Illegal immigrant problem understated...

No wonder our kids cannot find part-time employment. Too many asshole employers want to make more money than their honest competitors by hiring illegals--then they pocket the difference in wages between what they should pay and what they can get the illegals to work for.

I believe these employers should go to jail. CNN has an excellent article. One pallet manufacturer, IFCO, had more than 1,000 illegals arrested at their facilities. That is more than 1,000 of our kids and adults who did not have a job. This is just one employer.

IFCO owners and managers should go to jail for this. But they won't.

In Florida half, that is 50%, of construction workers did not show up for work last week because they are here illegally and are afraid of being deported. How many Americans are out of work because these illegals are willing to work for beans and a cardboard shack? This is criminal.

Sing "Star-Spangled Banner" only in English as written...

...not Spanish, not Mexican and not any other language. If you cannot learn enough English to live here then, damn it, go home. Read more here: CNN .

I am really pissed at all the Mexicans in this country waving the Mexican flag and also expecting me to honor their (unoffical) national independence day, Cinco de Mayo.

If you are in this country then honor our traditions, national anthem, and language. Or the the hell out!

Why are Spanish and Mexican two separate languages. Ask General Electric when a Spanish company contracted for service manuals to be translated from English to Spanish and GE, to save a peso, had them translated in Mexico. The Spanish were really pissed at being insulted.

Rehab and $30,000 buys Limbaugh a "Get Out Of Jail FREE" card

Ah, it must be nice to make $125,000,000 a year (more or less) and not do jail time like us slobs must do if convicted of the same crime. You get as much justice as you can fight for or pay for. If you or I did this then we'd get a year in jail at least.

More here at CNN .

I have tried to listen to his radio show but could not stand his rhetoric--actually crap. His 'ditto-heads' cannot think for themselves. I have worked with people who thought he was the greatest but I found him to be a pompous fat asshole who laughs all the way to the bank. He panders to telling people what they want to hear, not what they need to know.

Here is a man who points his finger at others for using drugs and then gets caught 'doctor-shopping' for powerful pain killers. Please give me the pain killers if I am ever forced into listening to his drivel! What a hypocrite! Too bad he is off the air for only 5 weeks. I don't listen to him anyway.

Save the internet and our first amendment rights

to free speech. More news here savetheinternet.com :

"Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First Amendment -- a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you -- based on what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.

Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn't speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online.

This isn’t just speculation -- we've already seen what happens elsewhere when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Last year, Telus -- Canada's version of AT&T -- blocked their Internet customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to workers with whom the company was having a labor dispute. And Madison River, a North Carolina ISP, already tried to block its customers from using any competing Internet phone service."

Digital piracy worse than child pornography
and I wonder when it will become illegal to resell a book?

The Inquirer has an interesting view on the US's pending new DMCA upgrades.

It seems if you beat the crap out of a member of the RIAA or movie industry then you can get 6 years in prision but if you download one of his precious videos you can get 10 years in prison (the same as a child molester). I wonder if the sentences would run concurrently? If so then if I am looking at ten years in prison for downloading a movie then I ought to be able to have some pleasure beforehand.

Lazarus Long (Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love") summed it up so well: "My status in hell will be determined by the size of the honor guard that I take with me." So I ask you, "Just how much status would I get in prison for stealing a video? For beating the crap out of the RIAA?"

If I download one of Microsoft's pieces of crap then again I might get 10 years in prison but Billy Boy Gates' won't do any prison time for m$ reverse-engineering a lot of other people's software and then selling it as his own. He did not do jail time for theft. That is what it is: theft. Is it OK for m$ and other corporations to steal but not for me? Should I incorporate in order to do my downloads? Hey, there's an idea. The RIAA can only get the assets of the corporation.

Ain't America great or what? You get just as much justice as you can afford or can fight for. Or politicians you can buy. With billons you can buy many of them...

All this DMCA crap is why I enjoy reading science fiction. I cannot download it but I can buy as much as I can read for a few dollars at flea markets and used book stores. I can trade and resell. Favorite authors include Heinlein, Asimov, Zenna Henderson, Spyder Robinson and many others. I have some books that I have reread more than a half dozen times and did not have to pay a reuse fee each time.

I wonder when it will become illegal to resell a book?

Local family sued by record companies and they don't even own a computer . . .

The story here. The RIAA are assholes, no doubt about it.

Record albums, cassettes, 8-track tapes (ugh), reel-to-reel tapes and other older media should be copied to mp3 formats. Then the media sold, traded or given away.

