100 reasons to not believe Global Warming.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/146138

What a silly debate.

Distinct in datatable

This is how to do a distinct in a datatable in Visual Basic. It is derived from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326176#1 and also look at this definition http://weblogs.asp.net/eporter/archive/2005/02/10/370548.aspx for multiple columns / fields.

Private

Function ColumnEqual(ByRef A As Object, ByRef B As Object) As Boolean

' Compares two values to see if they are equal. Also compares DBNULL.Value.
' Note: If your DataTable contains object fields, then you must extend this
' function to handle them in a meaningful way if you intend to group on them.

If IsDBNull(A) And IsDBNull(B) Then

Return True

End If

If IsDBNull(A) Or IsDBNull(B) Then

Return False

End If

If A = B Then

Return True

End If

End Function

Public Function SelectDistinct(ByVal TableName As String, ByRef SourceTable As DataTable, ByVal FieldName As String) As DataTable

Dim dt As New DataTable(TableName)

Dim dr As DataRow

dt.Columns.Add(FieldName, SourceTable.Columns(FieldName).DataType)

Dim LastValue As Object = DBNull.Value

For Each dr In SourceTable.Select("", FieldName)

If IsDBNull(LastValue) Or Not ColumnEqual(LastValue, dr(FieldName)) Then

LastValue = dr(FieldName)

dt.Rows.Add(LastValue)

End If

Next

Return dt

End Function

What really ticks me off..

is that I like some of the things on Al-Gore TV, otherwise known as current_tv. God help me.

http://current.com/sarah-haskins/

Actually, this is the only person that I follow...and she isn't for kids. Dang it, why do the political gods do this to me?

Tyranny Again

Pelosi Breaks Pledge to Put Final Health Care Bill Online for 72 Hours Before Vote

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/11/pelosi_breaks_pledge_to_put_he.asp

Evidently, it is too much to submit the bill to the stupid american public before the house votes to end freedom as we know it. The health plan will put our LIVES into the hands of faceless bureaucrats that take our money at the threat of imprisonment and will eventually bankrupt our country. I though Social Security would eventually do that, but it seems that we are bound to destroy our country a lot faster than that.

I have gone from loving my country and principles to hating what we have done with it.

Net Neutrality

I listen to Glenn Beck and he recently is against "Net Neutrality". I have yet to understand why conservatives are against this. The only thing I can think of is that they don't want government intrusion, which I understand, but that isn't the thrust of the situation. This has to deal with corporations stopping other competing corporations. For example, I get Netflix and I stream movies to my computer. My cable company (internet provider) is also contemplating entering into the same market. What the Net Neutrality legislation is to correct is stopping my cable company "slowing down" Netflix or "Speeding Up" their service. If Netflix becomes so slow, I would switch to the cable company's offering. This is to stop anti-competative behavior. Most cable companies are monopolies and are already regulated. Net Neutrality is to force Internet Providers to not filter datastreams and showing favoritism for any reason, other than legal ones.

 

Am I missing something here? I don't want my cable company effectively limiting my choice of where I go on the internet. I don't want a faster stream to CNN than Fox News.

The Speech

Ronald Reagan.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1777069922535499977

http://www.ronaldreagan.com/sp_23.html

This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen

Rating:
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy

I've only watched 20 minutes of this horror and I couldn't take it anymore. I felt myself losing IQ points. So, the shard falls (one of them, I find) and creates little robots. All is cool. They start shooting up the place. Can't the cube create nice little robots like the autobots or are they all gung-ho to kill everything? Bumblebee comes it to save the day, and all Shia can do is berate him for leaving the garage? And that girl....what an aweful performance. The script is worse than Star Wars at times without any of the redeeming qualities.

I don't know if I'll ever watch the rest.

Krauthammer's article

I thought this article was extremely insightful.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/03/AR2009090302859_pf.html

 

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, September 4, 2009

What happened to President Obama? His wax wings having melted, he is the man who fell to earth. What happened to bring his popularity down further than that of any new president in polling history save Gerald Ford (post-Nixon pardon)?

