The real UNDERGROUND economy!

Hey. Here's a quick look at where a great deal of our country's data is stored.
save, dont post +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The background I believe that: * We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression! * It's going to be as BAD as the last one. * I call this Depression 2.0 * The first (2008 housing bubble) only bring us 25% into the problem!! * According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%. * We need a new deal. * After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon... * We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills. * Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything. SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society... But.... We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once. If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one! Here's what I came up with: We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society: * Create A Living Wage * Create a National Single payer Healthcare * Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service) * Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months * Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich * Lobbying (Political Reform) * Education * Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs) * Lack of Training/futures * Truth and Reconcilliation Commission * A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Shout-0ut : Good job HP.. Hello Meg, and Good Luck

Well.  Isn't this special?

HP's (now former) CEO  is out.   Less then one month after blind-siding the Board of directors of HP, (when the (now fired CEO) announced the dismemberment  of the entire company by selling the PC division, and junking the former PALM OS (now WEB-OS HW and SW) unit, and creating a FIRE-Sale situation for all them $400 tablets at $100, he is GONE.

Replacing him is Ms. (I can't be a Governor, I'm too business-like to win), Meg Whitman.

LOL...

Oh yeah.

If it were me (I should be so lucky one day...)

a) I would create a new fully owned corporation called Palmcorp.

I would take web-os, license it, and all of the hardware (think phones and touchpad) back to palmcorp

And then I would AGGRESSIVE recruit, and restart the development, and raise the price on tablets from $100 and $150 to $199 and $250 (one hundred dollar price increase) for the NEXT generation (to be
released first quarter next year.
and just chalk off the loss to market generation.

But... I just am a forward thinking, cyber-geek.

Shame OUT: House : Government Shutdown in 8 days

This is an example of PISS poor management I tried to cut and pasted and got THIS...

Stupid #$#@*Q syndicators think content protection works!

Real Image HERE:

And I bet the strip authors would PREFER their work to be shown and distributed: thanks to sixchix .

Hey. I've said it BEFORE...  We're about to go into YET ANOTHER Republican ENGINEERED Government shut-down alert.

THIS IS THE THIRD time this year.

AND I REPEAT.   ANYONE who thinks that our current political situation is SANE, is actually insane (that's called a Catch-22--Heh Heh)

We Are in a case of class warfare, and I am ready for the Republicans to be SLAUGHTERED in 2012.
.
We need (despite my qualms about the President), to RELECT him, and SWEEP in FILIBUSTER proof majorities in the HOUSE and Senate.

Then we need to:
* ENACT NEW financial reforms.
* Tax the wealthy that do NOT CURRENTLY pay ANY US taxes.
* Enact a REAL JOBS program, similar to the Works Project Administration.




9  8 7 days and counting. AND if we're lucky, the PRESIDENT will NOT bow down to the demands of the Tea-Party and Republican idiots. (I promised not to use the choice phrase I previously did because I was told it is a REALLY BAD bad phrase.*but I haven't deleted it previously if you are REALLY interested!!!..!) cheers
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com

Low Expectations Man -- A view of life

We're in Depression 2.0 (tm).   This post is dedicated and directed to my dear sister!

Call me Low Expectations man.  I figured out early  in life, that the lower your expectations in life, the less you will be disappointed (and happier you will eventually be).

Example.  My kids.  Dearest Daughter?  Low expectations during high school?  Great outcomes and makes me very proud today.


My view of America's support of Israel?  Lukewarm at best for the past 7 presidents.  My opinion?  Presidents have way more important things to worry about then Israel.  Take one of the presidents of the last century I feel is one of the OUTSTANDING of our presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

He actually VETOED suggestions by his top aides to bomb the German railroad lines during the second war (Note, NOT the GREAT second WAR, but WWII) , despite being shown proof of the jews being brought to the Death camps.

However, (he died before Israel was approved by the UN), his successor Harry Truman, supported Israel immediately.

Thus my feelings of why the USA does the bare minimum it ever can when it comes to supporting Israel.

Thus also my supreme rejection of Jewish voters who claim to now support ABO (anyone but Obama) because of his lack of support of Israel.

We're in a state of CLASS Warfare, as declared by the the republicans THEMSELVES.
For ANYONE who has ever thought that we need SOCIAL programs like:

• SOCIAL SECURITY
• A fair Living WAGE
• FULL EMPLOYMENT
• FAIR taxes paid by ALL Americans (and AMERICAN Companies)
• MORE regulation of the FINANCIAL markets  (the Glass-Steagal act did WONDERS until it's repeal in the early 1990's)

[think of the UNREGULATED messes of 1929 (Depression 1.0) and 2008 (Start of Depression 2.0)]


 At any rate, that is why I feel that:

• President Obama, despite his lack-luster support of Israel (but just about average for the past 7-10 presidents) Needs our support.
• The current state of  Class Warfare, as declared and currently practiced  by the republican party (lower case!)n , is a BATTLE-CRY for the folks who think that WALL street and CORPORATIONS are WAY WAY WAY out of control.
• We need a HUGE spending program to get our economy back out of the sh_t-hole that it's currently in,
• We need a MINIMUM Millionaire tax (based on the GROSS income, including Dividends and Interest) to equal out our playing field in this country.

 

It's the TWO state solution-- with the 1948 borders...DOY

The ONLY real peace in the mideast is simple.

When ALL of the arab countries accept the 1948 two state solution to the BRITISH PALESTINE problem (similar to their stupid assed partition of INDIA and Pakistan)

THEN we will all have peace.

Check out this blog.


I have previously (too lazy to look and quote myself, feel free to comment to it..)
mentioned that the problems are

1) ALL arab countries declared war on the newly created state in 1948.
2) The local religious leaders (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) told all the Arab residents to LEAVE, so we can wipe out all the Jews, and you can come back in a few days .  (THIS by the way is the CAUSE of the 60 years of REFUGEE camps in ALL the arab countries (JORDAN/Lebanon/Syria and Egypt)...  (none of which EVER gave ANY of those refugees CITIZENSHIP in their countries, despite being born there...

3) The fact that the 1948 borders include HALF of the state of Jordan.   THAT is a REAL show-stopper. OR is it?
4) The state of Jerusalem as an international city.  I accept this.  I just don't accept the United Nations OR Jordan as administering it.   THE UN vacated the borders in 1956, and Jordan really didnt do a good job of administering it FAIRLY during the 19 years they controlled EAST Jerusalem.


SO it's total bullshit for the Palestinians to try and declare a state at the UN.

and (Low expectations man that I am)  I really don't hold much faith in the United States' support of Israel.  However, President Obama has done the absolute minimum to support Israel, by saying that he will veto this attempt at the UN security council for statehood.

Obama/Buffett tax: Close but NO CIGAR! THE GE tax!!!

Dear President  Obama.  It's not the Warren Buffett's we need to fix. 

We need to refine this, and relabel this the GE tax.

Very simply, as I have said for many years...

Make over a million dollars?   Your new tax will be calculated as a minimum of one percent of your GROSS income, including ALL capital gains, dividends, etc.

NO reductions for ANYThING at all.

Think of it as the new millionaire's minimum tax (MMT),,,

Arguh (talk like a pirate day...)

Argh, ye mateys.... No pay taxes in US? Walk the plank!!!!!

Arguh--Me mateys.. Talk like a pirate Day 2008...2011

Ahoy Me Mateys.

Look HERE... and here and especially HEREIt's international "Talk like a pirate" day today... crimeney jickets...

