Sunday, December 31, 2006
Exciting New Products
For those of you who have been following my tirade about the government's disregard for privacy, you will be heartened to learn there are companies out there working on helping you keep your privacy in tact. One such outfit is selling wallets and passport cases that block RFID signals, so even if they put those nasty little chips inside your driver's license and your passport, you can foil them following you around from place to place. You also limit the possibilities of someone stealing your identity by having a receiver set up near where you must pass and grabbing your data. There is a link to this at Silvaspoon.net
This is most likely a better solution than running around with your passport and drivers license wrapped up in tin foil, and hopefully more effective at blocking those trackers of your every move. I sort of equate it to the difference between being found carrying a credit card and a full set of lock picks.... the former is not considered something to be suspicious of, while the latter does cause some eyebrow raising even if you happen to be fully entitled to these tools because you are a locksmith. A regular looking wallet is not going to garner much attention, while unwrapping your id from tin foil is bound to cause some interest.
I am equally excited to see on the market an affordable way to plug into the sun to recharge your cell phone etc.. the solar backpack, also linked to Silvaspoon
While these backpacks are not cheap, they are decidedly liberating in that you won't ever be tied to a power outlet. Having a battery pack, they are not just useful when the sun is out as the battery pack will store the energy until you need it.
Both of the above items just went on my wish list for anyone interested in buying me anything, or the manufacturers if they want some field testing done. (after all, there is a gear review page I am affiliated with at Silvaspoon Bicycle Touring
You will also find gps systems, and if you wander around the site a bit, you can also find travel tips, cameras for sale and more.
This is most likely a better solution than running around with your passport and drivers license wrapped up in tin foil, and hopefully more effective at blocking those trackers of your every move. I sort of equate it to the difference between being found carrying a credit card and a full set of lock picks.... the former is not considered something to be suspicious of, while the latter does cause some eyebrow raising even if you happen to be fully entitled to these tools because you are a locksmith. A regular looking wallet is not going to garner much attention, while unwrapping your id from tin foil is bound to cause some interest.
I am equally excited to see on the market an affordable way to plug into the sun to recharge your cell phone etc.. the solar backpack, also linked to Silvaspoon
While these backpacks are not cheap, they are decidedly liberating in that you won't ever be tied to a power outlet. Having a battery pack, they are not just useful when the sun is out as the battery pack will store the energy until you need it.
Both of the above items just went on my wish list for anyone interested in buying me anything, or the manufacturers if they want some field testing done. (after all, there is a gear review page I am affiliated with at Silvaspoon Bicycle Touring
You will also find gps systems, and if you wander around the site a bit, you can also find travel tips, cameras for sale and more.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Not For, Nor By The People
When a former president dies, there is lots of hoopla and ceremony. In the case of Gerald Ford there is also the release of his thoughts and feelings that for some mysterious reason, he did not want released until after his death. While it is not my intention to cast aspersions upon this man who was never elected to office, yet served as both vice president and president, I am disappointed that he felt more loyalty to .. what? party lines? status quo?
Perhaps I should explain. It seems that ex-president Ford had much to say about Bush, Rumsfeld and the illegal war Bush is conducting at alarming cost to US taxpayers: an up to the second cost counter is available here
cost of the war
Ford was against the Bush war, which might have been a good thing to know.. perhaps more people would have stepped forward against the war sooner. If everyone who harbored thoughts and feelings against going to war or supporting an illegal war had stood up against Bush when he was still saying anyone who stands against his war is the enemy, then maybe we would have already stopped the illegal war of fascist dictator Bush. Perhaps not, now we will of course never know.
Why did Ford keep his anti war/anti Rumsfeld/anti Bush sentiments quiet? Was there some secret code we don't know about that says one cannot critic anyone who takes over a political office?
Whatever possessed him, I for one think it was wrong not to come forward against and illegal and immoral war. Perhaps he would not have made a difference. Chances are we would still be at war, but perhaps there would have been more outcry against the war if those who respected Ford had had the moral support of knowing that he did not approve of the war.