I am old enough to remember cassette tapes (and 8-track tapes to a limited extent) becoming the greatest recording media because we could record economically off the radio, copy from records and copy other cassettes. Quality in a car was plenty good enough for these cassettes. I didn't need high fidelity of 20 to 20,000Hz response, which you could not get from a cassette anyway. More like 100 to 10000Hz if you were lucky to have excellent equipment. In a car music loudness was more important than fidelity.

Cassettes were traded as desired. And albums. Why did we do it? Because we could not afford the music was the reason. We were kids and we were broke. It was 3 to 5 bucks for an album with perhaps 2 or 3 desired songs, sometimes less. A 45 often was in mono. Minimum wage was less than 2 bucks an hour. If we could find a job...

Any of the USB audio cards for a PC today can do a respectable recording from a good quality TV or CD player. Good quality playback to analog then analog back to digital with no rootkits and other crap to worry about. There is software out there to convert mp3 files to cda format which is what you will find on a CD. Google it. Try 'convert mp3 to cda' as a search term. Then you can play your music in a car CD player that does not have mp3 capability.

I saw earlier version of Magix that would make regular CD music from mp3s. The box mentioned its capability but the instruction manual ignored this feature. It is as if they did not really want this feature to be used.

So am I encouraging people to copy and share. Sure because I know what it is like to be poor. And to envy the kids with money. Music memories are important to me.

I own over 500 CDs of music from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I went back years later and purchased high quality media (CDs) so I could continue to enjoy the music of my youth. 28 CDs are Beach Boys. If the RIAA had pissed me off with threats and punishment towards me and my friends back then I would have bootlegged everything. Even today when I can afford any CD I want to purchase I am selective because there is too much orphan music meaning many songs of my youth have not been recorded to CDs. I am tired of buying one CD for for the one song that I don't already have on previous purchases. I miss the days when we could buy a 45 rpm for a single song that we wanted. Now I will be looking for a download site to fill in those individual songs that I am missing.

Sharing is what is happening now. P2P file sharing is easier than trading with your buddy down the street but copying will be done. Slowed but not stopped.

My blog likely will end up being removed because I say that copying is OK if you are broke. I will just start it up somewhere else. I am using a pseudonym anyway. I will just select another one.

Enjoy the music and avoid the RIAA.

A handgun saved my life in Watts, California . . .

At the time of these two incidents I was a resident of California; currently I live in Texas. In the early 1980s I was on vacation and decided to drive to Los Angeles via Interstate 5, cross to Malibu Beach for a visit, then travel back up the Coast Highway (101).

While in Los Angeles I got lost and ended up in the Watts area of Los Angeles. This is a problem as I am white. I had to stop for a traffic light. It was a 6-lane divided street and I was in the left lane with no other vehicles (witnesses) around. A right turn was out of the question as I knew the street that I was on would take me towards Malibu. While stopped I observed 6-8 black males to the left and the same to the right getting up and walking in my direction. Their eyes were focused on me. I was a runt in size compared to these 'gentlemen.' I was driving a '77 Toyota Land Cruiser. None of these individuals were carrying window-cleaning equipment so I did not believe that they were coming over to wash my windows for a 'small donation.'

To put it bluntly, yes, I feared for my life as there were no cops anywhere and I was the only white person. It would have been dangerous for me to attempt a right turn onto a busy street and I still would have the problem of returning to the original street to continue my trip.

I grabbed my holstered handgun (6-shot .22 magnum) and placed it in plain view on the dash of my vehicle. All dozen or so 'gentlemen' saw the handgun and decided to return to where they were sitting.

Did the mere showing (threat if you prefer) save my life that day? There is no doubt in my mind that it did. Could I have tried driving away? Possibly. Would I have shot to kill if needed? Yes but only as a last resort. I don't believe in warning shots.

The moral of this story is to use a GPS to avoid places like Watts. Carry a gun only if you are prepared to use it and take the legal consequences, especially in California where the dozen or so black gentlemen would have more rights than a single white man.

And, for the record, I would not turn myself in like Bernard Goetz did in New York for shooting the 5 black gentlemen (1984). He did the correct thing in shooting them as I believe that he would have been robbed or worse; this was self-defense, not vigilante justice. Had the blacks not been threatening then he would never have shot them.

Why am I writing this? I am looking to move from Texas and considered California where I am from. I left in 1992. I likely will end up in Idaho where I can defend myself and be armed sufficiently to do so.

Philips patents an 'anti commercial zapper'

Read all about it here .

Can you image not being able to change the channel when a commercial comes on? The next thing we will lose is the ability to mute the damn annoying things. Or turn the TV off while it is commercial time. Perhaps our TVs will remain on constantly like in Orwell's book, "1984." It is not propaganda, its adverts, so it is OK.

