would be for their voluntary sterilization so they can go on their merry way and never have to worry about supervising any more children -- ever. Let's make the world a safer place; Parents, quit staring at your own navels and do something about your kids! Do it now!


Florida Cracker

Rec: Crockpot Cauliflower Casserole

3 Cups cooked rice

1 Head cauliflower, cut into flowerettes, slice stems
1 Can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 Cups grated cheese, Cheddar or Monterey Jack
1/2 Cup water
1 Medium onion, diced



Spray crockpot with Pam. Combine all ingredients.
Mixture will be chunky, but mix well. Place in crockpot
and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours.

Serves 4 to 6

Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Microwave Three-Cheese Rice Lasagna

1/2 (14 oz) jar meatless spaghetti sauce
1/2 (4.5 oz) jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 egg white
1 1/2 cups cooked long-grain rice
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese


In a small bowl, combine spaghetti sauce and mushrooms;
set aside. In another bowl, combine the cottage cheese,
mozzarella cheese and egg white; mix well. In a microwave
8in. square baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray,
layer a third of the sauce, half of the rice and half of the
cottage cheese mixture; repeat layers. Top with the
remaining sauce. Microwave on MEDIUM for 10 minutes
or until heated through. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 2 to 3

Rec: Lemon-Herb Alligator Stew

1 1/2 lbs Alligator, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 leek (white and pale green parts only) thinly sliced
1 1/2 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 tablespoon dried tarragon
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried sage
1/6 cup all purpose flour
3/8 cup dry white wine
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 cup whipping cream
salt
tarragon or sage sprigs or chopped parsley
thin lemon slices


In a large crockpot combine leek, garlic, tarragon, lemon
peel, thyme, white pepper and sage. Coat alligator cubes
with flour, then add to crockpot and pour in wine and lemon
juice. Cover and cook on LOW 7 1/2 to 8 hours, until
alligator is very tender when pierced. In a small bowl, mix
cornstarch and cream. Blend into stew. Cover and cook on
HIGH for about 15 more minutes, stirring every 2 to 3
minutes, until sauce thickens. Salt to taste. Garnish
servings with tarragon/sage/parsley and lemon slices.

Serves 4
Refrigerate remainder
Do not over heat leftovers in microwave as alligator will
toughen

Rec: Crockpot Monterey Spaghetti

2 oz spaghetti, broken into pieces
1/2 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 (6 oz) can French fried onions



In a large pot with boiling salted water cook spaghetti
until al dente. Drain. In a large bowl mix together the
sour cream, grated Parmesan cheese, and minced garlic.
After beating the egg in a small bowl, transfer to the
large bowl and blend together. Transfer to a greased
crockpot. Mix cooked and drained spaghetti, 1 cup
grated Monterey Jack cheese, thawed spinach, and half
of the French fried onions to the crockpot. Stir contents
of crockpot until just blended. Cover and cook on LOW for
5 to 6 hours or HIGH heat for 2 to 3 hours. In last 20
minutes of cooking, turn to HIGH if cooking on LOW and
add remainder of grated Monterey Jack cheese and
French fried onions to top of casserole. Serve when cheese
is melted.


Serves 3 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

The Thought For Today

Said the little boy, “Sometimes I drop my spoon.

”Said the old man, “I do that too.

”The little boy whispered, “I wet my pants.”

“I do that too,” laughed the old man.”

Said the little boy, “I often cry.”

The old man nodded, “So do I.”

“But worst of all,” said the boy, “it seems Grown-ups don’t pay attention to me.”

And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.“I know what you mean,” said the old man. - Shel Silverstein

The Thought For Today

"Real education should educate us out of self into something far finer; into a selflessness which links us with all humanity." - Lady Nancy Astor

The Hard Truth From Orlando

I think the price of “recognized and certified” higher education is ridiculous. Some years back, college administrations admitted that they were cutting back on the number of mandatory classes offered each semester, despite growing student enrollment. That meant that the courses would only be offered certain times of the year; miss signing up or not being able to get in to one that’s already over-booked, you were stuck for another year trying to get that course to finish your degree. This policy meant it was taking five to five and a half years to get a “four year” degree and it was going to cost you more money to finish your degree.