Of course it is not fair to single out one person in the public eye and say "he should have said something", which is what I have just done. The world is not fair. What I will do is say that if you are in the public eye right now, and you know the war is one of lies and deceit, brought about illegally, then you need to take the moral high ground and stand up against the war.
As a people the United States need to stand up and speak out against the war. Condemn the illegal waging of invasions, and take on the task of putting Bush, Rumsfeld and the rest of those responsible for this illegal financial drain upon us on trial for their violations not just of US law, but of the Geneva convention and all the other agreements they have broken and/or violated.
Impeachment is actually not just to get justice served, it also is a preventative measure. Thus far, the actions of Bush and cronies has followed pretty much what Hitler did in Germany in the 1930's. (I have mentioned this before in this blog and you probably are tired of hearing it.)
Looking ahead, the next big step taken by Hitler to rise to power, was to stop elections... yes yes, we have laws, but so did the German people. Bush ignores laws he finds inconvenient or that do not match his agenda, so there is no reason to suppose he would not pass some kind of executive directive (most likely to postpone at first) the next election as when we are in a "state of war" (even an illegally started one) it is not wise to change the power structure. (sort of like, you don't want to change horses in the middle of the steeple chase)
Now I know you are thinking, the people would never stand for such an action.. well I am not convinced.. after all.. the people stood by and did nothing when the current administration tortured people at Guantanamo. They did nothing when the Geneva convention was violated. Nothing when Bush announced his war without ever getting the approval of the congress (a requirement for going to war)...
I realize some of you thought we might be out of the woods on this war thing when the democrats took over the congress this last election. Guess again. Bush is pushing for an increase in troops, (more canon fodder.) and more money. The first woman speaker of the house(Nancy Pelosi) is busy saying she will not defund the war.. and here we thought she was against the war. We thought she was a liberal.. we thought she would make a difference.
As long as Bush has funds to kill people, he will keep killing people. This in turn will keep creating more terrorists, which I have explained before, you can create, but you cannot un-create.
All the newly elected have been pledging to work with everyone when they should have been screaming at the top of their lungs "hell NO"... no to the war, to the funding of the war, to increasing the national debt. No to allowing the present administration to continue to violate the laws of our country. No to the military abuses against civilians, no to the military abuses to women who are in the ranks with the abusers, No to the double standards used in dealing with foreign powers, (we are only for democracy if the folks in power are pro US, despite them being legally elected. Previous posts have discussed this at length.)
In other words, nothing has changed significantly, the American people are still not roused to the warning signals, buffaloed into thinking that all is going to be well in the world. The national debt continues to increase, the cost of the war continues to increase, the body count rises, and the government is neither for nor by the people.
Perhaps I should explain. It seems that ex-president Ford had much to say about Bush, Rumsfeld and the illegal war Bush is conducting at alarming cost to US taxpayers: an up to the second cost counter is available here
cost of the war
Ford was against the Bush war, which might have been a good thing to know.. perhaps more people would have stepped forward against the war sooner. If everyone who harbored thoughts and feelings against going to war or supporting an illegal war had stood up against Bush when he was still saying anyone who stands against his war is the enemy, then maybe we would have already stopped the illegal war of fascist dictator Bush. Perhaps not, now we will of course never know.
Why did Ford keep his anti war/anti Rumsfeld/anti Bush sentiments quiet? Was there some secret code we don't know about that says one cannot critic anyone who takes over a political office?
Whatever possessed him, I for one think it was wrong not to come forward against and illegal and immoral war. Perhaps he would not have made a difference. Chances are we would still be at war, but perhaps there would have been more outcry against the war if those who respected Ford had had the moral support of knowing that he did not approve of the war.
Of course it is not fair to single out one person in the public eye and say "he should have said something", which is what I have just done. The world is not fair. What I will do is say that if you are in the public eye right now, and you know the war is one of lies and deceit, brought about illegally, then you need to take the moral high ground and stand up against the war.