The 3rd link will bring you to a classic Dave Barry column discussing this special fall classic holiday.

It's hotter then Columbus Day.
Wetter then a forest fire.
Cooler then an Eskimo.

Talk like a pirate Today!!!


and of course, no blog entry for ITLAPD would be complete without the exhaustive WIKI site.


Cheers. oops I mean.. Avast, and lots of RUM for ye and Ye friends today.

Civility and Congress

I was chatting with my sister today (unbelievably, a Republican--take THAT sis..), and it came up that she really was a "don't bother me, I won't listen to ya, I am a ""BIRTH-er" republican....

ALL I can say to this is that the Cause OF THE DISEASE  we currently have in congress is NOT the fault of the democrats.

We are suffering from a TOTAL lack of civility.  It started with the Republicans.  They are the ones who claim the Legally elected President of the United States isn't a citizen.  They are the ones who say, "We will do EVERYTHING we can do in Congress to defeat him".

This lack of civility is the cause of the decay of our civilization.  Once upon a time, members of congress worked 4 days a week instead of just THREE days per week.  In those long ago days, members would actually live in Washington, and FRATERNIZE with the enemy (the other party).

It was not unknown for two congresspeople of different parties to ACTUALLY be FRIENDS, and understand the point of view of the other.  This is now gone, replaced by a congress where they work less hours per week, and actually fly home (costing us the taxpayer much more) every weekend.

I bring this up, only because my other (democratic) sister refused to listen to my starting this political discussion, and when she left, pubby and I started to talk (calmly, I thought), until she said she was STILL a birth-er, despite the release of his birth certificate.

I tried to explain to her that this was an extremely offensive remark to me, and that civility was the problem that we have in congress, as well as in our family.

I told her I would NOT make disparaging remarks about the last president, (and Secretary of Defense), if she would not defame my president.  I also asked her if she knew her remark was actually treasonous.  I stand corrected, according to dictionary.com I am thinking of sedition, defined as:

Sedition is any act, writing, speech, etc., directed unlawfully against state authority, the government, or constitution, or calculated to bring it into contempt or to incite others to hostility, ill will or disaffection; it does not amount to treason and therefore is not a capital offense.

I will however state that I believe that the beliefs of those who claim to be Tea-Party members are NOT as honest as they claim, and that they all have hidden, as well as confused agendas.

(Confused agendas?:  

• Ask 10 tea-party members if they support budget cuts.  
• Then ask them if they support cutting Social Security or Medicare.. 
• Then ask them if they think the two biggest expenditures (besides the military) of the federal government should just be left alone, without cuts.
• Then ask them if they support cutting federal school lunch programs.
• Ask them if they know that their candidates support trashing these programs. (example: Rick Perry claims Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme (like Bernie Maidoff).

I believe that the "average" rank and file tea party member is NOT aware of the distinctions I have made, and that if they knew the effects they would NOT support such drastic budget cuts.



I will close this post by saying that we all need to become more Civil between parties and people.  I will start by personally not calling the Tea-Party, the "Tea-Baggers Party" anymore (especially since I was told by my son that "tea-bagging" is not EVER discussed in mixed OR polite company).

Moving Forward: The President's Rebuilding Speech

(Sorry:  This was released earlier in error --I Bad!)

Hey.  I'm still underwhelmed.   I say we need a "NEW-DEAL", like the Works Projects Administration during the New Deal.

We need several TRILLION Dollars in Rebuilding.  We need A FULL Job training program where we can offer MORE then just summer jobs.

We need to FIRST agree to spend money to get OUT of this mess.  Only THEN can we do deficit reductions.

Please.  WE need a LEADER.  Not a negotiator.  NOT someone who claims to want to COMPROMISE with the "ENEMY" party (the Republicans).

We currently need to sell this plan to the ENTIRE country.   And make sure that the people in congress understand that WE WILL ALL hold them accountable, and we are WATCHING them.

With regard to fair taxes, I have proposed an Minimum Millionaire's Tax (MMT), which is simple.
if you income is over 5 million dollars, you will now pay a MINIMUM tax of 1% of your GROSS income.  No exclusions, no net, but on GROSS income and dividends.

Count-down: 24 Days to Government Shutdown (Redux)

Hey.  It's NEVER too early to shout out to to our congress that they need to start to REALLY work.

Our country's fiscal year is over on September 30th.  What are the chances this "DO NOTHING except defeat the incumbent president"  (to  quote the GOP senate Minority Leader)  Congress will actually consider a budget before September 25th??? Zero to Null percentage of that happening.

TWICE this year (the spring budget problem), and the Summer Debt ceiling crisis the American people were HIJACKED by the Republican party and the so called "Tea Party" patriots.


NOT AGAIN.   It's time for us to remind OUR CONGRESS we want ACTION NOW, and forget about the bull-sh*t of not approving the budget until we make more cuts in the deficit.


I KEEP saying (and SCREAMING...), saying it's THE JOBS stupid.  NOT the deficit.

And WNYC/Brian Lehrer:
It's time to get out AHEAD of the media for a change on this issue...
Why dont you have a daily "Days to budget" countdown every day!??

Shout-out/shameout... netflix

As you sow so shall you reap.

"According to their way I will do to them, and according to
       their own judgments I will judge them; and they shall know
       that I am the LORD." (Ezekiel 7:27b)

Well.  (to quote the church lady from Saturday Night Live)... Isn't this nice?

NETFLIX raises prices, and screws it's subscribers with an unjustified and unconscionable 

rate hike  

And Thursday Night the Starz TV network just Screwed Netflix, by saying "Sayanora Netflix"

Come January 2012.

Well I for one, think this is the just deserts for Netflix.

I have been a member since the pre-streaming days.  I just gave up my CD/mailbox version

and will now be ready to also destroy my streaming membership on 12/31.

Netflix has hit the "microsoft" syndrome of the late 1980's and early 1990's.  NOT listening

to it's customers and doing what IT wanted, ignoring the market.

HA HA HA HA HA...

and if Netflix really really wanted to listen to its customers,

here are a few things they could have done to keep down costs:

1) limit streaming to 3 devices at once.

2) limit streaming to the SAME geographic area (via IP analysis.)

3) implement a 'grandfathered' membership.  those with previously existing accounts would 

not be charged the rate increase.

4) Be willing to negotiate in good faith with suppliers.

As it is, I predict that Netflix will no longer be a viable company as of the beginning of 

next year

shame-out... Why the heck am I screaming? Hello ???

It's another Shame out.  Over 5 years ago, I realized the following:
1)  We were heading into a GREAT recessions (I call it depression 2.0)
2)  Our Economy was devastated,
3)  Our school system was shot.
4)  Our tax (income tax) system is unfair.
5)  The wealth in this country is not fairly distributed
6)  We Are NOT in a fairly distributed society (unequal education).
7) The  Infrastructure in this country is shot.
What did I say we need?  
A serious look at the conditions show us that our conditions today are EXACTLY the same as just after the "Great Depression" (Depression 1.0).
How did Herbert Hoover deal with the "great crash of 1929?"  HE CUT THE DEFICIT, and made the problem MUCH MUCH worse.
What does the Tea-Baggers party (I refuse to call them the tea-party..., sorry!) want? 
TO CUT the deficit, just like HERBERT HOOVER did.
What do we REALLY NEED>?
* A works project Administration
* A new LIVING wage, as well as a renamed 'minimum wage' (to be called a TRAINING wage)
* REALLY tax the wealthy.  NO more claiming millions in income, and ZERO paid in taxes (a la G.E., and many other billionaires)..
* Fair Training,
* SINGLE PAYER GOVERNMENT Provided Universal Health Care for all (phased in over 20 years, starting with our current private system, and then gettin g to 5 or 6 nationwide provider networks.
* Educational REFORM... starting with a privately run government paid day care starting at six months ... (Think Geofery Canada in NYC)

shame-out: 'Pubs say "NO level of taxes is good"

SO  the republicans claim that there is NO number that would be acceptable as a balance.