The conventional wisdom is that Obama made a tactical mistake by farming out his agenda to Congress and allowing himself to be pulled left by the doctrinaire liberals of the Democratic congressional leadership. But the idea of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi pulling Obama left is quite ridiculous. Where do you think he came from, this friend of Chávista ex-terrorist William Ayers, of PLO apologist Rashid Khalidi, of racialist inciter Jeremiah Wright?

But forget the character witnesses. Just look at Obama's behavior as president, beginning with his first address to Congress. Unbidden, unforced and unpushed by the congressional leadership, Obama gave his most deeply felt vision of America, delivering the boldest social democratic manifesto ever issued by a U.S. president. In American politics, you can't get more left than that speech and still be on the playing field.

In a center-right country, that was problem enough. Obama then compounded it by vastly misreading his mandate. He assumed it was personal. This, after winning by a mere seven points in a year of true economic catastrophe, of an extraordinarily unpopular Republican incumbent, and of a politically weak and unsteady opponent. Nonetheless, Obama imagined that, as Fouad Ajami so brilliantly observed, he had won the kind of banana-republic plebiscite that grants caudillo-like authority to remake everything in one's own image.

Accordingly, Obama unveiled his plans for a grand makeover of the American system, animating that vision by enacting measure after measure that greatly enlarged state power, government spending and national debt. Not surprisingly, these measures engendered powerful popular skepticism that burst into tea-party town-hall resistance.

Obama's reaction to that resistance made things worse. Obama fancies himself tribune of the people, spokesman for the grass roots, harbinger of a new kind of politics from below that would upset the established lobbyist special-interest order of Washington. Yet faced with protests from a real grass-roots movement, his party and his supporters called it a mob -- misinformed, misled, irrational, angry, unhinged, bordering on racist. All this while the administration was cutting backroom deals with every manner of special interest -- from drug companies to auto unions to doctors -- in which favors worth billions were quietly and opaquely exchanged.

"Get out of the way" and "don't do a lot of talking," the great bipartisan scolded opponents whom he blamed for creating the "mess" from which he is merely trying to save us. If only they could see. So with boundless confidence in his own persuasiveness, Obama undertook a summer campaign to enlighten the masses by addressing substantive objections to his reforms.

Things got worse still. With answers so slippery and implausible and, well, fishy, he began jeopardizing the most fundamental asset of any new president -- trust. You can't say that the system is totally broken and in need of radical reconstruction, but nothing will change for you; that Medicare is bankrupting the country, but $500 billion in cuts will have no effect on care; that you will expand coverage while reducing deficits -- and not inspire incredulity and mistrust. When ordinary citizens understand they are being played for fools, they bristle.

After a disastrous summer -- mistaking his mandate, believing his press, centralizing power, governing left, disdaining citizens for (of all things) organizing -- Obama is in trouble.

Let's be clear: This is a fall, not a collapse. He's not been repudiated or even defeated. He will likely regroup and pass some version of health insurance reform that will restore some of his clout and popularity.

But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary. The spell is broken. The charismatic conjurer of 2008 has shed his magic. He's regressed to the mean, tellingly expressed in poll numbers hovering at 50 percent.

For a man who only recently bred a cult, ordinariness is a great burden, and for his acolytes, a crushing disappointment. Obama has become a politician like others. And like other flailing presidents, he will try to salvage a cherished reform -- and his own standing -- with yet another prime-time speech.

But for the first time since election night in Grant Park, he will appear in the most unfamiliar of guises -- mere mortal, a treacherous transformation to which a man of Obama's supreme self-regard may never adapt.

HC Monstrosity revisited.

http://blog.flecksoflife.com/2009/07/19/the-hc-monstrosity/

Enjoy the read as much as I did. Incredible that anybody even printed this, let alone have it pass committee.

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand
was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a
conversation with the old man.. Eventually the topic got around to
Obama.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''.
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.
The old rancher said, 'When you’re driving down a country road and you
come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post
turtle'.

The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he
continued to explain. ‘You know he didn't get up there by himself, he
doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up
there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to
begin with.’

Obamanomics don't fly.