Now they’ve just jerked the price up to where all your money is spent on the “basic” courses and so you can’t afford the specialized courses for the graduate degree studies -- or you can spend the rest of your working career trying to pay back what should have been an entrance fee to higher earning and learning.

I still think they need to go back to the original CLEP tests, where you paid $50 for the whole battery (now it’s like $45 per subject and you can only take two tests every six weeks or something – anything to drag it out and get money) and could earn up to 15 credit hours toward a degree in a single sitting, English, Math, Physics and I forget what else. But you could get your two-year degree in a year or less. And it meant you didn’t have to take courses in things you were already proficient in just to go to the next level of the program.

We’re pricing our population right out of advanced degrees and working diligently to discourage critical thinking, invention and design. I think it’s interesting that cursive writing and all other basic brain/learning enforcement techniques are being discarded. We’re definitely working toward a culture of hyperactive, attention-deficit, impulsive monkey people who can neither read a novel without pictures nor solve a problem without a HELP button.

Eventually, those of us folks who can read and write proficiently will become like the scribes of old. People will hire us to write letters and poetry and to read documents and record business transactions for a general population that is wholly and completely illiterate.

It’s true I think education is a privilege. I just never believed that in the USA , it would become solely for the privileged.


Florida Cracker

Rec: Chili Tofu Donburi

4 cups white rice, steaming hot
1 tofu (1 lb.), cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules or 1 cube, crushed
1 cup boiling water

Mabo Sauce
1/2 pound ground pork (or turkey) (5 - 6% fat)
1/2 cup leek, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ginger root, finely chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon salad oil
1 teaspoon Tobanjan or Tabasco sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons white wine
3 tablespoons sugar

Garnish
12 olives, salted




Combine the Mabo Sauce ingredients, except pork, in a
3 quart casserole. Mix in pork. Toss in the tofu. Combine
the cornstarch and chicken bouillon in a small cup. Pour
in the hot water, stir until it thickens and pour it over
the casserole. Cover with a vented microwave lid and
cook on HIGH(1200W) for 10 – 12 minutes. Stir. Put 1
cup of rice in each serving bowl. Pour the Mabo Sauce
over the rice and garnish with olives.


Serves 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Donburi Tanuki

4 cups warm steamed rice
2 cups lettuce, sliced in 2 inch long strips
24 potato chips
16 pecans
4 to 8 teaspoons soy sauce

Garnish
4 teaspoons green onions, chopped finely


Place steamed rice into 4 warm serving bowls and top
with lettuce. In each serving bowl, stick 6 potato chips
into the rice, sprinkle with green onion and 4 pecans.
Pour the soy sauce over the top, just before serving.


Serves 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated (except for chips) in microwave

Rec: Microwave Furong Egg

5 eggs
11 oz. of shrimp meat
1 cup of chives (cut in 1" length)
3 mushrooms
3 slices ham
2 tablespoons of chopped green spring onion
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt



Beat the eggs in bowl. Add in soy sauce and salt,
and mix well. Soak the mushrooms in water till soft.
Remove the stems. Shred mushrooms and ham. Put 3
tablespoons of oil on a plate. Put in shredded
mushrooms, ham and chopped spring onion. Cover
with cling-wrap. Cook on HIGH for 3 minutes.
Remove and mix well with 2 tablespoons of oil and
chives. Pour in the egg mixture and cook on HIGH
for 4 minutes.

Rec: Black And White Rice Donburi

White Rice
2 cups cooked white rice, steaming hot

Black Rice
2 cups cooked white rice, steaming hot (for spicy rice)

Soy Sauce & Jalapeno Pepper Sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 red chili peppers, sliced thin
1 green chili pepper, sliced thin

Garnish
2 chives, cut 5-inch-long




Combine the sauce ingredients in a small microwave-safe
bowl. Cover with a vented microwave lid and cook on
HIGH(1200W) for 1 minute. Place 2 cups of rice in a
bowl and pour the sauce over the rice and mix together.
Place 1/2 cup white rice and 1/2 cup spicy rice in each
serving bowl. Garnish with chives.