IE: they were asked if a three to one (three dollar reduction in spending to a one dollar tax increase) would be acceptable they all said "NO".


Follow ups said that not even a 10 to one balance was acceptable.


PS:  It's time for the republicans to understand that it's the ECONOMY, STUPID, and
that the 8 months that they have OBSTRUCTED  congress and held up the budget, and the debt ceiling have NOT helped, but HURT our economy...

Shame-Out:: (FOURTH Time) It's the ECONOMY (jobs), (you) stupid congressmen...

OK.... I really can't believe that the TEA-Party  is about to ambush the American Country.

I think that the first step is that Congress should pass a law stating that

* Any time there is a potential to stop the government via budget problems (or debt ceiling talks);  The first agencies that will NOT be paid will be the Legislative branch of government.

ie:  If there is a reduction in the debt ceiling -- congress would not get paid...

Now for serious stuff:

• If the Republicians do not give up the concept of 'no new taxes', I predict the following reactions:
1. The cost of borrowing will go up.
• For the Federal Government
• For State Government
• For local cities, and government agencies (MTA/Thruway authority, etc)
• For Every single Citizen in the country
2. The stock market will crash.  I predict an eventual return to 6,000 Dow jones again.  The problems this will engender are:
• It will be a gradual drop, because the exchanges have put 'built-in' market limits into effect, so it might not drop 1,500 points in one day, but maybe a series of days.
• All corporate spending will stop.  Totally.  
• NO new employment
• There will be a huge drop in R&D (Research and Development), as companies will absolutely be in ca$h saving mode.
• Government as well as corporate bonds will be worthless and trading in them may easily be stopped.
3. The unemployment rate is going to ZOOM upward.
• Currently unemployed people will continue to collect unemployment
• Companies will Not hire or put out new jobs to fill
• States and Cities will have bigger and bigger budget deficits and will start to lay off local workers.
4. We will OFFICIALLY enter a DEPRESSION 2.0.  Since before 2008, I've been saying we're  currently IN a recession, and that we only saw 25% of the iceberg in 2008
•  THIS IS the FIRST part of that 75% we haven't seen before.

I really think this is disgusting, and that EVERY citizen needs to call their congressman, and tell them
that if they WONT vote for a COMPROMISE with the senate, that they will NOT vote for them in 2012.

We need to stop this massive show of partisanship.  It turns out that the lack of fraternization between congressmen of different parties has caused this.

We need to stop this.  We need to take every single Tea-Bagger, and send them into early retirement in 2012.

Update: 8/8/11
The stock Market crashed over 600 points today (monday).
I say this is ONLY the start, and unless we take 
Grover Norquist out and shoot him (just kidding!) nothing will change, and my previous prediction (dow around 5k-6K) will come to pass.

A Nightmare in the White House (SNL-Version)

Hey. "little" Ron Howard (Opie from the Andy Griffin show) (who gave up acting for directing YEARS and years ago!)

just directed a FANtastic fan-fiction type SNL (saturday night live?!) skit featuring a whole bunch of FORMER presidents (or former SNL actors who portrayed Presidents)

Ron Howard gathered an all star (or former-SNL-star) cast of :

*One non SNL-er (you may know him...) Jim Carrey, portrayed Ronald Reagan (Phil Hartman who did him on SNL, died in 1998)

* Will Ferrell reprises his President George W. Bush (43)
* Darrell Hammond plays President Bill Clinton
* Dana Carvey returns as President George H.W. Bush (41)
* Dan Aykroyd plays President Jimmy Carter
* Chevy Chase returns as President Gerald Ford.

It's a homage to

Shenanigans (redux)

It almost seems we have an identical  repeat  of the January

federal budget debate. I think it's time to just go and tell them they will all be voted out next year. And it's time to remind. ' Republicans that they need to Work with the other party

Peace Now: 1948 Borders.

 Yes, we want Peace.  Peace is NOT the absence of hostility.
Peace is a process where BOTH parties wish to embrace each other, and do not fear the other party.

A good start to REAL peace is NOT  the 1967 borders.  The real answer to peace is the FIRST  two state solution proposed by the UN in 1947/1948.


It will require much thought on both sides.

First:  The "west bank" and "east Jerusalem" were partially annexed in 1967 by Israel.

They based this on several precedents, especially that of (then) Trans-Jordan which annexed the land intended for the 1948 Palestinian state.

So. Let's start out resolving a few issues.
1) Two state solution.  Agreed.
2) Land mass.   Perhaps if Jordan gives up the land IT took, Israel might give up some additional land.

3) Jerusalem: An International City.  Fine.  Jordan's 19 years of custodian-ship of Jerusalem shows that not one Jew was allowed into Jewish religious locations during that time.  In the almost 45 years Israel has administered East Jerusalem, millions of Muslims and Christians have been allowed to worship freely there.
Point?  Israel will administer the international city.

4) Right of Return:
I'm Jewish.  Therefore I answer a question with a question.  Why is it that in 1948 there were ALL of these refugees?  Because the Muslim leaders told their populations to leave, and "let us push the Jews into the sea", and then you can come back.

Whoops.  We bad.  Now you are homeless.  Instead of offering you citizenship in Lebanon/Syria/Jordan and Egypt, we will make you third class citizens, and call you Refugees, and NOT make you legal citizens of our countries.

Let's see if some reparations can be made by the Arab countries who refused to give their brothers citizenship  for over 60 years.

SO:
To summarize:   1947 borders.  territory concessions.  Real peace, and a real future

Fare Thee Well: Kodachrome Fades away into history today

Kodachrome.... Gave you nice bright colors. ...

History has ended for that great stuff.
......Mama, don't take my Kodachrome, away....

and it's epitaph?

  ...A  picture of all the employees standing in front of Dwayne’s wearing shirts with the epitaph: “The best slide and movie film in history is now officially retired. Kodachrome: 1935-2010the Times article.”

OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes. The background I believe that: * We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression! * It's going to be as BAD as the last one. * I call this Depression 2.0 * The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!! * According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%. * We need a new deal. * After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon... * We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills. * Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything. SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society... But.... We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once. If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one! Here's what I came up with: We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society: * Create A Living Wage * Create a National Single payer Healthcare * Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service) * Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months * Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich * Lobbying (Political Reform) * Education * Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs) * Lack of Training/futures * Truth and Reconcilliation Commission * A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Shame-Out: Palin says 'Eat your Cookies, Get as FAT as you want...

I just love Sarah Palin. Just not as a Vice President, or heaven forbid, President.

She has Moxie. And Guts... And an amazing lack of common sense.
In her great reality TV show, the former governor of Alaska (who you recall decided to quit before her term was over) was...

[Palin is] searching for the different products that make-up the “s’more,” that much beloved great American treat.

She mutters, “Where are the s'mores ingredients? This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert."

ABC News's 'The Note' explains that, 

Palin has been highly critical of Michelle Obama’s campaign to combat childhood obesity.   She brought cookies to a Pennsylvania High School to argue that what kids eat should be a parent’s choice, not the governments.

