Muslims demand Pope's apology

I see where the Pope has gone out on a limb and called a spade "a spade" as far as Islam is concerned Basically, he quoted a 14th Century Christian Emperor (the only Christian emperors around at that time were the Hapsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire) who were engaged in a tooth and nail struggle with the Islamic states on their southern borders. There is reason for the Hapsburgs to think that Islam had only brought "evil and inhuman" things. (Of course, those on the other side of this string of wars had ample reason to feel the same about Christianity; these were not very pretty wars. In enemy territory, pretty much every living soul was considered a combatant and put to the sword ASAP. But, I digress...)

Bringing things up to date, though, I do notice how these peace loving, gentle Muslims are reacting to the Popes gaffe: namely with increasing violence. Personally, I think there is some truth to the allegation that Islam is a religion based in violence. No matter how badly we Christians have warped and twisted the Christian Gospels, we are taught that Christ told us that, "..all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword" and "Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth" and "...do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." We may not practice what we preach, but at least we preach the right (IMHO) things. Islam, as far as I can tell, preaches that the way to get things done is to use violence when it furthers the objective at hand.

Violence: Islam and the Islamic cultures are steeped in it. Well, I have some news for them. While they may see the west as being Christian, we are actually not...at least not really. We are some unholy mix of Christian, Pagan and atheistic religions and philosophies. And we can be the most ruthless killers in the world. You people fuck with us, and, sooner or later, we will pretty much hand you your heads...if we don't just stuff 'em up your asses first.

On the other hand, when we are left alone, we pretty much leave everybody else alone (except for the jerk currently residing in the White House, but we (and you) only have two more years of putting up with his churlish stupidity.) Oh sure, you'll have our religious fanatics spouting off against you, but, then, we'll have your religious fanatics spouting off against us. I figure if the majorities in both cultures can assume a "live and let live" modus vivendi, we can, in fact, coexist in peace. However, to do this we both must agree that violence is not an acceptable alternative in any situation.

Let's just start over, again

OK, I haven't posted anything for almost two months. For that period of time I have been mainly working on a business plan, dealing with "home renovations" and the crush of life in the summer time. To wit, as I type this, I am also shepherding a bevy of burgers on the grill. Also, I find that I now have blog space scattered all over cyberspace. In addition to this (my preferred journal), I have space on Livejournal, MySpace, Vox, Google, Yahoo and two or three other places. It is a case of too many riches. I get an idea for an entry (oops...hold the thought: I have to go slice cheese to make the burgers cheeseburgers. BRB)

And I'm back...some 2+ hours later..., so, where was I? Ah yes, too many blogs. Actually, I haven't really used any of the newer blogs, in fact...DAMN!!... Mosquitoes!! (Another confession: I'm actually typing this on the laptop which is set up on the patio primarily as a music source. It was warm today, so the bloodsuckers are out and about this evening. I'm going to have to close things down out here and move back to the office machine to finish what I plan to cover tonight. Hmmm...I dunno, maybe the triple vodka-on-the-rocks and two Pale Ales are beginning to affect my balance or something. This might never get back out of the draft stage...but, here goes anyhow...see you in a few...ha!)

Well, it didn't make it out of the draft stage that night...in fact it is now a few (like 6) days later, and I have actually put up a real post (see below). Now I'm trying to figure out just what a meme is and why I was chosen to receive it and what to do with it now that I have it. Now, it could be that what I am playing with is not the meme, and is only the result of bad coding or something. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that the meme is actually how to get into this particular site...and then how to make the appropriate changes and pass it along...I think I'll go play for a bit...

Anyhow, I think I'll have time to do some more regular posting to the blog for the next couple of weeks...at least. That is the current plan, but we'll see if this latest plan actually gets past the "plan" stage to the "action" part.

This is getting to be too much...

Today I was trying to remember a password to one of my email accounts (I have [cringe] 4 POP accounts and 4 web-based addresses), so I decided to print out my database of usernames and passwords. It came to 5 landscape formatted pages. OK, there is more than just address, user name, password info here, but...still, 5 pages.