As a people the United States need to stand up and speak out against the war. Condemn the illegal waging of invasions, and take on the task of putting Bush, Rumsfeld and the rest of those responsible for this illegal financial drain upon us on trial for their violations not just of US law, but of the Geneva convention and all the other agreements they have broken and/or violated.
Impeachment is actually not just to get justice served, it also is a preventative measure. Thus far, the actions of Bush and cronies has followed pretty much what Hitler did in Germany in the 1930's. (I have mentioned this before in this blog and you probably are tired of hearing it.)
Looking ahead, the next big step taken by Hitler to rise to power, was to stop elections... yes yes, we have laws, but so did the German people. Bush ignores laws he finds inconvenient or that do not match his agenda, so there is no reason to suppose he would not pass some kind of executive directive (most likely to postpone at first) the next election as when we are in a "state of war" (even an illegally started one) it is not wise to change the power structure. (sort of like, you don't want to change horses in the middle of the steeple chase)
Now I know you are thinking, the people would never stand for such an action.. well I am not convinced.. after all.. the people stood by and did nothing when the current administration tortured people at Guantanamo. They did nothing when the Geneva convention was violated. Nothing when Bush announced his war without ever getting the approval of the congress (a requirement for going to war)...
I realize some of you thought we might be out of the woods on this war thing when the democrats took over the congress this last election. Guess again. Bush is pushing for an increase in troops, (more canon fodder.) and more money. The first woman speaker of the house(Nancy Pelosi) is busy saying she will not defund the war.. and here we thought she was against the war. We thought she was a liberal.. we thought she would make a difference.
As long as Bush has funds to kill people, he will keep killing people. This in turn will keep creating more terrorists, which I have explained before, you can create, but you cannot un-create.
All the newly elected have been pledging to work with everyone when they should have been screaming at the top of their lungs "hell NO"... no to the war, to the funding of the war, to increasing the national debt. No to allowing the present administration to continue to violate the laws of our country. No to the military abuses against civilians, no to the military abuses to women who are in the ranks with the abusers, No to the double standards used in dealing with foreign powers, (we are only for democracy if the folks in power are pro US, despite them being legally elected. Previous posts have discussed this at length.)
In other words, nothing has changed significantly, the American people are still not roused to the warning signals, buffaloed into thinking that all is going to be well in the world. The national debt continues to increase, the cost of the war continues to increase, the body count rises, and the government is neither for nor by the people.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Bush & the Constitution
There was one and only one thing new and unique in the Constitution of the United States. It consists of 16 words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
These 16 words provide for, nay demand, the separation of church and state. Lincoln, while he may have been a white supremacist who was doing some political maneuvering knew enough to keep religion and God out of his speeches for the most part.
Bush on the other hand has told people God wanted him to be president, wanted him in the White House and wanted him to invade Iraq. Bush opened an office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the White House and handed out hundreds of millions of dollars in grants--known in Washington as "pork for preachers." Almost all of it has gone directly to conservative Christian churches.
He signed an executive order allowing churches that receive federal funds for so-called faith-based programs to practice religious discrimination: hiring as staff members only those who belong to the same church.
Then there is the voucher program that gives parents FEDERAL FUNDS (yes your tax dollars) to spend on tuition at private religious schools. Also the Bush administration approved a federally funded health plan for Catholics only; excluding insurance coverage for contraceptives, abortion, sterilization, or artificial insemination. Bus instituted a religious test for judges with a promise to only appoint those who understood our rights were derived from God. ( I sorta thought they were derived from the Constitution, whose authorship has never to my knowledge been attributed to God.)
Employees of federal agencies, the White House and the Justice department are under pressure to start their day by attending "voluntary" Bible study and prayer meetings.
House Republicans introduced the Houses of Worship Political Speech Protection Act, which would allow churches to endorse political candidates, broadcast issue ads, and engage in political fund-raising--without losing their tax-exempt status.
It may begin to appear that the religious right owns the Republican Party. This is not an illusion, and is most evident in the Terri Schiavo case where special legislation that applied only to one person was enacted when the majority of the people felt there should not be government intervention.