Well. We {should all } know from watching her bastard grandchild (technically a bastard is the outcome of two non-married people!), that she isn't a role model that conservative America should REALLY follow.

But does that stop her? Not at all.



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes. The background I believe that: * We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression! * It's going to be as BAD as the last one. * I call this Depression 2.0 * The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!! * According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%. * We need a new deal. * After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon... * We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills. * Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything. SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society... But.... We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once. If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one! Here's what I came up with: We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society: * Create A Living Wage * Create a National Single payer Healthcare * Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service) * Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months * Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich * Lobbying (Political Reform) * Education * Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs) * Lack of Training/futures * Truth and Reconcilliation Commission * A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Back to Posting: new year: new political candidate Palin

I'm back.  I never really went anywhere.
  Let's see:

---

ObamaCare check
Don't AskDon't Tell repeal? Check
Robert Reich agrees with my proposals to save the country? check



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes. The background I believe that: * We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression! * It's going to be as BAD as the last one. * I call this Depression 2.0 * The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!! * According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%. * We need a new deal. * After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon... * We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills. * Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything. SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society... But.... We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once. If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one! Here's what I came up with: We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society: * Create A Living Wage * Create a National Single payer Healthcare * Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service) * Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months * Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich * Lobbying (Political Reform) * Education * Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs) * Lack of Training/futures * Truth and Reconcilliation Commission * A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

The BUSH Supreme's// Devoted ACTIVISTS--- PRO corporation a suggestion

OK.

SO the Newly adjusted SUPREMES says that corporate finance law actually RESTRICTS the
discussion or talking of a CORPORATION.


SO. It's time for the CONGRESS to RE-write the law (yet again...)


And re-define a CORPORATION as an entity that DOES NOT have the right to FREE speech.

And does NOT have the same (intrinsic) legal rights as a person.

That is a simple deal.

that might make this democracy a bit fairer than it was just declared today.


AND by the way... AGAIN it's the F#$*&@#*&$^ republicians at the heart of destroying our country!!!

Plagerism- the cruelest joke

Sometimes life imitates art.....

No, no no, that should be...

" Sometimes Art imitates life"

And sometimes it's just

Art imitates Art

And Sometimes, it's just plain Crazy...

Like this great Headline:

Russian Critics Highlight Similarities Between Film (Avatar) and Books

but go here and read all you care to

Essentially, he says...

"Cameron steals from the Strugatskys {Soviet authors of a 10 book series written in the 1990's) generously, using not only the planet Pandora which was invented by them," author and journalist Dmitry Bykov wrote in Russia's independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper. "The Na'vi are unequivocally reminiscent of the Nave."

Both "Avatar" and "Noon Universe" take place in the 22nd century, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper noted in a full-page, side-by-side analysis. Both Pandoras are densely forested, and always warm and humid.

Of course, Cameron does admit writing the script in the mid 1990's. Anyone care to check to see if the Russian books were translated into English??>>


Cheers

It's CLOTURE for a REASON, you idiots!!!

OK. Today we dedicate to the Senate of the United States

It takes 60 senators voting together to STOP a filibuster in the Senate.

This is called Cloture


It's time for the 60 so called democratic senators to call a spade a spade.

Apparently, Both the Republican party, Ben Nelson, and Former Democrat (now alleged independent) Joe Lieberman need to learn that if they will NOT agree to sponsor the bill, they will be required to start to HOLD THE SENATE in CONTINUOUS session, until they lose.

PUSH OR SHOVE...

You want to FILIBUSTER??? GO AHEAD. let's see it all on C-SPAN, and see what we get from all these so called representatives of our government.

I say it's time for Harry Reams to call a vote, and allow the senators to filibuster all they want.

WAIT till the voters NEXT year hear this. We'll have 70-90 democrats in the senate.

Your Thoughts? I welcome suggestions.

Look at my top 10 list.

Political (campaign) reform (eliminate special interest voting)
educational reform (day care from 6 months...
job training
mandatory service
SINGLE payer HEALTH-Care (phased in over 20 years...)
a LIVING wage.. (I started this blog over 3 years ago saying this!)
A HUGE green jobs project to undo the terrible injustices to mass transit made by General motors...
and more

Health Care -- It's the REPUBLICANS , Stupid!

EXCUSE ME while I whine.

(shamelessly stolen from my OTHER blog posted on 7/9/09 HERE )

It's MY blog, and I'll Whine if I want to. (repeat 3 times)...

End of Quoted song..

---

Here is the problem.

SIX TIMES in SIXTY Years, HEALTH care

has been TORPEDOED

KILLED

BY the REPUBLICAN PARTY. YES, the REPUBLICAN party of this country.

THIS time there is NO MORE Harry And Louise against Health Care.

So what are they doing? FAKE activists complaining to congressmen's hearings.

Now it's time to tell ALL THE REPUBLICANS in the CONGRESS

NO MORE BELLYACHING... We want healthcare reform


Let me tell YOU!

If I see that WOMAN at the Scotch Plains, NJ Post Office one more TIME, I will PERSONALLY pull out a SIGN saying:
"STUPID Republicans KILLED Health Care SIX times in SIXTY Years"
"Wanna try again? or FINALLY get health CARE"
<>

AND hold it up NEXT TO HER!!!!

(and I will have someone take a picture of it...)


JUST KILL The REPUBLIAN Bullshit.

Bring back the Equal TIME policy

IT's time to put people like RUSH Limbaugh back where they belong...
Leading the Republican party...

HERE's my analysis of this.

The 'pubs know that they DONT have a majority in congress.

They are praying that the vocal minority (as opposed to the MORAL majority)
can blow away health care, so that President Obama can be embarrassed.

In reality, what's happening is that there is YET ANOTHER loophole in the campaign contribution laws.

Large companies (such as Insurance companies, or drug companies), can fund (without ANY limits or requirements to PUBLISH what and how much it pays for this) ANY non-campaign type organization that they want.

They can (for example) give ONE million dollars to me, to so an example: )I can pay 1,000 of my friends $1,000 each) to join me at 100 different locations this summer.

SO, lets presume, myself and my 9 buddies show up at Senator X's Town hall meeting which is to discuss health care.

Now, we don't sit all together, but we sit in 5 different locations, 2 each (like couples).

AND we start screaming. NO new health care now.... NO changes ...

And

---

If you DIDN'T know better you'd think that there was a HUGE backlash against a
health care bill.

Instead of just seeing that there are 10 big mouth PAID "Agent Provocateurs"
who are just doing the will of these LARGE companies.

We need to ACTIVELY combat this. It is impossible. We CANNOT let HEALTH CARE slip away AGAIN!!!

support Health care for ALL. (KILL A REPUBLICAN today!!!) (just kidding, please no violence, just tape all their mouths closed.!)

In reality we need (what I proposed here : in my top ten list:

SINGLE payer Health care, phased in over 5-20 years, starting with EXACTLY what we have today, private companies, that will start to enroll the uninsured, at the government expense.

THIS is doable.

and NECESSARY...

Please comment here...
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Support the PRES?! wow

OK. I mentioned HERE (over two years ago...) that we NEED to remove all the "For-Profit" Contractors that are now embedded in our US army (courtesy of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield, and the 'non-dynamic' Bush Duo (49 and 51).

But today's discussion is about the "Troop Surge" in Afghanistan. Why? Do we need it?

I say (quite often) that we are in the second decade of the Bush hundred years war.
If you see this point of view (starting with the FIRST gulf-war in 1990), you will see that we are not in a short term commitment. (In my personal opinion), It was NOT a smart decision by our past president to declare war in Iraq (and Afghanistan).