Serves 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Soba Noodles In Broth With Spinach And Shiitakes

1 ounce kombu seaweed
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
3/4 pound dried soba noodles
12 ounces spinach, stemmed and washed thoroughly,
or 1 6-ounce bag baby spinach, rinsed
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons mirin
2 to 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce (to taste)



Place the kombu and shiitakes in a large bowl, and cover with
4 1/2 cups hot water. Soak for 30 minutes. Place a strainer
over a bowl and drain. Squeeze the mushrooms over the
strainer, then rinse. Remove the mushroom stems and discard.
Slice the caps thinly. Meanwhile, cook the soba noodles. Bring
a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. When
the water comes to a boil, add the soba. As the water comes
back to a boil, add 1/2 cup of cold water to prevent it from boiling
over. Allow to come back to a boil again, and add another 1/2 cup
of cold water. Check for doneness, and if necessary bring back to
a boil one more time and add another 1/2 cup of cold water. The
soba should be tender all the way through but al dente -- slightly
firm to the bite. Transfer immediately to the ice water, and
allow to cool for a few minutes, then drain. Bring the water back
to a boil, salt generously and add the spinach. Blanch for
minute, and transfer to a bowl of ice water. Drain, squeeze out
excess liquid, and cut the squeezed bundle of spinach into four
pieces. Divide the noodles, spinach, mushrooms and green
onions among four large soup bowls. In a saucepan, combine
the soaking water from the kombu and mushrooms, the sake,
mirin and soy sauce. Bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust
seasonings. Pour over the ingredients in the soup bowls,
and serve at once.

Note: If you do not wish to include the sake in the broth,
simply omit it.

Variations: You can add protein to this dish in the form of
diced tofu or shredded chicken.



Serves 4
Refrigerate remainder
Will not reheat well

F O R T E A N T I M E S

F O R T E A N T I M E S

Today let's look at the weird and whacky happenings around the world, carrying on in the grand tradition of Charles Fort. Updated Mon through Fri.

The Hard Truth From Orlando

JAYWALKING – there’s a reason it’s illegal.

Motorized vehicles go on the roads. Pedestrians go on the sidewalks. Pedestrians and motorized vehicles are not a good mix, but because pedestrians have to cross roads to get to the other side, we made crosswalks and put in lights and made laws to stop the motorized vehicles so pedestrians could cross safely…if they just would. But since we’re so iffy about enforcement of pedestrians’ behavior, we have a bumper-crop of busted up foot-traffic when the feet meet the same ground as the motorized traffic.

Good thing this woman wasn’t jaywalking in Germany . Because then she’d be paying the driver who killed her son for the damages to his car. Failure to use the crosswalk when there’s one around means that you are at fault if you (or your child) is hit by a car while crossing the street; it’s all your fault, twit. Jaywalking and getting hurt in Germany means you can’t sue the driver who hits you – no matter how poor his driving record. Germans believe pedestrians are equally responsible for their conduct – not just the drivers of vehicles. The street is for cars. The crosswalk is for pedestrians. If you’re where you’re supposed to be, doing what you’re supposed to be, you’re not the liable one.

Somehow, here in the States, we’ve gotten the message that everyone is responsible except the person pulling a bone-headed stunt.

This mother was not charged with crossing where there’s no crosswalk. She was charged with jaywalking. Do you remember the cop who stopped the pair of girls for jaywalking and they went belligerent and combative and he hit the one in the face? I wrote a blog on that incident. Jaywalking is not crossing the street without using the crosswalk, but crossing it at a diagonal, putting yourself in the line of traffic for longer than necessary to get across the street – and this woman was apparently crossing a four-lane highway with a median (didn’t say if it was grassy and upraised or just a double line type median).