Democrats have done their share to blur the lines of separation of church and state,
religion and politics. Franklin Roosevelt shocked and angered many Protestant leaders by giving Myron C. Taylor ambassadorial status as his personal representative to the Vatican and by naming New York's Cardinal Francis J. Spellman military vicar of the U.S. Armed Forces. It was Clinton who first raised the idea of vouchers to religious schools from federal funds. The first governor to take advantage of those funds was George W Bush.
In fact, the move today is towards destruction of the first amendment's guarantee of separation of church and state. Politicians urge the backing of "faith based initiatives" to "rebuke" the idea of separation of church and state that has been "imposed upon us" for years.
See, here is the thing. Not all Americans are Christians. Not all share the beliefs of Christians, and the country basically started so that religious freedom could be a reality. If you merge politics and religion, you no longer have freedom of religion. You are no longer free to worship in your own way to your own set of beliefs.
Religious right leaders have bandied about quotes for many of our forefathers, later to admit they could find no original sources for them, and that in fact these "quotes" had been made up by someone somewhere. Because these leaders are known, and generally respected, their words are taken as absolute truths by the masses.
More and more of Bush's speeches include references to God and pretty much NO references to laws, of which Bush continues to violate when they do not fit his personal agenda to make war on the world.
He is in a war that cannot be won but insists we must win. He ignores all the suggestions that include bringing home our soldiers within a given time line, and continues to alienate other nations. He is seen as the bully on the block, which in fact he is. So numerous are his double standards (one for him and another for any other country that does not follow his lead), so flagrant are his violations of our own laws, and so poor are his reasons that it baffles me that the American people have not risen up in revolt already.
Bush is fast becoming the NEO-HITLER, who next will introduce legislation stopping elections using as his reason that we are involved in such a world conflict that we cannot be bothered with them or worse, that it would be impossible to "change horses" mid stream.
Beware, this same scenario played out in Germany in the 1930's.
These 16 words provide for, nay demand, the separation of church and state. Lincoln, while he may have been a white supremacist who was doing some political maneuvering knew enough to keep religion and God out of his speeches for the most part.
Bush on the other hand has told people God wanted him to be president, wanted him in the White House and wanted him to invade Iraq. Bush opened an office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the White House and handed out hundreds of millions of dollars in grants--known in Washington as "pork for preachers." Almost all of it has gone directly to conservative Christian churches.
He signed an executive order allowing churches that receive federal funds for so-called faith-based programs to practice religious discrimination: hiring as staff members only those who belong to the same church.
Then there is the voucher program that gives parents FEDERAL FUNDS (yes your tax dollars) to spend on tuition at private religious schools. Also the Bush administration approved a federally funded health plan for Catholics only; excluding insurance coverage for contraceptives, abortion, sterilization, or artificial insemination. Bus instituted a religious test for judges with a promise to only appoint those who understood our rights were derived from God. ( I sorta thought they were derived from the Constitution, whose authorship has never to my knowledge been attributed to God.)
Employees of federal agencies, the White House and the Justice department are under pressure to start their day by attending "voluntary" Bible study and prayer meetings.
House Republicans introduced the Houses of Worship Political Speech Protection Act, which would allow churches to endorse political candidates, broadcast issue ads, and engage in political fund-raising--without losing their tax-exempt status.
It may begin to appear that the religious right owns the Republican Party. This is not an illusion, and is most evident in the Terri Schiavo case where special legislation that applied only to one person was enacted when the majority of the people felt there should not be government intervention.
Democrats have done their share to blur the lines of separation of church and state,
religion and politics. Franklin Roosevelt shocked and angered many Protestant leaders by giving Myron C. Taylor ambassadorial status as his personal representative to the Vatican and by naming New York's Cardinal Francis J. Spellman military vicar of the U.S. Armed Forces. It was Clinton who first raised the idea of vouchers to religious schools from federal funds. The first governor to take advantage of those funds was George W Bush.