However, we absolutely need to start to transition and train local troops so they can take over for us.

Think of it this way.

We've Already Lost the Bush war in Iraq. Before we lose the Bush war in Afghanistan, we need to understand that Afghanistan and Pakistan share a very loose, non-patrolled border, and Pakistan is STILL a nucc-ulear power.

If we do NOT help to stabilize Afghanistan, the damage that has just STARTED in Pakistan will continue, and will lead to Pakistan becoming a failed state, just like Afghanistan, or Somalia.

This however, is not a good idea, since this might lead to unsecured warheads, in dangerous hands.

---

OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Shame-Out: It's the little things?

Here's an interesting tidbit that I heard on NPR this morning.

Here's a link to the audio for the story

Here's the transcript


It's about the now famous Ft-Hood Shooter; the Muslim major.

1) did you know he went to Medical School courtesy of the US army? He was a podiatrist when he went into the army.


2) Apparently, when he was at school, There were some concerned people were at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (where he attended medical school),about his performance there. Daniel Zwerdling discusses this:

...indicates deletions from transcript (my edits)...

...At the end of 2007, the government sent Hasan to the military's medical school, ...right here in the Washington, D.C. area. And pretty soon the psychiatrists and officials and professors there were very worried about Hasan and they started having a series of conversations and meetings in early 2008, wondering - is it possible that Nidal Hasan is psychotic?

And, It basically means out of touch with reality, and if doctors are using this word, they mean it in that very specific, clinical way.

It was not you know, he was not sent, puzzling enough, to a mental evaluation, but what made them wonder if he was psychotic is that one thing is that they kept telling him over and over again - and I've gotten documents that show this - Nidal, youre doing a really bad job; ...academically you are just not cutting it. And he basically would blow them off and ignore them.

Here's the kicker to this story (which to my knowledge had almost NO impact today!

We should be clear - in fact its part of your story - that there was no formal psychiatric evaluation of this man. But still, you have doctors and colleagues who are very concerned about him. I mean what did they do about it?

ZWERDLING: They sat around trying to figure out where could we sent Nidal Hasan that would do the least harm? One psychiatrist said, you know, in the military there's a long tradition - when you have somebody who is a loser or is a failure or you're worried about, you try to create a job for them where they can, ...do as little harm as possible. And they decided, lets send him to Fort Hood.

Why Fort Hood? Because Fort Hood has a bigger mental health staff than most Army bases, and they thought, you know, at least if he goes to Fort Hood and he doesn't do anything of value, theres plenty of other people to pick up the slack. But number two, there will be lots of psychiatrists around there to help him and monitor him.

But one psychiatrist said to me, you know, we were sort of hoping he'd go to Fort Hood and disappear.

Hmmm....
Another conspiracy theory anyone?

Lou? care to comment on THIS?

Shout-Out: Intricate, detailed, yet meaninful (?!)

I gotta hand it to my daughter. She turned me on to this web-comic, called xkcd .

It's cool, and it's sometimes quite interesting...

Like this post:

I'm gonna leave you in suspense, until You click above.

It is perfectly ok to click on at work, (not pornographic or anything like that...)

But... What a set of details...

Shout-Out: To the MOON, Alice, to the Moon!

In the "been there, done that", department (not really...)

The best of craigs-list (as voted by readers...) shows THIS gem of an ad:
(emphasis MINE!)

Astronaut Needed

Date: 2009-09-14, 3:43AM
Astronaut needed for experimental flight to Titan*. I have been working on this project now for near 40 years and am afraid I'm no longer fit enough to go.


My secret space craft is the result of my professional experience and imagination while serving the U.S. military in advanced aeronautics as a scientist.

The craft harnesses a revolutionary propulsion system and its fuselage is fabricated with the most advanced material. While considerably safe, I am certain you will make it safely to
Titan but there will not be enough fuel to get home.

This is for someone unique that has always wanted to see the universe
first-hand and has perhaps a terminal view on life here at home.

Here's your shot at romantic history.

Must be:

• physically fit.
• -mentally sound.
• -over the age of 18.
• -a dreamer.
• -a believer.
• -not afraid of heights.
• -not afraid of extreme conditions such as speed, pressure, heat, etc.
• -brave.
• -no taller than 5'10 and relatively slim.
• -good eye-sight & hearing.
• -manual dexterity (although the craft is largely cpu controlled).
• -OK in cramped conditions for long periods of time.

Location: Northern Alberta
Compensation: $25,000 CASH.
This is a contract job.
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

* Titan, is one of the moons of SATURN @@

SO:

My comments and Questions:

1. When Do I get the cash, in advance, or after I land, and is it a money order or cashiers check?
   
2. If I only get it when getting in the spacecraft, is it in gold, dollars, or Yen?
3. If this is based on a secret design, how will I become famous? Will my exploits be published or shared with the outside world?
4. Where do I sign up?
5. How many years will pass between the time I leave, and when I arrive at Titan (and what is the relative time difference. As an explanation of this question:
   

• If we go on a mission to Mars, it will take the astronauts six months of (normal, real) travel [for them] in each direction, and time (on Earth) will have moved forward THREE YEARS in that six months of 'relative' travel.

  
  

NJ, Corruption, Development, and the death of cities/Robert Moses

I am writing this because of Brian Lehrer's discussion about NJ/politics/corruption...

OK. First, if you've never heard of Robert Moses (whom I call the "destroyer of NY") please look at this older post I wrote last year about him HERE:

To summarize (and plagerize myself [heh-heh]):

My position on Mr. Moses comes from the fact that a great deal of Mr. Moses's foibles caused a great deal of shame and problems for New York City, that remain to this day such as:

• Mr. Moses was a racist.
• Mr. Moses was an upper class slob.
• Mr. Moses was class conscious
  

These three factors totally influenced how and where our City developed in his reign of terror and power in our city.


Given this as a starting point, I contend the following*:

1. The lack of public transportation in our tri-state (and even nationally), is a great shame.
2. This lack of infrastructure (on a national scale) has damaged our environment, our
   country, and even our competitive situation in the world.
3. The fact that development in the nation has become auto (and truck) centric, has been a terrible tragedy willed on us by people such as Robert Moses.

Now to become NJ centric, and discuss politics, and industrial development
(and 0f course corruption!):

• Urban Sprawl (unchecked development of office parks, malls, and strip malls) is killing NJ. We need a centralized (State-wide) plan. Exclusive development decisions must be removed from municipal authorities.
• Our method of administration (country-wide) and political service needs reformed.

Here's where my National plan addresses NJ:

• Similar to the tradition of military academies in our country, we need to establish political academies, and elevate the education and professionalism of our politicians. Hopefully, by making the education, and income of legislators level, we can elevate the profession of politician from political lackey to professionalism we expect from our military.
  

Other ideas:?

We need to make sure legislatiors cannot "Double-Dip", and have multiple positions, or multiple public pensions... (give the HIGHER of cost of salary or pension for a person), not both.

We need to start to enforce and arrest developers. We need to start to re-think development. NO More MALLS or strip malls. We need manufacturing again...

Sound interesting? It's a start... and I hope you listen...


*(see below this note for the footer on this message for my '10 step program' to rebuild our country.

---

Try my other blog also:
It discusses:
* What I call this Depression 2.0

and
We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/rail/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

My Status: Geek and Jealous

I gotta hand it to the author.

It really fits me to a Tee USB port...

and you need to HOVER (with your mouse) to read the alt-caption text that is SO so essential.