She has a four-year-old and she’s apparently not holding his hand, doesn’t have him in a stroller, it’s after dark, she’s out buying supplies (?) for her birthday (per the article, not the kids’ birthdays but her own), and she has two other (one presumes older) children with her. It’s a dangerous highway but she’s in a hurry and doesn’t want to cross at the crosswalk, which means walking further down but she’d be able to cross with a light – and one presumes a well-lit crosswalk, so they can be seen. Did she even have enough sense to dress them all in light-colored clothing? Why wasn’t the four-year-old in a stroller? Why wasn’t she or one of the other children holding his hand? Why is she out after dark with small children? The article doesn’t say she worked all day and this was just the only time to go shopping, only that she was out shopping for her birthday and missed a bus and was an hour late which put her coming home on foot in the dark with three children.

So they crossed. And they apparently crossed at an angle, putting themselves in the road longer than they needed to be in order to save a few steps to the entrance of the apartment buildings. And so they all got hit by a guy with a really lousy driving record and the four-year-old was killed. Mom won’t get the max at sentencing. But I think a conviction for jaywalking is warranted. She put herself and her children in harm’s way. And it’s epidemic in the area of the accident of locals jaywalking that the authorities felt an example needs to be made. And a judge or jury found her guilty of jaywalking, despite the tragic outcome. That’s pretty telling all by itself.

Candidly, the disregard for law and safety are part-and-parcel of some urban cultures. It’s a way of life to choose the easy way, not the safe or smart way – just the easy way. And hey, everybody else does it, is the excuse. You can’t fix culture. But you can fix the environment to restructure habits within the culture.

A couple of things need to happen in designing urban traffic areas. Americans need to erect a lot more over-the-street crosswalks like they routinely use on the Vegas Strip and other heavily congested traffic areas. Then pedestrians with brains can cross safely without necessitating building ground-level crosswalks, traffic lights, etc., and relying on drivers to honor those crosswalks/signals (which is a whole other problem). Developers must start designing residential and business complexes with entrances near the end of the city block instead of the middle of the block to encourage pedestrian traffic flow at the street intersections and traffic signals. And all public bus stops need to be moved to the ends of the city blocks and not in the middle of the city block to further discourage middle-of-the-block foot traffic.

Almost every apartment complex in the Orlando Metro area has the main entrance squarely in the middle of the block – but the traffic signals and crosswalks are at both ends of the block. The bus stops are placed directly across from the entrance of the apartment complex (on both sides of the street – entrance-side and across the street from the entrance) for the convenience of the residents, instead of at the ends of the block for their safety. This means the people getting off the bus opposite the complex are naturally going to try to run across the street to the entrance, that being the shortest route home. But if the bus stops were only toward the end of the block by the crosswalks, any foot traffic would routinely cross in the crosswalk and walk on down to the entrance – reducing their risk. People have to walk to the bus stop anyway. There’s no rule that says it has to be right at your door.

Disabled persons using public transportation have the smaller Lynx buses available that can come into the complex to pick them up. Those whose disabilities are not so confining can also catch the bus at the end of the block. And if the complex entrances were toward the ends of the block, this would facilitate pedestrian access to the bus and the disabled (often in wheelchairs) would also not be hazarding a cross-over in the middle of the street, a common sight here in Orlando .

We need to re-think urban plans and enforce the codes/ordinances to encourage people to do the right and smart thing by environmental design, and not by solely by conscious adherence to the law, which requires intellectual capacity for good decision making. People just aren’t that bright and convenience always out-votes compliance.

I’m sorry for the woman. I’m sorrier for the four-year-old. But like so many, mom’s done the wrong thing so many times without consequence that it was a complete shock and a tragedy when her poor decisions came smashing home and cost her little fellow, a child whose life depended on mom making smart and safe choices. Yes, she’s being punished by the courts. She didn’t just make a mistake; she willfully broke a law that would have protected that child, her, her other children, and deliberately put them all at risk for the sake of convenience. And hopefully, a legal conviction will make an impression on her neighbors and save a few lives until we finally get smart about the physical design of our communities.


Florida Cracker

P.S. The driver – he should be permanently barred from driving and serve as a habitual traffic offender (felony).

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

Even more info on what the bastards were up to. Will any of them be arrested over this? Of course not. They'll get a slap on the wrist, a pat on the back and a promotion. And the deaths that THEY CAUSED, will go on and on.