Now, there are actually only a few passwords and usernames (I have like 4 of each that I normally use, but there are those sites which provide one or both that I never got around to changing and there are sites where I was being "innovative" by using something totally different) in general use, but the question is which combination did I use for that particular site. The result is a five page compendium of user names and passwords. There is no way I am ever going be able to remember more than a few of these, those for sites I use most regularly, and even for those sites I have most stored in my browsers for automatic recall...which means I don't have to remember them so I promptly don't.

There is no easy answer to this modern dilemma. The need for security measures such as passwords is the cyber equivalent of needing keys here in real space. The same people, or types of people, who force us to lock things here also mandate the existence of cyber locks and keys (usernames and passwords respectively). However, there needs to be an easier way to do this...without using Microsoft's Passport. The last thing I want to do is give Microsoft access to my personal information. I trust them less than I trust the kid hacking into the Pentagon. I need a single "lock and key" that will work for 90+% of my security needs. Actually, I'm pretty sure something like this actually exists, my problem is that I'm not aware of it. *sigh*

So, here I am...

Now, for somebody who has spent most of his computing life tied to a desktop machine, this is, without a doubt, pretty cool. I am finally the sole user of a reasonable laptop. Well, ok, so it is about 5 years old and at least two generations removed from the great big honking Dell sitting upstairs on my wife's desk, the good news is that it is strong enough to do this while streaming music to the patio. That last is so cool I can hardly contain myself. No longer am I consrained by power cords and other such antediluvian accouterments. Well, that's not entirely true...this thing only has a two hour battery, so, if I want to play outside longer than that, I have to have some connection to a wall outlet. And the speakers do need that luxury also (ok, I do have a battery powered set of speakers, but these have much better sound...). All that being said, it is still so cool to have streaming music available on the patio.

Now all I have to do is get used to this laptop keyboard so I stop making about one typo per 10 strokes and things will be even better. (Of course, most of the typos could be due to the large amount of alcohol I have consumed tonight and have little or nothing to do with the layout and size of the keyboard. *sigh*

Where does the time go?

As you can see from the preceding post, I have not died...although from the dearth of posting here, it may have seemed that way. Actually, I have been so consumed with other stuff in my life that on those occasions I have contemplated posting, I have not known where to start. So, let's start here...

Since May 10th, I have managed all of six (6) posts. Somewhere in there (May 21st to be exact) one of my two daughters got married. The event was on the other side of the country, so, needless to say, the trip actually consumed far more time than the six days we spent either out in beautiful Seattle or in transit. And, all during this time, I have been working on a business plan for what I think is a killer Internet business. I am at the point with the thing, though, that I am going to have to let it go. I have been reworking and rebuilding the damn thing for two months now, and I think I have found the reason it is taking so long: I am scared to death of losing the dream. Like I said, I think it is a killer application of web-based technology and personal service. Marry the two in this business, and we should end up as truly successful Internet entrepreneurs.

The problem is that we need angel investors to get this off the ground. If we don't get the funding we need, it will die stillborn; just another good idea which didn't have that intangible called luck mixed into all the other ingredients. This is sort of like my last Hurrah as an entrepreneur. It is taking all my energy, and I know I won't have it in me to do this again. It would really suck to end up as a retail employee for the rest of my working life. So, I have a great deal of psychological capital invested in this, and a great deal of emotional capital will go out with every copy we send to potential investors. I know that part of me is dragging out the process just in case we do hit the wall. I have to suck it up and get this sucker out the door ASAP or we will miss our window and we will watch somebody else come up with our idea and run with it. That would suck even more.

So, that is one of the the reasons my posting here has been so sparse. The other reason is that we have been doing a lot of stuff around the house this year. In addition to the never ending war with the weeds outside, we have been making some major renovations on the house which, although for the most part we have people doing the actual installations, there has been a lot of work that I have done in a semi-futile attempt to keep the actual dollar costs down. Anyhow, my personal time has been very, very sparse over the past two months or so. But, all of this should be coming to a completion within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, the business plan will be out the door at the same time so I will have some time to post here. I find that I need to have this outlet. It tends to clear my spirit and satisfies the need to be creative.