In fact, the move today is towards destruction of the first amendment's guarantee of separation of church and state. Politicians urge the backing of "faith based initiatives" to "rebuke" the idea of separation of church and state that has been "imposed upon us" for years.
See, here is the thing. Not all Americans are Christians. Not all share the beliefs of Christians, and the country basically started so that religious freedom could be a reality. If you merge politics and religion, you no longer have freedom of religion. You are no longer free to worship in your own way to your own set of beliefs.
Religious right leaders have bandied about quotes for many of our forefathers, later to admit they could find no original sources for them, and that in fact these "quotes" had been made up by someone somewhere. Because these leaders are known, and generally respected, their words are taken as absolute truths by the masses.
More and more of Bush's speeches include references to God and pretty much NO references to laws, of which Bush continues to violate when they do not fit his personal agenda to make war on the world.
He is in a war that cannot be won but insists we must win. He ignores all the suggestions that include bringing home our soldiers within a given time line, and continues to alienate other nations. He is seen as the bully on the block, which in fact he is. So numerous are his double standards (one for him and another for any other country that does not follow his lead), so flagrant are his violations of our own laws, and so poor are his reasons that it baffles me that the American people have not risen up in revolt already.
Bush is fast becoming the NEO-HITLER, who next will introduce legislation stopping elections using as his reason that we are involved in such a world conflict that we cannot be bothered with them or worse, that it would be impossible to "change horses" mid stream.
Beware, this same scenario played out in Germany in the 1930's.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Drugs the American Way
I just got back from a fairly routine trip to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions and stock up on items we use on a regular basis. One of those things is an item called leg cramps, which should be fairly evident what it is for just from the name. The shelf was bare of this product, which has happened once in awhile in the past so I was not excited or agitated. When I got to the check out counter, I requested they have someone check the back room to see if they had any, as we were running a bit lot and my Mother as a general rule needs this nightly to avoid waking up with leg cramps, staying up most of the rest of the night. (actually it is a bit more than that as usually she groans, Dad then wakes up and yells for me to come help her, which of course there is nothing I can really do but either bring her the medication or commiserate.. thus every one's sleep is disturbed.)
I was informed by my friendly pharmacy staff, that this product had been pulled from the shelves per the FDA and they showed me an article from a newspaper that said the FDA has ordered pulling all products that contain quinine from the market unless you have malaria, in which case there is only one product that is approved. Well, we don't happen to have malaria, (under normal circumstances this would be a good thing) so we are just sol (sorry out of luck)
This is reminiscent of another product from many years ago. Once upon a time in America, you could purchase a jar of cream that smelled like rotten eggs. Not something you would over use if you had any sense of smell. This product was called hydrosulfasol (I am actually not certain of the spelling but that is how it sounded.)
The miracle of hydrosulfasol was that when applied to just about any wound, would heal it almost over night and with NO Scaring. When they pulled that one, they did so on the basis of testing that showed if you used this product every day of your life for 20 years you MIGHT end up with some sort of blood disorder. I cannot imagine anyone using this product any more than was necessary considering one went about smelling like rotten eggs, but none the less, it worked so they pulled it off the market. You actually can still get hydrosulfasol if you are dying of skin cancer, but only in a liquid form.
Back to the Leg Cramps pills. The current population of the United States, according to the Census Bureau, is 300,436,624. The article stated they had 600+ reports of severe side effects that included 93 deaths which were attributed to drug interaction. (Many drugs have interaction difficulties but are not pulled off the market, they have warning labels and conditions under which you should not take them)
If I round the number of reports up to 700, it means that 2.32994 per cent of the population has had severe side effects. Even if it was 10 per cent, it strikes me that a warning label rather than pulling something that works for so many off the market would be a saner action to take.
I could see where the one company that has the FDA's approval to market the product with quinine in it might be making out like gang busters if we had epidemic proportion malaria in this country, but I have not heard of such an epidemic so find myself mystified at the actions of the FDA.
It can only be chalked up to the American Way.. if something works, take it off the market or make it so expensive that the masses cannot afford it.