A great article on our president and health care.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aJ01reSCujDQ

The proliferation of Obama’s gaffes and non sequiturs on health care has exceeded the allowable limit. He has failed repeatedly to explain how the government will provide more (health care) for less (money). He has failed to explain why increased demand for medical services without a concomitant increase in supply won’t lead to rationing by government bureaucrats as opposed to the market. And he has failed to explain why a Medicare-like model is desirable when Medicare itself is going broke.

The public is left with one of two unsettling conclusions: Either the president doesn’t understand the health-insurance reform plans working their way through Congress, or he understands both the plans and the implications and is being untruthful about the impact.

Neither option is good; ignorance is clearly preferable to the alternative.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy

Yes, there were some portions that were left out for the movie. Overall though, I wasn't that impressed with this movie. I wasn't that impressed with this book, to be quite frank. I guess a weak book makes for a weak movie.

The foolishness of wind dependency

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/ArticlePrint.aspx?id=483403

...legislators are promoting "green" energy and jobs, via new mandates, standards, tax breaks and subsidies. However, the U.S. would need 180,000 1.5-megawatt wind turbines by 2020, just to generate the 600 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity needed to comply with the Waxman-Markey global warming bill, retired energy and nuclear engineering professor James Rust calculates.

Erecting these forests of concrete and steel would require millions of acres of scenic, habitat and agricultural lands, and 126 million tons of concrete, steel, fiberglass and "rare earth" minerals for the turbines (700 tons per turbine); prodigious quantities of concrete, steel, copper and land for new transmission lines; and still more land, fuel and raw materials for backup gas-fired generators.

I don't think our legislators have a feakin' clue.

Blogging The Catechism

http://blogthecatechism.blogspot.com/
My site where I open the catechism for comments and such.

Some more in the health care debate.

A great article is here.

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/news/lone_republican/index.php/2009/07/21/no-obamacare/

Obama’s plan to reform health care is dangerous.  It is not the right prescription for the United States.

Here are some concerns to consider:

1. Government should not take over 17% of GNP.  To quote Michael Steele, it is “reckless.”

2. Joe Biden admitted that the Obama administration “misread” the economy.  That mistake cost us $787 billion.  What if the Obama administration is wrong about their health care plan?  It could cost us trillions of dollars.

3. As I have stated before, if the government-run plan is so great, then why are no Congressional Democrats supporting the amendment to require that lawmakers use the same system?

4. Did you know that if a government health care bureaucrat denies a medical procedure, you cannot pay for it with your own money?  You will not be allowed to privately hire doctors.  And they say there is no rationing happen in this bill.

5. Check out this chart on how it will work.  88 government agencies will oversee health care.

6.  How does the agency of “Cultural & Linguistic Competence Training” improve health care or lower the costs?

7. Here in Massachusetts we already know that when the government interfere that costs increase.  Over the past 2 years, small business have been hit hard with a 50% increase in health insurance premiums.  The cause of this drastic increase is the government mandates.

8. The Obama Administration claims that their plan is not going to add to the national debt.  No one can believe that hogwash!  According to the President, this plan will save money because people will no longer visit emergency rooms for non-emergencies.  Yeah right.  That’s what they thought here in Massachusetts.  Emergency rooms visits have not decreased.

9. Health care costs will continue to rise under this bill.  For example, it does not address the issue of medical liability.  With costs skyrocketing, the middle class will be forced to join the government-run insurance option and hence we will have socialized medicine.

Overall we have the best health care system in the world.  Let’s fix it not ruin it!

(Please see previous posts on ideas for health care reforms.)

 

On page 16 of the house bill states:

(A) I

N GENERAL.—Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1.

 

So, you can't buy individual insurance after this. Great. Damn politicians.

Why democrats do what they do.

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/07/03/trust/

Great article.

There is nothing more secure to Democrats than a big bureaucracy–it makes them feel safe. Perhaps that’s why so many of them linger on in colleges longer than the average American. Inefficient bureaucracies and musty old buildings with union swept halls are warm fuzzy places for them.  These people are the kind that like being looked after–it is the natural state of the Left.

They want to live under a huge bureaucracy that will direct their life, from the time they are born into a government hospital through their time in government schools, then punch the clock at a government job until a government appointed doctor gives them an assisted suicide. A Democrat Utopia would be like a human zoo where the lions are kept separate from the zebras, every one is fed, and the doctor comes round once a year. Just keep re-electing Democrats who will insure the air is clean, your food is safe, your retirement is secure, and the tithe is paid.