Yes, I want one too!



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

More on Republican "so called" Republican dirty trix

Interesting.

Right after last night's story that I posted about the Fed Worker that was found hanged in Kentucky, with the word "FED" on his chest, I found this delightful, yet esoteric article in the book review section of this week's NEW Yorker, discussing of all things, The Dreyfus affair (talk about ANCIENT history)

Yet, this article DOES matter. In it, Adam Gopnik makes a very interesting point.

First he introduces Louis Begley's new book, “Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters” (Yale; $24).
And then he cuts to the chase. Mr. Begley discusses the Dreyfus affair, and uses it as a metaphor for showing and warning us, as a "pointed warning and reminder of how fragile the standards of civilized conduct prove in moments of national panic."

Well. I am going to skip a great deal of Mr. Gopnik's article, discussing why it does matter, what happened, and why the USA (think Guantánamo Bay) has similar problems. You can read the article (even if you don't subscribe--use the link above!)


Gopnik makes a very astute point, which is as valid today (Rush Limbaugh and associates) as it was 100 years ago.

He says,

"The trouble was that, like most happy endings, the happy ending was not the end. The good guys won in a way that only made the bad guys worse.

As with Watergate, the immediate outcome of the affair gave a misleading impression of unanimity; in truth, while the good guys thought the other guys had absorbed it as a lesson, they had merely resented it as a defeat."

This reminds me SO SO much of the what I think of the disloyal opposition party, in their new scare tactics against Health care, so called Tea parties, and the birth certificate experience, that I cannot help but use my common sense, and create a new mental arithmetic for myself that shows that all these items add up to a new state of DENIAL for republicans in the USA.

Combine that with the fact that they are now the minority party, and that could easily mean that
we will have :

No health care reform
No meaningful anything in the next few years.

And again, as I have said all along, the republicans are the party of NO Health CARE reform.

Six times in sixty years, and now close to a seventh time killing it.

Let's bring back the fairness doctrine to the radio and television airwaves.
that would mean Fox News might actually live up to it's so called motto of "Fair and Balanced", instead of the right wing spin it puts on EVERYTHING.

Augh. (yes I know talk like a pirate day was LAST week!)

In Memoriam: Fed CENSUS worker hanged, mutilated in USA!

This is SCARY.

AP (by way of ABC/Disney) reports that, Federal officials (FBI) said that:

A U.S. Census worker (was) found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday

This is EXACTLY what I have been saying. The RIGHT wing so called "loyal" (used with bitter irony) opposition is ANYTHING but loyal, and is unintentionally starting to polarize our country.

I have refrained from complaining about the "Town Hall" and "Death watch" meetings, and rumors, innuendos and lies being foisted by the political party now out of office.

HOWEVER, these EXTREMELY polarizing views are STARTING to have an effect.

This is simply the first example.

Try reading Orson Scott Card's novel about the second US civil war, titled "Empire".
Exactly this (Right vs. Left) bullsh*t.

We do not need the party in opposition to the president to plant this kind of civil disobedience.

We need health care reform. These tactics are ALL smokescreens to help prevent this...

---

MY OTHER BLOGS:

Latest new blog: film reviews (my netflix education)
See my other blog: SOS-newdeal for more details.

MidEast Peace: The Truth Hurts: 1929 Riots

OK: You want the truth?

Arab/Palestinian hostility to Israel, (and I maintain; blatent anti-Semitic) behavior dates WAY back before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

In 1929, arabs rioted, and killed (129(?*) jews), in a town called Hebron . Hebron is now in
what is called 'disputed territory'.

When this happened in the late 1800's and early 20th century, we called this a "POGROM".

This is NOT a question of simply continuing to exclude palestinians.

It is REALLY about the 1948 UN partition plan. Which was NEVER EVER accepted by ANY arab country.

UNTIL this peace plan (originally proposed in 1948--search my blog for 'mideast UN')
is ACCEPTED by all the MUSLIM AND arab countries there can be NO peace in the mid-east.


When the arab world FINALLY accepts the right of ISRAEL to exist as a country (as proposed in 1948) THEN we can continue on the road to peace.

Until then, it is only a PIECE that Israel wants; a piece of paper with a SIGNATURE on it, saying yes, we agree that there should be two states.


OH yes, I agree that there will be some problems.


1) getting arab/muslim acceptance will be tough.
2) Agreeing that there should be TWO states is a good start; but there will be more problems too!
3) Joint administration of Jerusalem? Jordan failed in 19 years of rule. Not one Jew was ever able to visit. Israel has shown that this will work, as we have been completely open.
4) LAND of the two states. I will leave this for another message, at another time, because JORDAN annexed 50% of the future state of PALESTINE, and will need to FINALLY give it back!!!

cheers

...pass it on...


* corrections welcomed on the exact number killed. This is from memory...

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

In Memorial: Mary Travers

National Talk like a (New Year's) Pirate

Arguh me Mateys. Tomorrow is the sabbath, and national talk like a pirate day, as well as the 'head of the year (rosh hashana)'

So, I be sorry to say, I not to be online, all day, but never miss a talk like a pirate day...

Lookie HERE:

or HERE

or Here....

cheers.

Happy New Year's Meh Mateys. And may you allse be in-scribed in the book of good pirate life for another year.

Shame-OUT: BAN the PALIN principal...It's too sad

OH Get me sick...

Palin is out of CONTROL...

After less then Two weeks? of being out of office,

Abc news (yes, they still have some original correspondents there that STILL report politics...)

reports that, despite her recent request to the press, - asking members of the media to "quit making things up.", she

Palin Paints Picture of 'Obama Death Panel' Giving Thumbs Down to Trig

at Sarah's Facebook Page

Madam Sutpid-Arsed says, and I quote...

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Oh, what a pity. It's time for Tina Fey to make a attempt on her life, this is ridiculous..

EVIL REPUBLICANS blocked health care EVERY time in the past sixty years that it came up in congress (six times in sixty years...) AND THEY are trying again.
See my discussion of yesterday HERE

sigh

NO sarah, we don't want Trig, we want YOU euthanized. Or just go into some eskimo only bar in some town that DOESNT have phones or INTERNET, and leave us alone

Shame-OUT: It's NOT Race, it's STUPIDITY!

Hail Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Hail the Stupid, opinionated curmudgeon.

He claims it is Racial.

In reality, it is NOT Racial, it is STUPIDITY.

As a white, middle aged male, I tell my (white) teen-aged son (all the time!!!)

You absolutely must never question someone in authority. Police Officers, Teachers, and even social-workers and the like will always have power over you, even if you've just met them.

The day you open your mouth to a police officer and tell him , "but Officer", XYZ, you are leaving yourself WIDE open to get into trouble, which could be as small as a ticket, or as big as being shot to death for resisting arrest.

I say to Professor Gates:

Yes, you are right. The history of racism in our country is horrific, and its effects still linger. BUT. As a middle aged (yes, white) man, I still (to this day) need to hold my tongue so that I don't "blow my cork"! (or in reality lose my temper...)

And it hurts to admit you're out of control. The indignity you suffered in your own home is totally inappropriate, and was totally wrong. But; your outburst was NOT in your own best interests.

So, in closing, You win a 'anger-management' award. Go make some popcorn and plug in the DVD again...(and a second time until you can watch it without reacting!)

I admit, it took me two viewings to NOT burst into angry comments while watching it...

Cheers!

---

OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

TAX THE TOP- Revisited. Increase SS/FICA taxes

It's simple. Why are we NOT taxing EVERYONE on their ENTiRE income for FICA/SS taxes.