It is not just the government that pulls this kind of shenanigans, private corporations do as well. I cite my own experience with Hershey's. For a short time they made a 1 gram of sugar candy bar. It was not very large, it was relatively expensive, but it satisfied my diabetic Mother's craving for chocolate and we could keep her sugar intake down enough that it was not problematic. They apparently were not making enough money off this product as they discontinued it leaving me fewer options, none of which are as pleasing to Mother as that one was.
In that particular case, I blame their advertising as I am convinced that more people would have bought enough of the product to keep it in a good profit margin since it tasted good and was not so over priced that you could never afford it.
Is it really any wonder that so many Americans violate laws to get things (particularly medications) from Canada or Mexico where they can get what they want/ need and usually at far better prices than are available in the US? Or that so many Americans will be turning to ordering their tobacco products from overseas as the taxes continue to go up and up on these products, and the majority of those taxes don't even go to the medical projects related to the dangers of smoking. Americans dumped some tea into Boston Harbor a very long time ago over taxation. The modern day Boston Tea Party consists of going elsewhere for the products denied us or taxed beyond reason. Eventually I suppose the government will find ways to make criminals of us all.. as they take more and more of our freedoms and deny us more and more of the products we want and need in our lives.
I was informed by my friendly pharmacy staff, that this product had been pulled from the shelves per the FDA and they showed me an article from a newspaper that said the FDA has ordered pulling all products that contain quinine from the market unless you have malaria, in which case there is only one product that is approved. Well, we don't happen to have malaria, (under normal circumstances this would be a good thing) so we are just sol (sorry out of luck)
This is reminiscent of another product from many years ago. Once upon a time in America, you could purchase a jar of cream that smelled like rotten eggs. Not something you would over use if you had any sense of smell. This product was called hydrosulfasol (I am actually not certain of the spelling but that is how it sounded.)
The miracle of hydrosulfasol was that when applied to just about any wound, would heal it almost over night and with NO Scaring. When they pulled that one, they did so on the basis of testing that showed if you used this product every day of your life for 20 years you MIGHT end up with some sort of blood disorder. I cannot imagine anyone using this product any more than was necessary considering one went about smelling like rotten eggs, but none the less, it worked so they pulled it off the market. You actually can still get hydrosulfasol if you are dying of skin cancer, but only in a liquid form.
Back to the Leg Cramps pills. The current population of the United States, according to the Census Bureau, is 300,436,624. The article stated they had 600+ reports of severe side effects that included 93 deaths which were attributed to drug interaction. (Many drugs have interaction difficulties but are not pulled off the market, they have warning labels and conditions under which you should not take them)
If I round the number of reports up to 700, it means that 2.32994 per cent of the population has had severe side effects. Even if it was 10 per cent, it strikes me that a warning label rather than pulling something that works for so many off the market would be a saner action to take.
I could see where the one company that has the FDA's approval to market the product with quinine in it might be making out like gang busters if we had epidemic proportion malaria in this country, but I have not heard of such an epidemic so find myself mystified at the actions of the FDA.
It can only be chalked up to the American Way.. if something works, take it off the market or make it so expensive that the masses cannot afford it.
It is not just the government that pulls this kind of shenanigans, private corporations do as well. I cite my own experience with Hershey's. For a short time they made a 1 gram of sugar candy bar. It was not very large, it was relatively expensive, but it satisfied my diabetic Mother's craving for chocolate and we could keep her sugar intake down enough that it was not problematic. They apparently were not making enough money off this product as they discontinued it leaving me fewer options, none of which are as pleasing to Mother as that one was.
In that particular case, I blame their advertising as I am convinced that more people would have bought enough of the product to keep it in a good profit margin since it tasted good and was not so over priced that you could never afford it.