That’s a big one. When you decide to become a Democrat, the need for you to ever contribute to charity is completely eliminated. Every election cycle Democrat candidates are exposed for being skinflints when the 1040s are released. There is always a ridiculously small number on the lines of where charitable deductions are listed. The contribution is always so small you would think it was an accident, like they thought their $100 donation to the Breast Foundation was a subscription to a porn site.

In actuality, I think they believe that membership in the Democrat Party is their donation to charity. The Party is their Church and the leaders are their clerics. Why should Al Gore give more than a couple hundred bucks to charitable causes when he has made his life work saving the earth from prosperity? (That could explain why so many of Obama’s appointees didn’t feel the need to pay taxes–churches are tax-exempt.)

Perhaps we'll all understand the phrase "Give me liberty, or give me death."

Global Warming Bill

This piece of **** just passed the house. Kirk, senate hopeful in Illinois appears to have voted for it. He just lost my vote.

Absolute facist despots these people are. I don't want to go through my life shedding a tear each time I read the constitution.

He gives us his reasons below.

http://www.wlsam.com/getpodcast.aspx?sid=17451&lid=5149&id=1396255&source=2&url=http://wlsam.1871dev.com/content/img/f50629/dr-with-mark-kirk-7-2-total.mp3

BS. The reason that he voted this way is because he took money from certain PACs. It is always money. I'll donate to his challenger. 

BTW, why wind wont work.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/taking_the_hot_air_out_of_wind.html

Some humor

U.S. gives Flight 93 site landowners one week to sell

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20090606_U_S__gives_Flight_93_site_landowners_one_week_to_sell.html

What a stupid country. These people selflessly died to save others, and now the government forces people off their land to memorialize it. Words cannot express.

Terminator Salvation

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy

Eh. Not so much.

At least they didn't disown the third movie, like the Superman series. It didn't tie it up in a bow, but I was very surprised to see Arnold again, if only in CGI. Other than that, there wasn't much to recommend this. Some things were hard to swallow.

http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/terminator-salvation/

Star Trek

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy

Good flick. Nice use of ICG. The story, like all Star Trek movies, leaves logic at the door. Otherwise, I'll definitely buy the DVD.

http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/star-trek/

Monsters and Aliens

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Animation

Very good use of 3D. The theater that I was in had a few problems, but other than that, very nice movie.

More of Kirby's wisdom on baptism for the dead.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12317033 Kirby: Did we Mormons baptize your deceased loved one? I can help