THAT is the answer to the entire SS and medicare problem.

Let the ones making $400,000 pay the taxes on that income. It will allow those only making $50,000 to not have to shoulder the ENTIRE bill.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

IRAN: in Irrevesible Failure: Political Analysis

Iran in Irreversible decline: Politics and the Cinema.

Those Iranian TV executives sure do a great job over in Terhan.
Time Magazine has an article discussing the crowds at a showing of 'The Lord of the Rings' in Tehran.

From an anonymous reporter in Tehran, they report:

(and I note: I am quoting, and have only removed the Farsi (Iranian) translations from the story. I also reformatted it to make it easier for the attention-span deprived (like me!) to better understand.
Almost EVERY WORD is identical to the piece as published by TIME.

In normal times, Iranian television usually treats its viewers to one or two Hollywood or European movie nights a week.

But these are not normal times, so it's been two or three such movies a day.

It's part of the push to keep people at home and off the streets, to keep us busy, to get us out of the regime's hair. The message is "Don't worry, be happy."

So channel two there, is putting on a Lord of the Rings marathon as part of the government's efforts to restore peace.

Lots of people, adults and kids, are watching in the room with me. On the screen, Gandalf the Grey returns to the Fellowship as Gandalf the White. He casts a blinding white light, his face hidden behind a halo.

and ....

Someone blurts out, "Is it the Imam?!" (A reference, to the white-bearded Ayatollah Khomeini, who is respectfully called Imam Khomeini).

But "Imam" is also the title of the "Mahdi", the figure that Muslims believe will come to save (them) at the time of the apocalypse. Isn't that special?

(Interesting Question): I wonder what if the officials who picked this film, may be a subversive soul at the controls at the TV Station.

It is way too easy to find political meaning in this film, to draw comparisons to what is happening in real life.
(Lots of Political) Themes in the movie: Alluding to
* Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the candidate that the President claims to have defeated:
* The unwanted quest and the risking of life in pursuit of an unanticipated destiny.
* Could he be Boromir, the imperfect warrior who is heroic at the end, dying to defend
humanity?
* Didn't Mousavi talk about being ready for martyrdom?

And listen: there is a sly (I think cute!) reference to Ahmadinejad.
Iranian films are dubbed very expertly (into Farsi). So the Farsi word they use for hobbit (and also dwarf) is kootoole, or little person. Kootoole, of course, is the term used in many of the chants out on the street against the diminutive President.


That's as much as we can see of an opposition viewpoint on TV. It has a droning sameness, (or an) official message being "politics is a nasty business, but now it's over."

And so we're glued to the Trilogy. We are riveted. A child in the room loudly predicts that Lord of the Rings will put an end to the nightly shouts, that people will not take to the rooftops and windows because this film will keep them occupied.

Besides, (the child says) there is a worrisome rumor,that the "political police" are marking the doorways of those households that continue to call out "Allah Akbar!" at night, a reverse Passover.

The child continues to say, that the kids on his school buses have been chanting, "Then where is our vote?!, Then where is our vote?!" I ask what the driver is doing while all this goes on and the kid tells me that the driver honks along. Honk honk-honk-honk! "Then where is our vote?!"Honk honk-honk-honk!

And so we see political meaning even in the notice that one part of the trilogy is ending,
asking us to be ready for the next. "This is to be continued."

The phrase has become our hesitant slogan, our words of reassurance.

As does this quote (in Farsi) from the movie:

"I wish the ring had never come to me... I wish that none of this had happened..." "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us..."

This will be continued. This will be continued. People are not going to let up so easily.

WoW. I have to hand it to this brave Iranian for reporting and helping tell us out here in the rest of the world, that they will NOT stop.


Mark... innocent butcher of an amazing news post.
(however, I STILL say it is much easier to read MINE, rather then the original (also) here.

---

Go view my other blog too!

* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only
number that he EVER saw, defining the depression was that
the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Prediction: Iran Will Fall July 15th: Your Guess?

Hey. It's my blog, and I'll prognosticate if I want to... (repeat 3 times)

OK. Today (Wednesday, June 24th, one and a half (almost 2 weeks) after the "so-called" election was held.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the June 12 election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would not be reversed. It was (also) accompanied by a vow that the nation's rulers would never yield to demands from the streets.

So. Since the "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah has stepped out THIS far on the ledge, then I think that it is quite telling to start a ledge pool.

Date and time of the crash of the Revolutionary Republic of IRAN:
Leave a comment with YOUR date and time of the fall!:

Note/warning: I have a previous history of correctly predicting long term trends and outcomes.
search the archives for my background.


I swear that this post is absolutely non-satirical, however, looking at the labels for this post, I would swear it was from the 2008 (or even the 2000 STOLEN) US elections. What Irony!

It's *H*E*A*L*T*H C*A*R*E*, Damn the Republicans!!

OK, I can live with the following:

Tax health care benefits that are GREATER then the CONGRESSIONAL health
plan. I can live with this. But it is absolutely essential, that this needs to BE INDEXED against inflation from the beginning, to AVOID the example of the alternative minimum tax (AMT), and it's creep.

It is ABSOLUTELY imperative for a NEW public plan be allowed to be developed.

REMEMBER. SINCE 1950, the REPUBLICANS have KILLED Health care SIX TIMES

It's time for ALL THOSE "republicans with a gun" to shoot themselves in the foot, and then go
to the emergency room, and let themselves be made bankrupt because of the costs.

DID YOU KNOW that 78% of ALL bankruptcies in the United States have a root cause from Illnesses, uninsured, and even INSURED consumers.

Here's food for thought.

We absolutely need to use the EXISTING system to phase in this ONE single player
plan.
We can start by contracting with these companies, so they are aware it will be a time-
limited phased in plan.

Perhaps five years for the first part of the plan. That is, Aetna, and Met-Life, etc will ALL
start to enroll uninsured consumers into their large corporate plans. These companies will be told that they need to start to make these plans uniform, and similar.

Employers will get money back for some of the details changed.

WE MUST NOT let the lobbyists and REPUBLICANS torpedo HEALTH CARE again

See my other discussion about the financial industry in the other blog...

---

OK, you wanted a Political discussion: Here goes.

The background I believe that:
* We're HEADING into a DEPRESSION. We're (now) IN a depression!
* It's going to be as BAD as the last one.
* I call this Depression 2.0
* The current failures only bring us 25% into the problem!!
* According to Robert Reich (former Sec'y of Labor under Clinton): The only number that he EVER saw, defining the
depression was that the unemployment rate hovered around 25%.
* We need a new deal.
* After 58 years of NO Health Care Reform (since 1950!) it will FINALLY be coming soon...
* We've managed to WASTE a FULL generation (from Zero to thirty) with decaying social, educational, and interpersonal skills.
* Our nation is no longer DOING (producing) anything.
SO, from these few premises, I have extrapolated a great deal of items to FIX our society...

But....
We need to make sure that a number of issues are resolved ALL at once.
If we don't do them ALL at once, its like juggling three RUNNING chain saws, but dropping one!

Here's what I came up with:

We need to do the FOLLOWING to FIX our Society:
* Create A Living Wage
* Create a National Single payer Healthcare
* Create a National 3-4 year draft (or alternate service)
* Create a Federally paid Day Care starting at six months
* Implement Tax Reform on the ULTRA Rich
* Lobbying (Political Reform)
* Education
* Infrastructure (road /bridge/Systems repairs)
* Lack of Training/futures
* Truth and Reconcilliation Commission
* A new "Manhattan" project, focusing on Energy INDEPENDENCE

See my other blog: http://sos-newdeal.blogspot.com for more details.