Is it really any wonder that so many Americans violate laws to get things (particularly medications) from Canada or Mexico where they can get what they want/ need and usually at far better prices than are available in the US? Or that so many Americans will be turning to ordering their tobacco products from overseas as the taxes continue to go up and up on these products, and the majority of those taxes don't even go to the medical projects related to the dangers of smoking. Americans dumped some tea into Boston Harbor a very long time ago over taxation. The modern day Boston Tea Party consists of going elsewhere for the products denied us or taxed beyond reason. Eventually I suppose the government will find ways to make criminals of us all.. as they take more and more of our freedoms and deny us more and more of the products we want and need in our lives.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Slice it This Way
I have been calling for impeachment and criminal trials for Bush and his regime for some time now, and it has occurred to me that perhaps there is another route that might placate the growing masses that are ready to kill all Americans because of the unabated actions of our infamous leader. There has been some speculation that Bush has relapse into this drinking problems from the past, which would make him a prime candidate for rehab... it would need to be a very long rehab I think.
Speaking of drinking, I tend to look at a lot of political websites and have noticed that many of them are so busy doing the "get the word out" that they have not given much if any thought to the page design. There is a young man who does coding of designs and has recently started his own company for "code slicing" (I figure if you need that you know what it is.. to me it sounds like something you do in photo shop or css) Jaymeblackmon
He is also seeking folks who want to go to a conference in Vancouver BC on the direction the web is taking. It seems that if he finds 4 people to go, he gets to go free.. which I suppose means also that if you sign up under him, and then get 4 people.. but you would have to ask him Jayme Blackmon
Surprising to me at http://www.jaymeblackmon.com/ was the distinct laid back personal website. I suppose the biggest surprise was that I came to this personal page and not to the much better put together commercial site for his design slicing (coding) which explains things far better and has the benefit of being a single price for any size project. I suppose if you want to rummage around in Jayme's mind his personal site is the place to go, but if what you want is to have your design worked up into css and html, then I would suggest his commercial site http://slicemydesign.com/
I think political websites (and for that matter any website where the data changes with any frequency) Needs this css coding in order to maintain a flavor/ theme or at least some consistency that can be relied upon. Granted the most important thing is the message, but people tend to stay longer at sites where there is a consistency and a cohesiveness, so you might want to check out Jayme.
Speaking of drinking, I tend to look at a lot of political websites and have noticed that many of them are so busy doing the "get the word out" that they have not given much if any thought to the page design. There is a young man who does coding of designs and has recently started his own company for "code slicing" (I figure if you need that you know what it is.. to me it sounds like something you do in photo shop or css) Jaymeblackmon
He is also seeking folks who want to go to a conference in Vancouver BC on the direction the web is taking. It seems that if he finds 4 people to go, he gets to go free.. which I suppose means also that if you sign up under him, and then get 4 people.. but you would have to ask him Jayme Blackmon
Surprising to me at http://www.jaymeblackmon.com/ was the distinct laid back personal website. I suppose the biggest surprise was that I came to this personal page and not to the much better put together commercial site for his design slicing (coding) which explains things far better and has the benefit of being a single price for any size project. I suppose if you want to rummage around in Jayme's mind his personal site is the place to go, but if what you want is to have your design worked up into css and html, then I would suggest his commercial site http://slicemydesign.com/
I think political websites (and for that matter any website where the data changes with any frequency) Needs this css coding in order to maintain a flavor/ theme or at least some consistency that can be relied upon. Granted the most important thing is the message, but people tend to stay longer at sites where there is a consistency and a cohesiveness, so you might want to check out Jayme.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Irresponsibility of the People
The news is filled with more and more dead soldiers in a "war" that cannot be won. Now Bush is "considering" his options and getting advise from "experts" who disagree with the report that took months of study that found a way to get American troops out of Iraq.
Bush keeps saying he still wants to "win" his war. Here is a problem. Lets forget for a moment that Bush is a war criminal. Lets forget all the past lies about weapons of mass destruction. Lets even put aside that the main difference between Bush and Hitler is that Hitler wasn't an idiot.