By Robert Kirby Tribune Columnist Salt Lake Tribune

Updated:05/07/2009 03:35:12 PM MDT

With the revelation that President Barack Obama's mama may now be a Mormon, the LDS practice of baptism for the dead is once again in the news. Stanley Ann Dunham, who died in 1995, was baptized by proxy recently in an LDS temple. Mormons believe Dunham would need this ordinance when she got to the other side. Obama hasn't commented on the matter. According to my double secret source inside the White House, he might have said, "If I didn't care what Mormons thought when I was running for president, why would I care now?" Mormons tend to see baptism for the dead as a personal favor rather than spiritual conscription. It's not as if you have to accept it. This life or the next, you're perfectly within your right to shout obscenities at us and slam the door. But baptism for the dead makes a whole lot more sense than the afterlife plan some faiths have, which is that you go straight to hell if you didn't see it their way before you died. At least with Mormons there's a second chance. And if we end up being right, you just might be grateful for that baptism. What's that? You'd sooner go to hell than become Mormon? OK, but hell isn't very pleasant. I've got a hundred bucks that says an eternity of sponge-bathing Hitler will change your mind. This assumes, of course, that Mormons are in charge on the other side. Frankly, even though I'm Mormon, I don't think we will be. I believe God will be in charge -- and that we're all of us (you included) in for a big fat surprise. On the other hand, it's easy to see how some people don't like the idea of Mormons giving their dearly departed an ecclesiastical makeover. In the wake of angry protests, the church has reiterated its stance that only the deceased relatives of living Mormons should be baptized by proxy. But what about those baptisms for the dead we've already performed? After all, you can't simply unbaptize someone, right? Actually, that's not exactly true. If you're upset that Grandpa may have become Mormon on the other side, I can help. It's called Excommunication for the Dead. I thought it up several years ago but got into trademark trouble with the church. They're not interested in it anymore, so I'm back in business. Here's how it works: For an appropriate consideration, I can get your ancestor's baptism for the dead thrown out. It won't be free, though. There's serious effort involved. For $250, I'm willing to commit some horrible proxy sin on behalf of your ancestor that will get him (or her) excommunicated from the LDS Church. For example, I specialize in lusting in my heart. It says right in the Bible that gazing upon a woman with lust in your heart is the same thing as committing the actual act. This is a huge ecclesiastical loophole, people. NOTE: My wife and Jennifer Aniston don't think lusting in my heart is the same thing as the actual deed, but we're talking about what the Lord thinks. Send me Grandpa's name, a certified check and the woman you want the proxy sin committed with, and I'll get right to work. I'm a professional, so it won't take longer than the average church meeting. If it's Grandma, I can still help. I commit murder in my heart every time I drive to work. It's easy. By the time I get to The Tribune , she'll be a mass murderer and no longer a candidate for becoming Mormon. For your money, you'll receive an attractive certificate of proxy excommunication worthy of framing. Simply present the certificate to whoever is in charge on the other side. Unless it's the Mormons. If that's the case, then we're both in a lot of trouble.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12372124

By Robert Kirby

Tribune Columnist

Updated: 05/16/2009 04:26:08 PM MDT

If I can believe all the "check is in the mail" response I got to last week's column offering excommunication for the dead for those who are unhappy that Mormons baptized their dead relatives, I am well on my way to becoming a millionaire.

E-mail orders poured in from people anxious to ensure that their ancestors didn't become the Mormon undead through proxy baptism.

My grandfather's name is Ed. Please commit adultery in your heart for him with Dolly Parton.

Sweet. I want a franchise when you're up and running. What about stock?

You got competition, dude. I'll do the same thing for a hundred bucks.

Wow. Who knew there was so much money to be made in undoing the service of the Lord?

But my favorite responses were from the peeved; those who insisted their ancestors would never become Mormons because they had all been staunch [pick one] while alive.

Reader: "What Mormons are doing is an insult to my ancestors. My people have always been Catholic."

Her ancestors [hollering from the other side]: "No we haven't. We were pagans until the %*$&@ Romans came."

Say what you want about missionaries, the greatest conversion tool in the history of the world has been the sword. Baptism for the Dead is nothing compared to Baptism or Be Dead.

As nice as it is to think about freedom of choice in religion, we're all trickle-down products of some sort of "forced" religion.

Most people who have a particular faith got at least a semblance of it from their parents, who got it from their ancestors, who got it from whatever culture overran and dominated theirs. Those who didn't convert at the point of a sword did so through gradual assimilation and social pressure.

Islam and Christianity are the two biggest culprits. Simple benevolence isn't what made them the largest two religions on the planet today. They spread their faith through conquest and then enforcement.

Most Latinos and American Indians wouldn't be Christian today had it not been forced on them. And not only would most blacks in America not be Christian, they wouldn't even be in America.

The same is true of me. My ancestors converted to Mormonism from Anglicanism in merry old England. Before that, we were Catholic (if we knew what was good for us), and before that we probably painted ourselves blue and danced naked around a maypole.

Not only do people change religions, the religions themselves change. More than 150 years later, I'm still Mormon, but it would probably drive my great-grandfather nuts that I only have one wife and I don't live on a collective. What he believed in back then isn't even on the program today.

Go back far enough and your ancestors would be shaking their heads at what you became. All that faith and tradition and you didn't turn out anything like you were supposed to. Here's the kicker: Neither will your descendants.

 

Hitler's pics.

Some new cool pics of Hitler's miserable life on this earth. Good for history.

http://www.life.com/image/last/in-gallery/26982/adolf-hitler-among-the-crowds

Why the H*** isn't this reported more?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Geithner-tells-China-its-rb-15396905.html?.v=2

"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.

His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting skepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.