Rec: Kimchi Quesadillas

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup cabbage kimchi, drained and chopped
4 fresh perilla or shiso leaves (optional)
2 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 cup grated Sharp Cheddar
1 cup grated Monterey Jack
1 tablespoon Canola oil


Add the butter to a large skillet over MEDIUM-HIGH
heat. When melted, add the kimchi. Cook for about 6
minutes, stirring occassionally, until the edges of the
kimchi start to turn a little golden brown. Transfer to
a bowl and let cool for a few minutes. Divide the kimchi,
cheese, sesame seeds, and perilla leaves (optional)
between the two tortillas. Fold each tortilla in half. Pour
the oil into a large skillet set over MEDIUM heat. Add
both folded tortilla to the skillet, cover, and cook for about
2 minutes per side, or until they are golden brown and
the cheese has melted. Slice into serving portions, and serve.

Serves 1 to 2

Rec: Microwave Chinese Cabbage Rolls

10 pieces of round cabbage leaves
5 1/2 oz. of minced pork
1 1/2 tablespoon of dried shrimp
1 stalk of green spring onion
5 water chestnuts
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
a dash of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of corn flour



Rinse the cabbage and cut off the hard stems. Put them
into a heat-proof bowl. Cover and cook for 3 minutes on
HIGH to soften. Soak the dried shrimp in water until soft.
Drain off water and chop finely. Mix the green spring
onion and chopped water chestnuts with the minced pork.
Add 1/2 teaspoon ofsalt, a dash of sesame oil and corn
flour. Stir and mix evenly. Place the mixed minced pork
onto the softened cabbage leaves and roll up (like spring
rolls). Place a toothpick at the end to avoid openning up.
Put them in a heat-proof bowl. Add salt, light soy sauce
and stock. Cook on HIGH for 8 minutes.

Rec: Microwave Kale With Oyster Sauce

16 oz. of kale (Chinese broccoli)
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of salt



Rinse and drain the kale. Mix the kale on a plate. Arrange
it with the stem and leaves interestingly. Mix 2
tablespoons of oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Place plastic
wrap over the neatly arranged kale. Cook on HIGH heat
for 4 minutes. Add oyster sauce to oil and salt, and mix into
kale when ready.

Deano Sez: IP Address Locator

I get asked for this all the time....useful for tracking spam origins, hits on web servers by script kiddies, etc.



Enjoy.

The Thought For Today

"We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow-worm." - Winston Churchill

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

WEL, WELL, WELL.

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum IV

"More than 25,000 security breaches have occurred at US airports since November 2001, a congressional panel has heard." Let's see: They've NEVER caught a terrorist. They don't seem to be doing their jobs very well and are being caught right and left stealing from the passengers. And we should let them keep bumbling around groping people because? IDIOTS! They're not even very good theater. The Keystone Cops were much more professional at it. And more entertaining.

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum III

If you or I did crap like this - it's prison time! For the ATF agents (and supervisors) who did this - it's party time! ASSHOLES!

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum II

And this poor woman is being accosted by city elders whose IQs are the same as their shoe sizes.

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

It looks like the idiots are at it again though this time it's more of a "he said, she said" situation.

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA11-193A

*SIGH* SURPRISE! It's Microslug AGAIN!

Hard To Find Films

Hard To Find Films


He Lives! And with even more movies!

The Hard Truth From Orlando

Lest we lose perspective on Casey Anthony trial.

Casey – acquitted of murdering her daughter. And another case where citizens serving as jurors have zero common sense and think that forensics are the end all and be all of finding a guilty verdict. You have to wonder what people around the world think of American justice when such blatantly obvious murderers walk away free from court in case after case. If you’re going to commit a crime, make sure you do it in America where Lady Justice is not only blind, but brain-damaged, too.

Guess the child wrapped duct tape around her head and threw herself into the swamp.

But I’m not losing sleep over the injustice of it. Casey Anthony will get hers as the great wheel goes around. She still has all the theft charges and lying charges. But more than that, she still has her mom Cindy.

Who lost (aside from the taxpayers, but we always lose) from the death of Caylee? Not Casey. She never wanted Caylee. Cindy and George lost their grandchild, but if they’d been serious, they’d have pressed Casey earlier about where their grandchild was – even if they had to beat her black and blue to get a straight answer.