How do you make a terrorist? You kill family and friends. The front page of the New York Times this week showed an old woman carrying an automatic weapon. It was taken shortly before she did a suicide deal where she took out American troops. When I say an old woman, she was I think in her 80's although I could be wrong, she might have only been in her 60's. Still, when you think about terrorists, you usually do not think of old people. Why was she a terrorist? Americans killed her grandson. Probably killed others in her family as well, but she gave as her reason revenge for the taking of her grandson's life.
So the longer we keep killing people over there, the more terrorists we will be creating as pretty much everyone has relatives who love them. I do not think that impeaching Bush is enough anymore. I think the only way that these people will believe the United States wants peace is to charge Bush and his regime with the war crimes they are guilty of, and to put them on a very public trial.
The US media seems to censor or ignore entirely many of the stories that point towards the violations of US law by the current administration.
The United States has stopped being for democracy when they challenge the decisions of the people of another country when the people democratically elect their own government. This has been going on a very long time actually, the US was 100% behind the evil dictator in Chile.
Pinochet, the brute, proceeded to have his forces kill at least 3,000 Chileans and torture many thousands more. (Shamefully, The New York Times headlined its editorial on Pinochet’s death “The Dextrous Dictator.” That was in keeping with the Times’s headline on its obituary for Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, who died earlier this year. The Times called him “Colorful Dictator.”)
When Allende came to power, Henry Kissinger infamously said: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.”
Now that the United States citizens are being ignored in their desire to see an end to the illegal Iraq war (Last time I looked the US congress had to declare war, not the president.) Now that the committee that was put together to give Bush a way out of that war, he is going to turn his back on their recommendations and get more and more young men killed in the process.
What will it take to get Bush and his cohorts out of office and into court? How long will the American people buy into more and more lies? How many more young soldiers must die before we rise up as a people and take down the current American dictator and try him for his war crimes? How long will the American people continue to be irresponsible? ( Bush was elected for a second term, that was pretty irresponsible)
Bush keeps saying he still wants to "win" his war. Here is a problem. Lets forget for a moment that Bush is a war criminal. Lets forget all the past lies about weapons of mass destruction. Lets even put aside that the main difference between Bush and Hitler is that Hitler wasn't an idiot.
How do you make a terrorist? You kill family and friends. The front page of the New York Times this week showed an old woman carrying an automatic weapon. It was taken shortly before she did a suicide deal where she took out American troops. When I say an old woman, she was I think in her 80's although I could be wrong, she might have only been in her 60's. Still, when you think about terrorists, you usually do not think of old people. Why was she a terrorist? Americans killed her grandson. Probably killed others in her family as well, but she gave as her reason revenge for the taking of her grandson's life.
So the longer we keep killing people over there, the more terrorists we will be creating as pretty much everyone has relatives who love them. I do not think that impeaching Bush is enough anymore. I think the only way that these people will believe the United States wants peace is to charge Bush and his regime with the war crimes they are guilty of, and to put them on a very public trial.
The US media seems to censor or ignore entirely many of the stories that point towards the violations of US law by the current administration.
The United States has stopped being for democracy when they challenge the decisions of the people of another country when the people democratically elect their own government. This has been going on a very long time actually, the US was 100% behind the evil dictator in Chile.
Pinochet, the brute, proceeded to have his forces kill at least 3,000 Chileans and torture many thousands more. (Shamefully, The New York Times headlined its editorial on Pinochet’s death “The Dextrous Dictator.” That was in keeping with the Times’s headline on its obituary for Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, who died earlier this year. The Times called him “Colorful Dictator.”)
When Allende came to power, Henry Kissinger infamously said: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.”
Now that the United States citizens are being ignored in their desire to see an end to the illegal Iraq war (Last time I looked the US congress had to declare war, not the president.) Now that the committee that was put together to give Bush a way out of that war, he is going to turn his back on their recommendations and get more and more young men killed in the process.
What will it take to get Bush and his cohorts out of office and into court? How long will the American people buy into more and more lies? How many more young soldiers must die before we rise up as a people and take down the current American dictator and try him for his war crimes? How long will the American people continue to be irresponsible? ( Bush was elected for a second term, that was pretty irresponsible)