That's right boys and girls, the chinese are laughing at us. Or, to be more correct, laughing at our president and his minions. But NOOOOO, Obama is too big to fail, or show what a laughing stock we are becoming. So much for that international respect he craves so much.

What do you know, Pravda really does mean "Truth"

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

Stanislav Mishin

I am so sick of this, again.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=a7Hk3ZEF4QyM

When we start throwing these crooks out?

From ELO II's "Honest Men"

We're just a stone's throw
From Burning Hellfire
Does anybody know,
Where did all the heroes go?
We've had our fill of
This gallery of scoundrels,
The leaders of the world,
Those power hungry liars

Rise up and sound the sirens,
Send out the searching powers,
All we need is a few good men
Send the S.O.S. and red alerts
All across the universe
Calling your honest men?
S.O.S. emergency,
Sinking fast and getting worse.

Where's your honest men?
In some village, far away,
Or in a little town pub.
High on a mountain top
There must be an honest man
Calling all honest men

Throw out the tyrants,
The aged fat cats
Outlived their usefulness
They have led us to this mess
Make them answer,
Hold them to their promises,
And throw them in the street
If they won't tell the truth

S.O.S. and red alert
All across the universe,
Calling all honest men
S.O.S. emergency,
Sinking fast and getting worse,
Where's your honest men?
To your stations,
Man the ramparts,
The barricades
We need new heroes urgently

We need a few good honest men
Calling all honest men
Calling all honest men
Call to him
He lives next door,
Across the street
On the upper floor.

It's our only hope we need him now
Send the S.O.S. and red alert,
All across the universe,
Calling all honest men
S.O.S. emergency,
Sinking fast and getting worse,
Where's your honest men
Strike a blow,
Save the ship,
We need a few good honest men
Calling all honest men
Calling all honest men
Calling all honest men
S.O.S. across the universe
Where's your honest
We need your honest
Calling all honest men

Calling out all over the world,
Where's your honest men
Looking out all over the world,
We need your honest men

Penn Jillete on libertarianism

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/25575/

I must admit that I agree with much of this article. I'm never quite sure where my own libertarianism stops, but I do agree with this.

It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion.   Helping poor and suffering people yourself is compassion.  Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.  People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered. If we’re compassionate, we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right.  There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint. 

 

On another point alltogether, I did find a good article on church history, http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/2004_I_Dont_Have_a_Testimony_of_the_History_of_the_Church.html. It's a good read.

Oh Brother.

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/milk-screenwrit.html

 

[QUOTE]Dustin Lance Black, who just won an Academy Award for his Milk screenplay, will direct Liam Neeson and Jennifer Connelly in his feature directing debut, What's Wrong With Virginia. The project, based on a script by Black, centers on a psychologically disturbed mother (Connelly) who has been entangled in a 20-year secret love affair with a highly visible Mormon sheriff (Neeson), who is running for a state senate seat. TicTock Studios will finance the picture and produce alongside Killer Films. Milk director Gus Van Sant will exec produce. Production is expected to begin at the end of summer in Michigan.[/QUOTE]

 

This is the same guy who did MILK. He also gave a vindictive speach at the Academy Awards about how his mother was taught by the LDS church to hate him.

 

I really liked Neeson in Taken. I still have a boyhood crush on Connelly. Now I can't see them that way. Just as my Beloved General Zod has been besmirtched (sp??) by playing a horrible Brigham Young in September Dawn.

 

All this because the LDS church doesn't believe in homosexual marriage, and that homosexuality is a sin. This is such a wonderful world we live in.

Fascism

I don't know what else to call it. There are so many examples of government misusing power.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879833094588163.html

By STUART VARNEY

I must be naive. I really thought the administration would welcome the return of bank bailout money. Some $340 million in TARP cash flowed back this week from four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California. This isn't much when we routinely talk in trillions, but clearly that money has not been wasted or otherwise sunk down Wall Street's black hole. So why no cheering as the cash comes back?

My answer: The government wants to control the banks, just as it now controls GM and Chrysler, and will surely control the health industry in the not-too-distant future. Keeping them TARP-stuffed is the key to control. And for this intensely political president, mere influence is not enough. The White House wants to tell 'em what to do. Control. Direct. Command.