But Casey got what she wanted – freedom from motherhood. Cindy got what she prayed for and lied for -- she gets her monster daughter back. She gets back the dangerous snake she nurtured and protected instead of correcting and drawing a firm line. Yay. She gets back a person who gutted everyone’s lives and reputations and bank accounts to further her own amusements.

Cindy can cuddle that snake to her bosom and see what cold comfort she derives as the rest of her friends and relatives run for cover.

And Casey gets to go home to mommy, knowing that Cindy will punish her every single day for the loss of Caylee because that’s what Cindy does – hold you close and make you pay.

A match made in Hell for both of them. Whoo-hoo.

And the only one lost is Caylee. But hey, the world is full of dead children discarded like garbage. One more will not break the bank.

I wonder how close Lee will be after what his sister has done to the family? I wonder if George will make another attempt or just go on like the living ghost that he is; a neutered shadow, running behind Cindy and cleaning up Casey’s messes until he calls it quits or keels over.

We’ll see.

The big wheel of justice doesn’t always work in court rooms but it does come around. I’ll be curious to see what becomes of this smirking, murderous psychopath and her viciously unstable mother. Little Caylee – yeah, she’s the lucky one.


Florida Cracker

The Thought For Today

"Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up." - Robert Heinlein

Happy Fourth Of July Weekend!

Enjoy the card and have a great weekend.

TSA Agents Now Making Elderly Women Remove Their Adult Diapers

IDIOTS AND ASSHOLES!

To Be or Not to Be?

Whether 'tis nobler to dig Shakespeare up, or let 'im rest. Yes, they're really thinking about it. Are we in for any big surprises? Or is this a hoax, since the story comes, after all, from FOX News, the least informed news team in America?

Light in a Vacuum

Researchers have created sparks in a vacuum as an experiment in quantum mechanics. I'm not sure what the practical application for this is, but I bet we'll find one eventually.

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

Assholes. I hope that she sues the hell out of them.

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

Fire. Arrest. Prosecute, just like what would happen to the rest of us if we did something this stupid and illegal. Of course we don't have friends in the White House.

Two New Elements!

Periodic elements, that is. I had no idea the Periodic Table of Elements is expandable when I was in eighth-grade science class. Or was it seventh grade? Hmmm....

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA11-166A

Damn - it's Adobe products for a change. LOTS of Adobe products.

Silk Road

Found on Gizmodo: "Silk Road - The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable." They only take Bitcoins. Read.

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA11-165A

Yup - Microslug again.

Paper Enigma Machine

Paper Enigma Machine

Pretty much self-explanatory. It's a one-page downloadable PDF of an Enigma Machine as used by Germany during WWII. Actually still quite usefull for those secret messages to your best friends.

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

DAMNED ASSHOLES! If you can't train them right in the first place, how the HELL do you expect to REtrain them!

The Thought For Today

"When you become senile, you won't know it." - Bill Cosby

The Hard Truth From Orlando

I beg to differ with the argument that the “government” is making money off the drug protection rackets. Sure, there’s a lot of fluff and lard and ridiculous pork in government budgets at every level to pay for a drug czar and his minions. There are plenty of government representatives in many countries at every level with their finger in the drug-payoffs pie. But there’s also a very lucrative international corporate business in rehab for addicts, methadone production/clinics (actually designed to keep addicts addicted – not to cure them), counseling centers, drug production and marketing, etc. Banks are making big-time money off the drug lords and money-laundering, as well as a healthy share in corporate addiction creation and rehabilitation. Pharmaceutical companies are making incredible bucks from design of more and more addictive drugs. Insurance companies are making bigger and bigger profits from increased rates because of the potential liabilities presented by addicts in the workplace, on the road, in the neighborhood.

The rampant corruption of the illegal drug traffic exists at every level, but it’s those of us on the ground level that lose the most.