In any event, I will really try to post at least a couple times a week...and I haven't a clue why I'm explaining all this 'cause I've probably lost all my readers (other than Jerry...you still there, buddy?) by my prolonged silence. Ah well, such is life...y'all be good; rock on and I will be back...

I just got the following e-mail from:

FROM THE DESK OF: 
PROFESSOR CHARLES C. SOLUDO
EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR,
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA.

 



ATTENTION:HONOURABLE CONTRACTOR,

RE: IMMEDIATE CONTRACT PAYMENT FOR CONTRACT #: AV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/009

THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT YOUR OVER DUE INHERITANCE FUND HAS BEEN GAZZETED TO BE RELEASED, VIA KEY TELEX TRANSFER (KTT ) -DIRECT WIRE TRANSFER TO YOU OR THROUGH ANY OF OUR CORRESPONDENT BANK NOMINATED BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE FOR FOREIGN DEBT.


AS A MATTER OF URGENCY YOU ARE HEREBY REQUIRED TO FILL AND SEND THE FORM BELOW FOR VERIFICATION PURPOSES SO THAT YOUR FUND VALUED AT $27.5M(TWENTY SEVEN MILLION,FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) WILL BE REMITTED INTO YOUR NOMINATED BANK ACCOUNT



1. YOUR NAME:..............................

2. YOUR FULLADDRESS:...................................

3. YOUR TELEPHONE..................................

4.FAX.........................................

5.AGE.........................................

6. SEX:....................................

7. YOUR OCCUPAION:....................................

8. YOUR VALID IDENTIFICATION................................


AS SOON AS WE RECEIVE THIS INFORMATIONS,WE WILL COMMENCE WITH ALL NECCESARY PROCEDURES IN OTHER TO REMIT THIS MONEY INTO YOUR ACCOUNT. THE CENTRAL BANK EXECUTIVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON DEBT RE-CONCILIATION, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA HAS APPROVED THIS PAYMENT,AND THIS FUND IS AS A RESULT OF INHERITANCE ON YOUR BEHALF.


YOURS FAITHFULLY,
 

PROFESSOR CHARLES C. SOLUDO
EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR, 
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA 

and I'm wondering what to do...*snicker*....*ROFL!!*...I'm sorry, but I couldn't keep a straight face! What absolutely astounds me is the knowledge that there are enough people out there who will respond to this that it remains worthwhile for these predators to continue to hunt this way.

I guess ole P.T. Barnum was right: "there is a sucker born every minute..."

A moment in time...

I had to be down in Highlands today for a family function. Since I wasn't at all sure that the Parkway would anything more than a parking lot, I left early to make sure I had enough time to get there. Consequently, since there wasn't nearly as much traffic as I expected, I arrived about an hour early. Now, the Sandy Hook National Recreation area charges to get in between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and, since I only had about 40 minutes to kill, I thought that was excessive. However, as I had made my way down Route 36, I had passed something called the Mount Mitchell Scenic Overlook, which hadn't mentioned anything about fees, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Boy, am I glad I did.

First of all, and pay attention 'cause there will be a test afterwards, Mt. Mitchell is the highest point on the Atlantic Seaboard between Maine and the Yucatan. I thought that was pretty cool in and of itself, but when we pulled into the parking area, I could see that it really had a view to offer. From Manhatten on the North (left) to Kennedy Airport on the right (east-distant: close was Sandy Hook itself) a panorama presented itself. I spent about 10 minutes drinking it all in and then I turned to the statue/monument that stood just behind the actual scenic viewing area.

Rather than fumble around, I'm just going to send you here for a description of the memorial. It was for the residents of Monmouth county who had died in the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. Click the link...you'll see that it is both tasteful yet strangely powerful. As I walked up the timeline walkway, I could see in my mind's eye what had transpired that day. And I want to tell you that I got angry.