It is not for nothing that rage has been turned on those wicked financiers. The banks are at the core of the administration's thrust: By managing the money, government can steer the whole economy even more firmly down the left fork in the road.

If the banks are forced to keep TARP cash -- which was often forced on them in the first place -- the Obama team can work its will on the financial system to unprecedented degree. That's what's happening right now.

Here's a true story first reported by my Fox News colleague Andrew Napolitano (with the names and some details obscured to prevent retaliation). Under the Bush team a prominent and profitable bank, under threat of a damaging public audit, was forced to accept less than $1 billion of TARP money. The government insisted on buying a new class of preferred stock which gave it a tiny, minority position. The money flowed to the bank. Arguably, back then, the Bush administration was acting for purely economic reasons. It wanted to recapitalize the banks to halt a financial panic.

Fast forward to today, and that same bank is begging to give the money back. The chairman offers to write a check, now, with interest. He's been sitting on the cash for months and has felt the dead hand of government threatening to run his business and dictate pay scales. He sees the writing on the wall and he wants out. But the Obama team says no, since unlike the smaller banks that gave their TARP money back, this bank is far more prominent. The bank has also been threatened with "adverse" consequences if its chairman persists. That's politics talking, not economics.

Think about it: If Rick Wagoner can be fired and compact cars can be mandated, why can't a bank with a vault full of TARP money be told where to lend? And since politics drives this administration, why can't special loans and terms be offered to favored constituents, favored industries, or even favored regions? Our prosperity has never been based on the political allocation of credit -- until now.

Which brings me to the Pay for Performance Act, just passed by the House. This is an outstanding example of class warfare. I'm an Englishman. We invented class warfare, and I know it when I see it. This legislation allows the administration to dictate pay for anyone working in any company that takes a dime of TARP money. This is a whip with which to thrash the unpopular bankers, a tool to advance the Obama administration's goal of controlling the financial system.

After 35 years in America, I never thought I would see this. I still can't quite believe we will sit by as this crisis is used to hand control of our economy over to government. But here we are, on the brink. Clearly, I have been naive.

I wanted to add this

It might not be in keeping with the latest feel of the board but I wanted to show this.

http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=42418&view=findpost&p=1208629217

I find that I pretty much get out of church what I put into it. If I don't actively seek nuggets from a lackluster speaker, I won't get any. If I come cynical, I leave cynical. If I sit there bored during the sacrament, the sacrament does nothing for me. If I don't actively seek to serve, my passivity doesn't serve me at all.

As for being a passive spectator in an undemanding church, well, I guess that's a possibility, too. Watching television is much easier than performing in a play; sitting in the stands is considerably less demanding than playing football. I've recently been reading again about the earliest Christians, though, and I don't think that they would have recognized such a comfortable thing as Christianity at all. Peter, James, John, Paul, Stephen, St. Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp -- all of them were actively committed.

Have I often found the three-hour block fairly long? Yep. And I'm now a bishop. I've already been there for at least a couple of hours before the block, and I'm typically there for several hours after the block. But guess what. I feel energized by serving as a bishop. Even after very long days and very late nights, I feel that I've done something good. I've accomplished something, helped somebody. I could do it for hours more. It's much better than just sitting there, grousing, has ever been for me.

Finally, a testimony: Other churches may have better preachers, trained for public speaking. But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it alone, has the fulness of the saving gospel and the authority to perform the ordinances required for salvation. What keeps me going, when my spirits are low, is my conviction that it's true. This isn't about taste. It's about truth. The religion of ancient Rome had polished religious professionals, lavish ceremonies, and spectacular buildings, and it made very few demands on those who professed it. The poor, relatively uneducated Christians, hick bumpkins for the most part, meeting in caves and homes, couldn't really compete. Except that Christ had risen from the dead, and Jupiter had never lived at all.

 

I can't take this anymore.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090330/ap_on_he_me/med_heart_polypill

It seems that even in a study of heart medicine, Dear Leader is a prime component.

"Widely applied, this could have profound implications," said Dr. Robert Harrington, an American College of Cardiology spokesman and chief of Duke University's heart research institute. "President Obama is trying to offer the greatest care to the greatest number. This very much fits in with that."