We, the taxpayers at the bottom level of this addiction feeding trough, are hemorrhaging money hand-over-fist by paying welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing, medical care, crime-related expenses for generational addicts, particularly addicted parents who can’t or won’t hold a job, can’t feed or mind their children, but who can always find enough money for drugs; supporting prison populations with over 70% of the prisoners have drug-related criminal convictions; supporting medical expenses for addicted and/or preemie newborns of addicted mothers, whole foster care and child welfare systems to pick up the tab on the neglected and abused children of addicts, who too often grow up themselves to be addicts or criminals. We’re footing the bill for the higher price of insurance premiums and uninsured medical costs of addicts in our hospitals. Their failure to pay becomes our community burden. Their failure to parent becomes our community burden. And they’re breaking our backs.

The addicts are the weak link in the chain of progress. American society can’t go faster, longer, harder because the addicts in the system can’t hold together. They aren’t pulling their weight and they’re a drag on the rest of us. It’s time to cut them out and let them go.

The British tried to redeem addicts by rewarding them with government sponsored substances for their “highs” if they kept working, kept abiding by the law. As a result, they have a bumper-crop of neglected, abused, murdered children, rampant domestic and street violence, and a staggeringly overwhelmed medical system – smashed by the tsunami expenses of support for addicts, their damaged children and the bottomless pit of their drug habits and lousy life choices.

Instead of hundreds of thousands of welfare dollars to addicted mothers and their children, a one-time payment of $1,000 start-up, a free tubal ligation to prevent any other pregnancies, and the surrender of any children to the State – no more welfare for addicts. Now Mom can go smoke dope and not have to worry about the stress of motherhood. For any child of an addicted parent, straight to pre-screened, non-relative family for mentoring in a clean, healthy, productive environment. They don’t get hundreds of thousands of dollars in Independent Living Funds and a free ticket to college as a given when they age out of the system, either. They only get subsistence money if they have no truancies, no disciplinary actions, no criminal actions and obtain certification in a vocation or a minimum of a high school diploma or GED. Failure to comply equals loss of all funds and straight to a detention center until they age-out. No more freebies for bad behavior.

Guys coming out of prison or pending sentencing for a first criminal offense may waive all court costs and fees and child support for a one-time payment of $1,000 and a free vasectomy. Make no mistake. We’re getting a bargain by ending procreative abilities and supporting whatever children are already in the system. The average criminal or addict will never pay for what he does. He’ll never do anything but claw around to get high. He’ll steal the food from the mouths of his children or the children of whatever dumb broad is willing to take him in just to feed his addiction. But at least he won’t be making any more two-legged social liabilities for the rest of us to shoulder.

We’re not tough enough on addicts. A conviction for certain offenses should carry a life-long ban from certain professions. One criminal conviction for illegal drugs or alcohol abuse should result in an immediate year-long suspension of your driver’s license and a year-long ban from certain types of employment. Two convictions for illegal drugs, alcohol abuse and you have a life-long ban on driving and a permanent, national ban on certain professions and a complete loss of security clearances and international travel rights. Three convictions send the addicts to a one-way institution to use all the drugs they want, no limits, no restrictions, no medical interventions, and where they get to leave in a body-bag, dead but smiling.

Then we can wash our hands of them because the choice has been theirs all along. I decry the constant handwringing and “oh, we must help them” – those benighted knuckleheads who continuously seek to soothe the damage to their psyches through pharmaceuticals and other substances to the exclusion of any realistic solution. Addiction is the black hole of our society and it will take everything we have and keep demanding more. You can’t cure addicts. You can cut them off and walk away. Tough love, it’s called. Survival of the fittest is more apt. Scrape them off and move on.


Florida Cracker


And A
And interestingly enough, I believe that we can’t get well on the illegal drug trade as long as so many corporate and government fingers are in that money-making pie. It is not in their best financial interest to deal with the illegal trade and they’re sufficiently insulated from the consequences as to be socially oblivious. But I can’t fix them because the system is rigged. All I have as a woman in this country is a right to vote. I don’t really have equal protection under the law, but I can act like I do. I’ll never make enough money or have enough power to influence even one of these drug profiteers.

But I think anyone who wants to de-regulate illegal drugs needs to spend some time going around with DCF to examine the lifestyles of addict parents and see what happens to their hapless kids while mommy and daddy are stoned, getting stoned, or finding a way to get stoned. Addiction is a 24/7 job – they don’t have anything left to be parents. They need to interview a few hundred of the street people and recognize this is a life-choice for too many; not a social or medical disorder.