Meow?-Out*: Cat Parasite affects 1/2 the globe?!!!!

According to ABC/AP, We're(almost) all infected by a huge parasite.

This parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, has been transmitted indirectly from cats to roughly half the people on the planet.

Now comes the strange stuff. I will (as usual for this blog), pretend this is NEWS for the normally impaired.

Toxoplasma is not a new disease. In an article published over 12 years ago, the folks at Michigan State University published an article titled, "Why shouldn't pregnant women clean the cat litter box?" Oh yeah.
It's been proven that you don't have to get rid of your cat(s) if you're pregnant, just be more careful, and perhaps just use rubber gloves, or get the household's MALE to change the litter for you...

So we're not breaking any ground on new dangers. Just on REALLY weird behaviors and outcomes. I repeat the previous block quote. Over 1/2 of the HUMANS on the planet are infected with Toxoplasma (hereafter toxo for short).

Today's discussion. Toxo has been shown to affect human personalities in different ways. Both men and women who are infected are more prone to feeling guilty and insecure. Other researchers have linked the parasite to schizophrenia.

• Women who are infected with the parasite tend to be warm, outgoing and attentive to others.
• Men tend to be less intelligent and probably a bit boring.
  

The actual lifecyle of toxo is actually quite interesting.
It can change the personality of a rat so much that the rat surrenders itself to a cat, just as the parasite wanted. (See & Listen here).

The lifecycle in short:

1. The parasite's eggs are shed in a cat's feces.
   
2. A rat comes along, eats the feces, and becomes infected.
   
3. The behavior of the rat undergoes a dramatic change, making the rat more adventuresome and more likely to hang out around cats.
4. The cat eats the rat, and the parasite goes into the cat's stomach, and reproduces.
   
5. The parasite then sheds its eggs into the feces, and the cycle of its life is completed.
   

Note, that the parasite cannot reproduce UNLESS it is in the stomach of a cat!
But...
The question changes slightly...

"We have a parasite in our brain that is trying to get transmitted to a cat," the researcher says. "This changes an individual's personality."

So if enough personalities are changed in a given society, will the culture of that society also be changed?
Another question: if enough of us are infected and undergo personality changes, will that also alter our combined personalities or our culture?

And yet, as a parent (and reader) of a series of young adult (Sci-Fi) books called, The Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate, All I Can think of is..YEERKS... no, not JEERK, but Yeerk

A Yeerk is a parasite that takes over...another being by {crawling into} the ear canal. It resembles a small, grey-green slug about six inches long. Yeerks in their natural state have decent senses of smell and touch, but they are blind until they enter a host, as they do not have eyes.

EEEEWWWWW... Toxo is almost ??? as intelligent as a yeerk?? ... the yeerks.. are among us??? but they are REALLY controlled by cats???!!!!


Ehh... Enough Science Fiction for me for now...

---

* I called it a meow out (thanks to my wife dearest, was originally titled a Huh-out, since I couldn't figure out if this was a Shout-out, or a shame-out...

Shout-Out: Hilary for the Supremes???

Hey. Anyone out there as very much on the "edge", to think that

Ms. Hilary Clinton, might become a member of the "Supremes"?

She Is a woman (check)
She is a democrat (check)
She is a presumed liberal (I think)

She isn't however, Hispanic or Black. Those are not positives. But stranger things HAVE happened!

Shame-OUT: Supreme Court Scalia can't take the heat!

• 

Simply Shameful.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (on the right) lives in a pigsty, but doesn't want to admit it.

Or more accurately:

He lives in a glass house, and said,
"It's ok to throw rocks at someone who lives in a glass house, but don't you dare throw one at mine!!"

ABC (via AP) says:
But Wait. Before I go into the article, Let me say this again.

Justice Scalia (at a conference hosted by the Institute of American and Talmudic Law), said: "Every single datum about my life is private? That's silly!"

In a speech earlier this year, Scalia said,: "that he was not bothered by the availability of such information. "I don't find that particularly offensive," he said. "I don't find it a secret what I buy, unless it's shameful."

He added there's some information that's private, "but it doesn't include what groceries I buy," according to the AP.

Now, I will paraphrase for the emotionally or ethically impaired. The justice says, that there is no such thing as privacy, as there is no such thing as privacy...
Do you disagee? Please reply or just add a comment...

Next: He says it's ok to throw stones, but not at him:
and to quote ABC: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has criticized the law professor for giving a lesson in how "what is legal may also be quite irresponsible."

Scalia (whom I personally think has just reamed himself another opening in his body cavity-- hint hint hackers anyone?) continued his tirade, when he said:

"It is not a rare phenomenon that what is legal may also be quite irresponsible. That appears in the First Amendment context all the time. What can be said often should not be said. Prof. Reidenberg's exercise is an example of perfectly legal, abominably poor judgment. Since he was not teaching a course in judgment, I presume he felt no responsibility to display any."

Soapbox mode on: I am SO UPSET. This man is one of the 9 people in OUR COUNTRY who decide what is LEGAL and what is not?

I am in a state of shock at the lack of decorum and finesse shown by our supreme court justice. PERHAPS a move to start IMPEACHMENT charges against him for inappropriate conduct unbecoming a supreme, might be a start.

Now, back to the ABC Presentation:
Joel Reidenberg, (they guy in the inset photo on the left above) a professor at Fordham University law school (in NY) assigned a project to students in his information privacy law course. A group project, that is.

His assignment?
Find any publicly available information on the notoriously private Scalia and compile it into a "dossier."

The results?
The class came up with 15 pages of information on the Justice, including:

• his home phone number.
• his food preferences.
• his wife's personal e-mail address.
• photos of his grandchildren.

But:
As professor Reidenberg pointed out,
The dossier has not been made public

and Reidenberg continued,

was {ONLY} intended, as an exercise to show students the amount of personal information that can be easily gleaned from the Web.

Now, I will again paraphrase for the emotionally or ethically impaired.

a) The information was NOT made public, and b) this was designed to show HOW much of our information is on the web.

Lets see... Apparently all hell broke loose, when Professor Reidenberg discussed the assignment at an academic conference last week. As to be expected, his comments were (then) posted on a popular legal blog.

And, to further infuriate Justice Scalia (in my humble opinion) Professor Reidenberg said he assigns a similar project each year. As a matter of fact, he said, he used himself as the test subject last year.

Reidenberg said he (only) picked Scalia after the Justice said during a speech earlier this year (which we dissected above) that he (Justice Scalia) did not believe the law should necessarily protect personal, but easily available, information.

So (again) for the emotionally or ethically impaired, I again opine, that:

Justice Scalia said, that he did not believe the law should necessarily protect personal, but easily available, information.
"Every single datum about my life is private? That's silly," Scalia told a conference hosted by the Institute of American and Talmudic Law, according to an Associated Press account of the conference.


Hey, call me a stickler, but in my humble opinion it is Professor Reidenberg 100, and Justice Scalia love in this match.

Perhaps Justice Scalia should give his seat on the Supremes to Professor Reidenberg, as the spoils of war. I'd say It's time for Justice Scalia to
a) stop speaking in public
b) Pray that a recall/impeachment drive for his seat does not start up (hint -hint!)
c) pray his time on life and Justice (after all, it was a seminar on TALMUDIC law!) is not used up.

Cheers, and comments quotes always welcome.