Why in the HELL does it matter what Obama wants? It's like reading a newspaper in facist Germany.

The end of food

http://www.wilsoncountynews.com/article.php?id=22843&n=time-warp-the-death-of-farmers-markets-csas-and-local-food-production

It looks like the farmer's markets and farmer's rights are at risk. If you are a farmer, you no longer have the right against a search. BTW, no more Girl Scout Cookies.

This government has gone insane. Why didn't we want term limits?

Wonderful talk about British PM....and US too, if you think about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lW6Y4tBXs

"You have run out of our money." Classic line.

End of America

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2009/03/19/terence-corcoran-is-this-the-end-of-america.aspx

This is one of the scariest times I can remember. The nanny state has come and is in full flourish. Things that I never thought would happen have happened and are being contemplated. I'm hoping I'm not seeing the beginnings of a dicatatorship and I hope that some form of sanity will break out. The government has lost its senses and I hope it can recover.

Damn. I don't want to tell my children of the country that it used to be. How could I ever apologize enough for the mess that we made of it.

Chicago Tea Party

There is a move afoot on protesting taxes. In chicago, the site for info is http://www.officialchicagoteaparty.com/. I strongly suggest you attend one near you. It might not be much, but the insanity has to stop, since the elective process seems to be failing us.

Dark Angel

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Robert Kirby

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Angel-Robert-Kirby/dp/1892936097/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237054946&sr=8-2

I've read most of his stuff and much of his work at the Tribune. I think this was his first fiction that I read. I actually liked it. His characters weren't all that well formed but he took a pragmatic look at the church in the days after the Civil War. People are people, regardless of which religion. Anyway, it took a couple of days and was an enjoyable read.

Coraline

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Animation

Finally spent the money and watched a 3D movie. It was great. The fact that this was stop motion was even more impressive. Very well done movie and I highly recommend the movie. It is a little creepy, so be prepared for that.

Taken

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

I really liked this movie. First, common sense dad. That isn't seen too much in movies. However, parenting would be that the girl would have her passport taken by me the first opportunity. No way would that girl go to paris and I'd probably file a court motion to have the mother taken from custody.
Of course it is a movie and some plot holes exist, plus some too convenient items to help the story along. About the best part of this is the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good. Bad guys die. No apologies. They die.

http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/taken/

Tom Hanks is an idiot

Now Tom Hanks thinks Mormons are un-american.

FOXNews.com - Tom Hanks Says Mormon Supporters of Proposition 8 'Un-American' - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment

Quote:

Tom Hanks Says Mormon Supporters of Prop-8 “Un-American” Tom Hanks, an Executive Producer for HBO’s controversial polygamist series “Big Love,” made his feelings toward the Mormon Church’s involvement in California's Prop 8 (which prohibits gay marriage) very clear at the show’s premiere party on Wednesday night. “The truth is this takes place in Utah, the truth is these people are some bizarre offshoot of the Mormon Church, and the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told Tarts. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here's what happens now. A little bit of light can be shed, and people can see who's responsible, and that can motivate the next go around of our self correcting Constitution, and hopefully we can move forward instead of backwards. So let's have faith in not only the American, but Californian, constitutional process.” When informed of the "Forrest Gump" star's comments, Kim Farah, a spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, told Tarts, "Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets." Bill McKeever, a rep for the Mormonism Research Ministry, added, "Personally, I find it un-American to tell people that they shouldn’t vote their conscience. Hanks said he doesn’t 'like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper.' Considering that just about every law discriminates in some form or another, makes this comment ridiculous. Hanks’ comment shows that he very much believes in discriminating against people with whom he disagrees. I may not agree with Mormon theology, but I certainly defend their right to express their opinion."

Hanks' comments about discrimination are inane. All laws discriminate. Traditional marriage laws do not discriminate. Any man can marry a woman. There are restrictions but laws allow me to marry a woman, just as that right exists for a gay man. A gay man can marry a woman too. There, no discrimination. Equal protection and all that.

Idiots. Not very christian of me but get over yourselves.

Star Wars

I peed a little.

http://vimeo.com/2809991