I got angry first at the incredibly evil men who had done this heinous, infamous thing. And then I got even more angry at the man who has totally fucked up our response to this crime against humanity and God. In the days that followed the attack on the World Trade Center, 90+percent of the world's population was with us in our grief and anger. When we went after Bin Laden et al in Afghanistan, the world was with us. But then we began to change our message. It wasn't just al-Qaeda that we were fighting--no, somehow an Axis of evil had emerged and Saddam Hussein was one of its principle members. Our government became arrogant and, in many ways, insulting towards anybody who dared question our actions. And, gradually, we began to lose the international support we once enjoyed. Now we are mired in a no-win war in Iraq which we will ultimately find impossible to disengage from with any semblance of honor. Ultimately, we will find ourselves worse off, not better off, for our involvement in this bit of cowboy foriegn relations.

Note: I started this almost a month ago. Since then at least two things have changed: First, the passion ignited by the visit has receded a bit. And, two, I am typing this part sitting on the patio after having had a couply of largish vodka-on-the-rocks, so I am probably not as coherent as I could be. In fact, I'm actually posting this in main to clear my "pending drafts" out of my workspace.

Jersey Boy

Well, according to this

You Are 86% New Jersey!

Wow, you're totally Jersey. There's no doubt about it. Congratulations, and always be proud to be Jersey--it's a great thing to be!

How New Jersey Are You?

I’m a Jersey boy. Ah well…since I am the son of a Jersey boy and since I spent my first 25 years and last 16 years here, I guess that’s not much of a stretch. In fact, I am so Jersey I spent the day down at the shore today. On a nice Saturday in June, you can't get much more Jersey that that...

Make her go away...

So, Ann Coulter’s newest assault on all that is right and good in this world has made it to the top of the B&N best seller list after about a week on the shelves. This is more than disgusting, it is scary. I am not, by nature, a particularly religious man; more specifically, I have a great deal of trouble getting my mind around the concept of Satan as promulgated by religious fundamentalists of at least two of the world’s major religions. However, upon consideration of the vileness which spews from this woman’s mind, I am strongly tempted to believe that there is such a being as Satan and that it speaks to us through selected minions like the Coulter woman.

I will say no more about Ann: I’ll let Henry Rollins do it for me. This is a pretty good clip:

If for no other reason than to give people like Ann a shot to the solar plexus, the Dems truly need to put aside all internecine squabbles and work like Trojans to get as many candidates elected as possible this fall. If we can take back control of Congress, we will have taken the first step in repudiating a noxious detour in the American experiment.

Waist deep in the Big Muddy...

I've discovered a "new" (to me) singer/songwriter; a gentleman named Richard Shindell. In particular, there are three songs he does of which I am particularly impressed. Two of them, Transit and Courier are his songs, and, of the two, we here in New Jersey should especially appreciate Transit since it is about commuting in the Garden State. I don't know about you, but I've been where these lyrics describe more than once while driving in this state.

However, it is about the third song on my Shindell List that I want to talk a little about. The song is (the following link is to a streaming audio file...)Waist Deep in the Big Muddy by Pete Seeger. The song is about a training march by a platoon in 1942 during WWII. Listen to the lyrics, though, and think about our current president and our involvement in Iraq, and certain parallels begin to emerge. As I remember it, this song enjoyed a bit of popularity/notoriety in certain circles during the late '60s and early '70s. Similar circumstances, I guess. (One has to wonder about the intellectual acuity of a man who went through the Vietnam experience and, apparently, did not learn a fucking thing about fighting an indigenous enemy. Big Muddy was on the mark about Vietnam and it is again relevant about our involvement in Iraq.

Dear God! We have to live with two more years of this man in office. It scares me to death! Our country's only hope is for the Democrats to take back absolute control of both the House and Senate in November. Then they can keep Bush too busy covering his own ass to spend much time putting the rest of our collective asses in various and sundry slings (such as he is doing now.)