Here is a brief quote:

"The advert enforcer

If a new idea from Philips catches on, the company may not be very popular with TV viewers. The company's labs in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, has been cooking up a way to stop people changing channels to avoid adverts or fast forwarding through ads they have recorded along with their target programme."

Just when we thought DRM was bad enough.

I am using SuSE 10.0 Linux and KDE. The multiple windows is a great feature. Perhaps I will start using my computer as a TV and avoid this crap.

Bible-thumpin' at my front door...

Today is Saturday and the day that Mormon and 7th Day Adventist send their people out to spread the word of their religion.

Knock, knock (actually ring, ring). I had seen two old men with white shirts and black pants walking down the street knocking at each door. I knew that I would receive a visit. So I was prepared...

...when they arrived to offer to preach to them about my religion. I told them that it was only fair. They wanted to stay on the topic of Lord Jehovah. They did not want to hear about my religious leader: Paramahansa Yogananda. So they left.

I am not with the Self-Realization Fellowship but with Swami Kriyananda in Grass Valley, California. He has his problems with women and sex but at least it is not young boys that he is having an affair with like the Catholic priests have.

I don't like bible-thumpers as I have learned that the bible that they are quoting from is a piece of crap. I have seen where mortal man wrote it, edited it, and twisted it.

I don't like the two new Supreme Court justices but I would rather keep my right to keep and bear arms. A lesser evil is the religous crap that will happen now.

I will NOT pray in school, in public places, in government, to the Christian gods. Perhaps they should pray to my gods...

New York Outlines Options For Microsoft Class Action...

...once a thief always a thief. Micro Soft was once two words and even then stole or 'misappropriated' the software of others like MIT. This is not libel since it is the truth and nothing but.

Microsoft, one word this time, has lost many lawsuits for stealing the software of others and stealing from us. The lawsuits filed for anti-trust have been a joke, a total joke. Microsoft has given the US government so many backdoors to our computers that the government went soft on them. New York got rebates for Microsoft products as part of their anti-trust lawsuit...what a joke.

This is why I use Novell's SuSE 10.0 and Firefox to do this blog. I also use the same software to run my business except for tax software and would use it if it was available.

High school dropout problem is not with the schools...

but with families, friends, peer groups and society. I spent grades 4, 5 and 6 in Weed, California, elementary school where there was one classroom for each grade. There were Anglos (like me), Hispanics, African-Americans and a smattering of everything else. There was no 'seperate, but equal' crap.

I observed that all students in my classes had the same teacher, same books, same tests, same assignments and yet the blacks got the lowest grades (often failing), the Hispanics were somewhat higher and the Anglos on top. Why? I was expected to study, to do my homework and prepare for tests. Failure was not the fault of the school. If I did poorly my Dad whipped my butt. Talk about incentive! I also lost privileges like TV and desserts.

I have been a teacher and observed the same problem with the various ethnic groups. The dropout problem is not from the school or teachers by and large but from the student, his or her peer group, family and so on. They are responsible and must be held accountable.

In the 1970's when I lived again in Weed I met a great individual, a black minister named the Rev. Green. He and his wife were outstanding people and they did make some improvements within the 'Colored Town' part of town. They were the only black family in town that subscribed to the newspaper. I know because I delivered it.

Think I am full of bs? Go to any high school in the morning and see how many books each student from the various ethnic groups are carrying. I rest my case.

Decorated conscientious objector buried with honors

and among the bravest of the bravest...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/04/doss.funeral.ap/index.html

Because this is a copyrighted story I cannot quote much of it, only link to it.

Sir, I salute you and wish I could have been there at your funeral as part of your honor guard. You were a brave man.

Wetback, dryback, wetback...

OK, I admit to being prejudiced against wetbacks. I live in Corpus Christi, Texas, where there is a sizeable population of them.

I am a Vietnam-era veteran and a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). I did my time in service for this country in its hour of need.

Just how many of these 'Guest workers' will fight to defend our country? They should be required to register for the draft if they want to work in this country. If they are cowards and unwilling to defend our country then what right do they have to enjoy the fruits of labor here? Why should I defend this country for them? And if there is a draft then perhaps they should be first in line to be drafted.

So they are wetbacks to get here, drybacks while they work here and wetbacks again when they flee like cowards to go back home.

I am a life member of the National Rifle Association, have a Concealed Carry Permit (my blog is a pseudonym), armed to the teeth and willing to do whatever is necessary to defend my country against all enemies foreign and domestic. If this country is attacked the next sound will be splashes as the guest workers go back home. Good riddance as we should have prevented their entry if they are unwilling to be drafted to defend our country.