I think the reason we can’t get a handle on illegal immigration is the same reason as our lack of progress in the illegal drug trade; too many political and corporate profiteers don’t want to break their rice bowl and damn the rest of us common people who aren’t being paid a living wage or getting tax breaks while simultaneously making profit from cheap labor.

Pay attention to the disconnect. This is another example of the dichotomy of political v. citizen social and economic values which brought the Soviet Union to its knees in the 80’s. I’m not sure if we can consolidate from the wreckage and come back as a nation with so many fragments…led for them.

The Thought For Today

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." - Leonardo da Vinci

The Thought For Today

"What is sad for women of my generation is that they weren't supposed to work if they had families. What were they going to do when the children are grown, watch the raindrops coming down the windowpane?" - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

The Thought For Today

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism." - Ronald Reagan

The Hard Truth From Orlando

Well, it’s official. Beginning July 1st, 2011, all Florida state employees have to kick in 3% of their salaries towards retirement, retirement funds that used to be entirely paid for by the State of Florida and part of the benefit package for remaining in the state public service at a significantly lower pay rate than the private employment sector. Of course, the old period of employment before you became vested in the retirement system and entitled to any of it was 10 years – but then Republican governor Jeb Bush was the one who approved reduction of the investment period to a mere six years. He also introduced the retirement option plan of state employees having their retirement funds put into the stock market or into the long-term retirement, with a guaranteed rate of pay upon reaching the retirement age – basically, a dividend that you could cash in when you left state service or a regular fixed check when you retired – one or the other, but not both.

Jeb Bush also hired the Arthur Andersen accounting firm to oversee the Florida Retirement Pension, considered then and now as one of the best in the nation. That made me flinch at the time because everyone knew that Arthur Andersen was responsible for the failure to audit and report the criminal Enron fraud, which made history as one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in American history. And “fiscally responsible” Republican Jeb handed over the pension plan of all of Florida ’s public servants to these criminally inept or just plain criminal guys to monitor.

I don’t know how many people since those changes have pulled their money out of the retirement system before they reached retirement age, but you know that had to cost the State. With only six years to be vested, this change encouraged transition of state employees, creating a constant drain of monetary resources when people pulled out their retirement funds as they left Florida ’s service. So Governor Scott is raising the years to vestment to 8 years, splitting the difference between 6 years (a ludicrous figure) and 10 years, and cutting retirement 3% COLA (Cost of Living Allowances) for retirees until further notice.

I believe that’s when the DROP program came into being as well, under Jeb Bush. This is the program we’ve seen everyone screaming about for some time, the legalized “double-dipping” where an employee could retire and come back in one month and collect a retirement check and another full paycheck while earning still a second retirement to be cashed in when they retire for keeps The DROP program is finally being dismantled, as well it should be – but it’s funny that this program largely benefited the guys making the most money, and particularly those working up in Tallahassee, rather than the little administrative folks at the bottom of the salary food chain.

There’re other changes as well, but those are some of the big ones – basically, a 3% pay cut across the board for State employees, plus the 3% which the State will no longer be paying into the retirement system because the employees are paying out of their salaries – so really a 6% pay cut for State employees.

Judicial assistants have to pay their portion of the medical benefits like everyone else. That’s about $80 a month for family coverage and $45 a month for individual (the State still covers the ridiculous 300 plus premium per family coverage or $100 plus for individual coverage). My question is, the judicial assistants, being the lowest on the totem pole of salaries – are the judges and all the Select Exempt Service guys and our state legislators and honorable governor paying their part of the premiums or do they still get their medical coverage completely free as they have for decades? I mean, if it’s fair for the folks with the lowest salary (but not lower hours or responsibilities) to pay their portion, what about the guys making the big bucks who can really afford that and not even flinch?

I’m just wondering – are our Governor’s retirement and benefits still free or does he (and the Republican Florida State Congress) have to set the example and kick in his fair share, too?




Florida Cracker

US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA11-130A

Yup - it's Microslug again...